Memento Vivere (Mike)

Lucius just shook his head the entire time Michael was talking. This guy acted as if he knew the truth of everything. When he failed to back up his claim of Lucius ruining everything he touched, he resorted to cherry picking the bad and ignoring the good. Lucius had already admitted he had done bad things, but that didn't make him poison to everything he touched, that made him immoral--no different from the kid sitting across from him.

"Oh, you've got me good, haven't you? No, no you don't. You think bringing up my daughter changes anything I said? You think my killing of that woman years ago punches a hole in my reasoning? It doesn't. I already admitted to doing immoral things. Those evils won't away, but you can't sit there and ignore the good I've done to paint me as some sort of complete monster without coming off as dense. I can point out faults in anyone all day long, but it doesn't make the right things they do go away," Lucius is said, grtting his teeth slightly. He wanted this kid out of here, if he were to be honest with himself. That said, this kid seemed to know quite a bit about him, and that warranted further investigation.

"Who's playing holier then thou? You're the one who called my morals into question first, so i would say it's up to you to cut that part of the conversation. All i did was point out your lack of room to talk, which seems to deplete the more the words pour out," Lucius said. He proceeded to continue to listen to the sarcasm and teenage narcissism, downing his glass of bourbon half way through. At some point Lucius just couldn't help but laughing. It was like he was being grilled by a school boy during recess.

"Would you give me an actual reason why I should stay away from the boy beyond baseless attacks on my character and the competency of my organization, please?! You're doing just as those fools in masks do; you're throwing insults and making declarations about who I am while dismissing anything that doesn't fit your predetermined narrative." You could tell Lucius was a bit angry now, and perhaps that was the intent. It was clear this Michael was trying to get under his skin from the start, otherwise Isalia wouldn't have been mentioned. Regardless, Lucius was on his last nerve.

"So what's the real reason here? Forgive me for assuming, but i just can't think this all revolves around someone like you having an issue with me murdering some scumbag's mother. What, did Silus forget to text you? Maybe he typed out 'TTYL, hanging with Red' one too many times?"

Normally people tried to cut him off somewhere in the middle of speaking, but here Lucius was listening before likely missing the point of everything he was saying, As guessed he was right, the male mentioning something about him not getting him at all. ”A hole in your reasoning? No, not at all. Men like use aren’t stopped by something small like the loss of human life. At least unimportant life, but look at yourself Alba. Right now you look like nothing more than a walking corpse, one second away from dropping.” He looked much like himself when Raziel killed Shael. At the very least he didn’t have other things holding him down even more than that. ”Do all the good things you want but they don’t wash out the bad. That’s how the world works.” The world was an unfair place where the strong easily trampled over the weak, and he Rise from what he could tell was like that. How else did they take over a country aside from being stronger?

”Playing holier than thou? Didn’t do that at all. If anything i’m criticizing your murdering methods. You’re not supposed to leave anyone alive to seek revenge, that always leads to problems.” Michael shrugged, wondering why people always seemed to react so poorly to criticism. ”Besides, I think that gives me all of the room to talk. Would you honestly accept criticism from someone that has no idea what they’re talking about? I sure as hell wouldn’t. Never understood how experience suddenly means you can’t say anything. ” If that was how he wanted to be, then Michael would acquiesce for now.

For now anyway.

”Because no one gets where you are without washing their hands in blood Mister Alba. You can’t climb to the top without climbing a top a mountain of victims. I know this, and I can see it from your eyes that you do too. How long until you turn Silus into another step? How long until you turn attempting to kill him into killing him?” A low hmph issued from him as an insult was thrown towards a scumbag and their murdered mother. ”The scumbag you created. This does partially have something to do with him, considering he was my friend, though Silus is the larger issue. I wouldn’t want my brother following the people that end up meeting you. He’s had enough, and I wouldn’t want to have to make anymore children go without a father...as dysfunctional as he is."

Lucius sighed, exasperated. He really didn't want to keep discussing the nature of good and evil at this point. Moral conversations could shed light on things, but when the people involved entrench themselves too deep in their views, it simply becomes unproductive. Lucius filled his glass yet again as Mike spoke, then hammered it back before speaking.

"You know what? Fair enough," Lucius said, surprising even himself a bit. The truth was he couldn't justify himself to someone who thought a person's bad deeds damned them no matter how much good they did. Maybe this Michael didn't actually believe that, but he had taken that stance to explain why Lucius should stay away from Silus nonetheless. Either way, Lucius was about done.

"I'm not going to argue the idea that I'm good for him, because I'm simply not. I'm not good for anyone, really. This is a dangerous game I play, and nobody but me should have to sacrifice for it," Lucius said. He finally sat his glass down, concluding not to fill it again. The amount of alcohol he had just drank was catching up to him, despite his regeneration.

"Maybe I'm evil. Hell, I know I am, but I'm necessary—that's all i was saying. For the next generation of metahumans and beyond, for Belarus, for the survival of our planet, and for a future society that actually means something, people willing to get their hands dirty are needed. Forging a better world is a nasty business, after all," Lucius said, pausing as if to think. He looked upwards, his eyes glossy. "If you want to dispute that idea, then i don't care, because the truth is evident. We aren't going to fix a planet a few metahuman uprisings away from destruction with kisses and hugs."

After speaking, Lucius fell silent for a few seconds. He thought about his last sentence a few moments, then smiled. The smirk turned into a chuckle, and then the dictator started to laugh. Maybe he realized the humor in what he said, or maybe he was just a bit tipsy, but it didn't really matter either way. Eventually Red calmed himself, then looked back to Michael. He was dead serious now.

"Fine. I won't actively seek him out, but i can't promise he won't come to me. As i said, he comes and goes."

Rather than deal with more pointless arguing, Lucius seemed to give into the argument. Either that or he was just tired of dealing with it. Either way in the end work. What the other did with his life was unimportant, even still he didn’t care to see that infecting that little section of the world he called his own. Even if it was at arms length now. ”Glad we’re on the same page there.” He was delighted in a sense, but then again Mike was also more neutral on that front. Just having him agree to the obvious was far different than simply getting him to agree he should stay away from the young Atterrius. The amount of alcohol he drank so far wasn’t even enough to get him buzzed, probably leaving him the sober one of the two. A likely awkward situation for anyone else.

Talk of necessary evil however was interesting. Michael understood when something was required, even when people didn’t agree with it. That much the two of them appeared to have in common, but the extents they were willing to go to was the difference. He had more than one person to help now, even if Yancey was being an absolute prick now. ”Sometimes you need people willing to do the dirty work to get results. I’m not going to argue with you on that front.” He never had any intentions to argue about methods, at least no how legitimate they were. Just how he had a feeling they wouldn’t mesh with a naive little boy who was just too nice for his own good. Especially if he was willing to befriend his friends mothers killer to save them rather than help that friend.

A silence lasted after that, before the dictator fell into a small bout of laughter. Honestly it did catch him off guard, but he didn’t care much about that. Not like he would let himself actually be scared by some half-dead looking metahuman scare him. ”I don’t control him. He’s at that age.” A small shrug. Would he be going through a rebellious phase or was Mike just guessing at things now? ”For now i’ll believe you. I can tell you’re not lying to me.” He poured himself more, and downed the bourbon without prompt.

Lucius hadn't planned to look for Silus after the boy was resurrected. This conversation had achieved nothing that wasn't already taking place. See, with Lucas running away, Isalia dead, and Silus nearly killed, Lucius didn't exactly think he was the best thing for those he cared about. Mike made something Lucius was already doing into a verbal agreement.

Why then did Lucius so vigorously argue? Out of principal, more then anything else. Mixed in with the truth of what Mike was saying were insults and mockery, and Lucius wasn't one to just take that sort of thing. Regardless, the dictator felt he had said his piece. The only question was where this conversation would go next.

"I don't lie. A society can't move forward if the speech of its citizens is muddled in dishonesty," Lucius said, sighing in relief.  Usually vicious in his verbal engagements, the Rise Head was tired. Maybe it was the speech, the fight that followed, or the still fresh memory of his dead child, but regardless, he was glad to be done with the argument.

"So, let us move forward, shall we? I've been honest with you, so it would be fitting if you did the same. What is your relation to Silus? More importantly, is Mr. Lester anywhere near him?" Lucius asked, concern in his voice. He knew when he was bad for someone, but he also knew when another was bad for that same person. Ryan would only upset Silus, or worse. Lucius needed to know the boy he had agreed to stay away from was safe, mentally and physically.

Why was Michael arguing with Lucius Alba. It was clear the man was stuck in his ways, and any real give was due to an already held belief. Something told him the man in the end just enjoyed arguing more than anything else. That distinct feeling was something that didn’t really leave him as they did finish arguing. Would telling anything else lead to something beyond just another argument. ”Society can’t progress because of human greed mostly. Anything that improves life has a little dollar sign behind it.” He shrugged, knowing fully well that was the case. When someone could benefit from something, another would try to extort that person for every penny they could get. It was something that he could understand, considering he himself was just like that.

Even still he was not without...something that mimicked empathy. Lucius had lost a child recently. Despite how much he considered Ryan a friend, he knew that move was within poor taste. Greatly so. He personally would have just killed Lucius and been done with it. Then came a question about his relationship with Silus, something that made him smirk for a second. ”Strained at best. Despite being bound by blood, we don’t exactly get along at the best of times. The whole healthy family thing went out the window a long time ago.” Despite revealing what he thought was a slightly sad subject, Mike seemed to be almost fine with that. There was no other way to take that.

Hearing concern from someone who seemed without it was interesting.

”From what I can tell Silus is pretty done with Ryan. Pretty cold if you ask me, considering how much the kid apparently stuck around you but what do I know. He’s a kid afterall.” He shrugged, seemingly holding no judgement one way or the other within his voice. ”Can’t quite grasp why that is but guess i’ll chalk it up to the whole evil can’t comprehend good thing.”