Jamie turns toward whoever's jostled against him, ready to wave off their apology, but when he sees who it is the casual smile he's conjured up fades rapidly and all the blood drains from his face.

He guesses it was kind of inevitable that he'd run into her again someday. He just...hadn't really prepared himself for it in any conceivable way.

"U-um - "

The noise of the gathering around them suddenly fades and becomes distant, muffled by the sound of his own panicked wheezing, of his pulse pounding in his ears, of Yuffie struggling desperately with Luce only a few steps away, and his blood is soaking into the carpet, and there's nothing but intense pain and helpless terror and Luce looking at him calmly as she shoves a knife into his chest and his eyes unfocus and dilate in fear

- and it's over in a split second, gone as suddenly as it struck, and it's just him and Luce staring at each other in a crowd of noisy people. He takes a shaky breath.

"H-hi." It comes out as a hoarse, trembling half-whisper, and he licks his lips and tries again. "How, um - how've you been?"