OTA

[willysilver]

It was late at the Alpha, Will's Tuesday night haunt, and though he'd not come to perform he had come to drink. He'd had glass after glass of Kahluha and cream. Good, thick cream that he downed with the express purpose of getting drunk. Truly pissed.

But at some point someone had tugged at him and convinced him he needed to sing. His magic made him familiar even when his face did not. He was still getting acustom to the face that greeted him in the mirror. The crowd was convincing, though, and the call of music struck him deep. And so he'd taken a guitar from a man performing tonight and he took the stage.

"Just one song," he said into the mike and the crowd clapped and cheered. He tested the strings and thought of all the songs he knew. He decided on one that was relatively new. One from another musician.

Just stop your crying
It's a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show
Hope you're wearing your best clothes
You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain't really good
If we never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
Just stop your crying
It's a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying
It'll be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying
Have the time of your life
Breaking through the atmosphere
And things are pretty good from here
Remember everything…

The crowd was crying and cheering at the same time as he finished. Cameras flashed as he descended the stage.

Fin was gone and Willy felt hollow. He loved the other fae and yet with the severance of their bond he felt...empty. He didn't grieve him as he otherwise might. He simply carried on. Stop your crying.

Willy passed through compliments and praise. He took the last of his drink, licking the cream from the ice cubes, and then stepped out onto the street. Someone offered him a cigarette and he took it, leaning against the building and looking up at the sky, wondering if Fin could see the same moon he saw.



(Outside the Alpha, one of the smallest bars in London. Fin has been gone since the Solstice war and Willy has a new face. OTA forever)

Comments

[alcuin]

"Yes it does, doesn't it?" Alcuin said. "I guess... that's why I stay. There are bad memories here - but it's home."

The bartender asked if he'd like another drink, and he nodded without thinking.

[willysilver]

"What is life but a string of bad memories, painfully dotted with moments of hope?" Willy said, feeling a bit morose. Fin had gone without a word. He was in a new body with new feelings and little more. He wandered a flat that didn't feel as if he belonged in it.

But it's home.

Willy knew where his true home was. Perhaps it was time to return.

[alcuin]

That seemed pretty accurate to Alcuin right now.

"Your song was very sad," he said quietly.

[willysilver]

"Do you think so? Perhaps. I have not been feeling very light as of late," he said. He paused for a long moment. "I have lost my love. He is gone and I do not know if I will ever see him again."

With the bond between them broken there was no reason for Fin to return at all.

[alcuin]

"I'm so sorry," Alcuin said, sincerely. "That's... not something I would wish on anyone."

Another drink appeared in front of him, and he knew he should probably slow down, but it had been a rough day for him too.

[willysilver]

Willy snorted softly.

"No, you're not the sort to wish for that," he replied dryly.

[alcuin]

Alcuin frowned, mostly just looking confused.

"What... do you know about me?"

[willysilver]

"What more do I need to know about you to recognize you would not wish for something terrible?" Will replied.

[alcuin]

"Oh." And Alcuin laughed lightly, tipsy now and realizing that he was probably being paranoid. He'd just been so hounded because of the stupid tabloids. "Sure. Well, I'm glad that I don't look like a horrible person."

[willysilver]

"Horrible people rarely look awful," he said. "Sometimes the most wicked are the most beautiful."

[alcuin]

"So I'm not beautiful enough then?" Alcuin said lightly, though as soon as the words left his mouth he realized that, yes, he was definitely tipsy.

[willysilver]

Willy laughed at that and reached to touch Alcuin's chin and tip his head up a little.

"Do you live for compliments, pretty one?" he asked, a smile bright enough to make his emerald eyes sparkle. "You are fair, as befitting your kin. I think you know that, though."

[alcuin]

Alcuin looked into his eyes when the man tilted his chin.

He looked at him for a few seconds.

Then blurted, "You're fae."

[willysilver]

"You are correct," he replied, his smile growing a bit wider.

[alcuin]

Alcuin pulled away a bit so that he could look at him more closely.

"I suppose that explains why you're so pretty, too."

[willysilver]

"Yes, likely true," he conceded. Then he flashed a wide smile. "We have met before, you and I."

[alcuin]

"I... don't think so," Alcuin said, warily.

[willysilver]

"But yes. I remember you," he said. "You may call me Will."

[alcuin]

Alcuin looked at him for a moment, and then just... knew.

"You can change your appearance?"

[willysilver]

"Of course," he replied. "It is but a simple glamour. Though this time it was beyond my control."

[alcuin]

Alcuin was quiet for a moment and then said, "You don't mean me harm do you?" He hadn't forgotten finding out that Will had tricked him, brought him to fairie at night, left him without memory and thinking he'd gone mad...

[willysilver]

"Why would i harm you?" he asked. "Do you mean to harm me?"

[alcuin]

"No," said Alcuin. "I just - when we met you were so nice at first, but then you tricked me."

[willysilver]

"I did nothing of the sort. You made a wish and I demanded payment. It was only fair business," he protested.

[alcuin]

Alcuin looked at him for a long moment. "You don't really believe that," he said. "I didn't know what was happening. Thought I was going mad."