Magical Creatures Work Area
 

There is no dirt tracking across the floor, no puffs of humidity rolling through the room, and portraits of magical plants don't cover the walls. The smell is a stark contrast to that of the Environmental work rooms on the other side of the wall, more of creatures than plants. The expansive room has desk scattered all about, clustered together by teams under each division. Those with larger more worn desks mostly work from the office and can be seen with more comfy chairs. While those that work solely from the field and never spend more than a few hours in the office have smaller desks though equally as comfortable chairs for them and for assisting the public.

All workers have lockers against the walls for storing personal belongings and a needed extra set of work robes. There's a large enchanted window to provide some semblance of sunlight along with portraits of magical creatures, the occasional informative poster of dangerous creature can be found on the walls as well.

The Department Head's office can be accessed through this room, as well as the creature holding room. Up the short hall is the Registration and Support Offices as well as the shared areas with the Environmental Department. Don't mind all the barking echoing down the hall, that's just the pack of albino bloodhounds kept by the department.

Ren'Ai walked into the room, eyes flicking back and forth nervously. Thank Kami that only one other person was in the room. She searched for a good cubcle in her division section and sat down quietly. Her cubicle was rather close the only other occupied cubicle at the moment. She began digging through the small handbag she had brought. She pulled out a pictureframe set with four pictures. Sh smiled and set it to the side. A larger photograph of her god sister was next. Finally she pulled out anold black and white wedding photograph. Her parents. Ren'Ai sighed contentedly and smiled.

Katalin walked into the work cubicles which looked better than the last time she saw it, she saw some other people looking for their desks. She walked towards them and said "Hello, I am Katalin Starr, I am a junior pest advisor!"

Ren'Ai looked up when two women came in and spoke. She blinked and glanced around. All seemed well. It's just the paranoia she thought to herself. She stood up to address them. "Hello. I am Ren'Ai Kirai, and I am a Spirit Liaison Junior Officer. Pleased to meet you" she sat down and looked at her cubicle and realized what was missing. She sighed heavily and dug through her bag to pull out a picture of her god-sister, her boyfriend, his step-brother, and Ren'Ai. Ren'Ai smiled and waited for directions.

Lucy stood up and reached out a hand. "Lucy Parrish. Officer for Import and Export of Magical Creatures." She smiled and after shaking the woman's hand she sat back down and sighed. 'Junior Pest advisor?' Lucy thought as she smiled at Katalin Starr. 'How odd...Eh. Maybe when houses get infested they go to her?' Lu sat back down. Her cubicle was so bare but she really had nothing to put in it. One woman was putting up pictures but Lu didn't have any pictures. Ah well. She gave a small sigh. Maybe she could quickly go to the Breakroom and get a coffée then go to Ms. Radley about her first case? Mmmm....yes, a mocha would be great to get her going.

Erik strolled towards his Department. He reached a huge majestic old wooden door with intricate designs, depicting various creatures that could be found in the wizarding world.

This is it, he thought. First day of work at the Ministry. Hope it will go well. He breathed deeply, pushed the great oak door open and walked through.

Once inside, his eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. A big office with several small compartments intended for employees. Someone like me. The thought gave him an adrenaline rush. The long-awaited anxiety and excitement, perhaps. He then realized the office was... sort of deserted, except a group of ladies huddled together. He checked his watch. He was very early.

Knowing there was still so much time to spare, Erik strode to the bevy thinking it wise to make a few friends before starting out his work hours. Feeling slightly hungry, he took out an apple from his jacket, wiped it clean with his handkerchief and said in his most gentleman voice,

"Hello, ladies. Mind if I join you?" Erik gave them his award-winning smile. "I'm Erik Sophronia, by the way."

Ren'Ai looked up in shock. She blinked, and sat down, putting her head down slightly, taking out her ponytail to let her hair cover her face. She looked up at this Erik person through thick lashes. "Ren'Ai Kirai. You can join them. I was never really a part of it. But nice to meet you, anyways" she said softly, looking at her photographs.

Erik chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Ren' Ai."

The moment she talked, he realized that she was the shy type. He decided to give her a few more moments before talking to her again. It would be much better to take things slowly with Ren' Ai. After all, he wanted to gain her friendship. All these ladies here seemed swell and nice people.

Holding his apple, he took a bite from it and averted his gaze to the beauty of his office. Dee-licious!

**after a few moments**

Erik thought it was the right time to approach the shy girl again.

"What's your job here, Ren' Ai?"

Ren'Ai looked up, silvery eyes covered by dark hair. She watched him eat that apple, and realized she was hungry as well she picked up the bottomless bag and found a small bag full of sushi. She popped one into her mouth and swallowed.

(after a few)

Ren looked up as Erik approached again. "Spirit Liaison Junior Officer. You?" she asked, looking up.

"People call me when they need information on pests" she told Lucy, she had pictures of her husband and children.

Pest advisor?

Clarissa smiled at the younger woman who walked over. "Pleased to meet you Kaitlin. What creatures are categorized as pests?" Was it garden creatures that you worked every day to prevent from taking over your bushes and vegetable patches or was it some other creatures. The red headed woman figured it was a good to know what the other employees did if she needed to work alongside them or if she would need advice.

"Pleased to meet you too Ren! I'm Clarissa and i work as a senior officer for the disposal of dangerous creatures." Spirits that meant Ren worked with ghosts, ghouls and other earth bound spirits who hadn't let earth when they died right? She doubted that their job assignments would cross paths but it could happen if every employee was needed to take care of something important. The red headed woman watched as Ren pulled several picture frames and put them on the desk in front of her. It seemed mostly likely to be her family but Clarissa didn't feel like being nosy.

Import and export of magical creatures?

Finally someone she would work alongside Clarissa mused as she shook the other womans. "Pleased to meet you Lucy! I'm Clarissa Stimpson, Senior officer for the disposal of dangerous creatures." Gazing over the cubicle desks she thought she spotted one with her name not too far from Lucy's desk. Changing the postion of her handbag Clarissa walked over and checked it out noting that her intray already had a few files that needed attending to. Going back to Lucy she asked curiously "What does and import and export officer do? Do you oversee the creatures that come into the country and those that leave?" It sounded logical but she could have it all backwards it happened.

The doors to the work cubicles opened and a man slipped in. The first one so far. Hopefully there would be more coming since it was better to have an even amount of both genders in a department than just ladies for instance. Pulling back some red locks that had escaped her knot Clarissa shot the man a bright smile as he asked if they would mind if he joined them. "Not at all. We are just getting to know each other. I'm Clarissa Stimpson. Senior officer for the disposal of dangerous creatures." The man introduced himself as Erik. "Pleased to meet you Erik! What will you be working with?"

Lucy fiddled with the eagle feather of her quill and looked up at the newest guy. "Sure." She shrugged. It wouldn't matter if they did mind, would it? He worked there and they couldn't stop that. "I'm Lucy. Parrish. Lucy Parrish." Lucy said awkwardly and nodded. Lu sat back in her swivel chair and spun around a couple of times.

...'Cause it wasn't her cubicle till she did that...

"Oh riiight." Lu nodded, eyes wide. 'Interesting..'

"You too," Lucy smiled. "Yup, that's basically it." Grin. "Cool - so we might be working more together, then?" It seemed like they would anyway, right?

ooc: crap post - sorry

Magical Creatures were a very unlucky department.

Not only had her shower broken that morning, but Alyss had discovered that she'd run out of milk, therefore wasn't able to have cereal and therefore ruining her morning schedule. Pushing the door to her new workplace open, she took a sour look around. There were an awful lot of women. Not that she would prefer to be around men. Men were useless and... Loyal. Like dogs. But that meant they'd always be around. Pushing a piece of stray hair out of her face, Alyss moved fully into the room and let the door shut - rather loudly - behind her.

Attempting a friendly face, she moved to the cubicle that had her name attached to, and dumped her things inside of it. Throughout the day/week/month/all the time she worked there, the cubicle would probably become like a second home to her, there would even be blankets appearing at some time, betraying the fact that she worked late into the nights. Sitting down in the chair, she attempted to subtly lower the height. She couldn't work in a chair that didn't let her feet touch the floor now, could she?!

"Creatures like doxys or gnomes" Katalin told Clarissa, "Do you want to see pictures of my family?" she asked her.

Erik smiled, impressed. "Just a Dragon Research Head Officer..." he shrugged. "Ever been to the Ministry? It's just my first time. I immediately journeyed southeast after I graduated. Speaking of it, where did you study before landing here, at the Ministry?" he chuckled.

"My apologies, would you want an apple? I have an extra one if you'd like." He brandished a shiny red apple from his bag.

"Dragons," His eyes twinkled for a second.

Erik nodded and smiled back, again. "Nice to meet you too, Clarissa. I'll be part of the Beast Division, I believe. I'm a Dragon Research Head Officer." he shrugged as he took another bite of his apple. "It would be nice to work with different magical creatures, but they assigned me to dragons," noticing he said something quite mean, he added quickly, "Not that I don't like my job! I am totally happy with it! Dragons are my favorite above all..."

"I'm really quite new with the Ministry way, so is it alright if I get some advice from you from time to time? You seem to have a lot of experience here. But no worries, I won't bug you when you're busy," he chuckled.

Erik took one last bite from his apple, placed it inside a plastic bag and put it back into his bag. "I'm Erik Sophronia, pleased to meet you Lucy."

"What's your business here at the Ministry? I mean, apart from being part of this Department, I suppose," he shook his head and smiled, laughing at his own vague question.

She saw someone else walk into the cubicles, she was glad that she was making new friends. She walked towards him "I am Katalin Starr!"

After straightening her cream dress, Miss Radley, or Erica as she would much prefer to be called walked into the work cubicles, eyeing the room as she walked through, taking note of anything that had found itself in somewhere where it shouldn't be. Not much had changed since she had left it, there were a few minor changes, well one absolutely massive one if you asked Erica. A new department had found its way into level four, HER level as she liked to call it. She clearly disliked the fact that she had to work in close proximity to another department, one that she felt her creature employees could actually manage without the need for a whole new department dedicated to it.

The Blonde smiled what could only be described as a professional smile, appropriate for the time and the place. "Good morning" she nodded curtly towards her employees that seemed to be engrossed in conversation. "Before we proceed to our days work there are a few things I would like to go through with you" she stated, placing one of her folders that were in her arms onto a random work cubicle, no idea who's, and putting her hands on her hips. "Due to a lot of hard work and effort the Ministry has decided that our humble department shall be receiving a pay rise. Over the past few weeks we have been experiencing a lot of trouble from these protests that have been propping up all over the country. The minister thought that we handled the issues carefully, accurately and without trouble and so your pay will be going up shortly" and that was good news for everyone. It felt good to be starting off the day with a good note. And that included the people that had only just arrived into the department.

"For those who don't know me as well yet, my name is Ms Radley, however please call me Erica, I'm not so into the whole formal issues" even though she was a complete and utter organisation bird. "This here is my Phoenix Amadeus. No he's not dangerous, he won't peck you and if you don't fuss him too much he may actually get to like you" Yes that meant dont constantly harrass him with 'wow your pretty' and 'can I pet you?' "You may notice our larger creature holding room. This is NOT a room to randomly explore, you may only go in here with MY permission. There are goodness knows how many dangerous creatures in there and we can NOT afford for them to go missing. Understood?" slightly stern but fair.

"Now. It may have come to your attention.." Or id it hadn't you were a complete and utter dingbat "..That we now share our level with another department. Being the highly respected, far more important and older Department that WE are, I'd like you to show your new neighbours how it is done" Clearly that meant be better than them. "Our tree hugging" Freaks "New neighbours aren't quite so acquainted to the ways of the Ministry, if you find one wandering, shove them in the right direction for me." Yes. Creatures was for her employees eyes only. It was bad enough they had to share a conference room .

"Are there any further questions before we continue?" she asked.

Katalin raised her hand and asked "Erica, I am Katalin Starr I use to work in the control of centaur department, what would my new job as a junior pet advisor include?"

Lucy seemed like a woman that Clarissa could grew quite fond of and develop a close friendship with whilst the worked on different cases together. If it happened it would be the first one in many years. With a slight nod she said "Yes, it looks like it. How long have you worked for the ministry?" If Lucy had ministry job experience then maybe Clarissa could get advice from her if she got herself into a situation with a grim outlook for a creature.

Clarissa was going to go over and settle into her cubicle and make it less impersonal when the door to the work place shut rather loudly. Turning to look at the newcomer it took no genius to see that the brown haired woman wasn't enjoying a good morning. It was evident by the sour line that was her mouth. Pulling back her big red hair with a clam Clarissa shot the woman a friendly smile asking "Rough morning? I'm Clarissa. Disposal of dangerous creatures senior officer." Hopefully the brown haired woman wouldn't snap at her for making polite conversation it was too early in the day for it.

Doxys and gnomes?

Right, generic house pests that every home all over the plant had met and battled at least once or twice. Not wanting to be rude Clarissa nodded in answer to Kaitlins offer "Sure, I'd like to see your family." As long as the tree isn't as large as the Weasley's of old. Then it would take all morning and she had files waiting for her attention.

A dragon enthusiast? Perfect just like my cousin Patric. *sigh* Hopefully this guy didn't eat and sleep dragons. He was a Head officer which meant he had an equal position in the department to her own. "If i ever need an extra hand with a creature case I'll be sure to ask you for your help." Beam, so far there was only one man in the department and Clarissa knew that it would only work in her favour to be friends with Erik.

Nodding she smiled "That would be okay yes. I don't mind giving out advice to those who seek it. If it's important and can't wait then feel free to bug me even if i'm in the middle of something." Clarissa sucked up the compliments about being an experienced ministry employee without a second thought.

The work area door shut again but this time no man or woman came over to them. It made Clarissa think that a ghost had been meddling with the door but when a woman appeared in a cubicle that she hadn't met before she just took it as another employee. She didn't think more of it. The woman would probably come over to the rest of them when she had decorated her cubicle.


Ms Radley their department head looked in on them some minutes later to give some news and information before they began their days. Sitting down on the edge of her desk Clarissa listed to what Erica had to say. It was a bit of a surprise but a welcome one that everyone in the department would get a pay rise. Clarissa had worked hard all the pervious week handling protests and rescuing creatures from being caught in the middle. It was nice to see that the higher up bosses saw their efforts and gave them something for it.

The creature holding room had been extended but it was not a room to carelessly explore which Clarissa understood without question. The only buisness you had in the creature holding room was to feed and care for the creatures in there or if you needed to move them. Erica had a pheonix called Amadeus on her shoulder which Clarissa assumed they all would see more of in the next coming days. It was clearly the department heads messenger bird.

Oh, so the department they were charing a floor with were tree huggers? Beaming the redhed commented "Of course Erica, I will help our neighbours out if they look lost or accidentally end up in our part of the floor." Tree huggers and environment researchers. Clarissa didn't know what they worked with and really didn't care. Creatures were of bigger importance. "I have some questions but i'll come by your office later and bring them up." The red headed didn't want to prolong the meeting more than neccessary since everyone had work to do.

She pulled out a family photograph and said "this is my husband J.J. Starr he works in the games and sports department! This is our eldest daugthers Joanna and Joey I was still at Hogwarts when they was born! This is Willam and Amelia who has just started hogwarts and our babies Marlena and Aiden"

Ren'Ai smiled. "Dragons, eh? Interesting" she said quietly. She smiled shyly. "No, not my first time. I had to become a citizen. Twice. I'm from Japan" she said, blushing a little. "I studied at a school in Japan after I graduated from Hogwarts" she said.

Ren looked up. "Uh, if you don't mind, thank you..." she took the apple from him. Then her parinioa kicked in. She subtly brought the apple to her nose and sniffed. After detecting no poison, she took a large bite. "What kind of apple is this? Fiji? I'd know the taste of Fiji apples blindfolded she said, closing her eyes in delight.