Friends R Us

[Abe Sapien]

As the minutes ticked by with more agents trickling in late like the cool kids at high school, Manning decided he had waited long enough for the rest. He cleared his throat and stood, the chair rolling away from him slightly as he pulled his glasses down and held the folder in his other hand. He waited till the few agents still talking quieted and cleared his throat one last time. “Communication, camaraderie and constitution. I called everyone here this morning because we lack these three things. The Bureau must run as a well oiled machine and we’ve been limping along far too long. In order to establish a sense of order, I have spoken to several of my higher-ups and we have come up with a solution.”

“I am declaring this Bureau Buddies Week. Starting from today till the 8th, that’s next week folks, you will be assigned a buddy chosen by yours truly. You will spend every waking moment with your body, you will eat together, you will work together, one doesn’t sneeze without the other’s blessing. The only stipulation is if you’ve been assigned on a previous mission and cannot change it. Nothing else. I have gone over each individual and paired up the most likely candidates that need… help.” Manning raised the folder and brought his glasses up to look through without fully putting them on. “When I call your name, I want everyone to get up, find your buddy and sit together.”

“Francesca Guidicini and Julius Mayfair,” Thomas paused to look over the folder to see the two would move. “Kasim Chionesu, you’re with uh, Hellboy. Abe, Anna Sophia. Princess, you’re buddies with Tabitha. Tabitha raise your hand so the Princess can find you. Kate, Kate? Ah, there you’ve been chosen to pair with Mr. Whitefalcon. Evadne you’ve been assigned… that’s odd. You seem to have been assigned Miss Sherman.” The director pursed his lips and studied the list again.

“I don’t see mingling people.” He gestured with his hand for everyone to stand. “If your buddy is not here, it your reasonability to find them and inform them what they missed. Now, is there anyone whose name I didn’t mention?”

---

OOC: All right, I just want to iterate that you are not forced to actively participate in this, that’s up to you as the Rper. If there are characters that still want to get on this thread, feel free to retcon yourself in before Manning starts talking or you can be late, again the choice is yours.

[lizsherman]

[drjuliusmayfair]

Julius had just started in on his second cup of tea when Manning finally started the meeting. Julius hadn’t been with the Jersey Unit for very long, just a few short months and already he had been assigned with Hellboy and Evadne in a mission that wasn’t what he would consider his area, though there were zombies. He could tell Manning wasn’t his kind of boss. He had seen the TV shows and the tabloids. This guy was a glory hound that used ‘team building’ to try and keep his agents under control. Julius narrowed his eyes at Manning. He probably read about this from self-help book. What was next, an Inspirational Speaker?

Julius looked around, unsure who this Francesca Guidicini was. He had not had any chances to meet many of the agents for the short time he was there. They were always going in and out, going on missions, and he was usually holed up in the Spook Room. He found the woman that Manning looked at and got up, He slipped into the seat next to her. Maybe by next year he could make a snide remark to Manning.

At least she was pretty. He noted she wore black, maybe it was just what she wore today, maybe it was what she wore everyday. She was simple, no make-up, hair back in a horse tail, simple boots that look comfortable. She liked to blend in and not have people notice her. He wondered how she felt about Bureau Buddies.

“Julius Mayfair,” he said quietly, holding his hand out, “I’m pleased to meet you.”

[brennalarose]

Oh, the buddy system. It was Sorority Week at school all over again, only without the gifts or the odd rituals and rites of passage. At least, she wasn't being foisted upon another Occult Expert. Maybe, she'd get a chance to see life outside the Nerd and Bookworm circles. She'd been paired up with Abe. She liked Abe, though. He was fairly down-to-earth and spoke intelligently without patronizing her for any reason. It'd be worth the new experience to get to know him better.

Phia took a deep swig of tea, to empty the cup enough to carry balanced on her laptop without too much spillage and got up to sit next to Abe. "Hi, Abe!" she chirped softly, rearranging her things at her feet.

[Tabby Whitman-Foster]

"Hold still!"

"I am holding still, Tabby."

"...Oh."

Kasim and Tabby were both in the elevator and late to the meeting. Kasim had gotten some sort of training inhibitor thingie stuck on him in the gym that morning, and Tabby was attempting to take it off, while still wearing her pink fuzzy slippers. She was not a morning person, especially when suits started banging on her door at six o'clock in the morning.

Kasim was not dressed completely in his usual suit. His slacks and loafers were on, but his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the tank top he wore underneath, and his jacket was hung over his arm. Around his neck was a metal collar that kept blinking a green light,. Tabby was busy with a Leatherman, still attempting to remove it from the man's neck.

"I hope Manning didn't pay too much for these." There was a cracking noise and the collar split in two. Tabby caught one half and Kasim the other as the doors open. Tabby took Kasim's piece and dumped it in a nearby potted plant before walking away hurriedly Kasim looked from the pot to Tabby's retreating back and back at the plant before looking heaven-ward and following Tabby.

"What's this about anyway?" Tabby asked Kasim.

He shrugged, beginning to button his short up. "Got me."

"And what the flip is it with holding it at seven a.m.? Seriously?!" Kasim shrugged on his coat just as he did the same gesture with his shoulders. They had arrived at the room and ducked inside.

"Sorry for --" Kasim began.

"Ooh cookies!" Tabby made a bee-line for the cart and grabbed two of the sweet treats. Kasim's cheek turned a slight red color and he slunk to a standing position against one of the walls as Tabby and her cookies found one of the last vacant seats.and began munching on her cookies.

“I am declaring this Bureau Buddies Week."

Frankie stared at Manning. Was he serious? She didn't need some young puppy following her around the bleeding Bureau for an entire week! She cursed inwardly. She should have just stayed in bed. Her brow furrowed and her hands clenched as Manning started reading off the list of names. Julius Mayfair? Who was that?

“I don’t see mingling people.”

Her question was soon answered as a red-headed man wearing an obnoxiously bright Fedora found her. He introduced himself and offered his hand to her. Well, his voice didn't seem grating. "Francesca Guidicini. Call me Frankie." She responded, shaking his hand firmly. Did she recognize him? Her lips tightened in thought, and trying to at least 'mingle,' as Manning put it, she asked, "You're fairly new, aren't you? I think I recall you showing up at the Christmas party." There, that was polite. She looked at the clock in the room and did some quick math in her head. If the week last until Friday at five p.m., they had about one hundred and four hours left together.

Kasim looked around the room but, alas, the red personage of Hellboy wasn't there. Maybe he was still sleeping? Well...It looked like the day was no only going to start off with some technology trouble, but a scavenger hunt. How hard could it be to find a big red demon though, honestly? Kasim buttoned his jacket and ducked out of the room, heading for Hellboy's quarters. His walk was brisk, but Kasim's mind mostly wonder just how he was going to tell HB that they were buddies for the week. Or even explain buddy week to HB. Ahh the Bureau, just one big adventure!

Tabby looked around as she swallowed the last crumbs of her cookies and raised her hand. The princess wasn't hard to find -- Her name was kind of self-explanatory, wasn't it? Plus she was wearing those beautiful robes, and she had beautiful long blonde hair -- She looked kind of like a Disney Princess except and elf-like version! Tabby brushed any stray crumbs from her hands onto her sweat-pants bottoms and rose from her seat, crossing to where the princess sat with Abe. "Hi Princess! My name is Tabitha Whitman, and I am resident technology chick! How ya doing?" She offered her hand and a bright smile, trying not to necessarily think about her mess of red man as compared to Nuala's smooth blond perfection of hair.

[nuala]

Nuala had been waiting for her chance to answer the good Sister, listening to Abe's answer with a smile. She had hardly even realized that her desire for tea had passed over to Abe via their bond - until he pushed the tea her way. Her golden gaze glanced down to the steaming liquid, and she reached forward a pale hand to gasp the warm cup, smiling gently up at Abe, though she held an expression of confusion. No, she hadn't asked him to get her tea... But it didn't take her long to realize why he had. Just as she was about to open her mouth to respond to him, though, Manning decided to start the meeting - and she closed her mouth, instead choosing to thank Abe with a small squeeze of her hand.

As she listened to the head of the Bureau, she lifted the cup to her lips, taking a small sip just to test the heat of the liquid first. When she deemed that it wasn't too hot, she took a larger drink, before placing it back down on the table. Her interest was sincerely piqued at Manning when he mentioend this 'Bureau Buddies Week', and began to describe it. Truth be told, she had not spent time at the Bureau with anyone besides Abe. Of course, she was polite and friendly to everyone, giving small greetings when she did have to speak with others - but she wasn't truly friends with anyone else. She was almost hoping that she would be paired with Abe... But she knew that wasn't going to happen, unfortunately.

Her flavescent gaze darted about the room, trying to see who she might like to be paired with. She would much prefer a female, as she thought she might be uncomfortable around any male that wasn't Abe, but she would not complain with whomever she was paired with - female or not. Upon hearing that Abe was paired with Anna-Sophia, she gulped down her nerves a bit... Who would she be paired with? Next, Manning said her name, and the name of whom she was paired with seemed to take forever to leave his lips... To Nuala, at least. Finally, he spoke the name - Tabitha. A small sigh of relief escaped the Princess. She knew the girl, Abe had mentioned her once or twice.

She waited as Manning finished his speech, once again looking over the group, trying to find this 'Tabitha'. Her eyes scanned all the females, trying to take a guess... But it was no use. It could be any one of them, really. She ruled out the ones she already knew, and that left a few choices still, unfortunately. She would just have to wait and see.

When Manning finally finished, and she saw one of the girls raise her hand as Manning had ordered, Nuala smiled lightly. The girl looked very kind and cheerful, and Nuala slowly but surely rose to her feet, giving Abe's hand one last squeeze before leaving his side. She didn't have to go too far though, because Tabitha came to her first. Not really accustomed to human greetings, when Tabitha extended her hand, Nuala glanced at it for a moment, not really sure what to do. The girl introduced herself, and Nuala smiled, finally just taking her hand, and holding onto it gently for a moment - hoping that that was the right gesture... Or at least, somewhat of the right gesture.

"I am very pleased to meet you, Tabitha," She began, letting her hand slip from the girl's once again, and fall back to her side, "Abraham has told me a bit about you... And please, call me Nuala." She finished - while she was used to the 'Princess' title, she felt that it made her seem a bit too fancy for this place, and she didn't want people to act differently around her or anything of the like. It would take a bit of getting used to, for her and the ones whom she asked to call her that, but hopefully, they would all get used to it sooner or later.

[Evadne Taylor]

Where Manning came up with his ideas were beyond Evadne. This one though, this one was a complete waste of time. Buddy Week? He had to be kidding, but it became obvious that he wasn't when he continued on. Evadne really at that point in time wanted to bash her head on the table a few times, well.... Maybe not her head, more like Manning's.

She sighed, her gaze shifting over to Liz who was to be her 'buddy' for the week. She didn't really know the woman, though Evadne had been in the bureau way before Liz. The two didn't socialize and Evadne really kept to herself, so it wouldn't be surprising to her if she learned that Liz didn't know who she was.

Her gaze went back to Manning and a scowl formed on her lips. "What is this? Primary school? Buddy Week? Manning, seriously some of us have work to do. I don't have time for this." Oh yes, Evadne was not happy with this buddy week crap.

[Tabby Whitman-Foster]

Tabby went to move her hand to shake Nuala's, but she could feel from Nuala's grip that she seemed a bit uncertain. 'Duh, culture shock probably Tabby!' She said to herself, and just continued awkwardly holding onto Nuala's hand until she released it.

"I am very pleased to meet you, Tabitha, Abraham has told me a bit about you... And please, call me Nuala."

"Will do Nuala! And if you want, you can shorten my name to Tabby! Or Tab! Or Itha! Call me something and I may respond!" Tabby stopped herself, figuring she might be proving just a bit too..what was it some people called her? Oh, obnoxious. Yeah, she might be too bright and obnoxious for Nuala. 'Better tone it down.' Tabby said to herself and smiled at Nuala. "Um...Well. I don't really know a lot about you, and a lot of people don't know a lot about me, so I guess I'll start with introducing myself! I gre up on a farm with my mom and dad, two older brothers, and a little brother and sister. My dad was a part-time electrician, and he was the first one who taught me about technology."

[drjuliusmayfair]

Jules nodded, "Just arrived that night acually, Frankie. I'm Jules then. I'm sorry, but I am unsure of what you do here. We should probably work out a schedule to how we will manage this... interruption." He said the last word a little scornful. He disliked this idea and from the looks and grumbles around the room, he could see he wasn't alone in that thought.

[Sister Angeleanna]

"I'm doing swell."
“Pleasingly satisfied and yet challenging. You see, there-”
"How is the good sister today?"

She smiled at the replies she received, the sharp lines of her cheeks curved upwards to the point where it looked as if it hurt to smile that much and just as she about to answer each one specifically before Manning decided to continue on with the meeting. She smiled once more and waved at Julius signifying she would answer at the next best opportunity and took to her seat as Frankie took the empty seat next to her. She still managed to cluck her tongue at the elegant Evadne at her worming out of a real answer before she settled the thick layers of her habit around her looking very much like a poofed out raven. Angeleanna nodded along with Manning as he spoke. He was a man she liked, sure he was a little extravagant and overconfident but the world seemed to lack that. Of course, she didn’t know of anyone she didn’t in the Bureau.

“I am declaring this Bureau Buddies Week."

Slim eyebrows rose up and it would be a down right lie if she wasn’t as surprised as the next. “Well, I’ll be,” she murmured and hummed pleasantly. She looked around at her fellow colleagues and realized a good deal of them looked none too please. The nun should rose slightly as she stretched them up and folded her hands in her lap and awaited to see whom she was assigned with.

”… Now, is there anyone whose name I didn’t mention?”

That was odd, her name hadn’t been called. The sister raised her hand and waggled her finger to gain the director’s attention. “Director, sir?”

"What is this? Primary school? Buddy Week? Manning, seriously some of us have work to do. I don't have time for this."

“Oh miss Evadne, I think it’s rather fun. Our jobs cannot be serious all the time, a little joy and a little laughter goes a long way. And what better way then to get to know your fellow man?”

[Frankie Guidicini]

"I have the most seniority besides Hellboy. I am an agent with fantastic abilities, like him." Frankie replied her lips slightly tight at the description of her job. This was going to be...ugh. But at least, as Julius' next words implied, it seemed he wasn't quite happy about this either. Well. Maybe she could like him for having a bit of sense.

"He said to find our p[partners and sit. But I suppose we'll be spending a lot of time together over the coming week if he plans on keeping this ridiculous idea going." Frankie's voice was harsh as she drummed her fingertips on the table. "I don't know about you, but I am not willing to forsake my sleep or my living space for this."

[Abe Sapien]

He felt the squeeze of her hand and replied with a gentle brush of his thumb, fanning the gossamer webbing of skin between his fingers before following the silent suit to listen on what their director had to say. It felt oddly out of place coming from Manning but odd was their Bureau’s game. Buddy week, it had a flavor of the late Professor Broom. The fish man knew all too well the love the man put into the bureau and the desire to see the oddly pieced together agents as family. Abe glanced back at the princess as the realization that they would be separated sunk in and he didn’t want it. Maybe, if he offered to trade, but then that would be highly rude to whom he would be partnered with.

He held the princess’s hand until she stood and he with her, if only to keep their contact a second more. When she slipped from him, his fingers hovered where hers had previously been for Abraham realized he was standing there like a dolt. He settled back into his chair just as a the welcoming voice of Anna Sophia greeted him. He stole one last glance at Nuala to make sure she was doing all right before twisting his chair to face his partner in crime for the week.

“Phia.” His hands flexed outward as if he was slowly waving it through water. Several other agents had called her that and it seemed the preferred shortened nickname as was his own moniker. “How has your morning been spent?”

“Director, sir?”

Manning glanced up at the nun and at her waving hand. “Yes, what is it?”

"What is this? Primary school? Buddy Week? Manning, seriously some of us have work to do. I don't have time for this."

“I’m sure you’re quite busy, but,” he raised his voice to be heard so the whole group could hear. “those that do not will be put on probation duties and those aren’t fun folks.” He returned his gaze to the vampire. “Because, if you can’t follow a simple order at the epicenter, then how can I trust you to follow them in the field?”

[nuala]

Truth be told, even thought Tabitha was nicer than nice, Nuala was a bit... scared of her. She was so... happy and loud! Nuala had never known a person like that, definately not back in Bethmoora, and not here at the Bureau... Until now. The Princess was never one to be unfriendly though, no matter who or what the person was, so she kept a smile on her face the entire time, making a mental note to call the girl Tabby... She quite liked that. Listening to Tabby's brief history was interesting, and she nodded slightly when she had finished - wondering a bit what an 'electrician' was.

Nuala wasn't sure how to start off her own story, she didn't want to the confuse the girl with places, people, and things that she probably hadn't the slightest clue about, but there was really no other way to put it, so, she started, "I come from the Bethmooran clan of Elves, located in the land which I believe your people call Ireland. You have probably heard tales from others here about what happened with my brother and the like..." She trailed off for a moment, her eyes drifting down slightly. She quickly regained herself though, and continued on. "I came here after he ... retreated, so to speak, and I have been here ever since." She finished with a small smile, hoping that was simple, yet informative enough.

Then she remembered that the girl had spoken of her family members. Well, might as well speak of hers as well, even if it did give her a bit of grief. "I have a twin brother, as you may know, but other than that... We were only children." Her voice faltered a bit as she wondered if she should speak of her parents, she didn't particularly want to, as they were both gone from this world... But if Tabby wanted to know, she would inform her.

[brennalarose]

“Phia.” His hands flexed outward as if he was slowly waving it through water. Several other agents had called her that and it seemed the preferred shortened nickname as was his own moniker. “How has your morning been spent?”

"Solving the mystery of what happens when somebody uses Latin incantations written in Futhark on a Seal of Solomon," she said with a shy smile, "It's not pretty, but we haven't figured out the why of it." Phia decided against showing the photos. She was pretty easygoing about gore, but this stuff would have made a Hammer film blush.

"And you? How's your morning been?" she asked.

[drjuliusmayfair]

"I don't know about you, but I am not willing to forsake my sleep or my living space for this."

He noted her hostel stance and the drumming of her fingers, "I would never dream of it." he said, turning away from her slightly, looking up and down the table as he continued to speak, "I don't sleep much, the nature of my subjects. I acually am not sure what you would call my field, because everyone here is a paranormal investigator of sorts... I usually just call us the Spook Squad." He gave a shrug and then turned back to her.

"I work early evenings to early mornings, most of the time." he tipped his hat back, "Shall we make a schedule so this will make it easier for us?"