golden dove;

RIEL. — an isola affiliated original character set in the same world as @hierichc.

❝ Medicinal...? ❞ Curiously, Riel inspects the cinnamon desserts beyond the glass display. The man seems surprised to find the spice in sweets, but Riel has only ever known it to be served that way.

This is fine. It's totally fine to have your friend check out your ankle. (The friend he's pining after, yes, but still! A friend!) Riel might be just a little red in the face as Prometheus tests the tightness of the elastic wrap around his injury; he's sincerely hoping it goes unnoticed. ❝ Oh, no, it's just a sprain... It doesn't hurt very much at all. ❞ Really, it doesn't! (Yes, actually, it does.)

❝ ... Nurse Dottie? ❞ Riel blinks. Is the sleep deprivation this bad, or is the campus nurse really at his doorstep? After his brother left, Riel wholly expected to be alone for the evening—save for maybe a StoreSprint delivery, but Vanth would have texted about sending one first. Riel rubs his eyes, but the visitor at his door remains real. ❝ It's good to see you, but... Ah, may I ask what brings you? ❞

❝ Um... ❞ Anxiously, the tips of Riel's fingers tap together over his lap. They're the notes of a piano sonata he knows by heart, on a row of keys that's totally imaginary and played out of nerves. How embarrassing, ending up in the nurse's office like this. He's not really sure whether it's better or worse that he's not here alone. Sitting there on his own, he'd be running circles around himself over the answers he wrote down on his exam earlier—the one he skipped sleep to study for, that ultimately led him here. But in the presence of company… typically people want a conversation, right? ❝ You've been here before? ❞ That's probably a weird question. Riel tries to explain himself, laughing slightly as he gestures to the improvised bandage around his ankle, courtesy of the young man who helped him after his fall.

All-nighters are no joke. It's currently just after 4 pm, and Riel hasn't slept since the morning before. He's survived long enough to take the exam he was studying for—he thinks he passed it, so it was worth it—but now that the adrenaline and catastrophic amounts of caffeine are wearing off, he's in a bit of a pickle. It's... really hard to stay awake long enough to make it back to the dorm. As he's walking through the quiet halls of the university, Riel fights to keep his eyes open. It's a losing battle, but it doesn't become a real problem until he reaches the staircase to the bottom floor. One step, and he misses the second altogether. Down, down he tumbles, until he falls into an ungraceful heap at the landing. His books clatter and skid away from him, but worst of all is the immediate shooting pain that fires from his ankle up into the muscles of his leg. Well that's not good. ❝ Ahh... ❞ With clenched teeth, Riel holds his foot and rocks, hissing in discomfort. ❝ Ohhh, no, no, no... ❞

OFIUCO U INFO.

❝ Prometheus? ❞ Riel calls from the entryway. With one hand, he props a basket of fresh vegetables against his hip as the other works to unclasp the white cloak he wore on his outing today. ❝ I'm home—I brought the vegetables in, too. ❞ As he neatly hangs the garment on the hook by the door, Riel finds himself mulling over that foreign four-letter word: home. He's seldom used it before. The temple was a house of God, yes, but it was no home, nor was it any place he could freely come and go from. Nothing like the cozy cottage Prothemeus has built by the sea for them to share, so small and relaxed. In a way, living here is a little like dusting off the memories of his own childhood home. Prometheus was a part of that, too. They're older now, and it's just them two, worlds away from their motherland, but it's nostalgic somehow. Relearning this lifestyle with him might not take so long after all.

❝ That sigil... ❞ Riel would recognize the holy signature of his Deva anywhere!