OPEN — FOOD TRUCK RALLY

[antagonize]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Peach Beach and the Boardwalk
WHEN: April 12th, from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM
WHAT: A food truck rally for all our hungry selves.
WARNINGS: Sunburns?? Maybe.

THE FOOD:
With so many trucks, stands and kiosks, there's more than enough food to cater to everyone's tastes. Tables and chairs have been set up around the boardwalk, complete with patio umbrellas to shield customers from the sun and an excellent view of the ocean. It doesn't matter if you're a customer, a vendor, a swimmer or even one of the musical acts — it's hard to deny it's a nice day outside. The sun is shining, the temperature is pleasant, and the smell of delicious food fills the air. Vendors selling other wares and stands for face painting have also been set up around the area, so there's plenty to spend your money on throughout the day.

And for those poor, responsible saps who won't be able to join until later in the day (be it because they decided not to skip school or had to work a shift early in the morning), don't worry. The festivities won't end until 11:00 PM. There's plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, the food, and the beach.

Hope the queues don't stress you out, however.

THE BEACH:
The beach itself is equipped with a handful of volleyball nets. Some volleyballs can be found in the general vicinity, but should all of them be in use (or, you know, super duper squished), you can always bring your own — or buy them from one of the more opportunistic vendors in the rally. Those who are interested in making use of the nets are more than free to team up and get down to business. You all might want to be careful, however, to avoid accidentally smacking a passerby in the head with a badly aimed volleyball.

Or... a well aimed volleyball. It's okay. Nobody will judge. Probably.

Move past the volleyball nets and the sand, though, and you'll reach the waters. Today's weather is nice enough that no one needs to worry about getting dragged away by the tide, but just in case? There's likely to be a lifeguard nearby. That, or a good Samaritan. So don your best swimsuit and have fun.

THE MUSIC:
A small stage has been set out for the DJ and the live musical acts to do their thing. Music will be playing throughout the whole day, offering a nice mix of the latest hits and... questionable musical choices between acts. Some of the trucks and stands are outfitted with placards and flyers announcing this year's lineup, and there seem to be four (4) familiar names among the list:

Ainsley Menodora
Jade Wolf
A Lyrical Assassination
Yin Longwei
Feel free to grab a friend (or a stranger) and dance along to the music. Maybe relax after your performance. Or, contemplate throwing the DJ's equipment into the ocean when he plays the same diddly darn song for the 20th time in a row. It's not even the full version. It's only a infinite loop of the same 43 seconds. Please make it stop.

(We did say to be patient with the DJ.)

THE RAFFLE:
At 5:00 PM, there will be an intermission in the music in order to announce the results of the raffle. The tumbler drum is wheeled to the stage, where it's given one last spin before tickets are removed from it one by one. The winners will be called as their tickets are drawn, an announcer asking them to climb up to the stage via microphone. There, they'll receive their prize and will thus be free to gloat — or grimace at what they've been given.

The results are the following:

Dave Strider - Coupon book with $500 in savings at participating fast food restaurants.
Penelope Raban - $50 giftcard
Ranko Kanzaki - Novelty sunglasses
Izuku Midoriya - Free dinner for six (6) at some ritzy restaurant.
Ilia Trevelyan - A few dozen gourmet cupcakes, courtesy of The Confectionary
Noah Campbell - A selection of the latest games ÉcarlateSoft has to offer.
James Barnes - Two tickets for an hour's time at the Deadeye Shooting range, donated by Elizabeth Wolf.
Augustine Sycamore - $30 giftcard to Amazon, donated by Penpoint Productions.
Don Maxwell - Coupon for free slice of pizza with choice of topping and a medium fountain drink, courtesy of the Pizza Port.
Roxy Strider - A selection of character plushies from CUBEnix's flagship game series.
Minako Arisato - A month of free Zumba lessons at Dance!!! Studio

Enjoy your prize! And be sure to haul ass, lest the announcer decide you're absent and call someone else.

BONUS:
As the last few live musical acts play and the festivities begin to wrap up, it seems like this year's Food Truck Rally has come to a peaceful end. Most vendors have started to pack up in order to call it a night — save for two. Anyone who has been hanging around the local soft serve ice cream and açai bowl trucks might have noticed the growing tension between their vendors. It all comes to a head when, at the end of the rally, they both hop into the driver's seat of their trucks, rev their engines, and begin to race each other down the beach.

It's all too predictable when, in an attempt to avoid a prop that hadn't been packed up yet, the ice cream truck swerves and drives right into the ocean. The splash is big enough to soak anyone who happens to be nearby, the truck being pulled into the waters moments later. There doesn't seem to be any chance of saving the poor, innocent truck.

Almost appropriately, it seems like the DJ has time for one last song.

The haunting melody plays as the ice cream truck slowly sinks into the ocean, its mascot cheery and bright as it's all swallowed up by the water. The driver dog paddles away (thank god), but this is not the end of the chaos. On the other side, the açai bowl truck's driver momentarily turns to jeer at his defeated enemy — only to crash into a peach tree the next second. Anyone on that side of the beach might want to get the heck out of the way, because it's literally about to start raining peaches.

Welcome to the Food Truck Rally, everyone! The OOC post for this can be found over here, and a thread for questions is here. Mingle, don't drown, and try not to get a sunburn while splurging on food. Or totally let your character get a sunburn, if that floats your boat. Either way, I hope you all have fun!

Comments

[me_matey]

"Thanks, girl. I nabbed this one a bit back." And by nabbed she meant quite literally, but hey, who was keeping score, right? Well, besides God. And she still wasn't stepping into a booth on Sunday for that.

"And yeah? I mean, what was it meant to accomplish, anyways?"

[true_noir]

Chloe wasn't going to ask. She assumed May meant that she'd paid for it, but at the moment she was also dealing with a couple memories coming back that were a bit less than pristine, so who was she to judge? At least she'd kept her head in the game enough to get through her ACTs a couple days ago without completely losing her mind. Better to be done with that right now, as far as she was concerned.

"It looks good on you. And, Naoto and Yu wished to see if turning off our phones stopped these visions from coming. I used it as an excuse to cram for the ACTs, which I took yesterday," she said, sighing and shaking her head. "Unfortunately, it didn't stop the visions, but even if I was a little shaky at first, I think I'm ok. I sort of knew one of them was bound to be like that deep down. It was a lot better than I thought it would be."

Well, that was partially because the worst vision were yet to come, but how could she have known that?

[me_matey]

"I keep forgetting how young you are. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not being a bad influence," not that such a thought ever stopped her before.

"I don't quite believe retrospect and the flashbacks are connected yet, at least I don't see them as cause and effect. I guess that kind of settles it..."

[true_noir]

She snickered and then laughed out loud. "I hardly think you are that bad of an influence, May. I have not turned suddenly into a bad seed, now have I?" She smiled at her, shaking her head. "And you may be right. It is not decided how they are connected, and if it is just a great coincidence... but it is getting harder to believe only in coincidence."

[me_matey]

"Like I've said before, I'll leave the figuring out to people smarter than me. When they need a wall busted through, I'm their girl." May shrugged.

"And as far as bad seeds go, eh, I guess not. But you were drinking rum with me."

[true_noir]

She laughed again and looked over at May with a big grin. "May, I was raised in a country where it is legal to drink at sixteen. And that is only for those drinks sold at bars. I have been drinking for far longer than I have known you, you realize." She winked at her. "You are not corrupting me in this manner, I assure you. American laws are silly sometimes."

[me_matey]

"Well I could also be teaching you to pick pockets and scam rich tourists, but eh," May shrugged. "I don't get the impression you're attracted to that kind of thing."

[true_noir]

"Well, yes. That would be a bad influence on me, by most standards, but a little alcohol is nothing new I assure you." She shrugged. "And I would say that I try to behave myself as best I can, yes. It isn't wise when you just got your citizenship to get in too much trouble..."

Though she was starting to wonder about those visions of hers, on that subject.

[me_matey]

"See, that's part of why I like you. Not a judgey bone in you." May laughed, laying back in the sand and taking in a deep breath.

[true_noir]

"Mmmm, this is not true, but I thin petty infractions are hardly my place to criticize others for," she said, offering her a little wink. "I think the world has ample people to do such things in my stead. Why do their jobs?"

[me_matey]

"Well you don't judge ME, and that's what's important. I ain't got time in my life for people who think I'm not livin' it right."

[true_noir]

She snickered. Well, May wasn't wrong. That was always the most important part of something like that, wasn't it? "Well, I think to an extent that's true of all of us, but it's good to know what you want, and how you want to live. And, as long as you're happy and nobody's really getting hurt, what's there to judge? Live as you please."

[me_matey]

"Yar har, fidlee dee..."

May kept her eyes to the sky, letting out a long, content sigh.

"I'm glad I met you, Chloe. I mean it."

[true_noir]

It took her only a little thought and she smiled back, nodding. "I am glad that I met you as well. I do not think you would judge me either... which feels like a thing that everyone should have in their life." She didn't quite say that it was starting to feel like she might need it too.

[me_matey]

"So how's your girl been? Heard from her lately?" Might as well change the topic, if not to something less heavy, at least something different.

[true_noir]

"We speak about once, sometimes twice a week. I try to keep up with her and my mother regularly enough," she said, clearly willing to let the topic change. "It's been getting a little harder to talk with her, since more and more it seems my life revolves around the changes here. But she is at least safe and well."

[me_matey]

"She send you any nudes?"

May.

[true_noir]

She laughed and shook her head. "A lady would never say such a thing, now would she?" A wink followed. This was to say, yes. Yes she had, but no way in hell was May going to get to see them.

[me_matey]

"You surprise me a little more every day, girly," May giggled, totally catching the message. "That's definitely gotta help with the time apart."

[true_noir]

"On would think, if such a thing existed, it would help," she admitted without openly admitting the reality. Her smirk widened a little. "And you assume that all of our webcam sessions are innocent. It's amazing what an ipad can do." She just had to be much more careful, you know, because of retrospec glitches.

[me_matey]

"Ooooh!" May laughed again, nudging Chloe a little. "Get it, girl, get it! Nah, seriously, I'm glad you guys get to do that kind of thing. Long distance sucks most of the time, so any way to blow off the stress has gotta feel good, right?"

[true_noir]

"It definitely makes it feel less like we are always apart. I don't know if we would have managed quite so well for the last few years without a little bit of help." She smiled, nudging back at the little bit of ribbing. "It has gotten harder, but still, she has been very good to me."

[me_matey]

"And you were panicking about that dream. See? Things are workin' out. Nothing can change the fact you love that girl," May nodded firmly. The romance guru, right there.

[true_noir]

"Well... it isn't all roses, but we're doing what we can. Certainly, I got through that little incident in any case." She sighed and smiled at May. Their relationship had been better than a couple weeks ago, but the signs of trouble were definitely there. Years apart on top of one too many 'you've changed' comments from her girlfriend were worrying.

Was she changing? "But I certainly hope to work these things out. As you say, I love her."

[me_matey]

"Eh, bumps in the road are a natural thing. No relationship is Disney level perfect." Of course her old man was a hell of a womanizer, so she kind of got to see the more cynical side of relationships, too. Good thing her philosophy turned out to be towards the middle.