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Call Me Out - Once Upon Post-Game Threads!
McGillis will spend the majority of his time with Hamelin, Jack and Yuri - they will establish a real household in the Beldam dimension as soon as they are capable of using those powers properly. Come visit! Or plot something else out with me under
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That's certainly good to hear. [Your betrayal track record is a bit mixed, McGillis.] I think we can be off, then.
[She hates these glittery portals, but at least there's bathhouses around town and one in the monastery itself. She steps through, with one last glance at the world that she is leaving.
She has made this trip a dozen or so times now, and it is still deeply disorientating to step through these magic gateways and come out the other side worlds away with nothing but glitter to show for it.
When she does land, she lands in a clearing in the forest, around an hour's walk away from the monastery proper. She finds her footing quickly and gracefully. She turns and checks to see if McGillis followed her, and if so, he has not fallen face first into the mud or something. Not that that's particularly likely to happen, but it is a concern of hers.]
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Jumping through the portals is always a little weird to McGillis as well, even if they do it quite often. The first time passage to a world he has not entered before is also always exciting though. There is so much to know and see in the multiverse that he simply never anticipated and the part of him that is still adventurous and curious is living.
Landing in a forest might not be immediately fascinating, but he still takes a long glance at the flora first of all to check for any immediately visible oddities. ]
We have arrived safe and sound, Lady Edelgard.
[ ... is that how he's supposed to address her? Better to work it out right now. ]
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Good to hear. It would be very unfortunate if the multiverse decided this was the time that our trip was unsuccessful.
[She brushes off any twigs or leaves from her hair.] Hubert, my right hand, will be staying at a campsite nearby, he's... eager to meet you, though fair warning, he will not be quick to trust. [Putting it lightly...]
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[ McGillis does have some self-awareness about this. Hubert is extremely valid. Of course, McGillis won't trust him either because he has very little interest in being eliminated due to being perceived a threat to Edelgard's safety... ]
Have you told him any of that truth?
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[And a product of this broken system, but that's a rant for another day.]
You'll also meet the Death Knight within the next few days, he's a criminal vigilante named Jeritza under my employ. He will not bother you.
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They sound like an interesting few.
[ It really makes McGillis think that he misread Edelgard so badly in the early weeks they've known each other, thinking she would not associate with such types. It is rather nice to be wrong though. ]
I've brought a few guns for teaching and taking apart. Hopefully someone named 'Death Knight' will have an agreeable time with that.
Anyone else I need to know about?
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The idea of Jeritza with a gun is a bit disturbing for her, but it's too late to go back now.
She realizes, only now, that yes, she has left out a rather important detail. A detail she only learned very recently.]
I'm not sure how applicable this will be to your situation but... apparently, in the time I was missing, it was discovered by Hubert that I have... erm.
A living step-brother. [A beat of silence.] He's the prince of one of our potential future rivals and stands to inheirit the Kingdom as soon as we graduate. The plan is to get him on side, but... still, he might also seek to talk to you, so be very careful about what you reveal. [He's also a whole lot more violent than Edelgard initially thought, so she's really feeling the booboo the fool energies.]
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[ Well, that's awkward. McGillis' expression makes very clear that Edelgard has his condolences for... whatever is going on there. It could be convenient enough to pull some strings via their sort-of relation, but... McGillis shudders to think what panic might have even lead to this reveal in the first place. ]
It would be only natural for him to seek out your entourage in an attempt to understand you better. Frankly, I doubt I could reveal anything concerning about your person to him. For weeks on end I was convinced your idealism would prevent you from taking necessary if also more shady measures.
[ KIND OF EMBARRASSING, REALLY... ]
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I'll do my best not to shatter that image then, shall I?
[She's almost a little offended, but it's not like she can blame McGillis for that presumption.] I wouldn't describe myself as an idealist. I find the idea of preconceived lines or absolute rules to be hypocritical at best and actively destructive at worst. Alexei is a good example of a man who wishes to change the world clinging to his ideals even as they actively harm his goals. I respect his intentions and everything I know about his empire's political structure suggests the worst, but I personally do not think he will succeed in the end.
If anything, I'd say chasing the more cynical avenues has been what has shot me in the foot thus far. You and your Piper taught me a lot about that in the game, honestly. [You're not entirely useless, McGillis. You can be used as a bad example.]
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"My Piper", really now? Yuri will take offense.
[ He's joking, of course. ]
What kind of personality is your step-brother as opposed to you? How honest we can be to him from the get-go depends a lot on his baseline disposition.
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I'm sure she and Huaisang would be willing to talk terms. [Do Hamelin and McGillis get a say? Nope.
And then he gets to her... brother and she frowns, clearly a bit apprehensive.] He's... painfully honest. Honourable, righteous and very easily manipulated. He doesn't have the means to change the world on his own. I'm not even sure if he wants to, he's a follower of the church after-all.
Faerghus is a lot different from Adrestia or even Leicester. Following the doctrine of the church is unquestioned there, there's no room for heretics or dissidents against the system of nobility. They raise their children on poisonous ideals of chivalry, on how noble dying to serve your liege really is, on how honorable unquestioning loyalty is. We've spoken a few times about it, and he agrees that it got Glenn Royland Fraldarius killed, as well as countless other knights. But... still. He's young and idealistic, believing that everything can be solved if everyone just talked it out.
That's all what I thought, anyway. Supposedly he is... well, Hubert described him as mad with a thirst for blood. Hubert draws pictures of his father's mangled corpse in the corners of his workbooks, so understand that's not coming lightly. Dimitri apparently seeks vengeance against those who killed his father and my mother, and then pinned the crime on a neighbouring allied people, who were then subsequently annexed and had a genocide committed against them. [Her lip curls in disgust.] He believes it was my uncle, the man who murdered my siblings. He's right. And my uncle has made it so that I am culpable of everything he has done while we're "allied."
Lucky for everyone involved, I have no interest in keeping that man alive any longer. Between everything I've gained from the Beldam's little game, and the possibility of an alliance with the Alliance and the prince of Faerghus... I have no need of him. So, I imagine his head will be a valuable bargaining chip for winning the prince over to our side.
Whether that means an alliance with all of Faerghus is possible, however, is another matter. I doubt it. They love Dimitri because he is a return to tradition after an era of upheaval. Most of his vassals will rebel if he declares on my side of the war. But his classmates are at least loyal to him, so we'll see.