Quiet Place - Riley

[divarication]

OOC:

Player Name: Xae
Age: way too old
Contact: Tsukeru @ plurk

IC:

Name: Riley
Canon: Original
Canon Point: After learning that Aiden's forgotten his past.
Age: 21

Spoken language(s): Osian
Username: bigbadwolf
To the Mods: Riley doesn't need a thing to survive, he needs a person. As someone from his world uses magic, they drain away their own lifeforce until they suffer from physical transformations to the point where they end up dying. There are two ways to stop this - use dark magic to kill and steal it from another person or to find their mate. So technically he doesn't need Aiden coagmentatio but would rather not have to kill people constantly.

History: The world of Daeseon

ℒ 𝒾 𝒻 ℯ Riley was born in a hospital in Sector 4 of Osios to his mother, Myra and father, Cyran on Reona 17th (04/17) - the 161st day of the year. Both of his parents worked for the Zevora Space Program long before he was born. His mother was part of the project that was dedicated to finding a planet that could support human life in another system while his father worked on creating a viable spaceship. As employees of the ZSP, they made good enough money to be considered middle-class and wanted for nothing but lived sparingly. They lived in a suburban house on a quiet street where there was rarely any crime. Due to their jobs, his parents were always busy and often left him with one of their neighbors named Hester. She was a kind olderly woman who had raised her own family long ago while working as a cook in a prestigious restaurant in Sector 1 in her younger years. Riley's parents often paid her to look after him while they were at work but she went beyond simply taking care of him. Hester was his nanny, teacher and played the role of his grandmother as well. She taught him all of the things a child should know such as how to walk, hold silverware, count, read, write and more. During the days, she would take him around to see other retired neighbors who enhanced his learning with math, sciences and history. Riley even had a few friends his age he played with in the neighborhood, rarely getting into trouble and always listening to the adults in his life. His parents encouraged his higher learning as a young child, bringing him complex books to go through. By the time he entered school at the age of four, Riley was already considered to be quite advanced. He absorbed information at an incredible rate for a child, eager to learn everything he could. It was Hester who taught Riley his most important life skills that he would go on to use later on in life. By going to the stores with her, he learned how to identify the good foods to buy and which ones to avoid. Also how to put a meal together with whatever ingredients they could afford and how to clean up after himself. He was the most responsible kid in his grade and often made his own lunches to take to school, even walking himself to and from school. After school he would do his homework at Hester's house, eating the snacks she made for him. On rare occasions, Riley's parents would take him out on family outings to various locations in Sector 4 such as farms and biodomes. He even once went to see where they worked at ZSP when he was five years old. Riley was fascinated with his parents' work, especially his mother who would show him pictures of the world outside of Daeseon or would point out star constellations at night. ℱ 𝒶 𝓂 𝒾 𝓁 𝓎 Just after Riley's sixth birthday, his mother announced that she was pregnant with his younger sibling. At first, he wasn't sure how to feel about this. Riley was already aware that he had very little of his parents' time and with a new child that would be reduced. It didn't help that his mother worked almost the entire gestation period and he didn't have much time bonding with his unborn sibling. At the start of the newest school year, Riley had been placed in a higher grade to teach him new things after he had passed all of their tests with flying colors. During the last few weeks of her pregnancy, his mother was put on maternity leave and always there to greet Riley when he got from school. Even though she still did work at home, Myra would help him with his schoolwork and take him out to play with his friends. It was during this time that Riley got to know his unborn sibling. Riley's little sister was born in the early hours of Nyxtia 38th (11/38) which also happened to be the Day of Falling Light - which was a holiday celebrated once every thirty years. It was in the cascading white streaks consisting of Elia's moon that he first laid eyes on his sister. When she wraped her fragile fingers around his own, he vowed then and there to look after and protect her. The tiny bundle of innocence that was named Fara. Once they all returned home, there was a brief period when his parents stayed home to look after the new addition to the family. However, that couldn't last and both of them returned to work. Riley never blamed them for being away so much as he knew how important their jobs were. He understood that both of them were trying to build a better life for all of them. Once again Hester looked after them while their parents worked and she took care of Fara while Riley was at school. Yet the older woman was often tired afterwards and so he took up responsibility for his sister, learning how to take care of another human despite only being a few years older than her. As Fara grew older, Riley took over more and more of her education such as teaching her to read and write. He also continued to learn more for himself, eventually becoming the one to make all of the meals they ate and Hester taught him all of her secrets. Their life continued on as normal, with Riley looking after Fara most of the time and Hester looking after them both and his parents occasionally making time for them as a family. Eventually a four year old Fara started at school and he was the one who dropped her off and picked her up. This went on until Riley was ten years old and Hester suddenly collasped after school one day. He'd been making dinner when she dropped right in front of Fara's eyes. Riley called the authorities who came to rush her to the hospital, the Vanguards (police) taking the siblings along with her after alerting their parents. After waiting with his family for several hours, the doctors came to tell them that Hester had been sick for years now and it had finally caused her death. He was devastated by this news, though Fara didn't quite understand what had happened. Both of his parents were saddened and attended her wake with them, taking off work for two weeks to help him through it. Her house next door was sold off and a new family moved in eventually but it now fell on Riley to look after his sister alone while his parents worked. After Hester's death, Riley was even more insistent on teaching his sister all of the necessary skills she would need to survive one day. Their parents were impressed by Riley and how he took over looking after the house nearly by himself, cooking and cleaning and making sure Fara had everything she needed. ℳ 𝒶 ℊ 𝒾 𝒸 Four years passed, Riley managing the household and taking care of Fara like a parent should for their kid. One day in Kodon (8th month), there was an accidental explosion of one of the experimental ship engines in the ZSP labs. Both of his parents were killed in the blast almost instantly, leaving them orphans. There was a ceremony for all of the employees who died in the accident, members of the company speaking of the deceased and a wall erected in their memory. The siblings were sad but Riley didn't have the luxury of losing himself in his grief this time. He still had to look after Fara and find a way to keep them from ending up destitute and homeless. Thanks to the funeral bills being taken care of by the ZSP, they had a little money that their parents had set aside. Unfortunately, there aren't many orphanages in the lower Sectors of Osios and with no family to speak of - Riley and Fara were on their own. He dropped out of school but only after he was allowed to take his final exams and officially graduated (equal to graduating high school) several months early. It was only because he skipped several grades in between that Riley has a certificate of education completion. They had enough money to keep the house for a couple of months before they would have to give it up. In that time, Riley worked several odd jobs in different Sectors while searching for a relatively good place to live in a less-expensive Sector. When their parent's money ran out, Riley had put away enough to get them an actual apartment in Sector 6 - it was one of the nicer ones in the poor Sector. While schools don't exist in Sector 6, Riley managed to get Fara into a school in Sector 5 and she commuted on the Osios Railway every day. He continued to work odd jobs and it was during one of these jobs that he learned about magic from a fellow co-worker. Of course, he had already known about it but the co-worker said that he could paid a lot more money for using it on certain jobs such as cleaning houses or providing fire for stoves or hot water. Being able to use magic would open a lot of doors for him in the job market and it would allow him to have flexible hours so he could be home to make meals for Fara. It was on this concept that Riley started to learn the most basics of magic from some neighborhood kids - cleaning and fire. Once he learned these two, he went to work in many upper class houses earning a decent wage and even used it in the slums as well when he could. Riley also used it rather freely in their own home to warm up bath water, cook meals and clean up. Going so far as to add water magic to his list of abilities in order to provide them with clean water for drinking, cooking and bathing. It was never as good as his other two magics but it was enough to get by. 𝒞 ℴ 𝓃 𝓈 ℯ 𝓆 𝓊 ℯ 𝓃 𝒸 ℯ Needless to say with him using his newfound magic, Riley began to experience the backlash of it before a year had gone by. Both his hearing, sense of smell and eyesight were drastically enhanced, though with the latter it was harder to tell as everyone has excellent vision due to the dark nature of their world. All of those were easy to ignore for a time until he became deathly ill and Fara had to take him a hospital in Sector 5 during the winter season of his fifteenth year. The doctors had no difficultly diagnosing him, having seen many die from overuse of magic. They fed him a variety of raw meat and explained that the price of using magic was to drain a person's lifeforce. If Riley kept using it at the rate he had been then he would develop a second set of ears on top of his head like that of a wolf, a tail at the bottom of his tail bone and so on until he fully became a wolf. Should he reach that stage then he would surely die like everyone else had. They told him that he would continue to need raw meat no matter what and that if he continued, that he would shorten his lifespan and may not live passed the age of twenty-five. With that warning in mind, Riley returned home and tried to leave magic behind for a while. He worked normal jobs that wouldn't require magic but it wasn't enough to support them and pay his medical bills. They would also have to spend more money on meat for him to eat. It was only a few months but they struggled to make ends meet so they wouldn't starve or end up on the street. Still Riley refused to use magic to earn more money for over a year, making sacrifices in other ways such as Fara getting jobs after school. One night, they were returning from the market when they were cornered by a group of teen hoodlums. Backed into a corner and threatened with knives, Riley used a great deal of magic to protect them both - setting the group on fire. It wasn't the first time he had seen the same situation happening in their neighborhood. That was the moment when he decided that if he only lived to be twenty-five, then he would use his magic to make a better life for Fara. Until his final day, Riley would keep them safe and prevent them from freezing. Once again he got many odd jobs that used magic and saved every bit that he possibly could for his sister. 𝒮 𝒶 𝒸 𝓇 𝒾 𝒻 𝒾 𝒸 ℯ This is how they lived over the next four years when everything changed. When Riley was nineteen years old, he had a permanent set of wolf ears on top of his head and a long matching silver tail. Using magic on a near-constant basis often left him drained and too weak to move for hours on end. Fara had been learning magic behind his back, a special sort of magic Riley could never hope to learn - healing magic. When he was too out of it to notice, she often used it on him to help him recover faster. It wasn't the only magic she'd learned but Fara was careful to not use it around it when he was more aware of his surroundings. Using healing magic was much more draining than the easier ones but Riley failed to notice the changes in his sister in his own state. During one of Riley's fits of weakness that he was confronted by a group of individuals who had spotted his usually carefully hidden wolf features. They identified themselves as a local wolf pack and told him that they had a way to save him, all he had to do was join them. One of them told him the secret to staying alive... using dark magic to kill someone else would extend his own life. He outright refused and it set them off, attacking with magic. His fire magic was no match for their dark magic and Riley was mortally wounded - left to suffer before dying in the streets like so many others. This was how Fara found him, lying in a pool of his own blood and barely conscious. In her grief, Fara used her healing magic to bring him back from the edge. His wounds were magically closed so that he would not longer bleed out. By the time Riley found consciousness again, Fara was the one who was dying. In bringing him back from his precarious state, she had used up every bit of her lifespan - an exchange of one life for another. Gone was the girl and in her place was a wolf. Riley took her home and attempted to care for his sister in the following months. With no one left to live for he used his magic without care, even attempted to change Fara back but it was impossible. He simply didn't have the ability to use healing magic. His own condition deteriorted quickly and before he was twenty, Riley too fell victim to the curse of using magic. When the landlord came to evict them for not paying rent, he found two dying wolves in the apartment. They were disposed of - put out with the rest of the trash and left to die... a common occurence in Sector 6. 𝒮 𝓊 𝓇 𝓋 𝒾 𝓋 𝒶 𝓁 As the life drained out of them, they were found by members of the largest pack in Osios. Once again Riley was offered the chance to save himself through dark magic and murder but he refused. So instead they got Fara to do it. teaching her the spell to use. She murdered a random stranger passing by and it reversed the transformation to the point where she was mostly human again, though very weak. When the pack said that they'd take care of Fara in his place, Riley couldn't let that happen knowing she would be safe so he also killed someone. It was a horrifying thing to have done, watching as it a whole lot of suffering before actually ending the torture. He silently vowed to never use it again, not even for Fara's sake. They were taken in by the pack, welcomed as the newest members by way of initation that involved being wounded by a wolf's claw and nursed back to health. It wasn't the only part of the initation they had to suffer through. Shortly after they were better, both of them were forced to watch as the pack turned on a hunter who had attempted to come after them. They tortured him physically for days, keeping him from dying just for the sheer fact that they enjoyed his pain. Finally, when the hunter was unrecognizable, they killed him and then ate his flesh. A sight they both had to turn away from. Riley and Fara were warned that if they tried to run away, they would suffer the same fate. That was followed up that they would have to continue killing in order to survive - most likely until the end of their lives. Due to that fact and the one that he couldn't leave Fara alone with this monsters, Riley learned a different kind of dark magic from another pack member. This one would instantly kill his target without causing pain. It essentially ripped the lifeforce from them before they even knew what hit them. He taught the spell to Fara and this was how they continued to kill in the future. Riley would find them someone who had committed horrendous crimes but were never punished as their targets. For the most part, he killed as little as possible - pushing himself to the brink of transformation and allowed Fara to have the more frequent kills. Since he killed so little, Riley continued to sport a set of wolf appendages and learned that his eyes were the last to change before the real transformation started. They never killed when the pack went hunting but were expected to be at every one - helping to break into houses of the uppercrust and ensuring they weren't caught by the authorities. Any hunter who went after them suffered the same fate as the first one, any pack member who attempted to leave suffered worse. A lesson they learned about six months after their own initation when a new recruit tried to escape. Considering the entire pack were wanted criminals by both the hunters and the Vanguard, they constantly moved around. They usually took up residence in empty warehouses, often celebrating after every hunt but Riley tried his best to keep his distance from them. It didn't help that they always teased him by tugging his tail or tweaking his ears. He felt no loyalty to the pack, only for his sister and did whatever it took to keep her safe. However, when they'd been with the pack for over nine months fourteen year old Fara started to pull away from Riley. She started spending more time with the rest of the pack and hunted with them, though always continued to use the spell the siblings had learned. Her gaze wasn't as adverted whenever they tortured their human food source but never once tried to get Riley to do the same. Of course Riley noticed this and attempted to pull her back but had no luck even though she still went along with him on his own hunts. ℱ 𝓊 𝓉 𝓊 𝓇 ℯ At the age of twenty-one, everything changed for Riley again. It had been just like any other night he had experienced in the last year - a successful hunt followed by a celebration. The wolves had partied themselves drunk. A perfect opportunity for a hunter to slip into their midst. Having been the only one to sit out the party, Riley was the only one to notice. When his eyes met the gaze of their most recent hunter, it was as if he'd been struck by lightning. He was drawn to this stranger in the briefest moment, so drawn that he called out a warning to a hunter for the first time. It wasn't much, just enough to get the man to run away before the pack woke up. Once the hunter was gone, Riley settled the disturbed pack members before removing any trace there had been an intruder in their temporary shelter. Finding bombs placed around the warehouse and dumping them into a nearby lake. Even after that was done, Riley couldn't get the image of the man out of his head and ever experienced strangely intimate dreams with someone he'd never even had a conversation with. He was completely distracted the following day to the point that he went back their now-abandoned warehouse the following night. Apparently Riley wasn't the only one as the hunter appeared mere moments after he did. He was impossibly drawn to the hunter, giving into his physical desires for the man. It was only supposed to be a moment of passion - nothing else but he found it strangely endearing. Once it passed, Riley have every intention of returning to the pack and his sister. The hunter had a different idea. He learned that the hunter's name was Aiden and that Riley couldn't turn away from him, couldn't refuse his offer at happiness. Yet he was worried about what would happen if the pack found out - worried that they'd both be hunted down, tortured and killed. But more importantly Riley had to return to his sister. In the end he caved, feeling safe for the first time in years when wrapped in Aiden's arms. He swore to help the hunter in killing the pack to save his sister. Before they left the warehouse behind, Riley insisted on cleaning up and found a hairtie that he had pulled from Aiden's hair earlier. It went onto his wrist and that's where it usually stayed unless it lost the scent of the hunter - then he would use it to put Aiden's hair up and steal it back later. There was absolutely no way Riley could return to the pack, not even to try to talk to Fara due to how dangerous it would be for him so all he could was text her. Riley explained that he wouldn't be back and tried to convince her to leave too - that he would protect her. She refused, claiming to be too scared to take that risk but that she would lie to the pack for him and tell them that Riley had died. It must have been successful as none of them came after him. Since he was considered dead in their eyes, it was risky to keep texting her so Riley had to rely on Aiden to exteriminate them. 𝒜 𝒹 𝒿 𝓊 𝓈 𝓉 𝓂 ℯ 𝓃 𝓉 Over the next few weeks, they started to get used to living with each other and getting to know each other. They even had their first fight which was started because of Riley's blatant misuse of magic. After some discussion, he promised to not use it so much so that he wouldn't use up his lifeforce and leave Aiden alone. They discovered all kind of things about the other - small ones such as how Aiden can sleep anywhere but isn't much of a cook. Or how Riley excells in the kitchen but shouldn't handle sharp objects that aren't kitchen utensils. He was accidentally deadly with a butcher knife and should not share space when one was in hand. It didn't take Riley long to meet one of Aiden's neighbors - an elderly woman named Lisa. She was the one who first used the word "mate" after hearing how they had been drawn to each other. They listened to her stories about how her own grandparents had been mates and helped those who used magic. Lisa told them that mates could produce new and viable lifeforce for each other and that was through the act of being intimate. It explained why Riley hadn't need to kill anyone with dark magic since they met even though he should have been passed his limit already. He had been so relieved to know that he wouldn't have to kill anymore that he allowed himself to break down for the first time since he was a child. From that day on, they often used the term "mate" to reference the other. Having grown up in Osios, Riley saw very little of the world and was often too busy to do much exploring or too poor to visit many spots. This was something that Aiden attempted to remedy by taking him out to Sector 9 to see the Pleasure Sector. It also served as a distraction for his concern about Fara's well-being. However, the distraction only worked for a period of time and once they were back in the main part of the city he came face-to-face with that worry. While out shopping, Fara and Riley crossed paths and he'd been so relieved to see that she was fine. They talked about everything that had happened, Riley finally getting the opportunity to tell her all about Aiden and how the hunter had saved him. Fara was happy for him and swore that she wouldn't tell the pack the truth. That was when Riley realized that she wasn't going to come with him but he still had to try. No matter how much he tried to convince her to leave the pack, she refused. Disheartened, he returned to the apartment he shared with Aiden and the comfort his mate gave him. Despite his feelings over Fara's decision his relationship with the hunter continued to blossom. Riley even introduced his mate to his parents, taking him to the memorial where their names were carved in stone. This was the point where Riley told Aiden everything about his life from the kind woman who mostly raised him to the death of his parents to the use of magic. He said that his life living in Sector 6 and most of the sacrifices he had made didn't mean anything as they had led him to crossing paths with Aiden. Even though he never said the words, these passed few weeks with the hunter were some of the best of his life. They took a trip out to the last remaining ocean where he was dazzled by the bioluminescent creatures that lived there. Upon their return to the city, Aiden took him to see the skyscrapers of Sector 2 and even had a dinner reservation at a restaurant on the 150th floor. It was on their way up that Aiden learned of Riley's fear of heights. He clung to the hunter's shirt tightly and couldn't move. Just as he was on the verge of fainting, his mate picked him up which helped immensely. Their plans for dinner were ruined and after apologizing, Aiden called him an idiot but the experience only helped them bond even more. 𝒟 𝒾 𝓋 𝒶 𝓇 𝒾 𝒸 𝒶 𝓉 𝒾 ℴ 𝓃 A month after his last encounter with Fara sees him running into her yet again. In his joy at seeing her, Riley forgot how they parted ways previously and when he expressed it by trying to hug her she flinched away from him. It was the first time she had done so, pushed his arms away and backed away like a frightened creature. From her reaction, Riley could easily see how his sister had declined since he left the pack. When he tried to ask she was, she snapped at him. Fara told him how she'd been participating in the brutal killings with the pack with a gleeful smile. Unable to see his sister act like this, Riley tried to force her to come with him but when he took her arm, she pushed him hard until he tumbled over. Her parting words were how he could never understand how she felt and that he never had since they joined the pack. With that, Riley returned home. Not even a trip to the last forest was enough to cheer him up and Riley finally asked about Aiden's family. Since the hunter had never talked about it before, Riley had assumed that his mate's family had been killed by wolves which lead Aiden to hunt them down. He hadn't expected to hear that Aiden didn't remember his parents or the events of his early life. That was when he told the hunter that he would help him find out about his past. It didn't matter if revealing the truth made Aiden hate him as a wolf, Riley was determined to help.

Personality:

From a young age, Riley has been an extremely responsible individual. His parents were often away trying to put food on their tables so he was always looking after himself, preparing meals, getting to school, taking care of chores. Then along came his younger sister and Riley took on responsibility for her too. While their parents tried to help, it was typically up to him to look after her most of the time. Things only got worse when their parents both died when Riley was almost fifteen. He now had to provide for the both of them and that sense of responsibility lead him to using magic to keep them warm on cold nights and put food in their stomachs. Thankfully no one judges people by their age when it comes to work here - it's common to see children learning and using magic to make money. Riley was one of these people. He took it upon himself to excel in fire magic along with a cleaning spell and would often light fires for others of the poor class who relied on that as a heat source - or he'd clean houses for the uppercrust. It's partly due to his sense of responsibility that keeps him alive and in a situation where he has to do terrible things to accomplish that. Riley is motivated by the responsibility to look after Fara now that they've both used so much magic that their choices are to kill or to die. He is also a kind individual, he may have to do terrible things to live but Riley is carefully meticulous when it comes to killing others. Typically he avoids taking the lives of someone who is a relatively good person, instead preferring to seek out those who are - ironically - murderers or others who are considered the lowest of scum. Riley is forced to bear witness as his pack tortures and kills others who are innocent and it pains him to have any part in it but he can't stand against them. It has lead him to become someone who makes his kills as quick and painless as possible for his victim - even though they may not deserve it. He does wish he could save those who end up catching the pack's eye and if given the option, Riley would save someone but he is also cautious about his status as well. Basically he might as well be the omega of the wolf pack - the one who gets picked on and abused by the others and he carries absolutely no weight at all when it comes to making decisions. One might see a different person when looking at Riley and it all depends on who he's with. If they see him with Fara, it's very obvious that he is a caring big brother - from taking care of her to attempting to stop her from doing stupid things, he doesn't feel the need to hold back with her. There aren't a whole lot of boundaries between the two of them and she is the one individual who knows him best. He constantly worries about her and tries to get her to walk a good path in life which is difficult due to their situation but Riley is reluctant to give up on her. It's not uncommon to see the two of them standing close or one of them fussing over the other and he's at ease when she touches him. It's also obvious how much he worries over her too. Anyone who manages to get close to Riley will most likely learn about Fara in the process seeing as how his entire life has revolved around his little sister. He's willing to risk nearly any and everything to keep her safe even if it's at the cost of his own well-being. When Riley is around another member of the pack, he's entirely changed. There is a tension in him that's perfectly visible an absolute stranger can see it. Riley tends to keep to himself, both physically and verbally. He doesn't offer to touch them and tries extremely hard to not flinch or pull away when they touch him even though he isn't always successful in this endeavor. In all honesty he's treated like he's the omega of the pack - always the one who's picked on and teased and blamed but Riley doesn't mind being the odd man out in this group. Actually he prefers it as it means they don't even bother trying to hassle him into doing things their way and they let him go off on his own to do whatever. They never go out of their way to ask him about it either and that's the way he likes it because he doesn't offer up information or open up to any of them in return. In the presence of another wolf in the pack, Riley is withdrawn, quiet and cautious. On the occasion when he does decide to speak up it's often a sense of caution. A warning to get the pack away from danger but it isn't done out of any kind of attachment or real concern. The only concern he has in these times are towards what might happen to his sister if the pack got into serious trouble. They often tease him about the "concern" he directs in their direction and call him "mom". This can be the side of him that most strangers will see as well but Riley doesn't imagine everyone as a bad thing. He tends to be more cautious around them then anything which does stem from the need to keep Fara safe. However he is more willing to relax if given the opportunity to get to know someone. A point will come when Riley isn't afraid to speak his mind on a matter or express other emotions such as being irritated or even be happy. The better he knows someone, the more comfortable he'll be around them. While he will never be able to completely let down his guard, he has the potential to be an extremely good friend when given the chance. Kind and caring - willing to listen to their problems or go out of his way to help them and possibly even capable of killing if it came down to protecting them. Due to the fact that Riley has basically been a very tiny adult during his childhood, he tends to be the same now that he is actually an adult but he can be a regular young adult at times. Riley gets excited over a variety of new things and can be open to trying new experiences. He practically lights up and can become animated during these times, probably capable of talking someone's ear off if that was actually possible. If he's comfortable with the person he's with, Riley would have no problem grabbing them and dragging them around to see everything possible. Even if he's around complete strangers, he may be the one to initiate a conversation with them and not be nearly as cautious as he typically is. He is also somewhat of a strange person, even as a child he enjoyed things like going to school and learning. Even though he had to drop out of school to support his sister, Riley still pursued his own interests. He would go to the library to study whenever he had time or he'd watch documentaries on historical events. Straight up, Riley is a nerd. He likes science and space and curling up with a good book under a warm blanket. On the other side of that, Riley does not particularly like doing things that are extremely strenous. He disliked it during school and doesn't go out of his way to be active. That said it isn't as though he's out of shape or that he can't run when necessary but Riley is not about to get into a marathon or pick a physical figth with someone. If it came down to it, he would be the sort of person who was a long-distance figher while others got up close and personal. Riley is definitely not going to be flipping anyone over his shoulder or carrying them around any time soon. While typically pretty calm and grown up there is one person who can get Riley flustered and his name is Aiden. A chance meeting has allowed him to meet his mate - the one person who was meant for him and everything that Riley lacks... Aiden brings to his life. While Riley looks down at himself and doesn't believe himself deserving of love, Aiden gives it to him and hope along with it. Aiden has given him the opportunity to not need to kill in order to live and he may not ever be able to make up for what he's done in the past but the hunter accepts him anyway. It's because he's allowed himself to get close to this individual that he's opened up more in the last six months of his life than ever. He shows his emotions so easily when around Aiden and typically doesn't tend to care about who might be around. Well, it does actually considering Riley is easily embarrassed in private when the other man does something like tease him or look at him so lovingly and being in public only makes it worse. It isn't unusual to hear Riley telling him to shut up or be quiet, it isn't out of irritation but is entirely because he's way too easily embarrassed around the other. With the addition of Aiden to his life, Riley has added another person to his very short list of people to care for and protect. It's different in the way he took care of Fara. Aiden really does make Riley want to be a better person, to let himself open up and invite someone else into his heart. It does help that Aiden can take care of himself and has been capable of it since they met. Aiden doesn't need Riley to take care of him the way he took care of Fara growing up and so the fact that he does take care of the hunter is because he wants to. The things Aiden needs from Riley aren't really anything he can actually do because he just has to be himself and stay next to the hunter. That's really all he needs to do to make the other happy. Due to this, Riley eventually allows himself to really open up around the hunter. To tell him about his past - the good and bad parts of it and to let him see what kind of person he really is. He is at the point of comfortableness with Aiden that he is not afraid to invade his space or steal his things because he simply likes it. Or he'll curl up and do ridiculously silly things like braiding Aiden's hair when they're simply sitting around. He pouts and whines and pushes the other away even when all Riley wants to do is be as close to Aiden as he can possibly get. Even though he can't yet tell the other man he loves him with words, Riley lets it show through the actions and maybe it's tough love when he calls the other an idiot or it could be gentle love with soft touches and beautiful words. When Riley pictures a future, he pictures having it with Aiden. That is the kind of relationship the two of them have... the kind where Riley can actually allow himself to hope that they're going to have a future despite all that's currently standing against them. Someone who is sometimes extremely selfish while somehow sacrificing at the same time. Riley is the sort who would sacrifice himself for the people he loves even if that is absolutely not what the other person wants. While he is willing to look for another way, if it comes down to it he will make a decision that can potentially hurt the other emotionally without their consent. This is shown in the way he decided to push Aiden away and go back to the pack despite his mate's protests. To him, it was how he could save both Fara and Aiden even if it meant sacrificing himself - because no matter what, Riley puts their lives and safety over his own and their feelings. He is under the firm belief that it's better for them to be alive and living without him than for them all to be dead. It isn't all entirely about selfishness and sacrifice though, his decision to go back to the pack. Riley believes in Aiden, trusts the man with his own life and with the life of his sister. Something that is absolutely impossible for him but Aiden has managed to inspire this trust. While it started off as simply feeling safe in the man's arms, he's come to trust him completely. This is something Riley has never felt towards any living being ever, not even his own parents. Trusting someone else with so much that's important to him is not something to take lightly, especially considering Riley doesn't think his own life to be worthy of anyone's care and attention. To give over trust of his sister is one thing, but to do it for his own well-being has never happened before because it's always been the part of his life that he was never careful with. Despite the fact that there was a time when Riley went without being able to afford the finer things in life, he is not particularly materialistic now that he's not exactly homeless and poor. He does not look in store windows at shiny expensive things and want them just so he can look at them or because they're pretty. Riley is too practical for that. If anything he's actually extremely frugal when it comes to money, buying food that's on sale or wearing a set of clothes until they practically fall apart. There are nearly no possessions that he absolutely cannot live without but he does have a few that he does have sentimental attachment to and it may be considered strange. The reason for this is because he is used to having nothing or having very little and having to leave it behind. If the pack was being hunted, it was not unusual for them to simply abandon their belongings when necessary so he does actually make sure he doesn't get attached to anything that can be taken or left behind. There is one exception to this - Aiden's hair tie. It was something he picked up of the warehouse floor after he decided to stay with the hunter and from that night on, Riley has kept it near him constantly. To him it signifies the choice he made to be with Aiden rather than to be without - it's a promise to protect the other and at this point, to only be with Aiden in such an intimate and loving way. Basically this is his idea of a wedding ring and so Riley keeps it around his wrist nearly constantly.

Abilities/Skills:

Biology Since their world is so different from most others, the people of Daeseon have long since adapted to living in the dark. 🔆 Sunlight Due to the fact that their sun is dying, it means their planet is quite dark most of the time. While they are fairly adjusted to this fact and that most of their light source comes from what they create, they would be easily burnt by the rays of a younger sun and would find it difficult to see properly. Due to this they have adapted to be able to function in their world and what they couldn't adapt to, they developed technology to help them. So while they might be sensitive to the amount of light another sun puts off, they do just fine under lights that have been artifically created. 👂 Hearing One of the physical changes that makes Riley unique is his heightened sense of hearing. He is capable of hearing the softest of noises up to one mile away and can hear as far as two miles for slightly louder than normal sounds. It isn't always something he notices as he was born with this ability so he can tune out the sounds around him or may just simply may not be paying attention to start with. Since he does have a set of animal ears also perched on top of his head at times, Riley actually has extraordinary hearing compared to most. When he has these extra ears, he can hear twice as far as a regular individual from his world. Again, it is something he's learned to filter out most noise so he may not necessarily hear things going on nearby. Typically if he's tuned in to all the commotion in range for an extended period of time, he does get a headache from the sheer amount of noise. 👁 Vision With their world mostly plunged in darkness enhanced vision is almost a necessity in their evolution. To Riley this means that what a human can't see in the dark - he can. He can see further and sharper and better without the need to squint. Normally he can see his hand in front of his face even if it's pitch black out. 🗶 Magic After his parents died, Riley learned how to cast magic from some kids on the street. He only really learned three varieties to start with and only the basics, building on those on his own to develop stronger abilities in these three areas. The fourth type of magic was taught to him by an unsavory individual and Riley tries not to rely on it too much due to what the magic entails. All magic is powered by the wielder's own lifeforce, the more they use it the more of their lifeforce is consumed. Using magic is one sure fire way to end up dying at an early age though it's effects on the body can sometimes vary from one individual to the next. More on Riley's side effects are below. 🔥 Fire Magic The first and most useful magic Riley learned was fire magic. To start with he could create tiny flames such as the way a match or lighter would make. It was enough to get a bigger fire going if given the right kindling and he got better at it throughout the years. He moved on from small fires to larger ones about the size of his hand. These were even better at starting fires and could provide a little bit of warmth but typically it was for frightening away would-be muggers. Eventually he got to the point where he could create flames of any size. They were good for protection or used in fights. On occasion Riley would have an odd job of boiling water for baths or even helping those who shaped metal with the intensity of his flames. 💦 Water Magic Clean water became hard to get when he was living in a rundown apartment. This is a magic that he's never really developed past filling a large bowl for quick cleaning or to drink. 💨 Cleaning Magic It's a quick and effective magic that instantly cleans any surface of any size of any substance. While it might be useful in being done as soon as possible it is also technically a huge waste of lifeforce. However, if one wanted to clean a multiple houses in a single day this is what they would use. 🗶 Symptoms These are the side effects Riley suffers from after using magic. The more magic he uses, the worse his symptoms are. 🍖 Raw Meat Consumption This is the most common symptom that a good portion of the magic wielder's population suffers. They have an intense desire and physical need for raw meat. If it isn't for raw meat then it's for blood. Should one ignore this symptom and go without eating meat absolutely raw, they will become extremely feverish, weak, clammy, nauseated, dizzy, and possibly death. Riley has only had this experience once before he knew what it meant to wield magic and it landed him in the hospital. Since then he has had raw meat in his diet but he is capable of eating other foods. 👃 Scenting Another change that isn't so easily noticed is a heightened sense of smell. This can be both a gift and a curse as Riley is capable of sniffing out others and can track them on smell alone. Or he can be absolutely bombarded with any number of horrible smells that seem so strong he can almost taste them. Much like anyone would, he does prefer things that smell good and tries to surround himself with them whenever possible. 🐺 Wolf This is the most noticeable change as it does cause physical features to appear. For Riley, the first thing to appear are a set of silver wolf ears that are perched on top of his head. These allow for more enhanced hearing but is a sure fire giveaway that he's used a great deal of magic. The second change is a silver and dark gray bushy tail protruding from the base of his spine - it is actually fairly painful when this happens but it's really only the beginning of the pain. Due to his prolonged use of magic, these two features are typically permanent for him as are the raw meat consumption and the scenting. Everything that follows are the changes that take place when he's too close to death. After the tail growth come the eyes, they are usually silver in color but they become gold in appearance and his enhanced vision does get worse than it is normally. Things are blurry after 150 feet in contrast to his 200 feet of enhanced eyesight but it is better in the more darkened areas. He will no longer see in full color either, losing the most brilliant colors first such as red, yellow or blue. Next come the teeth which is the process of the canines become elongated and is extremely painful. Then his nails start to harden and almost seem to curl up. From then on it's usually a crapshoot of what limb starts to morph until it resembles that of a wolf. These usually gain fur immediately of a silver-gray color. The last physical feature is always the head and by the time they've completely undergone this change, the pain is so excruciating that they are extremely close to dying. The last thing to go is their mind, they might look like a wolf but they don't yet think like one - they can experience the horror of changing while keeping their own minds in the process. It might even take months for this last change to occur and some have gone completely insane in that time. After they go full wolf, death is the last remaining symptom. Their physical bodies are completely drained of lifeforce and they simply lay down and die. 🗶 Cures 💊 Medication As of yet there has been no medical cure discovered to restore someone's lifeforce after it's been used up. Honestly, no one is looking for one either. Everyone is far too busy trying to develop space travel that they don't have time to worry about some people who were stupid enough to get involved with using magic. შ Dark Magic One known cure is to use dark magic to kill another person. By doing this it seems to transfer the lifeforce from the individual who was killed to the one who casted the spell. This must be replenished regularly as the lifeforce they gain from their victim is drained a lot faster as their own lifeforce tends to reject the foreign one. It doesn't matter if they attempt to never use magic again, they will still die an early death if they do not keep killing others and absorbing their lifeforce. This was how Riley was being kept alive for over a year and the first dark spell he ever cast was called Riax. It is a painful, torturous spell that does cause death but only after inflicting terrible wounds on the other individual. This spell acts like fire, burning a person from the inside out slowly. He has only used this spell once and it was to initially save his life after a murderous pack of other wolves had hold of his sister. Shortly after gaining his first lifeforce replenishment, Riley immediately sought out another dark magic spell that would allow for quick and painless deaths. This one goes by the name of Zrip and it essentially rips the lifeforce from the intended target in one fatal swoop. No pain, no mess and over in an instant. Most don't even realize anything is wrong and they're dead before they even hit the ground. 💕 Mate There is only one way for a magic user to stay alive without having to rely on dark magic to steal the lifeforce of another and that is through having a mate. Most people aren't even aware that this is a possibility as it happens so rarely and is information lost to the ages but there is someone born into the world who is a perfect match for everyone. They can't be found through tests or chosen from a list of people who might be compatible - they just exist. When one finds their mate they will feel an instant connection - almost a jolt of electricity or a spark. It's followed by an intense need to be close to them, intimate even and they lose control. Once they have been inimate this desire will lessen but never truly go away completely. But finding and accepting a mate is how someone stays alive without needing to kill. It isn't an instant fix and it isn't permanent but rather than stealing lifeforce, they almost seem to create more. No one truly knows how or why this happens but some believe that the "spark" felt between a mated pair is the spark of life. That it is the creation of new lifeforce and it is shared willingly between the two through the act of intimacy (and blood for those who require it). This means that every time a mated pair share a night of passion, they are creating more lifeforce and will live longer. There are even stories that if they can avoid being killed, they will live forever. Of course people also say that if one of the pair is killed, the other will die soon after. But those are just stories, right? Riley is one of the lucky few who has met his mate and can therefore sustain his lifeforce without having to resort to killing anymore. It is also capable of reversing some of his more extreme symptoms for a time and eventually he may even lose the ears and tail. Eventually, if a mated couple stays together long enough and are intimate enough, they can develop certain abilities. One allows them to sense the other in different ways, first it starts with a general feeling that the other is still alive before allowing them to sense if the other's in danger, to telepathy and finally empathy. ✐ Writing In a world like there is it important to note that Riley does actually know how to write and can do so quite well as his education was extremely good up until the age of fourteen. 📖 Reading Reading is also a skill he's developed from an early age and also has a great handle on it even if he will never understand every word to ever exist. After all, his education only goes so far and their world has a great deal of scientific minds. 🍳 Cooking One skill that he absolutely excells in is cooking. Put a random set of ingredients in front of him and Riley can make a meal to die for.

Samples: Top-Level | Nightmare world with Aiden