Reading it Wrong

The vehicle of Elliot Hale had already passed heading back towards town, at least Evie thinks his last name was Hale, she was rather confused about it all. Still, she walks alone, lighter a few items than when she had arrived at the bridge crossing the creek. In one hand is a small tackle box but absent is a rod and reel and a box of worms that she had the night before. The sun is still shining, so it's still as safe as it's going to get for a girl out walking alone. Her shoes make little sound and her jeans are rolled up midcalf and there's no hoodie to speak of this time. There are a few birds flying over head, or more towards another part of the creek, circling around.

Maybe it's the birds that catch his attention, or maybe Jude makes a daily habit of wandering through the nearby forest. Regardless of the reason, the rustling of brush announces the arrival of the young man as he steps out of the treeline just a few yards ahead of Evie. He doesn't see her right away, as his gaze is directed farther down the dirt road. It's not until that soft crunch of her shoes finally dawns on him that he turns to look at her…though it's blank for the moment. Thoughtful. Confused even.

Tilting her head back, Evie looks up at the birds, trying to gauge if there might be a dead fish they are circling that was on the shore or maybe the worms.. yeah right. Still, maybe something was dead. There's a sudden shiver and then suddenly there's a Jude! With a gasp and a hand to her chest, she looks startled. Then relieved that he doesn't just turn around and walk off from her. "Hey," she says softly.

Jude is equally startled, though he doesn't jump. His hands stay firmly at his sides for a few breaths longer before he releases said breath, "Hey." No, he doesn't walk away, but he doesn't move either. He keeps his feet firmly planted in their place as he narrows his eyes upward again before finally licking his lips. "Lot of traffic out here suddenly." He may mean the car, or he may mean Evie in general. "Do you want a ride back? I was gonna see what they were about but I don't know that I actually want to find out."

"Yeah it seems a little.." Unable to think of the right word, Evie shivers again, wrapping her arms around herself. "Didn't you say there were missing persons? Should we at least check it out? I mean surely it's just a fish or something, an animal? But.. should we look?" Lil miss New Yorker suddenly wanting to get involved? Scuffing the toe of her shoe on the ground, she looks uncertain again. "I would really like a ride back, I suddenly felt really alone and really creeped out, like someone was watching me, which is ridiculous."

Jude lifts his eyes again before finally simply shaking his head. "No. It'll be too late by the time we actually find anything. It's probably an animal. People hunt out here a lot..even though it's posted." He finally moves, pushing his hands into his pockets before he takes a few steps towards her only to motion back just a short ways. A mailbox can be seen, though it hardly stands out against the trees. "I live own there. Walk with me, and I'll give you ride back to town." He's quiet, though considering their last conversation it's no wonder why. "There's better fishing at the lake."

Evie looks away from the birds, they held unease for her and she preferred to ignore them and their incessant circling. "Yeah, probably an animal, I don't… smell anything." Which the thought itself is disgusting if one thought about it. When he steps towards her, she takes a breath but then he's motioning back and she turns to see the mailbox. "Oh.. I didn't realize you lived so close to here and I didn't know there was a lake either." She falls into step beside him, uncertain what to say, but she's not unfriendly or defiant this time.

Jude nods, "I told you I lived out here like ten times already." Okay not ten but more than Jude normally says! "There's a reservoir south of town." He saves the moment with a new topic. "There's a manmade beach, boat ramp, fishing dock and campground. Some hiking trails….typical tourist driven state park setup. It's about a fifteen minute drive outside of town." He even motions, but he motions toward a wall of trees.

The driveway is merely a path between thick brush and trees. The sun barely penetrates as they move down it, though judging by the warm sand underfoot, it's a road traveled often. He's not taking her down some forgotten, unbeaten path. "Though you can catch fish at the creek too, I figure. Most people that go there, go there for bonfires, sex or to get tanked. Or all three I guess." He shrugs.

"Yeah out here is like.. everywhere in this place, there is so much 'out here' to get lost in, I didn't know where you meant, or that it was this close to the creek." Evie shrugs though after explaining. With interest, she listens about the lake, "Is there swimming there too? I love the water." Maybe it's why she is drawn to the creek so often. Watching his house as they approach it, she takes it in, the barn and everything. "Nice place." But she flashes him a smile at the mention of bonfires and sex or getting tanked. "So I got the apartment instead of the bonfire sex? Should I have held out?"


The house is /obviously/ being redone. Any peeling paint has already began the process of being stripped away, and the barn hosts a few newly replaced boards. The roof of the home also looks new, and with so many windows (all opened) and opened doors (screened of course) it appears that at least someone has been rather busy. The way Jude looks at the house though, chances are slim that he's to thank for the work. "It has nice moments. It's a pain in the ass to keep up." He confesses lowly. Her words about the apartment cause a sudden bark of laughter, "Yes well….I wasn't sure if you were crazy or not. I didn't need you knowing where I actually lived. Just in case." He may or may not be teasing. He seems to be though. He even offers a faint grin before he motions toward his truck, parked next to the camper. "You're chariot, mam." Not that he's rushing her towards it.

If she pays close enough attention, he may notice every familiar markings at the farm, specifically over the doors of the house. A very specific series of symbols encased in a circle. Wards of protection over the home, and a very unique one over the main door of the barn.

Evie does look towards the house, the stage of reparation is noted as is the look on his features declaring him not to be the one taking such interest in the place. Her attention is only drawn away long enough to share his amusement. "So you're willing to sleep with a crazy woman as long as she doesn't know where you live? Seems you'd value your body more than your dwelling." Then she notices the wards and her eyes widen and meet his in confusion. No way does she make any move towards the truck. Not yet.

Turning towards him, Evie reaches out a hand to touch his upper arm. "Wards?" She asks in a soft spoken voice, questions in her eyes she doesn't give voice to yet.

Jude grins, shrugging. There's no shame there, just smug acceptance. It's her next question that gets a much less jovial and more grounded look from him. He even bites his lower lip as he filters his thoughts for something to say. In the end he just shrugs. "I told you, there are things out here. My mom took the stance of better safe than sorry." For all the good it did her. He doesn't make that comment, but it's there on the edge of his thoughts. "It's not that this town is special. Yeah, there's a lot of quartz and shit in the soil that makes it a little more beneficial for the supernatural. That's that hum you feel in the air. It's just that where you have witches, you also have…other things. Ghosts, monsters…Hunters. It's like a giant magnet that draws things that can sense essence towards it. Humans feel it too, they just don't know what it is."

"It is what drew us here. Why my mother returned. I found out after asking her she was born and raised here until she went to college, then she met my father who is also what she and I are. When they divorced, she decided to come back here with me and Brie." Evie looks at the scripts that make up the wards on the house and remembers what he had said before, about his mother. "Yeah, I guess better safe than sorry." Thinking his exact words though about her not being safe. "I just feel.. drawn out here, not necessarily your house, that'd just be creepy. Just out here." She shrugs. "Yeah, I guess you're right about having everything else because of the witches, but here I am."

Jude nods, listening but also scanning the grounds. "There's a lot of energy out here. All the nature and shit." It's the shit part that he hates, but he doesn't say that. "Most people that move away seem to come back. Like my sister." He nods toward the second truck parked much closer to the house. Its bed is still full, and has been covered by a blue tarp and tied down. "She's a cop." Yup, he kinda twitched too, "She's pregnant. Apparently her maternal instinct told her to bring the poor thing back here." Apparently Jude does not share the love for his hometown that so many of the locals have.

He walks on, his hands still in his pockets. His head lowers, his eyes scanning the ground at his feet as he walks. After a few moments of silence, he licks his lips again. "You want something?" Gasp! Niceness. Even if its awkward and uncomfortable for him. "I have water and soda….and I drink a lot so….beer." Yeah.

Unable to help it, Evie bends her knees and squats a moment, knees sticking out of the torn spots of her jeans as she does, she scoops up a handful of earth even though she doesn't have an affinity to the earth. Closing her hand around it, she lets it sift through her fingers back where it came from. "Home, it makes sense for a mother to want stability. Small town and all that, a return to her roots or whatever. Makes a lot of sense." Understanding more than she should, likely.

Rising, Evie dusts her hands off on each other, that sort of clapping thing, swiping them back and forth. "A cop huh? Sounds steady enough but can't be safe to do while being pregnant. So, you're going to be an uncle." There's a glance towards the house at the offer and with the time spent walking out, throwing her pole into the river and being out in it still, she's a little thirsty. "That'd be great, thank you. Anything, I'm not picky." She eyes the wards though.

"I assume she'll have a desk job till it's born." Jude shrugs, but he also nods at being an uncle. He also doesn't head toward the house. Instead he turns and instead heads into the trailer, leaving the door open as he goes. He returns a few seconds later with a soda and a bottle of water. Both are offered over without much interest in favoring either. "Do you think you'll stick around for good, or you gonna bolt the second you see an open door?"

"Ah, a desk job." Evie nods at the wisdom of that idea. When he goes to the trailer, she watches him but she doesn't follow since there wasn't really an invite to join. While he's inside, she looks back towards the house then the barn, then back towards the woods. Her attention is taken again only when he comes back out and questions her. Reaching for the water, she lifts her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. "Before I do anything, I need a job. I've been looking, Bookie suggested a few for me. Think I'd make a good bartender?" Her lips flatten in a smirk. "I don't know, really. I've got no where else to go. No reason to go anywhere or do anything else."

Jude opens the soda before he moves toward his truck, dropping the tailgate for them to sit on. "There's a few places. You could ask Dante at the Full Moon if she's looking for bartenders. It's not as flashy as the Pumphouse. Maybe wait tables somewhere?" He doesn't know it, but at some point he'll want to stab himself in the face for that suggestion.

Opening the water, Evie takes a long drink from it, a cool and refreshing and inviting drink, so that when she lowers it, a little dribbles on her chin and she uses the back of her hand to wipe it off. "Dante at the Full Moon?" It sounded promising and that was the second suggestion for that particular job she had. "Wait tables? That sounds good too, like tips and stuff, immediate money. I like it."

"Dante is the blonde bartender. She and her boyfriend own the place. They're cool." The idea of tips pleases her. Go him. "Who doesn't like immediate money?" He motions to the space on the tailgate. He only takes up a little space! He's not an elephant. "There's stores too." He's trying to be helpful, but his energy on the topic is waning.

"Just got bills and stuff to save for. You know how it is." Or he may, Evie doesn't really know. "I will ask about the bartending, I'm sure the hours would be more suitable to what I need, though it would take up my nights, Brie would already be in bed mostly." She hops up on the tailgate beside him, offering him the bottle of water if he wants a drink and isn't afraid of germs or something weird. Had they even kissed? She tries not to think about that.

If they did, it was likely rushed and rather superficial. Jude shakes his head at the offer, but there's a small 'no thanks' that accompanies it before he takes a sip from the bottled drink in his hand. "Choose carefully. They make good, but you'd have to look at my mug a little more than is fair. Watch me drink myself into belligerency. Witness the clumsy juggle of car keys and the less than graceful walk of shame to my apartment. I don't know that the money is worth it."

"Oh." Evie adopts a crestfallen expression as she retracts the offer of the drink. "Well you have a point, I guess I don't want to see you that much. But even if I got a job at the Walmart, I'd have to witness you in there chasing the cougars." Oh yeah, she's giving as good as she gets, but she's teasing this time.

Jude snorts. "I plan to never step foot in there again now that Ashton's home." She can take care of him now! Hoorary! Then again, the teasing happens and he looks confused for a moment. Then he looks sheepish. Very sheepish. He even blushes a little before dropping his eyes to the ground. "Oh..yeah." He almost chokes out the words. "I forgot you saw that."

"Saw? Ohh I meant more the words you told me yesterday, about how I saved you sleeping with the soccer-mom." Though Evie tries to be flippant about it, she peels at the label of her bottle of water. "Glad I was an acceptable replacement that night." Stretching her legs out, she transfers her hand to pick at the loose threads at the tear in her jeans at her knees.

Jude arches his brows for a moment before capping his drink and setting it aside. "You weren't a replacement." He allows simply. "You were a better choice. I mean…the soccer mom is married with something like four kids or whatever. I don't have to worry about conversations or expectations. She's cheating on her husband who's probably doing his receptionist at work, and I get laid. It's a pretty simple and superficial agreement. All of them are." Yes, there are others. "You were different. I was kinda disappointed that I passed out afterward."

Honesty was killer and never had Evie regretted anything so hard in her life as she did now. She scoots back on the tailgate and draws her knees up, wrapping one arm around them as she tries not to throw up. It's probably pretty obvious as she forces air into her lungs and avoids looking at him to try and not let him read the regret in her eyes. "So, yeah thanks for the lay. It didn't bother me that you passed out. Sort of made the small unnecessary talk afterwards easy to avoid."

Jude blinks, but as she forces herself to breath, he forces himself to stop. He even cringes, if only a little. "Got it." He echoes on the end of her words before climbing to his feet. "Come on. I should get you home. Better to avoid more unnecessary talk." He had pride, and she just kicked him square in it.

With a sigh, Evie realizes what she had done, however unintentionally, and she nods, resigned. "Sure." Not volunteering to walk this time, she just felt tired all over. Forcing herself to her feet, she gets to the cab before talking again. "I meant that uncomfortable after sex moment when you're not sure whether to say thank you, offer a kiss or just tumble out of bed and leave, uncertain what the other person wanted…" As an explanation, it probably comes up short, but it was her reasoning.

Jude shrugs gently as he closes his door and starts up the truck. "It's fine." He allows simply, "You don't owe me an explanation." He isn't angry, just mildly wounded in a weird, withdrawn way. "I made the rules. I knew the score. It's cool, really." And awkward. Its very very awkward.

So much left unsaid by Evie, so much she wanted to say. On the brink of doing just that, she looks over at him and watches as he closes the door and starts the truck. Biting her lip she doesn't say anything, just offers an uncomfortable shrug as she closes her own door and slouches down in the seat, bottle of water placed between them in the seat. "Okay." Just when he drops her off, Evie looks over, having second thoughts again. She lifts a hand and runs it through her hair. "Regrets yet?"

Jude shrugs, "Not really, no." His tone is low, his words to the point and very simple. "Have a nice day, Evie. Good luck with the job thing."

Feeling dismissed, Evie gives him a terse yet resigned nod before getting out, leaving her water in the seat, but bringing her small tackle box with her. "See ya around, Jude. Thanks." Stepping back, she closes the door and remains standing there, looking at him until he pulls away.

OOC Date: 2015.05.14
IC Date: 2014.09.20
Cast: Jude, Evie



Reecer Creek, Brooks Home

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