A Doll's Destiny

Clara waited to see if everything would work out fine, and after a few moments it seemed that it did. She smiled. "That's good," she commented back. She could already tell what he was looking at. Someone must have told him about all the cat videos on the internet a long time ago. It was a pretty popular thing. She couldn't help but laugh slightly at the idea of him watching videos about cats. She took another sip of her water then continued to eat her meal so she could finish it.
 
After the video ended, Aiden thought for a moment, before searching for videos on a video game series he overheard people mentioned endless times: Sonic the Hedgehog. He tapped an entry and watched the blue hedgehog zipping through a forest. An occasional three-toned beep sounded every time the character collected a gold ring.
 
Clara finished up her lasagna as he continued to watch videos on her phone. She was curious to know what type of things in the world he knew about already and what he didn't. It seemed that he had least knew of video games. "Have you ever played a video game before?" she asked him. She drank the rest of her water as well.
 
"No, but I certainly would love to," Aiden replied, switching to a video of Sonic running through a desert level.
 
"Hmm, well, I suppose we could look for a gaming console then," Clara replied. "I don't have one, but we could head to the game store on our way back home and pick one up for you. But you would have to decide which one you want. I know there's a lot of them, but I'm not familiar with them." She figured he could probably play them. He seemed to be just fine handing the phone, so a game control should be no problem, even if his hands were small. Kids played them after all.
 
"I'm all for that," Aiden said. "As far as consoles go...I heard there are Nintendo and Playstation ones."
 
"Well, you can get whichever one you want," Clara replied. "I don't know too much, but I'm pretty sure it might depend on what type of games you want to play. Some of the games are for only certain consoles, so you might want to look some of that up. Or we can take a look at what they have at the game store and what games you might want to play the most. Either option is fine." She figured as long as he was happy with whatever he chose, it should be fine.
 
Aiden could only nod as he now watched a gameplay video from a game called Mortal Kombat 11. He cringed with disgust at the bloody, gory imagery. "I...don't think I could play this."
 
"Then you don't have to," Clara replied. "You don't have to pick games you aren't interested in. Just pick ones that you feel like you'd like. And there's nothing wrong with taking games back either if you decide that you don't actually like a game." She waited for the waitress to come back around so that way she could get her bill for the food.
 
"Yeah, think I'll stick to more family-oriented stuff," Aiden switched to a video clip from Monsters, Inc.
Darlene returned a moment later. "How was everything?"
 
"Then we'll make sure to keep that in mind when we're picking out games," Clara commented. She looked over at Darlene when she returned to the table. Clara smiled. "It was delicious. I'll definitely come here again and with Aiden too, if that's alright. I'll take the check now though." She figured they might be okay with him and would be alright for them to return some other time when she wanted food from them again.
 
"Thanks," Aiden said.
"You don't want to see a dessert menu?" the server asked.
 
"Ah, not today," Clara replied. "We've been doing a lot today and still have some others plans so I don't want to feel all sluggish by also adding in a dessert. Perhaps I'll have one next time. I'm sure they are just as good as your lasagna was." She gave her another smile. She hadn't looked at their dessert menu yet, but she could always try it some other time. She just wasn't really in the mood to have one.
 
"Okay then," she placed the bill beside Clara's plate. "There you go."
"Thanks, darling," Aiden gave the woman a sweet smile.
"No problem, hun," Darlene replied.
 
"Yes, thank you," Clara replied. She took the bill into her hands and took a look at it. Then she pulled out the money to pay for it all plus a really good tip. She was really appreciative of the woman being so understanding about Aiden, so she deserved a good tip. "Here you go." Clara then handed the money with the check to Darlene.
 
"Thank you very much," Darlene accepted the bill and mondy. "Have a great day, both of you."
"Thanks, you too," Aiden climbed down from the chair.
 
"You too," Clara said as well. She grabbed her bag and stood up. She waited for Aiden then took his hand again like she had done before. Of course, it was for the same reason as before as well. "So, you want to head to that game store now?" It wasn't too far out of their way so they could go there if he really wanted to.
 
"Yes, please," Aiden grasped her hand and walked alongside her.
 
"Okay," Clara replied. She left the restaurant and made her way to the game store. It was a little bit of walk, but wasn't bad. And the scenery was very nice along the way. When they arrived in the shop, Clara let his hand go so he could look around for himself. There were shelves along the walls that held all different kinds of game. Each section was organized by which console the games were for. "Go ahead and take a look."
 
Standing in the PS5 section, Aiden walked through the isles, black eyes scanned each game, from rated E to rated M, including a few PS5 consoles, digital and disk editions. Facing Clara, he asked, "I'm assuming the digital version is like an iPhone?"