Chapter Two: Lost
Judas was still lost. He did not even care to know how long he had spent wandering when suddenly the girl from earlier literally barrelled into him. Automatically he reached out to grab her shoulders and steady her. Once he was certain she was not going to topple over on him, he released her and glanced down, only to start in surprise when he realized she was—or had been—crying. Frowning, he reached down to wipe her tears away, only to wrench his hand back after a moment when he realized what he had been going to do. He did not even know this girl! Suddenly realizing that she was speaking, he sent her a reassuring smile.
"Nah, don't worry about it. Happens to the best of us." As he was speaking, Judas was suddenly painfully aware of the thick, rolling accent he spoke with. It was weird, he had not thought about it in awhile, yet suddenly he was noticing it again. At first, when he had woken up in Kaitzur, he had thought the people around him spoke with an accent, however his travels had quickly taught him otherwise; he was the one with the accent. "I gotta ask, though...what's a girl like you doing running around the city like that? And crying like that?"
As soon as the young man spoke, Tear realized she had never heard an accent like that before. That was rather odd, considering that she thought she had been to all the areas where the dialect was different than the main city. This heavy accent wasn't at all familiar and her confused mind latched onto that as a stable point to avoid thinking about the wedding.
"You're not from around here" Tear said, although as soon as she said it, she felt rather silly for pointing out the obvious. She also was being rude, not answering his question right away. "Oh, sorry…" she apologized again. She gave him a half-hearted smile. "I just…have a lot on my mind today." She opened her mouth to say more, then shut it again, feeling slightly bewildered. Why did she have the urge to pour out her story to this complete stranger? Something about him felt so oddly familiar…
"Have we met before?" she asked, before she really stopped to think about it. She knew very well that they hadn't met, and yet he somehow felt like an old friend. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid question…" she hastily amended. "I think maybe I need to sit down and sort things out. It's been a rather trying day and my thoughts are a bit jumbled…" She didn't really know why she was telling him that, but now that it had slipped out there was no taking it back.
Judas shot the poor girl a pitying look, his own mind slowly turning over the poor girl's hasty statements and clearly jumbled thoughts. He could not quite say he was used to people suddenly blurting things out to him like then. Then again, he could not remember much, so maybe it was normal.
"Well, I'd offer you a place to go do just that, but I'm not from here—oh, but you already figured that out." He sighed, looking up around the city before looking back down at the girl before him. "Actually, I don't really know where I am at all. I'm a bit lost." It felt a bit weird to be telling her this, yet he figured she had told him some things about herself, so a bit of information would not hurt.
"Oh, I'm Judas, by the way," he told her, holding out one hand. "And you are...?" As far as he could tell, he had always been blunt, so there was no point in hiding it.
"My name is Tear" she said, accepting the hand he had offered. It was warm and strangely familiar to her, and she was both reluctant to pull away and uneasy about how easily she seemed to be warming up to this complete stranger. "You're in the capital city of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, the city of Baticul." Tear gestured to the area around them as she spoke. They were not in a particularly nice area of the city, and she wondered how she had wound up down here. "Where do you intend to stay?" She asked curiously.
Judas chuckled a bit at her answer, a soft smile dancing on his lips. "Sorry, sorry, I know what city I'm in. That was a stupid thing to say; I don't where in the city I am," he told her, chuckling softly. "I was looking for the coliseum, but ended up a bit on the lost side of things.
"As for where I was going to stay...your guess is as good as mine. I just wandered in last night, and have been trying to find the coliseum ever since." Baticul really was too big for its own good. "I was hoping to make some cash there so I could stay at the inn," he admitted with a shrug.
"I can take you over there…although it's getting a bit late." Tear glanced upwards, noticing that it was already twilight. She had met with Luke and Natalia for a rather late lunch anyway, and she had apparently spent more time lost in thought then she had previously realized. "You won't be able to make any money at the coliseum tonight." She paused for a moment, thinking. Would it be all right to invite him to stay at her place tonight? She could certainly use the company to keep her mind preoccupied and he seemed nice enough as a conversation partner. She gave him a small, hesitant smile.
"I suppose if you aren't too adverse to the idea, you could come and stay with me tonight. I know a couch isn't exactly glamorous sleeping arrangements, but if you don't have money for the inn tonight…" Her voice trailed off as she realized she was insinuating that he was broke. She hoped he wouldn't think that she was rude and added "In the morning I would be glad to accompany you to the arena before my appointment with Natalia and…Luke." She hesitated a second before the last word. Even saying his name was painful, as it made her think about what she would have to deal with in the morning. Quickly pushing such thoughts to the back of her mind, Tear looked back to Judas, waiting for his answer.
Judas could have laughed. A couch was glamorous given that his alternative was wandering the streets for another night, an idea he certainly did not relish. No, he would take a couch over a bench any day, especially since he was pretty broke.
"Hey, I'm not going to say no to that offer," he told her, grinning a bit. "Better than a night on a bench. Plus, I think I'd appreciate a guide to the coliseum. A town this size hides things like that pretty well." He had figured it would be easy to find, yet that was proving to be quite the mistake on his part. Motioning for her to lead the way, he thought back to what Tear had said a moment before and frowned. "So...who is this Luke?" He could not have said why he asked that, yet he had, and he really did not like that he had done so. Saying the name had seemed to upset the poor girl.
Tear winced as Judas asked her about the one thing she really didn't want to think about. "Well, it's a bit of a long story…" she said hesitantly. She started walking, glad to be leaving the less than secure area of town they were currently talking in. "Hmm, I'm not even sure where to start actually" she admitted. She led the dark-haired young man to the quarter of the city that she lived in.
"We met by accident really. I was in the Fabre manor with the intent to assassinate a target, but Luke interposed himself between us. A hyper-resonance of our fonons caused us both to be thrown all the way to Malkuth, to Tataroo Valley actually." As she spoke, she glanced at Judas to see if any of the names meant anything to him, hoping for a possible clue as to where the young man was from. She wondered if she should really be telling him all of this, since he was a complete stranger. Of course, she also probably shouldn't be letting him into her house, but here she was holding the door open and indicating that he should go ahead of her into the house.
"Just stop me if I'm boring you" she said. "As I said, it's a long story…"
Judas walked alongside the woman, not saying a word as she talked. The tone of her voice said that these were some memories she might rather forget. Well, he figured, it wasn't like he understood a thing she was saying anyway. Fonons? Hyperresonance? It meant nothing to him. Assassinate a target, though? That did mean something to him.
"So, you're a soldier or something?" he asked as he stepped into the house. He did not want to cut the girl's story off completely, so he figured a subtle change of topic would be for the best. "I think I was..." he muttered thoughtfully, glancing around in feigned interest of his surroundings. "But I'm not really sure..."
"So if this Luke upsets you, then why go see him?" he asked, changing the topic once again. The tone of the girl's voice—plus the tears—had indicated to him that she did not want to see this man. Perhaps a former boyfriend or something? "Seems stupid to me."
"Oh, well…" Tear began, but she stopped. Why did she agree to help? She could have said she was needed elsewhere and made up some sort of assignment to keep herself busy for the next month or so. "I…I don't know" she admitted finally. She sank down onto the couch, looking curiously up at the young man she had invited over on a whim.
"You think you were a soldier?" she asked, deciding to steer the conversation away from Luke if possible. "What do you mean?" She didn't see how someone would be unsure of his status as a soldier. She was reminded of her rank on an almost daily basis, and it had always been that way since she joined the Order of Lorelei. Realizing she wasn't being a very good hostess, she said "oh, would you like a drink or something?"
Judas was about to reply when Tear offered him a drink. Smiling gratefully, he nodded. He hadn't eaten anything in quite awhile, and just the thought of a glass of water was delightful. As she got up to get the drink, he followed her slowly, toying with how exactly to explain himself to her without sounding like a complete nimrod.
"Well, see...I guess what it comes down to is that I just don't remember..." he finally admitted with a sheepish grin and a shrug. "I know I'm good at fighting, but that's about it." He also really enjoyed fighting, but he figured it best not to scare her off by saying that. "It's stupid, but it's true. But enough about me," he said, brushing it off. "If you don't want to go see this Luke tomorrow, then don't. Clearly he doesn't deserve to have you visit him if he only upsets you."
Tear paused halfway out the door at Judas' last comment. Luke didn't deserve to have her visit? That concept seemed ludicrous. She gave the dark-haired man on her couch a small, sad smile. "He doesn't upset me...circumstances do." She turned away and went to the kitchen, pouring two tall glasses of water as she turned over what Judas had said in her mind. He claimed that didn't remember things. She remembered hearing about Luke's lack of memory and wondered briefly if Judas was a replica as well. Perhaps that was why she felt so comfortable around him, the same way she had warmed up rather quickly to Luke.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. She had felt comfortable around Judas instantly, something she had never experienced before with a complete stranger. Besides, Luke wasn't the only replica she had met, and something about Judas was different from the other replicas she had interacted with, including Luke. She had heard of instances where people who were in accidents or who had experienced trauma lost their memory, although she had also heard of many cases where the person recovered their memory. Judas seemed fairly good-natured, so she didn't really think he had experienced trauma, unless his memory loss had suppressed the memories of the trauma as well. She also hadn't noticed and visible physical signs of an accident.
The sensation of water running over her fingers made Tear realize that she had been so busy thinking that she forgot what she was doing. She had overfilled one of the cups and she quickly turned the water off, dumping a bit of the excess liquid from the cup. At least Judas hadn't followed her in here and seen her absentminded state. She reached for the other cup to carry them back to the living room and noticed the loaf of bread she had brought home that morning. Her stomach suddenly gurgled at her, reminding her that she had been too upset to eat anything earlier.
"Judas, would you like something to eat as well?" she called, setting the glasses back down. She wondered if he would resist if she tried to ask him more about himself, to see if he remembered his past. If he was a replica, he would have no past to remember, but she still didn't really think he was one. She returned to the doorway of the living room to see if he had heard her question. "I'm going to make myself a sandwich, would you like one too?" she asked.
Judas was standing just outside the door to the kitchen, listening as Tear bustled around. Leaning against the wall, he quietly turned the girl's statement over in his mind. So. Circumstances were what were upsetting her, not the person himself? He could not quite piece together what it could be, however. Yet it was like as not none of his business, so he decided to just drop the subject until she brought it up again; if she did.
At her offer for food, he could almost imagine his stomach growling at him to accept the offer. He had not eaten since lunch the previous day, and that left quite a bit of room for him to desire food. Still, a sandwich left something to be desired in his mind. He had discovered a few things about himself in the past few months, and one of those things was that he had a knack for cooking. Specifically cooking croquettes.
Grinning mischievously at her, he set out to walk past her into the kitchen, onyx eyes all but shining. Casting his gaze around the room, he nodded to himself. He could work with this.
"I'd love something to eat, Tear, but only if you let me cook." As he spoke, the black-haired man was already rolling up his sleeves to the elbow. "You've done more than enough for me already, so you just take a break and I'll make us something. You like croquettes?" he asked, already poking his nose around to see if all of the ingredients were present. "I'm told I'm pretty good at making them..."
Freezing, the black-haired man glanced up, confusion suddenly crossing his handsome features. He'd been told he made good croquettes, he knew he had, but who had told him that? It wasn't as though he had exactly had anyone to cook for, recently...
"Well, isn't that strange..." he muttered to himself.
Surprised by Judas' sudden change of mood, Tear stepped aside and allowed him into the kitchen. He hadn't really waited for her acceptance, but was already riffling about for the things he needed. She indicated where things were as he asked, but otherwise kept silence, watching him. She hadn't really taken the time to get a good look at him yet, since her mind had been rather preoccupied before. He was quite attractive, but she had realized that in the brief inspection of him in front of the library archives earlier that day. There was a sort of grace in his movement, and she couldn't help but notice that he had a small smile on his face while he was working. It was very soothing to watch him work, but she supposed it would be rude to stare.
"So you're a soldier and a chef?" she asked, half-teasingly. She reached over and grabbed one of the glasses of water she had filled, taking a sip. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move, so she stepped fully into the hallway, looking toward the staircase that led up to her room. Was it just a trick of the light? She could have sworn she saw something down there. Perhaps it was a good thing she hadn't come home alone tonight, although she was probably skilled enough to take on anyone foolish enough to break into her home. "Hold on a moment" she called over her shoulder to Judas, who had his back to her and hadn't seen her step into the hall. Setting the glass of water down on the table, Tear grabbed her staff and walked toward the stairway. There was nothing there, and she frowned at the complete lack of evidence that there had even been anything there at all. Just to be sure, she walked up the stairs and checked the door to her room, but it was locked as usual.
"Weird..." she muttered, looking around the hallway. Nothing looked out of place, and she decided it must have been a trick of the light after all. She went back downstairs, but as she was about to lean her staff against the wall again, she stepped in something wet. With a small cry of surprise, she pulled back, looking down. Somehow her glass of water had upset itself while she was upstairs, spilling down the side of the table and forming a puddle on the floor. Had Judas come into the hall and knocked it over? She went into the kitchen to get something to clean the mess up, but the young man was still working on his croquettes as though he hadn't left the room. In fact, he gave Tear a slightly confused smile as she grabbed a towel.
"My water spilled," she explained, taking the towel back into the hallway. At least the glass hadn't fallen and shattered all over the floor. It was still sitting on the table, although Tear noticed with surprise that it was actually standing upright. She didn't remember moving it at all on the way into the kitchen, so it should have been lying on its side, right? Shaking her head at her apparent absentmindedness, Tear cleaned up the small puddle and returned to the kitchen. "Those are starting to look good," she commented, glancing over Judas' shoulder. "Do you cook a lot?"
"I'm not really sure," he replied with a soft, absentminded chuckle when Tear asked him if he was a soldier-chef... "Perhaps I'm a cook in an army...or was, anyway. Now I'm just Judas, wandering swordsman, or something. I had to survive somehow, right? Personally, I'm a bit relieved I'm a good cook."
For the next few minutes, the dark-haired male continued pulling out ingredients and setting them out. So intent of his task was he that Judas barely acknowledged Tear's statement that she would be back shortly. He was vaguely aware of her heading upstairs and bustling about for a moment, before returning to the downstairs. A moment later, she reappeared in the kitchen to get a towel, muttering about spilling her water. Now that was weird. He knew he was lost in his task, yet he would have at least noticed the sound of a glass toppling over, and water hitting the floor. What kind of a swordsman would he be if he missed such an obviously out-of-place sound?
Still, he doubted Tear would lie to him about something so trivial, so he dropped it and returned to his task of peeling the potatoes. It was an arduous process, so he was somewhat relieved when Tear returned and decided to strike up conversation again.
"I suppose so. I've been cooking for myself ever since I left Cap-" Pausing, Judas' brow furrowed for a moment before he shook his head and corrected himself. "-Kaitzur," he continued on smoothly. He had no idea what he had just been about to say, yet he figured it had to be just a trick of the mind, so he dropped it. With no real memory to speak of, he figured that was an easy enough mistake. "There was no one else to cook for me, so I did it all myself."
Finishing up the potato he was working on, Judas reached behind himself and went to set it down on the counter. As he was walking toward it, his sharp, black eyes caught his glass of water. Onyx orbs widened somewhat when he realised that, while it was still upright, it was completely void of water. He was only given a brief moment of reflection, however, as his next step landed him squarely in the missing liquid.
With a startled yelp, the dark-haired male found himself slipping backwards, knife and potato still in hand. Thankfully, years of sword-training had taught him what to do. Releasing the starchy food, he twisted in midair, like a cat, to get his knees under him. At the same instant, he shot his left hand out and dug the knife's tip into the side of the cupboard, where it could do him no harm. The minimal space in the kitchen had left no other real option.
Once he was free of the knife, landing was an easy task of getting his knees and right arm under him. Once that was taken care of, he easily flipped himself back to his feet within the second.
The whole thing had taken only seconds, yet Judas found himself panting and looking about wildly. What had just happened? He was never that clumsy. Never. He would be a dead man long since had he been. Even as he pondered the accident, he bent to retrieve the knife, which he then carefully set on the counter, before grabbing the potato and towel Tear had used moments before. Setting the potato aside for disposal, he knelt down and immediately mopped up the water to prevent further incident.
"Well, that doesn't happen every day," he muttered to Tear as he cleaned up the water. "I swear I'm not normally that clumsy."
Watching Judas clean up the water mess he had nearly fallen in, Tear wondered where on Auldrant it had come from. Had her sink developed a leak or something while she was away? She hoped that wasn't the case, as repairing the water pipes would prove quite irritating. "It's all right, we all have our clumsy moments" she said, eyeing the remnants of the puddle. She was glad that Judas hadn't injured himself, but it was odd that there was a puddle in the middle of her kitchen floor. She was about to comment on that when she noticed slight movement on the countertop and glanced up just in time to see the knife Judas had carefully placed out of the way slipping over the side. Time seemed to slow down as she watched it falling directly toward Judas' hand, and she gasped, knowing there was no way she could get over there in time. The dark-haired man hear her gasp though, and turned just in time to see the knife and pull his fingers out of the way as the knife landed point down. It quivered slightly from the force of the impact, and Tear stared at it.
"That was close…" she said. She could have sworn she heard something or someone chuckle just before the knife had fallen, a different laugh from the one she had heard from Judas earlier. A small shiver went down Tear's spine. She had heard stories of malicious ghosts haunting people. What if a vicious spirit had decided to take up residence in her kitchen while she was off on her mission? No matter how many people told her that there were no such thing as ghosts, Tear still couldn't shake the feeling that there were supernatural beings in the world. "Are you all right?" she asked, coming the rest of the way into the kitchen and kneeling next to Judas. The knife was embedded into her kitchen floor quite firmly, so firmly that there was no way it could have built up that much force just falling. It was a good thing Judas had gotten his hand out of the way in time.
Tear suddenly realized that she and Judas were very close in the small space between the counter and the sink area. She didn't think she had ever seen eyes that dark before. One could almost fall into them. She pulled back a bit at the realization that she had started to lean closer to him, and stood up as a faint blush spread across her cheeks. She was acting ridiculous. Noticing that Judas had apparently finished his water while she was upstairs, she reached for the empty glass as something to change the subject in case he had noticed her flushed face. "I guess you were pretty thirsty," she commented, lifting the glass. "Feel free to have as much water as you like. Want me to re-fill this for you?" she asked.
Judas had been shocked, to say the least, when he realised why Tear had gasped. Seeing a knife-one he knew he had placed safely out of the way-falling straight for his hand had been slightly unnerving, to say the least. Thankfully, the brunette's warning had been enough for him to react, thus saving his poor hand.
None of that explained why it had fallen, though. It was quite disconcerting, frightening even. He was not afraid to admit that it made him uncomfortable, but being who he was, he figured that the first order of business was to make certain that Tear was okay. Some people really did not like stuff like that.
"I think your house is out to get me," he stated with a light chuckle. As he was speaking, he turned onyx eyes, which had been fixed on the knife, to the girl who was currently kneeling beside him. With a slight start, he realised just how close she was. Close...and coming closer?
Blinking, he turned his eyes away in an effort to hide the blush he knew was staining his cheeks a faint hint of pink. He had no idea what her intent had been, yet it was hard to mistake the look in her eyes. Should he be scared staying here?
No, that was utter nonsense. Shoving the thought aside immediately, he made to stand, wanting to stretch out his stiff leg muscles. Kneeling that long always did a number on him.
When Tear spoke again, making an obvious attempt to avoid the situation of moments before, he was reminded of what he had noticed about the glass only moments before. Looking over at it, he spent a long moment deciding what to do. Should he tell her? On one hand, he did not want to freak her out anymore than she already was, on the other hand...well, it was her house.
"I never touched the water," he finally told her, face completely serious. "I was just noticing that the glass was empty when I fell. I don't know what the hell happened, but I do know I never touched that cup once."
Bending down again, he plucked the knife out of the floor and examined it while walking back over to Tear. "This is really wei-" His words were cut off by a sharp yelp as he dropped the suddenly roasting-hot knife. Somehow, as it fell, the knife seemed to...shift in midair, so it was falling straight for them. Tear, who had turned at the sound of his yelp, had moved her leg directly into its path.
With a muttered curse, the dark-haired male reached out and snatched Tear around her waist, wrenching her into him, even as he stepped back, bringing them both out of harm's way.
"Forget the house. That knife hates me," he stated, glaring down at it. "Are you okay?" he asked after a moment longer, finally releasing the brunette when he was certain the knife was not going to launch another attack.
"Ye-yeah, I'm fine" Tear said, a bit shaken by what had just happened. It wasn't just the knife either. When Judas had pulled her close to him like that, she hadn't wanted him to let go. What was wrong with her? Was she that desperate for affection now that Luke was definitely out of her reach? Not that Luke had ever been within her reach considering his engagement to the Princess and their differences in social standing. There had been a brief time when she had permitted herself to hope that perhaps one day things would be different, but that had been before Asch's death. Natalia had definitely seemed to have a predilection for Asch, but without him around she had settled for Luke. The two of them had already shared a lot more memories than Tear and Luke ever would anyway.
Turning her mind away from such depressing thoughts, Tear looked at the knife that was now lying on the floor once again. "Maybe we should just use a different knife?" she suggested. She stepped away from Judas, all too aware of his nearness in the close quarters of the kitchen. Picking the knife up gingerly, she placed it in the sink. She also placed his empty glass in the sink, wondering how the water had gotten out of both his glass and her glass without anyone touching either one. Glancing sidelong at Judas again, she wondered if perhaps he was haunted by a malicious spirit. Had he killed someone and they were haunting him now? Another shiver went down Tear's spine. What if he was only pretending to be nice and was actually planning to kill her in her sleep? She shook her head at thought, but decided that locking her bedroom door would be a good idea.
"Do you need any help with your…what did you call them? Croquettes?" she asked, deciding to stop thinking about such dark ideas. She might as well enjoy his company while he was here.
Judas watched as Tear moved the knife to the sink. Yes, if it managed to fall out of the sink, then they could determine that something was very, very wrong. At the moment, however, they had no evidence. Everything that had happened could just be happenstance.
Than again, maybe it was not.
Deciding to drop the issue for the moment, Tear certainly seemed eager enough to do so, Judas made his way back over to the peeled potatoes that had taken up residence on Tear's counter. At her offer to help, he smiled at her and nodded.
"Sure. Do you want to start mashing them for me?" he asked, indicating the potatoes that he was moving into a large bowl. "The sooner we get these made, the sooner we can eat."
Glad for the excuse to keep her hands busy instead of just watching, Tear began to mash the potatoes. She still stole the occasional glance at Judas, watching him work, but she had something else to concentrate on now instead of just him. "I'm looking forward to trying these" she commented. "I don't think I've had croquettes before." She wasn't really sure what to talk about with him. Normally she would ask visitors about themselves, but since he had already told her that he couldn't remember much more than the fact that he was a soldier, there was no real point in pressing the matter. However, the more time she spent with him, the more convinced she was that he wasn't a replica. She found herself wanting to know more about him, even though she knew he really didn't have anything to tell her. It was rather frustrating. Well, perhaps he could at least tell her about his travels. He had mentioned that he had come into town just recently.
"So you're new to town…where were you staying before you came to Baticul?" she asked.
Moving on to rolling up the croquettes, Judas spooned masses of the vegetable and meat mixture into the centre of each mass of potatoes. Setting them aside to fry, he moved through the croquettes quickly, thinking back to his travels over the past few months.
"Well, I'm not really sure," he finally admitted with a shrug. "I woke up in...Kaitzur, was it? And that's the earliest I remember anything." With a sigh, he began setting the cylindrical masses of potato onto the frying pan and stuck them over the fire he had lit earlier.
Idly frying the croquettes, he tried to decide what else to say. There really was not much.
"After that, well, I travelled and made my way here. I was trying to figure out where I was from, but you see how well that went over," he said with a dry laugh. "I can't even figure out where my accent's from..."
"It is very unique" Tear admitted. "I've done my fair share of traveling, and I can't ever remember meeting someone else with that accent." She watched him frying the potato masses with interest, trying to commit the recipe to memory so she could duplicate it later if she liked it. "Kaitzur though? You've come quite a ways! I'm impressed. Did you come across the ocean or go all the way up to the Rotelro Bridge?" Pulling up a map in her mind, Tear realized that Judas had to have been missing his memories for at least three months. She felt a pang of sympathy for him, realizing that he must be very lonely traveling around with no idea who he was. She wondered if he had a family who might be searching for him, and she made a mental note to check for 'missing person' notices after she visited the castle tomorrow.
Judas sighed just remembering the painfully-long journey he had made. "I came by land," he replied. "I didn't have the money to take a boat, and I wanted to check out the world. It was quite the walk, though. I've been travelling pretty much non-stop since I woke up." Pausing, he let out a weak chuckle. "That's why I probably look like something the cat dragged in." He could only hope Tear did not think to ask him how he had gotten through the boarder without a passport.
Flipping the last croquette off of the pan, he handed Tear a plate with a gentle smile. "So what about you? If you don't mind my asking, who is this Luke, and why did he upset you so much?" Judas had truly never learned the meaning of tact. "You looked pretty upset when you bumped into me."
"You look pretty good to me" Tear blurted out without thinking, and quickly flushed. "Er, I mean, considering what you've been doing for the past couple months or so…" She accepted the plate he handed her, hoping the blush on her face was not as vivid as it felt. "Sorry again for bumping into you" she said, fishing a fork from the drawer. She fished out another one and handed it to Judas, moving back into the other room to sit on the couch. "I hope you don't mind eating out here" she called over her shoulder as she left the room. "There's only one chair in there. I don't usually have company over, and I'm actually not home all that often…" She waited for him to join her on the couch before she spoke again.
"I mentioned before that the whole thing with Luke is a long story, but since you keep asking about it, I guess I'll tell you a bit more. After the hyper-resonance sent us all the way to Tataroo Valley, I felt rather responsible for him and decided to see him back to Baticul." She smiled reminiscently. "At the time I actually thought he was younger than he is, because he had a pretty sheltered life in the Fabre Manor." In fact, she had thought he was a bit of a brat at first, but over the course of their travels she had grown quite fond of him. Taking a bite of her croquette, she was momentarily distracted from her story. "Oh wow, this is good! You weren't kidding when you said you had some skill at making these!"
Judas could not help but smirk a bit as Tear fluently changed the subject to his cooking. Clearly she did not want to talk about her relationship with Luke. Still, there was at least one other thing the man wanted to know before he dropped the subject.
"Glad you like them," he told her, grinning somewhat arrogantly. "I told you they were good." Taking a bit of his own, he toyed with the idea of asking Tear his question before finally deciding to go for it.
"Okay, I get that you want to drop the subject on this Luke...but can I ask you one more thing before I drop it completely? I swear I will after." Watching Tear's face for a moment, he glanced down at his plate for a moment before looking back up at her.
"Who was he to you? Your lover, or just a friend...or...?" He was not completely certain why he was so intent of finding out, but he was.
"He was…just a friend" Tear said after a long pause. She set her fork down, not meeting Judas' gaze as she spoke. "There was a time when I thought perhaps there might be a chance for more, but he is getting married to the Princess later this month." There was a slight tone of regret in her voice, but she was already beginning to accept the fact. By morning she would hopefully be able to face Luke without her feelings complicating matters. She glanced over at Judas through the fringe of her bangs, wondering why he was so curious about the matter. Was she reading too much into this out of some desire for attention? He certainly had to be lonely, but that didn't mean that the first person to come along and talk to him would automatically catch his interest 'that' way. A slight flush crept over Tear's cheeks at the thought and she quickly brushed it from her mind, picking her fork back up to eat some more.
"That's why I have to go to the castle in the morning actually. I am supposed to help plan the wedding." She sighed slightly at the thought of the task ahead.
Getting married to a princess? Judas was hard-pressed not to groan. So Luke was a noble. Tear was interested in nobles. Well, that put a bit of a damper on his day. It shouldn't have, but it did.
Glancing over at Tear, he tried to send her an encouraging look. "Unrequited love? Well, at least you'll..." Pausing, he made certain to school his face to absolute calm, with a hint of mischief in his eyes, before continuing. "At least you've got the memories of those days, right? That's something." Something more than he himself had...not that he would ever say that.
Standing up suddenly, he held out his hand to take Tear's plate as well. "Here, I'll clean up," he offered. Taking the two plates, he fought off a jaw cracking yawn as he turned back to the kitchen. He had not slept in nearly two days, so he was feeling fairly tired. "After that...do you mind if I head to bed? I haven't slept in awhile, and I've got a big day in the coliseum tomorrow, right?" he asked with a bit of a cheeky grin. "I'd prefer to be rested for that." As he was speaking, the dark-haired male was already setting to work on cleaning the dishes. Much to his relief, none of the dishes gave him any grief to clean, not even the knife.
Once the dishes were done, he made his way back in with Tear and settled himself down on the couch. "This'll be better than sleeping on the ground, that's for sure," he commented, lying back with his head on his arms. He also made sure his sword was within easy reach.
Just in case.
