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Tweak says, "MALFOY IS UP TO SOMETHING."

il avait peu l'habitude des passions inédites (rhydianluke) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-10-13 14:30:00

Entry tags:

!2003: 10, !incomplete, cho chang, rhydian oakby

Who: Cho Chang & Rhydian Oakby
What: Wasting company time
Where: Ministry of Magic, DMLE
When: This afternoon
Warnings/Rating: Probably none/low

Rhydian could rarely be counted upon to leap out of his chair when someone in his office asked for a favor or needed something done - but when those errands involved getting the hell away from Level Three, he could sometimes find it in himself to volunteer. There was a box of files sitting up in the Improper Use of Magic Office that needed carrying downstairs, too large for the usual interdepartmental mail, and Rhydian decided that he might as well stretch his legs. His supervisor had been insufferable all day, anyhow, and getting out of the prat's line of sight for a few minutes was the icing on the cake.

He couldn't just go get the damned thing and bring it back, though - that wouldn't have taken nearly long enough - and so he made a long and unnecessary detour through the Auror office, stopping to chat with anyone who didn't look as though they'd snap his head off for bothering them, killing about fifteen minutes in mindless chatter. Next up, a little jaunt to where the coffee pot was kept - which revealed that someone was slacking off a bit. Unforgivable really. He took the empty vessel to the doorway and held it out to the first passing employee he saw.

"Where do you lot keep the coffee?" he asked, fixing her with a reproachful stare. "You're dry. Dangerous, isn't it, with all the frayed nerves hereabouts? I would think you'd be more careful."

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chineseveggies
2010-10-15 05:41 pm UTC (link)

Cho was not usually in the office at this time of day--Aurors in their second year of practice were often on the field--but today was a bit of an exception. She was at her desk gathering some minor paperwork she had to complete when Rhydian came in and commented about the state of coffee-related affairs. In truth, Cho preferred to drink tea most of the time, but there were definitely some cold fall/winter mornings when nothing but coffee hit the spot.

Today was, luckily, none of those days! But Cho still realized the importance of coffee, and when she became the recipient of Rhydian's stare, she could only shrug helplessly in response, for she had not had her coffee this morning.

"I don't know," she admitted, "usually the coffee is already refilled by the time I get here. I guess the coffee-refiller-guy is off today... which he should not be... because he undoubtedly has the most important job of them all,"

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rhydianluke
2010-10-15 09:06 pm UTC (link)

"He does," Rhydian agreed, still holding the pot out as though he expected someone to take it from him. He knew how to make coffee, of course, but this wasn't his floor, after all. He wouldn't have presumed to interfere by brewing it himself. And then, as a member of the support staff, he had always been just a bit defensive about being asked to make drinks. Office equality had become a deeply ingrained part of life down at the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee since he had joined up, although it had taken a lengthy campaign of intimidation and passive disobedience to get it to sink in. "So, seeing as he's not here - where do you lot keep the coffee?" He didn't mind repeating himself. For decent people, this could still be considered early. Perhaps she'd only just woken up. "Because unless he shows up in the next ten minutes, you're running into an emergency."

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chineseveggies
2010-11-27 05:00 am UTC (link)

"Oh... somewhere over there, I think," Cho said, gesturing to somewhere off to her right, where there was a counter with some supplies underneath it in the cabinet. She got up and wandered over to the cabinet, digging through everything that was in there until she was almost half-buried inside. Which wasn't really saying much, because Cho was a tiny thing to begin with, and it wasn't hard for her to fit into very small places.

"Almost... here we go, I found it." She pulled herself back out from inside the cabinet and sat cross-legged on the floor as she sifted through the contents. "Hey, French Vanilla. You like French Vanilla?"

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rhydianluke
2010-11-28 08:03 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, who doesn't like French vanilla," he said, softening a little as he set the pot aside on the counter and leaned down to hold his hand out for the coffee. It always took him a few minutes to decide whether someone was worth talking to, but anyone who didn't mind taking a little time to let themselves be bullied into helping him make coffee was at least halfway onto his good list. "See, now we're halfway there."

The other half would be making the stuff without burning it, but that he thought he might be able to manage. "Are you lot often left to fend for yourself this way? You'd think the Auror department would be a little more - I don't know - well oiled." His tone was sympathetic. It was his opinion that this was something like a worker's right, but so many people failed to insist upon it.

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chineseveggies
2010-11-28 11:33 pm UTC (link)

Cho laughed, "French Vanilla is my favorite. I've tried other kinds of coffee before, but very few quite hit the spot the same way. Have you tried pumpkin-flavored coffee? It's yummy." She began putting the coffee-things back inside the cabinet.

As it was she was a terrible cook, but she'd managed to make hot beverages before without burning herself. "It doesn't bother me, I guess. There's some other people around here somewhere. Eating lunch, probably."

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rhydianluke
2010-11-29 12:12 am UTC (link)

"Pumpkin sounds a little more exotic than I've got room for during coffee hour." Which, as she had just pointed out, was often someone else's lunch hour. He had grown accustomed to hie off-set schedule, even if his supervisors hadn't. "Even vanilla's a little luxurious, " he deadpanned. Earthy man of the people, that was him. "But I won't begrudge anyone their lunch break." He hopped up on the counter to wait, nudging aside someone's mug that was drying on the dishrack. "I always thought you all would talk amongst yourselves more - it's dead quiet down on Level Three. But Aurors are supposed to be a little more ... you know. Proactive, hm?"

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chineseveggies
2010-12-08 03:21 am UTC (link)

Once the coffee was ready, Cho poured one mug for Rhydian and one for herself. "Cream and sugar's over there, you can help yourself." She hoisted herself up on the desk and, after adding enough cream and sugar to taste, took a long sip of coffee and instantly felt warmer. Or maybe it was just that the mug was full of piping hot coffee and her hands were so cold that the heat had sparked her hands back to life.

"And--yes, we are. But that doesn't mean we don't have paperwork... You actually caught me as I was in the middle of gathering some material," she grinned, "'cause otherwise if you'd come down five minutes later you probably wouldn't have found anyone in here."

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