The Grand Multiverse Hotel (short story)

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The Grand Multiverse Hotel was a novella-length short story in the The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids series, written by Aristide Twain.

Although Jenny Everywhere and Pythagoras-858 were not the main characters (with the narrative instead focusing on a newly-introduced human protagonist, Wendy), their part in the plot resolved the cliffhanger at the end of COMIC: Jenny Everywhere Meets The Crew Of The Copper-Colored Cupids.

Contents

Plot

Wendy, a young thief, accidentally boards a shuttle to Hilbert's, an infinite interdimensional hotel in the middle of the Void, instead of the bus she was hoping to catch. Aboard, posing as a seasoned dimensional traveller, she meets and befriends Sylvester Shoebill, an anthropomorphic bird and confidence artist; the two agree to have dinner at the hotel once they get there, so as to talk their future partnership over. However, after the shuttle reaches its destination, she loses sight of Shoebill in the crowd of the infinitely-large lobby.

After a tense encounter with Jark Haine, a telepathic Propugnator, Wendy decides to try and rent a room. While waiting in line, she meets the Queen of the Interdimensional Black Market. Taking a liking to Wendy, the Queen takes her under her wing, paying for her room and inviting her to dinner. As it turns out, this does not conflict with her earlier appointment, as the Queen is also here to meet Sylvester Shoebill, who is apparently in her debt.

Wendy attempts to text her brother, but only succeeds in getting through to a minor interdimensional entity, who the Queen enslaves to her phone for her. They go down to have dinner as planned, with Sylv soon offering the Queen the Crystal of Thrash as payment for his debt. As they begin to eat the main courses, however, the Queen collapses, seemingly poisoned to death. While Sylv is coerced into bringing her body back to her room, Wendy looks for a hotel detective, and bumps into Jenny Everywhere, who happens to be dining with a private detective: the Clockwork Cherub Pythagoras-858.

Brought to the Queen's room, where Jenny and Sylv recognise each other from a previous encounter and end up shifting away in the middle of a scuffle, Pythe realises that the Queen's soul has not left her body; all they need is a magical ritual to purge her body of the poison and restore her to life. They land on the idea of using a classic “Kiss of True Love”, although Wendy's “mild infatuation” is only strong enough to half-bring her back. However, they are forced to vacate the room in a hurry when the conditions start to shift, ready to accommodate the next, non-human guest. To get the Queen back on her feet in time, Wendy lets Pythe use Cupid Love Potion on her, making her artificially love the Queen as deeply as she can, such that the Kiss now functions perfectly.

In the corridor, the fleeing three are confronted by a Wellsian, Forga sog-Forgos, who, in disguise as a waiter, poisoned the Queen's food. He is also the official new occupant of the room — where, in the commotion, Wendy has left the Crystal of Thrash, which was what the Wellsian had been counting on.

Forced to admit defeat on this issue, the three head to the Hotel's underground parking lot for Void Ships, where Pythe finds his Fog Ship and the Queen her Void Limousine. They agree that the Queen and Wendy should spend some time apart from each other, despite Wendy's newfound feelings for the Queen; the Queen decides to return to the Interdimensional Black Market using her emergency teleport, leaving her Void Limousine (and all the money it contains) to Wendy so that she can begin a life of adventures in the Multiverse on her own terms.

Worldbuilding

Jenny

Universes

Other

Continuity

Behind the scenes

Read online

This story is available online on the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids website.