Mona shuddered. "I'd hate to see a rat the size of a Quaffle," she said. "Do rats burrow?" She pulled out another book of the encyclopedia.

Mona looked up from the encyclopedia after a moment. "Well, as it transpires, rats do burrow," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Shall we go with rat?"

Mikayla shuddered at the though of a rat that big. "I'm sure they do burrow, not far, but enough to hide."

"Sounds like a good excuse, let's go with it." said Mikayla

"Rats it is," Mona said, more cheerfully than should have been warranted considering they were talking about rats. She drafted the following excuse:

Quote:

Upon pulling the plant out of the soil, the four gardeners in question witnessed a common brown rat being discovered; it had been burrowing in the greenhouse soil. The loud screech was made by the rat; the four individuals fainted due to excessive heat and a buildup of nitrous oxide in the greenhouse. One person claimed to have seen a humanoid creature attached to the plant; it in fact saw the rat clawing the roots of the plant. This hallucination was also caused by the nitrous oxide.

"I'll go deliver this to Madeline," Mona said, stepping lightly out of the office.

After speaking with the Invisibility Task Force, Leila made her way down the hall to the office for the Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee. She noticed a few people around.
"Excuse me. Can anyone direct me toward the head of your committee?"

Mona stood to greet the newcomer. "That's me," she said, extending her hand in greeting. "Mona Quigley. What can I do for you?"

Mikayla picked up her notes and placed them back on her desk. She returned back to Mona's desk to retrieve her chair, and just as she reached her desk an emplyee of the ministry entered. Mikayla quietly sat down and began to re-write her notes, making them neater.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxFire

Mona stood to greet the newcomer. "That's me," she said, extending her hand in greeting. "Mona Quigley. What can I do for you?"

Leila walked toward the woman standing with an outstretched hand. Grasping her hand firmly, she said smiling, "Hello Ms. Quigley. I'm Leila McPherson from the Minister's Office. I'm his liaison to your department."

Sitting at the chair in front of Mona's desk, Leila got right down to business. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but the Minister's wedding is upcoming. The wedding will be held in a location sometimes happened upon by Muggles. I was asked to meet with the Invisibility Task Force as well as your Committee, to ensure that the appropriate protections are placed over the location and to devise a plan in the event that a Muggle does happen upon the location despite said protections.

Right now, I believe the wedding is one of the Ministry's top priorities, and I would greatly appreciate your help in this. I was hoping to meet with both your Committee and the Invisibility Task Force, preferably at the same time, but I have not been able to get in contact with the other head yet. So right now, I'll take what I can get and just meet with you.

Would you like to meet one-on-one, or would you like to invite all your Committee members? Either is fine by me. And we can either use the conference room on this floor, or the one near my office on the first floor. Also, do you have the time now, or would you like to set up another occasion to have a meeting?"

Mona held back a snort. The Minister's wedding? Oh, top priority at the Ministry, that is.

"I think I should like the members of the committe to be present," she replied, after thinking for a moment. "How soon do you require a meeting?"

"As soon as you and your team are available. This is the only task that the Minister has given me recently, so I am free whenever you are available."

"Damnit! Late, LATE!" Bryson stuttered at the words. This was not good, NO! This was not good at all. He made his way into the room, muggle papers, pencils, and pens flying everywhere from his arms tight grips. Luckly, he did not trip over his own mess, or stab anyone in the eye with the vicious pencils, on his way to his desk.

Bryse threw the mess onto his desk, not caring that it was A huge mess for he liked it that way. Taking the small turn around the sharp corner of the desk he reached his chair. Oh yes, comfy, soft, non-stressing chair. And he jumped for it, literally tackling the poor creature as it flew across the room, along with himself, and sat comfully in it. Yes, very smooth. nice. Bryson scooted to the desk, wheels squeaking against the marble floor towards the redwood desk. "Alright ladies. What's on the day's agenda?" He sighed, picking up the small wooden pencil and tapped it lightly on the desk. Totally mad at himself that he WAS late, maybe no one noticed his problem. "Well?"

"Very well, I shall contact you when we are ready to meet with you, which I imagine will be very shortly," Mona replied, showing Miss McPherson from the office.

"Don't get your wand in knot so early, Bryson," Mona replied. "We're to meet shortly with a..." Mona thought for a moment. "...Ah, Leila McPherson, one of the Minister's liasions. Apparently, the Minister will be marrying soon, and the security of his wedding is, of course, of the highest priority," she said sardonically. "They require our service," she sniffed.

Mikayla looked up as the door opened. She watched person make his way to the other desk in the room and realised that this person was going to be her co-worker. She looked over smiled "Hi, I'm Mikayla".

"Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you. Good day," Leila called as she walked from the office.

Bryson stifled A snicker. "Eh bite meh, It's bad enough im late." He turned to the mess before him, quite pleased with himself. But one problem was, he didn't know what was what. So time for A little organizing.

It was A close call, After the deep chuckle, he didn't know wether he stabbed himself in the cheek with the pencil or slammed his face against the desk. Either way it hurt. "Are you serious? highest priority meh butt. A smirk played against his lips with the thought. "So this wedding is top on the list, eh? Pshh, Alrighty then." Brysonare sneered, rubbing his red cheek gently with the back of his hand as he now moved on to the pile of paper spreaded around his working space. "Anything else I need to know? I mean, is this day going to be easy for meh? Cause I really have nothing to dificult. I could just go home and spend some time with my kids," For A second, his face went still, Not knowing who was babysitting Carter And Landon today. That was wierd.

Mona raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how easy this day is going to be just yet," she replied. "We certainly won't know until after this meeting. Bryson, this is Mikayla. She's just come on board with Ministry and she supports the Harpies." Leaving them to chat, she sat at her desk and picked up a quill and an Interdepartmental memo.

A memo flies in and falls on the head's desk. It reads:

Mona chuckled. "Well mates, we've got a mission involving wayward centaurs! Have you ever heard of them leaving their land?" she asked.

Mikayla read the memo after Mona had finished with it.
She grabbed her quill and a new roll parchment, which she had to use a sticking charm to get it to keep from rolling up, and began to make some notes, talking aloud as she wrote.

"I've never heard of Centaurs leaving their land," she said "But regarding our excuse what about saying what she saw was really a group of horse theives riding around stealing all horses they could find. By blaming her being half asleep we could say that caused confusion on her part, which would explain why the horses looked half human. As to where her horses went......I'll have to think about that."

She stopped writing and loked around, waiting for Mona or her co-worker to give their ideas.
While she waited she began to mull things over....
by thinking of a simple excuse, rather than over complicate it, they had a better chance of coming up with a credential story.

"Well, we've got a couple of advantages here," Mona said, leaning back in her chair. "First, it was nighttime, and I dunno about you but I'm not sure about anything that I see or hear past midnight! Second, she had just woken up from bad dream, and third, she did indeed own horses. Might be difficult to explain this one if she'd never seen a horse in her life!"

She thought for moment. "Y'know, how did she even reckon that they were centaurs? If I saw a centaur in the dark, I could easily mistake the head and torso of the centaur for the head and neck of a regular horse...if I didn't get a good look at his arms, at least. What say you, Bryson?"

Juliet was already late. "Well, there goes the first impression" she thought as she made her way into the room, humming a melody as always. That wouldn't cross anyone else's mind in their first day at work, not if that person's purpose was to impress favourably the other workers. But she wasn't anyone else, she was Juliet, and no matter where she was, she sang.

"Hi everyone! I'm Juliet Blackwood, and I'll be working with you guys" She shot with a big smile spread all over her face. She realized she was the youngest working there. Oh, well, that shouldn't be that bad. Glancing around, she found out an empty desk with her name on a plaque. She walked elegantly until she was behind it and placed an old muggle cd-player and a couple of her favourite records. She thought for a second how she could make it more of her own, since obviously an empty desk had nothing to do with her. It seemed too clean and cold. Then, sitting, she raised her eyes and looked at the member of the comettee who had 'Mona' written in a plaque in front of her. Still in a good mood, she asked lightly "So, what's going on today?"

Another one? Well jeez, one would think they'd get an owl!

Mona smiled warmly. "Welcome aboard, Juliet," she said, extending her hand. "You've come just in time; we've got some work to do! We've got a mission to complete for Madeline, which I think is top prority, considering the Minister's happy occasion isn't happening right now," she said, smoothing her robes and raising an eyebrow. She handed her the memo:

"I was just saying that we've got alot to work with here, considering Miss Perkinson had just woken up in the middle of the night," Mona said. "Mikayla here mentioned horse thieves, which I think is an excellent idea," she continued, inclining her head towards Mikayla. "What do you think, Juliet?"

Mikayla looked up as a new person entered the room.
She listened to Juliet's introduction and watched her find her desk. Once it looked like Juliet was settled Mikayla gave her a smile, glad to see the committee filling up, then went back to taking notes

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxFire

Another one? Well jeez, one would think they'd get an owl!

Mona smiled warmly. "Welcome abroad, Juliet," she said, extending her hand. "You've come just in time; we've got some work to do! We've got a mission to complete for Madeline, which I think is top prority, considering the Minister's happy occasion isn't happening right now," she said, smoothing her robes and raising an eyebrow. She handed her the memo.

"I was just saying that we've got alot to work with here, considering Miss Perkinson had just woken up in the middle of the night," Mona said. "Mikayla here mentioned horse thieves, which I think is an excellent idea," she continued, inclining her head towards Mikayla. "What do you think, Juliet?"

Juliet grinned once again. Her division head seemed a nice person and easy to work with. They shook hands. She was willing to get things started, since that work looked like it would fit her personality, thus when Mona said they had already something to do and handed the memo, she started reading it right away. As her eyes flipped through the lines, she raised her eyebrows increasingly so that by the time she finished to read the memo they were already as far as they would go. She shook her head in disbelief. "A herd of centaurs running about in muggle territory? That's unusual... I wander what happened"

Handing the memo, Juliet said "You're right, the night factor is definitly a plus...". Glancing to the girl pointed out as Mikayla, who had just gave her a smile, she nodded, friendly. "That's our best option. The muggle lady will think she was just sleepy, and what she saw were men riding on horses"

"Well, I think the horse thieves are an excellent idea," Mona said. "We could say that she saw a band of horse thieves riding through her land, and that they also stole her horses. The only problem I can see, though," she said, cleaning her glasses on the sleeve of her robe as she spoke, "is what Miss Perkinson plans to do to recover her stolen horses...I'll ask Madeline what the Ministry is doing."

Mona sat at her desk and quickly scribbled a memo to Madeline, and sent it soaring out of the door with her wand. "After we've reached a consensus on that, we can see if we've got time to meet with Miss McPherson before we on-site."