starhuevalley | TEST DRIVE

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TEST DRIVE

TEST DRIVE;
premise | rules | taken | pick-up

Pick-ups are now open! You're free to take a character on that page. The musebox will start proper in one week!

Welcome to Starhue Valley!

Just as easily as you blinked out of reality to your last getaway from home, or your little jaunt at community of silly memes, you're on a bus that accommodates all shapes and sizes. A little letter has been placed on your lap, with your name on it. Carefully unfolding, you read the following message.

• Howdy!
You might notice you're not from these parts! That's because you've either been kidnapped across the multiverse before, have had strange encounters across the multiverse, or have a secret destiny hidden within you to find out what life is like in Starhue Valley!

Well, the secret destiny part might be an exaggeration, but you were picked up by my call for some reason or another... that means you must have a call inside you to reach out across time and space and meet and change the lives of other people.

I look forward to explaining everything!
- Marjorie

__________________________________________

Across the street from the bus stop, a celebration seems to be going on, for your arrival. Once you get the low-down from Margie herself, you have a plethora of things to do.

What do you go for?

A. Farm? What farm?

[ A map has been thrust onto your person as soon as you arrived, with a pathway clearly marked to a place in the forest where you have been told a farm has been cleared out for you or you and a significant other, a band of friends, your mortal enemy, whoever you have the fortune of joining. The pathways tonight are lit with tiny glass baubles filled with glowing stars. These paths lead throughout the woodsy side of town all over.

Your farm is a little decrepit, but apparently, all the tools are in that chest over there to make it perfect. The mayor left a letter for you detailing the whole thing-- the buses back home don't run until the end of Summer, so you'll have to make do with what you have. You don't HAVE to farm... but it'd be a nice way to make a few pieces of gold! You know, to live. Unless you just pull turnips out of the ground and eat them, weirdo.

Some seeds and so on are available to you-- even some things from home to make the job easier. What do you do? ]

B. Screw the farm, let's check out the celebration!

Ahh, careful! I ordered some of those pies from Baker Square but they came right from bakerstreet! I can't tell which is which, so just... be careful!

[ Naturally, you have no idea what Marjorie is talking about regarding Baker Street, unless she's making a very obscure Sherlock Holmes joke.

However, the bountiful plates of pies do look attractive... you're pretty sure no one would poison you right off the bat, right? But the flavors do have interesting effects.

• Lemon Meringue makes you want to play 'guess who!' with someone.
• Rhubarb has you looking at people while consciously thinking 'hot or not'. And if you're attracted to that type of person, maybe you'll make some moves...
• Chocolate Mousse has you yearning for some old friends, and if you happen to meet them or make some new ones, drape all over them. Schmooze. Show them some pictures on your jPad of your cute little sibling.
• Apple has you ambitious-- start rallying the people! Is it unfair you were brought here? Is Jojamart clearly a corporate scam? Do you have immediate plans to take over? You can't hold it in!
• Key lime has you sprouting a monster part! This is painless, and it can last for anywhere from a day to a month. Take care! ]

C. Family photos... or videos.

[ A projector is set up nearby, on a white screen on the barn. There's only one thing though... these videos seem familiar. Eventually, one of you might pop up! This could be a memory, a tacky AMV to Every Time We Touch, or darkly, a bit of your future yet to come that might encourage you to stay. Marjorie says it's set up to 'get everyone to know each other a little'.

Secrets don't make a community! ]

D. The Sun Goes Down, The Stars Come Out... and fall.

[ What is with this rocking meteor shower? Stars streak across the sky in a glitter of white and gold, unlike anything you've ever seen. Someone, one of the locals, hushes to the person next to them to make a wish. Suddenly, that urge starts to overcome you. Whether subconsciously or not, you mutter a wish to yourself-- and be careful what you wish for, because if it's something that can help you with your journey... it might end up right in your lap! A bunch of tokens from home or your previous game, all wishing you well on your new farming life.

This is starting to feel nostalgic.

Happy.

Simple. ]

D. WILDCARD

[ Do whatever you like! Explore the town, see new people, harass the NPCs! Magically transform your farm into a mansion! I don't know your powers, man, but use them to the best of your ability! Most of all, have fun!
code bases by tricklet

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He'll happen to be wandering the town, out and about, familiarizing himself with everything and anything that he can, simply because he can. It's a nice day out and he needs to learn more about this town that he has been sent to.

New to the place as he is, he would know that voice anywhere. He stops suddenly, smile dropping, face falling for all of a few seconds before he catches himself and puts it all back in place again. He turns toward Vincent, chain about his waist tinkling in his otherwise empty belt loops. The common clothing had been one thing in his favor - the locals hadn't blanched at him in his mortician's garb because he simply hadn't come into town wearing it.

"I see no reason why not." It's a careful calculation of words. Vincent is far too young, almost a decade from what he remembers if what he can see is anything to judge by. "What'll it be, milord?"

There is immediate recognition, though Vincent hasn't spent much time in Undertaker's company. It's still good to see someone he recognizes and so the youth doesn't hesitate in approaching closer, his smile the perfect balance of charming and mischievous. His Weston uniform is clean and neatly pressed and the Sapphire Owl is obvious on his jacket.

"Undertaker..." he inclines his head respectfully, "What brings you to this..." he looks around briefly, "quaint place? Are you thinking of becoming a farmer?"

Too is left unsaid, but it is implied. Isn't it funny? An Earl getting his hands dirty pulling up weeds!

Edited 2018-06-15 01:10 (UTC)

Now that Vincent is closer, he can see the clothing on the boy better and it gives him a better idea in turn of what age he has been brought back to. Something about that seems a little sad when he was just talking with his older counterpart not even a few days before, it feels like. Conversations lost, knowledge disappeared. Weight restored where words had lifted it. Things he never would have said to the boy while they were in their own world and time while Vincent was this age, but there is relief in it as well. A new beginning, a new start.

"I guess I do, though I can't recall putting forth the effort. It looks as if I have a plot of land to my name and I should use that however I can. What of you, milord? Are you here for the laboring as well?" He wouldn't have guessed.

For three years, Vincent has gone through a rough time. No one would have guessed it, however. He is absurdly good with hiding his difficulties and appearing, depending on the situation, to either be incredibly rash or foolish or a genius. The truth of the matter is that he falls somewhere between those descriptors.

"As do I! I don't remember purchasing it or leaving everything behind for it either." he grins and spreads his arms, "How can I let all of this go to waste?"

It would be a shame and he does have some appreciation for how life grows.

"All I need are some lessons." or a few books on farming. He is confident he can deduce the rest on his own.

Edited 2018-06-15 03:30 (UTC)

Who would know, indeed? Least of all someone who had spent so long at further than arm's length from the family, with all of his own reasons, but reasons all the same. He looks around at the area about them and lifts a finger to scratch lightly at his chin. He has an idea of how this all came about. Something to do with the portal in the place from where he had come, he guesses. That and the strangeness there, with Ciel's memory loss, might explain a lot, but that incident hadn't changed the boy physically. He wondered if it could.

"I trust you would leave nothing to waste. I've not tried to grow things on this large a scale myself, but it can't be too hard. We have half the job done here for us with the land in place and a home established." Speaking of. He turns to look behind him on the road he'd come down just before running across the teen. "You've a home in this area, yes?"

"If you would like an invitation, all you have to do is ask." Vincent takes hold of Undertaker's sleeve and tugs him in the direction of his new home, "It's nothing to brag about, but I have all I need."

Manors are mind-bendingly large and spacious for a reason; to make a point about the power and wealth of the occupants. Humans need far less room to survive perfectly wonderful lives. He almost...relishes...the change because it reminds him that he is out from under the Queen's yoke for awhile.

"You can catch me up on what I have missed while I've been in school."

He would have asked, if only out of a want to know where Vincent was now situated and make sure to look after him. His movements could be faster than he'd ever imagined possible as a human, but being able to travel across oceans in a single step wouldn't help him much if he didn't know where he was going. Rather than protest the grasp, a bittersweet reminder of their first meeting again in Riverview, he lets Vincent take his sleeve and guide him along.

"Then allow me to ask after your address, if nothing else. It makes things easier for the both of us if I know where to meet you should we need." By this time in the teen's life, he couldn't recall if Claudia's husband was gone or if she herself was gone. That might be a conversation he would have with Vincent at another time, but for now, the boy's safety and well being was his concern. He knew no one else in this town. Even if they were trustworthy, he wouldn't leave that to chance. He had already lost the boy twice over. "It might be quite a story, but I'm afraid my old mind just isn't right these days, what with the change of scenery and all. How long have you been in school, milord?"

Few events will trigger a change in Vincent. He knows how to fend for himself and he knows the sharp blade of nobility. The sorrow and bitterness that followed his mother's death hasn't abated and he is absolutely focused on making a good family for himself. He refuses to be alone - even if, his less selfish side whispers, those he loves would be safer.

All Phantomhives have been selfish to one degree or another and utterly ambitious. Vincent's ambitions are rather simple compared to others: he wants to marry, have an heir and keep his family line intact. Some conqueror.

"You'll have it." once he can ascertain his address beyond home is in this direction, "Has it changed a lot for you?"

Besides this fascinating turn? Vincent's strides are relatively easy to follow - he isn't in a hurry - and he glances at Undertaker from under thick dark lashes.

"Four years. I'm Prefect for the Sapphire Owls." he shrugs, chuckling, "They really shouldn't have chosen me."

Four years. Then at least one of the two had already passed. As far as he had been from the teen in comfort, if not physical distance, he remembered that hadn't been particularly easy for either of them. The world only ever saw his grin and Vincent's frown, but there were nights still when he shed a tear or two over it all. Time hadn't made that wound easier to bear so much as it'd made it easier to cover up.

He follows Vincent along with ease, making note of where they're going. So far, it isn't far from his own farmland in the vicinity... In fact, they may even be going toward the same plot. Are they? "For me? Only as much as one can imagine. Every day, a different face in my parlor. Always someone needs tending."

Not looking to venture too far into that subject, he takes to the university in a slight hurry. "Goodness, it's been so long. You'll be a handful yet. You Phantomhives always are. Not that long ago, you were half my height and chasing... what was it you were chasing?" Distraction. It's good for them.

Only one mattered - if Vincent is blunt about it. He hadn't been close to his father; he had always had the impression that the man didn't care much for him. That isn't something a child forgets, though, oddly, Vincent recalls his father being kinder to Francis. No, not just kind. Fatherly.

Maybe he never wanted a son. He sees no reason to ask since the answer - one way or another - won't make him feel better about it all.

But losing his mother... That had been different.

"I don't know how you do it." his smile slips into a more serious expression, "Showing that kind of empathy would exhaust me." because it wouldn't be genuine. Vincent accepts that he isn't the best sort of person, but he's hardly the worst.

"The dogs. You know I always wanted one of my own." he is back in good humor, flashing a grin, "I was certain I could train them."

Edited 2018-06-15 05:00 (UTC)

If not for their time in Riverview, he wouldn't have known the details about Vincent's thoughts on his father that he did now. For his own part, he didn't much care for the boy's father himself - neither of them. He gives a soft sound and lifts the shoulder Vincent isn't leading on.

"Necessity. And showmanship. Not all of it is genuine. Little of it is, just between us." Between his life as a grim reaper and then some, he thought he'd lost all concern about the business of death and the loss therein... until the losses were his own. Eager to get out of that thought, he switches to dogs, giggling.

"Only those, yes. They're easy enough, once you learn their language. Did you train them?"

He belatedly remembers he is, more or less, dragging Undertaker along and he releases his hold on the man's sleeve. There is enough incentive to keep the man's interest without him acting like an overexcited child bent on showing someone his greatest secret.

"You are a phenomenal actor!" Vincent has a talent for that too. Maybe they should be on the stage instead of in the business of seedy underworld activity and death?

"I had the pack following me like I was their Master." he snickers, "That caused problems on the hunt since I wasn't old enough to ride with them then."

That sounds about right. Vincent had many following him around, some of whom called him master. Or he would, at least, later in life. It still felt strange to look at the boy who had been a man not even a week prior in his memory, but he wouldn't question it. It was a better outcome than he'd thought.

"Practice and all. Takes a lot of that." More than he can say, especially when he'd buried almost all of one half of his only remaining lineage. He takes notice when Vincent lets his hand loose again, keeping up with him as if they'd never lost contact. "You should be old enough now. Have you had the chance to go on a hunt yet, maybe in your trip home between the years?"

Undertaker might think otherwise once he is on the receiving end of Vincent's various mischiefs. The teen is never bored if he could help it and he knows how to keep his acquaintances - especially those he cares about - on their toes.

"Some would need a lifetime to manage it." if then. He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over his arm.

"A time or two. I will have a greater chance once I graduate."

He will make time. His expression hardens with determination. Surely business can calm down for long enough.

"But I'll be getting married, too, so I might not be doing much hunting after all!"

It wouldn't be the first time he was the target of prankish behavior and in a way, he hopes it won't be the last. If he should spend the next fifty years enduring and returning this boy's humor, he'll be only too glad if only for the chance to know his company.

"I don't know about that, but we'll see, if you feel you need to try it one day." If he knows nothing else about nobles, he knows they're good at pretending one thing while their mind is set on another, either an effective means of negotiation or a twisted version of who they are. He has known both. "There is that, and your life will be busier once you are, but you'll still have time to yourself. It won't be completely out of the question."

In one way or another. If Vincent doesn't hunt deer or foxes or birds after his wedding, he'll surely be hunting something as the Queen's watchdog. He doesn't envy the man that.

Vincent would agree - most happily - that his company is something to be sought and enjoyed! But he is a bit arrogant - charmingly so - and he doesn't yet understand their deeper bond. In time. In time. For now he will enjoy the quirky company of the Undertaker and show off his new property, though it doesn't look like much yet.

"It would be a change!" he never shies from a new adventure if he can help it! Even if the public might think him odd or rash by doing so. Why should he care about their opinion? Life is fifty percent duty and fifty percent fun. Okay, so maybe it was more like seventy-five percent duty and twenty-five percent fun, but both counted!

"Are you a hunter?" he pushes open the front door of his new home, "We could try to take down a bear together."

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TEST DRIVE

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