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| image1= Strange and Wonderful House.jpg | | image1= Strange and Wonderful House.jpg | ||
| caption1= | | caption1= | ||
| aka= The House<br>The Infinite House<br>The Mansion | | aka= The House<br>The Infinite House<br>The Mansion<br>The Manor | ||
| universe= [[Universe A (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Unnamed universe]] | | universe= [[Universe A (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Unnamed universe]] | ||
| type= Living house | | type= Living house | ||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
| notable_inhabitants= '''''[[:Category:Residents of the Strange and Wonderful House|See list]]''''' | | notable_inhabitants= '''''[[:Category:Residents of the Strange and Wonderful House|See list]]''''' | ||
| first_seen_in= [[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'' | | first_seen_in= [[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'' | ||
| also_seen_in= [[PROSE]]: ''[[Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral (novel)|Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral]]'' | | also_seen_in= [[PROSE]]: ''[[Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral (novel)|Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral]]''<br>[[PROSE]]: ''[[Morning After (novel)|Morning After]]''<br><small>(mentioned)</small> | ||
| copyright= CC-BY-SA | | copyright= CC-BY-SA | ||
}}'''The Strange and Wonderful House''', often referred to as simply '''the House''', and also called '''the Infinite House''' or '''the | }}'''The Strange and Wonderful House''', often referred to as simply '''the House''', and also called '''the Infinite House''', '''the Mansion''' or '''the Manor''', was a living house of mysterious origins whose interior encompassed an infinite number of rooms, many of them strange or supernatural. [[Jenny Everywhere]] was friends with [[the Architect]] of the House, and had an unusually good understanding of the nature of the House, which she visited in many incarnations, up to and including the day of the House's eventual destruction. | ||
== Description == | == Description == | ||
=== Nature === | === Nature === | ||
One account suggested that the Strange and Wonderful House's peculiarities stemmed from the fact that it had been built on land that was once part of [[Faerie]], using wood harvested there, such that “something of Faerie” had always lingered within it. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'') | |||
Some of the House's inhabitants perceived it as a “work of fiction” they had created as “writers”, which had somehow become real. This included the “modern” [[Master of the House]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 39-II: The Will of the Creator|The Will of the Creator]]'') However, [[Sid]] argued that this was a limiting perspective and the writers had ''not'' really created the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'') | |||
[[#The Basement|The Basement]] was a sea of intricate, inhospitable mechanisms which seemed to be over a thousand years old. One visitor who nearly lost their life there came to believe that these were the underpinnings of the House above: “the whole place is run on valves… along a cosmic camshaft, seeming to rotate into the misty, mildewy distance”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 44: The Basement|The Basement]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 44-I: Safety Catch|Safety Catch]]'') | |||
The House was sentient, with a definite personality of its own. It enjoyed having its residents upgrade its interior, and had the ability to manipulate its own interior to a degree to facilitate their work. For example, when the [[lawn gnome]]s began work to graft [[the Great Glass Elevator]] into the House to supplement [[#The Stairwell|the Stairwell]], it began to make various doorways throughout the House open into as-yet-empty elevator shafts. “Buzzing with excitement and creaking with worry, lurching, stretching, and then settling”, the House's active mood was noticed by the residents, who were forced to hold a “continuous seance” on [[#The 7th floor|the 7th floor]] in order to “keep [[spirit]]s and [[demon]]s out of closets and cupboards”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 21: Elevator|Elevator]]'') | ==== Inner structure ==== | ||
The House was infinite, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Welcome!|Welcome!]]'') being described as “larger than most universes” by one [[Maid (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|elder]] [[Maid]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 46: The Maids|The Maids]]'') and home to many portals to and from other dimensions than [[Universe A (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|the one]] where its original exterior happened to be located. In many cases, transit from one room to another was achieved through portals internal to the house, rather than more conventionally making one's way through the building. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'') Because it connected to so many realities, the House was constantly under attack from various dangers at its “borders”, including but not limited to [[Lovecraftian nightmare god]]s, steampunk pirates and [[zombie]]s. [[#The Observatory|The Observatory]] was tasked with protecting the House from these dangers, but was only partially effective. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 59-I: Remnants and Reminders|Remnants and Reminders]]'') | |||
Its internal organisation was paradoxical, including such rooms as a “[[#3rd floor basement|3rd floor basement]]”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 11: Every House Needs One|Every House Needs One]]'') Most rooms' actual relative positions within the House were “fluid”, with the exception of [[the Stationery Room]] which was always located at the exact halfway point between [[the Master Bedroom]] and [[the Gatehouse]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 20: The Stationery Room|The Stationery Room]]'') Some rooms were incalculably larger on the inside than normal, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 7: The Coat Room|The Coat Room]]'') sometimes containing entire biomes, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 4: The Catamaran Loos of Oceania|The Catamaran Loos of Oceania]]'') and some changed appearance based on the observer ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 7: The Coat Room|The Coat Room]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 12: The Dining Room|The Dining Room]]'') or the circumstance. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 41: The ‘Rock Room’|The ‘Rock Room’]]'') | |||
Time was also “flexible” within the House and its domains, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 36: Into the Gardens (Part 2)|Into the Gardens (Part 2)]]'') with it being possible to move back and forth in time when one moved between rooms; for example, when nipping out of a party in the aforementioned 3rd floor basement to go to the men's rooms, [[Rennik]] described the party as being held “last Thursday”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 11: Every House Needs One|Every House Needs One]]'') It seemed to be possible for locations to simultaneously exist on their own and as part of the House: according to [[Sid]], a particular location where “thick stalks of bamboo” each stood “without uniformity” in “pools of stagnant water” existed simultaneously in [[China]], in [[Japan]], and in [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]] of the House, “depending on your perspective”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'') | |||
Some rooms could only be entered by specific people or groups of people, including [[#The Stationery Room|the Stationery Room]], limited to the [[Master of the House]] and his guests, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 20: The Stationery Room|The Stationery Room]]'') and [[#The Jenny Everywhere Museum|the Jenny Everywhere Museum]], limited to incarnations of [[Jenny Everywhere]] and their companions. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 18: The Jenny Everywhere Museum|The Jenny Everywhere Museum]]'') A complex multi-step ritual had to be carried out to enter [[#The Vault|the Vault]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'') and similarly, one could apparently only reach [[#The Roof|the Roof]] by first going through a specific sequence of rooms and portals. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 49: The Roof|The Roof]]'') | |||
==== Sentience ==== | |||
The House was sentient, with a definite personality of its own. It enjoyed having its residents upgrade its interior, and had the ability to manipulate its own interior to a degree to facilitate their work. For example, when the [[lawn gnome]]s began work to graft [[the Great Glass Elevator]] into the House to supplement [[#The Stairwell|the Stairwell]], it began to make various doorways throughout the House open into as-yet-empty elevator shafts. “Buzzing with excitement and creaking with worry, lurching, stretching, and then settling”, the House's active mood was noticed by the residents, who were forced to hold a “continuous seance” on [[#The 7th floor|the 7th floor]] in order to “keep [[spirit]]s and [[demon]]s out of closets and cupboards”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 21: Elevator|Elevator]]'') The House sometimes made specific requests of its inhabitants, but it quickly learned that asking the [[Artifector]]s anything was pointless: “requests were fastidiously ignored and trying to guide the artifectors was akin to shearing a flock of cats”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-IV: The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)|The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)]]'') The [[Maid]]s viewed themselves as being directly under the authority of the House rather than “those who claim[ed] to rule Her”, and apparently had ways of communicating with her directly. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 46: The Maids|The Maids]]'') | |||
Some rooms seemed to have their own personality, as demonstrated by [[#The Fabulous Salon|the Fabulous Salon]], which was notoriously “moody”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') | |||
=== Inhabitants === | === Inhabitants === | ||
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* [[Demon]]s; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 21: Elevator|Elevator]]'') | * [[Demon]]s; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 21: Elevator|Elevator]]'') | ||
* animated statues who served as “the guards of [[#The Gallery|the Gallery]]”; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 22: The Gallery|The Gallery]]'') | * animated statues who served as “the guards of [[#The Gallery|the Gallery]]”; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 22: The Gallery|The Gallery]]'') | ||
* blue and pink mice in [[#The North West Attic|the North West Attic]] which [[Mila]] believed lay eggs in people's ears, though this may just have been paranoia on her part; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 31: The North West Attic|The North West Attic]]'') | |||
* the [[Werepanda]] who allegedly roamed in [[the Gardens]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens]]'') | |||
* [[the Bodhi Tree]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 39: The Bodhi Tree|The Bodhi Tree]]'', etc.) | |||
* [[the Cheshire]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 40: The Cheshire (Part 1)|The Cheshire (Part 1)]]'', etc.) | |||
* the [[personification of February]]; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'') | |||
* pink [[gnome]]s; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') | |||
* [[Dragon]]s; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 49: The Roof|The Roof]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 50: The Stage|The Stage]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 59-I: Remnants and Reminders|Remnants and Reminders]]'') | |||
* [[Ghost]]s; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 59-I: Remnants and Reminders|Remnants and Reminders]]'') | |||
* [[the Lady in Mourning]], speculated to be a former goddess. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 19: The Ruined Chapel|The Ruined Chapel]]'') | * [[the Lady in Mourning]], speculated to be a former goddess. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 19: The Ruined Chapel|The Ruined Chapel]]'') | ||
There were also miscellaneous human, or seemingly human, residents, such as [[Federico Ruiz]] and the other decadent socialites of his Pleasure Pad, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 3: The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz|The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz]]'') and more normal individuals like [[Christopher (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Christopher]], [[Mandy (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Mandy]], and their [[Uncle Jack]] | There were also miscellaneous human, or seemingly human, residents, such as [[Federico Ruiz]] and the other decadent socialites of his Pleasure Pad, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 3: The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz|The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz]]'') and more normal individuals like [[Christopher (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Christopher]], [[Mandy (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Mandy]], and their [[Uncle Jack]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 24: The Cellar|The Cellar]]'') or the artist [[Oliver (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Oliver]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 52: The Guardian of the Ink Wells|The Guardian of the Ink Wells]]'') The inhabitants of the House were numerous enough to form a society unto themselves; for example, there were multiple magazines internal to the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') | ||
There were also visitors to the House who stayed for years, in some cases dying there. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 19-I: The Right Wrong Questions|The Right Wrong Questions]]'') | |||
=== Staff === | |||
{{main|Household Staff}} | |||
There existed a [[Master of the House]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 20: The Stationery Room|The Stationery Room]]'') He had to negotiate with the [[Goblin King (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Goblin King]] on at least one occasion. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 24-I: Montresor|Montresor]]'') There was also a [[Master of the Fields]], the symbolic leader of the people of the rural towns surrounding the Strange and Wonderful House in its [[Universe A (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|native universe]]. It was this Master's responsibility to lead the [[Harvest Procession]] that brought victuals to the House for the winter through [[the Great South Gate]] every year on [[Harvest Day]], riding on the lead cart, which was pulled by a team of eight, unblemished black oxen adorned with ribbons. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 30: The Great South Gate|The Great South Gate]]'') However, [[Maid (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|one elder Maid]] was openly dismissive of the claims of those who saw themselves as “rulers” of the House; in her view, the House ruled itself, and all the members of Staff, Master included, were but custodians. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 46: The Maids|The Maids]]'') | |||
Prospective members of [[Household Staff]] were recruited from the people of the Fields on some Harvest Days, as children aged between six and twelve. If chosen, they would spend their whole lives within the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 30: The Great South Gate|The Great South Gate]]'') Similarly, adults could volunteer to join the Servants of the House, but would have to agree never to leave again, and to only marry among the other Servants. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 46: The Maids|The Maids]]'') | |||
Directly under the authority of the “Masters of the abode” were the battle-ready, all-female [[Housekeeping]] corps, who were sworn to clean out every room in the House at least once per year. They were led by a [[Head of Housekeeping|forceful woman]]. They had an enmity with the [[Artifector]]s, eccentric inventors who worked in [[#The Laboratory|the Laboratory]] on devices nominally intended to make the lives of the residents of the House more convenient, although they often did the opposite or else wholly failed to pan out. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 27: The Lab|The Lab]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-I: The Lab: The Alarum Goes Off|The Lab: The Alarum Goes off]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-II: The Lab: Setting The Alarum|The Lab: Setting The Alarum]]'') The [[Maid]]s were a very serious guild, who saw themselves as second-only to the Master, and communicated directly with the House. Not all applicants survived [[the Test]] which they had to undergo before they would officially become [[Maid]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 46: The Maids|The Maids]]'') | |||
Other staff included the guards keeping watch over the door to [[the Conservatory]] from [[the Guardroom]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 12: The Guardroom|The Guardroom]]'') the zookeepers patrolling [[the Zoo]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 29: The Zoo|The Zoo]]'') [[Malthus]] who watched over [[#the morgue|the morgue]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 23: The Rose Cottage|The Rose Cottage]]'') [[Montresor]] the [[Keeper of the Cellar]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 24-I: Montresor|Montresor]]'') the [[man with the crimson cloak]] who distributed invitations for [[#The Ballroom|the Ball]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 34: The Ballroom|The Ballroom]]'') the mysterious [[Sid]] who once led the [[Master of the House]] on a journey through [[the Gardens]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens]]'', etc.) [[Frank the Janitor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 43-I: The Note|The Note]]'') A [[Robot (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|giant robot]] guarded [[#The Basement|the Basement]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 44-I: Safety Catch|Safety Catch]]'') [[the Triplets]] who ran [[#The Fabulous Salon|the Fabulous Salon]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') [[the Guardian of the Ink Wells|the Guardian]] of [[#The Ink Wells|the Ink Wells]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 52: The Guardian of the Ink Wells|The Guardian of the Ink Wells]]'') [[the Librarian]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 55-I: There is No Dripping in the Library|There is No Dripping in the Library]]'') the unkempt inspector who spent their career travelling through the House examining each of the hundreds of Airing Cupboards, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 56: The Seven Hundred Nineteenth Airing Cupboard|The Seven Hundred Nineteenth Airing Cupboard]]'') [[the Room Keeper]] of [[#The Spinning Room|the Spinning Room]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 57: The Spinning Room|The Spinning Room]]'') and [[the Armourer]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 58: The Armory|The Armory]]'') A [[Robot (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|giant robot]] guarded [[#The Basement|the Basement]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 44-I: Safety Catch|Safety Catch]]'') | |||
=== Contents === | === Contents === | ||
==== The Courtyard ==== | ==== The Courtyard ==== | ||
The Courtyard was an area in front of the wrought gates that properly led into the estate, but which was still part of the House in some sense. It was “fragrant”, and the air was filled with “softly surrsurring willows and languid [[will-o'-wisp]]s”. It was always night inside the Courtyard, the sky filled with “alien stars”. There were chimes, always ringing softly in the playful wind. | The Courtyard was an area in front of the wrought gates that properly led into the estate, but which was still part of the House in some sense. It was “fragrant”, and the air was filled with “softly surrsurring willows and languid [[will-o'-wisp]]s”. It was always night inside the Courtyard, the sky filled with “alien stars”. There were chimes, always ringing softly in the playful wind. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 1: The Courtyard|The Courtyard]]'') Climbing the sound of chimes in the Courtyard to pluck a leaf from [[the Bodhi Tree]] was one of the steps in the complex ritual needed to gain access to [[#The Vault|the Vault]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'') | ||
The gates themselves, although they appeared at first glance to be made of glowing golden metal, were actually made of clear tubing within which luminous insects milled about for an indiscernible purpose. The gates could open of their own accord to let in a visitor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 1: The Courtyard|The Courtyard]]'') | The gates themselves, although they appeared at first glance to be made of glowing golden metal, were actually made of clear tubing within which luminous insects milled about for an indiscernible purpose. The gates could open of their own accord to let in a visitor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 1: The Courtyard|The Courtyard]]'') | ||
From the Courtyard, the House itself was sometimes invisible, with only the windows and the thirty-foot-tall, [[The TARDIS|TARDIS]]-blue doors floating in mid-air. There was a doorbell, consisting of a “curious-looking, seemingly [[Japan]]ese bell with a matching stone mallet at its side”; striking the bell with the mallet incongruously produced the sound of a baby's laughter. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 51: The Doorbell?|The Doorbell?]]'') | |||
==== The Great South Gate ==== | |||
One of the ways into the House was the imposing Great South Gate, which had a portcullis and “vast ebony doors” which opened once a year on [[Harvest Day]] to allow in the [[Harvest Procession]] bringing the residents of the House victuals for the winter from the surrounding Fields. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 30: The Great South Gate|The Great South Gate]]'') | |||
==== The Anteroom ==== | ==== The Anteroom ==== | ||
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==== The Library ==== | ==== The Library ==== | ||
The Library was extremely dusty, and its floors creaked in a frightening fashion. It was connected by a portal to the Library of [[Hawk Manor]] in [[Universe B (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|one universe]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 5: The Library|The Library]]'') The Library had a bespoke bathroom, which was, surprisingly enough, completely spotless, but for the forgotten book. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 5-II: The Bathroom (of the Library)|The Bathroom (of the Library)]]'') An “[[Elshanor|elegant and studious woman]] stroll[ing] with melancholy through a tattered library” was one of the scenes from across the House glimpsed by another visitor through one of the glass panes in [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our_Strange_and_Wonderful_House_(novel)#Appendix_13-II:_View_From_a_Jungle|View From a Jungle]]'') | The Library was extremely dusty, and its floors creaked in a frightening fashion. It was connected by a portal to the Library of [[Hawk Manor]] in [[Universe B (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|one universe]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 5: The Library|The Library]]'') The Library had a bespoke bathroom, which was, surprisingly enough, completely spotless, but for the forgotten book. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 5-II: The Bathroom (of the Library)|The Bathroom (of the Library)]]'') The Library was incredibly large, possibly infinite; from at least one spot within it, one could see bookcases “receding to the horizon in all directions”. It was dimly-lit and the floor was covered in plsuh red carpeting. The room was watched over by [[the Librarian]], an ominous figure who hated noisy guests. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 55-I: There is No Dripping in the Library|There is No Dripping in the Library]]'') | ||
An “[[Elshanor|elegant and studious woman]] stroll[ing] with melancholy through a tattered library” was one of the scenes from across the House glimpsed by another visitor through one of the glass panes in [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our_Strange_and_Wonderful_House_(novel)#Appendix_13-II:_View_From_a_Jungle|View From a Jungle]]'') Directly above the bathroom of the library was [[#The sideways room|the sideways room]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-III: Heebie Jeebies|Heebie Jeebies]]'') A portal connected the surface of the sea in [[#The Beach|the Beach]] to the middle of the Library. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 55: Teleporting Beach|Teleporting Beach]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 55-I: There is No Dripping in the Library|There is No Dripping in the Library]]'') | |||
==== The Theater Room ==== | ==== The Theater Room ==== | ||
Like many Victorian manors, the House was home to a theater room. Its players were inhuman beings wearing human faces like masks, however, and getting drawn into the performance was hazardous. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 6: The Theater Room|The Theater Room]]'') | Like many Victorian manors, the House was home to a theater room. Its players were inhuman beings wearing human faces like masks, however, and getting drawn into the performance was hazardous. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 6: The Theater Room|The Theater Room]]'') Taking [[the Elevator]] up to the Theater Room was one of the necessary steps to reaching [[#The Roof|the Roof]]. In the Theater Room, one had to go backstage to find a portal connecting to the hair dye closet of [[#The Salon|the Salon]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 49: The Roof|The Roof]]'') | ||
==== The Coat Room ==== | ==== The Coat Room ==== | ||
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==== The Observatory ==== | ==== The Observatory ==== | ||
The Observatory was located at the end of [[#Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]], behind an “elegant door of dark wood” ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 9: Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]]'') locked by a complex mechanism. The room itself was circular, with a dome that looked out into the night sky. Around the room were dozens of monitors built into consoles with buttons, keyboards, levers and toggles. In the middle sat a “technologically-advanced ”recliner chair with joysticks on both armrests and a helmet on the seat, from which a user could control the House's defensive lasers. According to its A.I. guardian [[Ana]], the purpose of the Observatory was principally to observe “both space ''and'' time”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 10: The Observatory|The Observatory]]'') | The Observatory was located at the end of [[#Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]], behind an “elegant door of dark wood” ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 9: Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]]'') locked by a complex mechanism. The room itself was circular, with a dome that looked out into the night sky. Around the room were dozens of monitors built into consoles with buttons, keyboards, levers and toggles. In the middle sat a “technologically-advanced ”recliner chair with joysticks on both armrests and a helmet on the seat, from which a user could control the House's defensive lasers. According to its A.I. guardian [[Ana]], the purpose of the Observatory was principally to observe “both space ''and'' time”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 10: The Observatory|The Observatory]]'') The Observatory allowed the House to protect itself from threats native to the many realities to which it connected, and which constantly sought to overwhelm it, such as [[zombie]]s, [[Lovecraftian nightmare god]]s and “steampunk pirates”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 59-I: Remnants and Reminders|Remnants and Reminders]]'') | ||
==== The Men's Restroom ==== | ==== The Men's Restroom ==== | ||
The House had a men's restroom, where gravity was abnormal, such that one could stand upside-down on the ceiling to do one's business in urinals that were the right way around. [[Rennik]] visited it during the party in the [[3rd floor basement]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 11: Every House Needs One|Every House Needs One]]'') | The House had a men's restroom, where gravity was abnormal, such that one could stand upside-down on the ceiling to do one's business in urinals that were the right way around. [[Rennik]] visited it during the party in the [[3rd floor basement]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 11: Every House Needs One|Every House Needs One]]'') | ||
==== 3rd floor basement ==== | ==== The third floor ==== | ||
One visitor to the house tried to use [[the Cheshire]] to get to the third floor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 40: The Cheshire (Part 1)|The Cheshire]]'') | |||
===== 3rd floor basement ===== | |||
The House had a “3rd floor basement”. [[Rennik]] once attended a large party that took placed there “last Thursday” relative to the timeframe of the [[#The Men's Restroom|men's room]] when he visited the latter. Another man at the restroom who asked about the party briefly got the 3rd floor basement confused for the [[#2nd floor attic|2nd floor attic]] by the [[#Tennis courts|tennis courts]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 11: Every House Needs One|Every House Needs One]]'') A “quiet gathering”, “swaying to unheard music in a roughly finished basement” was one of the scenes from across the House glimpsed by another visitor through one of the glass panes in [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our_Strange_and_Wonderful_House_(novel)#Appendix_13-II:_View_From_a_Jungle|View From a Jungle]]'') | The House had a “3rd floor basement”. [[Rennik]] once attended a large party that took placed there “last Thursday” relative to the timeframe of the [[#The Men's Restroom|men's room]] when he visited the latter. Another man at the restroom who asked about the party briefly got the 3rd floor basement confused for the [[#2nd floor attic|2nd floor attic]] by the [[#Tennis courts|tennis courts]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 11: Every House Needs One|Every House Needs One]]'') A “quiet gathering”, “swaying to unheard music in a roughly finished basement” was one of the scenes from across the House glimpsed by another visitor through one of the glass panes in [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our_Strange_and_Wonderful_House_(novel)#Appendix_13-II:_View_From_a_Jungle|View From a Jungle]]'') | ||
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==== The Tarn ==== | ==== The Tarn ==== | ||
The Tarn was located behind the House. The backdoor of [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]] led out of the House and onto a path passing between [[#The Dark Wood|the Dark Wood]] and the Tarn, leading to [[#The Ruined Chapel|the Ruined Chapel]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 19: The Ruined Chapel|The Ruined Chapel]]'') The [[Wandering mendicant (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|wandering mendicant]] who spent his final years near the Chapel drew “a meager sustenance of wild root and clear water” from the tarn. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 19-I: The Right Wrong Questions|The Right Wrong Questions]]'') | The Tarn was located behind the House. The backdoor of [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]] led out of the House and onto a path passing between [[#The Dark Wood|the Dark Wood]] and the Tarn, leading to [[#The Ruined Chapel|the Ruined Chapel]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 19: The Ruined Chapel|The Ruined Chapel]]'') The [[Wandering mendicant (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|wandering mendicant]] who spent his final years near the Chapel drew “a meager sustenance of wild root and clear water” from the tarn. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 19-I: The Right Wrong Questions|The Right Wrong Questions]]'') One legend about the origins of the House claimed that the “curse” of the Tarn originated when [[the Architect]] drowned himself in it after being spurned by [[Woman in the Painting|the woman he loved]], but serious historians of the House believed that this was nonsense and the Tarn and its curse predated the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 33: The Painting|The Painting]]'') Indeed, the Tarn was left intact by the [[Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House]], the House's last ruins crumbling into the Tarn. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 60: The Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House|The Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House]]'') | ||
==== The Ruined Chapel ==== | ==== The Ruined Chapel ==== | ||
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==== The Gallery ==== | ==== The Gallery ==== | ||
The Gallery could be entered through ornate wooden doors beneath “the stained glass window showing the birds from which the [[Seven Noble Houses]] take their names”. It contained works of art from various styles, time periods and universes, presented in no particular order — including “photographs of poor children in a city that is almost but not quite [[London|Victorian London]]”, “pages from a medieval manuscript portraying impossible beasts”, “a Cubist painting showing the depths of [[Hell]]”, and “a painting [[Vincent Van Gogh|Van Gogh]] never made in this world”. The “armed statues in every style imaginable” which adorned the hallways, on the other hand, were not part of the exhibit: they were, instead, “the guards of the Gallery”, who “[brought] swift death to any who attempt[ed] to steal from it”. Deep in the Gallery, any visitor could find a room with paintings depicting key moments of their own life, including a painting of their own death at the far end of the room. “Few [had] the courage to venture this far.” ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 22: The Gallery|The Gallery]]'') | The Gallery could be entered through ornate wooden doors beneath “the stained glass window showing the birds from which the [[Seven Noble Houses]] take their names”. It contained works of art from various styles, time periods and universes, presented in no particular order — including “photographs of poor children in a city that is almost but not quite [[London|Victorian London]]”, “pages from a medieval manuscript portraying impossible beasts”, “a Cubist painting showing the depths of [[Hell]]”, and “a painting [[Vincent Van Gogh|Van Gogh]] never made in this world”. The “armed statues in every style imaginable” which adorned the hallways, on the other hand, were not part of the exhibit: they were, instead, “the guards of the Gallery”, who “[brought] swift death to any who attempt[ed] to steal from it”. Deep in the Gallery, any visitor could find a room with paintings depicting key moments of their own life, including a painting of their own death at the far end of the room. “Few [had] the courage to venture this far.” ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 22: The Gallery|The Gallery]]'') The most famous work of art in the Gallery was [[the Painting]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 33: The Painting|The Painting]]'') | ||
==== The morgue ==== | ==== The morgue ==== | ||
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==== The Mud Room ==== | ==== The Mud Room ==== | ||
The Mud Room was a room whose interior replicated a rainy, muddy public park. At some point, an [[Killer in the Mud Room|insane serial killer]] with a predilection for stalking young women in such conditions was transported to the Mud Room. They didn't realise that they were no longer in the real world, though they were confused as to why they hadn't been caught yet after accumulating years' worth of “stupid mistakes” in their murders of visitors who stumbled into the Mud Room. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 25: The Mud Room|The Mud Room]]'') | The Mud Room was a room whose interior replicated a rainy, muddy public park. At some point, an [[Killer in the Mud Room|insane serial killer]] with a predilection for stalking young women in such conditions was transported to the Mud Room. They didn't realise that they were no longer in the real world, though they were confused as to why they hadn't been caught yet after accumulating years' worth of “stupid mistakes” in their murders of visitors who stumbled into the Mud Room. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 25: The Mud Room|The Mud Room]]'') | ||
==== The Airing Cupboard ==== | |||
The Airing Cupboard was located on [[#The fourth floor|the fourth floor]] down [[#The east wing|the east wing]], and apparently held a terrible secret. It ceased to be used as an actual airing cupboard in the Victorian era, when a parlour maid “discovered its true nature”, which prompted “the [[Master of the House]] at that time” to conceal the entrance by placing a life-sized portrait of [[Master of the House's mistress|his mistress]] over it. Reportedly, his [[Master of the House's wife|wife]] was so outraged she left the House forever, moving to the continent, only to die of jealousy “a mere fortnight after”. | |||
Eventually, the door was uncovered once again as part of the preparations for “the coming of [[The Great Glass Elevator|the elevator]]”. The first visitor to take notice of the door pulled it open only to be greeted with “the unexpected scents of lavender and lye soap laid over a base tang of copper”. A [[Figure in the Airing Cupboard|mysterious figure wearing a “peculiar” Victorian nightdress]], seated in a corner, greeted the visitor with “Darling! You've been so long!”, and closes its arms tightly around him, locking him into place. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 26: The Airing Cupboard]]'') | |||
==== The fourth floor ==== | |||
[[#The Airing Cupboard|The Airing Cupboard]] was located on “the fourth floor down [[#The east wing|the east wing]]”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 26: The Airing Cupboard|The Airing Cupboard]]'') | |||
==== The east wing ==== | |||
[[#The Airing Cupboard|The Airing Cupboard]] was located on “the [[#The fourth floor|fourth floor]] down the east wing”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 26: The Airing Cupboard|The Airing Cupboard]]'') | |||
==== The Kitchen ==== | |||
[[#The Laboratory|The Laboratory]] was located “dangerously close” to the Kitchen. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 27: The Kitchen|The Kitchen]]'') | |||
==== The Laboratory ==== | |||
The Laboratory, or simply “the Lab”, was located “dangerously close” to the Kitchen. It started out as a mere cupboard, but one of the [[Artifector]]s' first invention was the [[space expander]]s which turned the interior into a much larger working space. The Artifectors worked there daily on various mad-science projects, intended to make the lives of the House's residents either more or less convenient, depending on the Artiefactors' mood. There was “a little corner dedicated to non-mad science”, but it saw very little use. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 27: The Kitchen|The Kitchen]]'') The whole room was very dusty due to the Artifectors violently resisting attempts by [[Housekeeping]] to clean it out yearly, for fear that they would move their experiments around and disturb their habits. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-II: The Lab: Setting The Alarum|The Lab: Setting The Alarum]]'') It had at least one window ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-IV: The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)|The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)]]'') and was located down the same hallway as [[#The sideways room|the sideways room]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-III: Heebie Jeebies|Heebie Jeebies]]'') | |||
Inventions stored in the Laboratory included various time-travel devices, “a prototype for an innovative [[bee]]-based mode of transport”, equipment for measuring “luck, rubber band elasticity and sense of humour”, unfinished blueprints for an [[anti-procrastination device]], a [[Shiny Object Locator]] which had quickly been misplaced, and various [[thinking cap]]s, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 27: The Kitchen|The Kitchen]]'') as well as [[the Alarum]], a short-range time machine resembling a wooden cabinet, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-II: The Lab: Setting The Alarum|The Lab: Setting The Alarum]]'') and a [[Perpetual Motion Machine]] connected to an otherwise-useless tower surrounded by a lightning storm. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-IV: The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)|The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-V: The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 2)|The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 2)]]'') | |||
Collecting a [[certificate of sanity]] from the non-mad-science corner of the lab, and then showing that certificate to the [[personification of February]], was one of the steps in the complex ritual needed to gain access to [[#The Vault|the Vault]]. This was carried out on at least one occasion by [[Frank the Janitor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'') | |||
==== The sideways room ==== | |||
The sideways room was a room located directly above the bathroom of [[#The Library|the Library]]. As its name implied, gravity was sideways, there. The [[Hares In Charge of All Vegetation]] were meeting in [[the sideways room]] when [[Elshanor]] passed through on her way out of the Library, having lifted up a ceiling tile from the bathroom and climbed up. She curtsied apologetically to them as she slid down the “vertical” floor, and carefully avoided using their bespoke, rabbit-hole-shaped exit, instead aiming for the plain wooden door. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-III: Heebie Jeebies|Heebie Jeebies]]'') | |||
==== The Veranda ==== | |||
The Veranda was a very pleasant room, used as a kind of kitchen, and storing a number of jam jars and other preserves, contianing “swimming pears, apricots, plums, applesauces, cherries, peaches, gooseberry preserves, watermelon rinds, pickled vegetables, tomato sauce, mincemeat and blackberry jelly”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 28: A Veranda With A View|A Veranda With A View]]'') | |||
==== The Zoo ==== | |||
The Zoo was actually a huge, open preserve, patrolled in jeeps by the zookeepers. Despite being inside the House, it had a horizon and even a sun and clouds. Its denizens included various supernatural or “imaginary” creatures, such as [[Snark]]s, [[Boojum]]s, [[Cthonian]]s and [[Grue]]s. As such, being an avid reader of fantasy novels was a requirement for working at the Zoo. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 29: The Zoo|The Zoo]]'') | |||
==== The North West Attic ==== | |||
The North West Attic, which could be reached via a dusty stairway contained large amounts of miscellaneous ''bric-à-brac'' including objects covered with sheets, a mannequin with six blue numbers scrawled onto its left arm which “stood, head down, defeated”, and, above the latter, a “majestic” coat of arms for “something called [[League of Awesomeness|the League]]”. When they visited the Attic, [[Oggie]], [[Mila]] and a third searcher crossed paths with a group of blue mice, led by a larger, pink one. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 31: The North West Attic|The North West Attic]]'') It was located “under” [[#The reverse Koi pond|the “reverse Koi pond”]]. A gardener once made a mess in the North West Attic, forcing [[Frank the Janitor]] to intervene. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 43-I: The Note|The Note]]'') | |||
==== The Foyer ==== | |||
The Foyer was furnished with a bench for taking off one's shoes as well as an utterly enormous coatrack. Events within it seemed control by a {{w|Fourier transform|Fourier transform}}, such that a single pattern endlessly looped, switching out visitors over time. A visitor would come in, find someone else hiding behind the coat rack who stated that they only knew the first line and conclusion, had never gotten in, were on their way out, and needed to know how to come in. Once pointed to the door, the visitor would leave for a few seconds, knock, and ask: “May I come in?”. Participants in this strange ritual included [[Six]], [[Seven]], [[Eight]], [[Luda]], and at least one more woman. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 32: The Foyer|The Foyer]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 32-I: Foyer Infinity|Foyer Infinity]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 32-II: Reiterate the Foyer]]'') | |||
==== The Ballroom ==== | |||
The Ballroom was a “beautiful and elegant place”, lit by globes of light floating through the air, which eerie music coming from a distance and musicians nowhere in sight. Every month, a [[Man with the crimson cloak|man with a crimson cloak]] would go through the House and invitations to everyone in the House he encounters: “rich and poor, natives and visitors, human and otherwise”. From a [[#The storage room|a storage room]] near the Ballroom, guests were invited to freely choose a mask, such as “a knight, a gentleman, a harlequin, a monster”, or indeed, if one was already a monster, “an ordinary human being”. However, those who lingered too long in the Ballroom started to take on qualities of their chosen mask, until they lost their original identity altogether. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 34: The Ballroom|The Ballroom]]'') | |||
==== The storage room ==== | |||
People invited to [[#The Ballroom|the Ballroom]] were invited to choose a mask from the wide selection available in a “nearby storage room”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 34: The Ballroom|The Ballroom]]'') | |||
==== The Sun Room ==== | |||
The Sun Room was located close to an exit through which one could visit [[the Tree House]], [[the Southern Veranda]], or simply [[the Gardens]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens]]'') | |||
==== The Tree House ==== | |||
On the way from [[#The Sun Room|the Sun Room]] to [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]], one would pass signs giving direction towards the Tree House and [[#The Southern Veranda|the Southern Veranda]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens]]'') | |||
==== The Southern Veranda ==== | |||
On the way from [[#The Sun Room|the Sun Room]] to [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]], one would pass signs giving direction towards [[#The Tree House|the Tree House]] and the Southern Veranda. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens (Part 1)]]'') | |||
==== The Gardens ==== | |||
The Gardens were large and mysterious. A sign at one of their entrances warned that they were “the domain of the [[Werepanda]]”. They were tended to by [[Sid|an old man]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens (Part 1)]]'') | |||
It contained anything from bushes to “great trees”, and somewhere within its depths was [[the Bodhi Tree]]. There was a shortcut to [[#The Warrens|the Warrens]] through the Gardens, which was often used by certain [[Hares In Charge of All Vegetation|parkour enthusiasts]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 36: Into the Gardens (Part 2)|Into the Gardens (Part 2)]]'') Beyond the Gardens, past the Bodhi Tree, was [[#The backyard|the backyard]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 55: Teleporting Beach|Teleporting Beach]]'') Generally speaking, the orchards and vegetable gardens were “nearest to the House”, but “a determined person could appear anywhere in the garden if they so desired”. Notable subdivisions of the Gardens included [[#The Topiary Veranda|the Topiary Veranda]] and [[#The hedge maze|a hedge maze]] designed by [[I. T. Haze]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 37: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)]]'') The Gardens also contained a location which, “depending on [one's] perspective”, also simultaneously existed in [[China]] and in [[Japan]], where thick bamboo stalks stood in pools of stagnant water. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'') | |||
==== The Warrens ==== | |||
The Warrens were full of “tight spaces”, and were thus favourite haunt of certain [[Hares In Charge of All Vegetation|white-furred parkour enthusiasts]] who often cut through [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]] at high speed to get to the Warrens faster. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 36: Into the Gardens (Part 2)|Into the Gardens (Part 2)]]'') | |||
==== The Dojo ==== | |||
The Dojo was “thought up” and added to the House at some point after the [[Master of the House|House-dweller]]'s tour of [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]] with [[Sid|the strange guide]]. Because time was fluid in the House, the guide already knew about the Dojo's future existence, and, momentarily forgetting that the other man didn't, expressed confusion that he had thought relief in the Gardens rather than the Dojo. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 36: Into the Gardens (Part 2)|Into the Gardens (Part 2)]]'') | |||
==== The Topiary Veranda ==== | |||
The Topiary Veranda was located within [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]]. It took the form of a small open space with a few wrought-iron tables and a dozen matching chairs, surrounded on three sides by bushes shaped into “[[dragon]]s, [[unicorn]]s, and less immediately identifiable things”. A blue-and-white checkered-tile path led from the normal path through the Gardens to this area. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 37: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)]]'') | |||
==== The hedge maze ==== | |||
Designed by [[I. T. Haze]], the “legendary” hedge maze, located within [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]], was unique and ever-changing. Its walls of foliage were about five feet tall. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 37: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)]]'') In a slightly different account, there were multiple “hedge mazes”, “infested” with dangerous [[topiary minotaur]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Acccursed Springs)]]'') | |||
==== The training ground of accursed springs ==== | |||
A “training ground” of “accursed springs” was contained within [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]]. [[Sid]] pointed to it as an example of not everything within the House necessarily being “essentially good”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Acccursed Springs)]]'') | |||
==== The Spring of Drowned Zombie ==== | |||
Falling into “the Spring of Drowned [[Zombie]]” was one of the hazards one had best avoid when making one's way through the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Acccursed Springs)]]'') | |||
==== The Rock Room ==== | |||
The Rock Room, as it was nicknamed by at least one patron, was a highly mercurial room which served as a venue for musical performances. It could appear as anything from a small, domed room with a stage to a grand opera room. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 41: The ‘Rock Room’|The ‘Rock Room’]]'') | |||
==== The Zen Garden ==== | |||
The Zen Garden was access through a sliding door, with a lobby furnished with “several rakes of differing sizes” leaning against a wall. The main room was lit with a soft light which evokes moonlight, and housed two large sandboxes. The further of the two bore a brass plaque reading ''strength'' on one side, and another reading ''This space left intentionally blank'' on the other. Within, tiny bridges connected pools of moss, and in the centre there stood a small bonsai tree, “brethren of [[Walter (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Walter]] from the look of it”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 42: Zen Garden|Zen Garden]]'') | |||
==== The hallway to nowhere ==== | |||
Showing a [[certificate of sanity]] to the [[personification of February]] to be allowed into “the hallway to nowhere” was one of the steps in the complex ritual that unlocked the door of [[the Vault]] of the Strange and Wonderfulk House. This was carried out on at least one occasion by [[Frank the Janitor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'') | |||
==== The Vault ==== | |||
The Vault was an “airily oppressive” room whose walls were“ glass windows to nowhere”. The floor was made of “a rather pleasant green and red marble”. and the floor a rather pleasant green and red marble. In the centre stood a wooden plinth, surrounded by a stream of reflective water. It usually contained the House's single vacuum cleaner when it wasn't being used by [[Frank the Janitor]]. | |||
Getting in and out of the Vault was a concept, ritualised process, necessitating that one climb “the sound of chimes in [[#The Courtyard|the Courtyard]] to pluck a leaf from [[the Bodhi Tree]]”, collect a [[certificate of sanity]] from the “non-mad-science corner” of [[#The Laboratory|the Lab]], pluck a certain key from underneath the 32nd seashell in [[the Painting]], consume the leaf, hand the certificate to the [[personification of February]] to gain entry into [[#the hallway to nowhere|the hallway to nowhere]], “turn right at Thursday”, and then chuck the key into “a vase on the ceiling above the painting of infinite sparrow hawks”. Even crossing the stream around the plinth called for one last step: hopping twice on one's right foot and then landing on the left on the other side of the stream. To leave again, one had to fall backwards into one of the windows, with a bad rhyme allowing one to determine which: “''Seven laps clockwise from the north, six counter from your new location, now keep stepping left and enter the fourth''”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 43-I: The Note|The Note]]'') | |||
==== The reverse Koi pond ==== | |||
The [[#the North West Attic|North West attic]] was located “under the reverse Koi pond”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 43-I: The Note|The Note]]'') | |||
==== The Basement ==== | |||
The Basement was colder than the rest of the House, and filled with a broiling sea of gears, valves and other mechanical pieces, connected to one huge, “cosmic” camshaft. Over a thousand years old, these mechanisms seemed to be the underpinnings of the House above. The mechanisms were overlooked by a copper bridge without any guardrails, which extended from the small staircase through which the Basement could sometimes be entered, though the staircase did not exist all the time. A [[Robot (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|large, silent, yet friendly robot]] dwelled in the Basement and protected any fragile visitors who made their way in by mistake, a misstep all the more dangerous since the sound of the gears, instead of simply being deafening, had a hypnotic effect that made people want to jump off the bridge. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 44: The Basement|The Basement]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 44-I: Safety Catch|Safety Catch]]'') | |||
==== The Cathedral ==== | |||
The Cathedral was huge and quiet, lit by sunlight streaming in through stained glass windows. On its floor, “old words” were inscribed, making up a foreboding prophecy: “''Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,/Your old men shall dream dreams,/Your young men shall see visions.''” On the altar, writers who wanted to ritually swear off writing forever could come and lay down a symbolic writing implement of their choice. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 45: The Cathedral|The Cathedral]]'') | |||
==== The Fabulous Salon ==== | |||
The Salon was a “moody” room, changing appearance in time with goings-on in the rest of [[the House]] (it “was once known to change into a black room with hundreds of roses when a [[troll (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|troll]] somehow got stuck in [[the Elevator]]”). However, it was generally long, with “thousands” of swivel chairs. Among more mundane items like hair dryers and brushes, it was also furnished with “pink [[gnome]]s” and “devices of mass destruction”, with it being rumoured that a few [[Dragon]]s lurked in the hair dye closet; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') giving one of these dragons a sky lantern full of hydrogen in exchange for being “beamed up” to [[the Roof]] was the final step in the necessary ritual to get onto the Roof. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 49: The Roof|The Roof]]'') “Wonderful” hands growing out of the doorway instantly “rinsed, lathered, dried, and perfumed” all comers, even before they were greeted by [[the Triplets]] who ran the salon. Services were paid in the form of hundreds of cupcakes, although discounts are available for parties and other such emergencies. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') Discounts for the Salon were also among the prizes which could be won at [[#The Cotillion Cavern|the Cotillion Cavern]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 48: The Cotillion Cavern|The Cotillion Cavern]]'') | |||
==== The Cotillion Cavern ==== | |||
A cavernous room as its name implied, the Cotillion Cavern was also an unreasonably deadly party venue, home to such hazards as trapdoors opening on the dance-floor at the end of every third waltz, daggers hanging from the chandeliers by “slowly-disintegrating threads”, the air conditioning vents “occasionally expel[ling] laughing gas”, the music sometimes getting loud enough to rupture eardrums, and even the drinks being randomly laced with “any of the following: alcohol, cranberry juice, [[dragon spit]], paralyzing poison, truth serum, sleep syrup, pure caffeine, and other additives”. However, brave partygoers who managed to survive all the way through the deadly cotillion were rewarded with a treasure chest containing any combination of a long list of valuable or extroardinary items including “discounts for [[#The Fabulous Salon|the Salon]], rubies, an egg of a [[giant sea rooster]], ropes of diamond, jet packs, a [[TARDIS]], hallucination inducers, a cryogenics manual, golden daggers, a pair of silver earrings, and a portal to [[Mars]]”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 48: The Cotillion Cavern|The Cotillion Cavern]]'') | |||
==== The Roof ==== | |||
Stretching as far as the eye can see and swept over by “vicious” winds, the Roof of the House was “covered in lines, dashes, squares, and circles of paint to help guide the many airborne creatures and machines that call the Roof home”; the latter included “airships, jumbo jets, hot air balloons, ornithopters, jet-proppelled wings, dragons of all shapes and sizes, [[zero gravity vest]]s, zeppelins, starships, UFOs,” and many more. Flight attendants constantly “scurr[ied] about” to help visitors “find, borrow, rent, buy, steal, or otherwise obtain” whatever “flying thing” would suit their needs, so long as they carried appropriate identification. For all its wonders, the Roof was hard to get to: one had to take [[the Elevator]] to [[the Theater Room]], then go backstage to find a portal to the hair dye closet in [[the Salon]]. There, one of the [[dragon]]s would “beam” anyone who gave them “a sky lantern fueled with hydrogen” up to the Roof. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 49: The Roof|The Roof]]'') | |||
==== The Stage ==== | |||
The Stage of the House was a dangerous, temperamental theatre stage; stained with what lore insisted was just dye, it had heavy, purple velvet curtains which “[had] been known to swallow whole people up”, trapdoors which sometimes accidentally opened, lights wont to catching on fire, and other such hazards, with rubber knives occasionally being replaced with metal ones. As such, only extremely adventurous and experienced entertainers dared to perform upon it, from “singers and musicians who [had] sung to pirates, princes, [[dragon]]s, peasants, and spies and lived to sing the tale” to actors who “[were] not really acting”. Indeed, many thrilling tales were told or performed on this stage, including “pirate adventures, tragedies from [[Angel|the Gardeners]], romances told by [[dragon]]s, space voyages told by aliens and astronauts, and so much more”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 50: The Stage|The Stage]]'') | |||
==== The Ink Wells ==== | |||
The Ink Wells were circular wells filled with an apparently limitless supply of all the kinds and hues of paint and ink one could imagine. They were located in a cement room locked behind a large golden gate whose bars were actually enlarged pens. The gate was located at the end of a long series of twisting, “whispering” hallways, and an ominous female voice chanting in a dead language warned anyone who got too close. However, [[the Guardian of the Ink Wells]] who watched over the room and could unlock the door from the inside was actually benevolent and harmless-looking, being a [[Jenny Everywhere#Guardians of the Ink Wells|teenaged girl wearing aviator goggles]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 52: The Guardian of the Ink Wells|The Guardian of the Ink Wells]]'') | |||
==== The Tunnel ==== | |||
The Tunnel was a long glass tunnel in which all light in [[the House]] once became trapped, making it into “the Airing Cupboard of Despair”. There were people trapped inside the tunnel, one of whom eventually worked up the courage to creep to the end of the tunnel and unlatch the brass-and-glass hatchway; instead of letting the swirling, silent darkness in as the others feared, this let the light out. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 53: The Airing Cupboard of Despair|The Airing Cupboard of Despair]]'') | |||
==== The Infinite Wing ==== | |||
Well into the House's modern era, it was said that [[the Architect]] continued drawing up blueprints for new rooms to add to “the Infinite Wing”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 54: The Empty Room|The Empty Room]]'') | |||
==== The Empty Room ==== | |||
The Empty Room was said to be the hardest room to access in the whole House, but that was perhaps for the best, as no one in their right mind wanted to access it: as soon as one entered the pure-white expanse within, one lost sight of the door itself, becoming nothing but a non-corporeal point of awareness in the middle of the void, lost forever — “eternal, suspended, deathless”. Only [[the Architect]] knew how to get in and out, and liked to spend its afternoons there, “thinking and drawing up blueprints for new rooms for [[#The Infinite Wing|the Infinite Wing]]”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 54: The Empty Room|The Empty Room]]'') | |||
==== The backyard ==== | |||
The backyard was located beyond [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]] and housed a portal to [[#The Beach|the Beach]] about which [[the Guardian of the Ink Wells]] once had to write “a report”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 55: Teleporting Beach|Teleporting Beach]]'') | |||
==== The Beach ==== | |||
The Beach was a beautiful beach of soft black sand, with a clear blue sea which almost seemed to glow. The water of the sea was warm enough to swim in, and, more bizarrely, was breathable, so that one might spend hours underwater without needing to resurface. A relatively well-documented portal connected [[#The backyard|the backyard]] to the Beach; less well-known, until it was discovered by accident by [[the Guardian of the Ink Wells]] and [[Treefrog]], was the portal from the surface of the water in one particular spot to [[#The Library|the Library]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 55: Teleporting Beach|Teleporting Beach]]'') | |||
==== The Seven Hundred Nineteenth Airing Cupboard ==== | |||
The seven-hundred and nineteenth airing cupboard to be inspected by a member of [[Household Staff|Staff]] who had spent their career inspecting all the cupboards in [[the House]], this one was fairly innocuous, containing nothing but a damp mop and an off-white water-heater whose enameling displayed faint traces of rust. The oddity was that this water heater, a mere “forty-gallon job, quite possibly the cheapest one on the market” was the only water the aforementioned inspector had seen in all their travels over the House by the time they reached this particular Cupboard. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 56: The Seven Hundred Nineteenth Airing Cupboard|The Seven Hundred Nineteenth Airing Cupboard]]'') | |||
==== The Spinning Room ==== | |||
The Spinning Room was hard to get to, as its door was never in the same place twice, moving every second. As the name implied, it spun endlessly on its axis, with the only furniture being a chandelier which appears as just a blurred shimmer, and a device to keep the spinning movement from causing the room to spin ''out'' of its axis. The only figure in the Room who, impossibly, did not spin, was [[the Room Keeper]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 57: The Spinning Room|The Spinning Room]]'') | |||
==== The Armory ==== | |||
The Armory was located close to [[#The Guardroom|the Guardroom]], and its large double-doors were guarded by two guards armed with giant fountain pens for halberds. It contained billions of pens of various types and sizes, which, being creations of [[the Armourer]], could also transform into more conventional weapons, so as to have one's cake and eat it too based on the proverb of the pen being mightier than the sword. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 57: The Armory|The Armory]]'') | |||
==== The Room of Renewal ==== | |||
The Room of Renewal was a room which appeared to [[Robert Quick (in-universe)|one of the House's original creators]] a long time after he started to believe himself to be the last living resident of the House. Entered through a set of glass double doors, it appeared as a huge, serene shower room, the showerheads on one wall seeming almost incongruous in the pastoral landscape that made up most of the room. The other three walls were only visible in the distance, there was a blue sky above with fluffy white clouds, and the ground was covered with thick vines and broad, fan-shaped leaves, with round pools carved out of smooth brown stone dotting the landscape and even a “squiggly closed-loop river” brooked by a stylised wooden bridge. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 59: Room of Renewal|Room of Renewal]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 59-I: Remnants and Reminders|Remnants and Reminders]]'') | |||
== History == | == History == | ||
=== Origins === | === Origins === | ||
The mechanisms in [[#The Basement|the Basement]] of the House were at least a thousand years old. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 44: The Basement|The Basement]]'') | |||
One account suggested that the Strange and Wonderful House's peculiarities stemmed from the fact that it had been built on land that was once part of [[Faerie]], using wood harvested there, such that “something of Faerie” had always lingered within it. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'') | |||
At some point, [[The Architect|an individual]] prepared an empty blueprint marked with infinite dimensions and gathered other creative minds to help create rooms for the “strange and wonderful house” they intended to build. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Welcome!|Welcome!]]'') The blueprint was progressively filled out. [[#Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]] was included on the blueprints as “H-P13”, and [[brother (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|one]] of the people with access to the blueprints took to calling it the “Pie” hallway. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 9: Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]]'') The Architect personally gave [[Jenny Everywhere#With the Architect|Jenny Everywhere]] a wing all to herself, which became [[#The Jenny Everywhere Museum|the Jenny Everywhere Museum]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 18: The Jenny Everywhere Museum|The Jenny Everywhere Museum]]'') | At some point, [[The Architect|an individual]] prepared an empty blueprint marked with infinite dimensions and gathered other creative minds to help create rooms for the “strange and wonderful house” they intended to build. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Welcome!|Welcome!]]'') The blueprint was progressively filled out. [[#Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]] was included on the blueprints as “H-P13”, and [[brother (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|one]] of the people with access to the blueprints took to calling it the “Pie” hallway. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 9: Hallway - P13|Hallway - P13]]'') The Architect personally gave [[Jenny Everywhere#With the Architect|Jenny Everywhere]] a wing all to herself, which became [[#The Jenny Everywhere Museum|the Jenny Everywhere Museum]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 18: The Jenny Everywhere Museum|The Jenny Everywhere Museum]]'') | ||
Some of the House's inhabitants perceived it as a “work of fiction” they had created as “writers”, which had somehow become real. This included the “modern” [[Master of the House]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 39-II: The Will of the Creator|The Will of the Creator]]'') However, [[Sid]] argued that this was a limiting perspective and the writers had ''not'' really created the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)]]'') | |||
=== Early history === | |||
One theory about the identity of the [[Woman in the Painting|woman]] depicted in [[the Painting]] with her head turned towards a distant sunset over the sea, wearing a blue dress, was that she was once a woman beloved by the Architect. After she scorned his love, he drowned himself in [[the Tarn]], cursing it. However, most House historians believed this to be a fanciful legend, and that the curse of the Tarn predated the House. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 33: The Painting|The Painting]]'') | |||
[[#The hedge maze|The hedge maze]] in [[the Gardens]] was designed by [[I. T. Haze]], a legendary hedge-maze gardener of supernatural ability. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 37: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)]]'') | |||
=== Victorian era === | |||
A century before the “coming of the elevator”, the [[Master of the House]] “at that time” kept [[Master of the House's mistress|a mistress]]. After a parlour maid discovered the true nature of [[#the Airing Cupboard|the Airing Cupboard]], he installed a life-sized portrait of her over the door. This outraged the [[Master of the House's wife]], and it was later said that she instantly moved back to the continent, where she died of jealously soon after. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 26: The Airing Cupboard|The Airing Cupboard]]'') | |||
=== Incidents in the Lab === | |||
The [[Artifector]]s of [[#The Laboratory|the Laboratory]] once tasked themselves with creating a [[Perpetual Motion Machine]] as a dare. The first prototype seemed functional, but exploded in the face of lead Artifector [[Agrontus]] when he tried to solemnly switch it on, leading to the appointment of [[Gravitcher]], whose first duty as a new leader was to preside over the cremation of what few remains of Agrontus could be gathered. However, now being confident that the idea could work in theory, the Artifectors continued studying various ways to implement it without blowing themselves up like Agrontus, such as running a network of wires around the House, “the first time in many years that any of them had seen any part of the House except for their own exclusive corner of it”, and creating a number of devices intended to siphon power from the House's network, one of which was later repurposed into a tea kettle. Eventually, they made it work at the cost of having to create a whole new tower and a permanent lightning storm. The machine had no other function than to go “''ping-whoomp''” every eight minutes, but was wisely left alone. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-IV: The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)|The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 1)]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-V: The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 2)|The Lab: The Perpetual Motion Machine (Part 2)]]'') | |||
At some point, a “freak accident” in the Lab resulted in the creation of many duplicates of each of [[the Triplets]] who ran [[#The Fabulous Salon|the Fabulous Salon]]. This was never reversed, with all the uncountable [[Bridget (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Bridget]]s, [[Xafira (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Xafira]]s and [[Valerie (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Valerie]]s working together from then on. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 47: The Fabulous Salon|The Fabulous Salon]]'') | |||
In the course of their activities, [[Housekeeping]] once burst in on the Laboratory and began cleaning it, much to the dismay of Gravitcher and his Artifectors. However, [[Spamblodgett]] tricked [[Lally]], a member of Housekeeping, into [[the Alarum]] and sent her five minutes back in time, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-II: The Lab: Setting The Alarum|The Lab: Setting The Alarum]]'') altering the timeline so that the Artifectors had been warned of Housekeeping's impending arrival and locked and barricaded the door to prevent them coming in. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-I: The Lab: The Alarum Goes Off|The Lab: The Alarum Goes Off]]'') They sent an SOS to [[Elshanor]], who made her way across the House to speak with the Housekeeping platoon, and convinced them to leave the Laboratory alone and go clean [[The Strange and Wonderful House#The Library|the Library]] instead, insisting that it was extremely dusty. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-III: Heebie Jeebies|Heebie Jeebies]]'') | |||
=== Visitors === | === Visitors === | ||
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At some point, an old [[wandering mendicant (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|wandering mendicant]] dressed in dusty, tattered clothing, came to [[#The Ruined Chapel|the Ruined Chapel]] at the end of a long journey. He faced [[the Lady of Mourning]] without fear and entertained her with an endless array of melancholy songs, asking, in-between each song, if a given name was hers. Every night at midnight, while the Lady removed her veil, the mendicant left the Chapel to gather food and drink from [[the Tarn]], before returning to resume his singing and questioning. He died happy after years spent in this routine, one more question on his lips. His passing affected the Lady to the degree that she broke her own ancient routine: the following night, at midnight, instead of crying out “''Woe unto they who once stood on high! Their temples are in ruins and their names are forgotten.''” as she always did, she turned her head towards the stars and sang a song of “hope and dreams” before departing the Chapel for good, with the statue also being gone the next morning, alongside the Chapel's aura of melancholy. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 19-I: The Right Wrong Questions|The Right Wrong Questions]]'') | At some point, an old [[wandering mendicant (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|wandering mendicant]] dressed in dusty, tattered clothing, came to [[#The Ruined Chapel|the Ruined Chapel]] at the end of a long journey. He faced [[the Lady of Mourning]] without fear and entertained her with an endless array of melancholy songs, asking, in-between each song, if a given name was hers. Every night at midnight, while the Lady removed her veil, the mendicant left the Chapel to gather food and drink from [[the Tarn]], before returning to resume his singing and questioning. He died happy after years spent in this routine, one more question on his lips. His passing affected the Lady to the degree that she broke her own ancient routine: the following night, at midnight, instead of crying out “''Woe unto they who once stood on high! Their temples are in ruins and their names are forgotten.''” as she always did, she turned her head towards the stars and sang a song of “hope and dreams” before departing the Chapel for good, with the statue also being gone the next morning, alongside the Chapel's aura of melancholy. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 19-I: The Right Wrong Questions|The Right Wrong Questions]]'') | ||
A visitor once happened upon a strange elevator whose doors were covered with purple fur, and whose buttons appeared and reappeared. He was stumped ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 40: The Cheshire (Part 1)|The Cheshire (Part 1)]]'') until he was joined by a young woman wearing a striking red hat and cloak, who explained that this elevator was an interdimensional “mystic elevator” capable of going anywhere in the House, known as [[the Cheshire]]. She stroked it like a cat until it agreed to behave, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 40-I: The Cheshire (Part 2)|The Cheshire (Part 2)]]'') and introduced herself as [[Carmen Sandiego|Carmen]], a professional thief and time-traveller. The visitor was charmed by her, although he refused to believe she really was a thief. However, before they could take advantage of the Cheshire's newfound good mood, a “[[Kid (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|kid]]” joined them inside and accidentally spilled a bag of catnip, which, according to Carmen, spelled “a world of trouble” for the occupants. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 40-II: The Cheshire Cat (Part 3)|The Cheshire Cat (Part 3)]]'') | |||
A woman with very striking blue eyes once visited [[#The Rock Room|the Rock Room]] for the second time while “[[Le Fox]]” was about to perform. She was surprised that the Room looked different from how it had the previous day, and was told about its, and the House's, mercurial nature by a long-term patron. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 41: The ‘Rock Room’|The ‘Rock Room’]]'') | |||
A visitor to the House once wandered into [[#The Basements|the Basement]] through a small staircase that hadn't been there before. Once they reached the copper bridge at the end of the stairs, they briefly fell under the hypnotic thrall of the sea of gears, and walked off the bridge, falling to their apparent death. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 44: The Basement|The Basement]]'') However, they were saved by [[Robot (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|the giant robot]], who caught them in a grip that was at once hard and gentle. Smiling “indulgently”, the robot carried them back up the stairs and dropped them off at the door before disappearing, incredibly fast, back into the depths. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 44-I: Safety Catch|Safety Catch]]'') | |||
A [[Jenny Everywhere's friend (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|friend]] of [[Jenny Everywhere]]'s once sought shelter at the House because she'd heard about it from Jenny. She needed a place to stay because she had just been knocked out and robbed of all her possession, including the [[ruby chopstick]]s given to her by a “[[Space marauder (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|space marauder]]” during “her first visit to [[Mars]]”. Stumbling into [[#The Courtyard|the Courtyard]], she made her way to the huge doors, marvelling at the way the House itself seemed to be invisible, with only the windows and doors floating in mid-air. After failing to make a sound by knocking, she made up her mind to use the strange doorbell, which, to her surprise, produced “the sound of a child's laughter” instead of the loud chime she had expected. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 51: The Doorbell?|The Doorbell?]]'') | |||
On one occasion, [[Jenny Everywhere#Romanced by Nowhere|an incarnation of Jenny Everywhere]] ran into the Strange and Wonderful House while chased by [[Jenny Nowhere#Romance with Everywhere|Jenny Nowhere]]. She tried to hide in a dark room, but was found by Nowhere; however, Everywhere picked up a lamp and clobbered Nowhere on the head with it before making her escape. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral (novel)|Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral]]'') | On one occasion, [[Jenny Everywhere#Romanced by Nowhere|an incarnation of Jenny Everywhere]] ran into the Strange and Wonderful House while chased by [[Jenny Nowhere#Romance with Everywhere|Jenny Nowhere]]. She tried to hide in a dark room, but was found by Nowhere; however, Everywhere picked up a lamp and clobbered Nowhere on the head with it before making her escape. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral (novel)|Jenny Everywhere and the Nowhere Spiral]]'') | ||
=== Other | === Elshanor's journey === | ||
Young human residents [[Christopher (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Christopher]] and [[Mandy (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Mandy]] once snuck into [[#The Cellar|the Cellar]]. There, they accidentally broke a bottle ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 24: The Cellar|The Cellar]]'') which the | [[Elshanor|Lady Elshanor]] was the librarian of [[Hawk Manor]] in [[Universe B (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|one universe]]. After an extended absence from Hawk Manor when she found herself staying at [[the Institution]], she returned to find the Manor dusty and abandoned. Making her way to the Manor's Library, she found a portal ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 5: The Library|The Library]]'') into [[#the Library|the Library]] of the Strange and Wonderful House|House. There, she observed that it was as dusty as her own Library, but that the bathroom collected to the Library was, absurdly, completely clean by contrast. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 5-II: The Bathroom (of the Library)|The Bathroom (of the Library)]]'') An “elegant and studious woman” strolling “with melancholy” through “a tattered library” was one of the scenes from across the House glimpsed by another visitor through one of the glass panes in [[#The Conservatory|the Conservatory]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our_Strange_and_Wonderful_House_(novel)#Appendix_13-II:_View_From_a_Jungle|View From a Jungle]]'') | ||
While she was debating replacing a book — ''[[Les Misérables]]'' — which had been neglectfully left in the bathroom in question, she heard a creaking noise behind her, signaling the presence of someone or something else in the Library. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 5-II: The Bathroom (of the Library)|The Bathroom (of the Library)]]'') She hid out in the bathroom until she received an SOS from the [[Artifector]]s in [[#The Laboratory|the Laboratory]]. She lifted up a ceiling tile and hoisted herself up to the floor above the Library and bathroom, finding herself in [[#The sideways room|the sideways room]]. There, doing her best not to anger the [[Hares In Charge of All Vegetation]] who were having a meeting, she slid down to the plain wooden door — avoiding the rabbit hole — and ended up in the hallway, where she met the [[Housekeeping]] party who were trying to forcibly clean the Lab. She convinced them to leave the Artifectors alone for now and clean the Library instead. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 27-III: Heebie Jeebies|Heebie Jeebies]]'') | |||
Making her way through multiple portals, Elshanor eventually ended up in [[#The Throne Room|the Throne Room]], where she was drawn to one of the fifty thrones, a silver-set throne padded with royal-blue velvet. When she sat down, a disembodied voice called on her to act as judge on a criminal of the House, a [[Man (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|man]] accused of stealing from the [[Fountain of Youth]]. After looking into his eyes, she judged him guilty, pressing the red button on her arm-rest instead of the white. This caused a trapdoor to open under the man, casting him into [[Pandemonium]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 16: The Throne Room|The Throne Room]]'') | |||
Back in Hawk Manor, one of Elshanor's associates, [[Alastair (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Alastair]], also returning to the House and who was bemoaning her apparent absence, witnessed a version of Elshanor stepping out of the same portal and back into Hawk Manor. However, after his initial surprise, he realised that this Elshanor was not quite the Elshanor he knew. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 5-I: The Other Side|The Other Side]]'') | |||
=== The Coming of the Elevator === | |||
One day, [[the Great Glass Elevator]] crashed into [[#The west garden|the west garden]]. This was interpreted by hopeful residents as it being “donated” to the House, and the [[lawn gnome]]s began work on repairing it and integrating it into the House, much to the excitement of the House itself. “Buzzing with excitement and creaking with worry, lurching, stretching, and then settling”, the House's excited mood was noticed by the residents, who were forced to hold a “continuous seance” on [[#The 7th floor|the 7th floor]] in order to “keep [[spirit]]s and [[demon]]s out of closets and cupboards”. However, the [[goblin]]s of [[#The Stairwell|the Stairwell]] were less keen on the project, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 21: Elevator|Elevator]]'') and the [[Master of the House]] had to undertake negotiations with the [[Goblin King (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Goblin King]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 24-I: Montresor|Montresor]]'') | |||
Young human residents [[Christopher (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Christopher]] and [[Mandy (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Mandy]] once snuck into [[#The Cellar|the Cellar]]. There, they accidentally broke a bottle ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 24: The Cellar|The Cellar]]'') which the Master of the House had requested so that it could be served during the upcoming negotiations between himself and the Goblin King. Distressed, [[Montresor]] ordered them to create a new bottle by convincing a legendary pirate to give up some of his memories, and then artificially aging the bottle in [[#Father Time's attic|Father Time's attic]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 24-I: Montresor|Montresor]]'') To allow them to do such a thing, he let Chris drink from a bottle full of a [[wizard]]'s memories, flooding his mind with knowledge of [[magic]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 24-II: The First Step|The First Step]]'') | |||
The Elevator's appearance caused alterations to several halls. As a result, the door to [[#The Airing Cupboard|the Airing Cupboard]], which had been sealed for a hundred years, was rediscovered. The first man to notice the strange door was a visitor, who enter the Cupboard only to be confronted with [[Figure in the Airing Cupboard|a ghostly figure in a “peculiar” Victorian nightdress]] who referred to him as “darling”, told him off for having been “so long”, and pulled him into a deadly embrace. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 26: The Airing Cupboard|The Airing Cupboard]]'') | |||
=== The searchers === | |||
A small group including [[Mila]], [[Oggie]] and a third searcher once went up to [[#the North West Attic|the North West Attic]] in search of something, a matter that is apparently of some urgency. They come across a group of blue mice led by a large pink one, as well as many strange objects, but despite Mila's apprehension, the three continued searching, and decided to split up. With Mila continuing to be reluctant, the third searcher grabbed her by the hand and actively pulled her along to search one of the dark corners. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 31: The North West Attic|The North West Attic]]'') | |||
=== The Master in the Gardens === | |||
In a bad mood after an argument, the [[Master of the House]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 39-II: The Will of the Creator|The Will of the Creator]]'') stomped out of the House proper through [[#The Sun Room|the Sun Room]]. Ignoring the signs pointing to [[#The Tree House|the Tree House]] and [[#The Southern Veranda|the Southern Veranda]], he made his way to [[the Gardens]], where a sign warning visitors to be careful of the [[Werepanda]] only needled him further. After entering, he was confronted by a strange man ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 35: Into the Gardens (Part 1)|Into the Gardens (Part 1)]]'') who offered to take him on a tour of the Gardens, enticing him to accept with the possibility of “tea in the shade of [[the Bodhi Tree]]” at the end of the tour. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 36: Into the Gardens (Part 2)|Into the Gardens (Part 2)]]'') The old man, who introduced himself as [[Sid]], walked quickly, chattering happily to his charge about what they saw on the way and what else they might see yet, from the orchards and vegetable garden to [[#The Topiary Veranda|the Topiary Veranda]] and we [[I. T. Haze]]'s [[#The hedge maze|hedge maze]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 37: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 1)]]'') | |||
When Sid showed his charge “[[the training ground of accursed springs]]”, the latter expressed surprise at such a seemingly malevolent thing being part of [[the Strange and Wonderful House|House]]. Sid tutted at his “mistaken impression that the House is essentially good” before adding that “even worse, like many new writers, you think you’re in control of every part of the story”; when the visitor replied that “we” did in fact “make” the House, Sid cryptically implied that this was a limited perspective. They continued walking and found themselves in a landscape which the visitor believed to be “in [[China]], or [[Japan]]”, to which Sid replied that “all three are correct, depending on your perspective”. The visitor suddenly felt calmer and realised that in the distance, he could now glimpse the towering form of [[the Bodhi Tree]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 38: The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Accursed Springs)|The Secrets of Our Gardens (Part 2: Acccursed Springs)]]'') | |||
Sid left him to take the last few steps alone. Though briefly suspicious, he was won over by the aura of peace that surrounded the Tree, and agreed, kicking off his shoes to finish the journey alone. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 38-I: A Return to Innocence|A Return to Innocence]]'') As he approached the Tree, he was overcome with a surge of emotion and cried out all his buried feelings of “unworthiness, self-hate and guilt”. When had no further tears to shed, feeling a new man, he asked if it was “always like that”, but found Sid out of earshot. He felt at peace and increasingly certain that he feels not just good, but great — “fully rested, at peace, and ready for anything”: ready to “change the world”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 38-II: The Pain of Rebirth|The Pain of Rebirth]]'') He paused at last to consider the huge, beautiful Tree itself, and reached out to brush a hand against its barks; as he did so, he felt the Tree's ageless mind briefly touching his own, getting a glimpse of the Tree's timeless perspective on the universe. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 39: The Bodhi Tree|The Bodhi Tree]]'') | |||
Finding Sid again, he was given the choice of whether to stay by the Bodhi Tree's side indefinitely, or to return to his normal life, at the cost of the humdrum complications of everyday life slowly chipping away at his enlightenment until he'd all but forget what he had really found here. He found the choice unfair, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 39-I: Wake to Dream Again|Wake to Dream Again]]'') and, an incalculably amounts of times over, returned to the Tree before seeking Sid out again, being offered the choice again without remembering it was not for the first time, and again returning to the Tree. At last, he realised how many times he had repeated the pattern, and, complimenting Sid's patience, said he was ready to return. Sid reminded him of his true identity by telling him that “the Manor await[ed] its Lord”, and his memories and lust for life came crashing back into his mind like a storm. Grinning, he headed home from his “vacation”, once again on “the infinity kick”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 39-II: The Will of the Creator|The Will of the Creator]]'') | |||
=== Later history === | |||
A resident of the House once lay ahead in bed at 3 a.m., unable to sleep as thoughts swirled through his head. Getting up, he wandered the corridors until he found [[#The Zen Garden|the Zen Garden]] for the first time, and slowly began to rake. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 42: Zen Garden|Zen Garden]]'') | |||
On one occasion, a gardener made a mess in [[#The North West Attic|the North West Attic]], necessitating the intervention of [[Frank the Janitor]]. Realising that he needed the vacuum from [[#The Vault|the Vault]], Frank implemented the rather complex series of steps needed to access it: climbing “the sound of chimes in [[#The Courtyard|the Courtyard]] to pluck a leaf from [[the Bodhi Tree]]”, collecting a [[certificate of sanity]] from the “non-mad-science corner” of [[#the Laboratory|the Lab]], plucking a certain key from underneath the 32nd seashell in [[the Painting]], consuming the leaf, handing the certificate to the [[personification of February]] to gain entry into [[#The hallway to nowhere|The hallway to nowhere]], “turning left at Thursday”, and then chucking the key into “a vase on the ceiling above the painting of infinite sparrow hawks”. The door of the Vault duly unlocked; in the centre of the oppressive room stood the wooden plinth. However, after crossing the final defence, a stream, in the proper manner (jumping twice on his right foot and then landing on his left across the stream), he found a note on the plinth instead of the item he desired. | |||
The note read “''My apologies, I had to borrow the vacuum to clear up the mess made by the gardener in [[the North West attic]] under [[the reverse Koi pond]] next Saturday''”. To his annoyance, it was signed “Frank the Janitor”, and Frank realised that he had taken a wrong temporal turn at Thursday (he was actually meant to turn right instead of left), ending up ''after'' he himself already borrowed the vacuum and thus creating a minor paradox. Grumpily, he set about getting out of [[the Vault]] and retracing his steps. He recalled the rhyme telling him which of the opaque windows making up the walls of the Vault serves as an exit: “''Seven laps clockwise from the north, six counter from your new location, now keep stepping left and enter the fourth''”, and implemented its direction, closing his eyes as he stepped backwards into a window, hoping he had the right one. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 43: The Vault|The Vault]]'', ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 43-I: The Note|The Note]]'') | |||
Over the years, dozens of writers solemnly laid down their implements of writing on the altar in [[#The Cathedral|the Cathedral]] and gave up on writing forever. None of them ever regretted this vow or went back on it. However, the ritual came to be a subject of stigma, and the Cathedral was dusty and long-abandoned by the time one more writer hesitantly stepped inside and prepared to put their fountain-pen down on the altar. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 45: The Cathedral|The Cathedral]]'') | |||
All light in the House once became trapped inside [[#The Tunnel|the Tunnel]], making it into “the Airing Cupboard of Despair”. There were people trapped inside the tunnel, one of whom eventually worked up the courage to creep to the end of the tunnel and unlatch the brass-and-glass hatchway; instead of letting the swirling, silent darkness in as the others feared, this let the light out. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 53: The Airing Cupboard of Despair|The Airing Cupboard of Despair]]'') | |||
After running out of ink, [[Oliver (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Oliver]] once stumbled through “twisting, whispering hallways”, a stack of paper in his hands and pens, quills and paintbrushes filling his pockets, in search of [[#The Ink Wells|the Ink Wells]]. Following an eerie chant in a dead language, he makes his way to the giant gate made of golden pens, the room behind it too dark to see anything. Putting a hand on the gate, he caled out for “[[Jenny Everywhere#Guardian of the Ink Wells|the Guardian of the Ink Wells]]”. The gate opened of its own accord, and he fell into the room, where an ominous voice asked what his business is. However, when he explained that he simply needed some ink, the lights flashed on to reveal the Guardian, an unassuming teenage girl dressed in robes and [[Jenny Everywhere's goggles|aviator goggles]]. Gesturing at the giant holes in the cement floor behind her, she told him to help himself to “any of the uncovered wells”, claiming that she had “all colors and liquids”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 52: The Guardian of the Ink Wells|The Guardian of the Ink Wells]]'') | |||
Later, the Guardian and her friend [[Treefrog]] decided to take a trip to [[#The Beach|the Beach]] through a portal in [[#The backyard|the backyard]] about which the Guardian had once written a report. Already wearing neon-coloured bathing suits, the two made their way through [[#The Gardens|the Gardens]] and past [[the Bodhi Tree|the giant tree]] until they found the backyard and were teleported to the beach. There, immediately jumping into the almost-glowing blue, breathable water, they spent an hour having fun before resurfacing them. Accidentally discovering another, hitherto-undocumented portal, they suddenly found themselves transported, cold and dripping, to the middle of [[#The Library|the Library]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 55: Teleporting Beach|Teleporting Beach]]'') where they were quickly reprimanded by [[the Librarian]]. Recognising the Guardian, the Librarian addressed her as “Inkstain”, forcing an annoyed Guardian to insist to Treefrog that it ''wasn't'' her real name in the face of Treefrog being all too glad to have a less grandiloquent name than “Guardian” by which to address her friend. This naturally angered the noise-hating Librarian further and she “roared in a whisper” for the girls to be silent. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 55-I: There is No Dripping in the Library|There is No Dripping in the Library]]'') | |||
A man once came to [[#The Armory|the Armory]] seeking a weapon and was initially taken aback by the shelves full of pens until [[the Armourer]] made his presence known and demonstrated the peculiarities of his creations. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 58: The Armory|The Armory]]'') | |||
=== The beginning of the end === | |||
At some point, a man came to lie between the roots of [[the Bodhi Tree]] in [[the Gardens]]. He never moved or aged, although his blue eyes were wide open. He became known as “[[the Bodhi Son]]”, and a [[Loom weaver (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|superstitious old woman]] started a tradition of placing candle-prayers at his feet. Over time, this developed into a full religion, with a cathedral of wood and stone being carefully built in the shade of the Tree, with the Bodhi Son lying in the narthex. Eventually, a fire broke out, burning down the cathedral and the Tree itself, but the Bodhi Son was unharmed, crying in his sleep as his face covered with suit. In the instant when the Bodhi Tree finally died, he blinked as he awoke. When he opened his eyes again, they were no longer blue, but green like the Tree's leaves had been. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 39-III: The Bodhi Son|The Bodhi Son]]'') | |||
Over the years, entities from the many realities which connected to the House continued to make the House more dangerous, despite [[#The Observatory|the Observatory]]'s best efforts. Eventually, [[Robert Quick (in-universe)|one member]] of the original group of people who had “dreamed up” the House came to believe that he was the last survivor, though the House itself still stood firm. His certainty was shaken when he heard an echoing laugh coming from a room which hadn't been there before, and entered it. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Appendix 59-I: Remnants and Reminders|Remnants and Reminders]]'') However, he found himself alone in the serene [[#The Room of Renewal|Room of Renewal]], with a picnic laid out for him. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 59: Room of Renewal|Room of Renewal]]'') | |||
=== Fall === | |||
{{main|Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House}} | |||
Eventually, the Fall of the House was foreseen; when “all the artifacts had been auctioned off, the [[ghost]]s had all found other places to haunt” and “the alchemists had moved their Great Work elsewhere”, the last two people to leave were [[Jenny Everywhere#At the Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House|an incarnation of Jenny Everywhere]] and a [[Dragon (Our Strange and Wonderful House)|Dragon]]. Jenny actually hadn't been to the House in ages, but found that she would somehow still miss it. She had returned to the House just before its fall to retrieve something: a [[House seed]]. | |||
Jenny and the Dragon watched forlornly as a bolt of lightning shot down from the “lead-coloured sky” and struck the House. A blue fire consumed the vast bulk of the House within moments, leaving nothing but ruins which crumbled into [[#The Tarn|the Tarn]]. After a long moment of silence, the Dragon declared: “So it goes. All things must have their time”, before asking Jenny if she “ha[s] taken everything [she] need[s]”. She showed the Dragon the House seed before pocketing it, and, with no further ceremony, the two walked off elsewhere, leaving behind the silent shores of the Tarn. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)|Our Strange and Wonderful House]]'': ''[[Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)#Chapter 60: The Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House|The Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House]]'') | |||
=== Legacy === | |||
While suffering from [[shifter hangover]], [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|one incarnation of Jenny Everywhere]] was put in mind of buildings which could alter their shape and remembered: “We had a house like that once”, her mind filling with other Jennies' memories of “a vast and ever-changing palace, strange and wonderful and alive”. She also remembered “[[Infinity Apartment|an apartment full of universes]]” and, in her addled state, could not recall if it and the House were the same place. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Morning After (novel)|Morning After]]'') | |||
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