[Zachary Arkwright]

Tuesday, June 19th 2012
10:43 AM

It was another day at the office for Zachary Arkwright. At least, that's how he hoped it came off. In truth he had a very important meeting and he wasn't sure how it would go. The past few months had been harrowing to say the least. Zach kept watching over his shoulder, half expecting the Imperium Guard to come bursting into his office at any minute. SAVIOR was in shambles and most members had been rounded up and subsequently imprisoned or worse. Somehow in all of this, Zach had flown under the radar. He'd only ever given his real name to one member: Gale Hartford, the member whom had brought him into the fold. Zach had been instructed to never give his name or position within the Ministry away to anybody else since the fewer that knew, the better. Gale's fate was a mystery to Zach, but he supposed that no news was good news at the very least. Zach could only presume he was either in hiding or deceased since he hadn't heard anything to the contrary.

Regardless, it still seemed like the Guard weren't onto him yet. Unfortunately the situation also left Zach's ambitions to end this regime and its tyranny in a bit of a tight spot. He knew he would need aid from somewhere and it was clear that it wasn't coming from his fellow countrymen. When he'd learned a diplomat from America had arrived in the UK during the previous week, he of course requested an audience with her. For the regime, he was supposed to be assuaging such diplomats, assuring them that everything was peachy and to mind their own business to put it bluntly. In reality though, Zach was going to start amassing some foreign allies once he determined who all he could trust. Surely America, land of the free, would oppose what was really going on in England? He hoped so.

Zach finished up some documents, denying several applications for visas to leave the country. He was under strict orders to deny almost every application to go abroad. People needed to be contained and locked into this country, lest word of what was really going on get out. Their was extensive screening needed to travel these days, but for the most part applications were simply just denied. Looking at the clock, Zach realized it was almost time for his meeting. Zach remained cool and confident as always. Hopefully this would go the way he wanted it to.

He did a bit of research into just whom he was meeting. Peregrine Jacobs was a neurologist, psychologist, and pro bono diplomat for America. He'd actually met with her mother once or twice years ago, but had yet to meet this young woman. From what he remembered of her mother, she had been pleasantly cordial and hopefully it ran in the family. Her work with psychology suggested a compassionate individual at least, which Zach knew he had to play into. He collected himself one last time, unsure of how this would go, but it was for the best. There wasn't enough time left to do any more paperwork, so he sat patiently waiting for his guest to arrive at his office in the Ministry.

[Peregrine Jacobs]

The meeting was at eleven. With the way Peregrine had woken up feeling she had been glad that she gave herself extra time. This stupid rainy humidity was worse than home and her hip was deciding to have fits about the change. Getting out of bed had been miserable, getting dressed painful, and finally the redhead had given up on her impressions for her meeting and pulled out her plain black cane to support herself as she headed into London. Even catching the earlier bus to allow her the few extra minutes to walk the last blocks were sure to take her twice as long as normal. Naturally, she had been correct relying heavily on her cane as her hip grinded and locked with each step. Well, at least if her day was going to start this painfully awful hopefully her meeting would go well.

After all she technically was in the country for her No-Maj work but still Perri had done the proper thing and notified the Ministry she would be in London for an undetermined amount of time. Now that she had met her new client that timeframe would most likely be upped to “for a while”. Until she got Ev properly and fully diagnosed with a treatment plan that was working she wouldn’t be able to move to remote meetings. And his special circumstance made it especially hard but even still... But that was more thoughts for later. For now she had to focus on making sure that this meeting went smoothly.

Head in the game Peregrine.

With the reminder in her mind, Perri smoothed her jacket and checked her compact again. Her hair and make-up still in order and not even a flush from her walk. Perfect. The tailored jacket, blouse, and pants combo was working out lovely for her too since she had been confined to ballet flats with her limp. Content with her appearance, she headed to the bright red phone booth and tucked into it. Dialing the number, the witch put the phone to her ear listening to the operator ask her reason for coming to the Ministry. ”I have an eleven AM appointment with a Mister Zachary Arkwright. Under Peregrine Jacobs. MACUSA diplomat ID is two-twenty nine-eighty four.” Taking the IDs that were printed for her visit, she hung up the phone and leaned on her cane as the booth descended.

Taking her time, she looked up once she exited the elevator at the marvel that was the Ministry of Magic. She had never gotten a chance to come here. It was overwhelming with the marble and huge ceilings. More like a cathedral than a government building. Ignoring the odd looks she got she followed the directions to the office for her meeting at promptly five minutes before. Perfectly right on time. The name on the door was correct so Peregrine knocked then headed in once she was acknowledged. She looked up once the door was shut behind her with a smile, taking a moment to take in the neat man in front of her. Cool, calm, confident. Almost meticulous, perhaps a nervous habit? ’No. Come on Perri, don’t do that to people,’ she scolded herself quietly for her analytical approach to him. She hobbled to his desk with an easy smile then shuffled her cane to hang on her arm while she offered her hand.

”Peregrine Jacobs. It is nice to meet you Mr. Arkwright,” she greeted.

[Zachary Arkwright]

The time was ticking down and sure enough, right on time, there came a knock at the door. Zach cracked his neck and adjusted his suit jacket. There was no turning back now. "Here we go," he thought, "Time to commit some high treason." He folded his hands together over his desk and called out "Come in."

The young woman that entered was mostly what he had anticipated from his research. She was cordial and professional: a good enough sign for now. She did walk with a limp and cane, but Zach was never one to judge or pry into other's business unless they themselves brought it up. It was certainly in poor taste to do so and Zach hadn't gotten to his current position by being impolite. As she offered her hand, Zach stood up to shake it and gave a warm smile.

"It's my pleasure Miss Jacobs. When I learned an American diplomat had entered the country, I of course had to invite you in. Just because it's business, though, doesn't mean it can't be a friendly meeting. Please, please, have a seat." He motioned to the seat across from his desk. Once she was situated, he sat back down in his own seat. "Now then, I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me, so why we start there?"

[Peregrine Jacobs]

Peregrine had to smile. This was already off to a good start. He had barely glanced at her cane and he didn’t have the same expression as some of the people she had walked past in the corridor. Pity and even some disdain. It had happened before at home too. Because of their resilience and slightly magical healing factor, Peregrine was used to having her injury be perceived as a weakness of her spirit. Much to those people’s detriment. But Zach lacked that initial reaction. So he was either better at acting, genuinely just polite, or actually just didn’t care. Either way it was definitely more welcoming than the glances she had caught prior.

Coming out of her musings, Peregrine laughed a bit at Zach’s ‘friendly meeting’ jab, ”Well if we’re to be friends you should know no one calls me Miss Jacobs,” she teased him, ”It’s just Peregrine or Perri. Whichever.” Once the formalities were passed through and the witch had been able to slowly situate herself in her seat, attempting to get comfortable before just settling into the least painful position and hooking her cane on the back of the chair.

”Of course. I understand my trip was a little surprising but genuinely it has nothing to do with my diplomatic status. I tried to get all of my paperwork for the trip in in a timely fashion and I’m sorry if I missed any. But I’m here for my other, more No-Maj… er Muggle I believe is the word you use... work. I am sure you did your own research on who I am and know about my work in neurology and psychology?” she clarified, ”I had a new client reach out to me through a family friend and he happens to live in London currently. Unfortunately, that’s all I can give you about the situation because of medical reasons. I really only have questions about whether I need to do any other paperwork for my stay here as it seems I will be in town for a while for my client. Of course, I am absolutely at your disposal while I am in the country as well. I know there has been a bit of radio silence between our two countries but that’s not necessarily always a bad thing especially in times of peace. I will admit I am going to want to get to Diagon Alley for some supplies, will I need any special identifications for that or will my passport be enough?”

Honesty was usually the best policy and hopefully with her openness about everything except her client’s identity this would go smoothly. But even if Zach pushed about who she was in town for or who the family friend was, Perri would have to refused based on patient confidentiality. Especially with Everett’s special circumstances between his prior career and now his newfound magical creature status. She lifted her hazel eyes back to Zach with a smile, ”I also welcome any questions you have for me,” she offered.

[Zachary Arkwright]

Zach smirked at Perri's tease regarding names. "Alright then Perri, and you can call me Zach." Splendid. This was how he'd hoped the meeting would go. Often diplomats could be stuffy, formal, and by the book which, granted, Zach could handle with ease. However, for his present purposes he needed someone with a bit more of a personal touch, someone who could empathize with what was really going on in this country. Introductions were highly indicative of such things, and so far it looked like he might have made a good call. Still, he would need to press further. He took his own seat across the desk from her.

"I did look into your work just a bit and must commend you on it. Not many of our kind ever get to go into such fields, so it is quite refreshing. And yes all your paperwork was in order, no worries there. As to your business, well I certainly wouldn't pry into it too much unless it seemed absolutely necessary. Since our countries are still on such good relations with one another, even with the recent bit of silence, I'm not overly worried, especially since it's non-magical and medical in nature." Zach leaned back in his chair as he continued on.

As the topic came around to her entering Diagon Alley and needing paperwork... well that was a bit trickier. Zach knew it would come up and was the official reason for summoning her, so he was quite prepared for the topic. Even still though, the matter would need to be treated with delicacy. After all, who knew what prying ears or eyes could potentially be spying in on them at any given moment. Right now he had to be Zachary Arkwright, the loyalist ambassador smoothing things over with all other nations. While he had other ideas in mind, and he had ways to get there, for now he had to play the role.

"Ah, yes, in fact. Due to some recently enacted laws, all citizenry is required to have some identifying paperwork in order to get past checkpoints into the wizarding world. While in theory your passport would suffice, I've taken the time to draw up some more standard looking paperwork using the information you provided." He passed forward a folder that had been sitting on his desk, prepared and waiting for the meeting. It was mostly the standard bloodline paperwork that all British wizards were required to have with a slight change in emphasis upon the fact that she was a foreign dignitary and thus should be left alone.

Thoughts were swirling through Zach's head that really had nothing to do with what was going on at the moment. Could he trust her? Should he really be doing what he planned on doing? Did he really have a choice if he ever wanted to see his brother again? The answers were possibly, probably, and no respectively. One thing was for certain, if this meeting was going to go anywhere he wanted it to, he needed it to take place somewhere they wouldn't be spied upon or overheard. Regardless of whether he could trust Perri (that much could be determined on the fly), he needed a way out of the Ministry.

"As a matter of fact, I do have a question of you Perri," he stated, becoming quite serious for a second before smirking and politely asking, "Are you hungry? I much prefer discussing matters over a good meal, and I know this little muggle place that's just down the street. My treat?"

[Peregrine Jacobs]

Perri had to smile at his compliments for her work. He probably wouldn’t be giving them if he realized how selfish her work actually was or the dark cloud of doom that was ever lingering over her and her family. Not that she didn’t enjoy spending her life help other people get healthy but hopefully she could save herself too. Maybe even her mother. Which reminded her, she would need to call and see how her mom was holding up. Last time she called Tori hadn’t recognized her voice at first. The thought of the progression of the dementia-like effects curdled the witch’s stomach. But she needed to not focus on that right now. She needed to focus on her meeting especially with this strange turn of events.

New identification? Checkpoints? That didn’t sound remotely normal for a free government not under threat. Low alarm bells started to ring in the back of her head at the change but kept her face professionally neutral. She took the folder that Zach slid in her direction, flipping through the paperwork quietly. Leafing through the folder, Peregrine’s fingers lingered over the identification that held her photo from her submissions but also brightly proclaimed what had been labelled as Bloodline and had her labelled as a “halfblood” but also foreign. Red coated her vision briefly in rage and she snapped the folder close quickly. Quicker than she intended to continue to play it cool and Perri forced herself to take a small breath. The far back part of her brain was screaming, demanding to know what kind of high-level of Nazi bullshit this was. Another portion wanted to lurch up (despite the fact that her hip would collapse under the movement) and punch Zach right in the nose at the offensive implications to the paperwork. Instead she let the slow breath out and lifted her eyes with the same smile as the wizard continued to speak.

”Hmm?”

Her brain slowly caught up with his question. Lunch in the muggle world after handing her blood identifying documents that made it seem like that was not okay? Okay, well that was a little weird. A strange dissonance took over her thoughts for a moment as she considered it. Her lips pursed briefly but she nodded and even managed a smile. ”I have no problem going somewhere for lunch. Sounds perfect as long as you’re okay going a little slower for me,” she said softly, ”Unfortunately, I’m having a bad day.” She stood slowly, collecting her cane to lean on.