love you dead

Sohalia

Don't try to wake me up
Even if the sun really does come out tomorrow

The first thing that Soh noticed upon sitting down was less about Jude and more about Anani, who tensed upon her shoulders as she recognized the confusing tangle of emotions emanating from her bonded. She couldn't help but think about Tarak; he'd been with her through the mess she'd made of her relationship with Jude, and he'd have understood, at least, where her tumultuous thoughts and racing heart came from. She loved Anani - truly, with her entire soul - but she had to admit that to a companion coming in on the tail end of things, it had to be a difficult relationship (or lack thereof, these days) to parse.

Raising a hand to scratch beneath the cloud wyrm's chin, the Luminary smiled, the motion half-real, half-forced. Were they in a position to be complimenting one another? Or was that just something Jude was saying to be polite? For her part, she recognized that he'd grown up, no longer the boy she'd fallen in love with way back when. But there was a harsh distance between them that kept her from feeling much more than anguish at everything that had changed. "Thank you," she said. "So do you."

Turning her attention to the dragon in his lap, Soh offered a small smile to the companion. "It's nice to meet you, Joan," she said then, ever polite to companions, especially since having lost Tarak, an event that had made her more mindful than ever of the little creatures that shared their souls. But at Jude's next words, the smile slipped from Soh's features to pool at her feet. She pulled her knees up to her chest, linking her arms around her knees. "Thanks," she said. Then there was a pause, because what did one say in this situation? A part of her wanted to ask what he needed, but the part of her that was still that teenage girl who loved him wanted to linger in this moment, if only for a few minutes.

But she wasn't that girl anymore, and he certainly wasn't that boy.

"What, um... what can I do for you, Jude?"

Don't believe anything you say anymore
In the morn, in the morning