Teal made his way down from Level Four, coffee was NOT in head… for once, but instead Miss Jessica Peaches was at his side. Talking some sense into Cooper about this campaign wasn’t going to be easy, but with the presence of such a beautiful lady, he figured it might made things a BIT easier.

Stopping at the doors before the office, Teal took a deep intake of breath. He turned to his blonde co-worker, “Here it goes then.” He said with a wry smile, and knocked on Minister Brennen Cooper’s door three times.

Jessica's high heels clacked alongside Teal as they made their way down to Level One. After her quick cup of tea (and Mr Andrus' coffee) she felt a tad livelier than she had previously. Work was completely weighing her down, but the caffeine had lightened her spirits slightly. Luckily. She was desperate to talk over the campaign, as well as eager to get started. Everything had been such a blur over the last few days! Ever since getting her job at the ministry, things had certainly been...interesting. Tiring, exhausting...but interesting. Plus, she'd met lovely people like Teal.

"Yep," Jessica added, giving him a sheepish smile. She waited, hands clasped behind her back, as Teal knocked on Minister Cooper's door. Now to wait.

"Enter," Minister Cooper answered with a hugely heavy sigh. Must he ALWAYS put up with these interruptions??

The big man behind closed doors beckoned them in, Teal gave Jessica a small grin and pushed open the door, letting her enter first. Once inside, he looked to the Minister, searching for the mans eyes. He looked agitated, not happy to see them. But really, what was expected? This was what was expected; Teal shook it off.

“Hello, Minister.” Teal said, walking closer to the chair… perhaps he’d be offered the luxury of sitting in it. “I’m Teal Andrus, Department Head from level four.” He said, and gave a quick look to Jessica, “And this is Jessica Peaches from level seven. Reagan has put both of us on to head your campaign. So, if we could have a moment, I’d like to go over it with you.” Honestly, the last sentence wasn’t a question… it was something that really had to happen. But since he WAS the Minister after all, Teal phrased it in the form of a question.

Oh my! Jessica returned Teal's smile with a stunned blink, quite worried about the Minister's response to them knocking. He sounded exhausted, and a tad irritated. Perhaps they'd caught him at a bad time but, afterall, the campaign really was an important issue that was in desperate need of being discussed. At this rate, they'd never sort out all of the finer details. It had to be perfect; she was NOT letting Minister Cooper lose his position and status. She simply wouldn't.

Following Teal's lead - he appeared to know what he was doing - Jessica approached the man's chair. She smiled and nodded as the other Department Head introduced himself, and then her. "Yes, hello, Minister Cooper," she acknowledged with a sheepish smile. "I'm the new Level Seven Department Head." He probably knew this, being the Minister, but she added it anyway. She stood quietly as Teal explained the situation, and her eyes flitted around the office. It was beautiful. Waiting patiently for the Minister's reply, she clasped her hands behind her back.

"Yes, alright," he waved them in. "But here's the thing. Why are we working so hard on something that is so... foregone? Little Taylor is a precious girl who will be a very good Department Head. Someday. But for now, she's a pretty good assistant. I don't understand why we're pretending... Nevermind. Tell me what you have planned."

Teal exhaled slightly as Cooper began to go into why Reagan would pose no threat, but decided to get it off short. Good. “Minister, I agree… I wouldn’t think Reagan would have the capability to lead a community, at all.” She seemed so young, so inexperienced. “But she is gaining a lot of popularity, her campaign lists are filling up faster than I’d have hoped.”

“But we don’t need to worry about that.” Teal said, standing up a bit straighter, prouder almost. “We need to put out many more advertisements, prepare you for the first debate coming in about a month. AND, you need to make public appearances and give a few speeches.” It was all the cold hard truth, and fact of the matter was; if Cooper didn’t do this he was going to be humiliated by his Undersecretary.

Teal’s tone dropped lower, darker. “And if we need to, we can always start some mudslinging. Your wife controls the Daily Prophet, so in turn, you control the Daily Prophet. You can write anything you want on Miss Taylor there.” It might be a low blow, but it might be necessary as well.

"We can keep that option in our back pocket," Cooper said with a little nod. "But I'd prefer not to discredit my own employee. It makes me look like a bad manager to have kept her on. What we want to do, obviously, is play up the fact that clearly no one else is as qualified for the position. I'm at your disposal for speeches and baby kissing. Just tell me where to be."

Similar to Teal, Jessica found herself feeling slightly uncomfortable at Minister Cooper's apparent confidence in himself. Ah. She nodded in agreement as her co-worker explained the situation; Reagan had already gained a clique of followers that appeared relatively strong. It was a problem, indeed. "Of course, Miss Reagan is inexperienced, which is why we MUST strive to keep her in her correct place; your assitant," she concluded, brows knitting together in thought.

At the mention of speeches, Jessica stepped forward. "Minister Cooper; I am Head of Research and Speech Writer on the campaign, so I will be working with you to make your speeches urge people to support you, which they should be doing." I was true; people should be supporting the current Minister no matter what! It was common courtesy.

Ah. The foul card; putting Reagan up as the 'baddie'. "Or," Jessica piped up, slowly piecing together the facts, "rather than putting Miss Reagan in bad light, we can merely show you, sir, as being the true hero in this scenario. In contrast to covering the prophet with bad things about your Undersecretary, it would be far simpler to put your face, your name EVERYWHERE." Hmm. They would always need the options to bring Reagan down, in case things turned for the worse. "If we put you across as the best candidate, which indeed you are, people will be urged to vote for you!" Yes, it was true; you make a person seem incredible, and people start to believe they are. "With the correct propaganda and publicity, we can have practically every face of the Wizarding World voting for you, without taking the risky option of slating Reagan."

"So we drum up the dirt on Reagan, but we don't use it unless something goes horribly wrong," he nodded in agreement. Obviously nothing would go wrong... how could it? BUt it didn't hurt to have a back-up plan.

"I'm happy to work with you on speeches, Miss Peaches." He made a face at how that rhymed. Cutesy. "And of course Mr. Andrus has my full latitude to run the campaign as he desires. We'll have to talk to Clara to be sure she likes how we're doing things, but other than that... make me look good, team!"

A black paper crane flew in from the door and landed in front of the Minister of Magic.

OOC: I know this is of a short notice, but can you please, please, please PM me with the platform and history of your character for the Debate. I know this is late, for the Independent Campaign had a drastic change and are striving to stand up and organize things... I know you are busy and sorts, but please, please, please help us...

Reagan entered the Minister's Office for the first time since becoming Minister of Magic herself and the moment raised goosebumps on her arms. She glanced back at Chad and Ethan before stepping further toward the middle of the office and sighed. "I guess one of you could start with his books and the other could move his furniture out of the office. Everything but the desk, that is." Reagan was going to clean out that desk herself, and determine what she should and should not keep.

Chad followed Reagan in, looking around the nice, pretty office. A room fit for a minister...duh. Chad was suddenly wondering if he'd ever been in here before and he was only coming up with a big fat ZIP. Then again...Cooper wasn't exactly your "come on in and take a seat" kinda guy.

"Mervielleux, Mademoiselle," he complimented, starting to look around to just how much had to be moved. It was turning out to be quite a bit, but it wasn't tooo bad. "I'll start with the books," nodding and picking a random bookshelf to start on.

Reagan surveyed the items on Minister Cooper's desk, nodding to herself as she did so. Right. Lots of things to pack in boxes and send to his home. Lovely. That ought to be a cheery delivery. Definitely hiring someone to deliver those. Yuuup. "Hey Chad, let me know if you see any good books that I should consider getting for myself?"

Sitting down in Cooper's leather chair, Reagan picked up a desktop timepiece and inspected the face. On first glance, it looked to merely tell the standard time, but if you squinted your eyes just right, you could see several different messages indicating tasks to be done. Things like, 'Time to call a staff meeting' and 'Time to complete paperwork' and 'Time to make your assistant get tea.' Niiiiiiice. This one might actually come in handy. Although, knowing Cooper, he'd want to keep it, despite not needing it any longer.

Reagan picked up the clock and inspected it further, turning it over in her hands to find the words, 'Property of the Ministry of Magic' across the bottom. "Excellent!" Reagan spoke aloud without thinking. Whoops. Probably shouldn't look too excited about a clock. But it was SO MUCH MORE than the clock. It was the fact that the clock was now HERS! Well, at least for as long as she was Minister of Magic.

Chad turned around to look around at her after her small outburst. He had been engrossed in a book called The Magical Law and You! before Reagan decided to yell out loud. "What do you have there," he asked, snapping his book shut and placing it off to the side. He then grabbed a couple more books and walked over to her desk. It LOOKED like a clock...but, perhaps there was more to it?

Reagan was jolted from her clock-loving reverie by the sound of Chad's voice. Turning in the chair, she held up the clock, "Apparently, it is a timepiece that tells both the numerical time, but also indicates when it is time to do various tasks, like for example," Reagan squinted her eyes again while inspecting the face and tilted her head, reading aloud "Time to fire someone." Oh bummer! That doesn't sound fun and now Chad and Ethan are going to think I enjoy firing people! She added speaking rapidly, "B-but that's not what's excellent about it. It also tells when it is time for tea and stuff. I hadn't read that firing part when I thought it was excellent." She glanced up at Chad with an 'Oops!' face and shrugged. Oh darn. Way to look like a meanie, Reagan. Nice work.

Chad raised an eyebrow as she read that it was time to fire someone. Ooops, he certainly did feel bad for the poor chap or femme who would endure that. Okay, not really...but...well, he didn't know like half the people in this place anyways.

"Interessant," he mumbled putting the two books down and then stole the clock out of her hands. He turned it over carefully in her hands, trying to look for something. "How do I program it to say 'Time for Chad'," he asked, squinting at it.

Reagan stole it back from Chad's grip and placed it back on the desk in its original position, patting it gently before turning to Chad. "That would be redundant, silly Chad. I already told you - it tells me when it is time to fire someone..." Reagan peeked at him out of the corner of her eye with a smirk on her face and then began laughing. Oh man, poking fun at Chad is so enjoyable! Yes, indeed.

Chad's jaw dropped just slightly as she smirked at him while mentioning firing thing again. Dear heavens! He was going to be that poor chap! Wait...she wouldn't do that to him.

Would she? "Tu es...amusing, Mademoiselle," he finally chuckled, softening up and picking up the books again and flipping through one of them.

"I am not silly...nor redundant," he mumbled. He glared at the clock for a second. Mark his words, he was going to fix that clock!

Reagan's laughter was renewed at the sight of Chad's jaw actually dropping. Oh man. What a priceless reaction! And when she saw him eyeballing her fancy new timepiece (well, new to her anyways), she called him out on it while trying to hold back a smile, "Don't even think about it! No touchies! And no enchantments either."

Turning her attention to the books in Chad's hands, Reagan inquired, "Any good reading material? Or are all Cooper's books actually fake with cutouts in the center filled with chocolate frogs? I know he has at least two of them..." 'Cause I bought 'em. Hehe.

Ohhh, now it was on. She had just challenged him and he wasn't going to turn one down against her. "Oui, Mademoiselle," he said as sweetly as he could, flipping the pages in the book with raised eyebrows and a sneaky smirk on his face.

"Mmm, well...there's one there on laws and this one here is called Magical Carpets: the good, the bad, and the loose threading. Sounds riveting," he sighed, tossing it on the desk. He opened the next book and then paused with a frown. "Uhmm..I'm going to hazard a guess and say that this one's about les chocolate frogs?" He held it out for her to see.

Biting her lip slightly with nerves, Becca stepped up to the door and hesitated. How had Brian talked her into this?! Sheesh, she was happy, yeah, but um.. Minister Reagan? Agh! That sounded so right! Well, at least she was being invited in person. Hmm. Becca turned to Brian and looked up nito his eyes "Bri, I'm nervous" she whispered to him.

Brian put his arm around her, "Relax. She's a nice person." he said and knocked the office door twice gently, after heard her voice inside. She might be busy. But sparing one or two minutes for them would not be that much difficult for her. They waited for her call.

Reagan snorted, "Loose threading? Who knew Cooper was interested in such dull topics. Huh." Turning around in her chair once more, Reagan spotted the book with a good number of frogs still inside. "He hardly ate any of them! Maybe he was saving them for a rainy day, although he never had any of those because Magical Maintenance always projected sun from his view... Buuuuut, I don't suppose he'll miss one now, will he?" Reagan reached out and grabbed a chocolate frog and began removing its wrapping.

Reagan heard the knock on the door, dropped her chocolate on the desk, and jumped up from her chair. She thought it might be one of the liaisons who had arrived late for the meeting and now wanted to know what they should be doing. She thrust open the door to find Brian and Becca standing before her. "Oh, hello Brian, Becca. Please come in, but pardon the mess. We're just clearing out Minister Cooper's things. But anyway, what can I do for you?" Reagan inquired with a curious smile upon her lips. Might this be one of her first official acts as Minister? Some pressing issue to take care of?!

Chad chuckled and took one out for himself. "Or maybe he knew that I would coming along and he was saving them for me. Hmmmm, did you ever think of thatt, oh mighty one? Hmmmmm?" He laughed as he started to open the chocolate frog, but stopped and hid the package in his pocket at the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Picking a few more books off the shelf, he decided to steal Reagan's chair and looked the books over.