[ oh, is she gonna have to reassure him? julie kind of stalls for a second — being nice isn't exactly natural for her, and right now it takes some active mental processing to remember how to do it. ]

I don't know if that's true. [ she leans her head against the back of her chair, frown back on her face as she thinks about her words. ] I wasn't joking when I said she'd skin me if I hurt you.

[ back to picking at her jeans, there's a lot of thoughts that won't fully form. won't connect. little fragments based on things she knows or believes, but they don't mean anything on their own. ]

[ julie sighs. ] Anyway. Not like any of us even know where to start with that kind of thing.