maskormenacelogs | Mexico shenanigans group log [OPEN]

[ Gansey eyes him - though now, at least, he does reach for another shot. ]

You are aware I'm seventeen, aren't you? That's a lot more shy of the drinking age in America than it is here.

[ Here he's cheating by months. In America it's years. And he still does it sometimes, he's not an angel, but he's not foolish about it. ]

Anyway, being here isn't so bad. I've certainly been in worse places lately.

I'm also aware that age is only as much a limiting factor as you want it to be. If you truly want to do something, nothing's going to stop you, including age, morals, or the law.

[ aka cheating schmeating, if Gansey wants to get drunk, Dorian is almost certain that the kid knows ways to get drunk. And as for that being in worse places.... ]

How was the sub, by the way? I'd imagine cramped and claustrophobic, but did you learn anything interesting?

[ Gansey, whose Charmspeak would easily solve that problem in this world - and whose general influence would probably solve it in his own - can do little but smile, and tip his glass to Dorian in agreement. Then he downs a second shot, and feels the burn of it begin to spread heat through his veins.

He taps the glass on the table while he talks. ]

It was unpleasant. I learned enough about Soviet foreign policy to know what they mean when they say that they know what's best for us. That's why we left. [ 'We', meaning Gansey and his gangsey. He and Ronan were persuasive. ] I talked to their AI, the one that brought us there. They genuinely don't even think of us as human.

[ His eyes fall back to the bottle, and he pours another shot for each of them. ]

[ Dorian reaches towards the bottle as Gansey talks because he'll be damned if he lets Gansey outdrink him. However, he retracts his hand once Gansey goes for the bottle, letting the kid pour the shots. Instead, he'll simply listen, frowning a bit a that revelation. Huh. ]

They had you trapped and where they wanted you for a week or so. If the Soviets were genuinely worried we weren't human, why not take a DNA test? I'd imagine they'd do it anyway, just to see how the superpowers tick.

I didn’t say they were worried.

[ Gansey swallows the drink back, and this time feels the beginnings of fur in his head. That’s what he’d been after, so it closes his eyes for a moment. It also makes it easier to talk, of course. ]

They didn’t seem afraid. They seemed willing to ignore our humanity, and then crowd us into a room with few amenities, specifically to make us less comfortable. They see us as objects, not people. They want to use us.

Nothing they say would make me willing to go to their seminar, Dorian. Not after that.

[ Dorian frowns, listening to Gansey as he continues talking. How...interesting. He and Toby skipped out of the submarine so he knows very little about what happened. And the more Dorian hears about the submarine, the more interesting the Soviets sound. ]

I don't blame you for skipping out. I have a feeling most people would have taken the opportunity if offered. [ as for some other things... ] What else did the AI tell you?

Billy didn’t.

[ Which worries Gansey more than he can say. He’d tried to get Billy to come, and he’d refused.

Another drink precedes his next answer. He’s more willing to talk as his eyes grow less focused, but it’s also lowering his mood with every drop. ]

It said the Americans had kept us in luxury, and didn’t understand that we wouldn’t…flourish that way, I suppose you could say. It said that we weren’t being used properly and the Russians intended to do so.

There was no attempt to court our loyalty. I’m assuming that means their plans don’t require it.

Don't worry about him, [ Dorian idly responded, with a small frown. ] I plan on finding some way to convince Kaplan to come down here come hell or high water.

[ Because Dorian's heard about what's going on inside the hotel. He also knows that Billy doesn't have as much control over his magic as he thinks he does, what with Dorian's undignified death at the hands of a toilet. It's safer for everybody's sake if Billy just gets d own here now.

Dorian watches Gansey as he continues talking...and as his mood plummets. He still wants to know what happened on the submarine (kept us in luxury? The bare necessities were luxury???), but there's no use forcing Gansey into a depression, especially since he's the only one of Team Raven who Dorian currently tolerates (and he STILL eventually wants to find out what the hell's up with Team Raven). So, he listens, frowns, and then sighs in a petulant manner, with a little huff. ]

God, if I knew how depressing talk about the submarine would be, I wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. Besides, now I worry that all this talk might end up souring the tequila. [ Keeping things focused on himself and his own self-interest, pure Dorian. ] Time to change the subject! Have any plans while you're in Mexico?

[ Gansey's head snaps up to look at Dorian. He's worried about Billy, too.

Sometimes Dorian seems unspeakably self-centered, and it's impossible to forget that he's the man from Wilde's story. Then at other times, he hints at a better nature that's surprising when it shows itself. This is one of those times, and Gansey files it away. This is the Dorian he wants to know.

The same one who's quick to give him an out from talking about what ails him, for which Gansey feels immediate gratitude. ]

I tried convincing him. He wouldn't hear of it, not even after what Kitty said. I tried again, then.

[ He reaches to fill Dorian's glass again, and gives him a little smile. ]

Easy plans. Try to forget the damned submarine, visit my old haunts and see if they're the same.

And watch the Network, I suppose. Wait for news. Yourself?

[ Hinting at a better nature that's 75% self preservation but okay, better nature, he can roll with that.

And oh. Her. Dorian can't help but wrinkle his nose a bit at the mention of Kitty. He didn't like her before and this 'rah rah, I'm suddenly a Communist' bit only makes him further dislike her. ]

You'll find that I'm annoyingly stubborn and not at all above being needlessly petty to get what I want. I'll ring him up and find a way to force him down here.

[ By threats of pure annoyance. Hey, whatever works! As Gansey fills his glass, Dorian matches that smile and, once Gansey's finished pouring, knocks back another shot. ]

Drink in the nightlife and spend some quality time on the beach. Two things that really, shouldn't surprise anyone. [ There's a brief pause. ] But to go back to a certain point, you have haunts in Mexico? Surely the ley lines don't have anything to do with Quetzalcoatl or anything like that.

[ Dorian MASSIVELY butchers the pronunciation of 'Quetzalcoatl'. ]

[ Gansey passes his collection of citrus wedges towards Dorian, and shrugs. ]

Ley lines criss-cross the globe, connecting important mystical sites - or it might be more accurate to say that sites associated with myth and magic are often located along ley lines, no doubt taking advantage of the energy they emit. I always knew that I was looking for a ley line, and Glendower. Which ley line was always the question. Teotihuacan was always a site that appealed.

[ Gansey leans back. Even with alcohol clouding his mind, this is still a topic about which he can wax lyrical. It's like he has his journal in front of him, with its notes on the pyramids and what, crucially, had not been found there. He, of course, mispronounces no part of this. ]

Quetzelcoatl did interest me for a while. Do you know one of his animals is a crow? It's the same family as the raven, and of course Glendower is the Raven King.

Unfortunately I never found a viable connection between the two. It was worth looking, but ultimately, I had to move on.

[ So he knew about Mexico simply because it was a possibility. Willing to consider Teotihuacan just because it had the potential of a ley-line. How interesting. But, Gansey mentioning Quetzelcoatl meant that Dorian took that as full invitation to be a mythological snob.

After all, when you've encountered goddesses, golems, banshees, zombies, you tend to read up on all sorts of folklore and mythology just to be safe. This is entirely his wheelhouse. ]

Odin's got ravens as well: Huginn and Munnin, thought and memory. [ Those words he doesn't mangle. ] Of course, if Quetzelcoatl didn't have a viable connection, Odin probably doesn't either. Irish mythology, however...ever thought of connecting Glendower to the Morrigan?

[ This is what Dorian loves. Just being so pretentious and talking pretentious with Gansey, like they're talking shop or something. ]

[ This is what Gansey loves, too. When it comes to myth and magic, Dorian is right on his level. It’s impossible to ignore that sort of interest in someone else. Dorian takes it seriously, and Gansey’s life has been full of people who didn’t. ]

I thought of Odin, too. I went to Iceland after London. That’s a landscape unlike any, right between two tectonic plates. I thought there was a chance…

[ But he shakes his head again. ]

Nothing. Didn’t feel right. And Ireland, Jesus, there’s so much to work with there. I’d give the Morrigan more credence if she wasn’t so aggressively female. And, of course, she’s a goddess herself. I’m looking for a warrior King who was served by Magicians.

[ A little pause, then, and he smiles at Dorian. ]

That’s not to put you off, though. I know there’s a story behind that proposal. Let’s hear it.

[ Dorian matches that smile and then launches into a full-blown myth geek talk. ]

If we fudge some definitions, we've got Cú Chulainn. Irish warrior, though the king part's not entirely accurate. Aided by the Morrigan a few times, cavorted with otherworldly women, here's our magicians. And we've got your birds, as the only way his enemies could tell that he was dead was when a raven perched on his shoulder. [ He pauses for a moment to let that sink in, smile even wider. Suck it, a plausible theory!

...that has a few holes in it that Dorian's going to address. ]

Of course, Irish isn't Welsh. And again, the biggest problem is the flexibility of the word 'king.' But I'm much more liable to go to bat for the Irish side of things over Welsh considering I met a banshee.

[ Gansey's smile doesn't leave, but the lift of his shoulder has an air of dismissiveness. He's not going for this connection, clearly. ]

The biggest problem is that he's not Glendower, Dorian. Glendower isn't a Welsh myth, easily confusable with an Irish demigod. Or actual god, depending on whether you believe Lugh is him or his father -

Anyway.

[ He waves his hand, pressing on. ]

I don't struggle for belief in Irish folklore, but I don't think Glendower is part of it. He's himself. Where other tales of magic interest me is in their usefulness in locating ley lines, since I know that's what Glendower's people are searching for. And also since finding the ley line was as important as finding Glendower, for me.

[ The voice in his head had spoken of both. The ley line and Glendower. He had always been sure of their connection. ]

I suppose that's where we differ. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Glendower was tied to some already established folklore because that's just the sort of life I live.

[ he's dealt with goddesses, demons, golems, ghosts, banshees, werewolves, and a homicidal imaginary friend, why the fuck not, let's add Glendower to there, ley lines and fey folk and whatever the hell else, it's not like his life can get any weirder to begin with. ]

I could see someone mistaking him for that, I suppose.

But he's a historical figure. Tied to magic, yes, but with a mythology of his own. My search has been all about trying to find where he was taken.

[ He pauses for a moment, expression thoughtful. then he leans forward, bright eyes full of animation. ]

When he died, his magicians carried him along the ley line. Tying down...which ley line that meant, and then once found, exactly which part of it he may have been laid to rest upon...that's been the difficulty. I've never doubted the mythology itself.

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, isn't there a higher chance that the ley line is in Europe? It'd be damned hard trying to cart a corpse across international waters, even taking into account how far back Glendower died.

[ Especially taking into account how far back Glendower died...Dorian's not entirely certain about ancient embalming techniques. Of course, there's a high probability that Gansey's going to say "but magicians" which really means that Dorian should just cut him off right now... ]

Unless these mythical magicians did something. I still don't know what they would be capable of, by the way.

[ Gansey holds up his finger. ]

Sleeping. Not dead.

[ He leans back, idly pouring another shot while he talks. ]

I thought of Europe as well, of course, first of all. It's not for nothing I spent years travelling around, searching for any sign of him. But, look.

[ He takes the shot, and then fishes for his journal. He flips it to one page in particular, until he comes to a roughly drawn image superimposed over a map of the world. ]

These are the ley lines relevant to Glendower. You can see how they pass through the UK, connecting it to elsewhere. I didn't know which one I was looking for. I was only ever told, 'the ley line', and 'Glendower'. So it was a matter of searching, narrowing down possibilities, searching for clues that connected a place along any of these lines, to him.

That's what I found with Henrietta.

[ A little pause, while he leans back again. ]

And then of course there's the fact we found his daughter sleeping in a cave there. She seems reasonably sure he's close. I'm on the right track, I don't have any doubt of that now.

My point still stands, [ Dorian mutters, as Gansey flips to his journal. He's still not entirely sure how much of this is actually true and how much of it is Gansey having a conspiracy theory...but he has to admit, the entire thing's amusing in an odd way. He's so determined! Quite frankly, it's adorable.

and wait what hold the phone daughter in a cave, this just got even weirder, Dorian did NOT KNOW about that part. ] Let me guess, the magicians did something to her also?

Mmm.

[ Gansey nods. His expression isn't exactly happy, though - certainly not the kind of thrilled 'I told you so' that ought to come with this moment. ]

But it wasn't anything grand. They punished her, for the crime of being a witch. She's half-crazed from the experience.

[ He takes another drink. It's maybe a little more than half-crazed. ]

She lives with Blue now. At home, I mean.

[ This is not fun, let's go back to the fun bits. Dorian just kind of wrinkles his nose as he frowns because again.

Not fun. ]

Sounds lovely, [ in a tone that implies no, it is not lovely, not lovely in the slightest. ] So what, they kept her alive simply because?

They kept her awake.

[ Gansey's head rolls a little to the side. It's clear by now that the alcohol is taking a toll on him. He's all but lounging in his seat now. ]

Buried face down, in a tomb, never able to sleep, always aware. It was a punishment.

Even so, she managed to do good down there. She's a strange creature. Glendower's Magicians did that to her. Before you ask, no. I don't know why, and I don't know if he knew.

I think he was already asleep when they did it.

[ Dorian is less drunk. At least, less drunk than Gansey to know that Gansey, poor kid, is getting close to drunk. So, Dorian pours himself a shot, moreso something to do with his hands as well as giving Gansey the impression that hey, he's keeping up as well! Though he's not going to throw back that shot until he takes full advantage of semi-drunk Gansey to press him for information.

The question now is, what. ]

You run into all these fantastical things in your world. Ley lines, Glendower's daughter, magicians, Ronan's creation power...you're giving me a run for my money!

Edited (since I forgot whether Dorian knows the specifics of dreamness or not) 2016-04-05 03:11 (UTC)

[ That resonates with Gansey after just a moment's delay, like it took an extra few seconds to sink in.

Ronan's creation power? His eyes slide over to Dorian. ]

I've not run into magicians. Would be magicians, maybe.

What do you know about Ronan? That's a funny thing to say.

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