The last two months had been something of a whirlwind of information, chaos, and headaches for Marina. Every time she'd turned around, there was something new to figure out, manage, compartmentalize, and address. Thankfully, she wasn't wearing an anklet anymore - or at least not the official one, she'd picked up a piece of jewelry to wear just because she'd become accustomed to the weight and it gave her a stupid sense of comfort that she didn't quite understand. The best part was no more surveillance. She could actually do things without looking over her shoulder and knowing someone was watching.
Now all these people were appearing from the future (and just anywhere, really, but the future was more intriguing). It looked like everyone else she knew were having kids. She wasn't surprised there were no kids for her showing up, mainly because she didn't want kids and wouldn't know what to do with one if she suddenly had one. Her childhood sucked, so any kid stuck with her would have one just as bad, she reasoned. Besides, that'd require actually caring about someone. What did get her attention, however, was being called 'Aunt Marina.' What the actual fuck. And her Shade? She didn't even know where to start.
"Ma'am? Your order?" asked the barista, at which point she realized she'd moved to the front of the line and hadn't even realized it since she was lost in thought. She quickly glanced up at the menu and shrugged. "Just give me something seasonal, I don't care what."
Katie was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she had a surprise kid and with a guy she’d never actually talked to before. Mostly, coping with the shock had involved a lot of drinking, probably too much, and the need to function today meant she needed some caffeine. Thank Merlin for Coffee Me Better.
Sidestepping a patch of black ice, Katie walked into the coffee shop and found a spot in line behind Marina. “That’s dangerous,” she remarked as she heard the other woman’s order. “You could end up with something awful.”
"I'll add it to the list," quipped Marina, briefly glancing over her shoulder to see who'd addressed her. A name she knew from the Harry Potter books, but not actually much of a fleshed-out character. A month ago, she might've said something derisive, but since she was now starting to become irritated by material from her own world failing her because it wasn't fully fleshed-out, well, she could afford to be cordial. It was obvious more information could be uncovered by returning back to your 'home,' but that meant either you wouldn't be able to come back or in her case… better not to think about it.
"Really, though, are any of the seasonal drinks all that bad," she added, giving one of her sly smiles. At any rate, at least the other woman was attractive.
She recognized Marina from the network as as a part of the Magicians group, but she was definitely the one Katie had spent the least amount of time talking to and she didn’t know her well. That wasn’t going to stop her from being her friendly self, though.
“I guess that depends on how you feel about coconut,” she replied, making a face. There was this toasted coconut thing that people who liked the stuff probably enjoyed, but Katie was definitely not one of those people.
"That's actually a good point," Marina answered, then turned to face the barista. "Nothing with coconut. And a slice of lemon pound cake." She wasn't huge on eating with her coffee, but she'd been trying to quit smoking with Molly in the house. Which in turn made her more than her usual irritable self, but she was combatting that with food. And exercise, since too much food would just make her out of shape, and being out of shape would affect her magic too much. What a tangled web ritual magic made.
Molly had been telling her to try being nicer to people, because it might make it easier for them to do whatever it was they needed to do to reunite the two of them. But at the same time, she had her own personality and now a name and trying to make them one person again just felt like eating a pet. She shrugged off the thought and looked over her shoulder at Katie again. "I'm trying to be nicer to people," she said, figuring she might as well be blunt. "You want anything? My treat."
That was something Katie could respect. She didn’t think everyone absolutely had to be nice and Merlin knew she wasn’t always even if it was how she often came across. She did respect the hell out of anyone who was trying to be better, somehow, though, even if her first impulse was usually to say no thanks and insist on paying her own way.
“The lemon pound cake sounds great,” she admitted. “And a peppermint mocha.” While she did like surprises, that didn’t apply to her drink orders. Besides, she felt like she’d had enough surprises this month.
Marina glanced at the barista and raised her eyebrows as if questions they'd gotten what Katie had requested. When she got a nod, she pulled out her tablet to make the payment. One thing she appreciated about Atlantis, probably near the top of her list even, was that payment was efficient and delivery was even moreso. There were too many times where she'd make an order at a Starbucks and then wait upwards of fifteen to twenty minutes for her order.
Now that they were waiting, Marina felt a little uncomfortable not at least trying to carry on a conversation with the other woman. Awkward silences were the worst. "Any big surprises for you this month?" she asked, thinking that was probably the easiest topic to ask about.
“You could say that, yeah,” Katie said, making kind of a face. “I had a future kid show up with someone I’d never actually talked to before, so apparently my future decision making skills are just fantastic.”
It was bloody weird, just wrapping her head around that. It would have been one thing to have it be someone she knew, someone she could actually see herself with, but this was something that had thrown her for a loop because it just felt so random.
"Congratulations on the birth of your healthy child?" offered Marina, both eyebrows raised. That could be on par with getting a part of your soul back unexpectedly. Which reminded Marina to not bring up that big wine-drunk post of hers, because that was still uncomfortable. "If I understand anything from all of these future children showing up, it's one of those post-war things were people just start having babies."
Marina tilted her head forward and smirked. "Maybe one day in the not-so-distant future, you throw caution to the wind in celebration?" Or maybe she wouldn't, now that she's seen what the future holds.
If Katie had already had her drink at that point, she might have choked on it when Marina congratulated her. He seemed like a good kid, but it was still weird, thinking about the whole thing.
“Or a night of binge drinking and poor decisions,” Katie suggested with a laugh. She thought that probably had more to do with it, considering. “He seems like a good kid. I think it would be less awkward if I actually knew the father.” Even Alicia and Flint made a bit more sense to her.
"If there's anything I've learned this month alone, it's that now can drastically change by tomorrow," noted Marina. As far as she could tell, most of these kids were still years off. So there'd be plenty of time for her to get to know this kid's father. Well enough to have a child by him, though? Eh, who was she to judge at this point. Between therapy and talking to Molly, Marina had questioned probably every decision she'd made in the last few years. Still, to her credit she climbed to the top of the hedges at almost lightspeed because of those decisions, so could they be all bad?
"I am completely with you on binge drinking and poor decisions, though," she added, reminded once again of that huge tell-all she wrote out. She shivered just thinking about it again.
“Thank Merlin for alcohol,” Katie joked. “We might only do rational and very smart things without it.” She was kidding, mostly. It was probably ironic that she’d been coping with the result of one of those bad decisions with more drinking, but old habits.
“What about you? Any big surprises for you?” She hadn’t seen the post while she was wrapped up in her own surprise visitor and didn’t realize Marina had just had a big shock of her own.
"You could certainly say that," answered Marina, visibly relieved that this woman apparently hadn't seen her near break-down. But it wasn't really easy to explain. Which led back to that goddamn post. So she shrugged. "If you're curious about the details, I was binge drinking and made a poor decision to tell my life story. You can find it on the network. The short version is I'm missing a piece of my soul and now it's here, following me around in child form. Fun times."
Marina looked back towards the counter and idly wondered if she could ask them to put in a shot of whiskey.
“That sounds... awkward,” Katie offered. She knew the magic in Marina’s world was a little different than in hers, but the concept of a part of your soul existing in the form of its own person, of a child, was really, really different. She couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like.
“It sounds like you need something a bit stronger than just coffee,” she added. Really, she couldn’t imagine how Marina was dealing with the situation. It might be even more bizarre than having a surprise kid.
"Mind reader?" asked Marina, half-serious. She wouldn't be surprised in this place, but she also knew that if someone else had told her the same thing that would likely be her own reaction as well. She could see that their orders were almost done, so Marina shook out her hands and turned to face Katie fully, offering a few choice thoughts on a variety of subjects in her head to see if the other women could pick them up.
Katie laughed and shook her head. “That is definitely not one of my skills. I just figured if there’s ever a reason to day drink, that’s it right there.” She offered her an empathetic smile as their names were called a moment later. “Thanks for the drink,” she said as she stepped forward to pick up her cup.
Nodding in welcome, Marina picked up her own cup and took a sip. It wasn't bad, but she had no idea what she'd actually managed to order. She decided to check the receipt so that she'd know what she had. Either for future reference or for just the knowledge, she couldn't be sure. "How is 'Black Ice' seasonal?" she mused to herself, waving to Katie as she found a seat to sit back and relax.