Walter looks surprised at first, then confused (and still comically grouchy), but as Leon keeps talking, his expression goes sober and attentive. He plunks himself down in a chair to listen, shooing a Pokemon away and briefly eying the corner of the room to make sure they're taking the Magikarp somewhere else.
He still doesn't quite get...most of the background here; it seemed strange and unreal the first time they swapped stories, and it's not any less strange now. The kind of fear Leon's describing right now, he can barely comprehend - what exactly does "despair" mean? What's to fear from thrown balls? His own strange fear is a simple, lifelong phobia, no particular reason, nothing complicated there.
But he's roughly familiar with the other kind of fear, even if he can't completely understand it himself. Gun-shy residents of Tokyo, flinching at odd times and weeping to themselves. One man in Shibuya who couldn't bear the sight of blood (when he walked down the corridors, he kept his head down and trembled.) Twitchy Samurai with vivid scars. Probably most revealing of all, life stories told by Gaeans, who drowned their own terrors in rage and bloodlust.
So maybe Walter doesn't get it. He can certainly accept it, though.]
There's worse. [Heading that off, because there is always worse. Don't jinx yourself.] But I can't say I envy you.
[And...huh. Maybe it's Ramza's conspicuous absence talking, but Walter doesn't feel too bad about being told something like this. It's almost a relief, actually - he's not used to the kind of isolation he'd come up against lately, so he's not going to turn down what's clearly an offer to...well, to realtalk. Something his life has sorely lacked ever since he gained something worth talking about.]
So - what you told me before, about being herded into this sport, and wanting to do something else, where does the fear come into that? [Because you seemed pretty decisive about that on its own (which he gets), and being afraid of flying balls is pretty terrible in general, but the way you're talking now...]
LOCKED
...Oh whoa, this is getting heavy fast.
Walter looks surprised at first, then confused (and still comically grouchy), but as Leon keeps talking, his expression goes sober and attentive. He plunks himself down in a chair to listen, shooing a Pokemon away and briefly eying the corner of the room to make sure they're taking the Magikarp somewhere else.
He still doesn't quite get...most of the background here; it seemed strange and unreal the first time they swapped stories, and it's not any less strange now. The kind of fear Leon's describing right now, he can barely comprehend - what exactly does "despair" mean? What's to fear from thrown balls? His own strange fear is a simple, lifelong phobia, no particular reason, nothing complicated there.
But he's roughly familiar with the other kind of fear, even if he can't completely understand it himself. Gun-shy residents of Tokyo, flinching at odd times and weeping to themselves. One man in Shibuya who couldn't bear the sight of blood (when he walked down the corridors, he kept his head down and trembled.) Twitchy Samurai with vivid scars. Probably most revealing of all, life stories told by Gaeans, who drowned their own terrors in rage and bloodlust.
So maybe Walter doesn't get it. He can certainly accept it, though.]
There's worse. [Heading that off, because there is always worse. Don't jinx yourself.] But I can't say I envy you.
[And...huh. Maybe it's Ramza's conspicuous absence talking, but Walter doesn't feel too bad about being told something like this. It's almost a relief, actually - he's not used to the kind of isolation he'd come up against lately, so he's not going to turn down what's clearly an offer to...well, to realtalk. Something his life has sorely lacked ever since he gained something worth talking about.]
So - what you told me before, about being herded into this sport, and wanting to do something else, where does the fear come into that? [Because you seemed pretty decisive about that on its own (which he gets), and being afraid of flying balls is pretty terrible in general, but the way you're talking now...]