Stun it? Stun the carpet?

Vickers couldn’t help but pause for a moment, since that wasn’t the first thing he’d do when it comes to flying anything. The carpet may be illegal in the UK, but that doesn’t take away his fascination of it.

But Boss Lady says it so he brings his wand out, hesitantly of course, because he would really like to capture it and examine it, not damage it. But before he could turn his wrist for the proper wandstroke the carpet zoomed out of sight.

Whut? Are they supposed to follow it? Apparently so.

So off he goes, down the stairs to his Uncle’s old haunt.

Christopher walked off the elevator and looked around the waiting room, wondering if there was someone he had to talk to about being here. Taking a few more steps forward, he saw a clipboard with a sign-in sheet and signed in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sign-In

Name: Christopher William Stylinson
Reason for visit: Getting an apparition license.

He then walked over to the most comfortable looking seat and waited, twiddling his thumbs idly.

It was the morning of September the first, and Presley's seventeenth birthday! Most of the kids in seventh year had gotten their apparition liscences last year, and being the youngest, Presley was eager to get hers so she wouldn't be the only one without one. So she had studied hard all summer, and woken up extra early today to hurry down to the Ministry, take the exams, and be on the Hogwarts Express by eleven.
She signed the visitors log, and looked around. Where was she supposed to go from here? This was her brothers department in the Ministry, but she'd never actually been here. It was kind of strange. She took a seat and decided it would be best to simply wait for an employee to walk through, then she would ask them what to do.

Gabi's sensor had gone off in her office, meaning that there were visitors here to greet! Despite her sniffly nose and her slight cough, she had to go greet them and be a friendly Department Head, much to her dismay.

She entered the area and smiled at the two people waiting. "Hello! Here for apparation licenses? Have either of you taken the exam already? Written, practical or both?' she asked.

Chris looked up from the floor when a lady who seemed to work there walked in and began talking to him and the other girl that was there. She seemed rather nice so maybe this test would be easier than he expected!

"No, ma'am. I've never taken either of the exams before. I was hoping to do both?" 'And pass both,' he wanted to add. There was something about being at the ministry made him nervous and if he could avoid ever coming back, he would. Failing this test would not be the way of doing that though.

Presley nodded, then shook her head. Yes she was here for her apparition liscence, no she had not taken the exam already. Realizing she probably needed to clarify, she articulated. "No ma'am, I haven't taken either exam yet." Especially considering today was her seventeenth birthday! She was more excited to take this exam than she probably should be. Hopefully she passed. If she didn't, there wouldn't be a way to hide this from her brother, and he would tease her mercilessly.

She offered a small smile to the boy next to her. Obviously they were in the same boat, and therefore should at least be semi-friendly, right?

Gabi smiled at the two students. It made it so much easier if they got it all done at the Ministry, rather than trying to find old test scores and basically making her want to pull her pretty blonde hair out. "Perfect! Follow me this way and we'll get you started on the written portion of the exam...my employees will be along to help you with the practical portion shortly," she said before holding out an arm and gesturing them towards the written testing center.


OOC: Feel free to make your charrie comfortable and RP them taking the exam! Simply click the link in the first post of the written exam thread and you will be taken to the quiz patch. I will notify the apparition branch and they'll get you from there!

Aron was VERY displeased. He had tried using the fireplace in his office to visit his VERY pregnant wife at Hogwarts and WHAT had happened? He had ended up on some niffler reservation in Frankfurt where he was shouted at by the man in charge and you have never been shouted at until you have been shouted at in German.

Walking to the front desk, Aron signed the visitor's log.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the thingy

Name: Aron Ashburry-Hawthorne
Position: Magical Accidents and Catastrophes Department Head
Reason for visit: damange floo network connection. Seeking repairs

And now he was going to stand here and tap his foot impatiently until someone came to help him. He had a wife that was going to POP people! He needed that connection repaired. Now.

NOMNOMNOMNOM.

Patrick was inhaling the poptart he had brought to work with him. IN HIS HASTE TO MAKE IT TO WORK ON TIME SINCE THE FLOO NETWORK WAS DAMAGED AND HE HAD TO APPARATE EVERYWHERE.

Bam.

Good thing he was a pro at it. Mhm.

And what was this?

Licking the last crumbs off of his fingers, Patrick approached the clearly impatient dude and gave him a nod. "Can I help you..." He glanced at the visitor log... "Aron?" And no. Patrick had no idea who he was, nor did he care. Heh.

"You are aware that the FLOO Network employees are in the process of investigating the issues that have arisen and we are distributing pamphlets about alternate modes of magical transportation throughout the Ministry, right?" Hadn't he seen the other employees about? And himself. He had been spreading the WORD about apparition and all.

Did this dude think he was special?

This was just getting better and better now, wasn't it? Aron had been hoping to speak with Gabriela about the issue since they had more of a mutual understanding about things, but seemed as though he wasn't having any luck this week.

Sheesh, and he thought the women in the Ministry were a bunch of honking daffodils.

"I AM aware," he said, eyebrow slightly raised. "Despite no one coming to Level 3 just yet to deliver said pamphlets." And whose fault was that? Hmmm? "As are my employees considering it is our job to clean up whatever mess gets left behind." Which they already were doing, by the way. "The floo in my office connects to a location that cannot be apparated nor portkey-ed into and it is an urgent matter that I get it repaired." Or else Seren would quite literally feed his toes to one of her precious flesh eaters.

And Aron? Really? Where was the professionalism?

This dude was BORING. And thought he was something special...

"Well it would stand to reason that one could apparate or portkey into a close lying location and then continue to your desired location until your FLoo is repaired. The Floo Network employees are working around the clock and while your situation is... definitely important to us, we will get to your Floo when it is possible to do so." And he got a winning smile. A WINNING SMILE.

"And as for not having made it to Level 3... well I was instructed by my Department Head to hand them out in the Atrium. So. That would be why you have yet to receive yours." Because he did what his boss said.

Aaaaand is there anything else we can do for youuuu? And yeah, he raised an eyebrow right back at the man.

Gabi was all a twitter trying to get this Floo Network situation figured out - she was bracing herself and preparing for a flood of owls complaining about the delays, and was surprised she hadn't received any yet to be honest. However as she entered the waiting area, she realized why - the complainers were coming HERE. To her workspace. Oh Merlin.

Gabi recognized the man as the new Department head on level 3, so she put on a smile for him and wandered over. "Hello Aron, Gabriela Schultz, we met at the orientation," she reminded him before glancing from her new apparition instructor back to the complaining department head. "Is there a...problem here?" she asked sweetly.

And this one could check the condescending attitude. Aron was in a bad enough mood as it was and just wanted SOMETHING to work on Level 3. As for the bloke suggestion, yes, the thought had been entertained. But try telling THAT to your pregnant wife. 'Just hold on a moment dear while I catch a carriage from Hogsmeade station and head to the castle.' Not going to happen.

He was just about to quickly grumble a thank you for the man's time when Gabriela showed up. Talk about perfect timing.

"I remember," he said with a quick nod of the head and then a sideways glance towards her employee. "Yes. Yes there is. I understand that the floo network is not in working condition. I have actually assigned two of my employees to assist your department's efforts and they should be in contact with you soon. But, I was wondering when someone would be looking at the connection in my office."

As in could someone look into is NOW?

Gabi looked at Patrick and gave him a smile and a nod, as if to let him know that he wasn't in trouble with HER. As he had said when she approached the situation, it wasn't HIS job to go around to the levels. That was another employee and if they hadn't made it there--well, someone was going to get a stern talking to.

"Quite sorry that the liaison for this level hasn't been to your office yet. You can rest assured they will be hearing from me shortly. In the meantime, I suppose the least I can do is come up to your level personally and try and sort it out," she said. She hadn't heard anything from her Floo employees yet on what was happening, so she'd make a stop at his office and then head over to the Atrium and see what was happening there.

Well, who was he to turn down the Department Head when she made offered her own personal expertise? Sure, he may be jumping the lily pad a bit early, but it really was of the utmost importance to his well being and his wife's sanity that it get repaired soon.

"If you wouldn't mind that would be much appreciated," he said with a stiff but excited nod. She could even have some of the coffee from Level 3. Best in the entire Ministry.

Gabi smiled. "Well then, lead the way!" she said with a small chuckle before turning back to Patrick and smiling. "Thank you so much for taking the initiative on this one, by the way. You're off to a good start on the level here, if I say so myself," she told him. Her words were sincere, but she was also saying that to assure Aron that she had good employees, even if one seemed to be awol right now. Also, being complimented in front of another department head was SURE to do wonders for the man's ego.

You're welcome, Patrick.

They were talking... Patrick had spotted a bit of poptart goo on his tie and had taken to inspecting it up close... while they were doing the talking stuff they were doing. He wondered idly if they would be grossed out if he licked it.

And then his department head spoke directly to him. Crud. Dropping his tie he smoothed it down, transferring the goo to his hand. Giving them a smile he nodded as though he had been listening the entire time.

Yep.

"Sure thing. I'll get right on that," he said with a rougish grin... and turned on his heel and made haste. Had that been the correct answer?

"When you see the state of my level you might not think so," he said while rubbing his temples. You know, the lab exploding and all that.

Nodding his head towards his fellow Department Head, he also paused for a moment to nod towards her employee as well. He was STILL fuming in his head and knew somewhere in that wooden skull of his that he shouldn't be taking it out on the bloke, but that was the way the plant photosynthesized now, wasn't it?

Anyway, off to Level 3 it was!

Elise walked off the elevator and into the waiting area of what the voice in the elevator told her was 'Level 6: Department of Magical Transportation' and she had no reason to doubt it, so this was it. The day she'd been waiting forever for. Eyes flitting around the room a little nervously, she took in the sleek decor of the place. Obviously, the idea wasn't to make people feel quite at home. It was obviously a workplace.

Breathe, Elise. It's not that terrifying, she tried to tell herself as she made her way over to the front desk and fill in the form stating the purpose of her visit. Neatly, in her usual cursive and writing slowly enough that it was legible. Not an easy feat when her left hand was shaking and shivering like a leaf in autumn. Putting the quill down, she figured she'd take a seat while waiting for someone to appear. Maybe she'd be a little bit less nervous about it if she was sitting. Probably.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Okay.

Gabi hurried into the waiting area, still a bit flustered by the Floo events. But now that she had figured out what was causing all the ruckus, she could attend to her other duties.

"Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting, it's been quite a busy day around here," she said with a smile as she greeted the young woman waiting for her.

"I'm Gabriela Schultz, Department Head. How can I help you?" she asked.

If Elise was nervous before, the lady who was hurrying off the lift was making her even more so. It wasn't her fault, really. It was just that her nerves had a tendency to keep getting worse until she did something and she wasn't doing anything right then so it was just busy getting worse.

"That's okay," she said, relatively calmly for the state of her nerves. "I'm Elise Fairfield, here to apply for an apparition license?" Yes, it kind of came out as a question. She was nervous, okay? She had every reason to be. It was an apparition license, for crying out loud. Who wouldn't be nervous?

"Ah, apparition license?" Gabi said with a smile. Good. Something nice and simple to end this super hectic day on a high note. "Lovely. Have you taken an apparition course before?" she asked, grabbing a nearby clipboard so she could jot down the answers to her questions and prepare her for her license exam.

Yes. An apparition license. So that she could transport herself places conveniently and not bug her brother or take the Floo. The powder didn't usually sit well with her nose. "I took the one offered at Hogwarts," she supplied. Fingers crossed it was enough and she wasn't going to have to take another one and waste more time. The summer was only so long, you see?

This department head lady had nice shoes.

Gabi made a note on her clipboard. "Alright, the most recent one? Run by myself?" she asked. She wasn't sure when this lesson had occurred that this girl was referring to - she hoped it was the one SHE'D run.

"Regardless, we're going to do a really quick refresher course for you before we toss you into the written exam," she explained with a little chuckle.

Laura was getting the hang of this whole surveying thing. Hopefully, the process would continue smoothly today. Roxanne had assigned the Environment employees to go forth out and about the Ministry to survey anyone they could get their hands on, if they had the time and were gracious enough to answer just a few simple questions. Well, perhaps to a witch or wizard outside of the Environmental department wouldn't think them so simple. Laura had to remind herself that although it was her job to know about all that stuff about being "green," most everyone else was busy being the cream of the crop of their own fields and much too busy to think extensively about how they were impacting the environment.

With the clipboard she had tucked under her arm, a click-pen peeking out from behind her ear, and a stack of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' fliers bulging from her work bag, Laura stepped out of the elevator and into the waiting area of Level 6. She scanned the room silently with her blue eyes. It seemed it was rather slow in the waiting area at the moment, but she wasn't about to parade through the cubicles, waving her clipboard of survey questions under everyone's noses.

Instead, Laura signed the visitor's log and took a seat, happy to be off her feet for a bit. She figured someone would be out shortly to see to her, and then she could ask a receptionist or someone if she could grab a handful of employees to survey.