<blockquote>Jude had several scattered mental snapshots of her apartment in Watani - a battered lighter with "Patent Pending" printed on the bottom; the twining metal ridge, looking down into the bulbless interior of a light socket, a pair of old canvas shoes, these in particular looking sad and wounded; and for some reason - what she remembered most of all - a very old tube of chapstick, with an amber-like resin, hard and cracked. "I have two places, actually - I work at Neurotech, so I have an apartment here for the week, and one in Watani for the weekend. I'm from Aurius originally, though." She smiled wryly and looked to Mae. "What about you? Where are you from? And your family?"</blockquote>
Oh thes, she remember now why she didn’t have any real friends here, why she never had real conversations with the girls she went out with. She didn’t like lying to them. She didn’t let it show on her face as she thought carefully about what she would say next, smiling and nodding politely as Jude spoke. “I’m actually from a farm in Swaraj," She said with a little bit of humor in her voice, for some reason, even when she told herself that, she felt like she was supposed to be some for of country hick. But in truth, she had lived on a rather posh piece of farm land. “I came here wanting to make something of myself while wanting to put a little space between myself and my family, try to be my own self." She finished off with a bit of a confident smile, that had traces of how it was never as easy as she had once dreamed it would be, but more proud with telling the truth for once. “But, Aurius, that’s so cool. All that water, it must have been beautiful there." Mae had very little experience with the ocean, she found it fascinating, hoping to one day have the chance to sit on a beach and try to capture the wonder of it on canvas. “What do you get up to in your free time? I know you engross yourself in your work, but you must have hobbies of some sort."
<blockquote>"You are? Really? I always wanted to go see a farm," she said quietly. "Aurius was beautiful, yes. I attended a small private school there until I was sixteen. My mother died when I was six, and my father was a really stern, rigid man - he hated any time that I stepped out of the norm. He taught me to be faithful to my work and nothing else. So it didn't come as a surprise to me on how outraged he was when I came out to him - he fumed and finally told me to get out of his house. Which I did." Jude smiled softly, cupping her jaw in one of her hands. "I became an intern at Neurotech, and so now I'm here..." She produced from her pocket a flash of silver - shlish-shiiiick, the wheel of the lighter catching on the edge of her thumb, combining sparks and kerosene, her lighter drawn like a .44 in some mythical western as she lit up a cigarette and held it to her lips. "Well..." she said. "Sometimes, I sing."</blockquote>
Mae had picked up one of the packets of sugar that was on the table as Jude spoke. The small package read 'No real sugar', feeling a little betrayed she tore the top off and emptied in to her mug anyway. It was probably for the best that there wasn’t any real sugar in it anyway. She wasn’t overly surprised by their similarities, they had both gone to a private school, both had father issues and both had left home on not so good terms. “You wouldn’t have wanted to see our farm, it’s not the quaint little image you probably have in your mind. It was highly industrialized." And she was the inheritor, but she didn’t know that. “Fathers cane be a drag that way." Trying to comfort her a little, not sure how sore the old wounds might be. She watched, almost mesmerized as Jude lit her cigarette, Mae had only kicked the habit last season, in hopes of saving money but she didn’t care what people said, smoking did make you look cooler. “Sing, really? Sing me a song miss Jude." Mae said with a sly smile, not expecting her to comply at all. “Voices shouldn’t only be heard by science experiments."
<blockquote>The room seemed to get darker. Out of the be-fucking-lue, everything suddenly blackened substantially. Not pitch-black, mind you, nor even power-failure black. More like a storm passing over the sun. Grey whorls of smoke issued from her parted lips and played swirling symphonies upon the air. "I still hate him," she said. "You don't like yours, either?" She was somewhat surprised at Mae's request, but nodded quietly and began to sing softly. "You're sure you want to be with me? I've nothing to give Won't lie and say this loving is best Leave us in emotional peace Take a walk, taste the rest - No, take a rest..."</blockquote>
“Well I know he’d love to find me and have a little chat." Realizing how bitter she had started to sound, she toned her voice back to normal. “Let’s just say we are too different from each other to see eye on eye on anything." She may blame it on being to un-similar, but others would say it was because they were too much alike. A little surprised, but otherwise utterly tickled, Jude sang. She closed her eyes and let the music take over, she had to admit, Jude had a nice voice. She open her eyes when she stopped singing, noticing that the small café had become quiet then it had previously been. “That was very lovely, thank you." She said rather quietly, not wanting to disrupt the atmosphere in the room.
<blockquote> ooc. Sorry this sucks. :/ ic. It was a strange thing, to live in a time when the concept of law and order was still maintained. Stranger still was that they had not let anarchy come as it had so desperately wanted to. Maybe that was the fatal flaw in their society, that they sought to control it. And maybe it was a fatal flaw in Jude that she, above all others, understood what these rules were and still broke them like glass. But glass was sharp and could cut flesh, and it had. Jude, with her sacred symbols and science, was aware of her sin and his guilt. And she did claim to do what she had done. She knew. She wouldn’t deny it. She never had. "Thank you," she said quietly, smiling and extinguishing her cigarette. "My father was a scientist, too. He totally dedicated himself to his work after my mother’s death. The same thing happened to me. My girlfriend of four years, Sari, died two years ago in a mugging. She was an actress. She was cruel to me sometimes, in many ways, but I loved her nonetheless. I didn’t used to be like this – such a workaholic, nor did I use the acid… but I guess I sort of spiraled downwards after she died. I wish I could stop that and the cigarettes - if it gets any worse, I'm considering going into rehab for a while." </blockquote>
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>Sorry for the long delay, my replies should be back to normal from now on :(</td></tr></table> Mae had finished her drink and had started to run her finger around the rim, balancing on the edge of falling into the pit. Hearing the story of Jude’s past, her large yellow ears drooped, partially due to hearing about everything Jude had been through and partially because she felt embarrassed by her own, now small, complaints. “That’s horrible, I can’t even imagine," The lose of a mother and a lover? Anyone would have their vices after that. “I’m so sorry." She didn’t know how she would have kept on living without her mother, she probably would have left home much earlier. “Would your job support you going to rehab?" It sounded like the most responsible choice, but if Jude was the workaholic she said she was, she was bound to put that first in Mae’s mind. “Maybe you just need something new in your life to distract you." It felt weird being the one to try and give advice, usually Mae was on the other side of this conversation.
<blockquote> "Oh," she said, her bright blue gaze falling to trace the patterns ingrained into the wood table. Mae's words echoed inside of her like some awful dream - "I'm so sorry," only bringing back bad memories - slowly pitching her defenses into something entirely different. Her hand clenched around the cup. And then she took a deep breath and - - let it go. "It's okay. Time doesn't heal everything, but it doesn't really hurt anymore, unless I think about it. But thank you for your sympathies. I have health insurance, along with additional care provided by Neurotech, so I'd probably be fine. I haven't taken a break in... well, two years or more until this night, so I'm sure they'll allow me some time." A slow smile spread across her copper-colored muzzle. "I know this place in Watani - maybe I'll go there."</blockquote>
Mae watched, feeling her own body tense as Jude clenched the mug, worried that she had said something to set her off. But seeing her relax a bit calmed her down as well. She shuffled around in her chair for a minute, pulling one of up legs underneath the other while making sure her dirty shoes didn’t get all over her jeans. The idea of health coverage seemed like a nice perk to a real job, maybe one day, when she was ready for that sort of commitment. For now, she’d just have to try and be healthy. “Maybe you’ll be able to intermingle with all the washed-up actors and singers." Mae said with a bit of humor, but instantly regretted it. “Not that you’re a wash up, just those spoiled kids who rarely stay for more then a day." Hoping to clean up her own comment.
