The Noise of Democracy

[Nicolas King]

Nicolas King sat on a park bench with the Daily Prophet open in front of him. It was a windy summer's day but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to enjoy even an hour outside of his office, and just taking a breath to catch up on the world outside of himself was always welcome, as well. It seemed that Minister for Magic Hensel had stepped down from her position at the Ministry and so an election would have to be called - and already the gears at the Prophet were turning. Who were the possible candidates? How could this change affect New Zealand wizarding society? What if the Scitorari seized upon this power vacuum to make a move themselves? Nicolas sighed and lowered the paper from his face. While he may not have been Seraphine's number one fan, there was something to be said for the known over the unknown in situations like this. Whoever would replace Seraphine would take getting used to, and he could only hope for the best out of the situation.

Just as his mind began to wander back to his office, and the implications that all of this would have for his Aurors, his job (should he continue to hold it, serving at the pleasure of the Minister), and how much of a headache this could very well prove to be, his grasp on his paper loosened a little too much and the wind caught it as a sail and blew it violently away from him, down the winding park path toward others enjoying their summer afternoons all their own.

 

[Ebony Aerius]

Ebony Fierce was back in New Zealand again. She was a resident of he country, but she had spent a lot of time abroad recently with her Quidditch team. With the season coming to an end, Bonnie had eventually made her way back to her home. She had lived here for a good ten years off and on, but it was no England. Curiously though, she still hadn't found it in her to actually leave. Not that it was so much of a problem to be honest. Being about to get away from the boys was actually quite a good thing. They were loud and noisy and drank a lot. When she was with them, she was also loud and noisy and drank a lot. She loved them to bits, but she wasn't sure she wanted to sacrifice more of her femininity then she had already from being in an all man Quidditch team. Ebony often felt that she was going to die alone in her house as an Old Hag, as it turned out, this idea wasn't so bad. It was better then having to be married to either Jack or Parker who had both offered to marry her so she wouldn't be alone. Of course they were joking and she knew that, but even the thought of being stuck with them was terrifying. She was way too mature for them. They were always acting like children.

Takarokaro Park, was Bonnie's destination. She hadn't been here in a while, so why not? It was rather a windy day however, so she decided that a jacket was definitely in order. Pulling it around her shoulders, Bonnie left her apartment and made her way along the cobbled and dirt paths towards the park. Bonnie looked around at the sights as she closed in on her destination, trees, kids playing, swings, a couple on a picnic, which she thought was rather silly for this weather in the first place, but she found herself laughing when the guy got a face full of picnic blanket. Well, there was her funny event for the day done. Entering the park, Bonnie raised an eyebrow at the paper the flew past her, whipping her in the leg as it went, she managed to grab it at the last minute with her Beater's reflexes. Trailing upwards to the direction it had come from, Bonnie noted a man sitting alone on the bench. He certainly looked like he wouldn't be too bothered by company. She shrugged and headed towards him. She was always up for a good talk. When she was closer she stopped and smiled slightly. "Lose your paper?" She asked, holding it in front of her.
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[Nicolas King]

Evidently not very quick on his wand today, Nicolas decided it wasn't worth his effort to try to stop its escape from the park: somebody would either get a free Daily Prophet or it would destroy itself after being untouched for a while to prevent any muggle from accidentally coming across it wherever the wind might take it. Settling back into the bench, Nicolas closed his eyes for a moment and tried to appreciate the summer sun's rays, despite the harshness of the wind.

"I did, actually!" Nicolas began as he sat up a little straighter and opened his eyes, the sun preventing him from making out exactly to whom it was he was speaking. Blinking a few more times, the woman holding his paper in front of him came in to focus. A wry grin now on his face, Nicolas accepted the paper from her before starting out, "Say, how's the finger-crossing and hoping-for-the-best working out for the Cannons this year, Ms. Fierce?" He knew such a question would easily have him drawn and quartered in the wrong company, but he hoped the beater for the most infamously awful team in UK Quidditch might have a sense of humour about their ordeal. "I suppose you just wish your teammates could pull together some points as easily as seem to handle those bludgers for 'em?"

 

[Ebony Aerius]

Ebony smiled at the man as he sat up and accepted the paper from her hands. He seemed rather cheerful which was nice. He also wasn't mobbing her, which, honestly, probably had something to do with the fact that he was not a young man. He wasn't like the fangirls and fanboys she was often stuck with, especially when she was caught around Parker and Jack. Now that was just not pretty at all. Stifling a laugh at the man's chosen question and not at all surprised that she would be known by him, Ebony gestured beside him before sitting down. "Finger crossing went out of fashion two decades ago. Pulling ones hair out, however, is the height of fashion." She replied, leaning back against the bench and tucking a loose strand of her auburn hair behind her ears. She liked to keep it short, however that presented a multitude of problems, like the fact that she could literally do nothing with it.

Looking back over at the man, Ebony nodded towards him. "I'm afraid I can't put a face to a name, though I'm certain I've seen you before. I do say that a lot mind, so don't freak out if we've never met." Covering all bases was something she had gotten used to doing. It helped when fans assumed she would remember every single one of them, which was quite literally impossible. Though they did have a smaller fan base then most. Not that it seemed much like it though. "Well... the Chasers aren't all bad, the Seeker has some good moves, but the damn Keeper couldn't stay on his broom if he was glued to it." She told him, mild irritation of their predicament seeping into her words. "We'll be getting some new blood next season though, hopefully it'll help." Ebony was confident in their current coach... at least she had been until the idiot, had brought in the dismal Keeper. Was it any wonder they had the lowest win rate of anyone. Calsimael tried to make up for it, but even he couldn't win everytime. Often when he did get the snitch, they had been losing by 150 points anyway, so it didn't matter. "So, what brings you out here on this... windy day?"
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[Nicolas King]

"Oh, I'm sure pulling out hair happened before the motto change... now finger-crossing is all Cannon fans have going for them." Nicolas responded, folding his Daily Prophet beneath his arm to secure it against the wind. He was somewhat surprised that Ebony wanted to sit with him, he'd figured she was just passing through the park but the chance at a jab at the Cannons to a player for the Cannons didn't come around every day and so he'd had to seize it, despite being sure it was a common experience for her.

It seemed that asking for people's names was also common enough for her, as she apologized for not knowing his (though he hadn't expected her to) and instructed him 'not to freak out' if they'd never met. A fairly curious thing to say, and a quizzical look on his face betrayed his confusion at her remarks before morphing into an apologetic smile. "How very rude of me. Nicolas King. And it's a pleasure to see you outside of news print or flying about on the pitch." He began, offering the beater his hand. As she continued to reflect on her team's situation he couldn't help but smile. He was convinced the orange and black of the Cannons could never again be looked on with pride, but he was glad that the people playing for them still found hope... somewhere, somehow. If people could still cheer for the Cannons and think they had a muggle's chance at winning the League cup, then there must also be hope for all other manner of good things in the universe, too.

"I'm just here to get out of the office for a while - wind or no, the sun is out here and it's not out indoors. It's nice to sneak away once in a while, especially with the Ministry on its head the way it seems to be with this." Nicolas took the Prophet out from under his arm and snapped it out in front of him, gesturing toward the headlining article about Seraphine's retirement. "I don't imagine you're escaping an office, too?"

 

[Ebony Aerius]

Ebony nodded her head at the man beside her. It seemed he knew his teams. Making a jab at any Quidditch team was usually not done, at least not in front of one of the players that jab was being made about. She had to admit the man had courage that was for sure. Though to be honest, Ebony wouldn't have done anything to him anyway, she wasn't crazy, she couldn't just randomly hex someone in the middle of a park. Other players or other teams often made remarks, but after she clobbered a Bludger their way, they usually shut up. "Too bad for the absence of bludgers, hmm." She didn't mean anything by it, though to be honest, she probably would hit him in the face with something if they were on the pitch, but she knew his statement was not meant to hurt, it was in fact wrapped in wholesome truths. Ebony shook the man's hand when it was offered and nodded at him. "Don't even worry about it honestly, I talk to hundreds of people I don't know. Probably is a little weird now that I think about it though." She mused, looking out over the park. "I actually live here, believe it or not. Well, I have an apartment here, not that it looks much 'lived in' right now." She added as an afterthought. It had been about ten years now. Time sure liked to fly when it came to everyday living.

"Yes, I've heard about the upcoming elections. News reaches even us 'celebrities' these days. It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds. I'm only ever interested in Politics when the elections come around. I wasn't here for Ms Snow, but I will be here this time around." Celebrity was a bit of a loose term for Ebony, she really didn't see herself as much of a celebrity. It was all just a job for her, a job that seemed to flock hundreds or thousands of people daily. She could count on one hand the number of times she had actually gone somewhere with one of the members of the team and not have a tabloid about her secret love affair out the next day. If the tabloids were right, she should have about nine kids by now. Ebony wondered what she had named them all. "What kind of work do you do?" There were many jobs that required a desk and an office, but she didn't really see Nicolas King in the type of short order desk job of a Ministry Official like an Unspeakable or a International Secretary. She'd met those kinds of people. He didn't seem the type. Of course Ebony wasn't exactly an authority on people, that was mostly Jack or Parker. She wasn't so good at reading people like them. "Not an office no. Just getting out into some fresh air is all. My apartment is boring. I don't like being inside much."​

 

[Nicolas King]

While Ebony may not have been an authority on people, making snap judgements about people was a requirement of Nicolas' job, and after only a minute of talking to Ebony, he seemed to have more than enough to work on. 'I do say that a lot mind, so don't freak out if we've never met.' Was a little strange to say, he'd thought, but by the time it got to 'I talk to hundreds of people I don't know.' and 'I actually live here, believe it or not.' it seemed clear that every other thing to come from this woman's mouth was an attempt to remind him of just how famous she was and how he was just another bloke on a park bench to her. Which was fine, he supposed, but he didn't need to be reminded incessantly - he hadn't asked for his paper back, or even invited her to join him - it was hardly like he'd come over to her fawning.

Sighing, and looking up toward the summer sun and wishing he'd just been able to enjoy it for a couple of moments longer alone, he considered how something as simple as a bit of a gust snowballed into meeting somebody who almost made him miss his office! 'News reaches even us 'celebrities' these days.' 'Really?' Nicolas thought, turning back to face the woman seated next to him on the bench with a look of surprise betraying him, he hadn't expected something like that. As she asked about his work, he considered his options - it was beyond tempting to put her place, remind her that, while she may hold international fame, her power rests at the end of a beater's bat whereas his reaches into many spheres beyond himself. "Oh, I file reports, mostly." Nicolas stated - this was both true and a direct answer to her question, all while offering him hope for being able to salvage the rest of the afternoon without too much more headache. "The ministry loves its paperwork, if nothing else."

 

[Ebony Aerius]

Ebony heard a sigh from the man beside her and rolled her eyes. She knew how she sounded. She didn't necessarily mean to sound that way, but it just happened. She was down to earth, she honestly was, but people expected different things from her and so who was she to disappoint. It was only her friends that really knew her. Maybe she was being overly harsh on Nicolas, but it was what it was. These things happened and they would continue to do so for as long as she was the Beater for an eternally crappy team. Truthfully there was nothing that could be done to fix it. They had done everything she could think of to make the team better, but, still there was no change. Maybe it was just a curse on the team, but it was really tiring Ebony out. More then once she had thought of transferring. Unfortunately she loved her teammates like family. In fact, they were her family, seeing as she didn't have much of one in any normal sense. Hearing Nicholas say that he mostly filed reports surprised Ebony. She would have thought he would have been employed in something much more then a simple secretarial position. Indeed it seemed she was very wrong. "Yes, I've been told that. I suppose all Government is the same though." She said, tilting her head slightly to think on it.

Ebony looked back over at Nicholas. "I must admit to being a little surprised though. From what I've seen of her, Ms Hensel was a wonderful Minister. But I guess she has her reasons for stepping down." After all, Ebony was sure she had a child now. Maybe that was it. Ebony didn't know what it was like to have a child. She probably never would and it didn't surprise her that she wasn't interested in it. She supposed it had to do with the whole, you can't miss what you don't have, mantra. Jack and Parker both had kids of their own, and she had played games with them and all that, but it wasn't the same. She had heard it could be exhausting. It made sense it would be. "I wonder who is in the running for the next election. You don't happen to know do you?" Ebony asked. Nicholas was in the ministry after all, of his own admission, maybe he would know something. Not that it really made a difference. Ebony would vote for whoever made the difference to her life, or the future. The best of the best, so to speak.
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