"You're late, Jude!"
Jude winces at Leia's sharp tone and almost drops his phone. "Sorry! I lost track of the time studying—"
"That is a poor excuse to leave a lady stranded at the train station in an unfamiliar city. Some creep's been eyeballing me for the past fifteen minutes, which he wouldn't be doing if you'dbeen on time."
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" As quickly as he can, really, though there are too many people in the streets for him to break into a full sprint. His sneakers slide across wet pavement as he skirts around a slow-moving couple, barely dodges a speeding bicyclist, and barrels straight into a lithe figure with so little presence that they've both hit the rain-drenched asphalt.
For a second, he's a little too disoriented to comprehend just what happened. His phone is no longer in his hand. He's lying on the ground—no, his hands are braced against a firm chest not at all like that of womankind, which saves him quite a bit of embarrassment when he looks up into pale lavender eyes. He frantically scrambles back. "I—I am so sorry. Are you alright?"
The body is motionless before him. He tries again, this time lightly shaking the man's shoulder. "Are you okay, sir?"
The white-haired man responds this time, silently elevating himself into a sitting position. Jude tracks his movements, noting a slight tremor in his limbs. The man's pupils are mildly dilated, though that's to be expected upon being unexpectedly tackled into a muddy rain puddle. There are no abrasions or lacerations on his hands or arms despite their high-speed collision; his (admittedly antiquated) aquamarine outfit isn't even that dirty. Still, it's a relief when he finally murmurs, "I'm fine."
Jude offers a hand to the man, apologies tumbling from his mouth. "I'm so, so sorry! I have a friend waiting at the train station who cannot wait but I really should have been watching just where I was going and… and…" The man doesn't accept his offer, doesn't make any sort of effort to remove himself from the puddle and return to his feet, and leaves Jude unsure of how to proceed. The man's gaze flickers between Jude's extended hand and his face before finally settling on him. It's an intense sort of scrutiny but nothing that Jude hasn't already experienced under Dr. Haus's tutelage; he just meets the man's stare and awaits the final verdict.
"You can see me?"
He wasn't expecting that. "Uh… yes?"
The man glances at his hand, appearing to deliberate for a full three seconds before tentatively reaching upward. The slender fingers that curl around Jude's wrist are solid flesh and bone and muscle if not slightly cool to the touch. Though it took absolutely no effort on Jude's part to body-slam him to the sidewalk, pulling him back up takes some exertion which assures Jude that this man is very human.
Now to find his missing phone. It can't have flown very far; at least, he can hope. Thank goodness nobody has taken notice of this embarrassing crash. Eh… he's not seeing the little device. His attention is drawn to the muddy water dripping off the man's teal jacket and he can't help but stare forlornly at the ripples that each drop causes in the puddle behind the man.
"Are you looking for this?"
The man has his miraculously dry phone held gingerly between his thumb and forefinger; Leia's tinny voice echoes from its functioning speakers. "Thank you! I…" It takes him a few seconds to scrounge around the pockets of his white coat for his business card (always handy to have when meeting potential future employers). "I'm a medical student at Talim Medical Center," he explains, swapping phone for business card. "I've an appointment that I'm running late to, but if you have any future muscle aches or internal pains that you just can't figure out, don't hesitate to call me. Okay?"
The man nods once. When Jude hazards a glance over his shoulder two blocks later, the man hasn't moved an inch.
He can't help but feel those lavender eyes on his back all the way to the train station.
Time is a funny thing. The humans underneath its manipulations have no choice but to live out their existences in an explosive blaze of action before spluttering into a quiet darkness. Through sheer willpower alone, Alisha and Sergei moved continents into peaceful alignment. The Interim Shepherd Rose traveled around the world alongside her Sparrowfeathers, promoting the faith till her dying day.
Seraphim are not bound by time. Their bodies are not limited by decay and their minds only need to follow the truth of the universe to avoid falling to malevolence.
In Mikleo's early days, his truth had been Sorey. He inhabited every second exactly as Sorey did because every second was indeed precious, a progressive step towards a series of goals set within the boundaries of a limited lifetime. So when Sorey was gone (much sooner than expected), Mikleo had been confronted with the reality of his existence: his path would be a long one, a journey in which seconds were just as meaningful as years. Decades spent wandering the ruins of the world as they popped up, settlements sprouting into metropolises only to wither into hollowed husks of forgotten history within the blink of an eye.
Most of his traveling he did alone. No human had yet to acknowledge his presence, even as malignant hellions gave way to neutral wildlife. He told himself he didn't keep the space to his right empty in honor of a man who could very well spend yet another century in slumber, just to purify the earth of every last trace of malevolence. It's something that Sorey would do.
Mikleo has already waited a millennium. He tells himself that he can wait another year more.
At least, until the first human since Sorey was around physically tackles him into a mud puddle.
"Didn't you say you needed to study?"
Jude rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "But this is your first time in the city…"
Sure that's true, and she can't say that she doesn't want to trapeze down its wild, neon-lit streets with her childhood best friend. But… "This has got to be an important exam if you forgot to pick me up. Com'on, just take me to some exotic grocery store. We'll just go back to your place and I can cook for you or something!"
"Ahhhh…"
"Don't give me that look!" She plants her hands on her hips proudly. "I'll have you know that after the Sulfur Incident, my dad took me under his wing—"
"To make sure you wouldn't burn down the house again?"
She jabs him in the side with her staff right in the unprotected fleshy region underneath his armpit and is rewarded with a pained squawk. Good to know some things never change. "Geez, Jude! Never have I ever burned down anything."
Jude folds his arms and waits. But it's true! She's never… well, there was that one time— "That doesn't count, Jude. No irreparable damage. And your father said it wasn't my fault."
Jude raises an eyebrow.
"Okay, and your father's also a jerk, so he doesn't count either. But my dad's a world-class chef!" She levels him with a challenging glare. "If you can't put your trust in me, at least believe in the power that Chef Rolando bequeathed upon his hopeless daughter!"
The grocery store that he takes her to has many, many exotic items that Leia would have loved to experiment with had she not been hell-bent on proving to Jude how she's totally competent chef. No Arma Dylan eggs or mandragora bulbs; prickleboar cutlets and roasted peppers should be fine, right? Maybe a little spice…
Jude's apartment complex is… well, he's a dirt-poor medical student, so at least it's not the room under the stairs that she'd prepared for. Still, the building is about as much as she'd expected: water-stained walls so thin that she can hear two guys porking it on ground floor, music echoing down the stairwell as they hike up to the third story, and the creepy skittle-scuttle of what she really hopes are not spider legs in the darker corners.
Oh Maxwell, those skittering noises better not be moving closer. "Jude…" she squeaks as he wrestles with his key in the jammed lock of his front door.
"Don't worry about them, Leia," he reassures. "Just a pair of armored centipedes. I leave bread crumbs out in the hallway so they don't have to lay eggs in my pantry."
"Jude!"
"Home sweet home!" he cries, shouldering his door open.
She practically vaults over his head and into the kitchen. "I will end you, Jude, if you try anything funny," she snarls, kicking off her shoes at him. "There are pranks and then there's just cruel."
Jude just smiles serenely.
"I'm not kidding, Jude." She drops her groceries onto the counter. "Remember the dusk bats? There's more where that… came… from…"
Okay, so maybe not everything is as she'd expected. The sitting room is neat and orderly, typical of Jude; what is not at all Jude is the presence of a scantily-clad blonde sitting on the ratty couch. Leia skips straight over her first impression, because she can confidently state that Jude would never resort to… that. And one look at Jude's shocked expression tells her that Jude wasn't expecting this woman in his flat either. So…
Keeping her voice steady, she murmurs, "Jude?"
He jumps, his glance darting to her and quickly back to the stranger. "What are you doing here?"
A pregnant silence. The woman stares into the emptiness of the sitting room before her wine-colored eyes abruptly slide in Leia's direction. "Mikleo. She cannot see you."
She's suddenly the center of attention in the room. The woman's gaze is fine; Leia's never been one to balk at public scrutiny. But while her usual reaction at Jude's skeptical look is to jab him in the side with her staff with the assurances that she will always have his back even when the zombie apocalypse strikes, Leia isn't exactly sure where his uncertainty is coming from this time.
She laughs weakly. "Am I missing something here?"
Jude's gaze darts around the sitting room. She can feel the tension he's radiating as, after every rotation, his brown eyes land right back on her. Oh yeah, she's definitely missing something. Something huge. Something that requires Jude to slide in front of her defensively and use his Friendly Calming Voice: "Why are you here?"
"Jude Mathis," says the lone lady. "Are you aware that you are the first human to bear witness to the Great Spirits in a thousand years?"
…Yeah, she's definitely missing something.