Yes, Roxanne was pacing. This was officially the first party she has thrown as a member of the MLE, and she was nervous. Mostly about rather everything looked okay and if anyone would show up. And if she had forgotten to invite anyone. It was entirely possible, the MLE was a large department. Someone was bound to slip through the cracks. Oh Merlin, what if she'd forgotten to invite Wes! That would be the ultimate party foul! No, wait. She specifically remembered having addressed an owl to him.

All this silence was doing her no good. It was allowing her too much space to think. Besides, what if her guests came and decided it was lame without the music? With that in mind, she motioned to the DJ to start playing.

Ah, much better.

Melissa had received an invitation even though it was a surprise but she decided that she would attend Roxanne's New Year Party, even though all of her family was back home in the States. She could always celebrate it with them after this party, because of the time zone diference. 'Yes two New Year's Parties for me.' Melissa smiled to herself.

As she walked into the room, her eyes opened wide in wonder. Roxanne had done a great job organizing the party. The song that was playing right now was one of her favorites...and of course the hor'derves looked delicious. It looked like Roxanne had pulled out all the stops to make this party a great one. She noticed a rather nervous looking Roxanne pacing the room, so she walked up to her and greeted her with a smile.

"This place looks great, Roxanne. Thanks for the invitation." Melissa thanked her co-worker.

She was getting more nervous by the second. It was slightly after 9:00 already and no one was here (aside from her). I did remember to send the invites out, didn't I? Okay, the music she thought would help distract her from her negative thoughts wasn't helping at all. She wanted to go get a drink, but she felt that she should stay visable in case people showed up.

WHERE WAS EVERYONE?!

Finally, as if to answer the unvoiced question she was about to ask herself yet again, someone did show up. Schooling her face into a welcoming smile and hoping her nervousness didn't show, she welcomed her coworker. "Thanks, Melissa. And you're welcome. You're the first one here, so it looks like you have your pick of the couches. Or the dance floor, whichever." Not to mention, the pleasure of avoiding Roxanne!glares when the Ministry reopened.

Isobel hadn't been to a party in a long time, not since she'd been all locked up in quarantine anyway. There had been her boys first birthday party but that had been full of kids, so really this was the first proper party she'd be attended, and what better than a new years party? She glanced up at Wes, smiling at him. "This should be fun." She hadn't really seen many of her MLE friends for a while, so it was bound to be exciting. With her husband she stepped into the place, and nodded in approval. "Looks good." She mused with a smile. Looked real good. Tonight was going to be pretty epic.

"Should be fun," Wesley half-grunted back to his wife as they entered the party. He was still too dressed up for his tastes but at least there would be food and drinks at this thing, eh? And no one was working and there were no more zombies and De Talone was safe for now and the Ministry was closed for a few more days so he really should just be able to turn his mind off for a while and enjoy the evening...

Deep breaths, Wes, deep breaths. He inhaled and exhaled and then led Izzy over toward their host. "Roxanne," Wes called out, fixing a smile on his face. His eyes were zooming around, taking in all the possible entrances and exits as usual, but he was at least attempting to relax his shoulders and look happy. It probably gave him a weird look overall. "Nice party. Thanks for inviting us."

There, see. He could do polite.

Saul didn't plan on coming to the party, in fact he was just going to stay at his apartment and tinker with his Unicycle until the clock struck Twelve.
He finished and decided to give it a test run once more, it was night and no one would see him, the sky was cloudy too. Saul carried his Unicycle to the roof of his apartment complex. Sat up on his One-Wheeler and sped off, the Unicycle went airborne for about five seconds before it lost altitude.
Saul fell down into an alleyway and landed on a large pile of trash. He lifted himself up and tossed his Unicycle off of him which now had a bent wheel, and broken chain.

He sighed and decided he might as well just go to the party since he was outside now. He dragged his Unicycle behind him all the way until he reached the party destination.

Once he entered he saw his boss and his wife. It was good to see that she was out of the Quarantine Zone. "Hello Sir, Ma'am" Saul greeted the unhappy looking man, and his lady properly. They were out of work ,but he never saw his superiors anywhere but the Ministry "Happy New Years to you both I guess"
and there was the Roxanne. "Hello Roxanne, Is there anywhere I can just set this aside?" He held up his mangled mess of a Unicycle to show the Hostess his means of travel. The slight movement of his arms while lifting his vehicle up also told him, HE STANK "I could use somewhere to clean up too." He said while scrunching his own nose.

Isobel rolled her eyes, before raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. Was Wes' mind ever not at work? Izzy kind of understood though. She had worked in Wes' department herself after all. But it would be nice if he could leave work at work sometimes. "Relax..." She murmured, squeezing his arm gently. "Your department is fine." As for hers she had no idea, but that was another thing that she would worry about when the ministry reopened. Right how her husband and her babies were the only main things on her mind. She'd figure out what kind of mess her department was in after the holidays.

"Hi Roxanne." Isobel smiled politely as came up to her. It was a nice party so far, hopefully some more people would turn up. She was looking forward to seeing some of her old friends from MLE. She frowned a little as the next guy got here. Hmm. He smelled a little bit. "Happy new years." She murmured politely. Maybe they could move from here?

Finally, people were showing up. And she could relax now. Which she did. Only to have her nose crinkle up when Saul came in. Merlin, he stank! Did he ride that unicycle thing all the way here?! Schooling her face back into welcoming mode, Roxanne managed to hide the 'ew gross' face. She wasn't sure how long that would hold though, she had better hurry with this one. "Um, I think there's a storage closet out in the hallway and there's a bathroom out there, too." Just go get cleaned up before anyone else shows up.

Too late. It was their department head and his wife, too. Who, by the look on Isobel's face, had already caught a whiff. Letting the 'ew gross' look show through on her own face a little, she moved to greet them. "Hey," informal greetings were okay, right? "thanks for coming, you two!" Since, you know, it was kind of last minute and all.

"Oh thanks alot. I guess I'll sit since I'm alone and dancing by myself would look awkward." Melissa laughed as she looked around. She felt some weird vibes coming from Roxanne, like she was not pleased with her or something. 'Is she still upset with me for what happened two years ago...or did I do something this year to offend her? ' Melissa tried to recall any incident but couldn't.

She quickly smiled her thanks and slowly walked away. 'I guess I'll find out when we get back to work. No use worrying about it now.' she told herself, now starting to regret coming to the party. Maybe she could sneak away once more people arrived. No one would notice her doing that.

...and more people arrived. Melissa breathed a sigh of relief. It was her Department Head and his wife. She definitely looked a lot better than the last time she had seen her. Melissa decided that she would say hello to the both of them before she headed out the door.





Melissa walked up to the couple and smiled. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson. Happy New Year. It is really good to see you here." 'Emphasis on the really good.' Melissa thought to herself. At least she wasn't the only person at the party now. "Mrs. Ferguson, I love your dress. I don't think that we've met before. I'm Melissa and I work for your husband." Melissa told her.

'Okay pleasantries over. Maybe I can sneak out now.' Melissa thought to herself, trying to think of a way how she could quietly leave.

Wes nodded to his wife's reassurances and worked on relaxing his tense shoulders some. His nose crinkled as he caught a whiff of something strong... something like skunk? a dirty gym bag? a hobo? And then he realized Saul had just wheeled into the party.

Sort of.

"Hey Saul, how's it going," he held out a hand to the guy as though he smelled nothing more than fresh air in front of him. "Good to see ya." Not good to smell ya though.

He turned to Roxanne too. "Hey you're welcome," Wes returned the hostess' greeting. He took a look around for a drink and winked at Melissa, who was nice enough to compliment Izzy. Smart move. "Please, call me Wes." He would have none of this sir nonsense when they weren't even at work.

But back to the bar thing. "Izzy, you want something?" Wes started moving them that way anyway. Subtly away from the smelly guy.

Cool so he could toss his Unicycle in the storage shed then clean up in no time. "Thanks Roxanne." Saul gave her a nod, and noticed how badly she was trying to hide her disgusted face because he stank. She didn't have to if she knew he smelled. It was rather apparent now. "It could be going better." He addressed the bossman "I prefer work to just lounging around all day. I had things to do beside fail at working on my ride." He never liked Holidays. "It's good to see you too, sir." Wow...was it really? This was going to be a really awkward night if he was going to spend it with his boss.
"Storage and Bathroom right, I'll be right back." Or maybe he could tinker with his unicycle some in the storage room. Who knows what they have in there that could help his ride some.

Simon approached the given address partly wondering why he was even there. He had gotten the invitation to the New Year's Eve party from his co-worker and had debated on going, not exactly one to do much partying. Especially seeing as the last few times had brought him to an awkward place, with a person who shall remain nameless and the event in turn became much less party than intended.

Yet here he was, dressed at least halfway nice to not seem reluctant to be there. The YATI soon-to-be-auror stepping inside the room he had been directed to and pausing just inside to take in his surroundings...and the persons already there. So far no one that raised a red flag on his radar which an outsider might think as odd since they were all MLE inside the party. But seeing as there were members who like to make his life harder than need-be, Simon had to be careful.

Maybe tonight wouldn't be too bad.

Dacs decided she would go the New Years Eve party her coworker had invited her to against her better judgement. But she couldn't bother go on the camping trip she longed for.

She went in the hopes of possibly enjoying herself, not wanting to soil her peace of mind. Entering, she realized it was a bit skanty but went on it anyway. In true Dacs style she kept her outfit cool, simple and chic.

Spotting Simon she headed over to say hi.

The music and light show was a little much for him and Simon was about to head up to the second level in hopes of it being quieter. However he had only moved a few steps when he registered an approach of someone coming his way. Turning for a better look, he inwardly relaxed spotting the form of Dacs. She at least was a friendly face despite her usual strong, cool demeanor, the young man having managed to stay on her good side.

"Fancy finding you here..." he mused, his voice raised slightly to be heard over the music. The auror tended to think she wasn't the type of the current event, much like him but for possibly different reasons.

She slipped on a sly half a smile at his greeting and said,"I could say the same for you. My camping trip fell through because of bad weather so I couldn't bother. This was the next thing on the list."

Dacs was not the party type but she still knew how to cut loose and have fun. She nudged Simon and asks, "So what brings you here?"

It was nice, the surrounding but she didn't think she would stay in the midst of everyone. She glanced around to take in more, to confirm. Wes, Izzy Mellissa, Saul and Roxanne were all here.

Simon nodded, understanding her story of taking the second choice of her plans. They had been having interesting weather lately. He could have acted jealous seeing as his only other real plan would have likely been a night in with Sky not desiring to be amongst crazy strangers celebrating anywhere else. "Thank goodness for back-up plans then."

He gave an amused smile as he was nudged. "I'm attempting to avoid the nagging to get out more," he commented thinking of a good enough reason for his presence there. Although as Dacs looked around, his gaze nearly followed and confirmed that neither persons werent there either. "Though it seems my usual tormentors in that regard don't seem to be here yet...if they are coming themselves."

She chuckled a bit and said,"I don't like back up plans very much. It means you failed at the first one."

Nodding at him she and remarked,"You should get out more. It's good for you. I spent most of my years working. It's why I have such a charming way with people.", exhibiting her biting sarcasm.

"Don't worry about that. The last person that teased me regretted it. Sorry to say this but you have got to grow a back bone. As an auror, we're not built to take much shoving around from others." She flashed a half smile at him before suggesting they find somewhere to sit."I wonder if we ca find somewhere to sit before having to conjure chairs instead."

Simon had to agree that having to change plans sometimes hurt. The fact that he himself had opted to start the training program a year later than planned due to certain circumstances had certainly lead to discomfort and even feelings of failure at times. "With classes and training over I will have more free time...at least I hope to when not being deep in a case." It was almost hard to believe four and a half years had passed since he had left Hogwarts.

"Its was a joke, Dacs," he remarked with a chuckle. "Josh is the nudge and if he truly bothered me, we surely wouldn't have been friends this long."

The auror nodded at her suggestion at finding a seat, his gaze briefly looking around before registering most of the seating was upstairs. "Perhaps a move to the second floor," Simon said, his turn to pose a suggestion as his arm was raised slightly to motion in the direction of the stairs. "Probably a bit quieter there as well."

Dacs smiled at him and said,"And it's free advice, I usually charge." A chuckle slipped from her lips before she nodded and said,"Yeah. It should be quieter up there."

She started forward and said looked back over her shoulder and said,"Shall we?"

Simon was really one of the few persons she talked to. It had been a while since she and Ben that she had someone close enough to talk to about stuff other than work.

"So nice to see I'm on the improved rate," Simon mused with a touch of jest. Dacs was one of the few in the department that didn't necessarily look down on him as he trained. Which was certainly a plus given some of the treatment he had endured as part of the hazing rituals that had popped up over the years.

"We shall," he agreed, letting Dacs lead them both upstairs. As expected, their surroundings and the music filling it becoming duller as they moved further upwards so as to make it easier for them to hear each other as they spoke.