Did Frida feel a little guilty for not being at work lately. Sure she did. But there were more important matters at home to deal with. Like Adela, her only daughter who was growing up WAY too fast for Frida's liking. 'Why couldn't she just stay little forever?' The woman sighed, feeling a little bit saddened that her little girl, whom it felt was just an infant the other day, was no longer a baby.
Her pace quickened slightly in order to catch the lift to level three, and once the doors opened up again, the familiar corridor welcomed her.
'Nice to know it wasn't burned to the ground while I was on hiatus.' She was actually able to crack a smile and Frida quietly entered the level three work area.

For a moment, Frida blinked around. She had forgotten that things had been rearranged so much, but no matter, at least her desk was still there...despite being rather gloomy looking and empty.
She set her briefcase down on top of the desk and unpacked a few books, folders, and photographs (photos of herself with her husband and daughter mainly. Although her three cats, Bogey, Chester, and Ember had a photo as well). "Hey there." Frida said to the man who was at the desk next to her. "Willing to have me back? Or should I look to be transferred elsewhere? " She was kidding of course, but her tone was a little more mellow; calmer than it used to be.

Gavin starred down at the parchement in front of him trying to think of ideas as directed seeing as everyone else from the division was either not there or not answering. Maybe they should have just worked as a department, he thought to himself before shrugging it off since it wasn't his decision. He looked up as he caught sight of movement beside him, smiling brightly as he spotted Frida joining the group.

"Of course I'm willing, Mrs Brown," he answered giving her a look that said he'd be hurt if she transferred. "Who'd be here with me and all the newbies if you left...I'd be all alone," the reminiscator added with a childish pout, quite the opposite to his real age as the eldest staff member on the level.

"All right then." Emerald said as she pulled a seat. "So...maybe...maybe we should move the furniture around...just a little bit. So we could have more space. We could add more plants and flowers to make this place a little outside smell. What do you think?" Her mind's already full of ideas.


"Aww..." said Emerald. "How lucky! An owl and two dogs. It must be crazy!" Emmy added. Then sighed. "No, I don't have any yet. But I am planning to get one. I would like to a get a dog...you know...I want some company since I'm living alone."

Emerald turned and saw the senior obliviator. She haven't seen her like forever! "Hey." Emmy smiled. "I believe you're in the same divison as Brad and I?" Emerald asked. "Come join us, we thinking of ways that will make working here easier." The obliviator pointed at the memo that the Department Head just put up.

Smiling, and feeling a little more at ease, Frida took a seat at her desk. She'd forgotten how this chair felt...which was pretty awful in all honesty (not enough cushion). "Gavin, if I want to see pouting I'll go back home." Frida chuckled a little bit. "How's everything been holding up? I'm sorry to have been away for so long, leaving you all behind. But I'm sure you can understand why." Frida started to organize her desktop, placing the books toward the front, and the files in their appropriate drawers. She brought out her small glass case, which as always, held a nice amount of sweets inside, and placed it on the right side of her desk.

"You weren't all by yourself while I was away...were you?" She played with her wedding band absentmindedly; nervously. Maybe it was better if Frida didn't know the answer to this. It might only make her already guilty mind feel even heavier. "I am glad to see that the office is still in one piece."

Frida stopped conversing with Gavin for a moment and looked to another individual. The woman's eyes widened. Had she gotten a new recruit and not been informed?! She recognized Emerald though, thankfully.
'Oh...my gosh.' She hung her head for a moment. It was going to be tough getting back into the ministry routine, and now that Frida was on call for emergencies again, she doubted that she would be getting much sleep.
Frida smiled and nodded politely, but turned to Gavin again for another moment. It would be terribly rude of her to simply get up and leave without hearing the man's reply. Especially since he was an old friend of Frida's.

Gavin raised an eyebrow as Emmy came back and started talking to Frida. Surely they had met...he remembered them doing so the first day. And Brad? he questioned to himself glancing the the direction of Experimental Charms Division. Did she mean him or get the two men confused?

He released the pout with a laugh of his own as she caught on the humor he was acting on. "Everything has been fine...nothing too crazy and catastrophic thank Merlin," he remarked filling his friend in. The man nodded at her appology and waved it off. "Of course...no reason to be sorry...Adela can be quite...attention grabbing," he mused with a smile.

Gavin shook his head with a laugh. "No..no I certainly wasn't though that doesn't mean I missed you even a little bit. Darn it being so used to having you and Tasha nearby everyday." Which was true...even if it had been several months since it had been so with all three of them there.

"But you know...with your absence you missed a lovely wedding..." he said nonchallantly, his face straightfaced as he shuffled his papers absently. He tried to add a wistfull look as if remember the day he was pretending happened.

"Glad to hear it." It was nice to know that nobody had been in mortal danger while she was away. With a small chuckle, Frida agreed and added, "Oh yes, she can be." That very morning the poor little dear didn't want her mother to leave the house. If that wasn't enough to make Frida want to stay home forever and ever, nothing was.

Another question popped into Frida's head, especially since she hadn't seen Tasha in a while. "How is Tasha by the way? Still enjoying her work in the Minister's office?" Well, if she wasn't, then surely Frida would have been notified...but still.

'Hm?!' Frida looked up after her brief moment of reorganizing. Her brain seemed to come to a screeching halt, much like that of a train when the brake lever was pulled suddenly. "A what? Who's wedding did I miss?" She watched Gavin shuffle his paperwork, trying to determine whether or not it was a bluff. "What wedding, Gavin?" He didn't have a wedding band on...but then who-?

Bradley was a little surprised to hear Emerald lived alone, she though that maybe she'd have a boyfriend or something But nevertheless it was nice that she wanted a dog to keep her company, "I would recommend getting a dog. Man's best friend" He said smiling.

"So single ey?" He asked jokingly before laughing slightly.

"She is quite well and enjoying it as much as one can when they have to worry about Borr being around," Gavin answered truthfully. Some days he wished could be up there in case of trouble but she could do enough on her own. Besides Sam wouldn't let her be hurt or harmed if he could help it as a friend to both him and his fiance. Not to mention with his new promotion, he'd have reasons to be up on Level One himself, he realized suddenly to himself, a thought that made it somewhat better.

"Well lets see...Tasha wore white, I wore black...Ours of course...standing in front of---" Gavin explained trying to continue the charade but breaking off when he couldn't. "Nah...just kidding, there was no wedding," he admitted with a chuckle. "You did miss a new title of mine."

"I see." Frida said as she set up her pewter bookends to keep everything in place at the front of her desk. She'd never be caught dead working on level one, it just seemed so...dull. Probably more note-taking than anything else. But who knew? It could be fun.

Frida could feel her face become red. What was going on? How long had she really been away? Had she been trapped in some sort of parallel dimension? Was this just a dream? Perhaps Frida would wake up and realize that everything was as it should be. With her at home taking care of her family...able to sleep a decent number of hours each night.
'No...he's fibbing. Fibbing or the two of them decided to ditch me.' Maybe they thought Frida would take Adela to the wedding too? Did they neglect to inform an old friend because they were worried Frida's child would be a nuisance?
For a brief moment, Frida had actually considered that Gavin and Tasha might be one of those 'hip' couples who decided not to wear wedding bands.

"Nah...just kidding, there was no wedding..."

'Ah. Of course.' *WHACK!* Frida smacked Gavin on his left shoulder with a thick pile of folders as though the man were a venomous insect. She scowled at him and said quietly, "That wasn't funny, Gavin. Don't scare me like that." It had been a while since that Slytherin side of her had come out...she'd feel guilty about it later.
Frida's skin started to cool down, though her cheeks were still a little blotched from the sudden rush of blood. She casually brushed something away from underneath her left eye.
'New title?' Frida raised a brow at this statement, "Oh I did, did I?" Apparently, she wasn't buying it.
She looked down at her briefcase and tilted her head. Several small notepads soared out and landed neatly in the second to the top cabinet of Frida's desk. 'Didn't Emmy mention something about work?'

Skey nodded, also glancing around at the bare walls. "Ok so." She said, scribbling it down, but by the time she looked up, Brad was busy asking Emereld if she was single. Er, obvious much? Impatiently, she gave him a light kick under the table. "If you'd rather flirt than get this done, then maybe I'd be better working by myself." She said snappily, irritated about his lack of concentration.

ooc: Can we still role play with the people who are not in the same division?? And pretend that it was some other day??

ooc: I'm confused so just smack me when I don't make sense

Emerald slapped back to sense. "Oh! Aren't we suppose to come with ideas about how to make our work areas better?" Emmy thought she already said something, but wasn't sure.

ooc: Hopefully we can still role play??

Emmy nodded slowly. Yeah...getting a dog would be nice.

Emerald bit her lips. "Yeah, single." Not sure whether he was serious of not.

Hayley was really nervous about having to come up with ideas with her division because, well, she hadn't met any of them. "Um... Hello," she said. "I hope we can come up with a lot of ideas together." Nerves, nerves, nerves. Hayley's stupid nerves were making her feel so dumb...

OOC: I haven't really seen anyone in my division yet... But I'm gonna check!

Gavin watched quietly as Frida seemed to try to work out what he was saying while setting up her desk for work once more. He had to admit it was her change in expression as well as his nervousness at lying to her that had gotten him to give up but he obviously hadn't stopped fast enough judging by the hand heading his way to smack his arm teasingly.

"Sorry..." he appologized rubbing his arm as if it actually hurt. "But you have to know its not like we could have the wedding without you Frida...even if we decided to elope, you'd still be asked as a witness," the reminscator remarked truthfully in an attempt to get back on her good side.

"Yep, the department's liaison to head office...though that would imply we ever need to get together," Gavin said with a shrug. "Not that much is known about it even by Iridesca. Just know it means chance run-ins with our interim minister and the occasional reason to be upstairs to visit my better half."

His attention turned back to Emmy as she reminded them of the task at hand. "yes...yes, we're supposed to be thinking within each division of creative ways to make things more productive in the department, Gavin confirmed and tried on filling Frida in on things. "Any ideas so far?"he asked the newer woman since his mind was blank at the moment.

Emmy sighed. She has ready said some of her ideas. "Maybe we should move the furniture around...just a little bit. So we could have more space. We could add more plants and flowers to make this place a little outside smell. What do you think?" repeated Emerald.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon_star

Emmy sighed. She has ready said some of her ideas. "Maybe we should move the furniture around...just a little bit. So we could have more space. We could add more plants and flowers to make this place a little outside smell. What do you think?" repeated Emerald.

Even after he asked Emmy, Gavin frowned realizing she had already answered his question not a short while before. "Sorry about that...heard it both times just had a momentary lapse," he appologized sincerly, hoping she didn't think he wasn't paying attention to her. As further proof, he wrote down both her suggestions.

Quote:

Division 1 Ideas

Plants/flowers
Arrangement of furniture

"Plants and flowers sounds good," he agreed with a nod, the tip of his quill on his chin as he thought. "Not sure about moving furniture since they did put a lot of thought when they reorganized the offices but we'll still put it down." Looking to his friend to see what she could think of to add to the discussion. "What about you Frida? I'm trying to think outside the box and nothing is coming to mind just yet...nothing we can use anyway."

Somewhat disappointed that she hadn't hit Gavin hard enough, Frida responded with a quite, "Hm." To what Gavin said about his and Tasha's future possible wedding.
One of the photos featuring Adela moved, and Frida glanced over to it. Apparently, Adela had sneezed a little bit and started to giggle; her shiny brown locks swayed as she did so. It managed to put a small smile back onto Frida's face.

"Congratulations, Gavin. I'm sure you'll do well with that newly appointed position." Wait. Hadn't that one girl in the office said there was something to do?
'Oh...right....' Frida had almost forgotten entirely. 'How to make things more productive in the department.' She looked back to Gavin when he asked her for input.
"We could always make a request to higher authorities to offer continuing education for all divisions." Frida suggested as a spark seemed to ignite in her brain. She remembered reading an article out of a muggle newspaper...about advances in electronic recording devices that captured sound and audio. They were becoming more and more popular, and easier to carry around. What if a muggle managed to capture a magic-related incident on camera? "Perhaps we should learn to deal more efficiently with muggle technology. Cameras and whatnot. Perhaps there is a way to short them out or something to prevent muggles from transferring data? The last thing we need is for someone to capture and accident...or anything else for that matter and let others know." 'What a nightmare that would be for the obliviators and other employees in the ministry.' Honestly, it was a miracle that it hadn't happened.
"Of course," Frida began again, "Instead of that, we could always just request to hold annual training sessions relating to our field. Possibly even examinations for new and current employees. You know...to keep minds sharp."

"Thanks Frida," Gavin said thankful for the friendly encouragement to the still unknown-about job. As the conversation turned back to the group task at hand and he listened to his friend's offering, he couldn't help but smile and nod. Leave it to Frida to think of it seeing as she was usually the one who dealt with it the most...well until he joined the division as well.

"Those certainly should be included for environment is only half the battle. The actual tasks and such are important as well," he commented adding both thoughts to his list.

Quote:

Plants/flowers
Arrangement of Furniture
Continued Education on the Job
Updated Information and Training on New Technology Issues

When he looked back up, he spotted someone in the visitor's area, an advantage or disadvantage of being at the division closest to it. And it wasn't hard for him to notice the familiar appearance of his flatmate.
"Excuse me for a moment, ladies," Gavin remarked excusing himself as he put down his quill and got up from his chair to see what was up.

"Ah huh...that's all right." said Emerald, smiling. "I do that sometimes too."

Someone at the visitor's area? Emmy turned around to look. Oh well, there's no one concerning her. She turned back toward her desk, thinking more about ways to make this place "easier to breathe".

Brad was surprised when he felt someone kick him under the table, he jumped and looked at Skye - whom it came from - and blushed looking at the table he was sat at. "Sorry.." He said feeling like he was a naughty child getting told off by the teacher

"Have you got anymore ideas?" He asked hoping to change the subject.

Brad nodded and smiled, but he noticed the confusion in her face. Holding his hands up in mock surrender he said, "Just curious that's all" He smiled.

Emerald relaxed her face. "Oh! Right." She said, laughing. "What about you?" she asked. If he asked, why couldn't she?

Brad looked over at Skye quickly to make sure she wasn't going to have a go at him again, he did want to talk about ideas of improvement. He did even give an idea he quiet liked, he turned back to Emerald. Shaking his head he said, "Nah, i'm single"

Hmmm...

Emerald nodded for a moment. Then she sighed and said. "Hey, we can meet at the coffee shop after this. So we don't have to turn our necks around every second."

ooc: If you wanna RP at the coffee place

Bradley nodded at that, he liked that idea. Then he didn't have to worry about not getting any work done. He smiled and nodded, "Sure that'll be great"

"It's fine." Said Skye, watching the two impatiently, but said nothing more. She open her notebook, which she had accidentally closed, and found the page with one idea. Paintings. Okay, a second or third idea would be nice... Ooh, maybe bright posters? With positive mottoes... Ok, basically a toned down version of her other idea but still, progress was being made, right?

Bradley turned to Skye and smiled, taking a quick glance at the notepad before her he said, "Anymore ideas?" Suppose it's a good idea to finish the task set to them.