James' face was the very picture of carefully practiced insolence, one brow sloping quizzically upwards, sharp eyes hidden beneath a dull glaze of disinterest, and mouth twisted halfway between an innocent smirk and an expectant sneer.  It was a look he prided himself on, a look that always seemed to get under<em>anyone's</em>skin with only the slightest bit of effort.  An expression was a powerful weapon in the hands of a competent jackass.<br/><br/>"Jase,<em>brother</em>!" he exclaimed, eyes coming to sudden sharp attention and flickering briefly towards the other man's quivering fists.  He felt as though he had to go out of his way to emphasize their relationship, the ties of blood waning thin with time and insults.  "You look well!  Strong!  It's nice to see that the<em>Paragon</em>of the family has been looking after himse-Ah, Jacob!"<br/><br/>A convenient interruption, he turned his head to the side to watch his other brother shift silently past them.  Clearly (thankfully) he didn't seem eager to join in on the verbal (and perhaps soon to be physical) altercation.  The sight of that blank face made James' mask falter for a moment.  He wondered, briefly, what the youngest of them was thinking at that very moment.<br/><br/>But a moment later and he was all smiles, his normally infectious charm both loathsomely out of place and endlessly infuriating.  "As for your question--yes, I do believe I<em>can</em>just walk back in here.  In fact," James said, making a show of turning back and forth to look at his feet, "I think I already have!"<br/><br/>"As for whether I have the<em>right</em>to, well..."  He walked casually over to the nearest wall, tapping the frame of an old picture.  The fading photograph showed the three brothers clumped together, watched over by both father and grandfather.  So young.  So naive and ignorant.  "Gramps didn't have the foresight to write me out of the will, so I dare say I do have the right to be here.  I've a stake in this house, after all."<br/><br/>James turned to smile just a bit too obnoxiously at Jase.  "The past is the past!  What's gone is gone.  So instead of crying about it, let's say we forget about all the sour milk between us and move on, eh?"<br/>