Eye of the Needle: Into the Reikai

Avery V: An Exchange of Pieces

Avery awoke to a completely silent room, save for the fan that had been running all night. He felt like a million dollars, despite his wrecked body still needing to heal. The first thing on his mind wasn't eating, he'd stuffed himself so much he was amazed he could even think to glance at the breakfast menu. No, Avery had a meeting with the man upstairs (in this case, literally). Even though he knew the context, he couldn't help but dread the interaction. Maybe DeMain would barge in the nick of time to 'save' him from it, and he could play it all off as a big misunderstanding. Unlikely, but funny.

Avery gathered the comfortable outfit he'd laid out the night prior. At least, he thought it was night then. It felt like two years had passed in his sleep. The clothes fit nicely, just the right amount of space for a relaxed fit but tight enough for him to move around in them well if needed. It was weird he had to take these things into account, but he'd never been out of the metaphorical danger zone for more than a few years at a time. Oh well, maybe next time.

Avery opened his door to begin the trudge around the hotel looking for the big boss, but the attendant woman from earlier was already outside.

"Oh. Hello? I was just going to see uh, Mr. Anansi."

"We've actually had an unexpected guest come, so Mr. Anansi has offered me as your guide to this five-star hotel and all that goes on within! Your meeting will come later."

Avery wasn't really sure if he should be dreading that the time had been postponed or if he should be excited at the idea of a tour through endless hallways. Nah, neither of them were good.

"Great. When do we start?" He feigned back her customer service tone to her. Why? He didn't know. She would have smiled and cheered him on even if he told her to jump out the window. It felt pointless to bother with anything else, though.

"We'll start right now. Do you have any preferences on where we should go first? We have a wide selection of options, but I'll narrow it down to three categories. Hungry? Try our wide array of kitchens and diner-style restaurants! Looking for excitement? Try out our casinos, or take a trip to our pools and our opera house for more relaxed fun! If you're feeling particularly randy, or looking for a drink—"

"I'll just go with the opera house. I've always wanted to go to one even if just to see what it's like."

"Opera house it is then! But don't feel rushed, the rest are all on the table afterwards."

The room melted away again as the woman put her arms behind her back. The two of them were suddenly standing in the high balcony of a massive theater room, filled with stylized mahogany carvings and elegant chairs. Avery felt a new weight in his pocket and found a pair of stilted binoculars, the kind an old person might use to get a better look at the actors during a play. The attendant had the same, but she appeared to be content looking dead forward at the sloped ceiling.

The opera room was mostly empty, save for a few other people who filed in. Some seemed to be spirits of more moderate things like crows or test scores, while others were workers at the hotel who seemed to be on break. Their faces were disappointingly still treated like CCTV camera footage, so Avery had little option to pay them any mind. His attention was instead gripped. Rather, his attention was stolen by the glorious figure that presented itself onstage once the curtains rose and the lights dimmed.

She was tall, larger than life at perhaps eight feet in height. Beauty radiated from her despite the complete lack of its presence on her body. The skin was torn and leathery, wrapped over the frame of some automaton rather than the stunning woman it could have once belonged to. Warped wounds from burns and cuts from razors dotted the surface, completely tarnishing its once-smooth surface. The insides were that of beating drums and musical instruments like organs.