Helena's first day of work on Level one, and she only just made it on time! Problems with the Floo were never a good thing. Perhaps she needed to get someone to check out her fireplace, make sure it hasn't been tampered with. Hopefully though, no one important would notice her almost late arrival. That would be bad for first impressions.

Seeing that there were quite a few people all ready in the work areas, she smiled politely at those she passed. Now she just needed to find her cubicle, so she could fill out her paper work.

Medea was busy, she was always busy. Sitting this close to the door did have its down side, for instance constantly being interrupted by stupid little girls who wanted to stand in the door way waiting to be asked in. Why can’t she speak up and ask someone where they need to be if they’re so confused!? Medea hated women who couldn’t take care of themselves, and unfortunately for this one she fit that bill. On the other hand sitting to close to the door had its benefits, she always knew who came and went. It was important (and it possibly had something to do with her being crazy paranoid) to know who and what was here at all times.

The dark haired woman who was still wearing her cloak looked at the woman with eyebrows elevated. She then looked toward the vast room that had many empty desks. As she brought her eyes back to the black haired woman she finally spoke, ”Well? What is it you need?” No, if she was looking for a friendly face she wouldn’t find it in Medea. She was probably the most no non-sense person they’d ever encounter.

She waited for an answer, the woman to move, something. Standing there in the door way was just plan rude, not to mention distracting.

As she waited for the door-way blocker to do something another woman walked in. A quick glance at the clock showed that she was certainly late, but not stupid. The woman smiled in acknowledgement of people and moved along. Probably going in search of her work area.

Medea once again turned her attention to the door-way blocker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tailzerr

Oops! Right.

"Keep your hair in, I'm coming," Ryuu mumbled, finally letting Declan go. "Sorry, mate. I'm being hailed. Miss Downing, such a pleasure to meet you." He bowed his head respectively towards her. "We shall continue this after discussion after my impromptu meeting with the apparent 'big cheese'. Excuse me."

With that, Ryuu followed after the man, returning back to wondering what the heck was wrong.

Declan just smiled and nodded at Rye. Apparently, the 'big cheese' needed to talk to his friend. He wondered why the man didn't address him. Well, he still had not introduced himself so maybe that was why.

Quote:

Originally Posted by steflegan

He has a beautiful smile, she thought as they shook hands. She offered her own warm smile in return. "Technically? Have you worked here before? I noticed you knew that man over there who...gave you a new hair style." she smirked playfully. Unable to resist, she reached up and smoothed one lock of his hair that was sticking straight up like a cowlick. She always did stuff like that- told strangers their shoes were untied, wiped chocolate smudges from the faces of random children, things like that. "There, that's better. That piece looked like it was about to fly off your head!" she laughed.

He has nice cologne too. Have to ask him sometime what it is. "Media Liaison? That sounds like an exciting job. A million press releases, going to important events, that sort of thing. We'll see your name in the Daily Prophet a lot, then."

"I'm the new Receptionist for the Minister's Office. This is my first job- I only graduated in the Spring from Hogwarts. Did you go there, or to a school in Ireland? I have to say that your accent is beautiful," she smiled.

Declan chuckled at the woman's remark. Seriously, the woman had some sense of humor. And he wondered if it was just his troublesome imagination but he thought the woman was just simply smitten by him. He couldn't blame her. Had he worked here before? "Ah, no, though I've been here before. And the man? Heh. He's my best bud."

The woman just touched his hair and he couldn't be more startled and feel a little awkward. But he was a master at handling these frequent occasions. He would cope. He just laughed in return.

"I have to agree that it is quite an exciting job. However, I'm not that looking forward on seeing my name in the Prophet a lot but it's inevitable, it's part of my job so I'll just wing it," he finished with a small smile. "I went to Durmstrang with Rye. You know, the man who just followed the 'cheese'. And thank you." He gets that compliment a lot but he never understands how an accent can, in this regard, be beautiful or attractive.

Violet was glad that Declan hadn't jerked away or looked at her like she'd sprouted tentacles when she'd straightened his hair. She always did things like that without thinking. She noticed that a slight pink tinge appeared on his cheeks and he laughed- was it nervous laughter? Or was he as cool and relaxed as he seemed?

She smiled at his thanks when she'd mentioned his accent. He probably heard that compliment all the time. "So...Rye... is following the "cheese"? Is this some weird professional sandwich we're making here?" She smirked and let out a small chuckle. She found herself good at making connections between seemingly unrelated words or concepts. It was like an overactive improv comedy synapse in her brain.

"I heard that Durmstrang was quite a tough school- I've never met anyone who'd gone there. I'd love to hear more about it. Maybe you can tell me over a cuppa in the breakroom?" After the words left her mouth, she played them back to herself. Eyes widening in horror, she realized she'd basically just hit on this guy!! Sure, he was quite handsome and friendly, but he was, what- 30? She was barely 19! He had to be thinking she'd hit on him. But it really wasn't her intention, as handsome as he was. She was simply trying to make conversation. Did she mention he was handsome? Her cheeks were taking on a definite shade of rosiness. Nice going, dummy. You may have chased away one of the first nice people you've met here. Crap.

Everything that came out afterward was, well... not her best work. "Uh, I m-mean," she stammered, "it's just that Durmstrang is very interesting you see, and I wanted to compare it to Hogwarts..." Now she was rambling. Just dig the hole deeper, why don't you? If the guy remotely thought she was pretty, or interesting, she'd pretty much changed his mind. Or... maybe not?

She could only hope he was used to girls making silly fools of themselves in front of him. Not that she wanted to be perceived as such- no matter how much she'd just painted herself with that brush. This will make great material for my next song, she mused. "Well, my point is", she said with confidence, to cover her earlier moment of stupid, "I loved my time at school. I have break at half-eleven. If you're in the breakroom then, let me know if you want to talk. What do you say?". There. Shred of dignity retrieved.

Once she had found her cubical, Helena slipped her bag off her shoulder. Opening the drawer on the desk, she sat her bag down in it, before locking it with her wand. It wasn't that she had anything to hide, no. It was more because she didn't know any one in this room. Until she knew her co-workers well enough, her handbag was staying locked away, safely.

Looking around her little cubicle, Helena frowned and sighed. It was so plain. She'd have to make it her own another day, though. First things first, she had to get her paperwork filled out and handed in. Taking hold of the forms on her desk, the woman quickly glanced at it before finally sitting down in her chair. Picking up the Ministry-supplied quill, she dipped it into the ink and quickly began to carefully fill out all of her details.

Leaving the people in the Lobby, Zach pushed the door with the tag Work Areas and Cubicles. This will be his new office from now on. Sharing with other employees, unlike before where he got his own office.

He walked around and found a table bearing his name on it.

"Zacharias David McMillan"

It also bears the words: "Ministry Adviser" under it.

He walked towards it and looked around. There are some people talking and some are getting comfy in their cubicles.

He took out his wand and he flicked it once. Suddenly a nice desk lamp appeared. Along side it was a pencil holder with 2 ball point pen, 2 pencil and 1 speed-ball pen. On the opposite of it came out an inkwell and three set of plumes.

Zach chuckled when he remembered Sam outside when he changed the color of the desk to orange. I won't do that, that's for sure! he thought.

He then made another flick out of his wand and a bird stand appeared.

He then sat on his chair and nodded in appreciation. This is more like it he said to himself.

The young witch made her way to her cubicle after she had finished the paperwork at the front desks. She scanned the place and noticed several people were there. She checked her seat, as if it was jinxed or something, and slowly say down.

...

She didn't like her cubicle. It was to bleh. She would have to bring stuff from home and decorate a bit. Maybe a picture of each of her seven brothers, one of her parents...and maybe some books.

The dark blonde haired, nineteen year old walked into the Working Area. There were a few people in here and they were- well almost all of them- at their desks'. They looked busy. Some were filling out papers, whilst others were trying to fix up their desks. They all looked eager to work.

Chiara walked around the line of desks looking for one that had her name on it. Bingo. She'd found it and beside her name was her job title: "Ministry Advisor". The blonde beamed a proud smile. She couldn't believe she had gotten this job. The dark blonde couldn't wait to talk about what was happening in the Wizarding World with the Minister. That was going to be so cool.

The blonde placed her bag on her chair, pulled her wand out of it, and decided it was time to fix up her desk. Chiara flicked her wand, summoning a lamp, quills, a quill holder, several pots of ink (black, coloured, sparkly colours), pieces of parchment paper, some Muggle Post it's (which she absolutely loved), and a black frame with a photo of her and her two best friends back at the American school.

Right. Lovely. Just perfect, she thought as she took a seat and pulled out a Daily Prophet Newspaper from her bag. She had to keep up with the current events now.

Alexander sighed as he entered the general employee work area. He paused in the doorway and ran and hand through his thick head of hair as he looked around. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the new Minister showing up, but show up that new Minister had now done. He'd gotten word of it from someone who'd seen the man in the Atrium, and apparently the ridiculousness was already getting underway.

He cleared his throat. "Our new Minister of Magic has arrived," he said, his tone flat, his voice unamused. "I've just received word that he's in the Atrium now, but I expect him here in his office very shortly." Was there really anything he could say to warn his employees? No, nothing he could think of. Borr was unpredictable, all expect for the inevitable spit when he spoke. "Ministry Advisers would do well to head to the Atrium to greet the Minister. Everyone else," he said, waving his hand to random locations around the room, "just carry on."

"Miss Ward?" he asked, his eyes scanning the area for the Internal Liaison Supervisor, "a word with with you in my office?"

OOC: Really, all of you are welcome to head down there and meet the new Minister. Go ahead, be brave!

Medea was very busy, or trying to be. The woman believed there was always work to be done, but lately it was hard to concentrate. Too.Much.Drama. The woman had never had such an insane personal life. Usually it was quiet, and well lonely. Recently it was anything but; honestly it was something more like you’d see on a Muggle day time television program.

Using every bit of concentration she was trying to finish some paperwork. She was vaguely aware that someone was in the door, but she didn’t immediately look up.

”…. Minister of Magic has arrived” That got her attention. She looked up to the man, sweeping her black hair out of her eyes. Medea had not met the Minister, and she felt she should. This could be an opportunity to make a good impression. Medea had every intention of not being the Internal Liaison Supervisor forever, Assistant to the Minister? …..Or maybe someday the Minister. Yes, she set her expectations high.

With that she stood, she would most certainly be greeting the Minister. That was until… Her face showed her surprise. Why was this man keeping her from greeting the man who held her destiny?! And what was there for him to discuss with her?! Had she done something wrong, surely not? Regaining her composure she nodded, ”Oh course.”

She smoothed her cloak, and not knowing where his office was she waited for him to lead.

Seeing the Ward woman stand and wait to be led to the back, Alexander took one last look around the work area, nodded toward Ward, and then turned on his heels. He was less than enthused about the new Minister of Magic arriving, yet when the man did appear on level one, he at least wanted to look busy. Not because he was intimidated by the Borr man, though, but because if he was busy, he lessened his chances of being spoken to. Then if he lessened his chances of being spoken to, he lessened his chances of being spit on, as the Borr man tended to do when talking with others.

OOC: I was the last to post in Alexander's office, so if it's alright with you, we'll just assume Alexander led her in there, and you can post next?

Medea watched the man turn and head out. She was less than thrilled, but she followed never the less.

OOC: Yup

Reaching the door leading out of the general work area, Alexander turned to face the employees still at their desks. His brown eyes did one final sweep around the room, and then he exited the work area to lead the Ward woman to his office.

Chiara came back from her meeting and sat at her chair. She was trying to think of ideas for the problem that needed to be fixed. Hmmmm... The blonde jotted down a few ideas and waited for her fellow team mates to come in from the meeting so that they could come up with a couple of amazing ideas that would actually make Lord Borr grin- well if that was possible for him NOT to be angry.

The woman could not believe it. She had come with ideas to make the office prettier. PFT! This was work for Merlin’s sake; it wasn’t supposed to be pretty or comfortable. She might be able to understand this whole ‘pretty it up with green stuff’ if she were in the Environmental Department. BUT SHE WASN’T. There were much more important things that required her attention, like owl’ing the Department Heads and requesting meetings with them regarding the placement of her minions. Mwhaha!

She walked into the office, ignored the blond woman who was already there and sat at her desk. Pulling out parchment and a quill the dark haired woman penned 8 memos and sent them on their way.

Now to the whole “ liven up our work areas” business.

Grumble.Grumble.Grumble.

She had to come up with a fantastic idea; she wanted the Minister to notice her initiative, hard work and ingenuity. That would be easier if this was something she had a passion for. Man, if she were still dating Noah she could pick his brain. Blah. The woman stared at a blank piece of parchment trying to think about plants, trees, and crumby stupid stuff like that. Hopefully one of the Department Heads would write her back so she could go met with them.

Trees.flowers.plants…. green stuff…

Nolan wandered into the work area, looking around to try and spot the other members of his team that he was supposed to be working with. Unfortunately he couldn't really remember what they looked like...he'd only seen them a couple of times!

He was sure they'd remember what HE looked like though...after all, he was the only guy on the level wearing a checkered bow tie and thick black framed glasses. He plopped down in a nearby chair and spun around, waiting patiently for the rest of his group to join him.

The blonde raised her head from her work desk. Oh someone else had come. And way not to say hello. Excuse me. The blonde didn't care and decided to be the friendly one. She got up from her desk, stretched a little and headed over with her list towards the other woman in the office as she thought of more things. New coat of paint would perhaps work? How about a funky lamp? Or perhaps some cool folders? Colourful work mats? Photographs of memories? Adding a mat beneath the chair? The blonde quickly jotted all these new things before looking up again.

"Just coming over to introduce myself. I'm Chiara and I have a lot of ideas." she said, with a smile on her lips. "Do you want to wait a while for the others to come back and work on it or to just get this over and done with?" Brightening up the office with some lights would be so useful, she looked up at the ceiling and then quickly jotted that note down.

The dark haired woman propped her head up by her hand and her hair fell so that her vision of the room was blocked. Quill to the parchment she was jotting down ideas. Ideas that she had no intentions of sharing with anyone except the Undersecretary and the Minster. This was her chance to get in good with the Minister. Her chance to impress him.

Just then Medea heard footsteps coming closer, it better not be that blonde woman coming over. If it was Medea would surely glare at her. Just then whoever it was spoke. Yup, that had to be a silly blond. She lifted her head and with her now free hand moved her hair behind her ear. At this point she delivered the single-raised-brow-glare. An expression that shown boredom, annoyance, and general distain.

The woman placed her arm strategically to cover up the parchment with her ideas. Again, not sharing is winning. ”I’ll ignore the fact that I was in the middle of something when you approached, and interrupted me.” OOOOOH! BURN! ”Medea Ward, is the name.” Yea, yea yea. Let’s get this over with. A smile graced her lips, ”Sure Chiara, let’s get started.” The woman took the parchment she was writing her ideas on, slipped it into a folder then into her bag. ”I’ve not started yet. Do you have any ideas?”

Alexander walked out of his office and passed by the work area as he did so. He started to just walk right on by, as he was on his way somewhere else, but then something happened to catch his eye--something that caused him to pause right in his tracks. There were only three employees, Reynolds included, at work today and working on the assignment.

Well, if there were others, he didn't see them, and he was curious to find out where they'd all gone. "Only three of you?" he asked, walking into the room. He looked around, thinking maybe he'd missed someone, but he still only saw the mere three employees. "Anyone have the slightest idea where the others are?"

Yikes! Ummm... Scary much? The blonde ignored the glare and gave her a small smile. "Sorry for interrupting you Medea. Excuse my rudeness." she said, apologising to the annoyed brunette in front of her. Chiara looked down at her own piece of parchment. "Tons of ideas. Here I'll show you what I have so far. You don't need to write it down. I already have a list if you want." explained the blonde before turning over to the older man with glasses. Chiara waved to him and hoped that he would be nicer than the brunette she was talking to. "Hey Do you want to come join us? We're working on ideas. I'm Chiara Wood." she asked with a friendly smile.

Then she turned to face Medea again and smiled. "Well tell me what you think of these ideas. I think we need more lights to lighten this area up to make it look less gloomy. Perhaps a new coat of paint would work? Colourful work mats? I saw them in a magazine.. And definetly some flowers would help." explained Chiara. "And do you have any ideas?"

The blonde looked up to see the boss (well one of the boss') walk towards her and Medea and the other man. Chiara shook her head. "Yes, only three of us. No, I haven't seen them. Not since the meeting." explained Chiara.

This woman is too cheerful. She must be stopped. Maybe it’s her blond hair that makes her so peppy. Could I charm it another color?! That would make the office a better place. She extended her brows towards her hairline as the one who called herself Chiara explained she had tons of ideas. And then Medea added a nod when blondie said there was no need for Medea to right them down. ”I’m so glad you’re so organized.” All sarcasm, but would the woman pick up on that? Unlikely.

Then there was a bow-tie and thick rimmed glasses sitting near them. Oh Merlin… what was his problem?! Medea didn’t know who dressed him, but she was sure he wasn’t married. If he was married surely the woman would have explained to him that he looked awful. Well, correction, he was an attractive enough man but his choice in accessories was poor.

Medea kept quiet (simply nodding) as Chiara Bubbles rattled off her ideas. Head.Ache.

And then, as if there wasn’t enough going on, Mr. Greingoth entered. Bubbles was heading up the response committee too apparently. Well, this might be her opportunity she was waiting for. She hadn’t planned on sharing her ideas but with Mr. Greingoth standing right there he’d know they were her ideas alone. ”You know Bub… err I mean Chiara I do actually have a couple ideas.” EEP! She almost called her Bubbles. Ok, moving on.

The robed woman stood so she could be seen better and casually leaned against the desk, ”First I’d love to see an herb garden in the breakroom. It’s pretty, refreshing and useful. Also, I saw something in the sweet shop that would be wonderful. I thought some sleek candy bowls that have specialty designed candies strategically placed throughout the office.”

BAM! That just happen, your mind was blown.

Yes, Medea was very impressed with herself.

Hmm. Only three employees? This would not work. Alexander eyed the breakroom, planning to head there straight away to see if he could locate the rest of the work crew. "Yes, yes, well, right all that down," he said to Wood, gesturing in the direction of a piece of parchment. "We'll need something to turn into the Minister." He rolled his eyes, not at the woman, but at the assignment they'd been given by this joke of a Minister. "Thank you, Miss Wood." He nodded to the Wood woman before turning to Ward. Apparently, she had some ideas, as well.

"Impressive, Miss Ward," he said, nodding his head a few times. This woman, from what he'd seen, had a strong work ethic and was a valuable asset to the team. "I'm sure our Minister will be most appreciative of the candy." Or any type of food for that matter. He looked over his shoulder and peered into the front desk area, noticing how there seemed to be even fewer employees there. Where in the name of Hades had the employees gone off to? With a scowl, he muttered a quick "Excuse me, please" before heading out.

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A few moments later, he poked his head into the door of the work area and looked toward the three employees. "I need your assistance in capturing retrieving a Poppy Pricklepot from the Atrium," he said. "Reynolds, get a move on!" He eyed the Junior Undersecretary then looked toward the other two. "Hathaway has the note for the Maintenance Supervisor. Pricklepot is to report here immediately, and from what I've seen, we'll need a team to get her here."

He'd call Security if he had to, but Pricklepot would report back to him!

Medea’s chest puffed as he complimented her. Yes. Observe my opulence.

The Sr. Undersecretary ducked out, and then seconds later back in.

Poppy what?! Poppy who?! Huh? She needed to apprehend someone? What was she, security? An auror? Well sure she could be but that wasn’t the point.

Alightly bewildered she followed Mr. Greingoth down to the Autrium.

Nolan sat up straight in the spinny chair and tried to not look as dizzy as he really was as Alexander entered the room, wondering aloud where the rest of the employees were. Nolan simply shrugged. He had no idea where anyone was either. They'd arranged to meet in the work area, so why had none of them shown up?

Ah well. They had more pressing matters to attend to, apparently. Whoever the Pricklepot person was, she didn't sound like a very pleasant person, judging from Alexander's tone. He nodded and stood from the spinning chair...it was time to get down to BUSINESS. "Of course sir, whatever you need help with," he said with a smile.

Yeah. He was late.

Ryuu leisurely strolled into the work areas, sipping at a steaming hot cup of coffee. The assignment...ugh, an utter waste of his time, patience, and clear intelligence. He had figured that no one would be crying over him being a slight late. It was like spilled milk. No sense in bawling over it. Just get yourself a cat and let it clean it up. Or, if you were like Ryuu, two big dogs. They could definitely replace the common muggle vaccuum.

Ryuu paused as he walked into the middle of the work area. Where the heck was everyone?? He lowered his cup of coffee and his face wore an "are-you-kidding-me??" look. Even when he was deliberately late...he was still early! Laaaaame.