Dragons, Tech, and a Pub

MOTE Prompt Response

Xander straightened up from where he was bent over the box of wine. “Well, that’s those cases inventoried. Only twenty more left to catalog. Ugh.” He rubbed a hand across the small of his back and reached for the water bottle he’d left on the bar.

“Why, in the name of all that’s draconic, are you selling wine in a pub?” Quill grumbled from his portrait. Xander had learned the dragon had strong opinions regarding how a pub should be run and what should be on the drink and food menus. Luckily for Xander, the dragon had no decision-making power.

“I’ve told you a thousand times before. Tastes have changed, even in the short time since my folks ran this pub. Do you want it full of people, or do you want to be left watching an empty space every night? I’m not turning it into a fancy gastro pub, but I do want to make sure all my customers are happy,” Xander said. He tossed the empty water bottle into the recycling bin and turned to glance up at the portrait hanging behind the bar. “Look, I’m telling you, you’ll see what I’m talking about once we open… in two weeks. Agh! I have so much work to do before then!”

Xander grabbed another case of wine off the stack at the end of the bar and entered it into his inventory program. At least he didn’t have to write these all down by hand! He chuckled to himself. Technology was something else Quill had initially objected to, arguing that Xander’s parents hadn’t needed a fancy computer system to run the pub. That time, Xander had won the argument by simply demonstrating how much easier it was to plan, order, and inventory stock. The head chef he’d just hired had chimed in as well with a demonstration of the ease with which he was able to keep the kitchen stocked and running smoothly. Hiring Carlos had been the best decision Xander had made so far. The young chef had arrived with a ton of ideas, and more importantly, had discovered the existence of Quill on his own, and accepted the dragon as simply another quirk of the pub. Things were going so well as they moved toward the grand re-opening of the Dragon’s Tale pub, that Xander was now waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Because it would. And probably at the worst possible moment.

Oh, well. Nothing he could do about that now. Back to the inventory.

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I forgot to send in a prompt last week, so for this week’s challenge, I borrowed the prompt given to Fiona Grey from Leigh Kimmel: Twenty more left to catalog. This is just a short background snippet from The Dragon’s Tale Pub. A lot of these are so that I have a better idea about the characters and their interactions. And now I know who the chef is going to be. See? It all works out. Head on over to More Odds Than Ends and see what everybody else came up with this week. I’m going to go make sure I send in a prompt for next week!