It had been a LONG first half of the day, mostly because of all the meetings that had gone on--him needing to take "diligent" notes throughout--cleaning up after each meeting because business types couldn't all just meet at once and save him the trouble. The errands after. The filing.

Merlin's beard, he deserved this lunch break and some time with his mate. Kodee walked into the underground Coffee Club, the lunch he'd grabbed from the atrium floating in behind him while he regaled Kaiser with the epicness of his latest fight. "So THEN I managed to knock him off his feet, crowd cheering the whole time. You should'a been there--why don't you stop by once or twice? Could make some decent money even if you don't fight." Because his friend had always been a little weird about that sort of thing.

You'd think he'd never thrown a punch his whole life.

Kodee moved over to the table, beckoning Kaiser to do the same. They could eat and play and catch up. "Worth the broken rib. Reckon it'll heal fast enough."

In all honestly, Kaiser felt like he was in kind of a daze. That wasn't a bad thing though, as he thought it had most likely been brought on by just having a mountain of things to do and the need to push through them quickly rather than by like... stress, or something. He didn't feel stressed at all - though by rights he probably should - and that was a-okay with him.

It was also very possible that part of this feeling was something to do with listening to Kodee's anecdote, but again, not a problem. Kaiser carried his own lunch - a drink and an optimistically chosen sandwich - in one hand as he walked, and nodded along in all the right places.

"Maybe I'll come and check it out one day," he replied when the story was over. Casual and agreeable enough to hopefully keep Kodee satisfied, but ultimately nothing but lip service. Kaiser didn't think he'd actually have any problems just watching any fighting, but he'd been proving himself wrong on a lot of scores lately, and that was one risk he'd actually rather not take.

Stopping by the foosball table and depositing his lunch on the edge of it, Kaiser shook his head and gave a wry smile. "Few things are worth broken ribs, or any broken bones. But, well... as long as you can handle yourself." And it sounded like he did, so that was something.

Kaiser stared at the table and grimaced. Foosball. He didn't think he'd ever get the hang of it. Give him a real football; he could do a thing or two with one of those.

Yeeaahhh, he could take care of himself. Kodee had come a long way from barely surviving his fights and betting against himself to make a profit. Now, he could hold his own pretty well and depending on where he went, had a decent chance of wiping the competition. There was still a far way up the ladder to go but where he was suited him just fine.

Where he was made him the money he felt he deserved.

Kodee took a moment to animate his food. It would make it easier to eat and talk and play foosball all at once. Never let it be said he did not think ahead. The BLT moved toward his mouth, allowing him to take a bite of it while he took hold of a pair of twisters. "You're right about that. There's very few things worth hearing that uncomfortable crack for." He spun the little twister, sending the call toward his friend's side. "But those few things, wooooo weeeee!" It was quite the rush and lately, the rush was the only thing that kept him going.

"How've things been with the big man in charge?" He was working with a pretty important man but Kaiser was working for THE man. The one in charge of all of wizarding Britain. "Did you get stuck in a ton of meetings this week, too? I swear, it's either a deadzone or memo central." No in between...or....seldom in between.

And another bite of his sandwich. It was pretty good. The boy considering getting another before they headed back to level one.

Kaiser watched that floating sandwich for a moment, wondering how on earth Kodee could bear to have it wafting around his face like that. Until he remembered there was a time not so long ago when he himself could probably have scarfed down every morsel of food in a five mile radius with not the slightest consideration for decorum, and then suddenly the floating sandwich was positively elegant. His own remained untouched beside him.

"I do know my stuff sometimes," he replied, half smile on his face, which quickly faded as he switched his focus to the table. He went for one handle, then the next as soon as it became clear he'd need the extra moment, wildly jiggling and pull-pushing it. Nope. Directly into the goal the ball went. "At least, a little about a little."

Kaiser grabbed the ball and tossed it back into the centre of the table, then quickly twisted another handle to knock it into Kodee's end - only way he was likely to get any hits was a little bending of the rules. "Pretty good. I'm still figuring things out, but the Minister, he's been patient with me. I think I am getting better at the job." Despite the fact that, as Kodee had said, workdays could be anything from totally dead to nothing short of a tailspin. At least that was how it sometimes felt. "More meetings than have a right to exist, yes. But I prefer the days that are non-stop over the ones that never get started." Idle thumbs. Keeping occupied. All that. "You been doing good?"

Empty and quiet, the Underground Coffee Club's heyday may be far behind it in a post-war era. It's laid back image tainted by elitism and the fooseball table still seeking repairs, it was like a graveyard...

...especially with the addition of the body of Kevin Hirase, dragged in and abandoned beside the broken table. Anyone who would happen upon the sight may at first think him dead (he certainly was looking pale), but upon closer inspection one would find that he was breathing...but barely.

Chloe probably shouldn't have wandered down here by herself especially with all the strange disappearances she'd been hearing about lately. And yet somehow she ended up down here in the deserted coffee club.

And good thing too, as her eyes perused the room and took in the sight of her former housemate. He was only a year younger than her, which of course she recognized him from the trouble he used to cause and was he .... "...dead?" she whispered although probably fruitless since this was a deserted room. But then who deposited his body here? And why? He didn't deserve this. He was her age, practically. She drew her wand, looking around and cast a quick protection charm over them, before looking back to Kevin. He was still breathing, she noticed upon taking a step closer. "Kevin... If you can hear me... Squeeze your fist." she spoke gently.

He was vaguely aware of another presence in the room with him, yet he was too far gone to do anything. With the majority of his blood drained from his body, Kevin was desperately clinging to consciousness. Slipping in and out as he heard the footsteps approaching.

Thanks to his short hair, the two puncture wounds on his neck were easily visible for anyone who looked at him, though the man had yet to become aware of this permanent mark on his body.

Her soft voice was a welcoming contrast to the animalistic growls he had been hearing during his captivity somewhere in the depths of the Ministry and Kevin wanted to reply to it but he couldn't find his voice.

Squeezing his fist required a lot of energy. The energy that he did not have so for a short moment he stayed silent, not moving a muscle until he was able to move his pinky and ring finger. The movement was subtle but should be noticeable.

River had developed a natural aversion to the Underground Coffee Club - slash - VIP Coffee Lounge. It had been a cool spot for the coffee obsessed healer, but the turn of events pre-war made him steer clear from the area. Despite being a pureblood, he did not like the discrimination that the place offered. It just didn't work well with his principles, nor his conscience. He was a Healer after all, who took Oath that he would be of help to those who need his expertise regardless of blood heritage.

With the Level 1 Break Room almost always busy any time of the day, River decided to finally visit his usual coffee spot. Although the halls were still marred with neo-alliance propaganda, at least the worst part of the uprising was over. Or...?

He'd been asked to be careful when traversing the said hallways and corridors of the Ministry, but never got the full picture as to why. There were talks and chatter about people missing, but so far, the Minister's Office had been quiet, so he took everything with a grain of salt.

Arriving at the Ministry's "watering hole", he'd gone straight for the coffee machine, but had to double take at the two figures near the defunct foosball table. Without a word, the Healer took quick strides towards them, but seeing that one of them had been lying on the floor for Merlin knows how long, River jumped into action as soon as he saw how pale the man was on the floor-- almost lifeless. "I'm Healer Reed, can you hear me? Blink if you can," he said gently and calmly, keeping an eye on the man while he conjured fluffy pillows and placed them under the employees knees to keep his blood, (or whatever was left of it) circulating. River tried to take the man's pulse from his wrist, but was too weak, and so he continued by reaching out to feel the man's carotid pulse on his neck, and there he saw the puncture wound.

River blinked a couple of times as he pieced things together: Puncture Wounds > Paleness > Weak Pulse = Loss of Blood... and lots of it.

"What happened here?" he asked, glancing at the woman with them, hoping she'd be able to shed more light. Was this... what they meant by missing people? River had non-medical questions, but there was a task he needed to attend to and quickly. While he waited for the other employee to tell him what she'd witnessed, River drew his wand from its holster and clenched it between his teeth as he fished his emergency supplies from underneath his Healer robes. With his self-sterilizing gloves on, the Healer applied a clean gauze over the man's puncture wounds to his neck, and began to suction out fluids from it with his wand.

When he didn't move, Chloe wasn't sure what to think. It wasn't her first encounter with death, but she assumed with the war behind them and the neo alliance at bay, that the death would have subsided. And yet here they were... A former classmate nearing dead. With puncture wounds?

How did one summon a healer here ? She knew some basic healing spells but it wasn't enough and she wasn't naive enough to think it would be.

Just as she saw the fingers move, someone else entered. Help had arrived !!! She stepped aside so the new addition to the room could access Kevin and breathed a sigh of relief when he introduced himself as a Healer. "His fingers moved... He's still alive I think .. sir" She bit her lip, unwilling to remove her gaze from Kevin. "I'm not sure what happened... I just happened upon him. He seemed to just ... Appear" did that make sense? Be deposited into an abandoned coffee club?

The appearance of Healer Reed had gone unnoticed by the Law Enforcement employee until he was at close range. He lifted his eyes and then blinked them once for a yes before he felt pillows being conjured and placed under his knees. He did not understand why he did this, but because he was a Healer, there must have been a good reason and trusted him.

He felt a hand hold on to his wrist, looking for a pulse probably but the young man did not register this. Nor that he was using his fingers to try and find his pulse at his neck. He also didn't wonder why he would put a gauze on that area. He simply let the man do his job. He survived a bloody war a couple of months ago. He didn't want to die next to a foosball table!

At the mention of what happened, Kevin uttered his first word after Chloe had said her piece. "Growls" he said faintly, weak in volume but audible for the two. He recognized growls and animalistic movements as he had been hauled....where exactly? where had he been before getting in this room? or had he always been here? His breathing quickened for a moment as he tried to identify what had occurred. He remembered aggressive barking as though he was being interrogated by...a big dog? that made no sense... But it also did? Or had it been a man? Why could he not remember the details?! He was trained for this! He had spent countless times over the years studying the memories of eyewitnesses and victims in the Pensieve. So why could he not remember it for himself? Tears pricked in the corner of his eyes but it wasn't because he was crying but because he was feeling frustrated. And feeling frustrated required a lot of energy and that he did not have. Should he ask Upstead if he could use the Pensieve for personal purposes? Was it personal when it happened at the Ministry?

Of course, his first aim was enduring right now.

River had his ears glued to the young woman, filing whatever it was that she witnessed. Apparently, just like him, she found their fellow employee on the ground as if he'd just appeared. Rapid blinking of the eye came next as another piece from an elaborate puzzle fell on the board... however, such claims need solid evidence still. However, as it is, River had no time to spare. The man on the floor was in no shape or condition to wait any longer.

The Healer fished out a sterile test tube and placed the soiled gauze inside, and corked it afterwards. As protocol, he would have to have it tested in the Forensics Lab of the MLE, and with the experts in DMC to confirm if his suspicion was correct. Another piece would have to be kept to be sent to St. Mungo's should the man's condition get worse. River worked like a well-oiled machine, until the young man momentarily came out of his confused state to say the word... growl. The Healer looked at the other employee, unsure, but was pulled back again by the distressed look of the young man.

River shook his head once seeing that his supplies are limited at the moment, and that the puncture wounds posed a lot of questions. For now, a clean gauze with antiseptic was applied, and magically stuck it to the man's punctured skin."We have to move you to the Healer Station," he said in his usual gentle tone, so as not to spook his patient further, conjuring a self-oxygenating bubble over the young man's mouth and nose to aid his breathing and blood flow. Seeing how pale the man was due to blood loss and his distressed tears, the patient could very well pass out any moment. "I need you to stay awake, sir." he added, as River conjured a stretcher and carefully placed the man on it, securing him with more pillows on the side.

"I would need you to stay with him, Miss." River said over his shoulder as he continued to secure his patient on his suspended stretcher. "Looks like he'd gone through some sort of trauma," he added almost in a whisper as he kept his gaze on the young man. "He would want to see a familiar face after this," assuming that they knew each other. Without another word, River collected the rest of his supplies and headed for the Healer Station, levitating his patient beside him.

Huff. Coffee will have to wait, apparently.