Who: Rhydian Oakby and OPEN What: Taking a sick personal day Where: Russell Square, London When: Thursday afternoon Warnings/Rating: TBA
Rhydian might have been exaggerating slightly when he had begged off work complaining of relentless nausea. Physically he was more or less all right - a little bleary from going back to bed and sleeping in til eleven, perhaps - but it was true that the thought of pushing memos and filing things for eight hours straight for the fourth day this week had made him a bit queasy. And it had been a few weeks since he'd last decided not to show up, so, as he saw it, he was owed a day.
This one was off to an excellent start. It was about lunchtime, but he was just polishing off the last of his coffee, lounging on a bench and ignoring the numerous pigeons who were shuffling closer to him with each passing moment. He'd taken a seat to do some low-key Muggle-watching, but it had rapidly turned into wizard-spotting after he'd seen a harried, poorly-dressed man drop his briefcase and gather the contents back together just a little too quickly to have done so without cheating. Rhydian wondered how many of them wandered through here every day, passing by the brutal, looming tower of the library, the students queued up for plates of tasteless (but free) Indian food, the quiet cafe he hadn't patronized in about four years.
He could be excused for spending his day this way, he thought, considering he'd agreed to be on the lookout for intriguing people on his sister's behalf. That was like a job. He worried more about her than he'd thought he would, considering she was locked away at one of the safest places in Britain, but … well, being locked away didn't suit some people, did it. Anyway, he was far more likely to meet someone tolerable skiving off in a park in the middle of the day than behind his desk, and had he had any second thoughts about spending his time this way, that would have obliterated them. He chucked the crust of his muffin as far as he could, sending a frantic swarm of pigeons bearing down on it, and began to consider his lunch options.