Deer Country Network

[ it's a dark and — well it's just a dark month and ahiru never really functions well in the dark. she gets spooked easily which is sort of what happens here. a sequence of events, by a duck.

1. she enters the kitchen. the lights are off and she bumps into various furniture. ]

Ow ow ow ow —

[ 2. her hand brushes against a coat hanging on top of a chair. in her mind, she imagines a snake.

3. She panics and lets out a loud: ]

Quack!

[ 4. ahiru ends up turning into a duck on screen. gasp! not that she has realized she's being recorded.

5. she quickly waddles off and there's the sound of water and she comes back into the kitchen with a relief. ]

— Phew that was clo . . . ooooose, O-Odette! Were you displaying this the whole time?! A-Ah!!

[ ahiru immediately runs in front of the feed, waving her hands frantically. ]

You didn't see that! There's nothing to see! It was . . . uh, uh, a MYSTERY DUCK that broke into the house but it's gone now!

[ alas, ahiru has been well and truly outed as . . . a duck. ]

[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.]

[ Even as the image can be seen, it seems like there's still a moment of set up, tiny hands fiddling with the Omni like they're trying to get the perfect shot.. But then there are two faces visible. Two faces that are looking decidedly younger than usually - it's Ange and Ruby, looking like they definitely can't be much older than six years old.

And looking very excited. ]

Um, so, so..! We heard that there's some sort of reaaally scary snake monster out there! So.. we thought we'd help out everyone and get rid of it! Because Ruby.. She's a really, reaaally cool huntress! [ Ange may be Will-Smith-esque posing at Ruby for emphasis right as she says that. ]

[Ruby just stares at the camera briefly until she notices Ange's hands pointing her way. She blinks and quickly starts to flex her twiggy arms to the camera.]

Yeah! We're super strong and awesome and we've got tons of weapons! [Ruby gestures to a sack of potato's and a large collection of sticks that they've gathered up.]

That snack is going to be- a- -uh- a, a piece of snack!

[ While Ruby is saying that last part, it seems that Ange has already moved over to grab one of the sticks for a demonstration. As she's running back towards where Ruby and the Omni are, she's waving the stick wildly. ]

We'll get it just like thi--

[ Ange manages to smack the stick right against the device, turning the view sideways before it just cuts out entirely.

Oops. ]

[The video starts with a very close-up view of Mebh's face as she tries to figure out if her Omni is even working or not. She hasn't made much of an effort to use the Omni up until now, since she's not familiar with this kind of technology at all. Eventually she pulls away; though the camera is still at a noticeable angle, the backdrop looks as though she's somewhere around the Waystation, since the windmill can be seen. She's flanked on either side by two grey, yellow-eyed wolves, one of whom leans forward to sniff at the camera for a moment before Mebh rolls her eyes and nudges it away.]

Robyn said I could use this thing to talk to people. [Her expression briefly changes to a sadder one. Mentioning Robyn hurts. Robyn had said they would look for their parents together while they were here, but now she's gone and Mebh can't find her. Though she can't dwell on that right now, because she has a Complaint.]

So isn't there a real forest around here? Not like the Trenchwood place. There's nothin' good in there and it smells all nasty.

[And there's something about it that seems even worse at night; she can't bring herself to go in when it's dark out, because even she can tell it's not safe, though she's not going to admit that easily.]

But I'm not livin' in the town. Not ever. Dunno how anybody can stand all those smells.

[There's a very stubborn look in her eyes when she says this. Even if this world is more dangerous than the one she remembers and there are far worse things living here than people who hunt wolves, she hates the idea of caging herself in. And she can't live in a town when it reminds her that the only friend she had from home has now disappeared.

For a moment, Mebh goes quiet...and then she suddenly bares her teeth and lets out a guttural growl, the screen shaking violently as she takes the Omni and throws it on the ground in anger and frustration. The screen shows the sky for a few moments before it shuts off.]