Fun In The Sun

-Hargeon Town, 11:04 A.M.-

Dressed in a modest one-piece royal blue bathing suit, Lucia also wore black-rimmed sunglasses on her face, white sandals on her feet, and a liberal amount of sunscreen on her skin as she followed crowds of people wearing bathing suits streaming towards the beach. She was here to participate in the Summer Celebration event taking place on Hargeon Beach and she had walked all the way from Talonia to do so. Part of her was not sure how she had made the long walk while wearing sandals because she was not used to wearing them, but the blonde had accomplished the feat nonetheless and her feet were still in good shape. Now she was on her way to the site of the Summer Celebration... all Lucia had to do was follow the crowd and she would find it soon.

-Hargeon Beach, 11:46 A.M.-

Lucia was far from the only one who was interested in a day at the beach. Plenty of Hargeon Town's citizens had come out to participate in the Summer Celebration and there were so many people that she could not even begin to try counting them all. On the left side of the beach where she had entered there were quite a few people sitting in beach chairs under umbrellas and sitting on blankets on the sand: presumably they were taking a break from the festivities on the far right side of Hargeon Beach, where the Summer Celebration was taking place. There Lucia could see a dense crowd of people mingling and partaking in diverse activities such as a volleyball match, a limbo contest, a sand castle building contest, and even parasailing on boats that were cruising within sight of the beach.

Lucia carefully made her way towards the festival and as she slowly and carefully made her way through the dense crowd she tried to think about what she wanted to do first. Her first impulse was to start off slow and easy and build a sand castle, then maybe do something more exciting like the limbo contest. She glanced about to look for any more options that she might have missed and spotted both a swimsuit contest and a water gun fight... she was not too keen on the contest because she did not like being the center of attention, but the water gun fight looked like it had potential. Lucia might give that a try before or after going parasailing. Choosing which activity to do first was a tough call, but it was not yet noon, so there was still plenty of daylight and no real reason to rush.

With that in mind Lucia decided to take a lap around the area to see all of her options before committing to one.

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-At the Sand Castle Building Contest, 12:08 P.M.-

Lucia had given the matter some thought and had decided to commit to the Sand Castle Building Contest because it would be an easy and low-stress way to start the festivities before moving on to something more exciting. She found the site of the contest to the back of the area set aside for the festival and walked over to the registration table, then signed up. She was given a blue plastic bucket and a small plastic shovel with which to harvest sand, then informed that she could pick any area she wanted to claim as her own and given a rundown of the contest rules, among them being the statement that the contest lasted an hour before the castles were judged. Lucia took the items she was given and walked over to a site to the left of a young couple who looked to be in their mid-twenties... the young man had short black hair and was wearing a pair of swim trunks that were white with green palm trees all over and the young woman had long blonde hair that extended to the middle of her back and was wearing a modest white bikini.

Lucia sat down in the middle of the space she had claimed and looked around while waiting for the contest to begin. She noted that a lot of the participants were families with young children, but there were also a few young couples in their mid-twenties like the one she was sitting beside. The blonde mage picked up her shovel and when the signal to begin was given she began to dig out some sand to put in the bucket. When Lucia got enough for what she thought was a solid foundation she held it upside-down just above a level patch of area and emptied the container, then repeated the process, each time moving the sand she was dumping a little bit to the left.

Lucia continued to harvest and pile up sand until she believed that she had enough to make a square foundation, then put down the shovel and bucket and shaped the sand into a square, packing it as tightly as she could manage so that what would be placed on top of it would stand tall. Once the foundation was in place she began to work on the towers that would be placed in the corners. As she worked she noticed that the couple she was sitting beside were building a sand castle that resembled an actual castle and was so detailed that it even had small lines in places that looked like the lines between stones. A further look around showed that the sand castles of other competitors were of differing styles and levels of detail... some were as basic as the one Lucia was building while others were rather detailed and even featured turrets on top of the towers.

After roughly a minute of looking around Lucia turned back to her own creation and kept working. She had an hour in which to build a castle and she was not sure how much time she had left. She knew that she was not going to win the contest, but winning was not something she had set out to do. She was participating to kill time and have some fun before deciding which activity to do next.

-The end of the contest, one hour later-

When the end was signaled with the blast of a whistle Lucia put down her tools and waited for her sand castle to be evaluated. When the time eventually came an event staff member took brief notes on the structure and moved on. Lucia's sand castle was a very basic one that looked like a novice had built it, which was indeed the case. The walls were cracked from the weight of the towers because of being unable to properly build them and the towers themselves were uneven and leaning slightly to the left due to the weakness in the foundation. Despite the neutral look on the staff member's face Lucia was not very optimistic about her chances of decent placement.

At the end of the contest Lucia learned that she had placed in the bottom half of the rankings but received a "Solar Coin" for her participation as a consolation prize. She then returned the tools she had been loaned, brushed the sand off of her swimsuit, and walked away from the area as a new set of participants swarmed in and staked claims to "their" patches of sand. The blonde was off to seek a new activity to participate in so that she could earn more Solar Coins like the one clutched in her right hand.

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Lucia has completed the Sand Castle Building Contest. She has one out of four Solar Coins required for event completion.

-At the Limbo Contest area, 1:14 P.M.-

After participating in the Sand Castle Building Contest Lucia made a lap around the festival area and noticed that all of the other activity areas were full of participants, so she decided to give the Limbo Contest a try, if only because she had no other options at the moment. Lucia made her way to the area and saw male and female event staff members sitting at a large rectangular table. Off to its right was a smaller table manned by a brown-haired female staff member wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses along with a white t-shirt with "STAFF" in black letters printed on both sides and a pair of blue jean cutoffs. In front of her was a control panel of some kind and on each side of her table was a large speaker... the speakers were currently inactive, but it looked like they were set up to play music when the contest started.

Lucia made her way to the back of the line for the contest and took a place behind a brown-haired young woman wearing a modest black bikini. Ahead of her were eight other people, but the blonde mage was not bothered by that. She heard the rules of the contest be explained to everyone and there were no special twists... it was just a simple game of limbo, which suited the blonde just fine. Just like with the previous contest Lucia was not counting on winning, but if she happened to be the last woman standing she would not complain.

After the explanation was finished the music started and the first contestant, a young woman with long red hair wearing a modest one-piece bathing suit that was colored orange, advanced towards the limbo pole as upbeat tropical music with a noticeable steel drum focus played. She cleared the bar and the second contestant, a young blonde woman with shoulder-length blonde hair wearing a modest black bikini, took her turn and passed under the bar without any difficulty. Lucia and the others cleared the first round with ease, prompting the bar to be lowered a bit for the second round.

Again the redhead went first and again she succeeded in moving onto the next round. The blonde went next and succeeded, then everyone else followed suit. Everyone advanced to the third round and the music changed from upbeat and leisurely to a musical piece with a tropical feel but with steel drums played at a tempo that gave a little more urgency to the proceedings. Lucia stood in the back of the line and watched the bar be lowered again before the redhead sallied forth to try and pass under it.

The redhead had to struggle a bit and nearly touched the bar with her chin as she moved with her head tilted backwards, but she passed under it by the skin of her teeth and moved on to the next round. The blonde behind her had much less trouble... she simply leaned back and moved under it with contemptuous ease. The three behind her were less fortunate and all of them fell backwards onto the sand when they leaned too far backwards in an effort to lower themselves enough to pass under the bar. The others ahead of her all made it and so did Lucia herself, albeit with a bit of difficulty thanks to her chest nearly knocking the bar off when she bent backwards and tried to pass under it.

The bar was lowered again and the music remained the same, but the contest took on a new urgency after three consecutive contestants were eliminated in the previous round. The redhead passed under the bar with great difficulty and nearly flopped onto her back while the blonde who went after her was eliminated when she bent too far backwards and froze in the middle of her attempt, then fell backwards after an unsuccessful struggle to regain her balance. The next two contestants met a similar fate and the person ahead of Lucia, a brunette with waist-length hair and a pink bikini, just barely passed under the bar. Lucia bent backwards and awkwardly inched under the obstacle, but she succeeded in advancing to the fifth round.

Once the bar was adjusted the music changed to a steel drum piece with the drums played at a frantic tempo... the blonde supposed that the change was to show that the contest was entering its final stages. Lucia watched the redhead who had so often led the way lean back and move awkwardly under the bar, then freeze in mid-attempt because she had leaned back just a bit too far to keep her balance. Try as she might she could not regain it... after a valiant attempt she fell to the sand.

The brunette was next. She leaned back and moved smoothly under the bar with careful steps, only struggling when she was clear of it. Lucia looked at the height of the bar and took a deep breath, then made her attempt. She bent backwards and walked to it just fine, but going under it was a trial because her chest size worked against her. She nearly knocked the bar off, but by some minor miracle it did not fall off and she was able to move onto the sixth round. One way or another it was going to be the final round.

The brunette went first and leaned back, inching under the bar by the slimmest of margins. She passed the sixth round, but Lucia had a feeling that this was as far as she was going to go. The blonde still gave it her best effort... she made it halfway under the bar before she leaned too far back in an effort to prevent her chest from knocking it off. When she froze in place and felt her balance shift to the back she knew that she was done for, but she tried to regain her balance anyway. After a few seconds Lucia was unable to right herself and fell onto the sand, giving the victory to the brunette in the pink bikini.

The contest was declared over and Lucia received a second Solar Coin for her effort. The blonde was satisfied with both earning second place and earning a Solar Coin, so she was not in the least bit upset about losing in the sixth round. With her second coin in hand she began to search for the next activity.

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Lucia has completed the Limbo Contest. She now has two out of four Solar Coins required for event completion.

-At the Swimsuit Contest, 1:37 P.M.-

After placing second in the Limbo Contest and receiving her second Solar Coin Lucia had taken a look at the other activities that were available to find something she could do next. Unfortunately for her everything was full except for the Swimsuit Contest, so she signed up for that and became Contestant Number 36 out of a field of forty contestants. Upon receiving her number she was directed to a large stage with a wide and long catwalk jutting out of the center... the audience was already gathering on both sides and the judges were seated at a table situated a short distance from the right side of the catwalk. Lucia walked around it and was ushered backstage by a female event staff member.

Now she was standing behind the curtain and looking at some of the other contestants, who were all young women her age or in their mid-twenties. She immediately spotted the brunette in the pink bikini who had won the Limbo Contest, the blonde in the white bikini who had placed highly, and the redhead in the orange one-piece bathing suit, but the rest of the young women were all total strangers. There was also a mix of young women who wore bikinis and those who preferred modest one-piece swimsuits like the one Lucia was wearing. Lucia was not banking on winning the contest because some of the other contestants looked like they had been in swimsuit contests before and were calmly waiting for their chance to strut onto the stage while the blonde mage was a novice who wondering what on Earthland had possessed her to sign up for this.

When the event staff members instructed them to line up in numerical order the contestants made an orderly line within a minute or two. Lucia took a quiet breath as she heard the announcer speak to the crowd and did her best to be calm and look straight ahead. When the curtain opened the blonde looked to see an audience consisting of a lot of young men and quite a few young women, but there were also entire families scattered here and there. Eventually the signal was given and the young women walked onto the stage as their numbers were called.

Lucia observed how some of the more experienced contestants acted and tried to get a clue as to how she could appeal to the audience, but her face was red and not just because she had been in the sun. She did not like being the center of attention for any reason and she was about to go down the catwalk in front of a lot of people, a fact which made her more than a little nervous despite there being nothing at stake like the life of someone close to her. Trying her best to calm down enough to look like she had only spent too much time in the sun instead of suffering a lot of anxiety, Lucia took one last quiet breath as Contestant Number 35, a brunette with wavy shoulder-length hair wearing a black two-piece bikini, strolled down the catwalk ahead of her.

After what seemed like an eternity Lucia's number was called and she calmly moved down the runway at the same pace as everyone who had went before her. She smiled brightly and did her best to exude confidence despite her red face and irregular breathing and when she reached the end of the catwalk put her right hand on her hip and faced the audience with a smile. The crowd sounded like it went wild for that, but Lucia held the pose only for a few seconds before turning and heading towards the curtain so that the last four young women got their chance to shine.

-The Swimsuit Contest, 1:51 P.M.-

After an intermission and the weeding out of contestants who did not make the cut for the second round the line was now twenty people shorter, but Lucia had survived. So had the brunette, the blonde, and the redhead from the Limbo Contest. The mage was feeling a little more confident after her first trip down the catwalk, so she was better able to conceal her anxiety for the second run, which happened after the announcer declared the start of the second round to enthusiastic applause. The contestants got in numerical order and were ready to go when the curtain opened.

When Lucia's turn came she moved with a steady walk and a winning smile. When she reached the end of the catwalk she turned to the side, put her right hand on her hip, and put her left hand under her hair before flipping it up, drawing another round of loud applause from the young men in the audience as her hair cascaded back onto her shoulders. She then turned and walked towards the open curtains, then went to wait in the wings to see if she made the cut for the third round.

-The Swimsuit Contest, 2:13 P.M.-

After the second intermission only ten young women remained and Lucia was among them. So was the brunette who had won the Limbo Contest in what seemed like a lifetime ago. The other two contestants from that activity had not made it, so it was down to her and Lucia. The remaining contestants formed into a line one last time and when the curtain opened each of them made their last walk, putting everything they had into the effort. Lucia was no different... she moved with ease like she was in her element and for her final pose she chose to turn diagonally with her right shoulder facing the crowd, put her left hand on her hip, and look over her shoulder before giving a wink with her right eye.

For the third time the blonde drew considerable applause. With that she proceeded towards the open curtains to wait in the wings and see how she placed. She was not sure if she would win over the brunette who had claimed first place in the Limbo Contest, if the brunette would win over her again, or if someone else would beat them both. No matter how it went the blonde was looking forward to seeing how things went.

-After the Swimsuit Contest, 2:35 P.M.-

Lucia had managed to win the contest, which was a surprise to her. She recalled the thunderous applause she had received when she was announced to be the winner and recalled looking at the sizable audience who had all been cheering for her. The adrenaline was still flowing through her body as she looked for another activity to do while clutching her third Solar Coin in her right hand. Lucia wanted to go Parasailing next, but only time would tell if she would finally get the chance to do that activity or not.

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[Total Word Count: 3,484/2,000]

Lucia has completed the Swimsuit Contest. She now has three out of four Solar Coins required for event completion.

-At the docks, 3:20 P.M.-

Lucia had followed the signs that pointed the way to Hargeon Town's docks and found the area set aside for the Parasailing boats, which were currently experiencing a lull in people wanting to take to the sky. That was fortunate for the blonde, who briskly walked over to the nearest boat and confirmed that she wanted to go parasailing before anyone else got the same idea. She was permitted aboard and she was given a harness that was connected to the sail she would be using, which happened to also be royal blue. She put it on and secured it tightly, then watched a tether to the boat be applied to the harness to ensure that she would not go flying off the back of the boat and float at the mercy of the wind until she either touched down in the water or flew too far inland and slammed into the side of a building.

Once everything was in place Lucia received an explanation of what would happen to her and how long the ride would last before the vessel's engines roared to life and the activity began. Lucia instinctively gripped the straps of the harness as the sail billowed backwards and she felt herself being dragged backwards into the sky. When her feet left the deck she looked down and saw herself looking down upon a rapidly vanishing white dot with brown center moving in a vast blue expanse of water.

Within a minute of leaving the deck Lucia was airborne and the sail was fully expanded. Since she had no fear of heights the blonde was not bothered by how high she was and looked down on the water as she was carried out into open water before changing course and being towed closer to the beach. Lucia noted how beautiful the ocean was and looked at it until the boat started going parallel to the shore at a safe distance from it... when that maneuver was finished she turned her attention to the beach and the town.

Lucia was flying so high that all she could make out was a blob of dots she knew to be people milling about on the beach and in the town's streets. The buildings in Hargeon Town had become structures that looked like they had been made from children's building blocks instead of brick or concrete. As she saw more of Hargeon Town from the height she was at she felt a sense of excitement as she flew by the sight at a fairly high speed. Her long hair whipped and blew about, sometimes getting into her eyes or covering her entire face, but such a minor inconvenience did nothing to dim her enjoyment of Parasailing.

-Back at the docks, 3:50 P.M.-

Lucia's Parasailing excursion had lasted thirty minutes and the blonde had enjoyed every minute of it. She felt that a half-hour was long enough for her to see everything without getting bored and nothing about her flight had been boring. Once she had taken off the harness and disembarked from the boat that had allowed her to embrace the sky a female staff member wearing a white t-shirt with the words EVENT STAFF printed in bold black letters and blue jean cutoff shorts with brown sandals walked up to Lucia and gave her a Solar Coin as a reward for her journey into the wild blue yonder. Lucia thanked the staff member for the gift and walked away from the docks to take another lap or two around the beach before leaving town to begin the long trip back to her apartment in Talonia.

This festival had been quite an experience for the blonde, who had quite a bit of fun doing activities that were not part of her usual routine. It was not every day that she got to sit in the sand and be part of a Sand Castle Building Contest, participate in a Limbo Contest, walk down the runaway in a Swimsuit Contest, or go Parasailing. The last one had been particularly fun and she had no regrets about taking to the sky. Clutching both four Solar Coins and those memories, Lucia's feet hit the sand for her final tour of the beach before going home.

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Lucia has completed the Parasailing activity. She now has all four Solar Coins required for event completion.