IC INBOX | McGillis Fareed

[vogelfrei]

@McGillis Fareed

monday

---

ABOUT ME

Brigadier General, pilot, bird lover.

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I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Message @monday

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[after carnage but before palaces]

[beathollow]

( ... there's a soft knock on the door. )

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis is in bed. He's not reading because it's proving difficult to hold the book with one hand and also he can't focus.

He's not sleeping either, though so the knock goes heard. ]

Who's there?

[beathollow]

It's Mafuyu. I've brought tea. May I come in?

[vogelfrei]

[ An astounding amount of the Dennihop group are checking in on him. He didn't expect it. Mafuyu, despite her concerning code switching, seems like a very normal girl who should be put off by who he is.

But he's not going to deny her if she's come willingly. ]

Wait a minute. I'll have to unlock.

[ There is no way he's leaving his door open after his dirty laundry is all out in public.

It takes him a moment to get up and make it to the door, but before long it's opened. ]

Come in.

[ McGillis looks dreadful, as should be expected. He's already on his way back to bed. ]

[beathollow]

( goodness, he looks dreadful. she doesn't say that, but. still.

mafuyu's inclination for not showing much emotion saves her, as it lets her remain perfectly neutral in expression, even as she follows him in with the tray. an electric kettle and a mug are on it. as he goes to lay down again, mafuyus sets the tray down and starts pouring a cup for him. )

I'm glad you're resting. While I'm here, do you need anything?

[vogelfrei]

Shalem came by earlier and treated my wounds.

[ Which is to say, he's as fine as can be now. Glad to be laying down again though, because every time he gets up he finds himself dizzy with blood loss still. ]

I'm sorry you had to see all that earlier.

[ He means that and it comes out comparatively easily. She's just a kid, she doesn't need all this. ]

[beathollow]

I'm sorry you experienced it.

( like. yes, witnessing even a shred of it sucked, but she's not the one who nearly lost an arm? please be nice to yourself. )

... Can... I ask why?

[Like a day or two after Argenti Palace]

[goei]

[Once again, it is evening in the dorms and Izou is knocking on the door to McGillis' room. But the vibes are completely different this time.

When McGillis opens the door (presuming he does), he'll find Izou standing there looking especially casual. Though he's still got Hizen slung at his hip, he's not wearing his hakama over his kimono, and he's got house slippers on. Even that much suggests he's not here to fight, but the bottle of sake and two cups he's holding cements it.]

I gotta talk to you.

[It's not a request.]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis has only recently started opening his door without a verification process again. He figures that if Izou was actually going to kill him before the promised time, he'd have lost his patience and gone for it by now. He should be safe until the end of Braphine's assignment, thus, and the 'who are you and what are your intentions' spiel had gotten pretty old anyway.

And thus, McGillis opens his door to find the person he least expected to see in a manner that is honestly more unsettling than being visited by him in full manslayer mode.

For a moment, he just looks between the slippers and the cups, dead silent. ]

... do you now.

[goei]

[Honestly Izou had expected either the door to be immediately closed or this frosty reception so. Things are going as well as they could have, so far.]

Aah. And it's probably better it's in private. I know you got no reason to trust me in a situation like that so I brought a peace offerin'.

[He holds up the liquor.]

[vogelfrei]

[ It's a pretty poor peace offering as far as McGillis is concerned, but he is willing to concede that Izou and him probably just have different ideas about the sentimental value of alcohol.

He crosses his arms... or begins to and then thinks better of it, because the position is still uncomfortable. ]

Well, at least I know you're not coward enough to come and poison me when you could as well have the satisfaction of cutting me down.

[ So that's... one positive judgement of character there? After another moment of hesitation, he steps aside. The room has been tidied up since their unfortunate run-in, but the battle damage still shows in the door area. Otherwise, it's so clean and sterile that it's hard to tell anybody even lives there. ]

[goei]

[WOW AND HE EVEN GOT A NICER BOTTLE FOR YOUR FANCY ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE GOT THAT $20 SAKE INSTEAD OF THE $7 SAKE!!!!!!!

He huffs at the slightly backhanded confident but does come inside. He sits down like he belongs there, because that's the sort of unearned confidence Okada Izou generally carries himself with, before opening the bottle and filling both cups.]

You go into any of those weird doors that popped up in the Nekiya this week?

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis had a dim suspicion that this is what it's all about, but he'd been hoping against hope that Izou has a whole different inane intention in coming here. Izou is right that this is a conversation better had in private, at least. McGillis shuts the door just a tiny bit louder than need be. The air in the room immediately feels heavy and claustrophobic to him. ]

Yes. They were fairly hard to miss.

[ With the door now closed, he comes over and sits down at the head end of his bed, well in reach of the desk Izou is sitting at. The room is not particularly big after all. Jordi's side of it has gone entirely untouched since his death. ]

Say your piece.

Early Week 11, HERE BE NSFW TALK AND DUMB SHIT

[vogelfrei]

[ The aquarium sleepover has come and gone. Oberon is defeated, and McGillis spends the first few days of his first-ever romantic relationship mostly in bed... but in the completely unsexy near-comatose sleepy way. Once that is done with, he actually feels refreshed for the first time in half a month. His brain actually feels like it's his own again, and working too.

This means that he is now hit with the full awareness of how absolutely bizarre his relationship to the people currently closest to him is. No longer sleep-deprived and with the biggest hurdle (dating Izou) already out of the way, he finds himself in the mood to do something about it.

Eli, Celeste and Izou will find themselves with a group text message from McGillis (@ monday): ]

Come meet me at SingSong Karaoke today at 4:00pm. I think all of us should have a conversation.

[ He is absolutely not planning to sing karaoke with you guys, but he does think that after the complete mess that has been the last... several relationship talks... they deserve a SOUNDPROOF ROOM. Dogs bark a little too loudly. ]

[cirquedesang]

[...But what if he did just want a karaoke double date?? The mental image is amusing, if nothing else.

Regardless of if it's going to be a karaoke adventure or something else entirely, as pretty strongly indicated by the "ok we need to talk" tone over text, McGillis will get a thumbs up emoji in response, and Celeste showing up right on time.]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ Unsurprisingly, Eli arrives alongside Celeste. He isn't sure what to make of that cryptic "we should talk" message. Was McGillis... breaking up with them? That sounds wrong? ]

[goei]

[Izou arrives completely without any consideration that this isn't just a karaoke double date.]

Didn't think this was the kinda thing you'd be into, McGillis!

[vogelfrei]

I'm not.

[ As is... probably apparent from the way he's seated in this booth like he's about to conduct a strategy meeting in an active war zone. The vibes are... a little oppressive. He crosses his arms as everyone sits down. ]

But this room is private and soundproof, and after all the last times we had private conversations they never actually wound up very private... it does seem like an appropriate location.

[ Though with Izou looking so cheery he at least adds: ] Also it has room service.

[ There, he's making sure you're all happy. Are you happy yet. ]

[cirquedesang]

[...Skill issue.

But he can't really fault McGillis for being cautious, either, so!

He'll settle in to his booth spot and slide the room service menus to the respectively barky dogs.

No comment about any other reasons room service and soundproofing could be useful... Flustering Izou and Eli is too easy to upset McGillis by taking the low-hanging fruit.]

Post-Fray Palace

[beautifulknight]

[ So, a lot has happened recently - Argenti himself hasn't forgotten what everyone has done for Fray. This includes a certain someone who professed his support because Argenti himself was there - he knows it is because McGillis was being a good friend, and still, it was touching.

There's other subject matters on his mind, but he thinks that first, expressions of gratitude are pertinent. Thus, the red-haired knight goes through the trouble to track down McGillis on his motorbike. When he catches him, wherever he is, he'll take off his helmet and greet him. Maybe it's after work, maybe it's during the day. Up to him! ]

Good day, McGillis! I was hoping to find you.

I am not bothering you at this moment, am I? I would like an opportunity to talk with you on some matters.

[vogelfrei]

[ Let's say this is afternoon on a day without a performance, which makes McGillis pretty easy to catch as he leaves the theater after practice!

For a second, McGillis is confused to be approached by a bike but... actually, he shouldn't have been. That striking red should have been a dead giveaway even with a helmet. ]

Ah, Argenti. Looks like you enjoy speed in all forms?

[ It's neat. ]

I'm free - work just wrapped up, and I have no other obligations.

[ 'Some matters' is... a little ominous, but if he's concerned he won't show it. ]

[beautifulknight]

[ That works! The afternoon sky hangs less forebodingly when he's made his approach - and he leaps straight out of what he's riding, leaving his helmet behind in the vehicle for now. ]

Oh, certainly so!

[ But, he's glad that there is hardly much McGillis has to take care of. ]

Excellent. First and foremost, I believe I shall lead with my expression of deep gratitude ... while we stroll away from potential eavesdroppers.

[ He says, gesturing to where there might be less passersby in the general area where they can stand in talk. ]

The rest does pertain to private things, after all.

But, I would have been remiss if I did not thank you first. You granted words of encouragement in my time of need, yes - yet you also threw your whole being into the collective attempt to rescue Fray.

[vogelfrei]

[ Privacy is appreciated, even if it makes McGillis strongly suspect that what's coming now is a conversation he doesn't really want to have - but also one he shouldn't delay forever. It would be possible to leave here while keeping Argenti at arm's length and never addressing any of the substantial things that happened in the last month, but... At this rate, McGillis can't know if he'd have regrets about it. This too is part of trying to change his approach.

Instead of steering them down the road he usually would have taken to the dorms, McGillis starts them down a side alley that he knows leads to a small park (barely a park, more a pond with a bench). It's usually quiet there. ]

There's no need to thank me for that. At this point, going through Palaces is second nature to all of us, is it not? In a certain sense, I just did my job.

But I am glad it ended well and Fray was returned to you safe and sound.

[beautifulknight]

[ It's probably fine...well, whatever the case, Argenti isn't the type of person to shy away from difficult conversations for better or worse.

At least where they are seems unlikely to stir much attention indeed - enough where there is nothing that can be chanced upon so easily. ]

Just doing your job, yes. Perhaps that can be said of the others as well, though it certainly feels like it had meaning.

[ Because he's sentimental like that. So, anyway, he takes a careful breath, trying to think of a way to navigate this. But, it's kind of also strange to pretend to be ignorant when having viewing someone's close memories, alongside other matters. ]

...The other matters number in two others. First, what I had witnessed...from your private life. I could have very well have never told you that I had, but it seemed - odd. Not right. To at least not come to you about it, and to...

Well, you have always struck me as a very well composed and put together man, even when we were at odds, and many times you had reached out to me in your own way. Perhaps you have already had the opportunity to discuss such matters in earnest, but I could not know it.

And then, there is the other matter, that I had witnessed over the network. Was what you had said then...linked to all of that?

[vogelfrei]

[ And there it is.

McGillis falls back a little before they can reach the bench, just so he's not in Argenti's sight for a moment. That moment, he needs to take a singular deep breath. He'd known this talk was coming after all. ]

So you did catch up on what happened during your period of absence.

[ It would be stranger if it hadn't all reached his ears eventually. ]

... it's linked, in so far as every element of a person's life is linked together. The past does not leave us and it sets us on our trajectory to the future.

But Gaelio - the friend mentioned on the network - was an innocent man. Whatever abuse I endured in my childhood, he was not a perpetrator but rather my respite.

[ He's done a lot of processing about that relationship where he was here. It's maybe the single greatest hurdle he's overcome yet - and now when he speaks Gaelio's name it's with a fond nostalgia only. ]

Knowing this, it would not be a surprise if you considered my actions worthy of judgement.