Hotel of the Lost

[bookblather]

The hotel lobby is broad and open, a big circular room with a fountain in the center stocked with gold and orange koi. A large handprinted sign propped against the fountain's rim reads DO NOT FEED THE FISH, but it is the only touch of humanity in the gold-and-cream marble room. The fountain is surrounded by small tables and comfortable armchairs in greens and golds, sitting on a forest green rug patterned with small cream figures that spreads outward until it reaches a broad walkway of cream marble tiles around the circumference of the room. Potted plants stand at regular intervals along the walls; they are live trees, though from a distance they could well be assumed to be fake. Between them hang the usual forgettable pieces of hotel art.

Double glass doors open onto the outside world, with the concierge's cream marble desk to their right and the gold sign-in desk to their left. About a third of the way along the circle from the concierge's desk is a fancy restaurant done all in green and cream, currently empty, complete with a large bar stocked with at least thirty kinds of liquor. Across from the restaurant is a gift shop stocked with the usual kitschy touristy items and t-shirts emblazoned with Washington DC, also empty. Across from the double doors is an elevator bank leading up to the rooms, with a marked door to the staircase beside it.

The portals are shifting....

Comments

[blossomdreams]

"Where I'm from ghosts are pretty normal, mostly they reside in the Second Great Plane which is a version of the afterlife where ghosts can live and meet up with lost ones and stuff. There are a some like me who stay to help someone we've grown close to or an area that was cared for." Susie smiled sadly. "In my case, my ex thought signing an agreement with werewolves during war when they wanted our area for their turf was a good idea."

[bookblather]

"Ghosts where I'm from are shades," Danny said, "of the dead. There's some thing that triggers them staying behind, but I don't remember what it actually is. Have to ask Aaron, he knows anything. But anyway... I'm sorry. That doesn't sound nice."

And she genuinely was sorry, too. Werewolves and other shifters could inflict one hell of a painful death.

[blossomdreams]

"Thank you. It was such a stupid plan even when he explained it to me. I think the worst part was how little he cared about me, his family, and our village when he sold us. I'm not normally for revenge, but finding out what happened to him eased the pain a bit. Meeting Albert made it better. He wasn't afraid of me even though the citizens thought I was evil. I wasn't evil I was just bored and wanted to have some fun." Susie pouted.

[bookblather]

"I'm sorry," Danny said again, uncomfortably. "It's no fun when people think you're evil. Good thing he's your ex, I guess?"

[blossomdreams]

Susie noticed the way Danny looked uncomfortable and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Sorry about that, but yeah it sucked. It is and I'm glad not to see him anymore. Albert helped so now people don't see me evil. It's still funny to pull pranks during the human holiday April Fool's Day. At least I think it is a holiday."

[bookblather]

"Not your fault," Danny said automatically. "April Fool's Day is kind of a holiday, kind of not? There's no school off or anything, but a lot of people celebrate it."

[blossomdreams]

Susie nodded. "It's a really fun holiday. We started celebrating it a few years ago and we continue with it ever since."

[bookblather]

"Yeah?" Danny shifted on her feet. "You get the day off for it?"

[blossomdreams]

"Yeah, only because we didn't research the holiday very well and just assumed that's what humans did."

Susie noticed Danny shifting on her feet and looked around for some chairs. She didn't need to sit, but she forgot that sitting down was comfortable for humans. She found a few chairs and gestured to them.

"Um, would you like to take a seat. Those chairs look comfortable."

[bookblather]

"Nah, I'm good." Danny focused on the relevant sentence. "Humans? None of you are human?"

[blossomdreams]

"Um, well, they're more like magical humans like wizards, witches, psychics and the like. I'm used to working with them that I forget there are some humans that do not have any powers. We do work with demons, vampires, and other creatures like that. The only people we work with every once in a while are Fae. We rarely see them."

[bookblather]

"Fae," Danny said, and spat to the side. "Baby-stealing bastards. Thank God they are not my turf, I dunno if I could even handle them. Don't think we have demons, though. Just the vampires. And some werewolves, some witches, not a whole lot of them though, they're way less common than people think." She shrugged.