Finally got around in finding some time in her routine Ami had changed into a more suitable and comfortable pair of clothes to hit the exercising room! Walking in she was more than impressed, this place had everything! The red head wasn't obsessed with diets or weight loss, for her it was the art of self defense. She always tried to squeeze in some time to improve her hand to hand combat skills, it was very important to be in top shape considering what her job entails. Ami had been practicing a mix of kickboxing and taekwondo amidst other self defense techniques for the past two years.

Heading to the corner of the room where the punching backs hung she secured her hands with tape and a pair of gloves to prevent damage to her knuckles. Setting herself in a fighting stance she took a deep breath and commenced swinging her fists against the bag, feeling a satisfying rush of adrenaline through her body.

In case anyone had doubts as to where Benzi spent most of his time when not out on the field, it's right here. In the exercise room. Did he spend a little too much time in here? One could argue the point. Did it ever affect his work? Only positively. All in all, the auror reckoned his enthusiasm for fitness and working out neatly aligned with his job, and made him a better field agent than a great deal other aurors who don't start every morning with a run.

Perhaps not every morning. His daughter liked to destroy slightly alter his morning plans every day so often. The life of a single dad and all that.

Today was a leg day, and Benzi was at the end of his set when someone walked through the doors of the exercise room. One of the new employees, since he wasn't overly familiar with her face. He shot the woman (Amidala) a friendly smile as she passed and headed for the bag - his personal favourite of all exercising forms - and watched as she prepared.

Not that it was any of his business, but he was pleased to see she knew what she was doing. The less injuries sustained in here, the less likely it is they'll take the exercise room away on legal grounds.

After show no mercy to the dear old punching bag Ami took a break to grab a towel and dab face and forehead, along with going to fill her bottle with more water. Wouldn't want to dehydrate (not that it hasn't happened before). Glancing around as she head to mat for some stretching she noticed a young man, well co-worker. Amidala wasn't sure what his name was but she remembered his face from the first conference meeting.

Ami had been working on not being so serious and more welcoming, after all not everyone around her posed a threat. "I'm Amidala." She shot a soft greeting in the gentleman's direction and a nod. "I believe I've seen you at the conference meeting a while back." She added, though she was quite and introverted Ami didn't find it difficult to be very forward in expressing her mind or opinions. On an ordinary she would be mostly in the shadows, but when it was time to get into business the fiery red head was relentless. "What are you working on today?" Ami asked, folding the corner of her lips into a small lopsided smile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumblebee

After show no mercy to the dear old punching bag Ami took a break to grab a towel and dab face and forehead, along with going to fill her bottle with more water. Wouldn't want to dehydrate (not that it hasn't happened before). Glancing around as she head to mat for some stretching she noticed a young man, well co-worker. Amidala wasn't sure what his name was but she remembered his face from the first conference meeting.

Ami had been working on not being so serious and more welcoming, after all not everyone around her posed a threat. "I'm Amidala." She shot a soft greeting in the gentleman's direction and a nod. "I believe I've seen you at the conference meeting a while back." She added, though she was quite and introverted Ami didn't find it difficult to be very forward in expressing her mind or opinions. On an ordinary she would be mostly in the shadows, but when it was time to get into business the fiery red head was relentless. "What are you working on today?" Ami asked, folding the corner of her lips into a small lopsided smile.

Colour the twenty eight year old impressed. He shouldn't really be, as it's expected that everyone who was permitted to train here should know their stuff, but nevertheless it was always a pleasure to see people knew how to hit. "Benzi," he offered in return as he moved from one exercise to the next with practiced ease. "Yes, probably. Even with Cambridge as Department Head, we still have far too many meetings," he chuckled. Alexa shared his sentiments in regards to meetings - the less the better, and none would be best - but he knew it was a necessary evil. Merlin knows things would get messy if they didn't take the time to update each other on the goings on of their cases.

"Today's my leg day," Benzi said with a nod towards his next exercise as he piled weights onto the machine. "Got any interesting cases you're working on?"

The red head nodded as he introduced his name, "They're very educational." Amidala teased, though she was very accustomed to lengthy assemblies it became second nature to her and oddly satisfying.

Amidala finished nearly gulping her entire bottle of water before stretching to cool down her workout. "Ah I see." She nodded studying the weights applied to his machine. Merlin knows the legs have to be in good shape in this kind of career field. As for her current tasks she thought about it even when she wasn't actively on the field, "well I'm on the look out for a pesky vendor." Diagon Alley wasn't always the safest but it wasn't the location's fault necessarily, it was the people who didn't always abide by the laws and regulations. "What about you, Benzi?"

Benzi grinned. "After so long, I reckon all meetings can be summarised in five minutes max." Each half hour meeting is half an hour he wasn't out in the field or spending with his daughter or catching up on paperwork. Although it's certainly debatable which he disliked more; meetings or paperwork.

He nodded and began his sets, breathing hard. He spoke again only once he was done. "Vendors are slippery, I don't envy you," he said, panting slightly. He had a vendor case once, down along the coast, turning sand into sinkholes for malicious intents. They'd found bones in several caves underneath the beach. Not a pretty sight.

"I like playing the long game," he reached for his towel and wiped his forehead. "So I've got all the cases I had last month. Getting close on one scumbag though, I heard he was sighted in Northern Ireland.. might warrant a field trip," Benzi grinned. He did like the cat and mouse game far too much. He was good at it. Be it a week, a month or a year, he always got them in the end.

Ami giggled as she parked herself next to a wide open space next to the wall and did a headstand yoga pose. This oddly enough always helped her unwind after her workouts or just whenever she needed that extra de-stressing boost. After a few minutes of inhaling and exhaling she shifted her body to get back upright on her feet.*

"They're my kind of challange. She folded her lips into a subtle and coy smirk. The red head thrived on challenging her mental and physical strength, she liked the chase of it all. It's like when her parents would tell her not to play with her food, but nevermind them she did it anyway. "I'd hate to be him." She gave him a lopsided grin, she didn't know him very well but definitely believed in his ability to catch this criminal sooner or later. As she strutted towards the fountain to fill her bottle she removed the tape from her hands. After refilling the bottle she took a huge sip and headed towards her bag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumblebee

Ami giggled as she parked herself next to a wide open space next to the wall and did a headstand yoga pose. This oddly enough always helped her unwind after her workouts or just whenever she needed that extra de-stressing boost. After a few minutes of inhaling and exhaling she shifted her body to get back upright on her feet.*

"They're my kind of challange. She folded her lips into a subtle and coy smirk. The red head thrived on challenging her mental and physical strength, she liked the chase of it all. It's like when her parents would tell her not to play with her food, but nevermind them she did it anyway. "I'd hate to be him." She gave him a lopsided grin, she didn't know him very well but definitely believed in his ability to catch this criminal sooner or later. As she strutted towards the fountain to fill her bottle she removed the tape from her hands. After refilling the bottle she took a huge sip and headed towards her bag.

Benzi could definitely relate to that. Needing a challenge is one of the biggest reasons why he liked his job, and his current life in general. Between Emma at home and dangerous criminals in the feeling, he always felt very fulfilled before bed. Or at least, most days.

He decided to call it a day once she did her headstand, appreciating her form. Very stable, he was impressed. Moving to stand, he grabbed his water bottle and took a long sip before chuckling at her words. "Certainly, his odds don't look so great. Perhaps a stint in Azkaban will make him see the error in his ways," and Benzi would do everything he possibly could in order to see that come about. He'd learned over the years that often it's not just about catching the criminals, but about creating an airtight net and allowing them to stumble into it. It made for a stronger case in court, and a longer stint in prison.

And Benzi was all about longer stints in prison.

Honestly, he would normally do his exercising at the training facility, but alas, the gym had been full. So, he'd had to resort to using the one here in the department instead. So, it was with proper gym clothes on and hands properly taped up that one Ronan Carter was practicing his punching on the provided bag. If one stepped near enough, one might definitely be able to hear the music playing from the charmed headphones placed in his ear, an odd style that one in the know might be able to identify as alternative. The wild swinging of the bag (or as wild as a punching bag can swing anyway) was a testament to how hard the young man was punching the thing.

It was really nothing different for the auror-in-training, but no one here had seen him hit so hard (except for his fellow aurors-in-training) seeing as he usually used his words....

Usually Ava preferred to do her early morning run around the neighborhood of her flat but due to unpredictable weather, she had to do her regular cardio exercise on a treadmill at MLE exercise room. Nobody was here yet when she arrived so the auror-in-training could snag the best treadmill machine here. Having her appropriate gym clothes on (yup, she's not going to only wear sport bra because this is a professional environment) she started her cardio exercise with a wireless earphone plugged on her ear, listening to her usual exercise playlist.

Exercising was one of her way to keep herself busy (besides throwing herself in work and auror-training stuffs) because Ava needed to keep herself busy, but also not to feel burned out at the same time. Her therapist did mention how regular exercise could induce the endorphins and it would help to manage her condition especially after being diagnosed with mild anxiety and depression last year. 10 miles jogging in an hour; this girl here was totally in her zone.

No wonder why Ava didn't really notice the presence of her fellow auror-in-training.

Taking a break from his punching to grab a drink from the cooler (towel draped around his shoulders for the sweat, of course), Ronan finally realized he wasn't alone. One of those rare occasions when someone had been able to sneak up on him, though thankfully it hadn't put him in any danger. Yes, he knew he was in MLE, where there were crazy amounts of security, but if his mum's stories had taught anything, it was that anything could happen. Even here.

Pulling the headphones out of his ears and shutting the device off, he spoke up, just loud enough that his fellow auror-in-training could hear him if she was also wearing headphones. "Hey, Ava." he said with a smile. There was just something about watching someone work out......

She just broke her own record. Usually she could reach 10 miles if she did the outdoor jogging, but never when Ava was exercising on a treadmill. After hit 12 miles, the YATI then decreased the speed and started cooling down. That was enough for now, it's not good if she forced herself to run even more. Her ears might be plugged but the volume of her music wasn't that loud enough so she could hear someone calling her name.

"Carter." She acknowledged her fellow YATI while still walking on the treadmill. It's probably her habit that keep referring the other employees by their surname, unless it stated otherwise. Ava turned the music down as she finished her cardio exercise, flashing her usual (but still, a professional) smile. "Just finished working out too, I assumed."

The use of his surname was.....not unexpected. It seemed most around here preferred to refer to him as such, and it didn't bother him as much as it had when he was younger. Besides, it seemed that some in the Ministry needed that reminder of his familial connections (*ahem* certain department heads).

"Yeah, the punching bag," he replied casually. "Have to keep my boxing skills sharp, just in case." Just in case his words and/or magic failed him. Not that he expected them to, not in the course of his job. Other times.....well, let's just not go there, shall we?

It wasn't how she had originally planned to spend any of her early mornings, not by a half. Early mornings were for her own workouts, her 7 year old and her husband. Group exercises....not so much.

But it was a necessity borne of certain liabilities she was encouraged not to fire. A case gone bad, a pair of Aurors who'd let themselves slip and had others pay for it. It nearly cost the entire department an unnecessarily painful lawsuit and this was what the legal team had come up with. Suffice to say both were now on desk duty and would remain so until they were re-evaluated.

Lex walked into the exercise room, hair pulled up into a ponytail and water bottle floating in behind her.

It was early enough that they could get this over with then properly begin their work day without affecting too much. That is...so long as they made it on time.

Present and accounted for? Check. Missing a vital module that he'd have to make up later thanks to a couple of idiot Aurors? Very much check. Keeping his anger in check? Well, we'll see.

Anyway, Ronan entered the room carrying his water bottle (it didn't weigh much, after all) and wearing his workout gear, a rather serious look on his face. He gave a nod in greeting to Alexa, not bothering with a 'good morning' or even a 'morning' since there was nothing good about it.

Benzi was very much used to these hours. Whether it's an early morning Emma tantrum, or a workout, or a work portkey that he has to take absurdly early (never, he'll never understand those blasted work portkeys), he was the picture of awake and ready for the day as he strode with casual determination into the ever familiar exercise room. The circumstances were less than ideal - he had genuine secondhand embarrassment for those aurors - but it was what it was, and they'd get through the exercise and return to normal.

He nodded at the people present; Lex, who looked appropriately professional, and Carter, who looked like Carter. Well. Spinning the water bottle in his hand, Benzi picked a spot by the wall and waited for everyone else to arrive.

Lex watched as one then the other of her colleagues...colleagues? Employees? It still sounded so formal, even after a year in the position. Too formal. Unnecessary. Rider and Carter were here. That was the point. She nodded to both, glancing only a second at the clock by the punching bags. She was already aware that some would be absent. Regardless of it being before normal work hours, Law Enforcement didn't necessarily have "normal" work hours.

"Rider, you're sparring with me if Sandhu can't make it." A lot of her Aurors were touch and go. Some gave tentative commitments, others understandably agreed to let their presence remain an open ended question while they sorted through things.

Hazel eyes swept over to the YATI. "This'll be a good exercise for you, Carter. I hope."

Merlin knew that one could learn a thing or two about getting on with the rest of his colleagues, regardless of personal feelings. Admittedly, it was a hard lesson for her to learn too but she had learned, and if someone as stubborn and ill-tempered as her could learn a lesson like that, then so could he.

"Let's get in some stretches while we wait."

Emilia had already been up for hours, gone for a run, dropped her grandmother off at a healer's appointment. She was spreading herself a bit thin these days, but keeping busy had always been something she'd enjoyed. It helped her to not think about other things, things that made her wonder and worry and want to curl up in bed.

The twenty year old joined her colleagues, greeting them with a small smile."Morning." Somehow it still was, and she knew this day would be a long one for her.

Setting her water off to the side, Emilia began to stretch some, observing the others as she did.

Dysmenorrhea sucked. And coincidentally the group exercise also happened at the same day she's suffering for this. There's no other way she would call in sick for this so Ava decided to show up and act like there was nothing going on with her right now.

Entering the exercise room, she showed up with her usual work-appropriated exercise outfit. There were some of her co-workers there and the department head. Was she late? Probably. The auror had spent most of her morning dealing with her problems and at least now the symptoms has been manageable... for now. "Morning, everyone." Ava decided to not make too many conversations to make her mood felt way much worse.

This would be fun, heh? She joined the others, doing the stretching before they started.

It was always annoying when a few people messed up and then everyone had to pay for it, but obviously it could be much worse than this. Penelope was usually up early to get in some exercise anyway, so really the only difference here was a group setting versus alone time. Well, and the fact that here she wouldn't be interrupted by Ivy or Sage during her workout. Not that that happened all the time, but y'know, kids got curious or lonely or sick or any number of things sometimes. It happened.

And to be honest, she always kinda liked when they did interrupt, whether because they wanted something or just wanted to be around her. It was a nice feeling.

Anyway, that wouldn't be happening this morning since she was here, walking into the MLE exercise room, her hair pulled up into a semi-messy bun, her water bottle in hand.

"Mornin'." She took an empty spot near the others already there, set her bottle down, and started her own stretches. Always important to do that before any workout after all.

Group exercises weren't her thing, but Evangeline supposed it didn't matter. She wasn't on duty at the time of the scheduled exercise, so she had to be there or Lex would get after her and that's not what she wanted. Especially since she was trying to work her way up the Auror ladder.

Entering the room with her hair pulled back, Evangeline made eye contact with only Lex and Benzi, giving them each a nod of acknowledgement. Then she proceeded to do some stretching, as if she hadn't already done her morning stretches. It was early, yes, but Evangeline was quite the morning person.

It seemed that he was the only one who had not been up since dawn, having decided that a good night's rest was just as important (or not....).

He didn't know how to take the fact that he wasn't being pitted against a full Auror...yet. He knew that at least part of it was that he was still in training. Still, he was pretty sure he could hold his own against some of the Aurors. Also, he got along just fine with his fellow Aurors-in-training, Ava and Emilia, plus he wasn't fighting with either Rider or Shacklebolt right now. Progress. While they were on the topic, since when did not taking crap from anyone and having no patience for idiots become a reason to label someone as 'hard to get along with'? These thoughts shone not, his face maintaining the same expression it had had since he'd entered, aside from a quick darkening of his eyes that ended almost as soon as it began.

"Right," was Ronan's reply as he started stretching.

It starts as a flicker or two of the lights, nothing terribly out of the ordinary. Lights flicker. The world goes on. Nothing to halt training over.

But then they flicker again. And again.

This time when they flicker they go off entirely leaving everyone in the dimly lit room. Lighting wands will prove ineffective, as will trying to get the door open now that it’s slipped shut. It’s not just lighting charms either. It’s as if you’ve been pulled into a magical deadzone.

Who’s incharge of those ministry charms anyway?

Lex nodded to each newcomer while she began getting her arms stretched. Left across the chest and pulled by the right. Hold for three seconds. Release and switch. The woman systematically began stretching her muscles to ensure that when the exercises began she wouldn’t soon regret it. When she was satisfied, she looked to the others.

“If you’re done stretching, we can get on to the actual exercis—“

Quick as the lights went out, Alexa’s wand was in her hand. The flickering hadn’t done much to draw her attention but no lights at all sent the former Head Auror understandably on high alert.

Lex kept her wand at the ready while her eyes adjusted to the low light but soon found her gaze dropping to her wand when it refused to produce that light she’d cast.

.....?

“Lumos.” Lex resorted to verbal magic, thinking her concentration must have been less there than she’d thought but when even that didn’t work, it became some cause for concern. “Someone else give it a shot.” She instructed, moving toward the door. They’d need to get light in here somehow.