A wild HONEDGE appears!

[ofpromisedvictory]

[Action - The Verdant Forest]

[On your way to/from Caldera for the festivities? Wandering out in search of Pokémon? Fleeing from a flock of Spearow? Odds are that you might run into a Honedge wandering the woods. They're not completely uncommon in Union, but finding them in the wild outside of ruins is almost unheard of. Too bad it's not Shiny...]

[It's definitely behaving oddly, though. Rather than going for the immediate attack, as many Wild Pokémon do, it's...lurking. Observing, actually. It's too honorable to lurk. But it seems to be hesitating about approaching for a little bit.]

[At this point, you can choose your path, almost like it's some sort of visual representation of a novel with multiple options given to the reader:]

1

[Approach the Honedge with Pokémon ready to attack, or with a Warp Band as if you're about to try to bond it (she, actually), and she'll unsheathe herself, ready for a fight.]

2

[Start speaking plainly, or wait long enough for the Honedge to get comfortable, and the Honedge Shifts into the form of a young lady in an old-fashioned dress, who immediately bows in greeting.]

Greetings. I ask of you - do you know the way to a place called "Union City"?

Comments

[ofpromisedvictory]

I am partly a Ghost-type myself. As you've noticed, though, it is hard to get an appropriate name from that, so you may call me Saber.

[nippy]

Well, that's a better name than just plain old "Sword", I guess.

[ he's teasing, and gives her a quick smile to show it. he isn't sure if it's a Shifter thing or if it's just in her nature to be so stiff and formal, but either way, she doesn't seem like she has much of a sense of humour. ]

How come you're headed for Union? It's a nice place, don't get me wrong! Just not a particularly interesting one.

[ofpromisedvictory]

Indeed. Fortunately I gained some skill with the human language when I gained this form.

[That's her idea of joking back, really.]

And out of all the human settlements, Union is the one that sounded most...amenable, based on rumors.

[nippy]

You're probably right about that, so you picked well. As for the others...

My advice is to stay the hell away from Sanctuary. [ there is a hint of something sharper, more serious, in that warning, but it's gone as soon as he continues: ] Caldera's nice enough, even if it is a fiery death-trap. Citadel too, but they're kind of weird? Aaand I don't know much about Refuge, they keep to themselves. Sounds like they're real touchy about the gods, though.

[ofpromisedvictory]

I will be cautious around Caldera, but the last three seem reasonable. Any group is going to be a bit different.

[Especially when they're humans, who are weird.]

[Naturally, however, curiosity is the first human trait she picked up.]

I do need to ask. What's wrong with Sanctuary particularly?

[nippy]

It's full of Magi, a lot of whom are seriously messed up. For years, they've been making these experiments on humans to turn them into these, like, artificial Enlightened. They're magical constructs called Homunculi.

[ he says this all with careful detachment, his tone light and casual even though there is a thread of tension underneath it. ]

Anyway, they said it was just to fight Gigas, but now that Gigas got kicked out? They won't give the Homunculi program up. It's torture, they brainwash people, take away everything about the person they were before just to make them into some mindless puppet... [ there is clearly more he could say, but he cuts himself short there and just falls quiet for a moment instead. ] So. They're bad. End of story.

[ofpromisedvictory]

[That's a lot of information to take in. She can tell something that bad when she hears it, though.]

I see...those kinds of measures for the sake of fighting are bad enough...you say they do this to humans?