Chapter 2: The Introductions, Part One
"You're seven minutes late."
"No... Six and three seconds... Until the reruns start."
"Get that stopwatch out of my face, Harold; you know nobody cares. ... Why HELLO there!"
This last bit was directed at the four people who had just walked into the room, all drenched with rainwater and one whose trouser leg was all muddy.
Blinking in the dark, they were motioned into brittle plastic chairs by the third speaker, who looked to be about sixteen years old. The others in the room looked about that age; some were younger, some were older, and a handful were undoubtedly already in colleges or universities. Counting the newcomers, there were about twelve all told, and this number was proving to be quite a stretch for the tiny room to accomodate.
The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle facing a chalboard, which was empty save for the words "YGO Addicts Anonymous: Meeting #1".
Below that, in a slightly more alarming scrawl, was "Exercise 1: Introductions".
When everyone was comfortably seated, and the only sounds in the room was that of the water dripping off someone's raincoat, the teenage girl stood up to face them all.
"Hello there, and welcome to our first meeting of the YAA." She smiled politey and dipped her head.
Everyone looked at her, unsure of what to do next.
"Since we are all here to discuss and hopefully remedy our problems, we shall start with introductions. Here, you shall each relate your name, a little bit about your background, and your history with your obsession. I'll introduce myself first, to show you all how it's done." She smiled, reassuringly. Everyone grinned back, weakly. One college student was staring bug-eyed at his stopwatch and fretfully tapping his foot; the others tried to ignore him.
"My name is Eve. I was born in a loving home, with kind parents and siblings, and a good education. I lived in Ohio for many years, and everything was peaceful and good, for a time." Eve's face darknened, as she knew it was time to begin her heartwrenching tale of self-destruction. "And then, on my twelfth birthday... my six-year old cousin came to visit. He brought some video tapes with him, because his mother was afraid he would be bored with nobody his age to play with."
There were a few gasps and "oh no"s from her audience. They all knew what was coming next.
Eve nodded her head, sorrowfully. "You guessed it. Episodes five to nine, running time, two hours and a bit. I came into the room while he was watching it, and I never stood a chance. I was hooked for life." She threw her face to the ceiling, biting back bitter tears. "Curse you, little Stevie," she whispered dramatically. "Curse you and your cursed VHS."
She went and sat down, her head held high, tears glittering on her cheek. The woman next to her reached over and awkwardly patted her shoulder. "That's how I was hooked, too," she whispered, comfortingly. Everyone else turned away.
Sniffling, Eve looked grateful. "Thank you for your support." She pointed at a thin, skinny fifteen year old at the end of the row. "You next."
The boy stood up and ambled to the front of the room. When he spoke, his voice was low and raspy. "My name is George. I grew up somewhere in Australia, so I had never heard of YuGiOh until I came to America. I was five years old, at that time." Everyone nodded sagely, apalled at this corruption of so young a youth. George went on.
"At first, I lived without thinking much of it. But all my friends were into it. I was always left out, and I felt alone... So excluded..."
His audience murmured darkly, shaking their heads. Adolescence was the perfect place for peer pressure and mass marketing to take hold.
George went on, sadly. "It seemed so cool, and elite. I just wanted to try it, just once. I never thought that it would consume my soul to such a degree." There were pained looks exchanged. The woman who had been comforting Eve burst into tears.
"I tried my first booster back when I was eleven. It was so perfect. It was a great feeling. The first card I drew from the pack-" And here George's voice took on a higher level of enthusiasm, "was a Summoned Skull. Now that may seem pretty rare to you, but 2500 Attack Points is nothing to scoff at. And none of my friends had him yet, because we were all so young and had blown all our money on bubble gum. But it was one this very card that I based my first Trap and Shadow theme deck on-"
"All right already!" everyone shouted.
"Yes, well, thank you, George. It already seems like we have a lot to work with." Eve smiled at the boy as he sat back down. She gestured to the teenage girl sitting next to him. "You next."
The girl got up, black clothes rustling rebelliously. She stood at the front, glaring out over the group assembled before her.
"My name is Tara. I grew up in Washington with two majorly sucky parents and an even suckier education. When they died, I could only go downhill from there. I worked for a while at McDonald's, until I turned on the television at my uncle's house...." Here the girl paused, readying herself.
"...And now I think Kaiba is the sexiest man alive."
"You lie!!" screamed another girl three seats down from Eve; she got up and threw herself at Tara, aiming for her throat. "Take it back!! Bakura is the one and only bishie!!" She raised her arms; she was wearing clothed identical to those of her favorite character. Everyone gasped in horror and sympathy. A small boy in the middle of the row tried to tuck his plastic Millenium Puzzle under his shirt.
"Hmmm... Public cosplaying... Extremely agressive behaviour in defense of favorite character... Blatant use of Japanese terms in daily speech..." Eve mused, ignoring the two catfighting girls. She stood up and raised her hand. "How many here admit to having the type of obsession shown here?" she called.
Guiltily, a twenty-something guy tremblingly raised his hand. Two other girls followed suit. Then, all except two of the girls had their hands in the air. Eve nodded smartly, and still managed to infuse some degree of sympathy into the action. "I see," she said, simply.
Behind her, another girl had added herself into the fray, screaming "Malik is gonna kick all yo' foo' boy's pansy butts!!"
"Guys and girls, we have a lot of work to do," Eve informed them all grimly.
"You're seven minutes late."
"No... Six and three seconds... Until the reruns start."
"Get that stopwatch out of my face, Harold; you know nobody cares. ... Why HELLO there!"
This last bit was directed at the four people who had just walked into the room, all drenched with rainwater and one whose trouser leg was all muddy.
Blinking in the dark, they were motioned into brittle plastic chairs by the third speaker, who looked to be about sixteen years old. The others in the room looked about that age; some were younger, some were older, and a handful were undoubtedly already in colleges or universities. Counting the newcomers, there were about twelve all told, and this number was proving to be quite a stretch for the tiny room to accomodate.
The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle facing a chalboard, which was empty save for the words "YGO Addicts Anonymous: Meeting #1".
Below that, in a slightly more alarming scrawl, was "Exercise 1: Introductions".
When everyone was comfortably seated, and the only sounds in the room was that of the water dripping off someone's raincoat, the teenage girl stood up to face them all.
"Hello there, and welcome to our first meeting of the YAA." She smiled politey and dipped her head.
Everyone looked at her, unsure of what to do next.
"Since we are all here to discuss and hopefully remedy our problems, we shall start with introductions. Here, you shall each relate your name, a little bit about your background, and your history with your obsession. I'll introduce myself first, to show you all how it's done." She smiled, reassuringly. Everyone grinned back, weakly. One college student was staring bug-eyed at his stopwatch and fretfully tapping his foot; the others tried to ignore him.
"My name is Eve. I was born in a loving home, with kind parents and siblings, and a good education. I lived in Ohio for many years, and everything was peaceful and good, for a time." Eve's face darknened, as she knew it was time to begin her heartwrenching tale of self-destruction. "And then, on my twelfth birthday... my six-year old cousin came to visit. He brought some video tapes with him, because his mother was afraid he would be bored with nobody his age to play with."
There were a few gasps and "oh no"s from her audience. They all knew what was coming next.
Eve nodded her head, sorrowfully. "You guessed it. Episodes five to nine, running time, two hours and a bit. I came into the room while he was watching it, and I never stood a chance. I was hooked for life." She threw her face to the ceiling, biting back bitter tears. "Curse you, little Stevie," she whispered dramatically. "Curse you and your cursed VHS."
She went and sat down, her head held high, tears glittering on her cheek. The woman next to her reached over and awkwardly patted her shoulder. "That's how I was hooked, too," she whispered, comfortingly. Everyone else turned away.
Sniffling, Eve looked grateful. "Thank you for your support." She pointed at a thin, skinny fifteen year old at the end of the row. "You next."
The boy stood up and ambled to the front of the room. When he spoke, his voice was low and raspy. "My name is George. I grew up somewhere in Australia, so I had never heard of YuGiOh until I came to America. I was five years old, at that time." Everyone nodded sagely, apalled at this corruption of so young a youth. George went on.
"At first, I lived without thinking much of it. But all my friends were into it. I was always left out, and I felt alone... So excluded..."
His audience murmured darkly, shaking their heads. Adolescence was the perfect place for peer pressure and mass marketing to take hold.
George went on, sadly. "It seemed so cool, and elite. I just wanted to try it, just once. I never thought that it would consume my soul to such a degree." There were pained looks exchanged. The woman who had been comforting Eve burst into tears.
"I tried my first booster back when I was eleven. It was so perfect. It was a great feeling. The first card I drew from the pack-" And here George's voice took on a higher level of enthusiasm, "was a Summoned Skull. Now that may seem pretty rare to you, but 2500 Attack Points is nothing to scoff at. And none of my friends had him yet, because we were all so young and had blown all our money on bubble gum. But it was one this very card that I based my first Trap and Shadow theme deck on-"
"All right already!" everyone shouted.
"Yes, well, thank you, George. It already seems like we have a lot to work with." Eve smiled at the boy as he sat back down. She gestured to the teenage girl sitting next to him. "You next."
The girl got up, black clothes rustling rebelliously. She stood at the front, glaring out over the group assembled before her.
"My name is Tara. I grew up in Washington with two majorly sucky parents and an even suckier education. When they died, I could only go downhill from there. I worked for a while at McDonald's, until I turned on the television at my uncle's house...." Here the girl paused, readying herself.
"...And now I think Kaiba is the sexiest man alive."
"You lie!!" screamed another girl three seats down from Eve; she got up and threw herself at Tara, aiming for her throat. "Take it back!! Bakura is the one and only bishie!!" She raised her arms; she was wearing clothed identical to those of her favorite character. Everyone gasped in horror and sympathy. A small boy in the middle of the row tried to tuck his plastic Millenium Puzzle under his shirt.
"Hmmm... Public cosplaying... Extremely agressive behaviour in defense of favorite character... Blatant use of Japanese terms in daily speech..." Eve mused, ignoring the two catfighting girls. She stood up and raised her hand. "How many here admit to having the type of obsession shown here?" she called.
Guiltily, a twenty-something guy tremblingly raised his hand. Two other girls followed suit. Then, all except two of the girls had their hands in the air. Eve nodded smartly, and still managed to infuse some degree of sympathy into the action. "I see," she said, simply.
Behind her, another girl had added herself into the fray, screaming "Malik is gonna kick all yo' foo' boy's pansy butts!!"
"Guys and girls, we have a lot of work to do," Eve informed them all grimly.