Deer Country Network

Why hello there! [Snow White looks even cheerier than usual, which is impressive considering her general nature.]

What a lovely winter we're having! [Snow, having come from German winters of the Renaissance is honestly quite cozy with all the inventions Trench has to keep you warm. ]

Now, I've never gotten to celebrate my birthday before, and since it's today, I was hoping for some ideas on what I might do! I have been told, quite vehemently by my beloved, I'm not allowed to bake my own cake.

Though, I don't think there should be a party, I don't wish to waste food for something that doesn't matter all that much. Just something small should be alright. So, I would love to hear any recommendations you might have!

I hope you're all staying nice and warm and fed as well! If not, please let me know and I will be happy to help with food and clothing.

[ The camera frames Duty's impassive face. ]

Snow removal's becoming a problem. Outreach would like to help, but I want something more efficient than shovels. We have flaming swords and other weapons.

How about flaming tools?

I offer 5 Coldbloodstones to anyone who will use them—keep the extras—to make a useful tool to clear snow.

Make the best one, and I'll buy more.

[ The camera pans to a shallow bowl containing many coldbloodstones. ]

[Vira-Lorr was not doing well. On the surface, it wasn't going to be obvious. The omni showed her on the shoreline of Trench, bundled up and watching out to the iceflows of the winter. There were, in the background, greeters tending to the last steps of the arrivals. The beasts from the ocean weren't breaking out of the ice right now, and it was past the usual time for sleepers to wash up, so the winter festivities were being closed up. Everything was safe. She just looked like she was finishing up a vigil. Anyone who knew her knew that she did this every month. She was usually waiting for a few people in particular. She just ... didn't publicize it like this.

Her eyes were rimmed red. It was clear that she'd been crying, but she wasn't doing it currently. Instead, she was smiling, though it was a distant and pained thing. One hand reached up to rest on her shoulder, to feel where the mark had been placed.]

I... don't need to tell some of you this. You will know. You always do. This is for other people in town who might care.

[Usagi would know. She didn't name Serenity, but she knew that she would know that a Senshi had departed, and if she knew then Makoto and Hotaru would know very quickly afterwards. Either by connection, or being told. This message wasn't specifically to tell them that Venus had gone home, though she would appreciate hearing from her friends. It was for the ones who weren't connected like they had been, like she had been.]

My wife, Minako Aino, is fine. She has safely returned to the sea. I felt the distance as it progressed, and ... I know that nothing caught her amongst the monsters below. She's safe. She will be safe in her home. I ... I want all of you who care about her to be certain of that.

[Her lips quivered a little and she sighed. She'd dealt with this before. How many people had she lost since the nightmares? How many had she tried to love? To get close to? Only to lose them too. She'd lost Minako twice now this way. She could handle it. Yet, this time was different. In so many ways it was different because deep down, she knew there was a chance Minako did not remember her where she was going. Usagi, Makoto, Hotaru, they would be reunited one day, but they might all forget her. It hurt.]

I'm fin... no, I'm not. I'm not going to lie. I'm not fine. My wife is gone, and I will come back every month to see if she returns to me, to us. I'm a patient woman. People have come back to me before. I have centuries to wait. My race gives me that luxury. but today hurts. A lot.

[There was a momentary pause and she sighed.]

I could probably use some company over the next few days. I'll be running the shop to help get my mind off of it, so if you need a reading, I just won't be a hundred percent is all. I've been very moody lately. Not sure why, but this is not helping.

This thing is finally working properly, right? Aw well, let's give this a try. [She clears her throat and smiles brightly at the Omni]

Helloooooo~ Good afternoon, Trench!

Do you know what day is coming up on Monday? No? It's gonna be Makoto Kino's birthdaaaaayyy!!! [Here Usagi holds up a pink rose covered picture frame with Makoto and Usagi inside of it.]

This cutie right here.

But yes! The amazing, the talented, the gorgeous, the fabulous, one of the best cooks in the whole wide world... Especially, THIS world and one hell of a gardener MAKOTO KINO'S birthday is coming up!

Per her request, we're noooot gonna have a party. [Is Usagi pouting? Yes. But she perks back up immediately.] BUT! She said yes to a lunch at a restaurant. So I've rented out a part of one of her favorite restaurants. I'll be taking care of the tab for everything except alcohol, that's on you to buy. [How you ask? Well, that's Usagi's secret.]

So, if you know the lovely, beautiful, talented, badass Makoto Kino, or WANT to get to know her, come on Monday around 12:30 to about 15:00 Cellar Door's beautiful Pink Rose Café!

If you need help with gift ideas, feel free to ask!

Anyone who causes trouble during her birthday will be dealing with me personally.

KAY, SEE LOTS OF YOU MONDAY! BYYYYEEEEEE!!!!!

[ it's november and something is in the air. or light, because alucard seems to be glittering. glowing. pick your adjective of choice. and he seems most disgruntled about it. even when he moves, his skin seems to glow.]

I do not suppose anyone knows how to stop this?

Or at the very least, disguise this?

[the camera isn't shaky so much as wheeling, as if held by an overeager film student with more tricks than taste. the camera is sansa's omen. she wears raven makeup again with a black woolen cloak, and there is a cacophony of barking wolves and dogs. she seems very frightened, and she's holding an obsidian dagger chained to the chatelaine between her cloak. it's a busy street in cellar door, but the locals look a bit...blank-faced. sansa's direwolves are sitting and barking at spaces between them, while her hellhound scampers from person to person, frankly yelling.]

There are corpses, invisible corpses, and they're walking around everywhere! We'll have to burn them––I'll need every Coldblood mage, and anyone with any other kind of fire ability. I could make cold bloodstone to help, if I had any Coldblood––we'll need to get the fires hot enough to burn bone to ash.

The direwolves can track them––we could make two groups, and Smores can go with the other one. If anyone else can do it, you might post here and find some Coldblood mages to work with.

[sansa's wolves and wolf senses have spotted the draugr. she doesn't know anything about draugr, but fire is how you get rid of burning corpses, according to pthumerian-sent dreams and memories as well as the ancient books on her own north she's been studying in the archives. she'd already tried the dragonglass dagger, just in case, but it hadn't worked. it hasn't even occurred to her that fire might not, either.

fortunately in this case she happens to have stumbled onto a solution.

sansa does have a prompt for this up at the event post but I'm happy to handwave whatever!!]

( This is not Peter Graham, though of course, posting anonymously takes away that possibility. The user didn't want to use the boy's network handle, to inevitably be seen through the filter of "Not Peter."

The user is trying to define his own identity. )

why did you choose your title here on this THING
what is the meaning
?
?

( ...Texting is still something he struggles with, though the demon has been watching and learning and forming his own conclusions on how to do it. Autocorrect is a life-saver. Two questions get two question marks. ....Even if they go in the wrong place. )

i will grant you a
GOLDEN COIN
if you
RESPOND

( ...For those who know Paimon fairly well, that particular offer of exchange might betray who he is. But the demon of Knowledge is curious to hear reasons, and within them: perhaps stories, memories, self-perceptions. There is a meaning to everything, whether simple or complex.

And perhaps by the end of it, he will know what title he would give himself, here on the network. )

( major spoilers for Nona the Ninth )

[If you can believe it, Snow is even MORE CHIPPER than usual. She's all giggles and blushes and Faramund, her Omen, just shakes his head at the giddy teenager. Her animals are all very used to her giddiness by now.]

I wanted to thank everyone who helped me last time regarding modern courtship and I am happy to announce that Rose Dawson has graciously accepted my proposal for courtship and we are now together!

Oh, I'm truly so excited! And very fortunate to have someone so lovely love me.

Regarding my decision on all the advice I was given, I decided to go with the bouquet, I shall serenade her another time!

Again, thank you everyone for your kind advice!

Oh! And one other thing, that is of course, just as important. Winter will be upon us soon which means it's pickling, curing, canning, drying, and preserving time! If anyone needs a few lessons on how to properly do anything of those things please don't hesitate to ask!

[ Cue one young girl who looks to be about ten or eleven appearing, she looks curious. There is a full-grown phoenix sitting upon her shoulder. ]

Hello, everyone. My name is Hotaru Tomoe.

I was wondering if anyone else here played a musical instrument. My mama Michiru has been teaching me the violin and it came here with me. So I was curious if anyone else had one too, and if you wanted to play with me sometime.

[ The phoenix makes a trilling sound. ]

My other inquiry was if anyone had any music that they would like added to the Entertainment Feed. I've already been adding everything I know how to play, and wouldn't mind learning more for everyone to enjoy. It's okay if I've never heard the song before, I'll learn how to play it! A lot of what I know is classical and anything from Earth's 1990s and before.

[ Hotaru looks excited over that idea, learning to play songs. ]

Lastly, I want to know if anyone would like to learn how to play the violin. If there were enough people for me to give lessons to as a small job when I'm not helping out with my friend's businesses. I know teachers for music tend to be older, but I'm very good, I promise.

CW: Violence against a teen, past child abuse and neglect

( The fairest of them all was certainly not looking that way today. )

[Makoto had spent the last few days looking in the mirror several times, looking for a mark that used to be there, that was gone now. The one that had been placed when she’d formed her bond with Atsushi, back when the handprints had been clearly visible and easy to see. With time they weren’t as vibrant but the bonds and marks were still there, the one with Usagi, Minako, Vira-Lorr, and one or two others. But his was gone.

As the video started, her hand lingered on the pink rose necklace that she was wearing, as Makoto seemed to be nibbling on a few cookies, the inside of Flour and Bloom clear in the background along with the early morning light.]

A lot of things keep happening and changing, but then they haven’t really changed either. I mean I’m still who I was before, and I have those that I care about, and they’re still who they are, but we’ve all grown too. Gotten stronger.

I wonder though, now that it seems like more people are returning. What’s a way to remember someone who’s not around anymore, but will always be a part of you?

[Clearing her throat she brushed away a few crumbs and smiled.]

Sorry, I actually just wanted to share some of the new selections that we have coming in at Flour and Bloom. We still have plenty of roses and Lavender. But now we have purple passion flowers, cardinal flowers, and Rosy honeymoon blooms.

There are also a few recipes that Snow and I have been trying out, so we’ll have a few samples to see how everyone likes them. We’re open until it starts to get dark.