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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2019 23:52:59 GMT
Outside a small, unimposing stone building in Port Ffirst's New Town stands Arkadius, the biggest grin he's ever had plastered on his face as he admires the building in front of him. He looks down briefly, parchment in one hand and ink pen in the other, sketching the final touches to a drawing. With a flourish of the pen, his drawing is apparently complete and his grin widens.
"This is absolutely perfect," he explains to nobody in specific, holding the parchment up in front of the door before him, "This is better than I even imagined."
It started in Daring Heights as a small bubble of an idea in the back of his brain, and over time grew so much that it took up a lot of time during his days. Eventually, he had started doodling and writing business plans and proposals, and finally settled on a good first step. The parchment had upon it a logo idea, one that Arkadius has had etched in his brain for weeks.
He would find a small store in Port Ffirst's New Town, and start small. He'd offer same-day delivery* of parcels and mail within Port Ffirst, offer connecting services to Daring Heights**, and so much more***. There was expansion room, and so far… an exclusive market and little competition. He had an idea, and the capital to run with it. This was his chance to make something of himself.
Ffirst Airmail was born that day. As was... "Postmaster Arkadius Hogg, at your service… Good Gods, that has such a nice ring to it, it's unreal."
(*) Terms and Conditions apply. Speak to Ffirst Airmail staff for details. (**) Direct deliveries from Port Ffirst to Daring Heights cannot currently be made, but we're hoping to be able to offer this exciting service in the future. Speak to Ffirst Airmail staff for details! (***) T&Cs apply in all cases.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2019 10:48:06 GMT
It had only been a month, and Ffirst Airmail was much, much busier than Arkadius had expected. He'd been flying around the city and wearing himself thin nearly every single day of every week, outside of what was becoming his significantly part-time job of being an adventurer. His expectation of being full-time adventurer and part-time Postmaster was... well, apparently wrong. He'd even received a complaint from the staff he hired for the office, that they were swamped with customers throughout their shifts while the office was open. Something would have to change.
In the postal storage room (which since opening had also been doubling as an office and a bedroom), Arkadius sat at his desk, scribbling away on parchment. "What are your strengths and weaknesses? No, that's such a boring question... Where do you see yourself in the future? Well, dead might be one option at the moment, given current affairs... heh, nope, let's not ask that either. How about... This continued for several hours, and lasted well into the night and into early morning. He'd already sent out job adverts himself with every letter in the last week, Ffirst Airmail has safe employment opportunities for you! There is one position open for a Postal Consultant (duties involve manning sales desk, selling postage and accepting mail from customers, as well as sorting mail in the office ready for delivery) , and three positions open for Postal Delivery Agents (duties involve delivering mail, and for this reason must be winged or able to fly through natural or unnatural means). If interested, please write a letter of application and make arrangements for this to be delivered to our office."
Some inspiring, intelligent candidates had elected to try and post their letter of application to the office... by going to the office. Arkadius had quietly shuffled those applications into the "maybe" pile, sure they showed inspiration, loyalty, and in some ways ingenuity, but... intelligence was also important in this work. People wanted their mail to arrive to the right location at the right time. Arkadius asked some candidates to come in, and proceeded through interviews. His staff of two quickly grew to six, including three additional Delivery Agents, so he didn't need to wear himself out by flying the whole width and breadth of the city anymore, single-handedly delivering all the mail.
Next problem: Space. It was clear to see that more space was required, for an office, personal quarters, and for a sorting and storage room. He'd have to make arrangements with his landlord for this to take place. It would cost too, maybe even require relocation. As it turns out, relocation was not necessary. The property was build for this in mind, and was... modular? Arkadius hadn't heard this word before. Over the space of a weekend, once he'd paid the landlord for the arrangements to take place, the building was expanded. The lobby/store area was expanded, making space for three sales desks instead of the one that was there previously, and there were now several rooms in the back. One for an office, one for a storage and sorting room, and one for personal quarters, next door to the office. Problem solved.
"Okay. Phew. Possible chaos averted. Now I just gotta hope that business continues being... well, good."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2020 23:26:35 GMT
This year, Ffirst Airmail expanded it’s team to include several new staff members. To select the best people for the jobs, Arkadius invited the prospective candidates to attend an interview with himself, to show their worth. These are their (interview) stories.
Dun dun… (Yes. I like Law & Order, what of it.)
P. Covengaze, Human, 19 years of age Interview highlight: Not realizing what he was being interviewed for Candidate Recommendation: Remove from shortlist
Interview extract
”Your name is… Podril Covengaze?”, Arkadius asked, peering over the page of parchment in his hands. “Yeah, Podril. Named after me dad, see.” ”Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Covengaze. Tell me, what interests you about the Port Ffirst postal system?” “Port Ffirst has a postal system? Why, what idiot thought that was a good idea?”
A. Nerinn, Tiefling (with wings, though I suspect this to be… A lie), 34 years of age Interview highlight: ...Wings aren't meant to be strapped on and flapped by subtly pulling tabs Candidate Recommendation: [There was a lot of text here, but it has all been viciously scribbled out, and the edge of the parchment is singed and burnt ever so slightly]
Interview extract
”Ah, you must be Arlwyn Nerinn, it is always a pleasure to meet another Tiefling of the winged kind!”, Arkadius said with a smile, opening the door of his office. His smile drooped a little as he took a look at the small, squat fellow in front of him. He shrugged, and ignored his feeling. ”I think we can take this conversation outside, up in the roof. It is a pleasant day, after all!”
The other tiefling smiled slightly in response, “Well, we could but… Don't you need to make notes and such? It's awfully windy up there today.” Arkadius narrowed his gaze for a moment. He had been flying not just ten minutes ago, and there wasn't a single gust of wind. That made him… Suspicious.
”My rooftop is my second office, and it is where I have decided to hold this interview. Please, do join me, he said, leading the way outside. He jumped upwards, towards the roof of the office building when he was outside, and looked back at the other tiefling. He was… Making a show of his wings flapping, his arms moving subtly by his sides, but he didn't seem to be moving very fast upwards. One could say, he wasn't moving upwards… At all.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2020 16:26:32 GMT
It hadn't been very difficult to re-brand Ffirst Airmail, changing documents in the office and changing the outdoor store sign was an easy process overnight. It only involved removing the first three letters off of the second word in the name after all, and changing the poster declaring Ffirst Mail's terms and conditions to subtly remove the promise that all post would be delivered by air, not once moving by land vehicle took just a few moments, alongside updating references to the business' name. As the business had grown over it's first six months of operation, Arkadius had begun to realise it was a losing battle and an infeasible promise to keep anyway. Might as well drop it and incorporate business changes at the same time as... well, his new expanded operations next door.
Next door to Ffirst Mail in a separate facility was a set of buildings, housing the check-in and purchase desks, luggage handling rooms, and a passenger waiting room. Outside of this was yard, part of which was sheltered, home a few horses, carts and carriages. A sign at the gate declared this to be the headquarters of 'Ffirst Travel, part of the FfirstGroup'. Similar subscript text had been added to the sign outside 'Ffirst Mail' too.
Arkadius smiled at his burgeoning empire. He felt something he hadn't felt in a little while, he felt... Useful. Pride. Satisfaction.
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