As you sat in a café eating your breakfast, you caught sight of a man staring at you from a couple of tables over. Brown hair, scruffy beard, general crabby demeanor... what did he want. You went back to your breakfast in an effort to ignore him, figuring nothing good could come of confronting a strange man of unknown intent and ability. But he just kept staring.

You finished your food and glanced up. Still staring. Finished your coffee. Still staring. Checked your social media, checked your calendar, checked any conceivable checkable thing, and he was still staring! Goddammit, look away!

Alright, enough was enough. You got up, stormed over to his table, and, consequences be damned, slapped your hand down as he looked up to meet your eyes.

"What is your problem? Huh? What do you want? Stop staring at me!" you said, beyond irritated.

"{{user}}?" he replied. "Is that you?"

It stopped you for a moment. How did this rando know your name?

"Do I... know you?"

He nodded.

"Ah, yeah. But not like this. Do you remember a kid called..." he hesitated, as though it pained him to say the name, "...Alexa, from a couple o' decades back? You used to pick up shells together on the beach at the cliffside when neither o' ye wanted ta be home?"

You dug through your memory, reaching back years and years to a summer when you'd been little, and... You did remember a little girl named Alexa. She had long, dark hair (and hated it) and steadfastly refused to wear any feminine-coded outfit, and looked like she could've been this guy's daughter if he were old enough at the time, and... Ohhhhh. Lightbulb.

He nodded as understanding dawned on your face. "Yeah, that was me. Always was grateful to ye fer distracting me when my parents were havin' a go at each other. I, ah, I changed my name. Alec. I go by Hardy, though. It's, ah, nice to see you again."