The Tiberius J. Swann Education Facility

Who: Jude and Hope
When: Afternoon
Where: The Hallway in the main building of TJS.
What: A fight.

"I can't take this anymore, Petal. I can't sit around here and watch you do this to yourself." Jude was right on his sister's heels, following her out into the hallway, obviously in the midst of a heated discussion that she was trying to walk away from.

"Well that's simple enough. Don't." Hope kept walking, a scowl upon her lips, purpose and anger both in her steps.

"And what's that supposed to mean? I'm supposed to just go and pretend that I don't know what you're up to here, what's going on with you?" Jude scoffed, hands thrown up in frustration. "I can't do that! You're my sister, bloody hell."

"Adopted sister." Hope finally stopped, turning toward him, her arms crossed over her chest. "And if you don't want to support me, don't want to see that I doing what I have to do, what needs to be done, then I don't even want to be that."

The look of hurt on Jude's face could break anyone's heart, but Hope continued to look at him with sheer indifference. "Is that what you want?" He asked, his voice soft.

Jude would never know what this was doing to her inside, how hard it was for her to continue to look as cold as stone, but she managed, somehow, even though she could feel it breaking him. "Yes."

Jude's lips parted in a soft exhalation of breath, soulful brown eyes welling up with tears. "Fine. Fine. Just..." He had nothing more to say. He shook his head and then turned to walk away.

Hope stood there and watched him walk away. She knew that, in spite of how much he wanted to stay, to be there for her, that after what she'd said, he'd be gone before the day was out. And that was fine. It was for the best. If this didn't work out, she didn't want him to be here to see it.

"Goodbye, little brother." The words were whispered under her breath before she finally turned and started walking again. It was back to the lab, back to work. And now she had letters to write, just in case something went wrong.

She was going to need some help with this.

Who: Jude and Elle (with Hope appearing later)
What: Jude is waiting on his sister and gets bored.
When: Friday Evening
Where: The Lucky Dog Tavern

This was just the type of place that Hopey would pick out. It was very... her. Jude wasn't shocked she'd found a place like this to hang out. This reminded him of so many places back in Edinburgh that his older sister favored. She'd taken him out with her a time or two back when he was younger, but only because he'd bugged her half to death until she agreed. This would be their first time out together since then. He was a right bit looking forward to it. Of course she was late. She was very late. And Jude was most certainly getting a head start on the drink.

Jude had already shot a couple games of pool with a few of the blokes hanging 'round. He'd even managed to get a game of darts up and running and there was still no Hope. She'd told him she might be a bit late getting out of the office, but she could have at least called. And he'd checked his phone. No missed calls, no incoming text messages. Shocking? No. Disappointing? Of course.

Making his way back up to the front where the bar was located, Jude slipped onto a stool with his empty pitcher held between both hands on the bar in front of him. The bartender was busy down along the other end, but it wasn't too crowded in here, not crowded at all, in fact, and it wouldn't be too long before he made it down to him. He occupied himself by glancing around the place, his notice happening to fall on a woman that was a couple of stools down from himself, with no one else between mind you.

The woman was cute. Her hair was long and dark, her lips full and pouty, and she had rather nice set of baby feeders on her to boot, not to mention those curves. Jude was a fan of women all the way around, all different types, but he did actually prefer a woman with a wee bit of meat on her. Anorexia was overrated in his book. He didn't mind doodling stick figures, but he sure as hell didn't care to diddle them.

Jude looked away before the woman could catch him looking at her, though he had a bit of a grin tugging at the corners of his lips as he tapped fingers against the empty pitcher and contemplated his move.