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When you step out of the lifts on level 2 you'll find yourself in the main foyer. There's a nice little seating area where you are more than welcome to relax, but don't loiter with intent because you're bound to be questioned by one of the paranoid, suspicious employees who work on this level. Still its a nice break area, and quite often you'll find people sitting here for a quiet chat or a coffee, though you'll have to find the coffee itself somewhere else.

Further down the wide inner corridor you'll find the bathrooms, a maintenance closet and of course, the main entrance to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There are portraits all along the wall of former Department Heads, some glower at you suspiciously, others are more inclined to observe your movements in a friendly manner, but they all quite like attention and you're more than welcome to check out the nameplates and say hello.

You are here.

Aspen Odessa had pulled her office chair all the way from the cubicles to the Level 2 foyer. She had a view of anyone that got on/off the lifts, went to the restroom, or into the maintenance closet. So, there the YATI sat, feet propped up on the wall, her sunglasses still on. Her wand was tapping rhythmically against her knee and her other hand was picking the crust off a fresh, delicious sandwich.

As for what she was doing? None of your business.

It wasn't as if Legend had a bladder problem or anything, but you know, when you had to go you had to go. Though when Legend HAD entered the bathroom there had been no one outside it's doors in the corridor. And now there was....Aspen.... "What are you-". Wait. Not just Aspen. Aspen with a sandwich..

Legend's wet hands immediately started patting down his pocket.

Aspen flipped out one of her official MLE-issued note-taking pads. She swapped her wand for a muggle-style pen and made a NOTE.

"Was that a onesie or twosie break?" she asked, straight forward, no nonsense. She licked some peanut butter off the sandwich while she waited for his answer.

Alright. It was offical. There was no sandwich in his pocket. Had he even made a sandwich today? Legend dropped his hands to the side and squinted at the woman as he tired to remember if if he had indeed made a sandwich or if Aspen was just making him paranoid.

"Uh.....why do you care?" Was she following him around as well as stealing from him? Following him and his....bathroom habits? "I don't think it's your job to record what I do on the loo."

"Interesting," Aspen wrote furiously in her notepad. She had to put the sandwich half in her mouth to hold the notepad steady. Aspen ate another bite and then lowered her sunglasses to look at Chosen again.

"First, why do you care if I care?" Aspen put the sandwich on her knee, ready to write again, "and second, you don't seem sure that's not EXACTLY what my job is." She paused for a second. "I'm writing that down as a twosie."

Interesting.....what?

Why did HE care that she cared?

Legend scowled. Did Emily even know what this girl was doing? She needed to keep track of her. She totally did. "I know exactly what your job is YATI Odessa." Legend's hand twitched slightly as he muttered a spell under his breath, wandlessly summoning the official ministry notepad in Aspen's hand into his own. "And it has nothing to do with my body or the waste that it excretes and it was NOT a twosie it was a onsie but ALSO a threesie which is code for 'NONE of Aspen Odessa's business!"

Aspen lowered her sunglasses.

She stuffed the rest of the sandwich in her mouth, chewed with PURPOSE, as if each work of the jaw she was working out what she was going to DO to CHOSEN for even thinking about taking her notepad. He was SO Gryffindor. Not the WORST Gryffindor Aspen was forced to work with, but still... inherently Gryffindor.

After she swallowed, Aspen got up, wand still in hand. "It'd be wise of you to give that back to me." She approached Chosen in a few short strides. "You're protesting too much. It's okay if it was a twosie." Pause. "Did you wash your hands?" Her eyes flickered to her notebook, then to Legend. Would he be WISE?

Oh. The sandwich was done.

Legend stared longly still not sure if the sandwich was even HIS but still. It had been there. And now it was gone. In her stomach.

And then she was up. Legend stared at the notebook and stuffed it into his SANDWICH-LESS pocket. Wise huh?"You're a towsie." Got that? "And of course I washed my hands! Are you asking cause you never do??" Ew. Gross Aspen. Wash your hands, gosh.

Legend patted his pocket, as if it gave him all the joy in the world to have her notepad."You want your notepad back. And I want a sandwich. Guess we're both out of luck then. Now why are you here." He pointed to the chair and everything because, that was NOT working.

What.

Aspen... stared, as only an Odessa can do. A full grown, seasoned and celebrated Auror had just used "You're a twosie" as a comeback. She put her wand away. It'd just be unfair to use her wand on someone with the mental capacity of a twelve year old. Her hands went to her hips instead.

"If you're interested in whether or not I wash my hands or the status of my twosies, you could pull up a chair beside me and do the research yourself."

Luck he called it? Luck. She made a mental note to find out exactly where he lived and slept.

"That's classified."

Legend was staring right back at her. But only because she was staring first and he couldn't just look away, that would make Aspen think she had won or was better than him. She was just insane enough to think that.

"No thank you. I have more important things to do with my time than to stalk when you use the bathroom." But clearly she did not. Legend continued to stare and then suddenly wrapped his arm around Aspen's shoulders. "Look. We both know that it's not classified. We also both know that you say 'that's classified' so that you can get away with not having an excuse, which doesn't really work with me because if it were actually classified I'd probably be one of the people to know about said classified information." He should have taken something actually important to her. Maybe THEN she would listen, cause you know, he was Legend Chosen. Awesome and everything. "So, would you like to change your answer?"

Oh really. So important, huh? Aspen continued to stare, but her brain was working out what CHOSEN would think was "more important". She didn't get very far in THOSE thought though because he had the gumption to put his arm around her?!

??!!

Then he gave her a speech about himself? So Aspen slipped her hand into his pocket and made to retrieve her notepad, and anything else he had in there.

"D. All of the above," was Aspen's new answer.

Legend wasn't the most observant person in the world and he did often get his sandwiches stolen but being this close to someone DID seem to help him.

Dropping his arm Legend swatted Aspen's hand away BEFORE she got the notepad. And hopefully not his house keys either.

He DID smile at her answer though and chuckle. Because, that was clever! Look it! Aspen was being clever and NOT weird or creepy! "Would you ever choose C? They say that C is usually the answer when in doubt."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles

Legend wasn't the most observant person in the world and he did often get his sandwiches stolen but being this close to someone DID seem to help him.

Dropping his arm Legend swatted Aspen's hand away BEFORE she got the notepad. And hopefully not his house keys either.

He DID smile at her answer though and chuckle. Because, that was clever! Look it! Aspen was being clever and NOT weird or creepy! "Would you ever choose C? They say that C is usually the answer when in doubt."

Fine.

She'd just steal it back later. Aspen considered warning him to NOT read it, since she'd cursed it for everything she was worth - but it'd be more interesting to see if he knew better or not.

He was still touching her.

"I'm not in doubt. Ever."

Aspen flipped her sunglasses back down and crossed her arms. This almost felt like a hug, and to that? A hug from Chosen? She'd answer C.

Fine, he wanted to know what she was doing? "I'm bored. I can't sit at the desk all day. I'm studying my fellow aurors. Knowing your bowel movement patterns MAY be useful if we're on duty."

What COULD he do with the notepad? The possibilities were endless. But the thing that seemed like the most fun was to play keep away with Aspen for as long as possible.

Never in doubt? Never were? "Well that sounds like an Auror thing to say." So kudos to her for that.

Legend pulled his arm away from her shoulder and nodded slowly. HE would understand being bored. That was true. "I'm pretty sure your bowel movement patterns change when like, your adrenaline is going or something." Sooo maybe that wouldn't be useful at all? "You should observe something more interesting instead."

Great. She was starting to sound like them. Aspen didn't want to be an Auror, so that was awesome to hear. She was DEFINITELY going back to her chair by the lifts.

"Suggestions?" she looked at without bothering to hide the skepticism from her face. She'd lied about doubting before. Aspen totally doubted Chosen could come up with something more interesting to take note (and exploit later) of.

Uh...well, he didn't expect her to ask for suggestions. Legend scratched his chin as he thought. "The way the act. The way they walk. What they are afraid off. How much work they ACTUALLY do. How often they eat? Where they put their wands?" Yeah? Could any of those work? He wasn't the observing your partner type. After all Legend didn't have a SET partner now that Sabel was away. "Anything but, when they use the loo."

His ideas were GOOD right?

"For example you act crazy always. So i'll know right away when somethings off."

Watching a Gryffindor think was always .... interesting. It almost looked painful.

"It's naive of you to think I don't already know all of that," Aspen replied without much expression. She wondered if his brain shut off between thoughts?

"It's not an act." Aspen was straight up CRAZY. Again, she was giving him the flattest look of all time.

She already....!?!? Legend's eyes narrowed as he stared at her. The strange, strange, most likely sandwich stealing YATI. "Where's my wand then?"

"So you really are crazy?" Shouldn't the ministry know not to hire crazy people? That wasn't SAFE. Not for HER but for HIM. "No. No. You Probably aren't." No real crazy person would just straight up call themselves crazy. "Just a little eccentric. But i'm sure you purposely seem more crazy than you already are so people don't know what to expect from you."

Where did the work day GO? One minute she was reporting for training, then another she was doing patrols (making the Ministry's business her business and all that fancy jazz) and there was even a point where she decorated her place on the floor and the wall by her spot in a bid to procrastinate on writing the reports of said patrols but now it was all over.

Admittedly it felt weird being done on the clock. This had to be the first evening that she didn't have things remaining that needed to be done outside of reports and it was...odd.

She could always stay; finally get those reports done. Yeah...what did she have to lose? Alexa sunk to the floor of the corridor leading back to the lifts, her back against the wall and pulled out the necessary parchment and quill. Might as well, Lottie wouldn't be home for a few more hours and neither would Alice or Cassia.

Lex could have gone home but she wasn't sure which home yet. Lottie's? Vivi's? Her father's? Lou's? Alice's? The Manor? Where did she want to sleep tonight? Huh. Maybe her father and grandparents were right, she did need to make up her mind about where she stayed. As it stood, she couldn't remember which of those houses she'd left her kneazle in and needed to focus on tedious paperwork. Fun.

It was home time. A little bit late, but not so late that he would have to try and sneak into his house without waking anyone. Not that it ever worked, but it was nice he didn't have to try. Heck, at this rate, he might even get there in time for dinner. It was one of those days where extra hiccups hadn't caused any serious set-backs or delays, and the streets were relatively quiet. So, he was able to shrug on his coat as he started out of the offices and down the corridor.

He had one arm in his coat and the other trying to find where the junction of the shoulder met the opening of the sleeve, when he rounded the corner and came upon a familiar YATI. One he hadn't really spoken to since their dueling incident. There hadn't really been the chance with their workload. Tacked on top of that was what seemed like an barrier factor that had come into play. He was reluctant to admit that while Alexa had seemed keen on completely avoiding him, he hadn't offered much pursuit or persistence to try and rectify things.

Even know, watching her, she reminded him so much of....

The thought was shoved aside as soon as it hit the forefront of his mind. No. Simply, no. He could not, and would not get into that mindset. It was in the past, and she, Alexa, was a different person. Despite the equally irritating and endearing similarities.

Letting out a slow breath, Sabel pushed his arm into the sleeve of his coat and made his way towards her. Enough was enough. It was time to get back on the right track. If she would talk to him.

He stopped a few feet away, in case she thought to hex him if he suddenly invaded her personal space, and tucked his hands in his pockets. It was a bit of an odd spot to be doing paperwork at this hour. Then again, it wasn't like the YATI's were really given a desk. Floors were just sort of a natural way of existence for them.

Sad, really. Something he'd look into in the morning. For now, he'd do what he could. "My desk is free, if you'd be more comfortable there."

You think by now the young woman would know what she was meant to put in these reports, afterall, they were the same thing all you had to do was change the setting and the people involved. This was by far the least exciting part of her job description and it made her think she should skip patrols altogether if this was what she would come back to--

But she would never. Patrols were like...the ONLY action she got these days because being a Trainee didn't afford you the right to grand spanking missions where you went undercover for weeks on end fearing your life.

Sigh. Must have been nice; nothing like this here.

Lex's nibbled idly at a sugar quill she'd drawn from her bag while she worked and managed to get through a whole report before she heard him. The young woman's brows creased, an obvious indication that she knew he was there but she didn't look up from her work, nor did she stop writing. "I don't need a desk, it'll make me feel too much like I work in the Minister's Office and I didn't sign up for that." Not said defensively, but in a matter of fact tone. Hell, she didn't even sign up for THIS but sure, whatever.

Lottie told her not to talk to him, only not in so many words and Lex could see why--even before being told. The problem with Sabel was, he complicated conversations and if there was one thing Alexa spent her entire life avoiding, it was complications. "And you shouldn't be talking to me because you'll only get angry afterwards and storm off again. I won't forgive it a second time." She continued to explain somewhat distractedly. If he was here to do all that, they could skip to the end thanks.

He shrugged at her offhanded dismissal. It was a fair enough point, about the desk at least. In regards to barely acknowledging him, well, he was going to ignore that. Maybe it was an interesting report.

Or....that.

Sabel arched an eyebrow at her, considering his option. He could do as she said and just walk away, de-complicating the situation that hadn't even begun to be a situation and on the one hand, it seemed like a fair solution. Except, that they probably wouldn't talk for a month, or longer and he would prefer to be on a talking basis, even if it was just greetings.

Letting out a huff of air, he moved over to the wall beside her, put his back against it and slid down to sit on the ground next to her. He let the comment about anger and storming off go. He had done it, and while she would have done so earlier had he not been holding onto her arm, it wasn't time for pointing fingers. It was time for shaking hands. And she had just said that she had forgiven him, so he wasn't going to back track on that.

"I do a lot of things I probably shouldn't." Leaning over a little, he peered at the reports she was working on. "Patrol summaries? Gross."

By all accounts, Lex was being civilized, perhaps even more civilized than the situation warranted. Of course she no longer held it against Sabel how he'd stormed out the way he did--acting more like a child than he accused her of being--but that didn't mean she wanted to talk to him either, not if he was going to be so sensitive about absolutely everything they ended up talking about.

Alexa didn't keep sentimental friends--save for Cassia but the former snake had learned AGES ago to keep her sentimentality to herself. She didn't make it a habit of interacting with people that took everything seriously either and perhaps that was one of the saving graces that allowed her to get along well with her cousin; the other young woman simply refused to take life and people too seriously.

Lex barely spared him a glance when he silently took the seat next to her, figuring that a conversation could happen when he picked a topic. Merlin knew everything SHE picked seemed to be sensitive stuff. In that same breath, she was prepared to ignore him if he tried having them talk it through. If he wanted to talk about his feelings there were qualified Healers that dealt with that sort of stuff down in the atrium. "I've noticed." She muttered at his comment about doing things he shouldn't. "And as much as I approve of such a thing, it doesn't help you."

Lex properly side eyed him when he leaned closer but decided against being difficult. This was an easy enough topic. What could possibly go wrong? "Can't get them done during the day and taking them home makes no sense because I have business classes most evenings, so..." She gestured toward the quill and parchments. "might as well get them over with now while I've got some free time."

Sabel couldn't help but chuckle. Oh the truth she spoke. "No, it usually doesn't." Now, before, in the future. It was rarely a helpful quality.

Seemed to be working relatively okay at the moment, but he wasn't about to count his owls before they hatched. His eyes drifted up from her papers to look at her curiously. "You take business classes?"

Was this the same Alexa he had dueled? The one that had just said she didn't want to push papers in the Minister's department? Perhaps she was planning on starting up her own security, auror or hit wizard business if the MLE didn't pan out. That was a slightly terrifying thought.

"I think it's great, but can I ask, what for?" Really, he was curious. Business to him seemed rather dull. Then again, his horizon for a future career had always been narrow and limited. What exactly did Auror's think of doing when they didn't want to, or couldn't be Auror's any more? Damien had turned private contractor, and Tate, well he had never been an Auror, but he had turned Headmaster. What would Alexa do?

"Did you want a hand?" Not sure how much he could help, but he could try to be helpful. Then again, she might refuse on account of how helpful he was last time he offered.