Nara Shillia's Story

As the guests started to get acquainted with each other, a large bang could be heard outside. Everyone turned to look at the door. In came the remaining guests, coughing and waving their hands in their faces. The shuttle driver poked his head in.

"Sorry about that!" he smiled, "Bit of a backfire. Smell should clear up in a while. This is the final load." He waved at the guests.
"You all have a nice time!" he said, closing the door behind him. The four new arrivals watched him go, their noses still crumpled against their faces.

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The shuttle driver was about halfway down the mountain when another bang rang out from the back of the vehicle. It slowed to a stop. He sighed and got out. "Damn thing..." He muttered, going around to the side to check the engine. He lifted the side panel and looked inside.

"What the-"

That was all he had time to say before a wall of flame erupted from the side.

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Meanwhile, in the lodge, the smell had started to dissipate. Their lungs clear, the four new arrivals started to get their bearings.

A loud bang caused Carla to jump, and snapped her attention from the departing guests to the front door where more guests were filing in, followed by a strong smell of exhaust.Her face contorted into a mixed expression of surprise and disgust. That man should be arrested, going around stinking up the world with that horrible, disgusting bus of his!

She quickly pulled herself together, displaying a big smile, and waving at the new arrivals. "Welcome! Welcome to the Shelter Lodge!", she called out cheerfully to them. "Just make your way over here, to the desk, and I will get you situated."



John heard the loud noise as he was closing the door to the generator room. Sounds like that bus is on its last leg, he thought to himself. He couldn't dwell on that though. The phones refused to work. There was no discernible problem, therefore there was nothing he could do to fix them. Yet, he knew Carla wouldn't let that fly. He sighed, and made his way to the staff room. He had done all he could do for now.

He sat down, sipping at his freshly made coffee. Taking a deep breathe, he looked out the window at the falling snow contemplating how he was going to explain the phone situation to his wife. The snow started to pick up, it took him a bit, but eventually it dawned on him. The blizzard! I'll blame it on the blizzard!

Nara
Nara watched wide eyed as the driver drove away, leaving them. Looking at the building in front of her, she decided it must be the place. Otherwise, she was screwed. Smiling a bit, she walked inside with her small bag. There was a woman behind a desk inside, who seemed overly happy, talking to a girl. Winny. That's what she said her name was. Looking around, Nara smiled more. It looked like a nice place. Nara reached into her pocket to text her friend, but remembered she had left her phone behind. She didn't want to be bothered on a free vacation.
Slowly, she approached the desk and pulled out a notepad from her back back, then a pen from her pocket. She wrote in messy handwriting, Nara Shillia, and held it up to the woman at the desk. Her hair looked bleach and she was wearing a lot of makeup, but she looked kind, Nara decided. After holding up the notepad she pulled out her ID and gave it to the woman, smiling softly.

Tim
Tim found his room and went inside, dropping off his stuff. Looking around the room, he decided it was nicer than he was staying back home. He wasn't sure if that was good, or bad, however. Shrugging, he turned and walked out of the room, not bothering to lock the door behind him. If someone stole stuff from him, he'd kick their ass, so he wasn't too concerned. Though, knowing how people saw him back where he lived, it was likely people wouldn't take him seriously at first.
At that thought, Tim smirked before deciding to go search for other people. His phone still wasn't working, and he wanted to know if there was some problem or if they really just wouldn't work. Or if there was some way to call people. He didn't have much reason to call any friends he had, but if this place turned out to be really cool he might want to tell them at some point.

"Welcome to Shelter Lodge, Ms. Shillia!" Carla had to squint to read the messy handwriting, finding it rather odd that the girl did not speak. Still, she had to get on with the introduction process. "Thank you for showing your ID, now if you could please just sign this." She grabbed the room key, and handed it to Nara. " Thank you, here is your room key, you will be staying in room 107. Make yourself at home, and please join us for a tour of the facility in about 45 minutes time."

After finishing with Nara, Carla turned to survey the rest of the guests. Thank god there's only a few left, I am dying of thirst!, she thought to herself as she smiled and waved for the next guest to come up to the desk to be helped.

Nara
Nara took her key and smiled at Carla. Her quicker way of saying "thanks". She then was about to walk off in search of her room when there was knocking at the door. This stopped her, since she had just walked in and not knocked. Was that bad?she thought, but then decided it wasn't a second later. The girl before her had done the exact same thing, and no one even gave either of them a surprised or scolding look.

A boy opened the door, and immediately started flirting with them. Nara kind of just ignored him and looked past at the two girls. Outside were two girls who looked the same. Twins, Nara decided, and after looking closer decided they didn't actually seem all that a like. One of them seemed a bit shy, the other seemed very... upbeat? Nara shifted on her feet awkwardly before giving a small wave.

Nara
Nara was beginning to feel jumpy with all the people crowding the lobby. New people were showing up everywhere, and while she wasn't a shy person, she still felt the need to back into a corner. Maybe that was just because she didn't want anyone to talk to her and yell at her for not answering. It wouldn't be the first time.
Shaking off her unease, Nara noticed a guy on the floor by Winny. She smiled a bit to herself, thinking he looked kind of silly. Shaking her head, she looked back at the front door. One twin pushed the shier one behind her and started flirting with whoever the guy was. Nara felt a little bad for the other twin, and a little pissed off at the pushy one. They were sisters, shouldn't they be nice to each other? At least a little? Shaking her head, Nara gave a small wave trying to get the pushed over one's attention. Nara was pretty sure the girl would ignore her, but if she wanted to get out whatever was going on over there, Nara would be happy to help.

Feeling a bit sad, Lacey looked inside to see if there would be anymore people. She saw a girl waving. Not sure if it was meant for her or her twin sister, she just passed her a cute little smile. She looked cool, and totally not shy at all, yet a bit uncomfortable by the crowded room. Lacey got a bit fed up by the flirty situation by the door as she only stood there awkwardly, so she decided to go inside. Slipping in front of her twin and wiggling her way through the door she was inside.

Oh fuck, what am I doing she thought. This room was way too crowded, people she didn't know everywhere. Not feeling like another standing-there-awkward-situation, she walked towards the girl who waved at her. She looked like a nice person.

Lacey felt her heart beating faster as she came closer. She hated her shy-ness. It was so stupid. She often wished that she wasn't this way.

''H-hey.. I'm Lacey.'' she said a bit quiet while looking down at her feet.

Nara
Nara watched the girl behind her twin smile and smiled back before looking around the room more. Nara was starting to get used to the crowded room, but still wanted to get out of there soon-ish. Looking back to the door she saw the girl slip inside and walk over to her. She looked really shy, which was a big contrast to her sister who was obviously trying to use her looks to get Miles to carry her bags.
''H-hey.. I'm Lacey,'' the shier twin said, causing Nara to look back at her and smile a bit. Taking out the notepad from earlier, she flipped to the page she had shown Carla which read "Nara Shillia". She hoped Lacey wouldn't mind the not talking thing, but even if she did, Nara still felt glad that she wasn't near her twin, able to be bullied or pushed around. People like that had always bugged Nara to no end.

''Well... um..'' Lacey chuckled, confused by the not talking and affraid she was irritating this girl.''Crowded here, isn't it?''

She decided to ask this because Nara looked a bit uncomfortable with the crowdiness. Lacy felt glad that she wasn't the only one not feeling content with all those people, she just wanted to get out of here. She looked on Nara's face to check if she wasn't bugged by the talking. But she didn't look like she was annoyed at all. Not like those girls Lacey met at college, who would give her just a bitchy look as she asked them something. Yeah, if there was one thing that Lacey hoped, it was not to meet those type of persons here. She wanted to make friends, to be apart from her twin for once.

Nara
Nara smiled at the seemingly nervous girl beside her. ''Crowded here, isn't it?'' Nara nodded at the question, trying her best to not look scary or anything. Lacey seemed to be more nervous than a normal person, and she kind of wondered what kind of people she must know to make her feel that way. Besides her sister, who Nara still thought was more or less a bitch.

Pulling out a pen, Nara began to write something down. She then handed it to Lacey for her to read, hoping she didn't mind about her speech problem. Below her name, it said I'm mute. I don't do well in conversation, sorry in the same messy handwriting. Since she always wrote out what she said, you'd think she would have developed better hand writing, but instead it is and always has been a messy scribble. But people could read it, so Nara didn't mind.

Julia

Julia left the counter and the obviously uninterested boy to go see what else was going on. On the outside Julia was a stuck up brat but on the inside she really just wants some one to care about her as much as she cares about her self. She sat down in a chair and started to read some lines for a audition coming up soon, she looked around hoping that someone would ask her what she was reading so that she could tell them all about her self. But she sat there by her self to be bitter that no one cared about her acting career except her.

Athylia

Athylia stood like a stone as she watched Julia sit down in a chair and begin to read. "Phew she didn't notice me." She said quietly to herself. She walked towards a girl that looked like she was writing something on her notebook. She wandered her way threw the uncomfortable room, when she finally got to the girls they seemed busy, but that wasn't going to stop Athylia from trying to make some friends. She was not a people person but she was hoping this trip would change that. She walked up to the girls and stood there very awkwardly and quickly looked at the ground and said. "Hi, I'm Athylia nice to meet you." She didn't want to make eye contact, with the two girls until she knew there names it was a little habit to know the peoples names that she was talking to before she actually started a conversation. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She said awkwardly

Lacey Maxxwel

''That's fine, I don't really enjoy talking either.'' Lacey smiled, feeling a bit more comfortable now. ''And communication doens't necessarily mean talking right?''

Lacey then reached for her bag and pulled out a sketch book. She flipped it open and showed Nara a colourful sketch of a girl barely covered only in flowers and hair. It looked a bit hippie-ish.

''This is what I do when I don't feel like talking. Sketching a bit. I hardly talk at college. I just draw.'' she said to Nara, hoping she won't feel like an outcast for being mute. Because Lacey knew what it felt like to feel that way.



Laurie Maxxwel
''Wow, you are one of the strongest guys I've ever seen!'' Laurie said a bit overdue, while holding his right arm with her hands. ''Would you mind bringing those to my room?''

Flashing her almost irresistible smile and a wink she hoped he'd say yes, she'd love some one-on-one time with this cute guy.

The others in the lobby watched Laurie and Miles disappear upstairs.

"I guess they'll be missing the tour..." someone muttered.

Carla did a quick once-over of all the rooms. "Richmond, 101. Coltman, 02. Gap, 03. Collins, 04, Greni, 05, Otto, 06, Shillia, 07, Maxxwel, 08 and 10, Lefeber, 111." There was one missing. Barbara Phillips, room 109. Carla scanned the room. She could have sworn she'd seen a blonde-haired woman around earlier. But this was all the guests, minus the two that were already going on upstairs.

"All right, everyone, since we're all here we might as well get the tour started a little early. If you'd all gather around."

Snoring with his arms spread over the table in the staff room, John had fallen asleep after just a couple sips of his coffee. Suddenly he jumped awake, knocking his chair back slightly, and almost toppled onto the floor. His heart was pounding, and he was covered in sweat. Man that was some dream., he thought as he stretched and sat back in his chair, allowing the details of the dream to slowly dissipate until he could only vaguely recall that it involved a murder of some sort. Reaching for his coffee, he cursed noticing that he had managed to spill it during his nap. He cursed again when he noticed that his shirt had soaked up a good amount of the coffee, leaving a rather large brown stain on the left sleeve of his shirt. He go up to grab some paper towel, when his eyes fell on the clock that hung on the wall. His heart almost stopped, Oh shoot the tour!. Carla had made quite certain that he knew to attend the tour of the facilities. Her desire was to introduce all the guests to the employees to make them feel more at home, and willing to provide feedback on their stay. Forgetting the spill, and the stain, he took off down the hall towards the lobby. I hope she hasn't started yet, she'll never let me hear the end of it if I am late!

He arrived through the door located behind the front desk just as Carla was saying," All right, everyone, since we're all here we might as well get the tour started a little early. If you'd all gather around."

"Phew!", he panted as wiped the sweat from his forehead, and tried to calm his breathing down to normal.

Carla turned her husband, her smile quickly turning to a look of annoyance, and whispered severely," You dolt! Causing all this commotion, you're lucky the guests are here or I'd have your arse!" She then turned back to the guests displaying her phony smile, "I would first like to introduce you to the staff of this Shelter Lodge. Firstly, there is me. I am Carla, and I run the front end of the Shelter Lodge. Next, there is John, my husband, who is the mechanic responsible for fixing anything that breaks.", at the mention of his name, John, attempted to smile at the crowd of guests, but gave up and just lifted his hand and gave a small wave, "Feel free to take up any questions or concerns with either of us. Now let us begin the tour!"

Carla walked out from behind the front desk, and stood in front of the large fireplace. John trailed behind her, and stood a few feet to the left of her. Carla spread her arms out wide, proudly announcing, "Now this, as you all may know, is the lobby. From here you can easily make it to every other part of this resort. This is a place where you can rest, hang out, and call upon me to resolve any issues you may have. Any questions?"

Nara
Nara waved a short hello to the girl who said hi to her and Lacey, but her attention was quickly changed to the tour when it was announced it was starting early. Since they were all there, Nara didn't mind. She did notice however, that Lacey had slipped away. Her sister and Miles was missing too. Nara frowned slightly, thinking it was useless to go after someone who bullied you, but shrugged it off. They were sisters. Besides, Nara could right out a brief over of the tour and a map for Lacey if she missed the tour. Nara was usually good with those kind of things.

Nara looked over at a man who just arrived, probably working with Carla. Then, Carla began to talk about who they were. The man, apparently was John. A mechanic. "Now let us begin the tour!"
Nara smiled a bit, some what excited to get on with the tour. Carla came out in front of a fireplace, and began to introduce the lobby. Nara couldn't pay much attention though, she kept glancing around for any sign of the twins or Miles. They really might miss the tour.

Tim
Tim joined the crowd who was listening to Carla introduce herself and John, and then start the tour with the lobby. Tim had to resist rolling his eyes, since he knew that they ALL knew this was the lobby. Really, could people be that dumb to not figure that one out on their own?
Shaking his head, Tim stuck his hands in his pockets to wait for the tour to move on. Though he found explaining the lobby silly, he did want to see the rest of the resort. It seemed like an over all cool place. Even if the only people he'd really heard speak so far were a bit off.

Carla froze for a moment when Xander asked where the rest of the staff was. "Well..um..", she stammered as she tried to think of a good excuse. "You see, this is the trial weekend, if all goes according to plan, then we will be hiring more employees to care for our future guests." She started to sweat a little, hoping that this would serve as a good enough excuse. To prevent any other awkward questions Carla decided to continue on with the tour, "Now if you will follow me down this hallway,", she indicated the hallway with her left hand," we will be moving on to the dining area of the facility."

She led the guests down the hall, and into the Dining room. It consisted of one long, wooden table down the middle of the room that was lined with a large number of chairs. She led them around the perimeter of the room, stopping in front of the kitchen doors. "This!", she announced spreading her arms wide again,"is the dining facility. Three meals will be served here everyday at a set time. I will be providing a pamphlet with the meal times, and course descriptions at the end of the tour." As she spoke, Carla cursed the employees that had failed to arrive, I hope they rot in Hell, she thought spitefully. She did not allow her anger to show through to the guests, maintaining an overly cheerful facade she herder the guests into the kitchen. "This is our state of the art kitchen. All of our appliances are brand new, and very high end. Nothing but the best for our guests!" Carla was quite proud of the kitchen so she gave the guests a moment to gaze in awe at all the beautiful stainless steel appliances. "So what do you think so far?", she asked eager to hear their compliments.

John followed Carla silently. I don't know why she's making everyone go on this silly tour. Just give them a map of the place, I mean it is not like they have never been to a hotel before! Not only was he annoyed at Carla, the reminder of the lack of employees caused him to feel a deep anger towards them. They better not show their faces now, or I'll pound them to a pulp! The nerve of those people, leaving Carla and I to look after all of these people. He shook his head to snap out of his anger as his wife was leading everyone into the kitchen. The last think he needed right now was for Carla to catch him daydreaming in the middle of the tour she had be so looking forward to hosting.

Carla waited in vain for a few moments before clearing her throat, and leading the guests over to the walk in Fridge. She opened the large silver door, and pushed the rubber flaps aside to give them a glimpse at the food. "Our fridge is fully stocked with only the best of foods. All of it is organic, and hormone free." She boasted, closing the door, and leading the guests of the kitchen through a side door. She took them down the hall, and into the first room on the right. "This is the game room. Just like the kitchen, everything in here is brand new and very high end. For you to enjoy at your leisure are foosball table, air hockey, some arcade game, pool tables, and a self-serve bar." She pointed to each of the items as she mentioned them. Carla them moved over to the door that led to the staff room. She opened it, leading the way inside. "Now this is the Staff room. If you can't seem to find either me or John, you can always check in here, or if it is late at night you can always find us in our room, 301."

Carla gave the group a second to take everything in before leading them back to the lobby."Before I end the tour, I would like to point out how to get to our skiing slopes. Unfortunately, I am unable to show you at this time due to the bad weather." She explained apologetically as she pointed to the heavy snowfall that was taking place just outside the window. "To get there you simply need to follow the path labeled 'Ski Slopes' that starts just as you walk outside. There is also a small rental shop up on the hill where you can rent out skiis, boots, and jackets. Due to the shortage of staff, you simply need to come to me if you desire to rent something, and I will log into the database via the front desk computer." Carla paused to take a deep breathe before continuing, "Thank you for attending the tour of the Shelter Lodge, remember that if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to approach either myself, or John and we will be happy to assist you."

Just as Carla made it back behind her desk, she realized that she had forgotten something. "Oh Wait!", she shouted, "I forgot to hand out the dining pamphlets!" She grabbed the pile of light pink pamphlets, and began handing them out to the guests. "The meal times are clearly marked, but I would just like to mention that dinner will be taking place in three hours. We will be serving oven roasted chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes."

Once everything was over, Carla made her way back to the front desk, and motioned for John to follow her. "I need you here so I can get that meal started. We can't have the guests starving all because those pests didn't bother showing up!, Carla hissed this at John, and didn't give him a chance to respond before stalking off to the kitchen. It's going to be a long weekend, John sighed, while leaning on the counter hoping that the guests would entertain themselves so he could relax.

Nara
Nara wondered away from the group, thinking of where she wanted to go. She paused, seeing some guy put a cigarette away and go to the game room. Deciding the game room would be a good way to waste time, Nara went there. The guy she saw went straight to the bar, which made Nara roll her eyes a bit.

Looking around, she found a few arcade games, most of which she hadn't heard of before. There was, however, the classic pac-man machine. Or, at least a rip off of one. The title was different, and had different characters, but the idea was the same. Smiling a bit to herself, Nara went over to go play it. After about five minutes of playing, she got a bit bored. She loved games, but there was only so many times you could play one game. Sighing, Nara turned and looked around for something else to do.

Tim
Tim decided the best place for him to be right now was not among people, since the few people he had met already didn't like him it seemed. After a brief pause to look around, Tim headed back to his room. Once inside, he threw the dinner pamphlet onto his open bag, and laid down on the bed. It was comfy, he had to admit. But the place was a little too orderly for his tastes. It was the reason he didn't like hotels, they always made you feel like you had to keep it really clean.

Taking out his iPod from his pocket, he put the earphones in and closed his eyes, intent on taking a nap. Maybe some sleep would get his attitude into a better place so he could at least attempt to socialize.