selfhelp | [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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just about, yeah.

[See how very ashamed he is not.]

It's just better with more materials to work with.

If I start to get it wrong, just tell me.

[She thinks she has the basic idea though and she begins tying things to other things.]

Don't worry about it. There's really no wrong way to build a blanket fort. As long as there's a place to sit inside, it's fine.

[He drags over the desk chair and drapes a blanket over it, creating part of a wall and pinning it down with books.]

What do you do once you're inside?

Whatever you want- talk, eat, sleep, curl up with a good book. It's basically like camping indoors. It's a big tent to escape from the world for a while.

It sounds wonderfully peaceful. Have you ever built a snow fort?

Lots of times, yeah. Back home, I lived not too far from a really huge park, and every winter we'd go there to play in the snow, me and my little brothers. They liked that kind of stuff.

Did I know you had brothers? [He does seem like an older brother.] Besides Tommy, I mean. I'm sure they love you very much.

[That was something she used to want, siblings. There were family bonds there that no other set of people could have.]

Um, probably not? I don't bring them up a lot. Thinking about family's hard when it's been so long.

[He shrugs at the last bit, though.]

And nah- they're just brats. Especially Tommy. He always says he's older, though, despite the fact that we're twins.

[With no family left, Mia doesn't quite share the feeling, but she understands it in other ways.]

Does it bother you when he says it?

[The fort looks pretty decent, even in so short a time.]

[The fort looks great, and no one can convince Billy otherwise. He takes a moment to look it over, and then, satisfied, he climbs inside and flops down on one of the pillows within, gesturing for her to follow if she wants.]

Not really? I mean, it's kind of dumb to bicker about that when neither of us know, but in a way, I'm grateful. If that was his way of getting comfortable with the idea of us being brothers, then I'll take it.

[Never one for flopping, Mia climbs into the fort more slowly, settling against one particularly fluffy pillow and looking around.]

It really is very cozy in here. If I'm not careful I'll fall asleep.

I wouldn't mind falling asleep in a place like this. Though I guess it would be kind of weird if it wasn't my own apartment.

[Maybe once it gets dark and he can see the stars on the ceiling... he'll have to ask Teddy. The blankets are all off the bed now, anyway.]

[Oh. Did that mean it would be kind of weird for her to do that here? It probably would, even though Billy and Teddy always made her feel welcome.]

Well then, I will do my best not to. [She looks around once more, unable to quite settle.] Did you have a lot of trouble today?

[Man, and he was getting so into the smalltalk.

...Or he just wants to avoid the serious stuff. Either way, he shrugs.]

Not... a lot. Less than I expected, to be honest. But it's not like I've been totally forgiven for what happened, either.

[Some people are worth more to her than small talk and Billy is one of them.]

Less than you expected, though, that's good.

...Well. It definitely can't be called bad, I... guess. Save for one or two issues...

[Something he won't get into, but haven't entirely sullied the rest.]

Good. I'm glad there were only one or two issues.

[She is fairly fluent in 'drop it' so her attention is free to head to other things.]

I should have brought a snack.

[He's all too happy to switch topics, so he latches onto that for dear life.]

Are you hungry? We've got plenty of stuff around here.

Oh, no, not really. It would have been a nice thing to do, that's all.

[She almost always brings something when she appears here - or anywhere else, for just about anyone else.]

Hey, no argument here. Food is always nice. I'd offer to cook or bake something, but I'm nothing but fumble-fingers in the kitchen most of the time.

Oh! But do you have ingredients? I could make something for you now if you're hungry.

Is this what you usually do when you come over to someone's house?

[It's kind of adorable.]

Not all the time. [It's dark under the blanket ceiling, so hopefully he can't see her turning red.] I like to help, and sometimes that means cooking, I suppose.

[He can't, lucky her. Though he might be imagining it a little.]

I think you'd be trying to help a hopeless case in this instance.

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