SPOILER!!: Jasper, Heather and Jackson

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Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah

Jasper had turned his head enough and in just so time that he caught sight of her. A large smile played across his face and he immediately stepped over to Heather Malfoy. "There she is!" His arms slipped around her in an affectionate but quick hug. "Come on, dove, further in so we can get us some good ...erm...seats." Or at least a better place to stand on. He wouldn't have his fiancée sitting in those unstable looking chairs.


Guiding Heather through the crowd of people, he gave her hand a squeeze and flashed her another smile. He just really enjoyed being around her. "I wasn't expecting you here. I mean, you lived in the muggle world for so long. I would've thought they would've sent someone else from the Minister's office." He told Heather.

That was about when he spotted another familiar face. Two actually. And one was his boss, who it seemed hadn't noticed him just yet. The other familiar face, however did and Jasper returned the man-greeting with a like-placed head nod until he was close enough to say, "Mr. Bennett, how are you? Any luck with the case?" He asked, hoping that anything he provided might've been productive to them helping to catch DeTalone, even if they were only ever an inch closer. "This is my fiancée, by the way, Heather...Oh, you've probably met actually." He said looking altogether confused as to why he'd said that since they both used to work in the same department.



Jasper's confused expression washed away as soon as he'd heard a new and unfamiliar voice. "Oh, hullo. Not at all. We were merely discussing the follow-up on the DeTalone case." went the tall and salt 'n peppered wizard. "For which department do you work, Mr. McQueen?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Jackson entered the gymnasium and immediately began scanning the faces of the people who were already in there. He recognized some of the people that was at the meeting he had attended on his first day at this place.

There were also a few people that he recognized seeing in various places but he never had the pleasure of meeting. At least not yet. He hoped that by the time the training had ended he would be able to put name to face.

It was time to mingle. Jackson walked over and joined the group of people talking.

"Hello everyone. I'm Jackson McQueen. I hope you don't mind me joining in the conversation," he smiled to those present as he introduced himself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOPEendures

Heather had turned her back on him for a second to look around the room once more when arms wrapped around her briefly. The short hug was enough to make her relax and she smiled up at him. "Ah! You found me." She wiggled a bit at the idea of sitting anywhere for an extended period of time, but permitted him to lead them around the gymnasium. Maybe they could casually lean against a wall? Hmmm.

"Who better to send than someone who already has great experience in the subject." She was fairly certain she wouldn't be the only one there from her office though. It was important stuff to learn, especially where they were currently located for the time being. "Plus, I was hoping I would get to see you." She spoke the words so softly she was hoping he'd be the only one who would hear.

Jasper said the 'f' word. WOAH! It was the first time she had heard it come out of his mouth. Telling another person as well. It overwhelmed her for a moment, but she kept her outward everything very well composed. Had she met him? She couldn't remember actually. So many face in the Magical Law Enforcement and not enough time to meet them all. "Hello."

And another person joining the little group. She gave a smile to the man and mentally shied away from the topic of discussion. DeTalone. One of the reasons she had moved departments. Opting for silence, she gave Jasper's hand a small squeeze and shuffled a little from foot to foot trying to ensure that her feet wouldn't fall off.

Maybe she should rethink the whole always standing thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Jackson smiled back,"Oh please call me, Jackson. Mr. McQueen just makes me feel old," he told the man who greeted him. "The DeTalone case? I believe I read reports about it. Correct me if I'm wrong. The suspect is accused of stealing time, am I right?" Jackson's interest was peaked when the man mentioned that case.

He hadn't yet arrived in the Ministry, let alone worked in the Ministry when that happened. When the arrest was made, he was still working in muggle Law Enforcement. But he had still managed to keep himself apprised of events that occurred in the Wizarding world. The DeTalone case was an example of one.

Simon hadn't quite expected the Mysteries man to come up to him, nor the vaguely familiar woman beside him but he didn't let it bother him. "Um...alright," he answered before shaking his head to the negative. "Unfortunately not at the moment." And it seemed like it was almost a dead end on their end, or it was at least treated that way. fiancé? Met already? The auror gave the woman a closer look and recognized her from the offices. "Probably in passing," he mused giving a polite nod of greeting. "Hello."

They were joined further by the new security officer. Jackson he registered just before he introduced himself. He briefly wondered the information the man knew about the case in question, new to the department and all. Probably just what was spread in the news which of course wasn't all there and correct. "Yes...time from people, especially those who were young to give her an extended and youthful life." That mush was pretty much common knowledge that could be spared.

SPOILER!!: Mariel

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Activities? No, actually she had not been told of any activities, in fact the memo was quite vague. Perhaps intentionally so. But at any rate Mariel had come directly from work wearing the type of clothing she did every day since starting with the Ministry. If they were required to wear something different than she should have been informed. And certainly he wasn't implying that she remove her shoes. Not when there was garbage on the floor. "I'm certain it won't be an issue," she said with a polite smile before moving on and away from the man, not worried about anything else until they actually started. She was a witch after all and her shoes were charmed for comfort, of course. She could do whatever Muggle activities they had in store and look fantastic doing them.

Oh good. Simon didn't bring up any awkwardness which, truthfully, Mariel would have been prepared for, but it did make thing easier all the same. She had tried to make light of any conversation they'd have and it seemed the man had picked up on it. "Oh..?" she began, an amused smile present on her face. She was trying to find just a little humor in all this though it did not please her in the slightest. But it did make things more manageable. "Are you planning on visiting Games and Sports any time soon? I can assure you our airplane hangar isn't much better, but at least we've cleaned up the floor." It was dreadful, really, but if she couldn't laugh about it, it would probably make her crazy. Didn't mean she loved the situation though.

SPOILER!!: Cresswell, Victoria, and Jazzy!

Mariel merely looked at Victoria for a moment, trying to get a feel for the tone of her words. Deciding to shrug it off, the brunette simply gave her a smile. "Well, of course.. though I don't see anyone else here from Games and Sports." She took a quick glance around the immediate area, before turning back to her. "Do you?" Maybe there had been someone she had missed and it was still a bit early but she would not be happy if the rest of her department thought she wasn't serious.

Green eyes followed a well-dressed man as he strode over and apparently knew Victoria who he casually sort of embraced. Oh.. wait, he looked awfully familiar and Mariel thought she knew why. As the two made niceties, the brunette caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and glanced up. Oh, it was her Mystery Man. Mariel gave him a little grin and returned the wave with a casual one of her own. As he soon became occupied with another woman, Mariel turned her attention back to the two in front of her.

Department of Specialties Head.. no wonder he had looked familiar, she had been vaguely acquainted with him because of all the mishaps at the Ministry last year. "It is Mariel.. Morgan," she confirmed, smiling widely and grasping the man's offered hand to shake it firmly. It always pleased her when her name proceeded her. "And yes, new to the position but not to the department. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance officially, Anthony." She had certainly seen him around but the name would have escaped her. "Though I do believe you might already be acquainted with my patronus." The very reason she used the stairs the rest of the year.. her toned calves were thankful.

She turned to Victoria at her comment and laughed a little, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "I'm nothing if not professional," she agreed with a grin for Vic before looking back to Anthony. "Though I can certainly appreciate your sense of style." It was nice that someone knew how to dress for work at the Ministry whether the place was crumbling around them or not.

The smile on the woman turned department head turned more amusing and Simon relaxed. They were in full ministry work mode and not lingering on what happened or might have happened over the holiday break. "Its likely in the cards," he answered with a nod. "One of the tasks of security is to check everything out. Even harder now but..." he broke off with a shrug. It was his job and he would do it to the best of his ability.

"At least its bright and airy, unlike the underground we're in." A place that hadn't been modified by the charms that allowed some comfort in the ministry's true come despite being underground as well.

SPOILER!!: Josh and Jory

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fira

After hearing the enthusiastic voice, Josh turned only to see Jory who had just apparently joined them. He grinned at the YATI and nodded. It was good to see enthusiastic faces especially if they were YATI faces. Josh, no doubt, was going to follow Jory's performance as well. Yet, before he could decide anything about anyone's performance, he needed to find out what kind of exercising this was going to be. Including his own. "Hey, Jory." He greeted the YATI with a smirk. Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

Then Simon spoke and Josh turned his dark brown gaze at him. Better than decorating. Yeah, absolutely. "Couldn't agree more." He said. Yeah. Who cared how the place they worked looked anyway? He didn't even mind the smell and that was not only because he had recently added more to it. "When is this thing going to start?" the Auror murmured as he never really favoured waiting. Waiting was boring.

He eyed the rest of the place to see the guy in the middle to figure out if he was going to start this thing today. But instead, his eyes spotted a much better sight: his fiancé!

"Evelyn!" he exclaimed. "Excuse me guys." He quickly said to Simon and Jory and rushed to his fiancé's side. "My love..." he said suddenly changing into a sensitive, love-struck guy from the tough Auror who was impatient about the training. He took her hands into his and smiled. "It's great to see you."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Why was Josh smirking at him? Did he not think Jory was up for physical training or something? If that was the case, he would show them how on top of this he could be. He didn't do all that exercising daily for nothing. He also knew that the two Aurors would be paying keen attention to how he did at this and though he was nervous at that thought, he was determined to do his best.

Jory was about to ask Simon and Josh if they knew if the other two YATI were joining them, when Josh excused himself and rushed of towards a lady. He caught the "my love" part and suddenly sniggered softly. The serious Auror being all lovey dovey? Even he won't do that when Ronnie was around. "Is he always like that when she comes around, Simon?'' Was that Josh's wife? Girlfriend? And maybe he should stop sniggering. That wasn't a polite thing to do to your superiors.

"Your guess is as good as mi--" Simon responded, quite familiar with his friend's lack of patience. However before he could finish, Josh interupted and took his leave. Evelyn. The auror turned in the direction he had rushed to see said woman and Josh playing the lovable and doting fiance. he couldn't help but chuckle as Jory spoke up once more, bringing him back to him.

"Not always. But he certainly has his moments." Moments that sometimes made him shake his head at his bestie. Others where he just smiled to see Josh happy.

At Derek's reply, Jade just nodded. "Well, hopefully Oliver will start it soon and we can be done here."

At that very second, she noticed something going on with her boss and she smirked to herself. It was nice to know that Bossman had a funny side to him since Jade had always thought that he was too serious. As she thought about her boss, a red bright colour distracted her and she looked over to vaguely see some red glowing on people's elbows.

Sighing because she didn't like where this was headed, Jade turned back to Derek and said, "Do you see that red glowy stuff?" She pointed to the one nearest to them. "More importantly-Do I have any red glowy thing on me?!"


She showed him her arm.

Hearing her name momentarily had her forget the unsanitary conditions, and putting the blame on certain people. She'd been expecting to see her fiancé here. Though was it for training or security purposes? "Please tell me your work conditions are much better than this place." And back to the ew-y grossness of the place.

She did give him a soft squeeze of the hands though, stepping closer as if to protect herself from the dirt before glancing around.

In her quick inspection of the area, and by quick, it was QUICK, she'd completely missed the red dots upon certain individuals, but zeroed on to an oh so familiar yet long overdue for a conversation face. Lifting her hand, the young woman wiggled her fingers towards Simon.

Not the guy next to him. No. She didn't know him.

Okay. Langen was here in a casual gymnasium. For a while now. Because the seminar was mandatory. And while that usually meant something really boring was going to happen, the brunette was actually quite excited. Brush up on defenses and stuff. Even if she thought she was never going to need it with her job. It was better to make sure that the twenty year old wouldn't end up on the wrong side of a curse or something like that.

And it looked like most if not all of the games and sports department was here. That was good. It meant that nothing was going to happen. They just casually had to brush up on their skills and then go back to work. Or clock out. She wasn't sure what she was doing yet in all honesty.

But seminars and stuff were good. It meant that she got to learn new things. And that was important. Especially since she forgot most of what she learned in Hogwarts. See, she was very sports minded back then, and even had a boyfriend on the quidditch team, Rockwell. But they broke up. Because he was annoying. So whatever.

Anyway, she waited for the seminar to start so she could get her learning on. Her wand was in her boot and her dark brown hair was in a ponytail so she could actually do stuff. Because it was hard to do anything with your hair all messed up.

Victoria was assuming they were the smart ones. They hid from this foolish training like she should have, but now she was sitting on a dirty chair and being forced to be social. She closed her eyes for a second just to force the need to get up and walk out. All she wanted was her bed and possibly a small break, but neither were happening anytime soon so if this thing could just get on its way that would be nice. “Don’t worry they’ll probably be here soon. Most of us aren’t use to this muggle transportation they probably took the wrong bus or something.” She forced a laugh which sounded to forced so she stopped. She hated how forced she was in every situation anymore. She just wanted things back to normal, but it didn’t seem possible anymore.

“Oh Anthony I know you will miss her looking at you, but don’t worry you’ll find a new girl to stare at you soon enough.” He really wasn’t that bad to look at so she wouldn’t be surprised. He was wearing his best what? She did give a curios eye, what man new those type of names. She had appreciated him actually noticing her when her old boss clearly had been ignoring, plus he did seem to have a sense of humor. She just wished she could enjoy it more. “So how long is this thing going to last, do either of you know?” They were department heads they should know things like this, right? Then there was a twirl? Another curious look came over her. Was he? Nah she threw the thoughts off and even if he was she didn’t care. Looking down at Mariel’s shoes she did envy the woman to still care to wear those. Her own flats weren’t looking as nice anymore, but meh effort she just didn’t have it. Since the other two seemed to be conversing now she took the time to blend into the dirty old chair again.

Victoria looked around while Mariel and Anthony talked when she noticed another G&S employee. She gave Langen a wave. If the girl wanted to come over she could.

"It's been...all right," said Kennedy with a shrug. Getting back into the Muggle setting was no big deal, it was sort of home turf, but he did have to remind himself at times that there was things he couldn't do in front of Muggles. A restriction he's never had to dealt with during his time in Europe, which was quite something considering his up bringing.

It was all good, though.

"What do you think we're going to do?" he asked, his eyes traveling around the room. He trusted Simon's judgement, be it a guess or not. The former Slytherin still saw him as someone to look up to.

Seemed like Simon was some kind of beacon to YATIs as Jory joined them in. "Hey, man," Kennedy greeted. The more and more people showed up the more pumped he felt for this training thing. And even as his eyes were alert, they were more focused on his surroundings rather than on the people around them to catch anything off.

"How you doing?" And was he ready?

Oliver was getting used to all these people coming in with grumpy looks on their faces but he really hated to see a woman looking so unhappy. He was just about to ask her if everything was okay when she stepped closer to him.

Now that was better.

"Pleasure to meet you Victoria." And it really was. "Oliver Jenkins, Event Concealment Advisor for Accidents and Catastrophes." That was a bloody mouthful but sounded semi impressive. He held out his hand to her.

She got a wink, because the woman deserved a wink. Merlin, he needed to make the rounds of the Ministry more often. There was all these nice women people about.

"We definitely do."How long had it been since they'd hung out together and talked nonsense? He missed that, but he knew that his friend had been distracted by Alysson and Oliver could not blame him for that. He rolled his eyes playfully at his friend and the question he asked. "Hardly." He grinned. "But I probably do know more than most since I've worked with them for years." If you could call surfing, working.

Hahahaha. His friend was so funny.

"Definitely don't need you to make me look good bro." He could do that all by himself. "You're first in line." Giving him a wink and nod back.

Yep. One in every crowd.

Oliver inhaled through his nose very deeply before exhaling slowly out of his mouth. It probably wouldn't look good if he took his wand and just transfigured her clothing which is something he really wanted to do.

"Right. Well don't come complaining to me later."

"Oliver will be just fine." He said as he extended his hand towards the former student. "Not a Professor anymore." Wasn't really much of one to begin with to be honest. "I'm doing well João. How about you?"

Oh man. She was going to give him a hard time, Oliver could tell. Of course he only had himself to blame. He hadn't treated her very well at all. It really wouldn't kill him to call the ladies back.

"Um...thanks." Yep still awkward. "Look I'm sorry about...I mean...maybe we should..."

What Oliver, what?

Leave the poor woman alone, man.


Right. Probably best to just move on from this awkward situation and get this thing rolling. He moved towards the centre of the room so that he could address everyone in the room since they were scattered all over the place.

"Okay everyone, can I have your attention please?" He shot a look at high heel lady because he just had the feeling she was going to be difficult. "In the light of recent events it was decided that we all need some training on muggle evasion, concealment and disillusionment." Pause. "So who here knows the different ways to evade muggles?"

Turning his attention toward the man who apparently was going to be their instructor, Kennedy was reminded of his school days. In this case, he was sure they were all pretty mature to not raise their hands in order to answer in turn.

"The Disillusionment Charm is one of the quickest ways to," he suggested. "Anything involving invisibility does, really," he added.

So Langen was kind of standing around. She was doing a lot of that out of shyness lately. It was weird. She wasn't generally shy. She was actually quite outgoing to be honest. But it was a new place with several new faces. And she seemed to be adjusting well to the changes. Which was always good. When her father and mother divorced that was not a goodchange for her. But she was always kind of good with change. It was like a special gift for her.

Anyway, she was standing alone too. Now this wouldn't normally be weird, but there were people from every department here, even department heads, and she didn't want to look like the awkward loner who couldn't handle themself in social situations. She wanted to look calm and collected. Or as calm and collected as she could be.

Anyway, someone just waved to her. What was her name again? Victoria? Probably. That seemed like her name. She looked like a Victoria.

And should she go over there? They were having a conversation and she didn't want to interupt. But at the same time, she wanted to make friends at the minsitry. This was like her life now, and she wanted to make it more fun for herself. Plus she might need something from someone else and friends made it easier.

But she didn't need to think anymore, because her attention was called. Muggle evasion. That's what they were learning. That's why it was soo important. She had this totally wrong. But it was still something completely important to learn. Especially with recent events. Like the person had said.

"Um, well Hogwarts has Muggle protection spells to make sure that no Muggle walks in and finds us out. And an old professor used to be able to turn into a cat to disguise herself. That's how she hid herself in the Muggle world. " There were plenty more. So many more examples. but these were the first two that she thought of. Yeah, she had a tutor through school. She didn't really focus on schoolwork. There was so much else to do. Hogwarts was well, Hogwarts.

She smiled over at Victoria to let her know that she wanted to walk over there but other things were going on. No hard feelings, yeah? Because she really would've talked to her boss and the other people in G&S. She didn't want to be alone in the office, yeah?

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarShine

João wondered why WWW was being weird, he used to be his professor at Hogwarts, after all, but the it occured to him that people shouldn't see them together. Right. So he subtly nodded back, but didn't try to speak to him.

João looked.

Yes. This was the main man.

He didn't react to the elbow or anything, because top-secret spying codes told so, but he did look.

They were onto you, Mister Mysterious!

Naturally, William looked the opposite way as João whilst his co-spy was spying on the Mysteries Man. He idly scratched his elbow instead, funnily enough, it was the same elbow he'd nudged João with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Announcer

While waiting, perhaps some people have gotten a bit too comfortable, brushing elbows so to speak. In case you haven't noticed, some of the members present seem to have been marked, with a bright red spot on the elbow.

However did they get there?

Dang, this elbow was itchy! William scratched at it again and turned his arm over to try to see if something had bitten him or what. There was a bright red spot on his elbow, it looked a bit like a bite, and he cursed under his breath.

"I hope this place isn't flea-infested," he muttered. "Or spider infested." He might have been a creature lover but he drew the line at pests and insects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

January smiled at William. Growing up, she hated that nickname, but she had grown quite fond of it as of late. "Long time, no see, Willy. How are things going?" she asked, nudging elbows with him.

Her eyes darted off to the side from where they entered, looking for a particular familiar face. She wondered if he was coming today. Possibly? Possibly not. He was busy, she knew. And smart, so maybe he didn't even need this orientation. Hmm.

"Oh hey," William sort of frowned at the elbow nudge, only because she'd happened to have touched the one with the spider? bite on it. "Things are great! We need to do...... lunch sometime." Probably not dinner, because well, they'd seen how that pizza-making attempt had gone. He wasn't about to lose his pants around her again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

"We definitely do."How long had it been since they'd hung out together and talked nonsense? He missed that, but he knew that his friend had been distracted by Alysson and Oliver could not blame him for that. He rolled his eyes playfully at his friend and the question he asked. "Hardly." He grinned. "But I probably do know more than most since I've worked with them for years." If you could call surfing, working.

Hahahaha. His friend was so funny.

"Definitely don't need you to make me look good bro." He could do that all by himself. "You're first in line." Giving him a wink and nod back.


Right. Probably best to just move on from this awkward situation and get this thing rolling. He moved towards the centre of the room so that he could address everyone in the room since they were scattered all over the place.

"Okay everyone, can I have your attention please?" He shot a look at high heel lady because he just had the feeling she was going to be difficult. "In the light of recent events it was decided that we all need some training on muggle evasion, concealment and disillusionment." Pause. "So who here knows the different ways to evade muggles?"

"What are you doing on Friday?" Seemed like a good day for brotivities. Maybe they could go grab a drink.

Right, he'd 'worked' with them for years. William chuckled and rubbed his hands together. "Well, I'm here if ya need me. Teach me something good, mate."

And there was their first question. One about disillusionment, which..... definitely wasn't William's best spell. He was better at the putting-fires-out or starting them kind of spells. COOL spells, not useful ones. Errrr. He could still supply an answer. He just wasn't about to raise his hand.

"Well, you can just make an attempt to blend in with them. It's not evasion, but it helps if you don't wear a wizard hat and robes and don't carry a broom around." William volunteered with a shrug. "I've also noticed that they don't accept gold coins at their coffee shops?" What was their paper money called again? Hashtags?

Rusty actually wasn't one for evasion. Or well, he was, and he was decent at it, but his skill set was obliviation, which meant he could in essence just mooch around all magical-like in front of muggles, and then make them forget about it after if he were so inclined. Not that he generally exercised that option, but it still was one. For a skilled Obliviator like him anyways.

The other option was good old fashioned blending in. He was so good at THAT even that right now he apparently hadn't garnered any attention at all. Not a wave, not a smile, not even curious looks from what he could tell.

Right then. Stay quiet and keep blending, he supposed.

But he certainly couldn't call him 'just Oliver', could he? It would be rude, no matter what Mr. Jenkins said. No sir, even though João nodded respectfully. "I'm alright too, thank you for asking." Then he stepped back because more people wanted to greet him, and anyway, the meeting had begun shortly afterwards.

He certainly had his attention as João eyed the man, arms folded. He listened to some answers, but didn't answer. Acting like them, was the most obvious answer, but they weren't at school anymore to answer questions like that.

Nodding to Dorian when he approached, Charles glanced around again. "Well Gidyun and I don't exactly get along, and he knows I already know how to work around muggles since I did for years, so this just makes this even more excruciating for me." He shook his head in frustration. Tasha frowning at his arm made Charles look down at himself, but obviously he couldn't see the spot. It was on the back of his arm! He took off his suit jacket to examine to spot and it took all of his self control to not say something he really shouldn't say in the presence of a lady. "This had better come off." he stared at the spot. "This is my favourite suit." It was likely he'd brushed up against something on the way in, since this place was a DUMP.

"Sounds like International Cooperation got the best deal so far. We've got a third floor old office that's been spruced up. It has cubicles and I claimed an office for myself." he told them, not to make them jealous, but to help them understand why he was SO appalled.

Before Derek could look at whatever Jade was looking at, Oliver spoke again and the 28 year-old turned his full attention to him and listened to what he had to say.

Oh, honestly? A question like they were at school again. Merlin.

As if Derek would speak out loud. Right. He didn't use to do that when he was back at Hogwarts, why would he start doing it now? Hm. No, thank you.

He stood there with a blank expression and arms folded as the others answered.

This training session? Total waste of time, Alexandria already decided before she showed up. But for political reasons, she took the bus down to the designated spot and walked the remaining distance to the HMS Royal Arthur. It wasn't complicated and she wasn't even against muggle transportation, being a half-blood herself who grew up in a muggle community.

But it was the whole idea of the training session with common sense reminders. Though she supposed for some witches and wizards, they probably needed those reminders.

Standing in the back of the gymnasium, the climate controller just listened for now. Muggle evasion? Blend in or assimilate? Duh.

He was running later than he'd anticipated. The limited employees remaining in the decrepit building left him hoping for the missings' sake they were here and not simply off enjoying the break to learn. The only excuse for not being in the office was being here. It was that simple and though he couldn't force them all to attend, he had made it clear he would appreciate them being in attendance.

Oh sweet Merlin, he should have come earlier. So many people here. The Senior Undersecretary quickly made his way to the side of the room, leaning against the wall and just observing. He already knew very well how to avoid Muggles, in fact he knew how to avoid most everyone. Being here was mainly to set an example for everyone else in his level. Couldn't very well tell them to show up then absent himself.

Pay no attention to him. He was only half here. Participating wasn't in his agenda. He would simply watch.

A wink. Well that was new.

Haley continued on listening though, occasionally glancing at Brad to see if there was ever an opportunity to just pinch his arm and win at everything. None as of yet though. "Evade insinuates deceit...trickery... Living like them, maybe? Some of us live on their streets, walk our dogs in parks with them, but behind closed doors we..rely on our magic roots? We're lying to them to save our butts." Hell, what did she know. When she was at home or out, all she did was eat pizza and watch muggle television shows in her underwear.

Those TV shows, by the way, STILL confused her if she missed a day of them.

Harland looked on from one of the peeling walls of the gymnasium. He could hardly believe that time was being taken out of his workday for this nonsense, although admittedly some of his coworkers were not as cautious when dealing with Muggles. As for Harland, he'd been to primary school before being "moved to a private boarding school" at the age of eleven; his parents had always encouraged this sort of double life he possessed.

But now here he was, in a space that ought to have been condemned, being asked to pick out warning signs and why it was important not to use magic - all of that stuff that should have been common sense. Ridiculous. They should be trying to get back into the Ministry, not trying to get comfortable outside of it.

So many people here. Anyway Saxon felt slightly uncomfortable, a huge crowd, tons of people speaking. She only knew a few in the ministry, just her co-workers, but that's about it. All these people were making her nervous.

How does one evade muggles? Well, that lady had a point. "She has a point. I mean, we walk amongst muggles every day and we look just like them, but we're different, and they don't suspect a thing. I suppose we do what we always do. Try to keep everything discreet as possible, be one with the muggles." Lame suggestion was lame. But, definitely a good point that person there had. Saxon didn't have much else to offer.

Oliver was a good sport for getting things started in terms of evasion. Emily didn't have the patience for introductions and hands up to talk thing. She was far beyond schooling. Plus, it gave her the opportunity to mess around, paint dots on peoples elbows and observe them up close and from a distance without them even noticing. A clueless bunch, weren't they?

It was a decent turn out, and she was pleased to see that MLE were well represented, needless to say, she wouldn't have been pleased if they had missed this.

Emily meandered through the gathering of people, avoiding touching them and so forth, though occasionally she blew in their ear or the back of their neck for fun, nudging the lack of their leg so their knee gave out expectantly. The beauty of it was, since the action was so deliberate and indeed unexpected, the sensation of their knee giving way was the perfect masking agent to her touch.

Wandering around, she was able to see who was engaging, and who was coming to socialise, she tsk tsk tsk'd in her head as she witnessed the chatters, they had her eyes on them -- and they didn't even know it. They obviously needed this training exercise and were too foolish to see it.

"Brownie points to Escalante," Emily chimed, her voice projecting over the throng of people -- even the chatty ones. "Disillusionment or camouflage, and invisibility... are perhaps the easier ways to evade muggles... and magical folk alike." See? Or no, they wouldn't... she was still very much camouflaged by the charm.

"But many of you are on the right track..." she added, her voice coming from again a different area of the gymnasium, she was on the move. "Transfiguration also works a treat, if you're convincing enough." Such as Aron, excellent sofa he is, comfortable one too. Especially considering that new DERP Head made herself at home on him. Heh. "Though by all means you're not restricted to these options."

Having reached Oliver's side, Emily broke the charm with a wandless finite, and let the people see her. She wiggled the small brush coated with red paint at them. Conversation and growling in their direction worked best when there was eye contact, not that she was growling, she wasn't... yet. But anything was possible. "Blending in with muggle attire, sure, you can. But it's perhaps too generic, and I expect more from you lot.. not to mention, you are easily seen by muggles even if you're not wearing robes." Pfffttt.. they were not here to play dress ups ok? Ok? She did not sign up to run a dress ups session with Aron and Oliver, because the mere thought of it had her wanting to gag.
"I would have also accepted emergency apparition," she added nonchalantly. "That being said, I'm sure you're all smart enough not to do so with muggles actually watching you - but we'll get to statute violation prevention later."

Emily wanted to get to the fun bit, no point dilly dallying and chit chatting when there was work to be done and skills to be learnt or practiced.

"We're going to start by playing a little game, getting you evading and the like. But before we go through the activity and rules, those of you who I marked with red paint, could you please step forward?" ... because yes, that was all her doing. They were too oblivious to notice they'd been marked, Had she been a dark witch, they'd be dead. Be this a lesson learnt. Annnnnddd it was for fun, so, you know. "Check your elbows," she prompted, because she knew she'd tagged a few. Even one of her own MLEers, were they brave enough to front up? Heh.

Standing there listening, Alex was not oblivious to the feel of a tickling sensation on her elbow. But was there anything she could do about it, other than grip her wand automatically, not really.

Then one of the instructors began speaking about disillusionment and revealed herself ... and said to check their elbows? For red paint? OH NO she did NOT!! It was not lack of constant vigilance on Alex's part. She had vigilance. She was aware of her surroundings. She just was unable to do anything about it in the middle or beginning of the training. Good thinking on the woman's part.

Holding her elbows, her arms crossed across her chest, Alex took a step forward.

Yeah, Wililam had itched his elbow all right, and been so bothered by the red dot there that he hadn't even noticed a bit of it was coming off. Oh. So maybe this place wasn't infected by spiders. Well that was encouraging... some.

He frowned and stepped forward, put off by this "MLE department head." Some department head she was. Shouldn't they be encouraging wizards to get along with Muggles, rather than to go around being invisible all the time? And he wasn't just saying that because he sucked at the disillusionment charm, okay.

The training session officially began, a question posed before the group over options on how to evade muggles. Simon stayed quiet at first, not because he was clueless as to an answer, but because he wanted to see what items were given by the group. Not to mention he was surrounded by the YATI present and he didn't want to quash the ideas either of them could come up with. There would be plenty of other times to actively participate with what was going on he was sure. Besides, what was being said covered a few bases, especially what the elder trainee provided from beside him.

And then there was Emily, her voice present even before he saw her giving points to Kennedy for his answer. But somehow he figured that was the whole idea of her activity and hidden presence among the crowd. They were talking about blending in and Aron had already showed himself from his place of hiding as a chair. What better way to actively demonstrate their options. Sure enough, the MLE head soon appeared at the front of the large room with the others, the magic of her spell vanishing into nothingness at the finite.

What also appeared was the paint brush in her hand. Paint brush with red paint which was explained as the former auror went on to tell about a little activity involving it. And then he noticed that sure enough there were a few people marked with it around the gymnasium. He obediantly checked himself as a couple made their way up to the front to claim their involutary volunteering but found both arms of his jacket clear of the liquid mark.

Nope...no red paint here. Simon was clear which was a relief to the auror. The last thing he needed to do was not notice when someone was brushing his elbow with a paintbrush.

Jackson was about to reply in response to the man who so willingly shared some information about the DeTalone case. So DeTalone did steal time and from the young. Very interesting indeed. Jackson made a mental note to himself to find out more about the case. Being new with the Ministry did have its disadvantages but he wasn't going to allow that to keep him from getting caught up.

Jackson thanked his ability to learn things fast and he was going to take advantage of this ability right now.

....wait red paint? Had he been marked without him even knowing that he had been? No that was not possible. Jackson quickly checked himself.

Nope no red paint markings any way. Jackson breathed a sigh of relief. Now that would have been indeed embarrassing if he had been.

Victoria gave the man the best smile she could and shook his extended hand. [b] "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Jenkins. Even in her state that she had been in lately Victoria could appreciate noticing an attractive man, and this Jenkins fellow was going to be easy on the eyes during this training. At least there was one plus to being here.

As she sat quietly hearing him get started she just listened. Really their clothes and just acting muggle was what they had done all their lives was this really necessary to talk about now? How could they possibly tell unless one of these common sense lacking wizards thought it was cool to show off in front of them. She couldn't help but eye some of the men, yes men. She could see them trying to do something that idiotic.



She saw Langen wave which Victoria gave a small smile to welcome the girl to come over. She was new and even if Victoria was struggling with social interactions as of recently she still had a job to do and that was being nice to the new girl, especially after Mariel had asked her to help. Though she still felt awkward about it. Thought Langen didn't really seem like she was coming over. Too cool for the older coworkers maybe? Then she opened her mouth and talked about school again. Gosh it wasn't until she brought up Hogwarts that Victoria remember she was still pretty much a baby. Merlin she was getting old wasn't she.



She heard her friends voice before seeing her. Listening and looking around. Where was she, but no she couldn't see her until poof she was near the attractive one. Jenkins, right? She listened still not sold that any of this was necessary and not happy at all to any type of activities. This could be a lecture base training, couldn't it. That was what Victoria was hoping for, but then there was paint. Why did she have paint moving it around.

She sighed, she really didn't even have to look at her elbow to know what would be there. It was her luck. She was trying to play invisible through this so of course her friend would choose her to be one of these red paint victims. Pulling up her arm and looking she grumbled and glared as she got up off the dirty chair. Bloody hell why did she come today again?

She moved forward closer to Emily, she better know she owed the blonde big after forcing her in front of people right now. She shoved her hair in a tighter pony tail while she waited to see what they were going to have to do.