Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Jun 10, 2010 14:11:21 GMT
The dog accepted her affectionate touch, but at the sound of Owen's voice, she trotted away from Marion and stood next to her master, her eyes looking up at him from his heel with the usual adoration. His voice brought the woman's eyes up to his form as he stood in the room, and with a pang she remembered his weak eyes, and the blood... all of the blood as she sat next to him in her office - trying to keep him from succumbing to sleep.
She blinked once, the horror leaving her mind and she focused on him. She saw her friend, standing easily in the clothes she'd managed to acquire from his apartment, and his face was lined with new worries. For all the healthy glow his skin now had, his eyes showed the new worries clearly. For someone like Marion, who could read people she didn't know - to see a friend with the weight of cares that Owen now had, it was almost as if he screamed at her. Her throat burned with the knowledge that she'd left him here alone for too long. What kind of a friend had she been...
"Hey Owen. I'm glad to see you." It was true. She was. She moved into the room confidently - while she badly wanted to give him a hug as she always greeted him, she didn't want to push. She kept her movements open and friendly - no hesitation in being in the room with him - more emotional, but she tried to keep that from her face, even while it pushed at her thoughts. He was still Owen to her. That hadn't and would never change... but she didn't know how he was coping.. if he even still wanted to keep his old life.
She'd never know unless she started communicating. "My Dad sends his best... and I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I.. " Here goes.. "I wasn't sure if you wanted any visitors. But I had to make sure you were at least standing again."
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Jun 14, 2010 14:33:33 GMT
That was a night that Owen wouldn't be able to forget, as foggy as the specifics and precise details were; he had been suffering from a combination of shock and blood loss, and there were details of that night he could never recall in full, not like Marion or Archie could, or any of the wolves who had come to The Colony to help him, but Owen remembered. He would never be able to forget, just like he would never be able to forget the birth and death of his daughter, whose picture now sat on the nightstand beside the bed that he couldn't call his own. Not really. Nothing in the room belonged to him, not truly, and though the offer of membership to this pack -- a real werewolf pack -- had been extended to him, Owen still wasn't sure what to do, whether to say yes or no, give up the only life he had ever known for something new, and, if he was understanding the reality of it correctly, perhaps eternal.
Marion's apology seemed so strange in the grand scheme of things. All things considered, it was the last thing Owen had been expecting. Surprised as he was to see her given her absence in the weeks following the attack, he wasn't angry at her. Still, those words, simple as they were, didn't spill out of him. Not right away, at least. Instead he focused on the way she moved, took note of the exact motion and the care she seemed to be taking to seem comfortable. Maybe she wasn't taking care at all and she actually was comfortable, but her words didn't quite go along with that theory.
"Nenet's been checking up on me," he said at last. It was a strange thing to say, out of everything that could have come out, but Owen didn't backtrack. "Have you met Nenet?" He wasn't sure how many of the wolves Marion knew. He knew she worked for them, but there were a lot of wolves in the pack. That was a lot of names and a lot of faces.
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Jun 19, 2010 23:29:35 GMT
It was no surprise that one of the wolves would be checking on Owen more regularly than the others. Marion knew of all the wolves - they all knew of her - though some were shyer than others. She'd done work for nearly every wolf in the pack, and they all knew she was a friend to help them.
"I know Nenet. This is a pack with a lot of goodness in it. I won't say you're lucky, but you've got a strong, strong set of people who will help you really wonderfully. They did me." She paused. "And they did my Dad."
She pulled a bag from her purse. "I brought you your mail - I've dealt with as much as I could, but you'll of course want some things yourself. And some chocolate. But I'll take that if you don't think you need it..."
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Jun 26, 2010 14:57:35 GMT
It would take Owen a long time -- a hell of a long time, if he was being realistic -- to get to know all the names to go with all the faces, but he had learned a few in his time at The Hyperion. There were the most important ones, Cole, Dia, Steven and Nerys -- who had just become Beta female, if he was keeping track of things properly -- and then there were those who had extended offers of friendship such as Nenet. That was just the tip of the iceberg, though, he knew, and there were dozens more wolves on top of those that he knew already; it was a large pack, larger than normal he had been led to understand, and he had to pace himself when it came to getting to know them, if only for his own sake. He wasn't ready to meet so many werewolves -- other werewolves, his mind corrected -- yet, and Owen knew that. Taking his time was important; he didn't want to overwhelm himself, either side of himself.
Marion was trying, really trying, and Owen had to shut down any kind of anxiety and uncertainty if he was going to show her what he felt, and that was that he wasn't angry at her, not even slightly. She had done nothing wrong, and though he had been a little disappointed by her absence over the weeks following the attack, he couldn't hold that against her. He had to give her the benefit of the doubt, especially with all she had done for him. After all, if it hadn't been for Marion, he wouldn't have received the help and support he had already, with so much more to come, or at least hinted at.
"Thanks," he said to her after a pause, stepping away from the bathroom fully at last and moving closer to accept the mail from her, taking a look inside the bag and offering her a faint smile. "As for the chocolate," he began, lifting his gaze to meet hers, if she would hold it, "I don't think I need all of it." She was extending an olive branch; it was only fair to return the favour. "Split it?"
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Jul 8, 2010 9:59:04 GMT
The words were almost as good as the chocolate in the bag to her, making the tension she didn't know she still carried in her shoulders begin to slowly unwind. She smiled, letting the emotion go to her eyes that held steady to Owen's gaze, keeping her eyes up, and her smile real and easy. She reached inside the bag, taking out the bar, and placed her other hand on his forearm, squeezing gently. "You know I'm just not the kind of girl who can turn down chocolate. It's my cross to bear."
Crossing his room, she pulled a chair from the small table that each room contained and sat down in it easily, not waiting for an invitation, simply acting as she always had with Owen. She laid the bar on the table and began to unwrap it carefully. "I brought a treat for Zo in there too - I'm sure she's figured that out already, but I figured you should give it to her. I've given up trying to win her away from you for those cold nights when I need something warm on my feet. She just doesn't respond to bribery."
Her fingers no longer shook as she finished unwrapping the bar and broke it cleanly down the middle, then breaking one half in half again, she leaned back and nibbled at a corner, looking up at him. "Come on and sit down, Owen. As my mother used to say, "You make the place untidy." She took another bite. "That and you know what I'm like around chocolate."
She watched him, her eyes taking in every detail, looking and hoping not to see any pain in his movements. The haunted shadows under his eyes would fade with time - of that she was sure, but then, Owen had already had small shadows before this - the physical pain at least, she hoped had eased completely.
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Aug 21, 2010 20:16:00 GMT
Something in the room changed as that tension bled out of Marion's shoulders, though Owen was still too new to the life he had stumbled into -- or been hurled into, more to the point -- to recognise what it was exactly that shifted, he only knew that he felt more comfortable, more at ease, less awkward himself as a result, and for that he was thankful. Something about the touch against his arm helped as well. Maybe it was just the contact himself, and the fact that it came from someone he knew and trusted. He had felt so on edge in the hotel, surrounded by people he didn't know, so many of them old and experienced enough to kill him without even breaking a sweat if they got it in their heads to do so, but Marion was familiar and reassuring. Owen realised just how much he had been missing that, how much he had been needing that.
The mention of a treat for Zodiac had Owen investigating the bag again, giving a small laugh at the sight of it in the bottom. Reaching down he scratched behind the German Shepherd's ears and then crossed the room and perched himself on the edge of the otherwise empty desk where Marion had settled herself down. He hadn't brought any of his stuff from The Colony yet and didn't know if he should; he didn't yet know how long exactly he would be staying at The Hyperion, and he didn't want to be presumptuous or make any decisions without having all the information.
Reaching into the bottom of the bag, he pulled out the treat for Zodiac, unwrapped it, waiting for her to sit herself down and lift a paw as she had been trained and then with a quiet smile he offered it down to her. She took it gently, as he had taught her, and then headed off to chew on it in peace at the foot of the bed. That left Owen free to turn his attention to Marion, though it was only when he did that that he realised he had no idea what to say.
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Aug 27, 2010 23:17:11 GMT
Marion finished her broken bit as she watched Owen interact with Zodiac. She was grateful for the dog's devotion - as Nate's pup had let her see before she knew there was a good chance Zo would be fine in the hotel. One thing that always got Marion more than any other was that these werewolves, with their animal counterparts, could be more humane than humans. One of the usual ironies of life that left her awake nights.
Marion watched as Owen joined her, grateful to see him almost acting as he used to - wishing she'd been around sooner. He'd need some human companionship too - to help him ease into his new surroundings... he'd be safest at the Hyperion, that she knew, but she also knew that it would ultimately come down to what would be best for Owen. She'd have to talk with Cole as soon as he had a moment. And respond to Harrison's voicemail at some point too - he'd left one, but as he'd only called once, she assumed it was not an emergency, and Owen was her priority at the moment.
As Owen turned to face her, but said nothing, Marion had one of her impulses as she looked up at him. "Hardly easy to return to small talk, is it?" She grinned at him. "Pop a piece in your mouth, it will buy you some time to figure out which question you'd like to throw out first. Or answer first." She half shrugged. "The wolf stuff you'll have to ask Cole about. Or there's a few other wolves who are very young - there's one here I brought to them a very brief time ago named Mara. She was at your apartment too - and she had almost as bad of a taste of becoming a werewolf as you did. Your introduction was the horror. Hers was that she was alone when she went through it. You are at least spared that."
She looked Owen in the eyes. "You've got a lot to go through and I don't have any easy comments for you... but I can be here whenever you need me to, and I can help you figure out where your life will fit most easily. I'll be here at the hotel for a few days - " she'd already made that decision before she arrived - "so we can take things bit by bit, or you can just come down and check out my office here when you feel like it."
She picked up the other bit of her chocolate. She could do everything she could - and would - but Owen would have the decision of what he needed. And only he could figure that out. "For what it's worth, I'm grateful you're still in the world, Owen. You're still you, after all. Don't forget that. You're just... a bit more now."
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Sept 9, 2010 19:09:09 GMT
At Marion's suggestion, Owen broke off a piece of the chocolate and placed it in his mouth, turning it over on his tongue and buying himself even more time by letting it melt rather than chewing on it. It would last longer and therefore fill his mouth longer, and he wouldn't have to speak for a greater stretch of time. He wasn't against speaking right now, exactly, it was more that he had no idea what to say. So much had changed in such a short space of time and he felt cast adrift in a small, weak little boat, alone in a great, wide sea filled with danger and storms that could turn him over and drown him at any moment. He wasn't afraid of the pack -- not exactly, though he was intimidated and to say otherwise would have been a bare-faced lie, and a stupid one -- and he knew they wouldn't harm him, but he didn't exactly feel at home amongst them either. He felt alien in their midst, the odd one out even though he knew already that he wasn't. Owen wasn't the first -- and certainly not the only -- wolf here who had been bitten and introduced to the life of a werewolf later than those who had been born with lycanthropy already in their veins, and he wasn't the only one who had arrived on that night when he had attacked, either, but he felt different to the others somehow, less equipped and he wasn't even sure why.
Zodiac was no longer a valid distraction as Marion spoke -- not that he didn't want to listen to Marion, of course he did; he respected and admired her and valued her friendship, but she was speaking about all the heavy, important matters that he hadn't yet let himself dwell on, perhaps unwisely -- so he listened and watched the dog, doing both at the same time and turned his gaze upon the woman when she finished, the chocolate fully melted and no longer a viable excuse for delay. That meant he had to say something.
"It's just a lot to take in," he said at last, a sigh wound through the words, setting down what was left of the piece of chocolate in his hands, leaving little smudges of what had melted over his fingers. As he considered how to proceed, he rubbed the pads of his fingers and thumb over one another to smear it into his skin. "I'm not sure whether I have any questions." Another sigh, this one quieter. "I guess on some level it still hasn't quite sunk in yet." Underneath the loose shirt he wore his shoulders lifted and dropped in a shrug. "Stupid, I know. I should be full of them by now."
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Sept 18, 2010 1:25:36 GMT
Marion looked at Owen for a moment, letting the words flow out into the room. She'd seen many reactions in turned wolves... for a moment she berated herself for assuming that Owen would react like any of them before. She looked at him, really taking in the shadows under his eyes, the slump of his shoulders. Her friend was so alone... and so unsure. And there wasn't much she could do.
She tried to keep her jaw from tightening and said. "Okay, first off, Owen - stupid? No." She put her hand out and touched his forearm. "It's so far from stupid. No questions yet? So what?" She squeezed his arm gently and leaned back. "You're in ... well... basically you're in shock. It's just not the medical version anymore. "
She pulled a list from her pocket. "This is what I assumed you'd want me to take care of - mail, a few things like clothes and making sure your rent was taken care of, food for Zo. If there's anything you want me to get my nose out of, tell me, or if there's something I've forgotten.. hell, a show you want taped, scribble it down."
She looked around the room. "You need a coffee maker in here if I'm going to visit more though."
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Oct 9, 2010 16:47:57 GMT
It was strange how Owen had found himself missing his ex-wife more than once since he had been attacked, a woman he had vowed to let go after they had lost their daughter, something that was best for both of them, and yet his thoughts had strayed to her and what life she must be leading all the way across the country in those moments when there was no sound or distraction, nothing but his own mind and Zodiac's soft snoring to keep him company. It wasn't healthy, he knew, and he had tried to stop it from happening since that first time with minimal success. It would get better, he had told himself, that loneliness would dissipate as he got more comfortable within the pack, but doubts had crept in to disrupt the certainty of such a thought. Would he get more comfortable? How could he know that would happen?
His eyes found her hand when she touched his arm and he felt something move within him. It wasn't a physical kind of shift, something else entirely, and he recognised it. It was the wolf. His wolf. It was responding to Marion's touch, a kind of appreciation and quiet approval. Thank God. Owen didn't know if he trusted himself to get everything under control if the wolf decided it didn't like the woman touching him.
The soft smile had found its way onto his face even before he gently took the list from her hand, turning it over so he could see it the right way up. Marion had thought of everything and more and Owen suddenly found himself lost for words. He had always known Marion was a good friend, it hadn't taken him long at all after meeting her to ascertain that much, but why was he only just coming to realise how lucky he really was?
"Thank you, Marion," he found himself saying, unaware until after the fact that his mouth had even opened, his gaze lifting from the list to find her face. "I don't know what to say." About the list, about her advice and guidance. About anything.
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Oct 28, 2010 10:20:02 GMT
Marion saw the smile, and to her mortification, her throat burned a little. She didn't like it when people were weak, she didn't like it at all. She played with power all the time, thwarting it, adding to it, bending it, even removing it... but it was when she did the simplest things that the impact of her actions unsettled her the most. She'd taken care of Owen because that's what she needed to do.. he was a friend, her dear friend who was hurt - and in Marion's mind, that was more than enough reason to do anything - to do everything. And what she'd done was so small compared to what Cole could do for Owen, what the pack could do... and in a century, her small actions would be a memory to Owen. Possibly not even a memory.
She cleared her throat once and shook her head. "Don't know what to say?" She forced herself to smile and tried not to notice that her vision blurred just a bit. "Don't know what to say... oh dear, this is serious." She picked up the rest of her half of the chocolate bar and took another bite. "Just start small and tell me if there's anything there that you think I've missed.. and I'm afraid I don't do windows."
She reached into her bag and got a pen and her notebook, flipping it open and scribbling to make sure the pen worked. "Should I write coffeemaker?" She grinned, blinking away the blurring in her eyes and hoping the burning in her throat would ease.
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Oct 30, 2010 22:49:18 GMT
That was one of the things Owen was going to have the most trouble with, he knew, the idea of immortality, or at least a degree of it, this surreal concept of potentially living for centuries without ever showing any signs of ageing or weakness. It was still sinking in that the Alphas of this pack -- Cole and Dia, his mind corrected; he had to get used to using individuals' names if he was going to settle in here -- were more than eight hundred years old. Each. It was baffling, completely and totally beyond his mind's grasp. It would take time. The irony of that had not escaped him, not in the least.
His smile grew at Marion's familiar sense of humour and he felt it bubble up but didn't realise he had laughed until it tumbled out and into the air between them. It wasn't overly loud, barely even perceptible, more of a chuckle than anything, but it was the first time he had done anything of the sort since the attack. It felt like a big achievement.
"You should write coffee-maker," he agreed with a nod, lifting his head and meeting her eyes with his own. Zodiac had finished her snack and wandered over to once again be part of the back and forth, even if it was just to sit at her owner's heel, bumping against his leg in that quiet, comfort-seeking way of hers that was so familiar and so comforting. He was once again glad that the animal he had become didn't scare the dog to the point that she couldn't even bear to be close to him. "I can't remember the last time I had coffee, actually." He hadn't thought it was such a good idea but now he was starting to realise how much he missed it.
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Nov 26, 2010 5:01:09 GMT
Marion put the tablet of paper to her chest in mock horror. "You don't remember... my god, this is serious." She wrote "coffee maker - STAT" with a flourish on her tablet and shook her head. "I'll have to have a word with Cole - I mean really, they haven't offered you coffee. That's just criminal." She let her eyes twinkle at him and said, "You should get a lawyer."
The small laugh from Owen had been such a relief to hear. She'd've given anything to get another one. Her life had been simply taking care of things for the last few days - trying to make sure that Owen's new life could be entered into without any huge bumps for him, and she'd let her own life dump by the wayside. She noticed a smudge on the sleeve of her blouse and frowned - When was the last time she'd checked a mirror?
Marion was fastidious and took care of everything as best she could, but noticing things like that always made her wonder what she might have missed - a year's worth of therapy had simply pointed out that she was a bit controlling (no kidding) - and she'd felt that it wasn't really going to help. How could it, when the truth that needed saying was "All my friends and family are being turned into werewolves and I'm being left behind." yeah. That wasn't going to happen. But she could make sure that Owen was taken care of - her own tears and worry would come out with a bottle of wine when she stopped moving tonight. The fact that she would be at the Hyperion didn't mean anything different - she'd just have to be careful Cole didn't hear, or he'd try to manage her too, and that was something Marion would not have. She was there to help him and his pack - her family.
That laugh had let her know that she could pop that bottle of red tonight and let the tears flow. Owen would be okay. Eventually.
She shook herself a little and looked at him. "We'll remedy the coffee thing immediately if you want - if you're up to a little tour, I can take you to my office here. I'll be staying here for a bit - I've got a maker in there. Shocking, I know. But it's up to you. I don't know if you've seen much of the place yet, but if you know where you can get me if you need me or just surroundings that feel a bit familiarish for a bit."
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Owen
Rogue Werewolf
Advertising Executive
All my talk of starting over, these words were never true.
Posts: 44
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Post by Owen on Nov 26, 2010 23:03:09 GMT
Owen saw the words Marion wrote on the pad of paper and couldn't help but smile. It was nice to have those simple, normal moments, the ones that made him feel like nothing had gone wrong and more importantly, the moments that reminded him his life was not over. If anything, really, it had only just begun. He had decades, centuries ahead of him now and he had to think of the positives instead of the negatives. That was the key, and it sounded so simple that it shouldn't be at all easy to grasp as a concept. So many things in the world were much easier said than done though and Owen was smart enough to know not to get his hopes up when it came to just how quickly he would be able to wrap his mind around something so straightforward and truly embrace it.
"That sounds great, actually." Down at his side, Zodiac made a quiet wuff of a sound and nudged him as if to tell him she was going along too; honestly Owen wouldn't have dreamed of leaving her behind, but he still scratched behind her ears to placate her and tell her she wasn't going to be left out. "I've been down to the kitchen a couple of times and I went up to the roof yesterday for a little while but that's it." They were two of the easiest places to find but also ones that Owen had felt comfortable using; he had only remained in the kitchen for a matter of minutes at a time at most, just long enough to grab himself something to eat or drink before heading out, wanting to stay out of the way and keep from getting under anyone's feet. "I should probably start figuring out where I can find other stuff, though." Like the library. He had been told they had a sizeable library in The Hyperion and he was curious to see just how well-stocked it was, though he already had a fair idea how substantial it would be.
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Marion
Human
Departed
Posts: 119
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Post by Marion on Nov 27, 2010 0:04:47 GMT
Marion watched Zodiac and made a mental note to ask Cole who would be able to look after her during the full moon. It was safe to assume that Zo wouldn't be allowed down in the basement area ..which Marion was deeply curious about herself... but the pup would need someone to feed her and keep her company while Owen dealt with his time in the night, and more than likely slept through the day during the moon. His first one would be the worst - Marion knew enough to know that for certain, and she banished the thought from her head, wondering if Hallmark knew they truly did not have cards for every occasion.
Sorry about the full moon, see you next week!
Her mouth quirked and she closed the list, dropping the pen in her bag. "Well. I've got a perfect idea then. Let's go to my office, I'll show you around, you can have a cup of coffee, and then.. " she paused and smiled at him - "We can get to the room I think you'll haunt most."
The library would be the next stop. Owen's library at home would probably be transferred partly into his room and partly into the pack's main area, but the room would appeal to her friend. This Marion knew for a fact, and it had nothing to do with her smarts.
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