oh, love!

She supposed a pet tiger might be a lot like a domesticated cat. A larger, slightly more dangerous cat. It must hurt though, if a tiger picked up the habit of headbutting for attention. Would their tongue have bigger and sharper barbs on it, too? She hadn't ever seen a tiger up close, and was a little frightened for the opportunity. Not like she'd say that out loud, of course. At least since Hadrian was assured that he was a nice tiger, she didn't feel so afraid.

She felt a little sad for her companion, though. No child should have to grow up without their parents. Even if they had an exotic pet for company, nothing could replace the presence of parents. Even if they were adopted parents. "I'm sorry bout your parents. Are they still distant?" It would probably be difficult to rekindle any type of relationship with enstranged parents, especially if they were away willingly. Rearing a tiger cub must have taken up a lot of time, though. She preferred to spend weeks and months researching a pet before she decided to get one and care for it. It was unimaginable to have a thing like a tiger dropped on you one day. " Was it very hard to care for him as a cub? The training must have been ... interesting." Puppy claws hurt badly enough. Tiger claws would no doubt be worse. "What are your parents like? I mean, if you don't mind my asking."

She couldn't help but feel a little sad. Having a kid meant more than just tossing money and things at it every once in a while. Stories about people who didn't have their parents in their lives made her want to adopt a whole army of parentless children.
She thought it was a bit funny, though, for his parents to give him a whole tiger as a pet. Most parents gave their kids little things like gerbils and hamsters to make them stop talking about wanting a puppy.

"He bit you?" She almost wanted to see the scar. Scars were pretty in their own way, showing off what kind of life a person led. All this talk about pet tigers made her want one. Then again, she wanted most animals that wandered across her mind. She supposed that they would be awfully hard to feed and care for, anyway. "I wanna go see him! How much longer should we stay? Maybe after eating we can go!" The bad thing about showing pets, was Ania was most likely going to ignore the friend that owned the pet and lavish attention upon the animal for hours. It wasn't her fault that pets were softer and nicer to touch than humans. Now filled with energy and the hope of meeting an exotic cat, Ania did a small dance in place. "I'm so excited now! Also hungry. Yes, I'm hungry."

She was quite impressed with his modesty in saying that his arm might have been ripped off. He was either very brave or very odd. He showed his arm, presumably where the scar was. Examining his arm closely, she found what looked like teeth marks. Tracing them with wonder and timidity, Ania was also impressed with these battlescars. She wasn't quite sure why, but scars had always attracted her to some degree. "It looks like it hurt." It was faded now with the passage of time, but it still looked like it had been quite a nasty incident.


She almost wanted to leave now, but also didn't want to end the day just yet. She was having so much fun here with Hadrian. Ania thought she could probably live in a zoo if she really tried. The monkey enclosure would most likely be the most friendly home. A small pack of monkeys surrounding you and grooming you and loving you. She had seen stories of monkey mothers adopting toddlers and kittens to raise as their own children — she wouldn't mind being adopted by a monkey. "Okay! A couple more animals then food?" The tigers and other various clawed creatures weren't too far away from the bears, in fact the map said they were just a short walk away. Holding tight to Hadrian's hand, she pulled him in the direction of the tigers. "Do tigers eat a lot? I imagine they do. How do you feed him?" Of course, right back on the topic of his pet.

It would have had to been a pretty big and mean dog to make that kind of mark. She shuddered, trying to draw her mind off the pain that he must have been in when it happened. She felt a bit bad for the poor deer that lived in the woods. Of course, it was the circle of life, but she doubted that tigers were their natural enemy on the island. The creatures probably didnt expect a giant cat to come pouncing after them. Cats often brought home their kills to share with their human families, right? She had heard of domesticated cats doing that. Ania didn't think she would like to see a large decomposing animal dropped on her pillow or at her feet.

They stopped at a large cage, and Ania looked for what she expected to be a tiger or panther or something. Her eyes landed on the most awkward looking creature she had ever seen. It looked like some unholy cross between a lion and a bird, and she backed up a few paces out of reflex. "What is that?" She had never seen anything like it, and it was fascinating in an odd way. More specifically, she wanted to see how it's anatomy all came together. The creature moved, and Ania started. It had great big claws, and it looked like it was digging them into the material of his perch. The more she looked at the thing, the more it appeared to be a regal, dominating creature. It ruffled it's wings, stretching them and settling back to rest in their original position. "Its so pretty. I wonder if these are native to the island. I want to touch it."

"No, I've never even heard of it." A quick examination of the enclosure proved that the beast was in fact, not guarding any treasure. That was too bad, a little pile of gems would have been a neat little prop, and given the gry-phon something to do. Though, it would probably make feeding the thing that much more difficult if it was guarding something precious. Ania agreed that this was a bit more interesting than a tiger. Tigers didn't have bird parts glued to their bodies haphazardly. She could definitely imagine a knight galloping into battle on this thing, swinging a magnificent sword as the gryphon screeched and clawed at the enemy wildly.

"Oh, but you're much cooler than any gryphon or tiger." Wrapping her arms tight around his waist, she squished him before loosening her grip. A knight riding a Hadrian into battle would definitely be much more interesting than one riding a gryphon. Though, the scenes might be taken quite differently out of context. What she had assumed to be a discarded pile of feathers stirred in a corner of the cage, and she watched as a tiny mutant bird-lion stood and shook itself out. It wasn't very impressive at that size, but it was still pretty. "Look at that thing! Its so cute. I didn't know it was a mother creature."