"Jealousy and greed were a twin-headed snake that had not even shown her face, and yet Sherlock could already feel her coiling around his throat and flexing her fangs oh so dangerously close to his jugular. She was a looming phantom; a sickening nec...
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Upon Julia's kitchen table sat an envelope. Not just any envelope: this one was wrapped in twine and parchment and numerous pages long, by the looks of it.
At first the rosette figured it was perhaps something for her mother, seeing as she tended to get more letter-mail, but as Julia plodded through the kitchen, sleepy-eyed and ready for toast and tea, she found that her mother and father watched her with expectant, prying eyes. A little put off by all the attention, the young woman finished making herself breakfast and cautiously sat down at the kitchen table, where she ate quietly and eyed the parcel sitting not too far from her right hand. Perhaps a minute or so into her morning meal, Julia slowed her movements, focusing in on the handwriting upon the face of the parchment.
She swallowed, then looked to her parents of an explanation. Her mother was the first to speak.
"This came in the mail early this morning," Mrs. Fuller explained softly. Her arms were crossed over her blouse, her reading glasses in one hand. Julia couldn't help but wonder if she were genuinely worried. She looked... almost solemn, as if she were informing her of a family member having passed away. "It's addressed to you."
"We haven't opened it," Wilbur added tenderly, offering a smile.
Julia frowned, regarding the hearty stack of pages rather dubiously. She wondered if they were something from Mycroft. The idea of paperwork at this early of an hour caused her chest to grow heavy, like a child would at the idea of homework.
"I didn't think you two would..." she finally contributed, looking up from where she had been staring at the mountain of pages. Glancing between the two, she tried her best to lighten the mood, letting out a halfhearted laugh. "Christ, you two seem far from cheerful this morning. Did something happen that I should know about?"
"Nothing in particular," her father dismissed, returning to his fishwrap with scrutiny that only an actor could truly produce. If it were one thing she knew, it was that her father was horrible at hiding his true intentions. Julia could see straight through his act, understanding that he was as curious as ever. He wasn't as nosy as her mother, however, who sat in the chair next to her and pulled the stack over by the twine, peering down at the scrawl upon the front with a sigh.
Eyes flickering over her mother's expression, she became wary. This was her personal property... she needn't go through it like some sort of worry-wart parent. Her mother tended to project herself into every single situation, just so nothing could possibly go awry. It was her way of controlling any and every instant of her life, and honestly, it had grown to be old hat. She was a full-grown adult, for Pete's sake! Julia, picking up her plate and setting her teacup on top, reached down with a free hand and scooped the stack of papers up into the crook of her arm. With her plate placed in the sink and her tea retrieved, she turned and headed for the door.