hear me roar

It was a well known fact that Hadrian Rodriguez had far more money than sense, this was certainly one of those times and a new paycheck meant another extravagant purchase. The things he was buying seemed to be getting more and more ridiculous, last time it had been a rather large yacht that was docked at the harbour, he'd never touched it and didn't even really know how to drive it. This was perhaps his most ridiculous purchase yet, however, as a squirming ball of white fur lay asleep in the crook of his arm, tail flicking every now and then in it's slumber. Fumbling for a moment to unlock the front door, the blonde pushed it with his shoulder, moving through and kicking it shut behind him. A head collided with his naval, rubbing against him appreciatively and letting out a series of soft little chuffs that meant the tiger wanted to be petted. Scratching him briefly underneath the chin with his free hand, Hadrian pushed past to look for his girlfriend.

None of this was probably all that legal, but when had Hadrian ever really cared about legality? He made a living robbing from ancient kings, and he'd never gotten into trouble from it. "Yo, Ania, I got you a present." He called, pausing in the doorway to the living room and shifting the creature's weight to his other arm, expression more or less void of any emotion as he stumbled across the girl. "I wanted another one. He's not very old. His name is Aquila." The creature squirmed again, letting out a tiny little yawn and staring up at Hadrian with a set of soft, grey eyes. "God I hope it doesn't get any bigger than Altair." The cub's tail flicked again, it's attention being snatched up by the girl on the opposite side of the room.

It looked tiny against Hadrian, cradled against his chest, a little mess of paws and white fur, with ears that looked far too big for his head. God only knew how much the creature had cost, but it was probably best not to ask.​

"Damn right he's pretty, came with a pretty price, too." Though most things others considered expensive were probably pocket change to Hadie. Passing the cub down to Ania and crashing out next to her, the little creature padded clumsily around on her knees trying to find a place to curl up again. Altair's ears pricked forward, and his nose twitched, registering the new creature that had invaded his territory. Padding close, in a cautious sort of manner, the tiger stretched out his neck to sniff at the little cub. It looked like a mouse compared to the tiger, and perhaps ten of the cub's tiny paw could have fit into the huge tiger's. Hadrian had forgotten what it was like to be able to have something little and furry running around on his lap, though he supposed that was really Ania's place, and Altair certainly wasn't one he wanted curled up there.

"He's a white lion, they're supposed to be super rare or something." Hadrian answered, with a shrug, moving a hand to idly pet Altair again. "Aren't you happy to have a friend?" He asked the cat, pouting just a little and tilting his head to the side, "I don't think he'll be as big as you, though." He added, as an afterthought. Watching the tiger turn away and pad out to the kitchen, one of Hadie's hands went to the top of Ania's head, petting her softly and ruffling up a part of her hair so that it stuck up on end.​

Altair would get used to the idea, Hadrian thought it was about time he another feline around to interact with, tigers were solitary creatures, more or less, but Altair was more like a house cat than a tiger, and house cats generally liked company. Shifting a little to accommodate Ania, the boy let a smile flicker across his features as she pushed herself against him. He shrugged, it was a little early for a Christmas present, he supposed, but he hadn't really intended it to be that. "I just thought you needed a present." He answered, dropping his head to hers and letting his eyes flicker shut. He always felt lazy with Ania, there was never any need to do anything, he just liked to spend time with her.

How big d'you think he'll get? "A little smaller than Altair, I guess." Though truthfully, he didn't really know. It was said that tigers were bigger, but whenever he'd seen them compared, they always looked similar sizes. Tigers were bulkier, he supposed, and far heavier, but someone as little as Ania would probably have no trouble whatsoever comfortably riding around on a lion. "Fluffier than Altair, though. Much fluffier. I really hope he doesn't drop hair everywhere." He didn't like the idea of that, though the squirming cub that had set it's self on a mission climbing across the couch seemed like it'd be pretty hard to ever get angry with.​

That perhaps would have sounded a little gruesome if Hadrian hadn't known what she'd meant, he wasn't likely to murder something he'd paid more than a grand for to make a pillow, at least, not a dead one. A living one, however, would probably work quite nicely. I imagine they shed quite a bit. Letting out a soft sigh, he'd been afraid of that. Oh well, it was far too late to take him back, and besides, Hadie had gone through an awful lot of trouble to get the creature. Lions weren't as dirty as tigers, anyway, they certainly didn't like to swim as much, and so Hadrian rather hoped he wouldn't tread huge, muddy paw prints through the house like Altair so frequently liked to do. At least Hadrian wasn't the one that had to clean it up, that was the job of those he hired.

He didn't even realize how odd it must be for poor Ania to try to get used to all this, he was generally used to being weighted hand and foot on, and being filthy rich came altogether quite naturally to him. It was a nice lifestyle, really, and after this he certainly couldn't imagine being poor again and living in one of those grotty little dorms back at the school. His mansion was much nicer - and really, that was what it was, a mansion. No matter how much he liked to deny that fact, it was pretty hard to deny when you actually took a good look at the place.​

Hadrian shook his head, "I don't think so, he's not all that old..." Should he feel guilty for ripping a cub away from it's mother? Not really. He hadn't taken it himself, had he? Besides, the little lion looked really quite happy settled here on the couch. He'd take care of it, anyway, it'd have a good life at least. "I had to get milk powder, it's for kittens, but that's basically what he is." More or less, just on a much larger scale. That's what Altair had been given as a baby, kitten mix milk. Ania could be given baby feeding duties, Hadrian got the idea that she might like that. He'd bought a milk bottle somewhere or the other, probably in the same place as the milk powder.

"I guess he'll have to sleep in the bed, won't he?" It'd be too cold anywhere else, and as long as no one ended up squashing him he'd probably be quite alright in there. "Maybe I'll let Altair sleep on the floor so he doesn't feel left out." The tiger knew not to get in the bed anyway, and soon enough they'd probably have to teach the lion that, as well. It wasn't all that fun when you had an animal twice the size of yourself trying to curl up on you to go to sleep. "Poor thing, he's not even three months old."​