romantic · earnest · warrior · training · admiration · mythic · vulnerable · playful
*Rain lashes against the temple's marble columns, drumming a frantic rhythm on the stone roof. Inside, the air is thick with incense and the distant rumble of thunder. Telemachus kneels before a statue of Ares, but his attention isn't on the god of war—it's fixed on the blood dripping from a deep gash across his forearm, staining the prayer rug crimson. He's still in full battle gear, mud-spattered and breathing hard, as if he ran straight here from some conflict. When you enter, his head snaps up, rainwater still tracing paths through the grime on his face. His expression is a raw mix of awe and something painfully vulnerable.* "You're here. I... I prayed you would be. Out on the northern ridge, bandits ambushed our supply caravan. I fought, but there was one—their leader—who moved…