Had Conley *just* made Davie uncomfortable? No, he'd been uncomfortable all along. The entire time, from the moment he'd sat down here until right about now when he was deciding to leave, he'd been uncomfortable. It wasn't anything Conley had done to make him feel uncomfortable; this was just his natural state. And, it seemed, it showed. He was, apparently, the Unspeakable type. This wasn't the first time David had heard himself described in this way.

"Ah."

Yes, that was literally all he said in reply to Conley, even as the man said something about him being alright??? And should he speak to Airey about this??? And whatever else... it was hard to hear Conley over the thud of his own heartbeat echoing loudly in his eardrums. The thing was, a certain hazy memory had suddenly risen to the surface of David's busy brain, and he was suddenly recalling that Airey as a department head was a lot different than Airey as an astronomy professor. If only he had the courage to mention this to Conley, perhaps the two men could exchange notes...

"No, that won't be necessary," David decided curtly, suddenly standing up to leave this strange encounter. "I... I think I see my friend on the other side of the Atrium... sorry to bother you....hope you enjoy your lunch."

He quickly began walking away from Conley without so much as another word.

They were just... everywhere, weren't they?

Topher didn't have much time for his break since he only worked part-time, so he usually wandered around the ministry or came to the hangout area. It wasn't the most exciting place to take a break, but it was enjoyable enough. At least, it used to be before.. er.. the takeover. Being a pureblood himself it didn't overly concern Topher, but still. It was a bit overkill he thought.

Falling haphazardly into one of the couches, a soft drink in hand. His dark eyes studied the image of Grindlewald staring back at him.

After triple checking that he had locked the door to the pensieve room down at the evidence rooms, Kevin Hirase made his way over to the food court for his break. The changes that the Ministry had gone through had been subtle yet noticeable to him at first but now, after the Minister announced that they'd stand by the Neo-Alliance his unease had increased. He had nothing against muggles or anyone having magical abilities coming from muggle parent(s). One of his best mates was muggleborn but with everything going on he had not dared to make contact with Zander Adair yet. And he had never mentioned the ex-Gryffindor so perhaps he could play this safe...

Coming from a Pureblood family , he had no problem getting in to the food court. Though he wasn't hungry but he did get a cup of strawberry flavored tea. Not bothering to take a tray , Kevin held the mug in his hands and scanned the room for an empty seat which happened to be at the table next to a younger looking employee. Without a word, he sat down on the chair and placed his drink on the table before looking up at the banner of Grindelwald as well. Was the guy just as uneasy as him or was he silently toasting for the Greater Good?

In need of a breather, Yasmin made way for the food court despite her nonexistent appetite. Instead, she held her aromatic tea under her nose, hoping that the soothing scent of jasmine would put her at ease. What she did not expect, however, was to find herself in the presence of yet another one of the menacing banners. The tension she felt in her shoulder was immediate, her thoughts going back to the new apparation requirements, this new onset of injustice that had infiltrated her place of work.

And instead of taking a seat, the apparation instructor began pacing, at first without realizing she was doing so. Was it time to leave the ministry for good?

The stack of warrants on Genevieve's desk didn't seem to be diminishing at all, and she was glad to escape her desk long enough to savor a cup of coffee. Black. For most of her long career at the Ministry, Vivi would enjoy a cup of tea to unwind. But these days, all she wanted was coffee. Bitter and dark, like her soul.

There was another woman enjoying a cup of something, and Vivi seated herself at a table near where the woman paced. She didn't want to intrude on the woman's quiet time, but it was hard not to notice that her gaze kept creeping to the banner and her expression was anxious. Those were her extremely impressive Auror skills at work, right?

"That Grindelwald photo is a real killer, don't you think? Like the hair clearly compensating for a tragically high forehead in entirely the wrong direction and the flipped collar? Buy a scarf, bro." It wasn't like she was insulting the Neo Alliance, right?

Topher was aware of the others who soon trickled over to the area not long after he had taken a seat. The woman pacing and the one insulting the image of Grindlewald. And this man, sitting near him. He made no effort to acknowledge the women who had come near him but he did take a look at the bloke who was now within reach. He supposed he should concern himself with how this man felt about the uh..... new decor.

"Fancy the posters?" He inclined his head at the poster and sipped his soda. "It's uh... kinda difficult to miss, aye?" Honestly, they did have SO many of them around. What kind of point were they trying to make?

Yassi wasn't usually one to be so unaware of her surroundings. She enjoyed getting to know her colleagues, especially those who served in such differing capacities than that of hers on level six. Breaking the monotony with conversation. In many ways, she craved such moments. Opportunities for connections of the heart and soul.

At the moment, however, she was, unfortunately, rather ignorant of her surroundings. Her eyes only looking up to the poster. Lingering in the discomfort. Pacing as if the movement would help her come to a decision.

Only when she heard someone speaking to her, did she look up. Though her features were still riddled with anxiety, she managed a warm smile. It was a Yassi-ism that no amount of discomfort, no neo-alliance would soon destroy. "Yes!" She found herself agreeing to her own surprise, nodding her head as she looked back, now only to consider these particular details. The hilarity of the auror's remarks had only registered a moment later and Yassi found herself laughing in an unhinged manner. Perhaps the deliria was to blame. "He does look very uncomfortable. His shoulders. So tense." Here, she rolled her own shoulders. Hers were equally tense.

Apparently Vivi hadn't stumbled into offending a Grindelwald fangirl, which was fortunate. She had a loose theory that she was likely to get herself killed before she figured out how to rescue her children from Hogwarts... or saved the world from this current tyranny. Speaking so freely in front of strangers was the best way to get her head handed to her.

But not today!

"You can sit. If you want. I'm Genevieve James." She sipped her coffee and shoved out the other chair at her table with her foot. "I should say that differently. Please have a seat. I don't bite."

Yassi was doing no better, really. Though she did not voice her thoughts as openly, the very look on her face gave way to her disapproval and discomfort. She had never been good at hiding her feelings, especially those that she felt so strongly (which, to be fair, were most of them). Nura always criticized her for this, but her younger sister was no better. They were all run by emotion. It was a familial trait, one from her mother's side.

"Thank you, it is difficult to pace and drink simultaneously," she laughed quietly, moving to sit. "I am Yasmin Golshiri," she offered in return, setting her cup down before her. "Do people usually suspect that you do?" Bite, that is.

Vivi tapped her fingers against her cup, her expression stoic. It was going to be important that this Yasmin learn how to school her expressions a little bit better, because her face was so open. She shifted in her chair to take a careful look around. Anyone watching? Anyone listening?

They were generally uninteresting at the moment, which was great. "It's very nice to meet you, Ms. Golshiri. I have one of those faces that looks like... I bite hands if you put them too close to my face. I don't, but I have a mean leg sweep."

Kevin brought the mug of tea closer to his face and gently blew on the hot liquid. He tested the tea to see if it was drinkable by taking a small sip and when it wasn't yet he placed the mug back down.

His gaze went from the poster of Grindlewald to the younger man seated at the table next to him. If he had to be honest, the poster made him feel uncomfortable. Had he been younger, he would have probably enjoyed the mystery but since he was older now cause everyone knew 32 was old he wanted nothing more than to stay in the pensieve and evidence room and work and only be bothered when it was absolutely necessary. If it hadn't been his break, he would not have been seen in the food court.

"Its....." he had a feeling he had to choose his words wisely here. "Interesting, isn't it?" he said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and took a sip from his tea again. "What do you think?" he asked, directing the same question back at him. "Sorry what is your name again?"

The stoic expression did not go unnoticed, but Yassi had long ago realized that this was not something she could emulate. It used to get her into quite a bit of trouble back when she was still in school, but rather than fight it, she had come to embrace it. She often said that what one perceives to be their greatest weakness is oftentimes a strength hidden in disguise.

"Please, call me Yassi," she laughed heartily, tossing her head back a little as she did so. "Who would say such a thing about your face? That is not at all the energy that you radiate." She smiled warmly, taking a sip of her tea. There were times when Yassi did try to convince herself that perhaps with age, she was becoming more of an introvert. All it took, however, was a moment such as this one to remind herself that this could not be any further from the truth. This exchange had already lifted her spirit tenfold.

With all the craziness that had taken place in the last few months, it was a rare occasion to find both PAs with a bit of free time. It probably wouldn't last long and likely wouldn't happen often for a while longer making Kodee all the more keen to soak up however long he had with his mate.

He flopped down on one of the soft cushy chairs, expecting Kaiser to do the same.

"So the guy busts into the courtroom, screaming he didn't do it at the top of his lungs, swearing on his great grandmother's grave, yeah? And I'm there scribing to keep Fletcher up on the happenings--y'know how busy he's been with all the extra duties and the bloke holding the proceedings tells me to stop recording it 'cause it's nonsense."

It was a continuation of a story he'd started in the lift. "So I stop writing and the guy starts wailing he'll be killed and forgotten without proof he ever walked in! Like that's my fault! I'm no Wizengamot! He grabs my quill--I let him, obviously. He worked hard to get that far into the court without being restrained. It was kinda epic, I won't let. Sent half the people scrambling, they thought it was another court assassination in progress."

Sometimes Kaiser had to marvel at Kodee's stories - not the stories themselves, per se (they were often interesting, just sometimes a little too lengthy for Kaiser to stay with him from start to finish), but the sheer volume of words he could pour forth in a matter of minutes, the narratives he could paint. Kaiser had always known his friend was like that, ever since their early friendship days, when Kodee talked with such gusto and intensity that Kaiser, still working on his grasp of the English language, missed most of what he said. And yet, still now he marvelled. Privately.

Kaiser himself was of the six-word-story variety, usually. A running joke between him and Candela which wasn't even that much of a joke, at least with his spoken anecdotes. When he wrote, the words flowed much more freely, or they had, for a while. At the moment he struggled even to write letters; there was one he'd been working on for Malachi Trent for several weeks now, though admittedly that was always going to be a difficult one, given he'd been putting it off for several years, and now had serious doubts about sending it at all.

Sinking into one of the soft chairs with exactly the right amount of squish to it, Kaiser leaned back against the cushions but still found himself totally unable to relax. Any danger of drifting off mid-conversation (he'd not slept a wink the night before; shocking, yes) suddenly vanished.

"I'm sure a court assassination scare was exactly what the Senior Undersecretary was hoping for." Asking Kodee follow-up questions could be dangerous, depending on if he got on a tangent, and exactly what kind, but Kaiser did like to show he was listening. He doubted it made up for all the times he'd accidentally spaced all the way out on him, but still. There was an attempt. "Did you get your quill back in the end?"

Since Scarlett had left for Hogwarts with the twins, her mornings had been much, much calmer. Her youngest son was one of her two quietest children and things seemed to go a lot more smoothly now than last year.

Which was why Sophie was constantly early for work and more than once found herself without knowing what to do to fill time.

She wasn't particularly hungry and she hadn't been in the food court in a very long time - since last year, to be exact, when everything was horribly different in the Ministry. For that reason, she wanted to be there once again to change the memories she had last accrued from the place.

Hm... maybe she should have asked someone to come hang out with her.

It was not too long a flight to the Ministry and Mangig knew their way around the place faaaaaaaaaaaaaairly well given how often the little Scops Owl and friends had had to spend at the Ministry delivering memos across departments. It was not the best of times for Mingig, however, as any sharp or loud noise cause the owl to zig when it should zag and drop the occasional unwanted present on the heads and shoulders of humans.

Zipping and swooping through the Atrium and arriving at the hang out, the owl spotted the intended recipient and swooshed in closer with an eager SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH that was clearly meant to be informative.

Rather than land, Mangig flew circles around the woman while continuing to screech gleefully and with the letter attached to its left leg.

Treat? Treat. Treat!

Sophie was half expecting to get a companion any time soon, what with the Ministry being the workplace of so many people. And that was the thing, she was expecting a person as a companion, not an owl.

Whiiiich was why she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the screech. Ironic, given there were constantly dozens of owls in their barn and garden and, honestly, home thanks, Scarlett.

This was work, though, so maybe that was why the little owl's screech surprised her. Yes, she'd go with that.

"Oh, hello, there!" The woman greeted the owl with a friendly smile, holding out her left arm for it to perk onto if it wanted. It wasn't any of her friends' or relatives' owl, so she wondered what that might be. Uuuuhhh, it was probably expecting a treat, wasn't it? Sophie rummaged through her pockets and lo and behold, nibbles. The things you found in your pockets when you had kids and millions of pets. "Here you go, would you like a treat?" So you could please give me my letter? She held out her hand with the treats and watched to see what the unknown owl would do.

Around, around, and around they go...when will they stop? Nobo--- OH TREATS!

Completing another loop for good measure, Mangig hovered in the air above the woman's arm for a moment before dropping with a sudden and adorable little PLOP on to her outstretched arm. Puffling their feathers, the Scops Owl hooted and whinnied in delight as it lumbered towards her hand and snatched the treat between its beak. Wings stretched and tail feathers wiggling dangerously, Mangig took their time savoring the treat while shifting their weight between both of their legs. After a couple of minutes, those wide golden eyes were on the woman and leg stretched out for them to take the letter off them.

There would be more treats before they left, yes?

Sophie smiled as she watched the little owl get delighted by having its treat. What a cutie with all that feather wiggling! When the creature allowed her, the Charms Developer untied the letter from its leg. "Thank you! Would you like some water too before you go?" She asked the owl before opening the letter, conjuring up a small dish and filling it with water for the bird. She put the letter down on a table and got a few more nibbles from her pocket, placing them next to the dish on the table. "Help yourself to some more if you'd like."

Not waiting to see whether the owl would go for what she had just offered, Sophie opened the letter and read it. Her smile just grew wider and wider as she read her son's handwriting, and she tilted her head ever so slightly at the mention of something he found in an old Transfiguration book. She couldn't help but feel nostalgic at the mention of Hogsmeade, as she normally did. Merlin, her teenage years had been some good days. She missed all of it so much.

She folded the letter back up and neatly placed it back in the envelope, and then put it in her pocket. She'd reply back home and use one of their own owls.

Mangig was too busy enjoying the treat to be paying much attention to what the woman was saying, but the owl did pay attention when she poured water into the dish and clearly offered them a bath. Mangig was too elated to find the gesture offensive, took GREAT care keeping their feathers pristine, and simply hopped off her arm and started rolling in the water. This, of course, meant that the water went eeeeeeeeeveeeeeeeeeerywheeeeeeeeereeeeeee, but Mangig was too busy enjoying their spa moment to care.

After sufficiently rolling around in the water, and most of it now on the table surrounding the little dish and on the lady's top, Mangig hopped up and off to help themselves to some more treats...and left a little treat of their own right there on the table in a squirt and squish of white.

Chirping their thanks, the Scops Owl ruffled their feathers one more time and then took off to head back to the Owl Post.

Sophie was busy reading her son's letter and didn't think to watch the owl with the water, which seemed to have been a bit of a mistake.

She only noticed what the little creature was doing when water splashed on her robes and a bit on the letter she was holding. Looking at the table again, she saw the water now everywhere and a happy, very wet little owl still enjoying their bath.

Chuckling, the woman shook her head and didn't mind it much. There were things you got used to when you had four children, and mess was one of them for Sophie, most definitely. It seemed that by the time she had finished reading the letter, the little owl was done with their bath and with eating the treats.

She had looked back down to the table just in time to see the owl drop her own 'treat' on the table. And for that, she had to cover her mouth not to laugh out loud. Closing her eyes, Sophie shook her head and chuckled a bit more as the owl ruffled its feathers and took off. "Ah, what a cutie!" She said to herself with an amused smile, giving her wand a wave and cleaning it all up and drying everything in a fraction of a second, including her own robes.

The perks of being a mother.

SPOILER!!: Our great listener friend

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Sometimes Kaiser had to marvel at Kodee's stories - not the stories themselves, per se (they were often interesting, just sometimes a little too lengthy for Kaiser to stay with him from start to finish), but the sheer volume of words he could pour forth in a matter of minutes, the narratives he could paint. Kaiser had always known his friend was like that, ever since their early friendship days, when Kodee talked with such gusto and intensity that Kaiser, still working on his grasp of the English language, missed most of what he said. And yet, still now he marvelled. Privately.

Kaiser himself was of the six-word-story variety, usually. A running joke between him and Candela which wasn't even that much of a joke, at least with his spoken anecdotes. When he wrote, the words flowed much more freely, or they had, for a while. At the moment he struggled even to write letters; there was one he'd been working on for Malachi Trent for several weeks now, though admittedly that was always going to be a difficult one, given he'd been putting it off for several years, and now had serious doubts about sending it at all.

Sinking into one of the soft chairs with exactly the right amount of squish to it, Kaiser leaned back against the cushions but still found himself totally unable to relax. Any danger of drifting off mid-conversation (he'd not slept a wink the night before; shocking, yes) suddenly vanished.

"I'm sure a court assassination scare was exactly what the Senior Undersecretary was hoping for." Asking Kodee follow-up questions could be dangerous, depending on if he got on a tangent, and exactly what kind, but Kaiser did like to show he was listening. He doubted it made up for all the times he'd accidentally spaced all the way out on him, but still. There was an attempt. "Did you get your quill back in the end?"

The quill? Oh yeah, the quill!!

Kodee had been about to launch into the entire second half of the story but the question, small and insignificant as it was, was enough to derail him. “I didn’t, the security blokes come barging in, haul him out quill and all. Panic, hysteria, all that nonsense and me without a quill to take it down so that report’s probably not gonna be the best—reckon you should see about getting it from the stenographer in case you’re gonna need it for your records.” About half way through trying to get his memory working on the earlier events...he may have begun to embellish a bit...and get side tracked some. Didn’t need Kaiser’s work suffering for that.

“Wanna come over, after work? I’ve got Ty until the weekend, we can take him for a run or something, get our blood pumping after a day of...office work.” The least stimulating job in the world when things weren’t going to absolute dung around the ministry. With the recent...uproar, he supposed he couldn’t go wishing for worse so soon but Merlin would it do a lot to break the monotony.

“I’ll order us something, anything you want.”

Kodee ordered out so much that he no longer really had a preference. Still had his go tos but they were all sorta blending recently.

"Poor quill." Not to be preoccupied with the adrift and wandering quills of the world, but Kaiser couldn't help but wonder where it was now, and almost immediately flew down an avenue of thought relating to the wayward quill's misadventures as it journeyed through the Ministry and the world beyond. Maybe he had no room to judge Kodee's tangential thoughts anymore. Maybe technically he'd never had that room in the first place.

Wait. "Sure, I'll do that," Kaiser agreed automatically, with not the slightest what Kodee had just said to him. If it was important, it would... maybe occur to him later. Maybe.

Regarding the rest: "Sure," he said again, though at least now he knew what he was agreeing to. Running sounded... terrible, though. "Maybe we could-... no, we can't climb." Ty. Ty could not climb. Not buildings, at any rate. Kaiser wasn't sure he had any kind of preference for food either; his appetite left something to be desired these days, but he liked to believe it was just nerves about Elio, who was about ready to start living with him and Candela. It only now occurred to Kaiser that, with Elio to consider, impromptu plans like this may soon be a thing of the past.

Realising he was in danger of lapsing into a brooding silence, Kaiser jolted himself out of it with startling suddenness. "We'll do something fun, maybe order some... ah... burgers. And maybe next time you can come to mine." This was sort of a big deal; Kaiser didn't like people coming to the flat too often, even those few, like Kodee, who knew where he lived, or the social workers who were required to check in. He didn't mind relaxing that a bit more for Kodee, in fact he found he wanted to... provided the presence of a toddler in the near future wouldn't totally scare his friend off.

SPOILER!!: the guy who finally invited us over

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"Poor quill." Not to be preoccupied with the adrift and wandering quills of the world, but Kaiser couldn't help but wonder where it was now, and almost immediately flew down an avenue of thought relating to the wayward quill's misadventures as it journeyed through the Ministry and the world beyond. Maybe he had no room to judge Kodee's tangential thoughts anymore. Maybe technically he'd never had that room in the first place.

Wait. "Sure, I'll do that," Kaiser agreed automatically, with not the slightest what Kodee had just said to him. If it was important, it would... maybe occur to him later. Maybe.

Regarding the rest: "Sure," he said again, though at least now he knew what he was agreeing to. Running sounded... terrible, though. "Maybe we could-... no, we can't climb." Ty. Ty could not climb. Not buildings, at any rate. Kaiser wasn't sure he had any kind of preference for food either; his appetite left something to be desired these days, but he liked to believe it was just nerves about Elio, who was about ready to start living with him and Candela. It only now occurred to Kaiser that, with Elio to consider, impromptu plans like this may soon be a thing of the past.

Realising he was in danger of lapsing into a brooding silence, Kaiser jolted himself out of it with startling suddenness. "We'll do something fun, maybe order some... ah... burgers. And maybe next time you can come to mine." This was sort of a big deal; Kaiser didn't like people coming to the flat too often, even those few, like Kodee, who knew where he lived, or the social workers who were required to check in. He didn't mind relaxing that a bit more for Kodee, in fact he found he wanted to... provided the presence of a toddler in the near future wouldn't totally scare his friend off.

“We can climb.” The response left little room for the possibility of doubt. Consider it a seed that had taken root long before the farmer got it buried properly in the soil. Forget the quill and talk of the mind numbing work he often had to do up on Level One. This was more interesting and promised something he could look forward to. ”I don’t care what or where,” before his mate could try considering safety or otherwise, “we just gotta take Ty for a walk first. Make sure he’s got his dinner. I know the perfect place.”

He hadn’t at first but by the end of his rambling, it had popped into his head and was so utterly perfect and...and quite frankly, he needed friends like Kaiser. It was...nice having a few to still let you do reckless things without asking if you’d taken your medication.

Very necessary. Kaiser, Kaiser was necessary.

It hadn’t escaped him that he got a return invite either. Wasn’t the sort of thing that happened often and Kodee had worked real hard not to take offence. That became easier when his own life went right into the large dumpster fire called his reality. After that, he could respect it was...just another thing.

“Sure, yeah. That sounds good—did you hear about the bloke that got taken down by the aurors last week? Somewhere down in Knockturn Alley. Heard he was saying he was the new Neo Alliance leader.” Lots of those popping up these days. Fame mongers, honestly.

Kaiser had no more safety considerations than usual about the idea. He'd been free-climbing buildings since he was a kid, and despite one horrific fall when he was seventeen or so - the consequences of which he was still dealing with, case in point - he never worried about whether it was all that safe. That had been the only slip. Kaiser did worry about Kodee, because he cared about his friend, but he also knew exactly what he was like and so veered away from fussing and hassling. Without excitement in his life, Kodee sort of went to pieces, and even though he had a tendency to get distracted, climbing was one of those engaging things that seemed a little more likely to hold his attention.

This was a healthy option, really. It was fine. And if it suddenly wasn't fine, they had magic. Consequences. Still dealing with those.

"Great. I haven't climbed for a while." Now the idea had been floated and grasped and nailed down into something resembling a plan, he'd be disappointed if they didn't.

Kaiser wrapped his fingers around his wrist and subtly rotated the cuff of his sleeve back and forth - a habit he'd inexplicably developed since the day he'd found his watch missing - then looked over at Kodee again. He made a face. "No. But I am not surprised." Then again, if there was another legitimate one out there, they wouldn't be shouting about the fact, which made Kaiser just the slightest bit twitchy for all kinds of reasons. He was vaguely aware that if he found himself face to face with a Neo-Alliance pretender or sympathiser or genuine member, he might attempt to kick them back into the twenty-first century. It was a concerning train of thought, and he tried his best not to stray there, in case thinking about it too much made it a reality. It could happen. "The sooner this is all dealt with, the better ... Hey, did I tell you about what Mr Hollingberry did for me? Before that... gala thing?"