Deer Country Network

Hey everyone. Mako here.

[ The voice clips in just before the actual video appears for reasons that become clear in a moment: Mako steps back from where he's clearly set the Omni on a table to record what looks like a garage sale right outside the Raccoon Room.

A long table absolutely covered in little bits and baubles glints in the sun. In the center of everything sits Fritter the raccoon, Wu's omen, looking contrite and also sort of like she would like to leave. Her little ears are back and her tiny arms are crossed.

Scowling, Mako steps back to stand in front of the table, crossing his arms to match Fritter. ]

Some of you might have noticed some stuff going missing in the last couple months.

[ A pause. Mako glances back at Fritter, who huffs at him and holds up a winking blue heart-shaped gem on a sparkling chain. That... sure looks important. ]

Can't promise that what you lost is here, but there's a good chance it is. We'll be out here all day.

I'm sorry! [ Wu's voice pipes up from behind the camera ] It's my fault, really.

[ He turns the Omni around at a very selfie angle, pouting at the camera ]

I'm sorry that Fritter stole your stuff, it wasn't her fault! It was mine. Corruption just got me! I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I was mean to so many of you. Shiro, I'm sorry for making fun of your hair; Jessica, I'm sorry for throwing you out of the Raccoon Room. Manabu, I'm really sorry that I made you get a tattoo. [ Big grimace there ] I mean, I still think it looks great on you—

[ Mako clears his throat and Wu wrinkles his nose ] but that's not the point! I'm sorry for all of it. I'm better now! No more corruption here, no sir.

[ A beat. Mako narrows his eyes even more.]

Uh, please come get your stuff!

(( ooc: absolutely feel free to assume your character's random trinkets and stuff is here even if it wasn't called out in the post! Fritter is a monster. Also feel free to respond in action if anyone wants to wander by and/or come get their stolen stuff! ))

[Tory flips on her Omni. Behind her sits a black and gold dragon that is roughly the size of an ostrich. Judging by Tory’s calm body language, it’s clear that the dragon is not a beast, but rather, her omen.]

I’m looking for name suggestions for a female dragon. I thought about calling her either Kindness or possibly Thoughts and Prayers, but I should probably consider something more serious, too.

[Much as she appreciates the sarcastic humour of the names, with people here from so many different worlds, it’s a joke that would probably be lost on most people here.]

Also, I was able to make bug spray with my powers. If you’ve got something to trade, you can have some.

[There’s a short pause before she adds one final thing.]

By the way, if you threaten to cut out someone’s tongue because they said some mean words you didn’t like? You’re a bigger asshole than them. Go touch grass.

[ POST OPEN TO EVERYONE - BLOCKED FROM DILUC RAGNVINDR ]


[Kaeya appears on video looking entirely smug and pleased with himself. This is not unusual for Kaeya, but today this is due to his being very pleased that he's figured out the technology enough to make this post unviewable by Diluc. Secret and surprise. He's a technological genius.

Of course, in his triumph over his Omni, he's completely let it slip his mind that since he's been romantically bonded with Diluc since February that Diluc can hear his every thought. No one tell him. Someone please tell him]

Hello friends. I have a rather important announcement.

Many of you know Master Diluc Ragnvindr, I believe. It's likely no surprise that he's not one to talk much about these sorts of things, but you see, it's his birthday very soon -- the thirtieth of this month.

[And even if Diluc won't bring it up. Kaeya clearly will. So he continues, cheerful and chipper.]

So if you happen to be free, please stop by Roost that day. There will be cake and refreshments for old friends and new alike to celebrate another year for our dear Diluc.

Ah, and of course. It's a surprise, so discretion is appreciated.

[It'll dawn on him eventually that it's not even remotely a surprise. It's fine.]

I've moved out of Willful Machine. Anyone who needs my brand of healing or training can find me around Cellar Door or Prufrock, or request that I come to them. I don't have a new official place to work out of, and I don't intend to do it in my new place of residence.

For those unaware, I am Nehan, a doctor and occasional martial arts and magic trainer. I normally don't ask for anything in return if someone asks me to act in either capacity, but nowadays, I'll ask for a bottle of liquor or wine. The good stuff, so to speak.

[Good—uh, morning? Evening?—day to you, Trench. Were you possibly in need of someone's new pet prodding around with their Omni? If you weren't, too bad, because now there's an Oshawott clearly playing with her new trainer's Omni, experimenting with it the way a rather bright kid would, and also giving a close view of the inside of Leon's place: a sparsely-decorated living room that doesn't have very many personal touches, but does have a stack of library books open on the table, with an open notebook, a page half-filled with Leon's handwriting.

Leon's legs come into view first, as the Oshawott is trying to figure out the best angle on the device to take a video from. His wry voice comes in from off-screen:] At this rate, I'm going to have to get you your own device, if you're going to keep using mine to take pictures.

[Then Leon bends down, taking the Omni from his Oshawott's grasp, and says:] Oh, you figured out how to record a video? Smart of you, Barbra.

[Out of frame, Barbra the Oshawott coos at the praise.]

Right. [Leon looks into the camera now.] I might as well. Anyone on the network know what she is? She showed up in my apartment a little after I left the catacombs last month, and I've been looking after her ever since. I'd appreciate the help—my best guess is that she's a sea otter of some kind, but as you might be able to tell, she's a little too brightly-colored to be any kind of otter I know of.

Also, when I tried to baby-proof my place so she wouldn't hurt herself, she did this.

[And he shows the remains of the baby gate he'd put up at the base of the stairs. It's been cut neatly in half, and the culprit doesn't even look guilty about it, just hops onto the first stair with a smug air to her movements.]

So I ruled out "sea otter" pretty quickly. Which leaves me back at square one, on figuring out just what she is.

[A pause.]

Oh, I also wanted to ask: I haven't seen daylight since April started. It's a little concerning—should I be even more worried?

[The video opens on the smiling, eye-patch-wearing face of Kaeya Alberich. He looks cheerful enough, but more than that, there is something decidedly smug about his expression too. Not that that’s surprising, given who he is as a person. And besides, he has excellent reason to be smug at the moment.]

Tell me friends, are you the gambling types? Ever make any interesting bets or wagers that you won? Or, maybe more interestingly, lost? I’d love to hear your stories.

[Kaeya’s one visible eye is near sparkling.] You see, I’ve recently entered into such a bet. And I won, of course. Isn’t that right, Diluc?

[The view pans to the narrow shouldered Diluc Ragvindr with his arms crossed over his chest. A white cloak with a soft fluffy ruff. An open shirt that shows off his well-muscled chest that’s marred by scars. In short, he’s wearing Kaeya’s clothes. He sighs and pushes away from the wall, walking towards the Omni.]

Yes, and now you get to have your fun until two weeks are up.

[Despite his words he doesn’t seem all that bothered by Kaeya gloating. He seems quite calm and aloof as ever..]

As I told you, you wear this better. [Then he focuses on the view.] My questions are different from his. What interesting things have you discovered here?

[Kaeya laughs and lifts one shoulder in a shrug.] I don’t know, I think you pull it off quite well. I’m sure everyone would agree. [Right? Right everyone?]

Hello, hello Trench! If you don't know me, I'm Wu, and I run the Raccoon Room, Trench's exclusive Sleeper performance venue.

[ Wu grins at the camera, talking a bit fast, clearly excited about something. The excitement palpable even through the Omni with his paleblood power projecting his emotions. Fritter the raccoon is perched on his shoulder, holding on to some of his hair as he talks ]

I come to you today with an announcement. A very important announcement! I know a lot of us have baggage we're carrying around from back home, and after a while, you might be like, hey, this isn't super important anymore! And then something happens, and it's suddenly really, really important again.

[ Wu puffs himself up a bit, sitting up straighter, putting his free hand solemnly to his chest. Fritter mimics him, doing the same action with her little paw to her heart ]

So, today, on this, February second, of the Egg Moon in Trench, Deer Country, I, Wu, King of the Earth Kingdom back on my world that doesn't have it's own specific name, I hereby formally abdicate my claim to the Earth Kingdom throne and title.

[ As soon as he's done, the formality breaks and he lets out a bright laugh. Fritter chitters excitedly, crawling up into Wu's hair. ]

Whew! That felt good, really good. [ But then his eyes go wide and he adds, conspiratorially: ] Oh, but if you're from home and you somehow go back home and there's another Wu there, he didn't do that, not yet at least! He still has some work to do.

[ We're back to casualness, and a bright, wide grin. ]

I'm glad that's done with. Oh, boy. You know, that super important thing? Mako and I are getting married! And he doesn't want any pesky titles following him around like mine was. So, we're just going to be two regular guys. Just two guys, getting married. [ He sighs happily, clearly deeply, disgustingly in love. Fritter rolls out of his hair and he casually catches her in his arms.

Then he gasps again, sitting up: ] Oh, and you're all invited! February 20th, at the Raccoon Room. I'll see you there!

((ooc: originally posted on Deerington's network, oops. If you already tagged, I've move them all over here))

[Klee appears on the screen with a serious look on her face. Well, as serious as a little girl can be. Her surroundings shows she's probably climbed a tree to make this message. You can see the tip of a fluffy ear to indicate her Omen is nearby to keep watch. Over who is up to speculation really. Looking around, as if to check no one is looking for a small child in the tree, Klee nods before speaks ]

Klee needs help! I'm on a super secret mission! Valentine's Day is coming and Klee wants to make some special presents! But umm, the stuff Klee found is okay. It's yummy but not Valentine's day yummy. Mom says it's a love day for friends too not just couples!

So, Klee needs help finding the best sweets and chocolates. Umm, I would make them, but Klee doesn't know how to make candy or allowed to cook. I didn't mean to blow up the stove.  Oh, Klee needs a different place to make and hide the surprise too. I haven't found a good place to hide treasure like back home. It's gonna be a big surprise!

Oh, it's top secret too. [She doesn't understand that by saying it via the Omnoa makes it no longer a secret, bit kid logic.] You can't tell Klee's friends! If you help you have to make a pinkie promise with Klee. Um, if you help Klee, Klee will give you one her super secret surprises too! And Klee will help you if you ever need help, too!

So please help Klee find the best chocolates and sweets ever! Thanks.

[The video opens to a bright and smiling Childe, bandaged up across his head. The rest of the bandages are hidden beneath his clothing, because he's bundled up pretty well. You couldn't tell he was injured otherwise. He seems to be sitting on a small folding stool on a frozen lake, somewhere in the woods outside of the city. His fox Omen is holding up his Omni for him in its mouth, because this really isn't something so dire that he needs to be broadcasting it directly through other's Omens. A small fishing rod, probably the third of the size of a normal rod sits on the ice beside him, along with a few buckets, a very large backpack and some other equipment]

Hey there! As you can see, the frost and snow has really settled in now. Ah, it's breathtaking, isn't it? The way that the desolate landscape allows the snow to shine against that bright sky...but anyhow. It took a while to find the time, but I finally was able to find a few lakes out here that aren't completely dead. So, I thought it would be nice to share my favorite hobby with all of you.

[There's a hole that's clearly been drilled into the ice in front of him, a little smaller than he's used to, but it works.]

You see, where I come from, ponds and lakes are frozen over so greatly that you can tread on it as hard as you please, and the ice will never shatter. The fish in these lakes dwarf that of the ones that reside in your normal ponds. And in Snezhnaya, it's always been a great past time to go out ice fishing. It requires a little more patience, but I assure you it's always enjoyable. I'd be more than happy to go into detail about it. And if you want to come, well, I'm here now. Might as well take the few precious moments we have to relax, yes?

[He says that, though he still uses ice fishing to train. He pauses for a moment.]

Oh, and...I've already taken the time to remove some of those pesky traps left over from last month that were laid in the woods. Just the ones that are on the way to these lakes. They were of no consequence to me of course, and you should be able to travel to at least a few of the lakes around here without much issue. No guarantees though.

Sorry to bother you guys, but maybe not so much.

Fern is...dead. This sucks, but isn't the only problem.

Varian's been under stress and corruption since last month, but that happening with Fern pretty much made the worst case scenario happen. He's corrupted now, and I'm sure a lot of us don't want the hunters to get to him before any of us can.

By us, I mean, well, any of you willing to help go and try to wrangle him up. We'll get to him before anyone else does, try to cap any destruction he might cause, and pacify him so we can get him home so he can recover.

So who's in? No plan or person will be refused.

[At first, it's only sound as you hear someone saying 'Look Dodoco!' before it suddenly turns into a video. There's an just a single orange eye before it's switched that shows shoes. Eventually, it shows a face. It's a rather young face of a young blonde elf-like girl. Despite the proud look on her face, she barely looks older than ten. Klee blinks before she looks excitedly at the device. She turns to look at her Omen, a fox rabbit being, and starts talking to it]

Look Dodoco! I figured out how the thing works again. It's so weird right?

Oh, um hi! I'm Klee and this is my best friend Dodoco. I need some help to getting some stuff. I don't know who to ask because it's different here than back home.

Klee looking for supplies to make bombs and somewhere to make to them. I'd make all by myself, but I don't have any things to make gunpowder. So I need to make some more. Also, I'm not supposed to make bombs in the house, near houses, or outside. You're only supposed to make bombs in a lab, but I don't know if there one here. Klee also found new stuff to add to bombs that I wanna try out.

So, where can Klee find supplies? I'll give you some my Jumpty Dumpty bombs if you help! But only one since Klee doesn't want to get in trouble. If not, Klee can give you some yummy mushrooms that I found.

[His transmission is short. He sits at home, holding his Omni up in front of him while his fox omen sits in his lap, curled up. Possibly one of the few times it wasn't causing all sorts of chaos.]

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I figured there would be at least a handful of you who would like to know.

[He pauses for only a moment.]

If you knew Manabu Yuuki, he was killed. I imagine he won't be back for at least a few weeks or so. His corruption had gotten the better of him, so I made sure his death was quick and painless.

[The video feed opens up to a ...very clearly staged backdrop with Dipper sitting at a desk with several things laid out around him. There's a few lit candles, a few notebooks. Pens, an ink pot with a quill that he is definitely not using but has it near by for visual interest.]

[He is very clearly hoping to be taken seriously here, so as usual, he is trying too hard. He clears his throat.]

( cut for image )

So, hey, Trench, let's talk about ghosts for a second. While it's not super surprising this place might be crazy haunted, based on aesthetic alone, I started noticing an uptick in paranormal activity all around the city about a week ago.

[Dipper holds up a journal where he has drawn out a very nice graph of the raising ghost activity.

Behind Dipper, one of the books on his shelf starts to wiggle free. ]

I wasn't sure what it was at first, because it's not the kind of ghost activity I'm used to dealing with, but the city had apparitions wandering the streets. They weren't very solid and vanished when I touched one, leaving me super cold but otherwise unscathed.

My family couldn't see them, but they were definitely there. Anyway, it's October and I'm sure things will escalate eventually, so I wanted to share with you guys a banishing ritual I've been working on with my uncle. I'll attach it to this post.

I've also been working on-- [That book that's been easing out of the bookcase now just flings itself across the room, crashing into something off screen.]

[Dipper shrieks and whips around.]

[Waits.]

[And then sighs.]

Hey! I'm not talking about banishing you! I'm talking about in the off chance we get vengeful murder ghosts. You know that's a possibility, dude.

[The second book that was on it's way to being pulled out of the shelf stops and then eases its way back into the book shelf. Nothing to see here.]

[Dipper turns back around and continues like nothing weird happened.]

I've also been working on a public record for rituals and spells. A city spell book, of sorts that we can all use. It's only got some of mine in it for right now, but like, feel free to use it. We're still learning a lot about this place so sharing what we learn can only help us all, right?

Also, if anyone needs help with a nasty spirit, hit me up. I've got experience busting ghosts and was kind of the town expert back in Gravity Falls. Stay safe out there, guys.

[Attached to the post is a link to Dipper's Ghost Banishing ritual, as well as how to make the Silver Mirror it calls for. At the bottom there is a link to something called the Sleeper Grimoire which is a public use digital spellbook that the Sleepers have access to add to.]

[Kassandra had spent the better part of a day figuring out just how to use the Omni before doing this. She's not technologically inclined, but once she had certain things pinpointed it wasn't difficult to work out some of the basic functions. Including ill-advised videos introducing herself, though she clearly hasn't mastered the Art of the Selfie.

The video feed opens at an odd angle showing a tanned woman, thankfully right-side up, staring at it with furrowed brows. Deep in concentration for a moment more, she simply stares at the camera in silence until she seems to come to a conclusion. Nodding, the woman exhales, and finally speaks up.]

...Hello. If other people are able to hear me, please say something so I don't keep talking to a rock and wondering if it really is magic or if I am crazy.

[Her voice has a heavy Greek accent, and if her attire is any indication she is not of the modern era.]

If I am talking to a magic rock, then know that my name is Kassandra, and I am looking for my family and my crew. Men named Alexios, Nikolaos, Barnabas and Stentor...and women named Myrinne, Roxana, and Odessa. I have hope that I am not alone in being reborn in this strange land, yet I have seen no sign of them.

[There's a pause as she fiddles with the Omni one more time.]

Aletheia, if you can hear this, show yourself.

[And then the feed drops.]

Hello Trench,

This is Flynn Scifo. Some of you may be aware that a week ago, I was killed at the Gate. After five days, I appear to be back and whole, with minimal scars. I thought it important to let everyone know that death is as impermanent here as I am told it was in the dream many of you awoke from.

I owe this largely to Yuri Lowell. He took care of my body while it did what seems to have been necessary to bring me back. While we must hope that this does not happen to anyone else, if it does, please do your best to keep any remains nearby and in a safe place. It's not clear what would have happened had Yuri not done that.

No matter how strong the call of the Gate, it is not worth your life. Stay away, and if you find yourself in a situation you don't think you will survive, please, call for help.

Hopefully, this information is useful as we head into what I am also told was a difficult and dangerous time in the past.

Please stay safe.

-Flynn

Well, well! Things have certainly gotten a lot more interesting, haven't they? Haha, I'm quite excited to see what you all have in store for this new world.

[He has been enjoying going through the Omni and gathering info about everyone making media posts to it. Social media is just the greatest, isn't it?]

My name is Childe, for those who don't already know me. And I have one simple thing to ask you all-

What are all of you planning to do with your newfound powers? Will you use them to become stronger? Fight? Or learn to use them for some other, devious plan? Or perhaps you'll use them for the betterment of Trench...I'm all ears, you know.