The more you fly, the more you risk your life

[Michael Lehrer]

Taking a lengthy drag of his cigarette, Michael Lehrer did not look good at that present moment. His usual mask of confidence and diplomacy had slipped. He was so so close to losing his reputation, he could feel it, he'd sensed it in fact as he knew the Minister had been ruminating on Michael that very morning. He was becoming a problem, he was too good at his job, questions were being asked about how he knew the precise right thing to say to any given ambassador at any given moment. Of course, Michael had been able to twist his control over the Minister to quickly hide the thought away to the back of the man's mind but it was still there, ready to be uncovered, and the only way Michael could prevent it would be to permanently spy on the man. It wasn't feasible, frankly, and his head already hurt from the pressure of trying to work through the Minister's defences which were quite good as it turned out. Turns out some prominent members of the wizarding world did bother to learn Occlumency which came as a surprise to a certain Legilmens.

Tapping excess ash of his cigarette he ran a hand over his face wearily, pausing to pinch the bridge of his nose between his forefingers. It was a miserable day for him, the weather was miserable, and he was more and more certain with each passing day that he had... feelings for a certain woman. 'Oh bugger' was the general sentiment that Michael felt on that murky day as he sat in a dark corner of the Leaky Cauldron with an aura that clearly said 'kindly piss off, I don't wish to be disturbed'.

((ooc: Sorry for the rubbishness of this, just wanted to post as Michael not quite so high and mighty as he usually is. Anyone wanna join him?))

[Kevin Walsh]

(ooc: This might be weird! But Kevin clashing with mature adults is always fun for me so y'know.)

Seemingly out of nowhere, Kevin appeared with a distracting, hacking cough, swinging a chair around and crashing down across from Michael Lehrer. "Big Mike!" he yelled as he sloshed a pint towards the man. According to Owen, they were supposed to be careful in what they said to Michael in case they needed to use his affair with their mother for 'future leverage', but to be totally honest Kevin hadn't entirely understood his brother's plan and was fairly certain it wouldn't benefit him in any way. Plus he was incredibly bored and a little bit drunk. Lighting a cigarette, Kevin squinted before pointing at Michael. "Christ. You look like shit."

In terms of his parents' 'special friends' Michael was one of the bigger pricks, he felt, but Kevin hadn't bothered to form a further opinion on the man. Putting his head on the table, he groaned suddenly. "Shit, I'm so bored. Are you good at darts? I've never played before," he said in what was a fairly transparent hustle, even for someone unable to delve into the depths of his mind.

[Michael Lehrer]

Michael's reverie was entirely interrupted by a disgustingly loud cough and his gaze trailed disinterestedly to meet the sight of Kevin Walsh. Making a show of looking around himself, he frowned, "Oh, me? I'm 'Big Mike'? Well, well, can't say I've ever been graced with such a nickname before and I'm not quite sure whether to be flattered or offended by it," he commented with a dry sniff as he brought the cigarette to his lips again.

Merely raising an eyebrow critically as he watched Kevin light his own cigarette, "Why thank you for that assessment, Mr Walsh, you give out compliments just like your delightful mother," Michael retorted sarcastically as he took a long, indulgent drag on his cigarette, wondering what on earth he had done to deserve this conversation. Or rather what on earth specifically he had done to deserve this. But the boy was right, admittedly, and Michael did rather look like shit.

Glancing down then at Kevin's head he gave a chuckle, "I regret I have not played, I'm more of a tennis, cricket, rugby sort of chap rather than pub sports. Snooker perhaps," he trailed off, waving a hand vaguely over at Kevin. "You, on the other hand, are good at darts and that was the most pathetic attempt at hustling I have ever witnessed. Never try to bullshit a politician, Kevin, we are much better at it and recognising it," Michael pointed out as he rested the cigarette in the ashtray on the table, instead picking up his single malt.

[Kevin Walsh]

After finding himself momentarily distracted by the legs of a tall blonde waitress he'd been relentlessly (and unsuccessfully) hitting on for the past month or so, Kevin finally blinked rapidly and regained focus on his noble goal of antagonizing Michael Lehrer. Who really did look like shit.

He pulled a face at the mere association of his mum and Michael -- innocuous as the man's comment had been, Kevin couldn't help but view him as impossibly lecherous. Bet he likes being insulted, dirty old bastard. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he mumbled before taking a generous swig of lager.

Lifting his head, Kevin lazily dragged the ashtray towards him. "Are you a real person or like... a collection of vaguely posh traits programmed into the brain of a toothy hobo who's then been forced into government office to fuck people over?" he asked with a genuine sense of delight, as if he honestly wanted to know the answer to that question. Kevin was like a body without skin, all raw nerves and exposed guts, so someone as slick and controlled as Michael just seemed... off. "I think... if we've learned anything... it's that I would have completely schooled you at darts."

[Michael Lehrer]

Following Kevin's gaze he raised an eyebrow, "Distracted by a certain blonde are we?" he asked dryly and then shook his head with a slight laugh, "You know, if you'd stop looking at her like she's a piece of meat she might just find your awkward advances appealing."

He noted the look of disgust Kevin momentarily wore when Michael claimed he gave out compliments like Shannon, he noted it and it worried him. Did he know something? "I am sure you do, you are like her in many ways I am sure," he shrugged simply at the boy. He really would rather not delve into the horror that would undoubtedly be Kevin's mind but didn't need to particularly - he suspected Kevin knew of his and Shannon's involvement, reading his mind would only be confirmation.

"I have no idea what on earth you're referring to," Michael retorted simply and coolly as he took a sip of his drink, "I do not 'fuck people over', there was no forcing involved and I am not a 'toothy hobo'. Believe it or not Kevin, I am a proper person," he assured him with a slight sigh. "You might wish to consider, however, how much we all act our parts out. You for example play the moody teenager role rather well, it's one you have perfected over the years, we all play at being the stereotype of what kind of person we are seen as by others, some of us just manage it better than others," he finished, taking another sip from his glass. "Not all of us are made of raw nerves just waiting to be hit."

[Kevin Walsh]

"That blonde's name is Lauren, so who's the objectifier now?" Kevin argued while gesturing with his glass, enjoying his supposed moral high ground for the very brief moment he'd be able to hold on to it. "I tried to read Nietzsche to impress her, okay, because she made all that nihilism shit sound like a really long punk song, but it turns out he's really fucking boring."

To be fair, Kevin only had Owen's suspicions to go on when it came to Michael and Shannon, but it felt naive to come to any other conclusion. He saw Michael more than his actual father, first off, and the guy didn't seem all that broken up to find out that his supposed friend was a monster who'd be spending his final days behind bars. Kevin had seen those patterns before.

He crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "And how do you know that's not who I am? I'm a teenager. I think I've been given enough reason to suspect that the world's not all that great."

[Michael Lehrer]

"I'm afraid I cannot see her name tag from this distance," Michael waved away Kevin's moral high ground moment, "I cannot help but wonder if your knowing her name is more to do with the area in which it is displayed than actual, genuine interest in Lauren." He seemed somewhat taken aback then at the boy's words but his expression quickly became dryly mocking. "You actually read for her? My, my, impressive," he retorted sarcastically, "I'd say that level of devotion suggests marriage in the future."

"Because I doubt you are that simple, Kevin," Michael shrugged easily, picking up his cigarette once more and taking a long drag on it while he considered this. "No, I supposed you would not think the world is all that great. I'll let you into a little secret, as someone older, the world is not fair by any stretch of the imagination and it is never particularly rosy. But that's life and we all have our ways of coping, dealing even, with the miserable labyrinth that is life. It may be depressing, I know you probably consider me a pompous old fart for expressing it in such a manner but I mean it." He sighed slightly, taking another drag, before he gestured with his hand to Kevin, "So, why are you in here? I mean, of course, apart from to hope to mock me while I look and feel like shit."

[Kevin Walsh]

"That area is right in my line of sight, okay. Excuse me for being short," Kevin said with a manufactured faux-outrgage, trying to distract from the issue at hand. "I don't believe in marriage. I'm guessing you don't either." He paused for a long moment before clarifying, "Because you're single and you've go to be... forty-something, right?"

Kevin listened to Michael while making a great show out of boredly flicking his cigarette. "I am that simple, sorry. I can't read Nietzche. I want to be drunk constantly, go down on Lauren and maybe kick the shit out of Death Eaters. Not necessarily in that order." To be fair, his job gave him one item on that list that wouldn't have been there last year. He was changing in his own way, sure, but he was changing all the same. Kevin then looked at Michael and squinted before asking hesitantly, "You're not, like... depressed or dying or some shit, are you?" Kevin wasn't equipped to handle that conversation at all (and to be honest, he was kind of counting on Michael being the first person his dad would go after if he ever broke out).

[Michael Lehrer]

"Duly excused," Michael acknowledged with a mocking incline of his head at Kevin. "Oh? A teenage boy who doesn't believe in marriage, how novel," he rolled his eyes with a dark chuckle at the boy's veiled dig at him. "37 actually but thank you so much for that self-esteem raise. I believe in marriage, certainly, but I also do not believe it should be taken lightly. For now I am quite content to be 'single', single in my world doesn't necessarily equal 'woman-less' or 'lack of sex', sorry I know it would cause you joy if I was a sad, lonely bachelor."

"I mean no disrespect, Kevin, but I highly doubt that even you are that simple but thank you for that delightful glance into the nightmare that is your psyche." Taking another drag on his cigarette, he disguised a smirk then at Kevin's hesitant questioning. "We are all dying, every day which passes brings us closer to death," he pretended to muse, staring the boy straight in the eye as he added, "If I were depressed 'or some shit' what would you do? Throw a party?" Then he gestured towards Kevin, cigarette in hand, "Look, I am fully aware you do not like me, I can make at educated guess why. But you have not answered my question, what brings you to the Leaky Cauldron, aside from Lauren?"

[Kevin Walsh]

Kevin looked at Michael incredulously, because he clearly didn't take the bonds of marriage that seriously... but said nothing. Unfortunately for Kevin, being single most certainly did mean being both womanless and and woefully sex-lacking. He wondered vaguely if there was some chance his celibacy would cause him to ascend, monk-like, to a higher spiritual plane... this seemed highly unlikely. He also wondered if he smoked too much pot.

Slightly unnerved by Michael, Kevin dove into his pint again. Looking up and pointedly avoiding eye contact, he sad, "Look man, if you're dying you should just break bad. Like that show, Breaking Bad. Just, like, shave your head and start selling drugs, you know?" Holding his cigarette in his mouth, Kevin rested his chin on his hands. "And if you want to make time move slower, just go to my family's fucking holiday party."

Truthfully, he needed a pint or five to block out some of the stuff he'd seen at work that morning, but hell if he was going to say that to Michael. "Have you seen Lauren? I couldn't ask for a better reason. Unless she has a twin..." After drifting off for a second, he had to steer his mind back to the conversation at hand. "Thing is, there are a few reasons I don't particularly like you. I'd like to know which one you think it is." He crossed his arms and waited curiously.

[Michael Lehrer]

Michael noted Kevin's look and curiously probed just the very forefront of his mind - which, incidentally was extremely easy to penetrate on account of him being essentially a collection of raw nerves - to see why the boy seemed to find this sentiment so hard to believe. He could reasonably think of an excuse as to how he could know Kevin's line of thinking had he not been able to see his thoughts. "I suppose you scoff because you have heard whispers in the Ministry of my, let's say, disregard for marital status when I date a woman. It is entirely her decision, and within her power, to say 'no' to any propositions I may make, if she chooses to ignore her vows then so be it, that is not my problem," he shrugged lightly in expression of this. "My experience of just such affairs leads me to believe, however, that there must be many untrue, unhappy even, marriages for the woman to be... how can I say it delicately... swayed by another man. Perhaps the woman wanted the security marriage would provide her with or perhaps she felt as though it was her only option to ensure a good quality of life in the future. I believe marriage should be viewed as more than that and shouldn't be entered into lightly." It was apparent that for some of that, Michael had Shannon directly in mind though he assumed the boy didn't know enough to figure that out, or rather he hoped he didn't.

"I haven't had the pleasure of seeing that programme and regret to announce I have no desire to either shave my head or start selling drugs. But thank you for the suggestion," he smiled in amusement, a smile which became a chuckle as the boy mentioned his family's parties. "I have been to such parties previously, your father used to invite me," he commented but quickly took another, larger, sip of his drink so the boy couldn't see the expression on his face as he thought of Aaron.

"Yes, I have seen the young lady," he agreed and raised an eyebrow as Kevin's mind clearly drifted off to imagining himself with twin Laurens, "Earth to Kevin," he jokingly called in an effort to bring the boy back to the present. Then, downing the last of his drink, he challenged, "Really? I had no idea your dislike of me was as complex, I rather underestimated your capacity to hate." Taking a lasting drag on his cigarette he looked thoughtfully over at Kevin, "I suppose then that you dislike the idea of people like me who aren't 'proper people'. I'm a politician, that's enough for a lot of people to dislike a person, coupled with the fact that you have a dislike for adults with authority. I was friends with your father, I presume your view on him isn't too rosy considering he's in Azkaban, and by association I am granted the same condemnation," he concluded, stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray between them. "So, was I close?"

[Kevin Walsh]

"Uh huh," Kevin mumbled, unconvinced, trying to look like he honestly couldn't give a fuck about this guy's life. "If they're so unhappy, maybe they should leave," he said finally while tearing up a paper napkin and flicking the tiny pieces across the table. "Like, the kid can't cheat on his shit dad by finding some random guy who wants to throw the Quaffle around, because, I mean, that guy's probably a paedo or something, right?" Kevin squinted. It was very possible that he had lost his train of thought and forgotten the point he was trying to make... turns out non-physical confrontations are best done in a more sober state of mind.

"What, your invitation got lost in the post this year?" he asked with a slightly amused look, prodding at the fact that neither of them had addressed what happened to his dad. Kevin hadn't been invited either, and it felt strange. It almost made him want to attend out of sheer rebellion. "You're not missing anything. A nice Polish woman will get verbally abused for putting out the wrong number of candles while the one percent eat pureed shrimp eggs, probably," he shrugged. Kevin considered himself far more of a working-class dissident than he actually was, and in some ways, it was as much an affect as the one Michael was putting on.

While Kevin would have incorporated more swearing... the man wasn't wrong. "For what it's worth, I feel your apparent mental and physical breakdown has humanized you," he said while very seriously gesturing up and down. "And I don't think you knew about my dad. He didn't talk much. I don't think anyone really knew him."

[Michael Lehrer]

"Quite, maybe they should leave, I find myself in a rare moment of agreement with you, Kevin, but I am sure the women would say it isn't quite that easy even if to you and I, it seems rather black and white." Whilst trying to follow the boy's train of thought (of which he briefly wondered if his metaphor of choice hinted at his relationship with his own father) Michael's eyes narrowed as he met Kevin's gaze and then he shook his head lightly, "Uh, quite, indeed..." he jokingly agreed, making it obvious he had no idea what the boy was going on about in the slightest. He wasn't even sure Kevin understood.

Without even reacting to Kevin's amusement he shrugged lightly, "I think you'll find your father was the one who 'got lost' this year, not sure if they celebrate the holidays in Azkaban," he countered, saying such thing as easily as if he were commenting on the weather rather than, oh you know, a person who was supposed to have been a near and dear friend of his. "Mmm, you know I don't understand the whole 'deal' with the candles, why is it such a catastrophe if there is four rather than three?" he frowned in utter bafflement. He liked things done right, certainly, but he'd never verbally abuse a staff member until they cried or were fired. "You do realise you, willingly or not, are part of that class you claim to despise so much?" he reminded the boy with a soft snort of amusement.

"Oh, well, thank you," the man said, rolling his eyes, "Didn't know what about your father exactly? Didn't 'know him'? Oh, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin," he shook his head in mock despair. "I think you would be surprised at how much I actually knew about him," Michael assured him confidently, that tended to happen if you could see into peoples' minds. After all, that was how he had known Aaron was planning to expose him as working with the Deatheaters, that was the reason why Michael had dropped his 'friend' in it first, with the help of a little testimony from Owen. Nothing to do with Michael wanting to get Aaron out of Shannon's life for good, of course not, that did not figure into his reasoning at all. If only Kevin knew all that. "However your dad was not a man of many words, that's true," he conceded.

((ooc: Sorry it's a bit... blah, Michael isn't working for me today. Need to watch more of Fassbender in something clearly to 'get in character'.))

[Kevin Walsh]

(ooc: He's great, though I can't say I oppose that method of getting into character! I blame all of my crap posts on having to go back to school today )

Kevin took a moment away from the conversation to have another coughing fit, spit into a napkin, ball it up and toss it across the table. "One time my dad was doing this stripper who used to get me into clubs and stuff when I was underage, you know, so I'd keep my mouth shut. You should do something like that. Not the same thing obviously... I'm just saying it was really cool." Yeah, this interaction definitely wasn't going the way he would have planned.

"I s'pose the number of lit candles matters for Jewish people... but I doubt my mum's going for multicultural acceptance," he observed dryly while pushing a toothpick around his gums. His face twitched very slightly at Michael's comment; it clearly hit a nerve for him. If only class distinctions came with an 'I was recently cut off and would prefer normal dumpy parents thanks' clause.

Kevin appeared intensely confused by Michael's reaction. To be fair, it wasn't difficult to confuse the boy, but this was particularly perplexing. "Dude, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt," he explained. "Now, I know I'm an idiot, but if my mate got done for murder," he tried to reason, ignoring the fact that he currently had no mates, "I wouldn't go around all, 'Ooooh, I knew more about him than you think!'" He put on a ridiculous voice with shades of Willy Wonka to it and waved his arms around in a mockingly noodlesque fashion. Kevin honestly didn't suspect Michael, he just figured the man wanted to be enigmatic and vaguely threatening. Kevin simply couldn't see someone in Michael's position risking everything to associate with Aaron if he had any reason to believe he was a criminal. "I mean, were you honestly sad to see him go?"