Castles of Sand (The Annual Cerenis Sandcastle Building Contest, OPEN)

[ByAnyOtherName]

"Hello folks, and welcome to the annual Cerenis sandcastle building contest! This year is going to be better than ever, as the skies are clear, the sand is golden, and the prize smells extremely tasty... As ever, what magical ability this fabulous pie will grant is unknown, but no-one's been disappointed yet! Feel free to work alone or in pairs as you construct the best sandcastles this coast has ever seen! Do you think you have what it takes? The contest starts in ten minutes, so find your places and partners now!"

Donald Barclay, the main organiser of the sandcastle building contest, started off the competition with his typical inspiring speech. He was right - it was a wonderful day, with blue skies and bluer seas, and perfect sand to build from. Unlike last year, when it had tipped it down, and some unfortunate's sandcastle had been struck by lightning. Erik had just been put off his game, too busy trying not to laugh at his competition to work very hard on his castle. Just the sight of people chasing streams of waterlogged sand down the beach as though they could reconstruct it... He hadn't been the only one, and despite it being terrible for the quality of the castles produced, it had been a great year for simply having fun. This year though, this year his castle was going to be beyond anything they'd ever seen... With any luck, and to have that, he'd need a good spot. Some people tried to build too far from the sea, and found the sand too dry, others tried to build too close and ended up with waterlogged heaps, but he was an expert at this. He was looking forward to seeing all of the end results; even if he didn't win, he'd still get to paint a picture of the scene.

After a minute of thought, he set off running, suddenly remembering that he was meant to be finding a good spot. The beach was fairly packed, but no-one minded how far down you went, and most people here weren't seriously competitive. Erik already had a good spot in mind, and he threw himself down on it as he approached, even though it wasn't exactly hotly contested. He grinned as he saw the long line of wrecked sand in his wake. It was helpful, really, letting others see what consistency the sand was where they were going to build. Despite being surrounded by people, Erik was in good spirits, fully prepared to enjoy himself as he had done every year since he was seven. Of course, this year (like all the years) was going to be different! He was going to win! Or at least make an impression, he'd almost rather not win, as he'd seen some impossible looking castles before, and it would be sad if his offering was the best they had. He absolutely couldn't wait to see who had turned up this year, and who he'd be working near. This probably made up a good part of an entire year's social interaction for him, after all. Larry said he'd grow out of his awkwardness, which was good, as he was seriously considering relocating to the middle of nowhere.

Having found his spot with about seven minutes to spare, he pulled himself up to sit cross-legged on the beach, already coated with sand, and grinned around him as others took their places. He was tempted for a second to yell that this was a good distance to be from the sea, but that would be cheating, and would make everything more cramped than ever. He'd spaced his three buckets, two spades, thing-he-wasn't-sure-of-the-name-of-that-was-used-for-plastering, and biscuit cutters in a wide ring around him to indicate where he was building his castle. He'd have a moat there later, if he could find space for a channel for it. Maybe he could co-operate with those nearby when building his moat, so they all shared a channel from the sea which split to join everyone's separate moats?

[kleineklementine]

@ByAnyOtherName @visualspice Hope it's fine to join in this now! Excited about the sand castle building!!!



The sun was shining. The sea breeze was warm. The waves were lapping on the golden sand. And the beach was full of joyous, festive people. Under the circumstances, Spot couldn't have been happier.

It had been a few weeks that the (ex-) Soot Wolf had been in Cerenis now, and she had even made a start at something of an honest life. She'd found work shucking oysters looking for pearls for an old fisherman's wife who hired four other young women. It wasn't the best smelling work, but it was honest for a change, and she boarded with the four other girls. So it was good enough for Spot. Of course, none of them called her that. Since arriving in Cerenis, she'd taken up the name Madeline Clemens. That sounded like a proper name. The name of a young, working girl whose parents hadn't been too drunk and too prolific at creating children to remember one of their daughter's real names. All in all, though, it was a good enough deal for Spot. She was working, independent, taking care of herself, living closely with people who liked her. It'd be nice if Timothy could stay in the city with her - of course he couldn't - but she was able to visit the growing wolf pup in the forest outside of Cerenis every few days. Of course, she had to steer as clear as she could from the underworld of Cerenis. She'd already learned that Rufus had started a fledgling branch of the Soot Wolves here. She kept her ear to the ground, but gave them a wide berth. And using her "real" name wouldn't do her any favors if they were looking for her.

But today Spot wasn't worried about that. Spot stood barefoot in the warm She wore a simple, Grecian-style dress that left her shoulders, knees, and legs bare. And already had sand plastered to her bare legs from running into the surf and back onto the beach. Her long, dark hair fell tousled by the ocean breeze down her back. She wore long, swoopy bangs now and the long sheets of her black hair were sleek and layered; after she got here, Spot had decided on new(-ish) hair for a new life! All the sun in Cerenis - especially compared to Arca - had resulted in a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks.

Spot waited anxiously as Donald Barclay announced the beginning of the contest with two of the girls she worked with. She knew, of course, nothing about making sand castles! But it was an excuse to spend the day out on the beach having fun with lots of happy other people. She sprinted to pick a spot all the same. And, because she was sprinting, and chatting with her coworkers, she nearly trampled the poor boy sitting crosslegged in the sand. Spot vaulted, unable to decide between skidding to a halt and leaping over poor Erik Nomansson. The result was that she ran straight into him at high speed, jumped too late, and sent herself tumbling in a spray of sand onto the damp beach a few feet away from him. The other two girls, perhaps not realizing Spot had taken a tumble, continued on down the beach.

Rather than being upset, however, Spot propped herself up on her elbows and beamed at Erik. "Sorry about that, chum! Or! Should I say my new competition! Sand castle building enemy and all that! Dueling sand castles! Sand castle battle! Can't blame me for trying to take a stab at my biggest rival! A lowly move, I admit, but you can't blame a girl for trying! After all... pie!" she said all of this brightly, happily, not waiting for Erik to give any response. Finally she paused, grinning wolfishly. It never occurred to Spot that this boy might want to be left on his own. "Are you ready?"

[ByAnyOtherName]

OOC: Sorry it's taken me a while to reply, I've had a really busy week.

Erik squeaked at volume as a large mass barrelled into him; briefly thankful that he didn't have far to fall. On the other hand, he seemed to have sand down his back. His spirits quailed for a moment under the combined assault of discomfort and people, then promptly bounced back as the large mass started talking. He scrambled half to his feet, changed his mind, then sat back down again facing her, some small part of his mind noticing how pretty she was and dying of automatic mortification, the rest of him determinedly ignoring it. Sandcastles! What could possibly go wrong with a sandcastle building contest? He opened his mouth to reply. Shut it again. Allowed himself to relax.

"Of course I'm ready! I do this every year! Sand, sea, sky, sandcastles, what more could I want? Wait, battle? I'd promise to kick your arse, but I've got this strange fondness for myself."

The atmosphere of his favourite place, at his favourite time of the year, not to mention his new neighbour's cheeriness, finally got to him. An awkward, but heartfelt, grin crawled onto his face.

"I've never got to taste the pie myself, but it sure looks worth a little underhand tactics!"

He paused, soaking in the bustle of the beach around them, the burst of laughter as someone went rolling down the beach further along, trying desperately to remember what he'd been going to say next. Nothing emerged.

"I'm guessing you're here to win then? I'll warn you, I have a lot of practice at this, and some people have this insane ability to defy physics."

Oh wait, now he remembered.

"I'm Erik, don't worry about it."

He felt a pang of embarrassment as he realised just how long it'd taken him to get to the point. This social thing was tiring.

[kleineklementine]

OOC: No worries! :))



Spot listened in rapt attention as Erik stumbled through his ‘introduction,’ a happy and amused smile plastered on her face.

“Oh ho! ‘Come here every year,’ do you?” she asked with a laugh, pushing a disheveled block of hair out of her face. “Careful there, boy-o, you’re starting to sound pretty cocky! You’re not going to scare me off that easily, though, no sir-ee. Experience? Pah! Physics? PAH! Who needs ‘em? I,” she said loftily, dramatically flipping the rest of her hair over her shoulder in an overblown show of confidence, “will trust to my obvious, natural, in-born talent for… sand-castle building! Some things you can’t just learn you know? Y’gotta be born with it!”

But the next moment the haughty act was over and she was back to beaming happily at him. After all, what more could someone want? The sun! The sand! The ocean! Nothing was missing. Spot looked curiously at him, then half scooted, half crab-walked over to him until she was close enough to extend her hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, Erik. Even if it won’t be for too long before you’re buried under my highly superior and exceedingly excellent sand castle! I’m Madeline, by the way. But you can call me Maddie.”

She grabbed his hand without waiting for him to take hers and shook it vigorously.

“How much longer do we got, anyway?”

[visualspice]

He hated the sand in his boots, the sun plastering his red-suit to his body, and the fact he was out when the sun was shining and people were littering the beach. Perhaps to others, the sounds of the ocean were inviting, even the gulls alluring in their shrieks as they cawed in flocks over head. But sand inside your boots was uncomfortable, and he wasn't about to redress for one brief day in the sun....

Though he might have considered it had his trek into Cerenis not have reunited him with a familiar, Jarrett L'isson hating wolf pup, who bared his teeth at him as he was making his way to the city. Though the pup was wise enough to remain away from other people, the familiarity in Jarrett's scent made the pup curious, and when Jarrett paused to observe the beast curiously, it was only then he realized the pup was familiar.

And for some reason, he spoke to the pup, calling over to it in his normal, monotone type speech.
"Hey pup, where is your master? Or did you leave her here all alone?"

The least the wolf pup could have done was kept at Spot's side, because it made him feel a bit guilty that he was right, and that Spot was now packless. But it seemed the dog did not like to be addressed in such a way, and whatever else transpired between Jarrett and the wolf pup didn't matter-

because the dog was angerily latched to his legs, white fangs sinking into the fabric as the assassin tried to move forward, while dragging the beast behind him. Shooing him didn't work, and for some reason, just killing the beast seemed out of the question. He couldn't even get himself to kick or swat it away, but shaking his leg didn't help, it only served to rip a bit at his pants, which...
He decidedly did not want to do.


So he resigned to his fate, ignorant now to the growling wolf pup on his heel while he continued with his work. Turns out Mr. Allendale's corpse was worthless now-
And his employer was seeking Mr. Allendale's wife.


And he was in no mood for anymore delays on this job, so when he heard she was to be found here...
He wasted no more time returning to the beach side city in hopes to find her-
And despite him working best at night, he trudged on through the day, across the silk-wet beaches, and swiftly approaching the masses gathering for the sand castle contest- non the wiser what was going on until he stopped when the wolf pup gave a yelp as, in it's surprise at coming in contact with it's first, shallow ocean wave, it finally released it's hold on Jarrett's pant leg and scrambled back away from the waters.

Standing there in now ankle deep water that was receding fast, Jarrett peered over at the young wolf pup with a frown. Seems as if he'd be walking in the water to keep the wolf pup at bay. But as Jarrett turned to walk forward again, the pup made a noise, a sort of a groaned whine, and followed along the shallow waters edge, keeping a close eye on the man in red.

[kleineklementine]

[OOC: Though we'd move this along a little since it's been awhile... We'll try not to get too far ahead until we've heard from you, @ByAnyOtherName !]

The wolf pup kept at Jarrett’s ankle as the man moved down the beach. The only thing that distracted him was the occasional crashing wave, which sent the pup racing back landwards away from the strange water. Okay, and from time to time he also got distracted by a skittering crab, but mostly he was dead set! on keeping his eye on Jarrett!

That was, at least, until he spotted the dark-haired girl sitting in the sand. Timothy (for that was the pup’s name), temporarily abandoned Jarrett and ran full-tilt to Spot, knocking her over in the sort of whole-body-slam that only puppies can really accomplish. Spot was bowled over, th wolf pup licking her face, until he turned to Erik. The pup hesitated for half a second, then decided that Erik was a friend and launched himself on the young man as well, tail wagging and full of puppy kisses.

Once Spot recovered herself, she pulled the wolf pup off of Erik and into her lap, where he squirmed, but stayed, focusing on licking her face as she tried to talk. “Oh, he’s- he’s friendly! He’s a- a dog! No wor- no worries there!” she managed to get out between puppy kisses. “But what,” she grabbed the pup’s muzzle to stay his kisses, talking directly to the wolf pup, “are you doing here, Sir Timothy?”

In response, the pup jumped out of her embrace and stared in the direction of Jarrett, growling and hackles raised. Spot followed his gaze until… Oh.

Oh. What was he doing here?

The girl wasn’t able to keep the frown off her face at the site of the scruffy assassin. Maybe he’d changed his mind about her after all. She shouldn’t have told him where she was going… Well. She better find out.

Jumping to her feet, Spot gave Erik an elaborate, overdone bow. “Sorry, m’lord, you’ll have to excuse me for a moment. But don’t get cocky! Once I’m back, my castle is going to swallow yours whole!”

Then Spot took the pup under her arm and skipped over to Jarrett, approaching him from the side. Once she was near enough, she cleared her throat loudly and Officially-Sounding. “Ahem, ‘scuse me there, sir! Have you got a license for this dog? It’s a hefty fine, bringing a dog to the beach with no license! Let’s see it, then, or I’ll haul the lot of ya down to the city pound with all the other dogs.”

[visualspice]

Jarrett halted in his tracks just as a large wash crashed into his thighs, ocean water's spraying his body and fluttering his moist dark hair. His green eyes stared at the familiar woman for a time before stating simply, "But the wolf pup is yours."

[kleineklementine]

Spot sighed. Jarrett.

The wave nearly swept Spot over, but she caught her footing. The knee-length skirt of her dress now clinging wet to her thighs.

Rolling her eyes, she answered, "I know whose he is. But I didn't bring him here. And when I asked him," she kissed the squirming pup on the nose, then let him down to chase after the waves and back, "he growled at you. What are you doing here, anyway? In the pet delivery service now? I have to say it's a nicer line of work than your last."

[visualspice]

"No," he told her simply, still staring at her without much emotion as the ocean wave's receded, leaving foam at their feet and silky, wet and.
"I'm here to kill Mrs. Allendale." And he said it as simply and bluntly as he could, before adding, "And your wolf followed me." Clearly he wouldn't have brought him. He wasn't exactly a dog person. Or any kind of... animal person, even if he ended up being called the Long Wolf by many.

[kleineklementine]

"Hey now," Spot gave Jarrett a stern look, balancing up on her tip-toes to try to make herself look more imposing. She shoved a finger 'threateningly' against his chest. "You don't go blaming the Blameless Sir Timothy now. I'm sure he wouldn't have followed you without a good..."

Then what Jarrett said sunk in. He'd said Mrs. Allendale.

Wait, Mrs. Allendale?

Spot hadn't connected the woman to the corpse before, but suddenly the names sprung out to her now. But Mrs. Allendale was the pearl businesses biggest customer! She was a moderately wealthy trader and woman-about-town who purchased the good majority of the pearls Spot and the other girls she worked with produced for the old fisherman's wife.

"Waitaminute," she interjected, "what do you mean Mrs. Allendale? Who do you mean? You can't just go around killing everyone, you know!" she added in a lower voice. Not everyone just went around shouting about killing people! "I won't let you!"

[visualspice]

Jarrett just stared at her.
"Why? Do you know Mrs. Allendale?"

[kleineklementine]

Jarrett's question took Spot a little by surprise, and it showed. For a moment, she just stared at Jarrett before her expression turned suspicious.

"Why?" she asked. "Would it make a difference if I did? Anyway," Spot paused when a man passed too close to them to talk openly about killing people, then finished in a low voice, crossing her arms, "I thought you 'didn't kill women' or something."

[visualspice]

Jarrett simply stared at her, frowning and soggy.
"So you do work for her?" It was all he could deduce, but he was tired and feeling rather crabby- and this situation, and the happy glow of the competition, was just not for him. Moving away from the ocean, he cut a glare towards the wolf, who only backed off to remain at Spot's heels, growling over at Jarrett, as if daring the assassin to even get near HIS master!

[kleineklementine]

"What," Spot asked between Timothy's growls, also following Jarrett step-for-step away from the water, "are you going to kill me too if I do?"

[visualspice]

Jarrett shot her a look, saying nothing before scanning the crowd.

[kleineklementine]

A look! From Jarrett L'isson! Spot almost fell over backwards in shock. Who knew he could do anything more than stare blankly?

But Spot also saw him switch almost automatically to scanning the crowd. No doubt for Mrs. Allendale. It wasn't just that Spot didn't want her employer to lose her biggest client - though she didn't! - but Spot couldn't stand the thought of someone else being killed. Not today. Sure, it wouldn't be like Copper or... or... the thing that'd killed Micha, that she'd killed later. But today was a happy day! A nice day! A sunny day of the beach for pleasant things! It was the day that Spot wanted to forget about all that other stuff!

And Jarrett hunting Mrs. Allendale did not help her forget. And somehow it felt Spot feeling, irrationally, responsible.

"Come on, I've got a respectable life here now! Well, a few weeks of one! And it's a nice day! Not a dreary day for corpses. Forget about Mrs. Allendale. Come on," she fixed him with a pretty smile and tilted head, letting her hair fall down to one side, "I'll take you back to my work instead. Let you steal a pearl or two. We could even fool around in the girls' dormitory," she added clandestinely, giving him a suggestive look, then waggling her eyebrows and elbowing him in the ribs with a 'heh? heh?' A strange mix of flirtatious and chummy.

[visualspice]

At her suggestion, his frown deepened, but his eye's simply returned to where they were scouting for his mark, when an impotent bark from Timothy drew his gaze away as he looked down to realize... A little girl had approached them and was staring up at Jarrett as he stared back at her. And at such a scene, Timothy only barked again.