Love Motel

It was late that evening when Gerald was sent out to the Elayleb District to pick up a donation of clothing that had been offered to the mission. The neon sign to this particular building flickered in various languages, the symbols and letters occasionally drawing out tiny swords and battling with one another, before arranging themselves back into order.

The hallway had a strange scent to it as Gerald looked for the right room number. A mish-mash of floral scents covering up an underlying musk, like the way potpourri tries to cover up the smell of a bathroom, but ends up just smelling like poopy flowers.

Gerald held up the hand written note next to the symbol on the door. Feeling that he had a match, he gave a quick knock.

Down the hallway a drunken couple wobbled to the door of their room. Kissing, laughing, hugging, and staggering. The man fumbled with the heart-shaped room key while the woman held up an empty bottle of wine triumphantly.

"What a minute..." Gerald said. "What kind of place is this?"

The door flew open and Gerald found himself looking into a lavishly furnished hotel room. The tables and mirrors were shaped like hearts, flower petals were strewn all over the floor. Hundreds of candles burned sweetly, bathing the room in a gentle passionate light. In the center was a bed shaped like a cloud. It slowly rotated around in a circle while Zurra in her adult form lounged seductively on top of it, wearing a silken, floor-length bathrobe.

"Ah... well, that answers my question."

"Hello Geri," she said in a sultry voice as she lifted herself off the bed and slinked over towards him.

A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. "There seems to be some sort of mistake. I was sent here to pick up a donation of clothing."

"Oh, there's no mistake," she purred as she ran her fingers over the edge of the robe. "You can have this."

She reached down to the knot that held the silk belt in place. "Here, let me give it to you."

Gerald spun around on one heel and made to leave.

She blinked. "H... H-hey, where you going?"

"Nothing good will happen if I stay here."

Zurra opened her mouth in outrage. "C-come back here! You can't leave!"

"Watch me."

She stamped her foot like a child. "Don't you know that a girl's feelings are delicate? I'm practically throwing myself at you and you're just walking away!"

"You're not practically throwing yourself, you are throwing yourself," Gerald called back as he quickened his pace.

Zurra tried to run after him, but she slipped on some of the flower pedals and tripped to the floor, knocking over a tray full of candles and spilling hot wax all over herself.

Propping herself up on one elbow, she lost sight of him as he turned the corner. "You letch, get back here!"

"I'm a letch for leaving? What kind of sense does that make?"

"FINE! You forget I know where you live! I'll be waiting for you when you get home! It's better to light a candle than to cry over spilled milk!"

Zurra stood up and noticed the candle wax spilled all over her. Already it was hardening against her pink skin. Placing her thumb in her mouth, she inflated herself like a balloon, cracking the wax off. As she deflated she dusted off the last few particles, she noticed the couple in the hallway staring at her.

"What are you looking at?!" she screamed, electricity arcing off of her body, scorching the robe she was wearing and burning out the lights in the hallway.

The couple panicked and got inside their room as quickly as they could.

* * *

Out of necessity, Trazhi's dorm room had been specially built out of heat-resistant materials. The wood paneling had been replaced with a drab quarry stone, the desk and bedframe carved from a single piece of it. Special ceramic-polymer cloth was used in the bed sheets, carpets, and curtains. Subsequently, her entire room was a kind of dull brown, except for the occasional black scorch mark where a stray burp or a careless touch had burnt the material. In fact, the only color in the room came from a small had-woven bassinette in the corner, lined with a soft hand-stitched down blanket. Both provided by Gerald.

Trahzi hated living at the academy. It felt like she lived in a world made out of tissue paper. A few pounds too much pressure and her door would snap off its hinges rather than open. A few degrees too many and her desk would burst into flames. The others were even more delicate. Use one word instead of another and they were offended, do one thing instead of another and they were afraid. It was all so confusing and contradictory. She couldn't understand why if a person was fat, she had to pretend that they were not. If a person was stupid, she had to avoid pointing it out. If someone was useless, it was considered rude to mention it.

"It's no wonder they are weaker than us," she said aloud. "They spend their entire lives deluding themselves. Ignoring their own flaws. As if pretending they do not exist will make them go away."

Then she remembered how frightened she had been in the reactor room, and it humbled her into silence. It was something she did not like to think about, yet the more she tried to ignore it, the more it haunted her. She was grateful that Gerald had never mentioned it to anyone else. She realized in that moment that if he had she would have felt very upset indeed.

Trahzi though for a moment. "Perhaps that is why the others get offended. They don't like being reminded of their weakness any more than we do."

There was a stirring from the bassinette and she walked over and knelt before it. The puppy inside was fidgeting again.

"What do you need?" she asked.

The puppy twisted its head around.

"What do you need?" she asked again, louder.

The puppy yelped and rolled over onto its back, her tiny paws kicking up in the air helplessly.

Trahzi glanced over at the hand-written note Gerald had affixed to the bassinette. It said: Check diaper, check tummy, check blanket, check nap, check snuggles.

Trahzi carefully pulled up the edge of the diaper to make sure it did not need to be changed. The puppy groaned in discomfort.

She picked up one of the bottles of netsav formula that had been prepared, and tapped the rune on the bottom, heating it to the proper temperature. Leaning over, she put the nipple up to the puppy's mouth and it began suckling hungrily.

"We do not see the point in this."