A Break

The break had been for Alma. That had been the idea, anyway. That she'd push herself so hard that if she wasn't reminded to take a break, she wouldn't at all. That they needed to schedule a time to take a day off, to stop campaigning and do something else.

If Jude was being honest, the break felt like more of a thing for him than anyone else.

His speech had been... alright. Brief. He'd abandoned his pre-written one in favor of an ultra-brief here are my skills. He'd gone and sat in the wings and tried to let himself process.

He felt tired a lot. He couldn't get tired, not really, but he felt tired just the same.

Going on a date with Alma felt good. It felt normal. He just let things be normal, let himself be distracted as they did all the things couples were supposed to do. Going on rides. Holding hands. They talked, but they didn't talk--not until they'd settled in for dinner at a little cafe in the park.

"I wanted to... apologize for not talking with you as much," Jude admitted as the food finally came out. He'd been meaning to apologize the whole day, and even with Alma's aura it had taken him this long to work up the nerve. "I kind of feel like we started dating, and then I shut down and stopped talking to you about things that mattered. I guess I didn't want to... scare you off."

He hadn't thought of it that way, but he supposed that most people would class Iggy as a monster based on his big form. Jude had a hard time being overly intimidated, considering how quiet Iggy was most of the time. He didn't exactly fit the whole rampaging-monster thing that people tended to imagine.

"I'm not really," Jude admitted. He was self aware enough for that. "It's kind of like taping the whole thing together so it doesn't collapse. I guess I'm one of those... go hard until you can't anymore. If I stop, I'm going to think about things, and I don't want to think about things, so I just keep myself busy."

It felt easy to admit that, and a part of Jude suspected that was the effects of Alma's aura. Building up to a confession like that was severely undercut by the aura telling him to just get it over with.

It felt... comforting. Normal. And when Alma took his hand in her own, Jude gave it a squeeze in return.

"It seems like we have that in common," Jude said. "It feels easier to be busy. I don't... I guess I don't really get how people can just shut down when bad things happen. If it was just me and my head, I'd go crazy, even with Gil up there." Gil wasn't exactly a great conversation partner. They would talk if Jude asked them, but they weren't really going to check in or make smalltalk or keep him busy.

"No, it... it's okay. I talked a bit with some friends, and worked out most of my feelings on it. The - the stuff at work, anyway. I'll talk about it if you want, but I don't want to, uh, bring the mood down."

The whole day had been intended to be something light and fluffy, but it felt like there was too much on his mind to really sell that.

"It'll probably still be happening after elections," Jude said. "I actually met up with Iggy a day ago. I was going along with one of my Regalia--who was really nice, don't get me wrong--and we kind of... exchanged pacts. The kid he was with, Wolfgang, was..."

Jude paused, trying to find a word that was both polite and accurate. "Not his type of person. Really... cold, I guess? Strict. Formal. I've been pretty lucky with my Regalia, so we swapped, since I knew I'd probably have an easier time with Wolfgang than he would."

He supposed it kind of segued nicely into something else he'd wanted to talk about, so he took the chance.

"One of my partners, is... well, her name is Lucianne. She's really nice, although not someone I'd have talked to otherwise, I don't think. The tournament's been great for meeting people I wouldn't have normally. She works at a coffee shop downtown, and we went to a bookstore together and talked about life."

He trailed off for a moment, suspecting Alma would realize what he was getting at.

"I was thinking about asking her out. I don't know if I'm going to, but... I figured I might at least ask. She's kind of on the upper limit of my age range, but it doesn't feel like that much of a difference because she hasn't quite started a career yet."

She seemed excited, which was probably a good sign.

"I haven't really decided yet," Jude said. "I'm playing it by ear, but I didn't want to get to the point where I think maybe I should ask her out and not have asked. Better to ask you first well, well ahead of time before I get to the point of asking them."

He preferred to be prepared.

"I already said she was nice, but it's the first thing that came to mind. She's really, really optimistic. Upbeat. Maybe a bit too upbeat and... uh, passive? She wants to help people, but I kind of worry it's one of those helping-others-at-cost-of-yourself. I'm not entirely sure if it's going to work out in the long term, but I figure it might be nice to give it a try."