"This place has really good milkshakes," Julia said, opening the door and letting Fen step through. "But their staff have to wear costumes from vintage horror movies." She had no idea if Fen's earth education had included any of those, but she could identify Wednesday Addams behind the counter. "There's actual food too, if you're hungry?"
Julia had asked Fen about going to the bookstore, and otherwise exploring Vallo a bit because the other woman's enthusiasm could be contagious. She wasn't sure what to think about Fillory anymore, with what she'd experienced and what Margo had filled her in on, but she had nothing against the native resident. Especially as she'd been with Fen before she ended up in Vallo.
"Or we could just browse for a bit?"
That didn't mean she knew Fen that well, though, and so she presented options.
Fen hadn’t really been given the chance to sample all of Earth’s delicacies, including milkshakes. Well, maybe one or two, but she’d mostly stuck to booze. So, when the mention of milkshakes came up, she was quick to try it. Back then, things were dark. Here… not so much! Or at least she hoped it wouldn’t be too dark.
“All of it!” she exclaimed, walking in past Julia and turning in a circle in that one spot as she took everything in. She was far from someone you’d consider a bookworm but there was still something magical about being surrounded by books. “What do you prefer to eat from here?”
"I haven't actually tried anything but the milkshakes," Julia admitted. "Marina and I stopped in last weekend. She knows someone who works here." Though they hadn't seen Eleanor, so Julia wasn't sure if she was working now or not. But she'd insisted on a milkshake before they left on Saturday.
"But we can check this place out," she added with a small smile. Anything that kept her busy was a worthy distraction. "Maybe browse the books then take some over to look at while we order food?"
Which seemed to work, so they did just that. Julia was looking at the selection, enjoying the store for what it was. Apparently it had come in from Sabrina's world, who she'd talked to briefly. Before long they'd wandered over to the diner side and found a table.
Once they’d gotten their food and drinks, Fen settled pretty quickly, and dug right in, giving herself a moment to relish in the different tastes of new Earthen food. She was definitely not used to it just yet, having had only a taste of it from Josh’s cooking, and she was convinced she was going to end up gaining weight by the end of the month.
But who cares? Food was great!
“Oh, man,” she started after a bite. “I don’t know how anyone could ever get tired of food from Earth, like all those countries and different spices and flavors? Amazing!”
"From what I can tell, this place has the full variety," Julia said, marveling at how taken in Fen was just by food. But she had spent surprisingly little time in Fillory given her obsession with the books. Like most things in her life, reality hadn't lived up to expectations.
But it was almost impossible to remain in that foul mood when Fen was around, and so she forced herself to remain present. Brooding could come later. "So do you have anything else you want to do, after this?" It was much easier to ignore the increasing weight of inevitably having to deal with issues she wanted to keep at bay when she wasn't alone, and at least this way she was getting to know Fen better.
"You seem to be taking all of this rather well?" Julia added, though she supposed from what Margo had told her that this was what, Fen's third new world to explore?
The answer to that first question would have been really extensive, but Fen decided to stick with “I don’t know, whatever we haven’t seen yet!” But she wasn’t ready to scarf down her food and just go. She forced herself to eat slower, placing her sandwich down and looking up at Julia. Julia, someone she had gotten closer to during their last few days in Fillory, but she didn’t remember any of it because that was all a future Julia hadn’t experienced yet.
The loss of that bond, especially after Julia’s pregnancy, stung somewhat but there was really nothing to do except recount anything she’d want to know.
“Yeah, I mean… we didn’t really spend too much time in New Fillory before I got yanked to this world instead. I was ready to live through a new world. And even though Vallo is obviously not our creation, it’s still land masses away from what we were going through. You know… with the Dark King opening the gates between Fillory and the Underworld.”
"Yeah, Margo told me about that," Julia nodded. Penny and their baby had saved Margo before Fillory imploded on itself, but it was impossible to picture that. Her with any version of Penny, or having a child. Fillory imploding she could picture, on the other hand. Still, that had been Fen's home.
"Sorry about that, by the way. Even if you got a new world to build up out of it." A strange new world at that. "It's weird, because my last memory from before here, I was with you, but for you that's history." Of course her last memories with Margo weren't exactly friendly and yet Margo had been the one to fill her in, and help her start to process everything. Because again, Julia's memories were history to her. And to Marina.
If they'd been history with Kady maybe she'd be able to talk to her friend now.
"Things seem less messy here, at least." Again, except for her friendship with Kady, but Julia was going to avoid mentioning that. It stung, but mostly because Kady had been right to call her out.
Fen nodded as though she understood. In reality, it was hard to actually understand how things worked with people coming in at weird times. That may have been something that Team Magicians were used to, with traveling to the wrong time in Fillory, but Fen had never personally experienced it herself. Her only time was when she and most of the court had traveled to the future which was how they had ended up with the Dark King anyway.
“Looks like I remember more than everyone else. I still can’t remember why Kady doesn’t want to hang out with us, though. I thought we were all cool! Unless it was something else that doesn’t have to do with me but I’m… adjacent to.”
"It's me," Julia said quickly, her expression faltering. "I think she's from around the same time I am and well…" Kady had been going through hell and Julia had thrown herself into the seven keys quest and unintentionally abandoned her friend.
"I'm just trying to give her space, and hope that we can talk sooner, rather than later."
She focused on her food for a bit, trying not to let that drag the conversation down. There had been several things she wished she could have gone to Kady about already, only none of them seemed fair to ask of her when she knew why Kady was mad at her. "She'll come around, probably. It's not personal."
“She will,” Fen nodded as she spoke around the piece of her sandwich she had just bitten off. She gave herself a moment to swallow before continuing. “Because in the future -- in your future -- we all come together to save the world. I mean some of us were separated for some time but we completed the World Seed Heist together!
“Except you know… you know, there were moments when we were separated. After Josh and I returned to Fillory, there were several long years when we thought we’d never see you again because we didn’t. For a long time. And then we eventually came together. Gratefully, before the new Fillory regime would execute Josh and me.”
"That must have been hard," Julia noted. "Usually there were more of you there, and with less time apart." It was still odd thinking that Quentin's quest through Fillory hadn't initially involved her, that they'd been on opposite sides even, all because Jane Chatwin deemed it fit to keep her out of Brakebills during this 40th timeline.
“Well… yeah.” Fen had to stop a moment and put everything down. “I think at one point, we had almost given up hope. We didn’t think anyone was coming back at all, and it just… it hurt, you know? Eliot still being my husband even though it wasn’t a conventional marriage, and Margo being… our Margo! We thought we lost everyone.”
She sighed, grabbing hold of their drinks. “Oh, yeah, I should probably let you know I’m a werewolf now too. Grief does things!”
Well that was one way to break the news. Julia's eyes widened, and then she nodded. "It does," she agreed, her voice quiet and accepting. Grief had driven her to revenge, it had caused her to want to give up magic when she once thought she couldn't live without it, and it had driven Kady to the brink. There wasn't much room for judgment.
"Good to know, though." She made a mental note to look up the next full moon.
“Definitely,” Fen said, the thought of the full moon not even on her mind. It was all focused on everything they had gone through in the past few months. At least her past few months. “But anyway, we later learned that Margo and Eliot were trying to get to us but they ended up being stuck three hundred years in the future and so we had to go to them. Fillory time likes to play games!” Though she didn’t have to tell that to Julia, the person whose pregnancy had sped up thanks to being in Fillory.
Except Julia hadn't lived out that future, and maybe had hope that like Margo, she had a future that ventured off the path of her friends. She couldn't fathom being with Penny, even if Penny was from a different timeline. Nor did she want to consider the possibility that Q might really be gone, not if the potential was there that he wasn't.
"It worked out," was all she said. "But we were still with Skye right before I arrived here so…" She let her voice trail off. Maybe she'd be able to avoid the memories issue altogether. "That doesn't stop me from getting to know you better here, though. In fact, I'm looking forward to it."
Fen’s heart did a little jump at the sound of Skye’s name. “Yeah, I remember that,” she said, absently rubbing a hand over her sternum. Her relationship with the faeries had been complicated. Extremely complicated with the loss of her daughter and the trick they had played on her and Eliot with Fray. That was probably something she thought she could never move on from, but somehow, she had moved on enough to shed tears when the Fairy Queen sacrificed herself for her people.
This all, she recounted to Julia, in those next few minutes, having to blink back a few tears that threatened her again. “I don’t think we ever saw Irene McCallistair after that, though. And at least the faeries in future Fillory were relatively safe. Don’t think the Dark King harmed them much.”
Julia reached her hand out, taking Fen's for a moment and giving it a squeeze. Then she looked over the table and asked, "Ready to go exploring?" They were pretty much done and had a full day ahead of them.
“Yes!” Fen was ready to push herself off of her seat and head out, until she realized she still had a few bites left. “After I get the rest of this into my belly!”