[Fin] The customer is always right!

[TawnyAngel]

The sign of Meat Palace™ was in theory a stylised palace. Taavi thought it looked more like a castle. It was the sort of castle where people got imprisoned in high towers, people like himself and his fellow employees. Inside the Meat Palace gave off the feeling of a Good Old BBQ Joint. The tables of various sizes were rustic, the chairs and benches were padded and comfortable but east to wipe down. There were a couple of bar-like sections with high stools too where single guests were usually placed. At the back was the kitchen which was partially visible to the customers with the big BBQ pit sitting proudly centre stage.

Today was Taavi's fourth shift at Meat Palace™ and he already wanted to run for the hills. It was fast paced, hot, noisy, his feet ached, he was never sure when a friendly customer was going to become a Valued Guest (i.e. start screaming at him, and require placating with grovelling or free things), and that was without mentioning the measly below minimum wage pay, and the people who didn't tip properly. That family of six had left him their change of fifty cents! This table, due to the tip out system - had actually just cost him money.

Taavi - or 'Mark' as claimed by his badge - shoved the coin into the pocket of his red apron and hurried to wipe down the sauce-splattered table. At least it was nearly the end of the dinner rush now and the end of his shift too, he could sit down and take advantage of one of the perks of his job which was a weekly free meal from the value menu. On the other hand he could see if any orders had been sent back from a section other than his when he was done and acquire that; to cut good waste Meat Palace™ was trialling a scheme where workers could buy retuned meals for 50% their value.... But right now he was working, hurrying to the kitchen with the tray from his last table. Take to the washers, then head to the screen to check if anyone new had been seated in his section, then check the tables he already had. Most of them were nearly finished now so as long as he didn't get a rush - and his replacement was on time - he'd be done soon. Thank Arceus.  

[Gwennythe]

"Meat Palace, Meat Palace, Meat Palace..." Came a sing-song voice, preceding its owner by a bit of a distance. Said owner would come into view through the door just a moment after the singing trailed off.

Well, actually Gummy would probably be the first one into view, perched precariously on her shoulders, slowly swinging his tail from side to side.
"Yay! We're gonna get you a real big steak, Gummy! Man, you really need to calm down though! You're gonna disturb everyone!" Came the, still, rather loud voice, addressing the silent water type.

Two Eevee's yipped and chased eachother around her legs, one semi-normal but for some odd markings, and one rather blue.
They only halted from running headlong around the restaurant when they noticed that Henrietta had stopped, and wandered back to sit at her side.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hi there, welcome to Meat Palace!" chirped the greeter with every sign of cheerfulness. "If you four would like to follow me I'll take you to a Pokemon booth. Please be sure to keep your little friends with you! Oh and I must say that your Totodile is just super lovely." Smiling and with a spring in her step that made her mint green ponytail swing the greeter led the way over to a little booth. "All of our menus are in the holder there," she indicated, "And would you like me to have some some booster seats fetched over for you so your pokemon can reach the table?" she asked, tapping a quick instruction onto the mini tablet she'd been wearing in a pouch at her belt.

Having dropped off the tray in the part of the kitchen that was out of sight of the Customers Taavi checked the display board that showed the Meat Palace's seating arrangement. Somebody had indeed been put in his section but they were still with the greeter and so he held back for the time being, stealing a fry off a plate that was coming back as Nia passed by with it.  

[Gwennythe]

"Hi!" Greeted Henrietta with cheerfulness to rival the greeter's, skipping after her as she made to lead them to a booth.
Gummy eyed the motion of the ponytail with interest, opening and closing his mouth, and even giving a snap at it when Hen' passed close enough, on her way to sit in the booth.

"Yeah! That'd be awesome, thanks! They're not very tall! I have three more with me too but I dunno if you'd let me let my Snowlax out? He's kinda super big!" She showed off the three more balls on her belt "And this guy's a butterfree!" She pointed at one of the balls. "So he's not gonna eat with us today, but this guy will!" Her last ball contained... "He's a Carbink! He doesn't need a seat though cuz I'll totally let him on the table! Just these three need a seat! I don't need a booster seat, I'm tall enough!" Stated the eighteen year old girl.

Gummy eyed the spot just to the right of the server's head with what was either intense interest or a very blank stare.  

[TawnyAngel]

To her credit the server only flinched a little bit when Gummy snapped just shy of her hair and she kept on smiling in a friendly fashion. "Oh, ah, I'm afraid we don't allow large sized pokemon," she said apologetically with a shake of her head. "If it can't fit in a seat, don't let it out to eat! Haha! I'll have three booster seats sent over for you then aannd," she consulted her pad, "Mark will be over in just a minute to take your drink orders." The woman's green eyes flicked briefly to Gummy but quickly transferred back to Hen. "I hope you have a great meal!" With that and a flick of her ponytail she headed off again, tapping another instruction onto her tablet.

The table icon flashed and Taavi sighed, okay time to go then; it was just a table of one plus three smalls, shouldn't be too difficult.

About a minute after the green haired server had left Taavi appeared by the booth with a bright smile. "Hello, welcome to Meat Palace! I'm, ah, Mark I'll be serving y- Henrietta?" Taavi stopped mid spiel and stared. He then abruptly felt remarkably awkward. "Oh um.... Hi! I didn't expect to run into you here!"  

[Gwennythe]

Gummy continued to stare just past the server until she left, a steady drip-drip of water exiting his mouth, almost like drool, after a few seconds.
When she left, however, Gummy, who had been placed on the table, turned his head, where he found some napkins.
Without a second thought, he'd eaten one, and had a second to chew on by the time Taavi came over.

"Aw man! That's alright though, I won't let him out!" She did let Moldy, her Carbink, out though. The rock fairy just watched Gummy suspiciously.
On the other side of the table, awaiting their booster seats, Horizon and Fluffster decided to have a wrestling match.

"Hi Mark!" Henrietta greeted brightly, grinning at Taavi. "I think I like your previous name better but it's totally cool that you're here! We came to eat!"  

[TawnyAngel]

Ah. Awkward! But, nice? It was good to see a friendly face. Taavi smiled properly at a customer for the first time that day. "Ha, um, it's my middle name. Call it a stage name I guess? It's just easier for people to pronounce. Um, so can I get you guys some drinks? Your booster seats should be here in a minutes."

...And Gummy was eating a paper napkin. "Um.... Paper is all that good for a Totodile's digestion," Taavi added. "I can grab you some snacks to keep him busy if you like? We've got a range of flavours of meat snacks, or we've got jerkies, or Palace Popcorn... which is mixed meats in batter in a kind of popcorn shape. It's tasty!"  

[Gwennythe]

"Taavi is hard to pronounce?" Henrietta looked perplexed, then shrugged. It was news to her, but if he said so, she'd believe it. "Oh! Oh, man! You got a stage name! Like a superstar! Or a superhero! Or a secret agent! That's awesome! I should get a stage name! What do you think it should be?!"

She glanced toward Gummy, and reached out to take the napkin from the water type.
"Gummy! No, man! You clean up after you eat!" She giggled, and patted the reptile on the head after she'd taken it.
"Oh, those sound awesome!" She was accompanied by a chorus of happy-sounding yips from the Eevees. "We'd totally love those!"

Moldy watched Taavi now, curiously.  

[TawnyAngel]

He didn't think it was hard to pronounce but seeing it written down might be weird for people who weren't used to it he guessed. He certainly didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. Happily Hen quickly gave him a happier topic to think about; Taavi grinned. "Well you could be.... The Purple Avenger? But it's a bit long. Amethyst? Right though, an order of Palace Popcorn to start and, um, drinks? We've got juices, or bottomless sodas, or milkshakes?" Also beers and things but he didn't think that Hen was twenty-one. "Oh!" Taavi indicated Moldy. "And who's this? Hi there!"  

[Gwennythe]

"Ooooh! Amethyst sounds so cool! That's awesome! That's my stage name!" She grinned, happily agreeing, before looking very, very confused.
"Won't all the soda run out of a bottomless cup?!" She beamed, then, and reached to tilt Moldy upright.
"This is Moldy! He's a Carbink! I won him in a vending machine!"  

[TawnyAngel]

In a vending machine.

Taavi's smile went glassy as he suppressed a wave of horror and disgust. "Oh.... Wow. Well. I'm glad you did. I'm glad he's come to a good friend like you." Ugh. The practice wasn't Hen's fault and he was glad she'd got one of those poor pokemon but ugh! He couldn't understand how it was legal.

"Bu- um, but bottomless isn't literal," he managed to continue after a moment. "It just means you can get as many refills as you like."  

[Gwennythe]

"Yeah! He's an awesome little friend! It was totally amazing, I just bought a soda and 'bam!' there he was in the drawer with it as a prize! I tried again a couple of times but I didn't win another one yet!"

Her eyes, and so did Fluffster's, practically lit up at the idea of unlimited refills.
"Ooooh! We totally gotta get that! That's awesome! I bet I could drink the whole store!"

Moldy continued to stare at Taavi; unlike Gummy, his stare was focused.  

[TawnyAngel]

Wait, what? Taavi blinked. "Um.... Are you sure he was a prize?" He'd been thinking one of those machines where you put in money and a little capsule with a toy or something came out, not a soda machine. But speaking of soda; "Right though, hang on and I'll be right back with the popcorn and a soda glass for you. The machines are up there," he gestured, "and ah, drinks for your pokemon? I can bring you dishes for the soda fountains if they want the same or there's water, or milk - lactose free - or we also do warm beef or poultry broths for pokemon to drink.... Or humans come to that" At the Meat Palace you could even drink your meat! He'd had a slightly odd guy the other day who had declared 'Bovril!' with unnatural excitement. He'd thought English people were meant to drink tea but he wasn't going to judge.  

[Gwennythe]

"Yeah! Totally! I bought my drink and there he was in the drawer!" She grinned happily oblivious to the fact that she'd probably almost dropped a soda can, or two, on his head while he'd already been in the drawer.
"People drink meat?! Man that's so weird! I want soda though! And Fluffster would like soda! And Gummy gets so excited so he shouldn't have an caffeine cuz he'll just be racing all around the place if he does! He would like milk! What do you want, Moldy? Horizon?"

Horizon put her paw out and placed it on Gummy; she wanted water.

Moldy spun to look at Henrietta, and smiled.
"Moldy wants milk too!" Apparently she'd understood that look...

Gummy started to stare at a point right above Taavi's head.  

[TawnyAngel]

...Right. Maybe it was better not to ask questions, certainly not when he was on the clock and on his first week! "Okay! So that's a soda glass, three bowls for soda or water, and a bowl of milk. Coming right up!" With a last smile for Hen and the pokemon - Gummy's gaze still kind of unsettled him - Taavi vanished to fulfil the order.

While Taavi was gone three booster seats arrived and a couple of minutes after that he returned with a tray bearing an empty glass, an empty bowl, two bowls filled with water, a bowl filled with milk, and a basket with checked greaseproof paper lining it that was filled with bite-sized fried round things which was presumably the Palace Popcorn. "Here we are!" Taavi said as he set out the items from the tray. "I thought carrying all the bowls up would be a bit hard for you so I've filled the water ones. If you need refills the water machine is by the sodas, and it does ice too if you want that. Um, do you know what you'd like for a main course or shall I come back? Oh! And can I get you any sauces for the popcorn?" Gah! He was getting things all out of order but at least he didn't think Hen would care about that. Still, he needed to work on it.