Wisp opened the door to the break room, remembering why he did not often visit this place. Kind of damp, old couch, out of order coffee machine, and a corkboard with random flyers and company eat outs pinned on. The only person who used it was Rico, who would crash here overnight when working late shifts, in just a t-shirt and short shorts. The owner was quite lax with the employee dress code though, so nothing ever really came from it.

“Rico. Hey Rico.”

“Huh? Where? What is it?”

“Hey Rico. Rico. Hey Rico. Ricooooooooooooooooooo.”

“Yes. I’m awake now. You don’t have to keep saying that.”

“You would fall asleep in a half-second if I did stop.”

Rico rolled off the couch and nabbed a mug off the counter top, placing it in the coffee machine, watching it heat up and dispense a cup of pure black gold. Nothing beats a cup of coffee in the.. Evening.

“How are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Making coffee. That’s broken. Tried to use it earlier and it didn’t work.”

“It's because you’re new. You’ll get used to everything soon.”

“Why’d you have to refer me to this weird hotel? There’s probably better jobs out there that pay more.”

“Yeah but they’re not half as interesting. Mr. Bytes tends to attract a lot of strange people to the hotel. Doesn’t even mind their antics as long as they pay.”

“Then can you take over the front desk?”

Rico took a long swig from the mug and slammed it down on the just-starting-to-rot coffee table.

“For what?”

“I’ve been hearing screaming from upstairs and I wanted to check it out. But someone has to man the front desk. And I went to the break room and there was a man here.”

“Alright I guess I can do that. Go upstairs or whatever and check it out. You’ll probably see what I mean.”

He did “man” the front desk. If you counted taking a nap in the chair with a fedora over the face working. Wisp was a little peeved about it, but only for a moment. He was more preoccupied with making it up the stairwell alive. He took, like, 30 steps and already his legs were beginning to hurt. Shouldn’t have skipped leg day. Or arm day. Or gym day. Stupid bitch didn’t even work out, besides pedaling on an elliptical for an hour a day, and not even particularly fast.

He nearly collapsed getting through the door onto the fourth floor, leaning on the door frame to catch his breath. The woman who was the source of the yelling noticed his appearance.

“Excuse me sir, are you an employee? I noticed you have a name badge on your shirt.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Oh. Yes. I’m the desk guy. Heard uh buncha noise from up here. Something the matter?”

“Yes! My height!”

Wisp looked at her. She was, what, 5’3? A perfectly okay height for a woman, according to his Shit-I-Learned-From-Google folder.

“You seem pretty normal to me. What’s wrong with being 5’3?”

“The ISSUE is that I’m not 5’3!”

He checked again. Definitely 5’3.

“You definitely look 5’3.”

“I wasn’t! I was 5’9! But the guy in this room fucking hexed me with a curse of goblin!”

Wisp rapped on the door to the room with his knuckles.

“Uh, sir, did you happen to hex a woman with a curse of goblin?”

“Yup! I did!”

It was Vola. Obviously.

“Why would you do that? Though?”

“Mei said I was short and that she could crush me into dust anytime she wanted because she was two inches taller so I fixed that.”

“TURN ME BACK! GIVE ME MY 6 INCHES OF HEIGHT BACK! I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS!”

“Not until you admit I’m taller than you.”

“OKAY! Fine! You’re taller than me! You happy?”

The door creaked upon a little, enough for Mei to stick her fingers in the gap and push it open, immediately being doused in the face by a bucket of goat’s milk. Wisp was nearly caught in the splash zone, darting back out of range. His Gucci Among Us Slippers were safe for another day.

“VOLA YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH OPEN THIS DOOR OR I’M GOING TO GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT—”

“You didn’t say sorry for telling me you could turn me to dust.”

“[DIALOGUE EXPUNGED]!!!”

A hand popped out from a vent on the floor, grasping the keys to Vola’s room.

“THANK you, I’m going to commit war crimes on his ass now, please turn away.”

Halfway through putting the key in the lock did she think to turn around and take a good luck at the vent on the floor. A pair of glowing purple eyes met her gaze.

“What the fuck?”

“Hi! I’m Chasma! I just gave you keys! You wanted the keys. So now you have to give something back!”

“I mean, I don’t really, have anything on me right now…”

She looked down at her clothes.

“And I’m also sopping wet with goat’s milk, so I don’t think anything I have you would really want…”

Wisp pulled out a pack of Gushers from his pocket. Because he had multiple packs of them.

“Do you want Gushers?”

Chasma took the Gushers and disappeared into the vent system, letting the metal grate squeak shut. Mei stared at the now closed vent while trying to wring out her clothes.

“Thank you for the save.”

“...I guess. Gushers do solve everything.”

Job well done! Mission complete! He couldn’t even believe how well he handled that, traipsing down the stairwell with glee to the tune of domestic abuse going on behind him. It would probably be fine.

Although Snake did say Vola was good with the keys…

Might want to call the hospital just in case.

Coming down to the lobby, he saw Acid talking with Snake on the couches and chairs lining the walls, working on schoolwork or whatever. Dave and Rico were chatting across the counter about something. Didn’t know, Wisp just tuned it out. The noise dulled in intensity. He could not hope to talk to so many people at once. It would be better to simply sit in a spinny stool chair at the receptionist desk and pretend to not notice. Maybe play Brawl Stars or something on his phone. Anything else to look busy.

Found himself staring as his lock screen instead, not knowing what to do. He felt a little guilty for not talking. For not being a little more normal and doing the things expected of him. Dunno. Everything else just seemed a little less colorful.

“Hello. Hello? Employee Person?”

Oh. Customer. Yes. Someone wearing a hoodie and jeans. No luggage. Few personal possessions.

“Uh yes. That’s me. Room is 150 a night. Room 44 has… just become free. Is that okay… miss…?”

For a few seconds he thought he had got it wrong or something, but they just reached into a pocket and pulled out a credit card to place on the countertop. He slid it through the register.

It bounced. Card was very nearly maxed out. He opened his mouth a smidgen to tell them, thought better of it, and closed his mouth. He could make out the shivering even under their clothes, of someone who’d been out in the cold too long or someone without a place to go.

“Here’s your keys. What name should it be registered under?”

“...Kyki.”

He gave them the keys to Room 44. They pulled the hood off their head and tapped the elevator button, which summoned the elevator momentarily to bring them up to their room. Despite being still half broken. He pulled out his own credit card to swipe it through as he watched them go. If there was a god, hopefully it was watching him right now.