Department Map

The conference room is large, and magically adjustable so that it can expand to fit the entire department if necessary. This is where information and demonstrations can be magically projected for presentations and briefings, without worry that those outside the room will overhear thanks to the enchantments in place. A large circular table is in the center of the room surrounded by comfortable - but not too comfortable that you would want to sit in them all day - chairs for each employee.

All divisions of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes are permitted to make use of the conference room, but meeting times must be booked so that there are no clashes.

To book the room for your division, please PM sweetpinkpixie.

With a pot of what was still arguably the best coffee in the Ministry (brewed in their break room, for everyone's information) and a humble tray of breakfast pastries that he had nicked from the food court, Aron stepped into the conference room and was not the least bit surprised that he was the first one here. He was a bit early and had arrived early to the Ministry that morning to make one last inspection of the level before his employees got here. Sure, repairs had been made and everything had checked out, but seeing as the same had been said before the laboratory had EXPLODED...he was not going to take any chances until he had personally signed off.

Which he had now. So nothing better blow up or malfunction or else there was going to be an Australian with a very bruised ego.

Unbuttoning his vest, Aron grabbed one of the pens to the white board and eyeballed it. He should write something on it. Obligatory WELCOME or today's agenda...but neither of which seemed especially appealing. The coffee and breakfast things were welcoming enough and he didn't particularly want to stick around in this room long enough to have a real agenda. Short and sweet and then off to work.

So he just stood there with the pen in his hand and waited for the rest of the department to arrive. Which would hopefully be soon before the coffee went cold.

It looked like he made it. Just. Maybe. Rustin checked his watch as he passed through the main work areas and around to the conference room. Yes. Thankfully. It hadn't looked good for a bit there this morning, since Lolly had decided to have a meltdown about going back to school. She had threatened to burn the place down and given she went to a muggle school and knew not to play with matches, Rusty had got a little panicky about what that would entail. He didn't much like the idea of his little girl playing firestarter since the clean up with that would be through the roof and he had enough on his plate at work already without having to obliviate a few hundred children and teachers.

But he'd convinced her... by promising that he'd be there to pick her up at 3pm. He'd just not decided if he would ask permission or forgiveness when it came to having to duck out a bit early today.

Oh and Aron was there already. With food! Since he'd skipped breakfast thanks to the meltdown, Rusty made a beeline for the tray of pastries.

"You're a lifesaver." Seriously. Tough morning. You could see it on his face too. And coffee. He'd be needing some of that.

Stepping out of the lift on level 3 in the morning on the first day back after the holidays Tasha was still second guessing Dorian’s idea to leave Finlay with her mother for the day. It wasn’t that her mother couldn’t take care of him it was just Tasha’s worries. Making a mental note to go check out the day care facilities in the specialty area of the ministry later the blond made a short stop by her cubicle. Her inbox of waiting memos and mail didn’t look as bad as Tasha had feared.

Grabbing her note pad and calendar from her top desk drawer she crossed the floor to the conference room. Stifling a yawn as she headed inside Tasha greeted her boss with a warm smile. "Good morning Aron. Do you have a moment or two to spare after the meeting is over for a personal matter?"

Putting down her note pad and calendar on the meeting table Tasha made her way over to the pastry table to get her something to eat and a cup of coffee just like her colleague and resident obliviator. "Good morning Rusty." She smiled cheerily. "Did you have a good holiday?"

"Mornin' love." Rusty nodded at Tasha and poured her a coffee before pouring his own. He had manners see? And besides... now that she was part of the parenting club really understood why coffee was necessary. "It was... alright. I worked over New Years mind you." So, kind of cut shorter than he'd have liked, it was just that New Years was precisely the time of year when witches and wizards who'd celebrated a little too hard happened to get themselves noticed by Muggles. So, oblivation was necessary. "But Christmas was nice. What about you?"

She'd successfully got her parents to do the morning nursery run with Briar so that she could make sure she got to work on time that morning without remnants of broccoli in her hair or any sort of crayon stain on her clothes or shoes. Whilst her parents had their own lives, she was sure that they were only offering to help out right now because they had been helping out since their youngest granddaughter was born and had then been without her since Eliora had moved out in the previous September. Eliora peered her head around a door and smiled, letting that be her first impression of the morning, before following into the room with the rest of her.

The smell of coffee was the first thing that hit her, but she didn't go for it immediately and instead set her bag onto a free chair. "Morrrrning!" Had she already had two cups of coffee? Probably. She lost track when she was dealing with B's hair in its mess of unruly curls after a nights sleep. Coffee was the friend that understood the pain of getting two people ready for a day as opposed to one.

"Eliora Dodderidge, by the way." Step away from the coffee and the pastries and we can make friends.

Accepting the coffee cup from Rusty she chirped appreciatively. "Thanks." Pouring a touch to milk into her mug Tasha raised a brow in surprise. "You worked over new years? Why? What happened?" She could guess what had happened since witches and wizards tended to forget themselves on festive occasions and that embarrassingly enough included a few members of her extended family. "I had a nice Christmas too at Dorian’s mother’s house with the whole extended family. It was loud and very chatter filled. I wished I had remembered ear plugs."

"New years was much quieter I spent it with my sister Isobel, her husband Wesley and Dorian. I did though do some work but it was just a minor charms consultation." She commented quietly. It hadn't been anything very serious just a case of a wand backfiring and causing a dog to float.


Tasha had just raised her cup to take sip of the coffee when one the new additions to the department walked in. A blond who if she had read the memo right was going to be one of her new co-workers in the spell research field. With a glance towards Rusty she grabbed a scone, her cup of coffee and went over to greet the newcomer. Smiling Tasha said "Hello, pleased to meet you Eliora. I’m Natasha Tamerlane, Charms Developer."

"Welcome." He said."Ah, well now that would be top secret." He tapped his nose. "Sorry, can't discuss these things. You understand." He often came across sensitive information in his line of work. "Nothing exciting though, I'm telling ya, it was pretty tedious stuff though." No sordid and exciting new years stories from him. Even if he hadn't been working it would've been just him and Lola staying up for the countdown and blowing noisemakers to herald in the new year.

Rusty obligingly listened as she detailed her break. Merlin, with family like that you couldn't get away with breaking any laws huh? Rusty knew that Tasha's sister and her sister's husband were former DMLE but he'd noticed that there was this unspoken thing where it was like once DMLE always DMLE. And there were so damned many of them. Even their own boss.... he glanced at Aron and then back at Tasha. Yep. Not that he had anything to worry about, perfectly innocent over here. "Quiet is good." He had no problem with quiet, though admittedly part of him wished he could be out there having a crazy good time like other single folk his age... but being a full time single father meant that was pretty much out of the question.

Oh. The new arrival had to have been one of the new Spell Researchers right? Rusty had read the memo. Coffee in one hand and a couple of pastries stacked on top of one another in his other, he obligingly stepped out of the way so she could help herself to the refreshments too.

"Rustin Killick, Obliviator." He offered up, but didn't have free hands to offer for shaking, Eliora understood, right? Coffee was happening.

OKay. Okay. This was where her remembering names skill came to light and she took both names, and jobs, in with a smile. "Nataaaasha and Rustin. Right. Gotcha. Nice to meet you and all, but that coffee is calling my name and it's coffee siblings already in my system." Did that make her sound strange? Probably. She mulled it over as she poured herself a drink, tucking some hair behind each ear with her free hand. Eli collected some food into that hand and sipped awkwardly on her drink.

Sooooooo.

"Typical January weather we're having, huh?" These were most certainly not the giggling gaggle of girls that frequented the offices of her last place of work. She was also sure they wouldn't appreciate small talk about dates, new fashions or the latest Disney sister column. Those girls were her soul sisters. They understood everything she went through except parenting.

His on cup of coffee in hand, no cream or sugar added for obvious reasons, Aron took a long swig from it just as Rusty entered the conference room with a slightly frazzled look about him. It was a look he was somewhat familiar with himself and Aron inclined his head while raising his mug to the Obliviator. "Stop by my office sometime after lunch when you have a moment and we'll see about putting a bit more hop in your step," he winked.

It also went without saying that he was appreciative of the extra hours the man had put in over the holidays. There was no real break for their department - same with MLE. Just because the Ministry was closed didn't mean that disasters didn't strike, unfortunately.

Taking another deep swig from his mug, Aron put the pen down by the white board and wiggled his fingers over the pastries. He really shouldn't indulge himself with sweets considering the marathon coming up, but his self restraint was low this morning. "Mornin', Tasha," he greeted her, mug slightly raised to her as well. "Sure. We can head straight there as soon as the meeting is adjourned." Personal matters ought to be taken care of right away or else people were all fidgety and anxious to get whatever it was off their chest.

Seren did this sometimes, waiting for Aron to take the bait to ask what was really bothering her. It was maddening.

Almost as maddening was the way his new employee entered the room. Not that he was against spunk, but after reviewing her application and past work history well...the Australian was a little apprehensive about having someone from Teen Witch Weekly join the department. Although he quite liked her personal assistant record, especially since his own never seemed to be around, and could potentially utilize this. Potentially. "Welcome aboard, Eliora," he greeted the woman. Sans the pep, however. He wasn't keen to talk about the weather, sorry.

Finally grabbing a pastry from the plate, Aron took a seat and glanced at the antique clock on the wall. "We'll wait just a few more minutes before getting the meeting underway."

Ugh, no... Derek was not early.

He wasn't late either, he was just on time. That meant, however, that other people were probably there already and would look his way as he opened the door and entered the room. That was bad. That was really bad.

The lab technician aprehensively opened the door and silently slipped in, avoiding looking anyone in the eye but, when that ended up happening, he would give the person a nod before looking away again. Ugh, he did not appreciate these Department meetings at all. He already knew he'd be working by himself in his lab and that was enough for him; that was all he needed to know.

But he was there nonetheless. He didn't take any coffee or pastries. Derek sat on the chair furthest away from the crowd and waited for the meeting to end.

"Mmhmm. Call me Rusty though, most people do." And he understood about the coffee. He sipped his own thankfully, "Just be thankful you don't work on level 2, I hear their coffee is terrible."

Oh. Small talk?

Rusty grinned, albeit still a little tiredly. "Yes, and how about that generic sports team?" Oh hmm, hopefully the new girl didn't mind a bit of light teasing, but he had no inclination to rattle on about the weather either. Halfway along the table, Rusty found a seat, or actually two, and kicked his feet up on one of them.


"Oh yeah, sure." After lunch? He had around 20 minutes to spare maybe... and that might be a good opportunity to just casually drop that he had to leave by three to get Lola. He was too tired to be overly curious, and content to just drink his coffee and chow down on the pastries while they waited for the meeting to begin.

...and he didn't bother talking to Derek either, just gave the man a small sup nod and left him be.

Why was Georgine late?

Well firstly, she wasn't. If her watch was correct -- which she hoped it was -- she was pretty much on time. Someone else was heading into the meeting room, too, so there was no need to rush as much as she was doing right now. Her smart kitten heels made soft click-clacking sounds as she slowed down her pace to her usual stride. Because she wasn't late. Obviously not.

Secondly, she looked fierce. She didn't know what that had to do with punctuality but it was a fact and she was trying to state it in her almost-confident composure. Almost, because as excited as she was about this, she was also incredibly nervous too. A new job in a new country meant that she was feeling the pressure. Besides, there was a lot riding on the success of this job, including the brown enveloped bills that had arrived just that morning.

Not thinking about those buggers. Nope.

Instead, Georgine pushed open the door and headed inside the room. It looked and smelt like what a normal conference room should look and smell like. And blimey, there were a lot of people here, weren't there? The smile spread as she looked around at them and said, "G'day! Bright and early, isn't it?" Could they tell that she was new? "I'm Georgine Ellison-Rowe. New Spell Researcher." Do well to remember it because she was staying.

No awkward standing, either. Fierce, remember? Rawr. And what better way to look fierce than to stride as confidently as she could towards the coffee and pastry spot. Free food was a yes, always. Especially pastries. There was another woman (Eli) there too, who got a smile as the Aussie waited for her turn.

"Of course. I completely understand." Didn't she ever being a married to an employee of the MLE department for a couple of years now. "Unfortunately tedious stuff needs to be carried out too." Tasha commented idly to Rusty. Both at work and around the apartment like cleaning, ironing etc. The work never ended. New Years had been a nice break though and a chance to really catch up with her sister and Wesley about the goings of their life on the other side of the Atlantic ocean.

"Did your daughter stay up for the new year fireworks?" Tasha asked as she chewed on small pieces of scone. If her memory served her right Rusty's daughters' name was Lola.

Tasha turned her attention to Eliora, as she took another sip of her coffee. "You're a heavy coffee drinker?" she asked curiously. "We've got first rate yummy coffee in A & C thankfully." she commented to the other blond. And then the topic changed over to the january weather Tasha decided to play along. "I'm not much of a snow girl. I like summer and warm weather a lot better." Mostly because she had never really liked getting to dress up in several layers of clothes just to step outside her apartment door.


Glancing over at Aron she nodded. "Okay, I'll follow you to your office after the meeting is adjourned." After talking to her boss she was going take a stab at minimizing the load of memos in her inbox. "Did you have a good holiday?" she asked as she raised her scone to her mouth. Eating up bigger chunks of her scone Tasha wondered where Cora and Jade were with the meeting about to start. Had they been called out for field work already?
Letting her blue eyes scan over the conference room Tasha noted how Derek came in silently and took a chair the furthest away from everyone else. Waving with her scone hand at him Tasha called over. "Good morning Derek." Just because he didn't like crowds didn't mean that she wouldn't at least greet him. They had been in this department together as long as she could remember.

The next person to arrive was the other newcomer and spell researcher if Tasha wasn't mistaken. A bubbly morning person it seemed. "Good morning. Pleased to meet you Georgine. I'm Natasha Tamerlane, Spell Developer." She wasn't going to comment on the early start to the day. Not before her coffee had done its work.

Taking another long swig from his mug, he nodded to Tasha before swallowing. "Always nice having the family together properly," he replied. With Seren having to be at Hogwarts for the majority of the year and all that, it did come with some strain on the family. Yeah, they had fireplaces connected for floo purposes, but Seren was a busy woman at Hogwarts. Just wasn't the same. And Merlin did their son love it when she was home. Thankfully, there would be more days like those soon. "Trust yours was well?"

He gave Rusty another quick nod before his attention was drawn to another newcomer to the department. "G'day to you, Georgine," he greeted his fellow Aussie. He could just tell that he would begin slipping back into his Australian accent speaking with her. "Glad to see you found the place alright."

He saw you too, Derek, but seeing as the Lab Technician was doing the whole 'going to blend into the wall and stay away from people' routine once again, he didn't offer him any more of a greeting outside of a firm nod. He then glanced at the clock again and took a large bite out of his pastry. "Alright, let's all start settling into our seats here. We'll get this meeting rolling in just a few more minutes."

Was she late? Was she late? She probably was. Selene hurried in, it wouldn't do well to show up late to a meeting with her new co-workers. Hi, hi, new people, hi. There were quite a lot of new people, weren't there? That also meant a lot of potentially awkward conversations. Meeting people was awkward. "Good morning, everyone..!" Selene waved, almost dropping her bag and tripping over her own feet while doing so. ..heh.. great first impression! Before she could further embarrass herself, Selene looked around and spotted someone familiar. Not that she really knew him, but at least they had been with the same department for a while.
"Hi, I- ..how are you?" She didn't know his name. Should she act like she knew it? Or just ask and maybe embarrass the two of them? "I...... don't think I remember your name. Selene Chevalier! ..Selene, that's my name. Not yours." That went well....

Aboard. Like a ship. Spectacular. She'd been employed by someone that greeted people in captain form. They weren't going to announce that they would be dressing up as pirates any time soon, right? She'd done the princess dressing up yesterday. Wear your pyjamas to work day would be perfect though. Could she hint at that? Sleep at work? Scheduled nap time? Hm? "Thank you.." Eli nodded and turned back to the conversations she was holding elsewhere. Note to self: Boss man might not like words. Gotta work on that one.

Rusty? Really? ReaAAllly? Pirates and metal? She'd gone from doll houses and dress up to pirates and metal. This was.... a development. She wasn't yet sure if she missed being unemployed now. And she'd barely been in here a few minutes. "Rusty. Aha. Do you get jokes about that or is everyone really adult around here and avoid that kind of stuff?" Though, she assumed that the answer to her question came just after in conversation. "You mean the one with the drastically overpaid players?" See, she could try play along.

Between Rusty and Natasha, Eliora was getting herself a decent picture of the coffee on this level and that she was definitely in the right place. If she hadn't gotten the job here, she'd probably have ended up in a coffee café. "My 3 year old likes to think that getting up at 5am to conduct a fashion show with her dolls is the done thing. Coffee is my best friend." But at least Natasha was at her level and went along with the weather conversation. It was nice to learn new things about your new co-workers. Pirates and metal, though.. At least she'd learnt already to avoid level 2 with a barge pole. No bad coffee for this lady.

The room was gaining more members whilst the conversations were going on and Eliora was thankful to not be the newest person to introduce themselves, and she gave the newly named Georgine a little wave and waited for her to come over to get herself some coffee. She stepped aside for her and smiled. "I'm new too. We're like job twins, you know?" At least now she'd have someone to pester to get lunch with. Each new person that entered the room got a small smile and she avoided introducing herself, because she was spending time with her new twin. Hiiiiii lunch friend and potential babysitter.

By the time Aron had spoken again, Eliora was in a seat and was already indicating to Georgine with her hand to come sit next to her. Come here new friend.

Alani wasn't late to this meeting, not even a little bit. She had been at work early too, just not to attend this meeting. Her family had all planned to depart today and had decided last minute to have a sunrise breakfast. Who even did stuff like that? So she'd been up before the bloody sun, and she hadn't been too happy about it but at least she got some food out of it.

But just because she had food already didn't mean that she didn't want more coffee. She made that her first stop when entering the conference room, smiles for everyone who was already there and little waves for the faces she knew. The new people though, their files would need perusing in her free time.

"Hey, Boss!" Her hot boss got a extra friendly smile. "Miss me much?" Of course he did. What kind of boss would he BE not to miss his favorite assistant? After fixing her coffee, she took a seat beside him and leeeeaned back.

Hi coffee.

Rusty vaguely wondered if either of the new women were big readers of the Daily Prophet, and if so, if they'd recognize his name from that bachelor thing. He hoped not. The crazy had only really just started to die down and it was an awkward way to start a conversation too, as he'd found any time anyone had pointed it out to him.



Huh. Accent. He shot a mildly speculative look at the other newcomer. Australian? Yeah sounded it, or one of those other colonial countries that had that twang, but probably Australian.

"Rustin Killick." He said from his spot with the two chairs that he'd claimed. "Obliviator. Call me Rusty, nice to meet you."


'course she did. Rusty just smiled and nodded. Secrecy and tedium, all in a day's work around these parts, it wasn't all big bang and ultimate glory that was for sure.

He lit up at mention of his daughter though.

"Yep she did, she's old enough now that she doesn't fall asleep which I'm not entirely sure is a good thing but there you go. She enjoyed it at least. We did the countdown together of course." She was getting so big. Lola had always been precocious but she was definitely starting that growing up thing.

... which reminded him, he needed to transfigure her clothes or get some more, she'd gained a few inches in her arms and legs and it was starting to show in the hems.



Jokes? He smiled slowly. "None yet but if you think of any good ones, feel free to try 'em out." He had something resembling a sense of humour so and wasn't one to take offense so bring it on. Grin. "Yes, that's the team." Hell, the things he could do on a Quidditch salary... too bad it wasn't really his forte.

"Oh yeah? I have one of those. My little lady's nine though." But Rusty was just as fingerwrapped by his daughter. The peril of being a single father with sole custody. Such is life. He resisted the urge to crack out his wallet and start showing pictures.

It was nice to be able to go to a meeting in their normal level. Yep, really nice. All that madness with the lockout and the chizpurfles really makes you appreciate having a nice workplace, you know. Cora was definitely appreciative at least. She'd been just a tiiiiny bit apprehensive that it might happen again over the break for Christmas - or something entirely different would happen - but clearly it hadn't. Thankfully. She liked not being locked out of here.

So, meeting. Here she was. And there were quite a few people there already, including some new faces. Nice. Plus there were pastries and coffee. That was also nice.

"Good morning, everyone," she offered with a smile before getting herself a cup of coffee and summoning a couple pastries and then taking a seat. Introductions seemed best to save for when the meeting started probably. Or afterwards. That way everyone who would be coming would hear and she wouldn't have to repeat herself. Yep. Good plan.

Blast. His mug was empty. Thankfully he didn't have to put out any effort to getting himself another as Alani walked in and gave him a fresh mug. With service like that, of course he had missed her. "Of course," he smirked as he raised his mug to her before taking a sip. Second cup of coffee already this morning. Merlin help him if the loo clogged up.

"Morning, Selene," he nodded to the woman as she entered. Almost at the buzzer. Almost. Still had some time to spare. And was she talking to him? He wasn't sure, but since he was sitting in the Department Head's seat she should be able to figure it out if she didn't know already.

Overhearing the Teen Witch Weekly transfer's talk about her 3-year-old perked his interest a little. His son could use more playmates considering both his parents were working. Really should set up dropping him off at the Ministry's Day Care now that he was walking and sort of talking. Things to take care of later. Maybe get Alani to set up since he had meetings to hold in his office today and paper work to file. Things he needed to take care of personally.

But now was not the time to sit on that pot, time to get this meeting started so it could be over and done and back to work proper.

"Alright alright, let's get this show on the road," he said as he stood up and leaned both hands on the desk. By now they had all introduced themselves, yeah? He didn't want to waste time going around the table introducing themselves like he had in the past, so if they didn't know each other's names now...that was on them. Yep. "First off, while the Ministry has passed inspection and there shouldn't be any Chizpurfles left lingering around to cause more damage, there are some spray bottles placed around the level with a pesticide just in case. If you notice anything suspicious, log it, spray it, and report to Creatures immediately." Unless, you know, they all wanted to go back to that dump from last year.

"Second, Division Two employees," he continued as his blue eyes fell on Derek specifically. "I know we are all sick of these mutants, but after looking over the lab results there is a chance we may be able to reverse the mutations." Yep. More pink drool for you lot. Have fun with that. "You'll be working with Creatures employees on this one. I'll send you details about the task at a later date. For now refresh your memory on what we know about the mutants."

Now for something a bit more light hearted. "Lastly, the Minister is encouraging that departments do a bit more for the community. Make our assets a bit more accessible and hold events for the public. We will need to perform security, along with Law Enforcement, and spell checks for those when they happen, obviously, but in the future we will need to produce an event ourselves. It was proposed that we hold some sort of spell invention competition and workshop. I would like your thoughts on the matter."

Namely were his employees even game for such a thing. Nothing had been decided or planned outside of a concept, so this was a lump of clay waiting to be sculpted however they saw fit.

Nathaniel sat on the edge of his seat, with his hands clasped below his chin. Unshaven, his graying stubble felt course against the back of his hands, it was no matter of course, but the slight pain kept him awake and focused. He had expected to enjoy his stay here, but already he was feeling agitated at the lack of assignment. Although London, and the ministry was a wonderful place to be, it lacked the distinctive violence and chaos a field assignment held. It felt like he hand't obliviated a muggle in forever.

Well meetings were part of the job too! So he kept silent, his blue eyes reflecting the light from the conference room. He glanced at his division head who had begun to speak, and Nathaniel decided it was best to pay complete attention. He took a sip of tea and smiled at the speaker. He hoped there would be some sort of dangerous assignment handed out, and not a bunch of community relations shenanigans.

Derek appreciated the fact Aron and Rusty only gave him nods. They weren't like those women who thought they needed to go up and speak to him. His jaw went a little stiff when Natasha spoke to him, but he managed to look at her and give her a nod as a response to her greeting.

He watched as more people entered the room and he freaked out on the inside when one of the women came up and started talking to him. And worse, she was talking to him as if he was supposed to know her. At least she didn't know his name either. Of course he knew that Selana was her name. What on earth... "Derek." He said shortly. She knew that was his name and not hers, right? Pfffft.

One woman he had never seen before was keen on talking and Derek tried but failed to stop listening to the nonsense she was saying. He hadn't caught her name, but she had already made onto his list of annoying people. Hopefully she wouldn't be in his division.

Finally the meeting was starting. Derek was already sitting down, so he only waited for the others to join him at the table and looked at his boss. He kept a poker face as Aron spoke about last year's infestation and hoped they wouldn't have any more problems like that.

And mutants again. Again. Derek gave him a nod to show he had understood. So he was going to work with the Creatures Department again that year. He was, because he was the only person in Division Two sadly not. But good, he'd rather work with saliva and odd mutants than with people, so Derek wasn't frustrated to go back to this research.

When Aron spoke about the community and holding events, the lab technician hoped he wasn't going to be included in this. Although he had to admit that the spell invention competition and workshop sounded very interesting. He didn't have any 'thoughts' on the matter, though. At least none that he would like to share.

So... this was why Selene didn't really know this.. Derek guy. Derek the lab-guy. Kept to himself most of the time? Selene didn't mind keeping to herself while at work, but he could at least try to be sociable, no? Apparently not. Selene probably hadn't made much of an impression, what with her rambling and all. She was glad when the meeting actually started, that gave her an excuse to not have anything else to say. Derek didn't seem very interested.




Oh, of course. She'd forgotten to say hi to the boss person guy. Selene smiled and nodded, "good morning!" It was a good morning! Back at the ministry, no weird pests or anything going on. Everything was... normal. How long would that last? You couldn't really tell with the ministry, could you? Normal wasn't exactly normal anyway.

So.. they were about almost a hundred percent sure that the Chizpurfle infestation was over? Almost? Selene would definitely be carrying the spray around with her, no more of this nonsense, please. More importantly, since when was A&C involved in.. event organising? Organising parties, or anything like that, wasn't really her thing. Besides, Selene thought that the department would have more urgent matters to take care of.. like.. accidents and catastrophes.

Spell invention competition sounded a bit dangerous, didn't it? Not that she expected the ministry to let underage wizards do anything like that, but did grown wizards really like that kind of thing? It would be amusing to watch, at least.

So she had free run with these jokes? Brilliant. Eliora nodded, raising her pastry in his direction and then grinned. "I'll get the ticker ticking and work my hardest." Or she'd see if her younger brother had anything she could use. Recycle something. Mr. Metal wouldn't know! He wouldn't ever meet Ramsey and that was good enough for Eli. Ramsey was more than a pain in the bottom and she had no time for his collection of porcelain ducks. With the pastry now kind of in her eye line, Eliora remembered that it was there to eat and not to thrust at males that she'd only just met and already promised to make fun of.

Appalling first impression? Check.

"Nine? Couple of years and I'll let her babysit my little nugget." You know..because she as a woman needed a life too. And she was obviously joking. Potentially. As she made the gap between them bigger and headed for a seat, she did the pastry raising thing again. "That sports team? I hear one of them has an extra toe on each foot." The things you heard in the journalism world...

Chizpurfles. Bore. Spray bottles. More bore. Good coffee and pastry? Cool. Eli sat quiet whilst the boss pirate talked and made her consider taking the nap she'd already been thinking of. Right at this table. Feet on another chair, head on the table...maybe even borrow someones arm for a pillow. Mr. Metal? Huh? Would he be for that? Lending his arm to a fellow parent in need of not being drove to unemployment on her first day? Maybe if she talked around the boss pirate. She bet he had nice arms for pillows. Yeaaaah.

Everyone would appreciate it if she listed the males of the Ministry in ranks by attractiveness, right? A Dodderidge opinion was one of the best, of course. And she knew a good looking guy when they were about. She'd been on plenty of dates with them. First dates, though. Second never seemed to be her style. She attracted men who talked about themselves or had strange foot fetishes. Now that...well that had been an experience and a half.

Hold the female Frankenstein! Public? People? Actual real humans that weren't these other coffee drinking probable workaholics? Hallelujah! "People!" Eliora enthusiastically put her empty coffee cup on the table (ooooh, LET'S GET A REFILL SOON!!!!) and raised her fist in the air in triumph! "I vote for people! All the people!" The rest of the idea she didn't really give a schmoozy about but she was so in love with the idea of people that she might even use the opportunity to scout out new potential dates.

She was getting older.

25 was old.