Hi Laura,

You can only add a single level of metaproperties. One can understand this from the java docs.

gremlin> g.V(1).properties('name').next().getClass()
==>class org.apache.tinkerpop.gremlin.tinkergraph.structure.TinkerVertexProperty
gremlin> g.V(1).properties('name').properties('metatest').next().getClass()
==>class org.apache.tinkerpop.gremlin.tinkergraph.structure.TinkerProperty

In a TinkerGraph a regular property is a TinkerVertexProperty with a property() method to add metaproperties.
In a TinkerGraph a metaproperty is a TinkerProperty without property() method.

Best wishes,    Marc