10-27-2019, 07:03 AM
Entirely human or not, Jude had gone through puberty, and with it, that span of teenage time where he was liable to question everything. It was a shorter, less intense period than many of his peers, mostly because the ability to maintain a stable psyche depended on accepting what was, on a scale mostly peddled by new-age meditation book authors. Was something a memory, or his imagination? Was it something other people were capable of knowing, or was his knowing it predicated entirely on seeing, hearing, sensing things that lay beyond? Too many questions like this, and reality was no longer a pretty kaleidoscope, but an endless earthquake, the ground never stable, always shifting underfoot. Yes, the self-help gurus called this 'acceptance', but it was just as much birth control for self-reflection.
What Courtland could have meant was a path with a thousand forks. That he meant something was self-evident, and therefore, acceptable. The next question was not, 'What did Courtland mean?', but, 'Do you want to know?', and after that, 'Are you capable of finding out?' Near was skipping steps; he was liable to stumble, tripping over possibilities.
He was starting to understand Near's sense of humor; he was being made fun of again. "Sure, let me just touch your phone to my forehead, and it will all become clear." Jude rolled his eyes, to indicate it was pure stupidity to assume forehead touching was the best way to osmose information. "I could probably find out, but--" He waved his hand in the air. "It's breadcrumbs. They'll find me faster."
They would find him eventually, Jude knew. Hopefully he'd have something to wedge between him and them, by then.
What Courtland could have meant was a path with a thousand forks. That he meant something was self-evident, and therefore, acceptable. The next question was not, 'What did Courtland mean?', but, 'Do you want to know?', and after that, 'Are you capable of finding out?' Near was skipping steps; he was liable to stumble, tripping over possibilities.
He was starting to understand Near's sense of humor; he was being made fun of again. "Sure, let me just touch your phone to my forehead, and it will all become clear." Jude rolled his eyes, to indicate it was pure stupidity to assume forehead touching was the best way to osmose information. "I could probably find out, but--" He waved his hand in the air. "It's breadcrumbs. They'll find me faster."
They would find him eventually, Jude knew. Hopefully he'd have something to wedge between him and them, by then.