XIII.

*as of 05/09, here is my updated portrayal of gallagher. a lot of these follow canon as we know it, with some personal embellishments.

gallagher is a HISTORICAL FICTIONOLOGIST whose goal is to fulfill the last wishes of his master and father, MIKHAIL, THE WATCHMAKER

he created DREAMFLUX REEF as a way of preserving the primordial dreamscape, and created the meme SOMETHING UNTO DEATH as a way of transporting people to it.

as a historical fictionologist, his existence is FABRICATED. he appears and disappears whenever he likes, donning whichever appearance and identity he wishes. his physical form is not corporeal, and he will very likely disappear as soon as you realize he's fictional.

i can't shake the thought of gallagher being one of the last people to be adopted by the watchmaker like i don'r know why but to me he seems younger than micah. the thought of a hotblooded young gallagher who grew attached to this father figure only to have that taken away from him like Yeah i would also remain stalwartly by his side for years and years

He was never a courteous man. Always with a quip to say, always with an insult to sling. Sarcasm became the language with which he spoke to the world. It makes sense. For a pathstrider of the Enigmata, no one's really supposed to know what they mean. Some veil themselves using flowery words. Gallagher does through wit. No wonder they called him hound—with a bite and bark as magnificent as his, it's hard to not see the wretched dog spirit he embodied. But with Mikhail, something inside him always seems to soften. His words don't land quite as harsh as they usually do. His remarks are never quite scathing. "Old man" grows to be a term of endearment; rolled eyes, a hug. As if mirroring his transformation of the dreamscape itself, Mikhail always manages to turn Gallagher's edge into something sweeter.

Perhaps that's why he grew attached to his mixologist act? Was there something about taking things and bringing out their better flavors that reminded him of good ol' pops?

He can't say for sure. It sounds plausible. Mikhail always did encourage him to try out new things.

Gallagher sighs. He looks out from the precipice he stands on, gazing into the memoria moon. Mikhail's body rests next to him, basking in the same silverlight. Gallagher brings out his flasks, twists off its cap, and has a sip. The taste is bittersweet, perhaps more of the former than the latter. Gallagher is silent.

"Guess I'll be going now." he says to Mikhail. Mikhail says nothing back.

Gallagher takes another sip; heaves another sigh.

"Y'know, it's strange. I was just getting used to all this. To being Gallagher. But now I have to leave."

Silence again, save for the lingering chatter that always rang in the air of Dreamflux Reef. They numbered not too many, yet the people that this primordial dream attracted were always the lively sort. Gallagher thinks about this and laughs. Then he takes another sip.

"You know how it is with us Enigmata folk. Lies can only exist so long as they have the reason to. I don't, anymore, so…"

He moves to drink from his flask but finds that it's near empty. He has to tilt his neck to feel the rest drip into his mouth. After he finishes it, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and lets out an exhale. He closes his eyes and hums.

"It was great, though. It really was. In the end, it all worked out." he opens his eyes. He turns to look at Mikhail's resting body, cradling that dream bubble like a child, smiles, "You sneaky old bastard. Staking everything on a crew who you didn't even know would return here. Was it worth it? Are you happy out there?"

Silence once more. Gallagher sets his flask down.

"I'll just have to find that out for myself. Let me join you, old man. Let me meet you in hell."

He takes a breath that grows deeper, and deeper, and impossibly deeper— then eventually stops.

the journey g.alladay have gone thru is insane from being the most toxic yaoi to lowkey doomed (ok g.allagher "if it weren't for these cursed paths we could have had good talks" the history fictionologist) like???? idk i'm eating it up

i really would have like seeing g.allagher's reaction to s.unday's whole thing with the order during the charmony festival. especially as he admits that he doesn't really have a lot of faith as a follower of the enigmata + s.unday's whole spiel talks about faith explicitly.

i also do think that g.allagher still has a general dislike for the family, and that he only brought up cooperating with s.unday because he thought he could have taken him up on his offer.

so... guess who was right about g.allagher being a historical fictionologist? DING DING DING! mik wins! and i clocked a decent chunk of his lore, down to him being fictional.

"but mik how did you know he might have not been real" BEHOLD:

i may have only cited this in a different meta post, but i've been aware of this curio for a while now and thought that it could have alluded to the fact that g.allagher wasn't real. in addition to this, i also suspected that the name of his light cone, "what is real?" could have also alluded to this.

SO. HE'S NOT REAL. not even in the sense that his whole schtick is fabricated but, rather, his whole being is 'fictional.' what does that mean for him moving forward?

prior to this, in my head, i always believed that maybe g.allagher was confined to the dreamscape—or at least, this version of him was—and the version of him in reality was a completely different person. now that i know that he might not even be real, i will recalibrate my portrayal:

g.allagher can manifest in reality, he'll just be an illusion. a smokescreen. an illusory automaton. think of it as similar to how b.lack swan manifests. he'll seem no different from the average person—but will disappear once you know he's fake.

also (i'm planning on writing a whole nother meta post for this) but i'll probably tweak his interactions with s.unday specifically a bit more. he's not as spiteful as i make him out to be, but he is still teasing and a bit of an ass, which i will definitely keep.

i'm so bummed they seemed to just ignore him by the end of this story quest btw like i would have loved to see his reaction to s.unday's form. i just know he would be PISSED

SIDE NOTE: in the final end credits scene, did y'all catch how g.allagher was played by penacony like?!??!?!?!?!? i have a whole other essay i could write about that