Beach fun for beach bums

[indigo_league]

Who: Everybody!
Where: Cianwood!
When: June 21st, all day.
Summary: Come to Cianwood today to celebrate the solstice, participate in a race and maybe even get a date??



June 21st. The solstice. The longest day of the year. Practically half the year gone already, which frankly, seems rather insane. It seems like only yesterday you were all fighting to save Christmas with Santa, and yet, that was almost six months ago! How can that be? We just don't know. Time is a force even more mysterious than pokemon evolution.

In any case, Cianwood has gone all out to make this solstice a great big celebration. The beach is awash with bright-coloured umbrellas and stands, selling everything a visitor might need to make this into one hell of a day (and, let's be real, also a lot of things you don't need, but hey, who doesn't want a nice souvenir?) Rental stands have everything from surfboards to huge inner tubes for rent for those who want to stay at the surface of the water, as well as snorkelling equipment for those who won't mind taking a peek below the surface. On a cleared stretch of beach, a small Sand Castle Contest is being organised. The prize won't be anything fancy (just a token little reward, really) but why not enter? Don't worry, there are separate prizes for kids and adults. Meanwhile, large piles of wood have been stacked here and there, waiting for evening to fall so the bonfires can be lit.

One particular section of the beach is a riot of different smells, with various restaurants and other establishments having set up stands to sell you all the very best. It doesn't matter what you are in the mood for, because you won't have any trouble finding it here! Want some BBQ? It's there; several Sizzlepede keeping those coals nice and hot while the cooks chuck everything that can vaguely be chucked onto those grills. Would you rather cool down with some ice cream? No problem; just as long as you can actually make a choice from all those different flavours available. Has the summer sun put you in a fruit mood? Watermelons (whole and cut), strawberries, cherries, papaya -- it's too much to name!

Or do you maybe just want a drink? It's important to keep hydrated, you know! Juice, water, mocktails and cocktails, everything that you could possibly want to stave off the heat is there. There is even coffee and teas available for those who need their daily worship at the Church of Caffeine. Just don't overheat on them!

And, of course, there is the race.

It looks like the first-ever SEMPER race has drawn quite the crowd. And where there is a crowd, there are more souvenir stands. Why not buy a flag or two to cheer on your pokemon? Or maybe you should buy an 'I ran the SEMPER race and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' for your pokemon to commemorate the occasion. They sell them in all sorts of sizes.

And then there is that mystery section of beach, currently cordoned off with ropes and screens. Signs let everybody know that this is where the Helping Hand auction will be taking place later tonight, but if you had hoped to get an early peek at the decorations or items up for auction, you will be sorely disappointed. Be patient and wait like everybody else is.

So come all and enjoy the beach. Participate in a race maybe, and pull your wallets for tonight's charity event. After all, who knows when disaster might strike again? Better enjoy things while you can!



ooc: The Charity Auction will have its own log, which will be posted later tonight. Should there be any questions, please use the event info post to ask them.

Comments

[lovelybottom]

It's strange for a girl to not want to go to the shops for herself. It may be that she's that painfully shy-- though she had approached him readily enough, and he's usually an intimidating person to approach. He has what the modern folks might call a resting fuck-off face. It may be that she's one of those girls with the kind of father who thought it best to lock her in the house until he found a marriage match for her, 'lest she be taken advantage of by some scoundrel. Geralt doesn't see the merit in such a tactic; if you want your daughter to be unbothered by unscrupulous men, give her a knife and teach her where to stab the ones that bother her.

This is, perhaps, a reason why Geralt shouldn't be a parent, if only for how rapidly the number of children with knives would increase.

She asks him to accompany her, like he's... someone respectable that young ladies ask to escort them, rather than the kind of person that fathers lock their daughters away from. He ought to say no; it's not his business if she can take care of herself. He shouldn't get involved.

"I suppose I don't have anything better to do," is what actually comes out of his traitor mouth.

[instrumentally]

"Thank you," she says. It takes a moment or two for the words to form, and another for her to speak them, but she says them, all the same. Gratitude, she thinks might be the word for what she feels. He is different from other adults she knew. He demands nothing from her, and yet provides her with knowledge. Company, too.

She walks across the sand, squishing it as she goes. Quiet, as seagulls squawk above. The air smells of salt. "I am Rei Ayanami," she will say eventually. Uncertain if she mentioned it before. She can give him her name, in exchange for the walk to the shops set up under the umbrellas along the beach. If he looks at her as they walk, he would see a smile on her face, awkward but true.

[lovelybottom]

She comes walking back up the beach towards him, feet sinking into the soft sand as she goes, leaving a trail of footprints behind. The waves swallow them up shortly after, erasing even that.

The girl introduces herself to him; the syllables are foreign, but Geralt's been introduced to plenty of strange people from strange lands. If he can learn the excessive consonants of Dimitri's mother tongue, than he can learn to say these words, too.

"Geralt of Rivia," he replies, a name for a name.

They walk up the beach, towards the little temporary shops set up under brightly colored umbrellas. They're well stocked with the kinds of things that people need at beaches-- hats, sunscreen, sunglasses, a few with drinks and food, some selling kites and other things meant for playing in the ocean. He points to where there are bottles of lotion lined up according to their strength on a table.

"Get one that's at least thirty," he says. "Some of them smell, if that matters to you."

Geralt personally dislikes smelling like a piña colada whenever he put sunscreen on, but maybe Rei doesn't have those same qualms. Presumably someone has to like it, otherwise they wouldn't continue to make the lotion with that particular fragrance in it, Geralt just doesn't know who those people are.

"You're on your own with hats."

Sorry, Rei. If you want fashion advice, don't ask the guy who wears nothing but black.

[instrumentally]

There is a vendor for every item under the sun, it seems. Some sell food. Some of that food is sweet - ice cream and shaved ice and funnel cakes -- and some of it is savory -- dumplings and barbecue and sandwiches of all kinds, and all of it blends together. There are many people here, wandering between the beach and the boardwalk and umbrellas. It is a bit overwhelming, but she can manage. She has managed before, after all, and this crowd is not so big yet, as it is still closer to morning than the afternoon. Solosis bobbles around her in the air, clearing a subtle path, so that no one gets too close.

"It does not matter to me as long as it performs its function."

She has never owned anything that smelled like pineapple before. She takes a few moments to inspect the wares, trying not to touch anything she does not intend to purchase. There are sunglasses and postcards and wide-brimmed hats, set up on spinning racks. There are little mirrors, so that one may inspect their appearance.

In the end, she makes two purchases. One is for the sunscreen. In the end, she does not choose one that smells of pineapple. It smells of chemicals, waxy and greasy, and just a little bit like banana. She also purchases a hat, with no input from Geralt (as he claimed to have no interest in such things). It is made of straw and has a bow around the bowl of it. The colors and patterns are of no interest to her, but the brim is wide and it keeps the sun out of her eyes, so it will be sufficient.

"Is there anything you would like to do at this fair?"

She may have kept him from something with her request, after all.

[lovelybottom]

Geralt appreciates that she doesn't require his input on her hat purchase-- he doesn't know what a girl would want in a hat to begin with, nor what would be considered fashionable. If Jaskier were here, he'd be able to give her all kinds of advice as to what she should buy to compliment her best, whether she liked it or not. All Geralt can tell is that what she gets is within acceptable bounds of practicality-- it casts sufficient shade and appears to be sturdily made. That makes it as good as any other hat to him.

She does ask him about any plans that he has for the fair, and that's an equally difficult question. Usually, his answer would be something along the lines of 'drink heavily and make sure that Jaskier doesn't stick his cock in the wrong person', but there is neither alcohol nor bard here. Nor is he being run out of town for being bad luck, so really nothing here is like what he expects.

"I had no plans for the fair," he says. "I don't attend them very often."

Because of said bard and his overzealous cock, or because of the aforementioned running off. And when he does get to stay for a festival, his goal is mostly to remain unnoticed and unbothered.

"You can go back to your swimming. I interrupted you."

[instrumentally]

"I do not mind," she says, and that is true. If he had not spoken with her, she is certain that her skin would be blistering now. But this dilemma leaves her uncertain. Whether she should turn away to go back to the sea, or explore the boardwalk more, now that she is here. And she does not want to keep him from other business, should it occur. He did not have to accompany her earlier. He does not have to keep accompanying her now.

So for the moment, she stands still, weighing options that have equal appeal.

"I am unsure what to do now that I am here," she says eventually. An admission, not a question, as she is not asking for his input. But it seems that, perhaps, both of them are ill-suited for all of this activity. It may make some amount of sense to stick together for the time being. It may allow them to think of something worth doing while they are here.