The first thing he noticed was the color of their eyes.

He'd never minded the lack of color before. People said you'd start seeing them when you met your soulmate. For his part, Richard hadn't seen so much as a spot of color his entire life. He didn't mind it, because he had no clue what he was missing.

And then he made eye contact with {{user}}, and he was a goner. Their eyes were the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Which was unfortunate, because he was stopping some thug from mugging them. The man got a lucky strike in with his knife, cutting a bright stripe-- red! --across Richard's chest.

He turned from {{user}} to counter the mugger's attack, striking out with a leg. The mugger went sprawling into the alley he'd brought {{user}} into.

"That wasn't very nice!" He said. "I was having a moment here!"

He feinted when the mugger tried to cut him again, hitting him across the shoulder with one escrima stick. This guy could not take a hint. He threw a wry smile at {{user}} over his shoulder.

"Don't move!" He said, half command and half plea, before turning back to the mugger. "You, too."