He didn't remember? Okay, Vic wasn't going to be a baby about it and get upset something forgot something about him. "Director of Prosecution." Obviously he worked in the Law Enforcement department, it didn't require a genius to link the dots. So, this was Kade's first test. Heh.

"Oh. Yeah, I remember now." Vic nodded, finishing his second doughnut and taking his third one. Someone was going to get sugar shock today. "Have you worked here for long?" He knew January spent most of her life in Italy, so Kade and her must not be friends from long, which meant Kade could've been an employee here longer than Vic and Jan had been, or he started working here around the time they came. "Want another doughnut?" He had two left.

Prosecution. Kade raised his eyebrows. "Impressive," he commented. "You like it?" He could imagine that it was an interesting job. Law stuff. Kade himself probably wouldn't like it so much, but it would probably be cool to hear about once in a while.

He nodded. And felt sort of bad for not remembering what Vic did. It was too late to change that now, though, so he forgot about it. He paused for a moment to think about Vic's next question. "A few years, now." He couldn't remember how long exactly, but he'd been to two of the yearly employee things."Been in this position the whole time."

SPOILER!!: Mariel

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Green eyes fell to the folded paper next to her at the mention of it and she gave a small shrug. "Not really," she said, looking up with a soft smile. "Certainly nothing that caught my attention at least. Slow day for the Prophet, perhaps." Nothing Jorge had written and nothing much more than fluff pieces, though she supposed that no news wasn't always a bad thing. Unless it was your profession, of course.

She gave him a curious but amused look at his next sentiment. "I'm certain that's not true.." she began, chuckling along with him as she was sure he was joking. But the next part made sense. She knew he wasn't originally from the area and it would be likely that he had visited family over the holiday. "Oh..?" Well, certainly going without eating wasn't a good thing.. "Do some traveling during the Ministry break?" She hadn't remembered seeing him at the Ministry Gala, but she had been otherwise occupied and hadn't seen much of anyone so it didn't necessarily mean he wasn't there. "I had quite a lovely break, yes," she answered, smiling as she looked down at the ring on her finger. "I got engaged.." She'd flaunt the ring a bit but she wasn't so sure men really got into that type of thing as much as her women friends did. Still, she was happy to share her news.

The 29 year old ate a bit of her fettuccine as she listened to Dmitry speak of his work and the current happenings of Level Five, nodding here and there. Thankfully her own level had taken enough care of the repercussions left by the chizpurfle mess last year that they didn't have to deal with that mess on top of the work they had now, but she certainly understood where he was coming from. "Oh a council meeting sounds interesting," she mused aloud over a sip of coffee. She did like meeting people from other countries and vaguely wondered what they'd be doing here. "Oh you've been given the liaison position? Congratulations," she gave him an approving smile. Always nice to be given recognition at work. "I held that position on Level Seven for a time.." Of course that was before she had been promoted to Department Head and she really needed to hire another though she wasn't sure the size of her department or the current restructuring allowed for it. So for now, it was still her or one of her managers when something was needed.

And of course, he had turned the question back to her. Something she was happy to oblige. "We have quite a bit going on in Games and Sports right now. We're planning a community event with some of the professional Quidditch players in the area, so that has our main focus. But it's certain to be a good time.. you should come out and see for yourself." He was a Quidditch fan, right? She thought he mentioned that he was.. but really, who wasn't? And she was sure the community at large would enjoy themselves there.

No news of interest? That was probably good although Dmitry would still check it this afternoon, that and a few of the other papers he had subscriptions to. He liked to be on top of the news, especially as things about Hogwarts were often printed in the paper when things went wrong. He liked to be kept abreast about these things since Ana was still at school.

"A little bit of travelling. I spent the 24th in Neuilly-sur-Seine with my parents and my mère's side of the family and then I spent new years and Christmas in Moscow with my dedushka and babushka. Everyone goes so it gets kind of crazy but it's really the only way to get to see everyone since at every other time most of us aren't even in the same country, even my cousins from America made it this year which was nice because they've had to skip the last few family gatherings due to conflicting schedules," Dmitry told her, not bothering to explain the Christmas thing. If he recalled correctly Mariel had spent time in Russia so he was hoping that she wouldn't get confused by the statement. So many people did when he explained to them that he celebrated Christmas twice. He was glad that she'd also had a good break, he hated it when people didn't. The holidays were meant to be a time of happiness, some stress of course, but overall they were about bringing people together.

At her news Dmitry smiled, genuinely happy for her, and leaned forward slightly so he could actually see the ring. That wasn't weird right? "Congratulations, he must be a lucky guy; he's certainly one with good taste anyway. I hope the two of you are very happy together and that you continue to be," he told her. Despite his own failed engagement Dmitry wasn't one of those people that got soured toward the whole idea of marriage, although dating women was definitely something he hadn't been doing since they called it off. He was even going to be best man for a few of his friends next year. He only had to look at his own parents marriage and how in love they still were to keep himself from becoming sceptical about the whole idea of love and marriage.

"I thought so too, although I'm also assuming that it will create a whole load of stress. I'm kind of curious about what countries will be represented and if I'll have a chance to hone my language skills." He was doing well with Greek, he should be near fluent soon but he hadn't really had a chance to put it to the test with a native speaker. He also hoped that Russia would be represented so that he could have a chance to speak in his native tongue. Although he'd had conversations with Emily in Russian they really didn't last long enough. "Thank you. Now I just have to prove that I can perform the duties well, although it does cut out the middle man in some cases since part of my job description is to work with the liaison, since the person who previously held the position is quite... exacting I suppose you could say?" Dmitry replied, slightly hesitant in his wording as he didn't want to appear unprofessional and airing the fact that he thought Charles was quite pompous and judgemental wasn't the way to do that. The fact that they were still on Ministry Property and there was a chance of something getting back to the man in question also made him phrase it in a better light. "Really?" he asked, less out of disbelief and more out of something to say before taking another bite of stew.

A community event? That sounded fun and Quidditch was always a way to draw him into going to something. "Do you know when it's going to be yet?" he asked, already making plans to make sure he could go. Although his social calendar was quite booked during the weekends, what with the aforementioned best man duties; tux fittings, bachelor party organising, helping to pick out rings and food and also attending celebrant classes since he'd agreed to be the celebrant at his cousin Liza's wedding. Although that wouldn't be taking place for a few years Dmitry figured he'd get the classes over with now rather than having to do them at the last minute. "As long as I'm free I'll definitely check it out."

Like it? That was the understatement of the year. Vic flashed Fuller one of his natural grins, "I love it. Court's been my entire life, about time I got something like this." He was an ambitious man, it showed in the way he was devoted to his career. Not that his companion would know about that.

A few years, that meant he wasn't one of the new ones. "Do you like your job? Is it what you wanted?" Vic wasn't sure what Fuller's interests were, what kind of personality he had outside of being a jerk when he was driven-- which was not necessarily a bad thing, being driven was good enough regardless of the way it reflected on people.

The sudden smile from Bones actually caught Kade off guard. He hadn't been expecting any sort of relaxed anything from this conversation. But it seemed that Bones wasn't too uptight at the moment. That was a good sign. Kade smiled too. "I'm not too familiar with courts," he admitted. "Do you do the actual prosecuting, or are you in charge of all of it that goes on in the ministry?"

He grabbed a doughnut from the plate between them and took a few bites. "I do like my job," he replied. If it was what he wanted, though... "I don't know. I wasn't looking for anything specific when I applied. I have a history of getting bored with the jobs I take, and that hasn't happened here yet. So that's a good sign."

And... that was a lot of talking. Kade went back to his doughnut to shut himself up.

"I take that as a good sign coming from usual people." Vic chuckled at Fuller not being familiar with courts. He did mean it, it was a good thing for those who didn't work in his career line. "We all work on the cases. There is two more prosecutors in the team who actually handle them in court." So yes, the man was right. Vic now manages the prosecution rather than present the cases. "I can still present a case if it's tricky or too difficult. All three of us can, actually." Nothing had come up that was so urgent yet. The De Talone case was still on hold.

Aaah, he got bored real easy? Vic always found that hard to believe, but there were people who didn't fit into any routine, while that was nerve-racking for the prosecutor, it was soothing for others. "It is a good sign. What about you outside work activities? You have a girlfriend?" Yes, he's been dying to ask this. Not that it mattered either way, but it didn't hurt to make sure Fuller wasn't trying to get Jan back.

Kaden chuckled at that. "Yeah. Definitely." That meant he wasn't a criminal. Which was nice, and it made a good first impression. Or rather... second impression. Hey, Bones, I tried to mess up your relationship but at least I've never been to jail. He nodded as he listened to Bones explain his job. [b]"Sounds interesting. He really wished he had more to say on that matter, but he felt like he'd be grasping at straws and he didn't want to deal with the awkwardness that that would bring up.

He finished his doughnut as Bones spoke again. "Outside work?" He repeated. "I like being outdoors. Hiking and things. Which is hard to do in the middle of London..." Ha. "I like traveling." That was the better answer.

... girlfriend? It was a good thing Kade had finished his doughnut, or he probably would have choked. How had he guessed that Bones would ask something like that? And... why hadn't he prepared an answer? He took a moment to compose himself. "Sort of." And... what did that mean, exactly? "It's complicated." That was almost disgustingly cliché, but it was the best he could give. Kade was sure that Bones didn't want to know the details, and it would at least assure him that January was safely his.

Vic could tell that Kade, like most people, didn't want to talk more or reply to the law things. It was like everyone was too scared to go down this road with an officer of the law. It was amusing, at the same time a dead end in a conversation.

They managed to move on to something they both seemed to have in common; Hobbies. Though now that Fuller talked on, not even this was something they did the same way. Vic nodded at him, "Traveling is good. If I was given the chance, I'd definitely travel a little more." He had too much responsibility here at a young age to be given that privilege, though. "I like relaxing somewhere during my off-time."

He sort of had a girlfriend? Vic sensed there was some problems in that regard with Fuller... which, to be honest, didn't surprise him for some reason. He did feel for him, though, he looked like he was upset about it. "Oh." was all Vic could say, really. They weren't close enough to pry and offer support, and he was sure Fuller wasn't want to share anyway. "It's a rocky road, isn't it? Relationships." He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "It was much easier when we were younger." Now everything was serious and... intense.

"[b]Oh no, no, no! You haven't said anything wrong. I'm just not exactly used to people calling me 'Miss'," she explained with a cheery smile. Nope, nothing was wrong. She was just.. genuinely surprised. Being called "Miss" wasn't bad, it was just sort of unusual to hear some but her parents' house elves address her in such a form. She started eating her salad.

She paused at Felix's question. Was the Department of Mysteries down-sizing? "I honestly don't know. I don't believe so but I cannot speak with authority on such a topic as I really don't know," she said honestly. His comments, however, had made her start to wonder if they were getting more and more applicants. "You're second suggestion seems like a likely answer to the question." But she couldn't say much else about it because she didn't really know. One could only postulate. She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as she took a sip of her delicious cappuccino. "I don't think it wouldn't be allowed. I mean- it would probably be best if we hung out in the Employee Area or something." It'd be nice to make some work friends around the department.

"A Love Specialist studies the emotional that is love. We investigate its various forms. Then we also research and collect data related to these forms. It's very intriguing because there are so many different types of love. Love for a specific person, love for an idea, the list just goes on and on," she explained becoming more and more enthusiastic about the whole emotion. Oh yes. She loved her job. Anyway, enough about her. "What are you doing in the Space Room?" she asked curiously. She had always wondered what the employees did in there. Even though Felix was new, perhaps he'd know some things about it.

Continuing to delve into her lunch as Dmitry spoke, Mariel lifted her eyes from her pasta, attentively listening. Goodness.. that was a bit of traveling, wasn't it? It was no wonder then, that he didn't come back into London until just very recent. She hadn't thought of him celebrating Christmas later than her and much of the Ministry until he mentioned it. "It does sound busy, chaotic even, though in a really nice way," she said smiling widely, hoping her meaning wasn't misunderstood. Spending time with family was important and a good way to enjoy the holiday, no matter how many there was. Sometimes the bigger the group, the better, especially if they're only seen seldom. "I'm sure you had a wonderful time. I spent a few days in Spain, though not to see my own family." But she welcomed the chance to visit Jorge's family, it had been a while, and they did manage to spend some time in Germany just recently after Chloe was born.

Oh he did seem interested in her ring and Mariel lifted her hand a bit so he could see it better. "Well, thank you. That's very sweet of you to say," she beamed happily, looking down at her ring and distractedly running a finger over the diamonds. "Oh, he is a lucky guy," she added, laughing a bit. They certainly had their ups and downs over the past year and a half, but all joking aside, she considered herself very lucky as well. "We are very happy," she nodded, hoping the same as Dmitry expressed. "Thank you for that sentiment, I do appreciate it." And of course she was very happy with Jorge, just a little too busy to make any proper plans. That could wait till after the event.

Stress.. yes, that's something that she could relate to, as often as she threw herself into her work, busy times often proved to at least some stress present. That was often just unavoidable and she nodded her understanding, expecting quite a bit to come her way with the meet and greet. She was remotely curious as well as to what it all would entail, but she didn't know all that much about what went into his job. "Do you speak many languages? English, of course.. Russian and French, I'd assume.." she mused aloud, unable to recall if he had told her of any others. She didn't normally like to assume things, but she figured the last two were safe bets. "Speaking them regularly is certainly essential," she nodded, adding to his implication. One reason was she almost exclusively spoke French when speaking to her sisters to keep herself fluent.

"Exacting?" Mariel gave him a vaguely curiously look, unsure of his meaning though she quickly gathered he was trying to remain professional, something that she could appreciate. "Well, I'm certain you'll do a fine job," she said with a smile, eating a bit more. Gidyun wouldn't have placed him there if he didn't think so as well and Dmitry had a pleasant enough personality which was quite suitable for the position. "Yes.." she nodded a bit distractedly, getting rather lost in thought. "I've restructured much of the department since then and have yet to find a permanent replacement." Not that he'd be bothered with that, she was just thinking aloud. Victoria would be her obvious first choice, though she wondered if she had enough responsibility and didn't want her to be burdened with more.

"The first Saturday in April," she said, taking a sip of her coffee, as he expressed interest in the Quidditch event. "April first, to be exact." She had gone over that date so many times after permanently scheduling it that she did not need to even look at her planner anymore. The details were fairly well etched on her brain. "Well, good," she added as Dmitry said he might attend. "I really think you'd enjoy yourself. We've all put so much work into it to make it fun for everyone." She did anticipate its success.

If I was given the chance. Kade was beginning to think that Bones what somewhat of a workaholic. He wondered how that translated into things such as relationships... and if he was giving January the time she deserved. She had told him she was happy, at least, so at least there was that... "Where would you go?" He asked out of curiosity. People usually had interesting answers when asked where they would like to travel. "Given the chance, I mean."

He was glad that Bones didn't pry, but Kade hadn't expected him too anyway. He nodded to the comment about relationships being rocky. "To say the least," he agreed without thinking. He chewed the inside of lip thoughtfully as Bones continued talking. Easier when we were younger? Kaden almost laughed. "It's always been rocky for me," he said, the laughter almost audible in his tone. Now that was something he didn't want to get into with Bones. Ever.

"You never said. What do you do outside work?" If anything, Mr. Workaholic.

Where would he go? That was a tough question. Vic gave a shrug, "It's too late to answer that, I think. I cannot go back in that mindset from years ago, so many has changed." He paused, toying with the empty plate on the table. "I did manage to go to Greece, though. I took my degree from Athens." So he wasn't completely deprived from traveling, it was all about priorities.

Oh look at that, Fuller seemed to be the heartbreaker when he was younger or something. Vic chuckled along, "Yeah, I guess we all had our rocky time at something." Vic had it with not being able to have a relationship, thanks to his commitment to his family and the tough times they had. But this was too personal to share over their first... meal.

"Oh, I just... lounge in my couch, read a good book, sometimes I do some sports." It was rare but it happened. "I like to take relaxing walks, too." With January. This was a recent thing but it felt the most right.

SPOILER!!: Mariel

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Continuing to delve into her lunch as Dmitry spoke, Mariel lifted her eyes from her pasta, attentively listening. Goodness.. that was a bit of traveling, wasn't it? It was no wonder then, that he didn't come back into London until just very recent. She hadn't thought of him celebrating Christmas later than her and much of the Ministry until he mentioned it. "It does sound busy, chaotic even, though in a really nice way," she said smiling widely, hoping her meaning wasn't misunderstood. Spending time with family was important and a good way to enjoy the holiday, no matter how many there was. Sometimes the bigger the group, the better, especially if they're only seen seldom. "I'm sure you had a wonderful time. I spent a few days in Spain, though not to see my own family." But she welcomed the chance to visit Jorge's family, it had been a while, and they did manage to spend some time in Germany just recently after Chloe was born.

Oh he did seem interested in her ring and Mariel lifted her hand a bit so he could see it better. "Well, thank you. That's very sweet of you to say," she beamed happily, looking down at her ring and distractedly running a finger over the diamonds. "Oh, he is a lucky guy," she added, laughing a bit. They certainly had their ups and downs over the past year and a half, but all joking aside, she considered herself very lucky as well. "We are very happy," she nodded, hoping the same as Dmitry expressed. "Thank you for that sentiment, I do appreciate it." And of course she was very happy with Jorge, just a little too busy to make any proper plans. That could wait till after the event.

Stress.. yes, that's something that she could relate to, as often as she threw herself into her work, busy times often proved to at least some stress present. That was often just unavoidable and she nodded her understanding, expecting quite a bit to come her way with the meet and greet. She was remotely curious as well as to what it all would entail, but she didn't know all that much about what went into his job. "Do you speak many languages? English, of course.. Russian and French, I'd assume.." she mused aloud, unable to recall if he had told her of any others. She didn't normally like to assume things, but she figured the last two were safe bets. "Speaking them regularly is certainly essential," she nodded, adding to his implication. One reason was she almost exclusively spoke French when speaking to her sisters to keep herself fluent.

"Exacting?" Mariel gave him a vaguely curiously look, unsure of his meaning though she quickly gathered he was trying to remain professional, something that she could appreciate. "Well, I'm certain you'll do a fine job," she said with a smile, eating a bit more. Gidyun wouldn't have placed him there if he didn't think so as well and Dmitry had a pleasant enough personality which was quite suitable for the position. "Yes.." she nodded a bit distractedly, getting rather lost in thought. "I've restructured much of the department since then and have yet to find a permanent replacement." Not that he'd be bothered with that, she was just thinking aloud. Victoria would be her obvious first choice, though she wondered if she had enough responsibility and didn't want her to be burdened with more.

"The first Saturday in April," she said, taking a sip of her coffee, as he expressed interest in the Quidditch event. "April first, to be exact." She had gone over that date so many times after permanently scheduling it that she did not need to even look at her planner anymore. The details were fairly well etched on her brain. "Well, good," she added as Dmitry said he might attend. "I really think you'd enjoy yourself. We've all put so much work into it to make it fun for everyone." She did anticipate its success.

"It was nice. I never really realised just how much I'd miss everyone when I took the job here. Although, I suppose getting away was kind of the point," he revealed, giving a wry smile as he finished off his stew and dug into the Pumpkin Pie. Not as good as his grand-mère's but still delicious. "I also got to see my god-son for the first time since his Christening which was great because he's an adorably and bubbly little tyke," he reminisced, affection clear on his face, even though his tone was slightly melancholic. "What part of Spain?" Dmitry asked, eager to direct the conversation back towards Mariel. Considering her words Dmitry assumed that she must have been visiting with her future in-laws, hopefully they got along well.

As he got a better look at the ring Dmitry couldn't help but conclude that it was beautiful. A ring he assumed any woman would be happy to have as their engagement ring. Certainly something Mariel could be proud to show off if she were inclined to do so. He figured most women were. Angélique had certainly been inclined to show hers off to every female friend she had, even some of the women he knew she actively disliked and Liza had certainly been showing her engagement ring off to everyone over Christmas. Not that he could fault her cousin for her joy. Mariel's response to his statement startled Dmitry into laughter and his voice was teasing when he said, "You certainly don't suffer from false modesty." It was actually kind of refreshing in a way that she didn't feign modesty in this situation.

Did he speak many languages? Compared to his Papa he didn't, although that was mainly because he hadn't spent as many years learning new languages as his papa had. "Well, I do obviously speak all those languages fluently," Dmitry agreed before moving to tick the others off on his fingers. "Besides English, Russian and French I'm also fluent in Latin, German and Spanish. I can quite comfortably hold conversations in Japanese and Greek and at the moment I'm learning Lithuanian and Polish." Finished ticking everything off his fingers Dmitry took another bite of pumpkin pie before sipping at his drink. He nodded when Mariel mentioned that practice was important. "I definitely agree with you. Even though I've spoken French since the cradle when I was still in my teens I would sometimes find myself forgetting what things meant. Which generally meant that I'd been ignoring my mère's floo calls for entirely too long," he joked. Although truth be told he hadn't spoken to her as much as he likely should have when he was just starting university and travelling with his friends. Despite the fact that his mère was fluent in Russian she almost exclusively spoke French with her children. Something about reminding them that their French heritage was as important as their Russian heritage.

"He has high standards," Dmitry qualified, figuring that was probably a better term in the first place. "Well, thank you. I was a liaison back in Russia for a time, I was less nervous about that though." Mainly because he'd known more of the people he had to interact with. Still, he knew that Gidyun wouldn't have handed him the position if he didn't think he was capable of fulfilling the duties associated with it. Ahh, Dmitry had never had to restructure a Department but he figured there would be a great deal of work involved in doing so. "I hope you find a suitable permanent replacement soon then," he offered, knowing that it would mean less of a workload for Mariel herself when she did.

"April Fools?" Dmitry questioned, when she mentioned the date they'd set for the Quidditch event. Well, he'd certainly remember that date and although he wasn't going to be free that evening he could certainly spend some time at the event. "Well, I'm sure it'll be a success and I'll certainly stop by for a few hours."

She wasn't used to being called miss? Clearly the young woman became comfortable with people rather easily if she was so unused to formality, unlike Felix who tended to have a hard time connecting with people. "Ah, I see... That's rather understandable, Miss Malfoy," Felix lightly teased, taking a long sip of his chocolate milk. And no, he did not think chocolate milk and pizza were a weird combination, it was actually rather perfect in his opinion.

Felix "hmm'ed" as the young woman explained, very diplomatically, that she didn't know if that were the case or not and could not speak with authority on such a manner. Felix was actually rather amused by the young woman's little speech, it wasn't what he had expected of her. "Ether scenario isn't very good for the department, but the second is certainly easier fixed.. In fact, I think that's what that little program is all about; getting kids interested in our work," Felix said, with a thoughtful nod. Yes that sounded about right. "Right... That would probably be for the better, I don't care much for being reprimanded this early in my ministry career," It was odd, Felix didn't usually get on this well with people, but something about Emma and her pleasant, cheerful disposition made him feel comfortable, and friendlier than usual.

He listened attentively as Emma explained, with great enthusiasm and obvious affection about the Ever-Locked Room and what she did as a Love Specialist. "That's actually more interesting than I'd thought it would be... " Felix admitted, a small smile forming on his Eastern European features. "Forgive me, but I believed it was nothing but match-making," Felix said, before raising an eyebrow at Emma's next question. "What are you doing in the Space Room?" Felix lit up, his small smile transforming into a grin. There was nothing that could brighten his day like talking about his absolute favorite thing; space. "I'm an astronomer, I catalogue and study the planets and various other celestial objects to better understand our universe and how exactly it works." Felix said, and though he assumed the blond would find all this boring, he went on; "When you think about our world, in relation to the vastness of the universe.. It's a mind blowing experience,"

Emma chuckled when she heard Felix call her 'Miss Malfoy' once more but this time, he had put a lot more emphasis on it. Oh, well played, Mr. Felix. Well, well played. He had a good sense of humour and the blonde couldn't wait to hear more of it. She then watched him take a swig of milk chocolate after a bite of his pizza. Hmmm.. Interesting combination. She wondered what the two tasted like together. "Ha, well played, Mr. Metei," she said, giving him a playful wink.

"Exactly!" she added rather enthusiastically at Felix's point about getting more of the kids involved. With more kids involved, their department would last for a long time. And Ashby wouldn't have to worry about the legacy of the Mysteries Department. "It'll be interesting to see what we all decide to 'teach' the kids. The guy in the Death Chamber didn't sound too excited about it all," she said. Maybe that's what studying 'death' did to you? Merlin. That was a rather...morbid thought. Anyway back to mysterious Felix. He didn't mind getting reprimanded for being in the wrong room so early in his career? Well wasn't he a brave one. She could have sworn that he would have been sorted into the Gryffindor house if he had attended Hogwarts. She didn't think he had because she didn't remember him from her time. Perhaps she did and she was too busy going off with her own group of friends. Oh well. "Mhmm, maybe Ashby would encourage it so we can help see where the youngsters best fit?" she said.

Emma laughed. "It is a lot more interesting. Just between you and me, I thought it was going to be sort of boring when I started. And no worries, you didn't offend me at all," she explained as she leaned closer to whisper so he could only hear her voice. She listened attentively as Felix explained his work. Listening to Felix explain it, she was reminded of her own cousin, Trixie, who loved Astronomy. Emma remembered sitting in the car as a young girl with Trixie and watching her cousin's eyes dazzle with excitement as she explained everything that could possibly be out there for them to explore. "Cataloguing other planets and cosmos? Awesome. There must be so many places that are unexplored," she said. His job was definitely mind-blowing.

... Well that was unnecessarily and ridiculously deep. It wasn't like Kade had asked a really profound question there. Where would you like to travel? But apparently it was a big deal to Bones, so Kade didn't question it. He just shrugged and took the bait with Greece. "Did you like the school there?"

At that comment, Kade was suddenly curious as to what Bones had been rocky at. He didn't want to ask, though. Who knew what kind of answer that would bring up. Or if Bones would even want to answer it at all. Best just to avoid it altogether and the awkward moment that would surely follow.

Lounge, read, walk. He sounded like a real party animal. "With January?" ... that slipped. Kade immediately put on a straight face, hoping that it wasn't obvious that he hadn't meant to say that. He didn't really care if January took walks with this guy. He didn't care about January. Except for in a friend way. Ugh. Any chance Bones hadn't heard?

Caroline was going to have to start coming down here.It was nice and the food was good Maybe meet more people make friends. And no work. "Its hard to get away sometimes. Even for lunch." She cut up the boiled eggs in her salad. Oh did she mention how good the food was?

Jamie... She nodded "I sure do." Jamie was a pleasure to work along side with. "He is. Good healer too," Dependable and all that jazz. She was glad to have him around at work.

Caroline laughed "Definitely, never a dull moment. And not a lot of time for lunch breaks." She was lucky if she got to eat at home. not with her own kids at home."And by the time I get home the kids have practice and dance.Im surprised that I ever get to eat. How many do you have?"

Now that sounded like a fun job.But then any job working with quidditch was fun. She loved being the team Healer for the tornadoes. She kind of missed it. "That's nice. I worked as a teams healer for a while." Her husband and brother both played for them now.

Victoria continued to eat her sandwich and nodded, swallowing before speaking again. “I could see that in your line of work. There is probably always something to do.” She mused a moment about how hectic that could get. Though if they had enough healers then there should be time for breaks. There were laws put in place to make sure one gets a lunch. Her mind wondered how much Anthony was paying attention to these things, but it wasn’t her department, so she’d just keep the thoughts to herself.

“He’s a sweet guy. Always knows how to cheer me up when needed.” Which had been a lot in the past year. She thought about Christmas Eve when he had come over and watched Golden Girls that was sweet. “I don’t doubt he’d be a good healer. I bet he’s just great with the kids at the daycare.” If that’s even where he was a healer at.

She had children as well, listening she thought about when the time came for the girls to do this kind of thing. Then she’d really have her hands full, though Charely would be helping out as well. “You sound like a busy person. I have three actually. One’s at school at Hogwarts and the other two will be two in July.” She couldn’t believe her girls would be two, the time went so fast.

A team healer well that was very interesting, “I bet that was a fun job. I couldn’t imagine the injuries. What team?” She knew many injury statistics because of her position, everything was documented and stored away.

Mariel nodded her understanding as Dmitry expressed missing his family. That certainly seemed the way when they were all over. no matter how small a world it could seem to be at times, there never seemed to be enough time to visit with them all and time often slipped away, proving too long between visits once the opportunity managed to present itself. Or at least that was the way with her. The only family she had left local were very distant relatives and traveling, when she found the time to do it, wasn't always left for visiting. "Well.. London certainly is a nice change of scenery.." she mused, finishing the last of her fettuccine. Of course, she might be slightly biased, but it did have its differences in relation to the other countries she knew he had lived. And she left it open for him to explain himself if he desired, not sure if it was really her business why he'd want to get away from him family.

She did smile faintly as he mentioned a young god-son, though she thought she caught a somber tone. Again not her business, she figured, as she really didn't know him all that well to pry. "Oh that's great, I'm sure that was a lovely time.." she mused, reminiscing on her own time spent with young ones recently and another distant thought she pushed away before it made itself too prevalent. "How old is he? I have twin god-daughters myself." Around a year and a half they were already. "Ronda.. it's in the south of Spain," she answered as he asked specifically where, unsure how familiar he was with the location. "Very beautiful.. only the second time I've been there."

Her look of amusement stayed firmly in place as Dmitry laughed at her words and commented himself. "No.. I can't say I've ever been accused of being falsely modest." And even if she had been only joking, Mariel didn't often see the point of being too modest. She was a confident woman and took credit when it was due, though she was careful to not be arrogant. There was a big difference. She smiled softly down at her ring again, remembering the proposal, before lifting her eyes and focusing on the present conversation.

Merlin, he really did speak a lot of languages.. more than she had imagined. "I have to say, that's rather impressive," she said as her eyes had slightly widened while Dmitry listed what he could speak. But no wonder he was so cut out for International Cooperation. "I'm sure that comes in quite handy for your job.. French is really the only other one besides English that I'm very fluent in. I can hold a conversation in German and Spanish though," she added by way of conversation. And it was her intent on becoming fluent in Spanish. Her Russian was far too rusty to have even been mentioned, so she didn't, forgetting quite a bit of what she had learned years ago. She chuckled softly as he mentioned ignoring his mother's calls, then nodded. "I get that.. when I mirror my sisters, we often only speak in French to keep it sharp." Of course, M'Lynn lived in France so it wasn't an issue for her, but for Mariel and Meloria, they often didn't have much other opportunity.

High standards.. Mariel nodded as she mulled over those words. Many people had high standards but it was often the way they expressed the to others that made the difference. Perhaps that was what Dmitry was alluding to and she thought she understood. "It seems you're well-suited then," she added with a smile. She had already thought that given his pleasant personality, now even more so that he had experience with the position. "And thank you.. I certain we will." It hadn't been a priority with other things going on, but she had some potential there. For now the responsibilities would be divided by a few of them. And speaking of other things going on, she chuckled a bit as he mentioned the date. "It does happen to be April Fools.. I hadn't really thought of it that way but it does seem to make the date memorable.." All the more better for them then, people would remember when it was and it wouldn't get overlooked.. not that something like this would. "Fantastic.. I hope you do." She really couldn't wait for it and she was certain the community would love it.

Dmitry nodded his agreement when Mariel said that London was a nice place for a change of scenery. "It is nice. It also helps I suppose that it's not too hard to escape for a weekend when I have the time to sate my wanderlust," he told her with a slight grin before finishing off his juice, pushing the rest of his food away from him. He'd just take the rest back up to level five with him since he apparently wasn't as hungry as he'd thought. His babushka had always accused him of having eyes too big for his stomach. After which she'd try to force him more food because he was apparently too thin and growing boys needed to eat a lot didn't he know. It was also nice that Mariel didn't push for explanations. While Dmitry thought she was pleasant company they didn't know each other well enough that he was going to spill his guts to her. Technically he didn't even spill them to his closest friends, people he'd known since he was a child.

"Nearly two, so it's been a while. They moved to South Korea a few months before he was born and only just moved back so I really didn't get to see him as much as I would have liked. I'm hoping to change that now though with them living closer." In fact they already had weekend plans. Dmitry was to take Étienne out for a day while they moved into their own house, instead of his place where they'd been staying due to the sale taking longer than expected. Not that he'd minded because he wasn't living in the place nor was he renting it out, he was just happy not to get stuck helping them move. Although he was sure he'd get stuck helping to put furniture together at some point. That or cooking. Twin god-daughters sounded nice and when she mentioned them he was almost tempted to pull his wallet out and share pictures, except he was pretty sure no one but him was really interested, just like he wasn't really interested in the past when workmates had forced him to look at pictures of their kids. Not that he didn't like kids, because he adored them, it's just he didn't have an emotional connection to them so the fact they were sitting up really didn't matter to him. Still, since Mariel had asked about Étiennes' age Dmitry returned the curiosity. "And how old are they?" Ronda... "It's in Málaga isn't it?" Dmitry asked, brows furrowed slightly as he thought. He'd personally never been to Ronda but he had spent some time in Spain on holiday's when he was younger. They'd stuck to more coastal towns though like Marbella.

Dmitry nodded along, giving her his full attention now that he wasn't eating. It was only polite to do so really. A small smile took root on his face as Mariel played along, glad she hadn't gotten offended or something. He didn't think she would but some people got offended at the least thing so he hadn't been entirely sure that she'd take it in the spirit it was meant in.

"It's nothing really. My father's a polyglot and a linguistics teacher so I was bound to learn languages and then I studied it at uni," he replied with a shrug. While he did speak quite a few languages he knew that there were people out there who spoke more. Dmitry was just lucky in that languages came easy to him, unlike some people who just weren't meant to even attempt languages they mangled them so badly. Not to say that all languages came easily to him, ones like Japanese he'd found quite difficult at first. "But yeah, it is handy. I think most of us on five are at least bilingual," he didn't know if everyone was but it seemed like it. Of course that could very well just be the employees that he interacted with. "That's still quite impressive," Dmitry opined. He liked to be fluent but really in most situations being able to hold a conversation would be enough. "Not Russian though?" he questioned, recalling that she'd mentioned spending some time in Saint Petersburg in the past. "I get that. Sevastyan and I tend to switch it up when we talk to each other. We don't speak all the same languages but we like to mix in the ones we both speak, especially when one of us is learning and the other is fluent," which was happening right now since Sevastyan was already fluent in Polish. "It's the same when I speak to my cousins, although we mainly stick to Russian." He also loved getting letters because they'd be in the familiar Russian or French, sometimes interspersed with English when Stasya was the one who wrote.

"Thanks," Dmitry said with another quick grin. He hadn't been fishing for compliments or reassurance that he'd do well but he'd take it. An ego boost was always nice after all. "Definitely memorable. I just hope nobody decides to pull any pranks," he stated wryly, not because he was against them, just because he was thinking that if something went wrong at this event that they'd apparently spent a lot of time on then it could have serious repercussions. He knew that in his own youth he certainly would have been tempted to pull something at an event organised on April Fools, it would be too good to pass up. So it was probably lucky that he'd grown out of that by now.

There was the wink again, really, Felix had no idea what to do with that. Should he wink back? No wait, that would ridiculous, his face was not meant for winking, he'd leave that to Emma. Felix had to admit, her playful nature was.... Well, rather refreshing, he was used to being around more serious types and this brevity that Emma seemed to have was quite pleasant. "I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Malfoy," Felix said with a light smirk.

Felix smiled softly as the blond excitedly agreed with him, before going on to mention how it would be interesting to see what the kids would be taught, and how the gentleman from the death room hadn't seemed all that eager about the whole thing. Honestly, Felix couldn't blame him, he himself wasn't much into kids and teaching them was something that Felix was actually rather dreading. "It shall be interesting, tough... I must admit, I'm not all that pleased about it ether... Seems like it'll take too much away from our actual duties." Felix simply said, finishing off his pizza. He took out a white handkerchief and fastidiously wiped at his mouth, making sure to get off any crumbs or residual sauce. "Hopefully so, I'd hate to be stuck with someone who was uninterested in the work I do,"

"You thought it would be boring? Then why take on the job? If you don't mind my asking," Felix asked, adjusting his eyeglasses. As Emma leaned in, Felix felt himself unconsciously doing the same, it was all rather conspiratorial and just a bit fun. He couldn't help making a study of the girl's features, she was pretty, very pretty but the intelligence behind her clear eyes showed that she wasn't just about her looks, that there was a brain behind all that charm... Definitely interesting. "Yes, many, very many.. That's the thing I love about it.. The universe is a living, breathing thing.. It changes, evolves just as we do.. And there's always more to discover.. More to understand.. I' sorry, I must be boring," Felix said, suddenly self-conscious.

She laughed as he admitted that he didn't have a single clue what she was speaking about. Ah, good. This one had a sense of humour on him. Some of their co-workers were rather serious and would drone on about their topics so that lead to rather boring days. However, Emma was glad to find someone who would joke around in her office. That was a nice change. Hopefully Felix would stay around for a while. Finishing up her caesar salad, she continued to listen.

Emma nodded in agreement. She took a sip of her cappuccino. Teaching kids would take away time from them actually performing their duties. "Right but it'll be for the betterment of the department," she said. With Felix's next statement, Emma whole-heartedly agreed with. Getting stuck with a student that didn't wish to learn about the subject would be horrible, especially if they just made of fun of the whole job. She nodded. "Yes, that would not be good at all but perhaps Mr. Summers will put them in areas that they wish to be in. If they have to visit all areas of the department, perhaps they could only stay one day in a place so we don't have to deal with their 'attitude'." Young people could be difficult at times but thank Merlin they weren't thirteen year olds. Thirteen was a scary age.

The blonde shrugged her shoulders. "I thought it would be boring but then my best friend convinced me to give it a try so I did. I thought I knew what love was so I didn't think that I would be suited for the job; however, now, I realize how naive I had been," she said. She paused and took a sip of her cappuccino. Felix seemed like the trustowrhty type so she didn't mind telling him a little bit more about herself. "Originally, I was an Obliviator but I took a leave of absence as I had some familial issues to deal with. After that was solved, I came back to that department and didn't really find my heart in it all so I transferred and ended up here." Emma paused and listened to Felix describe the beautiful cosmoses up in the sky and the endless possibilities within the galaxy. She studied the excitement in his eyes and the passion, the love, he held for his topic of study. It was intoxicating and exciting. "No, no, no. You're not boring me. It's all fascinating. At Hogwarts, I used to spend the majority of my time either in the Astronomy Tower or on the Quidditch Pitch. You can go on if you wish," she said, giving him a reassuring grin.

With most of her co-workers out on assignments Tasha made her way down to the food court to get herself some lunch and potentially some company. The blond stopped by the buffet table and grabbed herself a plate full of pasta and sausages. Proceeding over to an empty table she sat down remembering that she had forgotten a glass of ice tea. Tasha was thinking of the cool, thirst clenshing drink when she heard a whoosh and a SPLASH and next thing she knew she was DRENCHED from head to toe in ICE TEA....

"Eeek, who did this?" Eyes darting around for a possible culprit Tasha shivered in the sudden coldness of her clothes. Wiping her wet hair out of her eyes she started to search around her robe pockets for her wand.

Wandastian had been returning from collecting Healer Carmichael...when he seen the incident occur! He'd KNOWN there was something up at the Ministry building. This...CONFIRMED EVERYTHING they'd feared!

Rushing towards the distressed woman, because he'd seen the WHOLE THING, the Healer brandished his wand, offering his assistance. Oh, me...Oh, MY. They should have arrived SOONER.

"Ma'am!" Wandastian fussed over the lady. "Let me attend to you at once!" All the while, she was getting poked and prodded as he did some mild assessing.

Searching her pockets frantically for her wand Tasha didn't see the man coming until he was way too close for comfort and was poking and prodding at her with his wand. "Stop poking me.." she blurted out as she moved several steps backwards. "Who are you?"

"I don't need...help. I just need a...a towel." Tasha mumbled as she continued to search for her wand. Where was it? Had she forgotten it in the office? She wasn't that careless "I just got ice tea -----" all over me. She didn't get to finish her sentence however though when a big pack of towels landed on top of the man's head. Oops!