Thank you all so much for the kind reviews/favorites/alerts! It means so much to me, you guys are great! Also, someone informed me that it's 'zbornak', not 'spornak', so thanks for that. Alright, onto the next chapter!
"Alright, looks like you'll be in room 1052, a very nice room." The manager slid a small keycard over to Wander.
"Ooh, fancy," he commented, looking the card over.
On the far side of the lobby, the elevator doors opened and a young lady walked out pushing a small gurney that one could use to take luggage up to a room.
Before she could tell her boss (or rather, boss for right now) that she was ready for her next job, the little orange traveler had nearly bounded over to her. "Hello there!" he greeted, "You must work here too!"
"Um, yes I do," she replied, giving him a slightly nervous smile. Judging by her uniform - a short sleeved collared tee shirt and a medium length skirt, both in black - that she was a maid who did other odd jobs around the hotel. Like the hotel manager, she was tall with an hourglass figure. Instead of black hair however, hers was dark blue and tied in a bun with a slight cowlick. "My name is Adelpha."
"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Ma'am," Wander said as he tipped his hat and stuck out his hand, "Most folks call me Wander."
Adelpha giggled slightly. "Pleasure's all mine, Wander," she replied, shaking hands with her friendly guest.
"Adelpha, why don't you help take his bag up?" the manager asked. As soon as he did though, Wander quickly scooped up his green bag.
"No need, I can just carry it myself!" he said, not wanting Adelpha to do more work than she needed to. He thought for a moment. "But I could use someone to show me where my room is because this place is huge!"
The maid smiled. "Of course." She looked up. "Keane - I mean, Sir - anything else I need to do?"
"Not right now, I'm afraid," the manager - or Keane, apparently - replied, giving her a sort of sad smile as he did. Adelpha nodded, and led Wander over to the elevators.
Ten floors later, the two found themselves in the middle of a long, dark blue painted hallway with purple and white stripes along the walls. "Now, we do have a noise rule so the other guests aren't disturbed." Although, if she was being completely honest, there weren't too many guests to disturb.
"No problem!" Wander replied, using half the volume but just as much enthusiasm as how he normally talked, "I'll be as quiet as a space mouse!"
"Alright. Well, here's your room." Wander stopped in front of a black door with a shiny silver plaque on it that read 1052. "Well, it looks good so far," he commented.
Smiling, Adelpha wished him a good night's stay and said farewell. After saying goodbye, Wander immediately turned his attention to the room. He was so excited that it took him three times to get the door open, trying to time sliding the card and turning the knob just right.
The dark colors faded away as the room turned out to be painted a robin's egg blue with grey carpet. Inside the room was a couch and chair with a coffee table between them, a small kitchenette, a bathroom with a tub so big that Wander thought he should consider wearing his scuba mask when he took his bath, and finally a master bedroom complete with a king sized bed and a small door that led to a balcony.
"It sure is nice," Wander said to himself as he took pictures of the room, "Although, it is kinda big for just me." Suddenly, the room felt a lot bigger, and a bit lonelier.
Shaking these thoughts away, Wander smiled to himself. "I'm sure I just haven't gotten used to it, that's all!" After all, it was a great room, and he was going to enjoy it.
At that moment, there was a slight rumbling in his stomach. "Well, guess I better fill up the tank! But first..."
Digging into his bag, Wander pulled out a small Tupperware container that had been placed in liquid nitrogen (for freshness). "Nothin' says dinner like homemade casserole!" Wander knew the hotel most likely didn't have potluck meals like the hotels on his planet, but that didn't mean he still couldn't share.
A quick two and a half minutes in the microwave, and it was ready to go! It took another three minutes or so for the elevator ride downstairs and for him to find the dining room.
Unlike the rest of the hotel, this room wasn't smothered in blues and purples. Instead, it was painted black with white lights and candles scattered along the walls and sitting on the tables. The floor was a pretty grey color, and the tables varied between white and black tablecloths, with blue plates and a small collection of silverware. With such a big dining room though, there was only about half a dozen tables with people sitting at them, the rest were completely empty. 'Huh, well that sure is strange,' Wander thought.
"Hello again," a familiar voice greeted. Turning around, a huge grin appeared on Wander's face.
"Well hey there, Adelpha," he replied, "Are you here for dinner too?"
The Purlet woman shook her head. "Just taking a break," she told him. When Adelpha noticed the steaming container, she looked at him, a bit confused.
"Oh, I just thought I'd share a bit with everyone," Wander explained, taking the lid off the delicious smelling casserole.
"That's sweet of you," Adelpha said, taking a small whiff of the food, "but I'm afraid we only have the buffet set up for breakfast and lunch. I can put that in the kitchen if you'd like and you can pick it up before you leave tomorrow."
Wander was a bit disappointed, but continued smiling nonetheless. "Thanks," he said, handing the dish to her.
"Go ahead and sit down," she told him, "a waiter should see you shortly." Wander tipped his hat, and then went to go sit at a small two person table. Looking over the menu, he decided on the salad with spinach and almonds and the potato wedges with sour cream. It wasn't a lot, but then again, Wander was a pretty small guy so it didn't really matter to him.
Thanks to the quick service of the waitstaff, Wander quickly found himself with nothing to do but wait. It had been so long since he had eaten by himself, with not even Sylvia to talk to. He supposed he could have danced to the light piano music playing in the background or maybe even play along with it, but his banjo was up in his room and there wasn't much room to dance.
Lightly sighing, Wander decided to just look around at all his fellow diners. There were three businessmen - all at different tables - a couple families of three or four, and a couple... couples, probably there on a vacation or a second honeymoon. One couple though, Wander recognized immediately and couldn't help but walk over and say hello.
"Hey guys!" The two small creatures turned, and quickly smiled. "Our hero!" they said in unison. Quickly, they hopped up and kissed Wander thrice on the cheek.
"How have you guys been?" Wander asked the two bingleborps, "How's the planet?"
"Great since you stopped Lord Hater from taking over!" said the purple bingleborp.
"We're here on a small vacation," the pink bingleborp began to explain, "We wanted to see the famous Purlet gardens, it took as a whole year to save up the money to come here."
"Well congrats guys!" Wander grinned, "Hope you guys have a fun time!"
"We will!" the high pitched pair said in unison as Wander walked away. 'It's always nice to see old friends again,' he thought. As he passed another table - a small family of four Gemheads, creatures who had gems in the middle of their foreheads with peddle-like things on the sides of their heads and they always wore long green robes. The youngest Gemhead, who was sitting in a highchair dropped a spoon, just in time for Wander to see it and quickly pick it up.
"Here ya go, little guy," Wander said, handing it back to the toddler. He babbled a thank you and continued sucking on the spoon. "So, how are you folks doing?"
The other Gemhead child, a little girl, smiled at him. Her parents however weren't smiling. They had seen him on wanted posters on their planet, distributed by none other than Lord Hater's Watchdogs. Even if he did seem friendly, they didn't want to be seen with him by a passing Watchdog and get arrested during their family vacation.
"We're fine," replied the mother, "but, uh, I think your food will be coming soon. You'd better go sit back at your table."
"Guess you're right," Wander said, not noticing their nervousness, "Enjoy your meal!" With that, he left the family alone, much to the mother and father's relief.
Sure enough, when he sat back down, a waiter arrived with Wander's food. Even if he did wish he had someone to share it with and someone to have a conversation with in between bites, he couldn't deny that the food was fantastic.
After the short dinner, Wander headed back up to his room. He thought about stopping by the stables to wish Sylvia a goodnight, but he didn't want to disturb her if she was in the middle of eating or doing something. So, he decided to have a nice hot bath instead.
When most of your baths on the road consist of cold rivers and lakes, a hot bath was like a little piece of heaven to the Star Nomad. It was nearly an hour before he got out of the tub, enjoying the hot water for all that it was worth.
Once his fur was all dry and fluffy, he couldn't really think of anything else to do. "Guess I should hit the hay," Wander told himself, "After all, if I get up early, maybe I can get breakfast and then Sylvia and I can do some sightseeing!" Anxious to get back to what he loved the most, Wander jumped into bed, and went to sleep.
... Or at least tried to.
For whatever reason, Wander just couldn't get comfortable. The bed was soft but stiff at the same time. The pillows were too big and fluffy, and it just didn't feel right. He tried every single position he could think of, even hanging upside down off the bed, but nothing worked. He also tried no pillows, no blankets, only one of the blankets, rolling up in the blankets like a burrito (he nearly rolled off the bed) and even tried making a little pillow fort. Every attempt to sleep resulted in his eyes closing for just a couple minutes before opening again.
Yawning, Wander glanced at the digital clock. The numbers read 10:05 PM. "I just gotta get some shut eye," he told himself, feeling even more exhausted now. As he glanced over at the balcony door, he suddenly got an idea.
()()()()()()()
Normally the job of a maid would be a tiring one, but really, Adelpha had no complaints. It was easy enough, and she was usually done with her housekeeping duties by 11. If anything, she almost wished she was busier.
Opening the door, Adelpha looked around and was surprised. Not a speck of dirt or dust anywhere. There weren't even any dishes in the sink. Moving onto the master bedroom, she was met with an already made bed and absolutely nothing to tidy up.
"How strange," she said to herself, "Did he even stay here last night?"
Just then, she heard a door open. "Good morning!" Quickly turning around, she saw Wander walk inside with a smile on his face and a small green pillow and a bag in his arms.
"Uh, good morning," Adelpha replied, "Did you, sleep on the balcony?"
"Yep!" Wander answered as if it were the most normal thing in the universe, "Guess I'm just too used to sleeping under the stars." He then noticed the cleaning supplies she was carrying. "Do you want some help cleaning up in here?"
The maid smiled. "That's fine, I think I'll manage," she replied, "Why don't you head down to breakfast?"
Breakfast did sound good. So, after quickly brushing his fur and teeth, Wander said goodbye and headed downstairs, ready for the start of a new day.
Alright, hope this wasn't too boring. I promise, the plot will get going in the next chapter, I just had to use this one to kind of set it up. Also, most of you probably know this but the Bingleborps are from the episode 'The Greatest'. The Gemheads are a real WOY species too, but technically he hasn't met them yet (which works in favor for my story). In the opening though, it's the 8th alien you see, around 0:19 (it during the dancing part so it goes by pretty fast). Also, I totally just made up the name.
Anyway, I'm done with midterms so chapter 4 should be up pretty soon. Please review, and I hope you all have a nice day!