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starhuevalley2018-06-15 12:22 pm
starhuemod) wrote in starhuevalley2018-06-15 12:22 pm
STARDROP CELEBRATION: FINAL DAY
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 Stardrop Celebration!
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! ]
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[Toby's not that worried about the house. The apartment she'd shared with Cilff all those years ago was about the same size, and since it's just her now it will do fine. She lived on the streets, so by comparison this place is a mansion. So for the moment, she does little more than drop her things--besides Dare's silver knife, which she keeps sheathed and hidden under her leather jacket--before going outside.
While she's not a green thumb by any means, Toby watched Luna and her mother both work in their gardens enough to have an idea of things. And getting the place cleaned up will definitely give her something to focus on besides--well, the reasons she left.
All of which means that at dusk any passerby is likely to see a woman with dark hair and a black leather jacket staring at a scythe, holding it a bit more like a sword than a tool, while something that looks a bit like a rosebush had relations with a cat romping around her feet occasionally chirping. They might also hear the occasional interesting swear]
Oberon's balls!
C. Food stalls
[even if her appetite has been lacking as of late--she's mostly been surviving on poptarts and coffee except when May forces her to eat 'real' food--there would always be that young changeling inside her who knew what it was like to go hungry, who would never turn down food because you never knew when your next meal might come.
Also, the smells make her stomach remind her how long it's been since her last real meal, even if her mind doesn't really care. Which is why she finds herself drawn to looking at every stall, taking a little bit of everything. She actually seems to smile just a little for the first time when she finds something that looks like the little cookies Millie would make for the Winter Solstice ball that she and Carrie would always steal from the kitchens, and she might moan a little when she takes a bite]
Wow, uh, I don't know how you got Millie's recipe, but these are great
[this is the closest she can let herself get to 'thank you']
D. Games
[it's inevitable in the course of her wanderings that Toby passes by some of the game booths. She considers trying a few--since she'd probably have some advantage over a few people here, given her supernatural night vision and all--but she doesn't like cheating at things that don't matter.
And besides, soon enough she comes upon the booth with the goldfish in little bowls and--freezes. It might seem like she's just watching to a casual observer, but some people might notice the way she tenses and her breathing seems to quicken just a bit, and the way the odd spikey cat on her shoulder chirrups and rattles]
F. Fireworks
[After calming herself down from the sight of the fish, Toby considers going back to her cabin. But then the fireworks catch her attention. Having grown up in the Summerlands, she saw quite a few spectacular shows of light and color--pixies flitting around, the candela's merry dancers, and too many others to list--but this. This is something she didn't get, not really. Gilly had been too young before she went to the pond for her and Cliff to take their daughter to anything like this, and after...well, that was after.
So she lets herself settle on the grass, Spike--who, after rattling at her distress, is becoming quite sleepy--jumping off her shoulder to curl up at her feet--and enjoy something beautiful and relatively human, even enjoying anything still feels a little wrong]
Wildcard
[want her somewhere else? Have at!]
D
his grip on reality is... tentative, at the moment, but not in an unpleasant way. this place is entertaining, the people are interesting, and the sights remind him of all manner of things that send his imagination whirling off aimlessly in one direction or another. he's been perfectly happy to float along like a piece of driftwood in the ocean's current.
this absent mood is part of why he turns his head to look at Toby, and then doesn't... really... stop looking at Toby. it's impolite to stare, but she seems to be bothered about something, and he's curious about what it could be. the spiky shoulder cat is also pretty weird, but that's neither here nor there.
but he forgets to like, say anything, or attempt to interact in any normal way, so uh. yeah. staring it is.]
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Whatever the reason, when the wind shifts her hair a little it reveals the sharp pointed edge of one ear--which snaps her back, makes her aware of the weight of someone's gaze. And there's a new kind of panic then, one far older than her time in the pond. But she forces it back, plastering on a smile, trying to act like she wasn't on the verge of a flashback to the day that ripped away so much she'd built for herself]
Hey, sorry, I'm not in your way am I?
[for its part, Spike makes a noise something like a growl, curling up as much as it can on her shoulder, its thorny tail curling to scrape her neck. Which hurts, but will heal before the blood even as a chance to show, so she doesn't slap the rosegoblin away. It means well]
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--at which point he looks a little surprised, like a kid who's just been asked a question in class when he was clearly not paying attention to the lesson.]
I'm sorry? [and then he blinks and looks around a little, remembering that he is physically standing in front of a goldfish shop and people can see him and all that.] Oh, no, sorry, you're fine, I was just...
[just what, Alec? he shrinks down into his own shoulders, sheepishly trying to hide his growing embarrassment. he stuffs his hands deep into his oversized pockets, mumbling:] You just looked nervous, is all...
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She does notice the way he makes himself smaller, though. That is something she's seen a lot of; a lot of the changelings at Home had been like that, bodies always preparing for a blow they knew had to be coming at some point. That makes some of her own nervousness melt away, although her heart is still racing]
Oh. Uh, yeah. [she forces a chuckle] I just. Fish freak me out a bit. Long story. Long, boring story. [smooth, Toby.
She steps forward a bit, trying to look a little less like she might slit someone's throat if they startle her. Maybe he's just a social reject like her, or maybe he has even worse things in common with her. Either way, she doesn't want him to think she's going to go off on him just for having the bad luck of being around when she saw captive fish]
I'm Toby. And this [she gestures to the rose goblin, who has now settled into its own version of a purr, nuzzling her cheek. She's glad it's dark enough that any human shouldn't be able to see the tiny scrapes that open up and close almost immediately] is Spike. Nice to meet you.
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but being introduced to the funny cat-thing on her shoulder seems to spark a little something in him, though. curiosity, maybe. some of the tension eases out of his expression, as he can look at it rather than at her.]
It's... Nice to meet both of you. [he ducks his head forward in greeting, a bit like a bow that has been very far removed from its formal roots.] I'm Alec. Sorry for staring, I didn't mean to, um. Be nosy.
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Don't worry about it. I get stared at a lot. Usually because I'm covered in...stuff. [look, she can tell this kid has probably seen some things, but she doesn't want to freak him out by revealing how often she's been soaked in blood just yet]
She notices the way he glances at Spike and can't help smiling. So many children of Faerie are ugly and cruel but while things like the rosegoblins and the pixies can hurt, but usually just to protect and not because they think you're inferior just because your father was human. For its part, Spike lifts its head and blinks its pink eyes slowly, looking every bit the inquisitive cat its shaped like. Toby rubs its thorny ear without having to look, drawing out another of those rattling purrs]
Guessing you don't have anything like this little guy where you're from?
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but that side-tangent is easily avoided by shifting the attention, again, to the thing on her shoulder. Alec finally cracks a smile, leaning in to get a slightly better look--because he really is very fond of cats, even strange ones.]
We've a great many cats, but they aren't usually so... Brambly.
[he's not entirely sure that's a real word, but it's the best one he can think of to describe what he's seeing.]
And most don't have the patience for sitting so nicely, either.
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[Look, no one said the Fae were good liars.
She outright laughs at the comment about Spike, though] That's a pretty good word for him. Well, I say him, I don't know if rosegoblins have genders, since they uh. Grow. Like flowers. That's...sort of what they are. A bunch of roses with aspirations of being a cat.
[Perhaps being put off by Toby's description, or maybe just being as curious as its furry counterparts, Spike takes that moment to hop off her shoulder and walk a little closer to Alec, peering up with its rose petal colored eyes]
Yeeeeah, I kind of accidentally stuck Spike to me when I named it. Couldn't get it to go away if I tried now. Not that I'd want to, buddy.
[the way she talks is like she thinks the rosegoblin actually understands, even if it can't respond]
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besides, Spike is very much keeping his attention.] Rose... goblins...?
[he only looks more curious with the explanation; he's seen of all manner of funny things, from bread-and-butterflies to plum pudding that could get up and recite poetry, but...
when Spike hops off her shoulder, Alec drops down immediately, crouching in the way that you're supposed to do when you want strange cats to come up to you and say hello. he looks positively charmed by the creature, now smiling openly.]
I've never heard of a rose bush trying to be a cat before, how curious...
[he looks up at Toby again, with his next, obviously logical question:] Does he talk?
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F
[ It's a bright voice, if a little hushed, in deference to the later hour and the display going on overhead. Chisa approaches carefully, walking more on the balls of her feet than normally (some habits never die; once you learn to walk quietly, it just sort of naturally falls into being a habit).
She's dressed up slightly for the occasion, even if it's not really a summer festival like the ones she grew up with -- a blue sundress with a swirling white pattern, and her hair pinned up to be off her neck. She tries her friendliest smile. It's been a long time since she's just gotten to approach someone casually. ]
Do you mind if I sit here too? There's a good view here.
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Still she manages a little smile]
Oh, yeah, sure. [she waves to her side, which rouses Spike enough that the thorny cat lifts its head and makes a sleepy, inquisitive chirp]
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[ She does mean to say more than that, but she's caught when she finally notices the cat. Cat?? Thornbush?? She's never seen anything like that, even during her time in Koriko.
A beat later, she clears her throat and continues her approach, settling herself a polite distance away, though she's still looking curiously at Spike. ]
--ah, hello. To both of you! Sorry I didn't notice there were two of you earlier.
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[Toby smirks, clearly feeling awkward herself. She came here to catch her breath from everything going on at home, but now that she's here she honestly doesn't know what to do with going more than five minutes without someone trying to stab her]
I'm Toby. And this [she gestures to Spike as it stretches with a squeaking yawn] is Spike.
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[ She doesn't sound THAT sorry. She just sits, mostly quiet now as she looks up. It's nice to take a few seconds to be quiet. A little earlier in the day (and higher in her own energy levels), she'd be chatting up the storm, but now, she's content to sit. A thornbush that looks and sounds like a cat? Sure, okay. Koriko had had similar. ]
It's a little crazy out there, isn't it? But no matter where I go, the fireworks are still the same.
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[well, okay, maybe she was sort of trying to hide. But that's mostly because Toby's pretty anti-social most of the time, and not really intentionally. It just makes it easier to pretend she's harder than she is.
But she's figuring out pretty quickly it's probably not going to be easy to be hard here, and she doesn't want to think about the implications of that. So, fireworks.
She tips her head a bit, nodding]
Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen this many races in one place. [which is actually a bit overwhelming in itself, which might be why she's glad to just sit] It's cool that everyone seems to be happy to watch the show instead of stabbing each other or something. Wouldn't have lasted long in a lot of places I've been.
[Spike chirps in seeming agreement as it stands, taking a couple padding steps to get a better look at the stranger]
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Mmm, I know how that is. Where I came from... it's been a long, long time since I was able to do something as simple as this.
[ What does one do with cats? Even if they're not cat-cats, but living plant-cats? Boy would one of her old students have a field day with this. Chisa herself isn't super familiar with them -- of course she'd seen strays wandering around back in Japan, but overall she's always leaned towards being a dog person.
But she wants to be polite and she wants to be friendly, so she hesitates and holds out a hand. Isn't this what people do to cats? (And dogs.)
At first glance, she looks like a fairly ordinary pretty girl, but she does have a tail of her own (red-furred and ringed; a red panda's tail, though it's enough like a racoon that it's fooled people). She'd kept it tucked out of the way at first
also because I keep forgetting to mention it, but it twitches a little, thoughtlessly, the way things do. ]D!
Which is apparently towards a young woman--although he can't quite pin down her actual age--and going for her shoulders with massive black paws, which (of course) ends in his dog's poor apparent new best friend being knocked to the ground. Mrs. O'Leary herself is used to it, and seems unfazed as she licks at the woman's face.
Jogging--okay, awkwardly hopping--over brings her into focus well before he actually reaches her, and with his raptor eyes he can see two things of note: first, that Mrs. O'Leary is leaning heavily on her new friend's chest, much the same way she does when Percy wakes in a cold sweat with the phantom sensation of his hands covered in blood; the second is that if he tilts his head in a certain way, the woman looks a lot like his mother.
He swallows down the sudden rawness in the back of his throat, shakes himself a little, and closes the distance between them.]
Di immortales--I'm so sorry. She thinks she's a lapdog.
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The weird thing is, she's way more concerned about cradling Spike as her ass hits the ground. Which is....maybe not smart, because an angry cat's refelxes are pretty much the same regardless of what it's covered in, so she finds all fingers being stabbed with sharp thorns and a shock running up her spine all the way to her head as she falls. But Spike hasn't run off, so even if it's growling and leveling suspciious pink eyes in the direction of whatever's just slammed into them, its also safe and that's worth a bit of blood. Not like it's anywhere close to the most she's spilled.
That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt though]
Titania's tits [she grumbles before even realizing she's done it, pushing herself to sitting with one hand. She strokes Spike for antoher moment before raising her hand to shove her hair out of her face, seeming not to notice the way it streaks blood over her forehead. She glances up, looking from the bigass dog to the kid. He looks like he's maybe Quentin and Raj's age, and that makes something inside her soften immediately]
Don't worry about it. I've had way worse knocks when someone was actually trying to knock me on my ass, I'm just normally better at watching my back. I don't think Spike's made a new friend though.
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We don't knock over our friends. C'mon, we've talked about this.
[When he's done with his task of freeing his new friend from his overenthusiastic dog, he turns back to the woman and offers her his hand.]
You're bleeding. I don't think I have any tissues, but I can tear off a piece of my shirt if you need it. I have others. [There's a beat, in which he realizes she doesn't know him from a hole in the wall, and he can feel his ears turning red.] Um, I'm Percy, by the way. This is Mrs. O'Leary. If you can believe it, she's usually a lot bigger than this.
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Then she shakes her head, laughing a little as she holds up her palm which, while still bloody, clearly has no cuts anymore] It's cool. [the forbidden 'thanks' sticks in her throat, and she settles for taking his hand]
It's okay Spike [she murmurs softly to the rosegoblin, who scrambles up her shoulder as she stands. Another reason she's glad she takes her leather jacket everywhere now] Nice to meet you, Percy. I'm Toby. And actually I would. I've got a friend who's over seven feet tall when other people aren't around.
[he's obviously not quite human, so she feels safe telling a little of Faerie's secrets, but the old habits that kept you from being burned at the stake die hard, so she holds back that Danny's also made of granite]
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Hopefully, Toby won't comment on the redness spreading from his ears to his face.
He focuses on pulling her up, but then he actually looks at her hand, and he's abruptly hurled back to the last time he was in Greece. His own hands haven't healed like that in years; the evidence is in the tight, gnarled scar tissue across his knuckles.
But then he remembers how he got them. Sasuke had been so angry that his body had heated to burning, and Percy had punched him anyway, and kept punching until they'd exhausted their fury and helplessness the only way either of them seemed to know how.
But this isn't about Sasuke, so he shakes off the feeling as best he can and sits back on his haunches, smiling sheepishly. Mrs. O'Leary flops down next to him, panting as she gazes adoringly at Toby. He reaches over and scratches her ears, her tongue lolling in euphoria.]
My baby brother's about that tall, although seven feet is short for a cyclops. He's still a kid, though, so I'm assuming he'll grow some more.
[There's something in the way that Toby is looking at him, like she's trying to assess him. He's not sure why, but he has this prickling feeling that she knows more than she's letting on about things like this, deities and monsters and magical creatures, and he can understand a sense of wariness around it. He probably would have been too, had he not become sort of numb to it from his time on the Ryslig peninsula. It's hard not to telegraph an awareness of the mystical when you're half-regular-guy, half-osprey.]
Hey, Spike. Sorry about my dog; she thinks she's being friendly.
[Carefully, he extends his hand palm-up--can a plant even smell? He's not sure, but he kind of likes the little thing, and likes its name even more.]
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Still, she shrugs] Yeah? My sister was my death omen.
[it seems an appropriate comment. May would laugh, anyway. But May laughed at a lot of things. Maybe that was weird, that the girl who used to eat the dead to have a body laughed more than Toby did a lot of the time.
She glances down at Spike, watching as it twitches its petal-pink nose for a long minute. That makes her smile, at least] I don't think Spike's ever run into a dog before. It stays in the house with my actual cats most of the time, and before that it lived in the garden where it was born. It only came with me because it likes car rides.
[Spike seems to take some offense at that, chirruping up at her as if she's being dismissed before butting its head against Percy's palm like a furry cat might]
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That sounds like it's quite a story. I have a cousin who's kind of like that, but his father's the god of death, so it comes with the territory.
[What's the point in hiding it? It's not like there's anyone from home to be annoyed at him--there hasn't been in years, and he's given up on that changing. At least the little plant creature is pretty cute, nuzzling at his palm just the same way that Jason used to.]
Mrs. O'Leary has met a couple cats, but definitely not one shaped like a rosebush. For that matter, I'm not sure she's ever been on a car ride, either. [With his free hand, he rubs her head, which makes her whine happily and nuzzle against his side.] I inherited her after her first owner died. As far as we know, she's the only friendly hellhound in existence. And, before you ask, I have no idea how she got her name.
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[she knows the Ludiaeg has rules, that she seems to want to tell more than she does, but it makes sense that a Fae so old would be bound by more promises than most, even if she is one of the last of the First who's still hanging around
Toby grins properly as she watches the two creatures nuzzle at the boy in their unique ways. Spike has gotten pretty good at being gentle with its thorns until it knows what different skin can handle, and is making that rattling sound that counts as a purr] I don't think many of us have met rosegoblins, actually. They seem to stay in the gardens where they grew for the most part. The garden it was born in just happens to belong to one of the people who...created them? I think? I don't know a lot about them either, and she and I are...not really on speaking terms right now. [not that she blames Luna, really. She can't forgive Raycel, but she gets Luna's anger. She would have been the same, probably, if Gillian had been the one driven mad by trauma.
She chuckles, a little ruefully] You're talking to someone with a mother who thought it would be really funny to name her daughter October Daye. I've got no room to make fun of anything's name. I'd still kind of like to know if my father put up a fight about it, but he was probably too smitten with her to say anything. She kind of has that effect on people. One of many things she didn't pass onto me. I guess I should count myself lucky Dad was the first one to start calling me Toby, at least.