Jamie Pericone

Jamie Pericone is a half-ghost, half-human who belongs to my story: The Coalition of Witches. He’s a soft-spoken but brave guy, who wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s not the greatest decision maker and has trouble thinking things through quickly. He’s surprisingly really strong and is usually the one who does the heavy lifting just for the sake of niceness. 

Jamie was an ex Canadian Corps soldier who fought in World War 2. He was caught in an explosion near the end of a battle, burning most of his left shoulder. Jamie was sent back to Canada but unfortunately caught an infection on the boat through his damaged shoulder. He died in a Canadian hospital on June 18th 1944 at the age of 18. He was buried in his military uniform, and a very special medal that his veteran grandfather gave him was placed on top of his grave.

Then, almost 7 decades later, a young and foolish 17-year-old Elara Tixen was wandering through a military graveyard one night and saw this shiny and special medal placed on top of a grave. She took interest in this, and being fairly new to the practice of necromancy at the time, decided to try to bring a human person back to life for the first time in her life! Sadly, it didn't go so well. She misread a couple of the incantations and botched the spell. This caused Jamie to come back, mind fully intact, but his skin was now a slight shade of sickly blue and his body was almost this stronger jello consistency, no bones or anything. Jamie also emitted this blue glow. He was almost a ghost and almost a human, in between the two. After a while, he also found out that he wasn’t ageing, he was immortal, and was stuck at the age of 18. Jamie was resurrected on July 24th, and over time that became his new birthday.

Elara had to dig Jamie up, morbidly excited to see what she might find but realized very quickly that something was wrong. His colour was all alien like, and he was glowing? Jamie initially freaked out and was all kinds of messed up about his death and subsequent resurrection. He was very angry with Elara for a long while (and rightly so) after she explained the situation. Jamie couldn’t believe at first, muttering for hours and freaking out about his new appearance and the fact that he was wearing his military uniform. All of the new lights and new technology around him was overwhelming and he had a nervous breakdown. He sobbed for hours as his new reality began to sink in, Elara (who introduced herself) wasn’t lying, and this whole ghost thing might be actually real. He became incredibly angry and refused to speak to Elara (except to tell her his name) as he thought that she took his heroic death away, the only way that he could rest in peace knowing that he served his country well. He sat on top of his grave cradling his grandfathers medal until the sun came up, staring blankly ahead, still dressed in his old and worn uniform. Elara stayed the whole time feeling intense guilt about the whole situation, trying to say comforting words but realizing quickly that nothing would help. When dawn broke Elara knew that people might be coming to the graveyard soon, and with Jamie’s new unnatural appearance, something terribly bad may happen. She practically begged him to come to her home, a shitty apartment in downtown Toronto, and he reluctantly complied (apparently hybrid ghosts still get tired) dragging his feet as he went. He refused to speak for 2 months and kinda just laid on Elara’s ratty couch the whole time. The only thing he really needed was sleep (he never got hungry or thirsty so he just assumed he didn’t need sustenance) so Elara just left him alone, going about her daily life, trying to talk to him but mostly just seeing the consequences of her mistake. One day though, Jamie had enough. He was just so confused and so angry and so lonely and he needed someone to talk to. He muttered his first words in two months to Elara when she was just scrolling on her phone. He asked what that glowy box thing that she was always using was. That sparked a change. Elara realized that she had a chance to try and make things right. She jumped on the chance to strike up a friendship with Jamie and while he was still incredibly resentful and angry Jamie found that he actually kinda liked Elara. She dressed him up in new clothes and they were so different from what he knew. He developed his own style and it was freeing. She showed him phones, computers, and so many other cool electronic devices (although he still doesn’t get how to use half of them). She introduced him to modern ways of thinking and told him about the Coalition of Witches and how at that point she was only in it to protect Jamie. They became friends, and soon something close to family. They trusted each other with everything, and even though Jamie still carries anger and Elara still carries guilt, they’ve both decided to talk everything regarding the resurrection out between each other so fights don’t get too nasty. Jamie can’t work due to his appearance so he’s confined to the apartment most of the time, but he’s taken up many traditional hobbies like knitting and cooking (even though he doesn’t need to eat) to keep himself busy. He pinned his grandfather's medal to his shirt to remind him of his past life and his old ambitions. 

Jamie was also around when Elara found Sora Ishikawa, abandoned in the street. He helped Sora and provided some cheer to the boy when Sora found it funny that Jamie didn’t remember how to use the juicer. He thinks of Sora like a little brother and tries to keep him in line as much as he can. Jamie’s still adjusting to his life but Elara and Sora make dealing with everything so much easier, and they allow him to grow and be himself.

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