brick by brick

<div align=center>"He's an idiot." Hadrian muttered as the creature sat it's self next to him, he'd been humiliated by the animal, and took a moment to pull himself to his feet. There was blood caked round his maw, and the white fur there had been dyed red. "Didn't catch your name." He stated, his eyes locking onto those of the girl's, she was far too young for him, Hadrian liked women, but she was no more than a girl, and that was creepy. His mind was craving nicotine again, and his hand wandered to his pocket, only to find that he was out, and that made his mood even worse.

Altair padded away from him, head low, tail held high. Hadrian frowned, "what?" He asked, the beast ignored him and broke into a run. He had vanished a moment later, and Hadrian let out an exasperated sort of sigh. His pet had evidently found something he wanted to eat, he'd already forgotten about the half deer, no doubt he brought it back as a gift for his master, the thought made him sick, he certainly wasn't going to eat that. Venison wasn't a favourite of Hadrian's, besides, it had already been half savaged by the cat's jaws.</div>

<div align=center>"Claire." He echoed, running a hand through his hair. Hadrian frowned a little, "nineteen." He replied, he looked older than seventeen, didn't he? Bah, it was the freckles, it was always the freckles. He hated them, they made him look younger than he was, or at least he thought he did. They don't stop me from getting girls, though. He lifted an eyebrow, though didn't question why she had a knife, he had a tiger. Whom in fact returned not long later, carrying something that was evidently still alive. Hadrian jumped forward and cursed, yelling something at the creature and calling it savage.

It was another deer, though this time it sported a magnificent set of antlers and Hadrian got the feeling there had been quite a struggle to catch it, blood was seeping from a gash on Altair's shoulder, though there was far more blood gushing from the deer's neck, "you could have at least killed it." He sighed, wondering if the tiger was going to drag that all the way home, the answer was probably yes, and regrettably he'd forgotten about the other half he'd left somewhere, and it'd stay there, Hadrian didn't want that. "I'm guessing you're much younger than I?"</div>

<div align=center>Hadrian shrugged, he didn't care. The boy met her eye and shrugged, "what do I care?" He asked lazily, running a hand through his hair. Hadrian never saw why age was an issue, not with friends at least, though he wasn't all that good at friends. His only company was usually the tiger, which of course he didn't mind, Altair was nice to have around, he was cuddly. That was Hadrian's guilty pleasure, he always seemed more or less emotionless when he was around people, Altair was more like a teddy bear than what was essentially a wild beast, Hadrian rather liked that.

The boy shrugged again, "he's not really a friend," he answered, sighing lightly, his eyes flickering down to the tiger. "You know when you've had a dog for a really long time? It kind of becomes your family?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow, "It's like that." He laughed, though it was a strange kind of laugh, humorless, he didn't even smile. He was still a little confused as to why she'd asked if he wanted her to leave, why would it matter he was older than her? A lot of kids had older friends, he knew someone who was dating someone much younger than him, letalone having a mere friendship with them.</div>

<div align=center>Hadrian's hand paused in mid-pet, and his eyes widened just a little, though that was the only kind of emotion displayed on his face. He didn't fully know what to reply to her, that wasn't really something you told someone you just met, sure, he'd been through some things in his life that could perhaps be classed as upsetting, but he wasn't going to talk about those things to random strangers, especially someone like him who was like to tell other people. Hadrian might have looked pretty but he was a gossip, regardless of who it was. He was in cahoots with a certain silver haired girl who fed off gossip like it was candy.

"Uh.." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and coughed, still somewhat unsure of what to say. Emotionless and cold hearted, ah, it's like looking in a mirror. He would have rather gone to a foster home than stay at home with parents that forgot he was there most of the time, though he supposed without them, he wouldn't have Altair, and so he had to thank them for something at least. Altair purred softly and pushed his head into Hadrian's hand, confused as to why he had stopped petting him. The boy scratched his friend behind the ear and laughed softly, the tiger returned the affection with a rough lick, his tongue was like sandpaper and Hadrian grimaced when he felt it. "Ew."</div>