Deer Country Network

Normally I prefer to speak face to face, but this will all have to be in text because I can't hear a thing.

Anyway, there are a couple of things I've documented this month that I think might be of assistance:

First, everything this month seems to be about working together, even working together with people you don't normally interact with. If you'd like to meet up in the Gaze to get to know someone new, I'm Uchiha Sakura.

[ She turns the video on to give a small bow to the network. ]

I'm happy to help anyone earn one of those bracelets.

Secondly, I think if enough people were to set our individual plots of land from the bracelets beside one another, we could actually culture a big garden, maybe with enough people we could create small farmland. Does anyone out there know anything about farming? My knowledge rests more with the medical properties of plants.

Finally, it seems like the focus of the blood changes this month are making people vulnerable in a way which requires them to rely on others. It seems best to support each other on a personal and interactive level, so that everyone's needs can be met.

There are worse things this place could push us towards than cooperation with one another. I hope I can help facilitate that in any way possible.

Do you think it's possible to be in love with two people at once?

I can't be the only one this has happened to.

[Edited to add!]

One of them is here, the other is back home.

[Oh hey, it's anonymous sender time again. Jun's been doing some thinking in the last few days.]

What does family mean to you? Like... what counts? Is it your blood family? What if you're adopted?

What if you don't know you're adopted? Does family become something like a lie in that case?

Do dead people stop being family?

I don't really know what family means anymore. It's confusing and there's too many emotions tied up in it.

[Kazuma is obviously in the Archives. The looming shelves, claustrophobic framing, and dim lighting is more than enough to give that away. There are open tomes around him, but he isn't reading any of them; instead, he's considering the camera with a quizzical look, chin in his hand as he leans on the table he's at.]

Before the patrons of this place decide to plague us with more of the same, I have a mundane question for all of you.

We have many places we can choose to make our homes here. I am currently in Crenshaw, previously in Willful Machine...I moved with someone I know well. The point being, there are reasons we choose these places, correct?

What drew you to yours? What merits does it have to have others consider it? Is it because of people you know, or something else?

[He sighs and drums his fingers on the tabletop.] I just never really gave my own lodging much thought...I am wondering if most of us settle where it is convenient, or if we find other reasons to gravitate to where we end up.

Hello~! I'm Himiko Toga. 17. The real one. Hi.

Is the party finally over? Done killing? Everyone back in their body? Right mind? Okay!

Newbie 101 with questions, JUDGE FREE ZONE. After washing up here, did you all stick with your plans from home? Your goal? Lifelong dream? Or abandoned that for a life seemed a better option? I mean, did you stick with your habits, change it completely, or evolve it? Are you happy with the new change in you? Or regret it? What about your 'purpose'? Found it here? Back in the other world? Ambition? Made a difference here?

Me? I'm new and trying to get some ideas. I want to hear your story. And hang out with people around my age. No gross weirdos (you know who you are), kthnks. <3

Humans talk so much about love, but how do you know what love is? And if a feel you feel is love?

The first time I felt what I thought was love, it was someone else's will. And it was sticky, heavy like my chest was constricted and I couldn't breathe, like I was choking on it.

The next time, I felt elated and weightless, like all pain and sorrow had vanished from the world and my memories. I knew eventually, I'd be hurt but... in that moment, I believed nothing could harm me, and it still cut like a knife when it happened.

Could both of those feelings be love? Or is love something else entirely? Can you hurt someone and still love them? Is being hurt by someone you care for and accepting that hurt a form of love?

How do you know if you're even capable of such feelings?

Hi, everyone! In case we haven't met, this is Manabu Yuuki. [brief, little wave.]

I've been doing a lot of research about the world outside of this city, and me and a few others went out to check out the perimeter...you know, past the Waystation and that nasty salt lake. There's a west-facing road out there that just...gets swallowed up by the forest.

But it is a road.

[...]

I want to go out there. See if there's not another town somewhere. This isn't the nightmare, after all...we're on a whole planet. And we can't be the only ones.

I'm not going out there alone, though: It's crawling with monsters, day and night. So I need backup. A lot of backup. Basically... I need some combat-veteran explorers willing to go out there and see if we can't find where that road leads...or used to lead.

We'll need a lantern, too. And lots of incense. That way, if it's too crazy, we can at least put a new waypoint down for future efforts, you know?

So... So that's it. If you're interested, let me know. I can send you the details if you're serious about it, and we can set out later in the week. Before any...monthly weirdness can kick up, hopefully.


[ooc sign-ups/questions here]

[A new face to these network posts comes on the screen. She appears to be in her mid-teens, and while the Omni isn't that far away from her, it's easy to spot one of the yellow blankets that have been appearing to those under Baus' patronage in her arm. Occasionally, ears that clearly belong to a young bear pop up at the bottom of the screen in the vicinity of said blanket.

The girl's brow is furrowed slightly and her mouth has a small, contemplative frown. When she speaks, her voice is comparatively on the monotonous side and doesn't quite hold the same emotion as her expression does.]

I am Echo. I thought it would be best to ask as many people as possible of this.

What is the true significance of a festival?

[She pauses for a moment or two.]

Is it the reasoning behind it, no matter how dubious the story may be? Is it to promote business and vendors in the area, particularly in places where they can sharply raise their prices to take advantage people's convivial response to the activities? Is it the different offerings in which to partake, which despite the various rationales behind the events remain surprisingly similar in the broadscale? Or...

[A tiny bit of color comes to her cheeks as she hesitates.]

is there some other reason it may be considered important?

[The top of the cub's head has been lingering on the screen longer than it had been during this last part, and Echo turns her attention toward it. Despite the focal shift, her tone of voice is very similar.]

Do not chew on it.

[ooc: Those of the Pandora Hearts world or who have been overly informed about it may choose to note that I arbitrarily made this St. Bridget's Day.]

[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.

[ A young girl sits at a table in an otherwise nondescript room, her hands folded in front of her in a picture of perfect professionalism. Her white button-down shirt is similarly perfect, not a wrinkle in sight, and tailored to her thin frame. Her gaze into her omni is expressionless — some might call it cold — and her high, childish voice is tempered with the assured enunciation of an adult. ]

Good evening. My name is Tanya von Degurechaff. I'm new here, so I have a couple questions for anyone willing to answer.

First, what kind of job do you currently have? If you don't have one, then I'm also interested in hearing what you did before you arrived here.

Second, are there any jobs or businesses you'd like to see here? I recognize that this is a broad question, but since we come from a broad range of backgrounds, any feedback is welcome.

[ A pause, a stray thought seeming to flicker through her head before she continues. ]

As for myself, I have experience with personnel management, various air-based operations, tactical field research, and administrative work. More broadly, I'm an aerial mage. The business I'd like to see is a coffee shop.

[ The feed clicks on to show a sheepish looking Laurel on her couch. After a moment, she sits up straighter and clears her throat. ]

Sooo, last month, I got into a bar fight. [ She winces. ] But I wasn't exactly myself at the time. I was...a different version of myself, I think? One that has meta powers, likes violence and drinking. [ There's another wince. ] If you saw me dressed head to toe in black leather a few weeks ago and sporting some dark lipstick, that wasn't me. But I do apologise for that person.

[ This isn't the whole point of her addressing the wider network, but Laurel wanted to clear the air. ]

Which leads me on to my other reason for this post. Back home, I'm a lawyer and have been for about four years now. As there's no law in this place, I tried to think about how I could apply those skills. A while back, some people suggested that I become a mediator. Someone who could act as a neutral party to help people resolve their issues or problems without resorting to violence.

It's a work in progress because I need a space to facilitate it properly. I don't think anyone wants to talk about their issues in my tiny one bedroom apartment. [ Heh.] If there's a space available somewhere, can you let me know please?

Since money isn't a thing here either, I would accept food or items I can trade with at the Willful Machine markets.

Thanks.

[ With a smile Laurel ends the feed.]