Across the hall from the kennels is the large enclosed arena where most of the bloodhounds' training will take place. The arena can be charmed and enchanted to feel and appear as any surrounding that the dogs could be in when working on a job. When the arena isn't charmed, the floors are covered with faux grass, with wall-to-wall enchanted windows to give the place more of an outdoorsy feel. On the wall to the right of the arena is a door with all the equipment needed to train, including fake nogtails and piglets.

A smaller area to the back of the arena, and separated by a fence, has been set up for the employees of the Creatures Department. This is a space for them to work on their own physical fitness, as certain job roles are subject to physical fitness exams at the discretion of the Department Head. You'll find all the equipment you could ever need as well as a stack of yoga mats for those wishing to center themselves. Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, and happy people make for a happy work place.

This was his very last room, Jose did the same process as before with the other rooms. Starting from the back and working his way to the front. But due to to all the training equipment Jose had to make sure those were all sprayed because they had so many little cracks and hiding spaces. He wishes he could take them apart but he wouldn't know how to put them back together. Finally two hours later he finished spraying everything possible.

Packing up his things he made his way to go see harmony to let her know that he was finished.

With each spray from the bottle, dozens upon dozens of chizpurfles keeled over and twitched their tiny clawed legs. But only for a short time as the solution in that bottle of yours is quite potent!

IT'S WORKING IT'S WORKING! BYE BYE CHIZPURFLES!

As you step inside of the Training and Fitness Area, you'll notice a small chalk board hovering just above a table littered with little name tags in an assortment of colors that match the colorful pens sitting beside them. The chalkboard reads as follows.

Quote:

Welcome!

Please take a name tag and write your name and favorite color with one of the colorful pens provided. Then stick it to your shirt and head on over to the back of the room! We'll be getting started shortly!

Harmony can be found at the back of the training area, setting up a longer table with an assortment of healthy snacks for the occasion. Homemade hummus is among the selection and your department head is particularly fond of this item since she made it. Feel free to take one of the floral paper plates and help yourself. The apple slices look particularly delicious. Then have yourself a seat on one of the many bohemian looking pillows and relax, the meeting won't start until all your coworkers have arrived!

So, the meeting thing. That was happening, yeah? William read the noticeboard. He just... felt like he was really, really early. Eeeeeeeeeep.

He scooted into the training place, not having realized until NOW that it was a training room for the bloodhounds primarily, and picked up a nametag. He read the chalkboard and then picked up a green nametag, and a green pen. Now was he supposed to write his name in green and then write 'green' below it, or.....? He felt dumb, but he did that anyway because... yeah.

Quote:

William Williamson
green?

Then he headed for the back of the room where Harmony was and picked up a floral plate. "Need any help?" he offered kindly, since she looked like she was finishing setting up.

OH. WOW. Coooooool. Ember walked into the training area..wow. It was niiiiice. She thought so, anyways. But then again, she was SO SUPER excited that everything was absolutely LOVELY to her. ^_____^

Oh! Mr. Rushy Mt. Rushmore was in here! She grinned and nodded at him and eyed the nametags MERLIN'S SOGGY SOCKS THEY WERE SO FREAKIN' CUTE. Bunnniiiieeees! Ember squeeeee-ed! and grabbed a green one, quickly writing her name in the cuuuutest handwriting she could muster--curly and all--

Quote:

Ember Brighton
Green!

SO cute! SOOSSOOS Cute! She stuck it on her chest and beamed at at the back of the room--OH! Was this--was this the BOSS. Ember hurried back there and held out her hand.

"Hi! I' Ember--You must be Harmony!" she said excitedly, knowing that the BOSS would know her as soon as she said her name--after all, she had been hired by the woman! She glanced at the table she was setting up. "Do you need help? I can help!" she chittered eagerly. Maybe she was being too...hyper. Maybe she had too much coffee. UGH. She didn't want to be annoying--so she took a few breaths and CALMED THE HECK DOWN. Siiigh. Okay. Go.

She twirled some of her turquoise hair around in her finger and eyed the snacks.."These look delicious! How nice--snacks at a meeting!" she said, bouncing a little as she looked over at Mr. Williamson? Right, she had to not call him Mt. Rushmore anymore. That would be ruuuuude. "Hi again, sir!" she waved a little and gave him ANOTHER smile. Because because BECAUSE SMILES ROCK.

Yeah...

She didn't come here very often. It's not a room that she need to visit frequently. And it smelled like dogs. But for some reason, that was where the meeting was being held so of course, she showed up. January walked into the room and immediately saw the name tags. She took a black pen and wrote down her name. Were they meant to write down their favorite color, too? Sure.

Quote:

January Pennifold
green

She nodded and smiled at Harmony as she walked in further and said "Hello." Then she noticed William who was somewhat nearby a very young woman, who must have been a new employee, but she acted more like a Hogwarts student.

"Hi," she said to Willy as she approached him, before slipping in a "sir." since that's what the other girl called him. Heheh, Willy, a sir? That was funny.

The hummus looked a little too chunky and Harmony was taking a spoon to it, in hopes of smoothing it out before anyone tried some. That is she was doing this until her first employee arrived. "William!" The red head smiled warmly and turned to him, hummus covered spoon waving in the air. "Everything is pretty much done but thank you so much for offering! You've got such a helpful nature." Honest to goodness good guy, as far as the department head was concerned. "Do help yourself to some snacks and go find yourself a pillow!"

Now if she could just fix this humm-Oh, more arrivals!

"Ember, yes, of course! It's so nice to have you with us." One of Harmony's new additions and an energetic one at that. The red head approved, obviously. "I was just finishing up but thank you so much for offering and please help yourself to some fruits and veggies!" And hummus, of course. Still lumpy, though. Perhaps that was just the way it was meant to be today, though.

After cleaning off the spoon, Harmony set it to the side and took up a pillow on the floor, criss-crossing her legs in front of her. She looked peaceful and right at home which was how she was hoping the others would feel once they got settled.

"January, hello! It's so nice to be back, isn't it? Help yourself to some snacks and then pull up a pillow!" They had lots to discuss!

Now where were the others? Harmony didn't want to wait too much longer to start seeing as they had lots to do and not lots of time to get it done. Hopefully they'd be there soon!

OOC: I'm gonna poke the others via PM and give them another chance to jump in and next time I post, Harmony will start with the games and such. Thanks for being patient, you guys! I appreciate it.

Rozanna was surprisingly excited for the meeting today. She liked being involved in official stuff, and also finding every opportunity to show off in front of her boss. Rozan was pretty great at showing off. She stepped into the room and was met immediately by the chalkboard. Name and favourite colour... huh, interesting.

Quote:

Rozanna Jupitus
Pink

Obviously.

She stuck the name tag to her shirt and made her way over to everyone. "Hello!" A big smile for them all, particularly the boss and the newbie. Her attention was soon caught by the refreshments provided, so she grabbed a plate and some apple slices straight away. Nom.

Jose arrived... Which he thought was super late but it didn't sound like he arrived too late. Finding a seat he gave warm smiles as he sat down. "how's everyone today " he quietly asked.

Manolo walked into the staff meeting, quickly fixing himself up, having sprinted hurried over. You'd think this watch on his wrist would work for something.

He tore his eyes off the food he spotted in the back of the room and focused on what was in front of him. NAME TAGS! Write your name? Of course. And your favorite color? OOOh, that's new. He can do that.

Quote:

Manolo J. Black
I like blue. A lot.

Besides the fact that he was wearing a lot of green today. He liked green, too. Mhmm.

The 23 year-old stuck it on himself and made his way deeper into the room, greeting anyone who was in his path,

"Hello."
"Hello!"
"Heeelllooo!"
"How's it going?"
"Hi!"
"Hey!"
"What's up?!"

Until he finally reached the table with all the delicious goodies on it. HUMMUS!! YES!

Humming along as she walked, Hershey hoped that she wasn't terribly late. Being terribly late to a work meeting would simply be a terrible thing and she didn't like things that were terrible, no. With a pause in her humming, she took in the sign about the name tags and nodded, fetching one and using a yellow pen, she scribbled on it.

Hershey McKenna
YELLOW!

That was her favorite color, obviously. OH LOOK. APPLES! Picking up her humming again, Hershey helped herself to a few apples and smiled at her Department Head, offering a "Hello!" and then hurrying off to pick a pillow.

A yellow one.

MORE PEOPLE OHWOW. Ember's people-pleaser-senses were tingling! She SMiled at everyone, but before she would tell ANYONE hi, she looked at her boss. Who was soooo very stunning, with that red hair! Squeee! "Oh! Okay then! Thanks! How thoughtful--" she beamed and took a liiiiittle plate, scooping some hummus onto it and some vegetables, nommmmming on the food in a...polite-ish way? Hehe.

She eyed the one the boss called January...what an interesting name! She smiled. "Hi, I'm Ember!" she said eagerly and giggled bit because her cheeks were red! She wasn't embarrassed! But meeting all these NEW people had her SOSUPEREXCITEDOMG. SHe called Mt. Rushmore sir, as well! Wow! Polite! She didn't get the sarcasm with her...excitement. Normal calm Ember would have caught on--but not today! Her brain was MUCH too BUZZZY!

OHANOTHERPERSON. Ember waved at this...Monthly-named woman and smiled at the new person! (Rozanna) She waved and made her way over, bouncing quiiiiiite a bit. "Hi! Ember here--I'm the new one--one of them--probably can tell because I am so HYPER!" she said, and she bit into a carrot, having dipped it in the DELICIOUS hummus, and her eyes watched ALL OF THE OTHERS COME IN. Wow. Wowowowoow. She had COWORKERS SQUEEEE.

The man(Jose) was quiet, but Ember waved and grinned at him. "I am good! And you! I'm Ember--" she nodded, introducing herself because she was NEW. She assumed everyone else MUST know each other, though, riiiiight?

Another male! (Manolo) Oh good, an assortment! NOt too many of one gender--Ember thought this was a good thing because things could get...stale quickly. And all women would, of course, be a NIGHTMARE. She waved at him, too, though, and grinned like a puppy. "Hi! Nice to meet you! Ember!" she said to him. Maybe she was saying her name too much. oh. Maybe she should stop? Hmph. But--she just--she was just being friendly, riiiight?

She waved as yet another person(Hershey) and smiled. "Hi! Hello!" she said, deciding not to say her name because maybe it WAS a bit too much! Oh well. "Nice to meet ya'!" she said, and she continued to munch on her little snacks and smiled back at the boss. Right. this would be fun...hopefully...

Cole was late. That was certainly a first. He liked to blame a certain someone for that but he liked the reason he was late. So yeah.

"Hello. Hello .." Pause. "Hello." Cole greeted his way to a spot to that homemade humus. He was hungry and that looked good. But not being rude and all, the man stepped in to help the department head but it looked like she was almost done. So instead, he helped himself to that hummus. "Harmony, you made these?" he asked.

And that was when he noticed the tag thing. But why?

Nonetheless, he complied and wrote his name and uh - a color down.

Cole Knight
Blue

That was the only color that came to mind. So yeah.

Ohh looking around he must have missed the little activity of doing a name tag.. it sounded like so much fun… grabbing a sticky thing he wrote his name on it.

Placing it on his pocket of his jacket for everyone to see he sat there quietly. wondering what the meeting was about.

Just LOOK at this turnout!

Harmony was positively glowing as more and more of her lovely employees filed into the Training and Fitness Area. She was pleased that they seemed to be in good spirits, as well. Best to keep things light and relaxed today as everyone was just returning from a rather nice holiday break. When the red head was sure the last of the staff were settled, and had done her part saying hellos, she cleared her throat and gestured towards the circle of large pillows on the faux grass, encouraging everyone to be seated.

"Everyone, welcome back to the ministry! For those of you just joining our department, I'm Harmony Delilah Skylark. I encourage everyone to call me Harmony as this is a team and I want our relationship to be a friendly and collaborative one." PAUSE. "Please know, though, I do this as a courtesy. The respect given here in this department will be the same as the respect received and I trust everyone here will have no problem keeping that in mind." BEAM!

Adjusting herself slightly on her pillow, Harmony tossed her red hair over her shoulder, displaying her name tag. "Now as you can see, my favorite color is yellow. This is because yellow promotes energy and represents my inner sunny disposition!" GRIN! "As you've all written down your own favorite colors on your name tags, I thought it'd be a nice ice breaker to go around and introduce ourselves. General information is fine as well as a bit about why your favorite color is what it is!" And looking encouragingly at the lovely person sitting on her right, she waited for them to begin.

OOC: Alright, lovelies! Please have your charrie introduce themselves! Just pretend they've waited their turn. I'll post again as soon as I can!

Jack was not in the best mood as he entered the room for the meeting. As it started he sighed, he knew he had to be here but the owl of his mother suddenly becoming deathly ill was weighing on his mind. Still he listened as best he could and when his turn came he followed the instructions. He took a deep breath and said gruffly, "Hi, I'm Jack Berusen, I work in the werewolf registry unit of the Ministry of Magic. I chose the color green because it represents life. As for my experience, grew up around magical creatures in a sanctuary in the country in the United States with my, uh, parents, I'm done" Jack stopped abruptly and sat down. He had no idea how much longer he could force himself to stay here, but he was going to try.

Ooh, new employee? (Ember) Always a pleasure to welcome someone new into the Magical Creatures family. She was quite a colorful one too! "Nice to meet you, Ember. I'm Manolo." Unfortunately, he left his leather jacket at home.

These pillows were pretty and comfy! Very pleasing for his bum, indeed. Oh, it was his turn! Excitedly, he cleared his throat before speaking, "Hellooo, everybody! For those who don't know me, my name is Manolo Black." Points to his nametag, "I'm 23 years-old and I'm the Albino Bloodhound Handler around here. We always enjoy visitors!" GRIN.

The former Ravenclaw looked down at his nametag, "My favorite color is blue, even though it might look like I like green considering my clothes." He let out a small, nervous laugh. "Umm...it's my favorite color because...it's the color of the sky." Okay, there, he's done.

Both of those people (Jack and Manolo) he has met before but he listened carefully because he wanted to make sure he showed that he respected both of them.

While Jose waited for his turn he thought it was best for him to keep it short.. he didn't want to ramble on and on..

Standing up.. because thats what he thought he needed to do… he spoke "hello.. My name is Jose Mora. I'm from Brazil and my favourite colour is Green" he sat back down and waited for someone else to go.

Oh, of course they were sitting on pillows. January had picked the wrong day to wear a pencil skirt, hadn't she? Carefully bending her knees, January clung to William's arm as she attempted to gracefully lower herself to the pillow. Once she was settled, she bent her legs off to one side. THERE. She was good. But she really wouldn't mind using an actual chair in an actually conference room next time.

Introductions, lovely. January waited her turn before speaking up. "I'm January Pennifold. I'm a spectre control agent, have been for about 10 years." Merlin, that aged her. "And my favorite color is also green." She didn't know what green meant, but she would leave it at that.

More and more people kept coming in and heading for the food table, so once Harmony said she didn't need any help, William... wellp, helped himself to some food. Even though he was more of a meat eater than a veggie lover, he loaded up his plate with hummus and carrot and celery sticks. Harmony's hummus was delicious, if he recalled correctly.

Then he turned around to pick out a pillow and was met with The Hyper One from reception. Ohhh boy. "Hey again," he returned her greeting quite seriously, since she had called him 'sir' and all. The corners of Willy's mouth were just twitching to laugh, though. Who called him sir? Oh JANUARY did, apparently, only sarcastically. Her remark made William's ears redden.

"Hi Jan," he just replied instead, awkwardly holding his plate and figuring he'd wait for her before they sat down. Willy spotted Jose and Rozanna and the bloodhound guy he kept running into... and...annnnnnd.... were those some of his busy dragon coworkers he never saw?!! That was exciting!

Eventually Willy and January made it to the pillows and he let her use him as a cane so she could sit down. Why not. He was just so helpful today. Must be because it was just the first day back. Once he was seated on a super multicolored pillow, William finally got to dip a celery stick into the hummus and start munching.

Right, Jack and Manolo and Jose and January he all knew... now was it his turn? He hastily swallowed his celery stick and let out a small, nervous cough. "Hi all..." COUGH. Okay. Windpipe cleared. "I'm William Williamson, Senior Dragon Researcher.... my favorite color is green, like my old House colors and like the scales of my favorite dragon..." fun facts there... What else was he supposed to say? "Oh and I've worked here for a few years but before the Ministry, I hatched Longhorns in Romania and taught at Hogwarts."

There, all about him was done and delivered. Willy gave a general smile and nod to the group and went back to his crunchy food. He was listening to the others though, he was.

Manolo! Right! What a cool name! She smiled at him, about to say something back, but...boss!lady was speaking! So Ember just winked and stopped munching for a minute to hear what they had to do! Couldn't be...crunching over her words. That would be rude. And. Annoying. Yep.

She smiled at all of the newcomers, as well, and seeing as they were about to introduce themselves! Well, it didn't matter that she hadn't gotten a chance, heh! She tucked some of her turquoise hair behind her ears and looked around. Oh! PILLOWS! THey were so PRETTY. Ember could have kidnapped one for her home! But she wouldn't--OH NO--never! She munched softly on the vegetables, mostly carrots, and enjoyed the hummus MUCH MUCH MUCH.

Lots of green! Ember was beginning to think she should have picked a different color--but her favorite color wasn't just ANY green, it was LIME green! Bright and pretty and full of life! The Rushy Williamson man was going--she listened attentively--he was...well, a DRAGON guy! Whoah. She was beYOND amazed at that! But--it was her turn--right RIGHT--GO--

"Hi! I'm Ember--Just graduated Uni--and here I am!" she said, giggling and smiling and turning a biiiiit red, not helped by the contrast from her hair. "I picked green because..well...green is full of life to me...I love it..." she said, and she shrugged and waved at the next person, continuing to munch on her carrot sticks.

YES.

"Oh! Right! And I deal with pest removal!" She added, chuckling to herself and leaning back on her pillow...ooops!

Kylie had dropped off her twins who had yet again tried convincing her that they could stay home alone they were only seven they could do that when they were twelve at the latest. For now it was the Ministry Daycare until she could convince her friend to have some playdates with them. Reaching the meeting place she grabbed a red pen and wrote down her name along with her favorite color which happened to be red.

Quote:

Kylie Rewuri
Red

Oh and introductions, yay her favorite!

Okay Jack, Manolo, January, William, and Ember.. She could remember those. Oh wait it was her turn now... "G'day everyone..." She hated talking about herself. "I'm Kylie Rewuri I am the Chief Werewolf Operative. My favorite color is red, I saw a lot of it back home and I just like the way it looks.." She didn't really know why she would have to figure that out. She made a mental not of that before continuing, "I've worked here for a few years but before the British Ministry, I worked at the Australian Ministry where I was a Werewolf Operative for ten years." Was that good?

Even though he would have easily devoured a doughnut or two had they been there, Tancred appreciated the healthy snacks that were present at the meeting. There would be no after-eating guilt when he was putting fruits, vegetables, and hummus in his mouth. After gathering a plate full of goodies, he found an open spot next to a woman with brunette hair. When he got settled in on the pillow, he recognized that the woman was no one other than Hershey McKenna. Hello, daughter of the former boss!

He turned to her as if he was about to start conversation with her, but the meeting officially began. After a lovely welcome from his new boss, she then moved on to introductions. So there was Harmony ... Jack ... Manolo ... Jose ... January ... Willy ... Ember ... Kylie ... oh, was it his turn now?

"Hello, everyone. I'm Tancred Adara," he said with a smile, pointing at his nametag. "My favourite colour is orange because that is the colour of the Chudley Cannons, my favourite Quidditch team. I worked at the dragon reserve in Wales for thirteen years, and now I am the new dragon commissioner here at the Ministry." Nodding his head, he dipped a celery stick and popped it in his mouth. Next!

This was going SWIMMINGLY! Harmony sat proudly on her colorful cushion, watching as her lovely creatures staff shared a bit about themselves. She knew that not all were accustomed to a meeting setup like this one but they were being SUCH good sports and she was feeling EXTREMELY positive vibes right now! Way to go, people!

As the red head nommed on some apple slices, she noted some rather interesting facts about her employees. Like that the new dragon commissioner was a Cannons fan and that Manolo was a fan of blue because of the sky. Interesting stuff! Also interesting, the fact that they were ready to move on to FUN things! Hehehe. Harmony was SO excited!

"I'd like to thank you all for introducing yourselves and I hope that we keep the lines of communication open as we continue our creatures journey together. I appreciate team players so please make an effort to know the people you're working with as best you can so that we can create a positive and pleasant work environment!" BEAM! "And speaking of knowing the people you work with, I've got a game planned that I think will help us do JUST that!"

Wiggling excitedly, the red head placed her floral paper plate down beside her and raised all ten fingers. "Now this is the game of Never Have I Ever, Creatures edition! Please start by raising your hands and showing all ten fingers like I am currently doing!" She wiggled her own fingers and smiled encouragingly. "Now what you do is go around and think of a creature situation that you have NEVER experienced. When you say it, those in our circle who HAVE experienced that situation drop a finger." Were they getting this? "The person at the end with the most fingers still raised is the winner!" GRIIIIIIN! "I'll start, okay?" OKAY!

"Never have I everrrrrrrr ridden on a Hippogriff!"

OOC: Okay, we'll be playing this game for a bit! Have fun with it but Remember to keep it SS appropriate. All rules apply! I think it'll be easier to get through the game if you label how many fingers your charrie has up so I know when it's winding down. Also, you charrie wants to get others to drop fingers so feel free to ask about Albino Bloodhounds to target those who work with them or dragons to target those players, etc. Enjoy!