[Ania] Carried in his Arms

Ania grunted when he shot her suggestion down. So, he probably wasn't into his elders. Elders weren't bad, though. If he found a nice cougar she might even offer to bake him cookies. Leave him her estate and all that came with it. Sounded perfectly fine to her. Well, that old teacher was probably dead by now anyway. Shrugging, she figured that if he was lonely enough, he could go out and find someone himself. She couldn't think of anyone else, anyway.

Settling back to hear his story, Ania twirled a piece of her hair studiously. It was a sequel, good. Her face took on a smug expression when the other fishes were jealous. Yes, she bet they were sorry for teasing the dragon, now. They didn't deserve the dragons help, they deserved to be eaten. Slowly, her eyes began to narrow as the story changed. Why was the dragon helping them? She was mildly pleased when they didn't get to be as pretty, but she still didn't like that they got to be dragons, too.

The story ended, and she was silent for a while. "Why didn't the dragon eat the fish, instead?" If she were in charge, those fish would have been cooked as soon as the dragon earned her wings. That would make the dragon a murderer, right? Cannibal maybe, too. Sitting up real straight, Ania's expression went from disgruntled to serious. In a low, dramatic whisper, she asked, "Have you ever killed a man?"

Flopping, she hadn't thought that would make the dragon a bully too. Her brow furrowed in thought. Well, those fishes would deserve to get burned up anyway. Their fault for teasing the wrong fish. She would have to think about this further. She still preferred to think of her dragon as a cannibal. Bringer of justice. Bringer of fire ... and justice. Fire, justice, and crispy fish rolls.

"Oh, just wondering. Innocent question, you know." She had never killed a man either, but it never hurt to ask anyone, did it? Ever since her vacation to Ancient Rome, the sight of a guy being impaled on a sword had stuck with her. Sitting quietly on her bed was starting to get boring. Overcome with a case of the fidgets, Ania pursed her lips. She still felt tired, of course, but she wanted to do something. "Hey. Lets play a game. I'm bored."

Patting the bed beside her, Ania invited Jacob to come sit with her again. Ever since he got up, he took his warmth with him. She had lost her heated blanket ages ago, and now had to rely on trapping people into sitting with her long enough. She'd been wanting to look into getting a warm fuzzy pet for a while, but had never gotten to it. Maybe this year for her birthday she could beg for a kitten or something. She hadn't played any type of sleepover games since she was in middle school, and had to think for a moment about what they could play. She did suggest it, after all. "All I can think of is truth or dare, though. Unless you got anything better?"

A funny little smile appeared when Ania noticed that Jacob had spooked at her question. Was it really that strange of a question to ask? Then again, most people didn't pop such a question as 'did you ever kill someone.' She should work on her social skills. Of course, now that the opportunity had presented itself, how could she possibly let such a thing go? Mischeif was her best talent, after all. Truth or dare, truth or dare. She could always dare him to do something wild. That's it, something that he would balk at.

Feeling much like a cat with a new toy, Ania tucked her chin as he sat next to her. She didn't want him to see any mirth in her expression. He almost looked like he was going to take off for the hills, poor fellow. Making her eyes go wider, Ania stared with an intense expression. Her red eyes gave it the effect she desired, two deep pools the colour of blood. It really was too bad her disposition was too sunny to be a murderer. "Okay. I dare you to kill a dude."

Expectantly, her head raised and she watched him with a false casualty. She wondered if he would take the dare. Take the dare or give her a nervous lecture on ethics? Either one, it should be interesting.

<div align=center>Boredom had overcome Hadrian and an overwhelming sense of affection that could probably only be expended on one person. He thought he'd ended up leaving things in Ania's dorm anyway, that happened more often than not and he tended to find things of hers scattered in his house from time to time. They were both as forgetful as each other, and besides, it didn't really matter, since he'd always get those things back at some point or another. Altair padded idly along behind him, head low, tail flicking now and again. The animal wasn't strictly allowed on campus, despite the fact he wasn't really all that dangerous. Hadrian brought him on campus regardless of that, though the animal tended to leave whenever he felt like it, he always found his way home again.

The creature leveled with Hadrian and pushed his head against his hand, receiving an affectionate scratch behind the ear, which satisfied him for a short while. The boy turned a corner, he'd memorized Ania's dorm number by now, she didn't have a room mate, which he supposed was lucky enough for her. Hadrian didn't live on campus, his parents had bought him a fancy house in the city that was large enough for him to keep his unusual pet in. Altair took up an awful lot of space, he was a lazy animal and could be found sleeping more often than not.

He paused outside Ania's dorm room, Altair looked up at him for a moment, before slowly lowering his hindquarters, and seating himself on the carpet next to his master. Hadrian knocked on the door lightly, before glancing down to the animal and frowning. Altair reached his middle when he was sitting, he was a large, heavy animal, though probably no more dangerous than a large, overly friendly dog. He blinked slowly, large, amber eyes studying Hadrian's carefully, before the boy looked away, and back to the door again.</div>

A little put off by his reaction, she thought she was doing pretty good before he laughed. Well, it was fun while it lasted. She couldn't think of anything good, though. Why did she have to pick this game of all things? When you were 13 years old, truth or dare was much simpler. Truth, have you ever been kissed, and dare, I dare you to kiss. The standard protocol for each game revolved around the dirtiest thing they could think of: kissing. However, once you grew older, it was definitely more of a challenge to think of something.

His own stare threw her off even more, and her eyes slid down and to the left to avoid his eyes. As colour steadily rose into her face, she squirmed, feeling the pressure to think of something for real. "Um. Did she want any information from him? She didn't think so. Truths were somewhat useless in this case, unless she asked about his daughter or other family members. "Oh! I —" She paused, hearing a small familiar knock at her door. "Someone's here!"

Flinging herself out of bed, she found her way to the door, tugging it open to reveal Hadrian, and at a second glance, Hadrian and Altair. He was awful big in the dorm corridor, he never looked this big before. Pouncing Hadrian, Ania hugged him hard, not realising how happy she would be to see him again. "Oh! Do you want to play a game with us? It's truth or dare!" Popping back over to her bed, she bounced in place for a minute before settling. "Hadrian came!"