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deemoyza(I'm currently replaying Kentucky Route Zero (Yuletide, ahoy!), and I came across the diner early in the game, and was immediately besieged by plot bunnies regarding it and its, erm, affectionate waitress. Here's a double drabble to soothe the bunnies for a bit.)
The old men playing checkers in the corner booth have been there since she first walked in. Neither of them ever wins; as far as she can tell, their game doesn't end.
She was just sixteen that day, freshly run away from home. Gave the boss her name, got an apron and a notepad in return.
The cook's family took her in for a while, until things got a little too friendly between them. After that, it was a shabby studio apartment with a roach problem.
A year after the cook, she met another guy. A real Prince Charming in grease-stained flannel. She kissed him when the lights went out in the diner, tornado sirens blaring outside. They got married, divorced. She can't remember exactly when.
Meanwhile, shifts at the diner got longer. Longer. Some weeks, it felt like she hardly went home.
Maybe she never did.
It's dark again now, but there are no sirens, no flannel prince. She doesn't know when the lights went out, only that they haven't come back on. But behind her, pots still clang and the grease still sizzles and, in the corner booth, the old men still play checkers.
Neither of them wins.
The old men playing checkers in the corner booth have been there since she first walked in. Neither of them ever wins; as far as she can tell, their game doesn't end.
She was just sixteen that day, freshly run away from home. Gave the boss her name, got an apron and a notepad in return.
The cook's family took her in for a while, until things got a little too friendly between them. After that, it was a shabby studio apartment with a roach problem.
A year after the cook, she met another guy. A real Prince Charming in grease-stained flannel. She kissed him when the lights went out in the diner, tornado sirens blaring outside. They got married, divorced. She can't remember exactly when.
Meanwhile, shifts at the diner got longer. Longer. Some weeks, it felt like she hardly went home.
Maybe she never did.
It's dark again now, but there are no sirens, no flannel prince. She doesn't know when the lights went out, only that they haven't come back on. But behind her, pots still clang and the grease still sizzles and, in the corner booth, the old men still play checkers.
Neither of them wins.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-24 07:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-24 07:38 pm (UTC)"Mundane + vaguely unsettling" pretty much describes the tone of the whole game. The game revolves around some pretty heavy topics, such as poverty, addiction, disenfranchisement, loneliness, and the like, and presents them through striking, yet odd, visuals and stories. I guess it could fall under the umbrella of magical realism, since the characters don't question the more surreal elements surrounding them. However it's classified, it's definitely one of the more distinctive games I've played.