I officially introduced Rory, right? Well, if it wasn’t clear before, he’s the guy who actually got the tiny upstairs apartment Lance and Eskimo first went to look at in Jeria’s house. He was at the holiday party, talking D&D with Krys. He’s probably the character in L&E most closely based on a real person (including Chefelf).

The salute depicted in the four-panel sequence in the upper right is an actual multi-part salute frequently performed by the real-life Rory and myself circa 1999-2002. The steps are:

1. Sideways salute. We were given to understand that this is a sign of disrespect given to soldiers being dishonorably discharged. This piece of information is vital to understanding the rest of the salute (although it is unclear why and how we are both dishonorably discharging each other).
2. Tear the stripes (or other signifiers of rank) off the other person’s sleeve.
3. Throw the stripes down, spit on them, and grind them beneath your boot.
4. Walk away five paces.
5. Turn back, giving a look of disgust.
6. Walk a further five paces.
7. Turn and run toward each other, joyfully screaming.

The best part about sharing an elaborate unison choreographed sequence with a friend is that it amazes and confuses bystanders. Lance is pretty unfazed here, but (1) he’s undoubtedly seen the salute at every stage of development, and (2) he is unfazed by most things.

Sorry about the dashiness of the art in this strip; I’m still flailing to catch up.

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