Daria wandered aimlessly around the Ministry's Atrium. She had nothing to do at the moment and had decided to do some exploring. Upon entering the large area, Daria noticed a man, in his thirties she figured, wandering around aimlessly.

Smiling to herself, Daria walked up to the older man and asked, "May I be of som assistance? If you don't mind me saying so, you look lost!" Daria gave a small giggle.

Axis smiled at the young woman "That you would nice" he laughed "It has been a while since I came here let alone work here" he looked around "I was wondering, since it is my first day if I have put my name down on a register or any of that sort" he laughed "It feels like my first day at Hogwarts all over again, the new guy"

Daria laughed once again. "Oh, don't worry about it. We all have our first days... mine was just a few weeks ago. Oh, I'm sorry for being so rude!" Daria exclaimed. "My names Daria, Daria Devereux. I work in Ministry Security.. on the 8th Floor." Daria offered her hand to the gentleman standing in front of her and smiled.

"Now," Daria continued, "as far as I know, you simply go to your job's respective floor and report to your department head's office, or at least, that's what I did."

Axis took her hand "Axis SunSoar, Department of Mysteries, Ninth Floor" he smiled letting go of her hand "Thanks for your help, Daria"

Axis looked at his watch. He knew where to go and he was sure he had some time to kill. He glanced at Daria, "How do you find the Ministry?"

"You know, it's not that bad!" Daria replied with mischief in her eyes. "Presently, I'm in charge of Air Security for the Quidditch World Cup. Are you going, by the way?" Daria looked around, her legs were killing her. There had to be somewhere more comfortable to talk.

Axis saw her look around, he smiled and gestured towards the cafeteria "I think I will answer your question somewhere more comfortable" he laughed "besides I always need to be sitting when I am talking Scottish Quidditch"

Daria laughed at Axis' comment and proceeded to walk with him to the cafeteria. She's talk flying trolls with him, if it allowed her to sit down for awhile.

"An avid Quidditch fan then?" Daria asked as they walked throught he cafe's doors.

Where was Alexa? Looking around, Becca tried to see her friend among the crowd. They'd arranged to meet here. And Becca was gonna head off to Brian's office when they were finished up. Standing back against the wall and staying out of the way of people, the young pregnant department head's eyes scanned the area for Alexa again.

Late. Late and late again.

Now where was she?

"Becky!" Alexa called as she spotted the young woman against a wall.
"Oh, love, I'm soo sorry I'm late... " She could offer no excuse save that time had run away with her. Forrester's office was one where focus was vital.
"Alright, let's grab a seat." Now where to start?
"So, how're you and Brian?" Marriage. Always a... good one.

Ah! Her name! Looking over and watching Alexa moving towards her, Becca smiled. "It's okay. No problem." she nodded. "You're not that late." she grinned and then sat down with Alexa.

Brian. "We're great, doing fantastic!" she beamed, looking down at her bulging stomach "He's so great. He's so supportive and like an angel. Seriously." Becca told her dreamily. "At twenty-eight weeks pregnant, you'd think he'd be getting frustrated with me, but he's just so excited about the baby. It's very encouraging." she smiled fondly at the thought. "And how about you and Warren?" she asked, looking sideways at Alexa with a smile.

Alexa smiled, relieved. Glancing at her watch and then Becky's off-hand dismissal she laughed, "Not that late, at all."

Of course she knew the topic would set Becca rolling. "That's wonderful!" She was happy for them. They were a truly perfect couple. Alexa tried to eliminate the thoughts of Egypt and Nathan.
"Fabulous. Should we be buying blue or pink? Do you know?"
Alexa laughed at the sneaky smile.
"We're wonderful. Engaged. It hasn't really changed much, to be honest but we haven't started talking about the date so I don't feel the pressure yet. It's just good to have him back.." She flashed a brief smile.

"It's fine" Becca smiled, looking at Alexa. "Yeah, it's great." she grinned, sighing happily at the thought of her husband. "Oh, umm.. We don't know yet. We're leaving it as a suprise" she grinned.

Watching Alexa laughing, Becca realised that she must be much happier with Warren now. "Warren was boasting about being engaged to you." she told Alexa with a smile "At the Quidditch World Cup." she added.

"Oh, you're gonna love it." Becca smiled "I promise you. It was one of the best days of my life." she leant back, thinking about her wedding day "Yeah, it's great to have someone there" she nodded "I'm happy for you, 'lexa"

Nessa arived at the ministry. Woah this place is huge! she thought. She looked around. There was a good posibility she was the youngest worker here. Whatever. she twirled one finger around a curl in her hair.

CRACK!!!

Benjamin apparated to the Atrium like he did every day. he looked around and saw many people coming and going and coming in from the floo network. It was an average morning.

Ben adjusted his gray suit and Fedora and started walking towards the elevators. He smiled and nodded and waved at people he knew. He was looking at the Daily Prophet someone was holding and continued walking. Wow. The QWC really IS a big deal. Well of course it is but it's a REALLY big deal. Ben looked down to notice his tie was coming apart. Dangit. He stopped for a moment to adjust his tie.

Eva walked along to the atrium, Her ipod in her ears. No one seemed to listen to music around here. Well she didn't care if her older brother was going to force her to work in the same place as him then she was gonna listen to her ipod. Thank goodness they weren't in the same department. "Even if the sky is fallin' downn." she sung, her red boots made a clippy cloppy sound on the floor as she walked around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChloeeCloverr

Eva walked along to the atrium, Her ipod in her ears. No one seemed to listen to music around here. Well she didn't care if her older brother was going to force her to work in the same place as him then she was gonna listen to her ipod. Thank goodness they weren't in the same department. "Even if the sky is fallin' downn." she sung, her red boots made a clippy cloppy sound on the floor as she walked around.

Just as Ben looked up from fixing his tie, something caught his eye. WOWZA!!!!!!! It was such a beautiful woman. And had to be a recent Hogwarts graduate like he. Ben didn't know it but he was staring at her for a few moments like he was a Tex Avery Wolf. Alright, Benjamin. play it cool. We have to make it look like it's an accident. Benjamin took out his wand and looked at his breifcase. He tapped the lock, unlocking it. Ben nonchalantly started walking behind her, then next to her, then in front of her until...

"DARNIT!!!" Benjamin's stuff 'fell' out of his breifcase right in front of the lady. He looked down and flicked his wand as all his stuff went back in and went back to his hand. "I'm so sorry." Ben said to the woman putting on the charm. "This dumb brief case is always acting up." Ben smiled his smiled and observed the woman. Just as awesome up close. He looked back into her eyes and waited for a response.

Eva stopped singing and pulled out her earphones as someone dropped all of their stuff right infront of her new shoes. Why was she even here again ? Oh yeah cause her brother was a dipstick. She took a few steps back before rolling her eyes. People seriously needed to watch what they were doing with their stuff.

"Oh Im sorry, were you talking to me ?" she said briskly. Shaking her head. Seriously she hated Mark for making her work. She shouldn't be working. She should be out having fun. Ugh. "Right." she said rolling her eyes as she did so. Why was he starting at her like that ? Ugh, strange people around here.

Ben sighed, rolled his eyes and smirked. He read her and how she felt were obvious. "You really don't want to be here, do you?" Ben continued talkign without waiting for her response. "It's actually pretty fun here. Ha. Well, you have to make your own fun. I'm Ben Amsten. Magical Law Enforcement." Ben put out his hand for a handshake wondering if this girl would actually respond properly.

Dora dashed out into the Atrium with tears running down her face as she tried to wrap her head around her current state of mind nothing made sense. Why had she snapped at Pandora like that? Why in Merlin's name was she crying so?

Pandora swept angrily into the attrium, as scanned the large room in search of Dora. There was no way that she was going to allow anyone to get away with speaking to her in that way. Seeing Dora she stode up to her and put a hand on her shoulder to pull her, none too gently around so that they were face to face.

"Would you care to explain to me what in the name of Circe that was all about? What exactly did I say to warrant such an explsion of anger Dora? All I did was enquire if things were okay!" Her face now showed her anger, but also showed concern. She was speaking quietly, feeling genuinely hurt by Dora's outburst. "I honestly thought that you and I could be friends, but..." Her voice died in her throat and a rebellious tear rolled down her cheek and she swiped it away, "Was I wrong?" she was whispering now, her voice trembling.

Feeling a hand grab her shoulder Dora immediately unhosltered her wand as she was slung around so that when she came face to face with Pandora her wand was held aloft and she was still crying.

Seeing it was in fact Pandora she immediately lowered her wand and said, "First things first. Never, I mean never, grab me from behind like that. I could have killed you, Pandora." Dora said through sobs. " And to be quite frank I have no clue whatsoever why I exploded like that. That is precisely why I ran off in tears.. I guess. I have no clue why I started crying even. I do stand by what I said about your judging people. But that's just you. I am okay with it. I don't care what anyone says or thinks about me, but others may be offended by it." she conitinued.

Feeling bad she hung her head and said in a small voice, "Of course we're friends Pandora. I asked you to be in my wedding, I really care about your feelings. I am really sorry for the way I spoke to you before. I am really volatile right now and I am not really sure why."

Pandora was not surprised to see that Dora had her wand raised. She did not pull out her own wand but stood her ground, waiting for the expolsion. She waited until Dora had finished and then spoke in an even tone. "Dora, I am not nearly as judgemental as you seem to think I am. I've had to live with people judgeing and ignoring me for a very long time and so I have developed a cold demeanour but that's how I survived and it is not an easy habit to change. If that upsets you so much that you feel the need to shout at me in that way, then being my friend is clearly not an option. I do regret that as I am fond of you" She reached out and gently touched Dora's wand arm. "You know more about me than anyone and I do care what you think, unlike almost everyone else. If there's something you need to talk about, I'll listen." Pandora was not very good at being a friend to anyone and she hoped she was doing it right. "You know where to find me." She with drew her arm and stepped away from Dora, ready to leave her to her thoughts

Dora shook her head as Pandora turned to walk away. "Bloody hell woman, can't you hear? I said I was sorry and I said you are indeed my friend. I am having an emotional breakdown here. Cut me some slack." Dora called after as a small grin spread her lips.

When the younger woman called out, Pandora turned to her. "Emotional breakdown or not, I had to tell you the truth." She said simply. When she saw Dora smile she reached out her hand again, this time taking Dora's hand and pulling her close. "I don't know what's going on and you don't have to tell me, but I think a nice cup of tea is in order." She gave Dora a small smile. "We could go muggle, Betty's in York has the best cakes I have ever tasted. What do you think?"

Dora smiled as Pandora turned around and faced her. The tears finally stopping. Still sniffling Dora simply shrugged and said, "I have no bloody clue why I am acting this way and that is the truth, Pandora. I think I may coming down with some sort of magical bug of some sort because I haven't felt well all day and my Metamorphing is out of whack as well. And yes, tea sounds nice." She let herself be pulled forward and she chuckled and said, "I can be someone different for this trip? I haven't actually morphed completely in quite.. well in a while." Dora let the grin spread wide and screwed her face up.....