I don't give a-

"Agitation," Jude guessed. "A desire to escape." That was what this had in that. He hadn't been there, but he could still guess what it would be like. Anxiety. Not quite fear, but agitation, and a desire to escape.

"Maybe a half second, tops," Jude said. "Blink-and-you'd-miss-it sort of thing. Here one second, gone the next. So I'd guess, at least for now, it's tied to your emotions. Can you... can you uh, focus on those feelings? On that desire to move away?"

He looked so damned agitated, and Jude couldn't help but feel he'd gotten off easy in not having his fucking arm snapped as punishment for having touched Broen in that state.

"I want to know if he was possessed, for one. I'd have considered him a friend up until like, yesterday. And now this shit all happened and I want to at least hear what he has to say. I want to know why. The way I figure it, there's two real options."

To punctuate his point, Jude held up two fingers.

"Option one. He hates demons, and he did what he did to kill Chloe Black, ignorantly assuming that all demons are weak to holy water. He grinned at her out of sheer malice, and didn't care if he got caught as long as he made a point."

It didn't seem likely to Jude, not the least of all because he doubted Xavier was that sort of cunning planner.

"Option two. He's the pawn of something else. Someone else gave him the bucket. Someone else put him up to it. In this case, he's not malicious, just stupid. He's not telling anyone about this out of embarrassment or something, but he doesn't actually have anything against demons."

Jude dropped his hand, taking a deep breath.

"You know what? I'd prefer if it was the first one. You can fix that kind of ignorance. You can't fix that kind of stupid."

"Didn't think you would," Jude said. "You barely talked to Xavier. So let me handle it. I'll talk to them if they talk to me. But they're going to need a really fucking good reason why I shouldn't just make myself forget their number forever."

Not like he'd actually do that. He was too eager for any and all knowledge, and it might be useful one day even if he did decide to cut Xavier off.

"Your hand okay?"

"Nonexistent," Jude said, 'flexing' a hand that wasn't even there. "He took some measurements. Commented he was going to look into it. Going to have to go up there a few times to get things sorted out, but he's working on it. He's going to set it up so it matches my right arm and doesn't look lopsided."

He reached over, pulling the sleeve back to show the odd looking sockets set in a ring around his arm.

"Little dents, right? So the prosthetic can snap in. We're working on it."

"Just try not to stress," Jude said, realizing he was likely talking to a brick wall. "If you need anything, you give me a call, alright?"

Not that he had much to offer. He was definitely not the hang out and chill friend. That was Travis more than anyone else, wasn't it?

The flicker was more obvious this time, but Jude was also more prepared, so he only jerked a bit when he vanished, reappearing after a moment.

He grinned, bumping his fist to Broens.

"What else am I here for, if not that?"

The moment Broen was gone, Jude turned away, heading back home as he did.