Orientation

First day was a scary thing for a department. When a lot of new people were added at once, and Zoe had taken special time out of her schedule to help the new people get into their new job, teach them what needed to be taught, and open up the office as a carefree place, that was obviously laid back and pretty carefree, even though their head of department wasn’t all that laid back. Obviously each person here was signed up for their different interests. One person was working with the beasts of the world, and the other was working with the spirits, but in this department, it was all one thing, and everyone worked together to achieve a goal.

Zoe straightened her chin length hair, looking in a mirror in her office. The actual meeting was set up in the main area, where everyone worked together in their cubicles. It wasn’t exactly blocked off though, they were shortened walls, so everyone had the chance to talk to each other, but still be private if need be. Notes zoomed around the room, and not all of them were work related, and decorations dotted the walls. The environment here was unlike many other departments in the Ministry of Magic, even though it was one of the most strict in their regulations.

The history of this Department was riddled with compromises, and controversy, but every since Zoe had gotten the job as the head of the Department, she had worked hard to get the people in it to loosen up, and enjoy their jobs. She personally hated a stiff environment, even though her office was probably the stiffest in the building. Tight, neat, and clean, it was the one place where you were on your best manors at, but other than that, everyone had a good time while at work. Luckily for them, they had a few nurses around at all times (Creatures can get a little hostile sometimes), and they were well taken care of also.

Zoe left her office and headed to the main room, waiting for the new people in the department to see just what they had signed up for, and see just how relaxed it was here.. even if she stood straight backed, and only a polite smile on her face at all times, she was stiff, but she enjoyed it here, even if it was sometimes hard to tell.

The sun was struggling through the heavy cloud cover but it wasn’t the skyline that interested Ariel; rather, the forest floor that was the street. For once in his life, Ariel actually blended in with the executives and office workers - all of whom were clad in some sort of suit or formal wear. He actually fit among the crowd - but what was better was that it was because he had a job. He had a job and so eventually, he’d have a steady income. He’d be able to provide for himself and then maybe - maybe - he could get himself a small flat or something; perhaps near the Leaky Cauldron. That would all come in time though, with money and a job. Things were actually looking up considering his race and the racial hate that was directed towards Werewolves. It was ironic that of all places he chose to work in a Department that specialised in Magical Creatures. Though, they couldn’t really have had anyone more qualified for the job, really.

Slipping from the crowd, Ariel swung down a back alley and emerged on an otherwise deserted street bar a few dog walkers and a postman over the other side of the road. His hand curled around the handle of one of the iconic red telephone boxes, and he opened it up before stepping inside and closing it behind him. The door slammed and Ariel flinched in response as his eyes came down onto the machine before him. He punched a few numbers into the machine and before he knew it, the telephone box was rumbling down into the Ministry of Magic and Ariel was being spat out by the infernal object. He stumbled into a new crowd - the crowd of commuting Ministry workers - and allowed himself to be led to the elevators.

Before Ariel even realised it, he found himself on the level that held the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He opened the door to what the secretary at the front desk had told him would be his work area. It was nice enough. The light was low and the colouring of the walls and carpet was slightly dark, slightly brooding, but nice all the same. Ariel tapped his briefcase against his leg and walked through the maze of cubicals. As he walked, the Head of Department slowly came into view and he froze. He knew her. He never forgot an important face - especially not this one. Not after what had happened that night.

“Ms. Gould.” Ariel called out to her, taking long strides to cover the last length quickly. “I trust you are well?”

This was going to be a big day for Alexis. It was her first day at a new job. It actually surprised her that she had gotten a job in the within the Ministry of Magic. Even more in the Department for the Regulation and Conrol of Magical Creatures. Although she was pretty qualified to be there, what with her being what she is. She could understand some of these creatures better than anyone else. It could also help her spread her views on the relationships between humans and these creatures that she believe they should have.

She walked through the streets, making her way past the crowds of people, trying to get to the Ministry of Magic. As she finally made it to the Ministry, she took a deep breath and walked in. She immediately headed toward the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She walked nervously to the main room where the Orientation was supposed to take place.

As she walked she noticed she saw the Head of the Department and one other person. "Hello Ms. Gould." she said as she walked closer to the two. She looked at the other person and smiled slightly. "Hello." she said to him.

Chase was super excited!!

Orientation made it feel like she was going to school again, but better then that, she had a job now! She had her letter clutched in her hand, the one that had been sent to her saying she had gotten the job. Chase used the floo network at Calvin's house to get to the Ministry, and stepped out of the grate, looking around in surprise. It was so large! She couldn't remember ever having to actually go to the Ministry, and of course, the first time she went here, was her first day on the job! She looked around helplessly, and finally ended up going to the main desk to ask for directions to get to the department she wanted. After a short ride on the elevator, and multiple stops, and having to bat off the flying notes, she finally stepped out, and suddenly felt nervousness wash over her.

What if she wasn't cut out for this job? What if people didn't like her.. or she got fired?! Chase was near hyperventilating, but she stopped, took a huge breath, and moved on into the department. Finding herself in a relatively large space full of cubicles automatically cheered her up. There were paper airplanes flying across the room, and people chatting near their desks and by a water thing. Someone who looked badly singed exited the elevator behind her, and stomped over to a cubicle, before sitting down and writing a note, his sleeve still smoking slightly.

Chase looked around, and saw the head of the Department, Zoe Gould, and grinned bounding over. "Hello Ms. Gould! Hello Ariel!" She said turning to look at him, and then looking at the girl. "And hello girl I do not know." She smiled at her graciously, and looked around at them all. "I'm Chase Moor... new in the Creature Healing department, is this the orientation thingy?" She asked in general, glancing around at the three, and moving so she was standing on the balls of her feet, and then rocking back onto her heels, a little nervously.

Bran was in one of his moods. As he entered the ministry he was overwhelmed, and suddenly doubting his qualifications, he immediately wanted to leave. He knew, however, that he wouldn't have been hired without reason, so, noticing he had stopped walking, he continued heading towards the nearest elevator. He dreaded what was to come. He entered an opening elevator and walked in, the only one aboard. As the machine moved, he could practically feel the sides moving towards him, as if they wanted to crush him, to suffocate him. Bran knew he would have to get over his fear of elevators if he was going to work at the Ministry of Magic. He knew his fear was stupid and illogical, but it was there nonetheless.

Thankfully, the elevator arrived at its destination, and Bran exited, feeling more at ease when the doors closed behind him. He saw dozens of little cubicles all throughout the large room, and saw his new boss, Zoe Gould. He headed towards her and saw three other people standing with her. He looked at the three unfamiliar faces and, shy as he was, simply nodded in acknowledgment. Bran then turned to his new boss and, not knowing what else to say, simply said, "Hello, Ms. Gould."

Within the space of a few minutes, people started to show up at the office. She found herself looking around at them, as a few of them chatted, some of them looked nervous, but the rest of them were pretty comfortable, after there was quite a nice amount of people. Zoe held up her hand for silence. "Hello everyone." She said giving them one of her tight lipped smiles. "I am Zoe Gould, as I appear most of you seem to recognize me, good.. It is very nice to see such a wonderful crowd of people here today.. young people, who all aspire to do the same as I do, bring peace and happiness to the creatures of the Magical World..." Her eyes lingered on Ariel as she said it, and she smiled specifically at him. "Now, I know each of you is in a different specialty, but I want you all to know something very important. While you work here... the office is your family... you will work beside people who not only aren't studying the same as you, but are much more detailed in what they do study." Zoe smiled at them, and clasped her hands in front of her.

"It is an easy office to work in, and in a moment I will give you a tour of everything.." she said nodding, but looking among them carefully. She noticed a few werewolves, one of which she had actually had an encounter with.. 'after work' and he seemed to be staring awfully hard at her. "The office, as I said earlier, is your family... each of you came here today with a general title, some of you may be in specializing in beasts, some of you may be more into the spirit world, or even just working with regular beings, some of you may want to help heal animals... or are simply starting off easy as a secretary.. but even though we may seem like completely different people, our department works together as a team." She said and gestured around the room.

"Being specialists work closely with the people in the beasts and spirits sections... and all of you will work closely with me personally... don't listen to my secretary though, she likes to try and keep me in the dark. "She said chuckling lightly. "The office itself is a very free place to do as you wish... any one of you may specialize in a more advanced section of your category... a beast specialist my decide they like working with werewolves, and go into more detailed research and work regarding that specific species.. some of you may not want to narrow your options, and chose to stay open to anything, that is your choice... but it is an open environment, and we take all kinds of people.. we do have some special projects we do every so often, but for the most part, we work together and separately.. if you have any desire to learn more about our special projects, you may see me at any time in my office, which we will see later on our tour..." Zoe looked around carefully, and then smiled at them all, this time showing them her white teeth. "Do we have any questions before we start our tour?"

Jack slipped into the meeting room as Zoe was explaining that they were now apart of a family, fluffy blabiddy blah blah blah. In her hands she carried a large file case, and inside were specific files that she had promised to compile for Zoe. A few were profiles on known offenders of illegal breeding and selling, as well as packs of werewolves in need of attention, rogue ghosts, trolls and giants and ogres, everything.

Unfortunately, she had misplaced her office key so she had to track down someone to help her get a replacement key. She suspected that new intern had something to do with it- ever since she had used a laser pointer to get a kneazle to attack the young boy, he had seemed intent on giving revenge. She could not wait to war with the intern.

She made eye contact with Zoe and then glanced around, her mouth twitching at the sight of a blonde head turned away from her. She closed the door quietly behind her and stepped against the back wall, resting her back against the wall causally, dressed less than professionally- nice jeans, a plain black shirt, black Converse. She tucked the file case under her arm and listened to Zoe's speech.

Ne'Os had entered the meeting room just as Zoe started talking about how the office would be a easy place to work in. He looked around the room taking in the faces around him. He knew he wouldn't be recognized by them he had found a nobody wizard with a nothing special past and had placed him in storage for safe keeping and then stole his identity through the polyjuice potion. He made sure to learn every detail of the man's life, he was sure he wouldn't need it but it would be smart to know just in case he was suspected of not being who he claimed to be. Getting into character he put a smile on his face and started putting the thought into his head that his name was Cody fuller.

He found a spot out of the way to stand he couldn't wait to get started working for the whole of his life he hadn't actually he a job other than spreading chaos and death. While he did have other ideas for what he would accomplish here than serving the will of the ministry he felt that it it would be a nice change.

He listened to Zoe's speech with interest he felt he would pay her a visit after he was situated. He thought about what he would focus on with his job, he always wondered how the magic of a horcrux really worked and what it actually did to the soul and if it was possible to get the whole of the soul back after a split like that.

There seemed to be a personal game now between his self and Ms. Gould. Perhaps they’d continue it throughout their time at the Department. Ariel wanted to be on her good side. He didn’t want his head on a pike because of what he was. They’d already established what he was willing to trade for his life - trust, primarily, trust from his family - and it was at a high price. He hadn’t seen her until this point and he was idly wondering whether or not, on his part, this had been a wise choice. Ariel was hoping it had been but he wasn’t promised that. He needed a job; there was no doubt about that. Richard’s money would put a deposit on a house now and that was about all. Ariel didn’t have any more after that. This was a job he was qualified for, whether she liked it or not. He had firsthand experience. He knew werewolf anatomy, he knew their tendencies, and he knew their desires and what they wanted above all. In fact, he may well have been over-qualified because many of those so called ‘werewolf experts’ knew not even a fraction of what he did and they were the qualified ones. Ariel wisely kept these thoughts to himself, though.

Ariel looked about himself, taking in the faces around him. The few that had said ‘hello’ to him he’d returned the gesture to and he found himself standing behind the other Werewolf in the room. That was something Gould probably would have got off on. Two werewolves stood together, easy pickings - or something equally as grotesque. Ariel found himself shifting away from her at that thought. He shook his head though and cleared his mind. He was being silly; there was no doubt about that. He just needed to relax and get on with this. Zoe wouldn’t try anything here, not when they were uneasy allies.

Zoe's eyes swept over the group of people in front of her. Werewolves, monsters, and people who looked far to friendly joined the midst, Zoe was momentarily distracted by Jack Dyllan entering the room with a large crate, and she felt the corner of her mouth twitch upwards. Good... she was getting stuff done already, that's how she liked it. She kept looking over them all, and her eyes glanced at Ariel carefully, before smiling at the group in general. "If not then, I invite everyone to look around this central room. "This is the room where most of you will spend your time, The cubicles are here for your work to come in and out, and you to do paperwork at. You may keep photos, and whatever organizing equipment you like, and I encourage the office to talk to each other. Get to know the other people in the office, have some fun before you begin your job... this place has no real deadlines, unless you work in the Being's department." She said glancing towards a few people in the group.

"So unless there are any questions about the cubicle area, I suggest we move over here and get started with a tour." She said smiling around at them all quite pleasantly, but her eyes were stuck on Ariel Greyback, watching him out of the corner of her eye always, never turning her back on him, or the other werewolf. Making it well known that she was in charge here, and if they so much as put a toe out of line, they would get killed by one of the many people she had hired to handle such difficulties, before they could blink.

(OOC: I really don't want to do a whole tour.. if you so wish me to.. we can, but otherwise there are some places up that you can go post in, the cubicles for example, also the library is full of books you should know, the Creature Containment and Research Center, Conference room, and Zoe's office. Ne'Os you can make a post there if you so want to talk to her XD Otherwise, feel free to let your characters explore. The posts between Chase and Bran are a good help on what to expect in the department, if you want a more in depth guide, read those! Anyway, feel free to post back here, and you a free to rp)