"I'll report to you once I get back from level 8." Tasha promised.

"I didn't know you had a garden. Is it big?" She asked curiously. And Althea smiled. That was nice to see. Maybe Dash was responsible, but Tasha didn't care as long as it did her friend some good. Smiling prolonged life if you believed muggle doctors.

Oh awkward..hmm. "I'm sorry if i hurt your feelings that day when I joked about Izzy's weight and she dropped the baby news. I didn't think before talking or know that she was pregnant. I'm sorry you had to find out like that. She apologized sincerely.

"Level 7." She corrected, but accepted the whole reporting back thing. She would want to know how it went after all.

"Mmm. Well. I inherited my grandmother's home on the coast in the South of France." She didn't need to be too specific on location did she? "There's quite a lot of land, and I do like to maintain a garden, I grow my own vegetables and herbs, too." Because she liked to cook. And she was teaching Kyroh about growing things and where vegetables came from and all of that too.

The next part... Althea just sort of looked at Natasha. Did she..... know about Althea's own.... issues? And how that effected the bigger picture? Or was Tasha just meaning about how Izzy was too chicken to say anything and had dropped such a huge bombshell not only as late as possible, but as tactless as possible? "What do you know about it?" She said suspiciously. Had Isobel told Tasha that Thea couldn't have children of her own?

Level 7 of course, tasha had just mixed up the levels since she had been thinking of her sister and thus said level 8 instead of seven.

"Wow, in France? I've never been there. I'd love to see some pictures some time of the house and the garden, if you'd like to show me." Thea didn't have to but living in a flat without a garden it was a little dream of Tasha's to live in a house with a vegetable garden sometime in the distant future a man to share it with.

Taking a long breath she said quietly. "I don't know much at all really. I only know that you were upset when you stormed out and that Izzy wasn't proud of how she announced the news since she left soon after with a troubled look on her face. But that's all I know honestly. I thought you two had cleared the air and I just wanted to apologize for starting the whole mess by my comment." This was something that Izzy and Thea needed to work out between them though. But she had needed to apologize for her part too and now that she had that it felt good.

"Sure. In fact you can come over for dinner some time, if you like? Of course, my cousin is living with me now, she and her daughter, so as long as you don't mind the company." And actually she could see if Aston would come too... mmhmm. Not that she was usually the matchmaking type but, she and Izzy had always wanted to figure out a way to actually be related and all....

.... you know, when they'd still been talking. Sigh.

Althea let out a slow breath and nodded once in acceptance. "Its fine. Really. I sent her a gift basket...." Yeah. She had. "I'm happy for them, honestly I am, its just... it was an obnoxious and insensitive way of being told." She supposed.... that Tasha could do with an explanation.

...

.......

"Its just that...." Sigh. "I can't actually have children of my own, and Isobel knows that."

So that was what that had been.

Blink.

"I'd love to. I don’t mind at all. I’ve grown up with 4 siblings so it won’t be a problem." Dinners in the Montogue household growing up with everyone present had always been loud and boisterous. Tasha doubted that it would be as unpredictable and chaotic at Althea’s dinner table. It could be fun though to see another side of her Izzy’s best friend outside the office.

When the topic changed back to the baby announcement she didn’t expect to get an explanation, but Althea gave her one. It was more horrible than Tasha could have imagined. "I'm so sorry Althea." She said sincerely. It was the only thing she could think of saying.

"Great." Althea said and smiled briefly. Why Tasha felt it necessary to remind her of her siblings was beyond her. She'd been friends with Isobel since they were kids so of course she knew.

Nod.

That was all, just a nod. "Lets not talk about it anymore. It is what it is." She smiled again and then took a step backward. "I... have some paperwork to file." So she left. But really, she just needed... a moment.

Rusty was dressed as a ninja.

Rusty had his arms full.

Of a stupefied and unconscious Persephone.

Which, really, while it was necessary given the circumstances, was a lot closer and more intimate than he'd expected to get with any of his co-workers in the first week. He'd apparated in the arrival areas in the Atrium of course, and then, thinking that it was stupid to take her to the healer just to get rennervated when he could do that much himself (and potentially embarrassing to boot), Rusty had disillusioned Sephy and simply carried her to level 3. Maybe there'd be a room somewhere that was empty where she could wake up and not have an audience asking questions or wanting explanations.

And by the way it was supremely awkward sharing the lift part of the way with an unaware Ministers Office employee while he had to pretend like he wasn't holding his arms out strangely or dressed as a ninja. Just saying.

This looked like a likely room choice... he nudged the door open and glanced around. Nobody in sight. Perfect. Oh and crash pads. Also perfect. You never knew how a woman would react when you brought her back from unconsciousness, and he'd prefer a softer landing if she did manage to lay him out or something.

Ahem.

He put her down on one of the crash pads, stood well back, and then flicked his wand at her, a silent rennervate to wake her up.

... and still dressed as a ninja.

....................

.........................

.................................

And then she was awake. Huzzah! Sephy stirred, rolling to her side and mumbling something incoherent about breakfast. What? Being a ninja was tiring work, obviously. That's when she became aware of the pain in her head. Must've been from the fall. Would she be allowed sue? Now THAT was the question. Though MLE might not be so happy to support her case considering she helped kidnap their Head Auror.

And muggle lawyers weren't exactly going to think she was sound of mind, now were they? 'Oh yeah, I was dancing around in a forest dressed as a ninja, oh yeah yeah, just a typical Wednesday for me. Anyway, while we were kidnapping this twenty something year old woman, I got hit with a stunning spell and ya know, hit my head. I'm entitled to compensation, right?' Yeaaaaaaah, that wasn't really gonna work.

Sephy pushed herself up into a sitting position and side-glanced at Rusty. There were a lot of things that she probably should say. Like, 'Oh hi there. Thanks for not allowing me to become hostage.' Or 'thanks for being a living and breathing alarm clock.' Something along the lines of that. Instead, she said, "You could've at least bought me dinner first," and stood up, shaky in the knees.

Yeah. This was a bad day. And it was going to get worse. The moment she'd take off this stupid mask, she was bound to have an afro that would take a million showers to tame.

Great.

asdklgdshgsjkl what? Rustin blinked a few times and then pulled the ninja mask off and stared at her owlishly. Bought... dinner?

....................


....................................

Nope. More staring. When he did speak, given he was caught a little off guard, this not-a-ninja-after-all, it wasn't entirely clear if he was trying to be funny or not.


"At least I didn't tie you up." Good one Rusty. Sound normal. That's how you do it.

Ahem.

"Are you alright? Not too banged up?" Ignore that other part, yes?

asdklgdshgsjkl what? Rustin blinked a few times and then pulled the ninja mask off and stared at her owlishly. Bought... dinner?

....................


....................................

Nope. More staring. When he did speak, given he was caught a little off guard, this not-a-ninja-after-all, it wasn't entirely clear if he was trying to be funny or not.


"At least I didn't tie you up." Good one Rusty. Sound normal. That's how you do it.

Ahem.

"Are you alright? Not too banged up?" Ignore that other part, yes?
***
What? Sephy stared back, though hers was much more....blank. And the majority of her face was covered up by her ninja mask which she was yet to remove. She had a sense of humor. Apparently it was something other people were unfamiliar with.

JEEZ.

Oh.

He did have one.

A WEIRD one.

She raised an eyebrow till it disappeared beneath the her mask. ...."Right. Thank you very much." That was the appropriate thing to say, right? Though it seemed that not tying someone up was a common courtesy, really. And the thanking for it too.

Moving swiftly on... "Yeah, I'm fine." She did give herself a once over though, just to make sure. Not that it did much considering she was in a costume.

"You don't happen to know where Aron went exactly?" It seemed like an appropriate thing to know considering they'd just helped him commit and all.

"Oh, he said something about a holding cell on level 2." Rusty said vaguely. Whether or not it had been related to this whole thing was a moot point however. That part hadn't been so important really, they were just the decoys and such. Had been kind of fun even.

"Must be about time for lunch." And also time to get out of the ninja suit. That'd probably be the professional thing to do and such.

"You hit your head pretty bad back there." Rusty added. "There is a healer around these parts somewhere but I mean, you were breathing so I figured I'd just wake you up and let you decide if you wanted one of them to poke and prod at you or if you preferred to grin and bear it."

Somewhere in Level 2. HOW HELPFUL. Well, she didn't care all that much anyway. She nodded in response though, just to show that she did in fact hear him. Sephy rolled her shoulders back, doing a couple of stretches that bloody well ached before standing up.

"Must be." More nodding. She wasn't all that hungry BUT a cup of that gross sludge that was apparently coffee was definitely in order.

Healing talk. LOL, no.

Persephone took off her mask and as promised, her hair looked like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. She wasn't even going to bother trying to tame it. "Naaah. I think I'll leave it. It'll hurt like hell in a bit but nothing some firewhiskey can't help." Yes, she'd definitely be stopping by the Leaky after work.

So far, GinaMarie hadn't gotten the chance to look around the training room yet. Now that she had, she was looking forward to the coming months of hard work that she would be spending in the room. She eyed one the crash pads against the other wall. Interesting. She thought to herself with a smile.

Her wand was out now as she approached the crash pads. "Reducio!" She spoke as she moved her wand in the V shape. Before her, the crash pad she had aimed her spell at shrunk to the size of a pillow.

Work. He was due to log some time in the training room. Rusty went on in with the intention to run through some perimeter charms of the sort that came in handy when corralling Muggles when protecting a zone where a statute breach had occurred. Apparently though, the training room was in use. Or.... well.. Rusty stopped just inside the entrance as the woman shrunk some crash pads.

"I'd be careful with that if I were you, rather sure human resources won't much appreciate the safety gear being messed with." Also, hello. He gave a cheery nod and strode over to the pool.

It was the second week back and Tasha still hadn’t spent time in the training room either for work purposes or to polish up on her charms skills. Stepping into the training room this particular day the blond noted that she wasn’t the only one with a mind to spend some quality time in the room.

Rusty was there as well as an unfamiliar woman. Flashing Rusty a smile she called over. "Good day Rustin, going to train some water charms?" she enquired curiously. Pulling out her own wand from its holster she strode over to where the other woman was standing, facing the crash pads with a warm smile. "Hi, I don't believe we've met? I’m Natasha."

Claire walked into the training room to work on some new charms she learned and saw GinaMarie and a few people she didn't know. She walked over to GinaMarie who was smiling at a pillow which seemed out of place. "Hey!" She said to her and nodded at the pillow, "Is that supposed to be in here?" She asked her before turning to the others in the room.
"I'm Claire. I just started." She said with a smile.

GinaMarie heard the door open and turned to see who was joining her. She smiled at the man. Say hello. He's your coworker GM. She thought to herself. "Mhm." She replied to him before turning back to the crash pads and returning them back to their original state. The man had a good point, after all.

Well that was smooth. GinaMarie thought as she started looking around the room again looking and thinking of what she could practice. It seemed that she was lacking some creativity today. It's been so long. She mused to herself; she was quite good at charms but it had been a while since she focused in on practicing her executions.

Another person arrived. "Oh, hello." GinaMarie smiled. Good. Improvement. Keep talking. Keep it interesting, GM. "I don't think so." The brunette agreed. "I'm GinaMarie, but feel free to call me GM." SEE! That wasn't so difficult. Though she thought it was going well, GM fell quiet once again and returned to her thoughts.


Another person? GM thought when another woman joined them. "Hello Claire!" GinaMarie greeted with a smile at the woman. "Oh, no. Actually it was a crash pad I charmed." She explained referencing to the crash pad now back in it's original state. See, aren't you glad you made some acquaintances at the orientation ball?

Tasha was about pull out her wand to go over to the crash pads and try out a few new spells which people were writing to her about. She needed to discern if they were dangerous or not when another employee walked in. Turning around to face the unfamiliar woman Tasha flashed her, a welcoming smile. "Pleased to meet you Claire, I'm Natasha."

"Where will you be working?" Tasha asked curiously. It would be interesting to know, after all they could be colleagues and then it would be even more crucial to make an effort to get to know the other woman past politeness.

GM? Tasha repeated. That sounded more like a muggle car than the name of a person, but she kept that to herself as to not offend the other woman. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Natasha I work as a spell researcher and a member of the ECC. You can call me Tasha if you’d prefer too." And well liaison to the minister’s offices but that didn’t seem like that needed to be said. It was rarely something that required much effort besides a few reports.