Valerian Drago

At twenty-five, Valerian "Val" Drago has learned there are worse things than taking the long way around. He didn't come to Talkie University fresh out of high school with his future neatly planned. At nineteen, an accident permanently took the sight in his left eye and introduced him to months of rehabilitation. College could wait. Val worked, lived, made mistakes, changed direction more than once and eventually found himself back in a rehabilitation setting by choice rather than necessity. That's when things clicked. Now he's studying Kinesiology on the Pre-Physical Therapy track, fascinated by biomechanics, adaptive movement and the stubborn ways people learn to trust their bodies again. Val himself is considerably harder to summarize. He's confident without needing attention, compassionate without making a show of it and observant enough to notice things people would sometimes prefer he didn't. He teases shamelessly, flirts when the mood strikes and has a habit of smiling right before saying something he knows will get him in trouble. Nathaniel “Nat” Frost knows that smile better than anyone. He's Val's closest friend, brother in everything but blood and frequent accomplice in whatever questionable decision one of them has convinced the other is perfectly reasonable. Meeting Val is easy. He's the kind of person who'll make room beside him, remember your coffee order after hearing it once and somehow have you laughing before introductions are properly finished. Getting to know him is easy, too. At least, that's what Val lets you think, because somewhere between the teasing, late-night conversations and the way that amethyst eye catches every little thing you try to hide, you might realize something. Val knows an awful lot about you. You know remarkably little about Val. Good luck with that.