13 Happy Vale Chat

The Happy Vale's cafe had a frequent orange tint to the interior, despite having a very monochrome black and white exterior. Even in this current state of the weather, where the clouds formed a blanket over the sky, the interior was warmed up by a light being the mixture or orange and yellow.

Right now the cafe wasn't as full as it was normally. I once visited this place when I was attending college. It was also one of the many spots in town where it didn't matter about which area you came from. There wasn't any exclusiveness here. All you really needed here was a wallet, and some human decency. Basically, don't be an asshole.

I mean, some people become assholes in an establishment like a cafe when alcohol is involved, but of course there's always going to be that one person who has had a little bit too much to drink to the point where they become destructive and ruin the entire 'chillin experience' for everyone then someone calls the cops on them, and a beating was bound to happen.

Not the drunk patron to the customers, but the police to the drunk patron.

Police brutality unfortunately has it's history here, especially back in the 60s and 70s when riots were a thing among workers regarding their pay (it was lower than the bottom of the oceans that surround Decou, and no, it's not exaggeration), then one major riot that involved the nation being encouraged by our own allies in the West to participate in the Hawua War.

At the time, Decou and Hawua were well acquainted with each other when it came to nations in Trading, and add in the fact that most Decouns protested against the war, not only because of the fear of losing loved ones, but could you imagine the possibility of the nation's relationship being strained to even broken because of the war?

Hawua themselves never talked about that war anymore, went as far as to ban the event from any form of historical media including the history classes in their own educational system. The President of Decou at the time also made similar changed to the educational system here, especially when Hawuans started to immigrate here and make their presence known greatly.

They didn't hate us, but they certainly were wary of our international relations with nations in the West.

Of course I'd like to believe Hawua is currently got their eyes focused on Decou, seeing how we still conduct imports and exports of various merchandise, including Blue Moon itself.

I walked through the tables and chairs, few people were here, mostly adults and teenagers to some degree. I saw Ignacio dressed in a plain black shirt, and I sat opposite him. He asked me if I wanted a drink, which I responded with a kind 'no' and a simple shake of my head.

"I'd like to know what made you think Saturn-Voyde might have anything to do with the video cameras around the city."

"I only thought about it for a certain degree Elotro." Ignacio talked back to me. His tone was much more vigorous than before. Did his son contact certain side effects? Was he already having a bad week or month prior to his son getting Blue Moon? Did something happen in his family household?

I didn't want to pry into his personal life, I really didn't, but experience has taught me that people will be driven harder to do something once something happens to themselves, and the worst of things aren't any exception. Take any person, anyone, push them beyond their limits. Do it for the sake of good, they can become a valuable asset to society.

Do it for the sake of your own wicked ego and corruption, and it will come and bite you worst than snake venom.

"I didn't ask for this either, bear in mind." Ignacio explained. "Take it to the BLV if you really want to complain, but even then I couldn't turn a blind eye to Blue Moon, they couldn't turn a blind eye against it!"

"I understand about peaceful protests or maybe even a rally to get the other citizen's attention." I said before I changed the tone of my voice. "But you want to go further than that?"

"Elotro, while you've been working for Saturn-Voyde for so long, people out there are finding the worst ways possible to get their shit together." Ignacio started to raise his voice. His eyes furrowed. "Blue Moon is the large tip of the iceberg, but what about other things? Things that Saturn-Voyde also had their share in developing and selling; the VR sets, the virtual experience where you dress up as weird things, while not knowing whose on the other side of the line."

"How about the streaming services where a lot of the stuff they show tends to paint a bad picture to its viewers."

"Isn't there a rating for certain TV shows?" I asked in defiance. Not everyone was exactly a child in Decou.

"I agree that adults also have some form of entertainment but that doesn't change the fact that even TV shows can influence people, make them see the world differently even if those people at Sternwood didn't have any idea of doing so."

Before Santio spoke another word, a waitress arrived with two glasses of beer, placing them in front of us. I gave a small smile to her and said 'thank you', but my attention turned to Ignacio again with a raised eyebrow of mine.

"Didn't know what you liked to drink, so I ordered another beer just in case."

"I see." I spoke before I started to drink it.