deernet | Video | un: rrrRUFF

[The feed turns on to show...a wolf. At first the wolf's yellow eyes take up the screen, and then its nose as it loudly sniffs at the camera until a young girl's voice with a strong Irish brogue addresses it offscreen.]

What are you doin' over there? I need help with this part!

[The wolf turns around to join whatever's going on, revealing that this is in Mebh's room at the Waystation. And it's an absolute mess; Mebh is currently in the process of painting various things on the walls with paint that she ~~probably stole~~ got from somewhere in town. She's painted it with numerous kinds of shapes and symbols; spirals, circles, arrows, simple depictions of wolves and people. What seem to be most common, though, are wolf pawprints overlapping with human handprints. The wolf Mebh called over dips one of its paws in a jar of paint, and Mebh guides the wolf's paw to the middle of a painting of a large circle of wolves, where the pawprints overlap with her own handprints that she added earlier.]

There! Sin é, that's it. It's startin' to look more like the den now.

[Seemingly satisfied, Mebh goes to another part of the wall where she's in the process of painting something else; it's meant to look like this, though Mebh's artistic ability doesn't quite match her vision so it looks a good deal cruder.

Will Mebh get in trouble with the Dog Keeper for painting on the walls of her room without asking? Probably. But at least she's preoccupying herself instead of dwelling on what she's lost. If she's going to stay in a room instead of the woods, she can at least make it look more like home.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Perhaps blessedly, Equius opted for Video on this one. He wasn't sure how well his usual typing quirks would translate. Setting down the tongs as he let his latest piece of workmanship cool, he looked at the screen and nodded.]

You have decorating skills similar to someone I once was acquainted with. It does look like a proper hive, yes.

[Said in the tone of 'not my style, but it works.']

[That's probably for the best, since Mebh can't read or write. Though her Omni does have a text-to-speech function to get around that.]

It's not a hive. Hives are for bees. We live in a den. [And by "we", she means her wolves and herself.]

And if we can't have a real den, I want to make it look like ours from back home.

[It was even better not to put a text to speech function through the torment of "L33t Speak" or whatever the trolls called it.

Equius barked out a laugh, showing a set of snaggled fangs in his grinning maw as he slapped the table. It wasn't often the man laughed, but there was familiarity in that statement.]

Of course, of course. You live with a bark beast. It would be a den. My people are closer to what you call insects than we are to other beasts. So, our homes are hives.

But yes. There is something to making this place more like it is yours, is there not? I should hang up some more hoof beast shoes.

They're wolves.

[Mebh is growing increasingly confused by how Equius isn't just calling animals by their names. Though not quite so much as she is by his appearance, now that she's looking more closely.]

You don't look like a bug. Bugs don't have...goat horns, or whatever you've got on your head.

[Fangs don't bother Mebh, since she has a natural pair herself, but the horns and grey skin are certainly a new sight for her since she got here.]

Yes. You call them wolves. We call them bark beasts. I forget human terms easily.

[He nodded and folded his arms, considering how to explain this.]

When we are young, we are grubs. We appear much more insect like when we are that age. As we mature, we and humans look similar on the surface, but there are many differences.

But wolves don't just bark. They howl, too!

[So of course Mebh feels the need to demonstrate this by howling herself, which prompts the two wolves with her to immediately join in. It's too bad there don't seem to be many other wolves here that aren't other people's Omens, since she's howled more than once to try and contact more of them and hasn't gotten much of a response. The Dog Keeper's dogs will sometimes make a racket, though.]

Different how? Got any extra fur anywhere?

We can call them Howl beasts if you like. Or just Wolves. I do not detest human words. I am just used to Troll ones myself.

[He chuckled darkly when he heard her howl, letting out a growl that didn't quite sound like commiseration, but definitely close.]

Our body has a different skeleton. More bones. Tougher, more rugged. We're nocturnal and have different blood types. The closer the color is to purple the more cold-blooded we are. It makes winter ... difficult. I stay at the forge a lot. There are other differences, but you would have to ask Karkat about them. He is better at explaining.

What are the extra bones for? Makin' horns?

[Horns are bones, right? Mebh's pretty sure they are.]

That's too bad about winter, though. Playin' in the snow is fun when you're a wolf.

[It helps that wolves are well-equipped for winter, what with the layers of fur. Mebh's wolves don't even mind sleeping outside when it's cold out.]

Among other things, yes. They comprise my horns. Our bodies are more robust and physically tougher than humans. More resilient.

[He grunted, shrugging. At least that was what he thought it was. He really didn't understand biology that well.]

They are both warm blooded and come with a thick coat of fur. It does help I am certain. I have never been one for the cold.

I'm pretty tough. How tough are you, really?

[Equius is probably a lot tougher than Mebh is, but since Mebh is already fairly strong for her size she's prone to underestimating.]

I am the strongest member of my species I have ever met, though not the most damaging. That title goes to a mad clown of my ... acquaintance. Fortunately, that fool is not present right now. We would all regret that.

I would be interested to see how your toughness compares with other humans. Perhaps we will have the chance to train at some point. [Cause he didn't care if she was a kid. War was war, and he was always getting folks ready.]

How'd the clown become mad?

[Never mind that Mebh doesn't even know what a clown is.]

Yeah! I've been learnin'...karate, or whatever it's called. I wouldn't mind trainin' with you sometime. [And even though Equius will likely still be stronger than her, she's not afraid of going up against someone older and bigger.]

Honestly? [How does he explain this?] He embraced the natural violence of his bloodline. Highbloods are violent, powerful beings, and so his use of soporifics to dampen it prior had been unnatural.

...ah, uh... apologies. Getting technical. He was always mad deep down. He just finally embraced it.

And excellent! I am more than willing to find new sparring partners. [And he could tell quickly that he might want to pull punches with this one.]

[Mebh doesn't really understand most of that, so she just nods when Equius says he was always mad.]

Great! Is maith sin. I need somebody to practice with, too.

Wonderful. I'm often at the gate, when I'm not building something at the forges in the willful machine. You need only give me a call and we can set up a meet.

[He didn't elaborate further on the other, because honestly? All that crap got confusing even for him, and he lived through it.]

Video | un: rrrRUFF

Audio - UN: Runeseeker

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