It was clinically proven that a change in scenery increased productivity and efficiency in work, and so Bhuvana took a pile of papers - some actual work, others documents in French she was trying to convert to English. The languages were easier and more fun, so she seated herself at an empty table and translated a paragraph or two before moving back to actual work things. She stretched her arms and rolled out her neck before glancing around. She wasn't looking for anyone in particular, no, not at all.

The conversation had certainly been intriguing, if not an outright surprise, yet Amethyst enjoyed it. It was a change from work, and while there was always the risk of showing a lack of knowledge about the subject, she wasn’t afraid of it. She’d never been afraid of conversation. “Aside from the names, define the differences,” she commented with a smile. “I wouldn’t imagine the impressiveness matters much. A Greek might say they prefer Ares, after all, and that it sounds like a much more war-like name. Yet I can’t claim to prefer one or the other.” Her accent should have proven that, even though she had to acknowledge she knew more about the Roman side. Italian stories, along with French even though that was nowhere near the subject. Name semantics were always amusing, especially given her personal knowledge. Not everyone preferred hers after all. “Well, thank you.” Apparently he wasn’t one of those who thought it strange. Him and Victoria, although she liked her name well enough. That was the important part.

“Do you?,” she rejoined. “It’s different from what I’ve done in the past, yet I have to admit it’s likely less dangerous. And I’ve always been open to whatever experiences I’m able to have.” No, her current position wasn’t what she’d studied in university, yet that didn’t make her unqualified. “Hmm. Any specific locations you’d like to visit, given the opportunity?,” she asked, continuing to eat her fruit salad. She wondered if she should have considered the same concept when it came to Jemma, giving her the experience of different cultures, yet she chose not to mention it. “Not all adults are closed off to new experiences, yet you do have a point. Children are always taking in everything around them,” she said instead, wondering what stories her daughter would tell her on the way home that night. What stories might occur in the latter half of the day. It was rather inevitable there would be at least one. “Oh? What would you like to teach? What subject, that is. If you don’t mind me asking?”

William was also looking for a break, and not on level four. He needed to stretch his long legs so he found himself nipping into the cafeteria for a scone and a juice.

A juice box, naturally, he didn't need a whole bottle of sugar fruit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

It was clinically proven that a change in scenery increased productivity and efficiency in work, and so Bhuvana took a pile of papers - some actual work, others documents in French she was trying to convert to English. The languages were easier and more fun, so she seated herself at an empty table and translated a paragraph or two before moving back to actual work things. She stretched her arms and rolled out her neck before glancing around. She wasn't looking for anyone in particular, no, not at all.

He looked around first to make sure there were no creepy Healers here to jump him, and found, to his delight? Surprise? that YOU KNOW WHO was sitting all by herself at a table. And she looked bored, too, with whatever she was reading. William was a friendly guy, so why not invite himself to join her?

He settled into the seat opposite Bhuvana's, already munching into the scone, and plopped the juice box down on the table as though he'd been invited to sit all along.

"Ello!" he greeted her after a clumsy swallow. Willy brushed a few crumbs off his mouth and reached for his juice box to insert the straw. "How's it going?"

He was betting on an annoyed response in 3....2.....1....

Bhuvana ignored the person sitting in her peripheral until she had finished reading the document, then looked up across the table at… William. What a … surprise. "Hello, William," she replied crisply, glancing at his juice box which matched the child inside of him, obviously. "I'm…" Okay? Fine? Bored? Definitely the last one, maybe the first one too, but what to say out loud? "…bored," she finished after an awkward pause, in which she didn't quite look at his face and instead jotted a note down to make to her boss. "And you?"

Because she had manners, people. And although she said that quite wearily and tiredly because she was tired, she did manage to look interested into whatever nonsense would come out of his mouth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Bhuvana ignored the person sitting in her peripheral until she had finished reading the document, then looked up across the table at… William. What a … surprise. "Hello, William," she replied crisply, glancing at his juice box which matched the child inside of him, obviously. "I'm…" Okay? Fine? Bored? Definitely the last one, maybe the first one too, but what to say out loud? "…bored," she finished after an awkward pause, in which she didn't quite look at his face and instead jotted a note down to make to her boss. "And you?"

Because she had manners, people. And although she said that quite wearily and tiredly because she was tired, she did manage to look interested into whatever nonsense would come out of his mouth.

Well well, look at that. Bhuvana didn't entirely appear annoyed with William, at least not yet, so he was going to consider himself a social success for now. No blushing, spilling of liquids, or rude words had been exchanged, so he would see if they could keep that up.

"Bored," he repeated, "same here." He took pull from the juice box which actually drained the entire little box and then set it back down again with a small, "huh." Willy gestured toward the files Bhuvana seemed to be going through with a swirl of his index finger. "What are ya reading?"

Munch munch munch on another bite of scone.

Bhuvana flipped her document over and saw that it rambled on even more. Sighhhh. She underlined a few phrases that jumped out at her, to put up the pretense of working, but stayed very aware of William's presence and eating habits. "You on a break?" she asked casually with a squint at her page. Merlin, she needed glasses or something at this point - the words were blurring. "What department are you in… exactly?" Just keeping casual conversation, that's it. She wasn't actually interested. Just pretending to be. Ahem.

She looked up again at his question. "Hm?" Oh. Her reading. "Work. Document things. Foreign affairs, laws, and regulations." She hid her french pages underneath the stack. Those were special.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Bhuvana flipped her document over and saw that it rambled on even more. Sighhhh. She underlined a few phrases that jumped out at her, to put up the pretense of working, but stayed very aware of William's presence and eating habits. "You on a break?" she asked casually with a squint at her page. Merlin, she needed glasses or something at this point - the words were blurring. "What department are you in… exactly?" Just keeping casual conversation, that's it. She wasn't actually interested. Just pretending to be. Ahem.

She looked up again at his question. "Hm?" Oh. Her reading. "Work. Document things. Foreign affairs, laws, and regulations." She hid her french pages underneath the stack. Those were special.

Break? Him? "Well yeah," William answered with a chuckle. Wasn't she also? It was a bit early for lunch still, he supposed. Ohhh, he hadn't mentioned his department. "I work in Magical Creatures," he declared proudly. "I'm the Head Dragon Researcher. It's actually a lot of reading reports and combing through papers, kinda like what you're doing." And occasionally there was some awesome field work involved, which was nothing at all like what she was doing.

Oh look, You Know Who decided to make eye contact. Willy made sure to smile brilliantly and nod at her answer, even if it mostly went WHOOSH clear over his head. "I see...." paaaaaaause "...why you might be bored."

He made the comment lightly and scooped up his juice box, squashing it down into a little ball and then taking aim for the nearest trash can. William had rehearsed this move hundreds of times on his own, mostly missing the rubbish bin but occasionally making it. He took aim and fired, watching with high hopes that for once it would go in because he had an audience and this would look impressive....

And it did! WOOHOO! SCORE! He contained his excitement to just a small, self-congratulatory smirk and looked back at Bhuvana. "You work in which division of International Cooperation?" See, he could pick the conversation back up. He wasn't 100% a child.

"Hm," Bhuvana said again, with a slow nod that made her dangly earrings jangle. She was going to offer the fact that she wasn't on break and was in fact, still working, but didn't actually say anything because. She didn't really have a reason. She just kept her head down and scanned another dull paragraph about legislation in Britain versus some random other European country.

Magical Creatures. Matched him perfectly, with his energy. It probably would not be good to be tired when dealing with some big, strong animal. "Dragons?" she asked almost incredulously. Wow. That was… against her better judgement… "Impressive." And also, she would literally rather read about dragons than what she was reading about. She had taken the job thinking it would be a bit more… on her feet. Which it obviously wasn't, but she couldn't change anything, so.

"Mmhm. It's not always this boring." Except it usually was, but Bhuvana wanted to defend her job. She had been in more interesting jobs before, teaching in India and researching in France, but this was government, which she really liked.

Bhuvana's eyebrows raised when the rubbish made it into the bin. She didn't say anything, but her eyebrows were raised maybe even appraisingly.

"I'm a Wizarding Secretariat Member and one of the Magical Product Testers." Nice, hefty titles after only a little more than a year in the system. Still, "Best person in the department" or "The most productive and professional worker ever" would've been nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

"Hm," Bhuvana said again, with a slow nod that made her dangly earrings jangle. She was going to offer the fact that she wasn't on break and was in fact, still working, but didn't actually say anything because. She didn't really have a reason. She just kept her head down and scanned another dull paragraph about legislation in Britain versus some random other European country.

Magical Creatures. Matched him perfectly, with his energy. It probably would not be good to be tired when dealing with some big, strong animal. "Dragons?" she asked almost incredulously. Wow. That was… against her better judgement… "Impressive." And also, she would literally rather read about dragons than what she was reading about. She had taken the job thinking it would be a bit more… on her feet. Which it obviously wasn't, but she couldn't change anything, so.

"Mmhm. It's not always this boring." Except it usually was, but Bhuvana wanted to defend her job. She had been in more interesting jobs before, teaching in India and researching in France, but this was government, which she really liked.

Bhuvana's eyebrows raised when the rubbish made it into the bin. She didn't say anything, but her eyebrows were raised maybe even appraisingly.

"I'm a Wizarding Secretariat Member and one of the Magical Product Testers." Nice, hefty titles after only a little more than a year in the system. Still, "Best person in the department" or "The most productive and professional worker ever" would've been nice.

She had nice earrings on, William noticed now, not that he'd ever saaaaaaaaaay that out loud. Just the thought would make him blush, so he kept it to himself and let Bhuvana read her boring reading. She liked the rubbish toss though, he could tell. See, he wasn't boring like her paperwork.

"Dragons," he repeated with a solid nod. She was... actually impressed? Really? Now his eyebrows were up slightly. "I like it," he just shrugged it off, trying to keep it cool. "It's nice to still be able to work with your passion, even if it's not in the field all the time." He did still miss teaching at Hogwarts though, sometimes more than he missed the reserve.

Not always this boring... "Is it due tomorrow or something?" Willy wasn't nosy but he didn't like to see people suffer through boring bags of paperwork. Wowwww that was a title. "Congrats," he said since it seemed fitting. "What kind of magical products do you test?"

Bhuvana finished the article - finally - and jotting a few closing questions down. Now she could focus entirely on his face the conversation… if she wanted to. Or she could read French. She pulled out the French just in case she needed to pretend to leave or something. But hopefully she wouldn't need that.

Dragons are… impressive. It was undeniable. "How long have you been interested in dragons?" Was it a lifelong dream or just an offhanded 'I can't play quidditch so I'll tame dragons.' He struck her as a quidditch person, for some reason. Oh! Fieldwork? "Do you actually… deal with dragons? Feed them and stuff?" That would be SO COOL.

It wasn't due tomorrow. It wasn't even due the day after that. "I like to get ahead," she said, not fully answering the question, then moved on. Was he complimenting her? "Thanks?" she said, almost as a question. "We test everything. Literally. Every single product imported so that they aren't defective." It was a lot of work. "I usually test the smaller things. We test rugs sometimes to make sure they aren't enchanted to fly." They didn't do that in any way, shape, or form, but Bhuvana looked sideways at William to see if he caught the reference.

“Define the differences,” Gregory laughed genuinely and slid his glasses down his nose to look at her with a bemused smile. “I must say that you are one of the few who encourage my ramblings. It’s…nice.” He picked at his lunch a bit the smile still on his face and shook his head, “Well, aside from the names. Some of the stories are slightly different or completely different. But…I suppose there isn’t that much of a difference overall,” he said still chuckling. Well she was amusing. He slid his glasses back and chewed on his food thoughtfully. “I suppose you’re right. It’s a matter of perspective.”

Did he like his job? A rather difficult question since he still didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing exactly. In fact he’d been in the Ministry awhile now and still hadn’t been given an actual task. Was that weird? “For the most part, I suppose.” Less dangerous? Merlin, what did this woman do before? He wanted to ask but that seemed like it might be prying but…of course his curiosity got the better of him. “What did you do prior?”

“If I had to pick a place I would say China. There’s just so much history there.” He took a few more bites of his food and nodded. “But you’re right not all adults are like that. Do you like to travel?” He was pretty sure this was the longest conversation he has had with anyone since being here. “If I were to teach….it would be History. I think History is important for us to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. Also to realize that you can’t, or I should say shouldn’t, change it and that some things happen for a reason.”

The food court, she had been her many times for lunch, so she knew it would be the perfect place for signs and flyers. Yes a perfect place. She moved around the tables setting her flyers down. They had the pretty poster picture on one side and her article smaller on the other. Very nice touch if she could say so herself. Yes Mariel had done wonderful work finding someone to make these. She just adored them.

Once she was finished putting the flyers on each table she looked around for wall space. Yes that wall looked perfect to place a poster. So getting it out she moved over to stick it to the wall. Once finished she stepped back and put her wand away. It seemed like a good spot, but the poster looked crocked. That just wouldn't do, so she moved back towards it and pulled on one side until it was even.

Now it was perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Bhuvana finished the article - finally - and jotting a few closing questions down. Now she could focus entirely on his face the conversation… if she wanted to. Or she could read French. She pulled out the French just in case she needed to pretend to leave or something. But hopefully she wouldn't need that.

Dragons are… impressive. It was undeniable. "How long have you been interested in dragons?" Was it a lifelong dream or just an offhanded 'I can't play quidditch so I'll tame dragons.' He struck her as a quidditch person, for some reason. Oh! Fieldwork? "Do you actually… deal with dragons? Feed them and stuff?" That would be SO COOL.

It wasn't due tomorrow. It wasn't even due the day after that. "I like to get ahead," she said, not fully answering the question, then moved on. Was he complimenting her? "Thanks?" she said, almost as a question. "We test everything. Literally. Every single product imported so that they aren't defective." It was a lot of work. "I usually test the smaller things. We test rugs sometimes to make sure they aren't enchanted to fly." They didn't do that in any way, shape, or form, but Bhuvana looked sideways at William to see if he caught the reference.

William sort of watched as she appeared to tidy up her papers and things... was she leaving now? Just when things were getting interesting? Aww, no... she... wanted to hear his dragon stories! Naturally, the dragon lover's face lit up like it was Christmas morning.

"All my life I've loved them," he answered enthusiastically. "Yeah, we do. Well... not feeding them so much, they make sure the dragons are well fed on the reservations. It's a lot of observations, like I said, plus occasionally restraining them if needed, tracking migration and breeding patterns, working with the universities to make sure their programs are up to scratch... just, a LOT of stuff." A lot of NUMBER CRUNCHING and PAPERWORK stuff that sometimes made his brain hurt, but he got through it. Plus, now he had that new chick to work with and maybe he could pass some of the more number-heavy analyzing off to her...

So since she didn't say when it was due, William was going to assume Bhuvana was just one of those overachievers. Not surprising, but Willy was still in a good mood because of the dragon talk. "You're welcome?" he answered her question with a gently-mocking grin, which turned into a 'now I'm impressed' expression as she explained her job. "Wow, everything?" That's what everything means, dummy! "That could be fun though, especially testing those sneaky rugs." He winked at her little side-eye. "Do you have any funny stories of products that did something they weren't supposed to?"

Cassie did have a small bowl of ice cream sitting in front of her, but her main reason for being there was to relax. She'd been busy learning the ins and outs of her fairly new job and it could be pretty tiring sometimes. So she'd made her way down to the food court and took a seat. Her feet were propped up on the chair across from her, and there was a small notebook resting in front of her but it was still closed. She didn't have anything she needed to do at the moment so she was taking the time to completely relax. People watch and kind of zone out. Cassie always found it interesting just to observe the people running all around the ministry. There were so many diverse and interesting people and it was almost disappointing that she barely knew any of them.

She had just put the last of her posters up and decided to grab a bit to eat. Looking around she noticed someone sit down. Well maybe she could have a seat with them and possibly give someone her flyer. That would be nice now wouldn't it. She could do a little work on her lunch. Ha! Who was she kidding she couldn't remember the last time she had just a sitting relaxing lunch. Goodness she was working too hard, but she loved every minute of her job and the campaign.

"Hello, do you mind if I sit down?" Giving her best smile before taking a seat, if she didn't want her there she could say, but for now she was sitting. Placing her napkin on her lap she reached her hand out, "Victoria Maroon." Most people were starting to recognize her the more the campaign went on, but some still didn't know her. It was weird to be recognized really, she was so use to being quiet and blending in to the wall.

Cassie wasn't so unfocused that she didn't notice the woman approaching her. She noticed everything, especially since this woman had been walking right toward her table. Obviously her intent had been to sit as well. Cassie smiled and nodded when she asked. "Of course not." She gestured to the table around her, indicating for the woman to take a seat. But not the one directly across from Cassie, she definitely wasn't moving her feet.

"Cassandra White." She shook the hand the woman offered and smiled again. She was always eager to meet new people. "Is that you?" She asked, gesturing to the posters on the wall. She had seen the woman put one up, but she wasn't certain if it was her or if she had been putting them up for someone else. Cassie was obviously aware of the campaign going on, but she hadn't been paying too much attention to the candidates. None of them had stuck out to her and for some reason she couldn't really bring herself to care too much. Maybe she didn't yet feel a huge connection to the British Ministry.

Oh good, she was glad the lady didn't mind her sitting. "Oh thank you, it gets so busy here during lunch. It's always nice to have a friendly face to sit with." If she'd get elected shew as still going going to eat here and do exactly as she did now. It was certainly a way to get to know the employees. "I do hope you are having a lovely day so far." Her own day had been pretty productive so she couldn't complain.

Looking towards a poster she smiled, "Yes that is me actually. I'm running for minister and thought I'd get my face out a bit." She smiled before taking a bite of her food. Once she was done chewing and swallowed she continued, "My main position at the moment is Manager of the Quidditch Division in Games and Sports, but hopefully in a few months." She was still hopeful, she knew she was working hard.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Cassandra. So where do you work?" She wasn't sure she had met her before, so it was always nice to find out about new people.

"Of course," Cassie said with a smile. "I love meeting new people." Oddly enough she never really sought out new people to meet. She was usually thrust into a situation with them. That was how she had ended up making most of her friends. They'd all happened to be in the same place at the same time. "It's been normal. Yours?" Lovely wouldn't have been her adjective of choice to describe her day so far, but it worked. It certainly hadn't been bad, it had just seemed like a normal day around the ministry.

"How's your campaign going?" So she was running. So far Victoria seemed like a nice person who Cassie wouldn't mind voting for. And her impressions were usually very accurate. And she was very humble too, of course.

Games and Sports. That did sound very interesting, but it was a job for a specific kind of person. One who enjoyed sports specifically. In other words, it was not something Cassie would enjoy. She'd never really enjoyed Quidditch, much to the dismay of most of her friends. "I work in International Cooperation. How long have you been at the ministry?"

Well this was a perfect place to sit. Cassie seemed very nice and helpful. "I do too. It's always so nice and interesting meeting new people. You get to find out what you do and don't have in common with them. " That was the excitement of getting to know someone. "My day as been busy actually, but good. Meetings, paperwork, and campaign things, the usual really." It had become her usual to overly work everyday. Though she knew the campaign would be over in just a few months and then she could slow down a bit.

Taking another bite of her lunch she sipped her tea, "Oh it's going very well. It's been a very eye opening experience. I was always someone who stayed behind the scenes of things. Not really in the spot light, so this is a whole new world." She wasn't use to seeing her name in the paper so much or people knowing her. "We have an event coming up if you are interested. It will be the candidates talking about their views." As much as she wanted people to vote for her, the main goal was to find the best minister so if she went and found someone else at least she was going to vote.

IC, she was aware of the department and a few things that bothered her from her meeting with that department head, but all in all a good department from what she knew. "Well that probably is exciting. Do you travel much with it?" Taking another sip of her tea, "I've been here going on seven years." Seven years already seemed crazy to her, but at the same time it didn't seem that long at all.

That did sound very interesting. Politics was very intricate and it must be hard for Victoria to be right in the center of everything with everyone's attention directed right at her. Or maybe it wasn't. A lot of people wouldn't actually mind the attention, but not a lot of people could maintain composure under too much pressure and heavy scrutiny. Victoria seemed to be holding up okay though, which said a lot about her as a person. "Oh? That does seem like the point of an election so I suppose I'll be there. Is it just a time for candidates to talk or will you be accepting questions from the public?" Cassie wasn't sure if she really would ask any questions of her own, but she wanted to know of her options ahead of time. Just in case.

"Not yet, but I'm hoping opportunities will arise in the future." Cassie smiled at the thought. She really enjoyed travel, but she was also comfortable staying in a place she called home. She was very open to travel from her current job because she hadn't been in England long enough to really be able to call it home yet. Hopefully soon. "Before this, I worked for the American Ministry in International Cooperation and I did get a few exciting travel opportunities." Not as many as, say, an ambassador or something like that, but the department itself was a very good one as far as travel opportunities went.

Seven years, huh? That seemed like a long time and yet not too much at the same time. Cassie supposed it depended on the person. Seven years was a pretty long length of time, but nothing compared to someone's entire life. "If you don't mind my asking, what did you do before your job here?"

She finished off her lunch and dabbed at her mouth to make sure she had nothing on it. That would be awful to talk to a potential voter and even maybe a new friend and have stuff all over your face. She thought that it sounded interesting, well that was great to hear. "Yes from my understanding with the owl I had received it will be a time for people to ask us questions about our views and things." She hoped she was giving Cassie the correct information, it would be awful if she had it wrong. "Hear I do have one of these if you would like to know more of my views." Handing her a flyer with her picture on the front and views on the back. She hoped it wasn't too forwards, but that's how an election worked.


"Traveling just sounds like it would be so much fun, but with three kids it just isn't possible." She traveled when she needed to, but a job that made her travel a lot there would be no way. "The American Ministry? Wow, what brought you clear over here?" It was always very interesting to hear where people were from and being from America was something she heard every once in awhile and it fascinated her to know why they moved. "One of my quidditch employees is American." Not that Cassie would know him, but just a small fact.

"Well, I did lots of things actually, but not really at a job setting." She knew that sounded odd, but she'd have to explain. "I had moved to Australia right after graduation and worked as a Gobstone's adviser for awhile, but when I had my son he became my focus and I stayed at home, but still did recreational leagues when possible. After my son and I moved back to London I got a job here in the PR department of Games and Sports." Now she was manager, so it had been a good seven years.

"Thanks," Cassie said with a smile. She took the flyer and looked at it for a moment, but it didn't seem appropriate to spend too much time focusing on it at the moment. She had just met this woman and they had been having a nice time just sitting there chatting. It wasn't really a time to talk politics but rather a time where a new friendship might possibly be made.

"I can imagine." It would be very difficult to travel with three kids, whether she wanted to go by herself or bring her kids along. Both options seemed complicated and Cassie was glad she didn't have to worry about anything like that. "I don't have anything tying me down at the moment, so I'd be able to travel even with very short notice." She'd done it before. Packed a bag in as little as a few hours before she was whisked off someplace new for this reason or that. That had been a risk, and a lot of times a perk, at most of her previous jobs.

"I've always been a traveler so the distance didn't bother me. I recently worked as a freelance journalist and I had been thinking that I wanted to settle down with a more steady job. I'm not sure why I chose to stay here, maybe because I had been headed this way anyway when I had that thought and there were a few openings at this ministry." She'd never really thought about that much, she'd just acted. Cassie didn't do a lot of acting without thinking, meaning whatever had been compelling her to do it had just felt right. She'd never doubted her choice and so far she hadn't regretted it. "It will be interesting to see the differences between the American ministry and this one."

Dragons were pretty cool, Bhuvana had to admit that. She wasn't that stuffy as to not appreciate them. She nodded slowly throughout William's spiel, taking in what she could understand enjoying. Tracking migration seemed like someone she would like to do...would've liked to if she was interested in that sort of thing. Obviously.

She tilted her head at his expression. It looked impressed, but… it probably wasn't. For Merlin's sake, he dealt with DRAGONS. She dealt with, at most, toy dragons. Merlin. As for his 'everything' comment, she was wondering when his child level of understanding would show. "Yes, everything…" she said, a bit condescending-sounding, but she remedied it quickly by nodding and thinking of a funny story and definitely not blushing at his wink. She didn't really find things malfunctioning funny, especially not about her… but for some reason she wanted to impress William, and maybe get a laugh in about herself. It was proven that improved self-confidence, or something like that.

"Well, once, I mean, it was probably my first week of this year in the job… we had to test these… you know… um… children's toys. A magical version of muggle spinning tops, basically. And my colleague left the room for coffee, or something, and I was making marks to see if any were defective, and I turned because I heard him coming back in, and I felt something hit the side of my cheek. And, obviously, I was a bit confused, so I turned back around and one of the tops was still spinning and shooting out jam every few revolutions." She cracked a smile, to show that he could laugh. Har, har.

"Not all are as nice as jam, though. I got this from a dysfunctional broomstick." She leaned forward, tilting her right cheekbone at him and pointing to a faded and curved scar. Oops.

She smiled as Cassie looked at her flyer and took to working on her lunch, giving the younger lady time to look over it if she felt she wanted to. No pressure though, Victoria just had them with her since she was working around the seating area.

"I wouldn't have it any other way though." Her children that was. She would love to travel more, but she was happy to have them in her life. All so amazing in their own ways in her eyes and fun. "Maybe some personal travel might be nice." A family vacation would be very nice. Maybe they could think of something for winter break, though Cossy wanted a late honeymoon for their year anniversary. She'd have to discuss this with her husband. "Oh that sounds fun though. I bet you have been to loads of interesting places." She had been to a few countries, but nothing huge.

A freelance journalist, how fun did that sound. She was realizing more and more how interesting Cassie was and how lucky she was to have sat down to get to know her. "Well I'm glad you picked to stay here, we have a great ministry. I have not come across anyone here that I haven't enjoyed working with." Her decision to move back home with her son had been a positive one and she was glad she had done it. "That is an interesting thought. I'd love to know what some of those are." Maybe they could bring tings that work there here or no things not to try.

"How old are they?" She meant that about her children, of course. Cassie liked hearing people talk about things they loved. The joy and care on their faces was always evident, and it was really nice to see them expressing those emotions.

"I've been all over. I'm really grateful for my opportunities." She thought that it would be nice to be able to stay home and relax sometimes. Have one place to really call home that you always returned back to. Cassie hadn't really had that since her school days. "Did you go to school here? At Hogwarts?" She had met a lot of people who went there, which did make sense considering the area. But there were also a lot of people who, like her, had started someplace else and found their way to the London area.