mythandmagic (mythandmagic) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-28 00:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anne mauricia, merlin |
Who: Anne and Merlin
When: August
Where: The Versailles
What: Working
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Merlin hadn’t ever been loaned out before but Tony had asked him if he’d be willing to help out at the new hotel owned by a friend of his and he’d agreed. He was meeting the owner’s daughter who was running the hotel and who could tell him what she wanted for their systems. He had all his programmes with him and was used to doing code on the fly so hopefully he wouldn’t need to delay her in getting her computers up and running.
Entering the hotel he was directed to the office he needed to be in and knocked on the door.
Anne was sat at her desk with a hand pressed to her forehead as she tried to get her computer to work. Something was wrong with it, she just wasn’t sure what and she knew that she couldn’t turn this hotel into a successful business without upgrading the systems severely. Having reached out to Tony Stark, he had offered her the services of one of his tech whizz guys. “Come in,” she called, hearing the knock on the door.
“Uh hi Miss Mauricia?” he checked, “I’m Merlin, Mr Stark sent me to see if I could help you out with your computer system. Looks like I arrived just in time” he added with a smile and a gesture towards the computer that appeared to be vexing her.
“Oh yes, please come in,” Anne smiled and stood up behind her desk, reaching out her hand to shake his in introduction. “Nice to meet you Merlin and yes, you are my knight in shining armour,” she smiled at him brightly. “Please, rescue me,” she gestured to the computer and stepped back from it. “Can I get you a tea? Or coffee?” she offered.
“Nice to meet you too. Though you might wanna save the praise until I have fixed everything” he grinned at her, “But I will try my best” he added, “Oh tea would be great thanks, I find it always helps”
“I’m sure you will have no problem with fixing our problems, Mr Stark speaks very highly of you and I am ever so grateful to him for allowing you to come over here and to you for agreeing to help us,” Anne explained. “A man after my own heart, how do you take your tea?” she asked, stepping around the desk and further towards the door.
“Oh it’s no problem. Something a little more to get my teeth into if I’m honest. I mean I love my job but things mostly run smoothly with just the odd case of ‘turn it off and on again’” he told her with a grin, “Oh milk no sugar thank you” he said, “Have you gotten used to American tea or did you bring your own supply?” he asked her as he input a bit of code to tell the computer to run a system check.
“You call the stuff they sell here tea?” Anne joked as she moved over to the little kitchenette area she had in her office and set about making them some tea. “No, I have my father ship me some over and I get by that way. How about yourself? Or have you given in to the evils of the infamous coffee the Americans are always seen as being addicted to?”
“A woman after my own heart it seems” Merlin told her, “I do the same only it’s my mum who sends me it over. My wifes best friend is a Brit too so I try to keep her supplied. I’ve succumbed to the occasionally really sugary coffee but only because my wife runs a local bakery and they sell coffee there” he admitted.
“Of course, we were brought up the proper way after all,” Anne winked over at him as she continued preparing the tea. “Her own bakery? That sounds amazing, tell me a bit more about her, about what she does?” she asked, wondering in the back of her mind whether she might be able to approach Merlin’s wife as a possible supplier of baked breakfast goods for the hotel.
“Absolutely” Merlin said chuckling as she winked at him, letting the system check run he happily spoke about Audrey, “Baxter’s Bakery, there are actually two locations now. Best known for the sparkling latte made with 100% natural sparkling milk. But also their baked goods. You can’t beat her baking, I should honestly be the size of a small country by now”
“Sparkling milk?” Anne frowned as she picked up Merlin’s cup and moved over to the desk to place it next to him. “How on earth does she manage that? Is it some sort of edible glitter she adds to the drinks, like you see at Starbucks at christmas time?” she asked innocently. “And her baking sounds divine! I’ll have to head down there when I have some free time and grab a few things to try. Any recommendations?” she asked, retrieving her own cup and placing it on the desk while she sat in the chair opposite Merlin.
“Nope, it comes like that from the cow. All tested and perfectly safe” he added with a thanks for the tea. “Oh definitely do. I’m partial to the cookies, they’re usually in fun shapes depending on the time of year. The chocolate croissants are popular in the morning, we keep a lot of people supplied at breakfast” he smiled, “Once this diagnostic is done it’ll tell me what we need to do to get you up and running as soon as possible” he added letting her know what he was doing.
“Really? That’s amazing! Is it some sort of genetically modified cow then?” Anne asked, watching over the rim of her cup. “Hmm, I may have to make my way down to Baxter’s then. Would you mind writing down the address for me?” she asked, gesturing to the pad of post-it notes she’d left out. “That’s great, thank you so much. I was thinking that we would be needing to completely overhaul the entire system because it was so outdated. The previous owners didn’t seem to think much about investing in that sort of infrastructure,” she explained.
“Honestly I have no idea” Merlin said, that was Audrey’s bag he just knew it was safe and tasty. “Sure” he said writing down both locations in case one was easier than the other. “Well you might need to somewhere along the line but we should be able to do something for you for now. I have a few motherboards and things in my bag in case we need them” Because Stark had told him to get her up and running and he’d take care of additional costs. It sounded like Anne’s father was a good friend of Tony’s.
“Hmm...I’ll be sure to ask when I head down there, thanks for that by the way,” Anne smiled, referring to the addresses before taking a sip of her cup of tea. “Well if you have the time, might you be able to put together an estimate for any upgrades you think we could benefit from? I’m next to useless with computers, I ask my best friend before buying a new laptop because I worry I’ll end up buying the wrong one,” she explained.
“You’re welcome” Merlin said, “I’m under orders from Mr Stark to do whatever I need to in order to get you sorted. I’m thinking he maybe owes your father a favour” he smiled kindly, “Don’t worry I’m usually the one people ask about laptops” he added with a wink.
“I would say that’s probably a good bet. Tony’s name has been thrown around my house since I was a teenager at least,” Anne smiled. “Well then I’ll know who to come to for the best advice,” she toasted her tea cup at him. “Here’s to new and longstanding friendships,” she grinned.
Merlin smiled and raised his tea cup towards her in response, “I will certainly drink to that” he said, glad to be able to offer a fellow Brit not only working computers but also a new friendship.