Single post in Ivy Chateau: Prelude

With a quick wave, Ketzal returns a casual greeting from a passersby. He'd been leaning on the front door of this mock-castle, waiting for the sign to enter, for some time now. In the back of his mind he'd been counting how many people had passed by and what amount had taken note of the renovations. Heads turned on the regular, which he would take as a good omen. Nimbasa was a city of steel and lights, what with the grand Pokemon Musical and the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel, so finding a mock castle just outside the city limits had a thematic whiplash to it. But what better place for a new hotel than outside the most heavily-populated city in Unova? His self-satisfied reflections would be interrupted by a small knock from the other side of the door. A flurry of hushed squeaks followed, then quieted immediately. Biting down an entertained smile he stood upright, dusting off his shorts and stretching his neck. Readied, he pulled the ornate door open. Soft piano music twinkled through the opening as he moved into the gloomy reception area, blinking to try to dispel the afternoon sun from his eyes. The Cinccino at the desk gave an excited cry, hopping across the counter to stand and address him. By the time his eyes adjusted she had already directed one of her compatriots to her side, holding up a platter of cucumber slices and baby carrots. The second in the room hummed crooning notes alongside the keys of the piano, standing on the rightmost side of the bench to play the deeper notes on the oversized instrument. With a moment to take in the scenery, Ketzal tried to imagine what could turn guests away. The dining area in the back looked spotless with the polished metal tables, though the folding chairs left something to be desired. The TVs mounted on the walls were powered off, which was something he'd probably have to handle himself later. The walkways were clear, but again the dim lighting of the room could cause an issue. Directing his search down to the Cinccino, he replies "Your mood lighting's too low." Her smile falls some, a contemplative look on her face. After a rapid conversation with the assistant at her side, she shrugs, then responds with a quick assortment of gestures. [Low lighting is better for Pokemon. We have better sight usually. Do we need to raise it?] Her (relative) mastery of League Sign Language had been her best link to Ketzal, allowing them to communicate in both directions. Were it more commonly known, she'd not need him at all anymore, but most Trainers didn't need to learn it, and as such, wouldn't. "No, actually. If that's true, keep it. We can find some glow-in-the-dark strips for the paths or something, but I can tell the Trainers who come by that's why and I think it'll look better for us." Ketzal responded, watching her proud smile return. "The whole point is to focus on Pokemon care anyway. If it means less Trainers wandering around here, good." [Anything else?] She signed immediately after, waiting to celebrate her perfect success. The Minccino by her side lowered the platter, asking her if it was still needed, and with a quick wave of dismissal they take their leave, going to join the third on the piano bench. The song drew to a rushed close as the singer and waiter both start to dine on the snacks. Ketzal judged his options in silence. There was plenty that could be improved, but any improvements were coming out of the budget that they'd barely stayed within as it was. Maybe once the customers came in. Nothing here should chase them out, at least. "No, I think we're good. They shouldn't realize your workers are wild, they seem pretty well-behaved. The snacks are a cute touch, but I don't think most Trainers will bend over for them, so we can probably just have them on the desk." With a nod, Ketzal referred her to the reception desk by their side. "Unless you want a mouse holding food in front of what will almost certainly be predatory Pokemon. The Musical crowd should be omnivorous, but competitive battlers tend to hunt." The Cinccino takes a thoughtful stance. With a low squeak she shakes off her thoughts, waving to get Ketzal's attention back on her paws. [Your turn!] She signs with a grin, waving him forward into the hotel. "My turn?" He asks, stepping into the central pathway. To the left were the few amenities they'd managed to set up in the short timespan, the right a dozen or so rooms. They'd not yet managed to get the second floor ready with their meager staff, so the rooms upstairs weren't quite furnished. Maybe the back door? Past the dining area was a set of (new) glass doors leading through the stone walls into the terraformed fields - a flooded field for the water-inclined, a nice open pasture for the herbivores, and a small hill with more old ruins on it. The first two had taken hiring Ground and Grass-types to sculpt the land, but the last had come with the property. Something he'd meant to look into when they had time, but opening a hotel had brought a host of problems even he hadn't predicted. The Cinccino squeaked sharply again, snapping his attention back down to her. [Give me a tour.] She ordered sweetly, giggling into her scarf with the surprise inspection. "A tour of what, exactly? The kitchen? Most of these places our guests aren't supposed to enter." He shook his head. "We don't have much to show even then." Her eagerness wouldn't be so easily quelled, however. [Say a Trainer wants to see the hotel. Show me around. Why should my Pokemon be left here?] With a wink, she lead him forward into the dining area, waving an arm at the tables. Following a series of quick chirps the waiter returned to her side, crunching away at a carrot. She directed him into a chair, then clambered into one herself. [I can't talk to them, so tell them what I would!] Her hopeful eyes watched Ketzal, practically vibrating with excitement. "Hmm. Well. Dining room here, chairs being light and foldable so larger Pokemon who prefer not to - or just can't sit in a chair have little difficulty moving them. We've got a waterflow dispenser-" He gestured to the recirculating free-fall waterfall, sinking into a bowl at the bottom and flanked by a stack of paper cups. "-and on request a number of different Berry infusions for Pokemon with more refined tastes. The dining area is manned through our full service hours six-to-ten, and the workers will provide options for food relative to the dietary restrictions you've put on your file. Room service is available too." He added as an afterthought, glancing down at the seated pair to get his review. The Cinccino gave a few follow-up chirps to the waiter before acknowledging the assessment with a paws-up. "We might want to look into a nutritionist in the future. If we get a lot of attention from the League challengers, they'll be particular about calories and such." [And a chef.] She admitted with a grimace. [I'm not good at cooking meat for obvious reasons and they aren't comfortable handling it. Chef first.] Ketzal nodded, tapping the notes into his phone while she lowered herself back to the ground. She waited patiently for his tapping to cease, then added [Not bad! How about the rooms?] The two walked together through the hall, set wider to allow for larger Pokemon. The doors weren't as easy to deal with, and only a few of the rooms on the end had larger entrances. "Alright. Personal - Pokemon bedrooms?" He checked quickly, getting a shrug in return. "Personal bedrooms sounds better. Personal bedrooms are unlocked with a key card on a lanyard, which I... don't have on me, but will if this actually happens." Ketzal deflated slightly, recognizing that this was where the tour would be stopping. The Cinccino wasn't going to be stopped though. With a lilting squeak she grabbed his hand and pulled him over a few rooms. From her scarf she drew one of the lanyards, pressing the card to the reader and, with a click, the door into the room. He looked down at her with a smirk, which she returned with an exaggerated bow. "Fine, fine. Personal bedrooms, they have..." Ketzal took a few steps in. The rooms were spacious, expecting a variety of sizes and shapes of Pokemon. Approaching the knee-high mattress he continued "King-sized mattresses of course. Should your Pokemon have other needs, such as with quadrupeds who tend to prefer to be closer to the ground-" He reached down and drew out the underside of the bed, rolling a similarly-sized platform with a downy comforter off the railings and onto the ground. "There's that. Also, heated blankets on request, and cooling blankets, and each room has its own temperature control we can set to your specifications." Ketzal listed, counting the three points off on his fingers. Gesturing to the opposite wall, he added "We don't put televisions in the rooms because it's generally accepted that that's detrimental to healthy rest. If your Pokemon has difficulty sleeping without white noise or your voice, you're welcome to send us recordings and we can set up a portable player in the room for their comfort." Again, he looked back at the Cinccino for his review. [When we went to the hotel, they had bathrooms. Should we talk about that?] She wondered aloud, looking curiously at the open space in the room. "If they ask I'll tell them about the bathhouse and grooming stuff, but I don't think there's going to be questions there." Ketzal said with finality. He wasn't much of a Trainer, having only one Pokemon to his name, but he'd spent more than enough time caring for them previously. She gave a curt nod. [Then that works! How about...] Her paws stopped, head tilted in thought as she tried to decide what other features would paint them in a good light. The hotel wasn't much yet, but it was still already a miracle. There had to be more they could show off. "We've got the exercise equipment in the gym, but without an actual trainer - Pokemon or human - it's pretty much just a bunch of dumbbells. The bathhouse is just hot showers and the sauna... which is great, but I don't think we can walk Trainers through the bathhouse when we're in business." [Probably not. Surprising a bathing Pokemon wouldn't go over well.] She signed, sighing as she started to count the rooms off on her paws. "The pasture's pretty straightforward, so is the swamp. The ruins probably shouldn't be a draw or we're going to end up with some starry-eyed archeologist shutting us down while they excavate." [You think so?] Her expression had turned to one of worry. After a pause, she continues with a quickly-signed [Do we need to put off opening and have them do that first?] "I wouldn't suggest it. We've got public curiosity now, if we put off for a few months we'll just be another background building. The whole point of opening now was to catch the next wave of Pokemon Musical contestants, so if we wait we'll just be worse off." Ketzal mumbled to himself, though there was no way the Cinccino wouldn't hear him. With a shrug he shook his head. "We'll manage. They're probably just some old rocks a Ground-type was playing with." [Let's hope so.] She replied, brushing her paws through her scarf as though she'd touched something unpleasant. [Are we ready if we only have this?] Ketzal raised an eyebrow. "This?" She gestured to the room around them, looking discouraged. "Oh, for a guest draw? Well... I don't know. We're not in a bad position. We have the basic amenities. We're feeding, grooming, and housing the guest Pokemon, which is actually more than you have to do to legally run a Pokemon hotel. And since most hotels don't allow Fire-types or Pokemon over four hundred pounds, we have a specialty market." She nodded her agreement, considering the facts. "But I don't think looking at amenities is the key for your success here." [What do you mean?] She signed back without missing a beat. She looked up at him suspisciously, waiting for some clever joke at her expense. And he was considering it, but not right now. They were opening tomorrow, and she needed to be in high spirits. "Well, this whole hotel thing? Is it running the way you want it to?" [I guess?] She replied warily. "Then stick with it. We can make improvements on the way. But this whole concept runs on your dream, not my budget. We can pour funding into any project in the region. It's up to you to make it work. So if we're putting the budget on your dream, here, make it your dream. That's what's unique about this place." [Really?] She ventured, the movements slow. "Yeah. You managed to convince the mice out there this was a good idea-" [Better than living in the wild. Not a hard sale.] She interrupted with skeptical look. "A sale's a sale!" He remarked with a smile, stepping out into the hall. She followed behind him, but with his attention towards the doors she couldn't do anything but squeak under her breath. "This business isn't going to be about how much Pokemon like the backyard, or the pool, or the food. The Pokemon coming here have been places neither of us have even heard of. What you can do for them is give them somewhere that feels like a home, not a rest stop between Pokeball trips. You know what I mean?" He glanced back, finding her apparently lost in thought. After a moment she catches herself, giving a ginger nod. "You're doing this because you like caring for other Pokemon. So do that. Worst case scenario... the loans aren't in your name." Ketzal concludes with a single nervous laugh. "Really though." He reached the front desk, sitting on it to look back down on her. They looked at each other in silence. Ketzal, expectantly: the Cinccino, doubtfully. [I'm going to need your help.] She signed, slowly and deliberately. Ketzal's smile faded, his eyes moving off to the front door. "I know. I'll be here when I can. In fact, if we can get a telepath or something to help with translation, that'd probably be a good idea..." He trailed off, tapping away at his phone again. Still the Cinccino held the eye contact, waiting for him to put it back away. He realized, and with a sigh, added "Really, I'll try. But we only have a budget because I do other things. So you'll have to work with me on that." She took that as something approaching a satisfactory answer, giving a low squeak. Her energetic demeanor suddenly returned. [I want to hear you say it!] She signed rapidly, her tail sweeping across the floor. "I'll... try to be here often?" [No, say the greeting! The welcome!] "Welcome to the Vines Hotel!" Ketzal announced with a laugh, drawing a glare from the Cinccino. He waved off her rapid reclarification. The words wouldn't translate right in LSL, and she had to spell the name in full. "Alright, alright, calm down." In the moment he took to dramatically clear his throat and straighten his posture, the Cinccino reached up and snatched his phone off the desk, tapping at it randomly to try to open the camera. "Frappe, what're y- nope, that's my work stuff. Hand it here." With a disappointed roll of her eyes she hands it back, only to recieve it with the camera set to take a video. "Alright, point it up at me. Might use this in the help wanted ads later." She grinned, taking the phone and balancing it precariously on one paw. Deliberately, she held up her paw, ticking down one pad at a time. "Oh, together? Alright." Frappe chirps excitedly, waving the pianist and the waiter over. She cried louder, with the other two joining in, until the room caretaker managed to find their way into the room. A quick high-pitched conversation ensued, and after a moment they were all crowded around her. "The gang's all here, oh boy." Ketzal laughed, preparing for the ear-splitting cry that was sure to follow. <Three!> Frappe announced, looking at the group of mice around her. They had been strangers, completely, but since the purchase of this land they'd been the most reliable Pokemon she knew. They weren't quite as social as she was, but she could count on them to do their best, and all they wanted was food and safety, something she was happy to provide. <Two!> She continued, looking up at her best friend sitting on the desk. The one who'd taken her in (even if by accident) after the farm had shut down, the same Trainer who'd never put her in a Pokeball and had put his future on the line to help her reach her dream. They'd be there for humans and Pokemon, providing a place of safety and comfort in a world of fear and danger. Even if he had to leave, he'd be back. They'd do this together. <One!> Her cry wavered, brushing a tear from her eye. One more day. Tomorrow, they opened to the public. For better or for worse, another first step towards the rest of her life... but tomorrow years of dreams and wishes would come to fruition. The guests would arrive.