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John Jr was a tall boy for just sixteen. He had come to tower over his big sister, and was at a level with his father. At Christmas and Easter his aunts liked to point out the gaps of ankle skin that showed between his socks and his pant legs. Most of his shirts were too small, and he'd started wearing John Sr's shoes because money was tight.

It always was. Always had been.

As a little boy John Jr had visited the library every other day after school, and sometimes on Saturdays too, because they couldn't afford books of their own and he took to reading like most birds took to flight. He'd started out on The Berenstein Bears and Archie Comics, and graduated steadily to larger projects like The Hobbit and Treasure Island.

His favourite story was a comic that he'd made himself, out of scrap paper and glue. It was old and the pages were frayed, but John Jr had taken pains to ensure its survival with the passage of time. In it, Super Van saved the world from a masked crusader named Mac Aroni, who had a handlebar moustache so long it swept the ground. He kept it hidden from Vanessa at the bottom of his sock drawer, but pulled it out to read whenever training with Vulcan made him want to knock her in the shins with his shield.

Today he had come to the library to return a copy of The Neverending Story, and was browsing the shelves for a new adventure when the sound of somebody in pain made him look up. He stood far enough away form Evren that he had not seen her reaching for the book that had hit her on the head, but he was sorry that he had not been there to get it down for her anyways.

What good was being tall, if he was not going to protect pretty girls from falling things?

He stepped towards Evren, stooped to collect the book from the floor. Offered it to her with a smile.

"You okay? That looked like it hurt."

The first thing that came out of her mouth was, in fact, not something John Jr had expected to hear. But in a world where he got to moonlight as a super hero and cats could talk to people, it was far from the strangest thing he'd ever heard. He cracked a smile of his own, thought that Evren was a little bit odd, but not unforgivably so.

"You probably shouldn't let things hit your head, that's true."

John Jr eyed the book that she clutched to her chest, recalled the title from when he'd picked it up off the floor. Human Memory?

"What kind of book is that?" he pointed, cocked an eyebrow at the giggling girl who stood in front of him.

As a straightforward kind of boy, John Jr generally appreciated straightforward people and straightforward things. He had read enough books to understand that their titles were often vague, references to something that occured within the story instead of encapsulating the whole of the story. He eyed Evren's book again- marvelled that anyone could ever want to read something so boring.

It intrigued him. For a moment.

"I'm JR," said John Jr. He returned Evren's gentle smile, said that it was nice to meet her too.

He pointed at her book.

"So nobody's going to get kidnapped by any pirates in that? Why are you reading it?"

Personal reasons, Evren had said. What kind? Did she forget things?

The more that Evren spoke, the less that John JR believed her story was just about some girl. She had not identified herself as the subject of her curious tale, but he wasn't stupid, and she had said that she was reading up on Human Memory for personal reasons.

He narrowed his eye, expression more thoughtful than it was suspicious.

Why would she not just say that it was her? That she was the girl who'd woken up in hospital, with no recollection of her name or her home or her family? Evren was not lying, exactly, but the way that she omitted what he felt must be the truth confused him.

"So you have amnesia," he said, tapping the side of his head with a finger. "That sucks. How much do you remember now? You are the girl that you're talking about, right?"

"Wow," John Jr said, blinking owlishly as the full implications of her situation struck him. What would it be like to remember nothing of his life?

To have no recollection of a father, or of a sister, or of the home that he had known since the day John Sr had been allowed to care for them again. He felt, at first, that his life would be terribly empty. And then reasoned that it might not feel empty at all, if he did not have any idea for what he was missing.

"So like, what happened to you?"

He cocked his head to the side.

"I know you said you were injured, but where did they find you? Did somebody do this to you, or did you fall?"

"It is like a normal mystery, yes."

He laughed, and then caught himself in the middle of it- unsure about whether or not it was rude to laugh at a girl who'd forgotten everything from her name to the day of her birth. It had sounded to him as though Evren was making a joke. Upon reflection, he supposed that she was probably not.

None of the story surprised him. Destiny City was a dangerous place. Between the Negaverse and other, more normal criminal activity Evren was fortunate to have kept her life. Still, John Jr felt sorry for Evren.

I should help her, he thought, but, how?

"Have you thought about putting up posters? You know. Of your face? Maybe your family can find you that way."