5This is my contest entry for the "42 days contest" at one of my haunts, ffnet Authors' Message Board (link can be found in my author bio). There are 3 elements and a word count to be followed. Also no pairings or lovey dovey stuff allowed. So here it is. Enjoy.
Blue Camel Inn
By
Therhoda
At an inn, in a medium size town on the western road, a bored female teen looks at an empty registry thinking resignedly of her night ahead. 'I wonder if there will be guests at the inn tonight.' No sooner had she completed the thought than she hears the telltale sounds of footsteps on the front porch. There are several male voices coming through the door and they seem to be bickering quite loudly.
"We made it didn't we?" comes a deep, irritated voice.
"No thanks to you! You pervy water sprite," is the slightly higher pitched, but no less irritated reply.
The teen hears a click followed by a third voice saying, "Shut up you stupid morons, just go inside!"
The door opens, and light of the setting sun is momentarily blocked by the silhouettes of four people walking into her inn.
"Welcome," she greets automatically. Upon getting a better look at the foursome as the door closes, she continues with. "May I help you, gentlemen? "
The handsome, dark haired brunet, who had opened the door for the others comes forward to her desk and politely asks, "Do you have any available rooms?"
The teen clerk smiles and responds to his question with one of her own. "How many?"
Finding it difficult to concentrate she is trying not to stare in curiosity at the foursome. The clerk notices they are a diverse group. There are four people, who appear to be men, although the one in the back is completely covered by a cloak and so may be a woman. One of them is actually a young boy with brown hair, another is tall red haired man, then there is the cloaked one and finally the brunet in front of her.
"Four if you have them," the brunet answers with a slight smile of his own.
The youngster and the red head seem to have been the ones arguing on the porch. They continue to glare at each other even as their companion was talking to her, like children who have had their sweets taken away.
"Yes. We have four rooms, how long will that be for?" she inquires, beginning to warm to this patron. His politeness and attention making her want to give him the best rooms she has.
"Tonight," responds a surly male voice from underneath the cloak at the back of the group. Answering both the question of his sex and who is in charge of the group in her mind.
"But Sanzo..." the younger man with brown hair whines.
"Shut up!," is the cloaked man instantly replies. He turns to face away from the doorway but not enough to face the desk and continues, "This isn't a vacation you know."
"You are wasting your time, your mightiness. This monkey brain can't hold onto his owners commands for that long," the taller, red haired man interjects.
The youngster whips around to face him. "Who you calling a monkey you pesky cockroach?"
"What did you call me?" the red head marches over and gets in the younger man's face. Pulling the cigarette out of his mouth to say, "Say that to my face."
"Red Cockroach!" the youngster repeats himself loudly.
A white fan appears from out of nowhere in the cloaked man's hand and is then applied forcibly to the craniums of both the loud combatants in record speed.
A quiet clearing of the throat from the brown haired man drawls her attention back, "Miss, please excuse my companions." He bows slightly then looks back up at her. Shrugging his shoulders, he explains, "We have been on the road for 42 days and have started to wear a bit thin on each other. Are there four rooms available for us?"
She looks down at her lodging book to hide her wandering attention and embarrassment at having been caught watching them. Glancing back up to him with a quick reply. "Yes, we have four rooms."
"What about food?" The youngster of the group had moved up to the front of the desk and begins to barrage her with questions. "Do you cook? Is there a restaurant?" He then turns his attention to the man who had been talking to her, bouncing on the balls of his feet he asks. "Hakkai can we eat now?" He gets more and more excited, the more he talks about food the more animated he becomes. He is starting to bob to the left and the right of the brown haired man and is chanting, "Food, Food!"
Hoping the information is helpful to the customers or at least the younger one, she tells them, "The menu for tonight's supper will be posted on that board over there," and she points to a large board with papers pinned to it. "Normally, it is posted..." she pauses to look at the clock on the wall before answering, "an hour from now, if you gentlemen will be hungry then."
Deciding to place them in best adjoining rooms, and to allow them to get settled before dinner, she hurries to pick up the right sets of keys. She comes out from behind the counter. Looking up into the dark haired man's pleasant green eyes she says, "If you will just sign the registry there, I can take you up to your rooms."
The lanky red head saunters over and says with a confident smirk, "So which room are you in tonight, beautiful?" Before she has a chance to process the question, much less form an answer, the white fan appears again to knock the gentleman on the back of the head with a loud and painful thwack.
"Don't you ever stop, you stupid moron?" the cloaked man questions resignedly.
The red haired man turns to the one with the fan. "You poor excuse for a..." he begins, but is broken off by an elbow to the solar plexus from the still smiling brunet. Who, despite his charm, is starting to disturb her with that smile.
"Okay, Hakkai I get the message. No..." he breaks off as he is elbowed again, and glares at the brunet for his interference.
Shaking her head over the humor of this behavior, she takes them upstairs. She has given them the rooms at the end of the hall, the two connecting rooms on each side. With a gesture, she points them out. "Well here you go," she says handing the four keys to the still smiling person before her. "Rooms 102 and 104 connect on this side," she gestures to her left. "Rooms 101 and 103 across the hall connect also," she nods her head to the right. "Please enjoy your stay at the Blue Camel Inn."
With this, she takes her leave and starts back to her desk, thinking to herself. 'One thing is for sure, tonight's visitors aren't the sedate pilgrims we normally see.' Smiling at what she has seen of the new guests, she settles back at her desk with a smile and looks forward to the remainder of the day ahead.
Well here it is my first contest entry ever. It has been in some form or another for over a month now. But ,IT has done some wacky things along the way like going into Mitosis without asking, or how about having no plot, even thought there was supposed to be one there. I hope you enjoyed it!