I can't breathe through this mask [Winston]

Lorin was nervous. This wasn’t her first interview ever, but this was her first interview for a real job, even if she had help to get it. Her brother’s friend, Hefin Howell, had run into Lorin a few short months ago and told her he would help her get a job doing something more than playing house elf. While she loved to dote on Donnie, help with his work, and take care of him, she knew she could be accomplishing more in her life. Hefin had set her up with interviews with both of his uncles, Sylvester Walker, who ran the Walker broom business, and Winston T. Foss, the head of the British Ministry Department of Mysteries.

The interview with Sylvester had gone quite well, and she was enjoying working with him despite his rather odd temperament. He didn’t handle her sass as well as Donnie had, so it took her awhile to get used to the new dynamic. However, while he paid well, he didn’t require much work on her part, so she was still looking for another job to fill the gap. She could have devoted her time to study, but she was a little burned out with the whole thing, and unsure where she wanted to go in life. Perhaps a ministry job would be the way to go, if for no reason other than to give her life some structure. She was still living with her brother, and she knew both he and her parents would approve of her ‘going into the family business,’ even if not in Law Enforcement.

Naturally, Lorin knew the Foss name easily. The Fosses and Odells had very similar lines of business and quite a friendly rivalry between them, though she knew nothing about Winston other than what his name offered. She wondered if he would be handsome, like Hefin. Maybe he would be an in to something more than just a job. She knew Theoren didn’t approve of her husband-hunting mindset, but Lorin was a social climber if there ever was one. She wasn’t going to let her family’s name go to waste. She wanted to marry up, into an influential family. She wanted to spend her days as a socialite, but simply didn’t have the funds or the heritage to attend the balls of the Pureblood elite.

Pure she was, elite… was another story. She wasn’t a Hartridge, Grosvenor, Abercrombie, Bane, Lovecraft, or any of the other big names. She was an Odell, and their heritage was Ministry and blood equality. That barred her from most events in general. She had only gotten an ‘in’ to the society by ‘befriending’ the likes of Genevieve Grosvenor and Hero Hartridge. While she liked Genevieve quite a bit, the girls were definitely frenemies. They were both jealous of each other in their own ways and Lorin was certain Genevieve knew it as well. While Evie lavishly spent money on her friend, and Lorin shamelessly let her, there was an imbalance of power there that was clear. While Lorin was her intellectual equal (or even, slightly, superior), she would never be her social equal.

Lorin tried not to think about it. Having high expectations made one prone to disappointments. She always made this mistake with Seth, expecting something more than what he was giving her, and always coming out disappointed when he pulled away, rolled over, or had her leave. When he didn’t remember things she said, or didn’t seek her out, she always felt unwanted and terrible. She felt disappointed—not in him, but in herself, for expecting too much. The same could be said about this.

The Department of Mysteries was so… mysterious. Lorin had never set foot in so much as the offices down in that part of the ministry, and she had spent a lot of time at the Ministry as a child. When she finally made her way down to the office she would be meeting her potential employer at, she knocked on the door, straightening her back. She had worn a fairly modest blue dress with a v-neckline. Unfortunately for Lorin, with her ample chest most anything made her cleavage look obscene. She hoped that this would be okay. Most employers were men and men often didn’t mind seeing a little skin from their secretaries. Hell, even if he was married—and she didn’t know if he was—the stereotype was the sexy secretary initiating an affair with the boss. She wanted to appeal to that thought, to some degree. Lorin still didn’t think she had much more than her body to offer a man. She had never learned that skill, and Seth constantly reinforced the thought. Her body was the only good part of her, so let it do its job.

@Winston T. Foss

Winston was having some very bad luck; or, rather, his secretaries -- sorry, administrative assistants -- were having right bad strokes of luck. It seemed that within a few months of their tenure here, some tragedy befell their families. Usually it was a grandparent with dragon pox or spattergroit or something equally dire; it was a full blown epidemic. His last, Hillaria, had just up and left, something about her mother moving to Borneo so she had to help pack and move or something, Winston wasn’t too sure. He was just happy that no one was dying, he supposed.

But that left him with another issue. A replacement. He had been reprimanded before for having such high turnover in his department, but he wasn’t the one leaving. Why should he be the one to blame? But his nephew had come through for him, thank Merlin. Hefin knew plenty of recent graduates that needed the foothold into the Ministry, and Winston was more than willing to lend a hand -- never mind that he was positively desperate by this point.

He was well aware of the Odells; the Fosses had a bit of a rivalry with the other family, forever in a quest to be the best Auror family. It was a bit silly, but his mother and stepfather it would look good for the family if he were to employ one Lorin Odell. He was willing to interview her, at the very least. Winston wanted to be a good Foss, even if he was technically only one by name. He’d most likely hire her, too, considering she was the only applicant so far. Maybe people had heard about the family-illness-to-those-who-work-here rumors? Yikes.

Still, assistant or not, someone still showed Ms. Odell down to his office, and he stood when he heard the knock on the door. He had his list of questions all ready, quill and ink ready for note taking, and snacks, and he had taken care to hide most of his time wasters (crosswords, madlibs, etc) away earlier that morning.

He moved around his desk and opened his door, only to be greeted with one of the most unexpected -- yet most welcome -- sights: cleavage. Lots of it, perfectly at his eye level. He wasn’t subtle about noticing it, either. Winston’s eyes widened and it took him a couple seconds before stepping back and moving his gaze up, finding that the cleavage belonged to a young woman who was hopefully his interviewee. “Lorin Odell?” He said after another few seconds, holding his hand out for a shake. “Winston Foss, how d’y’do?” He shook her hand quickly, his eyes not straying from hers. Golly, was it hot in here?

Dropping her hand, Winston took another step back and let her enter his office; he motioned to a chair in front of his desk and before retaking his own seat behind his desk, he made a point of leaving the door open. He hadn’t been prepared for this; no where in any management training or interview tips did they have any how-to section on what to do when faced with huge bazongas.

“We’ll just, er, dive right in, shall we?” He knew where he wanted to dive -- no, Winston, pull yourself together. He ruffled a few of his papers, finding a question to start with. “Why don’t you tell me a little--” huge “--bit about yourself.” Already, Hefin was a personal reference so there wasn’t much she’d be able to do to tank the interview. The same couldn’t be said for himself, he supposed.

Winston was... not what Lorin was expecting from Hefin's uncle. Sylvester had been, in many ways, exactly what she expected Hefin's uncle to be like. He was a little intimidating, kind of darkly-handsome-yet-clearly-unattainable. Winston was anything but tall, dark, and handsome. In fact, he looked rather ordinary, though she did a very good job of hiding her surprise. Lorin was a mistress of illusions, really, and had carefully honed most of her reactions to appear however she wanted them to. This was a skill she had used man times with her brother and her family, among others. She noticed him looking at her chest, a felt a twinge of self-consciousness, but he didn't seem to mind at all, so she shifted her posture a bit so they were on display. If letting him leer over her would get her the job, she would allow it.

She shook his extended hand firmly. “Yes, Lorin.” She agreed. “Very well, thank you.” She was going to ask him how he was in return, but he seemed to move on with the conversation and she knew that he would probably say he was fine anyway. Everyone was always 'fine' at least when someone asked how they were doing. No one ever really answered the question, and to be honest, Lorin was okay with that. No one needed to know the dark nitty-gritty details of her life, and she didn't care to know them about anyone else either. Polite was easiest.

She took the seat when offered, crossing her legs carefully, a bit of pale thigh showing as her skirt rode up. She was not wearing hose, though she had considered if it would be more appropriate. She figured that he would tell her if there was a dress code she needed to follow for work. Some places required a blazer and hosiery, and Lorin wasn't sure how dressy she needed to be, really. This was only her first officially job interview, after-all.

She smiled warmly at him, green eyes fixed on his. She had been told that eye contact is crucial, no matter how much she wanted to look around. The eye contact made her appear personable, direct, and confident. “I graduated from Hogwarts approximately one year ago, now, with six NEWT subjects: Potions, Transfiguration, Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, and Herbology. I was a member of Slytherin house. Since graduation, I worked as an apprentice arithmancer, though, as you may be aware, my family is very active within the Ministry, and I believe my skills would be better served here. As apprentice, many of my duties involved secretarial work, organization and time management skills, and keeping my apprentice master on task—which, I'll have you know, was often a struggle.” She paused for a moment for a light chuckle. “He was brilliant, but quite scatterbrained, that one. He needed a firm hand, which I was happy to give. I've always been good with paperwork, managing multiple projects, and multitasking. As your assistant, I would offer those skills to this department.” Her mouth was a bit dry from the nerves, but she stopped there to let him speak.