I have found it is both a blessing and a curse
The war on his father's face when Jude asked to go alone to The Climb had been terrifying, amusing, and anxiety-inducing. It was further from home than he'd ever been so it was understandable even in Jude's eyes despite his desperation to go, and he thinks that might have been part of why his father had conceded in the first place. That and apparently he knew Sohalia, which was something Jude had yet to figure out how to feel about. Part of him had enjoyed having a best friend to keep secret.
Outfitted with 'proper excavating gear' as his father had put it, he arrives with a shy smile and and a tousled appearance, having gotten a little lost trying to find the appointed meeting area. Before he can get his mouth open to say hello she is throwing herself around him, and Jude hastily drops his stuff to try and catch her, which at least allows himself to hug her back without freaking out about it. Cheeks still a little pink as she pulls away, he latches onto the confidence that talking about Winifred grants him to not stutter his way through hellos. "Hi Soh! Winnie's doing great, she's getting so big so fast it's crazy." A mere kitten when they'd first found her, she was growing larger by the day - and fluffier, too. "Oh! A-And I'm good too. Excited to go digging. How is your shop doing?" The pattern and placement of each statement and question feels off to him, but he's usually frazzled for the first few minutes when in her company, and luckily it always seems to die down with time.
Outfitted with 'proper excavating gear' as his father had put it, he arrives with a shy smile and and a tousled appearance, having gotten a little lost trying to find the appointed meeting area. Before he can get his mouth open to say hello she is throwing herself around him, and Jude hastily drops his stuff to try and catch her, which at least allows himself to hug her back without freaking out about it. Cheeks still a little pink as she pulls away, he latches onto the confidence that talking about Winifred grants him to not stutter his way through hellos. "Hi Soh! Winnie's doing great, she's getting so big so fast it's crazy." A mere kitten when they'd first found her, she was growing larger by the day - and fluffier, too. "Oh! A-And I'm good too. Excited to go digging. How is your shop doing?" The pattern and placement of each statement and question feels off to him, but he's usually frazzled for the first few minutes when in her company, and luckily it always seems to die down with time.
to feel everything so deeply and insistently
JUDE
