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Arrivals and Departures (Floo Network and Phone Booth) Stretching towards the golden gates is a wide corridor lined with multiple gilded black marble fireplaces. Here is the main floo network and phone booth used by Ministry workers and visitors alike for arrivals and departures. The luster of marble has over time acquired an illusionary, shifting emerald green from their numerous uses; the marble stretching out to touch the dark wood floors that run down the corridor's center. |
When you come down to the wide corridor lined with multiple gilded black marble fireplaces intending to floo home to your loved ones after a long day of work you’ll be in for a very unpleasant surprise. The floo powder dispensers are all gaping empty. The floo powder is not replenishing itself as usual which is very, very peculiar. Has there ever been a shortage of floo powder in ministry history? I think not, so you best report it, and choose another way to get home because flooing is not an option. |
What a long day it had been. The usual chipper Lucas Hawthorne was exhausted and more than ready to get home to some well deserved rest and relaxation. He’d already checked with Brody to see if he’d be coming too but his nephew was busy clocking some overtime. That was why Lucas was here by himself at Atrium moving as quickly as his legs would take him towards the fireplaces. Here and there he greeted familiar faces and politely declined offers to head out for a drink. The Ministry employee reached for the dispenser of the nearest free fireplace and only later registered that his fist had closed around nothingness. That was certainly enough to have some of his tiredness evaporate. Huh? This was highly unusual and it left him quite baffled. “Is anyone else’s dispenser out of Floo Powder?” He attempted to raise his voice above the hubbub in order to get the attention of those nearby. |
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She blinked, checking the dispenser again, before hearing someone calling out the same revelation she had just experienced. "Yeaaaa... suppose we should send a memo to alert the department of Magical Transportation?" Who was in charge of the floo network these days anyway? It was all new employees since she'd last worked in that department. Except maybe Kingston Dolph was still there and maybe a couple others? But she didn't think he worked with the floo. "Supply chain or just cutting costs, you think?" Over a decade of being a Ministry Employee, yet never had she seen the floo powder be depleted. |
Still open to others! ^_^ SPOILER!!: Chloe! :3 Lucas was rather rethinking his urge to blurt out that question. It could simply have been that the magic in his dispenser had malfunctioned. Now he ran the risk of embarrassing himself. Except that his dispenser hadn’t been the only one that had ran out of Floo Powder. The man was even too tired to dismiss the fact that he needn’t worry about his earlier overthinking. He craned his neck in the direction of the voice and eventually located whom it belonged to. “We should,’’ Lucas began warily, nodding at the same time to Chloe. “It would be best if we check the other dispensers as well. That way we can provide accurate information.” He scanned the line of fireplaces. “You do that side, and I’ll do this side? Also, it would be great if a couple of you could help,’’ Lucas called to those nearby. The quicker they sorted this out, the quicker they could get home. |
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She approached the area just in time to catch Lucas's last words and immediately began investigating the floo powder containers nearest her, one after the other...What was going on here? They couldn't all be empty...could they? But they appeared to be, and if they were, that meant... "This is not normal," she said out loud. "They shouldn't all be empty." |
to level 6 we go? :D Quote:
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"Might be faster to just take the lifts to level six, since it seems we're not going home anyway." With that, she departed for the lifts... If they followed her, then they were more than welcome to. Or wait here. It was up to them, but she wasn't about to just stand around. |
too lazy to quote y'all..... "Or there's this new thing called the phone booth...." It didn't just go one way, folks. In fact, that was the direction that Ronan was headed when he overheard this absurd conversation so, you know, no one go ahead of him. "Then you can just find a nice obscure place to apperate. Or if you're feeling real adventurous, you could take the Tube..." Floo wasn't the only way of travel. Actually, he didn't understand why so many of his fellow Ministry workers relied on it so much. Just such a dirty, dusty way to get around. Also, you ran into situations like this. Not his cup of tea. |
Jane was vaguely aware of the voices of her colleagues suggesting alternate means of leaving, but once she had looked at several empty floo powder containers, she had become preoccupied with the matter and had gone on to check every single container on one side of the floos. All empty. "Every single container is empty," she stated out loud, looking around at the others. "One or two empty could be an accident or just the result of overuse, but every single one? Don't you think that's rather unusual?" Something strange was definitely going on here. Either that, or the department in charge of floo powder at the Ministry was unusually incompetent |
Remember how Lucas had been feeling run down by the day? Now he was feeling slightly awake. There was the edge of irritation as well since he had been quite looking forward to getting himself home, as he was sure, many other employees. By now, he had finished checking two other dispensers. It was around that time that Jane came along. Lucas nodded grimly in agreement. “It is but I’m sure we can have it rectified somehow.” There was no need to start a panic; at least he was trying not to let that happen. That was why he forced a laugh when Chloe mentioned that nothing was ever normal with them. Thanks to the quick checks, it was determined that all of the dispensers were indeed empty. Lucas was too caught up with the entire situation, and quite frankly, did not have the energy to deal with Ronan and his snide comments. What Lucas did have the energy to say was, “Then perhaps you and Jane can assist the other employees to exist that way, Ronan?” He would go with Chloe instead. A Patronus would have been faster to deliver a message but sadly, the Quidditch Division Manager had been unable to conjure a proper one all his life. |
"Pffffft, redheads," he muttered as he watched the redhead in question flounce away clearly irritated. She was the one that had suggested they were stuck here just because there was no floo powder. He had merely pointed out that was not the case. Could he have been nicer about it? Sure, but if people didn't know this simple fact by her age (because she clearly wasn't some fresh out of Hogwarts hire), they deserved the reaction they got. "Could just be oversight, could be incompetence, could be the person responsible for refilling them simply got lazy. Or it could be a sneaky learning opportunity for those who rely on only floo to get around." Personally, he was hoping for the later simply because of the amusement that could come from people freaking out over this "Sure, I'll get right on that," he replied sarcastically to Lucas, still unpressed about the whole situation. Whole 'damsel/male equivalent in distress' thing aside, he just really didn't have it in him to deal with obliviousness today. He simply wanted to get home, play with his daughter then go to bed. So, instead of all that, he silently conjured up huge, blinking neon "OUT OF ORDER, FIGURE OUT ANOTHER WAY HOME" signs over each of the fireplaces. Wow, that actually improved the looks of the corridor. Maybe they should make the neon lights a permanent thing? |
Aloof even for an unspeakable, Damian had been coming and going through the floo network with nary a word to his coworkers. Outside of his official debriefing, he was rather vague about his time in Atlantis. The first of the Atlantis Twelve was working his way through the gathered throng when the neon sign appeared overhead, stopping him in his tracks. Without an immediate form of egress, he did as he did in Atlantis: Try and disarm them with charm. "Someone forget to pay the floo bill?" Asking jokingly, he tried to cut through the tension, fully aware that something sinister could be afoot. "Gotta private portkey I could fetch that'll drop us behind the Leaky Cauldron if anyone wants to get a cuppa." Punctuated with a smile, Damian had no intention of explaining why he had a portkey that could transport him from the Ministry of Magic to a tavern. Sometimes you just want to duck your responsibilities. |
Damian, you're back! Quote:
However, now she was glad to hear Damian Pendragon, because she knew that he, at least, would take strange happenings seriously. "Damian," she said in a sharp voice, to get his attention. Then, moving in his direction, she lowered his voice and continued. "There's...there's something strange about this, I think. I mean, it's not just one or two, or even some; every single container of floo powder is empty, and it's just hard to believe that's the result of simple incompetence." |
"Jane.." Jane Howard was Damian Pendragon's counterpart in the Death Chamber. Representing life and death respectively, it was all very melodramatic, but the Department of Mysteries was a dramatic place. You should see the Love Chamber around Valentine's Day. The last time the two unspeakables' had seen each other, Jane was suffering from a cursed artifact induced case of acute hydromania, and Damian was being dragged off to be a political prisoner. At the bottom of the ocean, the wily wizard had plenty of time to think about what he would say when they were in the same room again. But, as always, Jane was all business, and when she dangled a mystery in front of his nose, so was he. There was a reason his patronus was a hound dog. "It's said, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." " Damian said, crouching near one of the containers in the hope of finding something beyond the obvious before the scene was further trampled. "To me, that tells me that you can properly hide misdeeds with perceived incompetence." |
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Annnd here came the conspiracy theories. He was about to remind Damian about what he'd told him before about listening to Jane but decided it wasn't worth the wasted breath. Just why was it so hard to believe the simple explanation? Or that someone simply got tired of everyone relying upon only the floo to get around and decided to teach them a lesson? "We're already aware," he snapped to the last part. Auror standing RIGHT HERE. "Now, remind me why it's our problem, aside from the fits people are likely to have, without resorting to your conspiracy ridiculousness?" If there was one thing he hated more than stupid conspiracies without basis, it was obliviousness. And both were on full display right now. |
"Ronan, my friend!" Damian started excitedly, clasping a hand on the Auror's shoulder. "Glad to know you're on the case." Facing a vampire together garnered some camaraderie, at least in the unspeakable's eyes. "The simple solution would be that this was all a mix up if this were anywhere else. I like to believe that we are all here because we are the best of the best." He punctuated this by fist pumping the hand that was once on Ronan's shoulder. "And I wouldn't consider it conspiracy to assume that there would be redundant systems, perhaps some stopgaps, in place to make sure something like this would never happen out of neglect." Ronan and Damian were both extremely skilled at their jobs. They were also quite adept at getting under each other's skin. Though Damian seemed to have a little bit more fun with it. |
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Well, at least she knew that the MLE office was aware of the situation, not that she had any hopes they would do anything about it. Jane used to feel she had some contacts in the office, back during the Neo-Alliance takeover, but lately she didn't know who to talk to anymore. At any rate, she did not intend to waste any more energy arguing with this prickly, self-important Auror. But it might be interesting to watch her colleague interacting with him, if the initial conversational opening was any clue. |
a million years later..... both of yous If Damien was trying to get a reaction by putting a hand on his shoulder, well he was going to be surprised. All the auror did was raise his own brow. He did slightly agree with the comradery thing though, not that he’d admit it out loud. ”So, neither of you are going to acknowledge that there’s just that many incompetent people in the Ministry…..?” Look at how long they’d been standing here having this conversation and no one had said ‘boo’ or even spared a look in their direction. Not to mention the Atlantis thing, the Neo-Alliance takeover…. As for being labeled a conspiracy theorist, well if the shoe fits….. ”It could also be that either whomever fills the pots, or even the makers of the powder themselves, could be trying to teach people to quit relying so much on the floo.” Merlin knew Ronan himself had been tempted more than once. ”Either way, I simply don’t see it as the big catastrophe that you and Hawthorne and his redheaded friend seem to want to make it out to be. There’s other ways of getting around, like appration, walking, flying, the Tube, cars…..” Not that he expected others to take those last two options. Most magical people seemed to deem themselves above muggle means of getting around. He thought they were missing out, but whatever. Speaking of which….. ”Maybe it’s a muggleborn who’s tired of everyone deeming themselves above muggle means of transportation. But they haven’t done anything against magical law, or even anything particularly wrong so not our” meaning MLE’s ”problem.” |
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The odds were against which option? The incompetence or someone wanting to teach them a lesson? The woman was clearly only half listening anyway. Typical. "And may the odds be ever in your favor," he replied sarcastically. And then she up and disapparated like a petulant child. Again, typical. He wasn't offended in any way. Most people these days were afraid of a good debate and would rather walk away thinking they had really done something with their statements. "Have fun looking for that purple banana!" he shouted after her. "I don't know how you stand her," he remarked to Damian. Seriously, took herself too seriously and seemed to fancy herself some sort of Nancy Drew type. Should just leave these things to the professionals |
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Now Jane was speaking, and he was listening. After she suddenly disappeared, Damian blinked sharply, his attention returning to the auror. "Stand her?" He asked, looking confused. "I don't know how she stands me." Damian added, touching his heart. "Jane is a consummate professional, and is well respected within the Ministry. Everything I'm not. I just chase ghosts, crack jokes, and get called in when things are grim." Normally he wouldn't abide someone bad mouthing Jane, but maybe his buddy was just overworked and overtired. Ronan helped him take down Goldwasser, so Damian could get revenge for Jane after all. |
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