llewellyn-baxter

[llewellyn-baxter]

"Do I know me?" Llewellyn couldn't help to chuckle at the question, because it was funny, yet also adopted a slow frown as it became clear he wasn't too sure how to answer it. "I'm sure I do.. just, you know, maybe bumped the noggin here and it's escaping me for the moment," he tried, more hopeful than sure.

The two men shared identical quizzical expressions, their behavior mimicking each other as they continued to study the other like some science experiment. This was definitely strange, so it wasn't their fault they had no idea what to say or do in this situation. "Nate, yeah," Llew repeated as that next puzzle piece fell into place and he smiled some, "I remember, yeah." Maybe not all of their specifics yet, but it was there somewhere, he could feel it lurking under the surface.

"Ah, water.. please," Llewellyn's tone took on a desperate edge. "I'm just so thirsty.." He even smacked his lips together, testing how dry his tongue felt. It was like he might as well have spent several hours sucking popcorn salt from his fingers and nothing else. "Oh," as others were mentioned, their faces matched to names in his mind's eye... His family, at least they came forward easier. "I.. I'd like to see them," Llew said as he fell into step with Nate, "but.. I don't know what I'd say right now.. I can't go back like this, right? They'll be worried about this bump I had and I promise, I feel fine.. just.." Lost.

Nathan watched Llewellyn seemingly puzzle through it, having a hard time putting anything into words. He couldn't quite figure it out, the fact that Llew was even here, let alone seemed to be completely dazed and lost in the middle of a town he'd grown up in. "Do I...know you? Uh - yeah I do. Or I did, anyway. Do you know you?" He finally managed, eyebrows raising.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm...Nate. Nathan Winters. We...grew up here together?" Nate mimics the gesture Llew does, scratching his head in a confused sort of manner as if maybe he could make this all make sense. He doubts that's the case, not any time soon anyway. "Must've been some hit." Enough to knock you right out for ten years?

"I - uh - why don't we go get you some water, or a coffee. A sandwich. Something. Here - we'll go to the cafe just down here around the corner, yeah?" He gestures again down the street towards the cafe, offering a sort of guiding hand but not really sure what to do with it - should he grab his elbow, give him a nudge of the shoulder - or is a part of him afraid that he might just disappear if he tried to touch him? So instead it just hangs there awkwardly for a moment before he runs it through his hair.

"I can get you...home, after? I'm sure...I'm sure your parents...and Amy and Tony and Karter and everyone would love to see you."

[llewellyn-baxter]

"I just thought maybe I woke up too hard or something today," Llewellyn guessed, rather stupidly, because he really wasn't sure what else it could be. He wished he had some more water, that's all he knew. This thinking business was getting a little too hard. The man shifted weight from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable with her question because it was obvious the answers weren't coming to him fast enough. Which, in itself, was damned odd-- a person should know what their name was, right away. The day and date, that could be forgiven sometimes as brain rot, brain fatigue, what have you... But your name? That was harder to explain away as to why it took a day to recall it.

"I--" Llewellyn rubbed a hand over his face, grimacing. "Can I look at my wallet? I'm sorry, I just-- it's not coming to me right now.." But then he paused, thinking hard. "Llewellyn." How he managed to pluck that out of the depths of hell over here, Llewellyn couldn't be sure, but he knew it was correct. But the day and date.. "Uh.. when you say date.. do you mean like.. day and month.. year.." He needed more clarification before he could conjure that up, which again... was obviously weird.

"Olusola.. that is such a pretty and interesting name," Llew said this without thinking, as he had always been a man that often said what came to mind first. "Oh wow, got some luck left then, huh," he commented, thinking it was funny to run into someone in a nursing field while having this kind of problem. "Do you know if anyone else has had this problem? Maybe a virus is going around or something.."

she shook her head as the stranger checked himself out, explaining further; "not physically hurt, no. i'm just concerned that you've clearly got some holes in your memory?" olusola said further, trying to remember what you were supposed to do in things like this. the man seemed too young to be suffering with memory issues that befell much older people like dementia or alzheimer's. "you don't look like you've suffered any obvious head trauma so..." the woman was only training to be a nurse but, could try and help.

"ah, try this. can you tell me your name, and what the day is today and the date?"

olusola paused, considering that though the man was docile, he might need help in trusting her - sometimes, people did when there potential mental health problems involved. "i'm olusola, by the way, i'm a nursing student so i do have some diea of what i'm talking about. promise,"

[llewellyn-baxter]

If there was one thing Llewellyn had grown adept at, it was reading his older sister's face, even as the mask slipped back on. Even after he'd apparently been gone so long now, the male clued into the ache that was quickly covered-- much in the way he had attempted to mask himself. They were so alike in that regard, always had been. Their roles had been as pillars to the rest of the family-- two strong pillars meant to hold everything up. Now, everything had shouldered onto just the one, and everything was dangerously leaning as she did her best to keep the structure sound.

But, he wouldn't comment. It wasn't a good idea, because knowing Amy, she would only continue on in a reasonable fashion. She probably would admit that of course she was concerned, of course she cared, but all that mattered was that he was back home, that everything would come to sort itself out. That his own job right then wasn't to focus on her, on any one of them, because his own well-being would need to come first right now. Amy probably wouldn't let him bear any of these struggles. And honestly, Llewellyn couldn't blame her for any of that, because if the roles had been reversed, he wouldn't have let her carried his load either while she was going through something so traumatic.

"Can't believe you let yourself run out of gummy worms," Llew told his sister as she came in closer, the tease just as soft as her words as he accepted the water, "better not let Tony find that out." Lifting the glass to his lips, the witch drank down the ice cold water in just a few swift gulps, behaving as if he was just as dehydrated as the day he had come out of the forest. It really was strange but, lately Llew still couldn't seem to get enough water. Just the night before, he'd gotten no less than ten cups throughout another sleepless night. Now that he was out, Llew sucked in an ice cube and quietly munched on it, studying Amy as she plucked one of the pictures off the mantle. He already knew which one it was, so his gaze never wavered from her. "It was always chaotic whenever we went out as a family," Llewellyn commented, a small smile coming on as he swallowed crunched ice. "You remember Home Alone, right? I always thought we shared a lot in common with the McCallisters... just, pure chaos." He then looked down at the glass, clearing his throat. "Mind if I get some more?" Llew gestured towards where she had come, this time implying he would go get it himself than make her play host to him.

As soon as Llew had come over, Amy had gotten a very uncharacteristically polite response of ‘just water, thank you’ when asked what he’d like to eat or drink. At least this was uncharacteristic before, for all the Baxter siblings who had always taken any chance they could get to ask for something from Amy since she could make all of their favorites ever since they were kids. Amy was pretty certain that she knew them all better than their mother did. So she felt a very physical relief when Llew finally voiced a request. Something heavy fell off the siren’s shoulders and they sagged, making her feel lighter. 

Her brother had always been tall and broad in the shoulders, he remained the same despite the decade that had passed and although his form hid what exactly he’d been looking at on the mantel, Amy could easily guess the photo his hand had reached out for. The mere sight of that strong, sturdy back hunching so heavily over a picture delved a deep crack in Amy’s heart, the sudden lightness she’d just begun to feel now replaced by bone-deep sadness. Before she realized it, she was stepping back into the room, wanting to reach her brother’s side. When he turned, his face did not match the absently sad tone with which he’d requested some treats they loved to share before while he was looking at memories they couldn’t share because he’d been gone. She wasn’t as fast as him, the pleading look on her face begging for someone, anyone to take all of Llew’s pain and confusion away remained on her face for a moment too long. She could only hope that he’ll take it as just general concern instead. Last thing he needed was to see how deeply crushed over this Amy truly was.

The smile she managed instead was the softest one his stern, almost always independently strong sister had ever shown to anyone. Softness looked very melancholy on her though. “I’m sorry Llew…” The long pause that came after this apology gave it a deeper meaning, if only for a moment. “... I ran out of gummy worms. But I think I got Oreos and peanut butter.” And finally, a breathy little chuckle to release the terrible, heavy sadness in the room. She stepped all the way closer, her house slippers making that dragging shuffling sound most slippers made over wooden floors and handed him over a glass of cold water with a couple of ice cubes in it - not too many, or else a sore throat. As the exchange was made she took the opportunity to give him a good, long look, green eyes unflinchingly scanning his face. Ten years were visible on Llew while Amy, since her turning, only bore traces of five. After that, time had stopped for her. Before her gaze became too much to bear, she glanced away to one of their earlier photos, quietly comparing the Llewellyn from then to the Llewellyn now. 

Before her smile turned upside down because she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to turn it back around again if that happened now, she reached out for the photo in question, picking it up with a successfully masked forced grin. “Remember this one? It was right before I moved to Egypt more permanently. I took all of you out for lunch. It was a disaster. I don’t even know how we managed to say cheese for this picture.” Everyone had their own opinions back then on Amy following her dream. But looking back on it now, how wonderful it was that everyone felt so comfortable to express their true thoughts to family. Who could say they really had this sort of luxury with those they were related to? Amy reckoned very few families could.   

[llewellyn-baxter]

Llew remained where he was seated in silence, allowing the other man to sort through whatever deep dark thoughts might be thunderstorming around that skull of his. It was clear that Rio had far more he wished to say and do, but was holding back-- wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why, either. Amelia likely wouldn't be happy to hear if Rio did take Llew up on the offer to beat out his frustrations, if it somehow got back to her. Which... Greywood was a small town and the number of people who wanted to maim Llewellyn Baxter, even if he disappeared for ten long years, was few and far between. It wouldn't be hard to trace back to the culprit.

"I know all of that," he said, though once again, there wasn't much fight in the male's tone. In fact, Llew seemed deflated about the entire situation. Rio wasn't going over anything he hadn't thought about a thousand times over by now. "It's not like I wanted to come home one day to find everything and everyone has changed," Llew said then, a deep frown seemingly at odds with his usual jovial face. "None of this makes anymore sense to me, than it does you, her, or my family.. my friends.. I can't tell you what happened because I don't even know." His eyes dropped to the ground. "All I can tell you is one day, it was twenty-fourteen and the next, I found myself in the woods in twenty-twenty-four. Everything-- everyone, is different.. It's all changed.. I had a plan," he practically whined that last word out. "And now it's all gone.. and I've got half the people telling me to take it easy, give myself time, they understand and it'll all figure itself out... then the other half wanting answers I don't have, blaming me, making it like I shouldn't even bother.."

He looked up. "So you tell me what I should do, then. Because right now, I don't know." Maybe Rio could actually offer some better inside, who knows.

Truth be told, Rio had actually liked Llewellyn all those years ago. He'd been good for Amelia, someone who had treated her right and been what she'd needed, what she'd wanted. He'd made her happy. That was all Rio had ever wanted for her.

But then he'd disappeared, wiped off the grid with literally no explanation. Not even a fucking note saying 'peace out bitches' or whatever the fuck. It didn't fit the picture of the Llew they'd known, but there hadn't seemed to be a better explanation. Sometimes, stress overwhelmed. Sometimes, people left. And that was what made Rio angry - he'd been the one who stuck around and witnessed all the hurt and grief that put Amelia through. As much as it didn't make sense, what other explanation was there at the time? The love of her life had disappeared, the conclusion that made the most sense was they were running from her, or the life they'd had - whether that behavior matched the Llew they knew or not wasn't really up for debate when the feelings and emotions were brought into the mix.

And now he just made a magical reappearance in her life with some wackadoodle story that he'd...well, Rio still wasn't even sure what the story even was. That he'd been sucked up into some vortex for ten years with no memory of where he'd been or what had happened in that entire period of time? Crazy things happened in this world, but that just seemed so impossible to grasp. It was too easy of an out for all the hurt he'd left in his wake.

Fuck, Rio really wanted to hit him. But he was so damn pitiful, it'd be like kicking a damn puppy.

He turned away with a string of curses in Spanish on his lips, shaking his head as he walked a few paces away before turning back towards the fucking puppy dog. "You hurt her again and I'll bash your damn head in," he growled. "I don't really care where you've been or whatever explanation you're giving everyone. It doesn't matter. You want to stick to the story that you vaporized for ten years, fine. But you need to understand what that means for everyone around you. You can't just walk back in here and think Amelia's going to fall at your feet or some shit. She's been through enough - so you gotta think about it before you walk back into her life. She's been thinkin' you abandoned her all this time - and that ain't fair."

[llewellyn-baxter]

He did his best to try and think back to the woods, but all he could recall in that moment was when he 'woke up' or whatever, and needed to walk himself back to town. "No," he admitted, with some frustration. "I just know I was there, and now I'm here... wasn't sure where else to go.." In truth, he was probably lucky to have gone in the right direction at all. Llew could have been lost within that forever for days yet somehoe, instinctively, he had known where to go to find this town. "Not that I know of," Llew shook his head. As far as he knew, he was alone, and he'd been in the forest alone, too.

Llew fell into step at the other man's side, adjusting his stride so he was a bit more in Avery's wake so he could lead where they would go. Mostly because the taller one wasn't all too sure where this cafe was. "I bet I just had some kind of spell along my way and it's gotten me all jumbled up," the witch suggested, hopefully.

"Right," Avery nods as he listens to the other, this whole thing was just too odd, was the guy in some kind of rave, where someone could had drug him without him knowing or something? "Well, do you remember what were you doing on the woods? Maybe we should start there?" He suggested. "I'm not sure, we can get you checked out at least, do you... Have anyone that can stay with you, at least until you feel a bit beter to make sure you're safe?"

"Come on, the cafe shouldn't be too far" Avery says and he starts to lead the way, "Could be. Maybe me minutes of rest would do you some good!"

[llewellyn-baxter]

"No, I remember showing you," Llew said, though cringed to himself because it only cemented how incredibly stupid it was of him to blurt out some random name without even checking what his ID said first. "I'm trying but this is all pretty overwhelming," he went on, exhaling a shaky sigh as his gaze drifted towards the window to stare at the sights they were passing by. It all seemed to be like some place he had been before and he was sure he must have, many times. That's how he could predict where a few things were before the vehicle even rolled on by.

At the detective's suggestion, Llew distracted away from the sights to instead pull the wallet back out and check over the ID he'd handed to Charlie before. Llewellyn Baxter... "Oh, yeah, that's right," the man said, "I remember now, sorry. Slipped my mind for some reason.." Though he couldn't say why. "I'm from here," he answered this question far more readily and without hesitance, before Llew even realized he knew it to be true. That's why it was so familiar, really-- he'd grown up in these streets, he was sure of it.

His eyes passed over his left hand, noting too what Charlie pointed out-- he wore no ring. "Well.. maybe I'm not a husband that likes to wear his wedding ring?" he tried to guess, not too sure that really sounded like something he would ever do, actually. If he was married, Llew felt as if he would proudly proclaim himself as a taken man. "Or maybe I don't have one yet, we could be saving up for it.."

Charlie looked over at Llew, making sure the other put his seat belt on before he pulled away from the curb. They fell into silence as Llew seemed to consider the answer before he told Charlie his name was John before he quickly back tracked and told Charlie that it wasn't his name. Charlie let out a laugh as he shook his head. "I know your name isn't John, I saw your id." Charlie glanced at Llew, a soft smile on his lips. "Or did you forget that?" Charlie questioned before he laughed again. "I'm not going to arrest you, calm down." Charlie slowed the car down at a give-way sign before he turned the corner.

Charlie took a breath as he glanced back at Llew, trying to get a reading on the man. But nothing seemed to scream out to Charlie where he head been these past ten years, in fact it seemed almost like Llew was never missing. He seemed almost normal, apart from the confusion. But nothing screamed out of place, he was nervous which Charlie couldn't blame. But not uncomfortable. Charlie wasn't sure he was going to approach this, when it came time to ask questions and tell the other what had really happened.

"Why don't you have a look at your ID then? Figure out your name, it might trigger something." Charlie suggested as he reached out too the radio on, before he stopped himself. That was probably a bad idea, Charlie wanted to easy him into it and having the radio on. That always screamed about new music, the weather, upcoming events. It would send Llew on another spiral, and that was something Charlie didn't want to deal with in side the car. "Are you from around here?" Charlie asked, small prompting questions that might help Llew's memory. "I don't see a ring on your finger, so I don't think we have to worry about a wife at home." Charlie said his own eyes landing on his own wedding ring for a moment before he looked back to the road. "Does anything around here, remind you of anything?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

"Ruthie Patterson," the male repeated her name with a quiet smile to follow it, though he couldn't say that he recognized it. Or her, really. That was fine, however, he liked meeting new people all the time. As the lady went on, Llewellyn only cocked his head to the side and studied her with more of a perplexed stare than anything else. "It's not twenty-fourteen," once more he repeated her words, as if saying them out loud would somehow make that sentence sound less ludicrous.

"Um," he blinked, giving an uncertain glance around them at first, because this wasn't a common thing to experience. This woman had clearly lost her mind and was far more confused than he was.. Out here making some bold claims about it not being twenty-fourteen... "And uh... just what year do you think it is?" Llewellyn finally asked, in a gentle tone, doing his best to be as open and as understanding as he could possibly be. This poor woman... And she thought he needed to call someone?!

~~*~~

Ruthie opened her mouth and closed it again. Ten years is what it had been since he last remembered anything. What could have possibly happened to him that he missed that much time? There was no shortage of strange happenings in this town but that was extreme even for here. And everything that he had missed. There was virtually no chance that the opportunities he had left were still there waiting for him and she didn't want to be the one to break that news to him. She glanced around again trying to find a solution to a problem that wasn't even hers.

There was always the possibility that he was lying but something made Ruthie think this was genuine. Maybe it was that she knew the Baxters somewhat. At least by name and face. Or maybe it was that he clearly didn't know her so what reason would he have to lie to her. He could just have told her to have a nice day and kept walking. Or avoided asking her anything to begin with. "Llew, I-I'm Ruthie...Patterson," she sighed deeply and debated turning the calm off but decided to leave it on, "And I really hate to break it to you but...it's not 2014. Not anymore. Sounds like you've been gone a long time and...and is there someone I can call for you?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

Nobody out there understood better than Llewellyn himself how absolutely stupid and weak his words were. There was literally nothing the man could say, nothing the man could do-- to prove any of it. All anyone could do, was take his word... All they could do, was blindly trust that yes, he had just somehow wandered back into town ten years after the fact, with no idea where those years had gone. Nothing to show for them. Thankfully, his family seemed to have grasped onto his truth immediately-- none of them seemed to have second guessed any of it, because they knew the kind of man Llewellyn was and had been since birth. He wasn't the kind of man who would simply ditch his responsibilities and disappear, cruelly leaving them all in the dust without even a note of goodbye so the wondering wouldn't keep them up at night. Amelia and Rio... the others who may have known him his whole life but weren't around him as intimately as his family... They had to deal with the absurdity of the story and whatever opinions they carried of Llewellyn-- whether they married that with believing his story, or finding him some dirty rotten scoundrel, it was all out of his hands.

"I thought I could," he finally answered, truthfully, though once again his face gave way to the uncertainties now taking over. Pitiful and sad, really. "But I don't know anymore... Seems to be doing everyone more harm than good," Llewellyn spoke his thoughts aloud, no longer even looking at Rio-- his sight had unfocused just off, as if he was seeing something that wasn't even there. He was picturing all of the people in his life, and the things he'd picked up on in the past two weeks that weren't the same anymore. Maybe everything could have been okay, or at least a clear path forward laid out, if so much didn't feel so different. Ten years... That was like forever. So many big life events could happen in that span of time. That alone could be enough to make anyone feel empty and left behind. Couple it with all the looks and hushed voices-- people watched him differently, they spoke to him differently, they cared for him differently.

Finally, Llewellyn snapped back into focus on Rio's face and he shook his head. "Look, if you want to hit me or whatever-- just, get it over with then," the male stated, no fight in him at all as he simply sat his bum on the edge of that shop's garden wall. Which, funnily, actually put the taller man on better level for Rio to get those licks in. "If it'll make you feel better, go ahead. I won't say anything to Amelia about it."

For his part, he was pretty damn good at this whole 'woe is me' act. He spoke Rio's name as if he hadn't said it for ten whole years and it had just finally come back to him, which was rich. When running into Amelia he'd been all 'oh my gosh baby its been days since I've seen you I remember nothing from the last decade, pity me and let me back in.' And he could tell, even if she wouldn't come out and say it, that she was letting the anger start to dissipate and let him back in. She was going to give him a chance.

"You don't know what you were thinking?" Rio repeated, as if that were a clear indication that his whole story was bullshit, that he was fully aware he was playing some gag on all of them, that he'd planned this whole reappearance like it was all a grand scheme to win Amelia back. Sure, maybe it indicated some remorse over the whole fiasco...but then he considered the hell this would put Amelia through, again, and there were no excuses for that. She didn't deserve that and he'd already had to pick up the pieces Llewellyn left behind once.

"She mourned you for fucking years, do you get that? You blew up her life, messed her up real good by just up and leaving her like that. And if you knew a single thing about her you'd never fucking do that to her. So now, suddenly, you think you can just walk back into it like nothing happened? What the fuck is wrong with you, man?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

The male gave a helpless shrug and shook his head 'no', "I don't." There were no excuses that followed this simple statement, because quite frankly, Llewellyn didn't have any. He couldn't even come up with one off the top of his head if he tried. "Well I'd hope not," he looked taken aback by the suggestion, as it never occurred to him to consider anything like that. But maybe she was on to something? What if something he ate or drank had been spiked? What if he'd been knocked clean out, jumped by somebody? The possibilities stretched.

Llewellyn looked down at himself in some concern, wondering if there was anywhere he could see that he might be injured and just not feeling it or something. "Do I look like I need to go to the emergency room?" he genuinely asked, eyes back on her. "I don't feel anything-- am I bleeding? Does something look broken?" The male did a slow 360 spin, so she could check him over everywhere.

the frown that had settled onto her face earlier only deepened when the man suggested that he didn't actually know if he was coming off a bender or not - the way he gulped down all that water did certainly suggested to olusola that booze and perhaps substances had been involved. she took it back once finished, trawling through her tote bag again and bringing out a protein bar to, handing it over. who was she to judge? sola liked to party and smoke a joint now and again to relax.

still, she felt...not suspicious but, like there was something missing. "you don't know?" sola echoed his words. "were you spiked or something? maybe...can i walk you somewhere? home? a friends? maybe a trip..." on her fucking day off! "to ER?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

"I am confused," he agreed with a sincere nod of the head, "but... I can't for sure say why, that's the weird thing." Llewellyn chuckled after saying this, even though he didn't particularly think it was all that funny. "I don't know--" God, it felt like those three words were going to soon become his mantra, they were the only ones that summed up his situation. "I don't think so?" He tried to check himself over a bit, even felt around his scalp, trying to see if there were any knots he could feel since he physically felt fine, for the most part. Just... dazed, confused, lost? "It doesn't feel like I'm hurting anywhere..." The other man's comments made him look more concerned. "Do you really think so?" Maybe Avery saw something that Llewellyn didn't.

At the suggestion they go find some water first, Llewellyn visibly relaxed. "Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah- that sounds good, maybe I just need some water, that'll probably clear me up," he said, latching onto that lifeboat of hope. "I'm sure it's just like.. heat exhaustion or something.."

As Avery listens the man he sounds more and more confused and that just makes the woldfworry even more, sure he doesn't know the guy, but he sounds like someone in need, "Right, sorry I didn't mean to judge! just--I'm a musician and a non-drinker most times so I always end up baby sitting people on benders and coming off drugs, you just seemed so confused," he shakes his head, it not like he doesn't believe the poor guy, its just that the whole thing is very--odd. "Shit, man, You think you're concussed?" Ave frowns, "Are you hurt?" he looks over at the other, he can't see any blood or anything, but the guy is too tall to get a good view of his head, "Hey, listen, Llew is it? I---I think we should get you to a hospital, man."

"Right, okay," Ave nods his head, he pats the other on the back, "Come on, big guy, we'll find you a place to get you some water, maybe the cafe, we can sit down and figure whatever is going on, okay? sounds like a plan?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

"Yeah, you don't look so good," Llewellyn said, faint concern tainting his tone as he continued to stare at this man. There was just something so damned familiar to him, the longer he stood there thinking on it. He couldn't shake the feeling that if he waited long enough, stared hard enough, something would clue him in. And, by the other man's behavior, it started to feel like maybe he knew Llewellyn. "Do.. do you know who I am?" he ventured, brow furrowed. "You do feel really familiar to me... Are we friends?" He straightened to his full height. "That's right, we're friends!" he gasped, with a sudden smile. "I'm pretty sure of that. What's your name again?"

Maybe not on all the details of how, when, and where... But, maybe his mind only needed some time to recharge or something.

The tall witch scratched the side of his head, twisting to look one way and then the other-- clearly just as confused as ever on how to answer these questions. "You know... I really couldn't say," Llewellyn admitted, sheepish. "Think I must have hit my head or something, everything feels so weird.." Now he was rubbing the side of said head, as if that would help the recall.

Llewellyn was looking at his surroundings as if he'd never seen them before, as if he hadn't walked the streets of Greywood as a kid time and time again. Yeah, clearly some time had passed - but Greywood was the same old town it always had been, wasn't it? He'd know where the cafe was at the very least.

"Am I okay?" Nate repeated, the whole concept of flipping the conversation onto him almost laughable. He blinked, glancing around like some camera crew might jump out from behind the lamp posts and bushes screaming surprise or something, though he wouldn't really know the occasion. Is this what happened when a long lost friend made a reappearance? Shit - at least a part of him was happy it was Llew making a reappearance in his life and not her.

"I uh - yeah, I mean, I guess it's a little something like that." Seeing a ghost. It had been...what, ten whole years now since he'd last seen the eldest Baxter brother? "You're - where are you coming from? Where are you headed? I'll...walk with you." Maybe he should call someone. Amy? Maybe one of his brothers would know what the fuck to do in this kind of situation - really anyone might have an idea or at least help Nate not feel like he was losing his damn mind.

[llewellyn-baxter]

"Okay Charlie," Llewellyn said, though he was too nervous about what was going on to be glad he could use the detective's first name. Maybe he was over-stressing this situation, however. If he was in trouble, wouldn't the detective cuff him and shove him in the back with little regard to Llewellyn's knees being jammed up uncomfortably? Instead, the other male was ushering him into the passenger side seat. He ducked down into the car and folded his legs in carefully-- his six-five frame sometimes had difficulty navigating these more compact spaces.

His hands stayed on the wallet as Charlie asked him not to use it. "Oh," Llewellyn looked mildly embarrassed then, and those nerves came back full force. What if he admitted he couldn't remember and the detective thought he was being a smartass? "John," Llew panic spat the first random name that came to mind, "it's John." The door was closed then and he stressed while watching the other round the vehicle and grab something from the back. He knew, he knew he didn't know and he was going to arrest him for lying. You idiot-- why the hell did you lie?! As Charlie got behind the driver's wheel, Llewellyn took the water, the expression on his features giving away the nervous guilt within as he struggled to figure out if he should do the right thing. A criminal record could end your career before it even starts, fess up right now. He's going to find out anyway. "Actually," his eyes closed as if he was in pain while uncapping the water, "I lied, sir-- I mean, Charlie--" Llewellyn heaved an intake of air before more words stumbled out in a rushed run-on sentence. "I can't remember my name, I don't know, please don't arrest me, I could have a wife and children that need me home."

Charlie shook his head slightly as he looked at the other. "You might just have one of those faces." Charlie said with a shrug. Did Llew really not know what was going on? Did he not get a sense that something was off or that time had passed him. This was being more and more concerning, Charlie knew something wasn't right. But he just wasn't sure what. But he knew he would have to go about this carefully. "Please, Charlie is just fine." Charlie said as he let another small smile grace his features.

As they walked back to the car, Charlie carefully pulled his phone and set a text off to the station, telling them the situation and to see if they could make sure there was some kind of hot food waiting for them when they arrived. Charlie wasn't sure if Llew would like his leftovers. "Promise, nothing bad alright." Charlie said as he stopped at the car and opened the front passenger door for the other male, he leaned on the door as he watched Llew. "No, you handed me your wallet. I want to know, if you know who you are." Charlie said, keeping his voice soft and calm. "Without checking your ID." Charlie gestured for Llew to get into the car, before he stepped away from the car and made his way around to the drivers side. Charlie quickly opened the back door, and grabbed some water bottles he kept there before he slid into the drivers seat. Charlie handed Llew the water before he turned the car on. "So do you know who you are?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

That water her child had shared with him must have been some really decent quality, because he certainly felt a damned sight better than before. Downright carefree in the moment. Llewellyn seemed content to sit there quietly, perfectly fine to smile around and admire their surroundings as the woman at his side divulged into her own bout of worry as she came to conclusion to who he must be. "Hm?" Distracted away from watching Ruthie's children playing around, his face turned in her direction.

"AH--" His fingers snapped and he pointed, a pleasant grin forming and brightening up his features considerably. "Yes, absolutely right, Llewellyn Baxter, that's me," the witch exclaimed, even happier to now recall that connection to himself. "My grandfather's name, you know," he shared, leaning in towards her as if divulging some huge secret, "and a good one, though maybe too unique? I never quite fit with the other Baxters..." He trailed off, mostly because while he was certain there were other Baxters, their names escaped him, even with as common and easy as they were. They had a simple name scheme, that's what he remembered-- then there was him, with this strangely old-timey sound that put everything to odds. It used to make him feel special, he remembered, until he was old enough to learn to be embarrassed by the differences.

"The year?" Llewellyn puzzled over this question, eyes rolling heavenward while he concentrated. "Twenty... fourteen." After saying this, the witch nodded with more certainty, repeating, "Twenty-fourteen. That reminds me, the NFL draft starts next month. I'm pretty sure this year they're planning to sign me to a roster, finally. I've done pretty well on the practice squad the last two years so.." His hands settled over his knees and he smiled at her, clearly excited for this opportunity ahead. "I've got a great feeling about it this year."

~~*~~

Ruthie nodded politely but raised her eyebrows. Yes, her children's names did rhyme. And most people commented on it. But few outright giggled. Maybe she had turned her effect on a little too high but the poor man just seemed so lost.

"Llew," she repeated. The name was tickling something in the back of her brain and it took a moment before it clicked. Much like how he had tried to remember his own name. "Llew, Llewellyn Baxter?" She asked and the pitch her her voice raised. This man had been missing for years. Several years. It was after she had gotten married but before the twins were born but she couldn't remember exactly when it had happened. There had been a big search and she vaguely remembered baking some things for the search parties. "Oh goodness sake stars above. You...do you know what year it is?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

Relieved to see her pull out some water, he graciously accepted it and quickly took a few quick sips. Llewellyn couldn't say as to what made him so thirsty right then, just that he was. And he couldn't say as to what else was going on with him, this queer sensation throughout his entire being like something was off, yet the what couldn't be answered. Honestly, the male reflected on her question seriously for a drawn out moment-- Llewellyn was deep in thought as he carefully attempted to sift through the emotions and thoughts and the physical peculiarities. "I--"

Llew idly massaged the side of his jaw, before his hand settled over his chest and the look he offered now was more apologetic, pathetic even, than anything else. "I can't say for sure," he finally confessed. "I think I do-- feel okay, that is-- but like, I don't also. Maybe just.. a little lightheaded.. and hungry.. weak.." Indeed, his knees did feel a bit unstable in that jelly-ish way, like one wrong move could send him careening into a faceplant any second. "Could I keep this?" he asked, lifting the water, his eyes going into wide saucers as if he was some eleven year old boy needing to convince his teacher he deserved it.

"Dario, I'll be home soon, okay? Then we'll talk about whether or not you're supposed to go to your dad's this weekend. Weren't you planning to stay at your friend's instead? What happened to that?" Elena rattled off one question after another on her phone, getting more and more frustrated. Her son was the absolute love of her life, her little darling, but he was growing up, and she knew that despite everything, the teenage years were bound to catch up to him too. The brief conversation was over soon, with Elena left as annoyed as before, only for her focus to shift moments later, as an unfamiliar man approached her.

"What? Oh, I think I have some-" she rummaged through her bag, eventually pulling out the water bottle she luckily carried everywhere with her. "Here you go. Really don't have to apologize for that." Maybe it was just the nurse in her that automatically made Elena look over the man, to make sure that he was okay, before immediately growing concerned. "Is everything okay? Are you feeling okay?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

Since she hadn't pulled away again, Llewellyn instinctively tried to reel her in closer to him because the man was absolutely certain that if they just got close again, if she just let him hold her or something, she would understand none of this had been meant to happen. To either of them!

"I know how it sounds-- believe me, I know--" Llewellyn got out in a strangled voice, free hand gesturing towards his head like he was going crazy, "--I sound like I'm on crazy pills, nobody really knows-- hell, I don't know if my own family really believes me but you got to, please.." How was he supposed to explain any of this to anyone? He couldn't even say for sure what happened to him! One day he was here, everything was fine and on track, and the next... they're all saying he's been gone for ten years!

As soon as she was close enough, his arm had snaked in about her waist to try and take her in against him. The man needed her and he knew he was being selfish in that moment, trying to seek that comfort from her now when she barely had any chances to process that he was alive yet... but what else could he do? When else would be better? Never, that's when. None of this would ever be okay again, he feared. "It doesn't feel like anything's change for me, Lia.. I don't know how to explain it-- I don't know what happened, I can't tell you."

Amelia tried to shake him off of her but ultimately she missed the comfort he always gave her, so she reluctantly let him hold her hand. Her anger subsided slightly just looking at him. He was safe and of course that was one of Amelia's main concerns but here he was right in front of her alive and well. But the flip side to that also broke her heart because that meant that he might have really left her because he couldn't handle their time together. So now the anger was turning into hurt and she didn't know how to process any of it.

"Yeah that's what happens when you've fucked off for a decade." She spat out, hurt clearly behind her words. "Oh you don't know what happened? You've been gone ten fucking years Llewellyn. What the hell do you mean you don't know what happened?" Amelia couldn't even begin to imagine where he could have been all those years. "Do you know how scared I was for you? I didn't know where you were or if you were dead and now you think you can just come back here and act like everything is normal and nothing has changed?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

Things had never been more complicated in Llewellyn's life than they were these days. Which was honestly laughable, considering how much the man used to carry on his shoulders just to maintain that perfect-looking life. He had worked so hard to cultivate the best life and path forward for not only himself, but his family and with Amelia-- there had been a plan. They should have been married and settled in Greywood with one boy, one girl by now. They would have been set with the money made from his NFL career. He could then focus on other things in life, like his magic, and seeing where that would take him. The possibilities had been endless, really.

Now? Llewellyn could hardly figure out what to do with himself. That brain fog had gone away, for the most part. The doctors had been right, that once he started going around people he knew, places he visited, etc-- it started jogging the memories and knowledge. But the problem was, it all still felt like it was ten years ago. The male hadn't yet been able to rectify that he was somehow ten years older... That everyone was ten years older, their lives in completely different states to what he remembered. Basically, his entire life had been blown up in his face and the only thing he couldn't figure out, was how it all happened.

"Whoa--" Llewellyn came to an abrupt stop as someone came up on him quickly, and he focused in on the man with faint uncertainty until his brain slowly came to log where he knew this person from, too. "Rio," commenting his name more to himself, which then brought to mind Amelia because the two came hand-in-hand, right? His heart fell unhappily, and even further once he understood that Rio wasn't there to wish him a welcome back. Couldn't be surprised by it, right? Amelia hadn't been happy with him, either. "I don't know," Llewellyn responded, honestly, trying not to look as dejected as he felt. "I don't know what I thought anymore, I'm sorry."

It'd be a lie to say it hadn't recently started crossing Llewellyn's mind that everything would be better for everyone if he had just stayed gone.

@llewellyn-baxter

He hadn't gone looking for him. Truthfully, he wasn't seeking a confrontation. He'd talked it over with Amelia and undoubtedly they'd revved each other up about the whole thing, but in the end - what could they really do? The asshole had come back to town pitching a story about - well, honestly Rio didn't even get the story. That he just vanished off the planet for ten fucking years and had just reappeared as if he'd never left? Sure. Seems like quite the story to try and redirect attention off your shitty decisions and try and brush the dirt off your sleeves.

I didn't mean to break your heart, Amelia, I just got lost for ten years but it's good I'm back now, no big deal!

So when Rio spotted the guy, a face that he could still recognize even a decade later, wandering the streets in an aimless daze? That spark of frustration lit the fire and heated it right back up.

"What makes you think you can just wander into town and start shit back up like it hasn't been a whole fucking decade since you last showed your face?"

[llewellyn-baxter]

"Oh.. oh, good, okay." Llewellyn nodded, trying to allow himself to feel some relief with the man's words but, that was kind of hard as they checked over the stuff in his wallet. This all felt like a traffic stop, but only Llewellyn had walked into it. "I do?" Once again, he sounded doubtful and squinted hard at the other. Trying to recognize him. "I'm sorry, sir, I just.. I can't place you, myself." There was just no sense of familiarity to him whatsoever. So how did the detective know him?

Those nerves came right back, some of the blood draining from his face. "The station? But.." Llewellyn, once more, appeared as if he might want to flee even though he didn't. The man wasn't stupid-- fleeing only made things worse, fleeing only made him look guiltier. He took back his wallet, feeling a bit numb as he pocketed it. "I guess.." He truly felt the detective was essentially taking him in to be booked over something he must have done and well... Llewellyn assumed he just needed to face the music then. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Dutifully, he fell into step behind the other and stood back from the man's car, waiting to be thrown into the back or placed into handcuffs, whatever it was. "I--" he frowned. "Yeah, I.. I just showed you.." Llewellyn made as if he was about to take his wallet back out for Detective Da Silva.

Charlie clasped his hand around the wallet as it handed over to him. "No, no. You've done nothing wrong." Charlie said with a soft smile as he opened the wallet up and looked over the contents. "Sorry, probably went about this wrong way." Charlie looked up at Llewellyn. "You just seem really familiar." Charlie said as he looked through the wallet before he found a drivers license, that was well and truly expired. Charlie's frown returned on his face as he saw the name before he looked back to the man.

"How about you come down to the station?" Charlie questioned as he closed the wallet and handed it back to the other. Charlie knew Llewellyn's name. He had been reading about the man since he got here, a missing persons case that they couldn't solved. That got passed onto Charlie. Fresh eyes, might of found something that the other detectives could of missed. "You aren't under arrest. I promise you that." Charlie let his soft smile return to his lips as he gestured to his car, that wasn't parked to far away. "You just look like you could use a good meal." Charlie ran his eyes over the man again, still not sure what to make of it. "And I have that water you want." Charlie said as he turned and headed towards the car slowly before he stopped and turned back to the man. "Weird question, but do you know who you are?"