%tThe central room of the new hive is built with an open floor plan, combining the kitchen, living, and dining rooms into one grand but minimalistically furnished space. From the front doors, the kitchen is on the right, the dining area in the back right corner, and the living area straight ahead, with the bathroom jutting into the rectangular shape of the room just to the left. The back wall, flush with the cliff face, is made entirely of towering glass panes, and looks out over the vast eastern expanse of water known as the Whispering Sea, with the coastal plain spread out below. It has convenient electronic blinds to shutter out all that awful sunlight, however.%r%tThe living space is set with two long, sturdy black sofas, long enough to comfortably seat 4 each without getting cozy, arranged in an L formation, bought from the merchant guild's caravan. A coffee table stamped with the maker's mark of the Silk and Gold Emporium is set between them, and completing the third length of the triangle is a free standing gas fireplace. A stereo is set up against the back wall for blasting out some sick fires at a moments notice, another merchant caravan find. There are a few piles here, particularly a heap of fabrics from a poorly thought out visit to The Elegant Slut. A Shangbucks bag sits on the coffee table, most days of the week.%r%tThe kitchen is sectioned from the rest of the room by half height walls. The floors and counters are done up in granite tiles from the quarries up north, and all the fixtures and appliances are shiny new aluminum, bought with the group's stipend. Plenty of room to make big meals for a big, otherworldly family. The proper counters are arranged in a U-shape, with an island counter forming it's umlaut, set with bar stools. Beyond that is the dining area, where a table set with enough chairs for a full 16 people is arranged.%r%tTo the right of the front door, before you reach the kitchen, a staircase ascends to a catwalk that rings the room above, granting access to the four rooms above: The Atrium and Rotunda, and the two loft-apartment style rooms built against the east wall overlooking the Whispering Sea.

%tThe Cliff Face Stairwell is exactly as it sounds, a deep, cavernous stairwell that cuts downward from the cliff's edge above into the bedrock. The stairs themselves have to switch back twice to make it all the way to the bottom, but the stairs and landings here have safety rails. At the bottom landing, four doors are built into the smoothed and polished rock face, descending into respiteblocks below. For lazy and physically impaired trolls, a transportalizer, or something much resembling one, the result of a lucky find from the Merchant Guild, has been installed, but the stairwell remains for the awe-inspiring effect.%r%tA scribbly sign has been posted at the top instructing residents not to toss their kismeses over the railing. You decide this advice is wise and should be complied with. Yes, there is no arguement from you on that matter, case closed.

%tOne of the aquatic blocks at the very bottom of the hive, this room has a full wall of windows, like those in the rooms above, looking out over the Whispering Sea. But in here, a door opens through that wall and out onto a balcony right over the sea. It's nearer half is high and dry, but the stairs at the end lead down to a submerged half, a perfect way for aquatic trolls to come and go as they please.%r%tThe left half of this room is painted royal purple and furnished in a suitibly regal fashion. The recouperacoon is tucked into the corner (and shaped into a boat, no less), and at it's foot rests a finely crafted antique desk, littered with books from the Treasure Chest gaming store, and an application to House Hydra. The troll clearly has some dreams of becoming a member. Several amethyst rings, their inscriptions proclaiming that they are from Concordance Gems and Jewelry, are scattered over the desk, as well. The remainder of the walls from there to the windowed eastern wall are occupied by bookshelves from floor to ceiling, crammed with a truly staggering array of game books. An AMAZONS bag sits on one of the shelves, and there are a number of 'military tactics' books which, when opened, seem to primarily depict rather lurid romances. On the recuperacoon there is a matchbook from the Purple Sword Gentleman's club. He may have misinterpreted the purpose of the place.%r%tThe right half of the room is colored a deep crimson, and is considerably more spartan. There are the requisite recouperacoon and computer desk, of course, stacked with several artifacts purchased from the Merchant Caravan, and Ithelco, as gifts by her friends, and rather strangely, a job application to Babydoll Studios left by a messy roommate, and a matchbook from La Maison d'Agonie. Beyond that there is only a coat rack hung with a lovingly worn leather jacket and fedora hat from the Silk and Gold Emporium, an archaeologist's kit gathering dust in disuse, and upon the desk, a pair of antique music boxes, presents from Concordance. A little red and blue heart has been painted on it, which keeps things rather ambiguous...

%tThis room, which hangs above the main room and shares it's windowed eastern wall, belongs to the human boys. A bed is pushed against the back corner on either side, and a computer desk sits at the foot of either bed in turn. The floor on the left side, whose walls are painted cherry red, is rife with snaking cables swapping bits between that side's computer, the turntables erected with their back to the windows, a Performance Guild license hung proudly with a great sense of irony on the wall, and a TV in the center of the room with a couch to complement it. This side's walls are papered with posters of frankly the coolest things around, such as grim antiheroes THE MIDNIGHT CREW and their even more villainous adversaries THE FELT. And some seriously horrible shitty drawings that shouldn't ever be looked at for any reason, many of them apparently made himself, or sometimes purchased from the Amazons book store. Sitting on the computer keyboard, as a show of ultimate irony, is a catalog from the Double Duchess, with a few particular items circled. And on the floor, lovingly embroidered and ordered by a flighty broad with her snarky bullshit from Things Remembered, there lies a brobdingnagian collection of HORRIFYINGLY PLUSHLY RUMPED PUPPETS, each one bearing a little tag showing their name, and flavor. %r%tThe right side of the room is painted green, and it's wall poster ensemble features images of comedic legends and seriously terrible movies that nobody has any business watching. The floor here is much tidier, this side's occupant's posessions being sequestered neatly away in a colorful magician's chest, an object won in a contest at The Treasure Chest. A bookshelf stands beside the desk here, filled with movies, video games and one mammoth copy of Colonel Sassacre's Daunting Text, a dear possession thankfully preserved even through the trip into the portal, and against the windows, facing outward toward the sea, is erected an electric keyboard, a gift from his friend, with a red splotch of paint over the Performance Guild's mark. There's a Merchant Guild insignia also set up on the bed- It would appear the owner of this half of the room has an interest in the portal. Various gewgaws from trade caravan trips litter the rest of the bed while he is away.

Hivestem - North Cave
%tCarved back into the bedrock behind the foyer, this room is cool and quiet, insulated from the outside world. It's walls, ceiling, and floor are all smoothed and polished stone. Each of the far corners has a recouperacoon installed and a computer desk at it's foot.%r%tThe walls on the left half of the room are not painted at all, but the right half has been colored a warm honey yellow. In the near corner on the latter side are stacked two server racks, filled in with dozens of thin computers humming at all hours. Cables crisscross between the two and out to the desktops on either side of the room as well. The unpainted room has several brochures from Nu'genetics, mostly along the lines of home genetic manipulation kits. It would appear whoever lives there is interested in altering microbiological lifeforms, but thankfully is shit bad at it. The other room, in the meantime, is festooned with several carefully assembled wooden hives proudly declaring the Applegate Orchard brand, and which buzz on a constant basis. A sickle sticks out of one, a standing reminded that despite the irritation, anger should not be taken out on the bees.%r%tThe left side is furnished with a bookshelf, half full of romantic comedies, mostly godawful human schlock that doesn't even begin to understand the black urges, but a few precious Alternian pieces he managed to preserve, which are now entirely unique, and with names far too long to reproduce here, and the remainder stuffed with heavy tomes on programming, from .sex to ~fornicate. They are often badly gashed which suggests the user has found Amazons' computing supplies distinctively unsatisfying. The sole remaining tome of ~.ath occupies the pole position, separated from the other books by red and blue bookends.

%tCarved back into the bedrock behind the foyer, this room is cool and quiet, insulated from the outside world. It's walls, ceiling, and floor are all smoothed and polished stone. Each of the far corners has a recouperacoon installed and a computer desk at it's foot.%r%tThe walls on the left half of the room are painted dark green, but most of it has been drawn over in reds, grays, and blacks to depict little graphics of potential romantic pairings between the occupant's friends and aquiaintances. On the floor lie rugs made from the pelts of wild animals, proof of successful hunts. There is also a large and shredded notice from the zoo, that the occupant is no longer allowed in due to repeated slaughter of zoo animals. The walls are adorned with a few books from the Treasure Chest, gifts from a purple-blooded suitor who doesn't understand that some people don't have a complete fetish for dice. Her recuperacoon has a matchbox from the KitKat Club sitting on the edge, with a large black spade drawn over it.%r%tThe right half is painted a deep, dark shade of blue. They are spotted with a half-dozen posters depicting enormously muscular horses doing things that shouldn't be discussed in a room description, let alone hung up for the world to see, each one with a price-tag showing that it was purchased from Amazons, unremoved due to fear of tearing them in half. The corner on this side nearest the door is occluded by a mountainous pile of unused robot parts, many of which appear to have been beaten into pieces, and a few of which show logos from Mechano-Mage Merchandise. In the corner is a large crate marked with the stenciled logo of the Corpsemporium, which seems to be recently ordered. It would appear the owner of this half of the room has graduated in what sort of horrible things he wishes to bring life to.

%tBehind the door is a short flight of stairs, and at their landing above is a circular room with a low ceiling, it's walls entirely lined with windows. The walls are painted a cool, muted green, and all the windows are decorated with long drapes in a complimentary purple.%r%tA queen size bed, a Sisterhood Complex commemorative martini glass tastefully sitting atop it, is set under the windows on the eastern side and flanked by a simply enormous wardrobe. Naturally so, as is evidenced by the table on the south side of the room, atop which rests a sewing machine. The desk's legs are built full of cubbies, each of which is crammed with bolts of beautifully textured cloths purchased from Things Remembered, and fine threads and yarns in a rainbow of colors. Shelves on either side bristle with even more. A wizard statue, a tender gift purchased from Ithelco's, a thank you for the Things Remembered, in commemoration of a lost mother, with a green <3 painted on it. 'A memorial of Roses' is carved into the base. This awful thing is completely horrible.%r%tThe west wall is occupied by two desks, each sporting a computer to carry, and the north face is nearly completely occupied by bookshelves low enough not to block the view, filled completely with books carefully refound here. With some careful restoring of the names, the Treasure Chest proved to have a cornucopia of favorite books, both horrorterror and vampire related. The sawed-in-half remnants of a book titled Twilight lie across the floor, as a warning to the others.

%r%tThis room, which hangs over the main room below and shares it's windowed eastern wall, is papered in posters of the whimsical and mirthful. On the right side, painted orange, are depictions of brightly colored lands of fantasy, and in particular fairies in flight, purchased from Amazons, which may explain why the fairies are rather nude, and at times doing awful things to insects. This side is Tavros'. The opposite is purple, and depicts clowns of a grim persuation who may not have full posession of their mental faculties, purchased from Darkside Productions, which suggests that their material is even more awful than one might think. This side is Gamzee's.%r%tThe room is strewn with piles of horns, stacks of unicycles, and festooned with unorganized playing cards. In each back corner sits a squat recouperacoon, and in each windowed corner sits a desk and a computer of human construction. A matchbook from Desert Dreams Hookah Lounge, and a bong purchased from self-same place, sit in the purple side, while the orange side has the phone number for the Treasure Chest scribbled on the wall. Hidden incompetently behind the monitor is a little grey-skinned plushie with a scorpio symbol sown into it, and a little tuft of black hair, and which appears to have many black pins stuck into it.