A Patchwork Fantasy Tale in eight parts.

Our first visit to Hotel Olympus, during which there is a job interview.

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Transcript

[Upbeat, inquisitive music]

Laura: Hi, you can call me Laura. I’m here to tell you a story if you like. This is Patchwork Fairy Tales and today we’re visiting Hotel Olympus. If you want to read as well as listen, check out the transcript linked in the description.

[Music fades]

“Excellent!” the manager rumbled after a final glance at her references. He was clearly making an effort to keep his voice down, but this guy was probably the biggest man Charlie had ever seen and he had a voice to match. He seemed to like her though, which was all that mattered right now. “If it is agreeable to you, you could start next week! Just as soon as we have the proper checks and paperwork in order.”

“I can’t wait, Sir,” she grinned. There had not been a single job interview that she had gotten through this easily. And for a position as front of house manager. It did feel slightly like bluffing, saying she knew how to handle all that. But this hotel, no matter how fancy it was, was way smaller than her previous hotel. She very much doubted she’d be any busier. It’d just be more responsibility. And better pay.

“Excellent, excellent,” he said again, leafing through his various papers with his huge hands. “Yes, and I think we have gone through all the questions.”

Charlie smiled politely. He had had a lot of very peculiar questions. Well, perhaps wanting to know about people’s allergies wasn’t very weird. But she wasn’t kitchen staff, so why would it matter if she was allergic to grapes or pomegranates? Anyway, she wasn’t. Nor did she have a problem with dogs or birds and neither did she have hay fever.

“If you don’t mind, I so just have one question of my own,” she said.

“But of course!” the manager said. Charlie wished she could remember his name, but it had been very long and he had only said it once.

“It said in the job listing that the hotel caters exclusively to Olympians,” she said cautiously. “Just out of curiosity, I was not aware there were so many training facilities nearby?”

The manager looked at her in surprise. “Training facilities?”

“Yes, if you are running this hotel specifically for Olympic athletes, there must be a demand for it.”

To Charlie’s surprise the manager stared at her with visible distress. She sincerely hoped that she was not the first person to suggest to him that his business model was a little niche. Because if not, this place would be belly-up in a week. But did he not mention it has been here for a while now?

“Not athletes,” he said finally. “Gods, miss.”

Charlie did her best to keep her expression neutral. Sports fans. “Yes,” she said. “I’m sure they are very impressive. Well, I’m excited to cater to them!” Perhaps this place was some sort of pet project by some ridiculous rich person. Well, as long as she got paid she didn’t care.

“No, miss!” the manager exclaimed. “I do fear you don’t understand. This hotel is not for athletes. Our guests are the deities and demigods of the Hellenic world.”

This time Charlie stared at him. The deities and demigods of the… “So this is an experience hotel,” she said, slowly. Yes that had to be it. “With LARPing for the guests.”

The manager’s eyes went as glassy as Charlie was sure hers had done at the word ‘Hellenic’. “Miss Charlie,” he said weakly. “I…”

Right at that moment there was a sudden noise outside. It was a rattling, cracking noise and while something about it sounded instantly familiar Charlie had no idea what it was. She looked at the manager in alarm and he cleared his throat.

“Yes, ah, you see…” He gestured helplessly to the window behind him.

Charlie, her mind strangely blank, got to her feet and walked towards it, just as the noise came to a halt. She looked out the window and froze. Then, after a good while, she turned around to face her future manager and said: “I see.”

What she had as a matter of fact seen, outside at the entrance of the hotel just now, had been several guests arriving in three strange little open carriages drawn by – in that exact order – one white and three black horses, two peacocks, and six golden antlered deer. She had looked at them a good long while too, but they had not disappeared. So that was that. Apparently.

The manager met her eyes with the unmistakable expression of a hotelier desperately in need of new staff. “The worship of our old Gods has started to grow again, of late, you see,” he said, sounding rather pleading. “But there are no temples anymore for them to safely manifest on earth. If they wish to make an appearance in person…Hotel Olympus is there to provide.”

Charlie listened to him in silence, a slight buzz of static in her ears coming from the place where her own thoughts usually were. Outside she could just hear someone going: “Woah there! Mind your hooves, darling! There’s a good deer. Aren’t you all beauties.” Well.

“Miss Charlie?”

She lifted her head. “Overtime is compensated by equivalent paid leave or 120 percent pay, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Then I can start next week.”

[Upbeat, inquisitive music returns]

Laura: Thank you very much for listening, I hope you liked this installment of Hotel Olympus. Transcripts, easy streaming, and all the information about this podcast and all my other creations can be found on laurasimons.com.

There’s another tale to tell some other day, but until then: remember to mind your mythology, guard your name, and be safe.

[Music fades]

_{Copyright Laura Simons, please do not copy my stories without my permission, lest you insult the fae.}