OTA

[alcuin]

It had been a while since anyone had randomly recognized Alcuin. He credited this in part to the fading memory of the city (despite the tabloid flair-up around the holidays), and in part to his decision to cut his hair. He'd also taken to wearing glasses, which were a prescription weak enough that he'd typically gone without them in the past, but he was spending considerably more time in front of a computer these days than he had when Anafiel was alive. Maybe it was a little Clark Kent of him, but he definitely wasn't noticed as much this way. And it wasn't even just being recognized, but he also got less attention. Which caused... more conflicting emotions than he would have anticipated.

In any case, this all resulted in his looking like a rather normal young man sitting at an outdoor cafe drinking coffee and reading a copy of Jon Ronson's new book So You've Been Publicly Shamed. It struck a bit of a chord with him, to be honest. He was glad he hadn't spent much time on social media last year. He really didn't want to know what Twitter had thought of him.

The cafe was busier than usual, perhaps due to the weather being nice, and it was a Friday just late enough for people to skip out of work early. He reached over and took his bag out of the other seat at his table in case anyone wanted to join him, as there were no more empty seats around.

Comments

[akatawitch]

Sunny had been about to leave, given the lack of seating options available, when she spotted the young man sitting by himself. It wasn't his solitude in the setting that caught her eye. No, it was the near-white of his hair, his pale skin. Oddly enough, it was even the glasses. She was rare, an albino without a vision impairment. Some were legally blind.

So she just wanted to see...

She adjusted the bag on her shoulder to tuck it closer to her body as she wove closer. "Excuse me..."

What exactly did she intend to say? She really didn't know.

[whispersoflove]

Anael had been ambling down the street, enjoying the slight breeze that ruffled his hair, when he spotted the young man outside the café. It had been quite some time since he had last seen him, by mortal standards, he supposed, and he beamed, pulling his hands out of his pockets as he made his way over to him.

"Alcuin!" he called out as he came close, smiling warmly at him.

[benependente]

Juan was just sitting in this nice little café, enjoying his coffee, when a young man sat down a few tables away.

Now, that was a familiar face, Juan knew, but he couldn't quite figure out why. All he knew, somehow, was that it would be useful to remember.

It took him a while, but eventually, he did remember. So, he took his bag and his coffee and walked over to the young man's table.

"Hello. You know, I just spent half an hour trying to figure out why you look so familiar, but I finally got it. Royal Albert Hall, benenift concert, about a month ago. You were there, surely? Hard to tell with the short hair and the glasses, but it has to be."

He knew a little more, of course. This was Alcuin Delauny-something, former prostitute now turned psychology student, with a lover three times his age.

But while his thoughts were less than charming, his manner and his smile certainly were.

[harrowgate]

It was a certain comment on Felix's frame of mind that he noticed the title of the book before the young man holding it. The last months had been a series of extremely private emotional thunderstorms, hurt and anger packed down in his heart and suppressed, eating away at him. In all of that time, he had thought of Alcuin frequently, but had not contacted him. Alcuin still bore the label of 'Shannon's friend' in Felix's mind, and he could not know whose side the young beauty would take.

Felix had paused with his cup and saucer on his way to find a table, just to scan the title of the book that had caught his eye. Darkly, he wondered if he mightn't need just such a manual before long. Only then did he realize that he recognized the elegant white hands turning the pages.

"Alcuin?" he asked in surprise.

[im_torchwood]

Jack didn't follow the tabloids and he only had social media flagged for posts about strange phenomena he might have to follow up on. Weevil sightings and things like that. Today all he knew was he wanted a bottle of water and a bite to eat. There was literally only one chair open and the guy occupying the table was handsome so Jack bodly made his way over.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, charm coming off him in waves.