[FIN] We Meet Again

[Suudonym]

Well, Luke was sure that idealism and optimism could cause their own problems under the right circumstances, but he accepted the dismissal nonetheless and followed through the door.

Luke was faintly surprised by the topic Abel addressed - primarily because it was one he had been thinking about how best to broach - and responded with an appreciative nod, "I'd be really grateful for anything you can teach me. To be honest-- I mean, the shooting range is definitely useful for learning the basics, but only being able to shoot in a controlled environment like that doesn't really help me much." It was all well and dandy for recreation, but being able to hit a stationary target while standing in one place and taking the time to aim wasn't particularly helpful to the combat situations Luke often found himself taking part in.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"All right," the blonde replied with a smile, his hands in his pockets again. Good, he was glad to offer it again - especially out of earshot of his superior. "Yeah, it doesn't really help for practical stuff like that. It is useful to practice in sometimes - I go in there sometimes to fire a few rounds, myself - but for practical applications, I go elsewhere. 'Elsewhere' is usually a wide open, empty section near the beach, as long as no one's around and I know I won't inadvertently hit anything or anyone while I'm practicing. Safety first," he ended with a single nod, because to him, safety was the most important point.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure you have my number, but I can give it to you again if you don't. You can hit me up whenever you want to go out and practice a bit, we can work out a good day and time when neither of us is working," he offered with a smile, then amended his statement with a chuckle, "just, not right now." Even if he would've liked to do nothing more than help Luke out, he was still dead tired after working in the back all day - plus it would be late soon, and visibility was important, so actually it was probably better this way anyway. Still, the whole idea excited him; giving lessons was his favorite part of his job, so the opportunity to further help someone with more practical training only made him all the more eager to do it.  

[Suudonym]

Luke nodded his understanding, giving a word of agreement. The beach seemed like it would be a good setting for that sort of thing, bordered on one side by a nearly limitless expanse of open ocean and, at the right time of year, practically deserted. It would be a feat of ill fortune to hurt someone accidentally in an environment like that.

"I had to get a new phone, actually," he explained, withdrawing the gear from his pocket and preparing to input the number. He'd managed to salvage a lot of his contacts from Rosie, through the grace of them knowing many of the same people, but there were inevitably some that had been lost. "Right. Sorry to hold you up like this; I appreciate it." For now, at any rate, it was most prudent to invest some effort in live firing. There was a bit of putting the cart before the horse involved in making plans to learn self-defense firing techniques before becoming comfortable with the sound and feel of a gun's discharge.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, okay," he responded, his brows raised a bit, but shrugged it off as he offered his number for Luke to put into his gear. Once that was done, he shook his head, "Nah, don't even worry about it. I don't mind standing around and catching up and stuff, but anything remotely productive is out." He paused a moment or two, then tilted his head a bit as he asked, "What happened to your phone? If it's okay to ask."  

[Suudonym]

Contact saved, Luke returned the pokegear, still new and glossy, to his pocket, wearing a tepid smile in response to the memory that the question drew. "It was stolen," he said, "by the Rockets that attacked me. Although I'm... not really sure why, actually. They returned my pokemon and let me go, but they kept my gear."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel's eyebrows rose even more at the explanation to why Luke had new gear. "Shoot, that sucks. No wonder you want to work on shooting practically," he said. After something like that, he couldn't blame him one bit. Really, though, trouble seemed to follow this guy like a shadow or something. He hesitated briefly, then gestured a hand to the weapon at Luke's back, "Is that why you've got a sword?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke gave a nod in return, "Yeah. I'm a decent trainer, so up until now I've been relying on my pokemon, but..." He frowned; he didn't mind explaining the details, but it was a bit of a long story to tell unsolicited. "That doesn't do a lot of good if you get separated from your pokeballs," he summarized.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, yeah, you can't really defend yourself that well if your primary method of defense is taken away," he agreed, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck as he frowned thoughtfully. "It'd be like if someone took my gun. I don't train my pokemon to battle because I was never that into the sport," the blond said with a shrug as he shoved his hands back into his pockets and looked at Luke curiously, "though I'm gonna guess you don't train yours just for that reason, huh?"  

[Suudonym]

Another nod, "I've never trained pokemon for sport, actually. For me, and for a lot of my friends, it's for defense." He lifted and dropped a shoulder in a partial shrug, wearing a light smile. "I mean, it's a pretty good source of income too, but that's more an added convenience than anything else."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

That... actually sounded like a good idea. Recalling the first time he'd helped Luke, and the time he'd helped Dove, both times likely would've gone much better if his pokemon were trained for combat. It wasn't always a good idea to whip out his gun whenever he needed to defend himself - the possibility of injuring an innocent bystander was too great - so maybe that would be something to look into. He raised a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "So you want me to help you out with shooting," he said, then pointed at Luke with a curious expression, "you wanna help me out and give me some tips about pokemon?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke spent a brief moment looking mildly surprised before nodding his accord, "Sure, if you'd like me to." He still doubted that he would make for much of a teacher, but he at least knew from introducing Nicolette to the activity that he could cover the basics and point someone in the direction of resources for self-learning.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel smiled and nodded, "Yeah." It seemed like a fair trade to him, at any rate. That done, a short conversation ensued about what days each were free, and when a specific date and time was agreed upon, the blond raised a hand in parting before turning to head to his car.