selfhelp | [Action / Voice] House of M Follow-Up

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[Action / Voice] House of M Follow-Up

[So... he's probably delayed this long enough, even if a part of him would love to delay it indefinitely. Not only is it a month overdue, but now that he's home again and fully recovered from whatever had been affecting his mind, putting it off any further will just make things more difficult. Frightened as he is of the consequences, he won't get anywhere if he keeps hiding. It's time to apologize for the damage his spell caused, and make things right... if he can.

First, Billy seeks out those he knows personally, friends or acquaintances whom he remembers being affected or involved. Whether they're people he hasn't spoken to since the spell was in place, or people who visited him while he was possessed and halfway out of his mind, he'll try to be as thorough as possible. Teddy accompanies him from place to place, bless him, and they can be found walking hand-in-hand through the village and talking quietly, though Billy will be speaking with the people he's looking for on his own. Teddy's there for moral support, nothing more; the rest is his responsibility.

After those visits, presumably the hard part is over, but there's one thing left to do - reach out to those he couldn't find, missed, or simply doesn't know, as well as the general populace who'd probably noticed strange things going on at the time. They deserve to know about... well. To put it bluntly, the menace to society that he can be. Not that he'd give that reason out loud. Certain people would take issue with it.

They'd be wrong, but.

This time, he uses the journal network, his voice tentative, worried, and sick with guilt, and it happens later in the evening:]

...Hey... it's Billy. Um, Kaplan. I'm kind of a witch. You might not know me. Sorry if you do. ...Last month, October 1st, I was sent back from a Malnosso abduction... kind of a mess. I wasn't thinking straight, and... I cast a spell. It... it screwed with a lot of people. Badly. I don't know the full extent of the damage it caused, or how far it went, but- I do know that- people were hurt. And I know I might not be able to make things right again, either.

["Might". His hope for that one is still pretty pathetic; the forgiveness he's already received is something of a miracle to him. The day's meetings are still weighing on him, and there's an ache in his heart that refuses to go away.]

...Still. I- I need to apologize. Whether or not the Malnosso were the cause, it's still my fault. S-so I'm sorry. I'm sorry... I'm so...

[....]

...I'm... not going to use magic anymore. I'm done. I'm no good. At it. I mean. I- sorry. ...This won't happen again. And if you want to yell at me, or get a better explanation of what happened, or... whatever you need, I'll... be here.

Thanks. For hearing me out.

[And... that's that.]

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Now that you mention it, I'm afraid I may need some directions, unless you don't mind waiting for a while.

[Pfft.]

Yeah, good luck finding me by checking every single house or apartment... it's #5, though. ...I mean- did you know they have names now? "Ground"? It's the old building 5. Apartment #21.

They have names?

[No, that isn't something he was aware of, as he lives in a house. Hmm, interesting.]

All right, I'll be there in a few minutes. If it takes longer than that, just assume I got lost and call for me on the journals.

Ha... only if you want to get teased for the rest of forever.

[He's... trying to be cheeky, though it's a bit weak. Teddy wants him to be normal again, find his equilibrium. It's harder than he'd like to admit, but... baby steps. Every inch forward is better than a foot back.

Anyway, he'll be waiting in the apartment.]

[Fortunately, Richard will avoid such a thing happening by knocking on the door several minutes later... though he was tempted to take longer just to see if it would cheer Billy up a little to think of him as having gotten lost trying to find the apartment.]

[Billy's the one who answers the door, with an expression that looks like he's mentally bracing himself for a gutpunch, either literal or verbal. His shoulders slump when he sees that it's Richard, and he steps back to let him in.]

Hey...

[Richard gives him a soft smile in return, stepping inside to allow Billy to shut the door behind him.]

Forgive me for making such a sudden request of you, but I thought you could use some company after everything that's happened.

No... it's fine. I don't mind. Teddy had to take Optimus out, so it's just me, and...

[Well, he'd told Teddy to go out for a bit, have some time for himself and his pet. But now that he's made the announcement, he's kind of regretting not waiting for his return. Not being alone is kind of nice.

He should at least try to be a good host, though.]

Do you want anything? We've got snacks, stuff to drink...

Just a cup of tea will be fine, thank you. But please, feel free to have whatever you'd like for yourself.

[He's well aware of his own issues with food and he'd rather not inflict them on other people if he can help it.]

Optimus... I recall you mentioning that name before. Is that your dog?

Yes and no. He’s supposed to be Teddy’s, but… well, he’s a dog. He loves everyone.

[Though Teddy is the obvious favourite. Billy’s okay with that, since he does have his cat. (Who thankfully is no longer shunning him.)

Billy leads the way inside to the kitchenette area, where he gets a kettle boiling for tea. Hopefully Richard doesn’t mind the lazy-man’s teabags; he and Teddy aren’t big tea drinkers.]

[Any kind of tea is just fine by him, thankfully. He's not picky, especially not when most of what he can find in the stores here are teabags as opposed to loose-leaf. Tea is tea, and that's all he really cares about.]

I wouldn't know that much about dogs beyond what I've heard. I've never owned one myself, and I'm not sure how Tiger Festival would take having to share the house with one. She seems to be quite happy having all of the attention to herself.

Tiger Festival?

[That's an interesting name for... something. Or someone. He's honestly not sure, with this place.]

Yes, she's our cat. The name is something Asbel came up with when we were children. He didn't exactly have the best sense when it came to names back then...

I can't really point fingers. My cat's Mr. Mistoffelees, and the dog's full name is Optimus Prime. Silly names abound, I guess.

[Richard perks up a bit at the mention of the cat's name.]

Mr. Mistoffelees, as in from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats?

[Oh-ho! There's a reference he knows. He actually perks up a bit.]

Yes and no! It's from the musical that's based on that book.

They made a play based on that book?

[Oh, now he's excited.]

Fantastic! If only I could have a chance to see it...

Man, I wish we had YouTube. I could show you most of the scenes with it.

[Actually-]

I have a lot of the songs, though. Do you want to hear a few? It's pretty awesome.

I would love to, if you don't mind. I'm curious as to how they managed to adapt the poems into songs.

[This is so exciting oh wow!]

[Well, thankfully the kettle has good timing and boils about then, so Billy pours some hot water into a couple of mugs with teabags in them. They can steep while he finds the tunes.]

Okay, just give me one sec, and I'll grab my computer.

[Off he scoots to his room, in the process nudging a small black cat off his bed in the hopes that she'll come out and socialize. He's back in less than thirty seconds with a laptop under his arm.]

[Even though he's seen them a few times before, these computer things still fascinate Richard to no end. They remind him a bit of the displays in the shuttle or the strange devices they encountered in Telos Astue and on Fodra. He doesn't know the first thing about how to use them; he just finds them interesting.]

I'm still amazed how such a small device can hold so many different kinds of things.

If you think that's impressive, you should see what my Starkphone can do.

[Considering i's even smaller...

He sets the laptop on the table and wakes it up, browsing through his music directory (which is enormous and in need of some serious sorting) before queuing up the first song.]

Here- my cat's namesake, so to speak.

Your Starkphone?

[But his question is quickly forgotten as Billy puts the music on, and he leans close, just listening.

It isn't long before he's swaying his head from side to side in time with the beat and smiling.]

This is quite a catchy tune. Something tells me I may end up with it stuck in my head for the next few hours...

That's the true power of Cats, really.

[Billy queues up a few more tracks and lets the laptop do the rest of the work, turning his full attention back to Richard.]

So, you've read the book?

[Richard nods, still smiling.]

Yes, many times. I found it in the library here when I was looking for something new to read. I picked it up at first because I was curious as to how one could write an entire book of poetry just about cats.

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