Tale of a Pup: Part Time at Retail

[Isabelle]

Continued from Tale of a Pup: In the Dog House

It was the fresh smell of salt and seaweed that hit her first, then it was the sound of crashing waves.

The first thing she saw was the gold, it filled the sky, and continued to the water below. She spent way too much time underground, she lost track of the actual time. It was sunset, the end of a day in the Vasty.

She couldn’t remember the last time she got to enjoy a sunset, back home she would usually be at work when it happened, pounding away at the mountains of paperwork that towered over her on her desk.

As much as she wanted to soak it all in, she knew she only had moments of sunlight left, she had to get her bearings, and fast.

She was standing on a boardwalk that was suspended over a beach and some of the ocean dozens of feet in the air. To her left, extending out into the sea was an entire mini theme park, right there in the docks, complete with rollercoaster, ferris wheel, and tea cup ride.

To her right was where the boardwalk ends. There’s a couple of stairways leading down to the beach, but there was also a bridge that extends into the top of a nearby hill. From the looks of it, it lead to more of the city.

She looked down at the beach. Eventually, the sand gave way to a concrete road that separates the natural world and the city.

She noticed the road along the beach was much more lit, so she chose to go down the stairs.

Walking down the concrete path which was lit exclusively by street lights, she saw the long line of colorfully decorated shops that formed a row down the lane. While they were closed, she could imagine them selling t-shirts, ice cream, maybe some of them even sold food! She could swear some of them had a bar and stool for eating meals off of. That must of been the purpose.

The sun was now long gone, she only had the artificial lighting to guide her. However, a few hundred feet into her walk, she saw a sign.

“Beachside Inn! The closest bastion of comfort by the beach!” It said, it sat on top of the building, lit in neon lights. It looked taller than the buildings surrounding it, with some on the top floors clearly penthouse suites.

Before walking any further, she took some time to summon some cash. Coins. She read that raw Omnilium coins were the currency of this world. As soon as she had a large bag full, she stuffed it in her pocket and headed for the hotel.



“What could I get for you mademoiselle?” A man finely dressed to a T, his hair and mustache were perfection, stood across from one of the receptionist’s desks. Izzy almost felt incompetent just because she could only pull off a bun.

The lobby itself was chaos. The perfect pristine carpets, the chandeliers that seem to sprout from the ceiling every fifty feet or so. And yet despite that, she could see humans dressed in jean shorts, t-shirts, she could even see men in tank tops! It was like the line between the rich and poor never existed!

“Mademoiselle?” He asked again.

“My apologies, just a tad intimidated.” She said nervously. “I’d like to rent a room.”

“What kind of room are you looking for? We’ve had a number of cancellations recently. With DA ending so early, no one has time for a vacation anymore apparently, or at least the business owners the frequent this establishment. Hahaha.”

Isabelle wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a joke, so she laughed along anyways. Considering the look he gave, it may not have been very convincing, or human for that matter.

“Well yes. What I mean is the sky’s the limit!”

“Well, run me down what you have, then we can discuss what’s in my price range.”

“Well, we have the standard, kitchen, twin beds, bathroom, tv. We have a Standard+ which is the same package but with a view of the ocean. We also have Standard and Standard+ plans with queen-sized bed.”

“Ooh!” She liked spacious beds, such a luxury. You could roll around in them!

“We have the deluxe, a full on balcony along with full access to the hotel’s services at no cost, this option is at much steeper price of course. Queen sized option for that, too.

“And finally, the penthouse suite. We have one open surprisingly, the billionaire that checked in for the next two weeks had to leave on emergency, something about ‘getting elected to public office on short notice.’ Of course, wouldn’t expect that to be in your price range.

“Speaking of which, how much are you looking pay?”

She pulled out a giant bag full of money and dropped it on the counter, it pours over in front of the man who just glares down at it, bewildered to have that much money not transferred by plastic.

“How much will that get me?”


Next thing she knows, she’s riding the elevator all the way up. She had to activate it with a special key the hotel gave her. They told her it would take her directly to her room, but she didn’t believe it until the doors opened and she saw an entire giant living space devoted to her.

It was bigger than most houses! Heck, it was bigger than her own house in the Ashen Steppes! With a fully functioning kitchen, a gigantic king-sized bed a gigantic bathroom with jacuzzi tub. But the best thing of all, something her house could never provide, was a view, oh my gosh the view, spanning the entire beach! And even spanning around to look at the city behind her. It was nothing like she imagined.

She couldn’t imagine in a million years having a place like this no less her own lifetime.

“This… is… INCREDIBLE!” She screamed in giddiness as she tossed herself into her king sized water bed.