banner by sweetpinkpixie

Modern, light and airy, you'll find the larger work area quite a pleasant place to be, though the windows aren't real, they're simply charmed to have a nice view. Some of the desks here are arranged into clusters, giving the entire space a far more friendly and united vibe than one might expect from such a serious department. Naturally employees of different divisions are clustered with their fellows, every member of MMAO, CMEC and IUMO have their own permanent desks here, the Wizengamot employees are more transient as they are based here but spend a good amount of their time on level ten in the courtrooms. They all have their own secure lockers however, and you may on occasion find one or two of the legal bunnies working at a spare desk going through stacks of court files and case histories and boring fascinating things like that.

The forensics lab, a large storage room, the evidence and pensieve room and the direct floo access aren't too far from here, but the conference room, filing room and the department head's office are a bit more of a walk. In case you forget, take a look at the map. Oh and on your way down the corridor, take a look at the noticeboard and grab yourself a coffee if you like. Its better than the stuff we provide in the waiting room.

You are here.

Vic barged into the desks hall with arms spread wide and a goofy grin gracing his face, "Ooooohohohooo, finally!" He jumped forward, turned around as if hugging the entire room, he made sure he was alone before letting himself act all silly and very far from an attorney should.

The dust and chewed in bits didn't even bother him! Vic pocketed his hands, going back to acting like a man, and approached one of the desks. He leaned in, sniffed the surface and started sneezing his brains out. Very bad move.

Emily was set on peaking into the laboratory with Elinor, when a sound had distracted her, sending her on a different trajectory. Despite having a firm but flexible grip on her wand, she recognised the sound to be a friendly one, and as she rounded the corner to the west wing she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sensitive nose? Or did you inhale the stuff?" she asked, approaching her golden boylaw man. The dust, and...chewed things seemed to be a trend throughout.

Vic was barely recovering from his sneezing fit when Emily's voice send his arms on goosebumps fit. Why did he get the feeling that he was about to get scolded for sniffing something potentially dangerous? "Errr... I might have taken a big inhale... close to the desk's surface." In another words, yes, he'd sniffed it.

"But hey boss! We got our place back, no more vamping out under the ground, eh?" He grinned widely and wiped his nose with his sleeve. Just in case.

Where was everybody, though?

......

......

Great Circe ... of course he did. Emily shook her head, lightly slapping his arm as she closed the gap between them, "Probably shouldn't have done that." She cast her gaze over the work area and the desk he had ... sniffed ... it appeared to be much the same as everywhere else she'd seen thus far.

She managed a smile, though her enthusiasm wasn't a great as Vic's clearly was. "I rather liked vamping," she mused, "but once we have this place in tip-top shape again I'll be thrilled." Magic, they needed their wards up, and speaking of wards, she was willing to bet her whole vault that her office was about as secure from intrusion as a public bathroom.

The employees had finally been able to get into the department and Octavia admitted that she was the tiniest bit excited to see what the area was like. She had big expectations. She had worked at two other ministries before and despite them being pleasant and interesting, she was hoping that the British Ministry was as outstanding as she had heard.

But as she entered, her brows furrowed at the site of the area. This desk was where she was expected to work? She tilted her head slightly at an angle, blinking in response. Oh Merlin, this wasn't much better than underground. True, it was warm and she could no longer see her breath and the actual building was pleasant, solid at least but this dust was ridiculous. She wrinkled her nose followed quickly by a delicate sneeze.

"Has it always been like this?" she asked approaching her department head and the gentleman who also worked for Wizengamot, Vic she remembered. She brushed off the surface of a desk, deciding that this one was now hers. "Still, nothing that a quick flick of the wand can't fix" Unless there was something else that she should know. Like this was how everyone liked to work.

Yeaaaaah, he shouldn't have. Vic rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture Emily must've become familiar with by now, just like he was familiar with her underground preference. "After dealing with rats, I'm sure everyone will be thrilled to deal with dust."

As soon as he finished his sentence, a woman joined them. Vic flashed her a big smile after recognizing her face, he hadn't had the opportunity to work directly with her yet but he'd seen her around the tunnel. "Of course not. We're neat folks." Apparently it was he rfirst time in the real MLE offices. Vic glanced at Emily, giving her a knowing look, 'do you see what the underground did to the new people?' "Exactly." He agreed with the woman and addressed their department head. "Do we get rid of the dust or should we take samples from every desk and hand it to the investigating team?" He glanced around. "It all looks like ordinary dust to me..." And he sniffed it and lived to tell the tale. "The chopping marks, though..." The mutants came to his mind..

What was with all the negative nancy's in the department? A little dust, dirt, rats or darkness never hurt anyone... Circe. Thankfully Vic was quick to respond to Octavia's appearance and comments, it saved her from putting her foot in her mouth - not that she particularly cared if she did. "It's easily remedied," she agreed, and certainly with a few well placed cleaning charms they would make short work of it.

It was times like this that she particularly appreciated Vic's sense of humour, because that was a joke, right?... or maybe not? Either way, she expressed her amusement with a light chuckle. "A single sample of dust will suffice, there's plenty of it." Emily watched in hope he wouldn't start sniffing it again, and to her delight, he didn't. "Rogue mutant, perhaps?" she questioned, inching closer to one of the desks and analysed the surface. "Or... something smaller..."

But standing around wasn't really her thing, so enough of this. Pushing her sleeves halfway up her forearm, wand in hand, Emily gave it a flick at the desk she was inspecting. She wasn't above cleaning and a bit of elbow grease, and the sooner things got started, the better. "Best make a start."

Having finally explained to the woman that they were there because they had been instructed to and with a minimal roll of the eyes at the fact that the woman clearly hadn't read the noticeboard, the employees had finally got what they were after and Octavia accepted the bottle from Vic. "Thanks" she smiled, glancing briefly at the young woman who was shadowing him. She assumed this was some form of training initiative although communication between the two was certainly lacking.

They had moved back to their own desks and the woman glanced around suspiciously looking for these elusive Chizpurfles. "I joined the ministry for an innovative career with the Wizengamot and here I am searching for impossible to spot creatures." Honestly, she couldn't see any! And Merlin knew that she was not going to get down on her hands and knees and look for them, not in her office attire anyway.

She sighed internally and glanced back at Vic. "The thing's you do for your career." Apparently turning into the pest squad was one of them. In all it was actually quite humorous, especially if the entire ministry was doing it. The thought of the unspeakables rushing around the atrium and the games and sports department on their hands and knees under the desks brought a sense of union to the Ministry. Although this situation probably shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Text Cut: Octavia :3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lottiepot

Having finally explained to the woman that they were there because they had been instructed to and with a minimal roll of the eyes at the fact that the woman clearly hadn't read the noticeboard, the employees had finally got what they were after and Octavia accepted the bottle from Vic. "Thanks" she smiled, glancing briefly at the young woman who was shadowing him. She assumed this was some form of training initiative although communication between the two was certainly lacking.

They had moved back to their own desks and the woman glanced around suspiciously looking for these elusive Chizpurfles. "I joined the ministry for an innovative career with the Wizengamot and here I am searching for impossible to spot creatures." Honestly, she couldn't see any! And Merlin knew that she was not going to get down on her hands and knees and look for them, not in her office attire anyway.

She sighed internally and glanced back at Vic. "The thing's you do for your career." Apparently turning into the pest squad was one of them. In all it was actually quite humorous, especially if the entire ministry was doing it. The thought of the unspeakables rushing around the atrium and the games and sports department on their hands and knees under the desks brought a sense of union to the Ministry. Although this situation probably shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Vic led the way to their offices, offering Octavia a warm smile when she thanked him. Though her first comment once they were in made him laugh, the woman was sarcastic and funny, that was a mighty change in this department. "Sorry 'bout that." He didn't let the bugs in, of course, but it was a remark of sympathy. Vic moved to his desk, naturally, and added, "My first experience here was a bit better than yours, I guess. We sued a time-thief, though the security team was rubbish and she managed to escape before our eyes." Someone was running this ministry a little too loosely, huh?

"Where did you use to work at, if you don't mind me asking?" Spraying the little demons and chatting wasn't the worst thing one would do at work, especially if you had a funny lady to spend your time with as well as a stealthy lil girl. Hehe. Where were you Branxton?

Glad that she had got a laugh out of her fellow work colleague, a sense of relief that people in here did have a sense of humour and that her comments were more often than not sarcastic, the woman smiled back, the left corner of her lips twitching up until an amused grin.

"Oh it's not like it's your fault" she laughed, shrugging off his apology. "Unless it was actually you who let the Chizpurfles go in a strange act of sabotage on the Ministry" her eyebrow shot up, a smirk on her face. Why anyone would let a load of pests go was beyond her, unless they escaped from the Creatures department which with the information he had just told her, she was starting to think was entirely possible. Although it was quite a serious situation, the story about 'accidentally' letting a time thief go was really quite amusing. "How careless of them" she pondered. "How on earth can security be that terrible?" Were they dismissed for that? "Still at least it gave you something intense to focus on." Something that was considerably more exciting than chasing around pests with a bottle of pesticides.

He appeared to get on with the task and she peered behind a desk, eyes peeled for the creatures hoping they turned up soon so they could get on with this and quickly. "I worked at the Greek Ministry for 8 years. As an Auror" she added, spraying a little pesticide in the corner. That explained the accent as well as the fact that she was born there. "Then I transferred to the French Ministry for 4 years to work in their courts." She had experience, tonnes of it, but it was a given considering she was at least 10 years older than the majority of those she had seen working here.

"What about you?" she asked peering up from behind the desk she had been spraying. He must have a lot of experience too.

Whaaaa, him? Vic laughed and shook his head, "Maybe during younger days I would have." Not his school days, those were dedicated for studies only, but his university days, yes. Those were THE days. Sigh. "We had mutants on the loose last year, not sure if those Chizpurfles connected to them, so be careful when you found some." Was she around when those cute mutants got out? He forgot when exactly that was.

Vic sprayed all over his desk even though he saw nothing. Waiting for those creatures to show up. "Well, we're still looking into that breach, we just had our hands full... sometimes literally." As she could see now. Heh heh. Spray a little here and a little there. "It was pretty intense, made the job look quite exciting for me." And then bam, they were chasing bugs now.

The lady's job history was mighty interesting, though. His eyebrows were raised in praise and slight surprise. "That's impressive." He wasn't going to lie, Vic had paused in his spraying mission and leaned on one of the desks, watching Octavia spray around. "I worked for Tate Co. Started at the lowest step of the ladder and climbed my way up until three years ago when I transferred here." Working for the British Ministry was simply the golden chance for him. "However, we do have something in common," he approached her but kept his eyes on the floor and the desks, spraying in some spots. "I went to Athens campus for my university education. Stayed there for only four years, but they were the best days of my younger...phase." He laughed, finding it weirdly soothing to meet someone who went there as well.

Octavia let out a small laugh, more of an exhalation of the breath at his comment before a smirk fell on her face. "Let me guess, University?" she asked moving on to the next desk. That was something she was familiar with. Get a load of like-minded students in one place at a time, typically the male ones and it ended up with things flying everywhere, going missing or escaped. But mutants? That sounded interesting. "That's certainly more exciting than Chizpurfles. All it takes with those things is this bottle" she inspected the liquid inside hers. It was hardly worth it. "Though I suppose it takes a lot off of our load." Although she was still adamant that it shouldn't be their responsibility. Was there not a pest removal squad for this sort of thing?

"Magical Law Enforcement given the slip by a criminal" she shook her head with a small laugh. "I bet the newspapers had a field day!" It was the Daily Prophet around here, yes? She had read some interesting stories in there, quite fascinating what goes on in this tiny country. "I can imagine so." Yes, she'd of found that quite exciting herself.

She watched him spray his area before kicking a chair out the way with her foot. "If there's supposed to be Chizpurfles around here, I certainly can't see them." Unless they were giving them the slip too and they were just terribly unobservant.

She, in the most ladylike fashion she could, bent underneath the desk to get right in the corner where she thought she spotted movement. That was until he stopped spraying and she peeked back out, banging her head at the very last second. "Ow" she fixed her ponytail and blinked back into reality. "I knew I shouldn't have done that." And this was why she was now much better suited to the desk work that she had been given then running around the place as an Auror ten years ago. She perched against her desk too, fixing her eyes on him as he explained his work history. "I started off with a lot of training, University degrees first, then on the job training in the ministry." Sort of like the Aurors in training here. "I find it admirable when someone works their way up the ladder. Me? I didn't think I could stay in one place for long." That was until she settled into her career. Then it all hit off.

She stopped talking when he talked about them having something in common. The Athens campus? They must've been there around the same time. "That's interesting, I was studying there too" Before she went off travelling for a couple of years.

With each spray from the bottle, dozens upon dozens of chizpurfles keeled over and twitched their tiny clawed legs. But only for a short time as the solution in those bottles of yours is quite potent!

IT'S WORKING IT'S WORKING! BYE BYE CHIZPURFLES!

It had been quite a morning yet that was nothing to stop Erin from working the way she always did. There was never any excuses with her. None whatsover. She was too serious for such thing. Coffee in her hand, Erin entered the office space and took an empty seat, placing her bag beside her.

Right. Her notepad was taken out and the list of things that needed to be done for the day was quickly made. At the top of her list were the scribbled words, 'Breathe, act normal and work hard.' Not necessarily an actual task but something that would hopefully get her through the day.

This was going to be a long one? Wasn't it? Oh boy. She took one last sip of her coffee and began her work.

Same day, same routine. Vic had walked January up to her office, they had the same morning schedule today, and then headed for MLE with a steaming hot mug of black coffee and a thick folder under his arm. He exchanged nods and pleasantry words on his way to the office, not feeling very chatty so early in the morning. However,when his eyes laid on the new prosecutor lady, that changed completely.

"Good morning." He called, placing his folder on his usual desk and moving closer to her with an easy smile. "You like morning coffee too?" He nodded at her cup and raised his own to show how this was a prosecutor thing, apparently. Emma also came in with a coffee usually, when she wasn't fussing around in the evidence room heh.

Reading over cases was not as simple as it sounded. It did require quite the amount of concentration, specifically if done properly. It was for this reason that it took Erin a good minute before looking up towards the other prosecutor.

"Huh?" Her manners were forgotten as it took her another minute to register what he has said. "Oh..coffee. Yeah. Can't go a day by without it." Was she meant to say more?

She was unsure and felt slightly uncomfortable talking to somebody she didn't know too well. Hopefully that would change though, after all they were going to work together almost daily now. Being the newbie was always strange, wasnt it?

Laurie walked into what used to be the office she was in charge of and sighed to herself. Well...at least this way maybe she could slide in under the radar and stay there unlike last time. Ugh....she remembered all too well the last time she was here. Finding an empty desk she set the box down she had been carrying and practically fell into the office chair not very lady like. Well hopefully this time was a little better though...she had to admit she did have some fun last time. A small smirk came to her lips when she thought about Hunter. Oh well.

Pulling out her name plate she set it on her desk and smiled. NOW she was official.

If first impressions were anything to go by, Octavia was most unimpressed by this new department head. He wanted to get things done, he wanted to achieve big things in the department and that was admirable but the way he went about giving these tasks were not on par with the way someone in such a high position should act. She was giving him the benefit of the doubt but at fourty-seven years old she did not expect to be treated like a child.

She arrived at work early that morning, slipping her bag under her desk before heading off to collect her morning refreshment. She didn’t need to start for another half hour at least and therefore it was perfectly acceptable according to her contract that she could procrastinate before settling down at her seat, even if he didn’t agree so. With the freshly brewed strong coffee in her hand, she placed it down at her desk. She grabbed yesterday’s file from her draw and opened it to the correct page, a profile on a case in which she was expected to pull out individuals to stand as the jury in the court.

Both of the jobs that she held were very much office based and she was baffled by what this new head expected her to do in order to ‘spy’ on the rest of the ministry as it was. She could advise the Aurors yes that was in her job title after all and the workings of the court would not be successful without her but she was not as young as she used to be and she was not prepared to go and scout through the other floors like she would’ve done in her youth.

Getting into the swing of the whole work routine was something that Dale, quite thankfully, had managed pretty well. He found it invariably easy to adjust to new routines, as had been the case since he first started Hogwarts. Part of this new routine was to show up reasonably early to work. Dale often left the house earlier than necessary to beat the morning rush, preferring to avoid the seething mass of witches and wizards who seemed to show up to the ministry as one. He'd liked avoiding huge crowds as a kid, mostly as he'd always been shy. The shyness, he'd overcome, but it seemed like it wasn't so easy to be rid of some of those other tendencies.

He strolled into the work area designated for the divisions including his own, pausing only to get himself a coffee and check the noticeboard, then get his day planner from his locked; again, all part of the routine. Dale spotted the woman instantly and offered her a smile as he situated himself at a spare desk where he kept some of his less-important things. Not his desk; it didn't seem right to call it that when most of his work was done all over the place. Still, it was the one he tended to sit at when he did have work to do up here.

"Good morning," Dale said politely to the woman, briefly indecisive on whether or not he should try and strike up a conversation; she looked busy enough with her file, so he figured... maybe not. He didn't know the woman's name or anything, but was at least good with faces, and he knew she worked in his division. A higher level job than his own, that was for certain. He smiled in her direction at least before looking at his planner to see what he had on the agenda for the day, where he needed to be and when. Perhaps if his day wasn't too busy, he'd have some time to go through some transcripts and make sure they were all in order.

Head down as she read through the paper in the file, organising it into sections which she promptly slipped back into the ordering system that she had accumulated for herself, the redhead was engrossed in what she was doing. Yes, it was too early but she may as well have gotten a head start with her day before her fellow employees came in to join her.

Much to Octavia’s relief considering she was both early and that she was seated in perhaps one of the quietest areas of the department, the woman was not left alone for long. She had a right to be sat over with the auror’s office considering her dual role as their advisor but she much preferred the Wizengamot section anyway. It was seemingly more relaxed and less frantic. There were not individuals running in and out every five minutes and you weren’t disturbed by the rush when you were engrossed in important paperwork.

A bright smile on her face as she glanced up at the man, she nodded in a greeting. “Good morning.” Her eyes glanced back down to the folder which she promptly closed. That could wait a few minutes whilst she settled herself down into her work and perhaps striked up a conversation with her fellow employee. “Glad to see I’m not the only one seemingly overeager to start the day,” the Greek spoke. She did enjoy her job, it was certainly satisfying but she wasn’t that enthusiastic over it that she would need to start her work half an hour before she was allotted.

Hm hm hmmm. Not much scheduled in for today at all, which was pleasant to see. It meant catching up with things for sure, and maybe having some time to go off and visit another department (Dale was very insistent with himself that he would not call it 'spying', even though it sort of felt like that). Still, had to keep in mind that there was always the chance of getting called in to scribe for a last minute thing. So far, though, his day looked quiet enough.

Dale looked up again and smiled at the woman. "Oh, for sure. I just like to try and beat the morning rush, if I can." Usually he went to grab some food and read the paper before his day properly started, but sometimes it was more appealing to just head straight here. Dale closed his planner and ran his thumb over the corners of the pages, flicking them with a satisfying 'flllllrrrp' kind of noise. "I figure I'm better off getting into the habit of being early rather than late." Meaning... he didn't want to get on the boss' bad side. Or maybe he was actually trying to get on his good side? Dale unsure or his intentions, now that he thought about it. "And I figure I can make sure I'm on top of things, seeing as I'm here." Sooo many transcripts. So many.

Well this man was a bright young thing wasn’t he considering how early it was in the morning? Octavia was okay after a cup of coffee and once she had settled into her work but that first dragging hour was a tiring one and even more considering that she was half an hour early this morning anyway. It was the younger ones that were more enthusiastic anyway. The redhead enjoyed her job thoroughly, she found it most certainly worthwhile but she was not filled with the same spritely energy as she had when she was much younger. It was more about the office and less about the field.

“Oh for sure” she nodded at him in response to beating the morning rush. “This is a busy department, I’m sure there’s people flying around this way and that all the time.” And she had been working here a few years now so she had gotten used to it. As for his comment about being early rather than late, she completely understood that notion. “Somehow I feel as if our new department head would not be impressed if we turned up late on occasion.” Perhaps their former would’ve given them a verbal warning but this one seemed as if he’d take a morning emergency or a mishap on the floo network far more seriously than Emily would.

She repeated what she thought about enthusiasm. True, Octavia had opened her own file and started scanning over it in preparation for her morning but it was not a serious ‘getting down to it’. “You are very prepared. Do you have a busy day ahead?” Her English was perfect considering she had spent most of her life in other countries. Her accent was very much distinguishable as Greek however considering that was where she was actually from.

The woman spoke the truth. Dale hadn't been working here for all that long, and the area he did mostly work in was this reasonably calm office environment. But there were a lot of people working on this level, and most of them were obviously the sort of people who tended towards action-heavy job roles. With lots of these people, AND the nature of the work up here, it certainly made for a very busy department. A lot busier than life had been at University, that was for sure.

"Reckon I agree with you there," Dale nodded to the remark about the department head. "He seems very... no-nonsense, too." This was said in that tone as one usually reserves for those casual observations. Rainey was interesting; Dale didn't have much of a measure of him just yet, but he was sure that that would come in time.

As for his day. "Not too busy, actually. But that could change. Never know when I might be called off to scribe for whoever." He gave a shrug, but smiled. All in a day's work. Uhh... literally. "My name's Dale, by the way. Dale Upstead. Stenographer."

A whole bunch of desks lined up and in cubicles, how frightfully boring. Lex might have made a face if this was her first time venturing into this part of the department but by now she was used to it. Must be strange, always at a desk especially for someone like her who wasn't even ALLOWED a desk and had to sit on the floor whenever in office. Awful constricting too, she bet.

So what was the young woman doing in such a dull place? Looking for Dale of course! They were going to lunch today whether he was busy or not and he could thank her later when his brain was saved from maximum overload.

Lex meandered through the cubicles allowing her shoddy sense of direction to take her this way and that while she tried finding him--hopefully he was HERE or this looking thing would be even harder.

Maybe she should have sent a patronus ahead.