Rose is already well beyond done with the new aspects of her job. She loves talking to people, she does, and so normally a job like this one - going around buttering up allies and greasing gears among the more reluctant world leaders - would be right up her alley. Unfortunately, she's mostly stuck talking to crochety old people who think they know best and always have a "fashion" sense that has the great designers of the world rolling in their graves and Rose trying not to stare.

It's not all terrible of course - she also gets to hang out with Minister Granger who's  a certified badass and honestly everything Rose wants to be when she grows up - but plastering on her usual fake smile is a lot more tedious when she's not really getting anything out of her sweet-talking, which usually makes the pain of dealing with stupid people worth it.

It comes to a head a few weeks in - she's got an in-person meeting with the Bulgarian Minister to discuss some complications with Durmstrang's concealment charms that has their Ministry on the verge of quitting the entire integration endeavor, and he happens to have a very cute secretary who blushes every time Rose winks at her. By the end of the meeting the man is more upset about girls flirting than he is a possible breach in school security, so really it ought to be chalked up as a win.

However, when the Portkey drops her and Minister Granger back in the Transportation offices of their own Ministry Rose finds herself pulled very firmly over to the lifts by her temporary boss.

"Ms. Evans, when I requested your services for this job I expected to see a continuance of what I saw in that meeting two weeks ago." Granger says tersely. "So what exactly was that today?"

"I'd call it a success myself - the Minster isn't planning to try and create a Muggle-proof barrier around Durmstrang and the entire mountain range surrounding it anymore." Rose points out, then immediately bites her tongue when she gets a glare instead of a laugh. "Sorry." She mutters.

The minister sighs. "You're very good when you're focused, but it seems like you're lacking that these past few days. You need to mind the other leader's sensibilities, that's ninety percent of your job with me."

Rose was ready to back down and apologize, but that comment sets off her fight instincts. "His sensibilities? I'm sorry that the old white man is for some reason uncomfortable over who I happen to be romantically interested in, but it's none of his damned business! Me flirting is unprofessional, fine, but that would be the case with a female or a male, and frankly I don't hold him in nearly high enough regard to pretend I'm straight just to protect his precious male ego! his sensibilities."

Granger looks startled, and Rose immediately feels a rock drop into her stomach when she realizes what she just did.

She just yelled at the Minister for Magic. She is absolutely getting fired for this. She wonders if Diana still has room for her in Relocation - really, that's not such a bad situation, she'd get to see Diana a lot more and that would be pretty awesome and-

Her internal panicking is interrupted by a sound she definitely hadn't been expecting - laughter. Rose just yelled at the Minister, and now the Minister is laughing.

Rose glances out the window to see if pigs have started flying.

"Um... Minister? All due respect but I think all this might be getting to you a bit." She blurts because she apparently has no filter today. Granger shakes her head, still grinning, though she thankfully stops laughing.

"Apologies, you remind me of myself at your age - sick to death of the hypocrisies of my elders. Tell you what, why don't you take the rest of the year off. Focus on the Initiative and I'll only pull you into these sorts of things if I know I won't be able to handle diplomacy alone. That way you don't over tax yourself trying to be polite to these areseholes."

Rose blinks slowly, still processing the laughter if she's honest. Does this mean she doesn't have to do this as much anymore? It's back to hanging out with Landon and making fun of the stuffy politicians they have to observe every week? Because she's fine with that, but it seems like a reward that yelling at the Minister for Magic probably shouldn't have.

Then again, everyone is saying that Granger is a rather unique Minister, so maybe Rose shouldn't be this surprised.

"That sounds good." She finally says, refocusing on the Minister who's watching her with no small amount of amusement.

"Excellent. Have a good holiday break then Ms. Evans, and I'll be seeing you in the new year."

Rose recognizes a dismissal when she hears it, and she quickly bids her own farewell and heads out before the Minister can change her mind and decide to fire Rose after all. She walks to the lifts a bit slowly, partially still processing and partly trying to remember what Landon had been doing that morning so she can hop right into it when she gets back to the offices.

Kylee is sitting at the desks closest to the lift when Rose steps off it, and the brunette blinks in surprise. "Oh, hey Rose. I thought you were with the Minister today?"

Rose grins at her. "I've been given reprieve for the moment. No more angry close-minded old people until the New Year!"

Kylee laughs at that. "Oh man, I know that feeling. Congratulations and welcome back." She hesitates, her smile slipping slightly. "Fair warning though, Landon is in a bit of a mood today. I'm not sure what's up, but maybe you can see if he's doing okay?"

Rose hums a confirmation - he's probably just bored. Landon is an extrovert like her, and they always chat while working. Her being so busy these past few weeks with the new diplomacy mission means he's probably been sitting by himself in the office doing paperwork with only his own thoughts for company.

She trots across the office to her desk, where Landon is indeed elbow-deep in forms and entirely alone. "Heya handsome, guess who's back for the foreseeable future?" She grins as she tosses herself into her chair, spinning once before planting her feet to look directly at her partner.

To her surprise, Landon doesn't grin back, just looks up tiredly. "Yeah, hey. I thought you were with the Minister today?"

Rose leans back in her seat - Kylee wasn't kidding about Landon being in a mood. "I was, but I've got time off for now. So what needs doing? I can take half that pile." She nods to the papers Landon is sorting through - she's been away from paperwork for a while now, she can deal with doing a few more forms than she'd like if it will help Landon with his mood.

He frowns and pushes a few files her way - not nearly half of them, but she won't complain about that - and she skims them distractedly to figure out what they are as she keeps talking. "Actually I'm kind of on mandatory leave - we went out to Bulgaria this morning, right? Well the Minister over there is freaking ancient - like, his face looks like it's going to fall off at any moment levels of ancient - but he's got the cutest secretary, and she was absolutely interested in me. So I flirt a little bit when we're not talking business, and this guy has a near-meltdown over two girls smiling at each other, like, seriously? I thought you were worried about Durmstrang security, but apparently that pales in comparison to cute girls recognizing other cute girls." She laughs. "It was a success in the end though, he's not going to shut down his Initiative, and I got her number!"

"You shouldn't flirt during work though." Landon points out flatly, and Rose's smile immediately drops.

"Jeez mister sour-pants, you really are in a mood." She notes. "And besides, you can't really call me out on that sir 'is that Celine? How does my hair look? Is she coming this way?'"

It's light teasing, and stuff they have engaged in before - Landon gives her just as much flack over her admittedly massive hero-worship level crush on Diana - but for some reason Landon doesn't laugh today, just glares at her silently for a long moment.

"Just do your work please." He finally says, turning back to his own pile. Rose frowns, but decides to comply. Obviously he's in a pretty massive funk - hopefully he'll be in a better mood later. She does not want to have gotten away from dealing with fuddy-duddies only to come back to a permanently pissy partner - it would entirely defeat the point of her break.

Landon recognizes he probably could have been nicer to Rose - despite her cheery demeanor she probably got in major trouble with the Minister and might be hiding any negative emotions she has behind that too-wide grin, but honestly he almost hopes she is miserable. Since she's been gone far more often than before, he'd expected an uptick in files and general paperwork he'd have to get through in his day to day. Heck, he'd even made some adjustments on his work schedule to make sure he still had free time each day while still accomplishing his daily goals.

Then he'd discovered that he was barely doing more work than before, despite literally (supposedly) doubling his workload. And he'd started paying more attention to Rose's work when she was in the office and realized that she had, probably from week one, been putting a lot of her work onto his work pile.

At first he'd mostly been ashamed that he hadn't noticed, but she always phrased things in ways that made him want to help. Or, admittedly and probably more accurately, that made him want to show off how much he knew and his multiple competencies. But that embarrassment had very quickly morphed into anger and eventually resentment. He'd thought his and Rose's working relationship was that of a dynamic duo, playing off each other and cheering each other up through what was obviously going to be a very tumultuous year.

Apparently he'd read the situation entirely incorrectly, and frankly the fact that Rose is apparently back for a while is far from the welcome news it might have been a few weeks ago.

Still, he's not sure how to bring it up. He'd honestly figured she'd just stay busy with her new work with the Minister and he'd just keep doing everything for the political side of things and they'd never have to deal with it. Now though... how does he tell her he's figured out her game without getting angry? Just looking at her right now pisses him off immensely, and that's not helpful for anyone. 

So instead he takes a deep breath and goes back to what he was doing before Rose interrupted his flow. He'll process all this tonight and hopefully have a game plan to talk to her tomorrow.

Celine had thought her articles on the Initiative were quite excellent, offering a nuanced and unique angle that none of the other papers provided.

Sitting in her superior's office, she's now learning that isn't quite the case.

"You're doing a great job Celine, you are." Phoebe Young assures her from over the desk, "But some readers and editors have noticed that your coverage is exclusively and almost aggressively positive - they're suggesting that you're not telling the whole story, that the Telegraph is burying dirty laundry again. All I'm asking is that you look for a broader perspective for your next column."

Celine purses her lips, nodding silently. She understands, of course, but it's always disheartening to be reminded that the average person these days prefers a certain dose of negativity or drama in their daily news. Celine is just reporting the facts.

But as she steps out of her supervisor's office, she does have to admit to herself that there might have been a slight case of rose-tinted glasses steering the direction her articles have been taking. So she resolves to go back through her notes and see if she can find anything for her upcoming article that would add a 'broader perspective.'

Unfortunately she can't find much of anything, and she huffs in frustration and closes up her notebook. Only one thing to do then.

"Heading out already?" Her desk mates asks as she stands up and grabs her coat off the back of her chair. "Did Young ream you that hard? I thought your work has been great recently."

She offers him a grin as she fights to get her scarf on. "Thanks Stanley, but no, Mrs. Young was fine. I just want to look into a few things before finalizing my next article - she pointed something out that's worth pursuing."

He makes a face. "Why you would choose to go outside in this weather is beyond me, especially when I thought you finished your new article this morning. It has to be in to the editors by five o'clock today you know - whatever you're fixing can probably be left for next week."

Celine tuts. She knows Mrs. Young probably intended that as well, but it's not like she has anything else to do today, and she does rather enjoy any excuse to go visit the Initiative, even if she now often has to trudge through freezing rain to do so. "I have all day to do this, and I can count it as research for next week as well - two birds, one stone. I'll see you later Stanley."

"Good luck." He replies with no small amount of bemusement as she sweeps out of the office, tugging on a toque as she goes.

It's above freezing when she steps outside, but only barely - the sun hasn't yet penetrated the morning cloud cover and the whole city is blanketed in it's usual November fog. Celine tugs her scarf over her nose and waits for the Uber she'd called while still in the warmth of the Telegraph building.

It takes six minutes to arrive despite not being all that far - obviously whoever her driver is is new to London and not used to the haze yet.

"Good morning, you're Alexander?" She checks before stepping into the car.

"Yes! You are Ms. Celine Yang!" He declares in response, and she hears a distinct Greek accent. Definitely new in town.

She slides into the backseat and settles in. "That's me. You can just drop me off in front of 10 Downing Street, it's not far from my destination." She tells him - even tourists know how to get there, so it will probably be easier than trying to direct him through Whitehall traffic.

The driver is extremely friendly, chattering away in heavily accented and somewhat broken English as he follows his GPS through the worst of the morning traffic, turning a ten minute drive into a thirty minute one. Celine thanks him as she gets out, but only gives a ten percent tip on the app. She feels kind of bad about it, but Elsie had drilled what she calls "proper tipping etiquette" into Celine's head during their university days which that means no higher than ten for poor service, and that extremely, needlessly long (and kind of smelly - the guy really needed a breath mint) car ride definitely didn't qualify for a "standard" fifteen percent tip.

She walks down Downing street and turns on to Whitehall, pleased to find she doesn't need to pull her scarf back up - the teperature must have jumped five degrees while she was in the Uber. She steps into the Ministy of Magic Muggle entrance (which has a lovely new sign, she notices) and descends into the Atrium.

"Good morning Ms. Yang!" The greeter says cheerfully, and she smiles back.

"Hi Thomas, good to see you again." She replies, proud to have finally remembered what the kid's name is. He beams back and she heads over to the lifts. One of the other people there presses the button for the seventh floor without her even asking, and she wonders if maybe she's been coming by a little too often.

She's one of the last to step off the lift, and she smiles at the one other person who's still in the lift, who nods in return as the door slides closed.

"Celine! Hey, I didn't expect to see you in today!" 

Celine turns to the room and grins when she spots Rose waving from the other side of the offices.

"I could say the same to you." She observes as she walks over to the other woman, subtly glancing to see if Landon is there too. To her disappointment he doesn't seem to be around. Still, it's good to see Rose again. "You've been notably absent the last few times I've been by."

Rose shrugs, settling back into her chair and gesturing for Celine to take Landon's empty one. "I had another job running with the Minister."

"Landon mentioned something like that." Celine replies, taking the offered seat but feeling a little awkward about it. What if Landon comes back? "He didn't really give details though - anything interesting?"

"So much, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell the press." Rose grins, and Celine shrugs.

"Worth asking. My boss wants me to find a broader perspective on the Initiative, says our readers are suspicious that I'm sugar coating things."

Rose shrugs, leaning back. "I mean, let's be real, people are people no matter how magical so I don't blame them. When things look too peachy I get suspicious too."

Celine hums. "I suppose. I guess every other newspaper is always so doom and gloom, I wanted to show the positives in all this. It's too bad people are geared towards negativity and suspicion."

Rose shrugs again. "I guess. A different angle doesn't have to mean negative though. Hey, you know about our new branding, right?"

"'We're all people' yeah, I've used it a few times."

"So why don't you really showcase it?" Rose nods across the room, to where Fergus is sitting with Alex Zhang, the one person Celine has never really spoken to due to the off putting aura he's always surrounded by. "Try talking with people who are less thrilled about all this, but from the magical end. Show we're just as nervous as anyone else, but that we're still working toward cooperation. It's positive, without sugarcoating anything."

Celine blinks, surprised. Rose never struck her as being particularly deep, but that... that's a good idea. "I think I'll do that. Thanks."

"Anything for my favorite reporter." Rose grins, spinning her chair as Celine gets up. "I'll tell Landon you said hi!"

Celine grins in return and heads off, hoping Rose didn't spot the slight flush she can feel creeping up her neck at the final comment. Rose hasn't been around lately, so hopefully she's just being friendly and Celine hasn't actually been obvious about the fact she finds Landon to be excellent company and also very cute.

Celine shakes off her thoughts as she approaches Fergus and Alex. The former looks up with a smile when she's about a foot away.

"Celine! I didn't think you'd be by today, isn't your new article being printed tomorrow?" He greets, and she pushes her hair out of her face to smile back.

"It is, but I'm surprised you know that. No offense." She adds quickly, not wanting to accidentally insult anyone, least of all Fergus who has always been exceptionally friendly.

His easy smile remains though. "None taken. I like to keep up to date on the goings on around the Initiative, and your articles happen to be highly influential on the Muggle end of things."

Celine relaxes. "You might be giving me a bit too much credit there, but thanks. Hi Alex." She adds, hoping to start a conversation with the actual person she wanted to talk with. 

Alex just glares at her, but Fergus seems to pick up on her goal, as he gives her a knowing glance and stands up.

"I'm going to go over a few proposals with Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Morgan." He declares. "Alex, why don't you help Ms. Yang out today? You're not with anyone else I believe."

Alex turns his glare towards Fergus, but the older man is already walking away, humming cheerfully and ignoring Alex's displeasure.

Celine can't help grinning, but she quickly wipes the expression away when Alex turns back to her, still glowering. "I hope you don't mind, but I actually was hoping we could talk today - I haven't gotten to hear your perspective on all this and I want to make sure I'm giving everyone the full story."

Alex stares at her long enough that she starts feeling uncomfortable before he rolls his eyes. "Yeah right. You just want to hear me say that the magical world is so great and perfect to fit that narrative you've got going. Well tough luck, the Magical world is only great if you've got magic. If you don't you're basically a second-class citizen."

Celine frowns, but pulls out her recorder. "Mind if I use this?" She asks. "To make sure I don't misquote anything."

He glances at it, and shrugs. "Whatever. Media is great at twisting quotes to fit their agenda anyway."

Celine frowns. "Look Alex, I get that you're grumpy, but if you aren't willing to share your experiences then how exactly is anyone supposed to learn about them? I want to give you a platform because you're right - I'm ignoring a big part of the magical world because it's painful to deal with." She takes a breath and glances around the make sure no one else is nearby. Despite knowing what she's about to say is literally being recorded, she's still nervous about being overheard. "Look, I'm a Squib too. My dad was killed in the first war and my mom tried to shut magic out of our lives completely - she was terrified I'd have magic and was beyond relieved when I didn't, but I still tried to be part of that world. I was in denial about it until my letter didn't come, honestly, I wanted so badly to go to the school my dad and uncle went to. But I learned, when I was older, how the world acts around Squibs. So trust me when I say I get it."

Alex looks her dead in the eye, and he looks no friendlier than he had prior to Celine's confession. "Seriously? You think because 'oh, I didn't get to go to Hogwarts' you get how absolutely tily Squibs are treated in the Magical world? You never lived in the magical world, you don't get to decide if it's good or bad based on your limited experiences with it. Me, I grew up in the heart of it and I'll tell you now, magical people have no time for anyone without powers, and being exposed isn't going to change that."

Celine frowns. "That... that's fair." She admits, getting the sense there's a lot of unaddressed magic-related trauma in Alex's past, and she's not going to push. Instead she holds up her recorder. "If you're willing, could you elaborate on the treatment of Squibs, and what's caused it? In your opinion, of course."

"Of course." He parrots sarcastically, but to her surprise he leans in to the microphone. "Squibs are people born into magical families who don't have magic-"

Alex spends about ten minutes discussing the mistreatment of Squibs over the generations, mentioning several key legal losses by the Rights Movement, and by the end of it Celine has about twenty more ideas for not only her next article, but also several follow ups. Alex is of course mostly negative in his tone, but he brings up excellent points in his ranting, and Celine genuinely thanks him when they wrap up the interview.

"I honestly wasn't sure how I could find a broader perspective when my supervisor asked me to this morning." She confesses to him, ingnoring the eye roll she gets in return, "So this was hugely helpful. You're sure you don't mind me quoting you? I'd like to add some of this to tomorrow's article as set up for my future direction."

Alex shrugs. "Whatever." He mutters, and Celine takes it as a win, still too hyped on idea-based adrenaline to really be affected by Alex's mood.

She checks the time quickly and finds she still has a few hours until lunch, and she decides to do a little more field work while she's out here. "Hey, one last question - you mentioned the Squib Right Group. Where are their headquarters located?"

Alex looks startled for just a moment before he starts scowling again. "How the heck would I know." He mumbles, and Celine thanks him again before heading out. She can just go back to the Atrium and ask Thomas instead - it's his job to know where everything is anyway.

There's a slight spring in her step, but she's not too embarrassed about it - she's got a story and she's chasing it down, she has every right to feel peppy right now.

Mrs. Young will definitely be happy with her new direction - she's sure of it. And maybe she can get the public to be a little more sympathetic and optimistic as well.

Alex's days have been pretty much repetitions of each other all month, even with the momentary chaos of Miles and Desmond's bullheaded mistakes, so he's startled when his routine is broken on Thursday morning by Fergus walking up to his desk and tossing a copy of the Daily Telegraph onto it, folded open to one of the inner articles.

"I like your quote." The older man comments, and Alex frowns. Obviously that reporter had actually used his interview from yesterday, but if Fergus is happy about the report she'd obviously taken it out of context or otherwise twisted it away from his intended meaning. So he pulls the paper closer and starts reading.

It's mostly things he already knows - talking about the new approach in light of the bar fight, discussing the public reaction and the usual biased sunshine and rainbows he expected from Celine Yang. However, his quote isn't anywhere in the first section - it appears at the end, when the article shifts to a more somber tone.

The Muggle Integration Initiative is something that, for me, has become almost mundane. However, recently I was made aware of the fact that this may be due to the fact I've had a lot more exposure to it than most people - and even then it's limited and often adjusted to look the best it can. I grew up in the Muggle world, like most of my readers have, and as the Initiative's Alex Zhang fairly says, "you don't get to decide if it's good or bad based on your limited experiences with it," speaking of the magical world. And so I will be starting a new approach to these weekly articles - I will be interviewing people candidly about their experiences with the magical world, starting next week with the leader of the Squib Rights Foundation Braylon Addams. I hope to bring to light the many different stories of magic to my readers, and hopefully it will show that we really are, at the end of the day, all human.

Still disgustingly sappy, but not as out of context as Alex had assumed.

She'd changed the tone of the comment though, so it's still manipulative.

"That's not what I meant. I meant that since she has no idea about the magical world she's only going to see what she wants to. Besides, that wasn't the whole thought either. Magic has always been cruel to non-magic, and that won't change now." He grumbles.

Fergus frowns from across the desk. "I suppose if you want to be resolutely negative about it you can be, but I was thinking that this might be a good project for you." He says, and Alex raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Really. Me giving quotes that get twisted around is your idea for my project." He says it as deadpan as possible, and is annoyed when Fergus laughs.

"No, though that would certainly be an easy job, wouldn't it? But actually I was thinking about the Squib Rights Foundation. We really should be reaching out to them, and you seem uniquely suited to that work. Just a thought."

Alex glares at him for a full ten minutes, just so Fergus doesn't think he actually had a good idea, before he begrudgingly stands up and shuffles over to the leaders' office. He nearly kicks in in lieu of a knock, but thinks better of it - he's annoyed, but that doens't mean he needs to be childish. He's better than that.

"Yes?" Mrs. Morgan calls from inside, and she looks surprised when Alex walks in. "Oh, Alex! What can we do for you?"

"We need someone to consult with the Squib Rights Foundation." He says bluntly. "We're completely ignoring them and their contribution to past wizarding integration programs."

Mrs. Morgan blinks and looks over to Mrs. Weasley, who's paused in her writing and is now looking at Alex with, shockingly, a faint smile.

"Well it sounds like you've found your specialization Mr. Zhang." The magical head says simply. "Why don't you take the rest of today to go visit the SRF and get to know them, see what their thoughts are. You can put together a rough proposal of future work with them and get that onto my desk before the end of the week."

Alex scowls but turns on his heel after responding with only a sharp nod. The other specialists had created the proposal form, and if he's heading his own project now he'll need to fill them out - it's only fair.

Besides, not having to be in the offices for the rest of the day sounds like a solid overall win to him. It was this or having to cover a Beasts meeting with Baylee since Kylee is off at the bank again for some reason, and this is infinitely preferable.

He doesn't actually know where the Rights Foundation is located though, so... he'll have to figure that out, somehow.

It's probably not above their floor - he's pretty sure only the Department of Mysteries is there - so it must be downwards. Which doesn't help considering that's most of the Ministry, but still.

Maybe he'll start by checking out the other half of this floor - someone not in the Initiative might be familiar with the layout and able to point him in the right direction. He's not going to ask his colleagues since they probably won't know anyway - they're all new Ministry workers for the most part, so why would they.

He can admit it's kind of a weak excuse, but he really doesn't want to deal with everyone finding out about his new potential project and making a big deal over it. He's just doing his job, after all, not moving mountains.

Though magical people probably can move mountains, now that he thinks about it. Maybe not the best metaphor, then. Stupid magic.

He's never left the Initiative offices before, so it takes a moment to orient himself to where the other Department on the seventh floor is actually located. He's honestly kind of amazed at how massive the floor actually is - he'd thought for a long time that it was just the Initiative and Hunters set up here, but they only occupy about a quarter of the actual floor. The rest belongs to the Department of Games and Sports.

He's putting the massive size of the underground building down to magical nonsense and not thinking too hard about what it says about the London Underground or sewer systems. Like how they obviously had to be planned around the Ministry building, implying magic probably was known about by higher level Muggle officials, implying that Muggles were willingly keeping the secret from each other for hundreds of years.

One more reason not to trust politicians, he supposes.

When he steps through the door leading to the main Sports offices he immediately has regrets.

The room is in complete chaos, with people climbing over desks, jumping off chairs, and sending dozens of parchments scattering across the room in a flurry that's starting to cause people to slide along the floor. Alex freezes in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at the chaos, and thinks back to Edward mentioning his confusion about the relaxed work environment in the Hunters.

He'd probably have a heart attack if he saw this.

Something small and golden buzzes suddenly in his face, and he instinctively swats at it before realizing belatedly that it's a snitch, and he probably should have-

"GRAB THAT SNITCH!"

Someone slams into him, and he feels the distinct impact of a fist hitting his cheekbone (a feeling he unfortunately is familiar with from his bartending job). It hurts, surprisingly so as it's not a very big fist - whoever just hit him definitely works out.

He stumbles back, dazed and reaching to prod at his cheek to check the damage. Only after he's determined it probably won't bruise too badly does he notice a frantic girl in front of him, staring up at him and babbling apologies fast enough that she often cuts herself off.

He glares, and she immediately shuts up, before coughing and offering one final "sorry."

"I didn't see you there - I was trying to get the snitch, it was a present from the Holyhead Harpies' Glynnis Griffiths when they won that match against the Heidelberg Harriers back in 1953 so it's a bit of a Department heirloom and - well no one ever uses that door." She stutters out, finally looking up at Alex nervously. "I, um, I can fix that for you? If you like?" She offers after another moment of thick silence, gesturing at his cheek.

He frowns. "What, does magic just fix every injury?" He asks gruffly, and she blinks, and then looks over at the door he's standing in again.

"Oh my gosh you're from the Initiative! I am SO sorry!" She exclaims again, turning bright red. "I mean, I can help with the bruising using a standard healing potion, bigger injuries can't actually be fixed that quickly, but, um, if you want?" She ends, the sentence left as a fractured mess, but Alex gets what she means.

He grunts. "Fine. That sounds fine."

She looks immensely relieved and rushes back into the office, vanishing into the chaos for about a minute before reappearing, oddly unaffected by the ongoing war zone around her. Alex is almost impressed except he's still annoyed and she's obviously magical. She probably assumes he's Muggle and is going to start talking down to him now.

She holds up the potion to him in offering. "It should work, I think?"

Alex shrugs and takes it. It will work - he knows because he used healing potions as a kid. He'd just.. forgotten a lot. Maybe a bit intentionally, if he's honest with himself.

"Thanks." He says when he finishes, returning the vial to her. His cheek already feels a lot better, and she blushes as she takes the bottle back.

"Sorry again. Um, could I offer you lunch as a proper apology?" She asks, sounding a bit hopeful.

Alex gives her a look. "No offense, but I don't know you, and you just punched me in the face. Why would I want to have lunch with you?"

She immediately deflates and backs off, apologizing again under her breath. Alex has a moment to feel bad - she'd actually been nice - before he remembers he actually has something he's trying to do, so he turns on his heel and heads back out of the office and towards the lifts.

He'll just ask the greeter in the Atrium where to go - it's their job anyway. And he's far less likely to be punched in the face there.

Author's Note: Sorry for the major switch-up on Allison and Alex's meeting CL, but with him getting lunch with Edward regularly and being paid quite a bit (he's got pocket money at this point in the job) it didn't make sense for him to accept Allison's lunch invite. Don't worry, there will be more of her in the future! When Alex is less grumpy, hopefully xD