The Gleam in Your Eyes is So Familiar {Jamie}

[Liam Andrew Henderson]

Memory was definitely a strange little place. Then again, that was a complete and utter understatement. It was like being in a bubble, a separate universe. Bizarre. Then again, not as bizarre as having an imaginary raccoon darting about every chance it got. Rumor has it that each person in the town was host to a spirit, so—at least he knew he wasn’t going crazy. But it was still like being in a separate world. There were no cars, no trucks, no vans; which meant it was much quieter. He had actually gotten used to the noise of New York, and his first couple of nights in Memory were quite difficult, because he didn’t have his lullaby of voices or car horns. Liam was only granted a few days to get his bearings before he was expected to look for work.

Almost as soon as he had looked around, he decided that the only spot for him was in Hearth Tavern. He was not too good at finding his way around places, so gathering was out. Hunting was definitely out. Stocking shelves was completely boring. And he did have a knack for cooking, so might as well be a cook at the Tavern. Being the fast little learner that he was, Liam spent most of the day serving up orders, and learning the house specialties. He also felt better suited to being in the back, where he didn’t have to deal with people. Though, a few of the town’s inhabitants were asking about the new guy, wanting to catch a glimpse of the tattooed host. Unfortunately, he had to suffer through a few meetings before he managed to scurry back to the kitchens and get to work.

Liam kept himself entertained by…well imagining. The town was much like that one town in Kingdom Hearts—dammit. What was it called? Not Twilight Town…no. Traverse Town! That was it! That’s what this place reminded him of! The sudden excitement of realizing what the town reminded him of caused him to burn a couple eggs, and get a rather irritated look from the trainer. Which prompted Meeko to raspberry the man from under the table. Good little raccoon. Smart little raccoon.

The servers had gone home for the evening, but Liam had offered to stay a couple more hours. He couldn’t sleep if he tried, and if he had to lay in bed staring at the ceiling for one more night—he’d go pretty crazy. Instead, he worked at the tavern for a few extra hours. The newness of it all was quickly beginning to wear off, and Liam was finally starting to feel tired. Until some idiot decided to order steak and eggs. Which meant another twenty minutes standing over the damn stove, making sure that the steak was cooked rare—but enough that it wouldn’t poison the consumer. Topped with eggs, Liam used a rag to grasp the hot plate and the bowl of eggs, and backed out of the kitchen’s doors, glancing at the seat number that was posted on the side of the tray.

Watching the tray and glass in his hand, as though they were going to leap right out of his hands, Liam trudged over to the table, carefully. “Meeko, not right now.” Liam hissed, his eyes darting to the raccoon that was eagerly skittering head of him. The animal pointed frantically at the table, before crossing its little black arms until Liam finally looked up. And the tray and glass did nearly jump out of his hands. If you considered jumping nearly dropping.

Every bone in Liam’s body wanted to slam the items down on the table, thrust them at the person. But this was a special person, someone that rewrote all of Liam’s mannerisms. He carefully set them down, though his lips were pressed in a thin line, nearly making the already thin lips disappear. He tossed the rag onto his shoulder and settled down in the seat opposite of the person. He laced his fingers together, and rested them on the table, and held his breath for a moment.

“What…the actual fuck?”

Liam didn’t sound surprised, at all. He was, doubtless. He was more mad than anything. Because sitting across the table, was Jamie. He looked a little older, the years would have done that. But Liam couldn’t mistake those eyes, the nose, the lips—Jamie was a very distinct looking person. And Liam had spent the better part of his life staring into that face. All the words came to Liam, however none actually managed to get out of his mouth. Jamie’s phonecalls had stopped, and Liam’s calls had never been returned. He lost touch with his best friend shortly after being in New York. Jamie, the only person that understood Liam had basically abandoned him. And Liam’s depression had been plaguing him for a few years now. Yet, here was Jamie. Sitting across from Liam. Like he had always been there.

“No really, what the fuck, James Kennedy? I'm gonna love hearing this one.”

[JAMES FRANKLIN KENNEDY]

Memory? Strange? What was your first guess?

Jamie had plenty of them. He wasn't absolutely positive, but he was pretty sure he was among the first to 'wake up' and end up here, and he'd had more than enough time to get a feel for the place. The magic, the shifting, the inability to get away? He'd put on his fur and checked out everywhere that he could, and it all eventually lead him back to Memory. By now, he had a system down for the hunting, and even though that was technically his 'job' in the town, he helped out wherever. He'd heard through a random comment dropped by one of the Armistice members that he had a roommate as of a few days ago, some new guy that needed help getting used to the place, and he really just didn't care. He'd help the dude out, then boot him to another room like he had with everyone else, and it would all be good. Nobody wanted to share with a werewolf, anyway, even if he kept them stocked with fresh meat (even in the winter, when he himself lost weight running down game in the freezing cold and snow) and helped the Armistice protect the people when the creatures descended upon the town. He was useful, but that didn't make him popular; it just meant that he knew everyone and they knew to go to him if they needed anything.

He was over it. It didn't bother him anymore, and he was content to just go about his routine, whatever he decided it was. He ate when he was starving, he slept in his bed when he was able to, and he hit the trees again when he'd rested up and recovered a little. He'd catch what he could and carry it back for the Armistice to bring into town, then go back out until he was satisfied with the take. In the winter, that didn't always work quite right and he sometimes returned for some warmth and good rest before his usual standards were met, but he tried. As Darren was fond of telling him, that was all he could do.

It was definitely a weird place, though. He could understand why the others liked pushing the hopeless cases off on him, those being the people who flipped out and couldn't believe what was going on, or the ones who weren't afraid or worried. He would babysit and teach them things for awhile, show them around and make it clear what dangers there were, and then he'd move them along and they'd make their own place. Arch had been one of those, and now he was a functioning little adventurer, but they'd all really thought that he was going to end up getting killed when he first arrived. Jamie had taken care of that quickly, and it had made him a friend at the same time that it assured the kid's survival, at least for awhile. Jamie wasn't certain that he really believed in guarantees anymore, not when he'd watched their 'guaranteed' food become less each year and their numbers grow, but Arch was a slick kid. Jamie had faith.

Now, there would be a new kid. He didn't even know if the guy was in their temporarily shared room or out doing something, but since he hadn't known about it while he was out in the woods hunting, there wasn't much he could do about it. He'd catch up with him later, after he'd gotten something in his stomach. For having been out hunting, he was surprisingly good about not dipping into the meat he brought down until it was taken by the Armistice and cooked in the tavern, mostly because he didn't think that was fair of him; why should he get more to eat than anyone else? He actually usually ate less, especially when food was a little lighter, but he'd cheated here and there when getting big game was hard with a bunny. Some of the people in town were squeamish about bunnies because they were cute, but Jamie just thought they tasted good.

For this evening, deer steak sounded phenomenal, and so did eggs. It wasn't often that they had it, so he was all about it when he got in there, all prepared to scarf it down, go get washed up, talk to his roommate and then crash right the hell out. He was dirty and had a wildness to him after days as a wolf out in the woods, but he'd clean up and he'd be more human after he'd slept, until the next time he went out for an extended period. He didn't even know anymore if any of it was lingering, but it wasn't like it mattered. He was more useful doing what he was than he had been before, and nobody here had known him before. Changes were inevitable.

Sadly, he'd contemplated dozing off a little in his seat while he waited for his food, finally starting to relax a little now that he was back in relatively safe territory. Smelling the food quite suddenly, he sat up to it being placed in front of him and didn't even bother looking up before offering up a tired thanks, pulling the tray a little closer and content to just dig right in. He was used to just having food set in front of him when he came in like this, and then being left to his own devices. Having the person who'd set it down actually take a seat across from him was new, but not enough that it dragged his attention away from his food immediately. It was when the person spoke, the voice causing Jamie's eyes to flick up, flooding all amber and ready to bolt at the first sign of a threat, but this was...

What. The fuck.

Liam. His old best friend didn't even sound surprised, which made one of them. Jamie was shocked into silence, not sure he believed it as his eyes darted from side to side, looking for something that could explain this weirdness and finding nothing. Nothing. How could there be nothing? Was he losing his mind? No, Liam had a zillion tattoos, and he hadn't had those last time. Holy shit, those were a lot of tattoos. If he'd lost his mind, he wouldn't imagine all that, so what was this? Was Liam really here? How could that be?

Very suddenly, he dropped his silverware and scooted his chair back, sitting straighter and watching this person who looked like his best friend carefully. His name, his full name. Liam sounded mad, though to save his life, Jamie wasn't even sure why. Had he done something? Fuck no, he couldn't have. He'd been out in the woods, and they hadn't seen each other in ages. "What are you doing here?" he asked finally, voice rougher than it should have been and betraying some of the exhaustion that was lying right beneath the rush of adrenaline that came with this ridiculous situation. He wanted his food, damn it, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Liam.

[Liam Andrew Henderson]

“Almost half a decade and he asks what I’m doing here.” Liam put his elbows on the table, left hand over his right while he slid his eyes to the side where the little raccoon was staring into an extra spoon that sat on the table. “The reason I’m here is about, yay high—“ Liam placed his hand to about the top of Meeko’s head, who raised up on his back legs, standing nice and tall, “About..yay wide—“ Chubby raccoon. Only the little black paws gestured smaller, and Liam adjusted accordingly, “Wears a little black mask—goes by the name of Meeko?” Liam turned his head back to Jamie expectantly, his voice a little more than sarcastic while he stared at the man across from him. Apparently, the raccoon was staring too, because it waved it’s little black paw up and down excitedly at Jamie, before scurrying down the side of the table, disappearing beneath.

There was no mistaking that he was Jamie. A much more grown up Jamie. His jaw had set, shoulders broadened a bit. The shadows under his eyes looked older than what should have been their age, and his body looked a little more filled out—unless those were the clothes betraying him. Even with the change in the eyes, Liam could see that it was his Jamie. Or Jamie. Was he still his Jamie after so long? On any regular occasion, Liam would have exclaimed about the eyes. Mentioned the voice. But his mind was still stuck on about five minutes ago when he first laid eyes on the man after so long. “While we’re playing twenty questions, how about you answer one of mine? What the fuck?” He opened his hands, fingers spread, before folding them again beneath his chin, his smooth brows raised above his green eyes expectantly.

“See, the funny thing is. I’m having a hard time getting past the fact that you up and dis-a-fucking-peared. I called you, I looked for you, and was it not worth your time to at least call back and tell me to go fuck myself?” Liam’s tongue ran over his back teeth. Liam was still short, still on the scrawny side, but he had his changes too. He seemed less doe-eyed, his own jaw had taken on that angular bend, he had an all too casual slump to his shoulders. And despite the ink masking it, beneath the art were the smooth lines of muscles. He wasn’t a fan of working out, but he definitely appeared to be in shape. But some things hadn’t changed. As where his voice had deepened considerably, he still spoke softly. In the time away from Jamie, he had learned to speak just a little bit louder, learning to sound like a normal person. But sitting across from Jamie undid all of that, and again his tone was quiet, and soft, and didn’t match the sarcasm and irritation that laced his words.

“Let’s see if I can guess who you are. Is there a movie I haven’t seen where a guy saves his best friend, then completely and utterly bails on him?” Liam leaned back in his seat, pressing his lips in a thin line, glancing to the side, before looking back at Jamie. It was difficult; he wanted to not look at him. Pretend he wasn’t even there. Maybe even get up and go bust ass behind the kitchen doors, just so he didn’t have to think about it. But here he was, rooted to the spot—unable to look away from Jamie more than a second. However, when he did look at Jamie, his face softened a little bit, but retained that tightness about the mouth, and retained the way his brows furrowed in towards each other. “I needed you. I had Jen, and that was it. I would have rather stayed in that hell hole for just a little bit longer, than be stranded on the other side of the world, where someone who was supposed to be my best friend couldn’t be assed to call me.”

His hands pulled away from their folded position, and rubbed at his face, while he slumped further into the seat. When he moved his hands, he lowered his eyes to the tiny black paw that was reaching up on Jamie’s side of the table, tiny little fingers and claws feeling around towards the plate for something—more than likely, the eggs. The visible lump of an Adam’s Apple bobbed in Liam’s throat while he swallowed, trying to find the right words to say. Once again, he was stumped into silence, watching the little paw attempt to drag the plate closer to the edge. “Not to sound like a naggy crazy girlfriend, but why the hell did you call? Or anything? I thought you were my best friend.”

[JAMES FRANKLIN KENNEDY]

Those amber eyes flicked over to the raccoon when Liam danced around the reason he was there, and he took in the animal's basic size, form and some of its personality very quickly, not surprised by its presence. Not everyone's spirit manifested like that, but Meeko seemed like the sort, if any would. Jamie decided at that point to give the raccoon part of his attention whenever he could, just to be on the safe side. He nodded at Liam's explanation, watching the raccoon wave and disappear beneath the table, and returned his eyes to Liam, taking in the details. Yes, there were changes and the tattoos were the most obvious, but Liam was older, too. It wasn't a time rift or anything, then, which knocked one of Jamie's theories off the board. Hey, awesome, progress! It didn't explain everything, but he'd mostly given up on answers in favor of just surviving.

Questions. Yeah, he'd expected questions tonight, though not from Liam. He'd also planned on having some food in his stomach beforehand, but whatever. Can't always get what you want, and Liam was more aggressive in taking his attention right at that moment than his stomach, which was used to going without for periods.

Jamie could try to answer a 'what the fuck', if Liam would stop talking long enough. He wasn't going to talk over him, which meant letting him finish his little tirade, which was difficult. He wasn't used to being talked to like this, and Liam was all kinds of ready to blame him for what had happened. Bailing? Not worth his time to call? Supposed to be his best friend? What the fuck was wrong with him?

Eyes narrowing, Jamie drew in a low breath, waiting and watching without even intending to have a more predatorial, cautious gaze than one belonging to a normal person. He was too soon out of the woods and his fur for this shit, and then he glanced down to see the little black paw trying for his food, and that was it. With a sudden, sharp movement, he snarled loud enough that someone nearby glanced over to see what had been the upset, swatting in the direction of the raccoon harder than was probably necessary and snatching the plate closer. No way was that little thief getting at his food, it was his and he'd earned it. Speaking of which, he took that moment to pay it some attention again, cutting into the steak and flicking his eyes back up at Liam once more.

"You're new here, so I won't assume you know what the hell you're talking about, but when you find a working phone, feel free to point it out to me," he snapped, making manageable pieces of the meat before scraping the eggs right on top of it so that he didn't have to protect two dishes at the same time. Honestly, he couldn't believe that he hadn't seen Liam in almost five years, and the first thing the guy did was tear into him.

Talk about a rude awakening. Jamie had missed him, had been horrified at being without Liam, and he'd been forced to do all of this alone. He'd learned his place in Memory, figured out the shifting thing and the spirits, learned about the dangers here, survived without Liam. Liam was lucky, because he had Jamie to keep him safe and help him, and he was going to blame Jamie? "Not sure if you noticed, but there's no way out of this town and there's no communication. Letting you know what happened to me wasn't really possible. I called the day before I got here."

Did Liam really think that Jamie wouldn't have called him? Wouldn't have told him what happened, not to come? How could he believe that?

[Liam Andrew Henderson]

Meeko chattered and disappeared beneath the table again in a terrified flurry, and skittered on the seat next to Liam. Who was just staring at Jamie with wide eyes, and a rather incredulous look. “The fuck was that?” Liam kept his eyes on Jamie, before reaching into his pocket where he had learned to keep crackers, and passed one over to Meeko, without looking at Jamie. “Okay, so there’s no phone lines. Cell-phones, letters, emails, internet?” Phones weren’t the only means of communication, and it highly unlikely to Liam that letters and the like were non-existent. “Calling me, and calling Jen are two completely different things. You could come here to this place, but you couldn’t come to New York? It’s not like you would have been out of house.

Another sigh expelled from Liam, “I missed you. I thought you just…didn’t give a shit anymore.” He admitted, shrugging his shoulders limply. Liam still had a thing or two to learn about the town. He wasn’t entirely ready to accept the fact that it was like a separate world, with no communication to the outdoor world. Which prompted another worry while he sat up just a little straighter. “Jen. Is there a way to contact her? If she doesn’t hear from me either---she’s all alone. Can we bring her here? She’s got no one except mom and Mark, and we see how much of a wonderful example those two are.” He stared across the table at Jamie, before pressing his lips together to keep himself from talking too much. It was difficult as well, to keep from spilling out the word vomit.

“Who are you?” He tried to force a lighter tone into his voice, scratching the edge of the table idly, “The eyes, and the growl…I’m guessing some sort of beast? Or…animal?” Had to be something big, for the changes to manifest like that. Meeko didn’t cause any physical changes to Liam expect making him a little more agile, and heightening his senses. It was a little bit of an overload with being able to hear and smell things better. Sitting across the table from Jamie, he could pick up on that scent. Beneath the musk of fur and the dull smell of shirt, and the sharp tang of sweat, there was something undeniable. Liam hadn’t smelled anything like it, and yet he had. His brain before Meeko had possibly picked up on it, but the smell he was picking up beneath it all was undeniably Jamie. It smelled warm, if scents could be warm. The musk of pine in his skin, something soft, and dry like leaves.. The more he honed in on it, the more it decided to hit him in the face. He was weaving through the smell of the food and everything else, fine tuning himself to Jamie’s scent. “You smell like home.” He mumbled beneath his breath, and for all he though—he thought it remained in his head, and didn’t actually come out of his mouth.

“I missed you.” He repeated, chewing on the inside of his cheek, still staring at Jamie’s face. A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth, and a short puff of air came from his nose, like the beginning of a chuckle. “You grew up. And it looks like you finally lost your baby fat.” Okay. It wasn’t entirely baby fat. But Liam remembered Jamie being soft around the edges, despite the hard life they had been handed. But that softness seemed to give way to the man beneath it; Jamie still looked boyish in his own right, but no one would call him a boy now. “I worked my ass off on that; there’s about ten zillion different ways to cook deer. We’ll talk more in a minute, just. Eat some of it so I don’t have to put it in the nuker.”

[JAMES FRANKLIN KENNEDY]

In all honesty, Jamie didn't have any regrets where scaring that little thief were concerned, and he would have done it again if the thing tried. He might even have snapped at him if it was necessary, but Meeko had already proven that it wasn't, not right this moment. It was his food, he worked damn hard for it, and that little bastard wasn't taking it. Even Liam's shocked reaction hadn't prompted more than a glance in his direction before Jamie had involved himself with the food, and then the newcomer was talking again. Jamie didn't remember if Liam had always talked this much, but he didn't entirely mind it, since it meant he didn't have to hold up his end of the conversation too well. A response here and there, and Liam went off on his own again, though Jamie still wasn't appreciating the guy's refusal to believe that Jamie wasn't at fault for his own disappearance.

"Listen to me, and listen closely," he started, voice low and a little harsh, not fully human. He wanted to fix that, but he was still far too close to the wolf after so many days in his fur to pull back completely, and he was both exhausted and starving, so it wasn't like he really had the mental capacity to really force it. He'd be better later, after the food and some sleep. It just sucked that Liam had come at him now, when people usually just left him alone. "There is no contact with the outside world. No letters, no phones and definitely no internet. If I could have called, I would have, and if I could have left, I sure as hell wouldn't be here right now. The only reason I came here was because I got a letter telling me to and a plane ticket. I thought Jen was giving me somewhere else to be until I turned 18 and she wouldn't be in trouble for taking me out of Greg and Sarah's place. Unless she gets an invite, she won't even know where this place is."

Information dump, go! There was a reason that Jamie ended up dealing with the difficult people who showed up there, and it was because he didn't dance around the subject and leave them thinking about new ways out. He'd already tried everything he could think of and explored the area, which included dragging a cell phone all through the wild here trying to see if a signal was possible. It wasn't. He hated that he didn't have a choice in the matter, but he had to content himself with surviving here instead of wasting his time looking for ways out that weren't there.

Being asked who he was only got a dark look out of him and a snort before he focused back in on his food. A beast or animal? "I'm Jamie, Liam," he pointed out more harshly than was probably necessary, especially since he wasn't so sure about that some days. He didn't really feel like himself much anymore, but whatever. He was adapting to his situation, and if being 'soft' wasn't conducive to the environment, then it had to go. 'Growing up' wasn't the half of it.

No, he wasn't soft, and though there hadn't really been 'baby fat' before, there absolutely wasn't now. Actually, he was only just starting to build back up after the winter, when he was especially thin. He never went concentration camp thin in the winter because he did take breaks every few days to recover from being out in the cold with little to no food, but there was no denying that he didn't eat well or treat himself at all well, especially in the winter when game was scarce. With the spring had come more to hunt, and so he didn't have to work himself quite so hard; he could spend more time in town, more time socializing and getting back in touch with humanity. What he really needed to do was stop disappearing so completely into the woods and the wolf in the winter, lest he lose touch completely. Maybe Liam being here wasn't a terrible thing in that respect, since it would force Jamie to return to humanity more quickly now.

He actually laughed a little, though not necessarily with that same light that he used to have, at Liam's mention of his 'baby fat' and the nuker. "Good luck finding any fat on me now, or a microwave, for that matter. Doesn't matter, I'd eat it cold and raw at this rate. I've had worse," he offered, not particularly bothered by this fact, but not pretending it wasn't true. Still, he dug into the food with a vengeance once Liam seemed satisfied sitting back and letting him eat. That was good, since he wasn't bothering with anymore talk until his plate was clean.

[Liam Andrew Henderson]

The change in Jamie’s voice sent a wave of fear through him. It had that harsh tone, a voice that belonged to someone, something dangerous. However, Liam was entranced by it, staring at Jamie from across the table, much like a deer in the headlights. Admittedly, the information dump on Liam could have gone a little bit gentler. The gravity of it finally came crashing down, and he visibly sucked at the air, trying to steady to steady the crushing feeling in his chest. “She’ll think I’ve abandoned her. I mean, she saw the letter—she encouraged me to come here. But.” The beginning of his panic attack was cut short with Jamie’s response, which prompted a rather skeptical look out of Liam. “No, really? I thought you were Sherlock Holmes.” Again, the smaller of the two leaned forward to rub his face in his hands, and lowered his eyes to the plate to watch Jamie eat.

“Yeah, well…you’re not having worse while I’m around now. You’re not allowed to get scrawnier than me.” Liam tugged the rag off his shoulder, and tossed it onto his side of the table, idly rubbing at an old water stain. “Do you still want to be friends? ‘Cause, dude, you look a little too broody. You aren’t the town pariah, right?” Liam’s head tilted a little at Jamie, raising his brows once more. However, there wasn’t that harsh tone of sarcasm, or that dull sound of irritation. If anything, the corner of his mouth lifted, and his entire mouth scrunched to the side. “Let me know if I can get you another steak or something else.”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, and glanced around the tavern for a moment. No fresh customers to come in during his little reunion, but there were still a few tables that he had neglected. “’Scuse me.” He slid out of his seat, and sauntered over to the tables, collecting plates, refilling beers and drinks. Only a few days in, and he had taken to the tavern like he had always been there. Then again, he managed to get through, pretending like he had always been there. It had a strange kind of homey feel to it; a place that Jen would have loved. But now, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to so much as contact her; he had to force the thought of his grandmother out of his mind. He disappeared back into the kitchen, returning to Jamie’s table with a pitcher of soda, and an empty glass. He refilled Jamie’s cup, then filled his own.

“You’re the last customer. I can close up when you’re done.” He murmured, before staring at Jamie again. “I’m not going crazy right? Well, I’m not going more crazy, right? It’s legitimately you, and not some…crazy wacky hoodoo going on here, right?” Mentioning the hoo-doo, Liam crossed his eyes, then focused them again. Another lame, and horrible attempt at getting Jamie to smile. Liam wanted the old Jamie to shine through, if only for a split second. Just to know that this wasn’t a completely different man. To know that there was something slvagable here, and that they weren’t too different to be friends. “Want me to walk you ho---…James. Duh.” Liam’s eyes rolled about in his skull, while he let a short breath of air. “There’s no news there, I’m still a dumbass. They said the guy I was sharing a place with is named James. I’m going to guess that’s you, yeah?”