Mercedes really didn't think that communication wasn't the biggest problem but it was something that always could be worked on anywhere. "In the department it's not bad. But to me communication is always a work in progress. Maybe a daily short meeting first thing in the morning? Just long enough to cover the hot topics." Five minutes in the morning, that was all. She fell that it would keep the communication flowing. Maybe a big calendar with important dates and such.

Also I've been getting delays in responses back from players and managers these delays pushes my deadlines back." Not really anything that could be done about in department. But it was something that she thought should be addressed. It would make her job easier. Less stress right?

She listened to both of them as they talked. "I think that the turnover is the biggest thing. If we can find away to keep people. That would help out so much. Maybe we could try to recruit employees next time hiring starts?" To go along with what Talulah was saying about attendance and such. Get people with background in magical sports and game, who knows what they are doing and will work.

Listening, she was a good listener. That was exactly what she was doing right now as they spoke about the department. She took down some notes and tried to remember a few things she wanted to comment on later. "Well we have team members on the field doing work so not everyone is here everyday. They don't have to check in here before going. As we work to get a sports expo and the world cup I have members working with international ministries to bring more things here."

"We could have more meetings just to check in, I can make the memo's more often instead of the end of the week." Taking more notes she wanted to make sure she was doing as much as she could to keep things running smoothly. "We can send a memo out to managers and say they need to be more timely. If that doesn't work we can have a manager meeting." She knew some were a bit rougher then others so if he had to keep on them she would.

She wasn't going to lie, turnover was awful, but there was just no way around it for some reason. If was common in the ministry whether she liked it or not. "We could possibly, but that is more Mariel's department. I can let her know you might have some ideas. " She didn't do that part of the world so she wasn't sure.

"Now as the season starts coming to an end remember that all paper work will be due by May so you'll have a month from the last match to get everything in." She felt that was enough time and hoped they did as well.

The woman listed as her co-worker, Mercedes spoke her mind about what was going on around their department. Hopefully she would be able to talk like that one day, hopefully. She knew it would probably take some time and getting used to but she wasn't going to back out of this place that soon.

Talullah looked down at her notes as Victoria was talking. She nodded every so often as the woman spoke. The blonde tapped her pen against her lips. She couldn't really think of anything else to add or to ask. She was still learning the ropes of this job. It was slowly but she just wanted to make sure that she was learning everything correctly.

Talullah looked up as Victoria spoke about the other employee's that were in their department. She nodded slowly, that made sense to her. She was surprised that none of that had crossed her mind at all.

Mariel made sure that the side table in the conference room had plenty of coffee, tea, pastries, and small sandwiches in preparation for today's meeting. She had gotten to the conference room a little early to prepare everything and she took her seat at the head of the center table. Of course, she would be sharing the floor with Gidyun today, but she was rather excited for their upcoming plans.

Looking over her notes now laid out in front of her, she reviewed the points that they'd be discussing today. Though she was early, she knew that her employees as well as those from Level Five would be arriving soon. She was glad to have made sure there was enough seating for everyone expected, even if it might get slightly crowded.

This was actually exciting and if Victoria wouldn't have fallen down the steps just a bit ago, she might have showed it more. With her head throbbing and her ankle feeling sore, she decided the best thing to do was go directly to a seat and sit down. Opening the door she smiled knowing that after her last meeting she was still on time, even maybe a littler early for this one.

"Hello Mariel" greeting her best friend as she slightly limped into the room. Yes, her ankle was a tad swollen but nothing she couldn't handle. Finding her seat she took a cup of coffee, "Oh I was needing this today." Though she did have a cup first thing this morning, her day hadn't went as planned so another cup was very much welcomed.

While walking to work today Talullah bought herself a hazelnut latte. This was what she needed this morning since she was stuck babysitting her neighbors three month old last night. Do children even stop crying or do they just whine and cry all the way through until the day they die of old age? She didn't understand any of this parenting stuff.

Talullah walked into the conference room, she took off her sunglasses and revealed the bags under her eyes. She was going to make sure after last time that she's never going to be a parent. It's too much work. "Good morning everyone." She said with a small smile. She felt like death right now. Talullah took her usual seat.

Gid had his notes from the talks he and Mariel had been having and headed down to the level 7 conference room with his mug of coffee. He hoped that a number of his own employees would be joining them as well! He was really looking forward to the upcoming events and didn't want to be doing these all by himself on level 5's part.

Entering the conference room he gave Mariel a smile and took a seat near her and looked around the room at those there "Morning." he said brightly. He recognized Victoria right away and gave her a smile and nodded to Talullah as well though he didn't know her by name.

Cassie entered right behind Gid. She was actually looking forward to this meeting, even though it was not exactly clear what she was looking forward to. They had only gotten a vague explanation from Gid so far, but she knew that everything would be explained in this meeting. And it should be exciting, considering they were teaming up with Games and Sports. A few ideas were running through Cassie's head, but of course she would not know if any of them were right until the meeting got under way.

"Good morning," she greeted those already assembled. The department head and Victoria got extra smiles, as Cassie had just met each of those women recently. At least she recognized faces outside of her own department. She glanced around and did not recognize any of the others, but she did see something of interest to her. Coffee. Seeing as most of the others already had a cup, Cassie saw no problem in heading over to pour herself a cup before taking a seat near Gid.

Mercedes had not been well at all for the past few days. She was starting to feel better. This was a good thing since this meeting was today. She was looking forward to this meeting. So no little fall allergies was going to keep her from coming to work today.

Chris had packed her her favorite lunch. Tomato soup and an egg salad sandwich. She was really looking forward to her lunch too. Something else that would also make her feel better of course Mariel had her normal meeting refreshments. She was really the best.

Mercedes worked into the conference room, looking a bit weak in the eyes but with her big bright smile, no one would really be able to tell "Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone is well." Her voice was a tad bit raspy yet. She headed over and made her a cup of tea. Perfect! It was just what she was needing. The blonde took a seat and quietly sipped her tea before the meeting started.

Mariel didn't wait long before the first to arrive came walking through the door, or more like limping through. Well, at least she could count on her to come bright and early. "Victoria," she greeted her in return with a small smile. "Everything alright?" And then a few more members of her team arrived, looking awful. What was with everyone today? "Morning Tallulah, Mercedes.. hope everyone is doing well." Just looking at them made her want a cup of coffee and she got up to get some for herself.

As she walked back to return to her seat, she smiled as some from Level Five began to join them as well. "Good morning, Gidyun," she said brightly, then nodded towards Cassandra. "Hello, glad you could join us." Hopefully a few more would be arriving shortly.

"This is Victoria, Tallulah, and Mercedes, if you haven't yet met.." she said gesturing to each. Mariel was fairly certain that Gidyun had met Victoria in the past, but she wasn't sure about who else might know each other. "Take a minute to acquaint yourselves if you'd like," she added as she sipped her coffee. "We still have a few minutes before we need to get started.. are you expecting many from your department," she asked Gidyun. There were plenty of seats though she supposed his entire team didn't have to be there. And she expected just a couple more, though she did leave it open to the other divisions.

Was she alright? Victoria didn't mean to not answer right away, but she really did have to think about it. "I'll be alright. If I could make a manager meeting, I can handle this one as well. I took a little spill down the steps is all." Her head was throbbing, but she didn't have time to take a potion yet. Maybe after the meeting, but she would deal with it until then.

Seeing other's walking in the manager smiled at her team and then at Level five. Knowing them both she nodded at all that had walked in. "Hello. Nice to see you Gidyun, Cassie. I hope you are doing well." She watched them and then heard Mariel ask about who was all coming. It seemed level five was as busy as their team for staff meetings.


She knew they had a few minutes so she had turned to her own team, "Talluah make sure the regulation agreements get sent out for resigns this week. I noticed a letter on my desk with the deadlines we need them by. We have plenty of time as long as we get them owled today."

Her eyes going to Mercedes, "I have a few mascots that need some new photos. I'm going to send them to you as soon as we get back."

Just when Talullah was about to take another sip of her hazelnut latte she heard Victoria's voice. Right to work then? She loved this job but man! After last night today was not a good day for Lullah to be at work. She couldn't focus at all because she was so tired and drained. This was how parents felt? Wasn't it?

Okay, that was easy. Tallie nodded at Victoria. "I'll get those done today after the meeting." Tallie smiled and took another sip of her latte, she needed to be alert for all of this today.

The blonde watched as she saw some people from level five walk into the room. She noticed someone had given her a smile but she didn't know who he was. Maybe he was the department head? Now her department head was telling them to talk to the level five employee's. That would be easy! Even though Mariel has already introduced them to the new people she was still going to introduce herself.

Talullah walked over to the man (Gidyun) that had smiled at her. "Hello sir, I'm Talullah Whitehall." The retired Quidditch player smiled at him. The woman also noticed someone else that had walked in after the man, it was a woman (Cassie). Talullah made her way over to the woman. "Hello ma'am. I'm Talullah Whitehall. It's nice to meet you." The Irish woman said with a smile.

Mariel raised an eyebrow at Victoria's delayed answer. "Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you need to be checked out." But she appeared fine enough to attend the meeting, so perhaps if she thought as much she could wait till it was over. It was kind of important, though she could relay it all to her later if need be.

She let everyone have a few minutes to get acquainted, soon deciding they shouldn't waste much more time on small talk. There was always time for that later, perhaps even taking a break in the Game Room, but tending to business was important. "I suppose we should get started," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. It was that time anyway, she noted, taking a quick glance at the clock on the wall.

"As some of you may already know, we are planning on hosting the next Youth International Quidditch Tournament. It will take place in the summer, but we need to start making plans now if we are to be successful." She knew that Victoria was aware of the plans, as well as Gidyun, and the rest might or might not know but that was why they were here today. And this was just the first step in hosting the World Cup, something that she had been dreaming about for years.

"There are other countries that also want to host, of course, so we need to be the successful bid to make that happen. I've also asked some delegates from Level Five to discuss this with us today, since they do extensive work with foreign countries and at least one of the teams will be abroad." If not both, but she didn't want to count England out before the start of the season. She let all of that digest for a moment, then glanced at Gidyun to see if he had anything to add before she said anything else, or if there were any questions or comments from the rest of the group.

She didn't want her friend to worry and she didn't want to miss the meeting. Since she was the manager she figured she best be there for this. "I'll be fine. I might jump down to the healers once we are done for some headache potion, but for now the coffee will get me through." She could still joke so that had to mean she was fine.

As Mariel began the meeting Victoria opened up her notebook to take any notes that might need to be remembered. She was very excited about the chance to host the International Tournament. "Have we decided on a good number for the bid? When does it have to be in by?" She hadn't missed a date for the meeting had she? Though with this she knew Mariel would be going to all of those. She was the department head.

"I think we have a few great pitches to look into for hosting it at. Have you thought about where exactly we would hold it?" She knew which ones where her favorite, but maybe a decision had already been made about that. In that case she could get the finalization done with the owner and all that jazz started once they knew if they got the tournament or not.

It made a lot of sense that this meeting was about Quidditch. Most things concerning the games and sports departments had something to do with Quidditch. That was why Cassie had never desired a position within that department. She didn't understand Quidditch and honestly didn't even like it much. Not that she was going to let on to any of that while with this group. She'd never heard of the Youth International Quidditch Tournament before, but the title was pretty self-explanatory. She'd look up necessary specifics later.

Anything they needed abroad could definitely be handled by International Cooperation. She just nodded when Mariel mentioned her department, but she looked toward Gidyun to be the one to actually speak. She did have a few questions, one along the lines of the one Victoria had asked. She did have another one that she was sure would be discussed eventually, but she decided just to ask it to get on the subject as soon as possible. "What exactly will you need us to do abroad?"

Being his usual stony faced self, Charles had followed Gidyun and Cassandra into the meeting room and taken a chair in silence. His papers were in front of him and his pencil was lined up next to them. He'd foregone the 'arrive with a coffee' look that his boss seemed to favour and was just listening to the chatter around the room. Cassie's question caught his attention and made the man turn his face to see people's expressions so there could be some sort of response gauged from them before they even spoke.

He smiled and nodded to each one as Mariel introduced them to him and beamed at Cassie as she entered the meeting as well and gave Charles a smile too when he took a seat. He looked down at his paper, from those he’d seen in the office so far that day and shook his head “I’d like to say I know there will be more, but unfortunately it appears, this might be it from our level.” He had seriously been hoping his other two division heads would appear, but Greg was busy with family he was sure, but Cece he wasn’t sure at all. He might be having to rethink things with his division heads. Maybe the work was too much.

He smiled at Talullah’s greeting “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Gidyun, or Gid if you wish.”

He listened as Mariel began to speak and nodded as she explained why they were there and about the plans. “That’s correct.” he said nodding, “We need to start making sure everything is settled with our bid, and have a plan of where we will plan on hosting the games. I’m sure you feel we’re capable of hosting, what does everyone feel in that aspect. Do you think we have the ability this year? Do any of you have any misgivings?”

Mariel glanced around the room for any questions or comments on the general idea before she continued. She figured that Gidyun would have her take the lead on this since it was mostly sports related, and that was fine, unless he needed to interject anything. She turned first to Victoria as she asked her first questions.

"Nothing has been decided with any finality yet," she said, flipping through her paperwork until she came to a specific one and slid it over to the other woman. "These are the figures for the most recent tournaments. I propose that we keep it in that range, though we should also think of what incentives we can offer besides a competitive number. February first is our deadline for that." They still had a little bit of time, but not much, which was why they needed to figure some of these things out today to make sure they didn't miss the cut-off and completely lose any chance of hosting.

And location was something they needed to figure out also. "That's also something that we can work out and decide today, or at least pick a location and an alternate just in case it's needed." She wanted to be prepared for any minor bumps so that they would have no issues in securing the tournament. "I like Ellis Moor for this because of their accommodations, but what do you think?" She looked at Victoria for her thoughts. She was the Quidditch Division Manager so she would have her own good ideas on a location as well.

She looked to Cassandra next as she was the next to speak. "Likely you won't need to do anything abroad exactly. It all still depends on which two teams will be playing in the tournament." Mariel knew not everyone followed Quidditch, especially the youth teams, so she had no problem trying to clarify. "The season hasn't quite started yet, actually. But the top two teams internationally will play each other in this tournament. It's a rather exciting event, sort of like a scaled down version of the World Cup." And that was what she was setting her sights on next. "Your department would be working with the international teams, providing accommodations and making whatever arrangements are needed with them." Gidyun could probably speak better on that to them as that was more their specialty, not so much Games and Sports. She glanced at him for clarification on that.

And she nodded as he spoke, before looking around the table to see if there were indeed any question on them hosting this event. She certainly hoped her own department had no qualms as this was just the first step in hosting the World Cup, something she had been dreaming about for years. And she knew what her department could handle.

Talullah looked at the Cassie woman that had just plainly ignored her greeting and introduction to her. Well nice to meet you too, sorry for wasting your time. If Tallie was more like her younger brothers she would have pipped up and said something to the woman but this wasn't the time or place to do something like that and she wasn't like her brothers in that way.

The blonde turned her head over to Gidyun. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She hadn't really met anyone outside of her department. "Yes of course. You can call me Tallie or Lullah if you wish." The Irishwoman smiled.

Tallie noticed a new comer (Charlies) The woman smiled at him. "Hello sir, I'm Talullah Whitehall." The Irish girl smiled and greeted them man.

Too much was going on at once for her to think straight. How had she gotten so far behind in the conversation. She was listening and Tallie was sure that she hadn't been zoning out. she never zoned out, not at this job and not as a former Quidditch pro. She didn't even have time in her life to zone out.

Okay, focus, focus. Tallie took a sip of her latte, hopefully that would help with the focusing part. Hopefully. Now what had she missed. Something about abroad and now a small world cup? Was that right? Was she even right?

Hosting the event?

That actually had sounded like a lot of fun. "Considering I was a player outside of the British and Irish league for my whole career I think this is an amazing idea." The woman smiled and nodded as she looked around at everyone. "Also, if may add, an event like this is something that I think would be great for bringing the other leagues together and also more like to the other teams because some people might not know about them to be honest." More nods as she slowly sipped her latte.

Being in the ministry as long as Victoria was she knew many faces and seeing Charles come in she had recognized the face, but had never really spoken to him. She just had nodded and continued to listen to the meeting. Looking up as they spoke about being able to handle that sort of tournament Victoria couldn't help to give a huge grin. She was very much prepared for a question like that. "We certainly have the capability to hold a World Cup let alone a Youth Tournament. Our facilities have been going through upgrades and changes over the past few years. Their seating has doubles, security is at the top of the professional rankings as one of the best. Our community shops that support activities and events is overwhelming. This could be a grand thing that helps not only our chances at a world cup, but helps our community revenue as well. Think about the shops that will gain, the hotels that will see more bookings. " Was the excitement in her voice a bit much? She had been working up to these type of events for so long. It was like a huge promotion in her eyes.

Ellis is a good choice, I think that could be our number one place, but I think Yorkshire and Exmoor are great facilities as well. All three can hold the number of players and fans that we would need for the day."[/b] Listening to her Tullah looked puzzled for a moment, but then her thoughts got collected and she smiled. "I think inviting some of the pro's from the areas that the youth play for is a brilliant idea. It could bring in even more fans to watch the youth and give them their huge time to shine. Maybe a little meet an greet area in between youth matches." She didn't want to get too ahead of herself, but it was just an idea.

Mariel glanced around the table, waiting for anyone to add any comments or ask any questions that she or Gidyun could address. Her eyes soon fell on Talullah as she was the next to speak. Well, she was fairly certain that people who played professional Quidditch as well as enthusiastic fans would know about the International Tournament as it was a pretty big deal to the sport, but Mariel thought she had a pretty good point. "I agree. I think it would be fantastic for us to be able to host this event and I want us to do everything in our power to ensure it happening. While I am sure the most avid fans do know enough about it, there are plenty who don't. And this can bring out a lot of excitement and maybe even some renewed interest." Who knew, maybe even some new, young fans could be brought about from this and encourage the youth to get more involved in Quidditch. Merlin knew that after Hogwarts failed to provide that outlet for children, popularity of the sport seemed to dip a little. This might be just what they needed.

And good. If she could count on anybody to be on board 200%, she knew it was Victoria. "I'm glad you're excited about this," she smiled at Victoria. "Those are all great benefits that I hope the rest of the Ministry as well as the community will see." She made a few notes because as excited as she was herself, there was always someone ready to interject a little negative criticism. "I'd like you to go to those three stadiums, or send someone to help, and scout out how well each one would work. We need to make a decision before the next meeting so that everything is prepared to get that bid." But at least they had three good prospects.

Meet and greet... she really liked that idea as well and put that down in her notes as she nodded her approval. Looking up, she looked around at the table, her eyes resting slightly longer on the quieter ones. They needed their input as well even if this was only a preliminary planning meeting. "Anyone else have any other questions or thoughts?"

Mariel got to the conference room early, making sure she was the first one there. Coffee and tea were ready on the side table, and she put an assortment of breakfast pastries in the center of the long, meeting table. Once everything was ready, she took her folder of papers to the head of the table and took a seat.

She was rather excited for this meeting and was looking forward to this coming year in general. Though she hated to lose Saxon, they did garner some great new additions to their team. And that was needed with what they had in store in the next few months especially. As she waited for her employees to arrive, she opened up her folder and looked through her papers

It has already been a crazy morning with the quidditch season going she had memo's sitting at her desk and then the owls for the interviews still were coming in. She had avoided them all. She was done with that trial and that horrible woman. Her name nor her family's name was not going through the mud because of it. She would have to thank Jorge and Winter later for doing a nice piece that kept them out of it as much as possible. Not that she didn't take pride that her money was the reason the woman was in jail, but she wanted to keep her life quiet and peaceful.

Walking into the conference room she smiled at Mariel and took a muffin, "Good morning, is it me or are their more owls in our office today?" Maybe they were all just for her, but she feared what type of matches went on with so many letters on her desk. Taking her seat next to Mariel she opened up her notebook and got ready.

Another meeting was in the mix of things at work and Lucas made sure, as always, to be early for it. He was never as early as Mariel but then again, she was the boss and always set the right example. "Good morning, ladies,'' the young man greeted as he surveyed Mariel and Victoria upon arriving at the Conference room.

Was the tea over there? Great! He could use a cup since had a particularly stressful morning that involved a four year old Brody refusing to have his breakfast. Lucas had spent a great deal of time cajoling him and eventually ended up feeding him. Kids...

After fixing himself a cup of lemon tea, he took a seat at the table to wait for stuff to get started.

The day had finally arrived, showing up for work for the very first time feeling confident, Dawson arrived just in time. Punctuality was always a good impression, he was very keen on that and did his very best to instill that into his twin boys, but those two were really good at doing the exact opposite. Either way he had no choice but to love them.

Upon arriving he walked in with a polite "Good morning", at his fellow colleagues, followed by making his way to the coffee. Yes coffee, couldn't start your day without a morning shot of caffeine am I right? Hehe.

Taking a seat and enjoying his coffee along with a tasty pastry he waited for the meeting to proceed, as well for the rest of the colleagues to arrive. Should be an interesting day.