#convo: james bennett

[dylxwestwick]

location: Happy Tails

character: James Bennett @jamesxbennett

Nana Darling Westwick-Bailey was in need of more puppy food, she was growing bigger and bigger, but the vet still said she was still going to be a bit before they needed to change her food. She had missed taking care of a dog and she loved it, especially with how sweet Nana was with the twins. She'd brought Leda and Lysander along on this trip, loving to show them new places, even if it was just the pet store. Leda was babbling more than Lysander was today as they were both now big enough to be in a shopping cart. She was busy showing the twins a cute toy, keeping it just far away so they would snatch it and put it in their mouths when she noticed a familiar face. Her brows furrowed for a moment, thinking it could not be him since this familiar face lived in New York. She couldn't just call out his name, because what if it wasn't him and she just confused the stranger? But the longer she stared, she felt like she was being weird. That was until Dylan caught his eye and realized it was him, in a sling too. "James?" She asked unsure if she sounded like she was confused to see him here or if her tone came off like she forgot his name. Because it was definitely not the latter.

[masonxmahir]

HEADCANON ENDING:

They stayed on the water tower for a while longer, watching the lights, talking about things with bouts of silence in between that Mason did not feel the need to fill. It was a much needed catch-up of sorts too, as they talked about the good old days, Mason filling them in on who was where now and was doing what. It felt nice to have their friend back. And once the aurora ended its dazzling display, there was a slight reluctance to leave on Mason's part but they eventually climbed down the tower and diverged paths with promises of more regular catch up and jam sessions.

It was hard to stop himself from squeezing the hand he held in his own at the mention of all that had happened. An unshakable fear gripped Jamie by the throat, no words of reassurance spoken as he quietly reflected on the weight his tired shoulders bore. It felt like Mason was reading his mind when they mentioned wanting things to be different but not being able to do anything about them. Almost everything felt that way to Jamie. The entire town, his life fifty shades of wrong. Devoid of color in a way that made him feel sick, yet he was powerless. A teleport, but not a time witch. If such a thing even existed, he'd like to know. There were a lot of things he'd do differently, though he feared that everything that had happened was somehow inevitable. Fate would've found a way. "Yeah.. I do." He admitted quietly but held all the details of his agreement in. "I don't think you talk too much, no." At least, Jamie always thought Mason had something worth saying. "Gladys asked about me?" A blast from the past that actually made him smile. "She's still working at the school?! Damn. Thought she would've retired by now."

[dylxwestwick]

Leda's little smile as James shook her head, showing off her little teeth growing she couldn't help but smile at her daughter's smile while Lysander stared at Leda and James with curiosity. The whole scene of it made her laugh a bit. "Say hi to James, bug!" She had at some point thought about having kids with the man who was now shaking her daughter's arm. Dylan pressed her lips together as she looked back over to him.

Dylan laughed at the question and shook her head. "No, that was Doctor Who that I was forced to watch because I was pregnant and couldn't do anything else, I did enjoy that though too. But, he does good voices for the characters and it was fun to have it read for the first time. And we watched the movies too." She was sure if she introduced Theo to James that they'd get along rather well more than likely.

"Yeah! I've actually thought about maybe possibly seein' 'bout teachin' art history there if they need anyone." It had been something she had been thinking about not super seriously at the moment, but perhaps for the spring semester. But she was glad to hear that things were going well here for him. "Coffee shops near the campus," she let out a hum as she thought around the area which was coincidentally very near her house. "So Caffelicious and Latte Love are in Cardinal Hall right across the street from one another. But then you'll have to be warned that if ya show loyalty to both, they are gonna give ya looks. I speak from experience." Dylan says with a soft laugh of admittance.

The peculiarity of the situation wasn't lost on James. As he gently shook Leda's arm and made faces, there was a quiet voice that reminded him that this was his ex's daughter. Thankfully, James had learned to not just push those kind of thoughts back and instead acknowledge them. Yes, this was a weird situation but it had been years. Both he and Dylan were entitled to move on with their lives.

He looked up at her at the mention of who he could only assume to be her partner. Chuckling, he said, "He definitely got the right idea." His head tilted to the side a little bit. "Were you forced to listen to him read to you because you were pregnant and couldn't do anything else?" he asked jokingly.

"Oh cool, then I'll probably see you around," he said, though there was a twinge of regret. He wasn't completely escaping from his thought as cleanly as he thought, but there was that thought again telling him that it might be time he stopped running away.

"It's been really great," James said genuinely with a smile. "I've been having fun going around and exploring. By the way, do you have a recommendation for coffee shops around the campus? You know me, always on the lookout for places I can bunk down for a few hours over a good cup of coffee."

[dylxwestwick]

Dylan gave him a soft sympathetic smile as he shares his wishes to be on his bike soon. She felt like two universes were very oddly colliding when James reached out and toucher her daughter's hand. She was momentarily distracted by the peculiarity of it though as he beamed at Lysander's middle name. "Yeah, Theo is a fan and while I was pregnant, he read all the books to them...and me." She shared with a soft laugh, the memory of the books and movie watch throughs they'd done while she was pregnant.

"Wow, alright, well what a coincidence." She nodded as he shared he had just gotten a job at the university. "Congratulations, I actually know a few people who teach there. I help at times with art seminars and critique there. It is a great town, and I've got a feelin' the place would be right up your alley, James." Dylan shared warmly, not wanting him to feel like he wouldn't be welcomed in this town now that he knew she lived here too.

"It's going alright," James said as he readjusted his left arm a little bit. "Really hope I get out of it soon. I miss riding my bike."

James welcomed Leda's outstretched arm. He took her tiny hands and shook it as he beamed brightly at her and her brother before he perked up at the names. He glanced up at her. "Samwise?" he said curiously knowing full well that it wasn't her who chose the name. "Someone's a Lord of the Rings fan, I see." He wasn't entirely sure if the way he said that came out a little weird but he didn't mean it to be. "It's a worthy name for someone as strong as this one is," he managed to say to somehow catch himself as smiled at Lysander.

He was grateful she chuckled because he couldn't help but chuckle too. Clearly, a lot has happened. But there was a sort of pit in his stomach when Dylan revealed she was living here.

Crap. He had moved to Blue Harbor for a fresh start, and although their breakup was as amicable as could be, James couldn't deny that Dylan was a part of his past he had wished to leave behind.

Or perhaps this was fate telling him to confront his past.

"I... I just moved here," he replied with a shrug. "Got a job at the university. Just started a few weeks ago. Still getting the hang of the place, to be honest. But I'm loving it so far."

[dylxwestwick]

Dylan grimaced in pain for James as he shared the details of what had happened. "Ouch, that had to have hurt. I hope it's a speedy recovery though." She shared with a smile, obviously not wanting it to be a slow one. But she was realizing that the blonde man was still reeling from seeing her here. Dylan had plenty of questions she wanted to ask, but thought that it'd be better to give him time to process all this new information, especially now that she was springing her kids on him too now.

She felt herself inadvertently smiling even more as he greeted them, watching as they stared back in return at James, Leda reaching out towards his hand though her arms were far too short to reach his hand on her own. "This is Leda Delphine and Lysander Samwise Westwick-Bailey." Introducing them to him as she wondered if he had kids now too, what his status was, was he happy? She hoped he was happy. "Thank you so much, James."

Trying to figure out what James was thinking was still pretty easy, he had quite a readable face and she definitely knew he was thinking something, mentally doing the math. Dylan decided not to wonder about how he felt about that. There was no overlap to even think about. "New...um well plenty since I last saw ya." She said with a soft chuckle, feeling like it was hard to catch someone up on a whole four years. "No, not visitin'. I live here. I got the position for the art curator at the museum here pretty soon after we parted ways. And I've been livin' here since then." Dylan explained as she pressed her lips together, feeling like the phrase 'parting ways' sounded a lot nicer than her mentioning that she'd broken up with him. "How 'bout you?"

Seeing Dylan here in Blue Harbor, a place he had barely moved to, still had him reeling when she asked him about his arm.

"Oh, uh," he started, "Stupid accident. I was fixing the lights in my apartment and of course, I fell off the chair I was standing on." He wasn't going to go into the detail of how his arm was twisted out of place or how Nilay almost yelled his ear off.

He gave a nervous chuckle which further showed just how caught off-guard he was, but he didn't realize it was only the beginning. It hadn't registered to him that Dylan was pushing a pram—with twins.

Fortunately, the cuteness overload set in first. "Oh my goodness," he said, immediately dropping to his knees and giving the twins a wave. "They're adorable!" He looked up at Dylan with a smile, and that was when it hit him. Right, they're her twins.

"Hey, uh, congrats!" he said as his mind inadvertently ran through their entire relationship in a flash and, again inadvertently, clocked when their relationship ended and how quickly she had gotten over it that now she's got twins. Having learned from his quick assumption with Eli and Nilay, he reminded himself that her twins didn't necessarily mean she was in a relationship. Plus, four years wasn't exactly a short amount of time. Furthermore, why the heck did he even care?

"So uh, how are you?" he managed to ask... again. "What's new? I mean, aside from, you know..." He waved again to the twins and smiled at them. "Are you... visiting here?" He hoped the hopefulness in his voice wasn't too evident. Although their break-up was better than most, living in the same town as his ex wasn't necessarily ideal. For some reason, Safiye popped into his head too though he wasn't sure why (he knew exactly why).

[dylxwestwick]

At first all she could do was blink at him, there was no way that she was asleep but then she felt Lysander grab at her fingers with warm, slightly sticky small hand and she knew that she was very much awake. "Hi, yeah, you too." Her brows furrowed for a moment as he let her know how he's been, but couldn't help but let out a laugh as she realized he was just instinctively letting her know. "Well I'm glad to hear that, though what happened with your arm there?" She used her head to point to the sling as she smiled at his compliment. "Thanks, you too. I'd ask how've ya been but ya already answered that." Looking down to the twins, she realized that James may not know she had kids. Why would he? Unless he was still following her on social media. Was he? She barely was on it anyway, though she definitely had posted photos of Leda and Lysander. "I...these are my twins. They're just about to be six months." Dylan shared as she pushed the cart towards him. It had been four years now since she was with James, she had wondered before if it would hurt to see him for the first time after their break up, but it felt both like talking to a stranger and her friend.

It was only now that James realized how expensive things are for pets. He fished a cute little smiley face off the shelf, beaming widely, until he saw the price tag which made him wince. Well, he was sure it was the price and not his arm. His little accident just a few weeks into his time in Blue Harbor was a great little welcome gift. As such, left arm was in a sling and his motorbike had been gathering dust.

James went to where the pet foods were and scratched his chin as he perused the choices before him. As thankful as he was for the variety, he was also pretty confused. Is the filet mignon actually filet mignon? That would explain the prices.

The professor had taken the can and was reading the label when he heard his name said by a very familiar voice. But that would be insane because she was all the way in—

"Dylan?" His gaze went to the direction of the voice, and sure enough, standing there was Dylan Westwick: art curator, book lover, coffee aficionado... oh, and James' ex.

Of all places.

"Hey!" he managed to exclaim, perhaps a little too loudly because other people in the shop looked at him. "Fancy, uh, seeing you here," he said as he awkwardly stood there.

"I've been good!" Once again, he winced at his premature response to a yet-to-be-asked question. "I mean, how are you? You look great."

[masonxmahir]

"Good." The response was a whisper and as his hound found theirs, Mason held on tight as the colours shifted again. "You think so?" He asked, "So much happened..." He had this weight on them since New Years, a mix of guilt, wrongness and just a overall sense of unease that he hid deep not wanting to concern others for the mistakes he made. "But like who am I to questions the universe ya know? Do you ever get like that though? Like want things to be different but also like can't do nothing about it? Am I talking too much?" He rarely asked that question, talking felt as natural as breathing, even now, under this display hat likely required silence, Mason couldn't keep all that inside them or he'd burst in a cloud of colours much like the universe. With a soft sigh Mason fell back, eyes straight up at the ceiling of stars and aurora, adding a new perspective of awe to the night. "Glad you came back though, dude, you know Gladys asked about you when you were gone. I thought I was the favourite but nope!"

As hard as he tried Jamie could not make sense of the colors that danced above them. The aura of the universe, too vast for his mind to conceptualize, and in that he found his answer. Jamie began to marinate in the feeling of smallness the world's infinite wonder washed him in. It was easy to let go of all that had maimed him when he paused to consider how insignificant his moment in time was. Not made to be an immortal, but a flicker in the dark as it stretched from one infinity to another. No heartache, not even one as deep as Jamie felt, could last that long. Even fear lost its meaning in their immeasurable universe.

Peace amid a storm, for which Jamie was gratful. A shipwrecked vessel seeking reprieve, even if only for one magical moment.

The hand tugging at his arm was met by long fingers, winding through the digits of an old friend, holding on as if Jamie actually felt like he might float away; pulled upward by the vast cosmos.

"I'm not going to leave you."

The measure of times he had needed those words without hearing them in return was enough to sink his broken sails, so he veered from those rocky shores to revisit old horizons. "She's just.. " He spoke of the universe like a familiar friend, because wasn't she? "..showing us her greatness. Reminding us.. it's all gonna be alright.."

[masonxmahir]

When things got too noisy, when sleep didn't knock despite them desperately wishing for it, Mason climbed atop the roof to calm their buzzing head down. A childhood occurrence that never waned grew easier and in frequency, such was the case tonight too, Mason found themself facing the open sky, except he swapped the roof of their house for the water tower, replaced the solitary action with company.

In this mystical point of time, the night air pulling up a smattering of goosebumps across their arms was only indication that this wasn't a fantastical imagination of the mind, not a dream, though very much dream-like, Mason could not tear gaze away from the ribbons of light that flowed across the star studded sky. A rise in hopes to dip fingers into the starlight, Mason's voice a whisper when he spoke, "Do you think this is like the vibes of the universe? Can you read her? I wanna know how she's feeling." He had been afraid to break the beauty with nonsense, but Jamie would understand, a fellow aura reader, he would know the feeling, this wouldn't be just random talk. As blues blended to greens to the show-stopping purples and pinks, Mason's heart sighed in bliss to be able to behold such a display. "Mmhhmp?" It was just noises as eyes slowly blinked the vibrancy of colours back to reality, outstretched hand now tugging on Jamie, "Don't float away on me dude, I can't fly. Wish I was a bird."

closed starter for @masonxmahir Jamie & Mason on top of Lunar Cove's water tower watching the Northern Lights 🥺 💫

Nature always made him feel small. No matter how big his problems, everything faded away when Jamie just stopped to appreciate the world around him. One of his favorite things about being a witch was the deep connection to their world, to each other. He thought it allowed him to live deeper, and to experience more than others could ever dream. Tonight's magical display an example of what he and Mason saw every day. An oil slick of purple and cerulean hues danced across the sky. Earth was showing them her aura, he thought, and it was beautiful. Breathtakingly so. Jamie didn't speak for some time, choosing to appreciate in silence what felt like a gift.

When he did, it was simply to say, "Why can't life always be this way?" Peaceful, a rarity as they seemed to be approaching the end of days. "I'd never come down." Some days he still wished to hide away. In his house, a top the tower, and a hundred miles away from here; the worst of the three. Jamie felt a sense of responsibility. A duty to his family, to his friends and community, to help return peace to Lunar Cove.