Deer Country Network

[It's been a few days since dying, and Luz had unfortunately kept this to herself. If you haven't been able to tell, this girl has been having a pretty rough month, and it didn't seem to be getting better. She lurched her device to focus, and, though coughing, was looking directly into the camera].

So. Uh. Died. First time, ha ha, not a fun experience. Kinda looking for some company, here or just on this thing otherwise. I should probably be getting rest, yes, but staring up at the ceiling regretting stuff and hating yourself can only keep out the quiet for so long.

Also, been out of the loop a bit. Someone update me on things?


[Action]


Luz was pretty sure that she was going to get an earful from people in the house, but ESPECIALLY from Ahiru, who had very much not wanted her to go on the mission. Luz had thought she could handle it and had handled somewhat similar situations before. Now, though, since they'd talked about it before, Luz knew it looked even WORSE.

Add the whole mix of self-loathing for being too weak to avoid death and the ever-present gloom of missing Fern and Varian, and Luz was pretty much a powder keg of emotions and blah. She was in her room right now, dimly lit with her purple lights and surrounded by a fort of stuffed animals and, well, Luz was a sight to see.

[The classic accidental video: the image starts, aimed at the corner of a messy dining room, with a table piled high in half-assembled cardboard boxes and stacks of paper covered in various pizza-related logos. There's no people in the frame, so it must be just a Trench-ish mishap, as is wont to happen.

Except there is a living thing in the video -- maybe? It's a horse that many folks in the town might be familiar with, though even more might be completely unfamiliar with it. It stands in the corner of the dining room.

And it stares.

And it stares.

Unblinking, unmoving, unbreathing, eyes cold and pale like a dead thing, the only light in the endless black of it's nightmarish horror body. It stares and it knows. It sees the innermost thoughts of man and beast and it is unmoved. It is endless, it is eternal. There is nothing but the horse.

And then, with a flicker of static, it's just -- gone. There's no moving, no steps out of frame, it's just suddenly not there anymore. Instead the video continues for a moment, focused on nothing, before flickering out.

In the silence, comes a voice, like the slithering of dark, wet things, ghosting over your fingertips in the middle of the night:]

Buy the pizza.

[A very creative ad campaign, maybe? But still, Upsetting.]

[the video opens on Lexi, sitting on the couch in her very blue living room, with Orville in his usual place on Lexi's shoulder, snuffling into her hair, and the new addition to the household, Nosferatmew perched on the arm of the couch, her batwings folded on her back]

Hey! Um. I know I don't post that much, but I kind of have an announcement?

And that announcement is, I'm opening a used books and comics store called the Satellite of Love Used Books and Comics! It's in Willful Machine in the green craftsman house and that takes me to my second announcement. Or, uh, request? Maybe that's better. [pause] Yeah, that's better.

Hours will be Monday through Friday from nine am to five pm, closed from noon to one for lunch, along with Saturday and Sunday, eleven am to two pm. Obviously, I can't handle all of that by myself. Right? So I'm looking for a couple of employees.

Interviews for anyone who's interested can be done here and you can choose between store products or trade goods for pay.

So...I guess that's it? I hope to see you there? Oh, and the store mascot will be Nosferatmew. My batcat. She's very well trained to not bite unless you give her permission to.

Okay, now that's it.