Krel’s smile widened slightly and high on her cheekbones, the skin flushed slightly. “Well,” she said leaning over the cube wall and into the man’s personal space just enough to be noticeable, she turned the page on the newspaper he held in his hands. The front cover said World Prophet News. “While Germany is sort of an area of expertise, I like to attempt to stay versed on what’s going on in other countries.”

She chuckled and stood up, moving out of his personal space. “This is, after all, the International Department. I usually get that delivered every morning if you have a need to borrow it.”

Her ears perked up at the mention of dinner. Did he just ask me out for dinner? The crazy man on the desk. Is that really want you want to be known as? The girl going out with the crazy man on the desk. But it's free food! she argued with herself. Krel, despite her petite size, was quite the foodie. “Food’s always appreciated. Muffins specifically, or cookies.” Her eyes glanced at the cookie sitting on her desk waiting for her to eat it and then up at Edward’s desk. What would Edward think? her conscious asked her, but Krel ignored it. Edward was a friend…they hadn’t moved past that. Krel wasn’t even sure if she wanted to move past that - yet. And this would just be dinner with another friend. That’s how the Edward thing started last time. Don’t fool yourself bucko...but free food?! “But dinner’s always welcome." What are you doing? She couldn't seem to stop herself. "In the meantime…” She motioned to the maroon and black elephant teapot steaming happily on the corner of her desk. “I’ve always got a pot of tea on. You’re welcome to a nip.”

Germany, huh? Coincidentally, he was from German decent, but he decided to keep that little tidbit of information to himself, since something told him, she might just break into a monolouge if he did.

He grinned at her, "All rightee, if I ever have the sudden urge to know what's going on with the wizading and Muggle communities in Uzbekistan or something rather I'll let you know, so I can borrow one of your much loved issues of World Prophet News."

Muffins, that reminded him...he was on his way to find a cafeteria or break room before he talked to Ms. Everhart..."I'll take you up on that sometime," he said, meaning the tea and the dinner, "And as for the muffin, I'm actually going to go down to find a breakroom or cafeteria before I start on my letter, so I'll see if I can't find a muffin to bring back up here for you."

He tossed her beloved, well worn newspaper on his desk and turned to leave, "Hey, wait," he said, stopping and turnng around, "I never got your name."

Krel picked up on the fact that the man had been teasing her and that he still seemed to be a bit sardonic, especially when talking about the newspaper she had offered him. Well, two could play that game. “No, I don’t believe you did,” she said in response to his statement about her name. And it was a statement, not a question as to what her name was. He was a smart man, she was sure he’d be able to figure it out on his own…somehow.

She pulled out her chair and spun it around as she unbuttoned the bottom button on her suit-robes. “I’m partial to lemon poppy seed muffins- if they have any,” she called after him and then sat down, spun back around and got to work on her letter.

Shepard grinned and shook his head, so thats the way she was going to be? Laughing, he turned and exited the work area, "All right, I'll see what I can do," he yelled back over his shoulder.

Hopefully the muffins were labeled, because he hadn't the slightest clue what a lemon poppy seed muffin looked like...

Alyssa having turned in her thank you letter and gotten it approved, returned to the office to see if there was any one in there that needed help writing their own letter. Alyssa walked back to her desk, tripped over her own shoe laces and fell flat on her face! "OUCH!!!" Alyssa screamed as she stood up and realized that her nose was bleeding, she hoped and prayed that it wasn't broken!!

" Oh no, ,are you ok" J.J. Starr asked Alyssa. " Are you sure you do not need to go to a healer?" Joe Jon Montcenaggio asked Alyssa with concern in his voice. " I am stumped on what to write in my owl to the United States Minister" J.J. explained to Alyssa.

Alyssa held back tears, "No I don't need a healer, broken noses I can fix. Episkey" Alyssa said pointing her wand at her nose and it gave a sickening crack. Alyssa cried out just the once in pain again and the blood began to slow that was coming out of her nose. "But I think I've ruined our carpet in the office" Alyssa pointed to a small spot of blood that was now staining the carpet. "Hopefully we'll be able to get that out." Alyssa shrugged it off for now. "Your letter?" Alyssa was trying to think of anything that was going on with the US Ministry these days that would help with writing a thank you letter. "Well, what did the Minister all do well she over visiting there?

" I feel really bad for you" J.J. Starr told Alyssa. " I do not like seeing anyone hurt" Joe Jon Montcenaggio said to Alyssa. "Do not worry about the carpet, worry about yourself and I will try to think of the cleaning spell" J.J. explained to Alyssa. "Acually, I only met the Usa Minister twice while I played my sports over there, so I am not sure about anything" J.J. Starr sighed.

Shepard sauntered back into the work area so he could get to work on his South Africa letter, he was all ready now that he had a plate full of various pastries from the ministry cafeteria. He grinned to himself and set the plate down on his new desk.

"Hey-hey," Shep said looking over the wall at his hard-at-work neighbor, "I brought you muffins....but at a price. Tell me your name and the muffins are yours for the taking."

"Well J.J. I've never met the Mexican Minister either, but I still wrote a great letter." Alyssa wasn't trying to seem mean, but J.J. had picked the USA minister, he was going to have to write the letter one way or another. "Well what's currently going on in the US Ministry? You may have to do a little research." Alyssa wasn't going to do his job for him, but she was willing to help in any way possible.

"Well, I am sure you did a great job" J.J. Starr told Alyssa. " You know, I am going to read up on the USA" Joe Jon Montcenaggio said to Alyssa. " I am going to write the USA minister in the next couple of days" J.J. explained to Alyssa.

Krel’s head snapped up. What was going on today? Hadn’t anyone in this department heard of a quiet environment? She stood up and looked around, not hiding her irritation with all the noise. A man yelling atop a desk and a woman screaming bloody murder were no way to act at work, especially in an environment that demanded you be on your best behavior 24-7.

Maybe, she thought to herself. I should go find Malachi and see if he can do something about all this vulgarity. She observed them for a moment, but the girl seemed to be settling down. Well, they better not make a habit of it...
As if on cue, Mr. Jones was back.

It really wasn’t going to be Krel’s day was it? Am I to get any work done at all? she exasperatedly exclaimed to herself. She closed her eyes and gave herself a moment to compose herself before turning around. She plastered her best fo-smile on as she placed a hand on the back of her chair.

“Welcome back. For a moment, I thought you were got lost on the way to the cafeteria.” She eyed the plate of pastries. "Seems like you got there well enough though."

Shep laughed, "Yeah, it didn't take to long, I just followed my nose...and the signs."

He helped himself to a especially yummy looking cream cheese danish and turned back to the amusing lady in the cube next to him, "So," he said whats it gonna be?"

He precariously balanced the plate with the muffins on it on the half wall between them, "A muffin or this hard to get thing your playing at? Your name for a muffin....." he said, temptingly dangling a muffin into her work area, "Pick and I'll leave you alone...."

So he thought she was playing hard to get? In fact she wasn’t. The man just hadn’t asked the correct question yet. He must be new to politics, Krel thought to herself as she leaned back against her desk. Her Peruvian Vipertooth scaled heels caught the light and shimmered a bit from the light above her desk.

And then Krel decided upon the perfect name to tell him. “Well,” her smile got a bit crooked as she answered him and reached for the blueberry muffin on the plate. “I don’t have to tell you it, because you’ve already guessed it.” She picked up the muffin and nodded her head towards it. It wasn’t really lying after all. Faith had called her Muffin for years. Although the ‘muffin’ was usually accompanied by ‘head’ or ‘freak’ or ‘addict.’

Besides, it’d be funny to have the man calling her ‘muffin’ for a while. Well, at least to her it would be. Krel did have a sense of humor at least, even if she was a bit uptight about work.

Shep furrowed his brow "What-" then he got it. Muffin? Really? She expected him to believe her real name was Muffin? He raised an eyebrow at her and finished up his danish. "Muffin? If you say so," he said with a smile.

He reached over and placed the rest of the rest of the muffins on her desk, though he had his doubts that such a petite woman could eat all that food. Well, he supposed he shouldn't put off his work any longer. So he grabbed a quill, blank paper, and the newspaper he had tossed on his desk earlier, poking his head back into Muffin's space he said, "Well, I'm off to the library to do my research and finish, well start and finish, this darned letter. See you around, Muffin."

He stifled a laugh, just in case it was her real name. It sounded like a pet name, like something you would call your spouse, like 'honey' or 'pumpkin.' He hoped that the people in the workplace didn't get the wrong idea, and he very much hoped that she didn't have a jealous boyfriend person who would give Shep hell if he heard him calling Muffin, Muffin.

Hi ho, hi ho, its off to the library I go..., thought Shep,making his way out of the work area.

J.J. Starr is really thinking hard about what to write. He has time this week-end.

Walking back from Miss Everhart's office, Diana sat back in her desk, cleaned the bit of dust that had accumulated the days she was absent from work and got to think about something else to do.

There was a lot to do in that office, things needed to get done and fast.

Chloe made her way, almost leisurely, into the work area. It had been oddly quiet lately, and that worried her. Once she reached the rows of cubicles and desks she clapped her hands together once and smiled around at all of her employees who seemed to be working diligently. "Good day, everyone! It's lovely to see you all working so hard! It seems I have yet to receive the letters some of you are supposed to be writing, so I am here to offer my assistance in writing these letters to anyone who needs it!" she said brightly. This task needed to be completed... and soon, but maybe some of them simply didn't know where to start or could use a push in the right direction?

Helena looked up from her cubical when she heard her Department Head's voice, "Hullo Miss Everhart" She said to her, with a polite nod. She looked down to her piece of parchment. It had ... Very little written on it.

Writing formal letters had never been a strong aspect of Helena's talents. She'd never really had any need to write letters to anyone of a larger scale of importance such as a Minister of Magic. She'd never even had the need to write a letter to a Headmaster.

She looked at Miss Everhart, and then down to the page of notes that she'd written about the issues that were currently happening in France. "I think I'm fine, Thank you for offering to help though. I just need to write up the letter preoperly and I'll have it to you by the end of the day." Helena sank back into her cubical and looked at the parchment, wondering whether it would be better to write the letter in English or French.

" If you could just tel me where to start on my letter, I would appreciate it" J.J. Starr told Miss Everheart. " I know I could write the complete letter for sure after your help" Joe Jon Montcenaggio said to Miss Everheart. J.J. waits for her help.

Chloe smiled at her employees and then looked back and forth between the two of them. "Well, my advice to both of you would be to start with a greeting. Then, right off the bat, I think it would be best if we thank them for their hospitality while Minister Taylor was abroad. Perhaps mention some of the sites they took her to see or things of that nature. Then I would get into addressing the things that were discussed while she was there," she said in a cheery tone, hoping this was what they meant by wanting to know how to start.

" Thanks, I am going to get started on my letter immediately" J.J. Starr told Miss Everheart. " You remind me of an old boss I liked named Samantha Bradley" Joe Jon Montcenaggio said to Miss Everheart.

Alyssa having taken a few days off because her son was sick was now back in the office and ready to go. She bounced in with a spring her step ready for the day. Alyssa and spoken with her husband and they had come to a rather large decision, but for now, they were keeping it to themselves. Alyssa needed to talk to her Department Head about it first.

So Alyssa set her bag down at ther desk and looked at the huge pile of paper work that was sitting there from her days gone. She sighed, 'this may take all day' Alyssa said to herself and then grabbed what was on top and began to read and dipped her quill in some ink ready to write what may need to be written. Alyssa wondered if any one was going to need help with their letters. Alyssa looked up to see whom from her division was present.

Helena walked back into the work area after giving Miss Everhart her letter to the French Minister. It felt really good to have the work done and out of the way. She smiled at Alyssa as she passed her, and then sat down at her cubical.

She picked up her quill and twiddled it in her thumbs, wondering whether or not she would write to Iris and Robert later on.

Alyssa seeing Helena for the first time in days got up from her chair and went over to her desk. "Hello Helena, How are you?" Alyssa was glad to see that memebers of her division were in today as well. "Did you get your letter to the French minister done?" Alyssa was willing to help if her she hadn't done so yet. "I finished mine to the Mexican Minister." Alyssa told her, offering her assistant if needed.