Weak. Finished

Selfless? Eris was't selfless. She was the most selfish person in the world. She had paid for her selfishness in lost friendships. The absurdity of the girl's comment almost made Eris start giggling. She didn't laugh of course, just because that would be rude. Almost as rude as rushing the pair of children to the hospital wing for cooties vaccines. Both were things Eris would really like to do, but she had the sense not to say or do. She had to act like a prefect after all. Not that she was good at being a prefect. She had punched someone in the face just two days ago, and had been busted by a seemingly sweet professor. Eris was now convinced said professor was a demon in disguise. Stupid Professor Barrows. At least she hadn't expelled Eris. That was a plus. Sort of.

Eris's almost permanent frown deepened at the girl's words. She wasn't ugly for crying. And even if she did look ugly, it wouldn't be polite to say anything that horrible to someone so sad. Why would someone tell a sad girl they looked ugly? That would make the situation so much worse. With superhuman will-power Eris smiled shyly at the other girl. "You aren't ugly. If anyone's ugly, it's me." There. That might get the other girl to laugh.

The boy looked back into her tear-filled eyes. He was sorry she had to endure this...whatever she was going through. It felt painful even from the outside.

Part of him wished to ask what this was all about, but she might not reply, or be too afraid to say it without stuttering or breaking down even more. Miserable, one word to describe it. What could have caused this?

Anatole tried to pleasantly smirk back, still massaging her head. When she touched his hand, he felt the gratitude. It was almost warm, being friendly almost like she should have been right then. He brushed his fingers through her curly hair, still curious if the touch would help her or not.

She tossed her head down to her knees, commenting to the other girl Anatole still didn’t know. Maybe the brushing wasn’t working. Huh.

Rosie flashed a fractured smile to the other girl once she had the bold courage to show her face again. Anatole thought it was sweet, but once he observed the other girl, he stopped showing his affection. Maybe these cooties were something related to that.

”No, no, you’re not ugly, not at all. In fact, you’re just as beautiful when you cry?” Anatole had no idea what he was saying, but hopefully it made him sound sweet and caring. That’s what he was going for.

At the other girl’s comment on how she was ugly, Anatole tried to swallow his laugh, but he couldn’t help it. It was pretty funny, even though he looked utterly stupid laughing in this terribly sad time.

Rosie wrinkled her nose at the girl's reply. She wasn't ugly, far from it. The girl was pretty. Rosie started crying again, since she lowkey made the girl downgrade herself. "I-I'm sorry-" She sputtered, holding her legs to her chest tighter. "D-Don't downgrade yourself, please." She muttered. Rosie didn't think it was funny at all.

Rosie put Anatole's hand back on her head. "Keep it there." She muttered. He comforted her. The feeling of someone there was nice. It reminded her of home when her mom would hold her and run her hand through her hair when she was just a small baby. But Anatole was different. Rosie's cheeks went a little red from the comfort that she so appreciated. She wiped her eyes but she ended up letting out another little sob, burying her face into her knees again.

Rosie felt so ugly when she cried. She didn't have a negative look on herself, no. But when she cried, or even felt sad. She felt hopeless. Lost. Like everything had crashed down onto her and kinda just sat there for a bit. It wasn't that bad, it's just Rosie didn't usually feel sad.

But when she did, it was a mess.

Eris rubbed at her neck awkwardly, not sure what to say to the other girl. She clearly hadn't thought Eris's joke was funny and now she was sad again! How could she cheer the hufflepuff girl up? She instead focused on the way the boy and girl were so close together. They looked like they knew each other already, and were extremely close. Not wanting to intrude any more on what seemed to be an important moment, since she clearly wasn't able to help the girl, Eris looked around the hallway. Maybe there was some person she could chase after, as a viable excuse to leave the conversation. The girl seemed nice enough. Even more than just 'nice enough' if she was kind enough to say something sweet while still sad. The boy seemed kind too. At least, he seemed to be really attached to the girl.

Running a hand through messy red-hair, Eris continued searching the hallway for a face. When she realized nobody was coming near their little corridor, Eris turned back to the two of them. Seating herself into a more comfortable spot by the wall, Eris studied the girl again. She seemed less sad. "I'm sorry you feel sad." She said quietly, hoping she wouldn't panic the girl.

"Shh... shh... it's all okay..." He kept nuzzling her hair, his tiny fingers weaving down, stroking her back now. Hopefully it made her smile. That's all he needed: Rosie to be back to normal. Once again, it was what he really needed.

On her command, Anatole kept his hand on her soft, warm head. She touched it. She touched his wrist to move it back. How sweet...

Eris's appearance frightened him a little, so he flashed a nervous look back to her, hoping she would maybe stop judging him. What was wrong with touching his friend a lot? After all, she was sad.

He didn't understand either of them yet, in fact, Anatole never understood girls in general. Well, Patricia was different. She was disciplined, hard to please on occasion, and just the perfect amount of particularity, if that was a word, anyways. Anatole didn't know that either.

It was like girls were a whole new species to him. They were confusing, they had whole new varieties of emotions Anatole couldn't even name with his extensive vocabulary he hadn't used in ages. Maybe it was something about their hair? Did that give them more sensitivity? What if girls cut their har? Emotionless?

No, he didn't want to do that to Rosie. She was perfect as she was.

That is, when she was happy.

Anatole's words comforted Rosie, again, he reminded her of her mom, who would rock and whisper to her until she was no longer scared of nightmares that used to plague her mind as a child. She leaned onto Anatole and looked towards Eris, managing a soft smile through her tears, which continued to fall down her face. "It's okay, I guess we can't be happy all the time, right?" She shrugged, wiping her eyes. "People are ju-just... Meanies." Rosie sniffled, resting her head against Anatole. Rosie took in another shaky breath and stared at the ground, trying to calm down. "I'm sorry." She said, for probably the millionth time.

Rosie felt bad. She was sitting helpless in the middle of the corridors crying like a little baby, like a little princess waiting for help. Rosie wasn't one of those people. She never was. So why now? It seemed as if Rosie didn't understand the fact nobody could be perfectly fine all the time, even if she was saying it out loud to herself. She couldn't believe it. Thoughts swarmed her mind and she shut her eyes, covering her face. "No no no.." Rosie mumbled, shaking. She was no longer crying, and merely in disbelief.

He kept his hand firmly on her head, hoping she would smile. If he kept it here long enough, maybe he could read her thoughts. That's what could have happened in his stories, so why couldn't it happen here? After all, this was a school of Wizardry.

Now that he thought about it, maybe it was slightly far fetched.

He laughed through his teeth, his eyes squinted at her. Anatole was smiling so wide it made his eyes curl up. "I understand. Not everyone may be perfect or ideal all the time, yes, yes..." The smile appeared back on her face. Good. It was working. Mind control? "As I said, people are jerks..." He grew tired of saying the same thing over, so he looked at her, whispering, "Mind telling me what happened sometime?"

Gah, that was stupid. He knew she would say no. Girls were sensitive and, ugh, what was the word...

Weak. Yes, they were weak.

Occasionally.

Thankfully, she stopped crying. The girl across, who he had still never been introduced to, stopped with the weird looks. Now, she was just emotionless. It was as if she had never been fragile, never been weak like Rosie had just revealed to them. She was complete, controlled. Fascinating.

Rosie muttered denial under her breath, almost like it was laced into her. Denial, regret, emotion. Anatole's eyes were forced to drift back to her, comforting once more. It was growing tiring. "Please, no, it's fine." Please, no, it's fine.

You're fine.

Rosie gripped her head, taking a few deep breaths. In, out. In, out. She squeezed her eyes shut. Dissapeardisappeardisappeardisappear-. Her head was pounding, the amount of crying she had let out had strained her mind. This is why her mom always told her to cry when she needed to. Anatole's words seemed to be muffled until Rosie snapped back to reality and opened her eyes, looking up at Anatole with big wide eyes. She took a few more breaths and relaxed, laying against him, "I'm sorry, Anatole. I don't know what's happening to me." She mumbled, staring at the wall across from the trio. "I just... I used to believe, if I closed my eyes, I would just disappear from what was happening." Rosie lowered her hands and rested them in her lap.

Finally, Rosie was silent and blank, like the crying had drained her. And it did. Her facial expression was relaxed and unreadable, and Rosie felt like she was going to pass out. Luckily, Anatole was there to hold her. She turned to the girl and made a mental note to thank her for sitting with her, offering her a tired, and grateful smile. Rosie took Anatole's hand from off her hand and held it between her own small hands. Cold. She observed that his hand was a bit chilly, but no matter.

It still comforted her to know that they were there with her, so Rosie kept holding Anatole's hand.

She was adorable, and she couldn’t change that. Just the way her hair hung made Anatole smile, and the way she clutched his hand, nervous and shaky, all delicate like girls are. All fragile, all broken. All weak.


She was tense when she was like this, and she couldn’t change that. Her head was red and throbbing, her tears almost disappeared by now. The deep breaths stabilized her, but not enough to prevent her from breaking. All weak.

She lied against him, her body warm against his. "I'm sorry, Anatole. I don't know what's happening to me.” Her words were breathless, and Anatole held her close.

”No, no, hush...it’s normal, trust me.” He clutched her hand back, his limb surrounded by her radiating heat. All he could hope is that it was normal for girls, even though none of this ever came to Anatole. He hadn’t cried since he was three.

"I just... I used to believe, if I closed my eyes, I would just disappear from what was happening."

That was it, she did seem to disappear. Well, the sadness at least. Her face grew blank and bland, silent with an unreadable expression. Anatole couldn’t bring himself to comment upon her musing.

Instead, he slipped his hand out of her grasp, hugging her, tight. Both arms around, hoping for her recovery. He pretended Eris wasn’t there, that it was just the two of them in their embrace. Of course it wasn’t love. It was just Anatole doing what the prince in him would do. He would care, he would help.

He would make sure she was no longer weak.

Rosie felt so comforted, she no longer felt alone in her own thoughts. She took a breath and slapped her own cheeks lightly, trying to snap out of her dazed expression. It wasn't often she got like that, completely spaced out like she had been for just a minute. She had snapped out of it when Anatole decided to hold her closer. Huh. He smelled like vanilla, that was nice. Instead of hugging all of him, Rosie wrapped her arms around his arm that was closest and buried her face into his robe. It was reassuring to have him there.

Rosie felt a little bad, though. The girl was still there, she was offering little comfort however she was still THERE, and she was barely acknowledging her. So Rosie poked her with her foot to remind her that she hadn't forgotten about her. Rosie still found it so heroic that she sat down with a random weeping child, Rosie expected to be alone, to be honest. But she was happy she didn't end up doing that. Rosie just wanted to get out of her funk so she didn't have to bother them anymore, mostly Anatole since he was doing the most work.