Diving in Head First

[Shay M. Loire]

"Oh, I feel you," Shay nodded her head, knowing the hard labours of being on the lower rung of the office. "It's a stigma that can only be cured by seniority..." She dug through her pocket and pulled out a parchment list, wrinkled and stained. "This is a list of coffees and teas that people want each morning. I'm not the go-to girl for it anymore, but sometimes I end up having to still do it."

She put the list on the table and picked up her sandwich, pointing it at Drew and back at her. "You and I... we'll rise up, don't you worry."

[Drew Thornton]

Drew had to laugh at the appearance of the list Shay carried. No, it wasn't particularly funny, but it hit awfully close enough to his own situation that he had to find it ironically humorous. "You mind if I steal that idea?" he asked. "I think it'll make my life a lot easier, knowing what everyone wants without them asking." Hey, maybe they'd be impressed and ease up on him as well.

It felt good to have Shay's confidence. So often he got put down for becoming an Auror. He was naive for his enthusiasm, blind of his role as a meaningless cog in the Ministry, stupid for his career choice in general. He rather liked hanging out with Shay and decided he needed to do it more.

"To infinity and beyond!" he cried out, raising his fist in victory and ignoring the looks he was getting. He wasn't sure she'd get the quote, but it still felt like a good one to use.

[Shay M. Loire]

"By all means, young one," Shay said with a smile. "Even a little organization can get you a little far. Once you have the basics down, you can forget about them and go beyond the superficial," she continued on, not before politely wiping her mouth to avoid looking like a know-it-all slob. "I got so used to my stupid initial assignments that I was able to get them in quicker and work on other things that I could present later on to impress the bosses."

She said no more on the subject, because she knew the next example she would cite would be the Deva takeover. That had been the point that had convinced her supervisor that she could take on more than the hum drum tasks. It had been an incredible opportunity, but she couldn't put in too much praise if she knew the subjects she had photographed, and if one of those subjects was right in front of her.

[Drew Thornton]

It was the fine art of ass-kissing and while he would rather not stoop to such levels, if it got him out of the role of whipping boy faster, he was willing to do it. The sooner he got out there and actually did what he wanted, the happier he'd be. He wasn't proud of it, but he was sure that greasing the wheels a little now would make things a whole lot easier later on.

Shay was giving him the best advice he had heard since he started. If he could really perfect the stupid, meaningless errands and do them quickly and efficiently, he would have more time to focus on the more important things. Plus, it would probably show his higher-ups that he could take a little pressure. "So, do those stupid, menial tasks as best I can and the time will come where I'll actually be able to do bigger and better stuff. You got any other tricks for me?"

[Shay M. Loire]

"Oh, I wish," Shay said as she took a sip of her drink. "If I did, I'd be in higher up position already! I mean, I do know a few tricks thanks to Miss Hughes, but they're too dirty that I don't even dare... So I've still got a lot to learn with you." With Juliet Hughes as her unconventional mentor, she couldn't quite tell what felt right to absorb and ditch. She knew that Hughes was never up to any good, and she often tried her best to not find out what the reporter saw as right and wrong.

[Drew Thornton]

"Come on... just a little trick?" he prodded, incredibly interested in what ever knowledge she had to impart. Granted, he really didn't think he'd actually do anything labled as 'dirty', but he still wanted to know what kinds of things were out there... just in case.

"But okay. We can figure it out together, right?" he suggested, thinking that was a pretty good deal. Shay had never steered him wrong and had, on more than one occasion, helped him think through a difficult situation. He was sure this would be no different.

[Shay M. Loire]

"They're really not nice," Shay asserted, although she had to think about what Hughes had taught her, even though she often tried to forget them. "It's all about taking credit where credit isn't deserved, and manipulation. I'd rather not try to corrupt you when you already have other corruptive pressures." It was hard not to commence that sharp tongue that she had honed with the help of the collective cynicism of the Prophet, but she figured a hint was enough for now. She had known Drew for many years now and knew he couldn't have been capable of being devious, but it was still hard to not share a piece of her mind with someone connected with the Ministry.

He seemed backpedal, though, so she nodded further. "Yep. Advice only makes up a fraction of it all. Experience is what you always need."

[Drew Thornton]

Her explanation only made him more curious about what they were exactly. Her brief overview didn't sound like they'd be things he's actually stoop to doing, but perhaps he should know them... just in case someone tried to do it to him. He was pretty good at spotting that kind of thing, but a refresher couldn't hurt.

"Experience... It'll be nice to actually get some of that," he said with a touch of bitterness. "Shuffling paperwork isn't really what I want to do with the rest of my life."

[Shay M. Loire]

She had yet another bite of her sandwich as he mentioned the worst word every created in the lexicon of the human race: paperwork. It seemed to give her a hidden shiver, and she gulped down the bite. "Oh, how you wish, m'dear," she joked, and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She paused after giving him a smile. "I'm kidding. But I guess you should get used to the shuffling. I think they do it to newbies either to prepare them for the tedious work when it gets to be tough, or to prepare them for a life of paperwork."

A life of paperwork was definitely intimidating to the former Gryffindor, since she valued the practical over the theoretical, but she didn't worry about it. If it ever came down to it, she would be a street vendor, selling her photography services on the street, and live her life as a marginal member of society. Hey, better that than paperwork.

"I know they need your Ravenclaw smarts, but they won't ignore your honorary Gryffindor courage," she added with a big smile, feeling at times that Drew should have been in her house than anything.

[Drew Thornton]

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to use it without bringing out some of that Slytherin cunning as well," he answered back, recognizing he had a pretty strong streak of the snake as well. If he was going to actually see some action, he needed to stop acting like such a Huffle and more like a Slytherin.

But he did appreciate her comment, something he considered to be a compliment. Anytime someone from another house suggested you belonged there too, it had to be something nice. "So let's put the smarts and the courage together with the cunning and figure out how to escape this paperwork hell."

[Shay M. Loire]

"Ah, well see," Shay started with a huge smile, "I believe that no one, not even a mastermind can escape paperwork hell. Except... hmm... well if you get with the higher-ups and you can afford to keep a few assistants under you to write up everything for you. That's certainly the way to avoid it." She had been sure that she had been manipulated a few times to do other people's paperwork, but then again it was bound to happen in her workplace environment, plus it was all just part of being a rookie.

[Drew Thornton]

"Getting in with the higher ups? That sounds a lot like kissing butt," Drew said, raising an eyebrow. But he had a feeling that was a big part of it. If you got in good with the superiors, eventually you'd be trusted to do what you wanted to do, right? Wasn't that what he was doing by chasing every wild goose the other Aurors threw at him?

"So when is it doing what you need to in order to get ahead, and when is it just brown-nosing?" he asked, hating himself for doing it but feeling like it was the only way to get out of there as quickly as possible.