Well, it really seemed there was no getting out of this. Emmalee had left it to the young woman to make the decision and... Tala had lobbed it right back at her. It was hardly acceptable for Emmalee, as a Department Head, to walk away from the table and leave her alone and unable to do the exercise. A quick scan of the area also showed people already happily engaged in conversation... hard to foist the woman onto them, too.

So, with that, Emmalee slipped into a chair and picked up the envelope. "Well.. let's see what we have." Emmalee had helped to write the prompts and, well, there were certainly some that she hoped were not in the envelope.

Turning the card over in her hands, Emmalee smiled a little. Not as bad as it could have been.

"Brainstorm two new initiatives that all of the departments represented at your table."

SPOILER!!: The Wards

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roselyn

Picking up two drinks, one for herself and the other for her wife, Mammy paused to scan the tables. This wasn't another one of those exercises they had to participate in was it? The quills and envelopes on the tables didn't give her much hope. On the bright side, it looked like there weren't any specific seating arrangements.

Sighing, she glanced to Hazel, silently asking, you know... where did she want to sit?

Just over the redhead's shoulder however, she spotted someoooooone standing off to the side and quite alone for that matter. Raising a brow at Hazel, she smirked before moving over to the security man. "Please tell me you do know how to relax," she said, stopping by his side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiro MacMhuirich

SPOILER!!: Mammy and Simon

Having re-acquainted the wand weighing machine with her wand and her details, Hazel was looking forward to food. Lots of it, and drinks… though she was happy that they wouldn’t be alcoholic; after all, this was work and she needed to be sensible. Besides, Boo would hate them going home drunk.

Oh look. There was her wife. WIFE. How crazy was that?

Smiling, she took the drink from Mammy and figured that she wasn’t in the bad books too much, if the brunette was already getting her drinks. Hehehe. See, Mammy was so used to her that it meant she knew that she wouldn’t last without her - or Boo. Good thing too, seeing as they wouldn’t be able to live without HER either.

Ahem. Right, this was work.

Noting the glance, then the raised brow Hazel grinned slightly and nodded her head. A single nod, not even much of anything but if there was one thing that she knew; it was that Mammy would know her reaction and agreement from the Smirk… the nod wasn’t even really needed. Moving a single pace behind Mammy, Leza stepped up beside her as they stopped to talk to the Security man from outside.

She didn’t really know the man, so she raised her glass to her lips and took a sip as she waited for him to reply to them.

He had been spotted.

Simon had picked up on the two women coming his way and briefly wondered if they wanted to continue the earlier conversation defending Logan. However that appeared not to be the case when the brunette broke the silence. "Yes....I do actually," he answered once he had lowered his drink and politely swallowed. The redhead appeared to simply listen to the conversation.

Now to play the 'It's his job card" again or at least try and act like a normal employee. "Simply observing the room for a moment." Yeah...that was more casual. "I'm Simon by the way." He had been given there names, Margaret and Hazel, but he hadn't been sure he had given his own in return. And surely last names didn't matter, at least to him. Pay no attention to the man supposedly a double agent.

Jasmine beamed at his manners. She thought about and said, "You know apple cinnamon spice tea sounds amazing right now.." She could like taste it in her mouth. "Ah same here. I mean I did miss going to work but I did need the break. I just needed to get all my stuff together and it was nice to hang out with some friends too." She loved catching up with friends back home. The downside was staying with her mother. She drove Jasmine nuts. I mean she doesn't have an appartment in Scotland so staying with her mother was her only choice. Jasmine raised her eyebrows in impressment. "Woah you garden? I never would have guessed. I mean not in a bad way but that is kind of cool. I would love to see your patio." she said. Maybe he would offer her to see it. She wanted to see other people's flats because she was thinking of getting her own soon in Scotland.

Now onto her, Jasmine sighed and responded with, "Well you knowww I mean it wasn't that grand. I went to Scotland to visit my mother which was a big mistake because everytime I go she gets under my skin..." she trailed off and felt bad she was venting to him. "I am sorry I am sure you don't wanna hear my problems but my summer was great. I mean I went on one vacation and a couple of muggle music concerts and got a tan." she grinned. Did he see her highlighted hair? Probably not, guys were oblivious to that sort of thing. "I am just happy I ran into you." she beamed and playfully punched him. "How did your summer go?" she asked enough about her.

The plaid-clad Minister had come to the dining area especially to take a break from greeting, but if there was anything Sherman had learned over the past two years, it was that his job never stopped. Today was all about his employees, and it was his duty to make sure each and every one of them was AWARE of that fact, was it not? Never mind that his wee little old man bones were exhausted, despite the fact that his wheelchair had him sitting nonstop. He had work to do!

It was with this thought in mind that he ladled a tiny pile of fruit onto his plate, snagged a bottle of pumpkin juice, and rolled on over to the nearest isolated Ministry worker. "Hello, sir! Fancy some company? Sherman Clark, at your service." One hand still maneuvering his wheels, his other set his food down and reached out to give his new lunch buddy's fingers a hearty shake.

Who needed conversation starters when you were a walking, talking friendship machine?

Although he would absolutely grab one of those in a second, because it was a simply MARVELOUS idea, of course.

Oh...so it was talking time. Hmm that was what this whole thing was supposed to be about right? Usually he found Amethyst and just stuck to her the last time he was here. Greg looked at her as he picked at his food and thought for a second. "Is it like..why do I work for the Ministry? Or why you should work for the Ministry? Seems to me you already do so I don't need to recruit you..." He chuckled and pushed his glasses up his nose a bit.

He pushed around a piece of bread and smirked, "I guess if it's why do I work for the Ministry it's primarily because it pays well for what I do and it..was close to my home. Not so much anymore though. I'm the Division Head for Foreign Relations. I enjoy it because I like going to different places and meeting people. Works well." He took a bite with a grin and gave a quick glance toward the entrance way hoping Amethyst would come in.

"So, Ronnie, why did you choose to come work for the Ministry?" He figured she was new but could be wrong. She looked like she might be new but then again he only knew like five people in the whole place so she could very well have been working there for years.

Lunch, eh? Communication though? Exercise? What was that? William was running a little late to this thing but OF COURSE his first stop was going to be for food. Hah. He grabbed a sandwich and a drink and sat down, curious to see what this envelope business was about.

Quote:

What is the Ministry not doing that you think it could be? This might be something external to serve our constituents or something internal like employee mixers.

"Oh, so this is what they mean by communication," he commented aloud, half to himself and half to his tablemates who were probably all talking to someone else already... well whatever, he could write in his own response. And he was going to take his time with these... minus the first one, because he sort of did that one aloud. Lazy Slytherin here, yo.

Quote:

You're out to dinner as a group when a woman approaches you to lecture you about how the Ministry ignores the threats on Knockturn. How do you respond?

First I ask the woman how she knows I work at the Ministry, and then I tell her I don't work in the DMLE but I'll happily take out a restraining order with them if she doesn't stop stalking me on my way to work.

Psh, he totally would never ever go back down to Level Two, not even for a restraining order. But he was making himself smirk, so Willy continued to answer these.

Quote:

What aspect of wizarding culture is most important to you and why? Brainstorm two new initiatives that involve all of the departments represented at your table.

DRAGONS. Dragons dragons dragons. 1.) Offer free dragon rides. 2.) Come up with a Ministry-approved form of transportation which involves free dragon rides (see #1).

Quote:

Why work for the Ministry of Magic? Write a mission statement for the Ministry of Magic.

Yeah no, he was skipping that one for suresies.

Quote:

Imagine that you remain employed at the Ministry the rest of your working years. What is your legacy?

My legacy as a scary, wrinkly old man would be to scare future generations away from ever working here, because they should not be in boring office jobs. They should be OUT IN THE FIELD, and out in nature, living and loving life. Also, my legacy will be the free dragon rides and form of transportation involving free dragon rides (see previous answers).

Quote:

Your table is the newly appointed Public Relations Committee. What do you want the rest of the Wizarding World to know about what the Ministry does to serve?

Public relations suck. So William was skipping that one too... time to give the quill a rest and eat his sandwich and people watch, yeah? Were there any new dragon lovers here for him to either work on a form of transportation with/and or scare away from a boring office job?

SPOILER!!: Yaaas Hard Working Butterfly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararara

Ezra strode through the orientation with his hands in his pockets and his usual winning smile all ready to go on his face. What a bloody waste of time. A man of his position didn't need to be oriented, thank you very much. Of course that hadn't stopped him from showing up. One didn't simply pass up an opportunity to dress nicely where everybody could see, Merlin no. That'd be ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the fact that he'd been here already for a good ten minutes and still hadn't seen Tiffany or received any compliments. Or received compliments from Tiffany.

His smile showed no sign of wavering as he eyed the available seats, not bothering with the food just to avoid the risk of spilling on his new jacket. An unfamiliar woman sat next to one of them, and he felt his eyebrows instinctively shoot up in the direction of his carefully styled hair, before reminding himself to put them back down again. Ahem. Where was Tiffany, again? The Media Liaison adjusted his bow tie and checked the state of his hair in the face of his watch before sliding into the seat beside the mysterious woman and picking a card of the table. Why work for the Ministry of Magic? Merlin, how creative. Ezra drummed his fingers on the table and checked around for Tiffany once more, before turning his pearly whites in the woman's direction. "Anything good on your card?"

He had to do something while he waited for somebody worthy to show up, no? Hi. Hello. Ezra Bellamy here, ready to be better than you.

Who did this man think he was?

Bhuvana turned to stare appraisingly at the newly arrived and well dressed man who had started talking to her out of nowhere. Excuse him, she wasn't begging for attention, was she? No, she was dressed awesomely, if she could say so herself (and she could, because she was a woman who listened to nobody), and her hair looked flawless, but she wasn't….oh Merlin…she didn't look welcoming, did she? That would be DREADFUL. She sniffed loudly and went to write down a word on the crossword puzzle…which wasn't there, because she wasn't at her kitchen table. Oh. It had fit her aesthetic, okay? And it would've been a perfect moment.

"No," she said, sniping. "Because I don't know who the ministry thinks it is, trying to force conversations. Culture? There is no way I'm talking culture with…" She trailed off, trying to find a polite way to put it. "…With a Brit." Which she assumed he was.

Off to a bad start, then, and the wrinkle between Bhuvana's eyebrows softened suddenly. "Sorry, I obviously wasn't expecting to speak to anyone tonight." Never mind that it was a social event - Bhuvana didn't do social events, unless a particular tattooed man was there to throw food at. Ahem.

She extended a newly hennaed hand to the man for a handshake, then introduced herself in her hoity posh accent. "Bhuvana Assadi, Minister's Office, started in International Cooperation."

SPOILER!!: Tattoo Boy

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Lunch, eh? Communication though? Exercise? What was that? William was running a little late to this thing but OF COURSE his first stop was going to be for food. Hah. He grabbed a sandwich and a drink and sat down, curious to see what this envelope business was about.


"Oh, so this is what they mean by communication," he commented aloud, half to himself and half to his tablemates who were probably all talking to someone else already... well whatever, he could write in his own response. And he was going to take his time with these... minus the first one, because he sort of did that one aloud. Lazy Slytherin here, yo.


First I ask the woman how she knows I work at the Ministry, and then I tell her I don't work in the DMLE but I'll happily take out a restraining order with them if she doesn't stop stalking me on my way to work.

Psh, he totally would never ever go back down to Level Two, not even for a restraining order. But he was making himself smirk, so Willy continued to answer these.


DRAGONS. Dragons dragons dragons. 1.) Offer free dragon rides. 2.) Come up with a Ministry-approved form of transportation which involves free dragon rides (see #1).


Yeah no, he was skipping that one for suresies.


My legacy as a scary, wrinkly old man would be to scare future generations away from ever working here, because they should not be in boring office jobs. They should be OUT IN THE FIELD, and out in nature, living and loving life. Also, my legacy will be the free dragon rides and form of transportation involving free dragon rides (see previous answers).


Public relations suck. So William was skipping that one too... time to give the quill a rest and eat his sandwich and people watch, yeah? Were there any new dragon lovers here for him to either work on a form of transportation with/and or scare away from a boring office job?

It was him. The tattooed man with whom she had engaged in a food fight one occasion, and then had lunch with sitting in proximity with him. She wasn't quite sure if she still hated him, but he was very annoying, and he seemed to be speaking aloud, with vexed her, and when she was vexed it added certain color to her high cheekbones, and she did look really nice tonight, and what better way to greet a vaguely-disliked-someone was there besides looking gorgeous?

She hadn't put dangly earrings in, but the light probably could bring her eyes to sparkle instead.

"William," she said, tapping him sharply on the shoulder while drawing a chair to her with an ankle. "How are the tattoos treating you?"

Oh. Now she was thinking of the tattoos, and one of them in particular that he wouldn't show her because it was in a place he couldn't readily show someone in public, which make her flush slightly. She shouldn't be thinking this.

Okay. This was probably the worst exercise today.

Engaging with people she didn't know. No. That wasn't even the worst part. She'd gotten used to that. But making smalltalk with people she didn't know. That was horrible. It was the most boring thing ever. After having gotten herself a sandwich (would anyone notice if she brought home food for Józsua??), Olly sat down at one of the round tables. If she just ate her sandwich maybe nobody would talk to her.

That was a good plan, yeah?

And she hadn't seen Ms. Quinn anywhere so it wasn't like she could get in trouble for not talking to anyone. Really? Conversation starters?? How on earth would that sort of thing make them better at their jobs? What was she doing here?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

It was him. The tattooed man with whom she had engaged in a food fight one occasion, and then had lunch with sitting in proximity with him. She wasn't quite sure if she still hated him, but he was very annoying, and he seemed to be speaking aloud, with vexed her, and when she was vexed it added certain color to her high cheekbones, and she did look really nice tonight, and what better way to greet a vaguely-disliked-someone was there besides looking gorgeous?

She hadn't put dangly earrings in, but the light probably could bring her eyes to sparkle instead.

"William," she said, tapping him sharply on the shoulder while drawing a chair to her with an ankle. "How are the tattoos treating you?"

Oh. Now she was thinking of the tattoos, and one of them in particular that he wouldn't show her because it was in a place he couldn't readily show someone in public, which make her flush slightly. She shouldn't be thinking this.

Whilst sitting back and enjoying his sandwich, William couldn't help but notice a certain party pooper... actually not pooping on this party. "Bhuvana," he replied to her right away, and not just because her tapping him had been a bit startling. He took a quick second to look her up and down, because she did look nice, and then started blushing because he always blushed when he had thoughts like that.

Anyyyyyyywaaaaaaaay.

"My tattoos are well," he answered lightly, almost with a smirk. "How are yours? I see you have henna on?" Did he say that correctly?

The room was crowded. What was with crowds today? Adam was half surprised he hadn't had a panic attack. He sucked in a deep breath, held it for the count of five, then dove into the crowd. He made a bee line for what appeared to be food, captained by his stomach's directions. It looked like quite a smorgasbord. He grabbed a beef sandwich and a bottled drink, then turned to survey the room.

It was crowded, as he had already determined. Many people were lingering about, chatting with one another as if they already knew each other. Adam had found his English as a second language skills to be quite lacking today and he just wanted to sit quietly. Mostly, he felt like his head was going to explode and he wanted to detox and not have to think about how to say what and if he was pronouncing it correctly. There appeared to be one table, off to the side, that was empty 'cept for a lone female who appeared wanted to be left alone to eat her sandwich in peace. Sensing the kindred spirit, he weaved his way around the groupings of people.

He placed his sandwich and drink down on the table. "Hallo," he greeted pulling out a chair. "No worry - I don't expect chatting," he said in heavily accented English. "There not much placing to sit." As he sat down his brain processed how bad his English had gotten over the coarse of the morning. Was it going to be like this all the time? If so he was going to have to work on increasing the potency in the standard headache potion.

Yeah, that. "I was out-voted," Mariel said simply to Victoria. It seemed that the majority of them were bored with fancy galas, something which she could just not fathom. Well, maybe she could. It wasn't like she never saw people at the Ministry and it was probably wise to keep spending down, but she did love to get dressed up and go to a nice party. Something she could do on her own time anyway. "Perhaps the other departments are lacking in something.." Maybe hers could use a team-building or public relations seminar just for brushing up, but she wasn't really in the mood for anything physical, not in her condition.

She turned her attention to both women as Victoria relayed her Christmas holidays to Alexandria. "That sounds just lovely," she smiled. How important family was to her, and she knew that Vic felt the same. "I can't imagine Regina as a teenager yet," she added with a laugh as she talked about Bart. She took the opportunity while Vic asked Alex about her Christmas to finish her sandwich and take a drink. She seemed much hungrier during this pregnancy for some reason and she dug into her salad next.

"Mm, I guess I need to plan better," she joked between bites of salad, then looked up as a woman close by questioned her. Laughing at...? Mariel raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the slip of paper. Oh, she must have been the one to read that "conversation starter" aloud. "Not so much obvious as amusing, I suppose," she shrugged. Though anyone that truly knew her would think her response to such a question might be obvious.

She happily shook hands with her new coworker.....she wasn't sure how much they would cross paths but it was always good to know people. It sounded so odd to be called by her full first name. She knew that was proper and you generally didn't go straight to nicknames, especially if you weren't friends with a person whether yet or in a future sense. She still felt it was a mouthful but didn't say a word about it, feeling it better to keep an air of politeness for now at the very least. What would she be doing? "I am a P.A.R.T. Urgent Response Officer. So if there is potions accident or magic poisoning of some variety, I will be on call as part of a team to assess and handle the situation."Also known as a magic janitor....she was to clean up other peoples folly and attempt to repair what damage was done. Hopefully.....this was her calling. She knew enough about potions, plants, toxins, reactions, and antidotes alright.........but the actual immediate life or death experience was what she lacked. "How about yourself?"



Kai was a little surprised when Charles pointed at her and agreed with her. Really? His seemingly quiet nature so far had left her unsuspecting, but she smiled at him softly. At least she was not the only one here for the greater good. It was probably a requisite feature for being on Level 3 though, she figured. She wasn't sure his response was favorable to the fact that they would be seeing more of each other, but then she didn't think it mattered too much. She tried not to judge at all, let alone at first meeting. His comment made her crack a pleased smile though. "I like to think that I am." She winked with a sense of humor to her expression. "It is what my professors and school board told me at least." She wasn't allowed to progress as she did and to what classes she did without at least being halfway decent at it and the honors for her classes told her she was pretty spot on at it in her opinion.

Rhydian's grin was unrestrained as the woman gave him what was possibly the best response to his question. Better than he could have even imagined. And he could imagine quite a bit. It seemed, he had found an intelligent woman.

Flipping the card about in his fingers, he held it out to her. "You can add that to the bottom, right under 'spaghetti or linguine?'."

Which unsurprisingly followed under other questions including the infamous 'cone or bowl?', fork or dessert fork?, 'sunhat or fedora?', 'why do people like cats?' and his absolute favorite, 'why did the chicken cross the road?'.

While she was doing that, he was just going to slip the card she was holding out of her hand, and start adding yet more attractive prompts. Quill was halfway to parchment when her next words drew his head up with a curious start. He was whose now? The man beside her, who presumably she was talking too, didn't much help. Attached where now?

"Uhhhhhh......." It was an unpleasant noise, highly undignified and with no food or drink in hand or mouth to give excuse to it. But it did come from him, even though he checked about to see if it might have just been someone else.



Upon his glancing about, he did happen to notice the man that had saved him from his rather embarrassing shoes-on-hands predicament during his first few days at the office. A man, he realized, he would have to repay in due course. Sometime, when he wasn't caught up in the confusing web of conversation that had started at his table.

Glancing to Leza, she smiled a little before turning her attention back to Simon with an exaggerated look of relief. "Oh thank Merlin, I was getting a little worried there for a moment," she chuckled lightly, settling after a moment. "Though I guess the MLE never really gets a break at these events, huh?"

He WAS in the MLE right? That... would be super awkward if he wasn't.

Bhuvana's eyebrows raised into her hairline by William's nonchalantness. Was she the only one who got startled whenever someone approached her? Was this unusual? Was she unusual? Focus, Bhuvana.

Tattoos. Right. No, she didn't want to focus on that, because then she got distracted…it was happening right now. Distraction, with her eyes falling down to where she knew one tattoo was, tracing the lines she knew were there. Ahem. She made a coughing/strangling noise in the back of her throat as she tried to pull her senses together. Constant vigilance, though she wasn't quite sure that those exact words applied to this instance.

"Oh." Her hands. Bhuvana took a second to extend them farther from her body (and closer to William, though she can assure anyone that was not the intention) to admire the artfully done henna. "Yes, I was in India recently, before we came back to work. For a wedding." Her cousin, who was more than five years younger than she. It was a wonderful affair, with dancing, and food, and family that made her smile for once. But it was also a shock, to see someone she always considered eons younger to be…fully becoming an adult. Starting a family. Bhuvana's aunts and uncles had come up to her, asking when she was to be married, and Bhuvana had excused herself to her room to brush her hair.

So, just saying, if her hair looked amazing, that was the reason.

And then, COMPLETELY unprofessionally, Bhuvana blurted out, "I transferred departments." She let a grin escape, a real one, one that she kept hidden away for certain people - her brother, for one; Raj, her brother's best friend; and, for herself, looking in the mirror. It was a crooked grin, and that was the reason she never let it out in public - it was crooked and casual and pulled to the side, the side that wasn't even her good side. It was altogether much too…too. Too much.

Her face burned with the heat of a thousand suns.

"That does sound interesting," Yoona said with a smile. She was always interested in the Department of International Cooperation, being a Korean person living in Britain for a long time. Which also caused one little thing - she was BAD with abbreviations. "Sorry, what is the ICW?" she asked, a confused expression on her face. "I know, I am really excited to start work! I have been offered the position of Quidditch Event Coordinator." She was responsible for organizing public events and making arrangements, something she was most looking forward to do.

She returned the smile, hoping that the woman did not think she was simply being polite because she MEANT it. "Nice to meet you too, I am Yoona," she introduced herself, then focused on the discussion they were having.

To do something for the greater good was what both the lady and the man said. Yoona nodded, thinking this was pretty reasonable. Contributing small things to the Wizarding World would ultimately make a big positive change. Or that was what she liked to believe. But she also had a different answer to the question. "Me, I just wanted to work because it had been a while since I quit my most recent job and I really missed the feeling of being involved in Quidditch. The Ministry of Magic seemed to be a good place of employment for this to happen," she said, taking a sip of her Gillywater.

Oh brilliant.

Someone had sat with her. Maybe if she just ignored him he would leave again. Ooooooor...even better not be interested in talking to her too. Which paradoxically made him somewhat interesting. So Olly looked at him for a moment, considering him and contemplating whether or not to actually strike up a conversation.

In the end she did. Because hey, maybe someone was watching them and they HAD to engage somehow.

"Where are you from then?" The accent was hard to miss.

Deliah had just finally got through the security check in and made her way to the lunch and sat at a free table not sure of what to do she just took a sip of water she didn't really know many people in the room

The girl hadn’t really acknowledged him as he sat down and he was quite certain he had been smart in choosing this table. Feeling safe to rest his linguistic skills for a bit, Adam has unwrapped his sandwich and had taken a big big bite. So of course the female had taken this exact moment as he was happily chewing on roasted beef and what he thought was cheddar cheese on a hoggie bun to start up a conversation. He sighed inwardly then attempted to finish his chewing so he could swallow before answering. “Wittlich,” he answered. He twisted the top off his drink, took a sip then clarified, because most people needed the clarification – or so he’d come to expect. “Germany.”

He took another sip of his drink, picked up his sandwich and realized he was probably expected to follow societal niceties and ask her the same question. “You?” although he hadn’t detected an accent when she spoke to him. He took another big bite of his sandwich as he waited for her response. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. Besides if he made a show of eating, maybe the girl would dominate the conversation and he could at least let his voice rest; his brain would still be on overdrive to decipher the crazy language that is English.

Olly wasn't the paranoid type but by now she was convinced that their department heads were somehow watching them. To make sure they all took the exercise seriously and stuff. So she should at least pretend to play along. And it seemed like she'd found the perfect partner for this. Considering he seemed to be as enthusiastic about this exercise as she was.

Maybe even less so.

Wittlich

She wasn't the best with languages – although she WAS living with someone who definitely was – but Olly had still somehow guessed that it was German. Just by the way it sounded. So she just nodded politely when he clarified. "Right." Interesting. Sort of. "I'm from Bristol." She gestured towards her left. Just because that's where it was on the map.

Good. Now they had that out of the way.

With a sigh she took another bite of her sandwich. "Which department?" Her tone of voice clearly suggested she didn't really care.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Bhuvana's eyebrows raised into her hairline by William's nonchalantness. Was she the only one who got startled whenever someone approached her? Was this unusual? Was she unusual? Focus, Bhuvana.

Tattoos. Right. No, she didn't want to focus on that, because then she got distracted…it was happening right now. Distraction, with her eyes falling down to where she knew one tattoo was, tracing the lines she knew were there. Ahem. She made a coughing/strangling noise in the back of her throat as she tried to pull her senses together. Constant vigilance, though she wasn't quite sure that those exact words applied to this instance.

"Oh." Her hands. Bhuvana took a second to extend them farther from her body (and closer to William, though she can assure anyone that was not the intention) to admire the artfully done henna. "Yes, I was in India recently, before we came back to work. For a wedding." Her cousin, who was more than five years younger than she. It was a wonderful affair, with dancing, and food, and family that made her smile for once. But it was also a shock, to see someone she always considered eons younger to be…fully becoming an adult. Starting a family. Bhuvana's aunts and uncles had come up to her, asking when she was to be married, and Bhuvana had excused herself to her room to brush her hair.

So, just saying, if her hair looked amazing, that was the reason.

And then, COMPLETELY unprofessionally, Bhuvana blurted out, "I transferred departments." She let a grin escape, a real one, one that she kept hidden away for certain people - her brother, for one; Raj, her brother's best friend; and, for herself, looking in the mirror. It was a crooked grin, and that was the reason she never let it out in public - it was crooked and casual and pulled to the side, the side that wasn't even her good side. It was altogether much too…too. Too much.

Her face burned with the heat of a thousand suns.

Someone was a little self-absorbed... William waited patiently for her to explain her henna, taking one of her hands when it was seemingly offered to him and accepting it gently. "It's very beautiful," he replied simply, since she hadn't elaborated about the wedding and he didn't see a ring. Unless she just didn't want to wear one? Still, since he was holding her left hand... it didn't hurt to ask, because she was a coworker and coworkers should know the minimum about each other...... "It wasn't YOUR wedding, was it?"

He supposed he could give her her hand back, and his ears turned red at the tips with the thought, but he didn't. Not yet. Besides, she had an announcement to make! "Congratulations!" William beamed for her, maybe accidentally squeezing her hand in a happy way as he did so. "You transferred to Creatures or Environmental, right?" Right?! What other departments could make her grin so widely and cutely??!

Bhuvana's eyes widened by a millimeter because she was NOT offering her hands to William. Her hands tensed at first, but then relaxed slightly when she exhaled. She would pull her hands away, but then it would bring attention to the fact that they were half-holding hands, so she just pretended she didn't even notice. Completely nonchalant. They weren't even her hands, obviously.

She focused back on what William was saying. She unfortunately had been tuning out at the start of his sentence, so she just heard the end of his question. The wedding. Should she describe it? "It was a beautiful wedding, all my extended family was there, the groom looked amazing, too." If she had heard what he was actually asking, she would've mentioned that it was the first time she met her cousin's husband, and maybe elaborated on how it WASN'T HER WEDDING, but she didn't, and so she continued the miscommunication.

Oh. Hand squeeze. Bhuvana tried to keep the wrinkle out of her nose as she lightly squeezed back (she wasn't the most affectionate person ever - actually, she wasn't affectionate at all). "Minister's Office, actually. It's a good thing - I have lots of opinions about the government, and he better listen to what I'm saying if he wants to be smart."

She had stayed at the intake table as long as she possibly could handle it without starting to just hand packets to anyone who wanted one whether they were new or not. At the very least, Amethyst could only take feeling unnecessary for so long, whether or not the table had been allegedly manned by people from her department as well as MLE. The only positive aspect to it had been that she’d been able to sit down, seeing as she’d been simply dealing with the packets, not running the machines. Either way, as soon as she’d felt she was able to step away, she had wandered off toward the food. She’d thought about looking at some of the other tasks, but hunger won out. That and she didn’t think she needed to brush up on her skills she’d learned years ago when she was Level One. Mazes weren’t something she encountered much working in administration.

Food came first either way, and she had walked to the buffet tables to see what was left to choose from. As she’d guessed, there was still a good selection, and after choosing a chicken sandwich, some fruit and a lemonade, she glanced over the tables. She saw Victoria at a table with a few others, along with several of her fellow Level One employees at others. Especially Delphine, which reminded her that she needed to speak with the senior undersecretary at some point in the near future, but for now she’d wait. Even if there was curiosity about the man the senior undersecretary was speaking with, from the intake and the incident with Alexa.

Instead, as her gaze landed on another table, she had walked toward it. If anything, it would keep him from looking for her or making things more complicated than they needed to be had she sat elsewhere. None of it had to be complicated at all, and she’d smiled at the woman at the table with Gregory as she’d paused at an open seat. “Would you mind a bit more company?,” she asked, setting her plate down but remaining standing. Hopefully she hadn’t interrupted a serious discussion, considering the cards at the center of the table.

Ronnie laughed at what he said and then listened to his answer, giving him a thoughtful look before nodding. "I gotcha," she said. Foreign Relations. Sounded like an interesting department. She made a mental note in her head to ask him about it later.

Then he asked her and she looked about the place as she thought up her answer. "Well," she began, her attention back on Greg, "I always thought the Ministry would be a neat place to work when I was little. I just thought it was so fascinating..." She began. "And in my years at Hogwarts I grew to love nature and talking to and helping people so here I am. Personal assistant in environmental protection and regulation." She smiled and gave a small shrug.

Greg grabbed some of the cards on the table and started looking through them idly while he ate some of his food. Chuckling at some of the questions. "That sounds interesting. What does that department do exactly?" His focused was torn when Amethyst came up and a huge grin came to his face.

He stood up and nodded, "Of course I'd like more company. Especially your company." He laughed and waited for her to sit down before sitting himself. Yup, gentlemanly... "Amethyst this is Ronnie. Ronnie, Amethyst. Not sure if you know each other..."