who: Marina Andrieski & Julia Wicker when: Monday April 16 where: Around Tumbleweed What: Looking for Marina’s safehouse warnings: Season 3 spoilers & mentions of sexual assault and murder status: COMPLETE.
Marina had differing feelings based on various pieces of information. The new place wasn’t a big deal. It was Texas, but she supposed she could have ended up in worse places. A lot worse. At least this place had magic. She could feel it like a breath of fresh air the moment she showed up. It made the annoyance of Texas a little less annoying. It was a little warm to be there in all black in the dust, but she’d been living in the lab at Brakebills for so long, she wasn’t sure even that would be a problem.
The truth of the situation was that she didn’t really need Julia to find her safehouse. She could have found it just fine on her own. But Julia seemed overly pushy about seeing her and she wanted to see just how powerful Julia was. She wanted to see if she really didn’t know what she was. It was easier to make it seem like she’d caved and given in to letting someone help her. This way, there wasn’t the creeping suspicion that she was watching her closely. She remembered the way Julia had showed up the first time. She still didn’t buy the “friend” thing, but it was what it was. She preferred her interpretation of the situation to the reality provided to her anyway.
Dead. Killed by a god because Julia had a revenge plot all set up.
The truth was the Marina had friends, she had before. She might again, but she didn’t really think that was likely here. Acquaintances were just as useful, however, so she might get to know the people around her. It was likely beneficial to have more people. They didn’t need to be friends to be people she talked to about...well...them. She didn’t need to reveal too much about herself and she didn’t intend to.
“So everyone here is from your Timeline?” Because that seemed like a pertinent question as she held her hand out for a cigarette. Julia may have cured her of her cigarette addiction, but Marina hadn’t asked her to and she didn’t really feel like giving it up. The migraines had been acceptable and the scar on her face. She probably wouldn’t miss that too much. It wasn’t anything meaningful except that she’d gotten it from a fight she hadn’t really enjoyed being a part of.
“Mhm,” Julia nodded. The cigarettes were hand rolled and called in a metal holder. Julia had quit on more than one occasion, but the cruise ship made quitting seem less important. “This is the last of my tobacco from Middle Earth, by the way.”
Marina 40 would have thought it was a joke but Marina 23 had actually been to Fillory. Maybe she’d take Julia at her word. Once Marina had her cigarette, Julia took one of her own and lit it with a snap of her fingers.
It was good seeing her again, even if it wasn’t her Marina. Julia tried to keep her expression neutral, but her lips were pleased while her eyes remained sad.
“There’s more I need to tell you,” Julia said. She didn’t know how Marina would feel about the TV show or the books, but she had a pretty good guess. Marina would pretend not to give a fuck. If Marina did have any feelings one way or another, she’d keep them to herself. “We should find your place first.”
Marina had been to Fillory. It still didn’t stop the slight eyebrow raise at the mention of Middle Earth. That didn’t stop her from taking the cigarette. She had no real desire to smoke anymore, but this was a point of stubbornness. Maybe later she’d let it go, but for now, she was stuck on it. She had plans after this, but she didn’t mention it to Julia. Once they found her place, she’d allow for storytime and then push her out so she could continue with her plans.
For now, she lit her cigarette and kept walking. It was strange to see the look on Julia’s face. It was similar to the one she’d worn before. “More you need to tell me? Is it another exciting and informative thing?” She looked bored. She wasn’t sure what other news she should expect, but if it was more about dying, she’d gladly pass. She’d accept the information, but she’d pass on it if it didn’t mean admitting she was at her limit for bad news.
“You might as well say it instead of keeping me in suspense.” She paused, allowing for a hint of amusement in her expression. “Were you lying about us before? You said friends, but did you mean something else?” She had a good feeling she didn’t, but that wouldn’t stop her from asking anyway. It also wouldn’t stop the expression on her face - all smiles with a touch of teasing. “Or is it that you’d just like it to happen and you don’t want to say so in public?”
Would she turn it down? No. She had bedroom eyes going for her and her style choices were something Marina could approve of. Even the less ghostly girl with the missing eye probably wouldn’t be turned down. She looked like she was into some interesting things. It could be fun. But the whole point was to get Julia to stop giving her that sad, doe-eyed look like someone had just kicked a puppy in front of her.
Julia’s expression was a strange mixture of amusement and guilt. Anyone else and she would have given them the gentle let down of an eyeroll. With Marina? There were feelings there, just not the ones Marina was hoping for.
“The dean and Josh, huh?” Julia deflected. She had been paying attention to what Marina had been writing publically, even if she hadn’t commented on them. “Your timeline sounds very different.”
She took a drag from her cigarette and considered. Julia considered just telling Marina about their source material. She wasn’t intentionally being withholding, unlike the way her former mentor could be. “I’m sure you’ll make plenty of new exciting friends.”
Marina noted the expression and the deflection and shook her head. But she didn’t push it. It wasn’t necessary for Julia to have any sort of sordid interest in her. It would just make it more fun. “Your face is going to stick like that if you keep it up,” was the first thing that she said in response. Shortly followed by, “But yes. Fogg and Josh. When everyone’s dead, a girl can’t afford to get picky about who she has sex with.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear on one side before taking another drag. It was good tobacco. She noted a general lack of interest in it, but that didn’t stop her. She might have to give in to the fact that she was never going to really enjoy smoking the way that she had before. But that was a problem for later. “Yes. It is different, but most things are different.”
“Friends aren’t really my thing. I told you that already.”
“I thought friends sounded nicer. I’m sure you’ll meet plenty of new exciting sexual conquests.” Julia did roll her eyes. “There an address to go along with that key?”
Marina gave Julia a sideways glance before holding the key between her hands and focusing on the energy of it. “I think I know where it is,” she said after a moment before shifting direction and walking for a little while longer.
After a little while, she stopped, a smile on her face as she came up to something that appeared to be an old warehouse. “Home sweet home. Let’s see if the key works.”
She turned the key and smiled as the door opened. It took her a little while to change the wards, letting Julia in. It was at least something for now. She could change them back later, but she’d worry about that later. No one she didn’t want getting in would get in. “Come on, then.”
The outside of the warehouse looked like the sort of place Batman would stop a crime in. Considering some of Batman’s protégés were among the displaced, that thought wasn’t too far fetched. Inside was a different story. It was different from the bodega where Marina’s last safe house was kept, and brighter and less foreboding than her New York apartment-- though Julia’s memories of Marina 40’s apartment may have been particularly tainted.
Julia looked around with approval and maybe slight jealousy. The cottage had felt crowded. More so with the presence of kittens. And a teenager.
Julia meant to comment about it but instead the words, “There’s a TV show,” came out. She exhaled sharply. “About us. Technically it’s based on a book series but the books are different. Like how the Harry Potter folks have books about them or the Star Wars people have movies. I just didn’t want… I have no idea what’s in it. I haven’t watched it. None of us have.”
Looking down at her hands, Julia flexed her fingers, not quite fidgeting or practicing anything in particular. The triangle and crescent moon tattoos provided her something else to focus on while she spoke. “I just thought you should know.”
Marina was happy to look around at the things in her place. It didn’t all look the way she left it, but at least it was something. There was plenty of space and she liked the lightness of it all. She had a feeling most of the lightness came from not existing in New York, however. There was space between buildings here and her safehouse hadn’t been crowded by other buildings.
She turned toward Julia when she mentioned the TV show, one eyebrow arched. “Really? Let me guess? Timeline 40?” It was a sort of morbid curiosity that came over her. A way to see how her life was in Timeline 40. But did she want to see it? Well, she didn’t like the idea that other people knew things she didn’t, which was probably reason enough for her.
“Well, that sounds like an adventure.” That being said, she put her keys down and started to walk around. “So do you want the grand tour or do you want to talk about all this?”
“No idea,” Julia replied honestly. It could have been about multiple timelines. She’d just assumed it was about her own. Sometimes it was hard to tell what Marina was really thinking. Julia studied her carefully, but quickly, and decided if Marina wanted to talk about it, she would. “Grand tour sounds great.”
It wasn’t as if Julia had anything to add to the TV show conversation. She’d given Marina the heads up and it was up to Marina to decide what to do with that information. “So was this place in New York?” she asked.
Unhelpful. Well, that was great. Not that it was unexpected. Leave it to people here not to think to check into it. Then again, she wasn’t sure she’d be too keen to watch her own fucked up life. Unless she could use it as blackmail. That might appeal to her. Then again, it was hard to be sure that it was worth seeing everyone die again.
She walked further inside, looking up at the plants briefly. “Well, not this exactly. But something similar enough. We were living in the lab at Brakebills.” She felt a little hint of bubbling frustration at the thought of Brakebills, but more the thought of what was taken from her. She had it all back, but she wasn’t going around being flashy about it. The less she showed, the less she needed to explain or let out. “More like a mixture of what was and what could have been. But the lighting is much better.”
She started up the stairs, pausing to stare at the little garden. That hadn’t been there before, but she’d always thought of having one. Not that it would have worked in New York. At least not in her location. “This is the greenhouse, I guess,” she said with a vague gesture to the plants before moving on. “Nothing really interesting downstairs I don’t think.” There was a possibility that things had changed on her. She continued past that, opening doors to show a few rooms, none that were furnished, really. Mostly just empty rooms. A couple bathrooms. Then hers. “This is off limits.” She shut the door and smiled a little at Julia before walking a few steps forward and opening another door. “Oooh. Books.” She peeked inside, noting quite a few that she’d taken after everyone died. Brakebills. “Also off limits.”
“Why would I expect anything different?” Julia said dryly. Marina had been slightly more open than Brakebills. At least she’d taught Julia something where the school had been unwilling to teach her anything. The younger hedge had to remind herself that this wasn’t that Marina and frowned.
Her eyes made note of some of the empty rooms, where Marina’s room was located, how many books had been in the library. Julia couldn’t see the back of the books to see if they had the telltale Brakebills security on them, but considering Marina 40’s safehouse barely had any books at all, Julia wouldn’t have been surprised. Things must have been dire if Marina had been able to get her hands on so many.
“So where should we set up the Word As Bond?” Julia had not forgotten about their agreement, and mostly for Marina’s safety, she wasn’t going to let her off the hook. Her arms crossed defensively over her stomach.
“Because you’re you.” Marina didn’t know if that was the truth, but it felt like the right thing to say. Even with everything that she’d seen, she was still willing to believe the best in people. She didn’t understand that. She probably never would. She’d seen the bad in people, seen the bad in herself. She didn’t particularly feel bad about the bad in herself and she didn’t really expect anything else in others. Even Josh changed after everything. Everyone changed.
Marina didn’t mind teaching. She’d done it for so long, but the thing of it was, all of her students were dead and she couldn’t bring herself to trust Julia yet when they weren’t on the same page. Especially with the Word and Bond hanging over her head. It was pitched as a way to protect her, but it felt like a way to keep her from stepping out of line. It made the trust thing a little difficult.
“I’m going to have to figure out the specifics of this Word as Bond. When you say harm, how exactly do you mean? Because they all seem overly sensitive and if I hurt their precious feelings, I don’t think I deserve to have to deal with the consequences of some Word as Bond thing.”
“We can limit it to magic without consent that doesn’t explicitly help someone or assault with a deadly weapon. Feel free to hurt all the precious feelings you want, or even deck someone if you have to, just know they can do the same.” Julia said evenly. Kady had been very quiet since Marina’s arrival. Too quiet. That bothered her more than anything. But when Julia looked at Marina, her eyes lingered, looking for the person that had come running when she called.
Julia knew she’d left Marina a small opening to fuck with someone. Maria could do magic to someone without their consent as long as it had an obvious, helpful effect. But it was too limiting otherwise. Asking for consent before allowing someone to save your life could cost too much time. Julia wasn’t interested in making it a prison sentence. Just enough to keep the peace.
“If you break the bond, you’ll feel it. It won’t kill you, but it will knock you on your ass and give whoever you’re fucking with the opportunity to get the upper hand. I’ll no longer be obligated to come to your defense. If someone else threatens to break the bond, I’m teleported to your side like how you pulled me out of Brakebills. I stop them for you.”
Julia paused.
“Like how the other you pulled me out of Brakebills. We sort of broke into it once,” Julia explained.
Marina arched an eyebrow and felt a little tug of amusement at the corners of her lips. Fist fights and acidic words. Her favorites. “Sounds fine.” Their feelings were...something. She could already tell by the way they reacted to things. At least the way she’d been aware of them reacting. She didn’t even know there was a Kady. She probably wouldn’t have cared either way. “And you assume I have feelings.” She did, but she kept them hidden under layers of sarcasm, sass, and leather accessories. It was easier than leaving herself vulnerable.
There was a slight eyebrow roll at the mention of breaking the bond. She had no reason to. She didn’t know these people or really give a shit about them enough to mess with them. She just wanted the great white asshole of Fillory to leave her the fuck alone. “I got the side effects. I break it, I’m on my ass.”
Broke into Brakebills? That was something. “What’d we break in for? Something exciting, I hope.” Marina had a feeling that she knew why. Brakebills housed her memories. If she could have found a way to get in, she would have. She knew that about herself. But it didn’t really matter. She made her way back downstairs to an open room with tables and chairs. She moved toward one of the tables and sat down on it. “Okay then. Let’s do this thing.”
“Your memories,” Julia said. She didn’t elaborate more than that. Julia looked around for a sharpie and a large clean sheet of paper to begin to draw the contract on. Every line was careful and purposeful and familiar. Marina may not have taught Julia everything she knew, but it was where Julia got her start and she’d been a very good student.
Julia paused, waited for Marina’s approval with each new layer or piece of the spell until it was finished and she let the other hedgewitch look it over for final approval. Once she was done, Julia glanced around the safehouse. It was the kind of place she would have liked to have built once. Her eyes returned to Marina.
“Surprise, surprise,” Marina said, a smile forming much like a cat that got the milk. She didn’t mention that she had her memories now. As for the paper, Marina summoned some and a something to write with. Julia did seem to be looking.
She peered over Julia’s shoulder as she wrote. She was curious to see just how the wording would go and what she was going to be agreeing to. Anything that seemed remotely concerning would not escape her notice. If Julia wanted to try to trick her, she’d make sure to catch it. Even if it meant making Julia re-write things over and over. But she would try to be on her best behavior so as to avoid any additional strings already attached. She knew this was a very ‘strings attached’ sort of situation and she usually preferred her relationships without strings.
The things she did to get a little peace.
Having given her consent to the spell as it was, Marina sighed. While Julia looked around the safehouse, Marina was looking at Julia - studying the expression on her face and her body language. There was something curiously different about the woman in front of her. She wasn’t as self-assured as she’d been when she saw her last. The oddity of times not quite matching up. She wondered if she’d figured out anything about her magic. Did she even understand how powerful she was? “Did you know I used to have a scar on my face?” It was a basic, simple question. “Riiight here.” She pointed where it used to be. “It’s funny what magic can do sometimes.”
“You never told me that,” Julia said. She wondered if Marina 40 also had a scar, and if so, she would have to reevaluate Marina’s skill level. “I thought that kind of magic was dangerous, more likely to leave you with a larger disfigurement than fix it.”
Plastic surgery seemed easier all things considered.
“Why would you risk something like that?” Julia asked. Maybe it was for the thrill of it, or the bragging rights? The former seemed more likely than the later, but Marina never shied away from talking a big game.
Laying out the Word as Bond, now that it was complete, Julia sat ready with her hand in place the moment Marina was ready to complete the ritual.
Marina studied Julia’s reaction to her words and could see her mind working to figure it out. “Yes. I suppose that is true.” But it hadn’t been regular magic. It had been Julia. She was trying to figure it out. “But there are other ways to fix that. Other means of having the power to do it.” God, if she didn’t understand what was happening they were probably all messed up.
“I didn’t ask for it. Someone just decided to walk up to me and put their hand on my face and heal it, my migraines, and my smoking addiction.” She forced herself to look bored and sighed a little before looking at Julia’s hand.
After a moment passed, she reached over and placed her hand on the paper.
Julia stared at Marina, forgetting she’d placed her hand on the paper to complete the ritual, quiet as the magic left a mark in the flesh of her palm.
“...You said I cured your smoking addiction.”
Julia may not have reacted much to all the information Marina had given her, but she had been paying attention and store it for later. Mostly it boiled down to everyone was dead, Q had possibly come back to life after dying and killed everyone, and then killed himself thanks to Julia’s involvement?
“I didn’t hurt you,” Julia said, not sure if that was supposed to be a question or not. “I won’t hurt you,” she clarified. Marina must have known that or she wouldn’t have agreed to any of this in the first place. “You called me a what. You asked if I knew what I was.”
Not that Julia expected an answer.
Marina looked at Julia, taking in the reaction, but keeping the expression on her face neutral, bordering on bored. “Huh. I guess I did.” Like she surprised herself with the fact that she’d shared the information and not actually intentionally done to get a reaction.
There was a soft snort of amusement at Julia’s words. “This me or the other me because I think you already hurt your version of me. So much she’s dead.” Not that she felt that Julia would hurt her in this moment. She could have, but instead she’d healed her. She was being tough on her about the murder because she knew that she could be as well. She’d trusted her before in regards to the Beast 2.0 and she’d gotten them through it with only the Rabbit Lady dying. She sighed after a moment, rolling her eyes. “But yes. I know.”
A what. Marina smiled then, but it was less of a smile and more of a smirk. The cat that had gotten the cream. She studied Julia’s face. “You haven’t felt it? The distinct feeling that you are not what you were before? Nothing different about you and your other friends?”’
Julia felt a rotten weight settle into her stomach that hadn’t been there before. It had been so easy to forget that she had magic when it had shut off for everyone else. Now that they were in a world with magic, and she accepted she was probably in her own timeline only barely connected to her home world, it had been nice to put that nagging question behind her: why she had magic.
“When magic was taken away, I still had it. Not a lot. At first I could barely do anything with it. But I don’t feel any different. Now that we’re here, it’s like it doesn’t matter.” Julia frowned, watching Marina carefully. Shifting her gaze, she looked down at the palm of her hand were the lines of the ritual were still present.
Marina looked at Julia, entirely ignoring her own hand. “And you haven’t tried to figure out the why behind it?” Because Marina for sure would have dug into it. She didn’t do the ‘mystery powers with no explanation’ thing. “Or is it mostly that you’re just trying not to think about the why?” She didn’t know if she could ever ignore something that happened and she didn’t know the how exactly. She just knew the fact of it. Julia had god-like powers. She could hold the Leo blade.
“I’ve only seen it once before. Everyone without power, one person still with it.” She suppressed a shudder and looked away to hide the look in her eyes. She didn’t want Julia to know how much the knowledge of it bothered her. She could still remember the fight. “I don’t think it’s stopped mattering just because you’re somewhere with magic.”
Julia briefly made a fist with her hands. They had to start trusting each other. Or, if nothing else, Julia had to make an effort. After all, Marina had agreed and gone through with the Word as Bond. “Marina 40 kicked me out of her safehouse. We fought. We made up and agreed to stay out of each other’s way. I joined a new group. We attempted to petition Our Lady Underground. It was a trick and released her son instead. Reynard slaughtered everyone, raped me, left and began slaughtering hedges.”
Julia spoke flatly, just stating facts. Her eyes stared at a spot somewhere distant.
“You-- Marina 40-- is who I called to clean up the bodies. You did-- she did. She put a memory patch so I wouldn’t know what happened. But another god removed it shortly after. There weren’t a lot of people who cared about a psycho god killing hedges so…”
When Julia looked up, life slowly blinked back into her eyes. “He’s gone now. So, the prevailing theory is … something related to that.” Julia’s lips became a flat, thinly pressed line.
Marina listened quietly. For a brief moment, she softened...or at least she felt it. She didn’t allow herself to show it, but she also didn’t make a snarky comment about it. She’d never been through that, but she sure as hell wouldn’t have allowed it if she could help it. Suddenly things clicked into place. She knew that she’d been used as bait, but she couldn’t imagine the why behind it before. It was possible that she’d also have used someone as bait to get some fucker to die for something similar
“Cleaning up dead bodies sounds like me at least,” she said after a moment. “And the memory patch.” It sounded like something she’d do if it was someone that seemed to matter to her. Though, she felt a moment of discomfort in the knowledge that somewhere, someone mattered enough for her to do something like that. It was hard to picture it. Or, it wasn’t really hard, but after all of her hedges died, she wasn’t too keen on the subject. It was easier to play it off as something that wasn’t really part of the package.
“I’ll admit. It’s a shitty reason, but here’s the thing. Power is power. If you just throw it in the trash because you got it from a shitty place, you’re an idiot. Magic was never about happy feelings and all that happy-go-lucky Harry Potter bullshit. So fucking put your hang ups aside and see what you can do.” A pause. “Not saying you can’t be pissed about it or that it can’t bother you. Just don’t ignore your shit because it’s fucked.”
Marina’s pep talked provided a much needed moment of levity. Julia didn’t say anything at first, but her lips curled into an amused smile.
“Are you sure? ‘Cuz Harry Potter is here. We could ask him.” Her smile grew into a grin, before shifting into a mock thoughtful expression, “Or Severus Snape. I’m sure he would even agree with you. Have you met them yet? One of the Weasley twins called me Hermione-Lite.”
But Julia couldn’t contain the grin any longer and released a small bark of a laugh that felt needed. Maybe slightly inappropriate, but Julia wasn’t about to apologize for not wanting to dwell.
“That bitch is a whiny little fucker. I’m more concerned about him all caps shouting about his fucking misfortune than anything else.” Of course his life was actually shitty, so it was possible that it was the regular teen reaction to shit. Still, it had been really fucking annoying and love and friendship rarely saved the day. If it did, it sure fucking had some explaining to do regarding everything that happened. “He really should have cried to Voldemort. Maybe that would have annoyed him enough to kill himself to keep from having to deal with it anymore.” A pause. “Then again, that probably just would have gotten him killed. Who am I kidding?” As for Snape. “And that guy was a high class creeper. Just like creepy Romcom Guy. Whatever his name is. Scarves, annoying habit of kissing strangers and labeling it dream behavior.” She did air quotes for the last two words. “No, thank you.”
She snorted lightly about Hermione-Lite, though. It was entertaining. Still, she didn’t know that she’d have called her that. “What the fuck did you do to the Harry Potter people to end up as Hermione-Lite?”
“Asking for help,” Julia smirked. “I guess the Wizarding World isn’t used to dealing with lowly hedges. Severus is actually alright. I still have no idea who you mean by Creepy Romcom Guy.”
Julia’s eyes wandered back to the warehouse. There was so much space and a distinct lack of vulnerable fuzzy animals. “I’m kinda jealous of your place,” she said.
Marina considered the answer for a second before shrugging. “Fuck em.” Because who needed that kind of bullshit? Hedges had always gotten along on their own without issues before. Sure, it involved a lot of stealing and a lot of other shit, but they’d managed it pretty well. “I don’t know his name. I just know he wears scarves and is about yay high.” She lifted her hand up. “I’d guess at his ethnicity, but I don’t feel like it. Black hair.”
Following Julia’s gaze, Marina shrugged. “It’s not usually so empty. I guess I’m used to a little more noise.” But no one was here. Not even she was technically there these days. A quick spell and music started playing. “That’s better.”
“Penny?” Julia blinked. “Yeah, I guess he can get kinda intense about Kady.” She was trying to picture what made for creepy romcom behavior and then decided it probably didn’t matter.
Julia went back to staring at the safehouse thoughtfully. She decided, after a pause, to test the waters, “Do you want to be here by yourself?”
“Sounds about right. I was going to go with Nickle or Dime, but that didn’t sound right.” She arched an eyebrow slightly when Julia mentioned Kady. “Yeah. Good old, whoever the fuck that is.” Kady. She’d heard that name before, but it didn’t mean she knew who the fuck she was. “But that’s not who he was being creepy about.” She waved it away after a moment. “But also that’s not really that important.”
The question gave her pause. More because Julia kept staring around like a lost puppy than anything else. “What am I going to do? Invite a bunch of strangers here? Adopt stray children? No thanks.” But she allowed herself to continue studying Julia for a moment. “Why? You in the market for a place?”
“I mean…” Julia glanced around again before returning Marina’s look. “I sort of live in a frat house full of classically trained magicians, a teenager, and a cat that’s recently given birth to a litter. I would be okay with quiet.”
Her brows rose as she added, “What’s the worst that could happen? Other You already fucked up my tattoos.” Julia released the small illusion spell that hid her hedgewitch tattoos with the still angry looking red Xs marked through them. It was a joke. Julia didn’t really care about the tattoos. If Marina needed the slightest excuse to say no to Julia, however, she could give it to her.
Marina scrunched up her nose. She had never lived at the Physical Kid’s Cottage. Thank the stars. She didn’t have to worry about it. She couldn’t imagine living with all those people in close quarters. The cats sounded nice, though. She’d always thought of getting one, but it got side-tracked at some point.
She leaned back a little, studying the marks on Julia’s arm. Hers were covered up by her sleeves, but she wasn’t all that worried about it. “You must have fucked up,” she said after a moment. “The books are mine. Maybe not legally, but that doesn’t matter. Still mine. I’ll let you earn your rights to them. Don’t come in my room. Don’t invite people over.”
“Okay.”
Maybe Julia should have tried harder for rights to the books, but she seemed to get further with Marina when she didn’t try so hard. Marina would show her, or she wouldn’t. She would trust her, or she wouldn’t. Not that Julia could ever imagine a Marina big on trust.
Until then, Julia would continue as she always had, finding her own path.