(Cally's) An Honest Trial's Work...

[Faith Augustin]

36th Zi'da 717

Faith looked up as Arlo walked in to Cally's - the restaurant she owned which funded the charity work she was more and more heavily involved in. The young woman was sitting in the main restaurant, which was not currently open, but the door was. Seated at one of the tables, Faith and Trudi, the waitress who had flirted so outrageously with him the trial before, were folding napkins and chatting. Looking up, she smiled as she recognised who it was. "Arlo. This is a nice surprise." Trudi sat back in her chair and watched him, unashamed in her appraisal. "Come in," Faith said, with a genuine expression of pleased to see him.

"Couldn't stay away, hm?" Trudi said, picking up the folded napkins and smiling at him much like a cat might smile at a mouse it was about to devour. "It's understandable. I'm just going to walk away now. You remember how that goes?" Faith looked at the waitress and she sighed at her. Trudi beamed at Faith "Hot drinks, boss lady?" With a glance at Arlo to see if he'd like one, Faith nodded. "And Trudi, try not to ...I don't know."

"Be irresistible? I'm afraid I can't manage it. It's a burden," Trudi said and she winked at Arlo, then sashayed her way out of there. Faith sighed. "If you were a customer, she wouldn't be like that with you. I think. I hope. Have a seat." She gestured to the empty seats at the table. "Is everything alright?" He didn't seem like there was a problem, but then Faith was cautious about things ~ although in fairness, she couldn't think of any kind of emergency which might require a slow and rotund short person. Those kind of emergencies were rare, she imagined.

Trudi brought out the drinks and left them behind without a word. She didn't need to speak to flirt, it seemed, which was quite a talent. Faith watched and couldn't suppress the grin which flitted briefly across her face. Perhaps unusually, she turned and watched as Trudi walked out and then turned back to Arlo with a frown on her face and a vaguely perplexed expression. "No. I don't get it." Shrugging, she smiled at her friend as she picked up her hot chocolate. "So, just popping by or did you come by for a specific reason?" That wasn't flirting with, or being flirted with by, her head waitress, Faith considered.

[Arlo Creede]

When he'd decided to head back into town and speak with Faith again, Arlo couldn't be sure that he'd find her at Cally's. Just as likely, he figured, she'd be at the university or even at home. Maybe stuck in an overstuffed chair, he'd thought once along the way, unable to get up again on her own. Every time he saw her she got rounder and didn't seem to be slowing down or leveling off much. It didn't warrant thinking about too much however, so he cut off the thought and the mental image that came with it mid stream.

Cally's didn't seem to be open for business, but the door was and so after looping Peg's reins around a post outside, he stomped the snow and ice from his boots before going in. Just his luck, that waitress was there too. Was there ever a time that she wasn't, he wondered. It might be that trial that he decided was best for bringing Vega to dinner. When Faith looked up, when both of them did, Arlo smiled a little awkwardly, but walked in all the same and pulled off his hat. "I hope it's not an imposition?" His arriving unannounced, he meant.

He wouldn't mind something warm to drink, he added. Though as for Trudi, Arlo figured that anything he said could potentially come back to haunt him later. He wasn't even sure how. But it seemed as predictable as ice in Zi'da and inky black darkness in Cylus. So instead, he adopted, poorly, an expression of uncomprehending innocence and opted for "Good to see you again Trudi."

Even that was probably too much and he went to extremes not to watch as she walked away. Which was probably worse than just looking. No, Faith wouldn't get it, what with her being a woman. Wisely, he thought, Arlo would keep to himself the prospect that what knack Trudi had for walking away might be weaponized in some way.

He thanked the woman for the chocolate though when she came back, and slipped up again when she walked away that second time. "She here every trial?" he asked innocently. But in fact, there was more reason for him having come to town than just taking another opportunity to embarrass himself. "Well it's always nice to visit a friend. But actually I've been wondering. You mentioned before you might have a job for a storyteller...That still the case?" he wondered.

[Faith Augustin]

"Far from it, it's a pleasure," was Faith's immediate and genuine response to his concern that it might be an imposition. As he arranged his expression into one of carefully feigned ignorance, Trudi gave a grin and, when he answered that it was good to see her, that grin became cat-like. "I bet it is. I'm very good to look at. Hot drinks all around, then." Faith couldn't hide the smile, even though it was brief and swiftly gone, but when he watched her as she walked away the second time, whilst Faith appeared not to notice, Trudi blew him a kiss. "Trudi? Umm, yes, although she has nights off, but she works most night, yes. Especially since I'm not working at the moment." Hard to tell, she admitted, since she was here quite a lot but there it was.

As the door swung closed, Arlo brought the conversation round to the prospect of him working as a storyteller here and Faith's expression told him the answer before she spoke. "Yes, absolutely!" That was, she assured him, very good news as far as she was concerned. Sitting and sipping her hot chocolate, she considered what was important, how to deal with it. "Alright, so, how about I talk you through what it entails, and you can decide if it's what you want?"

They were open every night, she said, but he wasn't expected to work that. This season, they only opened a few times in the daylight breaks, but tended to remain closed during the "day" in Cylus. It just wasn't financially worth it. There was a place, just over there and she motioned to a comfortable chair which had a small table next to it, next to a window. "The table is kept stocked with juice and snacks for you and a meal is provided during your break." Faith looked at him and gave a slightly apologetic look as she folded her hands together in front of her. "Money. We all work hard, some people get tips because they are front of house, others don't because they aren't. The agreed policy among the staff is that tips are collected as a group, then divided equally among everyone working that night. Not me." Just in case that ever came up, Faith never took a share of tips. To her mind, that would not be fair.

"I'm happy to be flexible with the nights you work, what I ask is that if you say you're going to, then you do. Unless, of course, something happens. Then, there's the trainees." They were the reason for Cally's in the first place. Some of them had, literally, been washed ashore, others were freed slaves, they lived in the housing on the land attached. There were two farms, one for livestock, one for produce and a vineyard. She took a wage, but after that wage all the profits went to charity. At the moment, that had been Luna's orphanage, which she'd set up with funds from here, and the Order of the Adunih. So, everything they did here, she explained, it was for and on behalf of the trainees who were here learning a trade. If one of them wanted to learn from him, the expectation would be that he'd accommodate that.

She stopped then and smiled at him. "How's that sound, so far? Oh, and when I'm not here?" Which, of course, would be the case more and more soon."Trudi's in charge out here."

[Arlo Creede]

Now Trudi was just toying with him. Arlo knew it and yet he was probably making it easy for her. Probably better not to say anything at all, though he grinned a little and shook his head at, at himself, once she'd disappeared into the kitchen. He wanted to bring Vega to Cally's for their date after all and he'd have to practice the art of blind ignorance. Of course what he didn't realize yet but would eventually, was that if Vega was there, now or then, the room could have been overflowing and he wouldn't be able to see anyone but her. Anything else was window dressing.

He'd come to talk about a job however and when Faith confirmed that the offer was still good, Arlo smiled and nodded gratefully. He had some nels put away. Enough probably to keep him for a while. But he could always use more, and as importantly or more so, telling his stories, maybe playing his gittern in front of others would help him better develop his way of doing it. What was more, Cassion would probably approve. Being a storyteller didn't mean much if you didn't share them with others. "Sounds fine," he said when Faith offered to go over the details with him.

Being fed while he was working was appealing and the idea of pooling and dividing up tips seemed more than alright. Arlo figured that customers would tend to leave tips to those they saw, not those they didn't but who worked just as hard. "That seems fair," he said. Cally's was different he guessed compared to other places. It was the charity aspect of it, all told. That and the prices though it seemed justified based on the quality of the food and service. "I can do that," Arlo agreed when it was suggested he might share what knowledge he had with others if they were to ask him. He'd have done that anyway. It was a part of being one of Cassion's followers.

Of course, he figured but didn't say aloud. If she wasn't here, it was Trudi. Still, "It all sounds just fine," he said. "I'm curious though, what sort of stories are the customers here most likely to appreciate?" He figured he probably knew the answer already. There were stories that would appeal to those in a cheap tavern, or to those who spent their lives on the road. Soldiers might appreciate a different sort of tale. There were stories he had written down, committed to memory or could contrive on the spot, but adjust them to suit a particular audience.

[Faith Augustin]

He was happy with everything they talked about, clear that the systems they had in place were appropriate. Faith was glad because to her mind they were fair and she had a great respect for what was fair and right. He was also happy to pass on knowledge, should one of the trainees wish to learn. Arlo asked a question about stories and Faith frowned slightly, not quite sure what the answer was. Breathing in to answer, she realised she had none and then closed her mouth again.

"I have absolutely no idea," her face broke into a smile as she admitted that. "I mean. Well, stories." Faith looked down at her hands for a moment, a thoughtful expression on her face and she shook her head. "No, I've got nothing." Sitting back, she perched the cup of hot chocolate on her stomach, although she moved it as a kick caused it to slosh in the cup a little. Not the best of ideas. "I suppose, the thing to consider is how this is different from music." They'd had a bard at Cally's before, she explained. Pash had been able to play music throughout the evening but this, now that she thought about it, was different.

"On average," Faith said, putting her cup down and tapping her fingers on the table. "A full tasting menu can take up to three breaks. Most customers have an experience which lasts between two and three breaks. But the issue is that people come in at different times. One thing to consider, then, is the length of each story, in time." What she didn't want, she explained, was people missing part of a story they wanted to hear, or by extension, staying longer than they needed to by any extended period of time. So that meant that he'd need to think about how to time his work. "I suppose one option is that you do one story per so much time. Maybe one a break. Or, well, what were you thinking in terms of how you would structure it?"

Whatever he chose, Faith was quick to assure him, was fine with her. It was all just different ways of working and she was sure that some trial and error would be needed for them to find out the best way. At the end of the trial, though, it was up to him how he did it, he was the expert and she was far from it. As for what sort of stories? "The people that come here do so because it's prestigious, I suppose. The food is good, and the attention to detail is high. We get a lot of people who are quite sure of their own importance," she said with a smile. Not her favorite customers, judging by her expression. The usual people of Scalvoris who came here for a special celebration, it was obvious, were the ones that she was most delighted to see. "Quite a few who are foodies, I suppose. Oh, we get a lot of proposals, too. If people are coming for a specific event, with enough notice could you write a story for them?" If they had a meeting before hand, she meant, discussed it. That might add a lovely touch, if he was willing.

"So, I don't know, is the short answer," she said with a grin. "What do you think?"

[Arlo Creede]

Faith didn't have an answer to his question. But that was alright, Arlo told her, grinned and shrugged a little. He thought he might have one himself. As for timing, well, she was right in that storytelling was different than playing music. Someone could slip in, in the middle of a instrumental piece of music being played, and still enjoy it without knowing what had gone on before. With stories? Not so much. If you'd managed to miss a good half of it, the context was missing and could hardly be gotten back.

"I don't know that I've got it in me to talk two breaks straight anyway," he admitted. At least not in one constant stream of thought. "That's about right," he agreed when she suggested a way that he could break it down. Arlo also agreed that yes, he was willing to tailor stories to particular customers, especially if it was to be arranged in advance. As for the type of clientele, one look around the place and he'd known the type that would frequent the place.

As for his earlier question, Arlo finished up his drink, put the mug down and looked for the best way to explain. "Stories aren't just for entertaining," he said, but guessed she'd already know that. "They can be. But they can be used as a way to inform, to spread information. They can be used in a way that that can help shape the views of people over time though folklore and tradition, common beliefs. A story might be aimed more at the poor, or the wealthy to subtly divide or unite, create sympathy or rancor for the other side." Through subtlety or what seemed like pure entertainment, through artfully woven analogies they could influence politics without it seeming blatant or deliberate.

Consider Scalvoris, he told Faith. As he understood it, there were mixed feelings in regards to the Empire and their presence, past, present and future. Story, folklore, tradition, made up protagonists or antagonists, a lion and a mouse for example might be stand ins for something else completely. Ultimately though for the sake of speaking to what would be his audience at Cally's, the rich and powerful, the wealthy, would appreciate a different type of story, or at least a seemingly different one, than would a common laborer off at one of the city's watering holes. And he'd keep that in mind to make sure, to do his best to make sure they'd go away happy with the experience.

[Faith Augustin]

He didn't have it in him to talk for two breaks straight? More than fair enough as far as Faith was concerned. In honesty, she spoke now more than she ever had and, she supposed, when she gave a lecture she did have to talk quite a lot. But she was generally as content with silence and the thought of telling a story which lasted for two breaks frankly sounded like the kind of impossible task Jamal would have set up to ensure that she failed. Quite what made her think of him at that moment she didn't know, but she dismissed the thought without hesitation. It was a rare trial where Jamal entered her mind, and she had no wish to linger there.

Arlo was happy to tailor stories, Faith was pleased to hear. She thought that might make a rather lovely touch for those who came to propose, or to announce a pregnancy; both of which had happened here although the first was more common. That appealed to the romantic streak the earnest young woman had but that went right out of the window at Arlo's explanation. "Hold on, run that by me again?" Faith said and she listened attentively to his words. Then, with a slight frown, she looked at him for a moment as though she was weighing up what he said and what, in return, she would.

Evidently, she reached a conclusion. "I'm not here to maintain the status quo, Arlo. I have an endgoal." It was simple enough, she said and when she spoke it, she even made it sound like a small thing. "I want to end poverty. First on Scalvoris. Then, throughout Idalos. If all the people who were rich gave half of their money to the poor, I believe poverty would end. But they won't do that." So, she said, she built this place. A social enterprise, she called it, a business which worked for the good of the community. "I want them to think about how ridiculous it is that they are paying all this money for food and there are people who have nowhere to live, nothing to eat. I figured, that starts with them feeling good about themselves for eating here, for doing their part."

Faith's eyes showed how passionately she felt about this. Gesturing around the room she shook her head. "It's all a front. An excuse. This is nothing but the place where the charity gets its money. Because with that money, it can do real good." Eradicating poverty, Faith was convinced, required people who were rich and able to make a difference to see and perceive the poor as people. "Real people. Flesh and blood. Slaves, at the most extreme, the way they are treated dehumanises them. When someone sees a human being, a biqaj, a mortal soul in front of them, that's the first step to thinking that keeping people in that situation is not acceptable." Faith's mind was ticking quickly, and she looked at him with an idea forming.

"Can you tell stories which are about helping others? Those less fortunate, those who have less?" Not making the person who 'had' feel bad about it, far from it, but making them aware that this, all this, was just a drop in the ocean. "About assigning prestige to acts of charity?" She nearly pointed out that he'd have to be subtle, not so blatant as she was being, but then she figured that would be like him reminding her that she should turn the heat up under a pan in order to boil water and so she said no more than that.

[Arlo Creede]

Long stories were for reading, shorter ones were for listening to,"[/b] Arlo had explained, when it came to duration and time spent. At least so far as he was concerned. "If somebody's reading a book and they grow tired or run out of time, they can mark their place and come back to it later. They can backtrack a little to remind themselves, or just fine a good stopping place," he'd added. "But listening's different," he maintained. "Attention can wander off, distractions come along, and if time runs out for the listener, then they just miss the rest of the story." Long story short, he wouldn't be speaking for any two breaks straight.

It wasn't what he'd meant of course, this idea of maintaining the status quo. Arlo guessed that some storytellers might be happy with that, should the status quo be the best, most acceptable or appealing one of the times. But the way he saw it, storytelling had the power to not just entertain, but to inform, to shape opinion or even civilization itself, given enough time. After all, he suggested to Faith, how much of what they knew of the Immortals was based on written and spoken lore? Stories. And who really knew how many were the facts written down or scattered by word of mouth, and how many were myth that had somehow along the way become accepted as truth? Only the Immortals themselves knew, he reckoned.

And everybody, so far as Arlo was concerned, had some sort of end goal. Ending poverty was a very good one. "It's a start," he agreed, when she said she wanted to make people feel good about spending their nels at Cally's, for the additional good that spending might do. It was a better way, he guessed, than trying to make them feel badly about what they didn't or wouldn't do. So could he contrive and tell the sort of stories she was talking about? In a subtle way that would appeal to the sort of people who were her usual customers? "I can do that, yes," he confirmed.

[Qit'ria]

Your Thread Review is Here!

Faith

Pre Review Checklist

Requirement	✓ or X	Comment
Approved Character	✓	--
Updated Thread List for Previous Season	✓✓	--
Updated Skill Point Ledger (Raw, Adjusted, Thread Earned)	✓✓✓	--
Updated Purse (Seasonal Expense, Wage, Thread deductions)	✓✓✓	--
Updated Fame Ledger & Table for threads	✓✓	--
Thread Being Reviewed Linked In CS	✓	--

Review

Requirement	Fulfillment	Comment+
Solo or Collab	Collab	+8 Skill Knowledges
How many posts?	4	+1 Skill Knowledge
How many requested?	8	--
Are all posts greater than 250 words?	✓	407, 580, 565, 608
Is the thread greater than 1500 words?	✓	2160
Knowledges appropriate?	✓	--
Loot appropriate?	N/A	--
Fame appropriate?	N/A	--
Injuries appropriate?	N/A	--

Ooo a bit of fire in this round with Faith. Such a caring person, appealing to the rich, to feed the poor, while hoping the rich will reconsider their ways. Interesting. Most interesting.


Below is your well deserved loot. If you have any questions, please PM me. Also please add the provided stamp to your review request found here and please update your CS with all of this information.

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      [center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=12064[/img][/center]

Loot

Reward	Amount	Comment
Skill Points	+15	--
Magic Points available?	N/A	--
Fame	N/A	--
Injuries	N/A	--

Knowledges
Skill Knowledge:

1. Business Management: Laying out contractual terms
2. Business Management: How to ensure fairness in tipping
3. Business Management: Being flexible
4. Business Management: Timing
5. Leadership: Clear boundaries when it comes to money
6. Leadership: Stating where expectations lie, and exceptions to those
7. Leadership: Focusing on the trainees in a social enterprise
8. Leadership: Seeing everything as an opportunity to better the lives of those less fortunate.

Non-Skill Knowledge:

Arlo

Pre Review Checklist

Requirement	✓ or X	Comment
Approved Character	✓	--
Updated Thread List for Previous Season	✓	--
Updated Skill Point Ledger (Raw, Adjusted, Thread Earned)	✓✓✓	--
Updated Purse (Seasonal Expense, Wage, Thread deductions)	✓✓✓	--
Updated Fame Ledger & Table for threads	✓✓	--
Thread Being Reviewed Linked In CS	✓	--

Review

Requirement	Fulfillment	Comment+
Solo or Collab	Collab	+8 Skill Knowledges
How many posts?	4	+1 Skill Knowledge
How many requested?	9	--
Are all posts greater than 250 words?	✓	409, 436, 420, 352
Is the thread greater than 1500 words?	✓	1617
Knowledges appropriate?	✓	--
Loot appropriate?	✓	--
Fame appropriate?	✓	--
Injuries appropriate?	N/A	--

It seems that while Arlo might have a way with words in story form, his explaining of his desire for a job as well as why its important seems to need improvement. Always fun to see characters find the middle ground between pure success and pure failure. Well done.

Below is your well deserved loot. If you have any questions, please PM me. Also please add the provided stamp to your review request found here and please update your CS with all of this information.

Code: Select all

      [center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=12064[/img][/center]

Loot

Reward	Amount	Comment
Skill Points	+15	--
Magic Points available?	N/A	--
Fame	+10	Work in a PC run Business
Injuries	N/A	--
Employment	Cally's Storyteller	Please ensure that your Prophet Notes are updated accordingly if not already done so

Knowledges
Skill Knowledge:

1. Rhetoric: Genre
2. Rhetoric: Symbolism
3. Storytelling: The difference between spoken and written stories
4. Storytelling: The art of analogy
5. Storytelling: Using a story as a moral point
6. Storytelling: Using a story as a political point
7. Storytelling: Not maintaining the status quo.
8. Storytelling: Types of story
9. Storytelling: Be aware of your audience

Non-Skill Knowledge: