"Well, I'm glad that you know you're appreciated because you deserve to be appreciated," she said with a half smile, squeezing his arm affectionately. And then he looked down at the table, seemingly very upset. Chloe reached up and rubbed his check lightly with her thumb as she spoke, "Asher... some things are meant to be, and that's just all there is to it. Like you said, sometimes it's better for things to be left unknown. I mean, you wouldn't trade your life for anything, I bet. If all of these things hadn't happened, you wouldn't be the same." Chloe paused for a second before quietly saying, "And I love who you are." She let her words sink in then said, "The kids will learn that in time. It's just part of growing up."

Asher agreed with her, he didn't know what to say at that point. He just sat there, he found it quite comforting to have Chloe's hand on his arm. He took a deep breath in and looked up at her. I just hope none of the kids are hurt, I couldn't bear it. he though, thinking of the current situation at the school. If he hadn't kept his promise to Chloe he'd already had stormed down there to the school.

Chloe's reassuring smile faltered a little when she saw the worried expression on his face. "What's wrong, my love?" she asked tenderly, scooting to the edge of her seat. She just wanted to be close to him so that she could make that pained expression on his face go away. Something was always going on inside of Asher's head. He was always worrying. She didn't want him to have to worry about anything ever again.

Asher clenched his jaw. He didn't want to talk about this right now here at the Ministry, someone might over hear and then Chloe would get in trouble. But she was so presistant about things at times that Asher could only give a strong hint of what was going through his head now. "I just can't bear to think how things will end up." Asher told her in a whisper. "At school, I can't bear to see anyone hurt, let alone my own family." he continued in a very low, soft whisper.

Chloe let out a sigh. So that worried expression was her fault. If she had just never told him... She grabbed both of his hands with hers and stared right into his eyes. "Everyone is going to be fine. It will be okay." she said quietly, with a completely convincing look on her face. Everything would be okay. No one else was going to get hurt. Not if Chloe and her department had anything to do with it. They were investigating professors and doing everything they could to ensure the students' safety. And Tate was there. From what Chloe had heard, he was definitely not the kind of man you wanted to be fighting against in the battle. It would all be okay. She was sure of it.

Ashr nodded his head. "I believe you Chloe." He told her, he truly did, he believed that they would get it resolved. "I believe you." He repeated again, though he was still going to worry. "I'll still worry, but I believe you." He said once more. He took a few deep breaths, "I believe you." he muttered under his breath more to himself than to Chloe.

Ah, that was what she wanted to hear. That he believed her. Good. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that he trusted her and believed her. Chloe had never had that before, but she was pretty sure that that was one of those keys to a good relationship. Yes? Yes. She rolled her eyes slightly as he said he'd still worry, but then Chloe got a little worried about him. He was just repeating the same thing over and over again. Raising her eyebrows a little and giggling, she said, "Okay my love, I believe that you believe me."

Asher smiled at her giggling, "So I don't need to say it once more?" he asked with a slight chuckle. He ran a hand through his hair, not suprised if it got messed up in the process. The gravity messed it up anyway. He looked at his watch and then back up to Chloe. "I need to get going." he told her, though he really wanted to stay right where they were. He stood up and pushed in his chair and picked up the remaining of their trash. "I love you darling." he told her kissing her cheek. "May I escort you back to your floor?" he asked holding his arm out for her to link hers with.

Chloe giggled again and gave her hair a little flip. "No, not if you meant it the first time." Then Asher looked at his watch, and over the past 5 months Chloe had come to learn what that meant. Time to go. She nodded when he confirmed her suspcions. "I love you, too!" she said beaming at him after he kissed her cheek. AWWWW! He was going to walk her back to her office. Chloe's heart melted into a puddle of Asher-loving gooeyness. She loved it when he was all gentlemanly. "That would be lovely!" Chloe replied. But before standing up, she reached in her purse and pulled out money to pay for lunch. Asher was always paying for everything. She would pay this time, and he would NOT win this argument. This time. Probably.

"That won't be necessary." Asher told her as she reached into her purse, pulling out enough money for both of their meals he placed it on the table. "I've got it covered." he smiled at her. It was his idea after all, and he was a gentleman. "Onwards?" he asked holding his arm out once more.

Chloe rolled her eyes at him, and then gave him that look that meant she was ready to argue with him. He didn't have to keep down this. She was perfectly capable of paying for lunch sometimes. She opened her mouth to speak, but then he gave her that smile. Uuuuuugh the smile! There was no way she could win against that. No way at all. After sighing, she stood up and took his arm. "Onwards and upwards!" she said with a smile.

Katherine entered the cafeteria sure that Frida would be right after her. She looked around the space with a pleasant smile. It looked nice, and it was a good thing Frida knew her way around, she would never have guessed that the Cafeteria was on a department level instead of being on the ground floor.

"There we are." Frida said and looked around the place, "I'm glad we found it alright, and didn't end up wandering around the place all day."

"Your friend coming soon I hope?" Frida asked as she walked further inside and started to examine the tables in the vacinity to make sure they were clean before she chose one to sit at.
'Tasha was heading towards the cafeteria too I think.' She wondered to herself and finally decided on a chair to sit in.

"You don't know your way around very well yet?" Frida asked Katherine as she began to dwell on what she wanted to eat. It wasn't so much of an actual question. More of a statement, put in to the form of a question. "Ah, well. Don't worry too much about it. There's lots of people to help you out...and besides...I've been here for quite some time, and I still get lost every now and again."
She thought of when she had to go and find another employee in the Ministry. Up and down the levels for nearly an entire work day before anything was accomplished for Jack.

Thinking more about what she wanted to consume, Frida finally decided and a minute later there was a steaming hot bowl of butternut squash soup in front of her. It simply appeared out of thin air. 'That should do nicely.' She silently agreed to what was in front of her and moved her spoon around to cool it off just a little bit.
Frida dared not start eating her food yet, it was rude not to wait for everyone else in the same party.

Not exactly knowing where he was heading, Marlon's feet halted outside a large cafeteria jam-packed with colloquial ministry employees. Smoothing the back of his hair, the Norwegian Ridgeback level seven employee glanced at his watch, a slight frown appearing on his handsome face. There was still time left till his appointment and keeping in view that he was a bearer of a sweet tooth, he couldn't pass up the chance of grabbing a quick dessert. On that delectable note, he stepped into the brightly lit cafe and pulled up a chair of the nearest table. Without much attention to his surrounding, his hazel greens hastily scanned the menu, "2 slices of Chocolate Mousse Pie.." He announced, feeling rather stupid for saying it aloud. However, the idea of stupidity vanished the very moment a scrumptious looking pie appeared at his table. Rubbing his hands together, he licked his lips and without much delay, busied himself with the pie. Yum.

Katherine smiled at her. Frida was, until the moment, the only nice person she encountered. Sam and Daniel and all those girls in her department were just ridiculous, all of them trying to get the others attention. She felt like rolling her eyes at that.

"No, I don't" she said refering to not knowing her way around " I mostly stay in the office and when I go out I only go the muggle restaurant across the street with my roommate..." she looked over the counter thinking what she wanted, a chicken salad would be great, with the bread and cheese on it.. bling there it was.

She smiled at Frida and signed her with her head to a table near by. It was empty of trays and was big enough for the two of them and two more, hoping that Sam and Tasha would indeed joing them.

As she sat she eyed a man sitting alone not far, she gazed at him with a small smile in the corner of her lips. This ministry was filled with good looking man apparently.

She turned her gaze back to Frida and picked up her fork, waiting for her to be settled in so she could eat as well. " The food here looks delicious, I was pleasantly surprised the other day, at the muggle restaurant, at how well they cook with no magic. I can't cook a thing without my magic recipe book" she shrugged " but maybe that's just me, I mean, they've been living without magic forever.."

The pie was absolutely delicious! The kind he used to gobble back home. Placing another spoonful in his mouth, he shut his hazel green orbs for a moment, savoring the tantalizing taste of melted chocolate. Pure bliss. He slowly opened his eyes which took a moment to readjust to the bright surrounding and noticed a pretty woman smiling his way. Immediately, his eyebrows shot up. He was new, needed friends and on the plus side, she was checking him out..well, in a way. Smiling back at her in an amiable manner, he pointed down at his plate with his spoon and mouthed the words, "It's tasty, TRY IT!" They were sitting in close proximity so he had overheard her commenting about the food, muggles and cooking and out of which, two things were very dear to his heart.

"A muggle restaurant?" Frida asked with a very curious look. She had recently broken-up with a half-blood who knew quite a bit about muggles...

'He even knew what made a phone work.'

"You really should get out more. Enjoy the shops and such while you got the chance to. And while the weather is almost perfect." 'A roommate?' Frida took a very small sip of her soup, lifting the bowl to her lips. She never ate soup from a spoon, she only used it to stir the food around until it was cooled enough to not scald her mouth. "Who is your roommate? Do they work here?" But then something occured to her. "Your roommate isn't a muggle are they?" That would be absolutely FASCINATING.

"I was just about to ask how the muggle's cooking was. I enjoy fixing a lot of things on occasion...especially since I always seem to get stuck making holiday meals for the rest of my family."
Frida's eyes landed on the man that Katherine had noticed.

'Pie...for lunch?' She was almost certain that her nose had wrinkled upwards a little bit. Sweet things were fine and dandy after a real meal...but not for a meal themselves. Though it did look fairly appetizing.

Figuring that her little facial expression had pretty much spoken for itself, Frida decided to leave things be; meaning more polite, and began to turn back to her soup.
'Try it?' Her eyes flicked towards, Katherine. 'Not off the same plate I hope. Ew, EW!'
After taking a rather large gulp of soup, (enough so that her throat was burned almost the entire way down) the woman sat back in her seat and wished for a glass of ice water; which appeared almost instantly.

Shoving the last tiny piece of pie in his mouth, Marlon glanced at the table occupied by two pretty ladies. As he mouthed words, the expression on the other woman's face spoke volumes. It was so cute yet hilarious that he couldn't hide a smile. He widened his eyes slightly like he was shocked and stood up from his table, dragging his chair all the way over to the table for two. "Mind if I join?" He asked sweetly enough however, being the impatient man he is, he placed the chair in between the ladies and plopped down. "Like I was saying, this pie is delicious." He commented, glancing back at his table but the pie was no more. Grrrrr. He just ate it. He summoned another piece of the same type of pie and set the plate in the middle of the table, "I know it sounds peculiar but I encourage you ladies to have a taste, ummhmm." He ended his sentence with a nod and smiled.
The sugary delight was working like a charm. He could sense the changes inside him. Hyper, much?

Her water seemed to be doing the trick, since Frida's throat seemed to be throbbing a little less than one minute prior.
The woman's face turned a sudden red color just above her cheek bones. 'Thinks that burning my throat is amusing does he?' She could just feel a scowl coming on. Oh yes. Blaze would get them all the time when he was around. And the same went for some of her more outspoken relatives who found it funny when Frida suffered a minor misfortune.

She was about to speak up when the man suddenly stood up, walked over, and took a seat right between Frida and Katherine. 'WhAt?!' Her eyes widened slightly in surprise.

'Tempting me with sweets, eh?' Frida stared at the man, not caring if he thought it was rude or not. After all, he was the one that simply helped himself to the girls' table.
"And you are?" Frida asked in a quiet voice, avoiding the rather scrumptious looking pie slice in front of her and began to swirl her soup spoon in her bowl again, just so that her hands had something to do.
She absolutely refused to introduce herself first. Nuh uh. No way.

Katherine answered Frida's questions happily " No my roommate isn't a muggle though we live in a muggle building. Us a single wizard dad and his two daughters and a witch. All living in the same building by accident, those muggles couldn't have better neighbors" she laughed " they're pretty friendly you know, I sometimes see an old couple that lives on the first floor, they're the most adorable things I've seen. You could come check it out if you need a place to stay. There are still some apartments left"

She was eating her salad with pleasure, and as she wiped her mouth clean, she saw the man, looking back at her, he had clearly caught her gaze, he smiled and mouthing her to try the pie. She tilted her head with amusement. Pretty bold aren't we? she continued talking with Frida, but she too had noticed the man's action.

There as a moment where Frida seemed to be in trouble, having just gulped a large amount of what looked like hot soup "you ok?" she asked worried as she watched her drink a glass of cold water quickly, and then, there he was. Between the two of them, sitting and eating pie. What? Katherin, put her hair behind her ears, and looked at him. Well the pie did look tasty, she thought about just conjuring a spoon and eating from his. And so she did. Her mother always told her she was missing a filter, the one that separated what she thought of doing and what she really did. That was a pretty straight forward connection.

She grabbed the spoon she had just conjured and served herself of his freshly conjured pie, and she stuff it in her mouth, Frida asked who he was. She nodded, in agreement. She wanted to know as well.

"That sounds like it could be a lot of fun." Frida replied; her voice was ever so slightly hoarse from the pain in her throat. "Do you have a teklevizon?" She asked, feeling overwhelmingly smart at her seemingly vast knowledge of muggles...though it failed to exist. "I know a friend of mine used to have one, but I never got to try it out really. Your muggle neighbors must have one though?"

Frida nodded her head slightly, "I have a place of my own already. The old family homestead. It's kind of large for one person-" That was the understatement of the year, "-but it does just fine...what with all the animals I have, I need the space. I don't think your muggle friends would appreciate them too much. My owls tend to fight."

Again, Frida nodded when Katherine asked if she was all right. "I'm fine. Just a little scorched." She attempted to clear her throat, though it only resulted in a weak little "Ahem...".
She barely opened her mouth to say something else--but Katherine surprised her. The other woman actually ate a bit of pie. Frida narrowed her eyes a little bit, as though attempting to stop Katherine from acting in an inappropriate way. No offense meant, but Frida always did have a certain 'mother-like' personality; not just with children, but with everyone. Perhaps she should have persued a career in education after all?....

Rather than saying another word, Frida crossed her arms and stared back at the man; her left eyebrow higher than the right, and with a look of, 'Well?' written all over her face.

Sometimes for him, food holds superiority over women. He has an adoration for the opposite sex but their fussy attitudes and hard-to-break facades gets to him every time. Shaking his head slightly at their unfriendly welcome, Marlon continued to keep himself busy with the pie until the other woman - the one checking him out earlier - took away a piece of his scrumptious looking pie. Smiling at her, his gaze darted at the snooty lady who seemed appalled and apparently..sickened by the idea of sharing the pie. "C'mon, it's not that unhealthy, now is it?" He looked at the pie-stealer with a raised eyebrow and leaned a bit towards her ear, "Egg her on to try it." He buzzed, keeping an innocent expression; which hardly suited him, Marlon than resumed eating.

When the ladies inquired about him and who he was, he pouted slightly. Really, is that necessary? Can't they share a whole lot of food together without asking for each other identities? Anyway, he was the weaker one here - two girls and one guy. They could beat him up; which sounded quite exciting, and nobody would know a thing. "Who am I?" He pondered for a moment, tapping his index finger on his bottom lip as he narrowed his eyes and dropped the spoon on the plate which clattered rather loudly the moment it came in contact with the plate. Glancing from lady # 1 to lady # 2, Marlon smirked, "A worthy human being whose existence is important to both himself and the people around him." He said calmly and breathed a soft sigh. It's time to turn the tables on them. "Now that I have given a philosophical explanation of who I am, will you ladies mind sharing your side of the story?" He asked coolly, raising one eyebrow slightly as he placed another mouthful in his gob.

Looking from the mystery man to Katherine with almost worried eyes, Frida leaned back in her seat some more. 'Could be a psycho killer for all we know...'

And that little thought seemed to tip Frida over the edge a little bit. She stared at her half-empty bowl of soup while deep in thought. 'It's not likely though is it? We're in the Ministry after all...but then again...'. All of her hostory of magic lessons started to spring to mind. The attacks, raids, take-overs....
Her brain was forced back to the present when she heard a last few words coming from the man, "-that unhealthy, now is it?"

Looking up from her bowl again, Frida responded. Her voice seemed to have gotten worse even though it really didn't hurt that badly. She even had to force the sound to come out, "I'm on a diet. So for me, it's just about the worst thing I could eat right now."

Classic excuse.

Frida could hear other words being spoken, though her mind started to wander off again. Her arms remained crossed, but she had slackened her linked arms considerably.
'At least my wand is close enough to reach.' Her pale eyes landed on the man again when he decided to speak.

"Nic--" 'Wait. What? That's not an introduction!' Frida thought wildly to herself as she quickly stopped what would be her pleasant greeting. The woman could feel her jaw drop by at least an inch, but realized it quickly enough and shut her mouth.
'Fine then. Your name is now Mr. Worthy.' She thought as she continued to watch the guy next to her; though she was apparently comfortable enough now to blink (now that most of her ridiculous ideas of him being a possible psycho killer had been thrown aside).

The corners of her mouth flicked upward into her tiny smile. "I'm an extremely suspicious individual. And is it so hard to give us your name? That's all we want...not a philosophical explanation." She would have laughed, but the idea was too painful.
That would have to suffice for a response. Especially since Frida's voice had developed into nothing more than a hoarse rasp of a whisper.
Acting as though everything was peachy-keen, Frida took another sip of her water and relaxed. Or at least tried to.

"Telekvizon... I don't own one. But I think I heard the muggles speaking of something they watched on it the other day, and I got a glimpse of it on my way down, it's a box with people on it right?" she scratched her nose thinking about it. The other day, on her way downstairs one of her neighbors had their door open and she caught a glimpse of someone in a pink tutu making a dance, inside a small grey box..

She was interested on Frida's animals " You have many animals? Owls? That's great, I would love to have a pet over the apartment but unfortunately I don't spend as much time as I would like to, to take care of one..." Katherine could feel Frida's gaze following her spoon as she took a piece of the man's pie. Well, maybe she shouldn't have, but then again, she didn't use his spoon at least. The man leaned over her a little to talk in her ear one of her eyebrows raised up.

What a flirt. She shot a crooked smile his way and leaned away a little " You heard her" she told him, as Frida answered she was on a diet.

Then he dodged their question about his name, and gave them some silly dragon poo explanation. She could tell Frida didn't enjoy it much, neither did she, and as revenge she ate a spoon full of pie, and as she cleaned her mouth she decided to tease a little as well.

"Well, apart from being an extremelly philosophic being, I would like to know something other than the depth of your soul." she pushed the pie plate aside " or there will be no more pie for you Freud."

The lady staring down at her half-full bowl of soup seemed agitated. Why? He didn't know. He was neither daunting nor he has behaved flirty....yet. And then, her actions were followed by a mortified tone of voice. Marlon sat there, blinking his eyes and thinking there must be something wrong with him. All right, he didn't shave this morning but it can't be very bad. The scruffy look suits him well. "This is weirder than a left-handed handshake." He said to no one in particular and ate another spoonful. However, the woman's reply about why she couldn't eat that pie summoned a smile onto his lips. "Really? Is that so? Well I suppose it's a good enough reason..." Trailing off, he paused for a second to take in the woman's appearance before opening his mouth to speak again. "...To be honest, dieting won't do you any good, lady." He advised even though it wasn't needed. "You seem fit.." He admitted.

The woman stopped in mid-word and her jaw nearly hit the floor. "Easy there.." He said with a chuckle, leaning back on the chair as his stomach began to ache a little. Ugh. Too much pie. She smiles too? Marlon had to double-check if what he saw was real and not a hallucination. "Will my name be enough for you ladies? Because you two might stalk me for all I know." He nodded his head just to emphasize his point but truly, it was all in good fun. He'll let them know a moment later but for now, leave it be. What's with her and the raspy tone to her?

His eyes widened the moment the second woman spoke. Telekvizon? Really? If he didn't had full control on himself, he'd be on the floor, laughing his head off. "For Merlin's pants it's a television, woman!" He exclaimed, not able to hide a huge grin.

No more pie? Pout. He couldn't grasp why these two were so keen on knowing his name. He didn't look like a criminal. No way. "The depth of my soul? Ahh. How do I begin?" He sighed and narrowed his eyes when she took a big fat piece of the pie, "My profundity commences from where yours end." Yes, he's a deep, philosophical being who loves to flirt with pretty woman. "However, I deem it's best to reveal my true identity.." So? what's his true identity? "Marlon Stymest, at your service." With a grin, he winked at them and summoned 3 cups of cappuccino, "Cheers?" He lifted his mug and clanged against the two set on the table. Stomach ache. Ugh.