So much for a staff meeting.

Evangeline was alert from the beginning, wand ready, eyes fixed on the mental woman across the table, who apparently thought it a good idea to bring a possible cursed object into a staff meeting without sending it to a lab first. And, of course, on the day that the Minister decided to show up.

She had the same thought as Angelo, but his shield beat hers to protect the minister. Her own shield went up around herself and though she was curious as to what shield he was using himself, the inquiry would have to wait. Now something was going on and woman with the box and their department head seemed to be affected by whatever these... monkeys were doing. Whatever it was, her shield had gone up in time to protect her from it.

"Are you absolutely mad?! You should have taken that to the lab immediately, not toyed with it!" Common sense should say that a possibly cursed item should be inspected by professionals, which she clearly was not. "Well, go on, get it out of here!" she demanded, since APPARENTLY no one else was going to do anything about it and their department head seemed quite flabbergasted and unhelpful at the moment.

Well.

"I'll come back later." Althea was not impressed. She also wasn't particularly enamored with the idea of standing around waiting for things to be dealt to. She had a tight schedule after all. She nodded once in thanks to the young YATI who had shielded her, and then her eyes sought out the security head. Just one more thing for them to discuss later, hmm?

Hopefully Yenorin would deal with the situation sooner rather than later. She HAD thought him capable. Hopefully he'd not prove otherwise. The minister turned on her heel and left.

Law Enforcement employees would just have to deal with a detailed memo from her instead of a few minutes of talking.

As Simon awaited some sort of answer, he took grip of his wand and noted the reactions from the rest of the room. Gidyun echoed his question towards the woman and her box, Penelope seemed intent on the box and Ivy drew her wand as she watched. Good security employee, he mused about the last as she backed up his own alertness. Legend and Tyler seemed to give it no mind and he had to push back the thought of the aurors missing a potential concern.

Finally answers.

Cursed!?

And then the reaction from the box as three objects, identified as monkeys by Gwen, floated up from inside. That was all that was apparently needed to get further reaction from others in the room. Simon was up with wand raised, as was Angelo, the YATI with a shield protecting himself and the Minister and any others immediately nearby. Gidyun seemed to react but then be confused and Gwen was speaking with no sound. Lex also had a shield up which was understandable given the circumstances especially and Tyler fled the room.

Really? Fleeing like that?

For his part, Simon quickly cast a containment spell over the box just as his eyes met the monkey with his eyes covered. His vision went black, unable to tell if he was in fact successful. And then a woman he couldn’t quite identify…perhaps Shacklebolt started yelling over the course of events and Althea took her leave.

“Not helping….” The security man remarked to the yeller. “Hopefully there is a containment spell to keep it harmless from my casting but I now can’t see.” So if anyone could assist that would be great.

And was the box's owner and department head similarly affected?

He shook his head and just couldn't figure out what the heck was going on now. He could see people talking even someone who looked like she was shouting. All he knew was he was completely deaf now. Knowing what he was going to do was likely going to be a mistake, he tried casting a nonverbal spell to at least protect anyone else from any curses it might give off. He moved to try and close the box, unable to tell if anyone was even speaking to him.

'Meeting dismissed' he said, or at least he hoped he had said aloud. He picked up the box as though it was a dangerous item, but hopefully with his charm and anyone else's that might have been cast on it, it would now be contained! He needed to get it to the lab. As he turned, he saw the Minister had left the room. Merlin, what a way to introduce himself and his department to her! He opened his mouth to again hopefully make words come out 'I'm taking this to the lab.'

With that he hurried off. He'd check on all the employees shortly hopefully with the ability to hear once again....How long was the curse supposed to last?!

Gidyun stepped into the conference room with his arms full of folders and paperwork that he intended to hopefully pass out during the meeting. He hoped his goal of managing to promote a number of his employees as well as accomplish the trainings he had in mind to be completed this year. Dropping his armload he moved to start some coffee going.

Meet and greet meetings had to be among her least favourite types.

They never really accomplished anything she couldn't have done by walking through the office when her case load lessened and besides that....she had someone over in lock up that she'd have liked to get back to. That's why 3 pm meetings were so weird, y'know? They happened right in the middle of the work day when you'd already gotten well into whatever work you had for the day. Breaking from the work for the more casual meetings like this one was always hard.

Still, she was here, present and accounted for.

Lex fell into one of the empty chairs, opting not to help herself to the coffee set out. The day, believe it or not, didn't feel that long today despite it being spent inside the Ministry, leaving her with less of a craving for the caffeinated beverage than usual.

"Hey Gid." She greeted, taking a glance about the room. Guess they'd be waiting for the others to arrive.

Promotions meeting. How....quaint.

Ryu would much rather just read and sign off on a memo having to do with this than sit down and listen to some potentially flowery words about who was doing what. Those receiving promotions should go without saying, no? So he saw no need in showboating the whole ordeal when a simple one-on-one meeting with the individual could accomplish the same thing without dragging the rest of them from their work.

And unless Gidyun planned on having two Heads of Security, Ryu had already gone as high up the ladder in his division as possible. Unless a shift from Sentinel to one of the two Liaison positions was a promotion, but both seemed like a whole lot of desk work opposed to field work which he was not keen on.

Strolling into the office, hands shoved into the back pockets of his jeans, Ryu nodded his head towards the department head before promptly taking a seat beside his faaaaaaaaaavorite Auror. "Look alive, Cambridge," he smirked, giving her chair a nudge with his foot.

Speaking of paperwork, his chocolate eyes fell on the stack before Gidyun and rolled his head back in his seat.

Tempest was a little bit annoyed at the time of the meeting. She had things to be doing. Different investigations. Her main one being the serial killer that had been using Portkeys to target muggles.

It had actually been all she could think of lately.. Even when headed home to New York over the holidays. Of course she was happy to get away from work and be with Rod. Him meeting her parents had went well and that made her feel some sort of security but the idea of having that person on the loose was a lot on the back of her mind.. Weighing her down.

In any case it seemed she had to sit through a meeting for people getting promotions? Sure, more money was great but she didn't see why this had to be a group meeting.. Surely everyone wasn't getting a promotion? So why not have meetings with those who did?

Whatever.. She took her seat and made nods and smiles to her fellow Level Two employees.

Scratching the back of his neck Saul came into the meeting. As per usual he missed the big Ministry Mingle thing to be with his Family. He yawned and went to move the glasses up his face until to stop and realize he finally got his eyesight fixed over the break so those weren't necessary anymore. Old Habit he supposed.

So what kind of meeting was this again? A Promotion Meeting? So he would just sit around and congratulate others then? Was there anything else to this meeting besides that?

He nabbed a seat in the conference room. "Morning Yenorin, Cambridge, Ryunosuke, Tempest" giving them all a greeting then just sitting down and waiting to see what today would hold in store for him.

First of the year meetings were never terribly exciting, but they were always there. No department could avoid it. It was a formality and Evangeline always showed up, as one should. She heard news of a new YATI joining the department and could guess what else was going to be said during the rest of the meeting, so she brought a case file with her to go over while Gid lead the meeting. She could multitask well.

Continuing the string of aurors at the table, Evangeline said neatly next to Ryu and set down her file and her cup of tea, her fingers still wrapped around the warm paper cup. "Morning," she greeted quietly as her eyes scanned over the file.

Leon headed into the meeting room, a cup of coffee in his hand and a smile on his face. He might have been a bit too excited about the upcoming year, seeing as Juno was now working with them. The long year of separation was done sent they could be together again.

He nodded at everyone in the room, nodding to his fellow co workers as he settled into a chair and took a drink of his coffee.

“Morning all.” He said after he took a sip of his hot beverage.

One thing he was still getting used to…having to worry about the kids and their schedule in amongst what he and Angelina had to do. Which was why Simon had gotten a late start this particular morning and he hadn’t gotten to check on a couple things like he had wanted to before attending the department meeting. And also why he wasn’t the first couple of people to arrive in the conference room.

There was Gid of course, making sense that the department head would be there already. Saul…a fellow division head. And a gaggle of aurors and YATI. Wait---Alexa had stepped up to assist Legend as head. Now THAT had been something to get used to as well, especially given the seniority of so many others in the division. Simon would wait and see before he offered his own feelings on the matter. For now, he was just there to attend to what needed to be attended to at the start of the new year as always.

“Good morning…” he greeted with a polite smile, giving a polite nod of acknowledgement to each as he took his own seat at the table.

Benzi had definitely only just gotten here. He hadn't been here earlier, and he definitely hadn't been sneaking around areas of the department that weren't exactly open to YATI's. Nope. Because he still was one. The eternal YATI. He couldn't even remember what his official year was, was it three now? Or... four? Technically it was five. But five years as a YATI sounded overwhelmingly terrible and he definitely was not going to dwell on the matter any further.

Non-smiling nods went to every familiar face in the room as he went to take his seat, belatedly realising the correct move would have been to go for coffee. He had, of course, already had coffee, couldn't get anything done without either a morning workout or some caffeine. Not here of course. At home. Far away from anything that wasn't supposed to be used by YATIs.

Nothing to see here folks.

Ahhh his newest Head Auror! "Hi Alexa" he said with a gentle smile.



Nodding to Ryunosuke, Tempest, Evangeline, and Benzi as they entered he gave them a smile in greeting. He knew that promotions meetings weren't always the most exciting but he knew this one was different.



"Good morning Saul" he said brightly as he took a seat with a coffee beside his stack of papers.



He smiled Leon's way as he entered "Good morning."



Good he was hoping Simon would be there! "Good morning." he responded taking a gulp of coffee.

------

"Let's go ahead and get started. I wanted to start the meeting by ensuring each of you who have a second wand has made sure to update your application, there's a stack here if any of you are in need of one." he said as he gestured to the stack of applications he'd set in the center as he spoke.

"Now this meeting is definitely to greet our new employee, but I wanted to also take the time to talk about promotions. There has been very few promotions since I took over as department head, beyond that of the YATI graduating. I'd hate to have you all think that I'm not inclined to give promotions." His eyes drifted over each of those in the room as he spoke. He didn't mind if they were quietly happy to remain in their position, but he wanted to also help them each be flexible and also consider adding to their own knowledge and even expanding.

He took out his folder that had a sheet that he'd duplicated for each of them with their current trainings, he handed their sheet to each of them individually. "Perhaps you wish you had gotten a higher score on your training and wish to retake it. Or you see some trainings there that you haven't completed, each of you have the ability to move ahead, whether it be specializing in a field as an auror or moving to a different position in level 2. Perhaps you just want to study a field that interests you. I have an entire list of trainings that I have been working on and wanted each of you to consider taking some of the trainings that we're offering. This isn't a requirement, but I'd still like to see each of you consider this for yourselves."




OOC: I have a list of trainings that I am putting together. If there is any particular areas that you have in mind, mention it in a response to Gid and I can give you some trainings to choose from (as many or few as you wish lol) and will get those requirements to you as well!

Juno quietly sat next to Leon. She was so nervous this morning getting ready for work that she had changed her outfit at least six times before deciding on a black pair of skinnies, a white top, and black combat boots. She knew she needed to be professional but also knew she would have a lot of training so she needed to be comfortable for that as well.

When Gidyun...or Mr. Yenorin, she wasn't sure how to address him yet, mentioned greeting the new employee she suppressed a blush and gave a small smile. Though she seemed confident on the outside, she was rather shy with new people, though a couple of them she knew from her Internship over the summer.

Juno took the sheet with her name on it and the possible subjects she could train in. Right away, she knew she wanted to train in all of them, but was sure that would be impossible to complete in her first year. She would have to talk with Leon about it; he would know best what subjects she would need. She nudged Leon's shoe with her's,
giving him a shrug, hoping he would understand her.

She hadn’t been running late, nor had she been doing anything she ought not to have been doing. Although, that hadn’t meant Bryony had avoided slipping into the conference room silently at nearly the same moment her boss had spoken, staying in a standing position near the door as she listened to the intro. Of course the meeting was to introduce any newbies, except she felt as if that was the purpose of the orientation they’d all been to before the current year had started. Plus, she was fairly certain just from her own observation that either there weren’t many MLE newbies, or there were people missing. Actually, she knew for a fact that there were a few faces missing, although some could be on missions. As it was, she was itching for an assignment.

She took the sheet of paper that had been handed to her, glancing at her results even as Gid had continued speaking. There was still a lot of work left to do before she could move on to being a full-fledged Auror, but she was on her way. She was tempted to ask if her university classes could roll over, given the fact they were relevant to at least one of the training subjects, but that could be done in private. Obviously she was interested to continue on the path she was on.

Isaac was pretty sure he'd memorized all his employees faces, according to the file and was pretty sure he'd be able to match the person to the name. Right? Taking a deep breath he stepped inside the conference room. No snacks, coffee, nothing. He just had a cup of tea in his hand and a notepad. He had plans for the department, and hoped his plans would go over well. Was he kidding himself? Perhaps Becca and Gid were having eyes watch him to see when and how he would mess up....

Wait, hold up. Gid is no longer the Department Head? Why? How? SINCE WHEN? And why did he leave without saying goodbye??? No...no, it wasn't right. It just wasn't, especially that this specific CMEC specialist already grew fond of the man. Gid was cool, and him leaving was unacceptable!

Still holding the memo in his hand, Ethan made sure to be early so he could interrogate this Isaac Muir guy. He's as old as his cousin Mordred so he was sure he could just walk straight up to the man and ask him things. Literally busting into the conference room, Ethan did a quick sweep of the area and found the new guy. "Where's Gid? What did you do to him, and who are you?" Questions, he's got those. "You're the new boss?" Cue the dramatic side of this former Slytherin. To be fair, he didn't get to meet this man back at the Resort. The fair-haired Mordaunt stepped closer to the man in question and gave him a quick look over. He was fairly young to be the big boss but whatever. He's got further questions regarding his division, but those could wait. Right now, Ethan wanted to know what he's made of.

And no food? Not even a drink? Minus brownie points for you, Mister.

The news that Gid got replaced by a new Department Head had come as a surprise to Kevin. However, he had only started at the ministry a couple of months ago so maybe it had not been a surprise after all and he was simply out of loop with the gossip.

Kevin checked his watch as he walked toward the conference room for the first meeting with their new Head and the young man wondered what he was like.

Judging by a voice inside the room, he was not first one to arrive and as he entered he saw that one of the employees was there with a man he had never seen before. It wasn't rocket science to know who he was. "Did we move the interrogation room to here?" he asked in an amused tone as he sat on a chair.

Leon had heard there was a new head of department and he had to admit he was curious, why had Gid left so suddenly? He had a few questions but as he arrived he saw that Ethan was already taking care of those questions, albeit a bit less subtle than Leon would have done it.

But eh..

Leon nodded at his New supposed Department Head “Leon Kennedy.” He said by way of introduction as he looked around for the snacks..

Where were the snacks? He had left his house early this morning to train before the meeting and there was nothing to eat? He ran anhahd through his brown hair, his displeasure clearly showing in the twist of his lips.

Maybe he could sneak back out and get something? Or try and signal Juno to at least get him coffee?

The news of the changing of the guards in department heads had been a mild surprise…when he had been first notified of it. Gid had made him aware knowng it was best he had some heads up for various reasons. Not that the former head had been the only one in contact with Simon. The real surprise had been the reaching out of another former boss in the form of one Evander Bole under whom the new department head was transfering out from under. As such the concern of a new face in leadership was calmed somewhat knowing the man came with recommendation.

Making his way into the conference room for the usual new year meeting, it was clear that the news that was just now circulating through Level 2 had hit those already present hard and surprising. “Good morning…” Simon simply greeted playing it cool, a mug of tea he had brought in his grasp as he moved to take a seat. From there he watched as Ethan appeared to be sizing Isaac up with curiosity and amusement. And maybe a bit of his own observing to see for his own self what the younger man was made of.

Another year... Although this year had brought more than a few changes to Bryony's world. Her little brother had a girlfriend which she thought he was fairly serious about, or serious enough that he'd managed to survive his birthday surprise without complaint; her baby sister had established a desire to follow in her footsteps... hers, not anyone else's. Hudson had decided he needed to try and find her a guy, although she couldn't lie and say she hadn't enjoyed that dinner with her brother and Braedon. She'd managed to pass whatever tests she needed to career-wise. She was now officially an Auror. Not a YATI anymore, even though she'd always be lower on the scale than some. She'd accomplished her goal.

Oh, and there was a new department head to learn about. She'd done her homework and found out what she could, just as she imagined Isaac had.
She wasn't going to let her guard down. Although she had stopped to get a decent cup of coffee before making her way to Level Two and the conference room for the first official meeting after the retreat. Only to find the new head being interrogated by, of all people, one of the forensics team. Amused, she slipped into a seat next to Leon, or close enough that she was able to lean over to speak to him. "Someone didn't do their homework," she said quietly, before returning her attention to the new head.

"Morning, Mr. Muir," she said, at a normal volume, before taking a sip of her coffee. Maybe she ought to try and duplicate the beverage. Obviously some of the others weren't prepared.

As if the meetings at the start of the year weren't dull enough.

Alexa all but dragged herself into the Conference Room, a warm, fresh cinnamon roll in hand and a cup of coffee levitating in behind her. Had something else happened? Was it an absolute necessity that she be here for the regular meetings too? "Morning Bossman." She greeted, taking the seat next to Simon at the table. Months into having a new bossman, it was still a little strange and the Senior Auror wasn't entirely sure what she thought of the man--but the initial shock had long worn off.

"I'll say..." She muttered, agreeing fully with Keighley on the metaphoric homework angle. There was a reason Law Enforcement pushed constant vigilance. By now, everyone on Level 2 and their grandmother should've known about this.

Lex sank a little lower into her seat, helping herself to another sugary bite. It'd been a long morning with her 3 year old and it left her hoping for a short morning with this meeting.

Merlin, this was like a dream. Ava couldn't sleep that well last night because of today, but again she didn't want to be late and look tired on her first day at work. She ended up getting some decent of sleep thankfully and didn't come late to the meeting. Oh good, imagine if she was late on her first day.... That wouldn't be good.

Having a cup of coffee and blueberry muffin, the new YATI entered the meeting room. Oh, there were many people already! But she wasn't late, was she? Perhaps not. "Good morning, everyone." Ava gave a smile and greeted the people there. Should she introduce herself as the new employee to everyone here? Maybe not.

Isaac strode towards a chair and was about to lower himself into it just as one of his employees entered the room and spoke as he stepped closer to him. His eyebrow lifted a little and took in the young man, observing him, and also trying to put a name to his face. Merlin, he thought he'd had it down! "Leon, I assure you I haven't done anything to Gidyun." Name was right, right? "Gidyun and Becca decided it was time to retire from the busyness of being aurors and take some time to themselves. I'm the new department head, Isaac Muir."



No this was Leon? No.....that's not.... "Kevin!" Hah, he was sure he had his name right. Right? BAH! "I should hope not." he said frowning a little over at Ethan Leon. A little rude much? Thinking that Isaac had gone and done something to Gid?



Leon!? He nearly choked on his tea as he finally lowered himself into his chair, when Leon introduced himself. Then who was..... Nodding politely he gave him a little smile. Inside he was searching his brain and those notes as to who each person was!



Okay, now this was Simon, he knew that much. Bole and Gid had both spoke of the gentleman. "Good morning, Simon."



"Good morning, Rony" he said beaming at the younger girl, he had remembered that name.....correctly right??!?! He was sure he was right on the name. She was a YATI he knew too. OOOH! All three were YATI. No....The second woman to enter was auror....senior auror. Right...

"Alex" he said with a smile to the senior auror.

AHA and he knew Ava. He'd hired her! "Good morning Ava." PHEW introductions done? Who was.....the first man though....