The Wizarding Wireless Network headquarters are situated at the far end of Hogsmeade, across from the train station and the public Floo access point, in a building that Desmond thinks should have been towering over the rest of the small town but somehow isn't. He assumes there's probably some sort of perception magic at work, which honestly has fascinating implications for physics.

"Oh man, I've never been this close - it's really tall, isn't it?" Estelle observes, whistling slightly. "They upgraded it in the past decade I heard - new management and apparently new money."

They walk into the building to find it's a lot like the Ministry - bigger inside than out.

"Tardis logic." Desmond whispers, and Estelle laughs.

"Nerd." She teases as they approach the front desk. "Hi, we're Estelle Kuhara and Desmond Edevane - we have an appointment for three o'clock?"

They luckily had managed to get their tour and interview approved as work time, so organizing around their schedules had been a lot less hectic than anticipated, and as a bonus Desmond is being payed. Of course, that conversely means that there's extra pressure on making sure they represent the Initiative and cooperation between the worlds in general in a good light.

Estelle is still talking to the secretary when Desmond realizes he'd slightly zoned out, and he hopes he hasn't missed anything.

"Mr. Jordan should be down shortly. He insisted on doing the tour himself - he's Mrs. Poole's producer." The secretary says, directing the second part to Desmond which suggests he definitely did miss something, and it was definitely obvious. He flashes the woman a quick, slightly apologetic grin and thanks her before he and Estelle head for a small cluster of comfortable-looking chairs to wait for their tour guide.

"So since you decided to tune out for a minute there," Estelle says teasingly as they get settled (the chairs are, as expected, quite comfortable), "Ms. Abbott-Cassidy was just saying that we'll be taking the tour first, and Mr. Jordan is going to field a few questions so that Mrs. Poole doesn't ask anything we'll be uncomfortable with. I figure we should probably clear as many of them as possible since we don't want to seem like we're hiding anything, but I appreciate that they're taking those steps. I'm honestly fine answering anything, so you can take point on nixing any questions you don't like."

Desmond hums. He'd like to say he has the same confidence as Estelle does, but he'll still keep a careful ear on the proposed questions - Veena and Miles have been doing an excellent job recently on the Muggle end of the Initiative's media presence and Desmond would hate to mess up what's really their first major exposure in the magical world.

It's actually a bit odd, now that he's thinking about it, how they've been focusing so heavily on the Muggle end of cooperation without really addressing the magical world. Though maybe they have and Desmond just wasn't aware of it due to living in the Muggle world? He turns to ask Estelle about it - she'd probably know considering she's a witch - when a dark-skinned man saunters up to them whistling cheerfully. He's holding a clipboard which seems weirdly normal, especially considering the wand shoved haphazardly behind his ear, supported more by his dreadlocks than anything else.

"You're Estelle and Desmond?" He asks them, though it doesn't really seem to be a question as he doesn't wait for any sort of confirmation before continuing. "I'm Lee Jordan, but you can just call me Lee - Mr. Jordan sounds stuffy. I'll be showing you around for the next hour, and then we'll be getting you prepped for your interview! It will be recorded, not live, so don't worry about any stumbles or stutters - we can remove them in post!"

"Sounds a lot like how Muggle shows work." Desmond observes as he and Estelle rise to follow Lee towards a lift behind the front desk.

Lee grins over at him. "It's similar, actually! The founder of the Wizarding Wireless Network was the Muggleborn daughter of a radio announcer back in the late eighteen hundreds, so a lot of the foundation of the Network is derived from Muggle standards. Obviously the tech itself is entirely magically powered so it's different in regards to that, but Mrs. Temperance Clearwater kept things looking pretty similar - on the surface, at least."

"That's the founder?" Desmond guesses, and Lee nods cheerfully.

"Yup! Not many people know her name, but her family is still attending Hogwarts to this day. Mrs. Clearwater wasn't actually a presenter though, she just did all the behind-the-scenes work, figuring out how to create the wireless radios magical people use, how to project sound over the airwaves without being picked up by Muggle stations, stuff like that. The first real presenters were the Prewitt twins - absolute legends, those two. They were my heros for years. Ah, here we are!" Lee grins at them as the lift doors slide open and he ushers them out into a beautiful hall filled with flashing lights and mis-mashed technology that wouldn't look out of place in a sci-fi or steampunk film. Several witches and wizards bustle about, wands out and glowing. "Welcome to the Main Control Room! This is where most of the magic happens - we store all recordings here to check them before they go live, and it's also where we record and edit live presentations." He grins when Desmond opens his mouth to ask another question. "The editing is mostly bleeping any swears that show up, sort of like what they do with Muggle live shows - there's ten second delay."

Desmond laughs. "You get that one a lot then?" He guesses, and Lee grins an affirmative.

"So Estelle tells us that you've got some background in radio work, yeah?" Lee asks as they're led further into the room, and Desmond nods somewhat distractedly as he looks at what everyone is doing and tries to draw parallels to his own experience with the broadcast club in highschool. "Well let me show you the nitty gritty of what we do then - you'll probably appreciate it more than our usual tour guests!"

"I'm going to go bother the disk jockey to put on some Wizard's Wings songs." Estelle tells her boyfriend, tapping his elbow lightly to make sure she has his attention. "You boys have fun with your nerd stuff."

Desmond laughs and waves her off, and Estelle wanders over to the far end of the room, glad to see how much Desmond is enjoying himself. She'd known that he would, of course, but knowing and seeing are two different things. It certainly helps that Lee is actually quite similar to her boyfriend, and the two are easily bouncing off each other like they're old friends rather than brand-new acquaintances.

After months of seeing Desmond so down and anxious, it's good to see him back to something resembling his normal self - after all, they're both extroverts at their core even if Desmond sometimes withdraws himself when stressed or overworked, which in turn usually aggravates that stress and overwork in an ugly, destructive cycle. This really was the ideal gift to get him.

She doesn't actually interrupt the disk jockey, who's magically spinning records and projecting them through an interesting looking tube-like structure - she'll ask Desmond later about the mechanics of it all, as she's sure Lee will happily explain all the details even without the prompting Estelle knows her boyfriend will give him. Instead, she ponders what sort of questions they might be asked for their interview (which she's insanely excited about - getting to meet the Leona Poole is insane, and Wendy has been jealous even since Estelle told her about it). She knows Desmond is getting paid work-time for this excursion of theirs, which means they're basically representing the Initiative once the recording starts, something that's probably weighing on Desmond whenever he stops to think about it. For her part, Estelle knows they'll be fine - everyone in the office loved following along with the drama of their story, and now that they have a concrete happy conclusion she thinks it will be  great addition to the Initiative's cooperation narrative. They have another similar interview set up for next week with Celine, which thinking on it now is a bit backwards - this interview is definitely higher pressure than a sit-down with a known friend.

Estelle shrugs to herself and continues to watch Lee and Desmond flit around the Control room, Desmond eagerly asking questions that are just as enthusiastically answered by Lee, and she thinks they may have just made a new friend, albeit one who is a lot older than they are. At what age does that stop being weird?

She mulls over the question for all of two seconds before deciding it doesn't matter and they should invite Lee over for dinner some time so he and Desmond can nerd out some more.

They move on from the Control Room after another thirty minutes, though Desmond and Lee are still excitedly chatting about some of the methods that overlap between magic and Muggle broadcasting techniques.

When they step out of the lift this time it's into a cozy recording booth, and Lee gestures for them both to take one of the many seats scattered around the room. They're thankfully just as comfortable as the ones in the lobby had been, and Estelle settles in easily.

"So everything above us is just administrative offices, and those guys don't like being interrupted by tours." Lee explains, still with the cheeky grin Estelle has quickly come to realize isn't a customer service mask but is actually just part of his face. "We've only got about ten minutes before Leona gets here, so I wanted to run through a few questions and you guys can tell me if anything is a solid 'no' for being asked as well as anything that you're on the fence about - we can hold those back unless an opportunity to ask comes up naturally or if we need some extra time at the end. Sound good?"

Estelle gives an easy half-shrug and a nod, looking over at Desmond as she does. "I'm fine with whatever - Des, that sound alright?"

He nods, not verbally replying which means the pressure of the interivew is creeping back into his bones after the temporary break he'd gotten during the tour.

Lee obviously notices the shift and raises an eyebrow, but politely doesn't comment. "Alright, great! So to open you'll be asked to introduce yourself and the general situation you found yourselves in, just so the audience is all on the same page. From there Leona will direct the conversation. We generally try to not ask too many questions since we want the show to just feel like a conversation that the listener can be part of, or at least be overhearing."

"I love that." Estelle can't help interrupting. "It's a lot less stiff than other interviews. I think it's why Leona's morning show is my favorite radio program."

Lee beams. "Well thank you. Feel free to say that once the mics are on, we'll take any unsolicited praise we can get!"

"Wasn't that soliciting it just now?" Desmond jokes, and Estelle grins. Good, he's coming back out of his head - the interview will be a lot smoother and more natural if he's relaxed.

Lee sticks out his tongue. "That was suggestion, not solicitation." He declares good-naturedly. "Now come on, we're on a time crunch here and Leona won't be too pleased if I end up going over time with one of these again!"

In the end they approve all the questions that Lee puts forth - they all make sense and would naturally come up in conversation anyway. Estelle can tell Desmond is a bit hesitant over a few, so she resolves to try and address those ones if and when they come up in the one-hour recording session they have planned.

Desmond for his part is an equal mix of stressed and amused, which is probably the best case scenario all things considered. Lee really is a great guy, and Desmond would bet that Estelle is already planning to invite him over for a meal at some point, not that Desmond would complain - Lee is fascinating and the man's ideas for integrating the broadcasting systems are fascinating. Desmond is honestly disappointed that he can't add that to his specialization due to education already being a titan of a project on its own. Maybe he could shop it to one of the other three? Though they're all busy now too, even Alex. Especially Alex - with the first meetup in just a few days, he and Petra have been non-stop in their planning. It's rare to not see one of them racing between offices or to and from the lifts as they prepare.

The lift dings behind him, and he's snapped out of his thoughts rather abruptly. Beside him, Estelle spins in her seat excitedly, and Desmond turns as well while Lee stands up to greet the newcomer.

"Hey Leona. These are the famous lovebirds." Lee introduces them brightly to the woman who steps out into the room. She's rather short and slightly round, but her eyes sparkle mischeviously and the laugh lines around her eyes immediately make Desmond a bit more relaxed. Despite apparently being a major magical celebrity, Leona seems like a rather friendly, humble person at first glance.

"Estelle and Desmond! So good to meet you both." The woman declares. Her voice carries in a way that suggests she's probably always the loudest person in a room whether she means to be or not - though Desmond wouldn't be surprised to learn she definitely means to be. "Leona Poole. I'm Trish's aunt and this doofus's boss."

"And wife!" Lee adds brightly, in the sort of tone someone takes when they're being intentionally difficult and find themselves quite funny for it.

Leona laughs, so obviously Lee was correct in his assumption. "And wife, yes. I hope he actually went through the interview prep this time, or that may not be the case much longer." It's said teasingly despite the harsh words, and Lee barks his own laugh as he heads for an area across the room that Desmond hadn't until this point seen. It's a small room like what the desk jokey had been in, and he assumes that it must be the recording booth.

Leona grabs the seat Lee had previously been occupying and summons a few cordless microphones over to them, letting two hover in front of Estelle and Desmond. They're perfect height to simply speak into, Demond notes.

"You can hold them yourselves or just let them levitate." She explains. "It's a special charm keeping them there that won't deactivate until they're touched."

Desmond opts to let his hover, though Estelle grabs her out of the air without thinking on it too much. "Can I just say this is a huge honor? I've been listening to your show since I was a girl." She tells Leona enthusiastically, which makes the older woman laugh.

"Oh gosh don't say that, you'll make me feel old."

"You have a nineteen-year-old niece, you are old!" Lee calls from the booth, giving a cheeky grin when Leona shoots him a playful eyeroll.

Desmond finds himself feeling rather envious. Although he and Estelle are speaking again, going on dates and staying over at each other's flat like they used to, they haven't quite gotten back to the easy banter that Leona and Lee are currently tossing back and forth with an ease that Desmond has found is rare in most couples he knows.

He misses having that with Estelle.

"How long have you two been together?" Estelle asks. She probably had noticed Desmond slipping, and he's glad for the question as it keeps focus on Leona and Lee a moment longer so he can recenter himself.

Leona laughs. "Too long. We met during the last war, actually, I was an informant for Potterwatch and the Order of the Phoenix, and Lee of course was the one who ran Potterwatch. We started working together officially here at the WWN a few years after that, and, well, I guess his stupid face eventually won me over."

"I have an excellent face! It was really only a matter of time before it worked its charm." Lee declares. "But yeah, if you want specifically when we got married, about eight years ago now? It was pretty low key outside of Trish punching her sister halfway down the aisle, we didn't want to draw too much media attention."

And that comment successfully drags Desmond fully back into the conversation. "She what?"

"This is the same Trish I met? Really?" Estelle asks skeptically, though also clearly holding back laughter. "She doesn't seem like she could hurt a pixie without crying about it, and those things deserve it."

"Oh she couldn't." Leona agrees with a laugh. "But she used to have something of a temper when she was young and emotionally immature. I think she gets it from her mother honestly, Ed was always the most annoyingly chill person when we were growing up."

They end up talking childhood stories for a few more minutes before Leona abruptly shifts to what Desmond assumes is her 'professional mode.' "Alright, we should probably get started - I know you guys are expected back at the Initiative at some point today."

Desmond takes a quick, bracing breath, and nods. Estelle is relaxed beside him, and Leona signals to Lee, presumably to start the recording.

"Hello listeners! I'm Leona Poole, and I'm here today with two very special guests who are joining us from their very busy jobs working with the Muggle Integration Initiative! Desmond, Estelle, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourselves?"

Estelle glances at Desmond before deciding she'll go first. "Hello! My name is Estelle Kuhara, and I'm an Auror currently working with the Hunters division alongside the Initiative. We're actively searching for the cause and participants in last August's incident. I'm also a former Gryffindor, a registered Animagus, and as you might guess from my name I'm originally from Japan, so I speak both English and Japanese fluently!"

Desmond clears his throat. "I'm Desmond Edevane, and I'm the education specialist for the Integration Initiative. I'm a muggle, so no former Hogwarts House, though my brothers were in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff so I'm familiar with the world. I usually teach highschool physics and math - this year excepting, obviously."

"And you two have recently been through something rather jarring." Leona observes, and Estelle grins wryly.

"That's a word for it." She agrees, almost forgetting to raise her microphone to catch the sentence. Desmond may have been onto something when he opted to let it hover. "The Incident last year that revealed magic also put a bit of a wrench in my and Des's relationship for a while. Luckily we worked things out, but it was an unpleasant few months."

"Probably my fault." Desmond admits sheepishly, and Estelle is pleased to see that he's relaxing a lot faster than she would have expected. Then again, Leona's presence is quite chill, and combined with the joking around they'd done earlier it's not so surprising to see Desmond slipping into his extroverted, cheery self so early on. "I tend to over think things, so when I saw Estelle at work, well, I kind of assumed the worst."

"We'd been together almost a year at that point, and I was honestly already thinking about coming clean." Estelle adds. "But being forced like that put us both in an awkward position. I'm sure other people have or are experiencing something similar now, which is why Des and I wanted to come on the show today."

The interview really doesn't end up feeling like one - it's just a conversation between them and Leona, talking about their worries in the past few months. Estelle shares the grand scheme of Operation Romcom Nonsense and duly gives props to her fellow conspirators.

"If any reporters need a good wingman, turns out Miles is fantastic for it." She laughs. "And extra points for Pup, who was our romcom expert. I won't give his real name since he didn't give me permission for that, but he's a great guy. Oh, and a special mention to Cat as well - if I'd just listened to her in the first place we probably could have fixed this a lot faster!"

"All these animal code names - what would I be?" Desmond jokes, and they end up derailing into giving each other secret agent animal code names for a solid ten minutes.

They end up with nearly two hours of recorded material, but Estelle isn't sorry for going so far over time - it really was a lot of fun.

"Would it be presumptuous to ask if you two would be interested in having dinner at our place sometime?" She asks as they're packing up the studio. Lee has rejoined them and is talking quickly and quietly with Leona, both all business which is a rather odd look for both of them.

Leona laughs. "Let's wait until after the interview is aired - we wouldn't want anyone to cry foul or favoritism." She says lightly, and Estelle does deflate slightly. That's definitely not the affirmative she was hoping for.

"We'll see about setting something up afterwards though." Lee says with a grin. "I'd love to learn more about Muggle broadcasting!"

Leona sighs, but she's smiling. "Much later Lee." She scolds him. "Sorry about him, he gets overexcited and loses sight of professional conduct sometimes."

Estelle and Desmond thank Leona again as she escorts them down the lift and back to the ground floor.

"Of course, it's not a problem at all." She assures them before turning to the front desk secretary. "Fern dear, make sure to get Ms. Kuhara and Mr. Edevane's contact information on file in case we need any follow up." She instructs, and the woman nods somewhat distractedly.

"Yes ma'am." She agrees brightly, turning to Estelle and Desmond as Leona vanishes back up the lift. "Owl address or phone numbers are accepted for contact purposes." She informs them, still with a customer-service smile plastered onto her face. "Do you have a preference?"

Estelle glances at Desmond, but he's off in his head again, probably analyzing every aspect of the interview and mentally writing his report to the Initiative leaders. Estelle leaves him to it and looks back to the secretary. "Phone is fine for both of us - I can give you our numbers whenever you're ready."

They head for the Floo point not long after. Desmond is still in his head, but Estelle figures he's had enough time to put together several presentations at this point considering how quickly his mind works, so she interrupts his thoughts.

"So that wasn't too bad." She declares, and he startles slightly before grinning.

"Not too bad at all." He agrees.

Celine had learned about the Initiative Meetup the same way everyone else had - through the internet and television ads. Which is probably a good thing - it means everyone else is equally aware of the meetup and details pertaining to it. Still, she's a little disappointed she hadn't gotten a personal invitation, or even just a mention from her friends inside the Initiative.

"But you are going, I assume?" Landon asks her over lunch the day of the meetup. She gives him  an exasperated look and takes a long sip from her tea before answering.

She and Landon's coffee had been delayed by the major storm that had dropped over the holidays, but he'd actually asked her if she wanted to reschedule not long after the New Year, and she had agreed. Since then they've been seeing each other roughly weekly - Landon usually owls her when he's free, and she adjusts her schedule so she can accept his invitiation out. She knows it's a little silly to do so, but honestly her little crush on Landon has only expanded since they actually starting talking on a regular basis - he's smart, and caring, and quite funny at times, not to mention his American accent is very cute. She's pretty sure she's making a good impression as well, considering he's always the one reaching out to set up their meetings.

"Of course I'm going - every paper worth their salt will be there to see if it works. It's a pretty ambitious idea, setting up weekly get-togethers like this so Muggles and magical people can meet each other person to person. It's a good idea, great, even, but ambitious."

"Well it was spearheaded by a teenager and they tend to think big." Landon offers, and that's something the Celine is still surprised about. Alex Zhang has honestly grown up a lot, even in only the past few months, but the fact this entire idea was his had startled her when Landon had first mentioned it. "But I was asking because I actually have to head over there after this as well - the whole Initiative is attending the first meetup, and was wondering if you wanted to go together?"

Celine's brain stutters. The easy answer would be yes, but the professional answer would definitely be no. If anyone caught wind of the fact she's seeing a member of the group she's supposed to be unbiasedly reporting on, her entire coverage will be stained irreparably, and she'll probably be pulled off the project entirely. It's honestly bad enough that she failed to disclose her Squib status to anyone (outside of Alex who by some miracle apparently hasn't mentioned it to anyone) - this could be career ending.

Landon quickly backtracks, trying but not entirely hiding his disappointment at her reaction. "Sorry if that was too forward, we don't have to. I just thought-"

"I can't. I mean, I'd love to, but I literally can't." Celine quickly interrupts. She suppose she should explain the situation properly, even though she's realizing now that she's actually been a terrible reporter this entire time. "I'm supposed to maintain objectivity - if I show up with you it will be clear that I've kind of utterly failed at that." She sighs. "I probably should remove myself from the story, it's bad reporting etiquette."

"Don't!" Landon says immediately, almost shouting really, and he blushes when Celine looks over at him (which is super cute). He coughs awkwardly. "I mean, you're one of the best people reporting on us in the No-Maj world right now, I'd hate to lose that just because I want to hold your hand in public. Maybe we can say we bumped into each other on the way over then? So you can keep the story?"

Honestly, it's grimy and feels like something a less ethical reporter would agree to, but also walking to the meetup with Landon still sounds like an excellent idea, so Celine nods. She'll beat herself up over integrity later.

The meetup is indoors, of course, at Westfield in the large central building where the indoor ice skating rink has recently been melted away for the season. It's still just a little too chilly in the large area, but Celine can see a crush of bodies are slowly trickling in towards the penned off section that several large signs point to as the meetup location, so she's pretty sure it will warm up quickly.

She shifts nervously, looking around for any other reporters, but thankfully doesn't see any yet - they are a bit early, so she may have beaten the others.

"I should probably go say hi to everyone." She says awkwardly as they approach the entrance to the meeting, where Miles is chipperly greeting everyone who walks by, regardless of whether they're actually looking at him or not.

"Yeah, uh, I'll see you around?" Landon offers, and she gives him a quick smile.

"Most likely." She agrees before moving away from him a bit and heading over to Miles, who spots her almost immediately ans waves rather enthusiastically.

She can't help but laugh, some of her internal conflict easing for the moment as she refocuses on something else. "Hey Miles, good to see you."

"Hi Celine! Are you going to hang out with us today?" He asks hopefully, and she gives him an affirmative, to which he beams. "Awesome! Veena and Cat are over in the back with Nico, you should go say hi while you still have time - he's so cute, I be they'll be swarmed as more people show up!"

She laughs again and thanks him as he takes her coat. She pulls her notebook out of her purse and begins to wander towards the back area Miles had pointed out, figuring she should take his advice to start and then work her way around to watch how the meetup goes. There are already a few people present who Celine doesn't recognize, though they could just as easily be witches and wizards as Muggles so she doesn't approach them just yet. She'll most likely collect some quotes once things are in full swing, but for now she wants to get a feel for who everyone is and what the atmosphere is going to be like.

At the moment the aura is just 'nervous' and 'anticipatory' and she decides to jot that down - it could be a good opener - as she finally reaches Veena and her family. True to Miles' claim, Nico is adorable.

"Hello ladies, you ready?" She asks lightly, and Veena gives her a grin.

"As we'll ever be. It's good to see some friendly faces from the Muggle camp." Veena replies. "Have you met my wife? Cat, this is Celine. She's the reporter from the Telegraph." Veena says in quick introduction, and Cat offers a handshake.

"Good to put a face to the name - Veena has nothing but good things to say about you." The woman says. She's honestly rather intimidating, not to mention very tall and not really smiling, but considering she's married to Veena Celine doesn't feel too daunted - she must be nice. So she accepts the handshake and offers a smile.

"Same here. And who's this little guy?" She leans over Nico to coo a bit, and laughs delightedly when he giggles and waves one chubby baby hand. "Oh man, Miles was right, you're going to be very popular mister."

Veena laughs. "This is Nico, and he is a bit of an attention seeker already, so I think he'll be very happy about that. Are you staying for the entire event?"

"That's the goal, though with how long it is I'm not one hundred percent certain I'll be able to." Celine replies, and the three women end up chatting easily as the area slowly begins to fill with other people. Eventually, Celine excuses herself so she can actually do some observing for her article, at which point three older women pile past her to coo at Nico, much to the baby's delight.

Celine wanders the edges of the meetup, taking a few notes and casually eavesdropping on a few conversations here and there. People seem to overall be enjoying themselves, and while there's still some lingering tension the overall atmosphere is almost joyful. She spots a few familar faces and waves, but doesn't actively engage in any further conversations. She already knows the Initiative and how great they all are - they should be focusing on the every day Muggles stopping by to say hello.

And there are quite a few - Celine is honestly thrilled to see so many people making their way into the area, and a decent number of them actually stay for a while, chatting with the other people present. All in all, the meetup seems to be going exactly according to plan.

She does spot Landon at one point talking to someone, and against better judgement gives him a smile and a wave, which he returns without breaking his conversation. She's mentally debating whether to go listen in when someone flings and arm around her and she very nearly has a heart attack.

"Hiya Celine!" Rose Evans says excitedly, releasing the reporter from her surprise one-armed hug attack. "Good to see you here!" Rose has been bouncing around the meetup all afternoon, sometimes helping Miles drag in passersby, sometimes chatting with a few Muggles herself, and she's having a grand old time. She's starting back up with Minister Granger in March (and she's not sure how glad she is for the extra two months off considering how grouchy Landon has continued to be - honestly, if he didn't want to do the work, then he should have just not done it, it's not Rose's fault he hadn't noticed!), which she knows means a whole bunch more work and talking to angry old people, so she's enjoying this gathering to her fullest capabilities.

Her favorite is when people bring their kids in, since pretty much every child has been easily wowed by a few simple tricks that Rose performs for them. All in all, things are going great.

She says as much to Celine, who offers a smile in reply. "I was thinking the same thing." She agrees. "Everyone seems to be having a great time! Is it just the Initiative out here?"

Rose shakes her head. "Nah, we actually won't be attenting these things much after this." She explains a bit sadly. "Diana and the Relocation are going to be handling these for the most part, since we all have our own roles that we need to get back to. Especially since this seems to be going super well, we can probably restart some of the things that had to be put on pause after the holidays like transportation and education and what not." She notices Celine scribbling frantically, and smiles. She's getting quoted! Awesome! "It's exciting, obviously, and hopefully we will get to come in occasionally, but it won't ever be all together like this again. Hey, have you met any of the relocation guys? You should introduce yourself!"

Rose is a bit confused when Celine actually takes a step back, as if to physically distance herself from the offer. Rose would have thought she'd be excited to talk to the other guys, but she supposes she must not know Celine as well as she'd thought. "I probably shouldn't - I don't want to influence the story at all." She explains. "I'm trying to be more of an observer right now - with things so tense some readers might get the wrong idea if I seem too friendly with you guys."

Rose doesn't really get that, but she shrugs and doesn't push. "Alright. Well I'll let you observe then. Have fun!" As Celine walks off, Rose debates the pros and cons of going to tell Landon that his crush is here. On the one hand, he would definitely start blushing and it would be hilarious, but on the other it could start and argument, which would be pretty bad for business.

She shrugs and decides to go see Miles a the entrance instead - they can probably drag a few more people in before they have to wrap things up, and maybe there will be some kids walking by!

Miles spots her coming and waves. "Hey stranger! Long time no see!" He jokes, jovial as ever. Rose definitely made the right decision coming back here.

"Lieutenant Evans here and ready for more recruitment sir!" She declares brightly, and Miles laughs before they begin scoping out the people walking past.

"Hello! I hope you're having fun shopping!" Miles says to pretty much everyone who walks by. His mouth is honestly getting a little bit dry after hours of this, but he can't really bring himself to mind - he's having too much fun. Most people who he waves at at least wave back, or give a smile, and some even stop completely and come in to the meetup.

It's especially effective when Rose is up front with him - people really seem to like her, not that Miles blames them. She's all big, pretty smiles and infectious energy, and between the two of them most passers by at least stop and ask what the meetup is all about.

"And we'll be having them every week!" Miles explains to one older gentleman who had stopped on Rose enthusiastically waving and complimenting his hat. "That way there will be plenty of time for people to come meet us on their own time - everyone is really busy working and schooling and all that stuff! We want to be as, um," Shoot, what was the word Mrs. Weasley had used when explaining this whole thing to them?"

"As unobtrusive as possible." Rose volunteers from where she's carefully levitating the man's granddaughter a few feet above the ground. "We don't want people bending their schedules around just to come see us, we want it to fit in naturally! Just like how we hope the magic and Muggle worlds can come together."

The man hums thoughtfully. "Well I can't say I'm too pleased either way with your lot." He says, bitingly honest in the incredibly friendly way only old people seem to be able to manage, "But at least you're trying. Keep that up forever then - it's always easy to try in the short term, but real colors usually show up eventually."

"And you'll see that ours are really pretty colors." Rose replies with a big grin. She twirls the girl once and gets an excited shriek of laughter before gently letting her back down. "Between you and me," She says in a stage-whisper to the granddaughter, "I hear they're trying to make magic flying brooms that even Muggles can use!"

The girl's eyes go wide. "Grandpa! Grandpa can I have one for my birthday? I'll do chores every day and walk the dog after school and-"

Rose laughs at the look the grandfather gives her. "I'm sorry about that." She grins, not seeming apologetic at all in Miles' opinion. "They'll of course make sure the brooms are one hundred percent safe before releasing anything to the public - the broom regulatory commission is really intense about what they let through. Only top quality work makes it into the market."

"Well I would hope so." The elderly gentleman sniffs. "Come now Diana, we have more shopping to do."

"Can we come back afterwards?" Diana asks hopefully, but Miles doesn't hear her grandfather's response before they vanish back into the Saturday afternoon shopping crowd.

"At the very least, I think she'll convince her parents to come around sometime in the future." Rose says cheerfully. "Hello!" She calls to a random passerby, and they're back to work.

Kylee watches the two from a few meters away, where she's just finished a very in-depth conversation with a middle-aged woman named Annalise over the merits of a combined magical and Muggle medical system. The woman is a registered nurse and former army and had been extremely fascinating to speak with. Kylee honestly had been nervous when she was first told all the Initiative specialists who were familiar with the magical world were required to go to the first meetup (the non-familiar had the option to come as well, though Aruna had opted out, unsurprisingly), but now she's kind of glad she came. It's still crowded and loud and she has to talk to a bunch of people she doesn't know which is terrifying, but she's also found a few people like Annalise to sit and chat with for long stretches of time, which is far from the image of endless awkward small talk that had first come to mind when the meetup was announced.

The worst part really is the time between finding those interesting people to while away the hours with, and Kylee takes a deep, nervous breath to brace herself before diving back into the crowd.

There are a lot more people present than she'd honestly expected there would be, and it's both exciting (the meetup is a success!) and scary (so many strangers) and despite all the interesting people she's met, Kylee is glad this is the only time she'll have to do this.

A young man sidles up to her with a shy smile, and she mentally braces herself for some more awkward small talk - every guy with that look so far has just wanted her number, which she can't give considering she's working and also she doesn't want to, thanks.

"Um hello. Are you a witch?" He asks. Not the smoothest opener she's heard, but far from the worst one either.

She shakes her head. "I'm a Squib actually. Raised in a magical family but don't have any magic myself. I'm Kylee." She offers a handshakes which is nervously taken, and she tries to subtly wipe her hand on her leg afterwards. Sweaty palms are really not attractive.

"I'm Aaron. I uh, saw the meetup and thought it could be interesting. I think magic is way cool."

He stutters out a few more lines about doing magic tricks as a child, and Kylee is preparing to reply with something polite but distant when a new figure swoops into their personal space.

"Kylee! There you are, jeez it's crowded in here."

Kylee stares in disbelief at Tristan Morgan, who flashes her a bright grin before turning to Aaron.

"Hello! Sorry for barging in, I just got on shift and wanted to say hello to everyone so they knew I was here! I'm Tristan, I work as an Auror for the Ministry. What's your name?"

In the end, despite his abrupt and uninvited interruption, Tristan actually proves himself rather useful. He's honestly not fantastic at small talk, but he dives straight past in with no apparent qualms about forgoing social niceties, and he ends up driving away anyone who's only interested in idle chatter and draws in the ones that are more interesting to chat with. The remaining time in the meetup flies by, and Kylee finds herself surprised when she looks up from her latest conversation about culture and the complexities of trying to change it to realize that the area is slowly being packed up.

Fergus gives her a wave when she catches his eye. "You looked quite involved, so we didn't want to interrupt." He tells her with a grin. "We're just about wrapped up honestly - you can head home if you like."

Kylee insists on helping with what little is left, and Tristan follows along with her.

"That was fun! And there were no incidents of aggression either which is awesome. We'll probably only have one person on shift at future meetups."

Kylee eyes him uncertainly. During her conversations Tristan had proven himself clever, curious, and honestly fun to talk to, but now she's not sure what exactly he wants. She figures that after the past few hours spent together, she can probably just ask him outright, and based on his total lack of worry over proper social manners, he probably won't mind.

"So if you're trying to butter me up to get closer to my sister, you don't have to. She's her own person." She says, trying to sound confident.

Tristan blinks at her owlishly for a moment. "I... huh? What? I know Baylee's her own person. Her own person kept breaking into the Ravenclaw dorms and it drove me absolutely nuts. You don't seem like you'd do that."

Kylee frowns. "I don't get it then." She admits after a moment, stepping back as Tristan magically folds up a few tables and sets them against the wall to be carted away. "Why do you keep talking to me? You said before you just wanted to say hi and tell everyone you were here, but then you didn't leave. I guess I assumed you must like my sister. You two seem kind of flirty whenever she's around."

Tristan makes a face. "No, definitely not. I mean, no offense, or anything. I know you're close. I just wanted to get to know you I guess? You seem so different from Baylee is all, I was curious."

Kylee allows a small smile at that, though internally she's still reeling a bit at her assumptions being so far off base. "That doesn't surprise me. And, well, I guess you've gotten to know me now. So."

"And you're really cool." Tristan blurts, and then blushes. "I mean-"

Kylee waves him off. "It's fine, I'll take the compliment." She assures him. "Um, anyway, thanks for hanging out today, it was a lot of fun. I'll see you in the office?"

He nods, smiling brightly. "Yeah, of course! I'll see you tomorrow."

Kylee watches him trot off with some bemusement - apparently Tristan is just weirdly friendly. Well, whatever his deal is, he was pleasant to work with today, and made something she was dreading turn out to not be so bad.

The mall staff are now getting involved and caring away tables, chairs, and snacks, so Kylee figures she's fine to head home for the evening. She waves to Miles as she goes, and he flails back. She laughs - if he's losing control of his limbs like that then he definitely had fun, which is a good sign. Things went well.

They may be able to recover from this yet.

Author's Note: IT'S LEONA. THE GREAT ONE HAS GRACED US WITH HER PRESENCE ONCE AGAIN. Now with husband! So actually showing the tour and interview wasn't originally something I had planned, but as anyone who's followed this series long enough knows Leona tends to demand page time xD Also I guess the meetup went well but more importantly LEONA WOO :D