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[Please witness a one Billy Kaplan. He is covered - well, not head to toe, but there's plenty of uh-

...sewage, let's just say, smeared on him. In varying degrees. It's gross. At least this video doesn't have smell-o-vision. But whatever, he looks exhausted.]

Okay.

Okay, I fixed it, you guys can relax around your toilets now, okay? They should all be not-alive anymore. If there are any that are still chomping or trying to murder people, let me know, but seriously, if that's the case, that might not be my magic.

[He runs his hand through his hair and realizes-]

Oh, that's disgusting-

[And the video cuts out.]

[ooc: thank you for participating in this dumb plot! With this post, all toilets should be no longer alive, but wherever they were when his spell broke is where they'll stay until moved back. Feel free to harass him to help move things where they belong!! Also, any destruction caused by the toilets has not been fixed, either.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Of a leyline in Virginia?

No, but, to be fair, I don't really ever think about leylines. I mean, I know what they are, theoretically, but it's not like I borrow magic from them, so it's not like they're that important to me.

[ Well, this is a deviation from the kind of magic Gansey knows. A very strong one. He leans forward, entirely invested. ]

You don’t use them at all?

Where I’m from, the energy from a ley line is responsible for everything from arbitrary electrical power cuts, to surges of demonic energy, to ghosts manifesting along its path. That’s why they’re also called Corpse Roads, but – I’m getting ahead of myself.

[ As he always does, with this topic. It’s one of his favourites, and it’s innately connected to his favourite of all. ]

That same energy also makes both psychic, and magical powers stronger. It helps to focus them and give them strength. You’re saying they don’t have that affect on you?

I think if we're going to talk about this, it needs to be in person.

I need to get cleaned up and stuff, but, uh. Maybe, like. Tomorrow? Next week? I mean. I guess I'm free tonight...

I'd like that.

[ You have no idea how much he would like that. He looks delighted. ]

Tonight suits me. Not that there's any rush, of course, but --

If you're offering.

I'll need to shower. But yeah. Okay.

You're where?

De Chima.

But don't put yourself out. I can be somewhere else if you'd like.

[ He doesn't know how, actually, and he says that before he thinks about it. He's so used to just going everywhere in the Pig. He doesn't even have a rental car yet.

He could get a lift, though, probably. That had been easy enough before, what with how persuasive this place has made him. ]

It's a lot easier for me to get to you than the other way around, I can pretty much guarantee that.

Well then, in that case.

Apartment #008. We've only recently moved in, so there's not much here. But at least it's quiet.

[So Billy does clean up, he showers and magics and gets not-smelly and not-covered in sewage and shit, and about forty minutes after they finish talking he's knocking on this door.

He's not entirely sure what he's doing. Staving off depression, maybe? He met Gansey once, and this is where it's led him? But he can't just sit around the house moping forever, can he?

(No, he can't, he really really can't.)

So he knocks and does his best to not look awkward.]

[ If Billy looks even remotely awkward, the Gansey who opens the door appears not to notice it. His smile is bright and eager. It tries, but does not quite manage, to match the brightness of his aquamarine polo shirt. Beyond that, he's wearing combat pants and wire-rimmed glasses, which he had not sported at the swear in when they met. He pushes the door open wide. ]

That didn't take long at all! It would have absolutely taken me longer, you were right.

Come in.

[ He's already moving away from the door, and heading to their kitchen area. There isn't a great deal here, but there are essentials. ]

Do you drink soda? I thought we might order pizza while we're at it.

Oh, well. Teleportation. Tommy would probably say it was slow, anyway.

[He takes a step in, and immediately looks around. The first thing he thinks is that this place could use some wards - and puts a kibosh on that. Better not force magical barriers on other people; though if Puck takes an interest in him, Billy'll put up wards so fast it'll have the little jerk's head spinning.]

Yeah, soda and pizza are great. You seem pretty comfortable for someone who just got here.

[ Gansey smiles at the thought that he looks comfortable. He doesn’t entirely feel it, but he shrugs while he pulls cans of coke from the fridge. ]

I’m living with friends. It could be worse, but honestly, it all just feels like a well dressed hotel room.

[ The cans are brought to the coffee table, and Gansey points at the couch. The number for a local pizza place has already been stuck to the fridge, not solely in preparation for this. Gansey is not used to cooking anything that doesn’t involve a microwave. ]

It doesn’t feel like home. Which is just as well, since I don’t particularly want it to. Make yourself comfortable, Billy. And tell me about this friend of yours who thinks instant travel is slow. What can he do?

You don't want any personal touches?

[Billy's apartment, the one he shares with Kitty, it's a mess, but it also has so much of Billy and Teddy and Kate in it.

He decides that maybe he should help Gansey out with this settling in thing. He finds a seat, flops, gets comfortable.]

Tommy? He's not my friend- well, okay, he is, but he's my twin, more distinctly. He's a speedster. I don't know how fast he clocks in at, but it's fast enough that he can move through walls.

I've only been here a few days. I don't know how long this will last, either.

[ Honestly, he's hoping not long. The most Gansey has done to personalise the place has been to buy a mint plant for his bedroom. The scent of that is more attached to him than the apartment, though; he keeps the leaves in his pockets.

He returns to the couch with the phone number in hand, and the coke cans under his arm. One of these is offered to Billy. ]

Walking through walls is impressive, I'll admit. Does he happen to be here?

[ Because Gansey wants to meet him, if so. ]

You'd better tell me what you like on pizza, before I get something you can't stand.

No anchovies, basically-

[Billy accepts the can of soda with a muttered thanks, and nods.]

Oh, he's not here. And walk is sort of...a nice way to say what he does through walls.

[ There's a pause while Gansey orders - deep pan, half sausage, half avocado, no anchovies - and puts the phone down.

The smile he turns back to Billy is cheerful - far more so than the vibe he's actually getting off the boy, which concerns him a little. Gansey is the kind of person who knows melancholy when he sees it. He tries to keep his excitement tempered. ]

Your family is really quite remarkable. I'm sorry he's not here, though. And not just because I'd like to meet him. Do you have others from home?

[ Gansey would personally be far less happy without his friends from home. He's not sure how he'd cope, actually. ]

You really have no idea.

[His family is an absurd disaster, but-]

My mom has magic, like me. Our uncle, her twin, he's like Tommy. Our grandfather has power to manipulate metals. I think our cousin might be normal? I haven't met her, but-

[He shrugs]

I'm sort of here alone. My boyfriend just went home.

Edited 2015-09-27 16:20 (UTC)

[ They're a whole family of magicians. That's genuinely incredible. Gansey's hand has moved to his face, his thumb brushing across his lower lip. They're like something from a comic book.

He is careful not to say this.

But he looks startled, then, and all of a sudden, Billy's melancholy makes sense. ]

Oh.

Oh, I'm sorry, Billy. I wouldn't like it if my friends left without me, and that's...worse, somehow. Much worse.

You're certain he's gone?

Yeah, I mean-

[He goes quiet a moment, and his voice does one tiny wobble, just one.]

My tracking spells are perfect, where Teddy is concerned.

[There's more to his depression than this, but Teddy, he misses Teddy so much, he just wants Teddy back, to the point where he would destroy the world to get him, if he thought it was even remotely possible.]

[ God, that's awful. Gansey sympathizes at once, and easily. He would hate to be left behind. He would find that genuinely difficult. He leans forward, leaning folded arms on his lap, and looking at Billy. ]

That's terrible.

How long had you both been here?

He wasn't here long. A few months. I've been here a year and a half.

[He sighs, and leans his head against his hand.]

I mean, it's not all bad. This place, it's not that it's home. You know it's not. But when you make friends here, it's okay.

[Of course, he says that, staring down the business end of big D Depression.]

Well, you’ll still have that. You won’t be alone.

[ Gansey says that in a decisive sort of way, as if he intends to see to it himself.

He’s Gansey. He’s likely to try. ]

I’m grateful you came here, under these circumstances. Listen, we can forget the talk of magic. We can do something else. Take your mind off all of this, whatever you’d like.

No, no, I mean, it's a nice distraction, really. It used to be all I could think about anyway so I've spent a lot of time doing that.

Like.

Questions? I'm happy to answer them. If I can.

[ Gansey looks at him for a moment, wondering what he should do.

In the end, he decides to take Billy at his word. There's no point in talking this to death if it's not even going to help. So, a distraction, it is. ]

Well. It's what I said, really. I wondered if the energy from ley lines had an affect on you, or I suppose, whether you could affect them, if you wanted.

The upshot is that I want to see if it's possible to locate them, here. Trying for that without some sort of starting point would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but if I knew someone who could sense their power...

[ He trails off, looking at Billy, and then shrugging his shoulders. ]

It's a half-baked theory, I know. I just wondered if it was possible, in theory.

[Billy thinks about it for a moment. He wonders if those weird grids that he found back home were like leylines, and he thinks about his own magic-

And his wardnets, those work in sort of straight lines (no, curved, those lines are very distinctly curved, but they're curved in a weird mathematical way)]

Okay, so, to get the idea right - there is natural magic, I guess, but I actually think it comes from me, not towards me? In my world. Here it's different, but if there is a leyline, I could probably theoretically find it. Are they kind of...better visible from above?

[Billy is thinking of that view, when he finally managed to corral Mother.]

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