[ SEMI-OPEN ] talk it through as a crew

[krakened]

Who: Ed + Staff
When: Sometime in early August
Where: Ed's Inn & Tavern & Fine Gift Shop
What: It's a staff meeting....of a kind
Warnings: Canon warnings.


A Little Notice
Who can say what brought this on. Might he have heard Tifa muttering about people drinking on the job? Did a customer mention a small wind that keeps sweeping through the place and sending napkins aflutter? Has an ugly demon statue scared the shit out of a toddler?

(Possibly, it could be all of the above, but no one's actually taken notes around here.)

Whatever it is, the dedicated and underpaid (okay, fine, fully unpaid) staff of the inn will find a notice pinned to the inn's door. Yes, it's been stuck there with a dagger. It appears about a week before the meeting, with a date and time and, you know, all the necessary information people need to know to show up. Maybe. If the notice is missing details, you'll have to track him down and ask him yourself.


Meeting Day
To avoid offending the good people of Solvunn (he needs their reviews), Ed holds the meeting during off-hours in the morning when most people are asleep or haven't checked in yet. The bar/kitchen area is decently quiet, and it's got plenty of stools and chairs, which seems...like a pretty good spot? Yeah, it'll do.

• He's got the usual refreshments, courtesy of Himeka. Marmalade is definitely included somewhere and it's probably a, frankly, fucking insane amount of food, but that's alright. That's not a problem. Himeka is a madwoman wielding massive cheese wheels and a frying pan. Massive respect.


• There's also a big bucket of fish in the corner. It's technically for Nanaue, who may or may not show, but if you're very excited about the prospect of shoving raw fish into your face, Ed won't stop you. Someone else might, but Ed won't. Just, uh, don't eat all of the big guy's food, he's a growing shark and he's apparently raising a child now.


• Most important, of course, are the comment cards. In theory, they're anonymous, as in, you haven't got to sign your name or anything, but, well. That's about all the steps you can take to remain anonymous. Good luck.

Some handy dandy links: OFFICIAL MEETING THREAD || CREW WREATH || COMMENT CARDS


OOC
Feel free to mingle before and after the meeting! Threadjacking encouraged, and be as chaotic as you want. Just don't destroy the inn itself, Ed will be sad about that. The comment cards are real, and yes, they will be brought up in the meeting as they get added. Ed will read them out and address the concerns, as every effective boss should.

Characters who are not part of the staff are welcome to drive by!!

Comments

slipping in.

[krakened]

[ Thank you, Tifa. Ed hands her the Talking Fish with both hands, quite pleased that he has obtained a volunteer to take the stage. This is why he hired her! For her team spirit and go-getter attitude. He's all prepared to listen to her concerns, when—

Okay, first of all, the Talking Fish rule is already being broken! Why did he introduce the Fish if people (one person) are just gonna roughshod all over it.

Second of all: ]

Artie, mate, are you writing down every word? You don't...you don't have to do that.

[smilefornow]

[Arthur glances around at the gathered inn folks. Not a quill or pen among them. No one showed up with a journal or paper.]

If I don't, who will? You have to have a record of meetings, so at the next one when people start arguing about who said what at the last one, it's all written down and I can say 'I have the minutes, I'll read aloud who said what!' and then we all know.

[This is basic business meeting procedure.]

Just...keep going, don't mind me.

[suplexer]

[ Tifa is possibly just as confused as Ed about this. She blinks as Arthur gives his hurried explanation, and while there is a sort of logic to it, he seems to be making this all much more stressful than it needs to be. ]

Umm... I'm hoping it won't come to us arguing over anything, but I guess you have a point.

[ It doesn't look like he's going to stop any time soon, so Tifa simply glances back to Ed and shrugs. ]

Where were we — right. Any ideas on how to bring in more customers?

[ She glances around at the other employees, holding out the fish in case someone wants to grab it. ]

[respiting]

[ From his seat, which is more like a little foot-stool he'd found somewhere in the inn, Rocket straightens up, looking from speaker to speaker to Ed, and then back to the guy with the writing as if the idea of noting shit down like that is possibly the dumbest idea he's ever heard of.

What a waste of paper. Trees had to die for that shit to be made, okay. ]

That's what duels are for.

[ But, okay, fine. Rocket holds out a paw for the Talking Fish next, and when it's in his grasp, he considers that this is already a hell of a lot more orderly than some of the Guardian meetings had been when Drax and Quill (and OKAY FINE HIM TOO) would shout over each other, trying to get the last word in. Nebula was the growling sense of reason a lot of the time, and somehow decisions were made when Quill made the call.

It was a little different the last time he can remember, now that he's been made captain, and he's trying to be more ... serious about it. He can be a little more serious about this too. ]

So the Treehouse, where I live, we host the welcome mingle with every round of new Summoned. We could always do a little promotion then, make sure people know that they've got options.

[krakened]

[ Ed holds out his hands. Hang on— ]

No duels on the premises. Duel after working hours.

[ Or, please don't, actually, 'cause he's had enough of a time hiring these people and he doesn't want to lose his shop manager to a misplaced stabby wound. Or his maintenance man. Look, the point is, duelling is bad for business. Also, maybe, they're...his friends and he's not completely okay with his friends getting stabbed.

Moving on. Fuck. How does he keep this orderly? How the fuck does Stede do this without threats of violence or a bit of shouting? (Stede doesn't, that's the unfortunate reality. The crew used to just talk over Stede.)

He claps his hands together. Okay! ] Yes! Promotions. Fantastic idea, thank you, Rocket. And, perhaps—decorating services? We have got a lot of... [ He looks at the spiky fish. ] ...lovely knick-knacks.

[ Look, it's popular with the locals, yeah? No, Ed hasn't got a single clue they're buying it out of pity. As far as he's concerned, the Solvunn people love this weird creepy shit. ]

[respiting]

Fine! Fine, no duels until after hours.

[ Rocket rolls his eyes, like this has gotta be the most difficult thing for him to agree to. (It's not, but he's going to be difficult on purpose. It's the principle of the matter.)

He takes a brief moment to size everyone around the room up for an assumption of their interior design capabilities. ]

Well, I ain't much for decorating but I will say the demand for it is probably strong.

[ So, yes, he agrees with Ed; it's probably an idea worth pursuing for that extra revenue. He just won't be personally participating in Home Makeover: Solvunn Edition any time soon unless '20 Year Old Garage Chique' is suddenly in fashion. He's never had enough space to collect things, let alone to collect them in an aesthetic manner. And the moment he got himself a workshop, it just became a chaotic dumping ground. He loves it that way. It looks and feels full. ]

We got a lotta weirdos buyin' a lotta weird crap but who knows where they're putting it when they get home?

[smilefornow]

[Arthur remembers to raise his hand for the talking fish.]

I think that's moving in the right direction. What about focusing on promoting and advertising all the non-inn bits of the business? Beef up the gift shop a bit, diversify our inventory, get buzz going about the food...maybe put up unique art? Solvunn isn't exactly bursting with galleries...

[And that's what it's all about, catching people's attention and giving them a reason to come. Offer things they can't find anywhere else.]

And of course there's merchandising.

[suplexer]

[ The back and forth about duels only makes Tifa scoff and shake her head. She's going to hope that they're joking around for her own sanity, especially since that's the impression she gets from Rocket in particular. The last thing they need is for brawls to become commonplace here, leading to their carpenter having to do way more work than should be necessary. ]

I think most of us are pretty capable of tossing people out if they get too rowdy.

[ She shrugs. It's nothing she hasn't done before.

But Rocket, Ed, and Arthur are all throwing out some pretty good ideas. Suddenly Tifa understands why taking notes might be worthwhile, or they might lose track of things. ]

That's a good point. [ Said with a glance toward Arthur as she takes the fish from him. Is it... actually working in terms of keeping this conversation organized? ] Maybe people don't need a place to stay so much, but somewhere they can look at art, buy some trinkets, eat some unique Summoned-made food, that's a different story. Whether we like it or not, the locals are curious about us, so we have a lot to offer them.

[ The inn can be more than just an inn. Even if it's only Summoned sleeping here for the most part, others might come and stay for the novelty. ]

[respiting]

[ They'd be giving the carpenter plenty of future employment, Tifa! It's fine! It's good, even! ]

How much are we comfortable with sharing, though? [ Oh. Right. The talking fish thing.

With a slight sigh of exasperation, he reaches for the fish from Tifa before he continues. ] And what kinda shit are we gonna share? I ain't seen any art here, unless we're talking about getting the shark to do some pieces for us.

[ ... which. Isn't actually a bad idea, honestly. ]

And a lot of us don't even know much about each other's homeworlds.