Into the Deep End

Jude had kind of jumped feet first into the deep end with the whole relationship thing. Back at home, he'd never kissed a girl. He'd never even held hands. His entire life had involved an intense knowledge that he couldn't just get close to people without being extra cautious, and extra caution didn't translate well into admitting you have a crush on that girl in school. It translated into sitting on your feelings, doing nothing, and getting into the whole thing late.

Fat lot of good that had done him.

Since coming to Manta Carlos, he'd been making an active effort to do things he hadn't gotten to do at home. He'd started off simple enough, but soon begun to realize just how much he'd missed out on.

Dating had been one of those things.

He'd spent a short while wondering if there just wasn't anyone he liked, but after some self reflection (helped in no small part by his bosses amusement) he'd accepted that no, there was--he'd just ruled them out because his standards were so high he wasn't going to let anyone short of Flying Freedom herself qualify. There was always an excuse. Always some reason they wouldn't work.

But Alma was a perfect fit. She was smart. She was attractive. She was bold (boy was that a big thing for him).

Jude had overdressed a little bit. Not too bad, but he could have gone with a more casual shirt (just like Travis had told him, only he couldn't find one he liked), and he could have gone with a lot less nerves as he waited in front of the restaurant for Alma to show up.

Oh dear. She was... well, the dress was definitely something. He should have known she'd dress up, and yet there he was, still caught kind of off guard by it.

Alma was kind of intimidating in private. The height was part of it, but a big part of it was just... well, she was kind of scary. So was Rory at times. They were both very intense people, and having a visual indicator of how intense she was happening to feel (because boy had Jude picked up on that) was... not particularly helping. Knowing exactly how someone felt should have helped him relax, but instead it just made him more nervous.

That said, the nerves eased away a good deal the moment Alma got into range. Most auras were varying shades of awful, but Almas was... well, more or less exactly what he needed. It helped a lot for sure, and eased away the worst of the nerves as he waved at her.

"No, I just was checking out the menu. You picked a good place for sure." He could tell that much just from what they offered. "You eat out often?"

Jude was careful about the garlic. He'd thought about that, even if he knew it wasn't going to kill her, and was careful to order around it. He ordered some focaccia, unclear on if Alma had it before, and then skimmed down the menu.

"Would it be cliche if I got something with genovese sauce? Because I feel like it might be."

He's definitely looked at the menu before, picking out a coniglio alla cacciatora before passing his menu off, and nearly second guessed himself before Alma's aura smoothed out the edges.

"I'll be the first to admit I can't cook. That's actually one of my classes--I'm taking home ec next year so I'm not reliant on microwave meals. Officer Genovese is pretty busy, so mostly we're on our own for meals."

In other circumstances, Jude probably would have asked is it just you and your mom at home, only Jude knew just enough (having definitely been warmed) not to ask about family. So instead he went with something else entirely.

"What sort of meals do you cook, then? Anything special?"

Jude snorted at Alma describing Officer Genovese as a taller, older, more buff twin.

"I don't really think of him as being me, I guess? I treat him kind of like I imagine people would treat an older cousin, or a cool uncle. Similar enough history that we can relate a lot, but we have enough different that it's not like we're really twins or anything. He's pretty good at figuring out what I'm up to at any given time, but... well, not quite vice versa. I'm still getting used to living with him, but he's not overbearing or anything like that. Mostly he just keeps an eye out for us, and is there if we need us, and otherwise we're left to our own devices."

Which a lot of the meant that Rory was cooking.

"Originally I actually thought I was Roa's doppelganger, if you know him."

So she knew Roa. Simple enough--most people at least knew of Roa. He was angry and very obvious, standing out from the crowd. Jude had long ago figured out that absolutely everyone knew Shay, but Roa? Maybe a bit more obscure.

"That's him," Jude confirmed. "He lives with Officer Genovese as well, so when I first showed up it was the two of them and me, and I thought Roa was me, rather than Officer Genovese. Same height, similar hair... different eyes, but you know."

It was less of a change then teh changes between him and his real self.

"Yeah," Jude admitted at the mention of his powers. "It's a new thing. I couldn't before, but since coming to Manta Carlos I started being able to tell. It's been getting better, too. Before it was just general ideas, but now I get.. enough details."

He reached out as the focaccia was delivered to the table, grabbing a piece and pouring out some oil before explaining.

"You get abilities by drinking blood directly from people, and there's a few different variations of that. You have your aura. You can fly, as long as you're not in direct sunlight. Your more agile, and faster than a human... You're made sick by silver and catholic holy items."

And some other stuff. "Should I keep going, or does that give enough of an idea?"

He'd explicitly avoided the less table-friendly side of things, like you can choose if you get pregnant and you feed on sexual gratification.