The Remembers Assemble!

[cannot_flinch]

WHO: Team With Memories & New Memories
WHERE: City Public Library
WHAT: Everyone gathering together to find Billy.
WHEN: After the He Row Announcement
WARNINGS: TBD



The City Public Library was an elegant old brick building on the edge of town. It was beautiful inside with large windows and plenty of soft places to sit and read. Right by the check out desk there was a tropical fish tank with a rainbow of fish.

Ikora actually quite liked this part of her identity quite a lot. All the pre-Golden Age technology was quaint and simple but she loved the feel of a book in her hands. She would miss this once they returned to Temba.

Which might be sooner than she thought. The intervention of the Agrii had finally given them a direction. None of them had a good idea for the source of this little world as the Agrii or the forces in control of the Agrii or many things. Now, they knew who to find.

Of course... how to find Billy was another question. She had one of the private study rooms in the library reserved for their little group and anyone else that might wander in with memories returned. Ezra was very helpful in spotting those.

Cayde was very exuberant when he spotted them which was not very welcome in a library.

"Here." Ikora put a few water bottles on the table. "Help yourselves. We have more in the back."

They would be talking for awhile so she imagined water would be needed.

Comments

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I know Billy's last was Kaplan," Ezra says. "That's what the directory in Temba said. But names here aren't always the same. And I know Billy and Tommy's family history was uh, complicated? So I wouldn't be suprised if something else got borrowed from that."

He frowns. "But I don't know enough details to guess."

[demjiin]

"What do you mean by 'social media'?"

Kaz asked Ikora frowning a bit. In the world he came from there wasn't even such a thing as the internet.

"There isn't much aside from a name under 'He Rows' on these devices."

He indicated the smartphone briefly, agreeing with Ezra.

"But the image of his face would be enough to find someone resembling that image. The question then becomes what will it take to break out of this reality."

Kaz thought it would be easiest to put a bullet in Billy's brain but he doubted such an idea would go over well in this company.

[cannot_flinch]

"Social media is a way for people to connect and share things like pictures, updates on their lives, and so on." Ikora knew that type of media had continued into her day and age. Guardians liked to take selfies with her which was something from pre-Golden Age. "And I doubt our devices would have what we need. We need to work within the technology of the time. A school directory or whatever teenagers use for social media here."

Ikora didn't know but perhaps asking one of the teens that visited the library would get them somewhere. Or at least, get them pointed in the right direction.

"Even though Billy doesn't go to the school anymore the school records are probably our best starting point." She looked at Cayde. "I imagine sneaking into a school would be a fun evening activity for you?"

If he could be quiet.

[deal_me_in]

"We can only guess that anyone related to Temba has seen or heard that broadcast. I don't know if that'll work in or against our favor with Billy though. If he's locked into this world's mindset like others, seeing a message like that could just make him more paranoid. He already looked ready to bolt back when I ran into him on the street and claimed to know him. Unfortunately that was long before we knew he had connections to this place." He glanced at Ezra. "Or at least before I did, anyway."

His gaze wandered towards Kaz before he nodded at Ikora, grinning. "Breaking and entering? Why not? I think I'm already wanted for arson," the Exo laughed.

He could be quiet! Neither of them had caught him when he'd snuck off to help Petra round up some Scorned. At least he'd left a note.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Yearbook!" Ezra blurts, slapping a hand to his forehead.

"His last name here would be in last year's school year book. I've got that at home."

He looks around, "Uh, sorry, what were you all saying?"

[demjiin]

Kaz looked at Ezra's outburst, taking this to mean that seemed to take care of identification.

"Then the question still stands; how can we break out of this reality once we do find where Billy is now?"

[cannot_flinch]

"Thank you, Ezra. That's a very good idea." Ikora smiled fondly at the young man. It would be the quickest way to find out Billy's last name but not where he was in this world. "Once we have his last name, Cayde can get his school records and we can find out where he lives."

And then, track him until the perfect moment arrived to kidnap him.

"We don't have to break this reality. We have to break Billy out of it. Once he remembers he can end this." That might be difficult but it was easier to break one person out than a whole city.

[deal_me_in]

"Oh, so I'm the only one who gets scolded when I shout in a library," Cayde said with a mock pout, but he winked at Ezra before glancing at Kaz again.

"Ikora's right. We just need to get through to Billy. Which could be easier said than done, but I think it's doable. Just needa give him that push." He slid over a notepad and a pen to Ezra. "School address." He needed to know where he was going to be sneaking eventually, after all.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra winces and mouths 'sorry' to Ikora, anyway, before he dutifully writes down the name and address of his school.

"I hadn't had a chance to talk to Billy - or Tommy for that matter - a lot in Temba. So I'm not sure what we can use to job Billy's memories. I know Teddy not being there anymore was a pretty big deal. They've also have...sort kind of previous life and were reincarnated through magic? Don't ask me to explain."

He makes a disgruntled face. "I think Tommmy was mosty trying to see how much I'd freak out, rather than break in a down a way I could get."

[demjiin]

Kaz wouldn't ask Ezra to try and explain, but all of that sounded somehow an order of magnitude weirder than Temba already was. The craziness of the new reality Billy made was starting to make more sense.

"If it's from Billy that all of this comes down to then it would be easiest to put a bullet in his brain than try to jog his memory."

Before protest could erupt, Kaz smirked and nodded at Ezra.

"Which is unlikely."

The smirk disappeared then.

"It wasn't easy at first to remember Temba but after a time I had to think about it less and less. I know of one place where the reality that Billy's made isn't in control so it follows that whatever magic has altered memories is wearing off too. Taking Billy and, say, Tommy both there might go further than trying to jog Billy's memory."

Kaz shrugged.

"The trick would also be not being pulled inside out by whatever Jonathon has become."

[no_applause]

Padme had been mostly listening to everything up to this point. There was a lot to take in, and she still wasn't entirely certain what she believed and what she didn't.

But one name caught her attention. "Wait, Jonathon? Jonathon Sims?" Her eyes darken at the memory of his threat. "If you need someone to take care of him, leave him to me. He threatened my children."

[deal_me_in]

The suggestion from Kaz didn't surprise the Exo, but his eyes narrowed at that nevertheless. He pulled back the notebook and pen once the address had been scrawled on it, giving it a look to commit to memory.

Mention of Jon had him flinch, and he pointedly turned his attention to studying the notebook, not all that keen on delving into whatever had twisted his friend so. That was, until Padme spoke up.

"Whoa, hey there mama bear- ease up. No one's in their right minds, so if we're doing any 'taking care' of people we don't want to do any permanent damage, all right?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra stares hard first at Kaz and then at Padme.

"First off, to be very clear, I totally would use up to deadly force to protect the twins if I had to. But Cayde's right. Both Billy and Jon aren't some sort of villain we can't reason with. Not in their right minds. They're our neighbors."

[cannot_flinch]

The conversation flows around her while Ikora does what she does best, listen and think. Everyone has good points and strong feelings but there's no answer in this. No solution. It's emotions and nothing else.

"If I can bring us back to focus," Ikora said, a bit of steel in her voice. Cayde would recognize the tone.

"We don't need to worry about the others. By the logic of this place when we break Billy out of his illusion, everyone is freed." She held up a hand before anyone could say anything and interrupt her. "This is magic and doesn't always follow logic but we free Billy and he can bring his powers under control. What we should focus on is getting a hold of him so we can talk to him and break through this. Some of us may have to hold off any heroes that come to rescue him but no one dies in this."

She fixed a hard look at Kaz, Ezra and Padme. "We are here to help people find their way home. They cannot do that if they're dead. Unless either of you can bring people back from the dead?... That's what I thought."

[demjiin]

At Padme's first comment, Kaz raised one eyebrow and looked at her. When she explained why she was volunteering to off Jonathon, the brow lowered and his dark brown eyes turned cold, gaze becoming as flat and black as a shark.

"Then once Billy himself is taken to the part of reality that isn't his, then everyone else will 'wake up'."

His eyes never looked away from Padme as he spoke before or now.

"And don't worry. There will be no need for deadly force from anyone toward Jonathon, even once Billy's reality unravels."

None of them may know it, but the icy calm of his voice belied a well of rage so deep no one had found the bottom yet.

[no_applause]

Padme rolled her eyes. "I understand the need to bring everyone back to this 'Temba' alive. I may not remember it, myself, but I grasp the idea and the importance" Really, she wasn't an idiot.

She sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. While she could easily kill Jonathan, that wasn't normally her way unless there was no other option. In this case, there were other options. "Billy is the target. However, if there's a possibility of Jonathan interfering with that task, it makes sense to have a plan to subdue him." Her eyes met Kaz's, she noted the dark look in them. "How do we know that everything will unravel and everyone will remember? Because this 'Ga Re' said so? This is a lot of trust being placed in a weird, poorly written message."

[deal_me_in]

Cayde promptly shut his mouth once Ikora spoke up. Naturally that wasn't going to be for long, and as plans continued to be spooled, his shoulders shook just a little as he began to chuckle.

"It's like we're preparing for a war. So we're really going the direct approach? 'Cuz all I'm picturing is us all hauling Billy up over our heads and off somewhere with a bunch'a our not-yet-woken up buddies chasing behind us." A beat. "-which could be a problem if the chasing's done by his brother."

But he approved of a direct approach. Nab and grab. But it all hinged on making Billy remember, and even if the game was to keep anyone from interfering he didn't really like the thought of harming their friends just because they weren't in their right minds. This would be so much easier if it was just some enemy threat.

"Um, hellooo! At least several of us here remember stuff even before Ga Re came and spoke up. I know I'd have questions if creepy messages suddenly popped up on the airwaves and told me to find Billy, but I'll tell you, that message was a weird relief because it proved I wasn't just going crazy."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I've remembered Temba really clearly the entire time," Ezra agrees. "And - I was already pretty sure this Billy's doing somehow. I'm...we call it Force sensitive, where I'm from. Psychic's probably the easiest thing to label it, here. Empathic, telekinetic, sometimes clairvoyant."

He meets Padme's gaze. "Luke and Leia are Force sensitive, too. My abilities are muted here but I can still feel things a little. So I know what it feels like when Billy's emotions alter reality, and most of the city feels like that to me. I guess it's possible he's locked his own powers away so tightly he can't undo it, but trying to get him to remember seems like good place to start."

[demjiin]

As Kaz had explained to others; you could only kill someone once. But you can make them suffer so much they wished for death a thousand times. Another beat of staring at Padme in silence, then he looked away again.

"I could remember Temba for a while before the message, but Cayde has a point. Billy made this reality and a lot of other people are realizing it's very wrong, even if they don't exactly know why. As I was saying; I do know of a place that isn't a part of Billy's reality but if he can remember on his own, that would be safer."

He gestured at Cayde and his notebook.

"Finding that which would make him remember is the next step. Until we know that, there is not a lot to be done."

Well, short of the bullet idea.

[cannot_flinch]

"Then we will look like villains." Ikora was prepared for that. This was all an illusion anyway. Once people remembered, they would probably not hold it against the rest of them.

If they did, they would sort that out when they were back in Temba.

"I can manipulate reality to a slight degree. My hope is that Ezra, Lark, and I can come up with a way to dispel the illusion from around Billy. To get into his mind and give him a moment of clarity." Ikora believed that once they had a foothold in his mind and he had some of his senses Billy would manage the rest on his own.

"We do need a safe place to take him. I would rather not use the library." Because if the heroes came this place would get destroyed. "It isn't very secure."

[no_applause]

Padme looked down at her children when Ezra mentioned them. Force... sensitive... She knew they were special, they'd been demonstrating some abilities already, but the term felt right somehow.

"I can use some of my connections to clear out a warehouse on the edge of the city for us to use. If there's any possibility of others coming to defend Billy, we don't want this to happen anywhere where civilians can get hurt."

[deal_me_in]

"Hold up- where's this place you're talking about, Brekker?" Cayde asked, glancing over at the kid who was far too clever for his own good.

"Okay, having some place to pretend to be dastardly is good and all but we still gotta find him." He did have to grin a little at the thought of the library becoming such a busy hub, but Ikora and even Padme had a point. All the people filling up the city might be facsimiles or something but it still didn't sit well with him to have anything happening. The screams of people from when Jon had collapsed buildings was still fresh in his mind.

The Exo blinked at Padme though. "Oh, you needa... Well I guess doing things that way makes sense if you have connections. Oooor we could use the abandoned one I've been using to do target practice in." Abandoned was pretty much free for all, right? Or at least if it wasn't occupied? Really, if anyone other than Ikora knew where he was coming from then it was no surprise that he had such a mindset.

[demjiin]

Kaz answered Cayde's first question;

"Whatever piece of reality Jonathan has claimed. It would be safer for all involved to make use of an abandoned warehouse, though, so give out the address of the one you have already been making use of?"

Abandoned meant first come, first serve in Kaz's mind. Though it also meant no one would mind any additional damage.