STARDROP CELEBRATION: FINAL DAY

[starhuemod]

LET'S PARTY!
premise | rules | taken | pick-up

A. Arrivals and Much More

You’re here because you were dropped somewhere that tried sending you home, or you're someone with a call to the heart to explore the vast universe. The buses run at odd schedules, so please pardon any interruptions! I hope you fellas make yourselves at home, here!

[ Marjorie’s whole speech rings through your ears as you begin to explore the area. It seems a few people who arrived on the TDM have already been here for a week, but you’re just a newcomer. So where are you when this all went down? Are you trying to get back on a bus that’ll take you home, or…?

B. Home Sweet Home

[ The dust has settled on the bus ride here, and you can’t help but notice that your farmland… well, it’s a mess. Rocks and grass everywhere, no matter which layout you were set with. You were given a set of tools, and the message that this land is yours to shape or change or build on no matter what you want, so long as it’s yours. The little crate by the edge of the house is what will hold your bounties from farming, collected nightly with money delivered to your mailbox the following day, like some kind of Produce Fairy visited.

The house is in alright shape. It’s not brilliant, but it has a kitchen, a bathroom, and a studio bedroom where all your belongings can be. It’s wide enough to accommodate several things until you upgrade it.

Sometimes you see a stray dog or cat at the edge of your property. Do you adopt it?

Anyway, it’s time to make what you will of your farm. ]


The Last Day Of
The Stardrop Celebration!
FESTIVAL PLAYLIST

[ Down a hill a little ways from Pelican Town is a remarkable festival set-up! Several attractions and vendors line the streets where everything is going down. Where will you go? ]

C. Food Stalls

[ Surrounding the entire property are dozens of food stalls, from all around the universe. Marjorie bussed in caterers from all around with a healthy sum of gold, and they’re happy to sell their wares in this strange place tonight. Where you might find octopus balls, you’ll also find kraken balls. Where you might find corndogs, you’ll find dogs selling corn.

It’s a veritable buffet! And the gold you’ve started with is more than enough to go shopping for food. Have fun! ]

D. Games

[ All manners of Carnival Games are set up! From throwing a baseball at bottles to catching goldfish with a paper net, everything you can dream of is here. There are even some unorthodox games, like dance-offs, karaoke, and a little bit of everything. Apparently, the NPC couldn’t choose who to go with what. It definitely makes for a big festival.

In addition to the above, there’s water gun races, squeaky duck ponds, skee-ball, target shooting, test your strength with a hammer, pitching speed, shooting hoops… and more! ]

E. Three-legged Race

[ You didn’t think this festival was going to go by without tomfoolery, did you? For the prize of 1,000 Gold, you can rally up a partner and get tied to them by the ankle, participating in a no-rules no-bars-held race. The winners will be randomized! But the real gift is going to be the fact that the ties around your ankles? Aren’t coming undone. You’re going to have to be tied together until 11 PM! ]

F. Fireworks

[ Errant magic and mishaps aside, you have to admit, the fireworks show at the end of it all is really something. Marjorie hired a pony for them, and the lights are as ethereal as they are non-traditional. It’s a good moment to snuggle up to someone or enjoy company with a new friend. ]

G. Wildcard

[ Exactly what it says! Make your own prompt. ]

[ OOC; Hello, everyone! This community is L I V E, from now on, you can make both network and action posts on this community, as well as use the notice board pinned to the top of the community! You're also welcome to make IC inboxes for one on one conversation and messaging! We hope you enjoy the community and if you need anything, please leave a note on the contact page! Thank you!

People who want to keep their CR from the test drive; you may! Your characters just arrived a little earlier than others! ]

Comments

[ofobedience]

[unlike them, he's only just arrived, still a little disorientated - this isn't quite where he'd expected to be, it seems Delphi lost him somewhere between her world and Corona but never mind that for now - and he does a subtle double-take when he sees the familiar woman + skull combo. slinks on over. smiles his crooked smile.]

Do you have any larkspur, I wonder?

[anappleaday]

[ —her head comes up in one of those nearly birdlike movements at the sound of his voice, eyes wide ]

That is at home ... and not for sale.

[ it's "Plop's" inflection, as sleepy and even-sounding as ever despite her expression— but immediately after she all but flings the flowers she'd been working with onto the countertop so she can scramble out of the booth ]

—Giovanni.

[ofobedience]

[it really is her. it really is both of them. they made it out and despite his own disorientation the lift he feels in his heart is a stronger thing and in this moment that's what matters. she's scrambling out of the booth and he's stepping closer, onetwothree]

Lilith.

[anappleaday]

[ if they were still in the forest—if they were about anywhere else, for that matter—she'd pull herself up short there, content herself with just hovering. that awkwardness after they'd hurt each other and the additional wedge driven in by her taking the snake skull had always felt too insurmountable to overcome to try to reclaim any of what they'd had.

but— this place. even if it's only been a week, it's been a week without the constant awareness that the people around her were suffering. without the ever-present shadow of the games, of "unworthiness," of the Spill— and without any authority except what Samael had over their shared body. only a week, but it turns out even only a week is enough to start remembering (or learning) how being just a person works, if nobody knows to treat you as anything else.

Lilith still almost starts to pull up short, but Samael cheerfully overrides that moment of hesitation in favor of what she really wants: which is to drape herself over Giovanni's shoulders in a hug. ]

You're really— did the bus pick you up? Are the others—?

[ she just sounds so stunned and relieved ]

[ofobedience]

[It's what he expects. the brief rush that brings them closer together followed by the familiar wedge that keeps them apart, all their history standing between them and making anything other than a fragmented connectedness impossible. so it comes as a surprise when he feels her arms around his shoulders because it seems like its been the longest, longest time. and yet here they are, and he finds himself hugging her back readily enough because their history may not have changed but so much else has. it counts for something. counts for a lot.]

I was on my way somewhere else and...well, I'm a little lost, it seems. Hahah.

[his shoulders move in a shrug, but he hasn't let go.]

The others are fine. We're all fine. I was with them, but...

[worldhopping can be faulty, apparently?]

[anappleaday]

[ her own shoulders sag as some of the tension goes out of them— thought not all. she's still as careful as ever not to make him bear her weight. ]

... Marjorie missed them, I suppose. If they don't show up looking for you, it hopefully shouldn't be difficult to get in touch with them. I was planning on visiting myself, later...

[ ...finally loosening her own grip and leaning back a little, but not exactly rushing to let go by any stretch of the imagination— except to rub at one of her eyes. feelings ]

I didn't think Leo was lying about travel being a possibility, but. It's still good to have proof. And to see you.

[ofobedience]

[his body is always a tight-wound thing, but like her, something softens in him now, a bright wash of feeling he can only call relief wears away at his hard edges. he looks up at her as she pulls back slightly, eyes on her face and for once not sliding away after the first fleeting moment of contact.]

I believe I heard her say time moves differently here, or something like it. So perhaps they won't be in a position to worry, whatever the case.

[and it's there again, the uneven twist of his smile.]

And...well yes. I doubt anyone would blame us for doubting things we haven't yet seen for ourselves, after everything. It's...I'm glad to know where you are.

[anappleaday]

[ the smile that blooms in response is a small, sweet thing, almost shy ]

... It's even a fairly good "where," I would say. The people seem friendly enough, and the land... they gave me a plot right on the edge of the forest. Most of these came from there.

[ofobedience]

[it still seems a surreal thing, both of them here, no longer shades of themselves trapped in some limbo world and pinned beneath the suffocating weight of encroaching doom. but here they are, and her smile comes so sweet and light like the sun after rain that almost he wants to laugh, or cry, or something.

Instead though, in the end, he smiles in return. Something genuine. None of that wan, wry, half-bitter business from the place they've finally left behind.]

I'd like to see it, if you wouldn't mind.

[anappleaday]

[ how long has it been since she's seen him smile like that? it's enough to make something painful settle in her chest, and she wordlessly thinks panic in Samael's direction— well-worn shorthand for "please help me hold off on crying until I'm not in public."

(the response is fondly amused sympathy without any trace of agreement. she actually has next to no control over that, and they both know it.) ]

If I wouldn't— of course I wouldn't mind. ...You can even stay while you're here, if you want to. My house has more than enough room for that.

[ofobedience]

[almost, the offer surprises him. almost, and there's something sharp and painful in that as he catches it and turns it away because things have subtly shifted now, haven't they? he shouldn't doubt that she'd want him around. and so he cuts that thought off before it begins and instead there's only a continuation of the smile that he doesn't quite realise he's been devoid of since what happened between them, that he doesn't realise has effected her quite as it has. when he answers, that, too, is genuine]

I'd like that.

[anappleaday]

[ she manages to restrain herself to sniffing once, and then nodding and taking a deep, steadying breath. ]

...I want to try to sell as many of these tonight as I can, but. I can walk you home after that. Or— I have a map, if you'd rather not put up with the crowds.

[ they're... a lot. honestly, the only way she's been managing is by keeping her focus on the flowers. ]

[ofobedience]

[well he catches that, the little sniff, and sets something sparking in him, a sting and sudden wetness around the corners of his vision that has him looking down and away. pretending to fix his interest on the array of flowers.]

You shouldn't have much trouble in that respect, I imagine. They're all quite beautiful.

[things he'd once thought he'd never live to see, had ended up seeing plenty of in death, and now...well. there's a different kind of pleasure from seeing an abundence of flowers when (almost) newly alive, with an old friend.]

I'll wait for you, if you don't mind. Take a moment to look around.

[and should the crowds become too much for him he'll find a quiet spot to wait it out.]

[anappleaday]

[ they're both as good at feelings as ever... ]

They're beautiful— but enough of us are coming in with nothing but what's on our backs that I have doubts about how many people can afford the luxury...

[ it's a dry mutter rather than an actual complaint, though. they aren't selling out of a drastic need for money so much as testing the waters. ]

All right. You're welcome to join me behind the counter, too. We can always use more ideas for how to combine things.

[ofobedience]

[some things, it seems, are slow to change.]

A fair point, I suppose. But given time...if people are choosing to settle in this place...

[He shrugs, eyes still on the flowers, something vaguely lifting in him in the wake of her suggestion. they still retain all their old meaning for him, the beauty of the flowers, their fragility. why they matter.]

And I may take you up on that, for a while. There are some flowers here that I've never seen before...perhaps you could enlighten me as to their names.

[anappleaday]

If we can.

[ and then—

the switch is small and undramatic; more a quiet blurring of lines than the clearly defined thing they tried to stick to around him and anyone else they thought might not be comfortable seeing how closely they've become intertwined— or capable of telling where their boundaries laid. it's still mostly Lilith's expression of quiet happiness, but shading toward a faint mischief that he wouldn't have seen on her face for a long time, if ever... but the Arbiter's careful diction and sleepy inflection remain distinctive. ]

There are plants here even I do not know.

[ perhaps she's just riding the tail-end of Lilith's tone in the same way she is with her expression, but she sounds delighted by that. ]

[ofobedience]

[The change is discernible of course, and different from his previous experiences with the way the two of them have become bound. there's the slight canine cant of his head in response, though that's outwardly as much note as he seems to make of it-- it's just another thing that's changed, now the weight of the forest is no longer bearing down on them. his acceptance of her bond with the arbiter had been a fragile thing, born more of necessity than genuine understanding, but the boundaries have moved and lines have blurred, jealousy and resentment bled away. it's easier, now the team bond no longer exists at all. now that they'd be separate no matter what.

and so he only smiles. raises one thin blond brow.]

And here I thought you knew them all. Strange lands and all that, I suppose.

[anappleaday]

Yes. There are many things we do not know, here ... and many people to learn them from.