Maurice River. Think of him as someone who still carries old memories around like worn keychains hanging from his backpack, the kind that softly clink against each other whenever he walks. Small things from happier days he never really had the heart to throw away. Each of them means something to him, even if nobody else would fully understand why. People usually call him Ise, though he doesn’t really mind other affectionate nicknames either.There’s something nostalgic about him that people tend to notice almost immediately. Maybe it’s the way he holds onto little things longer than he should, or how he treats certain songs, places, and moments with so much care, like he’s afraid they’ll disappear if he doesn’t. Like old cassette tapes left inside car compartments for years, books with yellowing pages and folded corners, or faded polaroids tucked carefully inside shoeboxes beneath someone’s bed. He feels a little like music playing softly from the backseat during long drives when the evening light starts fading outside the window.Still, Maurice is not nearly as quiet as people first assume. Once he grows comfortable around someone, he talks—a lot, I think. You’ll see him joining in on conversations about the things he loves, or even just light-hearted chats that feel unimportant yet still enjoyable. Sometimes he jumps from one topic to another so quickly that even he loses track halfway through. He can be unexpectedly chaotic too, reacting dramatically over the smallest things and sending ridiculous emojis or weird stickers that somehow explain exactly what he means better than words do.Affection comes naturally to him, almost instinctively. It shows up in little things more than grand gestures, in lingering conversations, warm reassurances. Being cared for by him often feels subtle at first. It is his habit of making people feel remembered, and perhaps is the closest thing to love he knows how to offer. Once he cares, truly cares, pieces of you begin settling quietly into his routines without he even noticed when it first started happening.Music means a lot to him. He listens to almost everything, always looking for songs he’s never heard before. Sometimes he gets more attached to the feeling hidden inside a song than the song itself. He likes understanding the meaning behind lyrics, sitting with them for a while, letting them become attached to certain memories without meaning to. Films are the same for him. He loves spending hours in front of the TV watching whatever feels right at the moment.
