Thursday 12/6/07 Who: Nathaniel and Lloyd Where: on the school grounds near the forest When: 2:15 am What: Nathaniel's working on the treehouse! OOC: Hope this is okay!
Building a treehouse at night was more difficult than Nathaniel thought. The main problem was finding enough lighting - sure, he'd bought several lanterns to hang on the branches and put on the ground and they worked fine, along with a handy big flashlight... but it was not that easy. Oh well, he would deal with that. He decided to work in the middle of the night and started on Monday to choose a tree that was a fair distance away from the school and that had good, strong branches growing mostly horizontally. Luckily, he found a tall steady tree with branches somewhat low to the ground, perfect for a children's treehouse.
Another problem was finding a child to give their input to him. Nathaniel met a young girl by chance in the library who looked at pictures of castles on Wednesday. He told her he wanted to make a treehouse and her face brightened with a huge smile. It was heartwarming to see her reaction, and he asked if she had any ideas he could use. She wanted a castle so she could play Queen and Nathaniel was happy to oblige. The two bent over a piece of paper and drew what the girl (whose name was Panpoxa) wanted, thus prompting her to ask if she could help him build it. Nathaniel doubted a girl who looked ten years old could help, but he happily accepted and as it turned out, the company was much needed.
Panpoxa liked the tree he had chosen and requested that there be an extra level so she could have a lookout tower. She happened to be an apt fetcher of things and liked to talk as Nathaniel worked. She was the daughter of two demons who worked on television commercials and they lived in the state. One of her favorite things to talk about was the Disney film Sleeping Beauty because she liked the princess and the castle featured in it. She loved seeing a lot of people at the school with wings and Nathaniel told her about Frankie having wings and the ability to create fire. Panpoxa then decided to recruit her to throw fireballs at her enemies - she had more than a little fondness for violence, he noticed.
On Thursday evening, Nathaniel worked steadily and made conversation with the girl until it was time for her to go to bed at nine thirty, a fact which irked her. He wished her a pleasant sleep and promised her that by the time she woke up in the morning, he'd finish the treehouse. Working so much on this project meant he had a few hours sleep each night and a bit of sleep deprivation started to creep into his mind. As he wasn't hungry, he was not a threat to anyone else, but odd thoughts appeared now and then. Two o'clock in the morning passed and he realized it was just the finishing touches to the roof and determining if he should add a couple stools or something for the children to have in the castle-like treehouse. It might be a good idea.
He wiped drops of perspiration off his forehead with the back of his hand and went down the ladder to get himself a bottle of water to drink. He needed more nails as well, and there was another box near one of the lanterns. Just as he was about to go up to the treehouse, Nathaniel thought he spotted someone walking towards him. What were they doing out so late?