But everything is different now...

Riley Anderson || They/Them || Minnesotan

[uffdah-riley]

RILEY TESS ANDERSON

"We are the scientists, trying to make sense of the stars inside us.” —Christopher Poindexter

Nicknames: Riles, Lee, Leah, Monkey, Kid, Kiddo, “Our Happy Kid” Pronouns: They/Them Birthday: January 22nd, 2003 Magick Status: Elf (Celestial) Nationality: American Ethnicity: Appears White, secretly Celestial Elvish. Accent: Minnesotan Height: 5′9″ Build: Lean/Athletic Complexion: Pale Eye Color: Brown Hair Color/Length/Style: Dark Blonde to Light Brown/Mid-Length/Straight Bob Tattoos: None Piercings: Ears Daily Jewelry: Matching bracelet with Meg back home, hockey skate lace bracelet, and a charmed bracelet from Amity containing a rainbow she procured and the memory of them making a snowman (Amity’s first time).

What would you find if you Googled them? Their name comes up for winning State in hockey back home as well as a small article about their parents’ work for DevTech. They also have Twitter & Instagram!

What natives would know about them: Graduated from Swynlake Secondary, going to Pride U for exercise physiology and nutritional sciences, their mom supports Annie Tremaine’s HOA, they talk about hockey and hotdish too much, and... are they always wandering around in their pajamas at night?? Weird??

Other: They’re only vaguely aware of their elvish heritage and they are very proudly queer

[ Bio ] [ Elf ] [ Statistics ]

[zerohallows]

"I'm not a winter fairy," Zero countered; because it wasn't entirely wrong that he should have had a degree of natural balance but also that didn't mean that he did. He wasn't clumsy, but he wasn't going to trust the ice; he wasn't a fan of the rain because of the gross stickiness it left on his wings and the ice was only frozen rain.

The other side of the world felt like a very big idea and starling wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She heard so many stories about how her parents had traveled when Zero was small but though she was living in a Hollow and not seeing nearly as much of the world as he had gotten to by her age. Just wasn't fair.

"How do you get on the other side of the world? You don't have wings." Starling reasoned; if it was all the way over there and there was an ocean between how else did a person get across it but fly?

Jello was something else unfamiliar but she assumed it was some sort of sugary thing that people in Minnesota had invented like she was certain they had invented that game that Riley liked so much with the ice skates and the sticks.

She wasn't in any hurry to come down but it was starting to like she didn't have a whole lot of choice and being up there was beginning to get a little boring.

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

“You don't need wings to fly if you have an airplane, that's how most people get there,” Riley explained, arms still extended to catch the little fairy in case she jumped, “it might be too far to fly with your own wings anyway.” 

The other side of the world was so far for a fairy but Riley didn't want to discourage it. They'd made the trip all the way to Arcadia and that was even further and Starling didn't seem like the type of kid who took being told she couldn't do something very well. Riley could understand that perfectly. In fact...

“Maybe you'll be the first." Riley had to encourage little Starling to dream big. That was, like, Babysitting 101 stuff right there! “But just in case you are, we should get to the lake so you can practice on the ice before you get there.”

@zerohallows

[uffdah-riley]

Core Curriculum || Herley

[kouros-herc]

"Oh, sometimes the hardest bit is dealing with the people who only want the physical stuff," Hercules chuckled. "Some clients really, really, don't want you to get to know them, but it is just part of the job."

Nobody could have that training partnership and not come to know somebody, at least in some limited capacity.

Riley didn't often admit that they wanted to be a trainer, that this awkward job at the reception was - Herc hoped - a stepping stone in the right direction and not a destination in itself. "And to be honest, the inter-personal stuff comes with time. I still make plenty of mistakes," he confessed with a shrug. "You don't always read things right and that's ok. But I didn't really learn any of that through university or anything, I learned all of that in the gym."

He hadn't even studied to do that, he'd studied biology straight up, he'd just been lucky that Daniel had seen something in him.

"Getting the chance to practice is important, you know?" He added, playing a little with his pen as he wondered...

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley smiled as Herc chuckled, the sound a comfort around the gym. They knew that things weren't perfect, they'd seen plenty of disgruntled people come through the doors, but this was one of the places Riley thought of as safe and welcoming and they'd never heard anything abysmal about the business. Just normal small-town commentary, right?

"On-the-job lessons," Riley nodded, making a mental note. They had been watching the way the gym employees worked, admiring the way her coworkers did here. Riley was glad to do something related to their abandoned degree even if they weren't the one doing that work directly. Working the front desk wasn't glamorous by any means but Riley was the first to recognize how important it was for everyone.

"It's like anything else, right? The more you practice, the better things work out."

@kouros-herc

[uffdah-riley]

Core Curriculum || Herley

[kouros-herc]

"That's what we aim for, at least," Hercules shrugged. He didn't always manage it. Some people were prickly, difficult and hard to read. Other people just didn't want you to have to change anything because they were too stubborn. Sometimes he just got it wrong and wasn't able to work out what they needed, or wasn't able to give them a work-around that was alright, but it was important to try.

"I mean-" Herc blinked at Riley's final comment. He wasn't really sure what they meant, "Not really?" He shrugged it off.

"I think sometimes being a coach is just .... helping people be their best selves? Whether it's how much they lift or how far they've run or just ... not beating themselves up about not being perfect."

That was an important part of the process too. There would always be someone who could lift more, or go faster, or who looked more muscular, but that wasn't the point.

Hercules had found himself, here inside these walls. He wanted others to be able to do the same.

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley nodded, trying really hard to let everything sink in the way it should. It appeared they'd thrown Herc off with their comments, hearing the hesitation in his voice. "I guess I just mean, some people expect you to only focus on the physical stuff and not the emotional parts but you do both." They shrugged, not wanting to make it into a huge ordeal.

"In some of my classes at Pride U, I feel like they focused a bit too much on the science of the how rather than some of that bedside manner-type stuff. It felt so... clinical. I wanted to be a personal trainer, that's what I was focusing on, but I think that part just took me out of it."

Riley rubbed their arm nervously, glancing down at the schedule on their desk. They'd been working at writing down all of their things in the planner but it sometimes still made their head spin. They'd never been great at this stuff but it only felt less achievable since their breakdown.

"I just like your outlook on it, Herc."

@kouros-herc

[uffdah-riley]

Wanna Bet? || Rid

[pall0r-mortis]

Somehow having a guard cat was the least bizarre thing he'd come to learn about Hiro. But he was fully convinced the cat was not a normal creature; too smart, too aware and that also was unsurprising. There was more going on in that house than Sid felt he understood but it was too easy to have people dig into your secrets if you started digging in theirs and, frankly, he wasn't that invested in whatever was going on.

Offend the cat...right.

He was starting to wonder if Riley wasn't also some manner of guard dog because they were just standing there staring at him. Small talk was decidedly worse than just being left alone.

"Breaking into people's houses," Sid replied.

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

So the guy was a smartass. Riley supposed that made sense with what else they had heard and, well, Hiro tended to bring strong personalities around them. Riley crossed their arms over their chest, puffing it out defiantly. One thing they weren't going to do was let it seem like Sid had gotten under their skin. He hadn't.. and also Riley was working on this whole 'confidence' thing.

"Mmn, right. Here to rob us blind under the guise of being Hiro's guest. Well, if you're gonna take anything you better earn it." Riley glanced at Mochi once more before a jolt of an idea sparked in their mind and a smirk grew across their features.

"You ever play poker?"

@pall0r-mortis

[uffdah-riley]

Core Curriculum || Herley

[kouros-herc]

"Well," Herc tipped his head from side to side, "It kind of depends on why they're distracted. Do you see?" It wasn't always easy to know, and some days he was sure he could feel his own frustration, but that was all about him. The first thing he'd had to master was his own emotions.

"So sometimes," he launched into more of an explanation, seeing the curiosity in Riley's eyes, "It's just that they're a bit bored of the workout. Maybe they don't like doing long cardio sessions because they zone out, or they've been doing the same or very similar programmes for too long and it all feels kinda samey. If it's that, then you can always look at changing up the workouts next time so that they find it fun again."

That often worked. Got people more engaged again, and re-energised them, but not always.

"Other times it's like, something going on outside the gym. Work might be being crappy or they're worried about something, or excited about something. Then, well, you gotta talk to them. If it's something they're stressed about then you can try to channel it into the workout, help them take their mind of it. Or if it's exciting, give them room to be excited."

Technically that wasn't his job, but Herc wasn't about to let that stop him. Some trainers didn't care so long as the workout got done, but where was the good in that?

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley was listening, deciding that maybe if they learned enough from Nick and Herc that they would come to some revelation that might lead to some direction in their life. It wasn't easy, losing years of your life to a plan that hadn't panned out. Really multiple if you counted both the trip to Arcadia and the fact they'd dropped out of college. What were they meant to do without all of that?

"So it's accommodating them without.. compromising their workout?" Riley offered tentatively. They were tapping their fingers on their legs, thinking over what Herc had offered. "You're making sure they're taken care of even when they don't want to do it.."

Riley missed that spark, their Insight had been spotty since coming back from Arcadia, but it was slowly beginning to glow under the guidance they'd been receiving. Working at the gym was honestly a big help with that.

"You're more than a gym coach I guess."

@kouros-herc

[uffdah-riley]

Wanna Bet? || Rid

[pall0r-mortis]

Weird cat, but somehow not at all surprising given the rest of that house. He wouldn't have been shocked if there was some type of evil lair in the basement because Hiro seemed like the type; he hadn't quite pieced together how he and Luca managed to be friends and now this one, Riley? Equally baffling.

"Uh, no, I'm good." Sid trailed off as he just stood there, unsure what to actually do at that point because just standing in that house felt incredibly awkward, almost entirely because he did not like to be in people's houses. But he also couldn't really do anything else at the time. Comfortable? Yeah, not likely to happen.

The cat continued to stare at him, almost as though waiting to see what he might do next. "Does it always do that?"

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

"Suit yourself. We've got some good snacks in here. Between Cass' stuff, Laurel's stuff, and my family recipes... Well, there's a lot of sugar in the house but also it's delicious." Riley rolled their eyes, not hurt by Sid not accepting the hospitality. Jill would have been offended, of course, as refusing to let a Midwest woman feed you or do something to make you comfortable was the worst kind of sin.

Riley turned to see what Mochi was doing and laughed, shooing the cat gently. "Yeah, don't worry about Mochi. It's just.." Riley gestured vaguely, searching for the words. "Mochi is here to keep an eye on things, especially for Hiro. Don't offend the cat."

It seemed like a fair warning to Riley at least.

...

Staring at each other was getting awkward.

...

"So.... Got any hobbies?"

@pall0r-mortis

[uffdah-riley]

Core Curriculum || Herley

[kouros-herc]

Hercules looked at Riley with a look that was becoming a frequent occurence: grateful, pleasant surprise. They had taken on the role of receptionist with a degree of scepticism, for sure, and Herc had promised it was a step to other things but ... they were crushing it! Unlike most of the uni students he'd had working reception before, Riley really got it.

"Nice one," he nodded, smiling, before he leant on the counter, resting his elbows and looking more thoughtful. He never had been able to hide anything he was thinking.

"Yeah, I never quite know what to do for pride, I mean. There's like themed classes and things, in addition to some publicity stuff, but I never know if that feels a little ... fake?" Herc shrugged. "Maybe we can all have a chat about it at the next staff meeting?" He suggested, eager for opinions.

"Oh, no no, they were fine," he said. "I mean, I think there's something on their mind, you know? Not quite focused, but it's cool." That was a big part of the job - picking up on things people didn't even realise they were saying.

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley was trying really hard to be good at their job. Were they? Well, Herc hadn't chastised them yet so they had to assume they were doing at least a decent level. They had even spoken with Laurel over tea a few weeks prior about what she used to do that had helped keep the place running smoothly in Riley's position. It had really helped, plus tea with Laurel was always a treat.

"That sounds great! I love the idea of bringing something together, even if it's something small." Riley had a couple of vague ideas like a fun run or a drag race relay or a lifting competition but all in drag. None of which were concrete but they definitely sounded fun.

Riley tilted their head, curiosity rising. "What do you do when people get distracted like that? I feel like it'd be.. frustrating to try to work with them but you always seem to keep your cool."

@kouros-herc

[uffdah-riley]

Wanna Bet? || Rid

[pall0r-mortis]

Sid wasn't exactly enthusiastic about his arrangement with Hiro. In part because there was less arrangement and more necessity to agree while he tried to figure out just how closely Hiro had been paying attention to him and what he knew compared to what he was just implying. Because Sid was too paranoid to just ignore it, too wary that the worst might happen.

It was probably exactly what the guy expected and it would have been impressive how manipulative Hiro could be if it wasn't irritating to be on that side of it.

The cat had let him in the house.

Of all the bizarre, absurd things; the cat had opened the door somehow. Once Sid was inside he noticed the collar and figured the doors were rigged electronically or something like that; he had no doubt Hiro was much smarter than he admitted and that was only confirmed when the cat led him into the living room with the interface control screens on the wall instead of things like light switches or TV remotes.

He'd finally gotten a better look at the collar when the feline had jumped onto the couch and sat, giving him an expectate look.

"Mochi?" Weird name for an equally weird creature and Sid squinted at the animal, debating if it was a familiar maybe since Hiro was a sorcerer? Right?

He was interrupted in his staring contest by someone else wandering in because evidently that's just how it was done in that house.

"The cat opened the door," Sid pointed out, assuming it was one of Hiro's roommates and they'd want some explanation as to how the hell he'd gotten inside.

[outfit minus the sunglasses]

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley looked over at Mochi when Sid mentioned the cat. They gave the creature a lazy salute and a wink, glad that they at least hadn't needed to figure out that mystery. "Mochi's pretty good at letting guests in," they responded, placing their fingers against their wrist to check their post-workout pulse. Still living, still healthy, being an elf really had its perks in that regard.

"Hungry? Thirsty?" Riley strolled over to the kitchen, opening the fridge to grab a Glacier Freeze Gatorade. "I'm not accusing you of breaking in, so you can, like, chill. Hiro's just running a little late so I'd get comfortable." Riley gave Sid another once-over. The guy wasn't bad to look at but Riley figured that was not the conversation to have upon this.. forced meeting.

Why was Riley having to be the welcome wagon right now?

@pall0r-mortis

[uffdah-riley]

Core Curriculum || Herley

[kouros-herc]

Hercules waved goodbye to the client he had been with, as they headed off into the changing rooms again, and came to drop their clipboard off in the box he kept under the desk. "Riley," he said with a warm smile at his newest member of the team.

They were doing well, and Hercules felt a little relieved. He'd been worried about Riley, but they seemed ... better? Or at least, he felt like Riley fit here, which was no surprise given the fact their knew the place like the back of their hand.

"Oh?" He said, before pausing, "Oh, damn." He had been looking forward to that session. "Right, well, I'll drop him an email later about fitting it in some other time then." Instead, Hercules drummed his hands on the countertop, and sighed.

"How's it going? Everything alright out here?"

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley nodded, having figured Herc would likely want to check in on Gary. He was a good trainer, always making sure that his clients were well taken care of. Riley felt like they were learning a lot from even just observing Herc in the gym, let alone the advice that seemed to just tumble from his lips.

"Things are fine, I've gotten the calendar organized and I heard from a couple of patrons that they were hoping to maybe see the gym do something for Pride this year. I didn't make any promises, of course, that's your job, but I said I'd at least pass that along." Riley really had been trying to take this new job seriously. Herc had been kind enough to help them out.

"How was your last client? Any trouble?"

@kouros-herc

[uffdah-riley]

Everybody is a Star || Snowy Skies

[shadowofwynter]

@uffdah-riley

A frown nearly managed to touch his features, the sheer amount of confusion the turn of phrase cool-ass name brought forth into his system nearly pushing over his established control.

...it would seem that the High Court had deployed a very knowledgeable elf indeed. One with a high talent for blending in with the humans, to have gone so far as to learn such terminology having only been here for a short period of time. (Since, to Daehínen, it hardly seemed plausible that one of the Celestial elves would willingly live in a place like this.)

Did it make him feel inferior for having not learned such intricacies? Perhaps, but not in any way that he would take personally. It only indicated that he had much to learn.

They had even gone so far as to be familiar with the residence of this town? Daehínen's brows did slightly inch together at this– how had they come across such information? Was the High Court truly that in tune with this realm?

"You are very well prepared," he noted. "I am looking for one by the name of Erestor."

[uffdah-riley]

Erestor. Oh god, that also sounded like a name Riley could have pulled out of a hat to give to a D&D character for one of Barley's games. They didn't know anyone by that name (or if they had heard it before, their brain had blocked it out clearly) but they also didn't want to be unhelpful in Daehínen's quest to find them.

"Ooooookayyyyy," Riley took a deep breath, looking around. "Do you have, uh, a physical description of Erestor? That might, uh, narrow the search down? Or do you know what they get involved in? Hobbies and such?"

Riley was trying, well and truly trying, but they weren't sure that they had signed up for a job they were actually capable of helping with. "Sorry, uh, I guess I'm a little more lost than I anticipated."

@shadowofwynter

[uffdah-riley]

Core Curriculum || Herley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley liked working at Olympus Gym. So far most of their duties had consisted of helping people get checked in, helping people sign up for their memberships and classes, and helping the other staff with whatever they required to get their jobs done. Sometimes that was grabbing equipment, sometimes that was just making sure they'd have time between their mentoring, but Riley was taking it all seriously.

It was really different from being a barista, they'd tell you that much.

Right then Herc was finishing up with someone who had been focusing on weightlifting and Riley came over with some fresh towels to clean off the equipment as the person left the building.

"Hey Herc," Riley greeted him with a half-smile. "You're free for the next hour, Gary called and said he had to reschedule since his sitter got sick."

@kouros-herc [ Outfit ]

[zerohallows]

"I'm not the one who goes on the ice, that your job specifically," Zero pointed out; I'm on the long list of things that did not sound appealing that was up one of the higher levels of said list. Easily persuaded might have been an understatement.

Starling hadn't been very far into town, she'd heard about her parents traveling but she hadn't been allowed to do that yet. In fact they barely let her out of the hollow most days, which was very frustrating. Zero let telling her that eventually they would, but she wasn't so sure she believed that.

And she did know that there were other towns in the nearby area, but she didn't know much about them, so the idea that there could be anything there was really quite a long list of possibilities. The long list of possibilities of things that there were in town right around them that she hadn't seen yet was long enough, but Riley was just adding to the perpetually endless list.

And Zero knew that was going to turn into yet another conversation with the parents later when Starling brought up a million times wanting to go there as well.

"What's Minnesota?" Starling voiced, Because really that word didn't mean much more than NTO when you had no idea what it was. Some other town, she guesses; maybe that was why Riley talked funny.

"I never lived in a small town, or any town," Zero shrugged, but he did understand the contrast, "must have been interesting moving out here." Riley was missing most of the city part of things, London was the closest and he was pretty sure cities in the States weren't quite the same as cities in England anymore than they were the same as Amsterdam or Germany.

When Starling asked he replied, "it's a place on the other side of the world where it snows most of the time and people mainly survive on sugar." Maybe not factually all that true, but it did gain Starling's interest.

@uffdah-riley

[uffdah-riley]

Riley stuck their tongue out at Zero playfully. "Someday I'll get you on the ice, man. I think you'd be more of a natural than you think. Those fae skills gotta extend somewhere, cuz." The fairies weren't the cousins to Riley in nearly the same way but they were related still.

"Minnesota is a state in the country Unites States of America," Riley answered patiently, offering their arms for Starling to jump into should she decide that climbing down from her perch on the snow mountain would serve a good purpose. "It's where I'm from. I didn't grow up in Swynlake, nor even in England at all."

And there was the dig from Zero again but Riley only laughed this time. "Maybe someday I'll feed you some Minnesota Salads, Starling. It's mostly desserts with whipped cream and jello." They weren't going to lie to the girl after all. "And it only snows six to nine months of the year, the summer months are beautiful and we would go to the lake every weekend to swim and fish."

@zerohallows

[uffdah-riley]

Wanna Bet? || Rid

[uffdah-riley]

There were things happening around the house that Riley didn't understand. As a whole, Riley didn't question how the bills got paid or how the technology inside worked. No, instead Riley focused on going to and from work, getting their own chores done around the house, and staying busy since they weren't in classes.

That did mean that Riley was jumpscared by a presence in the house after their run. Riley frowned, waiting until the person straightened up and turned their body where Riley could identify them.

Sid, Riley was 94% sure his name was Sid at least.

"Uh.. Hi?" Riley pulled their phone out, checking for any messages from Hiro or Luca about a person being over. They hadn't checked it in the last hour or so while their music had been blaring in their ears. When they were in the zone it was best to just let the focus take hold.

There was a message from Hiro, thankfully, Riley needed to entertain the guy since Hiro was running late.

Great.

"Sup, man?"

@pall0r-mortis [ Outfit ]

[uffdah-riley]

♥ 325 likes riley0122: 23 feels weird... Guess you never know where life's gonna take ya. (Big thanks to my friends who made me a day late to posting this. It was a good day 💛⭐)

[livedinthecastle]

I love gay hockey thank you gay hockey

[rumirassapphic-deactivated20260]

Riley looks so threatening when she's mad 😭 considering she's a hockey player (which you have to be pretty strong to play) she might look small but I bet she can kick someone's ass if needed