The Hangout

Do people really come to food courts to eat? Well, yeah...sometimes they do. Other times, though, you might just find yourself in need of a good break, and if so, you've found the place! "The Hangout" as it's been nicknamed, is a section of the food court where people simply come to hang out. You'll have the occasional eater here and there, but those with a meal typically stay in the seating area. "The Hangout" is filled with soft, cushiony chairs and couches, perfect for the employee who just needs to rest, relax, and catch up on gossip![/center]

Preferring to take her lunch breaks elsewhere during work days, she had the unusual day where she decided to just...hang out in the Ministry. Too much effort to leave work and then come back again. Tea and newspaper in hand, she claimed one of the surprisingly cushiony chairs before making herself comfortable, tea on the table next to her and newspaper opened. A single parchment fell out upon her lap as she did so.

Oh? Some sort of ad no doubt.

Only......it wasn't. Quick Quotes? Ministry gossip since 2083?

Taking a deep breath, the young woman sloooooowly blew on her hot tea and took a short sip. Calm exterior. Calm. But Merlin's silver bearded dragon, if her fiancé had been a part of this... Whatever this was... WHO ran this parchment anyways?!

After working on fixing the mess for a bit, of couse, Josh Carter was hungry so he made his way to the hangout place to have his food and maybe take a break. A tiny bit before he would be back to securing everything...or whatever left from the supposed "creature attack". Even he needed a bit rest, right? And he never had a proper performance with an empty stomach anyway.

Once he walked in the place, he directly made his ways towards where he could get himself a meal yet he stopped in the middle of his way there when his dark brown eyes spotted his fiancé sitting at a table enjoying her tea with a paper. Oh...it was a joy to see her beautiful face. Smiling widely, he sat down next to her, pulling his chair quite close. What was she reading?

"Hey, beautiful!"

Was it true? More importantly, who would trust a paper that literally had 'gossip' in it's title? ....A lot of people, actually.

Speaking of her fiancé, she was honestly surprised to see him taking a seat next to her. Could not have had any more perfect timing. For her at least. For him, well.... She hummed a response, raising an eyebrow as she scooted the parchment towards him. "Read it."

Sip.

Josh simply stared at Evelyn's face as she sipped her tea not letting off any emotion that the Auror could read. Why wasn't there any happy greeting back? Why wasn't there any sign of gratitude upon seeing him? No kisses? Actually the look he gave her made him feel like he had done something wrong. She generally behaved like that when he had done something wrong, didn't she?

But Josh didn't think he had done something wrong yet...now he started to doubt himself. Had he done something wrong and somehow had forgotten about it? Raising his eyebrows, he picked the paper she had pushed towards him and started to read it in silence.

Gossip? What was this? His fiancé was not the type to chase gossip...but then...

Josh's eyes widened a bit when he read the whole text. Seemingly unable to believe it, he read some of the parts over and over again. A deep frown appeared on his face and he looked back at Evelyn. "I didn't!!!"

INTENTLY watching his expression as he read the parchment, Evelyn leaned her elbows against the table as she narrowed her eyes. Sip. Though she couldn't deny he had the same reaction she did from the looks of it. Oh thank Merlin...he didn't do it. "I never said you did." she replied calmly, placing her cup on the table. Implied maybe, but didn't say.

"Is any of that true, though?"

She never said he did? Yeah. While the Auror nodded at that he very well knew that she had thought of it. She had thought of it, right? Otherwise she wouldn't be so...emotionless. Maybe. Or it was just Evelyn being herself. She had never been that "i love to scream my feelings and thoughts to let everyone know" kind of person.

"Well..." Josh began thinking how to put this properly as he threw the piece of gossip paper on the table. "Stuff happened but it is totally distorted in that paper, whoever wrote it." and he thought he had an idea about it. "The Auror mentioned there, the one the reporter was supposedly sat upon by, was me. But i didn't brutally slam anyone's head into any concrete." Brutally? Seriously? It was just a small hit and little bit of blood freeing its way. Apparently the writer didn't know what kind of actions would really be called brutal. Josh could give many examples of truly brutal actions, many of which he had suffered himself. "I was on my way to where he was being held and i saw the perfectly useful Daily Prophet reporter himself, as mentioned here, attacking Simon."

Yup. And apparently the writer didn't bother to mention that in the paper for...reasons. "So my first instinct was to protect my friend and subdue the attacker. I...well...ran to him to stop him. Then i pinned him on the floor to keep him causing any more harm. Eh...he must have hit his head on the floor then."

*mellow*

And sweet merlin, Simon was not a perv.

Somewhat clasping her hands together, she settled in for what she expected to be a thoroughly detailed account of what really happened, trusting what Josh had to say. Or just a simple 'yes' or 'no' would have sufficed. For now. Simon was apart of this too? Had to be both her boys. On the other hand, knowing that the gossip parchment was wrong about the encounter was both a relief and...inconvenience.

Finger tapping upon the top of her hand, the young woman frowned in silence for a moment before speaking. "Why would a daily prophet reporter attack Simon then? I assume the writer has also stretched the truth on that part."

With the ministry becaming more and more populated over time, Simon had begun hearing sounds and voices while he worked. The atrium taking longer than expected to complete and the auror had claimed it as his project. He had finally decided to take a break and headed to one of the better areas, namely the speciality areas that shared the space with the open atrium. Surely they would provide a place to sit for a rest if nothing else.

Not that he trusted any food, coffee or such around the building.

Shiver.

Walking towards the food court Simon thought he heard familiar voices so he continued closer. Only to find his best friend and his fiance seated there talking. He almost turned to leave them be yet groaned the moment he overheard the mention of the Daily Prophet, missing his name in the process. "What now?"

Okay. Did Evelyn believe him? He couldn't tell because apparently she gave off no emotions on her face as usual. But he was her fiancé and as far as he was aware, she loved him. So she would believe him, right? He thought so. Then he was not going to question that and get in trouble with it.

Why would a daily prophet attack Simon?

Good question. "I only know what the reporter told me in his statement. That Simon was trying to hit on his girlfriend." the Auror shrugged a tiny bit. "I never took Simon to be the kind of man to hit on other people's girlfriends so...i don't know." Just when he was going to mention some of his theories about the incident, he heard Simon's voice and looked up. "There he is..." then Josh said. "He can tell you himself."

She nodded a few times in agreement. Who could believe Simon, of all people, was the type of person? Then again, people didn't walk around wearing labels so who knew who was with who. The need to know more details was growing rapidly. Oh? And there was the auror now. What was with everyone she thought of showing up out of the blue?

Maybe they should start talking about Kip Norwood.

"Oh, Simon." Pout!concern. "Did the reporter hurt you terribly?"

Simon watched as both persons turned toward him as he made his presence known, confused at the strong attention on him. "Tell you what?" he said looking between Josh and Evelyn. Wait...they weren't talking about the scene with him and that bloody reporter and his lackey girlfriend and 'lawyer'...were they? That had been months before and he was glad that it seemed nothing was coming from it, figuring perhaps the editor had nixed it smartly.

But his question was answered as the unspeakable asked him if he had been hurt badly. Inward groan. "Not too terribly," he answered with a sigh absently running a hand through his hair and unconsciously brushing the point where said injuring occurred. "But then as I'm not seeing double any longer I can't complain."

About the physical pain anyway.

"Why?" he asked tentatively.

Hurt him terribly? Josh had been kind of curious about that as well. Simon did not seem to have taken much damage though, except this double sight he had mentioned, and to him Jorge didn't look like the tough type to cause much harm in a fight. He much more looked like the "Look ladies i am handsome. You're going to love me" type of guy.

"She asked why the newspaper bird would attack you." Josh answered the other Auror's question dryly. He didn't like this one bit. He didn't like this kind of paper walking around. And please...it had been quite a while since that incident had happened yet apparently someone couldn't just get over it.

"I wonder if people would take this gossip paper seriously."

Not too terribly. Anything that caused the auror to see double must have been terrible. Especially coming from one of those crazy DP employees. Don't get too close. Might catch their crazy. Pulling out the unoccupied chair on her other side with her foot, she smiled up to Simon and patted it. Come sit and relax.

"It's gossip." she stated as if that was answer enough, raising an eyebrow to her fiancé. "Though I...would very much like to know Simon's side of the story."

No 'if that was okay' or anything. She wanted to know.

The first answer that Simon was to get was from his bestie, the blonde looking at the man as he explained. "Cause he's an jealous jerk." That was a simple enough explaination as to why Jorge had acted the way he had that day. Short...sweet...and to the point. And most importantly...the truth.

"Gossip...." the auror repeated, sitting down in the offered seat with a sigh. Wait...Josh had said gossip paper, hadn't he? He muttered a few curses under his breath. "Forget reporter. If its gossip...at least gossip around the ministry, that WOMAN must have said something." And to think all he had done was congratulate her on her promotion.

Simon nearly snorted as Ev asked for his side of the news which was something nobody seemed to care for. "My story is I ran into the reporter's girlfriend, whom I had been aquainted with previously, and took the time to politely congratulate on her promotion to department head. " A regret he had to this day because of all that stemmed from it. " Apparently said reporter, who has previously made nasty comments on the MLErs in his articles, didn't like me being near her and talking to her. So he stepped forward and shoved me away before even saying a word to me. " Such rudeness and yet HE was the evil one in their eyes.

"Heated conversation followed...including deformation of MY character...more shoving of MY person and casually throwing wizarding words around IN A MUGGLE LOCATION and I arrested him. He didn't like the way I did things despite being procedure and backed by Emily who was also there and decided to attack me from behind after I deposited him in the ward to cool off." And now he just wanted to lock himself in the office at his desk and do his work behind closed doors. Instead he settled for faceplanting on the table in front of him.

How many women did she know who were recently promoted to department head? ....One, actually. Ironically, thanks to the Daily Prophet. She found no interest in knowing what was happening in the other departments, besides MLE and the Minister of Magic's office. And they were being run by the same people the last she checked. Though once Simon face-planted on the table, she clicked her tongue and gently pet the auror's head.

Simply tragic. "The man sounds like a lunatic." she spoke softly. Which made sense. It was a requirement for the Prophet wasn't it? "Though, correct me if I'm wrong...it was Mariel Morgan who you think is the author of this...gossip?"

Josh listened and stared off at the table as Simon told his side of the story for Evelyn. Yeah. It was not mentioned in the gossip paper that the reporter, Jorge, attacked Simon intentionally to cause harm. And that was why Josh himself tackled the dude but right now, Josh really didn't care if people thought he slammed a DP reporter's head into concrete. He just got momentarily worried that Evelyn would be annoyed about it when she read it yet since she had made it kind of obvious that she was not troubled with it, Josh was pretty much relieved.

People could very well think he slammed people around so at least they would know to think twice before attempting to mess with him. Especially the DP people. "He is not really a lunatic." Josh said about Evelyn's comment on the reporter. "I think he has a perfectly normal working brain and he is doing whatever he is doing on purpose." For what reason? He was not sure but he supposed giving them trouble and a bad reputation made the man good at his work. People were always curious about reading that kind of stuff.

So Simon thought the author of the gossip paper might be Mariel Morgan? Well...that was possible yet... "Do you think a department head would bother writing a paper which has the word 'gossip' on it?" Perhaps. Just that didn't fit the profile of department head the Auror had in his mind.

Simon might have felt weird and degraded to be virtually petted by his friend but the auror wasn't paying that much attention to it. At most he was trying to keep his cool about the situation and being in the presence of friends and being supported was working at the moment. "Uh huh, you're right," he said, confirming the person he was refering to. And the lunatic comment before that.

Jorge most certainly was a lunatic. Even if a crafty one like Josh was making him out as.

The former Gryffindor nodded at his best friend's question before slowly lifting his head back up. "Here's a way to tell if its her. How far does the gossip go? " It wasn't like the tracks were undeterminable. "If its just about the cafe...then it could be a random bystander that saw it happen. But if it tells about what happened in the Underground it has to be her. Mariel was the only one besides Emily and I who were there." And the MLE boss was certainly not going to cause any more trouble about it.

She was not spying on them. No, she had just grabbed a coffee and had decided to drink it quietly but coffees weren't things for the main area of the cafeteria. No, coffee was also something she had strayed away from ever since she had gone all wood-crazy. Reaching into her bag she pulled out the gossip rag and glanced over it.

Pathetic. This was pathetic. Not only could she hardly do any work what with the whole Quit-Quidditch issue but also, she had no idea why there was a new gossip rag for the ministry. It was ridiculous.

She was not pleased.

Even though the situation right now was slightly awkward.

Hello people from graduating year...and ex...yep, the awkward situation was made even more awkward when she laughed as she read the paper. A sharp, cool, and almost sarcastic laugh. "That's bull."

Though she had her work cut out for her as of late with the overall condition of the Ministry and the recent threats brought into her level, Mariel still couldn't help the light smile affecting her features as she walked down a level towards the food court. Her birthday the day before had been simply amazing and the thought of it still echoed through her mind. She did consider herself rather lucky and having a happy personal life did seem to make her work day go smoother no matter how much she did try to keep them separate.

Dragonhide folder tucked under one arm and coffee in her other hand, she walked towards the seating area, green eyes searching the location. The coffee of course was brought in from home after their inventory had been destroyed, but it was nothing she wasn't used to after having to supply it for her airplane hanger. She took a sip as her steps slowed. Mariel was fairly certain the blonde woman sitting alone was who she was looking for. The only other occupants were a small group.. MLE people? Fantastic. Working in the Ministry she knew they would be unavoidable, but one in particular, she could care less if she ever saw him again. Whatever.. she had work to do and wasn't about to let them ruin her good mood which they seemed apt to do. She narrowed her eyes a bit before turning towards the solo blonde. She better not have just heard her name.

"Ms. Tanner?" Mariel gave the woman a friendly smile before taking a seat next to her and she sat her folder down. "Mariel Morgan, Head of Games and Sports." She stuck out her hand to cordially to give the other woman's a shake. They could get the formalities out of the way since this was a more casual meeting. She'd rather not have anything official until their conference room was in a more acceptable state anyway.

Raising an eyebrow, she glanced towards Josh. Oh? She couldn't help but be a little surprised that he was denying the fact that the reporter who attacked Simon was a lunatic. Even if he wasn't defending the man, so to speak. "Metaphorically speaking, then." she stated, unwilling to change her mind on the matter.

Sliding the insulting parchment she'd found towards Simon, she sat back in her seat, arms crossed. "I think it goes quite a bit into detail with what happened underground. Isn't that correct?" she directed towards Josh. "Though, I don't think the reporter should be ruled..." Her words trailed off momentarily when the sound of laughter reached her ears. Oh, they weren't alone apparently. "...out, just yet."

Growing silent, she stared at the woman, catching sight of another joining her just moments later, and Evelyn all but snorted after overhearing the name.

How...extraordinarily coincidental.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Though she had her work cut out for her as of late with the overall condition of the Ministry and the recent threats brought into her level, Mariel still couldn't help the light smile affecting her features as she walked down a level towards the food court. Her birthday the day before had been simply amazing and the thought of it still echoed through her mind. She did consider herself rather lucky and having a happy personal life did seem to make her work day go smoother no matter how much she did try to keep them separate.

Dragonhide folder tucked under one arm and coffee in her other hand, she walked towards the seating area, green eyes searching the location. The coffee of course was brought in from home after their inventory had been destroyed, but it was nothing she wasn't used to after having to supply it for her airplane hanger. She took a sip as her steps slowed. Mariel was fairly certain the blonde woman sitting alone was who she was looking for. The only other occupants were a small group.. MLE people? Fantastic. Working in the Ministry she knew they would be unavoidable, but one in particular, she could care less if she ever saw him again. Whatever.. she had work to do and wasn't about to let them ruin her good mood which they seemed apt to do. She narrowed her eyes a bit before turning towards the solo blonde. She better not have just heard her name.

"Ms. Tanner?" Mariel gave the woman a friendly smile before taking a seat next to her and she sat her folder down. "Mariel Morgan, Head of Games and Sports." She stuck out her hand to cordially to give the other woman's a shake. They could get the formalities out of the way since this was a more casual meeting. She'd rather not have anything official until their conference room was in a more acceptable state anyway.

Her eyebrows pulled together somewhat as she spotted Evelyn staring over toward her. It wasn’t a big deal was it? Her being in the hangout area right now? Honestly she didn’t really care either way though – and then her thoughts were blissfully interrupted.

“Ms. Morgan it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she smiled over to the Game of Sports department head. “I was glad to get the notice to meet with you,” she smiled brightly. “I can only assume you wanted to meet with me because of the Quit-Quidditch incidents” she was speaking in a hushed tone though it was already all over the daily prophet. “that, or its to reminisce over the lovely oval Ravenclaw common rooms…I must admit I have heard of your quidditch cup winning snitch-grab when I was in Hogwarts” it was true people had talked about that for years.

Kyle was also just trying to be light, breezy, and kind and not...well awkward as her ex was there. In a chair. His face was a little different older different but she still remembered the fact that when she had that weird sickness she had tried to eat him.

Eat him...and she was a vegetarian at the time. "If you wish we could take this meeting elsewhere," she offered kindly. A somewhat pleading look played across her expressive hazel eyes. If it wouldn't have been rude she would have said she didn't want to have a meeting about something this important in front of her ex.

"Oh, please, it's Mariel," she said matching the other woman's smile. No need to be quite so formal here, not for such a casual meeting. She hesitated as she mentioned the incident and started to nod, then stopped as the woman continued and she looked at her a bit curiously. "Were you a Ravenclaw?" she finally said, giving Ms. Tanner a sort of appraising look just to see if she recognized her, then slowly grinned. She did love her Ravenclaws, even the ones she didn't actually know.. well, most of them. The woman looked to be about her age, though she could be a bit younger, but unfortunately she did not recognize her from school.

And this woman had heard of her. Mariel had to admit that she was slightly surprised, but pleasantly so. She wasn't sure there could be a better way to know her and her grin brightened considerably. "You heard about that?" People were actually talking about her after she was gone? She knew her name was on that trophy but she was rather elated that Ravenclaws would still know about that. Though she had heard they hadn't won the cup in some time since her departure. "Yes, we won the cup that year. It was an amazing game, my first time as Seeker," she said, reminiscing. "Though Keeper was always my favorite. That was what I played professionally, you know. But yes, I caught the winning snitch that secured the trophy for Ravenclaw." What an amazing team they had back then. Led by the fierce and brilliant Willow Kovac, Mariel wondered what she was up to now that she was retired from the Kestrals.

Oh, what were they talking about? Mariel could honestly talk about Quidditch all day but they weren't exactly there for that. Well, in a sense, but not necessarily to talk about her career. No, they had something of a meeting even if it wasn't official or formal. But.. elsewhere? Mariel paused, looking at Ms. Tanner curiously. "I do apologize. My conference room is still in a shambles." She would understand, hopefully. Most of the Ministry was in a state though this area seemed to be less affected than what she had seen of the others. But maybe that wasn't what the woman had meant? She looked from her pleading expression to glance at the trio not far from them. "Oh.. they're not troubling me.." She could do her work unaffected. She was professional. Though maybe that wasn't it with the look she was giving her. "Unless.. that's bothersome to you? We can go elsewhere.." She had immediately taken a liking to this woman and certainly wouldn't want her to feel uncomfortable.

Technically, Quinn didn't need to walk all the way to just sit down and drink her coffee, but she brought her art portfolio and wanted to be in a busy place, not somewhere with CHIZPURFLES. Sigh. Looking around to see if anyone - anyone - she knew was there (she was pretty... Solitary), but she couldn't find anyone. She made her way to an empty seat and slid it out with a foot, sat down, put her art folder and coffee mug on the table, then slid her chair in. She rubbed her hands together, then took a sip of her deliciously warm liquid. Paper organizing, here she comes.

With the newest Daily Prophet paper in his hand, Lawrence looked for a place where he could relax alone. The hangout at the specialty area grabbed his attention. This specialty area was pretty cool after all, though he remembered the temporary place was not like this.

The twenty-seven year old quickly found an empty area as it was not very crowded, and pulled out a couch to sit down. As he flipped through the newspaper, he could not help but notice a woman at the chair nearby. Paper organizing? Hmm, interesting. "Is that an art portfolio or something?" he asked casually.