Once bidden to enter, you find yourself in a large spacious room with floor to ceiling windows with drapes framing them along one wall. The walls are of a dark reddish brown colour, with bookshelves along one wall and paintings along another. A plush off-white sofa sits under a large painting of the Battle of Hogwarts, with two leather chairs to compliment the sofa on either side.

A nice mahogany colour, large, wooden desk sits in front of two floor two ceiling bookcases. Two small chairs sit in front of it. A few picture frames are on the corners of the desk, one holds Becca and him at their wedding, the other holds their four children Torie, James, Norah and Emma. The bookshelves that line the walls are of 20th century books. A few current titles appear on them, but his collection there isn't as broad.

A beautiful ornate rug covers the floor and a few plants dot the room, that is filled with lots of natural light, as well as a few lights in the ceiling.

Graphic done by Becky

ooc: Open RP Area. Any ministry personnel may RP here.

Heading into Gidyun's office under the pretence of putting paperwork on his desk, Charles very subtly waved his wand at the Anti-Burglar buzzers and watched them latch onto every surface that opened or moved away from its original surface and then smirked to himself. Gidyun would have fun getting things out of his drawers and getting into his office and files. Ha! He gently laid the file on top of Gid's desk and put another buzzer on that, but then left the office in his usual confident way. Nothing going on here. Nope.

The sound of Meghan's black power heels echoed in the corridor as she made her way to Mr. Gidyun Yenorin's office, her soon to be boss. The sound was familiar to her and she allowed herself a small smile, striding purposefully until she stopped in front of the door.

No stranger to being new, she felt the familiar anxiety melt away to be replaced by a cool confidence she had acquired over the years. This was no different from any of her other interviews. It just so happened that this time, she would be applying for something slightly more... permanent.

Not allowing herself to yet again dwell on this topic, she knocked on the door twice, adjusting her shoulder bag as she waited.

That had been an odd discussion. He'd just finally left Zach, who was the Junior Undersecretary, and was going to go into the work areas when he saw someone knock on his office door. "Good afternoon." he said in greeting to the woman standing there. "I'm Gidyun, can I help you?"

Moving to open the door to let her in, the moment he turned it he nearly jumped from his skin as an alarm went off, louder than any he'd heard from the buzzers he'd tested. Shutting the door quickly he could hear it still going off on the other side. Merlin! "Err...." Staring at the door "Really I am Gidyun." Yeah that alarm made it look like he'd broken into his own office!

Quickly turning as she heard footsteps, Meghan blinked as she saw a tall man walk towards her. She quickly recognised him from the photograph she had managed to get a hold of and therefore smiled at him. "Good afternoon sir," she nodded to him. She would have replied to his question as well, had he not turned to the door in order to let them both in. Makes sense to have this conversation inside, after all.

"OH LORD!" Meghan exclaimed, all but grazing the ceiling with her head as the alarms went off. Her heart continued to beat a mile a minute when he shut the door and for a few seconds, she was rather speechless.

"... Fortunately," she began once she caught her breath, "I recognised you from a photo I had come across prior to coming to this meeting. Is there, well, any reason you're not supposed to be inside your office?" she asked, already not pleased by this department. No wonder she'd had her work cut out for her all those years - if the department couldn't hand anti-burglar buzzers, then clearly they couldn't take care of the intricate job of managing foreign relations and cooperation.

"I...don't believe so." Turning towards where Zach had been he shook his head. He was positive that hadn't been a joke, or anything. "We were testing these to make sure they worked properly. Opening the door again his hand went around the side trying to find the blasted thing before he opened the door. Finally finding it he pulled it off the door and started fiddling with it trying to shut it off. "Somehow...AHA" flicking the switch, the alarm stopped going off.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he opened the door all the way. "Come on in, somehow we'll figure this out. Stepping further into his office "I'm guessing that someone decided to play a prank. Not thinking anything of anything else possibly happening in his office he moved towards his chair "You must be Meghan."

Scrunching up her face in discomfort as the alarm wailed still behind the closed door, Meghan simply watched as Mr. Yenorin began to, well there was no other way to say it, muck around with the alarm. By the time he managed to shut it off she was fairly certain she'd lost a little of her hearing.

Keeping her expression carefully blank, she silently followed her boss into his office, taking a second to sweep it with her eyes. On first glance it passed her inspection, not taking in the unruly alarm that still had her ears ringing. "Does that happen often?" she inquired, setting her bag down.

At the mention of her name, she smiled slightly and nodded. At least he'd been expecting her.

He moved to his chair and went to sit as he shook his head and shrugged "I don't think so. It's honestly like only my second week here." Merlin, he really hoped not. Sitting down on his chair another alarm sounded and he jumped so hard the entire chair completely flipped over and he hit the floor.

Fighting a groan he closed his eyes. Whomever it was that did this....he was going to get and he'd find out who it was, he had enough training as an auror that shouldn't be a problem....right?

Only his second week here? Her report hadn't mentioned that. Meghan made a mental note to speak to her informant and let him know he's losing his touch. The blonde was inches from sitting down herself when the alarm rang, AGAIN.

Shooting backwards, she just missed tripping over her own feet as she clutched her heart, the sound deafening in her ears. Had she not been inside this scenario, she might have actually found Yenorin's expression of shock almost amusing. As it were however, she did not. Fighting to calm her pounding heart, she gingerly removed her wand from its holster inside her jacket.

Pointing it at the general direction of the fallen chair, she muttered "silencio". It might work. It was worth a shot, and definitely quicker than messing about with the switch again. She couldn't even SEE the buzzer for heaven's sake!

Shaking his head he rubbed his face with his hands and went to move to sit up and grab the alarm that was wailing. Relieved at it shutting the noise off he could still feel the vibrations of it and as he got to his feet and set the chair up he found the switch. "I'd uhh....offer you to sit down but...."

"ACCIO alarm" he said pointing his wand at the chair he'd offer her and then got beaned in the head by about 10 different ones flying from his desk and the chairs nearby. ALL 10 going off at once. "MERLIN!"

"Silencio!" he exclaimed pointing his wand at the alarms that were all wailing now and closing his eyes he pinched his nose. "I hope that that might be the last of them..." he murmured.

"Please..have a seat."

It began to feel as if the alarm was ringing inside her head, as opposed to in this man's office. WHY it was ringing in this man's office was still a mystery, and Meghan was NOT amused. At all.

Mercifully, the sound went off and she let out a sigh, hands going to straighten her clothes and hair as she tried to gather herself up again. Was this some sort of trick, to see how she handles surprises? If it was, it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Pocketing her own wand, she looked warily at her chair. "Yeah, I don't know if I want to sit to be quite honest with you," she nodded, and this time did trip over her feet as TEN BLOODY ALARMS RANG ALL AT ONCE. "WHAT IN THE WORLD?!" she yelled, not even noticing her ankle throb painfully as the alarms wailed around her.

And just like that, there was silence. Or, to be accurate, the room was silent - her ears were another matter entirely. Shutting her eyes as blood rushed to her head, she barely heard Mr. Yenorin speak. It was then that she felt her ankle and silently cursed.

Bloody brilliant.

"I shall take a seat, thank you," she stated as she sat, trying to keep venom out of her voice. It clearly wasn't his fault, but right now she had no one else to blame for the headache, twisted ankle and general ill mood.

Merlin he didn't blame her there! He wouldn't have wanted to sit in an office that sounded like someone was trying to break through everything including the quill sharpener hole! Eyeing it, he wasn't about to find out if there was one in there. He was going to find the alarms after Meghan left.

Yeah she did not look happy one bit! Sitting gingerly in his chair, almost afraid it might just explode, he moved forward and lifted the paper from his desk and tried to organize it again after all the papers had flew around as the buzzers were summoned. "Okay, you're in foreign relations and have worked as a journalist. We're just opening a new division within IMC but it's like bare minimum's just starting out."

He had assumed that's why she'd been suggested for his level rather than the minister's offices. "I'm really going to need your help with getting the foreign relations division up and running, we don't currently have anyone hired for the division so you'd be on your own for now. I know somewhat about the division as we had it in the Italian ministry but my specialty in IMC was as ambassador, not foreign relations specifically."

Ah, work.

Work was good.

Shaking herself and putting the pain to the back of her mind, Meghan refocused on the task at hand - new job, new boss, new country. Right. Swiftly she pulled out a writing pad and her self inking quill, ready to write anything down should the need arise.

Eyeing him as he tried to reorganise the mess on the desk, the blonde kept her silence as he talked, writing the job description down in neat, minute handwriting. She only spoke when she made sure that he was done.

First - smile.

"Well sir, I am here to help; it's the reason I applied for this position in the first place. But, if you don't mind, could I first introduce myself properly, and then perhaps you could as well so that we can know each other on a more personal level. I've learnt that the personal connection is the most vital part when dealing with relations," she said, her tone formal yet not unkind.

Lifting his hands slightly he gave an apologetic look "I apologize, absolutely." he said nodding, his hand about to reach for the drawer to take his notepad out but then stopped. Nope...not even going to consider the drawers til he knew there were NO MORE buzzers anywhere.

Flipping a paper over he carefully took a quill from the cup, breathing a sigh of relief. If there had been one there it must have been summoned with the others... Ready to write some notes on the back of...well he didn't want to think of what it was he was writing on probably something for the minister, would be just his luck

Good, he hadn't been offended by her remark. Wonderful - that meant he would be able to handle feedback and constructive criticism. She basically lived off constructive criticism.

"Right. My name, as you already know, is Meghan Powell. Small note - while pronounced the same, my name is spelled with an 'h' after the 'g'," she began, already getting rid of one of her biggest pet peeves. It was amazing how much a name could bug you so much. She had her parents to thank for that, including her 'colourful' middle name.

"I actually never worked as a journalist - I had a column during my university days in New York, but I've only ever worked in public and foreign relations. I won't bother you with the dry details since I'm sure you have those, but know that I am always open to questions. Prior to my last job in Atlantis, I was absent from the wizarding world from some time, and even though it's been almost two years, I'm still relearning everything, so bear that in mind," she smiled, placing her hands in front of her as she talked.

"When it comes to foreigners, I'm your girl. I've spent my entire life travelling, and I've learned quite a bit about the vast amount of cultures around the world. I am fluent in 14 languages and constantly aiming to know more. Since I have a long history in PR, I am well adept at handling reporters as well, so I can handle that front as well. Anything else, we'll see with time I suppose," she grinned, looked down at her notes and then straight at Mr. Yenorin.

His turn.

Listening as she spoke, he made note of the spelling of her name. He could totally see that! He hated it when people spelled his Gideon as so many people did. Nodding he noted also that she was never an actual journalist but had a column she wrote. Fair enough. His eyes lifted though when she mentioned Atlantis. He'd been there quite a bit himself, being as he'd been ambassador there for Italy. Ugh, she definitely was up on him in regards to languages. He had...3...yeah that was a bit pathetic. He was starting in on French though and hopefully was going to add more to his list, being the position he was in!

"My name is Gidyun Yenorin." he said nodding and sat back in his chair. "Spelled G i d y u n" knowing she was set on her spelling, she'd appreciate that he preferred the same. "I worked in the British ministry for a time in the department of Mysteries as an unspeakable." Yeah skip over that part... Then I took a break for about ten years doing travelling and such and landed up in the Italian Ministry where I worked my way up to the Department head of Accidents & Catastrophes and trained as an auror with who is now my wife. I wanted to do more travelling so I moved to IMC where I worked as ambassador to magical countries and was transferred here when the department head stepped down."

Ah, another one with a troublesome name syndrome. The corners of her mouth lifted the slightest bit as she wrote that little piece of information down, though she had read his name on the report. Meghan made sure to listen carefully when he talked about his past, since she had nothing on him there, and it bothered her.

It's almost like he didn't exist here as a child. Very strange.

No matter though - she had plenty of time to get to know Mr. Yenorin here. Nodding as he finished talking, she set her quill down.

"Right. Now for the actual work - I am aware, as you mentioned earlier, that there are no current employees in the Relations offices and while I am no stranger to had work, I must request that you perhaps begin looking for new people, preferably with languages and a good head on their shoulders. I do not ask this lightly, since there must be countless issues behind each hire, but while I could hold the fort for a few months, after that it won't be possible," she said, looking right into his eyes.

She'd be damned if she lost this job just because she wasn't comfortable enough to ask for help. That's another important lesson she'd learned over the years - it's never shameful to require assistance.

Nodding, as she spoke in regards to her assigned position. He noted about needing to find new people. "That will be my goal over the next few months, finding new employees to fill in those positions as well as product testers. We are pretty comfortable with the other divisions, at the moment, but those 2 divisions need more employees." Obviously Foreign Relations definitely needed them!

"We'll get you help as soon as possible." he assured her "And I'm always here as well if you need me for anything. I'll help in any way I can."

Good, this was good, he wasn't yelling. She might end up fitting in here after all, who knew?

She wrote down his response, feeling she might need it written down in the future. Or perhaps she was just being paranoid. In any case, there was no harm in putting it to writing - best case scenario, she threw the note away.

"Right back at you sir," she smiled. Meghan hadn't quite figured him all out yet, but she would. It's a matter of time. She always cracked them in the end - it was a specialty of hers. Occasionally she even felt bad about it, but experience had shown that once all the barriers had been pulled down the work just ran smoother.

At the end of the day, that was the reason they were all here.

Recognising the end of the conversation, she popped her stationery back in bag and stood up. "It was lovely meeting you, I look forward to a bright and fruitful future ahead. If you don't mind, I'll go and set up my cubicle," she smiled, now a little excited. This was always the fun bit - learning the new place, the new work. And then seeing it all be better because suddenly she's there and she's helping.

Of course, now she had to build everything from scratch.

Her smile stretched further across her face. Fun.

He liked seeing when an employee was looking forward to the job they were being assigned. It was good to have happy employees, and being as she wasn't complaining about it, it was good to see her happy. Standing up he nodded "Good, feel free to set up and just let me know if there is anything I can do."

Now, for him to find all those buzzers. Maybe a silencing charm on the entire office? As soon as she left, he followed her to the door and shut it again behind her. Standing there with the door behind him he leaned back and took out his wand again. Putting silencio on the room, he shouted "ACCIO!" and though you couldn't hear it it reverberated around the office and before he knew it he'd gotten pelted with hundreds of alarm buzzers and was sitting on the floor of the office.

A tiny paper origami crane flutters into the office, slipping under the door and landing softly on the desk. It delicately unfolds in the middle of the Department Head's desk to reveal the following memo:

Quote:

Dear Department Heads,

Please pardon the inconvenience, but the Floo Network is currently undergoing repairs in light of technical difficulties in the connections between fireplaces. Please bear with us as we work to correct the problem. In the meantime, employees are encouraged to use other forms of transportation including Apparition, Portkeys and the visitors entrance in the Atrium to commute to and from work. If you have any concerns or information crucial to the repair of the network, please contact Gabriela Schultz directly.

Thank you

Looking up as a paper flew into his office, Gid reached out and caught it before it landed and opened it. Reading it over he got to his feet. Well that was good to know. Heading ut of the office he figured he'd better post it so that his employees would know as well!

Harland frowned slightly as he made the short trip to his boss's office. He had received word almost immediately upon his return to work that he was needed there before he readjusted. With all the shifting arounds going on at the Ministry, Harland vaguely wondered what was needed of him.

As he arrived outside the office door, Harland could hear nothing coming from inside but a slight shuffling of papers here and there. He rapped his knuckles gently on the door three times before poking his head in. "You wished to see me?" he asked with a small smile.

Gid was sitting at his desk and really trying to focus on the paper with a request from the minister. Shaking his head he tried to clear it, he had no idea how he was going to choose from his employees for this assignment, but...hmm. Looking up as he heard a knock on the door he called out "Come in".

A smile appeared on his face when Harland poked his head in, "Morning Harland, come in and have a seat." he said as he gestured to one of the seats in front of his desk.

Harland's smile relaxed a bit as he saw Gidyun's smile. He stepped fully into the office and shut the door quietly behind him before taking a few strides to the desk and sitting in one of the seats in front of it.

Harland was glad to have the trial of that woman behind him, even if it still was a bit unsettling. She could still be a danger to anyone. Probably not a 36 year old male who worked in the Ministry of Magic, but still. He folded his hands neatly in his lap and looked back at his boss. "What was it you wanted to talk about?" he asked lightly, fairly curious himself.