Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Like a nightmare come true."

Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me
  • Create Account
  • IJ Login
  • OpenID Login
Search by : 
  • View
    • Create Account
    • IJ Login
    • OpenID Login
  • Journal
    • Post
    • Edit Entries
    • Customize Journal
    • Comment Settings
    • Recent Comments
    • Manage Tags
  • Account
    • Manage Account
    • Viewing Options
    • Manage Profile
    • Manage Notifications
    • Manage Pictures
    • Manage Schools
    • Account Status
  • Friends
    • Edit Friends
    • Edit Custom Groups
    • Friends Filter
    • Nudge Friends
    • Invite
    • Create RSS Feed
  • Asylums
    • Post
    • Asylum Invitations
    • Manage Asylums
    • Create Asylum
  • Site
    • Support
    • Upgrade Account
    • FAQs
    • Search By Location
    • Search By Interest
    • Search Randomly

Alex lives for the present ([info]pastperfection) wrote in [info]neeps,
@ 2018-03-02 20:12:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:! ic/ooc, # montrose, ada olivier, alasdair maddock, alex winters, dani miracle, elektra yaxley, jason king, kenna mcleod, lennox campbell, mg mcgonagall, michael corner, roger davies

IC/OOC - Who's Ready to Meet Montrose's New PR Guy?




internalmemo
Montrose Magpies Team PR Office
2 March 2000

TO: Montrose Staff and Players

FROM: Montrose Magpies Team Office

SUBJECT: Getting to Know You!
Hello, Magpies!

No doubt, you have seen a new face around the offices, so I thought I'd send out a memo to briefly introduce myself. My name is Alex Winters, and I'll be taking over the Public Relations position from Aureliana effective immediately. She's agreed to stay on for a brief time as we transition her work to me, and I'm very excited to get started here! I'm sure all of you have appreciated the hard work she put in during the interim.

A little about me: I was born in Scotland, but moved to America when I was really little, and grew up in Seattle, WA. I went to Ilvermorny- Go, Horned Serpents!- and then interned for a marketing firm in Manhattan before being hired on full time. This was my primary background- international corporate accounts- for nearly ten years, when I felt it was time for a change.

But I'm not here to bore you with the details! I'd really like to get to know everyone here, but I know that everyone is busy with three upcoming matches this month, so I'm asking if you could please find the time to either schedule a time or just stop by my office for a brief 5-10 minute chat so I can get to know the team a little better.

If you find you don't have time, or small talk just really isn't your thing, I've attached a brief form that includes some talking points you can also use if you wish. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you, and can't wait to see the Unbeatable Magpies in action again!
MADE BY TESSISAMESS···································





(Please feel free to use this post as an IC/OOC, or we can treat it like a journal if your staff member/team player prefers the written medium.)

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-05 04:16 am UTC (link)
Alex can absolutely do stretching his legs and getting some air, so he'll wander out to the bleachers to find and properly introduce himself to the Magpie's Medic. He drops into the spot next to her-at a respectful distance- and stretches out his neck with a sigh before offering his hand. "Hi there, it's Florrie, right? I'm Alex. Alex Winters. It's nice to finally get out of my office and meet you."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-05 04:29 am UTC (link)
Florrie gives him a friendly clasp. "I'm Florinda for all press releases but if you call me that any other time I'll wonder why I'm in trouble. Glad to meet you. Every time I stuck my head in yesterday your door was closed, so I reckoned I'd get hold of you sometime today.

"I don't know what Merc--MG--and Shona told you, but I'm Merc's sister and Shona's cousin, and this is my first year with Montrose as a medic. Before that I was Deputy Head of the Mediwizardry programme at St Mungo's and I retired from that job after the war to have fun when they hired on my brother as coach. Oh, and I figured out early on that my general comment about player health is 'no comment', so I give you blanket permission to say that from me when someone's been injured."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-05 02:56 pm UTC (link)
A smirk slips slowly across Alex's face, but he tempers it into something a bit more friendly. "Sounds like you've got your elevator pitch down pat," he says with a touch of teasing. "One could even guess that you've done this a time or three."

He watches the players for a few indulgent seconds before recalling her initial remarks. "Sorry about yesterday. I was going through the team's press history over the last few years, just to get a good grasp on things. Your family has a great team, and I'd love to be able to contribute something positive to its legacy if I can."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-06 05:06 am UTC (link)
"Third this year!" Florrie chirps, but her eyes are sparkling. "I hope you'll stay on. I like Aureliana all right but I'm not sorry we'll have a professional who knows what he's doing in the office. I'm supposed to be the newcomer on senior staff.

"And it's all right--I'm just a little frazzled with all the injuries we've had. This is an older team and I've known most of them for years off and on. So if I was, or am, short, it's not about you. It's about Doc, mostly, who in addition to being one of our chasers is also married to my cousin. I know he's getting good care and will be back in the broom saddle soon enough, but we've also had one injury that might be a career-ender this season. If things had gone a little differently--" she shuddered to think of it.

"And that's all the sort of thing we talk about in house, that lies behind no comment occasionally instead of 'he skinned his knee and it bled a lot'. So what did you do before you got into quidditch?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-08 02:43 pm UTC (link)
Alex diplomatically says nothing about Aureliana's past performance, namely because he was still familiarizing himself with recent events. "Well, it's still early days, but I already have a good feeling. I trust my instincts, and right now they're telling me that this will be a nice fit."

He nods along as Florrie offers her reasoning, all of which are understandable. It doesn't take much to convince him that she may well be the heart of this team, with her effortless charm and deep, obvious sense of care. Alex finds himself smiling at the witch; it's a damn shame that she doesn't seem to want to do much with the press (what reasonable person does?), because she could probably do wonders. "Yeah, I get that for the moist part, even outside of the whole medical confidentiality thing. No one wants to see their teammates hurt-" he suddenly recalled the ongoing Falcons drama- "not normally, at least. I know how tempers can flare sometimes."

He turns his smile back to the pitch and gives an unaffected shrug. "International corporate marketing out of New York, mostly. Some pro bono charity PR and marketing work here and there." His expression hardens a fraction. "Humanizing the corporate machine can be a tall order, but someone has to do it, right?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-08 08:45 pm UTC (link)
"I reckon you must have much bigger companies in America than we do here. Most of ours are family owned, one way or another, so there's always a human face at the front of it. Not that some of them couldn't have used humanising here and there." She flashes a grin at Alex. "I seem to recall you were working with CLAMS and Micah's sister Maddie on something or other they were doing recently, which I think means you'll know half of quidditch through that. It's one of Portree's big charities.

"Montrose does most of its work with the clinic in town." Florrie gestures in the general direction of Montrose-the-town. "There's a big fair in the fall, which Aureliana has traditionally run for the Macmillans and Montrose, and other tie-ins. The clinic serves free health care for children, and was rebuilt after the war. The Death Eaters burned part of it down. I don't anticipate big changes but there might be some shakeups because of the new Scottish Office. I don't know what they plan for health care overall, but I expect it'll be centred on Hogsmeade rather than Montrose."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-10 02:28 pm UTC (link)
A tiny smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, but he has to shake his head. "'Fraid most of my recent work with CLAMS was just with Maddie, so I haven't had the, er, pleasure of meeting her team yet. The Magpies are my first crash course into the BIL, and everyone has been great so far, really welcoming. I know it's early days yet, but I'm glad Aureliana reached out to me."

Alex nods thoughtfully at Florrie as she mentions Montrose's pet charity/project, warming to the idea and its possibilities. Of course, he has no desire to step on his predecessor's toes there, but he makes a mental note to reach out to her about the next event. He feels like he should comment on the Death Eater remark, but for the life of him he can't come up with anything more than empty-sounding regrets. He inclines his head to her at her last statement, and says, "That may be so, but I can't think of any government anywhere that would willingly disrupt or stand in the way of any facility or organization that has a hand in a kids' hospital- not unless they want to collectively find themselves on the wrong end of a guillotine and a people's revolution." A short pause coupled with a wryly amused smirk, and then: "Do you get to do much work with the clinic?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-10 06:11 pm UTC (link)
If Alex doesn't understand that the Death Eaters were the government, and that that's what they did to the government, he will soon enough, so Florrie just answers the question.

"I've had some time to work with the clinic; it's been nice to get back to public health work. I did clinic time when I was with St Mungo's, but I was generally on rotations based out of Mungo's instead of assigned to a regular clinic, and it's different when you get to know people and see them repeatedly. In that respect it's much like working with the team. I was on ambulator work when I was at Mungo's--that was my original posting, during the first war--and that meant a lot of one-offs," she adds by way of explanation.

Dragging it back round to Alex's job, Florrie adds, "I can talk about clinic work if you need me to, for public relations purposes. The general nature of it, obviously, not specific cases. I think it's a bit easier than talking about what I do for the team, although I can certainly do a bit of that without breaking patient confidentiality."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-11 12:47 am UTC (link)
He found himself a bit enthralled by Florrie's story, kind of itched to put it out there for the public eye. But that was a pretty horribly invasive thing to suggest, and one that would likely put him on the medic's bad side. That was the last place Alex wanted to be, and he'd known Florrie for all of a few minutes. Some people just had that measure of charm about them. He wanted to ask more about the war, but he didn't know a lot of people that were all that jazzed about the topic in general- unless they were soldiers with a good story. But this wasn't that kind of war, not by a long shot.

"Sounds like you've worn a ton of different hats. I'd almost hate to add Face of Montrose to it, but I think you'd be amazing at it. Maybe another career change?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-11 01:27 am UTC (link)
"Merc should be the face of Montrose. Everyone in quidditch, or who cares about British and Irish quidditch, knows him, he's got the record, and he's a history-making player come back to a successful year, so far at least, as coach. I'm happy to support where I can, but I know he's the one with the story that appeals to fans," Florrie explains, because that's certainly been her experience. "Clinic support, though, I could do. And I plan to stay on at least another year at least."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-11 02:07 am UTC (link)
His smile deepened. "Fair enough- also good to know. He's certainly passionate for the sport- and the team. My meeting with him yesterday was certainly extremely enlightening." Alex regarded her for a moment, thoughtful. "And after that year? What kind of brilliant things are on the horizon for Florrie McGonagall?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-11 02:27 am UTC (link)
"Probably more years here, honestly. I was on the mediwizard track at Mungo's from the time I left school until last summer. And I think when I've got through this last ten weeks of the season and have it under my belt, I'll be settling in for a long term here--barring disaster with Merc, of course; I can't imagine doing it without him.

"I might go up to Hogwarts if Poppy Pomfrey retires--she's the nurse--but other than that, honestly I've no idea. Something useful in the health care field, because I'm not ready to sit behind a desk all day yet. Only half-days." She grinned back at Alex, because she could.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-12 01:47 pm UTC (link)
It was hard for Alex to keep from smiling as Florrie spoke, but he didn't really have a reason not to, so he didn't bother to try. At her last comment, he put a hand over his chest and affected pain. "You wound me to the quick. It's not all desk work. Okay, 98% is, but still!" He chuckled at his own theatrics.

"It's great you're planning on sticking around. This soon after such a huge socio-political upheaval, most groups could use a stable, steadying core. You and Merc and Shona seem rock solid."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-12 08:51 pm UTC (link)
"Shona's our cousin and we're all very close, and we all get on very well, so it's easy. Shona rrecruited Merc and Merc recruited me when he knew he was coming. I was in charge of arranging team placements before I left Mungo's; I generally tried to put people where they wanted to go, including myself."

Which reminded Florrie of something she hadn't wanted to discuss, so she reluctantly brought it up. "Did Aureliana mention anything about the incident at Christmas? I don't think it's likely to come up at this late date but there's always a risk, and I'd rather you were ready for it if there are any questions."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-13 02:29 am UTC (link)
"She didn't give me any specifics," Alex said as he looked over at her, "but she did tell me that something happened. I'm beginning to infer that it was sort of a minor miracle that it hasn't come out in the press."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-13 02:44 am UTC (link)
"We were all lucky it happened outside at Macmillan Park and there was no one about. I was at the annual Macmillan holiday party with Sebastian Cavallero, the manager at Portree--I was seeing him at the time--and when we walked outside for a breath of fresh air, my cousin Elsie MacFusty, who's the coach at Portree, came up to me and slapped me. And I'm afraid I reacted the way I would with a violent patient: I reflexively used a binding to keep her from doing it again. The only people there were Bas and Doc and the two of us, and Merc showed up just after. I released her when I realised who it was, and she left with no further incident.

"I told Aureliana and Gwen, who's your counterpart at Portree, in case we'd been wrong about the press. They sent Elsie abroad for some help with her troubles--it turned out there had been other problems inside the team--but we were very fortunate. None of it seems to have got out so far. If it does, it's likely to be in the context of Portree's revolving door and not because of anything I've done. I'm treating it as a family matter and nowt to do with Montrose. That's, I think, what you need to know."

While she's speaking, Florrie's accent turns a bit more noticeably Scottish, though she manages to keep smiling a little and doesn't look away.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-13 02:52 am UTC (link)
Alex's brows contracted with confusion, and then concern. "Why would she-? No, sorry. That's not my business, and probably not salient to this discussion. I'm sorry that happened to you. It's inexcusable."

The more he heard and read about Portree, the more he was convinced it was a nightmare team. And then it struck him. "Elsie is married to Maddock," he said slowly. "I know Ada and Alasdair Buchanan are engaged. Just how interconnected are these two teams?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-13 03:17 am UTC (link)
"Very," Florrie confirmed.

"Ada and Alasdair are sensible and I like them both. Doc and Elsie are a long story but overall I don't think he's a public relations problem other than through whatever happens with Elsie. Make sure he explains the story of how they thought they were divorced but turned out they weren't." Florrie thinks about that and huffs out a sigh.

"Merc and Shona and I are all first cousins to Lorna and Elsie and Luag, who used to play for Portree. And the Macmillans are connected by marriage to the Urquharts who own Portree, and also to Merc and Shona and me through our grandmother. Oh, and I live for now in a boarding house with two of the Portree players, for involved reasons that boil down to I had to move to get to Scotland before the Referendum and I've not found a place to buy yet. There are also Wigtown connections, but not so close. Scotland is all like this and Quidditch is too, so Scottish Quidditch is the worst.

"Most of us don't take the rivalry very seriously. I mean we want to win, obviously, but it's not vicious. One of my goals in keeping the incident under wraps is to prevent it from becoming more of a grudge match. So in that sense I think most of the relationships are a good thing."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]pastperfection
2018-03-13 03:32 am UTC (link)
It seemed like no matter how many people told him about all of these various connections, he was doomed to find another connection or wrinkle to put it all into disarray in his head. But rather than voice his frustration, Alex nodded slowly. "Like you said, nothing wrong with a healthy rivalry."

He glanced out at the pitch and then back again. "I've probably talked your ear off by now, but thanks so much for your time. You'll let me know if you need anything from me, from my office? Hopefully we can meet up for lunch sometime."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: March 4, during practice
[info]lionhearts
2018-03-13 03:49 am UTC (link)
"Of course," Florrie said, not surprised that the whole thing was enough to make Alex run away. It had that effect on her, too, on bad days. "And at lunch we can talk about something more pleasant. You can tell me all about yourself."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -

Home | Site Map | Manage Account | TOS | Privacy | Support | FAQs