Dovie’s Sandcastle Showdown of 2025!
Date: 2025-08-24 16:02
(Dovie’s Sandcastle Showdown of 2025!)
[Sun Aug 24 2025]
At New Haven Beach Cabanas/span>/spanThree elegant beach cabanas sit in a row on the sand, each crafted from
smooth, sun-bleached wood with flowing white cloth panels that flutter
gently in the sea breeze. The fabric is tied at each corner in soft folds,
giving the cabanas a breezy, spa-like atmosphere that blends luxury with
coastal ease. Just beyond them lies an uninterrupted stretch of golden beach
leading straight to the endless blue ocean, where the waves roll in with a
rhythmic calm. At night, lanterns and candles are lit to provide a soft glow.
A neat line of pristine white lounge chairs and matching umbrellas sits
nearby, each arranged to face the water in perfect symmetry. Tanned,
muscular beach boys assist guests with setting up chairs and adjusting
umbrellas, their easy smiles and sun-kissed skin adding to the relaxed
charm of the setting. Stylish beach staff dressed in breezy resort
uniforms glide between loungers, handing out fresh towels and taking
orders for chilled cocktails and light seaside fare.
It is afternoon, about 77F(25C) degrees, and there are a few thin white clouds in the sky. The mist is heaviest At Foxglove and Oakwood/span>/spanEvalina removes her sandals, pressing her toes into the sand, “…Aaaah….”
“Everyone feel free to claim some sand and a bucket and shovel! If we need more, I can arrange for more to be procured. We’ll give it a little bit longer for everyone to trickle in, but feel free to have fresh tacos or drinks in the meantime!” Dovie tells the gathering crowd.
“I need a crane.” Annabelle grumbles in response, looking from her bucket and shovel unto the patch of land to be her creation. “I think I’ll make a sandman. It’s like a snowman but it lasts all year round and, like, kills you.”
Striding in, quite lazily, hands in his pockets, August gives Dovie a simple upnod while falling in line on the sand. “Hey.” There’s a simple shrug of a single shoulder before he replies, “I don’t know. She’s been feeling under the weather for a couple of days now. She might still show up. If she doesn’t, I’ll fill in, so you won’t be short a judge.”
Dovie nods at August, glancing at her phone. “She just texted me, I think she’ll be just fine to come judge the event!”
“Isn’t that a comic book character or something?” Sofia asks Annabelle casually, leaning down to start digging out a big pit at her spot in the sand. “Like a Spider-man villain I think.”
Esme skims a glance over the current contestant line up, lifting a hand to wave to Gabriel when he comes into view. “Looking forward to seein’ what you all come up with.” She muses generally. “I think Matt’ll be showing up too? Seemed like he was gonna in chat at least.”
“That sounds ambitious. I thought Mister Sandman was like, the song, uhh..” Annabelle gives a half thought.
Annabelle says, ascending, “bung, bung, bung, bung-“
Gabriel flicks a wave to Dovie and Esme before taking up a spot at one of the cabanas and trying to avoid the sun as much as possible.
Dovie waves towards Gabriel. “Watching or going to participate this time?” she calls out towards the cabanas.
“PLEASE TURN ON YOUR MAGIC BEEEEEEAAAAAAM!” Sofia abruptly sings out to Annabelle as she continues to work, pulling sand up with scoops of her bucket to form some sort of wall or perimeter.
Evalina says “Uhm, nobody use magic beams please?!“
Evalina says “Dovie! Dovie! Surely sorcery isn’t allowed?!“
Gabriel calls back to Dovie, “Too bright and sandy for me today so I’ll just be watching for now.”
Dovie tells the crowd, “Participants, feel free to begin! If anyone comes in late, they’ll just have a little less time to get started. The early birds get the extra time!” She chuckles at Evalina. “Sorcery is not allowed for the sand sculptures, but you can use your hands or other tools.”
Annabelle starts to dig at the hand with her shovel, three scoops forward, and then she joins in on Sofia’s chorus belatedly with a laugh that turns into a pant. She throws in our towel on making the Sandman quickly. “..Mmhm- i’mm.. I’m too anemic f’this.”
Dovie scarfs down a taco while people get to sand sculpting.
Seeing Dovie eat a taco, Esme is reminded of the tacos and snags one along with a drink.
Sofia nods to Annabelle as she keeps on building, building up a wall that roughly seems rectangular, but sort of a weird, oblong rectangle that’s slightly curved. Just a lumpy, potato sort of shape, with a flat center, that slopes in on the middle. She focuses on earth moving for now.
Evalina furrows her brow at Sofia, looking betrayed. “I can’t believe you’re not making a pizza…”
Dovie calls out to Evalina. “Riggght? I thought she would too!” she says after chewing a big bite of taco.
Sofia tilts her head to Evalina and laments, “I have more to my personality than pizza, y’know! I love loads of stuff, life is too full to just focus on one thing.”
Evalina blinks at Sofia, opens her mouth, blinks again, closses her mouth, then shakes her head. “I am not ready to accept that, sorry. You’ll always just be pizza to me.”
Annabelle hops up to ferry over refreshment from a cooler, sandy from knees to feet by this point. She inspects everyone else’s beginning creations, spying, probably, then returns back to Sofia. “If she made a pizza I’d cry. Not because there’s something to cry about, but because I’ve declared it and can’t back down.”
“Well, I guess that’s enough of a headstart for others.” August mumbles under his breath. “I wore white in case Matthew would, but I guess I’m partnerless in this.” His neck is craned left to right, cracked, heralding his descent from the sidelines and into the pit to grab a bucket of sand and a shovel so he can stride on over a fair distance away from others that are working, “I didn’t bring any roman concrete on the off-chance that I’d have to judge and it’d go to waste. Still might happen, but,” August’s plastic shovel is waved over his shoulder towards Dovie, and he starts to kneel down on the ground to start working. “We’ll see.”
Sophie walks the shoreline with a stick in hand, sketching broad shapes into the damp sand. She circles the chosen spot several times, adjusting lines with quick flicks of her wrist, marking corners with shells, and smoothing over mistakes with her foot, “Having a complex layered personality. How dare you Boss.” A little grin is sent to Sofia as she drops to her knees to begin digging out a corner with her shovel.
Dovie chuckles in August’s direction. “Roman concrete? My word. I’m expecting a masterpiece even without it from you, Pierce.” She greets others, welcoming them and handing out more plastic buckets.
“I swear, social media turns people into cartoon characters sometimes,” Sofia says with a little snort towards Evalina, seeming to nod her agreement to Sophie. As she builds the walls up, she takes out a griddle spatula and begins scraping some of them downwards, in tiered, diagonal slopes, commenting aside to Annabelle, “It’s OK to change your mind based on new information y’know. Honestly, preferable.”
Evalina casually gives Sophie a once over, “I /love/ the shorts by the way, very cute,” She praises smilingly, then glancing to Sofia, “I wouldn’t blame social media! It’s just that I like things nice and simple. You’re pizza girl. Dovie is beach girl. August is matthew man. Matthew is mootthew.” Beat. “Nice and easy to remember. Too many people to track otherwise,” A wink follows, betraying she’s not that serious, “Love the accessories by the way, you look fantastic.”
Dovie waves at Arachne. “Our wonderful judge has arrived!” she tells the crowd as she continues handing out more plastic buckets filled with sand to contestants.
Mercy finds a spot more to her blissful lonesome at the second cabana.
Sophie blushes and smiles at Evalina, “I’ve been told they cover too much but I like em.”
Dovie waves to Mercy and Alice. “Hello! Welcome to the sandcastle competition! If you’d like to participate, feel free to grab a bucket with some sand and get to work! I’ll be calling an end to sculpting by 4:45pm at which point our wonderful judge Arachne Montrose Fairchild will make the rounds!”
Evalina waves to Alice, “Ah! Alice!” She greets her cheerfully, then looking at Arachne. For a moment a thought seems to cross her, but instead, should she happen to be noticed, she just gives her a smile and wink that may be hard to place the reason of.
“I’ll sob.” Annabelle clarifies for Sofia, drawing with her finger a triangle with little circles on it and marking a big ‘X’ across it. “In light of new information.”
Arachne drifts in, lethargic and dazed, but she draws a smile upon her lips at Dovie’s words. “So it seems,” she murmurs, scanning over the crowd before finding a place to seat herself out of the sun. Her fingers flick open in a soft flutter toward Evalina, only to stop and reach for her ear.
Alice collects her snacks and makes her way over onto the beach, giving a little wave to Dovie on the way in. “Not competing, but I’ll watch,” she says, offering a smile before she starts digging into that taco and loses all grace or poise.
Dovie says “Malin, we’ll miss you both at the competition then! Safe travels.“
Arachne says “Can you both not get inside?“
Arachne says “Did you close the door?“
Arachne says “We’re coming.“
Kai wanders over to the stretch of sand and kneels down, he yawns and starts to pack some sand, forming up a little mouond on the ground.
Evalina blinks at Sophie, “Whomever told you that is wrong. Covering a bit more just makes it cuter if you ask me.” Beat. “We all have bodies – we’ve all seen bodies. It’s not nearly as interesting that you’ve flesh, that that you know how to cover it,” She smiles, “And this is a wonderful choice.”
Mercy acknowledges Dovie with a wary bob of her head but stays right where she is in her solitary-ish oasis.
Dovie says “Sorry I entirely misheard what you all are saying, please stay safe!“
Sofia gives Evalina a smile and a gentle, thankful nod, before supposing, “If I really had to stereotype Dovie I’d think of her more as plant girl than beach girl, cause she helps make my gardens look gorgeous.” She beams a smile at Dovie, then rolls her head over to Annabelle, miming some fake tears dripping down her cheek with a finger. But then she really sets in to work with focus, seeming to ignore conversation for a bit in favor of righting all the angles of her sculpture, which begins to come together in something that looks roughly like a lumpy stadium.
Dovie waves to Kai and Albert. “Please feel free to hang out and eat tacos and have some drinks, or if you want to participate in the sandcastle competition, it’s not too late. There’s plenty of buckets and hand-shovels!”
Dovie grins in Sofia’s direction. “If I had more time to setup I would have wanted to do a little bit of a showcase with flowers and a sandcastle, but alas…”
Evalina considers Sofia for a moment, “…She has such good beach vibes though…” She murmurs, stroking a lock of her hair behind her ear, “But fair enough.” She thinks. “You know, this swimsuit should be fine in the water according to its maker,” She tilts her head, “Anyone I can tempt into a swim?”
Sophie glances at Kai, “You made it!”
Evalina says “Oh dear..“
Evalina says “They got Malin?!“
Alice says “Mm. It’s alright, folks were aware, they’re already mobilizing.“
Alice says “Tracing Malin, just in case.“
Is reinvigorated enough to set Annabelle’s project mini-sized. Rather than drag herself dead across the sands trying to collect enough sand to ball up into a full sandman, she makes a sandchild. It’s a child because it’s small, you see.
Alice glances at Evalina and puts on a winning smile, eyes hiding behind polarized glass. “You could, you know. Door’s always open if you want to save people and be a hero.”
August throws his shovel into the pile lazily, and leaves it as it is with a quiet sigh. All the sand in his palms are dusted off while he stands up from beside his work that he hadn’t even begun to make anything of, just so he can retreat back to the sidelines alongside Dovie. Fix his sunglasses back over his eyes and glance to the exit. “I guess I’m standing in for Arachne after all.. They better not get caught.”
Albert walks slowly into the event locale, scanning the people, the sand, the tacos. The flesh and the cloth, and everything extant in the liminal spaces in between. “Busy event,” he remarks to Dovie, offering the woman a smile he reserves for family. That smile disappears as he looks around at the others. He’s holding a cup of espresso that’s clearly been taken wholesale from whatever establishment was kind enough to offer the meanspirited man the ability to spend his dollars for it. He sips the hot liquid in the warm sun. “Dove, Eva. Lovely to see you both.”
Kai waves to Dovie politely and nods in agreement with Sophie, “Yep, I guess so,” he says and starts to slowly build upward, forming a squarish tower with his hands.
Esme winces a bit at what she hears in her comms.
“You were pretty helpful with King and Orla.” Annabelle mentions as she sticks a straw through the torso of her creation.
Evalina rolls her eyes at Alice, “I want to help occasionally with things, trust me, if you’d actually get to know me, you would instead make it very obvious that’s a closed door for me.” She tells her with a sigh, “Which you totally should, by the way, I’d love to get book recommendations from you.” A wink follows, and she’s glancing to Albert, giving him a slow nod. “…Hi.”
Dovie tells August. “We can extend the time for however long they need for it, unless you think that may be a mistake?” she wonders to him. “Obviously we want everyone to be safe too.”
She turns to beam at Albert, “Thank you!” She leans over to try to give Albert a hug, should the other Fairchild allow.
Alice keeps her smile, for the most part, though it fades ever so slightly at the quick shutdown. Nonetheless, she assures Evalina, “Nobody’s perfect. Perfect’s the enemy of good. And everyone can be better. But sure, we can start with book recommendations,” she acquiesces. “We’ll have to have coffee about it, sometime.”
Alice says “I’m sure Court has it, but I’ve got Malin’s location if anything goes wrong.“
Albert wraps both arms around Dovie, warmly embracing the other Fairchild despite the espresso still clutched in one hand. He does manage to avoid spilling the steaming liquid on the woman. “It looks like you’ve done quite a bit of work for this, Dove. I’m proud of you.” He releases Dovie from the embrace, making eye contact with Evalina over the rim of his mirrored sunglasses. “You look marvelous, of course, Eva. Water under the bridge.” The broad-shouldered man takes a long drink from his espresso, and for a long moment looks like he might throw the empty glass into the water beyond the beach’s bounds.
Kai continues to build up his tower or obelisk or whatever he’s working on, humming under his breath as he listens to the others speak, “You should, you’re both based in your own ways. Be friends,” he tells Alice and Evalina.
Sophie digs and packs sand in steady rhythm, her hands shaping wide mounds into the tiered layers of a cake. She hauls up scoops for the towers, pressing them firm before carving details into their sides. Sand clings to her arms as she leans in to work. A glance is cast to Albert with a bit of curiosity before she continues working.
Dovie beams back at Albert, pleased. “Yes! I’m quite excited to see what the participants come up with too, frankly. I was surprised that Sofia was not going for a pizza sand sculpture, but still, I’m sure they will all be interesting!”
Evalina gives Alice an excited nod, “I’d love that.” She agrees. She then fidgets for a moment, looking a tad pained, then walking towards her as if intending to pass. Near her, she bends over towards her ear, her hand held in a conspiratorial manner. There seems to be no romantic intent by it, instead her expression looks pained as she speaks, then she rises back up, done with her whisper, giving Albert a nod as she marches back to Sophie.
“I don’t know. Whatever you decide, I’ll be here until the end whether they make it or not.” August drawls on lazily to Dovie, “If they don’t, let me know and we can..” One of his hands leave August’s pocket, gives a vague gesture towards the sandcastles and whatnot being built, “You know.” That said, he bounces a couple digits off of his temple towards Albert in a simple enough greeting, and retreats for a chair to pull it up and take a seat so he can watch.
Dovie nods back to August. “Sure, let’s play it by ear, there’s still some time yet. I appreciate you offering to judge as well.”
Once the walls are roughly stadium shaped, Sofia begins dousing water midway up to muddy a bit of the sand and pack it down, giving it a bit more structural rigidity, then scrapes along with a spatula to create a bit of an overhanging divot, constructing an upper deck of seating for tens of thousands of ants.
Alice casts her gaze over Evalina, icy blues trapped behind cheap-ass sunglasses, cheap enough that if one looks close, one can see where the girl’s eyes really are, casting over Evalina’s face. She nods, though, widening her smile enough to show teeth. “I’ll text you,” she promises. “We’ll set up a little book date and talk about it.”
Albert returns Dovie’s smile, which does summarily fall away from his features when he breaks eye contact with the other Fairchild. With keen scrutiny the man does look upon the creations of the people gathered for the competition. He truly does look like he’s about to use those boots to kick down those creations. Somehow, he manages to avoid that particular brand of cruelty. Likely doesn’t want to make Dovie cross. Or maybe he’s avoiding a stabbing. Judging by the scar wound through one of his hands, back to front, he’s not managed to avoid that always. “Who do you think will come out the winner, Dove?” Hard to tell behind his not-inexpensive mirrored sunglasses and their crimson colouration, but perhaps he’s a lingering look for Evalina.
Mercy stares out at the stretch of sand and contestants littering it vacantly, occasionally needing to brush away some hair from her eyes after the sea breeze throws it around.
“Hmmm,” Dovie hums in reply to Albert’s question as she gazes between the contestants and their in-process creations. “It’s hard to say right now, but I know Sofia claimed she was doing something extra special, and I think I heard something about a Sandman?”
Evalina smiles warmly at Alice, “I’ll look forwards to it.” A bow of her head is given – and she’s glancing between Kai and Sophie. “Ah, right.” She gestures to Albert, “That’s Albert Fairchild. Please don’t fight him.” She requests with a half-smile, catching that look with a seeming intent to ignore she’s seen it. “Kai, don’t you think Sophie looks just /incredible/ in this outfit?” Beat. “I mean, honestly, so do Dovie and Sofia and some others – it is that they’re straight or taken I think or I’d be throwing cheap pickup lines about now – but it’s really nice to see her in this sort of thing. Don’t you think?”
“Extra special to me,” Sofia gently corrects Dovie with a wink, tampering expectations as she leans down to begin poking holes in the stand around the bleachers with a metal meat tenderizer, making rows of seating.
Kai just keeps building up his little tower, scooping water up to wet the sand, building up at its base when it seems it might fall, he hums and taps away at the sides to keep it vaguely square shaped before coming to a point at the end, like a mini sand Washington monument.
Annabelle’s ear perks up at Evalina’s remark and simpers over to Sophie. A long, more drawn out thought turns her face through the shapes of some great plot. As if uncovering, by the end of the movie, the uncomfortable secret underlying all that has occurred. Ending with a dull visage, she turns back to finding something suitable for her sandcreature’s nose.
Dovie grins at Sofia, “Extra special mystery then!” she declares before turning to blink at Albert. “No kicking!” she chides him. “At least not until the judging is done and we get some pictures for MyHaven.”
Kai looks over to Albert and sniffs a couple of times, he notices the cane, sniffs again and wrinkles his nose in disgust, turning his hazel gaze back to his creation.
“How about you build your own sandcastle AND you can kick your own one down?” Dovie suggests to Albert.
Sophie lifts her brow and glances at Albert, “Please, don’t Godzilla mine till it’s done.”
Albert chuckles to himself, cane sinking into the sand, at Dovie’s remark. “Such a solvency specialist, Dove. I’ve always appreciated that about you.” He smiles effusively at the woman. Again, as soon as he looks away, the brightness of that smile disappears. He turns to fix that mirrored crimson gaze on Sophie. “I don’t believe we’ve met, but am I to understand that as permission to do so when it’s finished?”
Evalina sighs deeply, then looks at Sophie, “…Best thing is to just not engage when he’s like this and hope he will be better later.” She looks at Albert, placing her hands on her hips. “I’m relying on you, Albie, to keep the atmosphere /happy/.” Beat. “Cheerful. You’re going to make friends today,” A moment of silence. “…Please?”
Evalina furrows her brow at Albert, “Just because you ask doesn’t mean there isn’t an implication. You know that.” She throws her hair behind her, “…Smile, praise people and make friends. For me?”
Alice finds a spot on the beach to sit.
Dovie claps for Annabelle. “Lovely!”
“Isn’t he the loveliest?” Annabelle swoons in victorian terms, palms clasped and swaying from one side and then the other. The sway doesn’t seem intentional.
Sophie lays on her stomach, finishing some carving details with a toothpick before glancing over at Kai, “You..planning on being kidnapped?”
Amber slinks onto the beach, flinching some at the sunshine. She finds a space under a cabana to watch from. Sun shining off sand has her struggling to look at the competition itself. She pulls her hood up a bit further.
Albert tsks under his breath, shaking his head. He doesn’t speak any more on the subject, however, looking over the sand sculptures with a critical eye that, for most, goes unseen. He studies Sophie as she questions Kai’s before turning to look at Dovie. “Have we decided on a date for another family dinner, Dove?”
Evalina raises her hands, “Yes! I am planning on kidnapping ka-” Beat. “Oh on being kidnapped?” She looks awkwardly between Sophie and Kai, “Nevermind.”
“I don’t think we have, but you know how much I’ve enjoyed those. I hope we will do one again before Fall is here in earnest,” Dovie replies to Albert, checking the clock.
Sofia is all in on her sculpture now, hyper-focused and in the zone, leaning down over the walls of the stadium carefully as she begins crafting the infield of a baseball diamond with her butt in the air, scraping away at excess sand to make it flat with the use of a small griddle scraper. She’s going all out on details here, taking out a toothpick to begin doodling on the big green monster. To those who know their baseball, this would unmistakably be shaping up to be Fenway Park.
Kai looks to Sophie and shakes his head, “Nope, but I wasn’t planning on being jumped by a ravenous vampire yesterday either, it’s good to have insurance.”
August glances from his phone and up at Dovie briefly. It looks like, in his relative silence, he was watching the proceedings like a hawk – where he sat beside the box of tacos. Something dangerous, that, because he’s wolfing some down- and they’re already gone. Not even crumbs remain of the murder scene.
Sophie nods at Kai, “True. One must be prepared. Always prepared.” She gives him a little wink.
Evalina says “Sooooo, nobody is in for a swim then?“
Annabelle’s sandchild shall stand the test of time. At least three days, given the elements that be. Less if a magical storm comes for him.
Dovie uses hand signals to communicate to August that there’s only 7 more minutes to the judging beginning. She looks suspiciously between him, and then the box of tacos, eyes narrowing even without having looked inside the box at the possible decimation.
Albert turns to look at Kai’s for a long moment. A finger drifts to press against the locking clasps of his briefcase. That finger drums three times against the locking clasp, as if contemplating retrieving something from within its confines. He avoids, however, retrieving that object, whatever it may be, from within. “I don’t think I’ll be swimming today, Eva, but thank you for the offer. It’s very kind.”
Evalina sighs deeply, stretching, showing off her swimsuit, her eyes flitting around before falling on Albert in the end, “Shame. I expected at least one person to be interested. It’s been too long since I had a nice swim…” She shakes her head. “Maybe some other time.”
“So hard to even see who’s out there,” Amber sighs to herself, relaxing a little against one of the tables in her cabana.
Kai glances at Albert’s briefcase and narrows his eyes a little, he hmms and looks back to his tower and stretches out in the sand beside it, content with his little piece of shit sculpture.
Dovie looks relieved at the update.
Evalina glances to Sophie, her expression growing more mirthful. “Yay!” She exclaims with a little fistpump. “At least one I managed to tempt into the water!” She glances at the sandcastle. “After the judgement I presume.”
“Contestants! This is your last call! You have two minutes before we begin the judging!” Dovie announces.
Sofia sticks a yellow chopstick from her bucket of tools on the right field line of her sandcastle replica in the park, firmly nodding to herself, then squinting and leaning forward, obsessively going on to keep fixing up tiny details right until the buzzer.
Dovie stares at Sofia’s sandcastle.
Evalina says “Wait, nevermind“
Evalina says “….That’s not… your sandcastle..“
“Annnd, that’s time!” Dovie announces, walking over towards August. “As Arachne is doing valiant things currently, our resident artist August Pierce will determine the top three winners for prizes!” She gestures for August to take it away.
Evalina cocks her head, “Who made the piuzza one?”
Sofia just keeps on working right onto the buzzer, grinning, though not looking over her shoulder to make eye contact with Evalina, “I made Fenway Park. It’s not totally perfect. Still got more details to work out, but.” She leans back to rest on her haunches at the buzzer, shrugging, without seeming to have looked at anyone else’s stuff at all.
Dovie asks Evalina. “The cake pizza? I think Sophie!”
“..Did you live in a stadium?” Annabelle asks Sofia with awe as her head returns from the cabanas beyond. “That’s.. So-SO detailed!”
Albert casts his eye upon the various sand-sculptures gathered along the stretch of beach they all inhabit together. He still looks like he wants to knock one over, but he has endeavoured quite strongly not to give in to such nasty habits. He turns to look amongst the cabanas, amusement riding his features. Not the broad, effusive smile he shares with Dovie, but a crueler sort of humour. “Shame, I was hoping to see her for longer than that. She invited me, after all.” He turns to look at August, and then again at the sculptures. “Well done, most of you.” Some of you could certainly have been more… inspired.” He leaves it to the contestants to figure out who he’s talking about.
Sofia smiles back to Sophie and rolls a shrug up to Annabelle. “I fuckin’ love Baseball.”
Evalina gives Sophie a tilt of her head, “…I really should have paid more attention. I’d hug you if I wasn’t wearing a swimsuit – the food castle is a go in my book.”
Albert casts his eye upon the various sand-sculptures gathered along the stretch of beach they all inhabit together. He still looks like he wants to knock one over, but he has endeavoured quite strongly not to give in to such nasty habits. He turns to look amongst the cabanas, amusement riding his features. Not the broad, effusive smile he shares with Dovie, but a crueler sort of humour. “Shame, I was hoping to see her for longer than that. She invited me, after all.” He turns to look at August, and then again at the sculptures. “Well done, most of you. Some of you could certainly have been more… inspired.” He leaves it to the contestants to figure out who he’s talking about. (fix)
Amber leans forward against the table, squinting over those on the beach with watering eyes. She doesn’t seek to interrupt Dovie the hostess, but she does spot Evalina and offer a small smile and smaller wave.
Sofia pops up and begins rapid-fire snapping pictures of the different entries, smiling as she pops out of her own little baseball obsessive bubble.
“I thought we were going to do it together.” August tells Dovie, even as he dusts off crumbs from his hands as the remnants of the decimation that befell the taco box. At least a good chunk of the octopus ones are gone. Still, he leaves his seat, and fixes his sunglasses into place, and falls into the sidelines yet again. In some minor distraction, he consults his phone for something, even while speaking aside to Dovie. “It would’ve been good to number every contestant. Any preference with who I start? Volunteers? Alphabetical order?”
Evalina glances to Sofia, “Your sand castle is still an amazing piece of craftsmanship to be sure, just,” She chuckles. “I have a weakness for food.”
Dovie tells August. “I figured it’d be easier just with once voice instead of two! But let’s start in order with Anna, Sophie, Kai, and then Sofia.”
Kai hmmms and looks over to Sophie and her sand castle, nodding at it lightly, a little smirk on his lips, “Nice,” he tells Sophie, though he glances at Albert when his phone beeps.
Albert looks down at his phone and chuckles. The sound is sonorous, rich with the complex depth of cioppino. That laughter is as crimson as his glasses, as sanguine as the blood he’s spilled across New Haven. He leans on a cane that he doesn’t appear to require, and it sinks further into the sand they stand upon. A cane that could cut down some of these sculptures as easily as the boots he wears. Still, he’s refraining. Good Albert. With one hand he responds to the message, seeming unbothered by eyes on him, if he’s even aware of them.
Mercy heaves a frustrated sigh and gets up.
“Sounds good to me.” August tells Dovie, and gestures with an open palm forward to offer her the step forward towards Annabelle, clearly intent on tagging along with her to the ‘stage’ so to speak in inspection. Probably a good thing that his shades hide his eyes, because without the usual Pierce stare, the rest of his expression holds lazy, easy distance with which he turns towards Annabelle, and starts squat down on the ground beside her sandabomination. “Annabelle. Tell us about your sandcastle, please.”
Sophie breaks into a bright smile at Obadiah, “Hey!” She offers a little wave.
Lillian looks around for a moment and then slips into Amber’s beach cabana when she sees her. “What’d I miss?” she asks, squinting over at the sand castles.
Annabelle displays, with a ragged splay of hands to her small creation. “This is Sandchild. You probably don’t know his father, but you do know his uncle, Snowman.” Getting this much out requires a steep lungful of air before she continues, “I guess that makes him my sandsun. For political reasons..” She begins to shake her hand solemnly, “I will not be taking further questions.”
Annabelle meant sandson, baah.
“I dunno, I can barely see,” Amber squints over to Lillian as she leans against one of the tables, “Just started judging, I think.”
Kai tucks an arm behind his head and yawns, barely paying attention to the competition as he fucks around on his phone and suns himself, wiggling his toes lightly.
Dovie waves at Obadiah and the others as judging begins, turning her attentio nback to August and someone. “Fascinating. A family tree!”
Dovie waves at Obadiah and the others as judging begins, turning her attention back to August and Annabelle. “Fascinating. A family tree!”
“Sounds like I showed up just in time then,” Lillian says, grinning and joining Amber at the table. “Sandsun is a solid start.”
Jakem wanders in, hands shoved into his pockets as his gaze wanders amongst the competitors, lingering here and there before passing on. He paces the competition, floppy ears of his ‘shoes’ flailing about in the ocean breeze.
“I see.” August keeps a critical tone of voice in his inspection. Just a subtle tug of his sunglasses is enough to unveil the worn lines, the inspecting stare wrapped up in clinical assessment as if he wonders the structural anatomy of the sandchild Annabelle made. Squatting eye-level with it, as one should with any child when interacting with them, August extends his hand to bop the cigarette on its nose. “For your privacy, we will refrain from any further questions, but thank you for your contribution. You have an adorable sandson.”
He stands, dusts off his hands, and begins to move again to the second name on the roster; Sophie. He doesn’t kneel this time around, just walks the perimeter of their creation with a careful look over the rim of his shades. “Sophie. You’ve made something just as interesting. Would you tell us more about what it is and why you’ve decided on..” For lack of a better word, August simply says; “This?”
Dovie gives Annabelle two thumbs up and a grin before turning her attention to Sophie and the sand-cake.
Sophie brushes sand from her palms and smiles at August. “Once upon a tide,” she says, “A feast like castle is built by the Banquari. Guarded with ice cream towers, bread walls, and a pizza-slice gate, they emerge to party the night away until the time when the sea creeps in and swallows it whole. By morning, nothing will remain but shells and seaweed, their banquet castle remembered only in stories like this one.”
Albert watches the inspection of the sand-sculptures with a critical eye, but after a while he turns and starts to walk into the distance. No good-byes or words spared for the group. Dovie does earn a warm, familial smile. Evalina earns a tighter one. The Fairchild didn’t even knock over any sandcastles. What a blessing.
Eventually he disappears into a vehicle, which carts him off into the afternoon sun. Who knows what terrible adventures await him next.
“Have a favorite so far, from what’s out on the beach? I can’t really see,” Amber admits to Lillian, “But sound wild so far.”
Kai peers over at Sophie as she describes her castle, hmming a bit, he looks back to his phone.
Lillian looks out over the beach and hums thoughtfully. “The baseball stadium is really fucking impressive, but Sandchild is incredibly funny. So right now I favor the Sandchild.”
Jakem finally comes upon Annabelle on his patrol-and-text walkabout, settling down behind her to look at the results of her infidelity with a scrutinizing look. “He has his mother’s cheeks.” he declares.
Dovie waves to Cedric and turns back to watch August and Sophie as the judging continues!
“No comment.” Annabelle smarms in a way most placid, perhaps too young to be properly maternal. “You know-” She mentions abruptly over to Jakem, then pauses and slaps his white pants. “Don’t sit down in those. The slippers are cute, but don’t get your only other pair of clothes dirty.”
Cedric stepping across the sand, Cedric offers Dovie a little bow, pausing in his sand-trek, “Lady Dovie,” the man greets, glancing around a moment, before spotting Sophie across the sand. Walking that way, but staying just on the edge of the competition, not wanting to trample a castle.
“Uh-huh,” August affirms everything Sophie says like it’s a law of some kind, circles the cake several more times quietly otherwise. When he does bend forward a little, it is to inspect the pizza-slice gate and the details of the pepperoni on it. “Straight out of a fairy tale.” But he’s just as handsy, even if careful, as he was to the sandson, because he reaches to prod at one of the cupcake mounds like he checks its integrity, and see whether it’ll crumble. “I like how you’ve used seaweed and the shells.”
Rising back up, August gives a dip of his head to Sophie, and leaves it at that with a simple, “Thank you.” Perhaps even taking it far more seriously than a sandcastle competition should be taken, with how he maintains that haughty seriousness. One that he carries on over to the next contestant, Kai. To which, he really only gives a look up at the man, then down at the mound of sand shaped like an obelisk. He doesn’t even say anything, just nods, more so to himself than to Kai, and wanders away to the last contestant instead. “Sofia.” Another slow circling of the perimeter of the park, and he asks the same question. “Why and what, please. What’s the history behind this one?”
Sophie offers a wave to Cedric, “I was going to make a tree but, I made a cake instead.”
Kai glances to August, then to Dovie, he nods a bit, as if expecting this kind of behavior from the pair, and looks back to his phone, humming under his breath as he crosses his legs at the ankles.
Jakem takes Annabelle’s advice, slouching until he’s no long sitting down in the absurd outfit, and is in fact laying in the sand. He seems unbothered by the heat, just kinda letting his bunny eared shoes flop in the breeze “So how many contestants have they judged so far?” he asks conversationally.
Annabelle’s hand and a difficult twitch of her cheek pluck between two and three held fingers. “I’d say three people were judged. I only think two of them were considered.”
Annabelle says “Like. Two of the sand-things.“
Dovie sweeps her gaze from Sophie, to Kai, to Sofia. She gives Kai a little shrug, she’s not the judge after all, and leans in to listen to what Sofia has to say.
Alice looks up for a moment, tugging her sunglasses down to scan the crowd, before glancing at August with a raised brow. Whatever it is, she goes back to scrolling on her phone a moment after.
“A cake?” Cedric glances at the sandcastle that Sophie made, “It looks wonderful, Lady Sophie,” Cedric mentions to her, offering up a little smile her way. “I do not see a castle that would be defensible though.” A little sweeping gesture, “I could easily seize all of these castles.”
A brief awkward pause as Dovie makes eye contact with Sofia, but then she sparks into action and declares: “This is Fenway Park,” presenting herself for the assembled audience with a bow, and then with a wide swoop of her hand over the big sculpture she’s made on the beach. “It’s probably the best place in the world. They built it in 1912. I tried to get as many details as I could in the time we had allowed, the seat count obviously isn’t right, making thirty seven thousand holes would be pretty difficult.” She pauses and admits, “I cheated a little by using not sand, sticking a chopstick down the right field line to simulate Pesky’s Pole, but I think it’s kinda cute.”
Sofia keeps on rambling like a kid presenting her special interest at show and tell at school, saying, “I put the score for last night’s game on the Green Monster, it was Red Sox 12, Yankees 1, even though it totally went down at Yankees Stadium. I couldn’t help but throw some shade.”
Obadiah raises his voice from the back “Yankees suck!!!!” then shuts the hell up.
Esme laughs
“DAAAAAAAAAA…. JANKEES LOOSE!” Sofia shouts on back at Obadiah. “One more game for the sweep!”
Dovie watches Obadiah and Sofia, letting out a giggle.
Amber scratches her cheek, bewildered at the stadium and sports talk.
“The Yankees are evil,” Lillian simply explains to Amber.
Kai gets up and kicks the base of his obelisk to demolish it, he glances at Dovie on his way out and ticks his gaze to the west, a little smile on his lips as he goes.
And with those words, Jakem lifts himself to his knees and steals some of the scultping/digging tools provided the competitors to begin burrying Annabelle’s legs… To start with.
Sophie watches Kai go quietly and furrows her brow. Before she seems to find a smile and says to Cedric, “True. They’re not defensible for sure.”
“Yankees do suck.” August agrees solemnly, without lifting his head from staring at the painstaking details of the park. While Sofia explains, he’s stopped wandering in favor of squatting beside the sandcastle and giving it a closer look. “I’d say you’re pandering to the judges, my affection for the Red Sox is no little secret.” And it seems like it’s working, too, with how he allows the smallest of smiles before rising back up. “This is very detailed, thank you.” And that’s all he says, without even giving a glance at the tantrum-like behaviour displayed on the demolished obelisk. Something, perhaps his dismissal while he turns back around to consult his phone, says that he didn’t even consider it among the contestants in the first place.
Evalina says “…am I the only yankees fan here…“
“If it has teddy’s seat then she wins!” Obadiah adds not to be too distracting but obviously having a moment
“But you have a gate,” Cedric points out to Sophie, “At least you have some defenses.” There’s a gesture towards Sofia, and her Fenway Park, “I do not thing that is considered a castle,” Cedric murmurs, or attempts to murmur back to Sophie, voice probably louder than intended. “It would be very easy to seize.”
Dovie raises an eyebrow. “You’re a Red Sox fan too?” she chuckles. Her gaze roves to Evalina. “Might want to be careful given this crowd!”
Sofia chuffs back with a grin at August, saying, “Honestly, I had no idea you were judging! I just got inspired by last night’s game.” And she ticks a finger at Dovie with her agreement, saying, “I didn’t know you were a Sox fan either, though I know you do like baseball. And c’mon, even a Yankees fan could appreciate that Fenway is special.”
Evalina looks a little hesitant for a moment, then throws off her coat to announce loudly after Dovie addresses her, “Go Yankees!” She shouts in the air, raising a fist, “…Uh, please don’t drown me.”
Dovie says “Glad all are safe!“
Dovie tells Sofia, “I haven’t really followed baseball, but I am open to learning!” she chuckles at Evalina. “Not to worry, no violence here!”
“Do we have a lynching now?” Amber wonders, looking from Lillian to Obadiah, Sofia, and Evalina.
“We dunk her in the ocean after the judging is over,” Sofia agrees with a little grin over to Amber.
Jakem calls out to Dovie “Baseball? It’s pretty much just like golf, but for people too lazy to walk to the T, so they have it thrown to them. Otherwise the rules are the same for most intents and purposes.”
Dovie clears her throat. “Attention everyone! The results are in! First off, thank you so much everyone who participated! And please take tacos with you… we’ll start with our third place winner… Anna!” Dovie presents a fresh lobster roll to Annabelle.
Lillian laughs. “I don’t care -that much-. I just know enough baseball to know the Yankees are evil.”
Jakem pats the sand-pile that has become Annabelle “Congrats dear. You’ll never escape my pile, but at least you’ll have third place prize to enjoy while you’re stuck here forever.”
Dovie nods to Jakem. “Give a round of applause please for our second place, Sophie! And our first place winner, Sofia! But really we’re all winners here, so thank you everyone. And thank you to August for filling in for Arachne!” Dovie claps her hands, handing out the rest of the prizes.
“You’re right, the Fenway is special.” August agrees, sparse in his words since someone begun to list the winners. While she does that, he shamelessly squats in front of the park again, and lifts his phone to take a selfie with it in the background – gives a lazy smile and makes a peace sign and everything.
“You’re right, the Fenway is special.” August agrees, sparse in his words since Dovie begun to list the winners. While she does that, he shamelessly squats in front of the park again, and lifts his phone to take a selfie with it in the background – gives a lazy smile and makes a peace sign and everything.
Esme applauds for all the winners with a light cheer! “Great sandcastles and sculptures everyone!”
Cedric smiles at Sophie, “Well done, Lady Sophie.”
Amber applauds from where she leans against a table in the cabana, “Woo. Go, uh. Sand-masons.”
Dovie giggles at Amber’s pun.
Sophie applauds happily, “I am happy to lose to the majestic Sofia!” She gives Cedric a little smile, “Thank you.”
Sofia tilts her head over to Dovie with a broad smile and dips her head, saying, “Perfect, I know just what I’m gonna use the bag for. Thank you so much.” She beams a smile at Sophie and Annabelle, saying, “Yours were excellent too though!” She blows a raspberry at the former and teases, “Stop brownosing me though, c’moooon!”
Dovie wanders over to Evalina. “What do you like about the Yankees? And what do people like about these sports teams?”
Lillian claps with Amber and giggles at her cheer.
Evalina fidgets with her hands behind her back, averting her eyes from Dovie. “…I don’t really watch sports, but I used to live in New York…”
Sofia swoops over and interjects herself into Dovie and Evalina’s conversation with vigor. “Yankees and Red Sox are the oldest rivalry in sports. It’s legend. It’s hearbreak. It’s swinging tides. There’s curses involved.”
Dovie blinks at Sofia. “Curses??”
“Sports are the natural development of the human social hierarchy. They’ve replaced world wars.” August explains after his selfie, climbing up to his feet again and thumbing through his phone almost idly. “Instead of Achilles, we have Tom Brady, and instead of Odysseus, we have Jarren Duran and Trevor Story.”
Dovie blinks at August. She seems to recognize the first name, but at the second and third, she says: “Who?”
Evalina cocks her head at Sofia, “I /knew/ how I got out of bed today wasn’t natural. I am not supposed to be /that/ groggy,” She claims with a furrowed brow, “You’ve cursed me! I knew it! You sox are all the same!”
“The Curse of the Bambino!” Obadiah says with a loud bellow, not helping from the side lines.
“In ninteen eighteen, the Red Sox were on top of the world, doing great, and they traded a guy you might have heard of to the Yankees. Babe Ruth.” Sofia spreads her arms wide and animated, gesticulating around as she explains, “In retaliation for getting traded, the Babe cursed the Red Sox to not win another world series for a HUNDRED YEARS!” She points over to Obadiah affirmatively. “Time and time again the Red Sox lost, until the curse was finally broken in 2004 when they won their first series since way, way back when.” She gestures over to Evalina. “So really, it’s the Yankees doing the cursing.”
Dovie blinks at Sofia. “Oh wow. Must have hired a good arcanist then…”
“Red Sox players,” August tells Dovie, gives her a subtle little wink before pushing his shades back up over his eyes. “Thank you all for suffering my judgement. Arachne would’ve been better, obviously, as I am biased where baseball is involved, and I know next to nothing about sandcastles. I was going to make a whole cast out of roman concrete to style on you all if I could participate – hopefully next time.” That said, August tips the bill of an imaginary cap, the one he usually wears everywhere, but turns on a heel, to head straight for the taco boxes. “Did Obie make these? Obie, did you make these?” Because he’s going to destroy quite a few more.
Dovie tells August. “Next time, or I may just hire you to make a sand sculpture for my next event, honestly.” She grins at Obadiah. “Yep! I brought a whole bunch of tacos fresh, everyone please have at.”
“You having any tacos?” Amber wonders to Lillian.
Obadiah smiles at the taco catering and bobs his head politely. “I have a few more options I want to add to the menus but just need to do it
Dovie perks up at Obadiah. “New flavors?”
Sofia finally comes down from the baseball induced high at Obadiah’s mention of tacos and wanders over to see what’s left.
“Why don’t you just ask for a real statue instead of making me work with something like sand?” August tells while he double fists a couple tacos, “I’m not a monk that enjoys getting his work destroyed.” And he’s- oh, the tacos are gone.
Lillian considers for a moment, tilting her head back and forth. “Maybe if they’re really desperate to give the last few away. Otherwise I’m happy just chilling here and watching.”
Cedric tilts his head at Sophie. “Lady Sophie,” he asks, curiously. “You said you had something for me?”
Dovie taps a finger to Dovie’s lips. “Well I was also thinking ice sculpture. Equally ethereal. Because it’s kind of like you have to be there to see it?” she replies to August. “But perhaps a stone or marble commission is appropriate.”
“Oh yay.” Annabelle doesn’t exactly cheer for her victory, ear up to Jakem’s lips as she sits up from her growing sunburn. “What happened to the lobster?”
Sophie emote smiles at Cedric, “Oh! Right.” She gives him a little smile, “I have to run home to get it. If I text you an address, wanna meet me there?”
Jakem taps Annabelle’s chest, or where it should be beneath the sand “Right there.”
“I am thinking of a chorizo, an adobo, and a brisket taco for the menu,” Obadiah confirms to Dovie. “Get some tuna of the earth on the menu.”
“Ice works, but I don’t have an industrial freezer to work on it. Not my usual medium. Just call me for the details.” August drawls on, piles taco after taco in his arms, and with his treasure, he turns back. “I’m going to dip, thanks for the tacos – let me know when Annabelle leaves the sandkid unattended so I can kick its head off later.” And off he goes, munching on a taco, and waving another one over his shoulder in bid adieu.
“Earth tuna!” Dovie chuckles as she instructs some nearby workers to start cleaning up, the statues left intact.
August says “Will do!“
“Oh.” Annabelle cranes her neck up to see the chunks of such a creature slain before her. “Well it smells nice. I need to eat a bunch of nutrients to stimulate more blud cell production. Really, though, it’s just a matter of making sure I get specific nutrients.”
“Just eat nothing but steak for like a week?” Sofia supposes on back to Annabelle. “How many different steaks could we whip up…”
“I mean. Spinach and.. Lumbuabldf..” Annabelle waves a hand dismissively of the word her mind’s failing to come up with. “Beans and stuff. Iron and some vitamins. Red meat’s good for it, but I don’t think I should only eat steak. I guess it’s not the worst thing that could happen.”
Cedric says “color 008“