Adventures With The SMG4 Crew

Accident on Highway Moonview

Me: Glitch, are you sure you trust me enough to shave your whole face? I mean, you've been growing your beard for god knows how long, and I know a man likes his beard like he likes his truck.

Glitch: Just start shaving my face before I buzz that loud mouth off.

Me: Alright alright, I get that your hands aren't the steadiest.

Flicking the buzzer to the on position and examining the pallet swaps honestly-magnificent facial hair, I started by buzzing off his one sideburn and working my way across. Lock after lock of dark brown dropped to the floor, revealing the slight scarring of a distant past underneath the feature of many men's facial construction. Shaking my head and continuing my work, I lightly gestured at the scarring, and all Glitch could do was shut his eyes and inhale rather heavily and release a long-awaited sigh.

Glitch: It was a while ago, few months ago I think? Red and I got into a fight over a Battle Royale match and... let's just say that getting a glass bottle broken over the skull isn't EXACTLY a gentle punch on the shoulder from a friend. Right across the jawline, shrapnel and blood spilling across the floor. Elvin knows how to work his gadgets, but he can't heal the scars left behind. Hell, now that I mention the incident, I think was... even before the group met Meggy for all I can remember, and I don't remember a time WITHOUT her and her shenanigans.

Me: Sounds like it's been a good few years since then. Could I get an opinion on something?

Glitch: Shoot your shot, and I'll give you my upmost honesty.

Me: So who's more annoying out of the three girls that've been around the Kingdom for a recent while? Meggy, Meggy, or Beepie?

Glitch: Well, they have their pros and cons to everything they do, but if I really had to choose... I'd have to call out Human on that one. She's... pretty arrogant, for being what's essentially an Anime Protagonist with no regard for cowardice. I understand she gets a lot of attention and hates it when she's not the spotlight around here, but the group's been pretty segregated for a while now. Japan, Music City, here, etcetera etcetera, there's always such little to do with trying to get the group back together as one. It's... either aggravating or diminishing to say the least I can. Sorry, I got off-topic again, but the other two are pretty chilled... unless you count ticking off the gargoyle, THEN I'm running for my life no matter what.

Me: Yeah, I can understand that, she can get TERRIFYING when she's absolutely steamed. Aaaand, that should do it, completely shaved down to the bare face. How's it looking?

As he gazed into the mirror and examined his newfound style of expression and stroked his hand against his smoothened chin, I clicked the razor off and set it back onto the sink and stepped out of his office room, releasing a hefty sigh from my chest. I leaned against the wall and gazed at my robotic palm, the prosthetic that's been enhancing my own strength by an immense amount, the few dents and scratches on the chrome paint exposed the natural metallic surface underneath, and an understanding revelation formed within my mind. Nothing's forever, there'll always be some sort of replacement or upgrade that leaves the past obsolete, but we can't really forget about what it WAS. It's like an old saying: "If you take Abraham Lincoln's hatchet, replace the head, then the handle, is it still Abe Lincoln's hatchet?"

A soft thud on the top of my head snapped me out of my deep thoughts of philosophy and back into reality, where long flowing locks of cyan blue blocked my vision from everything around me. Brushing it out of my face and plucking the incredibly small Ski off my head and holding her how a cat would be, I carried her resting figure down the stairs and onto the couch where I set myself down with her still on my lap. Running my real fingers through her hair, I was surprised to find that she had the strange ability to purr like a cat would, and I could tell she enjoyed it better when my fingers moved gently from front to back like a hairbrush than just rubbing all over her scalp.