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Cassirin · #1 (**permalink**) 06-08-2021, 01:29 AM

Although the tastes of the Minister and his former Undersecretary run to lush and crowded, the office of the current Senior Undersecretary is a quiet pocket of calm in an otherwise frantic world. The furniture is all modern clean lines and cool colors, with abstract art that compliments the space but is not intended to make the viewer work too hard. Genevieve James doesn't go in much for creature comforts, you can assume, although her chair is far more comfortable than the two squared off across her desk. In spite of being underground, the room is filled with natural light and the pleasant green smell of growing plants and moving water.

There are a few personal effects on the shelf behind the desk, and if you're stuck in silence waiting for Senior Undersecretary James' attention, you may have time to study the framed photos clustered there, or admire the tidy stacks of policy manuals tabbed with color-coded sticky notes. You may even have time to wonder if the succulents are real, and if they are, who takes care of them.

If the door is closed, please knock and wait for an answer. Otherwise, feel free to stop in and chat.

DaniDiNardo · 08-07-2021, 11:20 PM

Knock. Knock. Knock.

He hadn't planned to be near this office for the rest of the day, resolved to sitting at his desk and keeping his head down as he planned to be...but the more he thought about it...the less he wanted to take the chance of Kenzie being right and him not listening to her.

There was a lot of that going around lately.

Consequently, Kodee made a beeline for James's office the moment he got back. He could feel his heart trying to crawl up into his throat and it was almost enough to make him change his mind. Didn't matter he'd already knocked, he could easily move to his desk and pretend it never happened.

But this probably needed to happen so...

He...would just....stand and wait.

Cassirin · 08-08-2021, 01:06 AM

Genevieve James had created several towers of paperwork on her desk - notes on security details, diplomatic kerfluffles, questions from the press and from an endless number of people who wanted something from her. And then there was a much smaller tower of things that were completed. That pile never seemed to get any bigger.

"Enter, please," Vivi glanced up and discovered her long missing PA standing in the doorway. "Ah, please enter and have a seat. I hope you brought a shovel."

DaniDiNardo · 08-08-2021, 01:59 AM

.....

"Uh...." A shovel?

Kodee entered, swinging the door shut behind him while he worked it out in his head. A metaphor, obviously, had to be, no question but was it...a metaphor for HIM GETTING SACKED??? Him having to dig himself out of the hole she was about to put him in?? Was it the papers? Those were probably for him, gone two weeks like he was he'd thought it was strange she hadn't dumped things on him immediately or asked him on any coffee runs or anything...but maybe she was waiting til after lunch.

Man he hoped it was the last option.

Kodee took a seat as instructed, doing his best not to fidget because that was akin to an admission of guilt...which....he came to do anyway but didn't need to give the game away early...earlier than necessary.

"I can get on those as soon as you need--stay late tonight if it takes that long, I don't really have plans--or well I guess I did but it doesn't really matter because I haven't been at work this whole time. Missed work, you know, 'cause I like my job well enough and there's a zillion things I'd hate doing way more than this and I think it's a good fit--me and my mates grab lunch often, they work here, too. I'm thriving, it's one of the only places I'm thriving in my whole life--can you believe that?? Weird, huh? So anyway, I was hoping to talk to you about my absence." He concluded, thankfully managing to rein in his ramblings before they got TOO far out of hand.

Boss Lady likely didn't have the time to listen to him go on and on. Just look at her desk.

Cassirin · 08-09-2021, 12:03 AM

Vivi's eyebrows went up. Down. Up. One down. Both down. He had a lot to say, didn't he? Breathing. Breathing was an issue for this one. She shoved one of the stacks over to reveal her calendar, meetings carefully slotted throughout her day. Very little time for breathing, unfortunately, but it wasn't totally impossible.

"This is my pile. We can get you your own pile, but this one is mine." She pried the calendar loose and offered it to him. "But you can be in charge of this. Make sure no one gets dropped. Make sure I find time to breathe. And you're going to breathe with me, because you need time to breathe too." She raised her eyebrows again. "Even if you're thriving. Tell me about that. And about your absence."

DaniDiNardo · 08-09-2021, 12:33 AM

Oh. Huh. He'd get his own pile and just needed to keep her calendar doable. Okay. He could do that. He could definitely do that. It was in his job description, in fact, and something he had learned to properly do for Fletcher....after much trial and error. There was a lot Kodee learned through trial and error that, consequently, James would never have to suffer through.

Which kinda fit in with the whole thriving thing.

"Well..." It was just the explaining that would be difficult. Always frustrating when HE knew what he was saying but no one else seemed to. "I know what I should be doing at 8 am....and I know what I'll be doing til like 4....and I know which files go where and when to take messages and that if I need a minute, Kaiser is just through that door and my other mates are a few floors away so basically I feel comfortable and like there's structure in my life and the last time I didn't have structure, my whole life spiralled into this awful free fall full of bad choices."

Speaking of bad choices.

"Whiiiiich brings me to the absence." And much like he'd just done, Kodee launched into a full on explanation (read: ramble), holding very little back. It was a problem he'd always had once he started talking, oversharing. It showed up to this meeting to foil him again but for all he tried, once he started talking he couldn't stop.

"And THAT'S why you're probably gonna get a thing to sign saying I've been here all day for at least a month."

As a heads up, while he was here, because it was gonna happen and she was gonna wonder.

Cassirin · 08-11-2021, 01:45 AM

Vivi nodded as Chosen explained, and overexplained, and then plainly spilled his guts. Wow. Was there anything about him that she didn't know? Middle name? No, that was on his employment file. Maybe the name of his first pet. His mother's favorite midnight snack. The real juicy secrets.

"I can't sign it until you've actually been here a month, right? But other than that, I think we can get you squared away. Just..." Vivi leaned on her desk, her eyebrows serious. Her elbows knocked one of the stacks sideways and it listed dangerously toward the edge of the desk. "My primary concern is the safety of the Minister. He's careless and trusts people too easily. As long as your primary concern is to make sure my primary concern is being met, we'll get along marvelously. Everything else is just noise."

DaniDiNardo · 08-12-2021, 10:01 PM

Following that whole exercise of....spilling his guts, Kodee braced for the worst. He knew he'd have fired himself after everything--even with that not being the worst of it by a half--so he knew he couldn't be particularly down about it and that he wouldn't be able to blame James. Just...he would need to figure out rent and groceries.

What came, however....sounded an awful lot like he'd still be among the employed within the society and if that wasn't about the best thing to happen to him today--sad, huh? When the highlight of your entire day was not getting fired, you knew you weren't living your best life. Life told a lot of funny jokes like that one actually. He hadn't yet learned how to laugh at them but he was working on it.

"It's a daily sheet." He explained, sliding that in there now that the boss lady didn't seem too fussed about it. "But uhhh...Minister Charle's safety is definitely up there on the list of my priorities and making sure your primary concern is met, too--I've got that concern myself. After that whole cult business, we can't have pretty receptionists walking in and taking jobs--I never liked that Allie, you know? Not from the start. Always knew there was something strange about her." Granted...he'd thought she was gorgeous, but then she took his job and suddenly he could see her for the vile woman with a beautiful face that she was.

Priorities, he had them.

Cassirin · 08-15-2021, 01:45 AM

Vivi tapped her fingers against the wavering stack, knocking it gently back into place. That was how she parented too, just a gentle push to try to get them to make the right choices on their own. Kodee wasn't a child, but she hoped that maybe she could just tap-tap-tap where it mattered and help him correct this collision course he seemed to be on.

"Sounds like you have good instincts. I can use those, since we're mostly surrounded by politicians who don't know when someone is lying to them or not," Vivi hoped that her office door was closed snugly enough there was no chance of being overheard. Not that she was wrong, but sometimes people liked to believe their gut was infallible. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you yet, Chosen, but I need you. Let's start with that and see how it goes."

DaniDiNardo · 08-24-2021, 04:00 PM

"Oh for sure, I've got some real killer instincts." Instincts weren't his issue. Believe it or not, Kodee Chosen could very much tell when something was a bad idea. He could spot bad ideas and bad people and bad choices a mile away. That was never the issue. The issue came with his affinity for such characters and situations. They often got his blood racing in ways only they could and it was something he was trying to work through.

Kodee glanced to the door, too, following James's statement. He had to agree because it was something he noticed a lot. "They're very busy trying to say the right thing." A problem he'd never had. Things sorta just...flowed and then he dealt with the consequences one way or another.

"And very busy trying to be diplomatic so they don't really wanna assume things of others.' But Kodee had made his way through the seedy underground for years now. He knew that it didn't matter who you were or what you did, everyone had the same potential to be literally anything. A well suited guy could be a savage in the ring. A sleazy guy whose eyes followed you where you walked could be a healer or adventurer. You had to be willing to see everyone for what they were, not what you wanted them to be.

"I'd like to hope you'll keep me and it seems that way so far." Which was what he'd come for. "So I guess, before I go....is there anything I could do? Anything to work on?" Coffee?

Cassirin · 02-25-2022, 01:46 AM

The door? Open. The chair? Empty. The office, though, was full of the sound of running water and the rich scent of the forest right after a rainstorm. There was a lot to do, and the sound and smell were calming to the petite blond woman who has planted herself in front of the charmed window with a huge tabbed manual. She really ought to get Magical Maintenance up to change the view on her window sometime soon. Or she'd have someone do it for her, assuming she remembered.

It was unlikely she'd remember, as Vivi jumped right back into the manual, the sound and scent of the room slipping into the background.

Felixir · 03-03-2022, 12:57 AM

Door was open, which meant... well. Open door. Self-explanatory.

Stopping outside Ms James' office, Kaiser tapped on said door with one crooked knuckle anyway, and poked his head inside. "Senior Undersecretary James?"

Though he was a city boy through and through (city after city after city... after city) (after city), the foresty smell inside the office always unearthed memories of a brief but pivotal moment in his life. Kaiser still wasn't sure if the memories were pleasant or completely devastating; mostly it depended on the day.

Today they were fine. Pleasant. Definitely didn't send him running for the hills.

Cassirin · 03-03-2022, 01:36 AM

Vivi settled her binder back in its spot and gave Kaiser a side eye. "If you insist on calling me by my full title, we'll never get anything done. It takes half a day just to say it all." She gestured at one of the chairs in front of her desk and moved to take a seat in the other chair beside it, rather than in her big chair behind the desk.

"I'm glad you stopped by. Did you have something for me?"

Stefan · 04-12-2022, 04:08 PM

Running shifts between St. Mungo's, the Ministry, and him teaching in pre-healer studies, River Reed was more than happy to welcome the recently concluded school term, which gave him a massive breathing room to manage everything else in the realm of Healers, as well as administrative matters such as his visit to the Undersecretary.

He received a note from the Undersecretary, and if he was being honest, he'd say that it was about time he got a raise.. or better yet, a promotion. For (maybe not so) obvious reasons, River took his sweet time regarding this subject and decided to come up finally to the Minister's office to discuss his employment.

The door to the senior undersecretary's was neither closed nor open. Training his ears towards the ajar door, it seemed that the occupant wasn't currently engaged with a colleague, and with his hand, he knocked on the door, and stepped aside.

Cassirin · 04-13-2022, 01:21 AM

"Enter," Genevieve didn't glance up from the memo she was writing. Just a few more very emphatic sentences on the various ways that security was completely letting her down. All. The. Time. What was the professional way to say "we're barely alive down here, thanks to you"? Probably there wasn't one. Probably not the way to make friends and influence people.

Finally, she glanced up and waved Healer Reed forward. "Don't lurk. It's creepy, and people get hexed for less than being creepy around here."

Stefan · 04-13-2022, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"Enter," Genevieve didn't glance up from the memo she was writing. Just a few more very emphatic sentences on the various ways that security was completely letting her down. All. The. Time. What was the professional way to say "we're barely alive down here, thanks to you"? Probably there wasn't one. Probably not the way to make friends and influence people.

Finally, she glanced up and waved Healer Reed forward. "Don't lurk. It's creepy, and people get hexed for less than being creepy around here."

"Err.. right, noted." River stepped inside James' office, closing the door behind him, and took note of the undersecretary's office. It was nothing like the sterile environment back at the healer's station, but it was nice, nonetheless. He particularly liked the smell.

Not waiting for the undersecretary, he settled himself in one of the seats facing her table and waited for the woman to start them off.

Cassirin · 04-16-2022, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefan

"Err.. right, noted." River stepped inside James' office, closing the door behind him, and took note of the undersecretary's office. It was nothing like the sterile environment back at the healer's station, but it was nice, nonetheless. He particularly liked the smell.

Not waiting for the undersecretary, he settled himself in one of the seats facing her table and waited for the woman to start them off.

"Make yourself comfortable, then," Genevieve was amused as she tidied her stack of memos. Healers. What an unruly bunch. "Have I ever mentioned to you that both of my oldest children are at university for Healer studies right now? I tried to talk them into something a little safer... being an Auror, perhaps? But no, they're stubborn."

She leaned back in her chair and took in the man seated across from her. "How do you like working for the Ministry?"

Stefan · 04-21-2022, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"Make yourself comfortable, then," Genevieve was amused as she tidied her stack of memos. Healers. What an unruly bunch. "Have I ever mentioned to you that both of my oldest children are at university for Healer studies right now? I tried to talk them into something a little safer... being an Auror, perhaps? But no, they're stubborn."

She leaned back in her chair and took in the man seated across from her. "How do you like working for the Ministry?"

Comfort. Well that was rather a luxury nowadays for the Healer more than he cared to admit, but that wasn't why he was here, yes? Well, okay, maybe a little. River perked up a little as his eyes were drawn to the pictures behind the undersecretary, giving her an acknowledging nod when she mentioned about her kids doing Healer studies. "Are they? I should be on the look out next term. They might end up in my class," River said, chuckling at the mention of them being stubborn. Stubborn was good, to some extent, but he could see why this might cause problems for her kids.

Opening up his palms, and then clasping them back together again, River sat back too, relaxing a bit as he pondered on what to say. "It's okay, I suppose. Working for the ministry has helped me make ends meet over the years, that's for certain." he said, with a tired smile. "I'd clearly choose this over being a Healer in Hogwarts." he continued. The amount of grey hair that sprung from his head during his time there was too rapid for his liking.

Cassirin · 04-23-2022, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefan

Comfort. Well that was rather a luxury nowadays for the Healer more than he cared to admit, but that wasn't why he was here, yes? Well, okay, maybe a little. River perked up a little as his eyes were drawn to the pictures behind the undersecretary, giving her an acknowledging nod when she mentioned about her kids doing Healer studies. "Are they? I should be on the look out next term. They might end up in my class," River said, chuckling at the mention of them being stubborn. Stubborn was good, to some extent, but he could see why this might cause problems for her kids.

Opening up his palms, and then clasping them back together again, River sat back too, relaxing a bit as he pondered on what to say. "It's okay, I suppose. Working for the ministry has helped me make ends meet over the years, that's for certain." he said, with a tired smile. "I'd clearly choose this over being a Healer in Hogwarts." he continued. The amount of grey hair that sprung from his head during his time there was too rapid for his liking.

"Don't take it easy on them on my account. If they're going to do the job, they might as well realize exactly what they're getting into right off the bat," Genevieve let her eyes drift just once in the direction of the photo with Fee and Teddy, but her focus snapped back.

She'd wondered how the Ministry compared to Hogwarts, but it was really no contest, was it? Hogwarts was constantly in danger, full of children who didn't know their own magic and didn't mind getting into harm at every moment. The Ministry was full of paper cuts... and the occasional assassination attempt. "You've been here for a while now. Put in the time, put in the work. I've been meaning to fill that supervisory position, but... it's yours, if you want it. More pay, but more administrative work."

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