[ James can be forgiven for addressing Remus as a stranger, for several reasons. First, he's two years older now than James ever will be, and (probably) several more years older than he was when James last saw him. Second, his hair is getting too long and currently is very wet, hanging drippy over his face, which in turn (third) is turned downturned and mostly hidden under a person-sized piece of scrap metal he's crouched down beside and lifted up to look beneath in search of nonmetal things. Wands, for example.
Fourth, they're, you know, on an alien planet, middle of nowhere, very disorienting.
But Remus couldn't be forgiven for not knowing his voice—two years is nothing, really—and so he goes very still, when the unseen someone starts talking to him, and he needs until the end of the question to steel himself against the possibility that it isn't James and lower the metal enough to look.
He looks. He's been around long enough and thought about this possibility long enough that he doesn't quite look like he's seeing a ghost. He does, however, forget to smile. ]
[ He says, ] Oh. [ It's very profound. Equally profound: he drops the metal on his toes. They're saved from crunching by his boots and the give of the mud beneath his feet, but it does startle him, if it doesn't actually hurt. So the second thing he says is, ] Ouch.
[ He'll make it out of monosyllables eventually. ]
!!! base camp!
Fourth, they're, you know, on an alien planet, middle of nowhere, very disorienting.
But Remus couldn't be forgiven for not knowing his voice—two years is nothing, really—and so he goes very still, when the unseen someone starts talking to him, and he needs until the end of the question to steel himself against the possibility that it isn't James and lower the metal enough to look.
He looks. He's been around long enough and thought about this possibility long enough that he doesn't quite look like he's seeing a ghost. He does, however, forget to smile. ]
[ He says, ] Oh. [ It's very profound. Equally profound: he drops the metal on his toes. They're saved from crunching by his boots and the give of the mud beneath his feet, but it does startle him, if it doesn't actually hurt. So the second thing he says is, ] Ouch.
[ He'll make it out of monosyllables eventually. ]