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___The Living Room

Humming lightly to himself and flipping through a rather aged copy of TV Guide, Julian lounged on the couch in contentment. Brushing the long hair out of his eyes, he read the outdated articles and glanced around for company, seeing as Crow and Lenore had disappeared for the day.

Julian jumped as he heard the creak, turning to see who was sneaking around in the back.

"Hello?"

Julian waved politely and struggled to get out of the overstuffed couch. The struggle was epic, and it took him a few minutes to loose himself from his nest of blankets. Adjusting his twisted clothing sheepishly, he smiled at Rabid and leaned on the back of the couch, sticking a hand out genially.

"Um, how do you do? I'm Julian," he said, adding as a bit of an afterthought, "I'm Crow's brother."

Julian smiled again pleasantly, giving Rabid's hand a firm shake before settling with his elbows propped against the back of the couch, checking her out as subtly as possible. Feeling himself blush as he did so, he looked directly at her forehead and started rambling.

"Um...Yeah, Crow mentioned you a couple times. She said your Mistake- er, no, Mishap, was some kind of squirrel kid of doom." He looked at the adorable bundle of white fluff in Rabid's arms and had to fight back a gushy coo of cuteness-appreciation.

"I dunno, not really a squirrel child of doom, maybe mass destruction, but not doom."

Julian cleared his throat awkwardly and felt the heat in his face intensify as Rabid sat next to him. Drat this lack of poise around girls!

"She mentioned you and her have been friends for awhile, and the whole vampire thing. Other than that, not a whole lot."

He trailed off into awkward silence. Struggling to quickly think of something Rabid would be impressed by, he sat up a little straighter and smiled charmingly at her.

"I'm a surgeon, you know," he said eagerly, hoping he didn't sound pretentious.

Julian settled back into his nest of blankets, sincerely hoping Rabid hadn't noticed his blushing. Chewing at a fingernail in as savage a fashion as his sister, he tugged a blanket over his shoulders and snuffled back a sneeze. Catching a glance at his reflection on the television screen, he suddenly wished he was wearing something a bit more flattering than a t-shirt and a pair of aged cargo shorts.

His features were a bit sharper than usual, but that was only because of the cold he had been fighting off for a few days. Being sick always made him look a bit peaky. His skin was dusky, complimenting his deep blue eyes and dark brown hair. Twirling a lock of it between his slim fingers, he felt suddenly and irrefutably dowdy and unattractive when he looked at Rabid. Clearing his throat to interuppt the growing silence he'd let spawn, he continued to twirl the bit of hair nervously.

"Well, we both come from a country called Rijan - its a long ways from here, and not a lot of people have heard if it. Its sort of like Vatican City in Rome, except not really holy n' stuff. It's sort of sectioned off inside this other country called Fisk; I went to medical school there, and I'm setting up a practice and everything in the Fiskan capital," he rambled eagerly, quite forgetting Rabid had wanted to know about Crow.

Julian gave a delicate cough, snuffling again to stave off a vicious sneeze a little longer.

"Yeah, just a bit of a cold, I suppose. I always get sick when I travel."

Blowing his nose a bit louder than necessary (as though he was subconciously egging Rabid on for a bit more sympathy), he cleared his throat again and tried to stay on topic.

"Oh, well...Rijan's really beautiful, you'd love it there. Mild winters and nice summers, carrot-trees always in bloom, the whole paradise-on-earth shtick. Maybe that's why I was so eager to get out after awhile," he said, laughing. "That much earthly perfection can get a bit boring after awhile."

Remembering at last that Rabid wanted to know about Crow, he gave in to the sneeze at last and blew his nose outrageously again before turning back to her.

"So, what d'you wanna know about Crow? She's sort of....hard to explain, really." He gave another laugh, and dug his wallet out of one his baggy pockets. Peeling it open and removing an aged photo from it carefully, he handed it to Rabid tenderly.

"That's her and me about seven years ago. Before....before the new look."

Julian reclaimed the photo quietly, his eyes lingering on the smiling faces for a minute before slipping it carefully back into his wallet. Glancing over at Malachi with interest, he couldn't help but smile in a gooey, almost-but-not-quite paternal fashion at the boy's cuteness.

"Maybe when me and Crow head back to Rijan, you could come visit for a bit," he said, toying with a fraying edge of his wallet. "I could show you all the sights, if you wanted."