What's an inaugural ball without some dancing, yeah? The ministry is back in action, there's a new minister in town, and it's certainly cause for celebration. Why not show your excitement on the dance floor?

The space is large enough to accommodate all of the evening's guests and the sounds of top hits, muggle and wizarding alike, are being performed by enchanted instruments. If you look up, you might notice that the romantic lighting comes courtesy of the fairies who seem pleased to lend a helping hand. So come on over and enjoy the magical atmosphere. We promise not to judge you on your dance moves, though we can't speak for our winged friends.

Kaden always liked these Ministry parties. They were a nice way to meet coworkers and just... have fun. Even better, too, was that this year Kade had a date, and she would be his date for all the upcoming Ministry parties. His wife was on his arm and he couldn't be any happier about that fact.

He led her straight to the dance floor. They could dance until they got tired or hungry or decided to go meet the new minister of magic.

"I like the lights," he commented, glancing at Monique. And her face. He liked that too.

HAD EMBER BRIGHTEN SAID SHE LOVED DANCING?

BECAUSE SHE DID.

A lot.

And at every Ministry event, .....SHE WOULD DANCE. And with anybody, too. She had danced with plants before. It wasn't as fun as dancing with humans. Not her bird--PAOLO? Yeah, he was fun to dance with because he would stay perched on her shoulder and just...squeak along to the music.

ONLY ONE PERSON WAS ON THE DANCE FLOOR, AND REALLY, PEOPLE? Ember was APPALLED. She began boogying almost INSTANTLY. Where was her Mitya?! Was he HEREEE? No? HE LIKED TO DANCE TOOO?

Maybe she would sing along with the song...

OR MAYBE SHE WOULD JUST DANCE ALL OVER EVERYONE!!!!

Monique was holding on to Kade's arm. It was their first big outting since the wedding. She'd never been to the British Ministry before, so this was pretty exciting. Not overly exciting though. More like - seeing your husband's place of work exciting.

"Yeah. Those are romantic."

She also had a new taste for the word recently. Things were allowed to be romantic now.

SPOILER!!: Ember

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

HAD EMBER BRIGHTEN SAID SHE LOVED DANCING?

BECAUSE SHE DID.

A lot.

And at every Ministry event, .....SHE WOULD DANCE. And with anybody, too. She had danced with plants before. It wasn't as fun as dancing with humans. Not her bird--PAOLO? Yeah, he was fun to dance with because he would stay perched on her shoulder and just...squeak along to the music.

ONLY ONE PERSON WAS ON THE DANCE FLOOR, AND REALLY, PEOPLE? Ember was APPALLED. She began boogying almost INSTANTLY. Where was her Mitya?! Was he HEREEE? No? HE LIKED TO DANCE TOOO?

Maybe she would sing along with the song...

OR MAYBE SHE WOULD JUST DANCE ALL OVER EVERYONE!!!!

Despite having worked at the Ministry for several years now Dmitry had never actually attended an orientation event before. Not even his first year working here. Generally he was already in Russia at this point, or still in France with his family. This year though he was back in England, at least for the next few days and so he figured he might as well come, especially since he was pretty sure Ember would be here too.

Walking into the room he looked around dispassionately. Everything looked nice of course, but considering how many different parties he'd been to in his life this one wasn't especially impressive. The dance floor did look good though, then again he liked dancing so as long as a dance floor was big enough he was good with them. Even if he did still sometimes wish that the dance floor was a stage.

This one wasn't too crowded yet either, just a few people on it, although one of them was dancing a bit crazily so he'd probably try to avoid her. Except... was that EMBER?

Blinking slightly to make sure he wasn't imagining things Mitya determined that crazy boogy lady was indeed Ember. Not going to avoid then. Maybe he could get her to dance in a more constrained manner in order to avoid dying on the dance floor? Smiling fondly Dmitry strode over to Ember, calling out to her in order to avoid getting his feet stepped on or hit by a limb as he got close.

Kaden nodded, smiling. Romantic. He could think that now.

Once in the middle of the (practically deserted) dance floor Kade took Monique's hand and spun her into him. They'd never been dancing together for real, but they spent plenty of time slow dancing in their kitchen so he knew where to place his hands and how to hold her so that they could move together easily.

"So," he said, "Welcome to the Ministry. Now you'll believe me when I say it's not very exciting."

Monique smiled. This was fun. It was kind of like dancing in their kitchen, but a little more open. "So this is it, then?" she said looking around. "It could be worse." Possibly. She didn't know. She hadn't really had a proper job before. So it was entirely possible that this place was more exciting than other normal jobs.

"So does this happen every year?" Or was it something special with the new minister?

"Yeah," Kade agreed, "It could be." Which is why he was still there. He'd left plenty of jobs when he got bored with them, and that hadn't happened with the ministry so far. It was a good sign. Plus, he actually liked the job. He could probably tolerate a bit of monotony with it.

He nodded, looking around before looking back at Monique. "Yeah. I didn't go to the one last year, but the year before it was like this." He gave her a quick spin. "So you better get used to it, I guess." He grinned.

SPOILER!!: MIMIIIIII!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saiai

SPOILER!!: Ember

Despite having worked at the Ministry for several years now Dmitry had never actually attended an orientation event before. Not even his first year working here. Generally he was already in Russia at this point, or still in France with his family. This year though he was back in England, at least for the next few days and so he figured he might as well come, especially since he was pretty sure Ember would be here too.

Walking into the room he looked around dispassionately. Everything looked nice of course, but considering how many different parties he'd been to in his life this one wasn't especially impressive. The dance floor did look good though, then again he liked dancing so as long as a dance floor was big enough he was good with them. Even if he did still sometimes wish that the dance floor was a stage.

This one wasn't too crowded yet either, just a few people on it, although one of them was dancing a bit crazily so he'd probably try to avoid her. Except... was that EMBER?

Blinking slightly to make sure he wasn't imagining things Mitya determined that crazy boogy lady was indeed Ember. Not going to avoid then. Maybe he could get her to dance in a more constrained manner in order to avoid dying on the dance floor? Smiling fondly Dmitry strode over to Ember, calling out to her in order to avoid getting his feet stepped on or hit by a limb as he got close.

Ember was in her OWN little world---jiiiving over here--BOOOGYING over there--and when she heard her name--she WHIPPED around quickly, her naturally brown hair swishing behind her.

OH!

Her Mitya!

Ember giggled and skipped to him, cheerfully, and hugged him OH SO TIGHTLY. "Mityaaaaa!" she said, all smiley now. MITYA WAS HERE. Her Mitya. Was it bad she was calling him hers? NO? OKAY! "You made it! I'm so happy! I have a dance partner now!" she had his hand in hers, and she was swinging it back and forth. She EVEN placed a kiss on his lips....like a LIGHT PECK THING. Nothing FANCY. "Do you like my dress?" she let go of his hand to SPIN around. "It's all colorful--and--I miss my hair a bit--so--" yeah.

She needed all the color she could get.

She also spared calling him MiMi at work...in front of his colleagues. Because yeah...EMBER WAS NOT CRUEL.

SPOILER!!: Ems

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

Ember was in her OWN little world---jiiiving over here--BOOOGYING over there--and when she heard her name--she WHIPPED around quickly, her naturally brown hair swishing behind her.

OH!

Her Mitya!

Ember giggled and skipped to him, cheerfully, and hugged him OH SO TIGHTLY. "Mityaaaaa!" she said, all smiley now. MITYA WAS HERE. Her Mitya. Was it bad she was calling him hers? NO? OKAY! "You made it! I'm so happy! I have a dance partner now!" she had his hand in hers, and she was swinging it back and forth. She EVEN placed a kiss on his lips....like a LIGHT PECK THING. Nothing FANCY. "Do you like my dress?" she let go of his hand to SPIN around. "It's all colorful--and--I miss my hair a bit--so--" yeah.

She needed all the color she could get.

She also spared calling him MiMi at work...in front of his colleagues. Because yeah...EMBER WAS NOT CRUEL.

One of the things that Dmitry adored most about Ember was her enthusiasm, that didn't mean he wasn't taken aback by it at times. Like now. When she was skipping in public, and practically squeezing the life out of him. She was stronger than she looked.

Still, enthusiasm meant she was happy to see him. Which was good for his ego. Grinning slightly, no need to let everyone know just how enamoured he was with Ember, he hugged her back and even allowed her to do the swinging hand thing. See. He was a good partner, boyfriend, whatever.

Of course she was going a mile a minute, it seemed to be her normal setting, so Mitya just let Ember get everything out, not even trying to get a word in, before reaching out, with both hands, to still her. "The dress is very you, so yes, I like it," he confirmed first, mostly ignoring the matter of her hair. He kind of missed the turquoise too but Ember had wanted to look more professional and the brown certainly did help with that. "And of course I came, I did say I would as long as I was still here. Besides, it would be very remiss of me to leave such a lovely lady without a dance partner."

Leaning down slightly, and keeping his grip light on her arms, Dmitry rewarded Ember's refraining from any mention of the dreaded nickname at an official event, with a short kiss.

This wasn't a dive.

This was not a dive.

She was having a thRILLING time here when all of her friends were out celebrating one of the girls engagements in short dresses and little umbrellas in dr-no. Eliora had been intending on not making it tonight, and blaming her five year old child for her absence if ever asked about it. This didn't make her a bad mother, of course, but she hadn't gone through with it in the hopes that she'd 1. Get to see some hot ministry totty in tight suit trousers and rate them, 2. Attempt to make Aron's New Years Resolution to involve making her coffee on an hourly basis and 3. To steal a dance with her secret boyfriend and be able to pass it off as just helping the new employees settle in.

That, and her mother had turned up to babysit Briar-Rose and made a snarky comment about the little red number Eli had been wearing initially. Apparently it made Yasmin Dodderidge completely question her daughters employment and if she needed to contact someone higher up for conversations. And so with her mothers insistence, Eliora had came to THIS shindig in some sort of stuffy tra-la-la fairy netting dress that she'd never seen before and had no recollection of buying.

Which meant it had belonged to the previous house owner who had left such nice things behind. Such as the garden full of mole hills and a mouse infestation in the basement. The joys.

People were in little groups and she hadn't had enough coffee for this which meant that she was going to have to PRETEND.

PRETEND TO BE COFFEE HIGH.

PRETEND TO HAVE HAD SO MUCH CAFFEINE THAT SHE MAY WET HERSELF.

(Coffee really needed a warning label about it's ferocious bladder and bowels side effects!)

Okay. Game face. Eli wiggled onto the dance floor and swayed a little in the corner. By herself. All on her lonesome.

And she looked like an absolute idiot.

Never.

Going.

To.

Live.

This.

Down.

Nate had been socializing, well talking to random people. If you could count that as socializing..

He hadn't met anyone from his own department which was a little but weird. Honestly was it so secretive that no one even showed up to party? Cause that would be dull, working with people who couldn't appreciate a decent party.

But then he spotted her across the crowd, the one person he was really looking forward to seeing all night...wearing something that didn't exactly look like her? Nope.. It was a little too.. Well, just not Eliora..

He made his way there, toward her and smiled, being as charming as ever, as if he'd never met her before. "Hi, You look devastatingly beautiful, would you like to dance?" He asked and held out his hand to her. So maybe this was a little cheesy, but maybe he thought she liked cheesy sometimes.

Eliora was mid sway when a hand fell into her personal space. But she already knew from the voice who it was, and heck someone needed to give her an award for not pulling him close then and grinning at him. Ever the mature, responsible and polite, Eli smiled as she lifted her head an inch to look at her company. "You should be careful who you call devastating around here. Some of the faint hearted could take it as an insult." But he honestly could call her that again and she wouldn't mind; she knew it already, and she knew he thought it. That was the plus side of this boyfriend thing.

The compliments.

Not the feelings and being soft and enjoying having someone look at you when you weren't looking and knowing you made them smile and -- just the compliments. None of that other stuff happened here. None of that was what happened between her and Nate.

She took his hand anyway, lightly and definitely not like they already knew one another. "Lucky for you, my heart is well defended." That...he already knew more than anyone in this place. He'd fallen victim to ugly defeats from those defences.

She was going to dance with him, by the way. It was on her to do list.

Nate smirked a little. He liked how she was giving him advise. It was kind of adorable. Though she wasn't usually an adorable person.. It was an occasional thing.

"Oh, well you don't really seem faint hearted. I think we're safe." He smiled, trying to do his best to charm her, not like he already hadn't. She might have had her defenses up but he seemed to be slowly getting in there.. slowly cause feelings were weird. Caring about someone else was weird.

"But how safe is it really?" He asked pulling her toward the dancefloor, hand on her waist. Trying to seem like he wasn't as comfortable with her as he felt. "Where'd you get that dress?" Which meant more 'What's up with the dress?' cause again he knew it didn't look like her. But not that she didn't look as beautiful as ever.

Fal was for sure shaking a bit. It was a little bit of over excitement (like a chihuahua) and of course, nervousness. She switched her sparkly clutch from one hand to the other so that said hand would be free for hand holding. HINT HINT, HOLD MY HAND, PLEASE, BOYFRIEND.

"Do I look okay?" The 28 year-old finally said to Finn. "Like, did I overdo it? Did I underdo it? Should I have let my hair down? Is it too formal??? DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE YOU'D WANT TO WORK WITH??" The strawberry-blonde was beyond happy to receive news about her new job. SHE GOT HER DREAM JOB!!! Working with fascinating beings!! VAAAAMMPPPIIIREEESSSSSSS!!!

"LET'S DANCE." She blurted out, the excitement obviously shoving the nervousness aside. Dancing would certainly shake the jitters out.

Okay so formal things weren’t his specialty. That might have been more than evident as he watched people milling about as he tried to navigate the sea of bodies that stood between him and well, her. Each step forward seemed like a choreographed moment as he’d immediately step to the side or backwards almost making it impossible to reach her.

Finally. He was there.

“You look beautiful,” he grinned and raised his free hand somewhat awkwardly to his neck just for a moment. “I…got you some wine,” he smiled and watched as she switched her thing…purse? Clutch? Whatever the sparkle-thing really was honestly he had sisters he should have known right? But he didn’t seem to care to know the terminology of such trivial sparkly things.

Still, the movement of the little clutch made him grin softly as he lowered his hand from his neck and gently brushed his own fingers against it. Carefully tightening them around her hand to give it a soft squeeze. “You didn’t over do it…Fallon, stop,” he chuckled “you already know that I would love to work with you” he grinned softly. “I would have applied to the Creatures department if I didn’t already have the business to run,” he grinned and leaned closer to her giving her a sort of one-armed hug.

“Do I look alright? I mean…I realized when getting ready…because Amelia pointed it out –“ he chuckled, “that well…my suit is technically two different colors and…that the only cufflinks I have are crupp related” he chuckled and then grinned when she basically demanded to dance. “Of course, do you want the drink first though?” He asked grinning because obviously he wasn’t going to let a lady’s drink sit unattended.

Heheheheheheheheheheheehehehe. He called her beautiful. HEHEHEHEHEHEHE. And he brought her wine?! Boyfriend of the year!! "Wine?? Thanks! Just what I needed!" Fallon took the glass from him, taking a sip, and smiling to herself as she did so. Why? Because he was holding her hand. GRIN.

Look at him, her own cute, professional man to call her own. She let go of his hand really quick to cup to caress his cheek, and then quickly returned to holding his hand. Not to mention, he smelled really, really good. There's something about the way Finnlay Johanson smells that makes Fallon's eyes light up with teeny weeny hearts.

She had only noticed the crup cufflinks right when he mentioned them. Fallon's face contorted into a weird smile-happy cry face from cuteness overload. "That is the cutest thing, I've ever seen." Holding his arm up, she examined them more. "I need to get matching earrings." She smiled up at him, planting a small kiss on his scruffy cheek.

Fal was halfway to the center of the dance floor when she heard Finny make a comment about the drink. "Oh yeah, right!!" With one swift throwback, she finished the rest of the wine and set the glass down nearby on the floor. Classy. "COME ON!"

Why was she feeling so giddy? Why did she spend two hours longer than usual getting ready for the evening? AND FURTHERMORE, why was her stomach feeling so unsettled all of the sudden!? What in the name of Merlin was going on here?! Tiffany Price never got this way. Never. Especially not while she was standing standing at the very edge of a very romantic looking dance-floor. All. By. Herself. Yet, here she was. But, where was he?

Truth be told, the only reason why she had even bothered showing up for the event was on the chance that he would be here. Though, she could never admit it out loud, of course. But yet, she knew that he was the reason why she was bouncing, not even keeping the beat of the music. The music that only felt like background noise to accompany the obnoxious beats of her heart. She knew that he was the reason why she had to look her very best.

And now here she was, looking for him desperately. But the question still stood: Where was HE?

Tiffany could feel her heart sinking little by little as the seconds ticked by. Though her first attempt at scanning through the crowd had failed her, she kept searching. Searching for any sign of his face. His beautiful face.

Merlin. He was going to be the death of her, wasn't he?

Ezra practically sprinted in the direction of the dance floor once he had greeted all the people he'd needed to greet, which felt like far too many people for the first time he could remember. But he didn't sprint. Because despite the fact that he had spotted the only person he was really looking to greet, he was certainly 100% not desperate enough to run through a crown in search of her or anything. Even if that's what he really wanted. His feet ignored his judgment, however, as body parts tended to do in such situations, and he found himself treading on an increasing number of toes as he made his way over to the back of the head he could recognize anywhere. Not that he had memorized where she'd been standing or anything, just a...coincidence. Yes, they could call it that.

He held his breath as he reached the space right behind her, more to avoid inhaling her perfume than anything else. That was sure to make him weak in the knees, which was not allowed on any occasion, especially a work occasion. Ezra stood right behind her for another moment as he adjusted his glasses and straightened his bowtie in preparation. His hair was probably perfect--obviously--and he was becoming so jittery that he couldn't even take a second longer to make sure it was in a perfect state before tapping two fingers on her shoulder. "I've been looking all over for you." He grinned as he waited for her to turn around, clenching his other fist in his pocket because Merlin knew what would happen when he saw her face so close to his own.

So technically she hadn't been standing around by herself for all too long. But oh Merlin, if this continued she'd start to look desperate. People would start to PITY HER. And no one ever pitied Tiffany Price. She was a pity-er not a pity-ee. It was a fact. Though, she wasn't just going to give up, not when her heart was still beating twice as fast as it normally did. Even if she was starting to get that sinking feeling in her stomach, her feet were just about glued to their spot. She was starting to get desperate. What if people saw her!?

Oh Merlin. Please don't let there be two disappointments tonight. The people, she could handle. The lack of Ezra Bellamy, however... Was another story all together.

And just as she was starting to have second thoughts, the brunette felt a light tap on her shoulder. And before she could turn around to face whoever it was who had tapped her, she heard it. She heard his voice. On second thought... Maybe it would've been better for her heart if he hadn't shown up after all. Because this was absolute madness. It wasn't just going twice as fast anymore, it was definitely skipping beats. Not only that, but her legs were going to melt and maybe wearing pumps wasn't a good choice after all. Oh Merlin. Nothing and no one ever made Tiffany Price ever question her heels. Not even Ezra Bellamy. Well, at least... Not until today.

Taking all of two seconds to recompose herself (from that bloody awful giddy feeling), she slowly turned to face him. Though she was able to quit the bouncing, she couldn't manage to wipe that awfully large smile off her face. Ugh. Bellamy. WHY. "Oh, have you?" Giving him a quick one-up--what a dashing bowtie-- she slowly brushed a hand through her hair. "Well, you've found me," she gave him a quick smirk before looking over to the dance floor and right back to him. She was about to be bold, wasn't she? Oh no oh no oh no. This couldn't be good. "So Bellamy, tell me, are your dance moves anywhere near as impressive as your wardrobe?" Essentially, she wanted to dance with you, Ezra. Desperately.

Ezra's smile twitched slightly as he waited for her to turn around. He'd been waiting for every second leading up to this moment and he couldn't possibly wait anymore. He clenched his fist tighter, still holding his breath and sure he would pass out if she took any longer.

And she was smiling. Merlin why was each time like the first time he saw it? He blinked as his grin grew wider, finally letting out a long breath as he looked her up and down. Impressive. But impressive, beautiful, what was the difference anymore? Ezra kept smiling as he removed the hand from his pocket to hold it out to her, already wondering how he'd be able to hold himself together once their bare skin touched. "I'd even say they're as impressive as your wardrobe." It wasn't meant to be a lie, and it would be true if he had any dancing capability, but alas everybody and their grandmother knew how clumsy he was. Her own wardrobe was far, far more impressive than anything. And beautiful. "Care to join me?" He took a careful step onto the dance floor and cocked his head to one side. "Please?" No, not begging. Not at all, okay. Just...they could be close. That is, before he fell on his face as he was destined to, but any closeness would do. Any at all.

They really were good at this. The pretending. Luckily, this would be one of the rare occasions they had to properly be around one another at work and pretend not to have clothes in drawers at each others places. During the actual work day, they'd probably not see one another unless they made plans. Which..Eliora was certain they wouldn't. Once they'd moved further onto the dance floor, Eli rested a hand on his shoulder and turned in to face him. "Safer than most jobs that people in this room have.." Safer than his, safer than hers, safer than everything.

Her dress?

Eliora looked down at the purple outfit she was in and forced a laugh. "My husband!" Well it had been in her house, anyway. She didn't have a husband, and she knew that Nate knew that, but she was more so concerned with what he actually meant. Did he not like the dress? Did he think she looked stupid? DID she look stupid?

... He'd probably have been more interested if she was wearing the bloody short red dress.

Nate had no issue pretending, he used to do this for a living, pretending with everyone and anyone. Sometimes people he knew. So this was a cake walk. He was pretending he didn't know her, but not that he wasn't interested. She was probably the most interested woman he'd ever met. She kept a lot on the inside where most people just spilled their secrets out to him. She made him work for every bit of information about herself.

This he found extremely fascinating. And the more he knew the more he wanted to know. But those thoughts were getting awfully close the thoughts about feelings and they didn't do feelings in public.

"Must be exciting having a dangerous job though?" He grinned, more joking, because he preferred her kind of excitement to the excitement of a job.

"Your husband must have great taste, then." He smiled his most charming smile once again. Looking at her in a way that clearly stated he was interested, the dress was different for her, maybe it didn't look like something she'd normally pick for herself. But she did look beautiful in it. "Really, you're the most stunning thing in the room."

"Both danger and death begin with a d, did you know?" Hint. Hint. There was some sort of reason she was as pushy as she had been about him getting a "normal" job. At least now she could use a few people around here to keep an eye on him on his breaks and whatnot. There were perks to rating guys on their looks. If they were a '1', then it was easy enough to get your way. 1's all around in this case.

Nate was a 1. But she didn't need to tell him that or announce it or anything of the sort.

The blonde quirked half a smile, nodded and swayed a little with him. "I'm sure his mistress would agree with that. I, of course, consider her to be an acquired taste. That that belongs to the blind, the deaf and the canine." Which was a hint towards how she would consider his tastes if he followed through with her fathers comment from their dinner recently. Never again was she introducing a boyfriend to her parents. The first time had been the ONLY time.

Leaning in, she lay her lips close to his ear and whispered. "Stunning is soft, newbie."

Nate smirked. "Honestly i never thought abuot it, Thanks for pointing it out." He was only kidding that that whole bit with her father and he hoped she knew that. There was no one he'd met that he wanted to be with as much as he did with her. Him having this job should prove that. But he couldn't say that out loud, that was soft.

Her words couldn't help but get a slight laugh out of him though. She was nothing if not amusing at most moments. "I'll keep that in mind, though i couldn't see any man that has you wanting a mistress as well. He'd have to be stupid." Mmhmm so that was that.

Nathan moved as close as she did and prepared to whisper back. "Not everything soft is so terrible." He backed away a bit and met her eyes. "I don't believe i caught your name?" Not that she'd given it.