"Oh really where you two together," Robert asked. He didn't want to get into people space of he didn't have to, Nicole always got mad at him when he did too much. Shrugging his shoulders again he said, "I'm not sure, it might be her and our friends. We always get together and go to parties or something."

"Yeah a few years after Kade apparently died." He smiled thinking about it, "That makes sense." He laughed.

Atticus was going to continue heading into the ballroom but paused for a few moments longer to see if he spotted anyone he knew. It was then that he, out of the corner of his eye, caught a young man and woman staring at him and then quickly glancing away. What was that about?

Another person caught his attention then, but because she had spoken to him, not because she was giving him dark looks. "A bit, yes," Atticus responded with a nod and a faint smile. Truth be told, he'd almost rather be working than attending something like this. Work wasn't nearly as overwhelming.

But then, all this had been someone's - many someones' - work, and Merlin had they done their job well. Even if balls were not his cup of tea, he had to appreciate the hard work and skill that was behind them.

To the man that seemed to be accompanying the woman, Atticus gave a polite nod and smile.



He then happened to notice a couple of his employees walk in, one of whom was with a young man that he didn't recognize, but at least this meant there were a couple people he knew. They seemed to be in the middle of their own conversations though, so perhaps if he found them later he could speak with them then. For now though, if they happened to notice him, he gave them a polite smile.

"Really when was this," Robert asked. He really doesn't know anything about Elizabeth and her family. Nicole never said much, the time the hangs out seemed just for them a little. He just asked if she had fun, not what they talke about.

Much as she liked working with bloodhounds and other animals, Morrigan would freely admit that there was something inherently satisfying in scrubbing the smell of creature away and puttin' on the ritz. Especially when it was to go to something as glamorous as a Ministry Ball.

For the moment, she was content to stand out in the Entrance Hall and soak up the atmosphere, though the dance floor was calling to her and could only be denied for so long. Which was why she'd brought along a date, courtesy of the dog park she'd met him in.

"About six or seven years ago before she started dating Matthew....." He trailed off. Adam shifted uncomfortable. He knew he was being stupid and that only Nadea knew that Adam was the one who really killed Matthew and not some random muggle but he was nervous. Adam thought to change the subject, "So how long have you two been together?" He attempted a smile.

Alicia was entirely happy. Happy that she was there with Jaxton Tanner - her now long-since returned boyfriend who she had been able to spend the past weeks with. Well, it was honestly a month. Seeing as it had been nearly a month since he had gotten injured and she'd helped him. She hadn't known what she would do at first if the Cult hadn't fallen - gone into hiding as her allegiance with the Ministry Law Enforcement was not an unknown thing. Still that was a moot point since they had fallen as everyone knew they would.

Smiling she played with the hem of her dress as she stood there looking Glancing over to Jaxton she just smiled. "Ready?" She asked, her voice not even cracking - as honestly, she normally dreaded big parties but this one - it seemed like a much better idea more fun and for a wonderful cause.

Wonderful indeed. Her boyfriend was no longer a big-old target. And no longer needed to be paranoid - though, in the past month she'd begun to love his quirky little bit of paranoia.

Robert nodded, he was a little confused, but he let it go. "we have been together about one an half years," Robert said in reply. "Where did you and Elizabeth meet?"

"One and a half? Thats nice." He nodded and smiled, "We grew up next door to each other and our mothers constantly made us have play dates so that they can chat while watching us." Adam laughed.

"that's nice you knew each other. I only meet Nicole a few months before we started going out," Robert said. He was wondering a little of where the two ladies have gone this whole time..

Rhys Tate eyed the room. Not with scorn, necessarily, but with detached interest. Super swanky. And his little sister worked here?

"Do you gape a little bit on your way in the door, or have you sort of gotten used to the whole place?" He took up Morrigan's arm and did a very impressive job of escorting her into the room. "If you tell me you get lost on the way to your office, I would believe you."

Adam nodded, "Thats good." He didn't know what else to say and was wondering when the two girls would be coming back....

Robert felt a little awkward. He didn't know what to talk about so he said, "do do you have a family or anyone?"

"I did get lost once," she admitted. Then, stung into honesty by her own conscience, Morrigan corrected, "Twice, actually. I got distracted by things."

She was quite impressed by his impressive job, and couldn't quite hide the excited grin that spread across her face. If he was as fish-out-of-water as she was right now, what with the ball and the arm-leading and the high-profile people everywhere, he was doing a much better job of hiding it. "I'm almost positive I can find the exit now, though."

"Nope.... they all died when i turned 17 sadly." Adam wasn't really sad and didn't even act like it. He didn't really care that his family died. "What about you?"

"Only twice?" He murmured, giving her a playful look. There were probably little old men and women trapped in the maze of corridors that had come in as young interns and had never found their way out. She was lucky.

Oh, the exit, hmm? "Morr, pet... you better remember where that exit is, because I have a feeling we're going to be embarrassing ourselves in an exciting and dramatic way later. Do you tango?" Because neither did he.

There wasn't much you could say when you're life became so hectic and frantic that you couldn't tell left from right... but it seemed that no matter how rubbish and topsy-turvy things had gotten, Alicia had been standing right next to him... and for that he was glad she was his girlfriend... that, and personally he couldn't believe how amazing she looked right now. Seriously, did you actually look at her? She was stunning.

"As long as you're with me." He said softly to her, as he leant in to kiss her cheek gently. "Did I tell you that you look completely gorgeous?" He said with a gentle smile, his eyes looking straight into her own; he seriously didn't know how he was good enough for her - but he'd already sworn to himself that he'd protect her from everything that might try to hurt her. Anything.

Slowly, he took her hand in his own and kissed the back of her hand before he led her gently towards the ballroom. "Would you like to get a drink? Or perhaps dance?" He asked her, his second hand resting at the base of her back to help balance her out in her heels. She didn't have the best natural balance in the world.

"I'll have you know, Mr. Tate, that I've been self-taught to the highest degree." So no, she didn't, at least not in the pleasant-to-watch sense. If he was offering, though, it would be the height of rudeness to refuse. Morrigan gave her head a very unnecessary-but-necessary toss, counting it as a success when none of her hair caught the side of her mouth.

"We'll need an escape plan handy," she mused, eying the buffet tables and the hoards of desserts on them. "One that takes us past those, I think."

Alicia flushed as Jaxton leaned in and kissed her cheek it was a nice feeling - her cheeks burning brightly and her heart hammering like a bird in a cage. Oh she was a hopeless, hopeless fool for him. And then his words made her blush far worse. Coughing slightly and blushing far more she finally spoke. "Gorgeous?" She half asked. And then she watched as he lifted her hand and gently kissed it.

"Thank you - oh...right, um. Maybe a drink first, I really don't want to knock a poor soul unconscious by dancing just yet with a drink in my maybe I will" she chuckled blushing somewhat. She couldn't help but smile as he placed his hand on her back - right, why had she worn heels in general? She wondered.

"But with you there, dancing will be fun...and less dangerous" she chuckled, lightly squeezing his hand as she smiled over to him.

Dean was really nervous. He had never been to a ball with a girlfriend because back at Hogwarts, he asked his close friends during the Yule Ball and had no problems being himself around them. But now, he actually had a girlfriend and this was a Ministry ball, not some Hogwarts annual ball. The newly appointed hit wizard patiently wait patiently waited for Chelsea Payne, his current girlfriend as well as colleague.

Merlin! Everyone else looked good! There were Ali, Chels' housemate and Jax. How did he look to them? Did he picked the wrong suit?

Hmmm? About the Minister eh? "Oh. Don't get me wrong, I did not mean what I said earlier in a bad way, I just mean it in just that way." She said, referring to her agreeing with him that the minister gets what he wants most of the time. "Anyway, is he really engaged?" Not that she liked gossips but this one was different, it was BIG talk.

Eliza laughed. Really now, he was even giving her orders. "Oh, okay.." But she still followed what he said nevertheless. She moved to the place he pointed and she began serving too. "By the way, where would he place you in the Ministry?" Eliza decided to ask.

Tagren shuffled stiffly through the front door, not exactly sure what to expect from this Ministry 'Ball'. He was sore, tired, and sporting a rather green-tinged bruise over his left eye from taking a flaming branch in the face. He'd missed most of the commotion by being out in the field--Brazil, to be exact--and returned to find the Dangerous Creatures department in even more upheaval than usual.

If that was possible.

Upon his return to the office, Tag was told rather persuasively that the dragon wranglers on duty needed to get their reports in, rent a tux, and show up tonight to represent their department. He was not entirely surprised to hear that there was new leadership, and it wasn't a great loss to him since he'd never met the old one either. . . it felt like revolving bosses around here for the last couple of years. But they had missed the big Meeting and other Important Bureaucratic S(tuff), as Tag liked to call it, so here he was.

At least there would be free food.

Tagren spotted another fellow lingering in the hallway, looking slightly uncomfortable himself. "Nice night," Tag proffered, sidling up and nodding at the man. "I guess they went all out, eh? This new leadership must think they're pretty fancy to throw themselves a ball." He didn't have a particularly high opinion of the Board. All stuffshirts, probably. "Have they made any bloody speeches yet? I just got here and I'd like to have missed them all." He shot a wry grin at his new acquaintance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DancingwithRainbows

"I'll make a mental note of that... do you have any places you'd recommend?" she said, already slightly thinking of places to visit, or as he put it, explore. That word certainly made it a lot more interesting! She watched him pick up another drink, carefully considering his words. It was still early, and in honesty she wasn't that hungry.

"Depends, if you can dance maybe a dance otherwise I'll settle for food" she said with a wink, just in case he couldn't dance... How was she supposed to know anyway?

Recommendations? "Mmm, you can never go wrong with a trip to Paris..Versailles. If you go to Italy, then definitely Venice, Rome, and Bozen is an absolutely amazing place. Switzerland and the Swiss Alps...oh, the list just goes on and on. Honestly, if you ever need advice, feel free to send me a letter."

All this talk about traveling was starting to give Ryuu the travel bug again. Sadly, work had to be done before such a thing was possible.

"Dance? Of course, I can dance. It's a requirement when you live in my family," he chuckled. "Well, then, let's hit the dance floor, darling. After you," he said as he put his glass down.

Felicity was pretty used to coming to balls now. She had been dragged to them since she was little. So this was nothing new really. The new thing was, coming to them with her handsome boyfriend. Her poor injured, handsome boyfriend. Fliss glanced down to his other arm. She was no healer, so she did certainly hope that it would cause him no pain tonight. They didn't really need a trip to St mungos, good thing it wasn't a major major injury. It had still made her worry about him though. Fliss hadn't really liked getting the message that Gabe had gotten hurt. It hadn't been nice.

"I know you're not..." She grinned up at him. It suited him though, and she knew without it, he'd probably have just looked like he'd turned up for work. In a white suit. Yeah. That was nice too. She'd enjoyed picking this out. She looked around the entrance as he spoke. Fliss rarely came to the ministry, her domain was she shops really, but Gabe was right. "It does." She nodded with a smile. Maybe she'd have to come around more often, now that the cult was gone.

While she was in the middle of her conversation Laurel noticed a very familiar face walk by her. She took a moment to examine who it was and then noticed it was the head of her department. After a few minutes Laurel finished her conversation with Millie and then told her she was see her around hopefully. Then picking up her gown again Laurel began to look for Atticus. Another couple of minutes had gone by before Laurel found Atticus Aldredge.

She then walked up behind him and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned to look at her Laurel smiled brightly at him saying,"Good evening sir, you look quite handsome.." Laurel then went on to ask politely,"How are you? Quite the celebration isn't it?"