Gwen returned his chuckle with a polite smile as he turned to face her. Sometimes she couldn't resist poking a little fun when an opportunity presented itself, but she was glad he didn't take her words differently than intended. She looked at his plate and giggled a little because his plate looked a bit full to be having trouble deciding. "So you decided to sample a little of everything?" She was suddenly rethinking her plan of just sampling two or three. Everything did look rather delicious.

Idea! There was no way she was going to fill her plate, but just maybe someone else could.

"Guinevere Fox..." She replied, taking his outstretched hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Mr. Briggs... May I call you Fulton?" She didn't like formalities unless it was necessary.

Sometimes temptation did get the better of her. Most of those times however tended to happen when her husband and son were around, not that she was at all complaining. "He most definitely did. Quite often." More so then not. They must have spotted those chicken wings at the exact same time because there was a smile on her face that grew as those lovely little yummy wings were placed onto a dish. "Mm these look lovely..." Everything did right. Food was very important.

Addison gave a soft laugh Connor's mumbled repeating of the dessert she wanted. "Only one scoop." For now. If she really wanted more she could come back but she tried not to do that all to often. Baby or no baby she did try her best to eat healthy. "I am. It would only be right to meet them as I do every year Con, as well as to let them know I won't be around for a few weeks when our daughter makes her way into the world." There would be a few changes in the department around that time but nothing to big. Her level was very independent and with some simple guiding they all would be just fine without her.

He smiled back at her as she introduced herself. Looking down at his plate as she had brought attention to the small mountain of food on his plate... Honestly he didn't remember loading it up quite so high, but that's probably because he hadn't actullay been paying attention as he ahd piled the food on...

Blushing just slightly and adding a nervous laugh , he cleared his throat and grinned. " Yes of course you can call me Fulton... Mr. Briggs was my father.. And I'd prefer to be thought of as mt own man... " he said.... Instantly he thought he had sounded like a moron.. this was exactly why he was not keen on the huge ministry gathering... But he was there so he had to make the best of it.

Gwen did seem friendly enough to him.. Maybe she wouldn't mind sitting with him while they ate....He eventually would be friends with some of the people here tonight at some point sure.. but Gwen seemed the likely first friend he could make while in the most uncomfortable situation of his life.. Sure he'd played qudditch professionally, but he never had to interact too much with the spectators unless he wanted to...


" Good to meet you , Gwen... Maybe you'd like to join me at the tables ... you know ?... I am here to meet people.. And you look pretty human to me... So.. What'd you say? "

Boy, he was going out on a limb here.. Asking a copmplete stranger to join him at his table, but again the name of the game was networking at this point.. Plus, she had a funny sense of humor... And that he liked...

Simon wasn’t sticking it out at the newbie table all night. There would be no one calling him out as a workaholic that couldn’t actually relax even if it was technically a work event. Not that that was him anymore, not with Angelina in the mix giving him something more in his life. And after the quiet yet awkward seeming conversations of his new boss and his own wife, the security man was grateful to wander away. He could only pretend not to notice for so long.

So he had headed to the buffet with the idea to at least grab a bite to eat if not fully mingle. If there was anything that was worth coming to one of the ministry’s orientations was the food. And one never knew just what they were going to find among the night's offerings. Simon picked up a small plate at the one end before perusing said foods and started adding an assortment onto it.