07-17-2022, 05:52 PM
Jude wants to bury his face in his hands. He resents the senseless inspiration that compelled him to observe Near for several weeks and then make this approach. He could have been doing something better with his time. He doesn't know what that something better would have been -- it is only a sliver of Jude's time that he spends doing the most important part of his work, which is persuading people of his cause. The majority of his time is actually spent waiting, interspersed with running. It's hard to say whether he really had anything else he could have been doing. But there must have been. Whatever it would have been, it would not have been wanting to shake Near like a button-eyed ragdoll.
Wrapped up in his anger, there's a lag in processing time in what Near says. Jude looks up from his place on the bench and stares. He listens, thinks, and then waits for the punch line. He waits for something like, 'Is that what you want me to say?'
When it doesn't come, he coughs out a laugh and looks back at the dry fountain. He smiles with his teeth, his tongue coming worry the front of one canine. He clasps his hands between his spread legs; his grip tightens briefly at Near's mention of 'meeting someone'.
'Your boyfriend?' he thinks of saying. Jude has taken note of him in his observing of Near. Instead he loosens his hands, presses them into his knees, and stands beside Near. "You make it sound so easy," he sighs. "We should go somewhere else to talk."
He doesn't like the way that comes out.
Wrapped up in his anger, there's a lag in processing time in what Near says. Jude looks up from his place on the bench and stares. He listens, thinks, and then waits for the punch line. He waits for something like, 'Is that what you want me to say?'
When it doesn't come, he coughs out a laugh and looks back at the dry fountain. He smiles with his teeth, his tongue coming worry the front of one canine. He clasps his hands between his spread legs; his grip tightens briefly at Near's mention of 'meeting someone'.
'Your boyfriend?' he thinks of saying. Jude has taken note of him in his observing of Near. Instead he loosens his hands, presses them into his knees, and stands beside Near. "You make it sound so easy," he sighs. "We should go somewhere else to talk."
He doesn't like the way that comes out.