On Video Games and Television

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“Do you know what I miss?” Lynn asked me.

“What do you miss?”

“I miss playing Moonlight Hearts.” She said.

I laughed, nearly choking on my tea, “You’re living Moonlight Hearts.”

“Yeah. I know. And it’s great. But I miss the Zen of a video game. I miss being able to save and restart later. I miss being able to walk away until I’m ready to deal with something. I miss being able to look up walkthroughs when I get stuck. You know?”

“I was never much of a gamer. You know that. I played Moonlight Hearts because you got me into it. And I played a few other anime based dating sim video games. So, this is a little foreign to me. But I can see what you’re saying.”

“What about you? Is there anything like that for you? Anything you miss?”

“I miss anime. I miss the melodramatic music, the overwrought plots, and the dramatic art. I miss Solar Princess Anevka. I miss Evolutionary Girl Eternal. I miss Neo-Exodus Seraphina. I miss magical girls and Shonen heroes. I miss people calling their attacks. I miss all that. The stories here just don’t have that extreme sense of melodrama. And I miss it.”

Lynn snorted, “You sound like a caffeine addict suddenly deprived of coffee.”

“That’s not far off. The fiction here is good, but everything is so much slower paced. I feel like when I’m reading I’m slogging through pudding. It’s tasty pudding, but it’s so slow.”

Lynn tapped her coffee mug and then said, “You know, on that note, something else I miss? Music Videos. I used to watch them on my laptop while I drank my morning coffee. I would pump myself up before class, high energy music with high energy music videos.”

“On the upside,” I noted, “At least now we aren’t as swamped. Things move at a slower pace here.”

“Maybe for you,” Lynn answered, “I’m baroness. I have stuff to deal with every day.”

“Yeah. But I bet it’s nowhere near the daily to do list of a McDonald’s store manager.”

Lynn paused to think about this. After a moment, she said, “You might be right. The problems are bigger. And lives are actually on the line when I make my decisions. But you’re right, there are not as many crises. It’s not as frantic.”

“I’m getting stressed just thinking about the pace of our old lives.” I said, “I think I’m adjusting to the slower pace better than I thought.”

Lynn nodded, “Well, look at you. Since we’ve got here, your morning caffeine has been green tea. Back in school you started your day with two energy drinks.”

“I am so glad that I got a new body. The caffeine withdrawal would have been merciless.”

“At least they had alcohol,” I said.

“Babylonians had alcohol.” Lynn answered. “That was never in question.”

“And I’m grateful for that.”

Read more in "Daughters of the Digital Empire," Available soon! Check me out on AO3 https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddwardiswriting Check me out on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ddwardiswriting

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