i can do anything

<div align=center>It was late in the day and the sun cast long, eerie shadows across the ground. The smell of cigarette smoke drifted across the courtyard, caught up in the chilly breeze that came along with the January weather. Storm grey eyes scanned their surroundings, odd clusters of students shuffled past him every now and then, someone sparing a glance every now and then, making their way to their dorms or wherever else they could be going. Hadrian took a drag from his cigarette, exhaling the toxins as perfect little smoke rings that gradually faded into the air. A lazy yawn followed it, there was thoughts of heading home, but there was still time left in the day and there was still things to do.

The cigarette went back to his lips again and a hand went to the top of the head of the animal sat patiently next to him, petting absently. The animal's tail flicked, and curled upward, snow still covered the ground, though it wasn't fresh. It had been fluffy and clean when it had first fallen, it was now hard and icy and more or less an injury waiting to happen. The bright orange tip of Hadrian's cigarette had dimmed, he took a second to flick a tiny shower of ash onto the floor beneath his feet.

He pushed himself away from the wall, dropping his cigarette and crushing it beneath his shoe. The boy's hands slid into his pockets and Altair picked himself up and reluctantly followed behind. A body came into contact with his own all of a sudden, he stumbled a little and scowled, "hey, God damn, watch it!"</div>

<div align=center>Hadrian scowled, and bristled up. "Watch yourself, are you blind?" He snapped, the tiger lowered his head a little, though no aggression went across the animal. The two were practically opposites, Altair would fight if you really needed him to, but he was mostly relaxed and friendly, more like an over sized dog than a tiger. Hadrian however, could not be described in the same way. The girl was much younger than him, shorter too. He glared at the girl for a moment, before standing straight and letting out an agitated sigh. The boy didn't return her greeting, and he made a noise that could have been forgiveness at her apology. At least she'd bothered.

Altair's tail flicked lazily back and forth, a noise left his maw that could have been a growl, but it was low and friendly sounding. Hadrian's hand went back to the top of his head, almost absently, it was strange for him when there wasn't something soft and furry to place his hand on, Altair was almost like a security blanket, though an incredibly dangerous one at that. The animal yawned, showing off the set of long, yellow fangs in his mouth, and a long pink tongue that curled very slightly as his jaws parted. "That's okay," the boy finally said, voice low, expression more or less emotionless. "Just watch where you're going next time."</div>

<div align=center>Sir. Hadrian hadn't been called that since he'd known the staff in his house. They'd bustled around and had always addressed him that way, where will you be dining, sir? It's time to wake up, sir. He wondered why they felt the need to address a child that way, since that is what he had been at the time. He didn't miss his household one bit, though now he struggled to do anything himself, he couldn't even cook, and tended to live off things that didn't need cooking, either that or he didn't eat at all. Altair pushed his head into the boy's hand, looking for some kind of attention. The animal was getting bored, Hadie could feel it.

I like your tiger. He wasn't usually on school premises, but Hadrian had found the animal waiting for him to come out, so he hadn't sent him away again, he wasn't going to attack anyone, not unless they provoked him. Most people here were smart enough not to piss off an adult tiger, though, at least Hadie hoped they were. "Lost?" He asked, frowning a little, "lessons are over, where are you trying to go?" He didn't get lost here any more, it wasn't that easy to get lost when you'd been there are long as he had.</div>

<div align=center>Strictly speaking, the tiger wasn't even allowed here. He could be dangerous if you weren't careful, but Hadrian supposed that was to be expected. Altair was incredibly well trained, Hadrian had made sure of that himself. He placed a hand on the creature's collar, and took a hold of it, not that he could do much if his pet decided to bolt. Altair was a great deal stronger than he was, and Hadrian couldn't really do much to stop him from doing what he wanted, thinking about it. It was simply the respect the two had for each other- or more so the respect Altair had for Hadrian that stopped him from doing anything stupid.

She was looking for the admin office. There were signs around for that. "If you look for the signs that tell you to go to the administration office, you should find your way there." He told her, with a nod. It wasn't all that difficult to find your way around once you got used to it. Altair was staring at the girl, tail flicking idly on the ground behind him. He pulled away from Hadrian to sniff around Marina's feet, Hadrian scowled a little, "gentle, Altair." He muttered, "she's too little for you to shove around."</div>

<div align=center>This girl wasn't bad, she was obviously younger than him, and merely needed to be pointed in the right direction. Hadrian wasn't a malicious boy, in fact he was quite the contrary. He was just a little prickly, that was all his problem was. He shook his head when she called him 'sir' again, there was no need for the courtesy, it sounded like she was talking to a teacher. "My name is Hadrian," he answered, glancing down to keep an eye on Altair, "call me that." He still didn't offer a smile though, it was altogether incredibly rare to see the boy smile, he came across very serious, and pretty untouchable to anyone that sought him out as a friend. No wonder William Beckett was terrified of him.

Altair wouldn't hurt the girl, Hadrian gave her a nod, signalling that it was alright to touch him. The animal appreciated the affection, anyhow. He was a bigger attention seeker than anyone Hadrian had ever met, it was even worse when Ania was around, the two were like partners in crime, and he oft got the feeling that the Bengal might have liked her a little more than she liked him. Understandable. A little thought whispered, and it was, the girl was a like-able person.

"He won't bite you." He told Marina, "he's pretty safe." Unless Hadrian didn't want him to be safe, then Altair could be perhaps one of the scariest things in the world, especially if he had been directed at you. Hadrian was mellow enough of current though, and Marina wasn't really upsetting him or bothering him in any way, not that he'd set a tiger on someone who merely irritated him, you probably had to do something terrible to end up getting that.</div>