Russian roulette is not the same without a gun

[looneyloopy.livejournal.com]

*Electricity is a funny thing. It can do so much, and yet it's so very easy to disrupt. Such are the woes of the proprietors of Maurice's, an upscale café that tries to look more edgy than fancy, and fails. It can't quite shake the air of snobbery infecting the area, the taint of We-Have-Too-Much-Money. Maybe it's the silk ascots; maybe it's the disproportionate number of Italian shoes. At any rate, no one thinks to notice the young man slipping out of the alley next to the building, in his new wingtips and old waistcoat, his button-down a bit rumpled and his trousers mended here and there. By the time anyone notices the breaker box on the back wall sparking and smoking, he's vanished into the crowds.

He takes the long way 'round back through some side-streets, timing it so that he walks up to Maurice's - again - about five minutes after he's agreed to meet Amrita there. Perfectly late, perfectly nonchalant, as he strolls up to the café, pretending to be unaware of the frustrated owners and the 'closed for maintenance' sign now hanging on the door.*

Comments

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

It's not your diet I'm concerned about. It's what your diet tells me. You're desperate to be seen as anything but a monster, even though the Ministry will never see things that way.

Why must we be enemies, Remus? We want the same things. I don't think you were sad to see Umbridge and her vile cronies go, were you? Think of all the good that could be done with someone better managing the department. Someone like you, perhaps.

[looneyloopy.livejournal.com]

*It's in poor taste and probably a little dangerous, but before Remus can stop himself, he's laughing. It's a grim, sickened thing - Rosier just all but admitted killing Umbridge, just like he did to Frank, over fois gras and expensive wine - and the whole thing is so ridiculous that he can't help it.*

Really? Here? You want to discuss this here?

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

*Evan is laughing too, if only to maintain the facade. They are in public, after all.*

If you intend to take my offer seriously, then we could meet somewhere more private at a later date. But I don't think you'll take me up on that until you trust me at least a little, and I don't think you'll trust me until I do something for you. My wife no longer goes to the Ministry, I bet that particular inconvenience could be dispensed with for you as well--

[looneyloopy.livejournal.com]

*It's actually tempting. That's the worst part. The idea of not having to strip down and be probed and prodded and interrogated on things that are deeply personal - Remus is a fiercely private man, and the whole routine at the Registry wears away at him a little more each month. It'd break him eventually, he knows, if it weren't for Sirius. And that's the thing - it doesn't just take a toll on him. Every month it's Padfoot who has to patch him back together, Padfoot who has to wait outside helplessly and try and help after, when Remus has withdrawn so far inside himself that he's beyond aid for hours. The humiliation of it on top of the transformations themselves, the knowledge that it'll never stop being part of their life, every single month....

But he won't take a devil's bargain to get out of it. His pride may be battered but some days it's nearly all he has, and the stubborn set of his jaw says as much.*

- I'm not in the habit of taking favors from people in your particular line of work, Rosier, however I feel about Umbridge being gone. Thank you, no.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

Do let me know if you reconsider. Your talents are wasted on--what is it you do again?

*Evan leans in, lowering his voice.*

You do understand that it wasn't me, don't you? I assisted, certainly, I made it possible, but the work itself--ah, here she comes now.

*Amrita is approaching and Evan stands to pull out her chair.*

[looneyloopy.livejournal.com]

*Remus stands as well, though he's still looking at Evan with something dark and sharp in his expression for that dig about his unemployment.*

[cellarandmoon.livejournal.com]

*A few heads turn as Amrita, smiling and perfectly powdered, crosses the restaurant to their table and slips gracefully into her seat. She points the smile at each of them in turn, but there's a little polite crease in her brow at Remus' expression.*

[looneyloopy.livejournal.com]

*But his frown's gone darker, now, as Evan's comment loops in his head. Here she comes now. As though they'd been talking about Amrita.

When the pieces click into place, even the vegetarian dishes on the table are enough to turn his stomach, and his smile is decidedly faint as he turns to smooth over Amirta's unvoiced concern.*

You two are lucky to have found one another. Evan speaks so highly of you, Amrita, I'm almost embarrassed.