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Much like the rest of the Department of Mysteries itself, even the designated 'break room' is an oddity.
One may think they have entered a rock zen garden upon entering the Decompression Chamber, but as your feet walk upon the plush and bouncy floor these concerns begin to diminish. If the extra bounce to your step was not enough, then upon further inspection the discover that the 42 rocks are, in fact, pillows will certainly drill home the idea. There is not a hard surface in the room from floor to wall to ceiling, even the vending machine - FREE for all Ministry employees! - by the door is plush and squishy with packaged contents reminiscent of vintage muggle astronaut food - although you will only find ice cream in a variety of wizarding and muggle flavors here along with various drinks (hot coffee included). One need simply to press their Ministry badge to the scanner and input the number combination for the desired item and it will levitate from its place right out through the enchanted rubbery glass to you. Just be sure to take all trash with you when you leave.
To prevent any of the rock pillows from forming a rock golem and wrecking havoc on the department again, a special magical neutralizing spray has been provided in a spray bottle located on its own shelf beside the door. It is not-so-humbly requested that you spritz yourself as you enter and the pillows after use.
OOC: this is a PUBLIC thread. All Ministry employees and visitors are welcome to RP here.
*randomly tagged* | Norbert(a) | The Wandmaker (tm)
Zzz…..snort….zzzz….z…..zzzz…..snort….zzzzzz
Adam had intended on merely popping in here for a beverage and a small break and instead had fallen asleep amid the rock pillows. His package of chocolate milk was nestled on his chest. One food was visible, his head was back between a few pillows and he was clearly out cold. Micha had been making sleeping hard lately and he didn’t really know what to do about it since he didn’t drink coffee anymore thanks to the encephalons. In fact the mere idea of imbibing the substance made his stomach churn. Often a hot chocolate helped, but lately it hadn’t been enough. Hence the unscheduled cat-nap.
He could only hope his boss didn’t walk in and see him.
Adam had intended on merely popping in here for a beverage and a small break and instead had fallen asleep amid the rock pillows. His package of chocolate milk was nestled on his chest.
Jane found it hard to drag herself away form her work lately, it had gotten to such an interesting stage, but she understood the importance of getting out of the Death Chamber on a regular basis, the vibrations there being so strong.
She still had bad feelings about the break room in which she'd been attacked a few years ago, so this time she opted a place that seemed more friendly (and hopefully more populated, just in case). On entering, the first thing she did was provide herself with a strong cup of coffee--well, not exactly in a cup, but very good, nonetheless.
Walking further into the room, she was momentarily alarmed by a strange and loud noise, as if from some type of machinery or perhaps a creature. Transferring her coffee to her other hand, she pulled out her wand and walked carefully across the room to investigate.
What she found was her colleague, Adam Gerulf, fast asleep in the pillows with a chocolate mile clutched in one hand. He was so deeply asleep she might have feared he was dead or enchanged, except for the snoring coming from his mouth. Jane stopped to regard him for a few moments--asleep he looked so calm and peaceful, and not at all like someone liable to explode one's experiments at all.
Laurel usually avoided the decompression chamber for obvious rock golem bad memory reasons. Today though she needed to find Adam and this was where her Inner Eye told her that he'd be. It was with reluctance that the blond middle aged woman left the Prophecy Hall and headed over and into the decompression chamber. Scanning the room for Adam she immediatley spotted him lying amist the rock pillows, appearing asleep and Jane standing close by. Heading over to stand by Janes side Laurel greeted quietly with a small smile. "Hi Jane, how are you today?" Gesturing to Adam's snoozing figure she asked in a whisper. "Do you think Adam is asleep? Not passed out from a bad experiment?" It was a constant worry with Adam.
Heading over to stand by Janes side Laurel greeted quietly with a small smile. "Hi Jane, how are you today?" Gesturing to Adam's snoozing figure she asked in a whisper. "Do you think Adam is asleep? Not passed out from a bad experiment?" It was a constant worry with Adam.
Jane turned at the sound of Laurel's voice and gave a small smile back. "I don't think so; he looks too peaceful. I just came in for some coffee and to...get away..from the Chamber, you know, and I found him like this. I wasn't sure if I should wake him or not, he looks so comfortable."
Jane turned at the sound of Laurel's voice and gave a small smile back. "I don't think so; he looks too peaceful. I just came in for some coffee and to...get away..from the Chamber, you know, and I found him like this. I wasn't sure if I should wake him or not, he looks so comfortable."
Laurel kept studying her friends snoozing figure when Janes voice cut off her thoughts of why Adam was sleeping at work. Furrowing her brows slightly she asked Jane "Is something off in the Chamber?" Turning her eyes back on Adam she said in response to Janes observation. "I think we should wake Adam up even if he looks so comfortable and peaceful. If Airey wanders in he won't be pleased."
Laurel walked closer to Adam and reached down to shake him slightly by the right arm to hopefully not startle him too much. "Adam? Adam wake up? Can you hear me? You can't sleep at work."
*randomly tagged* | Norbert(a) | The Wandmaker (tm)
Adam had learned many things since he became a father. How to change diapers, One of them was the innate ability to tell when someone was watching him sleep. He opened one eye slowly, expecting to see the faint outline of his son staring at him expectantly or the face of Zita looking at him like he had forgotten to do something…Instead he found another familiar outline reaching down to - ”Ahhhggg….” He flailed, completely taken off guard by the fact that it wasn’t his son or his love waking him. His milk pouch went flying. He lost his ballance and fell off the rock pillow and - bounced. Well, sort of bounced. A rock pillow fell on top of him, his leg kicked another and a moment later he was buried under a pile of rock pillows.
He laid there for a moment dazed. When he spoke it was a bit muffled thanks to the pillows. ”Laurel... did you need somezzingkt?” he asked, sounding perhaps a little sore, but not embarrassed at all. It wasn’t the first time he’d made a fool of himself in front of Laurel. He had no idea that Jane was there or else he may have been a smidge embarrassed.
”Ahhhggg….” He flailed, completely taken off guard by the fact that it wasn’t his son or his love waking him. His milk pouch went flying. He lost his balance and fell off the rock pillow and - bounced. Well, sort of bounced. A rock pillow fell on top of him, his leg kicked another and a moment later he was buried under a pile of rock pillows.
Jane just stood looking at Adam in amazement. It was hard to believe this man was a father; she felt a bit sorry for his wife, for it must be rather like taking care of twochildren. Jane had never seen anyone who could turn the simplest of actions into a disaster. How he managed to do his work effectively was a wonder, but there was no doubt that he was very skilled at his profession.
Instead he found another familiar outline reaching down to - ”Ahhhggg….” He flailed, completely taken off guard by the fact that it wasn’t his son or his love waking him. His milk pouch went flying. He lost his ballance and fell off the rock pillow and - bounced. Well, sort of bounced. A rock pillow fell on top of him, his leg kicked another and a moment later he was buried under a pile of rock pillows.
He laid there for a moment dazed. When he spoke it was a bit muffled thanks to the pillows. ”Laurel... did you need somezzingkt?” he asked, sounding perhaps a little sore, but not embarrassed at all. It wasn’t the first time he’d made a fool of himself in front of Laurel. He had no idea that Jane was there or else he may have been a smidge embarrassed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadAlice
Jane just stood looking at Adam in amazement. It was hard to believe this man was a father; she felt a bit sorry for his wife, for it must be rather like taking care of twochildren. Jane had never seen anyone who could turn the simplest of actions into a disaster. How he managed to do his work effectively was a wonder, but there was no doubt that he was very skilled at his profession.
Laurel stood quite still and silent as she watched how Adam flailed, lost his balance, fell off the rock pillows, sort of bounced off and eventually became buried under a pile of rock pillows. Laurel did her utmost to not shake her head at him. Instead she said with a small serene nod ignoring what had just happened "Hi Adam, yes I do need something. Do you have any boil cure potions available? A vicious prophecy made me contract boils all over my arms." The boils itched and hurt. If Adam couldn't help her then she'd have to go see a healer.
Turning to Jane, Laurel asked "Jane, did you come for a break or did you need Adam's assistance too with something?"
*randomly tagged* | Norbert(a) | The Wandmaker (tm)
”Boil kure? Ah, ja... I do. Back in ze Lofe Chamber.” He had whipped up a batch after a potion had flared up and bubbled over, causing his flame to lash out and get him. Ah, Jane was here too it seemed. Adam dusted his chest off and then somehow managed to get himself to his feet. Once there, he made sure his coat was straightened and not covered in milk. ”Herrin Jane, always a pleasure. How are your experiments?” He hadn’t seen much of her since she had left the Love Chamber, likely afraid one of his own experiments would blow up again. Adam’s hands were fixing his hair and wondering how he hadn’t lost his glasses. ”Let me haf a look at a zose boils, Laurel.” He held out a hand. He’d learned the hard way that sometimes magic-induced boils couldn’t be cured by any boil potion he could make and would rather not make things worse for his work wife friend.
"Oh, the experiments are going fine, just fine," murmured Jane as she also looked over Lauren's boils over Adam's arms. She thought she probably also had a boil cure around somewhere, perhaps on her, as she was used to carrying around such things from her term as a governess. But Lauren seemed to particularly want Adam's help, and he seemed eager to give it, so she hesitated to interfere--unless the boils were truly serious. "The experiment reached the stage where it could not be continued in the Love Chamber--the vibrations would hinder it, you see--and so I've been working in the Death Chamber. But one can't stay there too long at a time, so I've come here for a break and some coffee."
”Boil kure? Ah, ja... I do. Back in ze Lofe Chamber.” He had whipped up a batch after a potion had flared up and bubbled over, causing his flame to lash out and get him. Ah, Jane was here too it seemed. Adam dusted his chest off and then somehow managed to get himself to his feet. Once there, he made sure his coat was straightened and not covered in milk. ”Herrin Jane, always a pleasure. How are your experiments?” He hadn’t seen much of her since she had left the Love Chamber, likely afraid one of his own experiments would blow up again. Adam’s hands were fixing his hair and wondering how he hadn’t lost his glasses. ”Let me haf a look at a zose boils, Laurel.” He held out a hand. He’d learned the hard way that sometimes magic-induced boils couldn’t be cured by any boil potion he could make and would rather not make things worse for his work wife friend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadAlice
"Oh, the experiments are going fine, just fine," murmured Jane as she also looked over Lauren's boils over Adam's arms. She thought she probably also had a boil cure around somewhere, perhaps on her, as she was used to carrying around such things from her term as a governess. But Lauren seemed to particularly want Adam's help, and he seemed eager to give it, so she hesitated to interfere--unless the boils were truly serious. "The experiment reached the stage where it could not be continued in the Love Chamber--the vibrations would hinder it, you see--and so I've been working in the Death Chamber. But one can't stay there too long at a time, so I've come here for a break and some coffee."
Perfect! Laurel would need to go bother the healers on Level one. Adam would fix her boils soon enough. "Great." She murmured almost inaudibly. How Adam got himself out of the pillows and up and onto his feet seemed like a mystery to her, but her friend always did stuff she couldn't explain. Laurel grimaced at first, but did as Adam wanted and pulled the sleeves up on her ministry robes so that he could see the big and angry red boils that practically covered every inch of her arms. Luckily these kinds of prophecies that gave the reader boils or worse weren't common. Holding her arms out to Adam for closer inspection she begged of him. "Please tell me that your potions can fix these Adam? I don't want to go bother River or the other healers on call if I don't have to." If she saw a healer she'd have to alert Airey too.
Turning her head to look at Jane she asked "What's so special about the death chamber anyway?" Granted, she avoided it if she didn't have an errand there, but Laurel had never really understood why.
Jane had been peering at Laurel's injury from behind Adam, who continued to examine it without speaking. "It doesn't look too bad," she finally volunteered, "I'm sure Adam has something that will help." If not, Jane was sure she did, but she hesitated to interfere.
"The Death Chamber?" she responded to Laurel's question. "Well, I don't know if I'd call it 'special' exactly, but it does produce a rather strong atmosphere--the Veil is down there right at the bottom and sometimes you can almost feel the edge of the Other World close by. But as for my current work, it involves rather--harsh potions and some unpleasant ingredients. The Love Chamber is just too...warm and comforting, you understand--it's just not the right place for what I'm doing right now." What she was doing, in fact, involved confronting mortality, one's own included, and she suspected would lead her into a rather dark place before she was done. "But I hope to be back in your labs in the next stages." However long that would be--the current phase seemed to be taking forever, though she had been delayed by those months in the hospital.
*randomly tagged* | Norbert(a) | The Wandmaker (tm)
"Sche is also likely vorried I vill blow somezzing up again," Adam ventured with a smile, glancing up at where he thought both ladies were standing before looking back down at the boils on Laurel's arm. Love could be volatile and unpredictable - which was one of the reasons his potions often exploded. Or so, he told himself. He was quite certain it was one of the of the leading causes for his booms, although he had no evidence to back up his claims.
Was he taking his time looking things over? Yes, sometimes it took his eyes a bit to focus. Being in the presence of an exploding star would do that to anyone he wagered. [b]"Gute news..."[b] He produced his raspberry wood wand from his back pocket and summoned his boil cure. It took a moment, but it zoomed through the air towards them. Hearing it coming, he snatched it out of the air. "Zis schould vork." He held the bottle out for Laurel. "Put ein (one) layer on undt zen vhen zey schtart to go down, put a second layer on. Schould clear up in an hour."
As for the death chamber? He didn't step foot in there. With his track record, he'd end up tripping and falling through the curtain and then who was be there to look after Zita and Micha? The mere idea made him worried, even if Laurel had assured him that the Ministry wasn't trying to kill him. "Ze lofe chamber iss nicht always varm undt fuzzy. Zere is ein corner vhere if you are nicht careful you vill feel ze vorst sort uff pain undt longing..." He got a weird look on his face and he shook his head slowly. "Sometimes people forget zat lofe has a dark side," he said quietly.
[b] "Ze lofe chamber iss nicht always varm undt fuzzy. Zere is ein corner vhere if you are nicht careful you vill feel ze vorst sort uff pain undt longing..." He got a weird look on his face and he shook his head slowly. "Sometimes people forget zat lofe has a dark side," he said quietly.
"True," Jane conceded. "That's not really what I meant, I expect I expressed myself badly. But it's just--the work I'm doing right now has a lot to do with darkness and decay and the atmosphere of the Death Chamber is just...more effective for it, right now at any rate." She didn't add that it also promised peace and quiet and privacy, and no explosions. Between Adam's sometimes volatile experiments and vampire attacks, Jane had already had to start over on this stage several times and she was determined to see the current experiment safely through to the end.
Still observing the treatment of Laurel's arm, Jane was pleased to note that Adam's treatment seemed to be working just fine. Thankfully their colleague hadn't been injured too badly after all. And Adam could have the pleasure of successfully treating her, without interference from an ex-nanny. "It looks much better," she offered.
not throwing away my shot | Slytherpuff | roll for initiative | woof you ❤
Indigo did sometimes wish that his job was more, well...normal. He should have known when he started at the department of mysteries that things wouldn't exactly be as expected. But he had thought there would be at least some more regular things about it. Like a normal break room maybe. But no, what existed was this plush rock garden. He didn't always mind it. Like when he had been poring over a particularly complicated code it was sometimes nice to relax a bit among the plush stones. But sometimes, like now, he just wanted some coffee and could do without the quirks. But alas, there he was. First having to spritz himself upon entry (also very much not normal) and then making his way to the plush machine. He stood before it, contemplating exactly what he wanted.
With all the fuss that had been made about the the 'Atlantis twelve' anyone would think the world had come to an end; yet life continued as it always did, just as the world never stopped spinning for a handful of unfortunates. Daxton, for his part, gave them no further thought other than to reason that Keiran and kin may not be best pleased if the issue remained unresolved. Otherwise, he came to the Ministry to work, and did no more and no less than what he had been hired to do, focused as he was instead on his real objective. Aptly enough, a deliverance of his own.
Typical, really, that he had joined this department just as its employees were not-so-subtly implicated in triggering that whole furore by the press. Daxton had not exactly been tempted to buddy up with his colleagues since then, though he could not have honestly said that that was ever a possibility. Out of the colleagues he already knew, there was perhaps one that Daxton did not hold in utter contempt.
Having just finished a long stint of experimentation with one of the encephalons, Daxton had cleaned up and headed for the Decompression Chamber, unabashedly ignoring the spray bottle as he entered. Usually this room had him recalling the Pebbles 2 drowning incident (which may not have been the case were Flamsteed not so irrevocably linked to the incident and the room), but today his attention found Indigo Rousseau instead.
Daxton joined him by the machine and gestured to one of the absurd sachets inside - at random - as though by way of suggestion, and allowed that to serve as a greeting.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Chocolate!
not throwing away my shot | Slytherpuff | roll for initiative | woof you ❤
Indigo had not heard anyone come in, perhaps because he was so focused on the machine in front of him. So the movement suddenly beside him startled him momentarily. "Oh," he said with a smile when he saw who had joined him. Just one of his coworkers, nothing nefarious. "Hello," he greeted kindly. Indigo did recognize him, Daxton he was pretty sure his name was. He was new to the department, just joining this year. He didn't know him particularly well because they didn't work in the same chamber. But in his experience with the other man he had noticed his quiet nature, which definitely spoke to Indigo, being an introvert himself.
Indigo looked back at the machine, at the selection that Daxton had motioned to. "Have you had that one before?" He hadn't tried it, but he would welcome a recommendation from someone who had.
HeadGirlMC | Treddie & Trixiver <3 | Copy Girl | Katie's Ickle Minion | I love YOU more
Mikkel had started and maintained his position at the Ministry without making much of a splash and for good reason. He was not one to enjoy the attention, that and being an unspeakable came with its own set of regulations and secrecy that reinforced his own quietness. That wasn’t to say that Mikkel was unfriendly, he just kept himself to himself for the majority of the time and worked some rather odd and unsociable hours.
Today he was awake at a reasonable hour and after working in the darkness of the Space Chamber for a number of hours he was appreciative of a few moments alone in the Decompression Chamber. It was an odd location for a break room, although not much stranger than the old observatory he worked at in Svalbard which effectively didn’t have a break room at all. He sprayed himself with the requested spray and settled himself down on one of the pillows with his book nestled in his lap.
Daxton Prince was a man who did not take kindly to being hassled, particularly not when his hasslers were not even his coworkers. Nor was he a man who received many interdepartmental memos, as may have been clear from his ire at the last one that had just found him. Found him and thrown him completely off his stride midway through a Thought Experiment, messing up the entire thing, which had put him in a thoroughly bad mood (especially as the memo had been sent to the Chamber in error... somehow).
Loath as he was to admit it, what Daxton needed in this moment was some decompressing. In fact, he could not really recall how long he had been at work in the Thought Chamber. His watch was telling him one thing, but it definitely felt to him like he had been absorbed enough in his work that he had missed a stint of sleep. The watch declined to confirm, but it could well be malfunctioning what with some of the magic it had been exposed to recently.
At first, Daxton ignored the spray bottle as he usually did in here, before relenting and turning back to spritz himself. He found the spray bottle routine to be an inconvenience, but he was not stupid. If his watch was malfunctioning, it was better to neutralise the magic on and around him, just in case.
That done, he approached the other individual in the room, the one with the book. A relatively new face in the department, which he knew only because he paid attention to these things - and because he'd possibly vaguely recognised him from those turbulent Hogwarts days - not because he had any interest in his coworkers. No matter how much he was hassled about that, too.
Daxton strode over to Andreassen and stood regarding him for a moment, not speaking, but conjuring up a small blank card and turning it over in his fingers, waiting for the man's attention. This being his more polite approach to socialising.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Chocolate!
Last edited by Felixir; 01-09-2024 at 10:15 AM.
Reason: he's been side-eyeing me about how he'd likely know his name by now (i think???)
HeadGirlMC | Treddie & Trixiver <3 | Copy Girl | Katie's Ickle Minion | I love YOU more
The appearance of another human being into the room didn’t make Mikkel look up from the book he was currently engrossing himself with. If it wasn’t for the sudden feeling of that person standing over him, Mikkel might not have acknowledged them at all. His eyes slowly lifted from the words dancing their way off the page to the figure waiting for a greeting or a response or whatever colleagues were supposed to do when they passed each other in the hallways. But no response came and it took the man a brief few seconds to decide on his next steps.
“Hallo?” He automatically replied in Norwegian before clearing his throat and realising his mistake. Not that it would be difficult to determine what he was supposed to say. “Can I help you?” His accent was thick despite being educated in the UK, a result of those numerous years spent in the middle of the Arctic with just the stars (and a very small population) for company.
Mikkel had no intentions of appearing rude and should he make the effort would likely be able to recall the names of his colleagues but he often kept himself to himself and socialising was not a priority his agenda therefore the name of the other man had entirely slipped his mind. He had promised himself that he would make a conscientious effort to talk to others however and so his stoic expression morphed into a sort of smile barely touching the corner of his mouth.
It was nothing personal - it could not have been anything personal, him having had no personal business with this man at any point - but more to do with the fact that Daxton was not a smiler. He considered the other Unspeakable for a moment before bending the business card in his fingertips so that it flicked out of them. It righted itself in the air, and then flew to Andreassen.
The card was no longer blank, but now bore a message in spiky black handwriting. Is it still Wednesday?
They were not too different. With his son away at school again, Daxton was free to submerge himself in his work, both for the Ministry, and his own personal research. That was exactly what he did, aside from keeping up with a side business or two, plus doing his best to stay moderately sane for the sake of his eldest. The point was, it was very possible that, between them, their social skills might not fill an interdepartmental memo. It did not matter. Not to Daxton, anyway.
__________________
Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Chocolate!
HeadGirlMC | Treddie & Trixiver <3 | Copy Girl | Katie's Ickle Minion | I love YOU more
A flicker of confusion crossed Mikkel’s face as he was wordlessly presented a card. He was no expert in social skills himself and there may have been a slight cultural difference in his Scandinavian experience but he was fairly certain that unspeakables weren’t literally supposed to be mute. He caught the card in his fingertips, turning it over to read the message displayed in ink.
What an odd question. Although it wasn’t entirely unthinkable, Mikkel had frequently found himself working such unsociable hours that he found it difficult to process whether it was day or night. Up in the Arctic Circle it could be daylight far beyond midnight in the summer and continuously nighttime during the winter. It was no wonder that the Evolutionist was pale and gaunt when he had lived half the year without vitamin D.
“I believe so,” he answered, sliding his bookmark into the page he had previously been reading. “Unless I too have lost time somewhere.” His brows furrowed. He didn’t entirely understand what occurred in the Time Chamber after all.
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