tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; Tuesday, June 16th
Rating; PG
Characters; Boy Blue

playstheblues and Promise Nottinger

missesthestars
Summary; Blue needs a new manager for the Blue Light, and Promise needs a job.
Log;

Blue needs a manager.

It wasn't because Blue can't manage the Blue Light, because he can; he didn't spend almost two hundred years working for Snow White without learning a thing or two about managing both finances and employees. But the fact is that after his breakup and now that he really just wants to focus on things that make him happy, he doesn't want to manage it by himself.

And he's never met this woman but from what he knows about Ishiah and Robin, and even Niko Leandros to an extent, he figures that he can at least give her a chance. Besides most people don't put themselves out as a manager. What he really needs to know is that she can take the constant chaos and music that happens at the Blue Light, not to mention Blue's fairly lax rules.

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Promise needs a job.

For all that many of the City's inhabitants are willing to do business on an IOU basis, Promise loathes not having her own financial worth. She worked hard to amass the fortune she has back home, despite what people say about the way she did it, and while she doesn't expect that level of comfort here, she certainly isn't afraid to work for something.

She entered the club, removing her ever-present cloak and fixed her violet eyes on the crowd, looking for Blue.

Blue doesn't know about how she did it, and he probably won't ask anyway. Instead he looks up from the bar and spots her wandering inside and he hurries out from behind the bar. "Promise?" he asks, smiling, drying his hand on his apron.

His trumpet bounces against his hip, and he takes her in and accesses her in a moment. She's beautiful, that's for sure, but Blue is fairly immune to beautiful women after living in Fabletown for two hundred years.

"I'm Blue." He offers his hand to her to shake.

Removing her gloves, she takes his hand warmly and smiles, "It's a pleasure to meet you face to face, Blue. Thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice."

She notices the trumpet, "I take it in addition to owning and running the establishment, you entertain as well?"

Blue nods and shakes and then looks around. "It's no problem, Miss Nottinger, I really mostly do things here, anyway." He indicates for her to follow him to a small table in a corner that isn't quite as noisy to sit down.

"That's right. Actually, entertaining is really my main interest, and I found that Lux was a little rigid for my tastes...you know, they like suits and fancy drinks and fancy things, and don't get me wrong, that's fine, but if I want to jazz it way up I couldn't, so I built this bar."

He looks around. "I think we're doing pretty well."

Promise follows and sits at the corner table. Motioning to the crowd, she smiles, "Based on what I see, you must be doing very well if this is a middle-of-the-week crowd."

"And I can certainly see what you mean about the Lux, you wanted to cater to a different set. It's really all about knowing the audience you want and once you know that, setting the stage becomes much simpler."

Promise leaned her head slightly to the side. "Of course, simplicity goes right out the window when you realize that you're in charge of absolutely everything."

Blue beams a little. "Yes," he says with a smile, "That's certainly true! I used to have a manager, sort of, or at least someone I could trust with my best interests but things changed and now I run pretty much everything. It would be nice to delegate some stuff." He leans his face on one hand. "And now we're sort of competing with Victrola, but I don't think that will make too huge a dent on things here."

He looks at his bar, and there's obviously a lot of pride in his face. "But I love this place. And so I do my best, and right now my best involves finding someone to help me handle the management."

He looks back at her, then. "What kind of experience do you have?"

Promise likes the pride on Blue's face. An owner without pride in his establishment will neglect it and it's employees and she's not here to be dumped on. "Of course, no one should have to manage a place like this on their own, not when they could enjoy it instead."

Keeping her tone clipped, but friendly Promise began, "I have a seat on the board at the Met back in New York, one of the many social obligations I've inherited from my late husbands. I have, however, worked with many charities, social events committees, public entertaining, basically involving myself with the things necessary to maintain a certain... reputation in the public eye. More recently, I helped manage the business end of a private investigation service of sorts - mostly locating and negotiating with clients and managing the funds."

Promise considered a moment and added, "And while none of that is an exact job match, believe me, running a major fundraiser or negotiating a fee with a skinflint who thinks that because he's paying you under the table eh can pay you whatever he likes gives one skills that can be easily applied anywhere."

Blue considers that. It wasn't like his experience with managing was anymore of an exact match, and he knows how difficult it can be to cobble together a public event. He likes the sound of her experience already.

"Well that all sound really good to me," he says, and then with a bit more caution he adds, "Can you deal with the music? I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, and this place can get kind of loud."

Promise smiles and leans in a bit conspiratorially. "I'll let you in on a secret. I remember when jazz was born and I've survived much worse than a noisy bar scene. If I want quiet I can take a day off and meditate."

Blue lights up a bit. "Oh, terrific," he says. He always likes meeting people who remember the birth of jazz because they understand the soul of the music; it isn't just notes on paper or noise coming out of a trumpet.

"Can you start on Monday?"

Promise smiled, that had been easier than she had anticipated. "Of course, unless you needed me sooner. I do have one request, if you don't mind."

Promise wondered how much was safe to tell Blue. Despite Niko's assurances of acceptance, she was still hesitant to reveal her nature to anyone she didn't know closely. "While I'm not opposed to coming in for office work or meetings during the day on occasion, I am primarily active during the nights and will likely do the majority of that sort of work after closing as opposed to before. Is that a problem?"

Blue furrows his eyebrows just a little - more in confusion than in disagreement. Blue actually doesn't have an issue - as long as the work gets done, he doesn't mind. If Promise is a night person, far be it for him to tell her to change.

"That's fine," he says, nodding his head. "And I think Monday will be best, although you're welcome to come for the party on Friday night. I'll let the employees know that you're going to manage things from now on."

Promise was glad he hadn't pressed the issue. Going around in daylight in a cloak and gloves in the winter was one thing. In the bright summer she always tended to get stares.

"I think I'd like that. It will give me a chance to get to know people before they have to report to me. Are there any house rules I should know about going in?"

Blue knows the luxury of privacy, and he doesn't usually press any issue unless it becomes a safety issue.

"Well," he begins, thinking, "I have a very short comp list, which you'll get, of course. I let people bring their own food - we do serve food but I'm not really a stickler, it's not a huge part of our profit margin and usually it's only the poker players who come in about twice a week, anyway. But drinks have to be purchased here." He pauses and thinks. "Oh, and tabs get paid twice a month. We don't ask Robin where he gets the money." That one was because the puck was Blue's friend, and because the truth is that Blue didn't really care.

"I think that's pretty much it, though."

Edited 2009-06-18 19:53 (UTC)

Promise nods along, nothing sounded out of the ordinary to her but she does raise and eyebrow at the mention of the puck. "A very wise policy where Robin is concerned, I can assure you."

Thinking for a moment as she taps a foot to the music, she asks a few more short questions. "Do employee tips get pooled at the end of the night or kept individual, how often will I be running payroll, and are employees allowed to comp any drinks - for example one a night for a friend, or do ALL comps go through us?"

Blue laughs a little. That seems to be the general consensus regarding Robin. "Well, I like to cover my bases, anyway,"

Blue nods, pleased at her curiosity. "I like tips to be individual. Payroll gets done twice a month, against tabs just to keep you busy, maybe," he grins to show he's kidding, it's really so all the work doesn't pile up. "I usually let the tenders and waiters comp one person night, the entertainers get free drinks for themselves and a guest. I trust my workers, so I don't really require all the comps to go through the bar, but most of them will come and let me know anyway, so I'll tell them to let you know now."

"Good." Promise looks around the bar again. "I'll let you know if I think of anything else, in the meantime, is there anything more you need from me?"

"Just to say thank you so much," Blue says, almost embarrassingly grateful. "You really did save the day."

He stands. "Now I should get back to work. But feel free to stay and look around as much as you like!"

"You're very welcome and I'm grateful. I was going a bit stir crazy, without anything to do and I think this will keep me suitably occupied."

Shooing Blue on she added, "Go, don't let me keep you if you have things to do, I think I'll enjoy the music awhile longer and leave myself before too long."

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