Complete Mega Summerfest 2032: Ice Cream Recovery Service

[Yugam]

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With the sun high in the sky, and choosing to wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt in the middle of summer Ari was fucking dying. No input from his new 'friend' required, the man was sweating buckets. Thank god he hadn't dropped his lemonade when he'd bumped into the blonde. Though, that wasn't to say he didn't bring a ton of water with him too. Had to stay hydrated. Reaching into his bag, the man pulled out a plastic water bottle and held it out to the girl. "Need some water?" Hopefully she wouldn't think he was fucking weird, though he couldn't blame her if she did. Creeps abound at these kinda festivals. But, hopefully the fact that it was a fully sealed bottle, and he still had plenty more in his bag in case someone else (or himself) looked like they were dying from dehydration.

With the line slowly inching forward, it seemed like they were stuck with each other for the moment. That was at least if them girl wanted a new scoop of ice cream. Much like everyone else, however, it seemed that the oppressive heat was more than enough to make her want to suffer his company long enough for him to reimburse her for his mistake. The cool sweetness was only ten minutes of awkward small talk away.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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The morning had started off relatively cool for the season, but that was rapidly changing as the sun rose higher into the sky. She had took her cap off then, holding it between her teeth by a corner of the visor, before Valeria took a moment to gather every last strand of golden and pink hair into a high—although somewhat messy—ponytail. She made sure it was the correct height too, easily slipping it through the gap the cap had by the closure area as it was returned back to it's proper place atop her head.

"Need some water?"
"A-Actually yeah... thanks."

She hadn't expected the offer from the stranger, but considering he hadn't given Valeria massive creeper vibes yet the blonde figured a bottle of water couldn't hurt anyone—plus it looked to be very cold, too.

"... you really came prepared for today, huh?"

Well, almost... the man's attire didn't quite seem like the best choice given the expected temperatures New York was known for this time of the year, but who was she to comment on someone else's fashion sense if her input hadn't been asked for? Carefully she twisted the seal open for the water bottle, taking a few sips and relishing the refreshing comfort it momentarily provided, before nodding in agreement to the man's opinion on some of the artists.

"Oooh, Illenium is gonna play too?!" How could she have missed that? "I must catch them then... and yeah, the Nurture album is really great. I can just leave that thing on repeat in Spotify and enjoy it while doing other stuff."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Yeah!" Ari exclaimed, hearing that the girl also enjoyed Illenium's music. "He plays...tomorrow? I think?" the man said, trying to remember what his phone had relayed to him. Even without the persistent amnesia, Ari would've had a hard time remembering what day that Illenium was playing. "Dude, same I could listen Nurture all day," Ari said with a smile before taking a sip from his lemonade. "Lots of good folk playing this year, I love it." And he hadn't even gotten through half setlists yet.

"So you like electronic music, I take it?" the man asked. The Mega Summerfest had a wide variety of music that played throughout the week, which honestly suited Ari. He loved all kinds of musical genres. Pretty much everything, really. His playlists looked like weird mish-mashes of rock, rap, electronic, folk, lo-fi. Probably a composer's worst nightmare, but it wasn't like he was creating a soundtrack to a movie.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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"Yeah, you could say that I guess?"

Another sip was taken from her water bottle as the pair remained in line, only occasionally getting to move a couple of steps closer towards their goal. On one hand it sucked that she'd have to line up again for her treat, especially after Valeria had been lucky enough to avoid the brunt of it the first time around, though the blonde couldn't deny that her unexpected companion was making the wait bearable at least.

"If I'm being honest though I can listen to pretty much anything and everything... if I played my Liked Songs list from Spotify it would definitely cycle through every genre of music known under the sun."

On occasion she had spent enough time to curate a couple of playlists in the app here and there, mostly for when she was in a particular mood, but even then it was just until the playlist had enough songs that the radio's algorithm could be relied on.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Pfft, yeah, I feel that," Ari said with an amused smile. "My Daily Mixes stopped making sense years ago. Now I'm getting folk music mixed in with hip hop and k-pop." Leave it to Ari to break the carefully crafted algorithms that Spotify had probably invested millions upon millions of dollars to create.

"So, who's your favorite artist then?" he asked as they both inched forward some more. The man took another sip of his lemonade as he waited for an answer, only to such up nothing but air. Shaking the cup, the remaining ice rattled in the cup as the man held it in front of his face with a disappointed look. He'd have to get another drink later. Or, you know, drink some of the water that he brought with him. Or food. Had he eaten today yet? The grumbling in his stomach had told him that he hadn't.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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"Right? No wonder they don't have a radio option for the Liked Songs section... we'd probably break whatever algorithm they've spent Lord knows how many millions on~"

A soft chuckle escaped the blonde as she spoke, before Valeria took a moment to properly think as a question was floated her way. "Hmmm... I think it'd be hard to pick just one." A frown crossed her face as her brows furrowed in thought, one hand reaching up to press softly against her lips as if that would somehow help her thoughts focus.

"I guess if I had to pick one it'd be Bad Bunny? Man sure knows what he's doing, though I might be biased."

After all they both shared the same roots as well, born on a pretty little island in the middle of the Caribbean... a paradise on Earth, or at the very least it could've been one had history been kinder to it.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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Yu had to suppress a laugh as the girl said pretty much exactly what it was that he was thinking. "You read my mind," he said, unable to stop the chuckle that came from his lips.

"Oh my fucking god, Bad Bunny," there was not stopping this light hearted laugh this time. "Isn't he like Latin PSY?" Almost on cue, PSY's Daddy began to play in Yu's head like some kind of PTSD flashback, minus the trauma. "The only song I know from him is MIA, but I fucking love it, it's so good." There was something to be said about strange men making slightly strange music. And that was, 'this shit is fucking good.' "Man, I didn't think I'd ever hear someone say that their favorite artist was Bad Bunny. I mean, he's good, but every time I watch one of his music videos, it feels kinda like a meme I guess."

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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She was surprised to hear the man say that Valeria had managed to echo his thoughts on the matter, usually that's not how these conversations went—she'd lost count of the amount of times people had seemed outright upset with her whenever the blonde shared her unorthodox approach to using Spotify.

"Mmm, not quite right, he's latin trap officially... or reguetón if you ask anyone back in the island, really." There was a pause as the blonde considered her words, before she decided an addendum was warranted. "Guess he could fall on alternative reggaeton, since he does have quite the, aaah, unique style."

It was her turn to chuckle when the man verbalized his surprise at her choice of artist, his opinion regarding the music videos not something that Valeria wasn't used to hearing.

"Yeah, that's a common opinion even in the island—there's a certain mold expected for artists in that genre and... well, let's just say he doesn't check most of the boxes you'd expect for reguetón singers."

A shrug accompanied her words as another couple of steps brought them closer to their eventual goal, the fact that Bad Bunny didn't fit the stereotypical reguetonero aesthetic was part of the reason the blonde was fond of his music.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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Reguetón.

Ari had never heard of that genre before. Latin trap as this girl had described it. "Unique," Ari laughed. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. I really love it though, moreso though because he doesn't seem to follow any kind of conventions like you said. I mean, the music is just kinda him then, ya know? Just makes it that much cooler to me." Ari paused just long enough to take a breath. That was probably the most consecutive syllables he'd strung together coherently since waking up this morning. The man wasn't usually one for conversation, let alone with strangers. But, despite not having a single musical bone in his body, he loved music. "Eh, sorry, I'm rambling," he apologized with a nervous chuckle rubbing the back of his neck.

A couple more steps forward.

"Uh, do you have any artists you'd recommend from that genre?" Ari asked, his hands retreating to the pockets of his jeans. "Reggae tone?" he said in a questioning tone. Yeah, he'd probably gotten that wrong.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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"Mhmm, I'm one hundred percent in agreement with you there..." There was a pause to her words as a thought suddenly dawned to the blonde, she didn't have a name for the man in the slightest. It was then he interjected with an apology, causing the woman to think he'd misread her silence instead. "A-Ah no, it's okay—I'm actually enjoying the conversation... just remembered that I actually don't know your name, that's all."

Another couple of steps brought them slightly closer to their goal, before Valeria took a moment to think about other artists from the genre. "Well there's the obvious Daddy Yankee—the one that sings in Despacito and Despacitwo with Luis Fonsi." That was probably one of the most common names that mainlanders would probably recognize from the genre.

"Oh, and I guess Calle 13 too would be another good one."

There was a soft chuckle as the man attempted the Spanish pronunciation of the genre, the blonde helpfully pronouncing the syllables slower now as she allowed the man to try and match her tone properly.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Oh, right!" Ari exclaimed, only now realizing he had yet to introduce himself, probably having forgotten out of straight fear and social anxiety. "I'm Ari," he introduced himself, offering a hand for the girl to shake, "nice to meetcha." Cool, he had yet to make a complete fool of himself. The ice cream incident didn't count.

"Oh, I've heard some Daddy Yankee before," Ari said, the name turning on some dim light bulb in the dusty recesses of the man's mind. "Can't remember for the life of me what songs, but I remember I liked him. I'll have to look up that other guy. Calle 13?" Ari reached into his bag and pulled out a black leather notebook, flipping it open and quickly jotting down the artist's name for later reference, along side the date, place and the name of the event. "Reguetón," Ari repeated back to the girl, as he slid the book back into his bag, the line inching forward a bit more. His accent was nowhere near perfect, but it did hint at the fact that the man had grown up around a lot of Spanish speakers. It was at least better than when Theo had butchered his Japanese when meeting Nao...

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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"Valeria~"

She gave her own name in return with a smile, shaking the offered hand as she stored his name away in her mind. I wonder if that's his full name, or just a nickname...? Had he been a she then Valeria might've assumed it was short for Arianna or something similar... but for the life of her the blonde couldn't think of a name that would be linked to Ari.

"Yeah, I think Daddy Yankee was really well known all around for his time... similar to Bad Bunny now, I guess?" There was a slight raise of an eyebrow as she watched the man pull out a notebook and scribble down into it for a few moments, though the blonde was courteous enough to not try and sneak a peak. "Calle trece is definitely known in the island... though I'm not sure how well known the band is out of hispanic circles?"

Right, she'd almost forgotten about that detail.

"The band itself would fall into an alternate hip hop genre, although in the very early days it was regarded as another reguetón group of course. One of its members, Residente, eventually branched off on his own after the band when on hiatus back in 2015 or something like that—and his songs retained a very urban trapstyle, with some reguetón roots, to them."

A thumbs up was given as Ari attempted the word again, certainly better than before even if the accent wasn't quite there.

"Y'know you're pronunciation isn't that bad, especially since I'm assuming you're not hispanic right?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Pleasure to meet you, Valeria," Ari said with a smile as she shook his hand.

"The island?" he said, catching that small detail in the girl's explanation. "Where are you from? If you don't mind me asking that is," Ari asked curiously, though aware asking personal details about strangers might not be entirely appropriate. He figured people must've come from all over the states to come to the festival. It was a once a year thing after all.

"Man, you know a lot about this band," Ari said with a chuckle as Valeria practically recited their entire history for him. "You're a fan then?" Of course, he wasn't about to complain if she was. First of all because it was rude, and he'd be a big fuckin' asshole for it, but mostly because it was nice seeing people just enjoy things.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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"Likewise, Ari~"

Sure, he'd cost her an ice cream... but if the blonde disregarded that particular detail she couldn't deny their conversation so far was enjoyable, and considering she'd come on her own to this event Valeria felt lucky that Ari didn't seem to be a creep either.

"Mmm...? Oh right, my bad." She was so used to refer to her native land in such a way, a habit ingrained from the many years she'd lived in the tiny Caribbean island, that Valeria often forgot to call it by it's actual name instead. "I'm from Puerto Rico~"

There was a soft shrug of her shoulders as Ari asked if she was a fan of the band. "Not really, though I don't dislike them either... but they're also from the island—just like Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Ricky Martin among others." For such a tiny island it sure seemed to pump out a lot of talent into the world.

"I grew up listening to most of them, so I guess it's only natural that I know a lot?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Damn, y'all sure do seem to pump out a lot of really good artists," Ari said with a chuckle as they finally made it to the front of the line. Though, that wasn't entirely a surprise to the man. Latin and hispanic cultures seemed to put a great amount of emphasis on music and dance, so it made sense that even a small island like Puerto Rico would have quite a few prolific artists.

"Uh, could I get a scoop of extra dark chocolate, and a scoop of coffee?" Ari asked.

"Ah, sorry we just ran out of dark chocolate. Can we get you something else?"

Cue the sound of shattering glass.

Ari slowly turned around with an fearful awkward smile on his face. "Uh, any other flavors you like? Or I can get you something else if you want. Anything, really," the man said, hoping to save his own skin. There were plenty of food vendors at festivals like this. With any luck, she would have something else she wanted too.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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There was an excited glint to the blonde's eyes as their turn finally came up, already able to taste the dark chocolate ice cream she craved... before the words uttered by the person taking their order caused Valeria to freeze for just a moment. Ari would slowly turn around then to look back at her, possibly catching the way an eyebrow twitched in response, before the woman took a deep breath in turn.

It's fine Val, these things happen sometimes...

A deep exhale left the blonde then, the tension on her shoulders releasing slightly, before she shook her head softly at the man's optional offer. "N-No, it's fine... we made a fifteen minute line anyways for this, it'd be a shame to not get something at least." Besides the day was slowly getting hotter as time went on, she really wanted a cold treat now before the sun rose to its highest point in the sky.

"I'll take a regular chocolate one then... just a single scoop."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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Ari withheld his sigh of relief as he turned and smiled at the vendor and handed over his card to pay. A moment later, they both had their ice creams in hand. As the pair walked away, Ari reached into his bag, pulling out a tiny white pouch which he tore open, popping the small white pill inside into his mouth a dry swallowing it.

"Sorry about all this," Ari apologized to Valeria as they walked away. "I shoulda been paying more attention to where I was going." He really did feel bad about bumping into her earlier, and making her drop her treat. "Uhm...is there anything else I can do to make it up to you?" Was he maybe trying to extend their time together now? Who knew. Not he. But it wasn't like Ari got out and made friends very often. Besides, it wasn't like they'd bump into each other again after today. It was a big festival after all.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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A small commotion near to the ice cream truck caught the blonde's attention for a moment, frowning in slight confusion at the amount of burly and uptight looking body guard men present that obstructed the view. It was then Ari handed her the cool treat, and while it wasn't the dark chocolate Valeria had wanted at least it was chocolate... so the blonde chose to focus on that positive instead.

"Lactose intolerant, huh?"

She had recognized the small white pouch that Ari had pulled out, silently thanking any of the known deities in this world and that of TerraSphere that fate had spared her of that discomfort. "Don't worry about it, shit happens all the time anyways... and at least you tried to make it right." She spooned a mouthful of the ice cream into her mouth, relishing on the cold feeling the treat offered, before giving a smile to the man.

"Though if you're really sorry I wouldn't mind some company... besides, events like these are usually better when shared with others, right~?"

Besides they seemed to have a common taste for music, not to mention that conversation flowed easy between the two.

"So Ari, who's your favorite artist?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"One of my many burdens," Ari joked with the girl as he started to dig into his ice cream. Pretty good.

"Oh no, I'm stuck hanging out with a pretty girl at a festival, what ever shall I do?" the man said with a light-hearted eye roll. "That sounds great to me," he added with a smile, clarifying though it was likely unnecessary. "I kinda just yeeted myself all the way over here alone, so having someone to hang out with sounds like a nice time."

"My favorite artist?" Ari repeated, pausing a little bit further away from the crowds and noise. "Hmm, that's tough." Touche, Ari. "It changes a lot, but I'd probably say keshi. He does a lot of like, RnB and stuff. Not crazy well-known, but he's got a lot of killer songs. Honestly, I wish more people listened to him, he definitely deserves it."

Pausing their conversation for just a moment, Ari pulled out his phone to look at who else was playing today. "By the way, is there anyone else you wanna catch? We got all day after all," he said, standing next to Valeria to share his screen with her.

@Luthien

 

[Luthien]

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His comment earned a light-hearted chuckle from the blonde walking besides him. "Right, such a terrible fate for you to endure... poor Ari, so unlucky~!" Another scoop of her ice cream was taken shortly afterwards, the previous disappointment over the flavor now long forgotten.

"Keshi...?" There was a pause as the blonde tried to think if she'd ever heard of the name, before finally giving a soft shake of her head in response. "Never heard of them before... I'll have to look him up later on my Spotify then to remedy that."

She leaned in closer to get a better view of the phone's screen as Ari asked what other artists Valeria had been interested in watching for the day. "Oh right, DAYEOSONG is playing later today~" It was one of the few names on the list that popped out to the blonde, a finger pointing towards it though she was careful not to touch the screen.

"Honestly though my plan was just to vibe and listen to what played... figured if anything caught my attention I could just pop by for a spell."

One drawback of being so hands off with her Spotify was the fact that Valeria had a hard time remembering what song was related to which artist... aside from the most commonly popular ones that everyone would know she usually had a hard time finding others in a list, even though the blonde had possibly heard them shuffled into her radio from time to time.

"Shame that NOVA doesn't seem to be performing at all this week, I was hoping she would..."

@Yugam