He had displeased her. Ferris could tell by her general body language and the expel of air. Tells of an upset human being. Did this mean he was going to be arrested now for his illegal download? Mother had always warned him not to test the law. Here he was being a proper rebel.

Wiggle, wiggle. Please, let go of the face. It was a lot of touching and intimacy that made him uncomfortable. He hardly let his Mum that close. Meep.

More questions. More wiggling on his part. Perchance if he ran he could avoid the uncomfortable conversation that he was a part of as well as avoid the mutation which was startling to behold. Perhaps he could sent her a owl requesting a picture of her eye for further examination. He could invent a whole plethora of things to help shield the sun from the delicate mutation her eyes had. And it would help countless oth-

Oh question. Squeak. Please no more. "N-n-not...." vigorous head shake, "w-well."

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

He had displeased her. Ferris could tell by her general body language and the expel of air. Tells of an upset human being. Did this mean he was going to be arrested now for his illegal download? Mother had always warned him not to test the law. Here he was being a proper rebel.

Wiggle, wiggle. Please, let go of the face. It was a lot of touching and intimacy that made him uncomfortable. He hardly let his Mum that close. Meep.

More questions. More wiggling on his part. Perchance if he ran he could avoid the uncomfortable conversation that he was a part of as well as avoid the mutation which was startling to behold. Perhaps he could sent her a owl requesting a picture of her eye for further examination. He could invent a whole plethora of things to help shield the sun from the delicate mutation her eyes had. And it would help countless oth-

Oh question. Squeak. Please no more. "N-n-not...." vigorous head shake, "w-well."

Yes, that much was obvious. Instead of relenting and giving his space back, Aspen stepped closer. She tucked her elbows between them and if anyone bothered looking their way - it WOULD appear as if she was about to snog/in the process of snogging one Ferris.

She wasn't. But personal space was invaded for the reason of.... in Aspen's view, he must still not be focusing. His answers were terrible. It was like pulling teeth with chopsticks.

"I mean, what technique do you use? Do you picture people in their underwear? Do you count in your head? What gets you through the crowd?" She spoke quietly, just to him, slowly and calmly. She really did want to help him.

But if he couldn't answer her, she was totally going to stow his body until the trial was over.

When humans were this close, to Ferris' understanding at least, they were supposed to be engaged in a deeply personal and intense interaction of courtly love. So why did he feel more like passing out then pursuing anything of the nature of human flirting?

Out of instinct, he just leaned back a little as she got closer to find that there was no where to go. Oh no, no, no. An escape route would have been bully at this moment. This moment of sheer terror because he could feel her breath on his face. HUMAN BREATHING ON THE FACE. HUMAN FEMALE WITH A FASCINATING EYE MUTATION BREATHING ON HIS FACE.

It was warm, which would mean she was exhaling and not blowing, he noted. There was a difference between the cycling of air.

Still, um, well, you see, he wasn't comfortable with this human interaction. Shaking all over and looking for anywhere else to occupy his gaze besides her mutation, he mumbled out, "I-I ruuun." Or collapsed. He had no coping strategy. That was why he was out in the hall in the first place. Running.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

When humans were this close, to Ferris' understanding at least, they were supposed to be engaged in a deeply personal and intense interaction of courtly love. So why did he feel more like passing out then pursuing anything of the nature of human flirting?

Out of instinct, he just leaned back a little as she got closer to find that there was no where to go. Oh no, no, no. An escape route would have been bully at this moment. This moment of sheer terror because he could feel her breath on his face. HUMAN BREATHING ON THE FACE. HUMAN FEMALE WITH A FASCINATING EYE MUTATION BREATHING ON HIS FACE.

It was warm, which would mean she was exhaling and not blowing, he noted. There was a difference between the cycling of air.

Still, um, well, you see, he wasn't comfortable with this human interaction. Shaking all over and looking for anywhere else to occupy his gaze besides her mutation, he mumbled out, "I-I ruuun." Or collapsed. He had no coping strategy. That was why he was out in the hall in the first place. Running.

And that was too pathetic for Aspen to put up with. Her smile was back, but not the kind one she'd offered him early. This was lioness just spotted a yummy zebra smile.

"That's just not going to work today, Ferris. You have a job to do. So you have to go inside that courtroom and do your job. And if you come back out into this corridor before the trial is over, I'll be waiting for you. Right here." Ahem, she leaned in until her nose touched his, "You don't want to see me again. I'll hide your body."

With that said, Aspen stepped back from Ferris and pointed back towards the courtroom door. He HAD to go that way OR.... the alternative.

OH NO. He was engaging in a proper conversation. The kind where she had enough information to continue speaking for several long moments without a breath. Although, he noted, she was a fan of pauses. An interesting human coping strategy to help find the proper vocabulary to make a point.

And again, she was still TOO close. The reason he hid away in his lab was because he did not like conversing with his species. Now he had no where to go BUT to converse with her. He was trapped. MEEP.

From the proximity of her body to his, Ferris could not even think properly enough to hear her speak. The only thing that was going through his mind was a never ending slew of don't touch me, too close, need to run, stay away, personal space, meeeep, squeak. So any words she threw his way about hiding his body were lost. It was just luck that his eyes were bugged and full of terror.

HUMAN TOUCHING HIS NOSE. DID HER INVASIVE NATURE KNOW NO ENDS?

Making a meep noise, he waited for her to step away and then ran back toward the courtroom, but not before tripping on his shoes. Oh dear.

....

....

....

.................................................. .........Aspen lost the edge of impatience when he tripped, over his own laces no less. She cast a glance around before stepped out of the shadows to bend down to Ferris-level. Her head was cocked so that she was peering at him upside down.

He got the full impact of Odessa STARING. STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARING, like a kid with a bug in a jar.

Eep. The floor was actually pretty nice. He could burrow his head into it and pretend he was a rug so people would walk right by him and avoid communication. Yes, the floor was a good place save the germs.

He could live without the germs.

But this method was not as affective as he would have hoped as Aspen was still there and looking at him now. Huh. Her mutation was startling...truly. It wasn't muddied at all by another colour. Just a bright blue, which was probably sensitive to the sunlight.

How did she cope with such harsh conditions for her corneas? Puzzling indeed. Ferris, finding a squeak worthy of a mouse, asked, "H-how d-do yooou pr-rotect," deep breathing, "y-your eyes?"

What?

Aspen was obviously missing some piece to the Ferris puzzle. SURE she'd stalked him multiple times throughout the more boring days of work, but that'd been more for her own amusement than a STUDY. Perhaps she should have paid more attention to him.

Because she was definitely not on the same page as him.

She'd tried to help him, joke with him, scare him, and threaten him. And he was back to .... eyes.

"Maybe you should just play dead." She had NO IDEA what he meant about protecting her eyes, so she just pretended to not hear and continue TRYING to HELP him.

Oh dear. He had done it again, that thing his mother had always warned him about: scaring people with his silly science questions. It was ironic that he had a tendency to do that because of his own crippling fear of social situations and interactions as well as germs and sunlight and people. Yes, all of those things.

But he was curious how she protected her eyes. In fact, he was almost inspired by them. The current UV protection on sunglasses was appalling, he knew from his own phobias and health concerns. With magic, he could revolutionise the wizard glasses market.

However, he did feel very self conscious all of the sudden at her comment. That was what he had been TRYING to do before she interrupted him...play dead.

Oh, well, um, you see...too much thinking. He was going to shut down now. Just like a machine.

"Sorry."

Great Merlin. Was that..... a hint? A glimmer? A smidge of.......human? He was fascinating in a normal setting, but he really needed to get off the floor of the courtrooms.

Aspen smiled at him, upside down, and what she meant to be encouraging. It wasn't I'm going to slay you like before. "Sorry for.....?" she prompted. Slowly, as if sticking her hands into a cage of wild beasts, Aspen offered him her hands to help him up.

"F-for scaring," he needed to find his words, "y-you." Oh dear. That had been quite a personal thing to say out loud. HE needed to collect himself and run the way that all socially deficient humans did. Also, Ferris had decided that if he stayed any longer he would be quite fixated on her eyes, which was not a thing to fixate on. Unless of course he could study them for science, but that would involve a human interaction, which, frankly, frightened him.

Pulling himself off of the floor while avoiding her hand and eyes and pushing his glasses into his nose he looked for an exit. Anyway to escape her. His anxiety was working up and he had to return to that large courtroom full of...gulp...humans. So many humans...talking and twittering away and....he might faint.

Time to, um, well, you see, go.

Jory made it. Now he was in this dingy and ugly looking corridor. This did nothing to improve his already bad mood but he headed down the dark corridor, passing offices and an occasional courtroom.

Where was the courtroom he was looking for? Courtroom seven... Was that it? Right up ahead? Yes, it was.

Doubled checked by him? "Shame that." She muttered, more to herself than him. If they were absolutely sure it was one way in and one way out then what hope was there of maintaining her suspicions? There was likely going to be nothing jumping out at them and nothing going bump in this obviously dimly lit corridor she'd just stepped into. "This place seems darker than I last remember? Bet it's some kind of scare tactic. Lead the bad guy through the dark corridor to hear what his fate will be."

Granted something like that wouldn't spook her but there were those who were more faint hearted and gullible. Might even be able to convince them you were leading them to their own execution, have them sweating the whole walk down. Seemed like something she would do even once, just to see what would happen.

"Down here's where they did that De Talone case, isn't it? In one of these courtrooms?" Lex had done SOME research before coming to work for the MLE, as much as she detested reading. The young woman continued down the dark corridor. "If it's one way in and one way out...how did she escape?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Doubled checked by him? "Shame that." She muttered, more to herself than him. If they were absolutely sure it was one way in and one way out then what hope was there of maintaining her suspicions? There was likely going to be nothing jumping out at them and nothing going bump in this obviously dimly lit corridor she'd just stepped into. "This place seems darker than I last remember? Bet it's some kind of scare tactic. Lead the bad guy through the dark corridor to hear what his fate will be."

Granted something like that wouldn't spook her but there were those who were more faint hearted and gullible. Might even be able to convince them you were leading them to their own execution, have them sweating the whole walk down. Seemed like something she would do even once, just to see what would happen.

"Down here's where they did that De Talone case, isn't it? In one of these courtrooms?" Lex had done SOME research before coming to work for the MLE, as much as she detested reading. The young woman continued down the dark corridor. "If it's one way in and one way out...how did she escape?"

Simon heard her quiet muttering and simply raised a curious eyebrow before letting it drop. Sure it was nice to explore the mysteries and nooks and crannies of the Ministry for the first time, but there wasn't much not known within the walls. As for the lighting in the corridor... "Might be more an imagination thing," he commented for his own opinion. Not that her thoughts on the matter didn't have some merit. "Or I've gotten used to the change over the years. "

Who knows?

The designers of the Ministry could get real into it at times.

And do half a job at others.

And then Alexa had to bring up the deTalone case...a deep spur in his side for the disaster it had turned into. "Yes, it is," Simon answered neutrally not wanting to entice her curiousity and her questioning about his feelings on it. "Courtroom 10 to be precise," he added as he started walking again. The room where he had escorted Kurumi and her boyfriend Lewis to the trial and the Hogwarts students away from the mess.

It was his turn to mutter something...

"Portkey."

He did have a point there, it might be a matter of imagination...like if she was a pansy afraid of the dark and kept imagining that there would be something behind every corner or something was waiting to out her in the dark. Did it truly work like that? Surely no one was that paranoid...'cept her cousin Dax...but he was growing out of it at least as she liked reminding herself so not even he would fall for such a tactic in truth. "Think it might just be who you are. I'm not used to this place but it's not particularly intimidating for me either." Just an observation as they continued down the dimly lit corridor.

Alexa squinted in the dark, trying to figure was Courtroom 10. Naturally they'd have to walk inside because she wanted to see...to survey the scene for herself while she tried imagining herself being present during that time. "Which one of these is that?"

But just as suddenly as she'd asked, she found herself more interested in what he had to say next. "Portkey?" Her brows rose incredulously. "I thought Security was meant to make sure things like that don't happen. Didn't you lot check everyone going in and out?"

It was no wonder the Prophet had a field day, something like that...said a lot......

SPOILER!!: Alexa

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

He did have a point there, it might be a matter of imagination...like if she was a pansy afraid of the dark and kept imagining that there would be something behind every corner or something was waiting to out her in the dark. Did it truly work like that? Surely no one was that paranoid...'cept her cousin Dax...but he was growing out of it at least as she liked reminding herself so not even he would fall for such a tactic in truth. "Think it might just be who you are. I'm not used to this place but it's not particularly intimidating for me either." Just an observation as they continued down the dimly lit corridor.

Alexa squinted in the dark, trying to figure was Courtroom 10. Naturally they'd have to walk inside because she wanted to see...to survey the scene for herself while she tried imagining herself being present during that time. "Which one of these is that?"

But just as suddenly as she'd asked, she found herself more interested in what he had to say next. "Portkey?" Her brows rose incredulously. "I thought Security was meant to make sure things like that don't happen. Didn't you lot check everyone going in and out?"

It was no wonder the Prophet had a field day, something like that...said a lot......

The dark kinda was soothing when it was quiet, like one could take a nap down on the level when no courts were in session. Might work even better then the relaxing place within the speciality area but not something he cared about really. "That too," the former auror agreed. Whatever the treatment, it was less likely for one of the law workers would be effected by it than any of the less than savory persons who walked down its corridors.

Which one was number 10?

Simon was about to point it out when Alexa switched her interest to the next thing. "They are," he confirmed, pausing in place with a sigh. Another reason why the case stuck out to him. "That's why there were some many questions afterwards. Especially when the department head and judge at the time left soon after." It did leave a dark mark on the man's record, leaving many curious as to just what had happened and who might have been involved on the inside to assist in the woman's escape.

"And one of the reasons I was drawn to helping security out in the first place." To try and furrow out the issues and assist in making sure something like that never happened again. Or stopping anything horrible involving security for that matter.

With each door they passed, Lex was sure to keep her eyes peeled. One of them would be Courtroom 10. Surely there was more to this than a portkey thing and there might have been some evidence left back even after all this time. A small hope to be sure but there it was.

The next thing he said piqued her interest some.

"Yeah? So then...you're tryn'a be like...the saviour of Security? Have they lost anyone since you started working this job?" Maybe he had some interesting stories to tell of narrow chases, near death haul ins...who knew, this was an active job, there was no telling what you would run into while trying to keep the wizarding world safe.

Oh here it was! Lex stopped suddenly at the door, placing an ear to it just to be sure there was no one inside. "What was so suspicious about the judge and Department Head leaving suddenly? You think they let her go?"

Hmmmmm.

SPOILER!!: Lex

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

With each door they passed, Lex was sure to keep her eyes peeled. One of them would be Courtroom 10. Surely there was more to this than a portkey thing and there might have been some evidence left back even after all this time. A small hope to be sure but there it was.

The next thing he said piqued her interest some.

"Yeah? So then...you're tryn'a be like...the saviour of Security? Have they lost anyone since you started working this job?" Maybe he had some interesting stories to tell of narrow chases, near death haul ins...who knew, this was an active job, there was no telling what you would run into while trying to keep the wizarding world safe.

Oh here it was! Lex stopped suddenly at the door, placing an ear to it just to be sure there was no one inside. "What was so suspicious about the judge and Department Head leaving suddenly? You think they let her go?"

Hmmmmm.

Simon could see Alexa had gotten an interest about the case and everything about it and wasn't going to let go. So he resolved himself to speaking on what he could. Maybe the younger generation could learn from the mistakes. "Not trying to BE anything," he corrected resuming his movements with her, albeit hanging back to simply watch and observe her. He wasn't no saviour"Just working hard on making sure nothing like it happens again. " That's all he could hope for, especially when it wasn't like he had all that much help.

He shook his head at her question of loss. "No," the former auror remarked. "Nor let any infected plants inside the ministry that made employees like to eat wood. " Or anything else of the sort. So that had to be a plus on his watch. Granted there had been the chizpurfle infestration but that hadn't been his fault nor anyone from the MLE for that matter. The creature department really needed to keep a better lid on things.

Mutants included.

"Well the judge was the department head at the time," Simon clarified as he too stopped by the door to Courtroom 10. So it was one person to be suspecious of. "And to be honest...I don't know what I think at this point." But there were people who did think just that he was sure of.

It was hardly a moment of listening before Alexa decided the room was empty and threw the door open. What was the worst that would happen? Them interrupting a secret meeting? Even then it could work in their favour if they busted some underground operation in the making, obviously. Just think how pleased Rainey would be afterwards! She was already doing a good job of earning brownie points.

Only sad thing was...there was no one inside.

Disappointing. Lex turned her attention back to Simon, having missed his disclaimer about what he was and wasn't trying to be but catching something about infected plants and wood. "What?" No, really, what? "That actually happened? And people were legit chomping on wood?" That was epic! Not to mention something she'd have liked to get in on. No doubt it was while she was stuck in that prison of a school. She seemed to miss all the brilliant things and now it seemed like hardly anything was happening.

"Did you guys bust the perp or did he get away too?" Serious question, serious serious.

And hang on just a minute. "The judge was the Department Head...and he just...made the time thief leave like that? Bet he got a cut of whatever she was offering." It was malicious speculation but the man wasn't her boss so...

He didn't need to listen or look to see that the room was empty as Lex threw open the courtroom door. There was nothing on the docket for today, nor meetings he had caught wiffs of, and the years as an auror (and perhaps as beater) had helped him tune his senses for trace of movement. So he had let the trainee do as she pleased at the moment without stepping in to tell her to be more subtle in her actions. No harm to anyone currently other than wasting her energy.

Of course she'd hear THAT of all things. "Indeed," Simon confirmed, thinking back to the other incident yet cutting out the more personal aspects of it. "Including a former department head." No names needed yet it was interesting to note she was the wife of the previously mentioned MLE department head. "The situation was...taken care of." Not necessarily a perp to catch.

As for Wes' involvement...

"There was speculation but nothing concrete against the man." He himself wasn't going to firmly convict him without the proof that he was involved. It just left some murky coincidences around. But then the whole deTalone case was a mix of issues and circumstances that obviously caused trouble in the long run as the woman was still out there on her own strength. Not even Mysteries' prophecy had helped...as of yet.

The room was a lot more depressing than one might think when it was empty. No convictions, no gravel hammering against wood, no whispers among a jury of peers. In fact the more she thought about it was the less appealing the room looked. Know what it'd be good for? Hiding out to get some paperwork done when the Office got ridiculous. Aurors could be ridiculous sometimes.

Lex pulled the door shot once more, disappointed there hadn't been more to see as it looked like they were at the other end of the corridor now.

"Taken care of sounds like you fixed the problem but never figured who done it." WHICH sounded like the perp had gotten away but that was simply her take on the matter. At no point did she think it would be something of an accident that simply needed addressing which explained where her train of thought was going with all this.

Nothing concrete huh? "And did he get canned eventually or just pack up and leave?" Because the latter spoke VOLUMES into the matter in case she was the only one that thought so.

For a moment Lex turned this way then that, taking in the dimly lit corridor again. "What else is down here?"

Simon watched as the young woman seemingly got bored with the empty courtroom, closing the door on the room with a past. The case of deTalone apparently forgotten in favor of the radical illness the likes of Izzy and Kyle had gone through. "There was no real culprit in this case," the security man clarified. "But anything overlooked that had lead to the issue had been fixed or gotten rid of. "

"There's the Level 10 Office, meant mostly for use by the Wizamagot and the prosecutors before and during cases they are working on," he responded to her inquiry as she took in the corridor on either side of her. Much like the Level 8 office served the purpose of security. "The coffee club," he added, well aware of the nearly hidden gathering spot despite the fact he had no real use for it as he didn't really drink the beverage popular with most of the MLE. And then he dropped the final shoe.

"The passworded floo that's connected directly to Level 2." You know...the one that allowed you to avoid the all the steps or the ride in the lifts. That he had purposely neglected to mention before now.