When he needed a break from the rush of the Ministry, Jai liked to get really away from the Wizarding World. The Leaky Cauldron barely counted, but it was one place where time seemed to slow. Wizards and witches bided their time, quietly drinking to themselves over dreary soups on lumpy cushions. Jai didn't mind the atmosphere -- he preferred it to the multi-sensory eclectic decor of Alohamocha. The crowds there tended to be louder and friendlier. Jai wasn't loud but he was friendly, and he felt very lost among the shuffle in the cafe. Maybe it was all of that coffee causing the customers there to be so... energetic.

Jai had a firewhiskey on the rocks along with a tall glass of water. He arranged the cups so they were at the perfect angle and in perfect proportion on the table, with optimal space for him to pick it up. Sometimes it was exhausting, the compulsions and obsessions... but with the job at the Ministry, Jai discovered that those traits could actually be beneficial.

They didn't help him when it came to missing Jordyn, though. He longed for the days when he would travel back to her house after a day at the office, they would make dinner together and talk about their days. It had been like playing house. Now she was away at school and Jai was living with his parents, and nothing felt grown up about that. With a sigh, Jai took a sip of his firewhiskey.

Constantly being in the service of both Di Luca and Arianne fer almost a month in one case and goin' on three, in the other had Phillip skennin' lik'a whelk 'alf o' the time. He was done in and most o' all felt like a pure wing-nut. Phillip didn't often contemplate his way of being, but getting either of those lasses to give him one good bob on was a bang out o 'order job. And he wasn't some complete bloody wupding, was he? It's just that those women were both terrifying and demanded respect simply by being in their presence. One more than the other... He felt like a daft apoth trying to get a word in every single time.

But he was learning, and brewing stuff he never thought he'd be and boy did he get a buzzin' from it. And he also also making some good money for the first time in his life, without having to do some rank job. The downside, aside from being kippered all the bloody time, was that he had no mingin life! Off at the crack ass o'dawn to the back and beyond for his apprenticeship, and then off back to the Smoke through well 'anging ginnels to slave at Le M until the ass crack o'night. T''was a bloody miracle if he even got 3 hours o' sleep a night. So the entire thing was gone manky, when ye thought better o' it.

Not to mention that now that he was back in town, and her bloody neighbor, Lala kept mithering him at all hours of the day. And night. Either to scav a fag or scran or have a burst on her banjo cuz she got a cob on over that Jason or wha's'isname and other numpty lil' things! Nevermind that finny Sander, who he would banjo one day. Worst of all tho, each and every single person he cared for was back at that mingin' castle. Rick and Shona... but especially Alex. Sure there were owls and crashing Di Luca's occasional visit to the castle, but it wasn't the same.

He had half an 'our before he was supposed to be at another gonkin' day o' work at Le M and Lala was supposed to meet him at the Leaky to bring him a change of clothes. Phillip had been brewing and prepping ingredients all day, couldn't 'ave smelled that sound. But of course, she was late. So he got himself a pint, standing at the bar and tapped his foot. He thought he saw someone familiar, but couldn't bloody remember his name. Bit stroppy that one. Been in 'Puff, he thought. Then it hit him.

"Blimey Patil, that you?" he skriked with a big grin, walking towards his ex-schoolmate. "Ee ar yo, ye scowler?" Phillip greeted, taking a seat next to him. If Lala was gon' be late, he could at least have a buzz.

Jai didn't know whether drinking during his off-hours was a risque thing or not. At Hogwarts, any sort of drinking was done in a hushed sort of way, even when students came of age. It was a banned substance in the school but not the whole of the wizarding world, and Jai wasn't entirely sure whether he was supposed to avoid it or not. What if one of his co-workers were to see him? The working life was vastly different from school life and Jai was still figuring out his way.

So when an old schoolmate came up to him, Jai was at first a little apprehensive. Once he realized it was Phillip Kinsey, though, Jai's anxieties abated. Kinsey was hardly the type to rat on someone, particularly if it involved a Ministry official, or at least Jai assumed. They had been in the same year, even in some of the same classes, but Jai was a nervous sort who mainly kept to himself. The most socializing he had done was after he started dating Jordyn, which was well into his final year. Phillip was friends with many of Jordyn's friends, though, so he was a rather familiar voice.

His voice wasn't that familiar though, or rather it was too familiar, in that Jai struggled a bit to understand the cockney. He'd grown up in a more posh sort of London, where the most extravagant accents were usually Indian ones. Growing up Patil surely hadn't kept that vernacular from his aural palatte, but Cockey was a bit of a curveball. "Hey Kinsey," Jai said amicably, adding, "I'm... okay," rather unsurely, wondering if this was the question Phillip had directed at him. "How've you been?"