Mariana actually hadn't thought of the humor in her words until he reacted, his smile causing her own lips to quirk in amusement. She'd simply refrain from mentioning that it hadn't been on purpose.

Catching his eye, she slid one of the plates towards him, her eyebrows raising slightly. He wouldn't let her eat alone, would he? "That's the kind of chore I dreamed of when I was younger," She admitted sheepishly. "What a beautiful environment to grow up in. Do you miss it?" Because his current location was a far cry from where he'd grown up. "Plants have my heart at the moment and I like to throw my everything into my work. Wouldn't be fair to the food, coming in second like that." She paused, taking a bite of her own slice of heaven and chewing thoughtfully. "Mm, this is delicious." Better than it looked, even. She had a feeling it would be. "So, what do you do at the ministry?"


...

"Nothing concerning, not yet" Emilia replied, glancing at her coworker and offering a smile. "Your dress is beautiful. We don't get the chance to dress up like this often, huh?" It was evident in the way she spoke, the way her eyes lit up, that she was enjoying it. "The mask part might be a bit problematic, though. Let's hope tonight goes smoothly and we won't have to worry about that." She was going to cross her fingers that this evening would play out with little to no drama. Little to no drama suited her just fine.

"Fancy a drink?" Emilia would indulge in just one, a toast to another year seeming appropriate.

Gabriel grinned as the lady slid one of the plates of cake toward him. Sharing...what a nice stranger... He gladly took the plate and grabbed a fork and helped himself to a bite of cake. Mmm. Totally worth getting dressed up, just for this single bite of cake. Well, the single slice of cake. Maybe. He finished chewing and shrugged. "I suppose...I suppose that I miss being warm, more than I miss being there," he said. "It was a small town...London is much more exciting. Plus, there is more cake here." He was evidently comfortable enough with this woman to joke. Maybe due to the mask?

He took another bite of cake before answering her next question. It was...very delicious cake.

"I'm in the...YATI program," he said, trying out the acronym. He guessed she must work in the...plant department. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? My name is Gabriel." He did not attempt to shake hands, given they were both trying to eat cake.

Always on alert, his eyes followed a young man (Ronan) who walked past. He made a mental note to follow up with him because the young man’s career ambitions were being broadcast loud and clear, and well, it was worth looking into at least. ”My apologies,” Bain replied to the correction on Phora’s name. He turned his attention to back to Sachin and Jane. ”Pleasure to meet you both.” He gave them both a nod, but made no move to shake hands. He didn’t shake hands, but his eyes did linger on Sachin as if he could sense that the man didn’t care for him. An Ambassador might be handy to know, he thought and someone in Research and Records? Well, that sounded like one of Flamsteed's folks. Perhaps he could find a way to engage Jane's help with his personal project. Surely Flamsteed wouldn't have a problem assigning her to the task. ”I suggest,” he said, eyes slowly roving to Sachin’s collar and then over to Jane. ”Trying the peppered lamb.”

”Well, I’m glad you were able to get through your reports.” he said to Conley. Across the room, he caught sight of Alphonsine as she stopped to talk with someone. He also caught the body language of a few people who had to have been a part of his team, specifically the two that were chatting together (Bryony and Emilia). ”I won’t take up anymore of your time.” He had a perimeter sweep and a corner to get back to after all. To the three he said, ”Enjoy your evening,” and he slipped off.

AH! That smile. It still made Conley get butterflies in his stomach. After all these years, Conley still couldn't believe that he was the lucky recipient of that smile. Conley’s return smile was just as wide. ”Yes they are,” he said cheekily back to Sachin. He almost wished they weren't in the midst of a room full of people.

Conley had worked for the Minsitry long enough to recognize the slight pause before an unspeakable responded to the question of ‘where do you work’ or ‘what do you do here?’ So he didn’t press for more information when Jane replied with a simple answer. ”Sounds exciting. Do you have a background in research then?” That should be an easy enough answer to embellish on, even if the answer was ‘no,’ which he doubted was the case. Unspeakables often had to be rather…versed in their subject matters in order to be employed here.

Conley’s eyes darted past Jane and Sachin as two people (David and Jessica) quickly passed them by. He glanced at Bain and then back to his husband. 'Was it him or were those people avoiding them?' he asked Sachin with that look.

Jane’s voice brought his attention back to her. ”We do. I’m the head of International Magical Cooperation. Sachin is an Ambassador.” And did Conley sound proud about his husband? Yes, yes he did. As for food? He eyed the plate Sachin was holding and wondered briefly if it were for him, for he completely expected his husband to force feed tell him he needed to eat. ”Tea cake, maybe a cucumber sandwich,” he said giving the table a look over.

Something about the man’s tone made Conley think he wasn’t at all apologetic for the name mishap. ”It happens all the time,” Conley replied, still trying to be civil with the man. He was, after all a fellow department head and well, Bain deserved respect, even if he did make Conley a bit wary.

As for the peppered lamb? If Bain was suggesting it, Conley was going to stay far away from it and he was going to make certain Sachin did too. He didn’t care how much Sachin enjoyed mutton. And why was he looking at Sachin like that? Conley did not like it one bit. He put a possessive hand on Sachin’s back. ”I’m glad I did too,” he replied with a small smile. ”Thanks for the tip on the puffskeins.” And he could leave anytime now. ”Jane ,” Conley asked. ”How are the samosas?” Probably not as good as Sachin’s, but not much was.




Adam had no idea who he had stopped. Not a clue. After all, the man couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him and not much further even with his glasses on. In fact, Zita was a nice pretty blury vision in front of him. So he was a bit surprised to hear that David, a fellow unspeakable, had been the person he’d stopped. What luck!

That was until the man started blabbering. Why did David sound surprised? Was he surprised? What did have to be surprised about? And why was David’s blabbering bothering him so much?

Wait – he was with Jessica from DIMC? Oh he knew her too! How lucky was it that he just happened to stop two people he actually knew and by knew, he meant had interacted with inside the ministry. It was very weird that Adam was having such luck tonight. Perhaps it was Zita’s presence that was causing the good luck, because Adam was probably one of the most unlucky people in the entire room. Still, he silently hoped that Jessica didn’t try to sniff him again. Once was enough, thank you very much. ” Chessica, ja, ve hafe met. Dankeschön fur your help vitt mein papers,” He offered a hand out for a shake, but was probably pointing his hand in the wrong direction, especially because Jessica had remained quiet. ”Zhis is Sita,” he said hoping he sounded rather proud. ”Mein girlfriend,” he repeated purely to reinforce to Zita that he had absolutely no problem referring to her as his girlfriend in front of his colleagues.

Dante was no stranger to masquerades. He had been to plenty over the years, some of which his family hosted at their manor in France. Granted they had never been any fun. Their grandiose events had purpose: to brush shoulders with acquaintances, to talk business, to play a metaphorical game of chess. It was for wearing both literal and figurative masks.

The Obliviator put himself in that mindset for this evening. Quietly he appeared in the atrium, his mask already covering his face. For a moment he stood at the entrance, his eyes glossing over the area for anyone he already knew or at least was aware would be capable of providing some entertainment. Everyone's masks, however, were making that rather difficult to do.

At least the drinks table was an easy find. Soon he was standing there, drink at hand, silently watching.

Normally Frankie would have been beyond excited to be attending a masquerade. Being a Gryffindor, he was never one to pass up a party. Years of being an Auror, however, had a way of sucking some of the fun out of such things. Everything his training had instilled in him was giving him red flags about tonight. Everyone in a mask was such a security nightmare. It was putting him a little on edge.

Nevertheless, he was present for the occasion, mask and all. The mask aspect the blond wasn't thrilled about at all, but he was trying to make the best of the situation by not letting it put a damper on things. The odds of things going sour tonight surely had to be slim, considering the amount of people from law enforcement security that were scattered about the place.

Those thoughts, though, didn't keep him from making his rounds. Such habits were difficult to break. He was quite pleased that he wasn't the only one being vigilant. The new head of his department hadn't gone unnoticed, which prompted him to give the man a stiff nod of his head.

Had she not understood him? After two years she had gotten his accent down, but at times she miss took his meanings and when he asked about how to introduce her she assumed he meant friend, girlfriend, seeing eye dog, who knew what went through her mind. Unfortunately for Adam it was always taken personal from past hurt that she couldn't quite get over. "Oh, well, you don't have to worry about seeing. I can help with that don't worry."

The kiss was nice and Z was happily excepting it,that went for the complement as well. "Thank you it took me ages to find just the perfect outfit." What he did next was something not Adam like, but of course Zita fully enjoyed. She loved being center of attention, he could scream it to the entire room and Z would just love it because all eyes would be on her. So the reaction she got from the man in front of her was well worth every minute. She smiled as she lifted her hand to his, not to shake though so he could politely take it and kiss it if he'd like. She was formal like that and all, plus she always enjoyed the more dramatic side of things. "It is very nice to meet you David, Zita Valla." Yes, the daughter of Valla teas of course.


"Did every single person that came to these things work at this dreadful place?" She wanted to ask them all why, but she didn't, instead she turned to the woman, Jessica. She of course eyed her over before fixing her smile to be sweet, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

After an impressively smooth exit from her conversation with the minister and Victoria, Ilse gingerly made her way across the room toward the drinks table. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to eat in the purple gown, but she could definitely manage a drink. As she watched the other people around her, she thought she spotted Conley across the way but couldn’t be entirely certain. He seemed to be surrounded by a rather large group of people. Hopefully he’d spot her before the end of the night.

As she reached up to make sure her mask was secure, Ilse had to let go of her dress, which she had been holding up just a bit to make walking easier. Forgetting about the length of her dress for just that single moment, she stepped on the hem and stumbled forwarded right into a man she had never seen in her life. ”Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! I didn’t hurt you, did I? I’m sorry. I’m just not used to all... this,” she explained, gesturing down at her gown.

....was David staring at Adam's...girlfriend? Jessica looked at her up and down, and glanced back at David in a somewhat bamboozled sort of way. But she was being introduced - yes okay - polite, Jessica - "Hi, yes. I know Adam. I did some paperwork for him a few months ago, actually.." And now she wanted to tell David about how odd of a visit it had been. Poor Adam couldn't see for anything. "Oh... no problem, Adam. It was...you know, part of my job," she smiled politely and nodded, feeling a tad uncomfortable, not that anyone would know.

She was smiling and shaking hands, etc.

So Adam had an amazingly hot girlfriend. Cool. Jessica was used to being surrounded by amazingly hot people, and luckily, she felt pretty attractive herself. But David's staring did not help appease her mind. "Nice to meet you, Zita," she chuckled. "You and Adam are a lovely couple. I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Adam. Cool." Even if he wasn't quite talking in the right direction or not looking directly at her, she didn't mind. His weirdness when they had first met had since made since once she found out the man couldn't see that well.

She glanced around, looking for any other familiar faces. "Still haven't found the refreshments," she whispered in David's ear.

Evelyn was already impressed, and she'd barely made it halfway down the buffet. The positioning of the food, the way the dimmed lighting complimented it, the smell of sugar wafting from those cakes over there... Heavenly. Granted she hadn't tasted anything yet but that seemed of little important right now, the visuals alone were sublime. Those off white puffs even matched her dress, and the twenty one year old felt her stomach clench. Maybe that was a sign she should have one of those, even if they weren't strictly speaking a part of her diet. She wasted no time in declaring today a cheat day, and began reaching for a napkin when there was suddenly an arm in her way.

"Oh!" she let out softly, holding both her hands to her chest, and stumbled back as she turned to see a man in a mask towering over her, very much startled. But she's also in a mask. They're all in masks. It occurred to her that this mask idea was aesthetically pleasing but in practice, somewhat terrifying. Managing a smile once the man spoke, Evelyn offered a little bow of her head. "It-" she glanced back at said canapés, "it does. Would you like one?" Without waiting for an answer, since it was mostly a rhetorical question, she turned to grab two napkins, using one to lift a couple of canapés off the display and placed them neatly on the other. She offered the pastries up to him with both of her hands and a meek smile.

Had someone caught a cold? It was hard to tell with all the paper faces on parade, but there was a dull sort of wheeze coming from somewhere. Difficult if not downright impossible to hear over the sound of the music, it was infrequent enough that one could easily ignore it.

One thing that may be a little more difficult to ignore was how foot prints began to fade into existence around the far perimeter of the Atrium nearest the floos. Haphazard sorts of footprints found in a sparkly green dust and accompanying smoke that creeped its way along the floor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dances_With_Potter

After an impressively smooth exit from her conversation with the minister and Victoria, Ilse gingerly made her way across the room toward the drinks table. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to eat in the purple gown, but she could definitely manage a drink. As she watched the other people around her, she thought she spotted Conley across the way but couldn’t be entirely certain. He seemed to be surrounded by a rather large group of people. Hopefully he’d spot her before the end of the night.

As she reached up to make sure her mask was secure, Ilse had to let go of her dress, which she had been holding up just a bit to make walking easier. Forgetting about the length of her dress for just that single moment, she stepped on the hem and stumbled forwarded right into a man she had never seen in her life. ”Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! I didn’t hurt you, did I? I’m sorry. I’m just not used to all... this,” she explained, gesturing down at her gown.

Just seconds after he gave a nod to his new boss, he was quite pleased with himself that he had been aware of what was going on around him. So, when the woman suddenly stepped on her dress and stumbled right into him, he gently reached out in an effort to stabilize her and ensure she didn't end up on the floor. Constant vigilance always paid off in the end.

"Don't worry, don't worry. No harm, no --" he started talking over her. But then he couldn't help but pause and grin a bit when she asked if she had hurt him. Hurt him? A well-built Auror? Frankie couldn't help but chuckle a little at that.

"I'm alright, really," the blond added, reassuring her that no harm had been done at all. He had endured much worse on the job; a woman accidentally bumping into him was nothing in comparison. "Are you alright?" She had collided into him after all. Frankie wasn't exactly a human-sized teddy bear. "I can only imagine what trouble a long dress could cause someone."

Ilse thankfully clutched to his arm and straightened herself, regaining her footing. ”Thank you so much. That could have ended up much worse for me and the floor,” she said with a shy smile. Her eyes finally came up from the floor, where she’d almost met her doom shame and took in the man who had so gallantly saved her, and she felt her face turn red.

Thankful for her mask, she laughed for a second... then a few seconds longer. Of course it had to be one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen that she almost face planted in front of. ”Yes... it looks like you... take care of yourself...” she mused, a bit breathless. Realizing what she said, though, she quickly snapped out of it. ”I meant... able to take care... it looks like you CAN take care of yourself... not that you DO take care of yourself, though that is also true, I think...” she fumbled, trying to compensate for her moment of brain death.

”It’s hot... do you think it’s hot?” she asked, wondering what shade of red she was now. ”I’m Ilse Saunders... new hire in accidents & catastrophes,” she explained, as if maybe that would forgive her silliness.

Just then, though, she saw something curious behind her captor. Tilting her head, she stared off toward the floos with a confused look on her face as she watched the sparkly green footprints and the smoke that followed them. ”What in the name of Merlin...” she said quietly.

Adam really had no idea how fortunate he was, huh. David's blue eyes flicked over to him again before returning to his stunning girlfriend. "It's very nice to meet you too," David replied, gently shaking her hand, but not kissing it. He would never spread his germs to a stranger's hand, of all places, upon meeting them. And if there was anyone he should kiss tonight, it was his date, not Adam's. Plus... did Zita just call the Ministry a dreadful place? That attitude wasn't attractive.

But it was cool that his coworker and Jessica knew each other. David returned his focus to his date as she whispered in his ear, making him blush a little. Right, they should move on, he supposed. "Well, you two have a good time," he mumbled, nodding to Adam and Zita. He leaned into Jessica instead, his attention all back on her. "Lead the way, Miss Tomás."

And, because he knew he should have said this already, David added, "Have I told you yet how lovely you look tonight?" Her lipstick, in particular, had caught his eye.

David wasn't looking anywhere but at Jessica as they moved away from Adam and Zita, but he did notice a strange green fog creeping along the floor behind her. "Errrrrr," he tutted, gently guiding Jessica away from it as they headed toward the refreshments, "What is that?"

Jane was just about to say that the samosas were excellent and to ask Sachin where he was an ambassador to when she noticed an odd wheezing sound in the background, like someone with a cold, but it didn't seem to be coming from anyone of the people around her. She looked around as she murmured, "Do you hear that odd noise? Where's it coming ..." Her voice trailed off as she noticed strange footprints along the edge of the area--and it wasn't her imagination, other people were starting to notice them, too.

Sachin was impressed. Jane seemingly had a large appetite. No, he wasn’t judging because if anyone knew him, he himself was a huge eater. “International Magical Cooperation,’’ Sachin answered after downing a healthy dose of passion fruit juice and adding to Conley’s response. “Technically I work with both the Indian and British Ministries. I go back and forth often.’’ A sometimes tiring thing but he would not change it for the world. And yes. Sachin heard the pride in Conley’s voice loud and clear. The Ambassador, smiling to himself, busied himself with selecting the biggest tea cake he could find and two cucumber sandwiches. “Eat,’’ he ordered softly to Conley.

Sachin nodded to Bain. There was something about the man that made him not immediately warm up to the new Department Head but he could not say what. He was just intrigued by the way Bain’s eyes were on him for a moment longer. Maybe the man was sizing him up? Sachin felt Conley’s hand on his back and knew that the husband had observed Bain’s gaze too. He wasn’t sorry to see the man go.

The wheeze? The Indian Ambassador heard none of it for he was too busy enjoying all the chatter and food. “What noise?’’ he asked Jane but shortly after he wondered out loud, “What’s that?’’ Frowning at the mysterious green smoke, Sachin pointed it out.

Kendra's sour mood was beginning to dissipate as she spoke to the man in front of her. Not only was he quite respectful, but he was rather charming too. She was pleased as he complimented her dress. She had wanted to stand out a bit, in a good way of course, and she smiled as she gave him a small, cordial nod.

"Why, thank you. I really loved the color." And the rose trim, but she did think it looked very nice on her, if she did say so herself. "Oh.. pleased to meet you, Oliver. My name is Kendra. Magical transportation." Normally she might think that employees would recognize department heads, but with the masquerade, she found herself enjoying the slight anonymity. "It is nice to have such a lovely party to escape the stress of work for just one night, isn't it?" She thought so at least, but perhaps Oliver didn't know the stress of leading a department or having much of their equipment continue to fail throughout the year.

But as she spoke, she heard a few whispers around and heads turning towards the floos, drawing her own attention. And her eyes soon caught the smoke flittering out around them. "What in Merlin's beard?" she murmured tensely under her breath. Couldn't she have ONE night where she wasn't worrying about something going wrong with her department??

Matt wasn't too keen on the whole 'high society' shebang, but he did love these Ministry parties because of the food. Socialising was okay too, he didn't mind that, but the FOOD. Man. That was something.

The youngish Auror was stuffing his face over there with them exquisite canapés - pfft, it'd be better if they were the size of his face, at LEAST -, having shifted his mask to the side and it was now covering only one of his eyes and the side of his head instead of his face. Merlin, this was good food. Omnomnomnom.

He was actually unfazed by the smoke near the Floo Network area, taking it as part of the decoration. Smoke might be some new kind of fancy thing, he wouldn't really know.

It was nice to be back, and Sophie had actually spent a ridiculous amount of time taking her surrounding in because, truth be told, she actually missed being there. She loved being busy, and now that her household was empty for most of the day, she was more than happy to be out and about getting important work done. Work relating to one of her biggest passions, no less!

As she observed everything around her, she did notice the smoke which didn't seem to quite fit the décor. And... were those... foot prints appearing? That didn't feel right. It didn't seem like it was any kind of organised performance that was about to happen, and that would be a strange way to start, in her opinion. Sophie also noticed others started to comment and question it, which seemed to prove her point. She nearly started moving towards it but stopped herself before taking the first step.

From what she remembered, it was better to be safe than sorry in places such as the Ministry and Hogwarts.

It did not go unnoticed by Conley that Sachin had picked out the biggest tea cake he could find. He gave his husband a look that said ‘really?’ But otherwise took the plate without complaining. He’d learned a long time ago there was no arguing with Sachin when it came to food.

”What noise?” Conley asked Janep at the same time Sachin did, but he was more distracted by the footprints that was sparkling around the room. He couldn’t remember this being a part of the decoration discussions. Had The Minister come up with a surprise? As happy as he had been to see the man go, Conley now looked around for Bain. Did he know about this? Conley would have liked to ask, but he couldn’t see the man anywhere.



He was glad that Zita had agreed to come and even more so that she was willing to stick by him so he didn’t have to tap-tapity-tap his way around the Atrium tonight with his support cane. He’d managed regain enough site with his ugly, terrible, horrendous glasses that he didn’t really want to go back to using it. But, it wasn’t like he could wear a mask and glasses at the same time. But asking her to come along hadn’t only been so she could be his guide. Nope. He had wanted to spend the evening dressed up and perhaps even dancing with her. Because he hadn’t gotten to do that at the Centennial ball.

It sounded as if Zita was enjoying his announcement. But then, he also knew how much she enjoyed being the center of attention. Still, David could mosey on at any moment, he thought although he was unsure as to why he thought it. While the two talked, something caught Adam’s attention and he turned his head away from the group, hearing something that sounded like snuffling. It wasn’t very loud, but still, Adam’s sensitive hearing could just make it out. Perhaps someone had come down with a cold?

”Ja, I guess it vas,” Adam replied to Jessica, although he wondered if sniffing him had also been a part of her job. Still, she hadn’t sniffed him tonight. So there was a least that. And speaking of sniffing…did he smell smoke? He was going to ask the group about it, but Jessica’s compliment about how they looked good together distracted them. He might have stood a little taller at that compliment. As for not mentioning his girlfriend to Jessica? Well, one didn’t often walk around declaring they were taken. Did they? Maybe he was wrong, but then, hadn’t that been exactly what he had done just a few minutes ago? ”Sita vanted to meet some of mein colleagues.” He simply explained.

A moment later, he heard Jessica telling David about the food. Yes, he heard her. Although he chose not to mention it. Just like he chose to ignore the tone in Zita’s comment about how dreadful the ministry was. ”Enchoy food,” he said to them, giving a wave. (Yes, move along David )

He turned to Zita. ”Dance?” he asked.

"More cake is always a selling point." Mariana smiled a bit around her fork and then took another bite, savoring the flavor. Dessert before dinner had been an amazing choice. "I'm a warm weather fan myself, but I do agree that there's never a dull moment living here." There was plenty to do and see and enjoy, which was one of the reasons she'd stayed.

"Nice to meet you, YATI Grabiel. I'm Mariana. I'm a botanist on level four." And she loved everything about it. The greenhouses had become a second home to her and while the ministry could be a bit...much at times, she wouldn't want to work anywhere else.

"...That's strange." She noticed the change in the room, how a few of the people conversing around them had seemed to stop, how their heads had turned. Was that..smoke?

As he stood not far from the drinks table, he carried on with his people watching. So far nothing terribly interesting was happening. To preoccupy himself, he occasionally would lift his long mask every so slightly, bring his cup to his lips, and sneak a quick drink. If this was how the night as going to go, then the Obliviator wouldn't be staying for very long. He could have been comfy in the manor, sitting next to the fireplace and not forcing himself to socialize.

But what was that? Smoke? And ... were those footprints he was seeing in the distance?

Now that was interesting. Dante wasn't sure where exactly all of that was coming from, but he honestly didn't care all that much. The Frenchman was sure the smoke was a bit of theatrics for the masquerade, to set the mood and ambiance. The footprints being there, though, didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. But, again, he wasn't going to look into it. Maintenance could deal with that; it was their job after all. He was just there to take up space, mingle, and drink.

Text Cut: Ilse

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dances_With_Potter

Ilse thankfully clutched to his arm and straightened herself, regaining her footing. ”Thank you so much. That could have ended up much worse for me and the floor,” she said with a shy smile. Her eyes finally came up from the floor, where she’d almost met her doom shame and took in the man who had so gallantly saved her, and she felt her face turn red.

Thankful for her mask, she laughed for a second... then a few seconds longer. Of course it had to be one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen that she almost face planted in front of. ”Yes... it looks like you... take care of yourself...” she mused, a bit breathless. Realizing what she said, though, she quickly snapped out of it. ”I meant... able to take care... it looks like you CAN take care of yourself... not that you DO take care of yourself, though that is also true, I think...” she fumbled, trying to compensate for her moment of brain death.

”It’s hot... do you think it’s hot?” she asked, wondering what shade of red she was now. ”I’m Ilse Saunders... new hire in accidents & catastrophes,” she explained, as if maybe that would forgive her silliness.

Just then, though, she saw something curious behind her captor. Tilting her head, she stared off toward the floos with a confused look on her face as she watched the sparkly green footprints and the smoke that followed them. ”What in the name of Merlin...” she said quietly.

The Auror simply nodded in response to her thanks, feeling her clutched onto his arm. He wondered how long it'd take before she would let go of it. He imagined soon, right?

His thoughts were quickly distracted by the words that came out of her mouth. An eyebrow rose. He looked like he ... took care of himself? At this point he couldn't help but smirk a bit as she fumbled on. If only she knew that he were married and had four children. The blond was just going to play it cool and let her do her thing until it was appropriate for him to interject.

"Seems just fine to me. Do you ... would you like to sit down?" he asked her, assuming that she was still rather frazzled. He then added, "Nice to meet you, Ilse. Frankie Paton. Auror. Welcome to th--"

Isle's next set of words made him blink. Looking at her facial expression and the direction she was looking cause him to look toward the floor, and he too joined her in the confusion. Smoke? Footprints going all over the place? Was all of that supposed to be there? The latter seemed extra suspicious to him. "Sorry, but I should investigate that," he said to her. She was welcome to follow him, but she had better move quickly. Frankie was already stepping toward the floos, wand out and nonverbal revealing charms being casted.

Ilse realized she was still clutching him, which only added to her embarrassment, and hastily let go. When he asked if she wanted to sit down, she shook her head no. The last thing she needed was for the Minister to catch her sitting down again. When he said he was an Auror, her eyebrows raised a bit. ”An Auror? Impressive. I suppose if I was going to fall on anyone, best it was you then?” she said with a less-mortified smile.

When he turned to look at what she was seeing and said he needed to go investigate, she nodded her head. She told herself she probably shouldn’t go, that it could be something dangerous, but her need to know and her curiosity got the better of her. She took off her mask so she could see better and pulled her wand out of the holster on her shin, underneath the several layers of full-length dress. With her non-wand hand, she clutched the mask and pulled her dress up to assist with walking and followed after Frankie toward the floos...

Tomasz was having difficulty with feeling at ease. These masks were not making it so easy to relax and as a result, tension continued to build up in his back. It did not help that he had his ear cuff on. Though it normally stayed put in his pockets, for events like these there was not much of a choice. If he did not wear it, the large crowd would surely overwhelm him even more. For this reason, he was glad that large ministry events only happened once a year. Even still, if it were up to him, he would have stayed at home. Tomasz wondered if he could slip out early, knowing fully well that Simon would not be too happy with this, of course. Was he here? It was difficult to recognize anyone within the masked crowd.

As the woman began to speak, something caught Tomasz's attention. All around them, heads were turning. As a security officer, it was his duty to be aware of surroundings, and as such Tomasz quickly found what they were all looking to. Unable to recognize whether the green footsteps were of any immediate threat, Tomasz turned back and nodded. What had she said? He was not so good with multitasking. Fortunately, it was not difficult to understand as only a moment later he was being offered one of the canapés from the buffet. "Yyy," he smiled sheepishly as he took one. "Thank you."

Still he was slightly distracted (and looking around for Simon), but he made a conscious effort to look away for only a few seconds. "I am Tomasz," he lifted his mask with his free hand to show his face. It only somewhat registered to him that he could very well be speaking to someone he already knew, but seeing as he was not so social at work the chances were very low.

Gabriel was much too busy finishing off his piece of cake to respond verbally to Mariana's comments, but he was nodding vigorously as he chewed. Yes, he was listening. Cake good, weather, the excitement of a big city. Good listener, that Gabriel. He let his fork drop to his plate as he finished the last bite of cake. "Mariana," he croaked out. Gosh, he'd been in such a hurry to eat cake he hadn't tried to wash it down with anything. "Pleased to meet you," he said after grabbing the nearest beverage and taking a sip.

He turned to see what Mariana, and several other people were looking at. Odd...footprints and smoke near the fireplaces. He frowned, his family had never used floos much, so he wasn't sure if this was normal... "Did someone step in floo powder?" he asked aloud, taking a step closer to see better. Or maybe the floo itself was acting up? He was really not quite sure what was going on, but still...he had set down his plate and drink and was gripping his wand inside his suit coat. Just in case it wasn't just a floo mishap, you know, he wanted to be prepared.

Ooops, it appeared he'd been seen. He gave the new department head a nod before continuing through making rounds around the Atrium.

As it just so happened, he'd been passing close by the Floos when the mysterious footprints appeared. He quickly whipped out his own wand and cast silent revealing spells in the direction the steps were heading in. Ronan was determined to find what? who was sneaking around in the Ministry. Even more important, he couldn't let the MLE be made a mockery of yet again. Which it appeared some of his coworkers were just fine with.....

Speaking of which, was that Auror or foe approaching? He couldn't really tell with all the masks, but the person did move like one of his fellow Aurors....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

She had noticed the hand touching and thought it was always fun to see how people reacted to handshakes the minister would give. Women especially, he was after all a magical celebrity for his position. She had the same reactions quite a few years ago. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. You don't have to leave on my behalf." She really didn't mean to interrupt. Reaching for the woman's hand she shook it, "Very nice to meet you. I hope you are enjoying this little event so far."

Her eyes went back to Charles before searching the room again, "That could be. I know I shouldn't be mothering, but I just can't help it." Especially when it came to Alana. When Isle said about getting a drink is when she noticed, "Oh I think that is her over near the drinks and food. My daughter is a new employee as well. She will be in the minister office." Maybe the two could find things in common, she hoped Alana wouldn't have a hard time fitting in.

Bowing his head as the young woman departed, Charles nonchalantly offered his arm to Victoria and began to make his way towards the dance floor for a dance. Perhaps just one since he had other obligations he needed to tend to and a certain young YATI and her date to envelope in a bear hug. "Yes, I do help Fletcher with the placements and look over applications," he winked at her before one hand slide to her waist in a true gentlemanly manner and his other wove his fingers together with hers. "She will be fine, Victoria." He knew she was concerned and a protective mother, one of the traits he found attractive about her. "I promise our initiative of her to Level One will be kind."

As to the mild chaos that was unfolding around the perimeters, well, Charles was blissfully unaware. Not to mention that his mask provided a certain degree of difficulty seeing anything too far beyond his own nose.