linkingup | THE END 2.0: THE AFTERPARTY

[ At the end of it all, there is a day like every other.

Waking in the dorms, in a room that is half his own and half mausoleum to a man he barely knew but had a hand in killing. Grabbing a quick breakfast in the communal kitchen, long before most of the others are awake. Making his way to work... It's a day like every other, except for where it's not.

Last night, McGillis called his troupe leader at Sunset Theater to announce his sudden retirement. Today, he's coming in to pass some last advice to his understudy. By the time he gets out of the theater, it's past noon and he has a giant bouquet of flowers in his arms. There's a card attached, dangling by a ribbon, and any onlooker can see a wealth of signatures and well-wishes. For his part, McGillis looks a little baffled by his gift.... Is he supposed to take this to Chaldea with him?!

Later in the afternoon, McGillis joins the group of people doing packing and cleaning at the dorms. Safe for the aforementioned giant bouquet placed in a vase on his desk, McGillis' room already looks completely cleared out. There's a packed suitcase in a corner. McGillis isn't done here though - through the open door, you might be able to see him taking the mattress out of the bed to air it out, or dusting the wardrobe, or similar activities. He's leaving this place spotless.... his half of it, anyway.

He can also be found... at the hunting store, buying more ammo for his gun. After the battle is before the battle - he knows he's not going to a peaceful world, and he might as well spend his remaining money to be prepared. You might also catch him browsing bulletproof vests... ]

[ McGillis will feel a little bump from something soft against the back of his head while he's in the middle of dusting the wardrobe off. Eli's chosen to creep up on him while his back is turned to the door and should McGillis turn to face him, he'll see what was being held against his hair, too.

It's a cute little sloth plushie from the claw games at the arcade. Eli managed to win two. The second one, for whatever reason, he has decided is going with McGillis here. ]

You really going all out in cleaning, huh?

[ Bwuh?? McGillis does indeed turn, and thus finds himself staring into the button eyes of one tiny sloth. He looks appropriately baffled by this turn of events. Eli??? ]

... might as well leave the room clean and give Mina less work, now that we've condemned her to humanity.

Huh... I guess that's a good reason to.

[ Does that mean Eli will clean as thoroughly? Nah. He'll ask Arven to, though. Good ol' Arven, the only reason their room isn't a repugnant trash pile. Anyway, he'll draw the sloth back a bit so it isn't entirely up there in McGillis' face. ]

I got something for you. They didn't have any wolves in the crane game, but I figured a sloth is good. You know, to remind you to slow down sometimes.

[ Well, this at least makes it slightly easier to behold what he's looking at. It's... certainly round and soft-looking... McGillis pokes a finger against its forehead. ]

A rather direct message.

[ A sloth... His perfect antithesis. ]

Though you've figured correctly, I have no intention of slowing down at all...

[ He can't even deny it. ]

... but a lot of my work for the next while is going to consist of research, so that's as good as a vacation.

[ All work and no play, huh? So that's how it's going to be. Regardless, he'll hold the sloth out for McGillis to take. He will not escape the cute sloth. ]

Figures... Good thing Izou will be around to make sure you don't get too boring.

[ After another moment of raised eyebrow, McGillis submits to his fate and takes hold of his new sloth son. He gives it a little squeeze. Soft... ]

You say that, but who's to say I won't be the one rubbing off on him instead? Maybe he'll be a boring old nerd before you know it.

[ Hard to imagine, even for McGillis himself. ]

Nahhh, that'll never happen. He's too much like me. If you sat him down to do paperwork with you, you'd get tired of his whining pretty fast.

[ Eli can't imagine it, not even a little bit. ]

Maybe if it were poetry, though. He was all about the crap in his palace, wasn't he?

Mhm, now that's a theory I need to test out. I may not be able to get him into textbooks, but maybe literature isn't entirely impossible.

[ Izou could like heroic epics! McGillis likes heroic epics! This might work, thank you for the idea, Eli! ]

And if he hates it, I'll tell him he has you to blame.

What?!

[ Excuse you, McGillis?! Blame him?! Eli pulls a big ol' startled face for a second. ]

He couldn't blame me if you gave him the books! That doesn't make sense!

[ ... why is Eli taking this so seriously. Oh no.

(Just how pissed does he think Izou would get, anyway....) ]

You gave me the idea to bore him with it in the first place, no?

[ Izou is a big overreacting goof, same as Eli. Of course, how could he not take it seriously?! ]

Tch, I guess... Just don't give him anything too dull.

I'll make sure it includes lots of swords.

[ The literal kind, not the horrible sex metaphor kind. Though hopefully that euphemism is finally banned for good now??? ]

Not that I am going to have to try very hard, I do enjoy a good heroic legend.

[ Deciding to follow Izou home and be his man only guaranteed the sword metaphors continue and even possibly get worse. Sorry, McGillis. You're doomed. ]

Yeah... I guess Izou's place really is the right place for you, then, huh? Since you're about to be surrounded by talking, walking heroic legends and shit, yeah?

Mhm, judging by all he has told me I'll be in for some surprises. The books I have read in my world do not seem to match the reality of his all that closely.

[ Which is a fucking bummer, honestly. Everything Izou mentions sounds like hot nonsense and not aesthetically pleasing at all!! ]

But it'll be immensely intriguing, too.

Hey, at least you'll have some idea. If it were me, I would end up telling nearly all of 'em they aren't important enough to learn about anymore.

[ But only because Eli didn't technically go to school... ]

[ McGillis laughs at that. ]

There's going to be plenty of that from me as well. Izou's world is somewhere between half a millenium or a full millenium before mine. Much and more is completely lost to time, tragically.

I had not even heard of Izou's revolution before.

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[McGillis isn't terribly hard to spot around the city, carting around his giant bouquet. It's not a terribly unfamiliar sight, and Celeste immediately knows what's happened. He resigned from the theater. He'll be well-missed. He was given a parting gift that's entirely too unwieldy to take along on a move.

It's almost comical how similar performing types are.

But he suspects this would be McGillis's first round with something like this. So he shows up to his dorm room later instead of pestering him in the middle of the sidewalk, a few handy things in, well, hand, and gives a polite knock on the open door before stepping in.]

Not planning to return for an encore, I see.

[Next to the vase he sets a heavy book, a pad of watercolor paper, and a couple of the fattest rubber bands you ever did see.

And then he holds up some scissors and does a little 'snip-snip' gesture in the air.]

You'll want to keep at least a few of these, so... May I?

[ McGillis raises an eyebrow how perfectly Prepared Celeste arrived here. ]

Will I now?

[ He's been assigned with sentimentality against his will! But he's smiling about it. Celeste can't see it because the suitcase is closed already, but there's a theater flyer neatly tucked away inside of it. He may have never taken his relationships to the locals particularly seriously, but the time he spent on stage was still incredibly fun. A little glimpse at a life he might have lived in a better world that he can't even truly imagine. ]

You can go ahead either way.

Eventually.

[He might not be feeling particularly sentimental now, and maybe he won't in the future, either, but if he was? Wouldn't it be a shame to not have all the possible mementos?

But with permission given, a few select blooms of each type will be unceremoniously decapitated (and then the stems artfully hidden) so they can be arranged between paper and pages instead.

Should McGillis look, he'll see the book itself is related to the play as well. Perfectly Prepared indeed.]

I haven't regretted doing this over the decades, anyway, even if it did feel a bit silly the first few times.

[ McGillis is absolutely watching this process curiously - not that it's a great mystery what Celeste is doing, but it's nice to observe him doing it. Especially with how thoughtfully he chose all of this, even the book... ]

Well, at the point where I look back at this with relief to have kept it, I'll finally concede that you know me better than I know myself.

[ Which wouldn't be that much of a surprise at this rate. ]

You have a whole collection, then?

[It's a simple process, sure, but in some ways, the easier a process is, the more elegant it appears when executed with finesse.]

Hah. I have decades on you... if our positions were reversed...

[Then McGillis would know him more intimately than he knew himself...]

But, yes. They're... the only books I keep with me, actually.

[Too busy to read, you understand.]

[ Looking at Celeste as some kind of vision from his future is... weird, and he elects to not entertain the thought any further. It is true, at least, that the man had significantly more time for introspection.

McGillis, at least, likes to muse on things. If Celeste does too... Well, it's terrifying to imagine what 90 years would do to such a brain.

But anyway! He does not understand, actually! ]

The only ones?

[ WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T READ. He looks... concerned. ]

[...Perhaps a slightly more whimsical vision from the future, but that's certainly the circus influence.

But. Oh. That concerned face...]

Yyyyes? I. Tend to use my free time to practice...

[The hyperfixation is real.]

[ ... he can understand prioritizing your craft, but... ]

Maybe the similarities between us are more superficial than thought.

[ He is... probably joking.

Books are an integral part of his being, okay!! ]