video

[smitesevil]

[ Sanger shows up on the Warp Band network one fine day, looking completely grim and serious as he usually does. ]

My master always said that if swords can be kept sheathed, all is right with the world.

[ And if they must be drawn, destroy the enemy with great prejudice, but that's not the point here. ]

Yet it hardly seems that way. Though there is no great enemy to fight, there are always rumblings of something more to come. Enough that I can hardly abandon my duty as the Sword that Smites Evil and put my blade aside.

[ A pause. He seems to be gathering his thoughts. ]

So what is there for a sword that must keep its edge to do during times of peace?

Comments

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

[ ...Haruka waits to make sure Ferrari the Nidoking isn't around before starting her feed. The last thing she needs is for a recovering Romantic to learn that some people besides Trainer really do talk like the theater's scripts. ]

Honing yourself can get lonely.

[video]

[smitesevil]

[ Theatre scripts have to come from somewhere, and somewhere is apparently people like Sanger and Haruka. ]

If man could train forever and always get stronger, I would do so. Unfortunately that is not how it works, so I must seek other ways to use my time. Staving off loneliness and boredom is but a part of it.

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

So you're looking to sharpen yourself against someone else's blade?

Sounds pretty rough.

[ She's a mature adult. ]

[video]

[smitesevil]

It hardly needs to be a blade. I doubt there are many swordsmen who can keep up with me.

[ He doesn't make it clear if Haruka's 'maturity' is rolling off him or if he hasn't noticed it at all. He really just doesn't care, though. ]

This is still preferable to where I was just a month before. It is a privilege to worry about not having anything to do.

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

You could get a job.

[ There are even jobs where you get to handle your sword. In public, no less. ]

[video]

[smitesevil]

[ Ouch. Did he look like that much of a bum? ]

I have a job. I am the Sword that Smites Evil. And until I was presumed dead, I was a major in the Steel Battalion.

[ He'll return to that... once he's ready. ]

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

Then what kind of an answer did you want from the city?

[ If not a second job offer?

Don't tell her your sword takes both hands to wield! ]

[video]

[smitesevil]

I was simply asking about ways to pass the time between jobs. I cannot afford anything permanent for a sword must always be combat ready.

[ Although his sword does take both hands to wield. Not like that, though! ]

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Right, right. Haruka laughs. ] Your Pokémon can help with that.

[video]

[smitesevil]

How so? I only have the one partner so far, but I could bond with more if that were the case.

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

What are your partner's interests?

[ Haruka, for example, has learned a lot about clothing in the past year or so. Not always willingly, but Natto's gotta Natto. ]

[video]

[smitesevil]

My Gouwan here...

[ His Beldum floats into view and beeps. It's a Beldum, it floats around and beeps. ]

It enjoys flying head-first into things and trying to break them.

[ They can't actually do much else. ]

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

That's...useful for sparring.

[ Though, man, that description oddly endears this Beldum to her. She has known some Rhyhorn with similar hobbies.

Minus the flying bit. She does not know any flying Rhyhorn. (Alas.) ]

[video]

[smitesevil]

It is also extremely proficient at demolition work.

[ If Sanger's joking, he's doing it with a completely straight face. But well, a Beldum flying around smashing into a brick wall would take it down in short order, so even if he's joking, he's completely correct. ]

It will be a long time before it is a match for me, however.

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

[ If Haruka were more prone to introspection, Gene the singing, dancing Wooper would have just been put into serious perspective.

As is, any contrast slides right off her back. ] No time like the present.

[video]

[smitesevil]

I should persuade it to evolve. It seems content to stay a Beldum and bash into things until an appropriately dramatic moment.

[ So... is Sanger, honestly. ]

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

[ Eh, give the gods some time. They've been providing a surplus of appropriately dramatic moments (and no proper denouements, in Haruka's opinion) lately. ]

Include it when next you ask around. Somebody might find that combination useful.

[video]

[smitesevil]

[ If this were a play, Sanger would exist to show up in the second or third act as the cavalry, so he thrives off of dramatic moments. ]

A Beldum that enjoys smashing things? I suppose there truly is something for everyone.

[video]

[actsmagnificent]

It's an accepting city.

[ And he'll have to keep petitioning it at large for things to do. Haruka's got nothing except sword jokes. So she flashes a last smirk at the camera. ]

Good luck.