Nicol
Head of Department
Department of Mysteries
Posts: 4
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Post by Nicol on Dec 19, 2005 8:00:31 GMT
There are two sides to everything... Those were the very words that Nicol used to always say to herself, and others. There was the good side, and the bad side, the happy side, and the sad side. Sometimes the good side would entwine with the sad side, and she would cry over something which everyone else called good. Sometimes the bad side would entwine with the happy side, and she would laugh at something that everyone else called misfortune. She always had been an oddball. Binary oppositions was usually what she revolved her life around. From an ethnocentric view she often said to herself that she was the shade of grey in the middle, which could sway between black, or white. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and that proved her theory in a healthy manner. Her eyes were a warm texture of forest-green, overshadowed by a cool exterior of grey. That was her soul indeed. Wrought with winding complexities, as the trees in an enormous forest, but glazed over with an unreadable lure, similar to shadows themselves. The ninth level of the Ministry was never often one that held company. Precisely why Nicol opted for this position since she had been a young girl. About her fourteenth birthday, when she had undoubtedly developed the ability to sense out unbalance, or that side everyone called misfortune, she was certain of what she would become. It was always an effort for her to converse with anyone at all, she much preferred solitude, and silence. Though this did not mean she could not understand anyone. Oh no, quite the contrary. Nicol had an uncanny ability from a young age, aforementioned, to delve into conspiracy, whether it be purely in the actions of another, or their mind. Those pupils of hers would indeed pierce through most, if not all, holding a secret behind their curtained windows. Heightened by an element she could now freely call magic, Nicol had been well on her way to becoming perhaps the greatest detective in magic there may have ever been this side of the globe. But alas, her weakness with public grew and grew, to a point where she no longer spoke at all to those she did not have any serious business with. That was when the Ministry happened upon her; following her until she turned the ripe age of twenty. Upon accepting their offer, and being promised no disturbance other than the reason she was there, Nicol wrapped up the loose ties in her life and months after her twenty-fourth birthday, she moved to Magic Horizons as Head of the Department of Mysteries. So here she sat, sage eyes set on the intricate designs of her white-willow desk, arms folded neatly on it's lip, rear parked motionless in the lap of a black-wood chair; as finely polished as the desk. Soft waves of fawn-brown fell over her shoulders, hiding most of her almond robes with the exception of her draping sleeves. Her office swelled with a rather unnerving mist, as well as the rest of the ninth floor, and the haunting silence of angry souls above in the courtroom above shrieked down the case of stairs to the right outside her door. That was where unfortunate wizards were trialled and sentenced to time in Azkaban. Nicol was fond of that room. It kept snoops away. Finally, Nicol moved. She let loose a raspy sigh, and slipped her wand from her deep pocket - ebony and griffin feather - waving it smoothly before her. Immediately ink, parchment and a quill appeared on the desk, along with many other items and shuffled piles of parchment that had already been written on. "Mr. Wimple.." She murmured, pointing her wand at a particularly large bundle of parchment. A crafty strip of ribbon suddenly strung it all together before the entire lot disappeared with a pop and a spark of blue light. "Mrs. Kaldora.." She said again, and the same thing happened with another pile, only this was a spark of purple. "Department of Transportation..." She said, moving a majority of the papers over to the left side of her desk into a neat pile. "And, Miss D'Argo.." Nicol muttered, but before pointing her wand, she glanced at her closed door sharply and pointed her want there. " Alohomora." She spoke firmly, and the lock on the door unlocked. " Foris." She added quickly, and the door swung open. Keeping her wand pointed with a rather unwelcoming look in her eyes, she voiced sternly to the figure she could just make out in the misty abyss of the ninth floor... "Show yourself!"
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Maria
Head of Department
Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
Creatures of all shapes, sizes, colours and temperments!
Posts: 6
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Post by Maria on Dec 19, 2005 8:30:57 GMT
When the notice had been passed around that there was a new Head of Department on the Mysteries floor, it didn't surprise the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Head at all. Was a little too loopy for Maria's liking, and it also showed around the other workers of the Ministry. The difference between him and the other employees was obvious; he was a nutter of sorts, that Darren Mokhnov. He was very much the suspicious character, which, she supposed, added to the fact that he worked in the Mysteries Department. He wasn’t the nicest of people either. When she had payed him a visit, like she was doing now, he blurted in her face that he didn't want, nor like, visitors, and slammed his door in her face.
As was reinstated, he wasn't the nicest of people. After closing the door to her office and locking it with her wand, Maria looked down to her secretary and said in a hushed voice, "No visitors, thanks Betty. Send them to Malcome." After referring to the second in command to her position, and a wink to the old, atrocious woman, Maria spun on the heel of her foot, allowing her golden cloak to flow around her, and headed up the stairs that weren't too far from her office. When Betty had watched Maria a little closer, she noticed that there was a tiny blue speckled bird on her shoulder. It turned around and poked its tongue out at the secretary, who ruffled herself like a disgruntled duck.
The little Jobberknoll, that was now climbing down her arm like a parrot, was only around two months old, and had been taken from some horrible witches that had been mistreating the little bird badly by her department. Seeing as she couldn't put the bird on the market for selling, because it was too young, and she couldn't keep it because of Limetail (her augurey), it would be good for a new companion for someone else. Jobberknolls were almost the best of pets for peace-seeking wizards and witches, because since they didn't make a sound until their death, the owners wouldn’t hear a peep, and therefore wouldn't become annoyed with endless sounds.
By the eighth floor, Maria was beginning to find it a little harder to climb the stairs, which seemed to go on further the longer she stepped up them. The Jobberknoll (who she had affectionately called Jibbler) decided it was becoming a little too vigorous and fast when it sat on her wrist, and had decided to climb back up the woman's arm and up her pony-tail to stand atop her head, flitting about in circles. She was beginning to think that the little bird knew exactly what Miss D'argo's intentions were, and had become overly excited to a major extent. So major, that it had almost fallen off at the end of the eighth floor staircase because of dizziness.
At the time that Maria was re-arranging her attire so that she didn't look too messy and like she had a zoo in her office, she could have sworn she heard her name through the door. Scraping claws worked their way to slowing down, instead of jumping in circles around the woman's head, and it was then that she had been caught off guard when the door had been flung open. "Uh, I guess you heard me coming!" began Maria whilst standing there in the door, wide-eyed. Fishing the disobedient bird off her head, she stepped through the door, and closed it behind her. "I'm Maria D'argo, Head of the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss White."
With a protesting little bird in one hand, and her wand in the other, Maria stepped further into the office, which seemed to be shrouded in a light form of mist. It was almost ironic, really. The office of Mystery clouded in fog. The woman could have giggled at it, had she not been caught in the threshold of meeting someone new. "I wanted to come and welcome you to the England Ministry of Magic!" she exclaimed. It was almost always a thrilling time to meet someone she didn't know. A stranger is just a friend you haven't met, it was a saying that her mother told her from when she was very little, and thus had a rather large impact on her social abilities.
A helping launch from the woman's hand, and the little bird was beating its wings so fast you almost couldn’t see them at all, very much like a honey-eater. The brilliant sparkles seemed to be like a shower of stars where his wings were flitting, which was heading over to the desk at the end of the room. He landed on the end of the woman's desk, and jumped about ecstatically, but of course didn’t make a sound at all. "That's Jibbler. I thought you might like him as a welcome gift," Maria admitted, pocketing her wand to come over and lean over the woman's desk, whom she still hadn't seen properly because of the shrouding mist, to shake her hand.
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Nicol
Head of Department
Department of Mysteries
Posts: 4
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Post by Nicol on Jan 2, 2006 13:48:11 GMT
Nicol's shadow-black wand remained pointed at the woman who entered the room, the rest of her body absolutely motionless and her eyes set on those of the other. The other mentioned reached to her head, and Nicol's fingers tightened around her wand, her elbow easing forward on her desk silently. Moments later, Nicol came to realise that the other woman was holding some sort of bird in one hand, and her wand in the other. Still, Nicol kept hers pointed at the chest of the woman, her eyes unmoving.
"Miss D'Argo." Nicol confirmed, moving her other hand to collect up three papers into a pile. One introduced the issue at hand to Miss D'Argo, and that was placed on top. The second addressed what magical creature was involved and needed to be dealt with, and that area was written in invisible ink. Finally, the slip of parchment that Nicol's quick fingers tucked under those aformentioned was the signed names of those that the concerns were from.
Her wrist curled around the papers, but before she could lift them, she saw that little bird take flight and in a strip of sparkles it was on the end of her desk. Nicol's wand stayed pointed at the woman however, and her aim was impeccable. Frightening really. Her sage eyes looked the bird over as it bounced excitedly on the small pile of papers she was supposed to be giving to Miss D'Argo, who presently explained his name and reason for being here.
As if it would never happen, Nicol finally lowered her wand, and with a hard-to-catch flick of her wrist the horizontal length of wood disappeared down her sleeve. She positioned her head on an angle as she observed 'Jibbler', her expression that of stone as the bird's beady dark eyes connected with her own. Then, she smiled.
The removal of that mask on her face was a relief to many, for Nicol had also been told she had the ability to make even the toughest man feel intimidated. She took Maria's offered hand and shook it gently, before letting go and handing her the papers. It was better to get business over first. "There is a creature that needs to be dealt with on the Northern side of a small town called Yorkshire, a couple of miles from the Ministry I believe. Uh, a Chimaera I think it is called?" She queried, thoughtfully.
Nicol had skimmed over the papers, reading them even though they had been sent up to her by mistake. She considered it rare to have the Ministry address concerns to the wrong Head of Department, and so she took that on as a mystery in itself and had a read of these concerns just to play everything safe.
She now took the opportunity to take a closer look at the Jobberknoll. She knew what these little birds were called, and she also knew that they kept silent until death when they let loose a long scream of everything they had heard during their life. This type of magical bird had been a part of many mysteries Nicol had come across. Many of them gave away the evidence of murders under very mysterious circumstances that had lasted for many years. When the bird died, Nicol recorded it's scream, and played back everything slowly until she found the voice or evidence of a criminal weapon (or wand) that had killed the victim.
They were very useful little creatures, pretty too, and wonderful companions, as they never made a noise. She reached her finger out to the little avian and it hopped atop it eagerly, ruffling it's royal blue plumage at her. She gave it a warm smile and said softly: "Hello there Jibbler, I'm Nicol." In response to this, the bird bounced up her arm and nestled itself in her fawn-coloured hair, seating itself there and almost immediately closing it's eyes to sleep.
Nicol then directed her smile at Maria. "Thank you for Jibbler, and thank you for welcoming me here too." The way she spoke hinted that she had been feeling rather alienated from the rest of the Ministry. Nobody had come to see her at all really, and although she did not mind that, she did not mind receiving a visit once in a while as well. "Call me Nicol, by the way." She added. It seemed, by the way that Nicol visibly thought about her words, and hesitated in saying them, that she never talked much, and this was very true. She was rather like a Jobberknoll in fact, she mostly remained absolutely silent.
Her hand suddenly reached out beside her desk and she wavered it gently, where a cushioned seat floated over and braced it's legs on the floor on the opposite side of the desk, by Maria. Nicol gestured for her to sit, if she liked. It was an uncommon move for Nicol, for she was not used to company at all, and incase of rejection, she again kept her mouth closed.
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