34 2731 Barton
City of the Devious Gaians
There it is, our new home. I had just about given up on the thought of having a Gaian home. Like so many "n00bs", I got my account, wandered about the forums for a bit, then found instructions on how to get a house. How cute! I could have my own little plot of land to put up a cottage and invite friends over to. I like the hurly-burly of Barton, but sometimes it's nice to have a more secluded area to chat in. Besides, it would be easier for people to look you up. "Meet me by my little place, my dear," I'd say casually. "Why yes, indeed, I do own a house," I'd say with a diffident shrug that would scarcely conceal my pride. "Doesn't everyone?"
Well, I skipped away as fast as my virtual feet would take me to Akea and quickly obtained both house and building permit. That was when cruel reality set in. As everyone except naive little Virginia knew, there were no unreserved plots to be found anywhere. Oh, I'd squat a bit, wandering into people's unlocked houses and gasping at their decor. But it wasn't the same, somehow, and I always worried that the actual owners might pop in. "You! Who the devil are you?" they'd say with menace. Was there a virtual jail for badly behaved homeless girls who got caught tresspassing? I wasn't sure.
But the story has a happy ending. I keep being entranced by the openess of people around here. While poking about whistfully in the Homes forum, I spotted a note from a lady named Cherry Wine. She had bought a subdevelopment and had a few slots to give away. Yes. At a time that plots were being sold for at least 10000 gold, she was giving away plots. I quickly filled out her application form. I have to admit, I didn't know her aside from her interesting profile (nice art), but I figured I would be happy to live near people who cared about who they lived next to. If that makes any sense.
Then, mirabile dictu, we got the acceptance letter. Miss Wine told me that she liked the idea of a married couple living in her neighborhood--I guess that's novelty enough in Gaia. My made up story about being Robot Avenger Woman was completely unnecessary, as it turned out. This was fortunate, as I'd already broken down and admitted that by day I was V. Wolfe, struggling writer, and by night I was V. Wolfe, stuggling with insomnia. No robots, avenging or otherwise.
CW also created a mailing list for our community. I really look forward to actually living in a virtual community. In Real Life, we value our neighbors, so I see no reason it should be different online. Even though there's now some more subdevelopments open, this is far better than living next to random people we might never meet.
We quickly put down the new house. There was a tad bit of disappointment that we couldn't install furniture just yet (there's a system glitch right now), but we regard that as typical movers, arriving late as usual (we've survived a couple of Real Life moves. This is really no different). Oxbridge and I sat and chatted outside our new house as we watched the virtual sunset and the electronic insects flit about. It's odd, but I really felt like we had just moved into an actual country village. In a way, perhaps we have.
Feeling all domestic,
V
