Wednesday, October 19th, 6:56 P.M.
Today, Gin sent Rinoa and I to a place called
Videospil, which is located near an arena where the Dolore Wolverines
play. This area contains many sports
bars with large video screens playing sports programming, music with sports
themes in them playing on speakers, and walls lined with enough sports
memorabilia to crush a small child.
Videospil is not one of these places.
It seems, at least to me, that Videospil acts as counterprogramming to
these sports bars without being overtly feminine. Videospil is an arcade that serves very nice
food.
As we made our way to Videospil, Rinoa and I passed
the same groups of people we had before.
Some of these groups were predominately opfer, some were predominately verbrecher. The opfer groups didn't think much of, or
even really acknowledge that we were there.
We seemed to get a lot more attention from the verbrecher groups. Their stares conveyed a mixture of contempt,
hatred, and intimidation. I didn't let
the stares affect me much but the stares seemed to have an effect on
Rinoa. As we passed three groups of
verbrechers, Rinoa grabbed onto my arm as if she was looking to me for
protection. If that's the case, we're
screwed.
When we got to Videospil, the hostess informed us
that the manager was busy and offered us a seat. Gin had given us some extra money, so we
ordered some appetizers to munch on while we waited. The layout of Videospil is very interesting. There's a large section where people can go
and play many different kinds of video games that play music, go bleep and
bloop, and spit out tickets you can redeem for small trinkets. On the other side of the building, in its own
separate section, elevated slightly from the section with the games in it, is a
smaller section where you eat. You and
the people you came to Videospil with can eat and converse and fill their
bellies, all while listening to and being enticed by the beeps and bloops and
other general noises of people playing the games. You can also watch the people play these
games and enjoy themselves. Rinoa and I
took one of the seats overlooking the people playing in the arcade.
Several of the games in the arcade area looked like
a lot of fun to play, but I knew that if I left to play the games alone I'd
come off like a self indulgent jerk. So,
I said to Rinoa, "You wanna go play some of the games while we wait for
the manager?"
Rinoa, staring at the arcade, looked kind of sullen
before she said, "No, I don't think so."
Somehow I could sense that something was wrong, so I
asked, "What's wrong, Rinoa?"
She didn't answer at first, so I looked at what Rinoa was looking
at. There were kids playing the games,
and enjoying themselves as kids always do, but there were also adults enjoying
themselves in a similar manner. The
adults were pressing buttons, fiddling with joysticks, flailing their arms,
stomping their feet, and just letting themselves go. “That looks like fun.”
"It looks fleeting."
"What makes you say that?"
Rinoa turned toward me and spoke. "I’ve heard many times that situations
like what is currently happening in Dolore come and go. I’ve never really accepted that because I
have yet to learn why. Why is peace
between verbrechers and opfers fleeting?
Why can't happy, fun, and joyful situations like what I see in this arcade
be the norm instead of the exception?"
Rinoa's statement took me out of the mindset I was
in before. Before Rinoa's statement I
had lost sight of what I was really doing, what my goal is, what is my
purpose. In that moment, in that
mindset, I decided to let Rinoa into that purpose. I didn't care if doing so prevented the
development of our relationship, I just did it.
"Rinoa, I want to get to Amcan.
I want to get to Velas. I want to
get to the Velas Broadcast News Service.
I want to do that so I can tell the world what's going on in
Dolore. What I have seen, what I have
been victim to, and what I am escaping.
I believe that getting to Velas and telling the world what's going on
here will stop it from ever happening again."
Rinoa seemed to be uplifted by what I said to
her. Not much of an uplift, but I like
the uplift I caused. After I was done,
Rinoa asked, "Can I come with you?"
Rinoa's question caused an uplift in me. "Yes.
I'll be glad to take you along."
In the immediate moment after our conversation, I believe the question
Rinoa just asked me is the best question anyone has ever asked me.
Later.
Hato Shurtleff
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