Le Rêve may have been small at one point, but this neighborhood has grown in time. Members of the Ode clade — mostly the fifth stanza, sure,but hardly the fifth stanza alone — mingle freely with members of Au Lieu Du Rêve, living in houses, town homes, and apartment complexes.%r%rThe neighborhood is built around a central street which takes the form of a large 'U'. Up near the opening of the U sits a back entrance into one of Au Lieu Du Rêve's theatres, while along the outside of it sit many of the domiciles, some of these right up against the street and some set around cul-de-sacs. In the center is a common community space, complete with park, rec center, and a lovely little lake.
The center of Le Rêve is largely a common area. This is the third place of the neighborhood, where anyone might gather and where community may be found. Down near the south edge is a park, full of grass and meandering paths, benches of all sorts — the lovely wooden kind with outdoor cushions on them as well as the quaintly uncomfortable wrought-iron ones for whom such is attractive. Trees are scattered about, singly or in comfortable groves. Also placed almost at random through the park are grills meant for community cookouts.%r%rPlopped in the center is a playground, complete with swings, jungle gym, rope bridge, and slide. While this may have begun as Motes's, it has become a part of the community space for all, and one might just as often find the swings filled with couples having heart-to-heart conversations and the jungle gym topped by lonely adults looking up to the stars and dreaming as one finds it all but covered by little ones zooming about.
The rec center is a sprawling complex, complete with indoor and outdoor space. Outdoors, there are some tennis courts for those — who? — that enjoy such games, as well as a large pool half-covered by an enormous gazebo. This could be just as often an olympic sized hot-tub as a cool pool for swimming or lounging.%r%rInside, there is a cafe and bar, a ballroom for dances and parties, and a movie theater populated with lounge chairs, bean bags, and its own little bar.
The back entrance to one of Au Lieu Du Rêve's several theatres leads into a common gathering space for the many members of the expansive troupe. It is full of couches and cozy spots, a kitchen, a well-stocked set of fridges and a whole Coffee Zone™. Doors lead from there off to the various departments, from costumes to tech to props, green rooms and dressing rooms, and, of course, a large set of doors leading into the auditorium itself.
Le Rêve's central area includes a lake, because why would it not? More of a placid pond, perhaps, lined with various shores: there is a sandy shore for those who might treat it as a beach, a muddy shore for those who like wandering along the edge of a lake in a pensive mood, a rocky shore well populated by flat stones ripe for the skipping, and one whole corner which seems dedicated to cattails and reeds, a meandering wooden walkway winding between them with a secluded platform right in the center with a few benches for quiet conversations.%r%rNotably absent? Mosquitoes.
A gravel drive leads up to The House on the Hill, a rather simple-looking ranch-style home done up in prairie style. It's shallowly sloped roof echoes the hill, making it a pleasant summit, while the tan of the brick façade echoes the tan of the grass of the prairie beyond. Around it, there is a scattering of plants looking almost deliberate: some of them harken back to the xeriscaping the inhabitants remember from phys-side, while others show well-tended greenery installed by those now gone.
### Common room
The common room of The House on the Hill is broad, open, and comfortable. It is easy to see how, in the winter, it has the sense of a warm and comfortable den, while in the summer, with more of the artfully placed windows unshaded, it could easily adopt a far more expansive feeling. Those windows vary from large and bright to smaller or narrower, filled with stained glass in angular motifs of heads of wheat, the colors all tans and yellows to keep the light within warm during the day.%r%rBeside the door stands what appears to be a bar of sorts, well stocked with drinks of all sorts, though perhaps less formal than that implies. Beyond the couch are a few doors leading to bedrooms and workrooms. Beside that sits a couch, large and soft, with plenty of room to cuddle up. Opposite the couch, beyond the low coffee table, is the kitchen, a breakfast bar leading to a roomy area with plentiful counter space and all of the appliances one might expect.%r%rOpposite the entrance is a sliding glass door leading out onto a patio. On one side sits a roomy hot-tub, while on the other sits a grill that looks to be well-loved. The sharp boundary of concrete to grass shows relatively little landscaping beyond a few well-placed dandelions and columbines; other than that, it is simply prairie, rolling grass dotted and lined with trees showing hints of water to be found.
### Beholden's studio
Narrow and lived in, Beholden's studio definitely lives up to her punk aesthetic. There's a ratty couch fronted by a low table that has clearly seen better days, and across from that, a desk topped with various papers and gizmos used to work with the music she loves so much.
### Motes's Studio
Motes's studio is a well lit room done up in hardboard floors and pegboard walls, just about every inch of it covered in doodles or splashes of paint. On the floor, thousands of cartoonish faces of fennec foxes in various colors bright and dull overlap, while the walls are lined with various implements used by the skunklet to create paintings and build props, not to mention countless canvases in various states of completion. On the far wall, a door labeled "Au Lieu Du Rêve props department"
(Doesn't need to be an exit.)
### Motes's Room
Small and cozy, just like the skunklet to whom it belongs! There is a comfortable twin bed piled high with an overstuffed duvet and dozens of stuffed animals in various species. A dresser sits, topped with pictures. %xhDozens%xn of them! Pictures of her ma, of Bee, of her ma and Bee together, of her aunts, gone now these last few years, of Dry Grass and Warmth and Alexei.
### A Finger Pointing and Beholden's Room
A Finger Pointing and Beholden's bedroom is nearly the size of the common area of the house. An expansive bed fills much of it, though there are also a few comfortable places to sit and lounge, including a sizable beanbag. The bed is flanked by a few low tables, and the walls beyond those contain doors to closets, perhaps one for each.
