Jude
Her pride is clear in the tilt of her chin and the curve of her smile, and Jude can only laugh out the remaining jitters in her chest with a small shake of his head. It helps his heart rate slow to have her react so…normally. “I’m sure it’s normally a compliment, but I think you gave me a few grey hairs.” A saying he’d absorbed from his dad which he finds sits awkwardly on his tongue for all it naturally comes to it.
It’s something that adds an extra beat of self-conscious silence to the stretch that unfolds between them, until her quiet condolences break the silence. Honey eyes jump to her, wide and startled. “Me? No, I’m - well I’m out here walking in the woods and she’s…” Jude isn’t sure what infection feels like to Noe actually, but his shame feels like ash on his tongue; her sympathy is better suited for Noe, not Jude.
He extends his hand stupidly as she offers the cloth. How she continues to blindside him so thoroughly is almost exasperating. Is it magic? Is he just really bad at socializing now? Not that he was ever much more than mediocre at it but clearly he is growing rustier by the day. “Thank you. That’s - well, you - are really kind.” Flustered by the graceless way he gets it out, Jude takes a moment to wrap his hand up, grateful for a midwife mom and soldier dad who didn’t overlook first aid training a day in his life. “I’m Jude.” He extends the bandaged hand to shake before quickly trading it out for one that wouldn’t hurt so badly to squeeze. “Are you from around here?”
It’s something that adds an extra beat of self-conscious silence to the stretch that unfolds between them, until her quiet condolences break the silence. Honey eyes jump to her, wide and startled. “Me? No, I’m - well I’m out here walking in the woods and she’s…” Jude isn’t sure what infection feels like to Noe actually, but his shame feels like ash on his tongue; her sympathy is better suited for Noe, not Jude.
He extends his hand stupidly as she offers the cloth. How she continues to blindside him so thoroughly is almost exasperating. Is it magic? Is he just really bad at socializing now? Not that he was ever much more than mediocre at it but clearly he is growing rustier by the day. “Thank you. That’s - well, you - are really kind.” Flustered by the graceless way he gets it out, Jude takes a moment to wrap his hand up, grateful for a midwife mom and soldier dad who didn’t overlook first aid training a day in his life. “I’m Jude.” He extends the bandaged hand to shake before quickly trading it out for one that wouldn’t hurt so badly to squeeze. “Are you from around here?”
I LEND EVERYONE MY EAR, BUT NOBODY MY HEART
I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
I'D LIKE TO CHANGE THAT, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START
