This was getting out of hand. Of all the people he'd brought himself to talk to only one of those conversations had started on the initiation of the other party.

Being outgoing was a lot of work; he didn't know how some people did it. He would have reverted to his usual way; finding a wall to lean against and possibly socialize with until someone whipped up a conversation with him but the people here clearly weren't familiar with this silent method of asking to be talked to.

"Hi there." He said, intentionally stopping another worker who seemed to be minding her own business. This was what he had to resort to. How pitiful. "I'm Gavin Isaacs." Because obviously she should want to know who he was. Everyone in here should have wanted to know.

-__-

In a room he considered considerably big, someone bumped into him. He was sure that he wasn't invisible. Everyone could see him. He was rather hard to miss, if he did say so himself. He turned on his heel and saw a woman apologizing to him. Okay. Time to be civil. This was a meet and greet afterall. "It's fine, you were probably just very pre-occupied." Poor excuse but since he had come up with it for her he'd let it slide. "I'm Gavin by the way, and you are?"

Tyler noticed someone enter the meet and greet area as she looked around, he watched as she went along nodding to many of the employees that she probably knew. He nodded back as a nod came his way and watched as she stood not too far from him. He wondered if he should go up to her and say hi, gosh he was not good at this since he hadn't had to meet many new people in a while.

But swallowing the lump in his throat he walked upto her and decided to introduce himself, cause unless he made the first move. There was no way he was going to meet all these people since they were all busy within their little groups already. So he reached and decided with a simple "Hi.. how are you? " yeah that was a good conversation starter, not to forward or anything.. he was being polite and nice.

Victoria was looking around in wonder if anyone new has arrived she could meet, she saw no one until a man walked in. She headed over to go say hello, when he ran into a wall. Victoria's mouth feel open and her eyes grew wide.

"Are you alright," she asked worried after she ran over to him. "I'm Victoria Summit by the way," she said to him, introducing herself fast.

Victoria giggled a little, "Oh well, thats not very long indeed." She nodded her head, "I guess it does answer my second question."

"I'm returning," Victoria said happily. She was glade she was returning for her second year. She wouldn't know why or have a reason not to.


As Victoria was still looking for more faces to greet and meet. She spotted a lady looking around the crowd. Victoria thought she looked maybe a little familiar, but who knows everyone looks familiar to her. As a employee of the Minister's office she thought she should get to know everyone. It wouldn't hurt her to either. So Victoria headed towards the lady.

"Hi, I'm Victoria Summit from the Minister's office," she said when she arrived next to the girl, with a smile on her face of course.

She smiled, "Thanks..." Elizabeth sighed a little though about the congrats and twisted her wedding ring. She smiled and laughed at the other part, "Yeah, I didnt expect it either when I first came to this country and started working here." She shifted her weight and glanced at the girl.

She grimaced slighty, "I really am sorry though... I guess I was too concern at trying to get away from someone to realize that I was a little too close to you and bumped you." Elizabeth held back a chuckle about his name, "Gavin? Hmmm that is the name of my boss who is also my friend." She let out the chuckle and smiled at the guy, "I'm Elizabeth. It is a pleasure to meet you... sorry again for bumping into you."

So Elizabeth's not from england? Huh. "Where are you from?" She asked. Victoria wasn't originally from here either, but she grew up more than half her life in England.

Mariel smiled at Victoria as they exchanged pleasantries. She seemed like a nice person and was feeling a little bit better about starting a new job. At least she wasn't the only newbie around. The brunette nodded slowly as the other woman offered some personal information. She wasn't exactly sure what to say to that.. Sorry? Best of luck? Probably not.. and her mind went to Kurt. If things had worked out differently and she had gone through with the wedding, would they be divorced now? She merely smiled and said, "Oh, how old's your son?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "Are you serious? I'm in Games and Sports, too." Mariel grinned widely. What were the odds of the first person she met.. and a really friendly one too.. would also be a new person in the same department?

Her gaze was averted when another woman approached and began speaking to them as well as several people nearby. Mariel smiled to herself, thinking that there were a lot of nice people here already. And that was certainly better than a bunch of grouches.. "It's nice to meet you, Melissa. I'm Mariel," she said as she shook the woman's offered hand. Law Enforcement.. that sounded serious. And a little boring, she thought, but she would never be rude enough to say that. She continued smiling pleasantly and added, "I'm in Magical Sports and Games.. it's my first day." As if that wasn't obvious.

And Melissa seemed to be awfully friendly as she was talking to quite a few people nearby. Mariel vaguely listened as the others spoke, not really the type of person to interrupt or jump into another's conversation, when her eyes fell on a pleasant-looking man nearby. "Hi.." she said when he briefly stopped talking to Melissa. "Did I hear you say it's your first day? It's mine too.. I'm Mariel," she added with a friendly smile. That was a bit forward, she thought to herself. What had gotten into her.. just being friendly to fellow newbies, she figured. But there were a lot of them. Mariel was starting to feel claustrophobic.. just slightly as more people came in. She took a glance over to Victoria to see if maybe she was feeling the same way and wanted to go visit the buffet.

Mariel took one step backwards to gain a little more of her valuable personal space, when she felt a bump. Oh no, had she just walked into somebody? She spun around, slightly mortified to see that she had bumped into another woman. Her eyes slightly widened, she said, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there.." Well duh, Mariel, you didn't even turn around before you took that step..

Not long at all. It wasn't long enough for him to have made an impression on anyone in this room, consequently he had to be the one going around in the hopes of 'getting to know' everyone. Was it any wonder then, why he didn't like new environments?

"Can I ask what you lot do in the Minister's Office?" He was curious. Nearly everyone he'd met worked in there. Was it somewhere that required a large task force?

He saw the look on her face and knew she wasn't completely assured that everything was fine. This belief was strengthen when she started apologizing again. Normally he wouldn't complain; apologies sounded good when they were directed towards him but this was supposedly meant to be a laid back and relaxing environment for everyone to meet and socialize so there was no need for her to go bursting a blood vessel. "You really don't have to worry about it. I didn't get hurt. No damage done." Get over it.

"Another Gavin." Impossible. "Interesting. I'll have to meet him sometime." So long as this other Gavin did the greeting because this whole being outgoing thing was getting to him. "And it's nice to meet you Elizabeth." Once again, get over it. "What department do you belong to?" If she didn't mind him asking.

Haha! Exact opposites, pretty much. It was actually quite funny, come to think of it.

Yeeeeeah, not really.

"It's short for Giacinta," Gia answered, losing the optimistic attitude for a moment. She wasn't very fond of her first name, mind you. It was...too long, for her tastes. She liked short names that could be easily said and remembered. Who didn't?!

"So, what department are you in now?" She asked, clearly curious. Maybe she was in Accidents and Catastrophes!! She hadn't met anyone in her department yet, which she was hoping to do. Even though she would probably be busy most of the work day, she always liked to have friends in her own department, that she could chat with if things were going slow.

Gia gets bored quite easily.
"Pleasure to meet you Gavin," Gia replied, quite content that he didn't ask any further questions about her real name. As you already know, she doesn't like it!!

Not one bit.

"No, I'm not," She said, slightly irritated. What made him think she was a minister's office worker? She was far from it, actually. No offense to anyone, but that department seemed too much fun and games to her, which was not good! A little was quite alright, but a lot is not, especially at work! She wouldn't dream of being in that department. "I'm an Obliviator, in Accidents and Catastrophes, actually." Now that was more like it! Gia felt that job really suited her. It was almost like the MLE, without as much danger. Exactly what she needed!

Jack had been off speaking to Millie when he caught sight of his wife and decided to walk over and try to make nice with her again, he was sick of things being weird between them and he knew it wouldn't just go away, but he was determined to make it leave fast, he walked up behind her, placing a hand on her waist as he did. "Bonjour, ma fleur ... tu es ravissante comme toujours .." Speaking to her in french, her native tongue that he learned simply to hear her accent when she spoke it...maybe she would appreciate it.

Elizabeth smiled, "Born and raised in South France." She twisted a dark curl around her finger as she looked at the girl, "Have you lived here your whole life?"

Elizabeth glanced up as someone ran into her. She laughed and smiled, "Oh it is totally fine. I'm Elizabeth, African Ambassador and you are?" She glanced at the girl and smiled, waiting for an answer.


Elizabeth smiled, "Okay." She laughed, "Yeah, he is really sweet. Are all Gavins sweet?" She raised an eyebrow. "I work up in International Magcial Cooperation as the African Ambassador and you?" She pushed her dark curls off her shoulders.

Manolo returned to his daydreaming at the balcony. Well, let's see the progress so far... His boss seemed pretty awesome and hopefully he made a great impression as well. Hopefully. And he met one other person...a pretty one. A pretty, adorable one. With a pretty adorable name, He shook his head. Now, now, Manolo. I thought we had settled this. Love was out of the question!! And besides, you don't have a heart. Cara stole it and who knows where the Merlin it is. I really hope I don't run into her here...Merlin forbid I do.

Enough of that! He turned back around and walked into the crowd.

Cade was pulled from her absent-minded reverie as one of the men already in conversation turned and introduced himself to her. She had a brief pang of guilt at the thought that she was interrupting things, but considering the fact that she hadn't pushed her way in... she'd try not to feel tooooo bad about it.

"Caedwyn Howard, although I'm called Cade. Are you new to the Ministry?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicalWorld

Tyler noticed someone enter the meet and greet area as she looked around, he watched as she went along nodding to many of the employees that she probably knew. He nodded back as a nod came his way and watched as she stood not too far from him. He wondered if he should go up to her and say hi, gosh he was not good at this since he hadn't had to meet many new people in a while.

But swallowing the lump in his throat he walked upto her and decided to introduce himself, cause unless he made the first move. There was no way he was going to meet all these people since they were all busy within their little groups already. So he reached and decided with a simple "Hi.. how are you? " yeah that was a good conversation starter, not to forward or anything.. he was being polite and nice.

Another employee first nodded at her, and then approached, and Cade offered her hand to him for a firm shake. Now this gentleman she recognized from MLE, although his name was escaping her at the moment. Had they been properly introduced?

"I'm doing well, although I always find things like this a bit hairy. It would be nicer just to treat the new MLEers to a nice meal. Softens them up before we put them to work," she answered lightly. The Ministry always provided plenty of food for events like these, at least, which went a long way in making people comfortable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katergirl

As Victoria was still looking for more faces to greet and meet. She spotted a lady looking around the crowd. Victoria thought she looked maybe a little familiar, but who knows everyone looks familiar to her. As a employee of the Minister's office she thought she should get to know everyone. It wouldn't hurt her to either. So Victoria headed towards the lady.

"Hi, I'm Victoria Summit from the Minister's office," she said when she arrived next to the girl, with a smile on her face of course.

Another woman spotted her, and Cade offered a smile in return. How very friendly people were this morning... it boded well for their new hires. "It's nice to meet you, Victoria. I'm Cade Howard, IUMO Division Chief in MLE. How are you enjoying the orientation so far?"

He looked round as he heard another woman talk to him, he smiled "Hi" and nodded "Yes it is! Ohh ah so looks like we will be learning the ropes of the Ministry together.. well I mean in our own departments but.. oh.." he hoped that wasn't sounding too ..wrong? he was just nervous and that made him babble things out, anyways time to move onto introduction "Its nice to meet you Mariel. I am Tyler." he was glad to be meeting more people. "What department do you work in? Or shall I try and guess.. though I am not very good at guessing" he smiled, though he was now thinking that it was a bad move to say that and should have just started off with a simple question. But it was done now so no point worrying about it now.



He smiled and shook her hand that he offered to her "Well that would be nice I agree with you, sitting down at a meal together I think is much easier than having to walk around introducing yourself to people. Not that there is anything wrong with .. oh no! I just mean there are easier ways" he chuckled a little before looking around "My name is Tyler Jacobs, new employee of Law Enforcement" he introduced himself, well here he was meeting new people even though he was nervous about introducing himself it wasn't too bad. People seemed quite friendly so thats why the room was filled with chatter as everyone talked to each other old and new employees.

"Lazar." snort! that was funny! did she sound like him? she put a hand on his shoulder as she laughed at that "ohhhh.. Lazar, that's good." real good. funny.. phew...'Of course seeing you makes things better they always do." she beamed. hehe she was so in loovvee with her husband.. but werent they suppose to be minglinggg... ehh if someone talked to them she'd mingle but untill then.. nahhh

He was momentarily taken aback by the irritation in the woman's voice. He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what he could have possibly said to offend her. Pfft. Women.

After hearing her talk a little about her job he had a feeling that the offence came when he assumed she was another worker in the Minister's Office. "It wasn't anything personal, I've just been running into quite a few of them from that department so I thought I'd find out if you fit in that general category too." It wasn't like he saw it written all over her, he was just trying to figure out this mess of people that he was supposed to be getting acquainted with.

"I see...so you prefer your job to be on the more dangerous side of the spectrum?" He didn't mind danger but he didn't have a passion for it either. "You make the Minister's Office sound like a death sentence. What do they do in there anyway?"

There we go. A laugh. Progress was being made. He found himself laughing too when she asked if all Gavins were sweet.

That wouldn't have been his choice of word for himself. Not at all. Though he wouldn't tell her that. "I guess it really depends on what you call 'sweet'." He answered simply, adding a nod when she told him about her job. Now it was his turn. "I work in the Department of Mysteries." Did he have to tell her what he did up there? It couldn't have been all that important so he left it out.

"How long have you been working there?"

Mhmm. Point proven. This whole nickname offering was quite wide spread. Just about everyone that he met had one. Seeing as it really was the norm of the people here he would simply look pass it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you...Cade." His hands stayed lodged in his pockets. Handshakes were appropriate but not when his hand was still recovering from an earlier shake. These people all had a lot in common so if there was one woman with a firm grip then there were bound to be dozens. He did offer her a polite smile though. "And yes, very new." but these people obviously couldn't tell, leaving him to make the effort in this social exchange. Ugh.

"What Department are you working in?" He'd given up on asking others if they were new. It would come up sooner or later anyway.

Sheesh, this man's a bit formal. But being in this orientation, you're supposed to be formal. Duh. This is the British Ministry. MINISTRY. Keep that in mind, Olivia Ratcliffe.

Interesting? Well, Ivee couldn't say anything. She was new here and obviously, she can't say anything about it yet. Nature is at her calling? "Well, I believe so," Ivee said, feeling a little more confident than before. "I'll be using my knowledge in Herbology for good, to answer this nature's calling." Yeah, she will. You bet.

Department of Mysteries. That was interesting as well. She's heard that place has full of secrets and stuff. "Where in the Department of Mysteries, may I ask?" Not to be rude, but the Mysteries was just so mysterious.

ITALY?!?! LAND OF THE PIZZAAAAAAAAAA! Ivee's eyes widened. "You lived in Italy?" she said. She was so surprised. "I love Italy. The food there were so... exquisite and delicious." Pizza. And pizza. And even MORE pizza! Ivee could stand there and think of pizza the whole day, but this was business.

"Why did you think of transferring here from Italy?" I mean, who would leave Pizza land? REALLY?!

Elizabeth was making a round around the room when she spotted Millie and Rowan, "Hey you two, how is everything going?" She smiled at her nephew and his wife. "Having fun?" She twisted a dark curl around her finger.


Elizabeth smiled at him laughing at her bad joke. "Hmm okay." She messed with her hair and glanced at him, "Oh is that a fun job? Or are you new?" She blushed slightly and laughed, "Well I worked in the department 2 years as the Magical Countries Ambassador then I took a year off and now I am back as the African Ambassador." She beamed a smile at him.

"No, introducing yourself is awkward, I agree," Cade tucked her hands behind her as she gave the room an additional sweeping glance. She didn't mind meeting people under normal circumstances, of course, but there wasn't anything normal about this. And wasn't there a game being played?

"Cade Howard. I'm the IUMO Division Chief in MLE, so I'm sure we'll be seeing each other fairly frequently. Do you know what division you've been assigned to yet?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Mhmm. Point proven. This whole nickname offering was quite wide spread. Just about everyone that he met had one. Seeing as it really was the norm of the people here he would simply look pass it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you...Cade." His hands stayed lodged in his pocket. Handshakes were appropriate but not when his hand was still recovering from an earlier shake. These people all had a lot in common so if there was one woman with a firm grip then there were bound to be dozens. He did offer her a polite smile though. "And yes, very new." but these people obviously couldn't tell, leaving him to make the effort in this social exchange. Ugh.

"What Department are you working in?" He'd given up on asking others if they were new. It would come up sooner or later anyway.

"I know, it's a strange name," she offered apologetically. He wasn't a handshaker, that much was clear, and so she kept those hands tucked well clear so he wouldn't feel she was taunting his sense of propriety. "My parents went with very Welsh names."

He was asking the very polite routine questions, but it couldn't be more obvious to Cade that he was well and truly bored of those questions. She smiled broadly at him. "MLE. IUMO Division Chief. We're rolling around in acronyms on level 2. Shall I ask you your department, or do you want me to take a stab at a unique topic of conversation?"

[spoiler=Aunt elizabeth!?] Millie was in the middle of being all cute and adorable when she heard a voice from behind her "Oh hey Elizabeth." she said to her giving her a hug. "everything is just perfect." she said linking her arm with Rowan's "and yeah.. it's alright. we're enjoying ourselfs." she smiled at her."And yourself?"

Elizabeth smiled at her, "That is good." She thought the couple in front of her was adorable... were Jack and her like this before everything blew up? "Am I interrupting? I can leave if you wish..." She didnt know if Millie knew what happened or not which made her a little uncomfortable, afraid of slipping up and saying something if Millie didnt know. She twisted her wedding ring which was a nervous habit of hers.

Tyler nodded with her in agreement it was an awkward situation to be put into but once you got started after introductions, it didnt seem to be too bad. It was good to meet someone who finally did agree that it was awkward, since some liked to meet new people all the time. He didnt mind it was just... being here in a room full of people just to meet them, he would rather be walking around the office and saying hi as they worked.

He looked back at the woman as she introduced herself "Nice to meet you Cade, ah thats a good division. Keeping everyone in check, making sure no-one is doing something they shouldn't be doing." he nodded as she said they would be seeing each other quite frequently "Yes I am sure we will be. Yes I do.. I have been assigned to Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office as a Control Officer." he said answering her question, it kinda felt good to meet someone in the same department that way at least you were able to find some common ground by talking about Law Enforcement or whatever other department you were in.

Perfect.

He'd run into a tree hugger. You know how to pick 'em, Gavin. If she tried giving him a lecture on recycling then he was going to conveniently forget his manners and simply walk away.

People weren't his strong suit and he had come to accept that a long time ago. "That's good for you. I was rubbish at Herbology during my Hogwarts years." Actually that was an understatement. "There was a point where the Professor asked me kindly to stop attending the classes." Which didn't bother him very much. It was never a subject he could take seriously.

Where in the Department did he work? "The Everlocked room, I think. I'm afraid I couldn't tell you very much about it though, this being my first day and all." He didn't have a clue what to expect in there or what it was like.


He shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't started yet." That answered her question as well. "You took a year off?" Probably for studies. That was why most people took a year off wasn't it? "Can I ask why?" It was only polite. Brining up things that you didn't plan to discuss was rather frustrating for those left wondering.

"Well I wouldn't call it strange..." Gavin mused. He wouldn't call it perfectly normal either so he left that where it was. Women were strange creatures and he wasn't in the mood to have this one explode on him for his choice of words.

Such a wide smile as she stated her job. Someone was happy with their career. He thought to comment on her mention of the acronyms but he couldn't be bothered to. Socializing was hard enough without the more mundane aspects of a conversation.

"Oh by all means, stab away!" It would be a refreshing change. Finally, someone who knew how to treat a new person. Now he could relax and wait to be entertained; something he should have been doing from the beginning. A crash course on 'Ways of making Gavin Isaacs feel comfortable' was in order for the rest of employees in this room, regardless of whether or not they were new themselves.

Ivee wanted to drop her jaw. This man didn't like Herbology, or nature. Seriously? The woman would've debated with him, but she didn't want to make a wrong impression as 'easily tempered' in the first day. She wanted to be known for something good, like 'environmentalist' or something like that. But Ivee cannot manipulate anyone's thoughts, which is sad.

STOP ATTENDING HERBOLOGY CLASSES? Ok... Calm down, Olivia.

Now, for a subject change. The Everlocked Room? "You mean, the Love Chamber?" What would a man like Mister Isaacs want to do with the Love Chamber? He doesn't seem so fitting to be there, due to his formality. And it was his first day. He better stop acting to professional, this man.

"Oh No your fine elizabeth." really you were so stop being so nervous. she said eyeing her ring then looking back at her as if to say 'come on.. calm down.' millie was no stranger to her OR reading people. though she hadn't known what happened between jack & elizabeth, Rowan & millie decided to spend their month vacation & christmas alone. just the two of them. they didnt get many chances to do that now a days

Elizabeth smiled, "Well I hope you like your job." She laughed, "I absolutely love mine. My year off was awful." When he asked why, she said, "Oh I had gotten married and also had a baby." She put her hands on her hips and smiled. She had lost all the baby fat from being pregnant with each kid and her left hand was partially hidden so the ring wasnt showing so it might have seen like she was joking.

She gave her a smile, "Okay..." Elizabeth glanced at Jack who was off at a distance, with a bit of sadness in her eyes. After the glance to Jack, she turn up her brightness on her smile and cleared all signs of unhappiness from her person, "So how was your month off and your Christmas? We missed you at the party." Elizabeth glanced at her.