06-05-2022, 08:12 AM
"Thought you would have gotten a haircut," Jude replies placidly. He has. Instead of the loose curls that cherubically framed his face, he has something more standard-fare, clipped closer to his temples. His bangs are slight. His good looks are more generic, more red-white-blue American. He fits in with the mall. He's blue jeans, white T-shirt, sneakers, black waterproof bomber jacket, because it rains here so much, god it rains. He mostly knows when it's going to rain.
(It's going to rain. Sooner if not later.)
The theory that he might have been dead receives a very bland look. "Well," he says after a moment, "I suppose you'd have no way of knowing if I was." He looks back to the fountain. He doesn't think there'd be any cataclysmic event to signal his passing. It would just be the Family's missed opportunity, the stars never fated to align again for many lifetimes. Jude reckons he's not easy to kill (he has not tested this theory out) but he imagines it would be just the same as anyone else -- the exception being, he doesn't he think he has a soul, if that's a thing people have. So he would go quietly, and then, if there's a place to go afterwards, he wouldn't go there. He will go nowhere. He's already there.
He takes a second glance at Near. Seems he turned out all right, even with Jude's disappearing. Jude checks for scars; he's watched Near walk through the mall and looked for any signs of a limp. The scars could be under the clothes, but in that case he can't have been taught too terrible of a lesson by his sister.
She's hunting for him, even now. She's gotten close several times, even closer than she did at The Reaches. It's less frightening on its face now. Or, Jude has adapted. He had incorporated that level of fright into his baseline.
"Why are you looking for me?"
(It's going to rain. Sooner if not later.)
The theory that he might have been dead receives a very bland look. "Well," he says after a moment, "I suppose you'd have no way of knowing if I was." He looks back to the fountain. He doesn't think there'd be any cataclysmic event to signal his passing. It would just be the Family's missed opportunity, the stars never fated to align again for many lifetimes. Jude reckons he's not easy to kill (he has not tested this theory out) but he imagines it would be just the same as anyone else -- the exception being, he doesn't he think he has a soul, if that's a thing people have. So he would go quietly, and then, if there's a place to go afterwards, he wouldn't go there. He will go nowhere. He's already there.
He takes a second glance at Near. Seems he turned out all right, even with Jude's disappearing. Jude checks for scars; he's watched Near walk through the mall and looked for any signs of a limp. The scars could be under the clothes, but in that case he can't have been taught too terrible of a lesson by his sister.
She's hunting for him, even now. She's gotten close several times, even closer than she did at The Reaches. It's less frightening on its face now. Or, Jude has adapted. He had incorporated that level of fright into his baseline.
"Why are you looking for me?"