Malachi walked back into the Cubicles and Work Area, smiling widely and muching a piece of toast.

When he found a crying girl, he swallowed rather hard. I love my job, I really do. Yup, right now I love my job.

"Erm Miss Kyle, isn't it? Why don't you go and blow your nose, splash water on your face and then come back to work?" He turned to JJ. "As for you Mr. Montcenaggio, you have a task to do so my advise would be to go to your desk and get started. If the two of you have a matter to discuss, I would also advise that you keep it out of the office." He raised his eyebrows, his expression showing that he did not expect a debate about this from either of them.

“Certainly.” Krel wasn’t daft. She could tell he was giving her an order, while cloaking it as a request. She nodded and pulled out a small scrap of paper and wrote herself a quick note so she wouldn’t forget.

He continued on with his questioning as soon as he was done inquiring about her side project. “I read it a little better then I speak. My accent’s not the greatest,” she said with a little half smile. “As for other strengths,” Krel had to think about that for a moment. Her lips were pressed in a thin line as she spoke. “The best thing about me is that I am able to see the big picture in a situation, but I guess that can also be the worst thing about me. This is the best thing because I can remove myself from the emotion of a decision that needs to be made and act accordingly. It is a bad thing because I often can see the conclusion quicker than the other participants in a project and that can cause frustration sometimes amongst them.”

She took a breath and continued. “I work better independently, but just decently in groups – so long as the group project isn’t research-based. I find research is easier to do independently. Which I guess implies– research. I’m good at research.” She swiveled in her chair a few times before catching herself and sitting up straighter a bit embarrassed. “I make a good spot of tea – should you ever need a nip.” She motioned to her maroon and black elephant teapot steaming happily in the corner of her desk.

Malachi turned back to Krell and nodded. "That's great, thanks for that information." He knew that he would have to make a note of what she had told him as soon as he sat down, so that he wouldn't forget. His eyes sparkled at the mention of tea. "I will definitely remember the tea, that's an important skill to have, especially early in the mornings."

"I need you to put your project to one side for now, we've got another project to work on. We have been asked, as a department, to write to the foreign Ministers who were visited by our minister while she was touring the globe. Here," He passed Krell a copy of the list of Ministers. "As you can see, there are plenty of Ministers to choose from, so just let Miss Everhart know which Minister you have chosen to write to." He smiled at her and cast a glance back to Miss Kyle and JJ, watching for their response.

(ooc: Please PM your choice to Dances_With_Potter, our new Dept. Head. )

Krel nodded and glanced the list over. Ah good, the Bürgermeister von Magie hasn’t been taken. “I’ll let her know right away,” Krel said with a smile as she folded the paper that Malachi had handed her and slipped it into the breast pocket of her suit robes. She stood up smoothing out her skirt and straightening her tie. “If you’ll excuse me, I should probably get to working on this as soon as I have her approval on a recipient.”

Blair got up amd nodded her head and left. She didn't want to be trouble. She felt bad already. She went into the bathroom and stood at the sink.

" Well, I moved on and you have to move on with your life, too" J.J. Starr told Blair. Joe Jon Montcenaggio hears N malachi being mean to him because he did not know about anything in J.J's and Blair's pasy. J.J. goes to work, but he will take care of this matter of this boss Malachi and his high horse later.

Blair walked back in and sat at her desk. She just staired at her papers and nothing esle. She could do her work anymore.

Alyssa had returned from the conference room to her office at the end of the cubicles. Okay...so a letter to the Minister of Magic from Mexico. Alyssa needed to think of all the issues they were having there and write a thank you letter. Did it need to be in Spanish? Alyssa thought about that...well best to send one letter in English and one letter translated in Spanish...she'd keep copies of both obviously. Alyssa pulled out a quill (not her favorite one by any means) and began to write...

She didn't get any further than the intro before she was already drawing a blank as to what else she needed to write. This letter was important. She needed it to be special and professional.

Helena walked over to her cubical after the meeting, sighing and trying to wrack her mind for the current issues that were going on in France. She knew roughly what troubles there were. Frowning as she saw some people just chatting, she wondered how they weren't sat scribbling away, too.

LE SIIIIIGH.

Time to write, then.

Before she even picked up her quill, Helena decided that it would be a good idea to owl Robert, and find out how things were going in Beauxbatons... If there was anything not-so-good happening, then possibly that could be included in her letter....

Malachi gave Krel an easy smile. "Thanks. I appreciate your enthusiasm." He watched as she left the office, grateful that he had reliable people like Krel and Di on his team.

Malachi sensed that neither JJ or Miss Kyle were happy about his instructions but this was their workspace, not a counselling centre. He took another bite of his toast and made his way to his desk and made a start on his paperwork.

Shepard entered the cubicle area intent on finding a Mr. Malachi Brown. But how to look for him? Hmmm....He grinned as he saw a a table that looked just the right height so he could stand on it and see into all of the cubicles.

He climbed on to the table, making sure to keep his balance. Perfect view...quite a few females busy at work in their cubicles.....a guy, hmmm maybe? This was hopeless. So he had two choices, go door to door or yell so everyone could hear him, including the person he was looking for. He decided to go with the second.

"S'cuse me," he said loudly, cupping his hands around his mouth, "So sorry to disrupt you all, but if you are a Mr. Malachi Brown could you wave your hand so I can come talk to you? Thank you."

He scanned the cubicle's for a waving hand....

Malachi had been absorbed in his paperwork and so had not noticed the unfamiliar man walk into the work area. The first thing that attracted his attention was someone shouting his name. He looked up and at first didn't see who was trying to attract his attention. Frowning, he looked up to see someone standing on the desk. I love my job. I love my job, yes indeed I do love my job...

Malachi stood up and walked towards the man. "I'm Malachi Brown. I'd offer to shake your hand but I can't exactly reach. Care to get down?"

J.J. starr thinks about the owl he is going to send the USA minister. "What to write, whate to write " Joe Jon Montcenaggio thought to himself.

"Oh, yeah, sorry man," said Shep, jumping down off the desk, he enthusiastically grasped Malachi's hand, "I'm Shepard Jones, Ms. Everhart told me to report to you because I'm new and Ms. Norcott? Yeah, I think that's her name, is out."

Krel walked back into the cubical area with a half written letter tucked under her arm and a snoodle doodle cookie in her hand. She was looking forward to enjoying the cookie with a fresh cup of jasmine tea as she finished up her letter to the German Minister of Magic before she headed off to lunch with Edward.

Only, she wasn’t expecting to come back to a man shouting and standing atop a desk in the department. How uncouth, she thought to herself as she eyed him and all the papers he had displaced on the desk he had jumped onto. I’m glad that’s not my desk. If it had been, not only would there have been papers all over the place, but books and tea and most likely broken china. For a moment she felt bad that Malachi had to deal with the young man, but only for a minute. After all, that’s what Malachi got paid the big bucks for.

She skirted around the man, acknowledging Malachi with a wave of her free hand and meandered back to her desk.

Chloe walked into the work area just in time to see Mr. Jones jumping off a desk, and though she knew she should probably scold him, the sight of someone standing on the furniture in the middle of a work place was too comical, and instead she let out a small laugh and shook her head. Gesturing to Malachi, she said, "Mr. Brown, sorry to spoil the party, but may I see you in my office for a moment please?"

He's one of Pippa's, thank Merlin for that! That was the first thing (although throughly unprofessional as it might have seemed on reflection) which occured to Malachi. He held his hand out for the desk surfer to shake, only to have it almost wrenched out of the socket. Hoping that Shepard would eventually let go, he grinned a little. "Pippa is out at the moment, so if you have any problems before she gets back, you can give me a shou-" He tilted his head to one side a little, thinking that giving Shepard an invitation to shout in the office might be a bit of a mistake. "You can give me a wave and I'll try an help you." He cast a glance around himself and noticed a free desk between his and Pippa's. He nodded to Krel and noticed Chloe in the doorway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dances_With_Potter

Chloe walked into the work area just in time to see Mr. Jones jumping off a desk, and though she knew she should probably scold him, the sight of someone standing on the furniture in the middle of a work place was too comical, and instead she let out a small laugh and shook her head. Gesturing to Malachi, she said, "Mr. Brown, sorry to spoil the party, but may I see you in my office for a moment please?"

"I'll be right there." Malachi called to Chloe. "Right, Mr Jones, Why don't you get set up at that desk and erm... try not to stand on it." He winked at the other man, his eyes twinkling with amusement. He clapped the younger man on the shoulder, he walked to where Chloe was standing. "Problem?" He asked his boss in a low voice.

Chloe smiled as Malachi approached. "No, I don't think so, but we'll see," she said and led him away from the work area and into her office to sort out this whole mess. She didn't want this negativity in her department, and she would do whatever it took to get rid of it.

What was that? Oh dear Merlin, please don’t let him pick the desk near me. Krel thought upon overhearing Malachi. She half bent over her own desk and was busy spreading out her half-written letter to the German Ministry. She stopped and straightened up, pushing a small lock of loose hair out of her face. Out of politeness, she gave the young gentleman a smile, then picked up one of her spare teacups and placed it on the edge of her scroll, making it double as a paperweight.

“Now,” she said softly to herself as she tapped a spot in the letter with her finger, coincidently smudging the ink. “Blast,” She was going to have to rewrite it. “Good thing this is a draft.”

Shepard gave a grin to Ms. Everhart, and then turned his attention back toward Mr. Brown, "All right, thanks man, I'll give you a shou-wave," laughed Shep, having caught Mr. Brown's hesitation at encouraging to shout, "If I need anything."

He glanced over at the desk Mr. Brown had pointed at and grinned, not two desks away was a woman to talk to, and then she looked over and smiled at him! Shep, grinned back. "Yes, sir, no standing on it," he said to Malichi, and with a mock salute, he turned toward, what was now he supposed, his desk.

Shep, sat down at his new desk and grabbed a blank sheet of paper and a quill, what to write to the minister of South Africa? Hmm... he heard the lady next to him talking...to herself. He chuckled.

"Hey," he said keeping his voice low, he wasn't sure if they were allowed to talk, but Mr. Brown was out so...,"I'm Shepard Jones, I'm new here...well, you probably noticed...anyway, what are we supposed to be writing about?"

Krel was busy taking a small sip from her teacup as she stood looking down at her desk. “Hmm?” was someone talking to her? She looked around, her long copper braid swinging gently behind her. Oh no! Krel tried to keep a straight-unemotional face as she noticed desk-jumping man leaning over his cube wall to talk to her. Her face, however, looked more like she had just had a sip of really bad tea.

She coughed, put her maroon and black teacup down on the desk and put on what she thought of as her most charming smile. “Your stature, Mr. Jones, was quite –” she waved her hand in a small circle, keeping her palm towards her chest. “Noticeable.” She smiled.

The man asked her another question and she moved around her desk chair to move closer to him. “Well, that I guess depends upon which country you were assigned to,” Krel responded.

Alyssa smiled as she looked down at the letter she had just completed. Thank you letter....check! She was glad she had it written...well the first draft at least. She wondered with Ms. Everhart would think of it. Alyssa had down some extra research on Mexico just to make sure she knew what she was talking about. Rolling up the parchment Alyssa tapped it with her wand to creat a seal. She would be taking it to the Department head shortly.

Alyssa placed her quill bank into the ink bottle and got up from her desk. She looked around to see if she could find any of her employees. The other division seemed to have a few in, but where were Laura and Helena, or what was the new girls name again. Alyssa racked her brain to see if she remember. Sophia? That sounded about right.

He laughed, "Yeah, I thought it was quite the enterance scene by the shocked look on everyone's faces. I swear everyone was thinking, "Ohmygosh, did he really just shout?! In here?!' At least Mr. Brown didn't seem to angry, although he did seem relieved when he realized I wasn't in his department," said Shep.

"Um, well I don't know about assigned, but I volunteered to take South Africa,
" he said, "Minister's name is Josef DuPreez."

Krel laughed a little. It was hard not to. The man did seem rather personable. “Well, it will probably be talked about for the next couple of weeks. Although, I’m not certain if that’s a good thing or not.”

“South Africa,” Krel’s brow furrowed as she tried to remember the recent news she had heard regarding that nation. “Well, the letter is, in general, a thank you letter to the Minister. However…”

She turned away and rummaged through a large pile of papers on her desk. “Where are you…” A book slipped off a pile and bumped into the empty teacup serving as a paperweight. “Ah – there you are.” She produced a well-read newspaper.

“You might want to include something about the recent transportation strike in the country.” She flipped through the paper and then handed it over to him. “Perhaps ask if there is anything we could help to resolve it?”

Shepard laughed as he watched this women rack her brains for South Africa, and then proceed to almost knock over a large stack of papers and books.

He glanced down at the paper he gave her and shook his head in wonderment, "I am in complete awe," he told her, "How is it that I say this random country and you manage to remeber something about some transportation strike and then produce a paper on the matter?"

He shook his head again, "Over achiever much?" He laughed, "I'm kidding, your a life saver, and sometime if I can pull you away from your books, papers, and work long enough, your going to have to let me take you to somewhere, dinner, ice cream, the cafeteria, I don't care, in gratitude."

He looked at the article in his hand and grinned. Well, now he had something to write about.