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Conference Room https://i.postimg.cc/q7cmQn5G/confer...oom-banner.jpg Trapped by glass walls, the conference room has more than enough light - even if it's of the neon possibly flashing kind. New tables are fitted into the expanded conference room to fit the equally expanded staff of the Daily Prophet. The chairs have received a rather moderate upgrade. Although cushioned, it isn't made for prolonged meetings so it is best to get out what you need to say and move on to working otherwise you'd be sporting a numb posterior very soon. |
Jorge had been out of the office most of the week, but it was Friday and he had things he needed to do in the office so here he was. If he was honest with himself or anyone else he hated meetings, Jorge had always been more of a lone writer so his want to be the end of the prophet had shocked him, but he had a passion for it and he wanted to see the paper keep moving. The new hires were still getting used to everything, but he needed to check in with everyone and let them know his thoughts on a few things. There were ideas going through his head and he wanted to have them out to see what others thought so he would wait for the rest of the staff to come in. Plus there were some good snacks to munch on while he waited, that was always good. |
Opal carried a mug of tea as she entered the bright conference room, wearing a grey knit tunic top over purple leggings. A matching purple band with a bow slightly off center held her hair back from her face, her afro loose and natural behind it. "Hi, Jorge," she greeted her boss warmly as she found a chair, sliding her bag from her shoulder and retrieving a parchment and quill in case she wanted to take notes. Whatever this meeting was about, she hoped it wouldn't take long; she had a new art exhibition to visit and review, and she had promised her girlfriend cocktails at Noir afterwards as an end of week treat. |
Look look look she was here! And she was early, albeit running on only about three hours of sleep. Thank you for the marvelous afterparty, Chudley Cannons and co! Her hair an ombre shade of tangerine today, Euphy pranced into the conference room with what was now her second mug coffee giving their Editor-in-Chief a saccharine smile as she passed, "Hey, Jorge." and settled in next to her new favorite afro girl. "Opal sweetcheeks, hi." Beam! Okay, now where was everyone? Where was her brother even? |
If anything, Reed was half expecting that he'd be late for their staff meeting. He was out of the Alley to interview for his upcoming article and while he did try to hurry back after it was finished, there were girls involved. Pretty ones. Though none of them really caught his attention because all they did was compliment his quill. It was weird. But now, he was here in the conference room with a few minutes left to spare according to his watch. He wasn't late. Thank Merlin. "Hey, boss man," Reed greeted their editor-in-chief with a polite nod. His greeting was rather informal, he was aware, but the meeting hadn't started yet. All formalities will follow later. "Hello, Opal." He was getting the hang of this, and remembering all the names of his colleagues. Ah, and of course she was here. "Sissums," Reed said to his sister and took a seat beside her, putting his own mug of tea on the table as well. She had been changing her hair colour quite often these days, but perhaps that was almost every day of his life with Euphy. The new orange ombré was still weird to him. |
Phone post and angsty man. Sorry. He wasn't late. Nope. He had just been busy moping at his cubicle. Yep, yep. Entering the conference room with a cup of tea in hand, the angsty travel writer made his way to a seat a bit away from everyone and plopped down. Looking around, Simon offered a tight sort of smile before speaking, "Jorge. Everyone." Yep. Man of few words currently. He missed someone important to him very much and perhaps his demeanor had changed due to that. Ugh. |
Still getting her feet wet at the Prophet, Ellura was careful not to be late or miss the gathering. But then she had also caught herself from being the first or at least one of the first to arrive at the conference room. Eager was good…but too much might work against her. Besides, they were supposed to be working as well. You didn’t want to look like you were free at all times to just jump. So it wasn’t a surprise when she entered to find the boss and a few coworkers already there, including the brother-sister duo. “Hello…” she greeted as she made her way to a free seat. No beverage for her, but a small ever-present notebook and quill for notes. And a listening ear of course, given it was likely important, whatever was to be discussed. At least she hoped so. Boring meetings were…boring. |
Jorge watched as his employees came into the room and talked to each other. He had always had a knack for talking to women, men not so much, but through is time here at the prophet he had gotten better at it and he felt he was a good leader, he hoped he was. Now that Mariel wasn't at the ministry he had thoughts about Brazil and if he was in the right place, but standing here in front of his employees he knew it was exactly where he wanted to be. "This won't take long everyone. I just wanted us to sit down for a moment and catch up on some things. I feel like the transition has been smooth with everyone new if it hasn't please let me know or Dessey, she is always a great help." He was surprised she hadn't popped in yet to make sure everyone was alright with snacks. "I wanted to see your opinions on a few things. I want the Daily Prophet to expand more for our community. We are doing great with news and we have become the top news source again since the fire. We need to start giving back through on top of bringing the news. I have a few ideas, I'd like us to think about a community project that could help give back, but also I would like to bring back a Youth writing contest. We haven't had one in many years and I feel like it would be a great way to inspire youth writers as well as connect more. What do you think?" He had been thinking about these things for some time now and Mariel was probably sick of him asking her what she thought, so maybe the team could come up with some ideas. |
Oh bother. KIDS?! Youth writers meant kids. Simon was not a fan of kids... whether they were toddlers or teenagers, they all sucked. But Jorge knew his stance on that, so he didn't bother speaking on it. Instead he pulled a face and sighed slightly. And yes he had heard the bit about the new people and blah blah. Normally the Scotsman would be a bit more jovial and stuff, but things weren't great at home... so WHATEVER. No one deserved to be happy. Okay that was not true. But the giving back bit had caught his attention. "What about park clean ups? Or a revamp of the alley. It can be a bit unclean sometimes, ya know." OhOhOhhhh!!! "Or a community garden? Grow some food and such. Give it to food banks." So like... yeah. That was all he had to offer right this moment. |
Why no, she wasn't late. Everyone else was just early. Except....she was totally late. It wasn't her fault she'd been invited to that new club opening the other night, the one filled with all the interesting people (including a certain YATI from a famous family, shh). And also wasn't her fault that the aftermath of said club opening had caused her to sleep through her alarm that morning. As a result, Kara was trying to sneak quietly and inconspicuously into the meeting. A feat that was rather difficult considering that she was the only one wearing sunglasses indoors. But she did find a seat. Now, what were they talking about? Oh, community projects. "A community garden sounds like a great idea!" You know, as long as she didn't have to take care of it because her green thumb was nonexistent. Also, she didn't really like getting dirt under her fingernails. |
Dixie had remained quiet up until the mention of a community garden. That was full on in her wheelhouse and she was all for getting one up and running. However, she knew that meant she would have to speak up, a task the massive introvert did not look forward to. She was still questioning her decision to step away from the muggle world, come out from behind the computer and out of the kitchen, and work with some of the most brilliant writers she had ever met. "I would be happy to help get a community garden going." she said from her seat in the back, hoping her soft voice would carry across the room. "Maybe have the kids write about the garden and the value of giving back to the community?" What she was really thinking was how fun it would be to have the kids work the garden then have a recipe contest challenging them to feature one of the gardens fruits or vegetables. |
So the meeting began and she was listening as the topics on the boss’ mind were brought out into the open for all to hear. She absently nodded, jotting down a few mentions into her notes before actually speaking. “A youth writing contest sounds fun,” Ellura remarked, trying to think if one was around when she had been growing up as Jorge was mentioning bring it back. “Nice to give encouragement into our art that isn’t directly connected to school work.” Sure creative writing opportunities sometimes popped up in Hogwarts assignments but maybe a more competitive aspect would make things more interesting. “And the community garden does too.” Just in case they thought she had chosen to pick one or the other. She just had more connection to the writing…obviously. Surely they could think on doing both since it connected to different parts of the community so covered more bases in the long run. And there….there the woman…Dixie…was putting the two of them together. Perfect! |
Jorge nodded at the few things that were mentioned and he actually quite liked them. Cleaning up the alley and a community garden sounded like just something that could help with what he was trying for. He knew that report sometimes didn't have the best reputation, he may have had a hand in making sure they did back in the day, but he wanted to show that the prophet was dedicated to the community. "I like these, a community garden could work. Where do you think the best place for one could be?" Somewhere near the prophet or was there somewhere else they could be looking. He would probably need to talk with the minister about this and make sure there wasn't any regulations or paperwork that needed to be done to bring one into the alley. "I can run it by the minister's office and see if there are any hoops we need to jump to get it." "Now for the youth contest, I'd like to announce it and give a month or so to have them sent in. We can publish all of them so they each get a chance to show their work, but you would all help in picking a winner. This summer I thought maybe we could hold a writers workshop to promote their work." His thoughts were a little jumbled but he hoped it made sense. |
Opal had greeted both of the Castells as they came in, and given nods and smiles to the others, but after Jorge had started talking, she found herself just a tad confused. She thought she worked for a national newspaper, not a charitable foundation or non-profit. She hadn't done a journalism degree, but it did rather seem like trying to bribe the public, which was hardly ethical. Surely the quality of the work they produced should stand up for itself? "Hang on, are we talking about sponsoring a garden...or actually doing the work?" Because the latter? Nope, nope and nope. She loved her job, the theatre and gigs it allowed her to go see, but she had better things to do than relive her failure at Herbology from school. As for the writing competition? Well, that she could get more behind. "It might be helpful to have some categories to inspire their writing...from investigative work, to sports write ups and beyond." Variety was good, and she'd bet most kids didn't realise quite what journalism could cover. She hadn't know she could write about theatre for money at school. "And maybe we could choose winners from each, as well as an overall winner." |
Good. It would just be a quick meeting. Not that Reed minded being in the conference room with his colleagues at all. Some of them were cool, some of them were...Simon. The older man was definitely going through something personal and even Reed could sense the angst exuding out of him from a mile away. And Deesey was brilliant. Made A+ doughnuts. Where was she, anyway? He could use a doughnut with his cup of tea. Reed kept to himself as he listened to everyone's suggestions. A community garden would be nice, though he didn't really know enough about plants and herbology since his Beauxbatons days. He chose not to comment on that, except for when Opal mentioned the manpower part of it. "I'm not against sponsoring one, boss man." But he wasn't for doing the actual work. Didn't they have enough on their plates just by being writers for the Prophet? He wasn't sure they had space for getting their hands dirty. "Would these workshops be different from internships?" Reed didn't mind messing with interns, to be honest. He could use someone to fetch him his tea once in a while. "But I do hope there is an age limit for both the workshop and the youth writing contest." Because he wasn't going to handle anyone younger than fifteen, and even the age of fifteen was difficult. He just felt like being considerate there. |
"Brotherly," was Euphy's sweet drawl of acknowledgement to the arrival of her brother. He looked copacetic as always but she did notice him giving her orange hair a curious look. Mhm, it was this week's color! Another thing she noticed was the gloomy aura that one Simon Stackton exuded when he arrived although she chose not to comment about it just yet. Perhaps after the meeting. To Ellura and Kara, Euphy offered another winning smile albeit the latter also got an amused brow raise. Guess she wasn't the only one who had an interesting night prior. To Dixie, a small jovial wave. And then they were starting. They needed to give back to the community, hmm? A youth writing contest too? The community garden sounded like a very good idea. "Well, we can sponsor AND actually work on the garden ourselves, can't we?" Euphy started, grinning at both Opal and her very own brother. She could tell the they were not particularly excited about the notion and well, Euphy always liked to ruffle others' feathers. "It will be exciting! It won't only show that we're giving back to the community but also that we, as a team, are willing to actually go through the dirty work for the community, as with the news that we report." More beaming. "And I think it's also a great team-building opportunity." Right right? This team SO needed more bonding moments. Euphy leaned her elbows on the table and took a sip of coffee before she provided further input about the other matter being discussed. The Young Writing contest. She had the same questions as Reed (but for different reasons), if the workshops were going to be different from the internships and the age-range, so nodding it was. Honestly, she was fine working with young-ins. She LOVED interacting with kids. They had more fun creativity than adults who only write about angst. And having a mix of categories for the contest was a fantastic idea! "Categories!" She exclaimed, clapping from her seat. "I like the sound of that. It will provide more cohesiveness for sure!" |
Now this, this right here is what Jorge enjoyed. The brainstorming, the working together, he enjoyed having a team and this team was proving they were going to work well together. He nodded and listened to everyone, though he couldn't help but raise a brow to Opal. She was one of his longest employees and he didn't really think she'd be the one with the issue of working in the community. "It's always good to show the community we are for them. Not only does it give back to those that support us and keep us printing news, but it shows we care to make our community better." It was a win, win sort of thing. He couldn't see where it would go wrong. "If you don't want to help work in the garden you, of course, don't have to, I think there is enough interest here that if a few would rather focus their energy on the youth stuff that is fine too." As for the youth stuff he was happy to answer those questions, "The workshop would be just a day, it would invite all the community young and old and have different options available. You could all lead something if you would like. Then there would be a presentation where the contest winners would be announced." He liked the category thoughts and he nodded at that. "I think anyone from 12 to 17 could be part of the writing contest, what do you think?" That would give it more of youth, but they would be old enough to know how to write a proper way. |
Wooooooow. Just wow. "If some of you are afraid of some honest, hard work then please do not help with the garden. We will be planting and caring for everything ourselves. I'd hate for you to get your hands dirty..." Simon was not in the mood for lazy lumps today. Not one bit. And he agreed with Jorge that it was important to give back to the community that supported them. And if the others took issue with that... well they were always welcome to go work elsewhere. But that was extreme. And he was not saying ANY of this because it was not necessarily his coworkers that were his issue today... It was other matters that he needed to see to. " I hate kids... like really hate them. But if you would like me to be here for it, I will of course. Since it is important to you, as our editor." SEE. He was a team player even in situations that he had no desire to be. Perhaps some of the others could learn from his example. Heh. Not likely though. "Is there anything else you need, Jorge? I have an interview set up for about 15 minutes from now... if you don't mind my ducking out early?" Please say it was okay... he was in a mood today and the sooner he got out of here the sooner he could get his head together and sort himself out. |
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