baby steps

Fidget

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Ania had scrapped the last few pages of her schoolwork in frustration. She had decided to focus on bettering her grades before her social life, and the lack of the latter made her anxious and bored. She supposed that moderation was key in situations like these, but she had ignored rationality completely and tried to do as much as she could without breaking.
It was evening before she realised it, and her room had grown surprisingly cold and monochromatic. Everything seemed to be rather grey without another person, noise, or anything happening besides an endless flood of paperwork. Sitting back in her seat, she stood suddenly, feeling the yawning loneliness grasping at her. Grabbing only her keys, Ania scooted out the door, and was outside before she really thought about where she was going. Most of her friends were probably shut up in their dorms, not really interested in company. Standing outside for a while, she clutched her arms, not really wanting to go back inside.

Deciding that a walk could probably cure her irrational fear of returning, Ania picked a direction without thinking too hard about it. Her hands stuffed into their respective pockets, she walked quietly along the winding paths of the academy, her mind running mostly on autopilot. The drastic change of scenery drew her back, and she turned, realising that she had led herself in the direction of Hadrian's home. Biting her lip, she was a little uncertain of whether it was a good idea to come here. She knew he would probably not mind, but she didn't want to risk him already being busy.
Dragging her feet, she decided to think up an excuse as to why she came. The sun still hung in the sky — albeit barely, and she thought she could get away with a quick visit. Her worries scattered her thoughts, and she paused for a moment before knocking, telling herself that if he didn't answer within thirty seconds, he must be busy, and she would make a run for it.
 

Knox!

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<div align=center>The evening was warm and balmy, a lazy breeze rippled the water across the surface of the pool, the softly whirring filter the only noise Hadrian registered until Altair lifted his head and stared intently toward the double doors that lead into the garden. "What is it?" Hadrian asked lazily, eyes flickering to the tiger's ever-twitching tail. A low growl sounded from the back of the tiger's throat, and he gradually lifted himself to his great paws. Hadrian snapped the book he was reading shut and dropped it onto the patio next to him with a soft thud. It was too warm to be inside, Hadrian had gone outside with the intention of swimming, but that hadn't happened just yet.

The tiger padded lazily toward the house again, pausing for a moment and lifting his head, breaking into a brisk trot that turned into a run soon enough. Hadrian followed his pace, speeding up and making a desperate attempt to stop the great beast from destroying everything in his path. "God dammit Altair get back here." The tiger's paws collided with the door with an almighty crash, stretching himself up the length of it so his feet were just touching the bottom of the door frame. He was reminiscent of a very excited, very oversized dog. His nose went to the letterbox a moment later, sniffing intently at the familiar scent of the person outside.

"Get out the way you dumb cat." Hadrian shoved the creature aside with one of his legs, unbolting the door and swinging it open. Altair lurked behind him for a moment, dropping his head so he could stare at the girl from between his master's legs. "Good evening," he lifted an eyebrow. "Just as I thought I was gonna have to be alone all evening, this house is empty without you." He reached a hand out and placed it atop Ania's head, ruffling her hair softly and standing aside so that she could come in.</div>
 

Fidget

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Convinced that Hadrian was busy after all, Ania stepped back, jumping as something crashed against the door. Alright, he must be very busy, then. Rather alarmed now, the girl paused for a second, unsure of what step to take next. A massive inhale of breath came from the letterbox, and her hand came up to smother a giggle. She had almost forgotten how large a tiger was, and it all came back with the memory of the impressive crash. Despite his size, he wasn't much better than a puppy. Sometimes it almost seemed he identified closer to a dog than a tiger. At least he was friendly.

The door opened, and despite her worries, he didn't sound bothered by her unannounced arrival. "Good evening. I've missed you, it's boring spending time away." She raised her head a little, pushing herself into his touch for a moment. Slipping in as he stood back, she pounced, her arms wrapping around his torso as her face buried itself into his chest. Whatever melancholy she felt from being alone in her dorm was quickly dispelled. Pushing herself farther into the embrace for a moment, she dropped her arms to focus on the cat that had greeted her so loudly. Running her fingers over his head, her head tilted up and to the side. "I hope I'm not bothering you while you're busy. Nothing was happening in the dorms, it's no fun without you. "
 

Knox!

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<div align=center>Hadrian was pleased to see Ania, and apparently so was Altair. He bounded to the girl as she came through the door, headbutting her thighs and nuzzling her softly. "I'm not busy," Hadrian answered, shutting the door and sliding the locks across, "even if I was I'd rather be with you than do whatever I was doing." He wrapped both arms around the girl's waist and pulled her into a warm, affectionate hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. He would very much have liked Ania to be here all the time, but he wondered if asking her to move in was a move that was far too drastic for their relationship yet. I don't know.

"You look pretty today. Sorry about Altair, I guess he missed you too." Hadrian's eyes were a stormy grey sort of shade today, reminiscent of the sea after a heavy rainstorm. They flickered over to look down at the Bengal Tiger, who was perched patiently behind Ania, an expectant sort of look on his face. At least he was waiting for her to finish talking to Hadrian before shoving his head back into her lap again, cockblocked by a tiger, imagine that. "He heard you before I did, it's too hot to be inside."</div>
 

Fidget

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Flattered that Hadrian would prefer her company over whatever work he might have to do, a faint tinge of pink touched her cheeks. "You look nice, too. But then, you always look nice. It's not fair, really." In a way, she was quite jealous of her boyfriend. He probably just rolled out of bed looking perfect. In retrospect now, she probably should have picked an uglier boyfriend. It was hard to compete with a boy that looked infinitely nicer than you did.

"Ah, I bet he did miss me. Poor thing never gets any attention, I bet. You should pet him more, he always looks so desperate when I'm over." Kneeling to squish the massive cat's head to her chest, Ania pressed her cheek against his fur, petting him gently. It was obvious that he was well taken care of, but teasing was much more fun. It was hot, though, and being so close to a large, warm animal was definitely not helping anything. "It is awfully hot, isn't it? What have you been doing outside?" Hadrian didn't look like the gardening type, nor the type to well, do much of anything outdoors.
 

Knox!

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<div align=center>"Don't be silly," Hadrian answered, he didn't think she ever needed to put all that much effort into her appearance either, looking around the school he saw countless girls caked in makeup trying desperately to make themselves look pretty. They were alright, he supposed, but none of them were as effortlessly pretty as Ania was. "You'd still be pretty if someone dressed you in a trash bag." He told her, an eyebrow flicking up for a moment. Altair chuffed softly as Ania knelt down to him, his tail twitching eagerly behind him. He liked Ania, she was far more cuddly than Hadrian.

"Pfft, you spoil him." The boy teased, patting Ania softly on the head before moving his hand to do the same to Altair. The tiger ran a large, rough tongue over his hand, Hadie grimaced and pulled it away, "ew. Thanks, cat." He wiped his hand on his pant leg, at least the tiger wasn't so slobbery as a dog might be. "Not much. I went out there with swimming in mind, but it never really happened. I was only reading." Hadrian had someone hired that came and tended the garden for him, he wasn't all that good with plants, but he liked his garden to look pretty.</div>
 

Fidget

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Ania thought that a tiger as impressive as Altair deserved to be as spoiled as he was. Her fingers were swallowed by his neck ruff, and she worked at petting him. She couldn't suppress a giggle at the affectionate lick, and winced inside at what the large cat's barbed tongue must feel like. A housecat's tongue wasn't too terrible, probably because of the size, but a tiger's would probably be much more sandpaper-y.

With a final pat to her friend, Ania stood once more. "Swimming?" The mention of swimming brought back those disastrous lessons she had tried to take from the new teacher to campus those months ago. "You know, you probably owe me a swimming lesson. That poor swim teacher can't even be within a few hundred yards of me. I don't think I've ever seen him since that incident, actually. You must have scared him off. I swear, he sees me and runs back to where he came." Smiling crookedly up at Hadrian, she drew closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're far too scary for your own good."
 

Knox!

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<div align=center>Hadrian nodded at the question, he wasn't really sure why he'd bothered to get a house with a pool. He simply didn't use it. That wasn't to say the same for Altair though, the cat was frequently in and out of the water, though Hadie banned him from coming into the house when he was wet, he dripped his wet fur all over the carpets and shook it up the walls. At least it was hot at the moment and Altair dried quickly in the sun, he didn't tend to use the pool as much in the winter, for obvious reasons.

"You think?" Hadrian asked, biting back a laugh. He'd forgotten about that creepy teacher, he was pretty glad they'd seen the last of him. Hadrian was friendly enough really, but underneath it all he was awfully jealous and just a little over protective. "Hey, I'm not that scary, am I?" He asked, pouting just a little. "He was creepy, anyway. I had a right to be mean." He could be pretty scary when he really wanted to be, he supposed. He was mellow more often than not, but Hadrian's tether was incredibly short with certain people, he could get frightening when he was angry. "I can teach you to swim, if you want."</div>
 

Fidget

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"You were awfully terrifying in that room. Even I was a bit scared; especially when Altair growled. He was sort of creepy, I do admit. He touched my butt." She was sort of glad that her boyfriend had came to the rescue on that one. She wasn't really sure how to face a teacher hitting on her; especially a very old teacher.

"Yes! If you don't mind teaching me, of course. I could probably learn on my own if I tried, but. I think it would be more fun with you." She wanted to go now, though, excited by the prospect of finally being able to finish her swimming lessons. Grabbing hold of Hadrian's hand, she tugged him back towards the pool, bursting back into the outdoors. Now that she was out here, she realised she hadn't actually come prepared for a lesson. "Oh, um. I don't have a swim suit, would it be too strange to just ..." Plucking uncertainly at her shirt, Ania considered it. It wasn't like underwear was too different from swim suits. Same shape and all, mostly.
 

Knox!

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<div align=center>Hadrian felt a pang of guilt for a moment, he hadn't meant to scare her. At least he had succeeded in getting rid of the creepy teacher, though. Teachers shouldn't hit on students, that's just weird. He frowned, "you know that Altair would never hurt you, right?" The cat looked up as his name was mentioned, "he's more like an attack dog than a wild animal, he'll do things I ask him to but otherwise he's real friendly - you already know that though." Hadrian wasn't even sure Altair would attack Ania even if asked, not that he even dreamed of ever asking him to do that.

"Plus I can rescue you if things go wrong." He returned, flashing her a smile and running a hand through his hair. I don't have a swim suit. Of course she didn't, Hadrian didn't think she'd come here with the intention of swimming. He only took a second to guess the end of her question. "Uh, I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?" He asked, underwear wasn't waterproof, but it'd dry soon enough in this heat. "It's not like anyone can see in my back yard anyway." It was high walled and more or less completely private. Hadrian liked things better like that. "If you don't mind getting wet."</div>
 
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