Guacamole was a food? Oh how silly of James! “C-cowboy?” He asked wide eyed. Male cows.. no BULLS who wear big hats and sing and... dance? How puzzling, frightfully strange and sort of scary. Muggle customs just went over the boy's head. What was a CD? James felt completely stupid as he sat there listening to this clearly muggleborn man. “I've never been to the muggle world before.” He said like he was ashamed of the fact.. which, in truth, he was.

He chuckled lightly at the image of Leo as a little boy being chased by his sister. “Do you get on with her as an adult?” He asked with interest. Living in a completely magical household had it's positives as well as it's negatives. “I woke up with a pair of goats horns once.” He said softly and laughed awkwardly. “My brother thought it would be funny.” Which it was, to him; but to James it had been a rather traumatic experience. Kids could be cruel. He reached out for his cup of hot herbal tea and took a small sip.

He had to smile when the man grinned and pointed at him. Ay por? What was that? Spanish? Just a slip apparently. He listened to Leo's guidance and took a breath, closing his eyes and imagining what was being described to him. Yellow.. he needed yellow paint. He picked up the tube and squirted it onto the canvas, then proceeded to smear it with is fingers into a spidery shape. It felt strangely satisfying. “It's abstract.” He said. Obviously. “Because I'm not good with detail.” Next colours – red and white. On the colours were slapped which mixed on the canvas to make a nice bright pink against the soft yellow. He looked at Leo - was it okay what he was doing?

Pippa smiled softly, and slipped into the seat as she placed her bottle of apple juice down on the table, before unfolding a napkin --once sitting-- and placing her pasty on that. And then, well she just looked over at her new-found company and smiled, a BIG, CHEERY Pippa smile. (It could probably be perceived as a grin, but she can smile bigger XD) "Silas? That's a real nice name you got there. Pippa, Pippa Norcott." She chuckled softly, as she reached over the table a bit to shake his hand; having short arms was NOT fun.

From that, she smiled at Silas once more and sat back properly in her chair, crossing her legs under the table and opened her apple juice bottle. She had never really been a fan of apple juice, when younger, but now she was drinking alot more than she did cranberry juice. And that was her absolute FAVOURITE.

Once she had finished drinking -- or so, what she wanted to drink-- she looked back over at Silas and decdided to make conversation. Well, WHY NOT? "So, what level you working on, Silas?"

Cowboy! "Yes!" Leo smiled and nodded, picking on his lasagna, smirking at the man's expression.
Leo was balancing on the back legs of the chair, but he stared at James when he shared that he hadn't been to the muggle world. Caramba... Quite surprised over this notion, he forgot to keep balancing and the chair went down loudly on its front legs again. Brow furrowed, he didn't move his eyes from the young man. "Never?" he asked curiously, his voice soft as to not sound too harsh. "Well..." Leo shrugged and kept his shoulders up for a moment, gesturing with the other hand, "We'll have to change that." Like really, this man needed to see what was out there. How come, in all his years, he had never been to other places?
James was quite shy...maybe that was the reason? Hm... It was curious...
"You know...as a Department Head, I need to go up to the telephone booth and check that it's working," total lie, "You mind accompanying me? I could use the help." He asked, expectantly. Was that sticking your nose into what didn't concern you? Heh.

"Yes, I do get on with her well. She's my baby sister..." He smiled. But the smile turned into a wincing. "Ay...that must have been quite a surprise." And a cruel one. "What did you do in return? Turn him into a cat?" Hehehe. Oh, he hoped it was gooooooood.

The way James was taking it all in made Leo keep quiet, not wanting to disturb the man. He watched the canvas suddenly coming to life with all the colors he was going to have on it. Hm? Abstract, yes yes. Leo nodded in an understanding way. "Mhm." Let the imagination run loose. "That's good...let's the audience make their own mind about what they see." Clever. He noticed the look James was giving him. Um....oh, encouragement! "You're doing great, James." He scratched his stubbled chin. "It's quite interesting." Picking up the fork, Leo proceeded to shovel a big piece of lasagna into his mouth. It went down quite well. Delish!

"I find painting to be quite therapeutical." He nodded, swallowing his food. "Don't you think?"

Leo was staring again and James blushed. His usually pale milky cheeks now matched his red braces. He looked down, unable to continue to meet Leo's assessing gaze but looked up startled when there was a crash. Leo was still looking though and James began to chew the inside of his cheek anxiously. He shook his head. “Never.” He said softly. Change it? James wasn't sure he wanted to. He was quite happy living his sheltered life in the magical world. Oh the telephone booth? The curious red box thing. Oh.. he had unwittingly just told a lie! “I went in that. B-by mistake I mean. I didn't know what it was and then it started moving and then I was up on the streets of London!” He exclaimed. “I didn't go anywhere.” Nope.. just tripped over what he thought was a muggle and then retreated back to the ministry. He nodded his head. “I'll help if I can.” Wait.. did Leo say he was a department head? “Which department do you... head?” The art department? Was there such a thing?

“Is there a big age gap?” He asked about Leo's sister. Indeed, how old was this man? He seemed far older than James but then most did. His ignorant, wide eyed innocence made him appear younger than he was.. and the stutter didn't help. “N-nothing.” He said. “Our father s-sorted hi-hi... it out.” He shuffled in his seat uncomfortably. Moving on...

“I-is that not a b-bit of a cheat though?” James asked earnestly. “S-should the audience not be able to see what you saw when you painted the picture?” In this case the inside of James's head. Hmm... it sure looked pretty. He smeared on more paint – light purples and some white. He smiled broadly when Leo said he was doing great. “It looks tranquil.” He said looking at his creation thus far. “What do you see when you listen to music?” He asked the man curiously. “H-have you ever painted the inside of your head?” James would love to see one of Leo's creations.

Therapeutic - James agreed. “It's like music. An outlet to express yourself if-if..” He trailed off and bit his bottom lip. 'If you're socially inept and can't do it any other way.'

Oh dear.
James looked quite shocked at the little trip he had in the telephone booth. That went Leo's plan flying off. "Oh, that must've been quite an experience." He nodded, making a slight grim face. Nevermind then. "Thankyou. I'd appreciate it, amigo." Well...he would just not mention it later. Heh.

"I'm the Head of Education." He nodded slowly, resuming his balancing on the back legs of the chair.

Age gap? "Four years only. It's not that much." he smiled. "Is there a big gap between your brothers? What number are you?" An amused smile spread his lips. He regarded James when he told what had happened after the...horning. It tugged at his heart how uncomfortable he seemed just talking about it. It really must not have been a pleasant experience.

"Cheat?" Oh, that's what he meant. "Ofcourse, that would be ideal...if that is what you want to do." Leo looked at him for a moment, crossed his arms and suddenly got alot more livlier, even leaning in, in his seat. "But that's the magic of painting," his hands moved around, "you have the power to make people see what you want to see. Or, have the choice to give them the power." Truth is, it was difficult. "Some people see what they want to see...they are not open to the many possibilites." Leo nodded once, eyebrows raised. "You have to make them see. Open up their minds, James. When they see your painting, make them want to see more."Was he making any sense?

Tranquil, like him. Interesting.

"Me, I see dreams, hopes...love." Oh how he saw the love. "And I see...freedom." He grinned. But the next question made him chuckle. Ah this boy was inventive. "I've tried to, many times." He looked out...at one of the enchanted windows, then glanced at James. "And I like to think I've succeeded many times." Hehehe.

What happened? "Yes?" Leo looked worried. "Go on. '...if' what?" He had a big aura of mystery, this man.

Silas smiled at her, watching her placing her things on the table and hiding a frown as best as he could at the pasty; a food that often made a mess. Again though, it was more than possible that he was just being overly fussy because he was nervous about being in a new place with so many new people, most of which were in a higher position than himself and were likely to correct him on any slight mistake he made. "Thanks," he replied, smiling at her a little as he picked up his spoon again and added another spoonful of sugar. He had added an odd number before and that simply would not do. "I believe I was actually named after an old pet cat or something," he added aiming to simply make conversation. Why his parents had told him that though he would never know. He shook her hand and smiled again when she introduced herself, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Pippa!"

As she drank her juice, he continued to stir his coffee. It had to be stirred a precise amount of times before he would be satisfied. Sure, it was tedious. He had nothing better to do though. He'd be counting the tiles on the floor if he allowed his mind to wander too much. When she spoke again his eyes looked up from his coffee and he stopped stirring, placing the spoon on his saucer once more. "I'm in Magical Security," he grinned a little. He loved his job. "What about you?" he asked.

Liliana walked into the cafeteria and sat at a table. She misssed her daughters, but she couldn't see them now, they were at their father's house. She pulled out their photo and looked at that instead. She wouldn't think about it now, she told herself. Just realx. Socialise... socialise. That was it, she needed to socialise, make some new friends. Friends. Socialise. She could do that.... she would do that. Later

Deciding after the kind of day she'd had, Mackenzie heads up to the cafeteria. Stepping through the doors, she looks around for a small empty table. Spotting one with just a straw wrapper on it, she picks it up and tosses it into the garbage.

Sitting down, she pulls her lunch out of her bag, and places the bag on the floor by her feet. Opening her lunch, she takes out the tuna salad she'd made the night before. Opening it, she takes a bite.

Was this the way work was going to be everyday? she wondered silently to herself. Accidents...surprise visits from the one person she'd never expected to have followed her here.

Erik walked into the cafeteria and with a quick look around not fully expecting Mackenzie to be there. When he spotted her sitting down by herself he smirked. Going through the line he bought his lunch and headed over toward her. "Well hi there!" he said with a smile as he slid across from her.

Looking up as Erik sat down across from her, she smiles back at him. "Hi." she replies quietly. Thinking back to the DoM she wonders if what happened actually did, or if he had just said that, looking for a reason to see her again.

Searching his face with her eyes, she can't be sure. Erik had a way of being able to make his face completely blank of any kind of expression when he wanted to.

"So...?" she asks questionably. Hoping for some sign of what was truly going on.

Erik smiled at Mackenzie and took a bite out of his sandwich. Watching her curiously he couldn't read her probably as much as she couldn't read him. They were both good at hiding what they wanted to hide.

"So?" he asked with a grin and looked at the sandwich, "Ye know this is pretty good. Want a bite?" he asked holding it out to her with a grin.

"Of a kiwi flavored sandwich" she asks with a revolted look on her face. "No, that's alright. I'll stick with my chicken salad one I made last night."

Glancing at his arm, she dares attempt to ask "When did they start again?" bringing her eyes up to meet his again, with questions in them.

*Crash!*
That was the sound of Frida Bok's energy level coming to a sudden halt. 'I swear it was just morning ten minutes ago.'
She sat down at one of the smaller booths and pulled out her notepad while wishing for a huge mint chocolate-chip ice cream sundae...which she quickly received. Eight scoops, hot fudge, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and four cherries.

Of course, it wasn't the best thing for her to be eating, but it was something that she had been craving for a week, and Frida finally gave in.
Without any further delay, the woman began to chow down; every so often she took a breath in order to read off her notes for later.

Armen walked into the large and rather crowded Ministry Cafeteria. He had recently taken to eating at the Muggle Cafe across the street from the large undercover Wizarding complex, but he had some notes and pamphlets to look over for his Department's upcoming inter-divison competition, and he could risk a muggle seeing the plans. So walking across the linolium floor in his black dress shoes, he grabbed a tray of a chicken BLT and fries and tried to find a table.

None of them were free so he had to go sit with someone. So after hunting he saw a moutain of Ice Cream, with a person behind it. He thought the woman looked familiar and then realized where she was from. "Oh hello there! It's good to see you again! May I sit here?" he asked her as he put his hand a chair across from the woman he had met at the Quittich World Cup.

"Kiwi flavoured sandwich? What?" He sniffed at his sandwich tenatively and shook his head, "No it's just ham and cheese. What ye think I am? Weird?" He grinned and took another bite of his sandwich.

Seeing her eyes glance at his arm he pretended not to notice as he chewed his sandwich, "When did what start?" He looked over his shoulder at the line and sighed, "I should've gotten some o' those brownies they had."

Stopping herself in mid-dive, Frida looked up. It was that man she recognized as Armen. She had met with him briefly in the Leaky, and at the Quidditch World Cup. "Mhm." Frida said and took another bite of her ice cream. It was only then that she realized what a glutton she must have looked like, and the slight embarrassment forced her to slide down in her seat a little bit more.
"Good to see you too, Armen." She continued and ate one of the cherries. 'I'll have to run for two hours just to burn off what I've already eaten.' Frida realized and stared at the mountain of ice cream that was still in front of her. 'Ah well.' "What's that?" Frida asked as her eyes spotted what looked like paperwork.

Laughter in her eyes, she eyes the sandwich. "Well, I wasn't sure after your ice cream." Taking a bite of her own, she chews it thoughtfully.

"The dreams...and injuries starting again?" she asks tentatively. Watching him look over his shoulder mentioning the brownies, she grins devilishly.

Taking a large brownie out of her bag that was wrapped in tinfoil, she opens it up taking a long whiff of the delicious aroma.

As she looked over her ice cream and acknowledged his request for admitance to the table, Armen pulled the chair out and with a slight sigh, he sat down to join her. As he layed out his papers, the Division Head looked up again and peered at her ice cream curisouly. "What kind is that by the way?" it did look rather tastey.

Then she had looked over at his work. "Umm well as you know I work in Transportation, right?" he paused a second to make sure she remembered that while he took a drink of his water. "Well we got a new Department Head and he held a meeting with all of the Division Heads to come up with something to welcome all of the new employees to the level. So.." he gestured to the stack of papers in front of him. "We came up with an idea for a little inter-division competition of sorts to promote forms of Transportation." he nodded as he flipped over the pamplet he was given and scanned the back. "So how are things in Accidents and Catastrophies?" he asked her with a upward glance.

"Mindh chokat chip." Frida replied before she managed to swallow a large mouthful.
She nodded as Armen asked if she had remembered his place of work. "Any sort of transportation?" Frida asked and filled her mouth with more sugary goodness.
"It's going. Lots of paperwork right now." Frida said and wished for a drink of warm tea. All the cold ice cream was making her head hurt. It appeared on the table in an instant. "I've gotten a couple new employees so far." She took a sip of drink, "Now it's just a matter of time before I see what they can do on the field. And I'm eager to see their skill." Stuffing another spoonful into her mouth she said, "Is yur foor sed up lahk ours?" She swallowed, "With everyone in one workspace?"

Erik laughed and met her eyes briefly before looking away. He took a sip of his drink and smiled, "Nothin' wrong with kiwi," he teased.

He swallowed as she got to the point and pursed his lips, "They never went away. But that's...," he shook his head, "Nevermind." That hadn't been the reason he'd gone down there. Setting his sandwich down on it's plate he sighed. He didn't feel hungry anymore.

His eyes caught her movement and he watched her take a brownie out of her bag. Watching her he raised an eyebrow at her "Are ye goin' ta share that or just tempt me?"

Touching his arm lightly, she looks at his eyes, as he places the sandwich on his plate. "It wasn't your fault. You know that don't you?" Sighing, she looks down, pulling her hand back. "It took me a long while to realize that...And it wasn't easy to admit that, really."

"Chocolate solves everything...doesn't it." she replied with a smile. Breaking the large piece in half, she hands him a piece. Not everything...but it cheered her up a bit. Unfortunately the pain that had enterred her eyes after her admission, didn't go away.

Erik looked down at his arm as Mackenzie touched his arm. Swallowing he debated on whether or not to reach out to touch her hand. Just as he had decided to she pulled her hand away and instead he reached for his glass, passing the movement off as just doing that. "Yeah...I know it took you awhile. Everyone was quick to think it was me," his hand clenched on the glass, the only way to tell his expression, and he set it down.

"No. Chocolate just tastes good. Nothing ever gets solved by it." His eyes met hers and he swallowed. "I didn't go down there to have my issue solved," he said vaguely as he pinched off a bit of his brownie.

Biting her lip, hard, she winces as she does so. She was not going to allow that tear to fall. It was in the past, not quite a year ago, but close enough. "I didn't want to think it was you, and refused to let myself." she replies quietly. Finishing off her sandwich, she glances at her half of the brownie.

Not able to meet his eyes, she knew he was hurt about the accusations, from everyone. Nothing she said or did, would change that, other then trying to make sure he understood she didn't blame him. Even that, however, seemed not enough.

Looking up at him questioningly as he says it hadn't been the reason, he had gone down there. Taking a piece of the corner of the brownie, she asks "Why then?"

Erik saw her bite her lip out of the corner of his eye and he wondered why. Why it was that she looked like she was going to cry. It hadn't been her that had been accused. He refused to respond to her remark knowing better. He didn't want to get into a fight.

He popped the pinch of brownie into his mouth and stared at the table. His eyes met hers and he wasn't sure what to say. He wanted tell her how much he really cared about her. Swallowing he popped another piece of brownie into his mouth. "To explore of course," he said with a not so heartfelt smile. He couldn't do it, he couldn't tell her.

Noticing him brush off her statement, but understanding in a way why, she takes another piece of brownie and puts it into her mouth.

Raising an eyebrow at his comment to explore, she laughs lightly. "You, explore?" she comments. She knew that yes, he may explore, but that was waaaay to unlikely.

Wishing she had the nerve, to say something herself, she figures they'd never know how the other felt. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.