Help! {Jude Sheperd}

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude laughed a little at her answer, finding it genuinely funny. "I see."

He nodded and looked away from her, wondering if he should ask her another question. That was how it worked, right?

"Uh...d-do you like it here?"

[Jez Steele]

Jez thought about it as he asked her another question, "Yeah I like it here, but I love back home. This is just nice. It's not," she paused trying to think of the word, "there are so many colors in the nature here that sometimes it disturbs me."

Jez turned and looked at him curiously as she cocked her head to the side, "What about you? How do you like it here?"

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude nodded silently at Jez's answer. He knew he wasn't the only one who missed home. Even though there are far more people around here who looked happy to be here. He just wasn't one of them.

He found it weird, what Jez said about colours. Jude didn't know that was mostly due to her powers.

"Uh...it's school..." he shrugged. It wasn't an answer, he knew that. But to actually tell her that he wanted to go home to his mother would probably make him sound more pathetic than he already was.

"How is your power training? Do you...have control over them?"

[Jez Steele]

Jez raised a curious eyebrow when he didn't exactly answer her question but she didn't push him. If he didn't want to talk about it then he wouldn't have to, "I miss my da, like crazy, I wish here he was here with me," she smiled softly.

When he asked about her powers she grinned crookedly, "I've been working on my powers since I was eleven, I personally think I have a pretty good hang of them. But it's harder to change into smaller cats," she reached back and scratched the back of her head, "they have less presence than the predators and I have to get used to making myself less known."

She looked up at him and instantly blushed, "Sorry, I was rambling wasn't I? What about you? How are you coming with your powers?"

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude gave a small smile in return at her affection for her father. He couldn't muster the same for his but he respected people who did. Frankly, he would rather have his baby sister and mother around than his father.

Not that he would say that to a stranger.

"You're lucky," he blurted out. "I've been here three years and I still poof up at random." He paused and shrugged when he realised he didn't even tell her what his powers were. "Poof up in smoke. That's my uh...powers. I turn into smoke."

"So you're a shape shifter?" He gathered, probably making an obvious statement right then.

[Jez Steele]

Jez smiled, "That's cool."

She leaned back against the bench and brought her legs up, "Yeah, the first time I found out about my powers I was out hunting with my da and brothers and my horse threw me and when I hit the ground I had transformed into a Scottish wild cat. It was so weird," she grinned and shook her head at the memory.

[Jude Shepherd]

"You're lucky it manifested in private." Jude grimaced, reminded of how he came to his powers. There was no covering it up, for awhile, he was the talk of town. He wondered if he could actually go back without someone knowing who he was.

"Uh...so, you're not from around here?" He asked, wondering how she got recruited to Hammel if she was from where he thought she was.

[Jez Steele]

Jez's smile dropped a little when he mentioned why she was here and not at the one in Europe, "My ma lives here. But my," she paused, hoping this came out right, "youngest oldest brother came to live here with me when she kicked me out for being a meta."

She owed Cameron her life for that, of course she knew that he would never let her live out in the streets.

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude went silent when Jez explained why she was here. He felt bad that he even brought it up. As much of a dickhead as his father was, he hadn't tried to keep himself out of Jude's life even after the manifestation.

"I'm sorry your mother...kicked you out." He said softly, not knowing what else to say. "So...so Hammel is taking care of you then." He blurted out, wishing he wouldn't just say what popped into his head at any given time.

[Jez Steele]

Jez could see that he was sorry for bringing it up but, well yeah. She shook her head when he asked if Hammel was taking care of her. "No, first I had another relative to live with then when I turned eighteen he went back home and I stayed in our apartment, but now it's under my name instead of just his."

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude simply nodded at Jez's explanation about her living situation, not envying it at all. He was glad he had his sister and mother to come home to every now and again. He couldn't imagine living alone.

He looked down at his shoe and sighed softly. "Well, it's good that you're okay with your living situation." He responded.

[Jez Steele]

Jez nodded her head as her phone rang, her alarm. She looked down at it quickly then back up at Jude with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, but work is calling. Thank you so much for the tutoring, it helped a lot."

She stood and held out her hand to him, "Again thank you. I'll see you around yeah?"

She grinned crookedly before heading off to her car to leave for work.

[Jude Shepherd]

When Jez announced that she was leaving, a part of Jude was relieved that he no longer had to keep up pretenses. But another part of him, one that he didn't even know existed, was disappointed that she had to leave.

"Uh...um yeah of course." He looked at her hand and took it, shaking it briefly. He forced a smile on his lips as he tried to push away the disappointment. He stood up and waved her down as she walked off.

Rubbing at his chest, he shook his head and walked the other way, wondering why he felt that it was a loss to see her go.

[OOC: Wrapped! Thank you for putting up with me ^^]