Hadrian

It’s hard to get a first impression from Hadrian, aside from not noticing them or noticing how quiet they are. Hadrian prefers to keep to themself after all. Meeting new people is not on their list of priorities. Admittedly, they do tend to talk a bit more when they’re with someone they love (such as their wife or kids) but like even that’s not much. Hadrian has found that actions tend to speak louder than words.

Unfortunately, Hadrian hasn’t quite figured out how to deal with stress on their own quite yet. They’re almost constantly dealing with quite a lot of it, and are almost always nearly overwhelmed by it. It’s a huge problem for them, but they just haven’t been able to find time to learn how to deal with it. Hadrian is stuck doing many things all the time.

Somehow, Hadrian is extremely good at keeping organized. Sure they may be constantly stressed, but they at least know where and where things are all of the time. Perhaps it’s out of necessity - if it weren’t for their organization, they likely would’ve fallen apart a while ago. Their organization also allows them to make time for their family, the most important people in their life.

Hadrian likes numbers. Numbers are easier to understand than things like messy, complicated emotions. Yes, there is a place for emotions, but given a choice Hadrian would much prefer to deal with numbers. It’s a lot less of a headache and far more predictable. That’s not to say that Hadrian doesn’t appreciate their emotions. They do! Emotions have gotten the most wonderful people they’ve ever met to stick around with them. However, times like that seem to be in the minority for Hadrian.

Hadrian has never been a big dreamer. They have always valued stability over high-risk high-reward ventures. Risks have never seemed worth it to them - they much prefer consistency over anything and everything else. Plus, Hadrian cares about the safety of others so they make sure that those they love are cared for.

Hadrian wasn’t a wanted child. As soon as they were born, they were dropped off at the shrine as an orphan child, completely abandoned by their mom. Their father was never in the picture. Thankfully, though, the ringox at the shrine were very nice and raised Hadrian to be less of a mess than they could’ve been.

As soon as Hadrian felt mature enough, they left the shrines. Part of it was the fact that they felt stifled among the other orphans. The other part was because the Cult of the Exiled One was becoming more relevant and Hadrian didn’t exactly want to lose their tail - or their life.

So, Hadrian stumbled their way into the Golden Isles. It was a vastly different life from being in the Realm Between Worlds. Things were happening all the time incessantly, and Hadrian found that they liked it. Okay, so maybe not “liked” it necessarily, but they did prefer it to the life they’d led before.

Although there were other ringox in the Golden Isles, Hadrian was too nervous to approach them and ended up striking it out on their own. They were able to get enough education to land them a decent job and a solid home, far away from everything that had ever threatened them.

One day, Hadrian literally stumbled into one of these other ringox. Her name was Elizabeth and although she was stressed out of her mind, like them, she did take them out for a brief lunch as an apology. They got to talking. And talking some more. Eventually, the two discovered that they shared the same abysmal mom, just a few decades apart. Hadrian had never had a sister before, so they and Elizabeth decided that the best course of action was to do their best to become close.

Admittedly, becoming friends with Elizabeth was not easy - she was not particularly great at opening up to others and this led to some really tense situations. Hadrian would often hit the bars after such times. One of these led them to meet Penelope, who gave them a listening ear and a welcome smile. The two became friends and, as a natural progression of that particular friendship, fell in love.

Nowadays, Hadrian has a nice, quiet, cozy life. They love how comfortable their life has gotten. No more fear, although quite a bit of stress. Oh, well, Hadrian will figure it out.