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By muggle standards, perhaps the Forensics lab looks outdated and old. Antique even. But don't be fooled, this facility contains cutting edge magical equipment. The wooden workstations and chairs are all charmed to be impervious to magical contamination. There are areas set aside for potion-related work, magical crime scene forensics, Muggle artefact adjustments, counterfeit magic identification and restoration, and almost any other need that a magical lab technician or Auror in the Department may have.

If you are part of the CMEC Analysis and Assessment team, you'll spend a lot of time working here, as will those who are part of the Bureau for the Confiscation of Illegally Modified Muggle Artefacts, and Aurors who have undergone Magical Forensics training.

For anyone from another department who wishes to make use of the lab or its facilities, permission must be sought and granted by the Department Head of Magical Law Enforcement, and co-signed by the Laboratory Supervisor who is part of the CMEC Division.

At the far side of the lab is a door leading to the Department darkroom. This is a restricted area. Please do not enter when the light is on.

You are here.

Listening out for signs of anything still lurking around Level 2, the lab technician ventured off to check to see if her workplace was intact. Thus far, it wasn't looking good. It seemed that nothing was left intact, and she wondered about the other levels of the Ministry. As the woman approached the Forensics Lab, her heart sunk when she noticed that the door was open, just a tiny bit, but it was, indeed, open.

Elinor pushed the door the rest of the way open and her eyes swept over the aftermath of whatever had happened. Glass was everywhere. Papers were shredded. Cabinets open and emptied. The benches were chewed. Small splinters of wood littered the ground. All of the chemicals that she kept appeared to be open, spilled, or completely gone.

The scientist did not move. She didn't even seem to react. She blinked her green eyes and stood in the doorway of her lab. There wasn't even an emotion to choose to act on. There was nothing she could pick to emote. There was just nothing. Elinor stayed still, just staring into the Forensics Lab, and she said nothing. She did nothing.

Considering she'd taken a detour on her way to meet with Elinor, she had expected to find the woman well and truly inside her lab, surveying any damage and dust that may have disgraced her space, but instead she found the woman standing in the doorway.

...

...

Sidling up to the lab technician, Emily peered over her shoulder. "... well that's not ideal," she mused, ignoring the tension that was building in her neck. Was Elinor going to take a closer look? Run inventory and insist she authorise a refurbishment of the lab? Opting not to be pushy, Emily waited, patiently to be allowed access to the room - she was as vested in it as Elinor was, if not more.

Her face still frozen in a blank expression, maybe muted shock, Elinor stepped aside, out of her boss' way. After taking one step, she was able to take another, and another, slowly thawing from her frozen surprise. Her eyes wheeled in every direction, finding one thing after another to look at. There wasn't one speck of the lab that looked untouched. She heard the splitting of small wood pieces, and the crackle of broken glass under her shoes. It didn't bother her.

She didn't even know where to begin. How was she supposed to react to this? The lab had been ransacked before. Just not to this extent. Not to this scale of destruction. She fidgeted with her fingers, unsure of what to do with her hands.

She had been doing this job far too long. Elinor only took the mandatory vacation days. She was never sick. She worked long hours. She loved her job. She loved the people she worked with. Looking around her at what was practically the culmination of her life's work, her mind briefly rested on what Nigel might do if he found his shop in this state. A small smile finally touched her when she figured he would do the same thing she was doing now.

Elinor blinked a few times and finally looked to Emily, gaping for a few seconds, at a total loss for what to say. What was she supposed to say?

Moving past Elinor and into the lab space, Emily began surveying the damage, hoping that the scene hadn't in fact damaged Elinor in the process. Shock? Was this shock? Emily'd have offered her a chocolate frog, but she'd long stopped carrying those around on her person, and when she did, Zeke usually got to it first.

The damage was, extensive. There was no doubt about that, but for the most part it seemed as though a thorough clean up would remedy its disturbed appearance. Picking up a contraption from one of the benches, Emily raised it to eye level - completely unsure of what it did, but gave it a light shake nonetheless. Whatever it was, though it only boasted a small crack in its exterior, wasn't doing anything.

"A magicless Ministry is a pain in the rear if you ask me," she mused out loud again, convinced that this place wasn't much better than their tube tunnel. "But... have an inventory of any and all essential items on my desk and I'll work something out with the budget," she added, still inspecting the area instead of observing her frozen colleague. Was it just her? Or did some of these things look outdated anyway?

After he was done freaking out about having to talk to people and all, Derek finally arrived on level 2's waiting area. Unfortunately, it was empty, which meant he would have to go around looking for the people he didn't really want to talk to. Ugh... but it was for the good of the Ministry as a whole, so... sigh.

The lab technician felt lost at first and didn't know what door to go through first. He tried listening to see if he could work out where all of the MLE employees were, but he couldn't hear a thing, so he would have to just... look until he found them. His connection to labs made him go there first.

...

Merlin, that place looked terrible. Almost as terrible as the state of his own lab. Sad. He froze for a bit before slowly walking in and spotting the two people that were in there.

"Sorry, I'm here just to give you these." And he plopped the box he was holding on the nearest dirty counter, making the few spray bottles that were in it shake slightly. "This pesticide will get rid of the chizpurfles." He repeated the exact same words he had told that other person and once again, he hoped that the MLE people would have already worked out what was wrong with the building and, if they hadn't, he hoped his words would clarify it and he wouldn't need to explain any further. "It is time sensitive, so the sooner you use it, the better." Derek added, starting to walk back to the door so he could leave.

Though he actually waited a few seconds to see if those two had any questions, which was a surprise, to be fair. But they were in a lab, which made Derek feel a bit less uneasy.

Elinor kept blinking, slowly coming back down to Earth as she warmed up to the appropriate response to the situation. She put her hands on one of the countertops and patted it briefly before looking down at the floor, starting to close cabinets, whose open doors were in her way, briefly touching the splintered bits of damage here and there. "Inventory. Got it," she nodded, sweeping her auburn hair back with one hand in a gesture that helped illustrate the overwhelming feeling that was over her.

Her head snapped up as someone else entered the lab, a brief defensive instinct coming over her, but when she recognized Derek, she felt relief. The Catastrophes worker could understand her situation very well, for she was certain that his own lab had endured damages as well. "Chizpurfles...?"

Elinor looked to the box of spray bottles and knew that she would be spraying as she cleaned. Where to start was still a big thought, but she could do it in no time, she knew. She nodded to confirm that she understood the instruction to use it as soon as possible and looked around again for the best place to start. Probably cleaning up the glass and spilled chemicals. She started her search for some clean rags and a sturdy bag to scoop the glass pieces into, assuming that, until they figured out why magic had been 'zapped' from the area, she shouldn't even try to use any. Or maybe she was just in the mood for using her hands.

The fact that Elinor was walking and talking again was a good sign, so Emily wasn't as preoccupied with her colleagues well being anymore, she was fine. The lab though, the lab wasn't. The sound of footsteps alerted her to somebodies presence, but when she peered up she hadn't expected to see a non-MLEer... what a pleasant surprise.

Emily watched as the man... the A&Cer placed a box of bottles on their counter. He was apologising for interrupting? or giving them goods? Either way, it wasn't necessary. It wasn't until he mentioned chizpurfles that things started piecing together. "Chizpurfles," she repeated after Elinor. All this... for bloody chizpurfles?! .................

...

And it made sense. The waning magic, the holes in the climate control charms, the destruction. It must have been quite the infestation to produce a dead Ministry. "Thank you," she replied, figuring there wasn't much to it. It seemed as though work would have to wait if they were to kill the pests. She was dreading seeing the state of her office, dreading it. The fortress of defensive, offensive and concealment charms would have made a rather nice meal for the pests. It wouldn't surprise her if it looked worse than the place Gavin had called his office during the lockout.

"I'll get a memo sent out," Emily said over her shoulder to Elinor, taking up a bottle for herself and following the man out of the lab. There was work to be done!

Taking notice of the memo that Emily posted Legend could only shake his head.

So it was not a big scary bad guy who had messed with the MLE or the whole even Ministry. It was a bunch of chizpurfles. Little things. Little creatures that lived on like crups? Chizpurfles had messed up the Ministry. It was so strange that it was funny.

"Who let the chizpurfles out whowhowhowho?" The blonde sang as he walked into the Forensics Lab. Eyes falling on the box of spray bottles, Legend grabbed one, before offering a small smile to Elinor. "We'll have this place fixed in no time."

Hopefully.

Turning he continued singing his song.

First destination? The Auror desks obviously.

Pesticide city! That's what the Ministry was going to be, by the time everyone was done getting rid of those pesky, cheesy Chirzpurfles. Jackson had seen the memo instructing them to pick up the pesticides from here as soon as possible.

So here he was. The quicker they got rid of those pests, the quicker magic would be restored back in the Ministry...because let's face it, what would the Ministry be without the Magic part of it. Just the Ministry, which just didn't sound right at all. In fact, it sounded boring.

He stepped aside as one of the Aurors picked up his bottle of pesticide and left the lab singing a catchy tune. So catchy that Jackson found himself humming to the tune as he approached the person in charge.

"Reporting for Get Those Chizpurfles Duty. I'm going to grab one of those bottles if it's okay with you?" Jackson gestured, nodding once at the spray bottles on the counter. Walking up, he picked up the bottle and examined it, chuckling to himself.

"Okay you pesky bugs, ready or not, here I come," Jackson nodded his thanks to the woman as he headed out the door.

First place of the extermination? The Security Officers area, specifically his desk and then the others.

Chizpurfles. Right. Vic was just a little offended a this... threat. They couldn't do a trial for that, could they? Nooooo. Boo.

He strolled into the labs as he was expected to, an easy smile on his face, and looked for someone to give him said sprays. Didn't maintenance guys do this, by the way? Not that he was against helping.

"Hay-lo." He called out, and moved inside to tinker around and find those miraculous pesticides. Unless someone stopped him first.

Since joining the Ministry, Octavia had been having a serious discussion with herself over whether the British Ministry truly was the best ministry to work for. In the few months that she had been there she had been forced to work in an underground tunnel due to the Ministry lockout and even when the regained entry, the desks were so dusty the conditions just weren’t workable. And now? Now there was a Chizpurfle infestation and they had to clear their workspaces.

Wasn’t that the responsibility of another department?

Still, as an employee Octavia was willing to co-operate. She would give the ministry a chance for she had heard a lot of great things about it when it wasn’t in this sort of state. She liked her fellow employees, her boss was fair and hardworking and she was enjoying being in Britain. Maybe once they got this problem out of the way things would return to normal and she’d actually start enjoying working.

She headed into the lab having read the noticeboard to collect the pesticide spray. The Greek woman headed towards the spray bottles and picked one up inspecting it. ”Do things ever go smoothly here?” she asked, turning her attention to Vic, a slightly amused smile on her face. She directed the bottle to a dusty corner, squeezing it once and then sneezing in response. Great.

”I’m glad to see that the younger employees are finding this entertaining” her attention wandered over to the chuckling/singing employees her eyebrow raised slightly. Was it her or was there quite a clear divide between the ages of some of these people. She, for the first time in her life, actually felt old.

Vic's head snapped back to look at the new comer. He grinned at Octavia, not missing how they kept bumping into each other around here. They should just carpool to work, swap notes and tasks. Just saying, could save them time and help them keep each other's company.

"Things running smoothly? I think that's against the law." He pointed at them both, the law people. Heh heh heh. No, he was joking. She knew he joked a lot, right? Vic turned back to the lab counter and squinted his eyes at the tubes and weird bubbling stuff there. Where were those sprays? Were they supposed to wait for someone to give it to them or should they look for them? Hmm?

The younger employees was the polite term to use, yes. He called them the hot-headed Gryffindors. Or the Devil Aurors. "They're a handful. A funny handful, though, I pity Emily for having to contain the mess they leave behind them when they're on their free time." He chuckled and poked a jar. Nope, looked too bubbly to be inhaled by humans. "Hardworking folks, though." That was why they were kept as Aurors, yeah? WHOOPS. He dropped a liquid by accident and the thing sizzled and ate part of the table away at once... Vic took a step back, "Maybe we should wait for someone to point us to the sprayers..." Just saying.

That was supposed to be a joke, wasn’t it?

Octavia’s left eyebrow raised a fraction but she couldn’t help the slightly amused smirk that fell upon her lips. ”Very funny” she replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. At least he found it entertaining too, all of this camaraderie. Still.. “I guess it can get a little boring if the same thing happens every day” Although she had her doubts that would ever happen. They worked in law enforcement, the pair both were employed by Wizengamot. It was all go on level two, she was sure no two days would ever be the same.

”Well, I suppose everyone needs to start out somewhere” she spoke, watching the younger employees proceed onwards with the task. ”We should probably be grateful, aren’t they supposed to ‘keep us on our toes’” she replied sarcastically, finishing with a slight chuckle.

She watched him knock over the liquid and a laugh escaped her lips. ”I’m glad you’re not an Auror, you’d destroy the evidence with those steady hands” she teased. But his suggestion that they wait for someone to show them how to use the spray did not go down smoothly. She looked at him, her eyebrow raised again. ”You want to stand around at let these youngsters show us up?” she asked. ”It’s a pesticide spray, how hard can it be?” She certainly wasn’t going to wait.

Elinor watched as one person after another filed into her lab. What were they doing here? The events that had unfolded, plus the state of her lab, left the woman in a less-than-good mood. And that only worsened with everyone talking and asking questions and moRE PEOPLE COMING INTO THE LAB. She opened her mouth to say something several times, but never was there a pause for her to do so.

The woman gritted her teeth, trying to be patient, but it just wasn't happening. She dropped the bag in which she had begun collecting the shattered glass, which made a loud CRASH on the floor and Elinor drew in a breath.

"Would you all kindly calm down and be quiet for a moment??" Okay. The phrase 'calm down' wasn't necessary, but as was expressed by the woman raising her hands to her temples, all these people were overwhelming to her and she just wanted them all to stand still, and stop touching things, and stop talking, and for more people to stop coming into the lab.

She took in a breath again. This was her lab. Apart from Emily, she was in charge of this area. It was for that reason that she would not let herself feel bad for taking charge.

"If you all are here to help," she started quietly, "find a pair of gloves and start finding the different pieces to the broken equipment... I have to make an inventory, so nothing gets thrown away yet." Another breath. Good. They were all on the same page so far. "These splinters of wood and broken glass need to be cleared away. Someone can do that, I have a bag here." she gestured to the bag she had dropped to the floor. "Shredded papers that still might be salvageable need to be stacked, and if they are completely beyond repair, they can be thrown away. Anyone here to collect evidence should spread out. The spray bottles," she said, gesturing to the box that was left on one of the lab tables, "Shouldn't be used until an area has been cleaned. As we clean, we'll spray, and hopefully we can all be done with this soon enough."

Honestly, if she had her way, all of these people would leave and she would do it all herself. But that was not going to happen. So. She followed up with "Anyone not here to do any of those things or speak with me needs to leave right now." Which was the only part of her speech that she did not aim to sound polite. She had gone from confused to shocked and now was thrust into vastly irritated and maybe a little angry. She wasn't going to ask nicely if someone was just here, standing in the way and cluttering her lab.


ooc: This post is also for anyone who is "here-but-not-yet-posted". To help with post-clutter.

"I'm here!'' Jory announced to everyone in the lab when he got there. "Hey, guys,'' he added as he surveyed all the people. Yep, he had gotten the memo and was here to help with that infestation. He gave the lab lady, Elinor a grin, wondering if she remembered him from the last time he was here.

He was just in time to hear her set out instructions. "I've got the wood splinters and broken glass covered.'' The sooner they got these stuff over with the better for them all because they'd have their good ole "home" back to normal.

So, the YATI grabbed the bag Elinor had indicated and began collecting wood and glass.

"Is everyone doing their own level, or do we need to spread down and out?" Genevieve snapped the gloves over her small hands with a great grin of satisfaction. Yes, please, give her the pesticide and let her get to killing things, already.

She spotted her best buddy/role model, Mr. Bones, chatting nearby, and Genevieve sidled his way after picking up her pesticide spray. She'd just follow him, since he was meant to be mentoring her, and maybe she'd practice some of her stealth and disguise while she was at it.

In the meantime, Genevieve collected broken phials and gathered them into individual piles. "Should we repair what we can?"

Vic kept his grin on and moved away from the spilled jar, back to where his companion was. "They are keeping us on our toes." The entire department probably were willing to attest to this. "I'm not usually clumsy, I just haven't had my cup of coffee yet today." Just putting this out there. Yeah, he had great coordinated limbs with caffeine. He had more jokes and words to share with Octavia, if it weren't for the fussing lady who made herself present by raising her voice. Oops, he hadn't seen her there.

Calm down, though? If Vic got any calmer than this he might just fall asleep here on the floor and he had a feeling she wouldn't appreciate that, hehh heh. He went to retrieve some gloves for himself and for Octavia, waiting for the lab lady to tell them what to do. The Branxton kid wasn't stealthy enough sadly because he glanced her way and gave her a mentor-y smile.

Oh did the lady just jab at him? Hmm? He laughed, light-heartedly. "We're all here to clean up, I assure you. Apologies for... spilling up some liquid." He was all about respecting territories, but he couldn't take pesticides seriously. It sounded like a task made to... have fun. Probably shouldn't say this out loud to Ms. Lab Lady. He'd get in more trouble. ANYWAY, off to work? Vic raised his hand, politely but also a bit sarcastically. "Can we get the bottles and leave to do that task in our offices, ma'am?" The spraying?Hmm? Because she sounded like they were going to have to do the spraying in here, which... wasn't their intention.

Hmm.. Was he implying that he thought the younger employees were out performing them, or at least they were going to? ”Come on old man” she teased nudging his arm with a smile. ”We can do better than this lot any day.” She might have been perhaps twice the age of the youngest employees but she definitely still had it in her. Nothing like a little healthy competition between work colleagues. Perhaps she was mistaken but she had heard coffee, or the ingredients in it, would actually make you jittery. ”Isn’t coffee supposed to make your hands shake?” she asked. Maybe that was just a Grecian myth.

And then a lady piped up and Octavia frowned looking over at her. Who did she think she was?! ”Forgive me if I’m wrong” she interjected. ”But I am fairly certain the instructions on our noticeboard were to come collect the sprays from here and disinfect the entire department.” And that was what they were all doing here in their shared laboratory. She was not her boss, she wasn’t even a member of her division. Octavia did not take kindly to being told what to do by those whom were not above her. ”I am sorry if we have invaded your workspace but we are just doing what our department head has told us” And she would do very well as to stop bossing everybody about.

As for doing this lady’s dirty work. They had already cleaned up their offices when they had been asked to and the importance right now was to disinfect against the Chizpurfle invasion. ”I am with Vic here, I think it would be much more beneficial if we were to do our own divisions and not all focus on yours.” Goodness. She certainly did not want to stay around for long.

Honestly. Some people.

Elinor nodded towards the fellow and assured him "That's okay." Her intention wasn't to yell at anyone, even though that's kind of exactly what she did. The lab was only so big, and people took up a lot of space, what with the mess and all... She cocked her head at what he had said before someone else spoke.


Elinor turned, and her eyebrows raised. The instructions on the noticeboard..? Oh. She threw up her hands in a gesture that said that the woman had just told her something of which she was not aware at all. "That explains it, then! Yes, yes, take them! Dear me-- take them..." Elinor picked up the box that Derek had brought in and moved it to the counter closest to the door to the lab. That way they could just take one on the way out and no one would have to barge in again for long.

All she could wonder at this point is why the bottles had been put in here? And not somewhere more central? She held up her hands, latex-covered palms out, and offered an exasperated but apologetic look at the people in the lab, but she said nothing more for fear of more unintentional yelling. Instead, she began searching her own cabinets for another bag.

One of the people who was evidently here to help her asked about repairing things. Eying what she had in her hand, the lab technician gave her a nod. "If it looks like it can be repaired, I'm sure Emily will appreciate that." Elinor was not about to make her spend money to replace something that might not need replacing...

Vic got a broad wink when Genevieve realized he'd spotted her, and then she turned her attention to the piles of broken glass. It took no effort at all to restore the phials back to working order, and then she moved on to the shredded texts and papers.

Now that was a shame. Much more heart-breaking than the broken glass. Why would the chizpurfles destroy books, when they weren't particularly magical? Those were put back together too, and Vivi finally felt she'd helped enough to warrant her picking up one of the spray nozzles and tapping it against her shoulder.

"I'll come back and help you clean some more after I assist with the de-purfling," Genevieve smiled briefly at Elinor as she prepared to follow Vic wherever his abnormally large feet would take him.

Aw, so the lab lady didn't even know why they mobbed her workspace? No big deal, they were getting out of her hair very soon. Vic grinned at Octavia when the lady practically throw the sprayers at them. She couldn't wait to see them go, huh? He grabbed two, since Branxton got herself one and she was supposedly invisible and stealthily following him. "Okay, thank you for... coming up with this." She did help with this solution, didn't she? She must have.

And off he got out of the lab with the sprayer in his gloved hands. Let's get to work, ladies!

Well well well.

It seemed Simon was joining the party late as he came to the Magical Lab where the notice had mentioned the pesticide bottles would be kept until retrieved. Elinor was there of course no doubt protecting her workspace will all she had now that she was back in it. Vic had headed out and Genevieve, Jory and Octavia were about either helping clean up the lab or stopping to get their own bottles like what was his own intention.

"I hear there is this solution to our infestation problems...." he mused, not about to barge into the mix of anything going on. There was still plenty of mess within and he had his own task so he wasn't exactly there to volunteer to assist.

One person had left only for another to arrive, and Elinor was still left wondering why the bloody hell the solution had been left in here, and why there wasn't more of it elsewhere? But it was Simon, whom she felt better-than-ambivalent about, and found it in herself to not let out a tired sigh, but to smile at him. (Given that there was very little else to smile about.)

"You heard correctly, Mister Bennett. That box there," she directed, while pointing towards the box she had moved by the door. "Take an extra," she added as an afterthought, "Save someone the trouble of coming all the way down here to get it." Which was Elinor-speak for 'I don't want anyone else coming in my lab just to ask-and-grab for a spray bottle for these bloody Chizpurfles'.

But it sounded nicer.

Oh goodie, he was in the right place. Simon sent a sympathetic smile of his own back at the woman knowing how she was feel with the mess around her. Elinor was known for the level of protectiveness she had over her lab. Equal to Professor Vindictus and his pitch and broom shed.

"Very well, I certainly do that," he said, picking up the extra he had been debating about regardless. Either for Jory or anyone else that might stop by to assist just in case the people in the specialty area that shared the atrium with security didn't have any of their own.

"Thank you," the auror added with a nod, one bottle in each hand. Not wanting to bug the woman longer than he had to, Simon took his leave to head back down to the atrium. The younger man making a mental note to check back to see if she still needed help with things once he finally managed what he was taking care of.