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1. Strays' curse
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If there was a way to describe Julia Pritchard's life most effectively, she thinks she'd settle on this; sometimes being lost doesn't mean you'll find your way back.
Sometimes, a stray is all you'll ever be.
As sound as her reasoning is, she is aware that it doesn't make it very... healthy. You can put as much logic as you want into something, it rarely ever softens the blow. She's put herself in that category all on her own — it was the only thing that made sense to her.
But the door is not locked. Still, she won't walk out. There is nothing worse than a prison of your own making.
Because there are times Julia truly wishes she wasn't a stray. Despite being the very definition of it; rescued by the Gotham Orphanage – and the Waynes, by association – and then years later again, by Alfred Pennyworth – ...and Bruce Wayne, by association.
She understands she has little room to talk. Not everyone breaks up with their boyfriend of two years and gets a whole floor in the Wayne Tower to fall back on her feet. She hadn't even really known Alfred – who came forward when he heard what happened to her.
He was the kind of uncle you see at family gatherings; you can't quite place his face, but you know you loved him as a kid. At least, they were her memories of him. He went to war with her adoptive father. Alfred made it back – her dad didn't. She thinks he feels indebted to the Pritchards, now. Or, well, with Julia's mom following her husband a few years later, there was just her to take care of.
She is grateful for his kindness, really, she is. Simply, she knew Wayne Tower would never be her home. Nowhere would. Because this was it; a stray's curse.
And Julia soon found out that she wasn't the first one Alfred took care of.
She meets Bruce Wayne every other day, fleeting in and out of her apartment, solely because she shares the kitchen and living room with Alfred, who lives a floor above her. When he strolls in, it's always well into the afternoon, sunglasses on – inside? She won't make any comments on that – and a slight disdain that she thinks comes with the terminal condition of being rich.