#pi:ran

Another day, another job. Ran let out a sigh as she leaned on the front counter, tapping her fingers on the counter to signify the seconds moving slowly. Her shifts alone at the Bell Hotel always felt like they went for aeons. “Man, the hotel is DEAD today.” she muttered to herself, looking at her nails that seemed to be chipped and a little unkempt. Gotta fix those... she had thought to herself, almost as if her dad’s voice telling her to be more ladylike was hovering in the back of her ear. After what had felt like hours, yet in reality had only been minutes, a distinct, quiet beeping of the watch on her wrist began to softly move her from her daydream state back to reality. The end of her shift had finally arrived.

Ran’s eyes hovered across the room to double check no potential customers had slipped past her gaze while she was lost in thought. Thankfully she had been paying enough attention for that not to happen. As she began to make her way to the steps towards her room, a distinct grumbling noise echoed through the empty room. Her eyes looked down to her stomach, a small sigh escaping her lips. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to snoop out the left overs in the kitchen.” she laughed to herself, turning away from the direction of her hotel room and towards the kitchen.

Her hands reached out to embrace the cold exterior of the fridge, pulling it open gently as to not arouse any suspicion. To her delight, a stack of cheesecakes and other assorted goods seemed to be waiting for her. “I’ll just take one of those... And one of these...” she muttered to herself, humming gleefully as she assembled her dinner on the table in the kitchen. Once she had amassed a meal of almost four separate dishes, Ran dug in.

“Ah, man, that was GOOD!” she exclaimed, patting her noticeably bloated stomach as she stood at the entrance of the kitchen. Finally deciding it was time to turn in for the night, Ran made her way for the stairs once more. As her foot was about to hit the first step, a new sound echoed through the empty room. The front desk bell.

“Who could even be here at this time of night?” she said quietly to herself, looking behind her at the guest standing by the front counter. Reluctantly, Ran turned around once more and made her way for the desk.

@tinastea​

Having three jobs meant two things. One, that Ran made a decent amount of money to get by, which was always nice, and secondly, it also meant that Ran had no free time. Another afternoon shift at the hotel meant that there was not really that much to do. Most of the guests tried to be checked in by the late afternoon so they could either go sightseeing or have some quality rest time within the walls of their assigned room. She’d usually spend the time cleaning, but the hotel had been even more dead than usual, meaning that everything was already sparkling clean. “Man... This is a drag...” she complained to herself.

A few seconds passed in silence as Ran thought of things to do. A few more seconds turned into a few minutes before the blonde finally had a light bulb moment. Maybe she’d call up Tina and get her to stop by on a ‘work delivery’. Yes, that plan seemed foolproof.

Picking up the phone to the left of her, Ran punched in the phone number for the Pelago Express. Her finger twirled her hair as the ringing sound buzzed through her ear, hoping that someone would be there to pick it up. She was ready to give up until she finally heard someone on the other end of the phone. Perfect, her plan was off to a great start.

Clearing her voice, Ran decided that she would try and put on the manliest voice as possible. This was in case she had to throw off Tina if she just so happened to be the voice on the other end of the phone. “Hello!” she begun, her voice cracking almost instantly from a muffled laugh trying to escape her mouth. “I had a few parcels that I wasn’t able to collect earlier today... For the Bell Hotel?”

Ran, as usual with her jokes, was struggling to contain her laughter. Her voice sounded so fake that even she couldn’t help but want to giggle. Taking a few seconds to compose herself, she cleared her throat once more. “Is there any possible way it could be dropped off by the end of the day? I’ll pay the excess charge no problems.” 

@spectite​

“Well, time to get to inventing!” Ran exclaimed excitedly as she looked at her collection of bits and bobs. Pieces of junk lined the back room of the shop, something that she hadn’t enquired with her boss about storing. Since no one had discovered yet it however, Ran hadn’t seen any reason as to why it needed to be moved. Her fingers moved towards the strawberry curls tied in a ponytail on top of her head, quickly moving the strands into a braid to ensure they wouldn’t get in her way. A smile crept up on her face as she placed her hands on her hips and started brainstorming what kind of mischief she would get up to today.

After half an hour had passed in what felt like minutes, Ran finally thought she was onto something. However, the light from the window had become slightly dimmer, compromising her eye sight a little. As she looked down at the watch on her wrist, she realised she only had a few minutes of her break left. In a panicked rush, she heard the bell of the front desk ringing as to signify a customer. She let out a little shriek as she realised that she had knocked the piece of metal that she was working on. Her arms extended in what felt like slow motion in an attempt to catch it before it hit the ground, however, it was too late.

BANG!