Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Echo Gamin]

Gabriel walks briskly, glancing back to make sure she hasn't lost the small family of chirruping Celestial Otters. They depart from the silver statue of Crafty outside Sanctuary and head Westward for the domain's border. She unerringly sets her trajectory towards the Treehouse near the Bazaar. As she walks, she starts to sing. Her voice is soft but clear and gains in emotion as she hits certain sections of the song. Other parts she just hums. She doesn't seem to be singing for anyone around her.

"Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that."

... she hums...

"But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
'Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me--"

Her voice wavers slightly and she starts to hum again.

"And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home."

She sighs and leads the little band to their requested destination.

[wcshoe]

As they set off, the otters continue to romp around, investigating each new thing they see as they go, looking for shiny things to claim, beauty to admire, new friends to make, and unknown things to experience. (Not much different than usual...) Through out this, they keep a running commentary of "Did you see that?" and "Look at this!" as they each make new discoveries.

Without contemplating each step, they seem quite in tune with their surroundings...

[Echo Gamin]

While letting the merry mustelidae enjoy their romp, Gabrielle moves the group along as quickly as she can. Before long, the highest domes and canopy of the Treehouse can be seen clearly across the field. She points. "Look guys! There it is!"

[wcshoe]

The otters immediately scamper ahead, stopping about fifty feet away, bouncily waiting impatiently for Echo to catch up. As soon as she gets near them, they scamper ahead again, to repeat the whole procedure, all the way to the treehouse...

[Echo Gamin]

Gabrielle has super speed. As soon as the otters start to hurry, the group of them find themselves standing at the base of a huge tree at the edge of a grove. The trunks stretch way up and the platforms and domes of the living space are supported by the natural forms of several trees but constructed in a manner that does no harm to the trees themselves. A column of clear glass forms an elevator extending parallel to the largest center tree and disappears up into leaves canopy.

The boughs of the trees are hung with myriad prisms and sun-catchers, which cast dancing rainbows and colored lights around the grass surrounding the Treehouse entrance. There are also a number of bird houses and feeders which have welcomed a chorus of songbirds and small arboreal mammals into the branches above.

There is a handmade sign on a green wooden board with wooden cutouts of birds all painted bright colors. It says "Welcome to Echo's Treehouse." Other smaller signs (many with childlike illustrations) surround it. "Be Nice or Leave." "No littering." "Please Leave Menus in Mail Box." "Bell Out of Order. Please Knock."

Gabrielle places her right hand on a panel on the elevator's glass wall and a door slides open with a soft sound. A soft bell chimes. The girl smiles at the otters' enthusiasm and gestures a right-this-way with a graceful sweep of the arm to the elevator. "Okay guys, everybody in."

[wcshoe]

The otters clamber into the elevator, chattering excitedly. Cuteypie is taking pictures with a digital camera, though where she got it is anybody's guess. Clever keeps a sharp eye on Cuteypie while she observes the prisms and suncatchers with an appraising eye. Crafty beams as he stands, contemplating his world...

[Echo Gamin]

The elevator moves up quickly and silently through the dense foliage. It slows and then stops at the first tier of the treehouse and the door opens. "Okay, so here's the first floor." Gabby says stepping out and letting the otters look around.

In the center of the entry way is a round area rug: a gray border around a bright red circle and that says in bold black block font YOU ARE HERE.

The large disc shaped platform is suspended between five massive tree trunks about four storeys in the air. The majority of the platform is enclosed by a geodesic dome, but a bannistered walkway exists outside the dome wall and wraps around the entire platform. At the center of the dome is the glass-like elevator shaft which is, from this level up, encircled by a series of spiral stairs. Both the stairs and the elevator shaft extend out through the top of the dome into an area hidden from view by the natural canopy.  A red wagon is parked in front of a number of open frame shelves and bins for what appears to be salvage.

Another set of shelves is set up for servers (and squirrels). There are a number of small robots lying around in various stages of construction. A botany lab is set up to one side maintained by automatic sprinklers.

There are a few big floor pillows -- the place to yank off shoes.

Light filters down through patterns of leaves and the structural beams of the dome. Over a hundred more sun-catchers and prisms dangle at random intervals and cast rainbow glints of light all over the natural bamboo floor. Some are like crystals, others shaped like animals, others are spheres, teardrops or spirals.

A patched canvas futon on the floor is covered with scribbles-- clearly a brainstorming spot at one point.

Posters are tacked up on the round wall of the dome: Michelle Obama, Rosie the Riveter, Dar Williams, Ani Di franco, Jim Henson with Kermit, Calvin and Hobbes, Marie Curie, and Einstein and several bumper stickers of geek culture  (I Hack. Ban Me., I void warranties, etc.) and political sentiments (If You're Not Outraged, You're Not Paying Attention., The Media are Only as Liberal as the Corporate Businesses that Own Them; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replenish, Restore.)

Some high quality and well used gymnastics equipment -- rings, pommel horse, balance beam-- are spaced safely apart from one another. There is a stand of gymnast's chalk for exercises.

"Hello Ada." Gabrielle speaks into the air. "We have guests."

A holographic figure appears before them. The virtual woman is in perhaps her late twenties, fair with dark hair and dressed in clothing appropriate for the fashionable European nobility of the mid 1800s. "Welcome back Gabby." The holograph smiles at the teenager and her guests. She speaks with a polite tone and an aristocratic London accent. Ada looks over the otters. "Celestial Otters. Family of four. Three present. Welcome Crafty, Clever, and Cuteypie. I am Ada." She narrows her attention on Crafty. "Interesting. An avatar signature, but not Cutthroat. Crafty, congratulations." The AI seems sincere and smiles. Then she nods to Gabrielle. "I shall update our database."

[wcshoe]

Cuteypie flops down on her back, peering intently at the various prisms and sun-catchers overhead, attempting to spot the one that looks like an otter. Occasionally, she spots one she especially likes, and snaps a picture. Clever begins moving in an ever expanding spiral, looking for things that might be dangerous to her child. Crafty goes to Ada, sniffing the air carefully as he moves. "Thank you, but I am just holding this energy until Hyran comes back. Would you like a cookie?"

[Echo Gamin]

Ada inclines her head politely to the otter. "Thank you for the offer Crafty, but as I do not have a digestive system, I cannot eat physical food. I would however, gladly accept your recipe and incorporate it into my database for archiving and analysis."

"Or you could show Ada how to make them." Gabrielle offers. "There's a kitchen upstairs."

It takes some time, but after searching through dozens of glass animals glinting in the dappled sunlight, Cuteypie spots what she's looking for. A playful pair of river otters. Each figure is blown glass with metallic flecks, one lilac and gold, the other deep green and copper. They tumble around each other mid air connected by a stream of silver blue glass forming something akin to a spherical yin-yang. Elsewhere in the branches there hangs a single sleek otter diving through ribbons of green kelp after a school of small silver fish, but clearly it represents a sea otter. A different creature altogether.

Gabrielle stands around feeling like the improvising docent at the Multiverse's most unplanned museum exhibit. "Um... So... Why all the interest in the Treehouse? Is there something specific you want to see?" She addresses the smallest otter, since this seems to be her grand adventure.

[Echo Gamin]

Every delay is becoming torture. Moments feel like hours feel like days feel like forever. It's just too much.

"'Cause the thing is..." She takes a rapid breath in and lets it out slowly and suddenly it becomes clear she's working hard to hold it together. "It's been a really rough couple of months..." Another deep breath. Her eyes are wet and her chin is trembling. She wipes her eyes with her wrist, shrugs one shoulder up and drops it again and desperately tries to smile. "It's just... it's all so much--y'know? And it feels like forever since I've seen Ashleigh--" Her voice hitches. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I promised I'd show you the house..." Another ragged breath. She shakes her head. It isn't helping. She can't stop crying. "I just-- I can't do this right now. I tried but -- I've just got to go home!"

She turns to the holograph. "Ada, they've got guest clearance. Show them whatever they want to see within parameters." She glances at Cuteypie and watchful Clever. "Safety locks on everything." She then amends. "but they can have free reign in the kitchen."

"Certainly Gabby."

She turns back to the otters sincerely apologetic. "I'm so sorry. Please stay as long as you like. I just have to--"

*poit!*

And she's gone.


[ooc: teleport]

[Echo Gamin]

The holograph nods at where the young woman stood a moment before. The note of concern on her face disappears as her sensors detect her young mistress once more en route to where she needs to be. Taking up the assignment in loco hostess, Ada smiles politely to the family.

"Gabrielle appears to be safely on her way. Would you like to continue to enjoy this floor or are you ready to explore the next tier of the Treehouse?"

[wcshoe]

Ada inclines her head politely to the otter. "Thank you for the offer Crafty, but as I do not have a digestive system, I cannot eat physical food. I would however, gladly accept your recipe and incorporate it into my database for archiving and analysis."

"Or you could show Ada how to make them." Gabrielle offers. "There's a kitchen upstairs."

It takes some time, but after searching through dozens of glass animals glinting in the dappled sunlight, Cuteypie spots what she's looking for. A playful pair of river otters. Each figure is blown glass with metallic flecks, one lilac and gold, the other deep green and copper. They tumble around each other mid air connected by a stream of silver blue glass forming something akin to a spherical yin-yang. Elsewhere in the branches there hangs a single sleek otter diving through ribbons of green kelp after a school of small silver fish, but clearly it represents a sea otter. A different creature altogether.

Gabrielle stands around feeling like the improvising docent at the Multiverse's most unplanned museum exhibit. "Um... So... Why all the interest in the Treehouse? Is there something specific you want to see?" She addresses the smallest otter, since this seems to be her grand adventure.

Cuteypie Looks at Echo. "I have never seen a house in a tree. I heard about AElf's treehouse, but that was inside a tree trunk, not in the branches." She points at the two river otters and chirps happily. "It's me and Cutthroat! Do you have any other rooms with otters?"

Every delay is becoming torture. Moments feel like hours feel like days feel like forever. It's just too much.

"'Cause the thing is..." She takes a rapid breath in and lets it out slowly and suddenly it becomes clear she's working hard to hold it together. "It's been a really rough couple of months..." Another deep breath. Her eyes are wet and her chin is trembling. She wipes her eyes with her wrist, shrugs one shoulder up and drops it again and desperately tries to smile. "It's just... it's all so much--y'know? And it feels like forever since I've seen Ashleigh--" Her voice hitches. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I promised I'd show you the house..." Another ragged breath. She shakes her head. It isn't helping. She can't stop crying. "I just-- I can't do this right now. I tried but -- I've just got to go home!"

She turns to the holograph. "Ada, they've got guest clearance. Show them whatever they want to see within parameters." She glances at Cuteypie and watchful Clever. "Safety locks on everything." She then amends. "but they can have free reign in the kitchen."

"Certainly Gabby."

She turns back to the otters sincerely apologetic. "I'm so sorry. Please stay as long as you like. I just have to--"

*poit!*

And she's gone.

Clever shakes her head sadly. "She has some issues she needs to deal with. I hope Ashleigh can help her."

The otter matriarch turns to Ada. "We should come back when she has more free time. This is a fascinating place."

The holograph nods at where the young woman stood a moment before. The note of concern on her face disappears as her sensors detect her young mistress once more en route to where she needs to be. Taking up the assignment in loco hostess, Ada smiles politely to the family.

"Gabrielle appears to be safely on her way. Would you like to continue to enjoy this floor or are you ready to explore the next tier of the Treehouse?"

Crafty nods. "If it is okay with you, I can show you how to make cookies while Cuteypie looks around. Clever can watch her."

[Echo Gamin]

Ada nods to Crafty and the others. "We should continue upstairs then. The kitchen is on the primary living level, one tier up. You can either take the elevator up another level or follow the staircase. I'll meet you there."

She addresses the smallest otter. "Miss Cuteypie, if you like, I will scan the house inventory and consider what other otters may be found in the house. Or if you would rather, you can look for yourself." A smile of inspiration broadens across her holographic face. "Like a treasure hunt." She continues. "You may also want to investigate the library. It's quite cozy and Gabby has a fine selection of physical volumes of children's stories as well as a huge digital collection of text and video."

[wcshoe]

Crafty sets off at full scamper for the stairs, heading upstairs to the promised kitchen.

Cuteypie's face gets more animated at the thought of a real treasure hunt, while Clever twitches her whiskers approvingly. "A fine idea. And treasure is more often found in children's stories than in all the well researched literature of adults, we have learned."






OOC: Sorry for the delays in posting. My shoulder is killing me here.

[Echo Gamin]

As they come up into the second tier of the canopy, the world becomes cool and green. The air smells like cedar and lemongrass. This tier is much larger than the one below and is divided into an open-concept floor plan. The primary floor is natural cork, slightly buoyant underfoot. Patterns of light and leaves leaves make lace-work of shadows.  Echo has cultivated a natural carpet of different types of moss. It flows like a green river of living velvet forming an organic pathway around the girl's former living space. Streams of water flow together from above and collect in a vessel or pool somewhere. Gabby's guests can hear it, but it isn't immediately visible. The ceiling of the dome is high and gives the space an airy spaciousness but the leaves and branches which rest and press upon much of the glass create an unexpected sense of privacy and intimacy.

The most striking feature of the kitchen is the tree. Part of the support for the entire house. the massive trunk and two strong large branches extend from the floor straight through the domed ceiling like living columns. Rather than being hidden, they are simply incorporated into the flow and architecture of the space. Simple white lights are strung around the living wood.

"A kitchen data system is voice responsive or controllable by a capacitive touch panel. There is a staggering array of recipes and food information sources in the digital kitchen library including a holographic display. There is also excellent an excellent sound system if you like music while you bake." Ada offers as she gives Crafty time to inspect the kitchen.

The kitchen truly appears to be the heart of this home-- at least on this level of the Treehouse. The room is a quiet tribute to a cooperation and balance of intuitive technology and sustainable design. It not only uses renewable natural resources but celebrates nature. The clean modern lines and metallic finishes on the appliances are juxtaposed with the cork floor and resilient bamboo counter tops. Upper cabinets are faced in translucent reclaimed and recycled glass in soft watery tones of greens and blues. The back-splash is a mosaic of smaller pieces of the same re-purposed bottle-glass with additional colored accents of amber, brown, and cobalt and small smooth river stones. There are several ample sinks all finished at the bottom with the same river stones set in clear resin.

Most pieces of equipment are subtly designed, professional quality, and cutting edge for the mid-21st century. However there are also mortars and pestles of different sizes, tortilla presses, and other simple tools which have never been improved upon. The kitchen is clearly designed for a small chef. Everything is designed to be easily retrievable for someone of Gabrielle's petite stature. If it isn't physically in reach, there's a built in method of attaining it quickly. The six burner gas range sits in the massive center island and has retracting  smoke vent instead of a bulky hood.  The double ovens and warming drawer are built into the side of the island facing away from the dining area. The other side of the island is a sitting and eating area with a row of six stools. One might wonder who all of these seats are for.

A tall lighted column of green is a unique curiosity. At first glance it almost appears to be a floor-to-ceiling diner-style desert display case with a library ladder. Closer observation reveals a hydroponic kitchen garden filled with all sorts of herbs and micro-veggies which can be rotated for full access to the fresh greens. The sliding pantry shelves are well stocked with cans, jars, boxes and windowed metal canisters. Most contain organic dry goods but there is also a choice selection of the types of artificial junk food new age hippies rarely let their kids have much of. The artificial colors and flavors are a blatant but reasonably harmless rebellion to an absent parental influence.

The elegance comes to a screeching halt at the fridge doors which are covered with joy but not much subtlety. One magnet (up high) shows a smiling 1950s era girl with blonde curls on a pink rectangle. It says, "Mommy, when I grow up I want to help smash the white racist, homophobic, patriarchal, bullshit paradigm too!" Another magnet says "You are what you accept."  There are magnetic poetry words, and large, translucent, brightly colored alphabet letters and numbers.  These have been made into rainbows of words and simple statements during babysitting days. "Kay =  5. Thea loves Mommy. Daddy is brave. Gabby runs fast. Xenia. MC. Cookies R Magic. Ocean. Dolphin. Oikos. Kittens. Green. Family. Blue. Purple. Ettie. Chocolate." Pictures drawn by the Chthoniaos twins are also tacked up to the brushed nickel surface. There are two sturdy child-sized stools designed to have a low center of gravity tucked neatly out of the way.

The inside of the massive fridge is huge but has very little in it. There are basic dairy staples which appear to be fresh and some jars of opened olives, pickles, and a few random condiments. There is ice, a canister of hot Hungarian paprika, and some Oreo mint chip ice cream in the freezer. There is very little else.

"If there's anything you require, just ask." Ada says.


OOC: Seriously don't sweat it. I'm just gonna take my time really describing the second tier.