I should be in Bed

Ninette Fontaine prided herself on one thing, and one thing only.

She could behave as if she owned any space, was Queen of the world, even when it was entirely false, and she coudln't be any closer to the bottom of the totem pole if she tried.

However, at the school at the very least, she had a reputation that preceded her just a little.

It in fact worked so well that she terrifed the poor second year who had been camping out in the kitchen before her just by stepping in.

Usually these things amused her but today, she was merely... tired.

She was tired of a lot of things, though she did not wish to admit so.

Sagging against a counter, not even bothering to tell the houseelves what she wanted, they already knew, she didn't look up when the door opened mere seconds after the small girl had left.

"I didn't even do anything to her," she huffed, slightly disgruntled, "She just took one look at me, freaked and left."

Sighing, Julian allowed the panther to drag him through the hallways of Beauxbatons. He wasn't sure where Nightmare was taking him, but really, wherever she was taking him, he didn't have much of a choice but to go.

She could probably squish him if so desired.

Using the arm that didn't have a panther's mouth tugging on his sleeve to rub at his shoulder blades, he frowned. Ondrea really was right. He was getting slowly but steadily thinner. Pushing that thought from his mind, he blinked up at the younger student who'd burst out of the kitchens.

As she met his gaze, her terror only increased and she shrieked, taking off down the hall. Opening his mouth, he stared at her blankly. What was that about? Shaking his head, he barely had a chance to think it over before he was jerked forward and towards the kitchens door.

Finally let go of, he pulled the door open, shaking his head at Nightmare as she entered. "Crazy cat," he muttered under his breath, unable to hide the affection in his tone.

Flicking her tail at him, she jumped up onto a table, amber eyes staring at the blue eyed blond. But his eyes were turned toward the pink haired occupant. Pulling himself onto a stool beside her, he let out a little sigh. "If it makes you feel better, she screamed at me and ran away. Children seem so scared of me these days."

Frowning, he set his head down on the counter, raising an eyebrow as he found Nightmare in front of him, amber eyes glaring. "What do you want?" He muttered wearily, his frown deepening.

She just continued to stare. Groaning, Julian's head hit the counter, scowling slightly.

Her gaze trailed to Julian and snorted, "Don't worry Rousseau, you always managed to terrify me."

Ninette rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She could understand a slight fear of her - after all she had set up herself for such reactions. But Rousseau? Now - he looked like he was going to fall over without the cat - definitly not going to hurt anyone.

"Honestly, I swear these children get whimpier every years."

Leaning back slightly she looked from Julian to the cat, and then back again.

"She wants you to eat. Just like everyone else - skinny, ain't your look buddy."

Working up a little smile, he clapped a hand over his heart, flinching back at his own touch. With his weakening immune system and the lack of nutrients in his body, he was finding it easier and easier to injure himself. Had he taken the time to glance at his bare chest, Julian would have an already forming bruise.

But instead, he just plastered a smile on his face and pretended like he was fine, "The feeling's mutual, Nine."

Glancing around at the house elves, who all seemed to be watching Nightmare warily, his eyes turned back to the Angelique. "Terrible really. I was a hell of a lot tougher when I was their age." Mostly because I've been getting beat up since before I could remember, but still.

"Is that a caring Ninette Fontaine I here?" Sulking, he turned his head, now his cheek lying on the cool counter surface. "But really, it's nothing. I'm just not hungry."

Ninette snorted, looking down at the growling cat on the counter.

"You see, I agree with the Nightmare over here," she snorted and rolled her eyes, "Eat. What else are you supposed to do in the Kitchen anyways."

Leaning back in her chair she snapped at a house elf, order him to get her any food, it felt like.

"And don't get too excited Rousseau. You go back to eating something, and I'll go back to being my charming Bitchy self."

Shrugging, he glared back at the panther before pushing himself back up, drumming his fingers against the counter. "Why don't you ask her?" He was trying to sound snarky, but all he ended up sounding like was miserable. "She's the one who dragged me down here to glare at me."

Watching the house elves around him cook, Julian ignored the queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. What was with everyone trying to get him to eat? He knew what he was doing. His schedule was actually working, but only seemed to when he stayed away from people.

Frowning slightly at the thought, he shook it away. "I plan on it." But tackling an entire plate of food, that'd be months from now.

Ninette clicked her shoe against her heal, as she listened to the sound of cooking around her. Her eyes trailed over the boy across from her.

"And what exactly," she drawled slowly, her own stomach rumbling at the smell of food, "Is your plan. Out of curiousity and all. Not like I care. You've heard the rumors - Ninette Fontaine does not have a heart... in fact... I might have been acused of eating other's hearts."

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"You wouldn't be asking if you didn't care," he muttered, fiddling with the chain around his neck. She could deny it all she wanted, but it wasn't like she didn't have feelings. "Curiosity or not."

And like it or not, caring had been included in the package.

"And I really should honour your caring with the truth," he raised his gaze to meet hers, locking onto her green eyes. Those had always been the one thing that had never changed. Even as she'd grown up, gotten taller, dyed her hair and gotten piercings, her eyes had always been the same. And they'd always been one of his favourite things about her.

"But.." he glanced over at Nightmare, who's eyes were flicking between the two of them. He sort of had to tell her the truth. If he didn't, he'd have an angry panther on his hands.

And wouldn't that be fun?

Dropping his gaze to his lap, his mouth suddenly dry, he rubbed his hands together. "You really want to know?" He asked, looking back up at her and her green eyes.

She looked back into his gaze with a solemn one of her own. Her attitude slipping away as she spoke the honest truth, "You know me Rousseau. I don't waste my time with small talk. I don't ask for things I don't want to know."

Ninette paused a moment, tapping her finger against the counter, still watching him closely.

"So spill."

Squirming at her question, he ducked his head, not wanting to look at her. "Just - don't freak out. But then, you never freak out, so - so really - I'm just gonna shut up now." he mumbled his last few words, hands clasping together.

He didn't want to tell her. Not in the slightest. But it didn't really look like he had much of a choice. But a half truth? Or at least, spinning it to be the truth but not really being informative? That'd work. "I guess," he said slowly, "my ingenious plan is to get me back to normal. Because really, being like this," he gestured vaguely at himself, "is more trouble than its worth."

Ninette tilted her head, pursing her lips slightly as he spoke. Avoiding her question was obviously a fun game for him - at least he was doing a pretty good job of it.

At least he was talking though.

If it had been the other way around he'd have been hard presssed to get anything out of her.

"Well, thank you for that vague indication of the outcome of the plan," she said smirking ever so slightly, "Now how were you planning on getting there?"

Rubbing his hands together, he let out a tiny little snort of laughter. At least in her own little way, she was keeping him from crying his eyes out.

His gaze moving towards the house elves and food, Julian bit his bottom lip. "Well, the part I'm working on now is the whole food part. To keep myself from starving to death."

Really, he'd never thought of it as 'he'd die if he kept doing this.' It was more, he did it because, as he'd told Lisette, it made dealing with everything easier.

Funny how the one thing that did was going to lead him to his grave.

"I've always imagined that people like me better alive," he murmured, suddenly thinking about the dear family. "If only it was true."

"Not starving to death is good," she stated simply as a steaming plate of food was set between them. She didn't look down at it, though it was suddenly making her stomach roll with hunger.

"You know I'd prefer you alive," she stated simply. "I think we had this conversation before. I'm not okay with more people dying on me."

She tilted her head, "though here's the question. How do you plan on working on the not starving to death... if you're not going to eat?"

"Yeah," he nodded. After all, he didn't want to die. At least, not at this very moment. Not when he knew Dilly was alright. Because if she came back to find him dead ... he ignored those thoughts, just like he did with so many others.

Glancing down at the food in front of him for a moment, he gave the house elves a week little smile before staring down into his lap. "Corin wants me dead. I have the world's best brother, don't I?"

Gulping, he squirmed. "Um, I was - it - it'll work, it just -" Cutting himself off to compose himself a moment, Julian sighed. "I sort of - but it's not a problem, I swear, it's just sort of - a thing. I don't know - but -"

Shaking his head, he raised his fingers up to his mouth absentmindedly, mumbling through them as he spoke very quickly, the words all blurring together, his voice hardly a whisper. "Ithrowupfood."

"You're brother," Ninette said with a snort, "is an posh imbicile, who is too narrow minded to accept what he doesn't understand, and has some how convinced himself that we are on 'courting terms'."

She rolled her eyes, "I understand he's family and all, but unless the posh bastard learns to be more accepting, I'd say you're better off without him."

Nine tilted her head, listening to the boy stutter out his response. Or more aquiratly rapid fire his response.

"Right, so... we eat, we just think we're too cool to keep it down," she nodded her head slowly. Her tone matter of fact. Not judging or angry, or anything else. "And we are fixing this by... not eating?"

She raies her eyebrow pointedly. Waiting to hear the rest of his logic.

"Us." Julian raised an eyebrow, letting out a little snort of laughter. "He thinks we're on courting terms? Has he ever seen us in the same room?" Shaking his head, he added, "We'd kill each other. Though," he added thoughtfully, "we'd probably kill each other even if we weren't together."

Nodding, he swung his feet, "I've been told. I'm better off without my family, that they underestimate me..." Julian shrugged, trailing off. They were all nice, comforting words, but he wasn't sure if he believed them.

Letting out a tiny little sigh of relief as she didn't yell at him (or worse, tear up), he shrugged, "I do plan on eating, I was just going to completely stop for a bit and then slowly start again so I don't throw it all up." Shrugging again, he glanced at her before waving a hand at the plate of food, "And eventually, I'd be able to eat all that and not make myself sick to my stomach."

Letting out a little snort of laughter at his joke, he glanced over at Nightmare, who was still glaring. "It'll work though, I'm sure of it."

"I imagine he must have, once or twice," she shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, I did spend some amount of time at that house of yours. I guess we were just being on our best behaviour."

She smirked and shook her head.

"Hey, I'm just giving you my oppinion, but then again, I'm the girl who thinks I'm better off without everyone, so feel free to ignore my words."

Again she listened slowly, nodding her head along with each word, not meaning it as a sign of agreement, merely awknowledging that she was hearing them.

"Well... I suppose I can concede to some wisdom in not immediately stuffing your face. So you aren't getting a complete badge of idiocy here... but, I can't help but want to point out... how are you going to get the nutrients? And such. You'll need that stuff, you know. Most body's do."

"Being on best behaviours around guests is what the Rousseaus are all about." Julian shrugged, unable to keep the almost deadly tone out of his voice, his eyes darkening.

Raising an eyebrow, he inclined his head at her, smirking. "I can leave if you want. If you think you're better off without everyone, I can make that come true."

Fiddling with his necklace, Julian frowned. That had never really occurred to him. Because eating next to nothing was probably just as helpful as throwing it all up again. "I - I don't know. Potions maybe? Nutrition potions, those probably exist, right?"

"Not going to stop you if you do," Ninette returned her smirk with one of her own, gazing back at him with amused eyes. "You know that, I'm sure."

"I suppose so," Ninette inclinde her head, "Then again, you'd actually have to go get those... and better plan on eating at some point. I doubt that potions and such work as well as.. you know food. You get other crap from food too. Not htat I know what it is but... still stuff."

"I would leave, you know I would," His smirk grew here, "But I'd have a very angry panther on my hands if I did, so I'll guess you'll have to see my face for just a bit longer."

Wrinkling his nose at the idea of spending his whole life living off of potions, he shuddered. "I will." It was a simple two words, but Julian kept his promises to his friends.

Especially one like this. Because it was simple really, what would happen if he didn't eat.

He'd be dead.

"Well then, aren't we glad the panther actually seems to care about something - whether it be us or not," she smirked and gave a quick short laugh.

Ninette nodded her head, "Good."

Seemingly there was nothing else to say, Ninette began to pick at the food that was placed between them.

"So... you've seemed... chummy with Montgomery of late," she commented causually before waving the food at him, "You sure you don't want any?"

Smirking back, he laughed along with her, glancing over at Nightmare as he did. Though it was true that the only reason she was here was because of Karma, he couldn't help but feel grateful towards for everything she'd done.

Giving her a little smile back, he glanced around the kitchens for a moment, sighing softly.

"Drea?" His brow furrowed for a moment and he shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. We're friends." Pausing for a moment, he snuck her a few glances, shifting nervously in his seat as he watched her eat. "She knows," he muttered softly, eyes boring down at the table, "About this. And - and so does Lissy." Looking up, he gave her a weak smile, "So I guess if you guys want to have chats about me in your dorm, you have my blessing."

Glancing down at her food, he shook his head, "Nah, eat it. You'll actually digest it." Catching Nightmare's eye, Julian shrugged, "Well it's true, isn't it?"

A little rumble beginning in the back of her throat, she glanced around her, turning pointedly towards the house elves around them. His eyes clouding over in confusion, Julian looked from the panther to the elves and back again before the connection was finally made. "You're hungry...." he muttered.

"What do panthers eat?" He spoke aloud, frowning.

"Hmm, friends," Ninette nodded her head and gave no further comment, and instead snorted at the boy, "Well I'm so glad we have your permission to talk about your charming self, because you know Rousseau, we were all just dying in there going, darn we really want to talk about Julian, but you know, he didn't say we can, so we better not. Our hearts are finally freed. How can we ever thank you?"

She frowned and shrugged, continuing to eat and not saying another word. She'd try again another day. No point in pushing right now. She could feasibly shove food down his throat, but the boy probably would just throw it up again.

"I'd try meat," she said her voice caring a heavy tone of "duh" in it, "preferably the near to raw kind."

Raising an eyebrow, Julian tilted his head, a smirk growing across his face, "What? You think we're more than friends?"

Letting out a little snort of laughter, he shook his head for a moment before bursting out laughing, the idea of them all just sitting there doing that too amusing for words.

Rolling his eyes, he leaned back, "Yeah, I got that. I was wondering along the line of what kind."

"Quite frankly Rousseau, I don't think anything about you and your relationships," she stated blithly. "I'm merely commenting on what I see."

She raised one pointed eyebrow at the boy, his laughter, almost catching on, before she rolled her eyes and merely gave him a smirk.

"How should I know? Didn't Black give you the thing with instructions? Oh wait scratch that, of course she didn't its Black - impulsive much? Try... beef or something?"

She shrugged and continued to eat her own fully cooked food.