People stared at the black and white bird perched on one of the straps hanging from the ceiling. They always did. It didn't seem concerned by this, simply looking around alertly at the passengers while the lift descended.

At Level Two, the magpie took off from the strap and flew out of the lift before anyone else left. It made a beeline towards the Auror Office. In a whir of blurred wings, it hovered outside the door and then whirled into a brief tornado of black and white feathers before resolving itself as the Auror who owned the form.

She leaned against the wall next to the door for a minute to wait for the world to stop spinning around her before entering the office.

The first thing Adrianna noticed was the purple memo airplane patiently waiting for her on her desk, hovering above the pile of paperwork she had been dealing with for the past week or so. She picked it up and unfolded it, read its contents and then raised her eyebrows.

Then she checked the time. She was early, but early was good. She headed back out into the foyer and knocked on the door with the Head of Department's nameplate set on the wood. Her only hope was that she wasn't too early.

It had been a few weeks now, but Admete still didn't feel quite comfortable in her (relatively) large new office with its heavy desk and the luxury of paintings on the walls. Something she was currently channeling into an internal debate about the best location for an apple-shaped tea box.

The knock was a welcome interruption. "Come in," she said, pushing a few papers to the side as she did so. Couldn't have her desk being a complete mess.

She looked up with a smile. Adrianna had only been a few years behind her in school, and they'd been housemates besides. Seemed like most of the Auror office kept getting younger, though.  "How has the office been? Hoped to have a few more minutes to stop by, but,"  a quick wave of her hand over the various piles on the desk about covered her predicament. There was so much to do, and so much to learn with her new position.

Adrianna stepped in and shut the door behind her. She blinked at the painting frames. A few were of wood, but then she'd spotted a few shiny ones. She had to blink hard to remind herself I'm not a magpie and I shouldn't be eyeing shiny things right now; the difficulty lay in the fact that she'd just been a magpie about ten minutes ago.

She smiled back at Admete but did not sit; instead she greeted her with the usual ritual - her left fist against her right palm, a shallow bow. It had thrown people off before, but she wasn't about to unlearn it anytime soon.

"It's been fine," she said, after straightening up from her bow and letting her arms rest at her sides again. She did not sit, however; in China you didn't sit uninvited. "The paperwork's been reasonable, and I think really quite manageable. I'm still getting used to the atmosphere and the people here. I know it's been almost a year since I returned, but nineteen years of China is hard to get over." She smiled. "I hope I'm not interrupting your work, Miss Brown."

"Please, sit. You're not interrupting anything that I didn't want interrupted." Admete grinned and leaned back in her seat. "And it's good to hear you're adjusting. Sounded like you'd taken over a few of my cases, hope the notes didn't have too much tea spilled on them. Or coffee." Or some caffeinated, unholy mix of the two substances concocted to get through a rough evening when she really wanted to go home and paint.

Those birds of hers would have some horrible things to repeat just before they died.

"I did want to check with you about the cases. Notes only go so far." She gave some of the paperwork before her a pointed look. "And adjusting takes time. Still have to stop myself from heading to my old desk some days." The new chair was too new and stiff, would take a bit to break in.

At Admete's behest, Adrianna dutifully folded into the chair in front of her, still eyeing a few shiny objects around the office. She had not mastered her ability yet; indeed, it was such that she could easily transform without a problem, but the aftereffects plagued her for a period of time. As long as the meeting stayed calm and anxiety-free she'd recover quickly enough.

She tore her eyes away from all the shiny as she listened to Admete, smiling a little. "No, I didn't. Well, there were a few brown rings on some of the notes, but I didn't bother to test them out. I know how it feels. The Auror Corps in China technically had set working hours, but we weren't allowed to leave until we'd finished the day's reports." And she had nearly developed a coffee addiction as bad as her alcoholism these days thanks to it.

"Which cases do you want to ask about?" she asked. "I haven't had the time to go through the second half of the pile of papers yet. Adjusting really does take some time, and after all that's happened..." Her voice trailed off, but she recovered before she went too far down that road. "I'm sorry if I'm taking a while to regain my capability on the field."

"You'll have to tell me more about the Auror Corps there some day. Like to hear about how they do things." Might learn something, and she could use that. Still felt a little thrown into the deep end with the job and all that.

"And no worries, there was nothing urgent in that stack. Just want to make sure you come ask me if there's any questions, not too busy for that." She smiled a little, reassuringly. Could relate to trouble adjusting. "You were gone a while. It'll take a bit to adjust, no need to worry."

They needed every Auror they could get, completely readjusted or not. No great excess of them about. Admete sat up a little straighter, and tapped her hand on that wooden tea caddy. "Anything particular giving you trouble? Like to do what we can." When had she started saying 'we'? Might be she was actually getting some of that adjusting done.

"You'll have to tell me more about the Auror Corps there some day. Like to hear about how they do things." Adrianna smiled at this as she shook her head. "Things have changed of late, I can only tell you how it worked before a year ago. The Auror Corps over there were fixing things with their system when I left. I could give you a contact who could help you there, but he doesn't think his English is very good and prefers to write and speak in Chinese." Her smile got slightly nostalgic at this point, but she quickly pushed it aside before she got lost in her memories.

She fidgeted slightly, still a little distracted by shiny. "Not much going on, which is good. I'm still getting used to the culture here...there are quite a lot of things I've missed, haven't I?" Adrianna laughed a little nervously. "I don't remember a lot of British slang, so it can get confusing when people talk in the office. I just feel slightly embarrassed over asking them if they mean something as a joke or not.

"I think most of my problems lie with me." She shrugged. "Unless I want to refer to the other Aurors being a little snappy, but I've been on that end before and I understand how it's like. And I just hope you don't mind that a magpie comes into work every morning." Here she gave Admete a sheepish smile. "If you want me to explain why, I'd gladly do so."

"That'd be appreciated. Sure I can snag a translator from Five if need be, they'd be the ones to see the value in these things." International Cooperation and all that.  There were always a few cases where they had to work with Aurors from elsewhere, more contacts couldn't hurt.

Admete's brow furrowed a little as she noticed Adrianna's distraction. "You sure you're alright? Seem a bit distracted. And with the jokers at the office everything's awkward, think they forget if they're joking or not half the time." Between Pratt, Trevelyan, and the rest of them, well, she'd given up on trying to tell enough of the time.

"And I just hope you don't mind that a magpie comes into work every morning. If you want me to explain why, I'd gladly do so."

A shrug. "Seems convenient, don't have to wade your way through everyone to get places. Can't see why it'd be a problem." Was a bit unusual, maybe, but she was pretty used to birds.

"Uh, I'm fine." Adrianna smiled reassuringly to Admete. "It's just...I was a magpie fifteen minutes ago, and you've got a few shiny objects in your office. You know what magpies do in the presence of shiny objects." Her smile got a bit lopsided in apology. "It takes a while for me to readjust. I'm doing well, I think I've got hold of it now."

She straightened up in her seat, making herself a little more comfortable. "I agree with you. It's a bit difficult for me to know if people are being serious or not. We do joke in the office in China, but not much sarcasm. Everyone here really likes sarcasm, it seems." She chuckled. "I don't get much of it, I'll be honest."

Before she forgot, she took out a card from a pocket and put it on the desk. "Here's his contact. Business card, I know, so Muggle, but it's enchanted by his own hand. Tap it with your wand and it'll reveal contact details in the language you understand best. He passes himself off as an accountant in front of Muggles." She chuckled. "I only wonder how the Ministry would go about doing long-distance contacts, since China doesn't use fireplaces. We have our mirrors, I don't know what Britain uses."

"Oh. Hadn't realized, not too many animagi around." Let alone ones that were magpies. She returned Adrianna's smile for a brief moment. "Might want to keep that to yourself, 'less you want your desk to get covered with shiny things while you're out. Sure someone'd find great humor there."

Someone not her. "Don't get all of it either. They seem to enjoy it, though. That and getting into rows with Three." That'd be the real test of her new-found cooperation with Glass. Old rivalries that couldn't be stepped on too much without trouble.

She tapped her wand on the offered card, and bent her head down to take a proper look at it. "There's some of it here, but can ask Five if I need to. It difficult for you to keep in contact with people in China, then?" Amazing the ways that gaps popped up, sometimes. Mirrors. Made a bit of sense when you thought about it.

Admete's suggestion was a good idea, Adrianna mused to herself. She did have a bit of a hoarding obsession, but it wasn't too bad as long as she kept her magpie tendencies out of the equation. It was rare that she changed into a magpie directly in the office, but she would have to take extra precautions now. "I don't much fancy that," she said, nodding.

"I heard about the rows, I guess the Aurors like to play pranks on Three that mch?" she asked, sort of copying Admete's manner of speech at this point. It tended to happen after a while, even if her accent didn't change one smidgen. "I'll try not to do the same, although from what I've heard we're all painted with the same brush anyway." She sighed. So much for wishing for good colleagues in Britain.

In response to Admete's question Adrianna shook her head. "We use magic mirrors the same way you use Floo, except of course we don't...need fireplaces. Just a mirror that we can set up to others' mirrors. The big ones we use for getting from one place to another, but only within China. The small ones we use for contacting each other so we can converse face to face. Sort of talking to your own reflection, except that it's not your reflection, it's the reflection of the person on the other side. I speak to the Chief Auror on occasion that way. The mirrors really help over long-distance, and of course most Muggles don't suspect anything."

"Some of them, enough from both levels who can't let things go. Three decides they want something in triplicate, the Aurors decide that something might just mess with their investigation, better be on the safe side." Admete frowned and tapped her fingers on the desk. That being her problem just made it worse.

"Sure you'll figure out who to avoid." Adrianna was sharp enough, she'd manage. Adjust back to everything.

And the mirrors got the curious raise of an eyebrow. That was interesting. Certainly something to ask International Cooperation about. "You can connect the mirrors even from here? Impressive."

Sounded easier than a chat through international floo, at least.

"Huh. Well, I'll keep that in mind. I wouldn't want to cause any additional trouble to the one everyone's already got." Adrianna nodded in Admete's direction. "Especially for you, and I can only imagine."

At Admete's question about the mirrors, the Auror nodded. "Well, it takes some adjusting, but with the right spells and some patience it'll work like a charm. Of course it has its disadvantages, like, um...distance and any bad weather occurring between the two countries would mess up clarity, and you can't really bring a mirror that size with you around on your job, but if you know how to work around those problems it's not a big deal." She shrugged. "I could demonstrate it another day, although I would have to leave it in the Ministry overnight to let it adjust to new surroundings before connecting."

Adrianna thought over what she had just said, and chuckled a bit. "The way I put it, it probably sounds like it's alive. Mirrors are just a little sensitive, that's all. I'm still getting used to the 'stick your head into a fire' thing that Floo requires, it's not something that would have made sense to me back then. But would it have occurred to you to use your bathroom mirror as a communicator? Probably not, either." The Auror smiled wrly. "Cultural differences."

She looked at her watch. The little hands had moved to an hour since she had entered. While she was enjoying her conversation, against her expectations, the pile of paperwork sitting on her desk was beginning to make its figurative presence felt in the back of her head.

"I guess Cooperation will fill you in on the details, but if you want to know more I'm always happy to help. Well, other than when I'm on cases, but I have yet to pick one up or be assigned." Adrianna sat back in her chair. "I have a feeling that after all this time, maybe I can finally get out into the field again. I can't fixate myself on my past experiences, after all."

She'd kept Adrianna quite long enough. That peek at the watch was just reminder of it. "Better let you back to your desk. I'll ask Cooperation about the mirrors,  might catch you about it again if we're ever not swamped." Unlikely, that, but they'd see.

Could always hope. She stood and offered the Auror a smile. "Expect you'll get on a case soon. New ones keep popping up. And don't let the office prod you too hard."