Olivine's 1 Room Garden in Longshadow Alley, Freeport, Antonia Bayle by Sapphirius

Someone recently asked for a personal tour of one of my houses and, when we were finished, informed me that I was not a decorator but an "architect." For the most part, this person is absolutely correct. I do not "decorate" rooms. Rather, I build them. I get a concept in my mind and I start with deciding on floors and walls, often times false floors and wall partitions. Then I start filling in the main feature, typically one large feature per house. After that, I fill in the furniture, then the rugs and paintings, then the lights and plants, then the knickknacks. In other words, I work in layers, and working in layers means many repeated orders day after day after day as I decide step by step what I need to achieve the concept I want.

Now, to do this, I rely on my two favorite carpenters, Bleu (on LDL) and Tock (on AB), but I do have other carpenters I will send work to when it's a really BIG order... just to lighten the load. However, I have never worked a carpenter as hard as I've worked Tock this last week. I sent him large and often unusual orders, and bless his heart, rather than waiting for the Festival of Unity to end before filling them, he hopped on the woodworking table and got busy each night after the Festival ended. Just as soon as I'd received the order and placed it, I'd send another big order. I did try to lighten the load by also using furniture I had on my storage alts, but most of the furniture, he diligently made each night and sent off to me. Because he worked SO hard on the furniture I placed in here, I'm posting this house in it's own thread, but I will add it into the index of my Collection of Houses thread.

So, I bring you, without further ado, the fruit of Tock's labor this past week. <3 ya, Tock!

Welcome to Olivine's 1-room garden in Longshadow Alley, Freeport (AB server). Olivine is a small Teir'Dal defiler who sees and interacts with the dead just as we do with each other. Entering her home reveals dark walls and earthen floors. Trellises of ivy hang on the walls and a table graces the entry way with a set of candles and skulls.

Let's get a better look at those trellises. It appears that Olivine likes light and has left a few candles burning on them.

Leaving the entry way with it's earthen tiles, you come to a small carpeted room, but it's not the room that grabs your attention. It's the large fence that forms one of the room's walls.

The room itself is not particularly large or fancy, and it lacks the conveniences of a kitchen or bathroom, but it is functional for it's purpose: sleeping and studying.

A closer look at the bed makes you think that it couldn't possibly be a Teir'Dal who lives here. The bed is draped over in warm furs, but the chill in the air tells you that those furs are needed. You see, the dead seem to bring a coldness with them that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It becomes obvious that this raised bed was built more for warmth than style.

The desk once again attracts your attention, or rather, the mirror above the desk. It's large intricate design almost seems out of place with the rough furniture. Why such a large ornate mirror in this simple place? Perhaps it is the legend that says that mirrors must be covered when someone dies, lest their souls become trapped in the mirror forever. Could it be that there are souls trapped in Olivine's mirror? Perhaps it is these very same souls that give Olivine her powers.

Then you turn your gaze back to the large fence that seperates the small room from what appears to be a large garden. Standing infront of the garden, you can feel a chill much stronger than the cold that clings to the little carpeted room.

The garden is completely fenced in with a pool of reflection sitting in its center. Walking into the garden was as cold as it felt from the gate, almost like plunging into an icy lake. Looking up reveals the canopy of the garden, but you realize that those aren't branches dripping with ivy. They're bones and antlers.

The sides of the garden are lined with benches to sit on and tombstones that don't seem to mark graves so much as name the spirits that haunt this particular home.

You notice that the fence has some decorative posts, and a closer look reveals what those posts are.

You look at the large gate dividing the garden from that simple room and see the same skulls on the railing there.

The chill in the garden finally becomes too much for you, and shivering, you leave it, giving the garden one last look as the sun finally sets.

Thank you for visiting, and be careful that the spirits who reside in Olivine's garden don't follow you to your own home.