Layla chuckled at Bryce's response and led him over to the buffet table where she put little tid bits of everything on her plate, then waited for him to perhaps fill his plate or something.

After that, she walked with him to the seating area and got settled in. Good, they could eat and watch others while they danced on the dancefloor. Good stuff.

"You know, I am seeing a whole lot of new faces here.." she looked around the room then back at Bryce." Seems the MLE really did a ministry clean up."

He made himself smile at her. Sour? Helo? No..... surely not! And as it were he knew about doing things to make others happy.

... like coming to this shindig for instance.

Helo rather thought she was sparkling too.

"Show me the noises. I think we better be sure you're up to par with that before I launch into that saga." Helo suggested as he led them to a couple of free seats near a couple that appeared to be chatting about Cade's department.

Make with the noises now, Caedwyn.

Making their way over to the buffet, he waited until Layla had mostly what she wanted before getting a plate for himself. Was there a maximum amount of food he could put on his plate? If so, how much?

Just to be safe, he put a normal amount on his plate. Normal.

After Layla was seated, he took his own seat and did all the fancy stuff like putting the napkin in his lap. Fancy-ness. "Really?" he asked, nodding politely at the two who sat down near them. "Something to do with that cult thing you mentioned?"

Hmm. Cade screwed up her face and attempted to be as sincere as possible when she said, "Mmhmm, mmhmm. That is surely the mos fascinating tale I've ever heard, Mr. Banner." it was mostly fail, though, because Cade wasn't much of an actress.

She glanced away in embarrassment, giving their table mates a relieved smile. Distraction!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roselyn

Making their way over to the buffet, he waited until Layla had mostly what she wanted before getting a plate for himself. Was there a maximum amount of food he could put on his plate? If so, how much?

Just to be safe, he put a normal amount on his plate. Normal.

After Layla was seated, he took his own seat and did all the fancy stuff like putting the napkin in his lap. Fancy-ness. "Really?" he asked, nodding politely at the two who sat down near them. "Something to do with that cult thing you mentioned?"

"I apologize for interrupting, but I see you two have already been to the buffet. How does it look?" And just to prove she was truly rude, she added a belated, "Oh. I'm Caedwyn Howard, MLE. This extremely handsome man here is Helo Banner, the very dashing and talented Curse-breaker." He got a peek to see if all was forgiven for the terrible attempt earlier. How about these noises, hmm?

Layla raised both brows at Bryce. Was he just not hungry or something? She had half expected him to return to the table with two plates in hand but clearly that was not the case tonight. He really was going all out with this whole fancy business.

She started cutting into her lamb kebab but abandoned that to answer Bryce's question.

She nodded." Yeah I think it has a lot to do with that, I suppose the lot of them are feeling very smug right now." She took up her utensils again and started on the lamb.

Hmmm, oh they had company. Layla smiled and nodded politely at the twon that had joined them. They were well dressed and the man well he was wearing nice shoes...unlike Mr. McLaughlin there who decided to wear his old trusties. Luckily no one was really watching shoes.

"Oh no you're not interrupting at all. The food tastes just as appetizing as it looks." Really who ever did the catering did a really good job. She abandoned her knife and fork again to offer her hand to the woman who introduced herself, not before mentally flailing at her saying she was from the MLE of course. She kicked Bryce's foot discreetly. Lalala..time to abandon that conversation.

" It's a pleasure, Layla Dacosta, Trans..Media Liaison for the Minister's office and this is Bryce McLaughlin, owner of Ollivanders wand shop."

Medea was excited and very nervous. This was territory she had never covered before. Engaged. It almost seemed surreal; her emotions wavered from excited to feeling absolutely sick. What had she done? Stop being silly! She told herself, she loved Mason. Medea loved him a great deal, and this was much to early to be feeling cold feet.

Taking him name? Ok this was getting more in-depth than she thought. "Err...." The woman was taken aback by this turn of events. When she considered marriage taking his name wasn't with in her options. The woman was trying to think quickly, "Well, I hadn't thought about it much." She said slowly while she tried to come up with something else to say. "It caught me off guard." She realized she was fidgeting a bit, "I hadn't really ever considered it." Medea was unsure of what to say other than she didn't know what she wanted to do. Maybe she could hyphenate? Would he be offended by that?

Medea smiled as he took the ring from her hand, "I'm glad you like it." As his hand slipped back into her she squeezed his hand softly. "I love you Mason, I really do."

Well this was... interesting? It seemed as if the thought of taking Mason's last name hadn't even occurred to Medea. They were going to get married; the last name thing was a big deal. He kind of expected her to be excited about that. But she hadn't thought about it much? Mason blinked and kind of stared at her blankly. "Er... Well, you're okay with it, right?" She hadn't answered that question.

They'd been engaged for five minutes, Mason certainly hoped Medea wasn't getting cold feet so soon.

Mason smiled again and squeezed her hand back. "I love you too, Medea." He leaned in to kiss the corner of her mouth and cheek. A simple gesture. They were engaged.

Polite nods seemed to be the thing to do. Helo found it oddly amusing and his nod was accompanied by a smile.


"We'll have to work on that I think. You don't sound impressed with me in the slightest." Besides, there was a touch of awkward having Caedwyn address him as Mr. Banner. Or was that just him?

"I wasn't aware I had a 'the' in my title." Helo peeked back and smiled. And then he made impressed noises. "She forgot to add that she's the new Chief for the entire Improper Use of Magic Office." Which was the biggest in the MLE, was it not? More of those impressed noises.

Helo Banner, THE dashing and talented Curse-breaker, was a better actor than his date, clearly.



Did that woman just peek at his feet? Well, each to their own, he supposed.

Helo had eyed the food selection upon entry and while he didn't disagree it looked good, it also didn't really look like the sort of food that ought to go with a high-class function like this one.

Which was all to the good since it meant he could actually get a good feed and not waste away.

"Nice to meet you both." Helo answered. Media Liaison? So this one was supposed to put a good spin on things? He hadn't read a single positive thing about the Ministry lately, so he hoped that wasn't because of this young woman.

He nodded at the Wand guy.

"Do you make the wands too, or do you simply source them?" It was something he'd wondered about Ollivanders, since it wasn't run by Ollivanders any more.

Media Liaison sounded so fancy, and although Cade felt terrible for interrupting their dinner, her smile broadened at the title. Fascinating. "Nice to meet you. Media Liaison sounds like an interesting job. I suppose that means you know reporters at all the national Wizarding papers?" That seemed like a fast moving crowd, or at least one you couldn't ever be a even a little too chatty around.

And the owner of Ollivanders! Cade gave him a nod too. "Mr. McLaughlin. You must love knowing that your work is instrumental in helping children develop their magical skills. It must make up for a crowded shop all through August."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

"We'll have to work on that I think. You don't sound impressed with me in the slightest." Besides, there was a touch of awkward having Caedwyn address him as Mr. Banner. Or was that just him?

"I promise I am," Cade gave his arm a little pinch. She was. She just didn't perform well for strangers, and she didn't know how to flatter out of context. "If you don't know that by now, I'm failing as a friend."

Quote:

"I wasn't aware I had a 'the' in my title." Helo peeked back and smiled. And then he made impressed noises. "She forgot to add that she's the new Chief for the entire Improper Use of Magic Office." Which was the biggest in the MLE, was it not? More of those impressed noises.

Helo Banner, THE dashing and talented Curse-breaker, was a better actor than his date, clearly.

Oh. OH! Cade blushed and ducked her head slightly. "It just isn't the first thing I think of yet. It's a very recent change." And THE dashing and talented Curse-breaker was very famous in her family, at least. Carrigan often asked questions about him before visits.

There was probably no doubt about that.

Though the fact that he couldn't remember food tasting ever so good had distracted him from saying anymore comments on the matter for the time being. That and the kick he just recieved.

What? What did he do?

Wait, he was at a loss. There was the thing about the Media Liaison he didn't know about until seconds previously, and then himself being introduced by not himself, and then the questions started. Food will regretfully have to wait. He did give another polite nod. He was good with those. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

Maybe. Not QUITE sure yet.



Mostly because it was just stated the woman worked in the MLE department. MLE. Those people made him anxious.

"Oh! Congratulations." he grinned, glancing over to Caedwyn. That wasn't so bad he supposed. Improper Use of Magic. None of that auror stuff. Was all goooooood.

...

"Quite frankly, I think Ollivander left behind enough wands to last a handful of centuries." he chuckled. If only he had a picture of his own expression once he walked into that back room for the first time. "But I do create wands every now and then when I come across material that is just too hard to let waste."

Which happened often. Whether he sold them or not.

This wand talk was loosening him up a bit. The lady wasn't ALL that scary anymore. Especially with how enthusiastic she sounded when talking about his work. "I do." he nodded happily as a short chuckle escaped him. "Well, you know...a few trips to the sweet shop during the rush of summer, and I'm good to go."

Rae had arrived with her one and only Champion. Of course she was dazzlin with her ring that she had newly acquired. This time Rae really did feel like the queen Fletch said she was. Look at her, dress, heels, ring, THE MAN, and her daughter? Rae felt like she was the LUCKIEST girl on earth. Literally.

Taking a seat, she secretly kicked off the heels under the table curtain hoping no one noticed as she silently winced.... It was only 10 minutes these have been on!

Fletcher strutted into the celebration ball with the brightest gem on his arm. The gem being his future wife, Rae, of course. Thank Merlin they had a babysitter for the evening because his gal looked STUNNING!

Once they were at the tables, Fletcher grinned at Rae as he heard the clunk of her kicking off her shoes. Heh. "Guess it's too early to ask you to dance, huh?"

Finding a few seats together Gavin held the chair out for Katrina before sitting down. It appeared that something might be happening soon with department heads and such taking a seat at center stage. Relaxing in his seat he glanced around him, he saw a few familiar faces but not too many from his department that he could see anyway.

He'd hoped to see more, but maybe they just weren't in the ballroom yet.

"Same here," she replied with a smile. It actually didn't really take much to tell when a man worked in the office or in the fields.The little facial scruff usually was a telling factor.

She pondered on it a little wondering, if it was that easy to tell women or worked in the office or in the field. She supposed it wasn't.

Layla relaxed considerably when she realised that the woman wasn't actually one of those bloody MLE workers, though she should have been able to tell, they tend to be a much rowdier bunch.

" Well I'm actually newly promoted. I was working in the depart of magical transportation before as a researcher and before that I was fresh out of university." She had even done an exchange program with a muggle university." I was studying Media and Communication, so really the transportation thing was just for some work experience."

She smiled at Bryce as he went on to talk about his wand shop. He seemed to have taken the hint and dropped the subject but she knew he was really wanting to dig in.

Because she wasn't about to stand in the Entrance Hall all day, Katherine finally made her way inside and breathed a sigh as she noticed how elegant things looked. She was going to miss this. That was if she decided she was leaving. But the Swedish Ministry had extended her a fabulous offer and she'd be foolish to deny it; the being closer to home thing was definitely on her pro list for accepting.

Taking a seat at one of the tables that looked less full, she smiled to those around her before fixing her gaze around the room. And up to center stage. In the couple years she'd been there, it surprised her and saddened her some how few people she'd actually gotten to know outside of Transportation. And she made a mental vow to herself, then and there, that she would change that. She would, wouldn't she?

Medea did not want to ruin this very special moment in their lives, but she wasn't about to lie to her fiancee either. Her brow furrowed, looked down at the table and the dark headed woman got very serious, "Mason, I... I don't know." She braced for the backlash that might ensue. She wanted to say more, but decided to hold her tongue until after he had responded. That way she knew exactly how to handle the situation.

She smiled as he echoed her sentiments. He really was an amazing man to put up with her. Medea decided not to tell him that she almost had his ring inscribed with, 'I'll always love you and your Velcro shoes.' A small smirk graced her coral colored lips.

As Mason nervously waited for an answer, he watched Medea furrow her brows and look at the table. That wasn't a good sign. It also wasn't a good sign that that she said she didn't know.

Mason flailed inside. He didn't know what to think. He swallowed and nodded his head. "It's okay. We can... We can talk about it later." Right? They could do that. Somewhere less public. Mason would be okay with that. He was an optimist most of the time. They were still getting married. She still loved him and all that good stuff. Deeep breaths. Just because she didn't want his last name didn't mean the world had to end.

Well that ended better than she thought it would. "I think that would be good." That would give her time to... to... figure out a way to tell him she wasn't taking his name? She sighed inwardly.

As that conversation came to a close her senses reminded her there was food near by - and it smelled incredible. Maybe in a minute she'd excuse herself to fill a plate.

For some reason it seemed awkward... just weird. She couldn't place why or how but it just seemed like their was a coldness between them. Medea could only assume it was the name thing. "So..." she said optimistically (and trying to sound upbeat) "we have a wedding to plan!" She threw the bait out, now to see what he had to say.

Well... This was weird. Mason didn't really know what to think, but he didn't want to think about it now. They were celebrating for the Ministry, they could think about name issues later. Mason nodded and squeezed her hand. Subject change, anyone?

Except not. Because Medea brought up planning a wedding. Mason smiled and laughed a little. "Why don't we go get some food? I'm starved." There. Subject change. This was a party after all. Devouring food was mandatory. Mason stood up and held his hand out for Medea.

"It's nice that you kept the original name even though it is no longer owned by an Ollivander. Or are you... family? Are you related?" That would be nice too, and it would explain an innate talent in wandmaking, wouldn't it?

His dinner looked good, and Cade was pretty sure she could smell the food now. They really should fill their own plates and let these poor, nice people eat in peace. Shouldn't they?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy

"Same here," she replied with a smile. It actually didn't really take much to tell when a man worked in the office or in the fields.The little facial scruff usually was a telling factor.

She pondered on it a little wondering, if it was that easy to tell women or worked in the office or in the field. She supposed it wasn't.

Layla relaxed considerably when she realised that the woman wasn't actually one of those bloody MLE workers, though she should have been able to tell, they tend to be a much rowdier bunch.

" Well I'm actually newly promoted. I was working in the depart of magical transportation before as a researcher and before that I was fresh out of university." She had even done an exchange program with a muggle university." I was studying Media and Communication, so really the transportation thing was just for some work experience."

She smiled at Bryce as he went on to talk about his wand shop. He seemed to have taken the hint and dropped the subject but she knew he was really wanting to dig in.

"Hooray to us, then." It was probably a time of great change and movement within the Ministry, all across the board. People moving up and over and out now that the Cult was gone. There was a great deal of tension in the Ministry the past few months, and Cade was relieved it seemed to be gone.

"Congratulations on the promotion. It seems that you're right where you belong now. Where did you study at university?" Was she being too nosy? Too chatty? Cade gave Helo a little eyebrow wiggle to suggest that he might want to muzzle her if she got too inquisitive. People were just generally interesting.

Rae blushed a little as Fletch heard her kicking the heels off. "Of course we will dance, just... a little later though." Her grey eyes started gazing around at the wonders they created at this ball. "Look at this, it's beautiful... Maybe we can get a couple tips for the wedding from here..." of course not all this extravagance, but Maybe little things.

Utoh. Not good. He didn’t want to talk wedding right now. This panicked her. Biting her lower lip she nodded, ”Yea, sure food sounds amazing.” Right now Medea was wishing she could go home to the warehouse. The warehouse that doesn’t exist anymore. A twinge of animosity stirred deep within her. Mason had burned her house down after the Nye incident. At the time she didn’t mind. She didn’t have a place of her own now, most of all she missed her potions room.

She placed her ring adorned hand in his and followed him to the buffet.

Elizabeth walked over to the seating area from the dance floor. The fast dance moves that Adam did, made her stomach hurt..... and worried her about if the baby would be ok. She sat down at one of the tables and lean her head back.
Adam followed Elizabeth but stood close to the table instead of sitting down.

Katrina took the seat, blushing and smiling as she did. "Thank you." she said softly. She puched her hair back and relaxed in the chair. Under the table she took off her heels. "Okay, I'm going to guess you have never been to a formal ball before, huh?"

Tamara sighed ever so slightly as she tried to make her way through the crowd and find an empty seat. These people all acted like animals. It was disgusting.

She sipped from her flute of champagne and paused to cast a glance around for a SAFE place. OH! Was that lovely little Cadewyn Howard? Well she wasn't LITTLE, but you know... Yes, Tam was fairly certain that it was. And WOW what a hot piece of man meat THAT was. Rawrrrr. She would make her way over and say hello shortly. For sure. She tried to wait until the woman looked her way so she could at least wave to her...