Day 90; Video 003

[bostonhowler]

[The breeze pushes her heavy hair behind her. She takes a deep breath and then puts a smile on for the camera. It's tentative, but there.]

I owe apologies. Quite a few of them. Riley, Charlie, St. Raphael, Derek....

[She pauses.]

Dilandau.

I had some personal trouble recently and lashed out at those that didn't deserve it. I apologize for not being able to keep my temper and for not explaining anything.

[Another pause.]

And for still not explaining anything.

I just... Please accept my apology. For those that don't wish to, [Dilandau] I understand.

I'm going to be staying at the lighthouse a bit, I think. I need the perspective and if something happens again, there won't be anyone to take the brunt of it. Except some seagulls, but they're usually pretty forgiving.

Comments

[bostonhowler]

It gets later, we'll have berries. I know I saw blackberry bushes in the forest. How many of those got burnt, I don't know. There should a few apple trees too. But it'll be months before those are ready.

[Sigh. She really wants something sweet now.]

Winter honey. There has to be some, right?

[undomesticated]

Maybe? I haven't really seen a lot of bees around. [Not that she'd been paying attention.]

To be honest, I'm never sure what we're going to find here. It's not like a normal place with normal things like wild honey or anything to make this easier. The robot bears sort of destroy the whole natural ecosystem thing.

[bostonhowler]

The fire might have driven them out, or at least the smoke sedated them more than the cold did.

[She remembers that much from several nature documentaries.]

Looks like I'll be doing a lot of reading and wood wandering. At least it'll keep me busy.

[undomesticated]

Good thing we still have a library.

[Not that she'd bothered to look anything up in it beyond a random book to keep herself entertained, one that was most decidedly not informative in terms of the local fauna or how to manage it.]

I can keep my eye, and nose out for things to gather next time I go hunting.

[bostonhowler]

I was going to the library later, see if I could find something on the history of this place. Maybe give us a clue as to where we really are.

[And history is her comfort.]

Thank you. For forgiving me, and for offering to help.

[undomesticated]

[She shrugged.]

Shifters gotta stick together, right? We're more than the sum of our human parts, and sometimes they take over for a bit. Not like I haven't gotten worse from my brothers before.

[bostonhowler]

I hope Derek feels the same way. Anytime you want to come stay at the lighthouse with me, you're welcome to. I know sometimes, living around humans gets to be too much.

[undomesticated]

I'll keep that in mind. Really. It hasn't been too bad where I'm at, not now that Ned and Hal are on some kind of OCD cleaning squad, but one of my housemates isn't too partial to where she leaves her food remains. And you know how fun hidden rotted food can be.

[bostonhowler]

Ick. That's just... gross. Why would she do that?

[Brigid had a shifter's nose and sometimes that just went... horribly.]

[undomesticated]

Not sure. Humans don't seem to notice it as badly as shifter. At least it's not as bad as when I visited my friend at her dorm. That was... disgusting.

[bostonhowler]

Ugh. I had a history course with this group of Frat boys. They just reeked of all sorts of things. Mostly stale alcohol, stale sex and marijuana.

[She wrinkles her nose.]

College was horrible for that.

[undomesticated]

Stale anything is never a pleasant smell.

[She was fortunate that her brothers were considerate enough to clean themselves thoroughly after any of their encounters. She couldn't find anything appealing about any of those scents clinging to her and she just hoped she didn't have to run into that here that often, even though the home she was in had certain rooms that had that smell clinging to them. She totally lived in a frat house.]

[bostonhowler]

I hate human noses. They can't smell anything. It makes our lives way more difficult.

[She's a virgin, but the Alpha and his wife hadn't been shy. And then there was her Da and his one girlfriend.]

[undomesticated]

[Riley was in the same boat, so to speak. No experience herself, but you can't be a shifter and live in a family with parents who still went at it and not know what was going on. Add to that the blase nature towards sex that a lot of the tribes she'd lived with had and... she knew. She just didn't necessarily like the smell of it.]

It's not their fault. Besides, I'd rather they couldn't smell that much. Makes pretending to be one easier.

[bostonhowler]

[She wraps her arms around her knees, looking at over the wreck of a pier.]

There is that. There's a lot you can get away with just because they can't smell or hear anything. Sometimes it's a bother though. Frat boys.

[undomesticated]

[She smiled at that.]

Pretty sure the human girls aren't that keen on the frat boys either. They sort of cross that line into being loathed on all fronts.

[bostonhowler]

Human girls and boys can ignore them. Even at my best, they're shoving their scents up my nose.

[It doesn't help that she's pretty sensitive to marijuana.]

[undomesticated]

Carry around a sachet. It's what I did.

[bostonhowler]

I tried that once. The campus police confiscated it in one of their big "no drugs on campus" sweeps. I tried to explain it was mint and lavender. They didn't believe me. Luckily, they let me go just confiscating it.

[Boston College campus police sometimes get overzealous.]

I started threatening the frat boys with Febreeze.

[undomesticated]

[She rolled her eyes at that, snorting slightly.]

I would have crammed it up their nose and asked them if they've ever smoked any minty lavender pot before. Sometimes I think they're purposefully obtuse.

[bostonhowler]

I thought about it. But the Alpha is big on fitting in and not making waves.

[She grins.]

It helps that the one hunter that I knew was on campus was arrested for powder cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Made me feel better about my sachet getting confiscated.

[undomesticated]

Yeah, my mom might have had something to say about me doing that. That or she would have been the one shoving it up their nose. You can never tell with her.

[It's part of why she loved her so much. She could be a total hardass with all of them, but she had those moments that reminded Riley that she was more than just a mom, that she hadn't always been one and that she could be sassy when she wanted.]

Really? Hah. Serves him right.

[bostonhowler]

The Alpha runs a pretty tight ship. He doesn't put up with things like that.

[She loves her Alpha. She does. There's just something... not right.]

It really, really did. I don't think he knew who am I, but it's hilarious watching them get taken down a peg.

[undomesticated]

I'll stick with being ruled by my parents. [When she knew she could get away with most of her crap.]

[bostonhowler]

Having an Alpha isn't so bad. It's like having an extra parent is all. Just... mine's pretty strict.

[Brigid shrugs. She waves toward the woods.]

And you saw how I was without one.