Lower Level Lifts

[sweetpinkpixie]

It’s true, the rattle and clang of the lift as it goes frontways, backways, sideways, and the good old fashioned up and down may be annoying. It may make you grind your teeth in a way that will make your dentist recommend you wear a retainer at night. At least you have those spirited elevator music renditions of show tunes playing in the background as you travel about the Ministry to keep you company?

Those traveling though the Ministry of Magic via the lifts or stairwells have now found themselves somewhere in the midst of the lower levels. Choose a number--seven, eight, or nine, and you'll be dropped off on the level of your choice!

The lifts, however, will only carry you down to level nine. The only access to level ten is via a stairwell coming from the corridor on level nine. If that's what you're looking for, though, you'll find it here.

[Zoe]

After all these years, the Auror still found it puzzling that the lifts stopped at the ninth level of the Ministry. As someone who was not unfamiliar with navigating to the courtrooms from Law Enforcement, it was more of a nuisance than anything. The lack of a direct stop at level ten could be annoying, especially when certain characters needed to be escorted to and from trial.

Nevertheless, he had to look on the bright side: the lifts were working. Frankie remembered a time when they did not. Additionally, he wasn't escorting anyone to the courtroom today. He had simply been summoned to be present in the event things became dicey.

Hearing the ding of the lift, he stepped onto it from level two. The blond pushed the button that was illuminating the number nine and in a matter of moments began his descent, doing his best to block out the elevator music that was in serious need of an update.

[sweetpinkpixie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoe

After all these years, the Auror still found it puzzling that the lifts stopped at the ninth level of the Ministry. As someone who was not unfamiliar with navigating to the courtrooms from Law Enforcement, it was more of a nuisance than anything. The lack of a direct stop at level ten could be annoying, especially when certain characters needed to be escorted to and from trial.

Nevertheless, he had to look on the bright side: the lifts were working. Frankie remembered a time when they did not. Additionally, he wasn't escorting anyone to the courtroom today. He had simply been summoned to be present in the event things became dicey.

Hearing the ding of the lift, he stepped onto it from level two. The blond pushed the button that was illuminating the number nine and in a matter of moments began his descent, doing his best to block out the elevator music that was in serious need of an update.

Everything was perfectly fine.

No, absolutely no improperly catalogued artefacts had slipped out of the Chamber of Codes and vanished somewhere within the Department of Mysteries. No, he was not moderately irritated by one of the department's self proclaimed Seers stopping him with an entirely inappropriate shoulder tap and sad concerned cruppy eyes that he was to lose his head on this day. And no, absolutely and unequivocally no, the department head was not concerned about the sudden crack that had formed in the tank in the Thought Chamber. No no no no no, everything was just peachy.

Wand drawn, the gangly mess of a man lumbered through the maze of corridors and followed the clicking but sometimes mewing sound until it brought him to the lifts. No, no concern at ALL about this particular artefact finding its way on to the lift.

No, Houston there was no problem.

But as the lift doors began to open...the probability for a problem increased tenfold.

"Immobulus!"

[Zoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Everything was perfectly fine.

No, absolutely no improperly catalogued artefacts had slipped out of the Chamber of Codes and vanished somewhere within the Department of Mysteries. No, he was not moderately irritated by one of the department's self proclaimed Seers stopping him with an entirely inappropriate shoulder tap and sad concerned cruppy eyes that he was to lose his head on this day. And no, absolutely and unequivocally no, the department head was not concerned about the sudden crack that had formed in the tank in the Thought Chamber. No no no no no, everything was just peachy.

Wand drawn, the gangly mess of a man lumbered through the maze of corridors and followed the clicking but sometimes mewing sound until it brought him to the lifts. No, no concern at ALL about this particular artefact finding its way on to the lift.

No, Houston there was no problem.

But as the lift doors began to open...the probability for a problem increased tenfold.

"Immobulus!"

In an effort to block out that lift music, Frankie had closed his eyes, allowing himself to disassociate for a moment. The lift carried on jangling and clattering its way down level after level, and the Auror was lost in his thoughts, his focus solely on a pleasant memory involving him and his wife dancing together during their days at Hogwarts. Such simpler times, those were.

The violent jolt of the lift and the announcement that he was now on the level for the Department of Mysteries snapped him right out of his daydreaming. A quiet sigh escaped his mouth as he mentally prepared himself for a trek down to the courtroom and watch the proceedings.

When the door began to slide open, instantly the blond registered the face of the department head. It had been a while since he had last run into his former Astronomy professor. "Hello, Prof --"

His words came to a sudden halt as he could not feel himself move a muscle. Well, this was ... fun.

[sweetpinkpixie]

Well. This was rather unfortunate.

Doubly unfortunate if one counted the fact that he had just gently petrified an employee.

Which was not to say that his formal pupil was not a concern...just...well...when an artefact when rogue...it demanded your priority!

"Sweet solstice," he groaned under his breath. Having half a mind to chastise Frankie for hindering his recovery efforts, Airey dashed by the young man and lunged towards the back of the lift to no avail. Being bested yet again, the astronomer changed course and went down the more nurturing route and quickly reversed his spell that had Mr. Paton currently incapacitated. "Mr. Paton, good. You can put your Magical Law Enforcement skills to good use in assisting me. There has been a security breach and it is paramount that it not escape this level."

In fact...perhaps it would be wise to put the lifts out of commission for a bit. At least not permit them to stop on level nine for the time being.

[Zoe]

Of all the things that he expected to happen on the job at the Ministry, being the recipient of a Freezing Charm from a former professor was not one of them. Unable to do anything, he just stood there in the lift, his mouth agape, blue eyes looking at the older man. He hadn't even noticed or heard whatever it was the man was chasing after because mentally he was still in shock over the current predicament to register anything else.

After what seemed like forever, the spell had been undone and the Auror could move once more. Before he could ask what that had been all about, the department head's words were heard loud and clear. With a flick of the wrist, his wand was at the ready. His presence down in the courtrooms was going to have to wait.

"Err ... what exactly are we stopping, Profess -- Mr. Flamsteed?" And what was that noise? That sound certainly wasn't normal lift behaviour.

[sweetpinkpixie]

If it made the young Mr. Paton feel any better, he was not the only soul to be on the unintended receiving end of one of the astronomer's spells. At least it was mostly harmless and nothing truly unfortunate had occurred. Well...outside of the reality that the artefact had now properly disappeared without a trace. The stairwell? Surely it had not evolved enough to open doors...

Swooping quickly to the side and punching a lengthy combination of numbers into the lift's control panel, Airey reached forward and gently tugged his former pupil out of the way of the lift's doors and conjured a sort of moderately translucent yellow shield to prevent anything from entering the lift.

"Walk and talk, Mr. Paton," he replied as he put a bit more urgency into his step and moved to patrol the corridor leading to the left of the lift. "I don't suppose you are familiar with something called a emersence trulc." It was an absolutely absurd word for an absurd object. Being? Airey had not spent enough time with the particular book this entity had supposedly popped out of and he could hardly blame (though he did privately) the Unspeakable team that had been cataloguing this morning to know something would pop out from the book to begin with.

[Zoe]

It didn't take long for Frankie to get over the temporary immobilization ordeal. There were worse things that could have happened, and he was sure that he and perhaps even the department head would laugh about it later. Preferably under different circumstances that didn't involve chasing after... What in Merlin's beard was an emersence trulc?

The man's face tilted to the side and his brows furrowed ever so lightly. Considering the nature of the Auror's work, he wasn't well-acquainted with such things or much else of what the Unspeakables got up to in this part of the Ministry. He did, however, have enough brains to know that it was a big deal when things that were supposed to be kept in the Department of Mysteries managed to find their way out.

Nevertheless, he obediently stepped in tune with his former professor down the corridor, his eyes darting this way and that for whatever he was supposed to be looking for. "Can't say I am familiar, sir," he responded.

[sweetpinkpixie]

Good man, Mr. Paton. Good man, indeed.

Being in Law Enforcement, Airey was certain that his former pupil saw his fair share of unusual circumstances. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you spoke to, the Department of Mysteries took the entire bakery when it came to the unusual and the nonsensical.

"Can't say I was an hour ago either," the man replied just before he suddenly ceased his moments and tilted his head a bit to the side to try and catch the sound he thought he had heard once more. "Bloody thing made its presence known and had made off with my NCC- 1701-D, several pens, and we can only speculate what else it collected from the Chamber of Codes before rolling out here." Possibly the Thought Chamber too but considering everything was bolted down there now it was unlikely.

[The Announcer]

A metallic scraping reverberated through the corridor. A gentle intensity at first, the sound grew more desperate as the seconds ticked on. Metal struggled against metal, rattling and creaking until a dull POP echoed down the corridor followed by a series of metallic thump thump thumps.

And then...silence.

Unsettling on its own, the complete lack of door leading into the stairwell was more so. In fact, the only evidence that there had been a door there at all was the bent hinges that it had once been attached to.

[Zoe]

It was true that he had encountered plenty of unusual circumstances in his line of work. However, he had to admit that the going-ons of the Department of Mysteries was mostly, well, a mystery. He only knew of limited information about Level Nine and the sort of things were studied there. Terms such as emersence trulc and NCC-1701-D meant absolutely nothing to him. As far as speculation went, Frankie's imagination could run wild.

Not that there was any time for such theories in the present moment. The metallic scraping, the rattling, the creaking, the pop, the thumping, it all had been heard loud and clear by the Auror, which only caused him to dart forward toward the racket. Several spells were already at the forefront of his mind, ready to be said the moment the thing came into view.

"Have any intel about this emersence trulc that may be good to know?" he uttered. The sudden silence was unnerving ... and seeing hinges with no door attached to them was even more so. He sighed, taking a moment to brace himself before they had to venture into the stairwell.

[Lottiepot]

The pale and lonely figure of Mikkel Andreassen could be spotted waiting upon an elevator to take him out of the Ministry and be forced to face the daylight of the winter sun as he headed home from a long day cooped up in his happy place, the Space Chamber. He still hadn’t quite become accustomed to normal winters in the UK having spent so many years on Svalbard where through numerous months of the year the sun barely rose and winter seemed to be eternally plunged into darkness. And he loved it. He loved how peaceful and serene it was and how the lack of any pollution made the night skies some of the clearest in the world.

Yet here he was in the hustle and bustle of the Ministry pretending that he was a normal human being who definitely had the social skills to communicate with other human beings without appearing awkward and terse. Working with others would be good for him, that was what he had been telling himself over and over again over the past year he had been working there.

So far, at least in his mind, it had been going.. okay. He greeted his colleagues with a swift nod of the head every morning and grunted them a farewell every evening. He pretended to listen to their conversations over coffee during breaks and when he was feeling particularly brave he would even sit amongst them in the cafeteria (although he’d always pack his own sandwiches).

His foot was tapping absentmindedly as he awaited the arrival of a lift, the strange tunes drifting their way out from the cracks and crevices of the rattling old equipment but whose renditions would find themselves stuck in his head long after he had exited. It really wasn’t so bad this Ministry thing.