.freebie3 b {font-weight:bold; color:#02c26b; letter-spacing:1px; }
.ooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:10px;}
.freebie3 p {text-indent:25px;padding:5px 23px 10px 22px;margin:0px;}
.freebie3 {width:400px;border:1px solid #012315;background-image:url(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/K ... eebie3.png);background-position:top center;background-repeat:no-repeat;padding-top:170px;background-color:#015b22;text-align:justify;margin:10px;font-family:georgia, serif;font-size:11px;line-height:12px;color:#000c06;}</style>
Mars had a good, strong handshake and that was enough to up Adrian's respect for him. His like for the stranger was boosted again when he interacted kindly with the overexcited pup, taking it all in stride. Iliya only giggled when Mars patted him and played with his large ears, much like he did when they met yesterday. After that, he sat down and the blonde optime moved to sit on the couch, keeping Iliya firmly planted on his lap until he slowly began to calm down. The pup eventually snuggled against Adrian's stomach of his own will and settled down, staring at Mars with a happy grin on his face. "You play? Iliya loves music, you should hear him sing," he said with a chuckle, rubbing the pup's neck. "Must run in the family..." he mused quietly, more to himself than anything. He looked down at the icy-eyed boy with a warm, gentle smile and he only wagged his tail in response.
"What kinda decisions are you having to make, if you don't mind me asking?" Adrian's smile disappeared as his visage turned more concerned. Iliya liked him, and so did he, now, so he was a little worried about what the male could be talking about. He didn't want it to be too bad. If he didn't want to answer, that was fine; it was really none of their business since they were both still strangers to him. If he wanted to share, he'd feel flattered that Mars was possibly comfortable enough to talk to them. Mostly him, since the majority of the conversation would be beyond the puppy.
Half brothers. Still blood family. Adrian would still like to consider them full; one parent was enough to be a big enough bond. Family was family. Iliya was his son even though they weren't blood. Family of Liya's was family of his. The large male was about to respond when Mars continued with several questions that, at first, got a harmless chuckle out of him. "It's a bit of a long story, and a sad one at that... I don't understand all the details myself, even." His smile was gone and it seemed his humor had been silenced as he got very serious. "We both come from Russia. Little Liya is lucky I happened to be around that day. There was a man who had him. He was trying to sell him," Adrian said with a frown, his tone sounding irritated as he remembered.
"I don't know who the man was, but he knew who Liya was. He had to be someone close to the family to have gotten him. I tried to take Liya from him, but he wouldn't give him up, so..." he paused, looking at Mars a bit nervously. He had no idea whether Mars would get mad or not, but he had saved the boy, so... "I had to buy him in order to save him from a worse fate. The man gave me his name before he ran off." His tail twitched as though he was angry. And he was. He hated that bastard for doing that to the poor young pup.
He shrugged, stroking Iliya's back as he settled down and laid his head down on one of Adrian's knees, looking content and very comfortable. "So that's why I have him. I've adopted him as my son, and I've had him since he was around two months old. I'm Adrian Instinsky." He gave a nod of his head at his proper introduction. "I was worried about staying in Russia, so I left with Iliya as soon as I could..." he trailed off, feeling as though he was rambling, and feeling sad over remembering his dear friend, Aleksandr. He was supposed to come here with him; he said he'd meet up with the two here, but he never showed up. To this day, Adrian worried about the older man.
"I actually came here with Iliya and a friend of mine, Aleksandr, who I saved back in Russia. We split up before we got to the pack, but he never came." He could only hope Alek was fine, and perhaps found a good home elsewhere. "Ah, but enough about me, what about you? I had no idea Liya had family here. So obviously Rurik had to have lived in these lands at some point, or did you come from Russia, also?" He was very curious to hear a bit about Mars.