Galen Hotel

Staff Meeting #1

Characters Mentioned:

Laura, Jodi, Mari (My own characters), Kenji, Juliette, Aaron (Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi) Jude (The Cruel Prince by Holly Black) Suriel (ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas) Celaena (Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas) Evangeline (OUABH by Stephenie Garber) and Liam (Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros) Oh, and also Cassandra and Carolina (My own characters)

Laura and Jodi sigh in relief as they plop down onto their plush maroon seats, both clutching their mugs. Laura's says TAMLIN YOU STUPID BITCH on hers and Jodi's says SECTOR 45 inside a military patch.

I try not to roll my eyes as I take a sip of my lavender and honey tea from my elegant and non-cringe worthy mug that has pine trees and the setting sun painted all over it.

"So, how is everyone? Still insane?" Jodi jokes, taking a sip from her plain mint tea.

"I have to leave for a bit tomorrow," Laura announces to me, "I'm seeing the Doobie Brothers live." She adds in a wink, though I have no clue why. I peer down at her Beatles t-shirt and acid wash jeans. I truly love seeing her daily outfits.

"We need to figure out our agenda." I remind them, steeling myself for their reactions. Sure enough, Jodi immediately slunks in her seat.

"But why?! I hate planning!" Jodi whines, sounding worse than Tamlin.

"Maybe if someone did their job and their passion, we wouldn't have to do this." I shoot back.

"It's not my fault!" Jodi exclaims, "You try telling the vessel to get on google docs! It's like trying to get a cat to follow you around!"

"Hey! Marlin loves me enough to do that even when I'm not eating tuna!" Laura interjects. I huff, pinching my nose.

"Just, brainstorm with me. What are some easy, no pressure things we can invite characters over to do?" Thankfully, writer's block is very rare among our group, so I don't have to wait long.

"I want to make Jurdan one-shots." Jodi immediately blurts out.

"I think you just like the vessel's friend's one-shots too much." Laura grumbles, though a hunt of fond amusement coats her tongue. She takes another sip from her mug– Lemon tea with almond milk.

"I resent that comment," Jodi says before tapping her chin, "Maybe we could invite Juliette and Aaron over? We could see the rest of their wedding."

"Taherah Mafi did rob us of the ceremony, reception and photo taking." I agree.

"That's not all we missed out on." Laura croons. The conversation pauses as Jodi smothers her with a pillow. "But I do like the idea of seeing Juliette." She continues once half of her tea in one the cheap carpet of my office and Jodi is fixing her hair in her seat.

"She is a sweetie." Jodi giggles, smiling. "And she would be so nice to work with! Open, predictable without being boring, wholesome–" A glare as Laura– "And don't get me started on how amazing it would be when Kenji undoubtedly joins in!"

"It is a nice thought." I jump in, "But can you imagine the panic-attack Aaron would have if he knew his wedding was going to be online for all to see?"

"Yeah, the amount of characters who would drop dead if they knew they're lives were open to the public for thousands of people to drown in is concerning." Laura dryly says.

"Not to mention Juliette's slowly strengthening sanity would crumble to dust if she knew she was a fictional character." I softly mumble, sympathy filling my pores.

"You know who would be slightly less tied up in matters of their own world to come visit? Evangeline." Laura suggests.

"Awwww." As expected, Jodi melts at the name, smiling once more. "She's such an adorable angel." Laura and I don't disagree.

"Ugh, whenever we talk about guests we'd like I can't stop thinking about inviting Celaena over. Alien? I don't know what name she goes by present-day yet." Jodi begins to rant, "She's such a fun, relatable character!"

"You want to write a murder scene, don't you?" Laura guesses. Even she looks disconcerted by Jodi's answering grin.

"She is a better version of Nesta." I agree.

"Ugh, why does that girl have to be so relatable yet so aggravating?" Jodi laments.

Laura gasps, making both Jodi and I stiffen, as she hates breathy mouth noises. She turns to Jodi, irritatingly full bottom lip pushed out into a pout, eyes wide and pleading. I find the visual slightly disturbing, as Laura is like Jude; She's allergic to any vulnerable emotion.

"Can we please invite the Suriel over?" She begs. Both Jodi and I swallow back tears.

"You know why we can't do that-" Jodi begins, only to be interrupted.

"Just one scene! We see people bend the rules for it all the time in memes! We could even just invite it over to talk to it ourselves! See how it's doing in the–"

"Do not remind me where it is." Jodi pleads.

"Laura, we love Suri very much, but unless it rises from the dead in canon. . .it's just not a rule we can break." I clutch my mug tighter, hating the turn of the conversation. The Suriel is one of the most painful character deaths we have ever gone through. Though Liam is another one.

"Hey, when are you going to write Cassandra and Carolina's story?" I ask Jodi, changing the topic.

"Ugh, I was going to schedule a final meeting to hash out the rest of the plot, but now we have to go back to square one and go over the details of their lives in the beginning of the story." Jodi grunts, eyes narrowing into a glare.

"We may as well get on with that, shouldn't we?" Laura sighs, getting up.

"Yes, I suppose we should." With my dismissal, Jodi and Laura walk out of my office just as the door opens for another guest.

Ok, 935 is a little short of the 1,000 words a day I want to do, but this is more of a filler to give more info on how Galen Hotel operates, anyway. I hope you liked it, though as I mentioned last time, this is more of a weird form of getting my stories in order for me and plays out like a weird Tim Burton movie. Have a nice day!

-Cloudy