[ IC ] Hotel Atlantica

[Lunar Origins]

_{Opening Theme}

~OOC~

- Hotel Atlantica -

 

Hotel Atlantica.  A small, inconceivably dense beach resort located on the even smaller planet Mu.  Every year, millions flock to this planet to experience absolute paradise contained in this resort's small, yet somehow also vastly immeasurable, package.  The great, blue ocean;  the soft, white sand that falls away between your toes.  The brilliant neon-colored coral reefs along the western edge of the resort;  the endless blue skies that drift on and on until the horizon, and then some.

 

All of these things, however, were being promptly ignored... or, rather, at least by the people who were actually there.

 

"God damnit," shouted one manager, walking around in circles in the lobby.  "It's not perfect, we've got less than six hours 'til opening, people!  Get a move on!" 

 

To any casual observer, the lobby looked absolutely perfect.  The shell decorations on the columns accented the sandy-beach colored floors, and the large windows poured in beautiful sunlight that illuminated the place like a temple giving grace to Apollo.  No matter, however; to the manager, it was a mess created by weeks of careless wanderings, fraught with germs and sand and everything in between.  This girl was a perfectionist, and to her, everything was far from her expectations.

 

Flash to the other side of the hotel, where an ordinary girl wakes up on an otherwise ordinary day to her.  She stretches her body, lets out a yawn, and gets out of her bed - which happens to be a deep tub.  Yes, this girl is a mermaid, and her room definitely shows it.  Located on the second floor in the left wing, (one of the older sections of the hotel) is Elsie's room, and what a room it is.  When one steps inside, the room immediately drops off into a shallow pool of water, illuminated by brilliant golden rays of sunshine coming from the floor-to-ceiling window on the other side of the room.  It's sparsely decorated, with only a wall-attached desk hovering just barely over the shallow water floor, and a few crystalline lamps on each wall.  The greatest attraction in the room, in fact, was a soft waterfall coming from the wall next to the window, running into a far deeper section of the room.  This was where Elsie slept, as the waterfall's constant purring would help her get to rest.

 

The sunlight bothers her eyes, however beautiful it may be.  Covering her eyes with her hand, she shouts "For the love of god SHUT THAT SHIT."  Responding, as if it heard the urgency in her voice, the window turned black, leaving her alone, in the dark room.  If she was any other species, this would be a problem, but she was well acquainted with darkness.  A red hue overtook the room, courtesy of her own bio-luminescence, of , and her vision quickly adjusted to the murky blood-black.  Now she was comfortable, and could actually get herself ready for her first day of work.

 

~ -- ~

 

After an hour of doing her makeup, washing and drying her hair, and making sure her clothes were all in order, Elsie felt a hint of pride as she looked in her mirror.  Today was going to be a great day, she thought.  Her teeth looked in order, her eyes looked fantastic, and suit was absolutely wonderful - if a little damp, at that. 

 

"Alright," she said, with a cheery demeanor - her voice tinged with just the slightest bit of lisp.  "It's time to rock and roll."

 

~ -- ~

 

It was an hour later, and there she was - alone at the poolside bar, preparing it for service.  Various bottles filled with numerous different colored liquids lined the shelves.  A few taps were behind the counter, as well, but they were sparsely used - Elsie was clumsy and preferred not to contaminate the water with alcohol, even if this was the adult's section.

 

She looked on her little alcove of alcohol and happily sighed, adjusting her glasses.  [color=#00D8CE]"[/color][color=#0ECBCB]A[/color][color=#1CBEC9]n[/color][color=#2AB1C7]y[/color][color=#38A5C5] [/color][color=#4698C3]m[/color][color=#548BC0]o[/color][color=#627FBE]m[/color][color=#7072BC]e[/color][color=#7F65BA]n[/color][color=#8D58B8]t[/color][color=#9B4CB6] [/color][color=#A93FB3]n[/color][color=#B732B1]o[/color][color=#C526AF]w[/color][color=#D319AD].[/color][color=#E10CAB]"[/color]

[Tesability Black]

For the time being, before the hotel opened up for the day, a particular crystal on the counter began to shimmer with a variety of colors for a few seconds before it released a light above it that took a shape about the size of a Great Dane over it to gain the appearance of sitting on the counter-top. While the being appeared semi-transparent, it also looked like a miniature dragon with dark-grey, almost-black scales and pitch-black eyes. Upon its head was a pair of silver leaf-like protrusions that were placed where ears would be, maybe they were its ears.

 

"Ready to start the day," it asked with a feminine voice as it flapped its wings a bit to reveal yellow flaps between the wings when unfolded, a smirk formed between the two fangs on its muzzle that wouldn't fit in its maw. With a little swish of its tail did the music seem timed to start playing, though the DJ was nowhere within the place just yet...

[Maeriberii Haan]

CLANK!

 

A sound of something shattering could be heard in the lobby. The manager, looking absolutely annoyed, looked around the place to see who dared to mess up things during that crucial moment before the grand reopening of the hotel, and the lobby was still far from perfect, even. It's completely unacceptable to her, how people could still screw up even during a time like this. Messing the lobby for the guests by that single sloppy conduct would just ruin today's important occasion. Or maybe this was yet another case of those penguins being completely unreliable as hotel staffs.

 

"Damn it! Whose brilliant idea was that to hire all these penguins instead of actual worker actually?"

 

"I think it was mine, or maybe not? Ah, I forget, it's been a while~"

 

A woman stood in front of the door that led to the lobby, pieces of porcelain were scattered near her feet. The woman, wearing a simple nightgown, smiled mischievously at the manager that had just noticed her presence there.

 

"Oops."

 

"...Uh..uhm..."

 

"Sorry for being quite the sloppy person."

 

The manager was still at loss for words, while the woman kept her smile etched on her face, her smile becoming wider and wider as the situation became more and more awkward to the manager. The woman had sacrificed her morning tea session for this, the satisfaction better be worth it. And well, so far it did. After several minutes of awkward silence, the woman decided to spare the manager from further awkwardness, at least for that morning.

 

"Hey, loosen up a bit. Won't be really nice if you keep being that uptight about this. It'll be quite a while before the grand reopening anyway, so I suggest you to try getting some tea and loosen up a bit. You already did quite a splendid job here, really.

 

Anyway, I think I'll go now, since my presence here seems to only hamper everyone here, and I still need to have my breakfast. But hey, hopefully we can impress everyone with all the work done to this hotel~"

 

"...Wait! What about-"

 

"The glass? Well...just ask a penguin to clean it up. Later!" The woman laughed for a bit, before walking away from the lobby, leaving the manager still confused about what the hell was that all about.

 

---

 

"Oh schneezus, I can't believe it's that day already! The hotel will finally be open again!"

 

Managing to outrace the sunlight that morning, Lizzie was now sitting in her room's terrace, enjoying the morning seaside view since the sunrise with a nice cup of warm milk on her side while being blissfully unaware about the fact that she's supposed to help with the preparation for the reopening of the hotel. Still in her lazily-buttoned pajamas with her hair being completely messy, she hadn't even considered to change into her maid uniform yet, as her mind was still occupied by the beauty of the scenery in front of her that somehow never got old for her, and the fact that the hotel she's "working" on would be reopened, and she couldn't wait to see guests coming in again, and more guests would mean more amazing people to talk to.

 

Though...she felt like there's something that she had forgotten to-

 

"Atchoo!"

 

When she opened her eye, she realized that she was in the middle of a gathering of people, presumably. Most of the people there were oddly naked, both men and women, aside from one woman that she noticed because the woman was standing in the middle of the crowd. While it's far from the weirdest thing she had seen, she still had little to no idea about what was going on there, and frankly, she at least knew that it's probably better for her to just-

 

And before the paragraph above could be finished, Lizzie returned back to Mu, just outside of his room. Now knowing what of her routine that she missed to do, she immediately rushed into her room and swallowed her anti-allergy pills hastily, not even bothering to realize that she swallowed too many of them in one go. After flushing the pills down her throat with her milk, Lizzie decided to go to the restaurant to go get some more hot milks.

 

She still felt that she's missing something important as she walked away from her room, but she shrugged off the thought and kept moving forward.

[Mugendramon]

"Gaaaaaaah, it's opening day isn't it?"

 

The constant rustling on penguins that smoothly got her awake was unmistakable, they were working way more than usual. She stirred around her bed –fit for human usage, oddly enough for a centaur –and rose after pushing the covers off herself.

 

If there was any advantage to not having her legs, it was this bed.

 

No, no. No time to think too hard about that. Opening day! Everyone would surely be excited. She should get dressed for the occassion, go tour the premises and greet the staff. But first things first, she had to get on  her High Horse. She didn't really care to name his prosthetic at first, but the expression was so untrue of her, that sheer irony led to their baptism.

 

Amber hesitated. Her legs were standing there, same as every day. The crane she used to get on her prothesis stood, as always, right next to them in its niche. She was about to call to Testability, same as every other day. But she'd be so busy with getting everything ready, maybe she should try to jump up herself. Maybe she could man the crane.

 

So she leapt, best as she could, toward the set of legs. She tumbled helplessly, still totally naked, and couldn't reach the crane. With a sign of resignation, she erased the frustration from her face best as she could and called to her friend.

 

"Tess? Are you too busy right now? I... I could use a lift, you know. Heheh."

[Aix]

"Uwaa!!"
 
With that fierce battlecry, a small fist shot up out from beneath a stuffed lionfish and a tiger, signalling life amidst that ridiculous pile of stuffed animals. Lexi's bed did actually not exist any more, and in its place was an ocean of plushies, collected throughout the centuries, that crushed and suffocated any lesser being. But, Alexandria d'Ouroboros Ambrosia Kars vi Leviathan was no such lesser being. The little fist retracted into the pile after it detected air, and the mountain of plushies exploded as Lexi leaped out, landing with a forward roll to absorb the shock. A routine she had perfected over the course of her millennium-long life, she ended up standing perfectly in front of her wardrobe, where she promptly threw off her pajamas and popped on a white sundress for the day.
 
At that point, four of the stuffed animals at the edge of the pile started to move, revealing themselves to actually be a magical, semi-intelligent species of tropical penguins. One scurried over to fold Lexi's discarded pajamas while its mistress walked out into the hall, followed by the rest. Her room was closest to the stairs, as she was usually the earliest to rise. Although, today the sun was already bright in the sky when she gazed out.
 
"I hope I'm not too late to make breakfast," she said, giving in to a fleeting moment of regret, but not a second later, she was happily sliding down the stairs without a care in the world. The Leviathan Manor was located on a low cliff overlooking the rest of the resort, and Lexi ran right out off it, the little wings on her head growing to full-size in an instant. The three penguins following her jumped after her, forming a chain of penguins desperately clinging on to each other and ultimately onto Lexi's ankle as she soared down to main resort.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~
 
First off was cooking breakfast. She was a little late, but everyone else was still scurrying to get ready for the opening day. Deciding to make up for her tardiness, and reward everyone's hard work, she doubled her usual efforts, if that was even physically or logically possible, into frying up some omelettes, bacon and sausages all at once while her penguins prepared the fruit, cinnamon rolls and beverages. Finally satisfied with setting two tables, as she had observed Gol the maitre d' do thousands of times, she walked out and screamed at the top of her youthful, draconian lungs.
 
"BREAKFAST IS READY!!!"

[Astolfo]

Hotel Atlantica
It was the start of a new day, and not just any day at that, it was the grand reopening of Hotel Atlantica. With a sparkling smile, a young girl burst out of bed with explosive force, before promptly falling face-first, her feet still tangled in the blankets. After finally untangling herself, she struggled out of her pajamas, before switching into her usual garb for swimming and the like. Looking in a mirror to her right, she looked at her unkempt hair and giggled, nodding affirmatively to herself. Charging out the door fast enough to nearly tear it out of its hinges, the blue-haired girl ran through the smack-dab middle of the lobby, sending plates and penguins flying everywhere, before the manager even realized what happened. Without even looking back, she gave a half-apologetic yell which quickly faded into the distance. Jumping out the door with a powerful leap, her hair fanning out, she ran towards the poolside bar, knowing that's where one of her best friends would be.

Diving into the water with just the slightest ripple around a few hundred feet from where her friend would be, she glided through the water across the bottom of the pool. Kicking just the slightest bit, her ability to streamline her own body sent her flying through the water at speeds much higher than what would be possible for most beings. As she got close, she quickly decelerated, instead preferring to dive down as deep as she could, observing a mermaid bartender getting ready to set up shop for the day. Treading small bits, she placed herself right behind and below her friend, giggling to herself uncontrollably, before she clapped a hand over her mouth. After realizing the bartender didn't notice yet, she sighed in relief.

She crouched down on the bottom of the pool floor to wind up, before kicking off with a powerful burst, flying up through the water. As she got closer and closer, she realized she was accelerating too fast, and tried to slow down, but it was already too late. As she burst out of the water, she yelled at Elsie, the bartender.

"E-Elsieeeeee! H-Help m-"

Her shout was cut off as she smashed through the awning that was over the bar, which sent the various bottles and things of the sort flying everywhere. As the girl was rocketing into the air, struggling to get untangled from the awning, she began to plunge back down, sending her into a panic trying to escape. Unfortunately for her, she didn't manage to free herself in time, and crashed into the water with a huge splash, at which point she swam out of the mess of what used to be a tarp. As the girl surfaced, clutching her head, she looked at her best friend and giggled apologetically, her ocean-blue eyes sparkling.

"S-Sorry, Elsie! D-Do you want me to get a new one? I'll get a new one! Bye!"

Bursting out of the water - this time with more control - the girl unfolded brilliant wings of aquamarine, flying back to the hotel. Bursting back through the door, still flying, she landed, running as she did so, before she skidded to a stop.

"I want a new tarp for Elsie!"

At the very words, several penguins rushed to get a new awning as fast as they could for the girl. With a quick thank you, she flew back out the door. Flying to the pool as fast as she could, she maneuvered to a little bit above where Elsie was, slowly letting herself down, setting down the tarp as she did so. By then, her friend had finished collecting and reorganizing the bottles, so she simply put a hand to her nape, with a half-apologetic expression, before it broke into a wide grin, and she started to laugh. Elsie sighed, and patted the girl on the head. This wasn't the first time things like this had happened, nor would it be the last, but she didn't really mind. The bartender quite liked the cheerful little girl, even if the girl was hectic at times, as well as being nearly fifty times older, for this girl was Sirenai vi Leviathan.

Sirenai, the nine hundred and thirty-seven year old, wild, joyous, energetic, and the youngest of the Leviathan blood line.

[Andx]

A rather early and annoying alarm pierced the silence that was Caleb Reeve's room. A paw reached out and fumbled around a bit until finally it reached the clock and ended the noise.

 

"Oh good lord, morning already..." Caleb mumbled, still half asleep. Still somehow he managed to drag himself up on all four legs and was now standing on his bed. It would surely be a strange sight at first to anyone unfamiliar with it. A dog alone in the room waking up while having slept on what looked like a bed meant for a human, turning off alarm clocks and opening blinds and other such things.

 

Caleb stretched out his front legs and shook himself for a second to sort of finish waking up. That was gonna be a tough one though. As part of the security team he'd been out late the night before on crowd control. With the reopening of the Hotel Atlantica today people had already started flocking back and were eager to see the new additions. They'd been camping out in various boats around the island. Some were a bit too eager however and Caleb had been called in that evening to help keep people off the grounds while the work was finishing. And it wasn't going to get any better today, hence the early morning.

 

With the sun beginning to illuminate the room, Caleb wandered over to the bathroom of his room and with a simple touch of a paw began a shower. It always amazed him that the Leviathans had bothered to give him a bathroom a dog could operate when a normal room would have been fine had they not changed him in the first place. After finishing the shower there was even a large blow dryer to get his mess of multi-colored speckled fur dry quickly. That done, he played around with getting his vest and light hat on for a bit. Finally ready to go, the dog security guard set out.

 

The early morning was pretty calm which was nice considering how tired Caleb still felt. He was just sort of wandering around the grounds yawning. Eventually he felt hungry and started walking off toward the dining facilities. Given people were still rushing about preparing for the reopening he wasn't entirely sure if anything was being prepared. While still a ways off he caught an amazing smell which reassured him there was indeed food. Right as he was about to enter he heard an energetic call stating breakfast was ready.

 

"...That'd be Lexi." Caleb said recognizing the voice. There was now a decision to be made. Was it worth eating given the assured hugging and cuddling that would precede or maybe interrupt it? Before he had much time to think on it, his stomach answered for him and he walked inside and saw Lexi not all that far away.

[Aix]

"Yay, Doggy, you're first!" Leaping forwards with her wings half-extended to adjust her course if necessary, Lexi barreled into Caleb, grabbing him, and landing with another roll into a sitting position outside the door. After hugging him tight, then scratching him behind the ear and rubbing his belly and petting him, and then cuddling him again against all protests, Lexi picked him up and carried him under her arm back into the restaurant despite that the dog could quite well navigate by himself. "What would you like today, doggy? Sausages? Bacon? I know you love bacon! I made them extra special today!"

[Andx]

Before he really knew what was happening Caleb was trapped. He'd been expecting a quick response and still hadn't been ready for it. Lexi proceeded with petting him all over the place much to his annoyance. He still wondered how dogs ever enjoyed petting. Lexi then picked him up and began carrying him and despite his struggles there wasn't much to do about it.

 

"Lexi I can walk you know." He said, clearly annoyed. He'd been told it was important Lexi stay happy so he tried his best to never be mean. But that was sometimes difficult after the unwelcome touching. "These damn Leviathans..." Caleb thought to himself. It was a pretty common thought of his. Just a general expression of exasperation. Lexi then started asking about what he wanted to eat. "Whatever you've got sounds great Lexi." he said trying to turn his attention to breakfast instead.

[Tesability Black]

"Tes? Are you too busy right now? I... I could use a lift, you know. Heheh."

 

The strange draconic creature on the counter lifted one of its leaf-like ears, as if it was hearing something before giving a small sigh as a symapthetic frown fell on its muzzle. "Sound's like I'm summoned," it remarked before lifting a paw and waving it. "Bye-bye!"

 

As soon as it appeared did it disappear, leaving no trace of its presence, since any dust that might have managed to get on the counter was left completely-undisturbed...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A second travelling through the many crystalline wires often felt like a minute flying instead, due to the hyper-accelerated view of time her particular race had. Because of this, travelling through the wirings was one of the times she could think undisturbed, flapping a few times with her digitized wings as she flew through the tunnel that formed around her.

 

She actually felt sorry for the centaur that called for her help in getting up every morning, since she knew what it was like. The strange dragon had not truely stretched out its actual wings in over a decade, before her crystal fell upon this...well, she thought it was an aquatic world, anyway.

 

A stray spark almost crossed her path, which she spun out of the way before soon fading from the multicolored tunnel that was the wires...

 

(You know how in some games, such as TERA, the hero will wind up travelling through a tunnel of multicolored energy at high speeds in some way? Same concept here.)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The holographic projector in the centaur's room began to hum to life as the dragon appeared to be sitting upon it, scanning the room for the summoner.

 

Though her species did not have anything that could pass as furred eyebrows, the top of one eye rose a bit higher than the other at seeing the legless centaur on the floor in an undignified position.

 

"Graceful," she chirped, despite not being a bird before disappearing from view once more. At this point did the crane that often placed Amber upon her prosthetics begin to move on almost its own accord, the claw of the crane opening up to gently lift the poor soul up and into place...

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"Calm down Camille, it's just another room to clean." The young man who stood in one of the hallways of the Leviathan Manor was staring at the door as if it were some kind of monster. It was the room of Artemisia vi Leviathan, the oldest child in the Leviathan family; the family who Camille worked for as a maid.

Camille tugged nervously at the skirt of his maid uniform. Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door. "Milady it's Camille, I'm here to clean." Camille didn't expect to be answered. If Artemisia was here she would be deep in sleep. Letting out a sigh he took out a key he was given for just this situation.

He still remembered when Artemisia gave him the key, and the barely concealed implication of the other reason for him to have the key that followed.

 

Unlocking the door and stepping inside; Camille was unsurprised to see Artemisia still asleep in her bed, thankfully covered up this time. He was slightly more, but not by much, surprised to see a man beside her. He had spiky red hair and was quite handsome, but the most obvious trait was the large angel wings on his back. Camille twitched, trying to remind himself that angels were, in fact, not birds. Neither of them seemed to stir when Camille entered, for which the maid was grateful.

Camille closed his eyes for a moment. He ignored any other thought beyond work. When he opened them there was a hard determination on his face, he was prepared, he was in work-mode.

Quickly and silently he went about his job, cleaning up various trash and discarded clothing, leaving the obviously male clothes in a neat pile at the foot of the bed. He was finished rather quickly, which was surprising seeing as how the room was in such a messy shape. Most likely due to the activities of the previous night.

With no work to be done Camille snapped out of work mode just as Artemisia let out a noise, a moan. With a startled "Eep!" Camille hurried out of the room, closing and locking the door before continuing on.

The rest of his work here should be much easier. Camille had heard Lexi leaving while he was cleaning, and he knew Renai slept in one of the hotel rooms for today for some reason. So they wouldn't interrupt this time.

 

"I hope that Lizzie will be alright..." Camille wondered, concerned over the ditzyness of his fellow maid. He shook his head. "Maybe if I finish this quick enough I'll check up on her."

[Lunar Origins]

Yuuka's Music Box - Scene Theme

Memory

 

She was young.  The young girl sat on her dry bed, face turned to the ceiling, illuminated by countless little stars.  Like a mesmerizing, swirling whirlpool of light, the universe above her shifted and seethed as if it was alive, and it instilled nothing but a sense of wonder in her.  Each individual star twinkled in the black of her dark eyes, and her mouth curled up into a grin as a star shot by, quickly.  "Make a wish," she said quietly, to herself.

 

Her wish was cut short by a few taps on the door.  She rolled over.  "Yes?"

 

The door cracked open, and a smiling man peered in her room.  "Hey there, Elsie," said a short man, his voice soft and loving.  "I take it you're enjoying the projector?"

 

"I love it."  She turned from the door back to the ceiling.  It really was amazing, what technology could do, she thought.  Here she was, experiencing the entire universe in the span of seconds, on her very own bed.  She did, indeed, love it.

 

Her father, the man who had come into the room, sat on her bed, carrying a glass of water.  "I thought you might need a glass of water before bed, Elsie, and I brought some tooth whitener, too.  You don't want those beautiful pearly whites to tarnish, now, do you?"

 

Elsie nodded, bringing her hand to her mouth.  Lines of sharp, jagged, symmetrical teeth were in place of what should have been lips, but she loved them.  Every day, her parents told her that she was special, and that these teeth made her beautiful.  They were a nice reminder of the people who loved her.  "Right-o!" She said, in a rather forced cutesy voice.  Her dad laughed.

 

"That's it, kiddo."  Her dad gave her the water, and then the cleaning solution.  "And make sure to go to the bathroom before you eventually get to slee-"

 

"Dad..."

 

"Sorry.  I wasn't-"

 

"I know, dad..."

 

He smirked, and she finished her glass of water.  He took it from her and went to the door.  "I love you, Elsie.  Get some rest."

 

"I love you too."

 

Present Time

 

Elsie burst out into laughter as the girl brought her a new awning in record time, doubling over and clutching her stomach.  "O-oh my god," She said, each word dripping with giggles, "That was the last thing I'd think to happen today!"

 

Waiting for her laughter to subside, she took the sides of the tarp above her and straightened them out, allowing for adequate shade to cover the pool.  Once all of the 'commotion' was over, the place was quiet, a rare thing to experience.  The only sound flooding the background was the pendulous splash of the ocean on the beachfront, an ever-present thing at Hotel Atlantica.

 

This sound was interrupted by a tummy grumbling, and Elsie's eyes widened.  "Oh dear, I... I don't think I've eaten yet, have I?"  She looked at her young friend, as if to apologize, but with Elsie's teeth it ended up looking more like a frown.

 

"I wouldn't suppose we'd have a little chance to catch a small bite to eat, huh?"  She said, lightly rubbing her stomach.

[Kazooie]

 
"BREAKFAST IS READY!!!" 

 

 

And that's how Kaze wakes up each morning, even if she didn't want it to be. As soon as she heard the small, but amazingly loud, chef yell out she bolted up right and sighed. Another night of restless sleep, another morning of sleeping in. She slowly turned and shambled out of her bed, the sunlight streaming in from her large window behind her bed, causing her shadow to reach out to the opposite wall. Just from looking at the shadow, she didn't need a mirror to tell her the disarray her hair was in as she made her way into the bathroom, quickly turning on the shower. Rather than undressing and stepping inside, her shape began to shift as she shrunk down, a medium sized red breegull taking form where the "human" once stood. She quickly fluttered into the shower, allowing her feathers to quickly get dowsed by the water. After a quick rinse, she jumped back out of the shower and shook the water off, trotting over the bathroom sink and mirror as she began to grow back to her normal size.

 

"Oh man... I can't believe I overslept, I was supposed to be up by now to help out with the opening... Well, I guess since I'm air security it isn't that bad... Not much could really happen on the first day before we even have many guests..."

 

As she finished fixing her hair, she wandered back into her room and gathered her clothes for the day. She generally had the same outfit as a 'uniform' but considering most of her shift was spent as a bird, she didn't have to worry too much about what she wore. Regardless, she put on her familiar outfit and opened her door, preparing herself for the inevitable sound of-

 

"Yay, Doggy, you're first!"

 

She giggled as she heard the undeniable sound of Caleb being ambushed by Lexi, leaving much to the imagination as she heard a crash down the hallway, followed by the sounds of a happy child. Kaze made her way down the hallway, and worked her way to the restaurant, smiling as she came across Lexi and Caleb, "Hey Lexi, Caleb! Sounds like you two got off to a quick start this morning!"

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

"Mmh... Nng..." Slowly, peacefully, another day begins for Artemisia vi Leviathan, heiress-in-line to Hotel Atlantica. It was a special day for her, and for all the people in the hotel, but not one that's enough to have her jump out of bed excitedly. No, for her it was only Thursday, just a special kind of Thursday. Her memories from last night hazy and blurred thanks to the potent combination of alcohol and, well, very drunk sex, she opened her eyes slowly as her arm thrashes wildly searching for her boyfriend. "Spit? Spitfire...? Nggh, I can't feel you..." No response. The young mistress continued to search for her boy toy in vain, as Spitfire watches in amusement from the edge of the king-sized bed.

 

"Haha, I'm right here, milady." Lucius chuckled, crossing his arms while resting his chin on his arm.

 

"You're up...? How dare you..." Still somewhat tired from last night, Artemisia sluggishly got up and walked over to her dressing table, her mind on the border of asleep and awake. As she slumped before a lavish table with several products of makeup and hair care, Lucius adjusted her seat to be closer to the table. "Today is a special day, you know." Lucius said as he sprayed water on Artemisia's hair, beginning her usual daily hairdressing routine. "Special...? Is it my birthday..?" Her speech slow and somewhat intelligible, Artemisia relaxed herself as her boyfriend styled her hair.

 

"No, of course not. Did you forget about the reopening?"

"...."

"Let me jog your memory, then."

 

The two continued their lover's spat through morning, with Lucius making sure his lady's hair looks proper but also still to her rebellious tastes, and Artemisia struggling to stay awake.

---

Some time passed, and Arte is ready for the day. She still has a minor hangover, but her mental state seem to have returned to normal. Spitfire had left to do his day job at the hotel's spa, and she's pretty much set. She read through an itinerary of sorts, and all she had to do was prepare her speech for the hotel's reopening. But for now...

 

"BREAKFAST IS READY!!!"

 

"Indeed it is." She took a glance at the alarm clock near her, and it was time for breakfast indeed. A little later than usual, but the timing is perfect for someone as tardy as her. She could feel her tummy rumbling- Why wouldn't she? Considering she had a liquid dinner and burnt a lot of calories the other night, it's not surprising she's hungry. Dressed in her favorite crop shirt and ankle-length skirt, Arte walked out of her bedroom, feeling somewhat more cheery and giddy than usual. She skipped towards the dining room, humming a melody she learned a long, long time ago.

---

Just as she expected, her two sisters had already gotten there before she did. Lexi cooks, so obviously she'd be there. Sirenai is far more lively than she is, so small wonder she- Wait, where is she? "That's odd. She's usually here, eating everything in sight and playing around..." Instead, there was Kaze and Caleb, two security guards she barely knew. "Good morning, you two~" She said in a somewhat lazy tone as she walked over to her sister. "Lex, have you seen Renai and the others? It's so weird arriving here before her and mom..." She asked her beloved sis as she gently ruffled her hair.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Apparently the restaurant was already bustling with activity...well, enough activity to be noticeable. When Elizabeth entered the place, she noticed that Caleb, Kaze, and Lexi were already there. Lizzie decided to sneak behind Caleb, and when she's sure that Caleb was unaware about her presence, she immediately hugged him from behind, snuggling with his fluffy furs for a quick while before letting the poor doggie out. While normally she's really allergic to furs, especially those of cats and dogs', with her medication, she's surely be able to-

 

"Atchoo!"

 

---

 

Appearing moments later on the other side of the table, Lizzie was visibly annoyed with the fact that her medication probably didn't work properly, even more than the fact that her hair and parts of her pajamas were singed on her short trip. She considered to go ask a penguin to get her some more of the pills, but decided not to, because breakfast, and Lexi's cooking being amazing. Though, she suddenly smelled something familiarly bad, and sounded her annoyance loud enough to be heard by Kaze and Caleb.

 

"Ugh, this mixture of a man's smell and liquor is horrible! I bet Lady Artemisia is around."

 

---

 

Deciding to return to the Manor to change into a more proper clothing, Elsa bumped into Camille on her way there. From her expression, it seemed like she just stumbled once again into Artemisia in the middle of her act, or just what's left from it. Camille seems to be pretty worried about something too, and Elsa decided to just talk a bit with him. Well, not really, as she also had something in her mind that she intended to say to her.

 

"Ah, nice to meet you, Camille. Great job as always here~

 

Say, may I ask a favor? Can you help me for the preparation of the grand reopening later today? I need to get groomed properly after all, and I trust you with it? What did I mean with this? Well...help me wash myself, help me get dressed, things like that. It's fine by you, right?

 

Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a wonderful reward for helping me~"

 

Her mischievous smile returning on her face, Elsa waited patiently for the boy's reaction to her teasing. Granted, this could've cost her a decent helper that's not Artemisia's boyfriend, but the penguins would still be able to help her out as a worst case.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Camille nervously bit his lower lip, now that he was out of Artemisia's room his concern about Lizzie increased. This was a big day and Camille wasn't sure Lizzie even realized how important it was. The girl seems to be in a world of her own most of the time....So lost in his thoughts, Camille didn't notice Tiamat was there until she spoke.

 

"Ah, nice to meet you, Camille. Great job as always here~"

 

Camille gave a start and looked at the woman. He managed to smile shakily and quickly nodded his head and thank her before she continued speaking.

 

"Say, may I ask a favor? Can you help me for the preparation of the grand reopening later today? I need to get groomed properly after all, and I trust you with it? What did I mean with this? Well...help me wash myself, help me get dressed, things like that. It's fine by you, right?

 

Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a wonderful reward for helping me~"

 

 

"Groomed? What does that mean?" Camille thought. His confusion must have shown on his face because Tiamat explained right away. And as she did Camille's eyes widened. His thoughts went a mile a second as he struggled to figure out if she was joking or not. She couldn't be serious...but then again, these dragons were an unusual bunch....

"M-milady I...um...well...s-shouldn't you have someone else do it? Someone, well...not male?" Camille paused for a moment and then, worried this would offend her, blurted out. "I-if you insist I will do what I can to help you, of course!"

He then proceeded to stare, terrified, at Tiamat. Hoping that that was the right thing to say, and that he'd not only keep his job but be able to avoid any awkward situations. Given her smile, Camille decided that the best he could hope for was the former. "Something tells me Lizzie is on her own for now...." He thought sadly.

And then another thought hit him, and he was forced to remember Tiamat was Artemisia's relative...."Wait what did she mean by REWARD?!"

[Aix]

Turning at the sound of Kaze's voice, Lexi forgot about the dog in her arms and promptly dropped him, moving on at the bat of an eyelash. "Birdy!" She cried, and leaped at the avian, her bubbling joy etched on her face as she collided into Kaze with a hug. "I'm really excited to have all these new people come again today, I wonder what kind of weird people I'll get to see and--" she paused as a thought occurred to her and she tilted her head to the side. "I suppose that'll make you and doggy really, really busy if we get lots of weird people..." Then, she tilted her head to the other side. "But, I want to see lots of cool things happen with cool guests..." Her head bounced onto the other side again. "But, birdy and doggy..." She looked genuinely pained for a moment, pursing her lips at this internal conflict, before she resolved it in an instant with her happy-go-lucky Lexi logic and philosophy.
 
Bounding away from Kaze, she twirled to face her again and flashed her a million dollar smile. "We'll just see what happens and hope for the best!!"
 
At that moment, her sister, Artemisia, appeared, walking in to ruffle her hair. Lexi leaned into her sister's hand as she answered the question, the little wings on her head flapping enthusiastically. "I think mom and mom would be helping with preparations for the guests to arrive," she said, noticeably calmed. "But, I don't know about the others, they should be arriving soon."
 
No sooner than said, Lizzie reappeared again, as Lexi was too busy to notice her the first time. "Lizzie, don't be mean," Lexi said sadly at the other girl's comment. "You need a hug, too!" And with that, she barreled into Lizzie.

[Kazooie]

With barely any time to react, Kaze opened her arms up just in time to catch the 'young' dragon and return her hug, barely managing to stay standing as she did. "Hey they Lexi! Be a little more careful when you put Caleb down, don't wanna hurt him do you?" She smiled to the girl as she looked up and started talking, unable to get a word in edgewise until Lexi finally let go of her and started bouncing off, "Don't worry Lexi, doggy and I will both be around plenty at night, and I'll stop by the kitchens as often as I can!"

 

Kaze sighed as Lexi bounced around, watching her as Artemisia entered the dining room, quickly straightening herself up as her employers' heir greeted her and Caleb. "L-lady Artemisia, hello!"

 

"Oh crap, oh crap I completely forgot to find out more about Artemisia, I know nothing about her!"

 

Kaze quickly scooted away from the group of people as Artemisia began to talk to her younger sister, only to jump in surprise as another girl disappeared, then reappeared in the room, along with making a comment directed to Artemisia. "Hey... That's the girl I saw disappear the other day I think... Maybe I'm not entirely crazy after all."

 

And with that thought, Kaze watched as Lexi flew at Lizzie, and quickly averted her eyes to avoid seeing any injuries that might occur. She turned to Caleb and smiled, kneeling down to whisper to him as the others talked, "This isn't the kind of morning I was expecting for the grand reopening... I though things would be a bit more... Structured, seems like everyone is just doing whatever!"

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

Artemisia sighed and let out a faint smile after hearing her sister's answer. Not that it's wrong, or that it's something that upset her, but she felt as if Lexi was being far  too calm compared to how she is usually. "I get it. Lex, today is a pretty special day, you know? I think you're allowed to have more fun than that~" She said in a much more active tone that before, messing her sister's hair more and petting her, before she sat down in a large table near the kitchen counter where the Leviathans usually have breakfast every morning. As she adjusted her sitting position, she noticed Kaze off the corner of her vision, visibly tenser than how she was before Arte walked in. "At ease, Kaze. There's really no need to be so serious near someone like me~" She said calmly, surveying the people around her. There was Lexi that she already greeted before, the little puppy, Kaze and... Hang on, when did Lizzie get in? She didn't notice the odd maid walking in the room, and she most definitely didn't see her teleporting to the other side of the table. Not only that, but she also made an offhand remark that her draconic ears could just barely pick up. Naturally, she paid it no heed. She can take the judgemental words of anyone just fine.

 

"Lexi, now would be a good time to start readying the plates, no?" She said to her sister, tapping the table gently, signalling her to put food on the plates. While waiting for mom, mom and Sirenai to arrive, she took the chance to open one of her portals by dragging her fingers across the space beside her. "Everyone!" She shouted, but still in a somewhat laid-back tone, calling for the attention of those in the room. "Today is a special day for all of us here at Atlantica. I thought I should reward you for the hard work you all put into renovating this place the last 3 months, so... Who's up for some cookies?" She stuck her hand in the portal and pulled out two packets of Atlantica-brand cookies, usually sold for an astonishingly expensive amount of money at the gift shop.

[Andx]

More people were converging on the dinner in response to Lexi's call. Artemisia, Lizzie and Kaze all showed up in turn. Caleb silently uttered a thank you knowing Lexi's attention would soon be diverted from him. Sure enough she dropped him. His footing wasn't very solid and he sort of stumbled over onto his side. Almost the moment he got up someone else was hugging him. He had just enough time to see it was Lizzie who had sort of snuck up on him when she sneezed and vanished out of sight.

 

"Well that's one way to end it I guess..." He mumbled while letting out a brief sigh of relief. It seemed for now he was in the clear. Artemisia gave a brief greeting which he sort of nodded to and she soon began interacting with her sister. Lizzie even reappeared, though thankfully hadn't resumed the hug from before. Kaze then knelt down nearby to start talking about the craziness of the morning. After the last few minutes Caleb appreciated some not crazy company.

 

"You're telling me. I just hope the surprise hugs are out of the way for today... Wait I'm on crowd control. It's gonna be a long day. What are those Leviathans thinking?" he whispered back. He took a sitting position at Kaze's side still half-expecting something else to happen.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

It was long before the rest of the denizens of the Hotel that a particular Centaur awoke.  The sun had yet to rise when he stood from the low bed in his room and took a moment to stretch.  It had been his first night back there since the hotel had reopened, and he was dreading dealing with things already.  His time back among his own people, a tradition he held whenever he had enough time off to get off world, had been a welcome change from the constant salty air and sand of Mu, and he had disliked its end tremendously.  All the same, there was an agreement to be honored and the head of the Leviathan house was not dead yet.  Thus in short order Gol'Rahkka Khan stretched and set about dressing for the day.  This would be an especially busy one, and so he would have to leave his morning workout for tomorrow.

 

It was perhaps thirty minutes later that he strode out of the door, which was thankfully tall enough to accommodate his large stature, properly dressed in his working uniform and made his way down to the restaurant.  Most of the other members of the staff, save for those ever-present penguins that he had to mentally restrain himself from murdering en mass, were still asleep when he set about opening things.  Lights were turned on, he made certain the kitchen had adequate stocks of food and seasoning for the day, and from there the waiting game began.  The diminutive head chef, whom he always had to remind himself was around a thousand years older than he, was greeted when she arrived.  He would have assisted her with getting what she needed ready, but in the time between his arrival and hers there had been a number of...incidents in the front of the restaurant that required his attention.  Essentially, he was busy getting everything ready up front and would be for several hours, despite the announcement of breakfast being ready and the general commotion that surrounded Lexi's preparation of a meal for everyone.  He couldn't tell what had been prepared, but after having been away from this gods-forsaken blue ball in space and enjoying what he would describe as actual food, he certainly was not excited about eating anything.  Besides, with the way things were going the place was liable to fall apart if he stopped trying to keep things in order.

 

Case in point, it seemed that the penguins managed to snap one of the tables currently not in use clean in half.  How they managed to do it he would never know, but that didn't change the fact that he had to deal with it.

[Kazooie]

Kaze jumped slightly as Artemisia began to speak to her, nodding slightly as she fiddled around with her hair, "U-um, yes ma'am! O-or... Artemisia! A-anyway, I'll take a cookie, I always heard the Atlantica cookies were really good..." Kaze reached over to where Artemisia was sitting and took a cookie from her, quickly taking a bite out of it and smiling.

 

She bent back down and smiled back to Caleb, shaking her head slightly as she started to speak again, "Sorry to say it Caleb, but I don't think you'll ever get away from the surprise hugs... I can't even begin to explain how tempting it is, even for me... But that is kinda crazy, surely they didn't put you on crowd control alone, right?"

 

Without waiting for a response, Kaze reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out a small earpiece with a microphone attached to it, quickly attaching it to the dog's ear and smiling. "I won't make you keep it if it annoys you, but that'll give you a way to talk to me while I'm in the air! Since we're both security, it's probably for the best that we can communicate easily, and if the crowd control gets to be too much, I can come down and lend a hand... or wing! I found these lying around, I figured it wouldn't hurt if we borrowed them for... A while!"

[Astolfo]

Hotel Atlantica - Restaurant
When Elsie broke out into laughter, Sirenai internally sighed in relief. Watching as her friend made the last few adjustments to where the tarp was, she simply just floated in the water, unsure of what to do, listening to the distant roar of waves from the beach. At the sound of Elsie's growling stomach, Sirenai's own grumbled loudly too, and both of them realized they had still not eaten since they woke up. Imagining all the delicious food that would be set up for the reopening day by her older sister Lexie, she nodded vigorously when Elsie suggested that they should try going to breakfast. Grabbing Elsie's hand, she lifted the two of them out of the water by flying gently.

Nodding to herself, Sirenai turned to face the hotel, sliding back into a running position. When her friend realized what was about to happen, she shouted out nervously, her words being torn away by the wind as Sirenai blasted off the ground, running faster than any human could possibly sprint. Unable to even touch the ground, Elsie was practically flying through the air as the Leviathan's youngest girl practically flew across the ground.

"W-Wait a moment, k-kiddooooooooo!!"

In a matter of seconds, the two of them arrived at the restaurant, skidding around with a loud screech, Sirenai holding onto the door with an iron clasp, to prevent the two of them from skidding all the way across to the other side. Slinging around and into the entrance before Elsie would follow through and collide into the wall outside, Sirenai realized she still needed to get rid of the momentum the two had. Making a split-second decision, she hurled her friend high into the air, before jumping across to the other side of the table with a powerful leap and catching Elsie as she fell again.

"Oh my," Elsie said, before patting Sirenai on the head. "My knight in shining armor!" She giggled. "I keep forgetting how strong you are."

After sighing in relief at having gotten there in time, the youngest of the Leviathan family ran over to her sisters, but noticing the dog, she scooped him up as she ran over, petting him softly.

"Doggy!" Looking up, she realized her sister had brought out a stash of the hotel's cookies. Despite having tried the different recipes that had been used over the centuries, she still never tired of them. "O-Oh, Mishie, Mishie! Ooh, ooh! I want some cookies too!" Grabbing nearly half a tray's worth of cookies, she inhaled them, spinning around with joy as her taste buds savored the wonderful flavor. Spinning around to face Lexi, she had to hold herself from jumping around in happiness. "Lexiiii!! Hi hi hi hi hi hi!"

"Nai!" Lexi picked up her sister and spun her around, and Sirenai giggled.

At that moment, the younger of the two siblings remembered she hadn't eaten enough yet, and looked to Lexi hopefully. "Lexi Lexi Lexi Lexi Lexi! I want food!" It was taking all of Sirenai's effort to not go to the tables and start vacuuming up the food there, and she started to run around in little circles, waiting hungrily.

Absorbing her little sister's excitement, which was even greater than her own, Lexi laughed. "Slow down! C'mon. Everyone! Let's eat! Nai's hungry!" she said, waving at the others as well. Turning her attention back to her sister, she prodded the youngest Leviathan along towards the plate she had prepared specially for Sirenai's seafood loving palate. "Go! Go! Go!" And she chased after Sirenai as the little sea dragon ran ahead upon detecting the smell of her favorite foods. Sitting the girl down, Lexi tied the napkin around her sister's neck. It was only around Sirenai that Lexi actually demonstrated serious doting and caring as well as maturity befitting someone of over 1200 years. However, her cheer did not diminish in the slightest with her responsibility as a big sister, and she smiled and jumped up once Sirenai was properly seated. "Yay! Everyone eat!"

Before Lexi had even gave the go-ahead for breakfast, Sirenai had already started digging in. At the words, she looked up innocently, slurping up the last bit of a giant squid leg, before breaking into a wide grin. She got the feeling an all-new wonderful new chapter of Hotel Atlantica was about to start.

[Maeriberii Haan]

"M-milady I...um...well...s-shouldn't you have someone else do it? Someone, well...not male?"

 

"I-if you insist I will do what I can to help you, of course!"

 

Elsa's smile becoming bigger and bigger. Camille's reaction to her teasing was on the mark, just as she expected it to be. Of course, she knew that Camille's a boy, but that's not really important. Elsa's smile then turned into a hearty laugh when she saw Camille starting to realize what was she referring to when she's saying about a "reward".

 

"Wait, you're a boy?" Elsa tried her best 'surprised' expression at Camille's revelation of his gender. "Still, I'm not really trusting anyone else to help me with this. Elizabeth will only make things messy, the penguins are horrible at this, Artemisia's boyfriend is just horrible in general, and hell if I'll let Ouroboros be close enough to me to help me with this. "

 

Poor boy, I guess I should stop teasing him.

 

"Also, yes, I am serious about this. I'll contact you later, so be sure to start preparing everything as soon as I do, okay?"

 

With that said, Elsa blew up a kiss to Camille's direction before hastily making her way to her room.

 

---

 

Lizzie calmed down after she got a glass of milk from a penguin, though she couldn't hide her surprise and contempt when she saw Renai inside the room. Not really sure about why to be honest. She just didn't seem to be able to get along with her, despite personally thinking that the two of them were similar. Before she could do anything else though, Lexi announced that breakfast was ready.

 

"Slow down! C'mon. Everyone! Let's eat!"

 

Well, despite saying that, Lizzie could definitely notice that Lexi was far more focused about letting Renai eat instead of inviting others to eat. Sighing, she went into her direction, and sat on a chair near there as she saw Lexi helped Renai to get seated and tied a napkin on her neck, before Renai started digging in greedily on the food in front of her.

 

"...I wish I have a sister like that..."

[Andx]

Caleb could tell he was feeling a little awkward as Kaze described wanting to hug him. It wouldn't be like the surprise hugs from crazy little dragon girls and mysterious maids. Maybe it would be nice. But that would be so weird.

 

"W-Well I'm not the only one but putting me on crowd control at all seems counter productive. Everyone just wants to pet me or take pictures or whatever else. I'm not exactly an imposing presence." he answered, his tail wagging slowly behind him as if to reinforce the point.

 

Kaze then proceeded to attach a microphone and ear piece to one of his ears explaining they could use it to chat while she flew and he could call her in for help. It sounded great. He'd love the chance to talk with a good friend during work. Right as he was about to answer however he was swept away at the speed of Sirenai. Despite being almost as big as the girl she carried him with relative ease.

 

"I knew I was forgetting one..." he thought as the young Leviathan sped off to the table. Thankfully she finally let him go as she was being seated and prepared to eat. Caleb got up on a chair close to Sirenai to observe the food that had been prepared. It looked amazing. That is, whatever Sirenai wasn't quickly shoving in to her mouth looked great. Now then, how was he going to go about eating himself?

 

"Dammit, this is where thumbs come in handy." he muttered under his breath as he attempted to slide a plate towards himself by grabbing it with his teeth.