Blackbird [Temperance]

[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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February 18th, 2028

Mickey disliked any and all attention from the media. Unfortunately it was a part of his contract and he was required to interact with them at a bare minimum. It mainly stemmed from having them constantly comparing him to his father, despite Mickey having played as many games as him at this point (and while being three years his junior too). In short, his professional career was already far more successful than Cormac's ever was and would continue to be so going forward. Yet that didn't keep the media from saying what they wanted. The Daily Prophet had gotten better over the last few years, Slater's younger brother being more into stats and acknowledging that Mickey was better than his father on paper already. Those numbers were indisputable, and unless Cormac could get his aging body back on the pitch, that was the way things were going to keep going.

But today Mickey unfortunately had a meeting with Temperance Fleming of WitchTV. He didn't mind her nearly as much as the other journalists and media personnel because she got it. She was also the child of a former player. Somehow that made things easier. And the questions had thought out into them. To say he enjoyed their conversations more than with any other reporter would be an understatement. He had no idea what this was for exactly, his own manager not really giving him any details on it, but assumed it had to do with the current state of the Bats and how he thought everything had been going lately.

Arriving at the WitchTV offices a few minutes early, Mickey checked in with the receptionist and took a seat in the waiting area. A copy of Quidditch Confidential sat on the table, Simon Svendsen's face adorning it. Mickey had already through this edition, which was discussing some of the newer players in the league among other things. He had subscriptions to all of the papers and magazines. Usually they just collected dust in his flat after he gave them a cursory read. Flipping through the pages, he didn't see anything different than he did on his first read at home, so he tossed it haphazardly back onto the table. Silently waiting was easier.

temperance elizabeth fleming ● 373 ● Song by Artist

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[temperance elizabeth fleming]

rewrite your history,

light up your wildest dreams

February 18, 2028
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Temp was not one of those people that ever visibly appeared star-struck. Why? Because she simply wasn’t. And that was the thing originating from the Los Angeles area. These things never phased her. So while some of the interns giggled or other employees lingered in the hallway a little too long to catch a glance at their latest visit, Temp simply went about her day. Though honestly, Mickey McLaggen was so damn tall you didn’t need to stick close by to see him. All those tattoos were very distinctive as well. Temp blankly stared at the intern, whose words strung together barely made up a valid excuse. ”Listen—I don’t care as long as we can get them in here before the end of next week. I. Don’t. Care.”

She let out a frustrated sigh, closing her eyes a moment. ”Get Weekly to do it. She seems to have better luck than you.” The intern scurried off. Merlin, half of these young faces simply had connected parents. Fortunately, at least a few of the nepotism babies had more than hot air in their skulls. Plus, booking all these players to come and negotiate their time was simply a hassle. Let alone getting them to come back and film their bits.

Her phone buzzed, a notification from reception that Mickey was here. She took a break and made a beeline for the reception area. ”Hi, Mickey.” She greeted with a slight grin. ”Hope you weren’t waiting long—interns.” She didn’t feel the need to explain more than that. Fortunately, her office wasn’t far, so it didn’t take them long to get there. Much like her other guests, Temp led them in and gestured for them to have a seat. She sat behind her desk and opened the file in front of her. ”I know how much you love these things, so I’ll get to the point.” She quickly sorted a few pieces of paper, finding the one she wanted and placing it on top.

”SNITCH wants to revive the ‘7 for 7’ series.” Temp paused. Television had always existed in the magical world. Perhaps more in the states, Temp didn’t really understand all the mechanics behind it other than the content. This series was more popular as a radio show when she was young. She figured Mickey as well. ”So as part of telling these stories, we’re interviewing current past players, recognizable ones.” Temp clarified. ”To get those bits we used to hear. Opinions, stories, and all of that.” Temp had spoken to Mickey plenty of times before, quickly noting his icy guard up in their initial introduction, but how it thawed a bit when she revealed who her father was.

”This is a preliminary list of who we’re going to cover, so if there is someone you want to say something about or maybe they inspired you….” Temp trailed off, hands gesturing in the air as a way to say, etc. She also hoped it went without saying that she would do her best to leave his father out of it. ”Grey Slater is consulting.” She added as extra information.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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Mickey had always wondered what the average intern did, whether it was at the Ministry or for media companies like Witch TV or the Daily Prophet. Was it all ‘fetch me coffee’ and ‘go collect my paperwork’? The closest he could reasonably think of it when it came to Quidditch was the ball boys and equipment personnel that the team had. But even they had clearly marked job descriptions. And they were usually good at what they did too. So when Temperance apologized for her own interns when she appeared, Mickey just nodded his head as he stood up. Following her into her office, he took yet another seat. A common thread of motions that occurred whenever he was dealing with news people. “It’s fine. I guess they’re sort of like rookie players…” He had thought about it more while they briefly walked, and that was the best thing he could come up with.

Getting to the point, as Temperance put it, was exactly what he wanted to do with this. There was a slight show of surprise on his face when she mentioned that they were reviving ‘7 for 7’, he’d listened to it when he was younger, frequently, so he immediately found it interesting that this was happening. “I’m fairly familiar with it, so I understand what the overall concept of it is,” he quickly interjected. They didn’t need to spend all day here discussing what the ins and outs of the show would be. He assumed it would be like muggle sports talk shows, if they were to fully translate it over to television.

“The stats guy?” Mickey asked, though not as surprised as he had been regarding the show being restarted. That absolutely made sense. The only thing Slater ever cared about in interviews were super obscure records that had been broken, like how many blocks in the third hoop made by the off-hand of a Keeper that had played for less than five years professionally. The fact that he could even make a list out of silly things like that was sort of amazing. “If I recall, 7 for 7 was more about retired and experienced players. I know I’ve been in the league for eight years now, but I’d hardly call myself good enough to be the highlight of an episode.” There were so many other players, new and old, that had that over him. He was just the captain of a subpar team. Nothing more than that.

temperance elizabeth fleming ● 414 ● Song by Artist

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[temperance elizabeth fleming]

rewrite your history,

light up your wildest dreams

February 18, 2028
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Temp didn’t disagree. The life of an intern was not easy. Underpaid and overworked to weed out those who didn’t want the job bad enough. She recalled her time vividly, even years later, and in a way, the game didn’t change. One day, Temp hoped to gain that full Producer title. Merlin knew she had done the work already. It was merely waiting out her superiors. The thought was this new SNITCH production could give her the final bump she needed, considering how successful the reboot became. Should this production result in a promotion, the irony wouldn’t get lost on Temperance.

Again, she nodded her head. As expected, Temp didn’t need to explain the entire premise. The chance a Professional Quidditch Player hadn’t listened to 7 for 7 was incredibly low. And the magical world wasn’t overwhelmed with all the options from the no-maj world, where sports covered the entire year and many categories. ”Yes, him.” Slater was obviously known to the league. His knowledge made him valuable, she supposed. ”Right—we have considered episodes targeting younger players, but we’re starting with older ones first. So, your role would be more like answering questions about that player. Who was your favorite? Did they influence your interest in Quidditch, your playing style—stuff like that.”

The visual element was vital, and Temp had watched through many no-maj episodes of similar-style docuseries to clearly understand what she wanted for this series. ”Make sense?” She rifled through a file full of notes and lists of players. Names crossed off, and notes written in margins. ”We don’t have a final list for the first series, but getting there. I know you’re busy, so the idea is we’d bring you in, ask all the questions at once, and then edit your answers in where they belong when we edit it all together.” Merlin forbid she keep the players away from their matches and practices for too long. The league would never have it.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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There was a bit of relief in his face when he was told that that the program would mostly focus on older, retired players. Mickey knew there was the possibility that his dad could be included. As both a player and journalist, Cormac unfortunately had left quite a bit of himself on the sport, which sometimes irked Mickey in ways that most didn’t really understand. Sitting in and answering questions on that would probably be biased compared to most, but he did have the best insight on what it was like growing up as the child of a professional player and then going on to follow in his footsteps. If one could call it that.

Listening to Temp explain what he would actually be used for, he nodded his head to show that he understood. The first name that popped into his brain about a favorite player was Sendelina de la Felino, a Keeper of Spanish National Team fame during the 90s. Mickey had never met her but had seen plenty of articles and moving photographs of her over the years to feel like he had. To say that style of play had been a bigger influence on him as of late than his father’s had would definitely not be an understatement. Especially when it came down to leading his team as captain. He probably had almost every version of her Famous Witches and Wizards card since she was first added to the collection…

”I think I’m getting a better understanding of it. I take it that you’ll send over the questions ahead of time so that I’m able to answer as best as possible?” he asked, despite knowing that would be the case. And then his agent would probably try to butt in and get them to revise certain things or whatever he wanted to say on camera. That was the inevitable part about all of it, though there was really no harm in speaking honestly about the sport and careers of former players. His opinion was that there shouldn’t be any sort of bureaucracy surrounding the sport, but there always was. ”I imagine by the time I’m retired, there will actually be usable footage of the current stars playing…it’s amazing how much has changed in just a few years.”

temperance elizabeth fleming ● 381 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[temperance elizabeth fleming]

rewrite your history,

light up your wildest dreams

February 18, 2028
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Temp had to say, she hadn’t entirely expected this response from McLaggen. Not that she pictured him jumping up for joy at the thought of being featured, but he was a Captain and a member of the National Team. Temp nodded lightly. ”Of course, nothing is filmed live, so I think it’ll be pretty chill overall.” She reassured him. The challenge was the schedules. Between their practices, matches, and whatever else professional Quidditch players were required to do, sometimes it was a nightmare lining all that up.

”Okay, and last part…” Temp shuffled a few players. Her producer had pushed in this part, and Temp knew she would hate every minute of it. Looking up from her desk, she gave a half-hearted grin. ”I think it's pretty well known which families are very—uh—ingrained in Quidditch. My producer wants to focus on that, too.” Temp couldn’t stop from sighing. ”Listen, my dad played. And I don’t really want to talk about him. But I know she’ll ask you about your dad, just like they’ll get at least one Potter in here to talk about their mom.” It was a cheap way to get ratings and include non-players. Temp could only imagine how many players would list Ginny Potter as an inspiration or others of her generation.

”So, just a heads up on that—whenever we get to doing that.” It was unavoidable, but Temp was pushing her producer to save it for the following year or as a special of sorts. So much was already planned, but there were so many hours in the day. Some children of former players were more than happy to talk on the subject. Temp fell in the bucket of non-playing children who hated talking about it. She wondered where Mickey fell in that spectrum.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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Mickey knew deep down that this was going to be brought up eventually. There was no denying that he got his desire to play from his father and that it was sort of a family thing. If anything, Mickey was the only one successful at playing professional. Everyone knew how Cormac had turned out. He never failed to bring it up at any chance he got. This sort of show was perfect for him. He’d eat it up. Hell, if anything, this was probably Witch TV’s way of getting him done and over with as soon as possible so that they wouldn’t have to deal with him going forward outside of consulting. Because at the end of the day, his father did know a lot about the sport. Being a journalist allowed for that.

Taking a deep breath, Mickey nodded his head to show that he understood what Temp was getting at. ”I mean, it makes sense. He is technically the foremost expert on how I got to this point after all.” They both knew that Cormac would dominate the interview portion and inject his own career into it though. That was just how he was and how he’d always be. ”But I’m fine with it. It’s not like we’d be doing our bits at the same time, right? My schedule is hard to work around sometimes when it comes to him.” Mickey was trying to heavily imply that he did not want to be doing their parts at the same time, because that would not go over well. They’d be stepping on each other constantly, and that would absolutely destroy the program that Temp was trying to do here.

temperance elizabeth fleming ● 280 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[temperance elizabeth fleming]

rewrite your history,

light up your wildest dreams

February 18, 2028
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Quidditch was a sport the magical world took very seriously. Temp wouldn't be doing any good to her career by making a mockery of it. This was not a reality show like The Former Real Housewives, where ratings depended on the scripted drama and twists and turns. The thought had come up—but Temp reminded her superiors that they were not angling for a talk show or some of the sports commentaries of no-maj television shows. Thankfully, Mickey didn't protest the point about involving his father. It would have been very obvious if that had been missed and would have no doubt created a speculative Witch Weekly article.

"Right—yea." Temp assured him. "Like right now, it's not intended to be a big deal, but it will get a mention. Obviously, I don't play, and neither do any of my sisters or brother, and there isn't a Potter in the league either…" She lightly shrugged. "So, there wouldn't be enough content to make a big deal anyway." And thank Merlin for that. Temperance was happy to remain behind the camera and behind the scenes. And she didn't want to take acting lessons to get through a simple interview about her father.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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Excellent. Being the main face of this was definitely going to make him feel out of his comfort zone. Mickey wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he had chosen a front facing job and then proceeded to be named a professional captain and onto the national team as well. He was at the tippy top of the professional Quidditch scene, and this series would only serve to make that spotlight even bigger. Backing down now would just open up the opportunity to the next player, and despite his nervousness in all of it, he also wanted to take the risk. At the worst, he would look stiff on camera and his dad would look like an asshole. There were very few downsides in that. His agent could definitely find more issues with the amount of drinking he did than this.

”Not going to get my siblings on too, are you?” he asked. Raphael would definitely have some choice words about their father and his sister…well, he couldn’t guarantee anything when it came to her. He had a feeling that the show was going to be a positive one, not something to bring up contentious family drama that was usually kept to Christmas dinner. Good times.

”If you need anything else,” he pulled one of his business cards out for Temp, ”That way you can go around my agent. I’ll tell him to back off since any press is good press.” Mickey really didn’t care at this point in his career anyways. If someone wanted to get shit on him, all they had to do was find him in the corner of the Three Broomsticks on any given night. Then again, what Quidditch player wasn’t basically a recluse by this point in their career?

temperance elizabeth fleming ● 293

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[temperance elizabeth fleming]

rewrite your history,

light up your wildest dreams

February 18, 2028
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

”Erm—“ Temp quickly thought through the members of the McLaggen family. ”No. Probably just you.” As far as she knew, the younger ones didn’t play. At least in terms of the list of players she held in her files, nothing came to mind. Just as she had mentioned, she intended to remain off-camera and not include Cal, Eli, or Shiloh. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to include non-players.

She took the card from Mickey. ”Thanks.” With her wand in the other hand, she waved it, and the card flew into her trusty Rolodex. She could still hear Vivian laughing from her spot on the floor at this supposedly ‘ancient’ technology, but it did the job and had not failed Temp yet. ”I think that’s it for now unless you have any other questions.” Temp knew the players were quite busy, and such a show was secondary to everything, so she intended to reach out when she had a lot more information for him.

[ end temp ]

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