How Green Becomes Wood

"If you put a bucket on its side, they can crawl into that. If you don't want it visible you could bury it in sand, I think." Daizi suggested, standing up, "Goose, how is yours coming along?"

"It vexes me." He answered, hunching over his, and carefully, achingly, trying to carve some sand away before sitting back, frowning deeply. "I need a straw, I think."
 
Xander looked down at the sand and then at Dark. "You are doing a good job considering you're working with an unknown medium," he said seriously. "You also look like you're about to turn into Golom in that position."

Alec carefully stepped over the wall and started fiddling with their castle. "I think I'll make a pathway up the side and a few little holes for them to sit in. I think they might enjoy exploring that way."
 
"Why do you need a straw?" Daizi asked.

"Because when I cut away the sand, there is a remnant of sand that stays behind. I do not want that. When I carve on wood, I can blow it away, and only the cut part leaves. When you blow on sand... But if I had a straw, I think, I hope, I could be more direct, and sidestep the issue." He tried to very gently brush some away or pat it down. It went poorly. Then he looked up at Xander again, "The issue is to build in the sand, I need to be on the ground. I am, generally speaking, much higher than the ground. Which is another reason why I prefer wood, in most cases I can bring it to me."
 
Xander looked over the problem carefully. Then he walked away. After a bit, he came back with a long, skinny stick with a leaf on one end. "Here," he said, holding it out. "It's a little brush. It might work. If it doesn't, you haven't wasted any time, but have you tried just... tapping it down? Sand's more like clay than wood."

"We should find a tall rock or something to build the next castle on," Alec said, finishing up his ram that wound around the outside of the castle. It made the castle look even more ridiculous, but it did give the crabs something to wander up. One of them did just that and wedged itself into the first hole it found. The others were still awkwardly exploring.
 
Dark took the stick and contorted his body in an awkward position and shut one eye to get the proper angle and touch needed. It was imperfect, but maybe a bit better than when he wasn't using it, "I could stamp it down, but then the sand stays there. I want the level lowered there by a greater amount, so it needs to be removed entirely, or at least patted back into the sides."

"Is their space in your kingdom for that?" Daizi asked, but then, hearing Ivy cry behind her, excused herself, but then re-emerged not too long after with her baby on her hip and came towards their voices, stopping before she reached them, though, "I don't want to step on anything."
 
"Not right now, but we could expand." Xander finished the last section of wall and then crouched down next to Dark. "What if you sort of... roll it?" he asked, demonstrating the motion with his hand without touching Dark. "But it looks pretty good as is."

Alec grinned and made one last adjustment before shuffling toward Daizi. "Hang on, Mama, I'm coming." He stood on the inside of the wall directly in front of Daizi. "You're two steps away from the wall. Come forward slowly. I'm holding my hands out toward you."
 
"Thank you," Dark grumbled, but it wasn't how he wanted it to look. Why did people choose sand? Because it was available, he guessed. Being from the desert, he thought he should have a better grasp on this. Although--he turned his head to the side--sandcastles needed damp sand. The thing about deserts is there is not, typically, an excess of water.

"Okay," Daizi said, taking cautious steps forward and reached out with one hand until Alec took hers and guided her closer.
 
Xander turned and looked around. "Not a bad set up. Just gotta add the moat. Maybe not, though, that'd be a tripping hazard."

Alec brought her closer and guided her hand to the wall. "Here's our wall. Xander did almost all of it. It's shockingly sturdy! Oh, and there's a crab, but he shouldn't bother you."
 
"I would worry about the moat draining," Dark commented, sitting back again and examining his work, thinking deeply about what he wanted to do next.

"Wow, this is really well done!" Daizi praised, pressing on it just slightly, impressed by how little it gave, "It's very smooth. You could probably etch brickwork into this, to really sell it." She moved her hand to the top of the wall, running her hands over it, "It should have towers, I think."
 
"Then I'll dig a really shallow trench and put all white and blue seashells and rocks in it," Xander said with a little smirk. He watched as a crab scuttled over to investigate Dark's castle or whatever the building was.

"Oh, yes! Towers! Towers would make it even better," Alec agreed. "Now, if you come this way - watch your step - you can reach over and feel our castle. It's kind of cone-shaped, but an absolute beauty of construction!"
 
"That is a clever idea," Dark agreed, and then looked down at the crab, "It is a Church, I decided." He told the crab, "I thought it seems as though we are building a feudal manor. As this is the second grandest building, it therefore must be a holy place. Who should I dedicate it to, hm? The Prawn God?"

Daizi followed him, anxious about destroying things, but she leaned over to feel the castle, and Ivy did too, since she saw her mom touching it. "What do you think, Ivy? Is it a good castle? Did your brothers do well?"

Dark leaned to the side again, "Hummingbird, do not eat sand."
 
"Is that a thing?" Xander asked.

The crab picked something up out of the sand and ate it before scuttling closer to the church. It seemed to be testing the area before getting closer, moving only a little at a time.

Alec gently caught Ivy's hand and quickly cleaned off the sand. "Open hand, Ivy," he told her gently. "Pat it. Like this!" She hadn't hurt much, so he displayed patting with his own hand on a flat section of the top.
 
Dark nodded, "There is the Feudal Lord's dwelling. Often a castle or a manor house. We nearly have a Motte-and-Bailey configuration: in those sorts of castles, the Keep itself is built on a Motte, which was almost always a man-made hill, because when you are up high, you can see out further. The bailey is the fortification wall. Then in the lands below the motte were farmlands, houses for the serfs who worked the farms, a Church, a workshop for, say, the blacksmith and leather workers, really anyone who would supply what was needed to run the farm, often a mill, a barn..." He exhaled, blowing gently on his creation, "The Feudal Lords would own the land, and the Serfs would work it for them, and in exchange, they would have protection from outside forces."

Ivy watched Alec closely and then tried to mimic him, although she was a bit clumsy. Still, she seemed like she wanted to do like he did.
 
"No," Xander said patiently, "I mean, thats pretty fascinating, but what I meant was is the Prawn God a thing?"

"Good job! You patted! Well done!" Alec praised her. "She patted the top of the castle, Mama!"
 
Dark looked at Xander, disappointed. "Oh. Not that I am aware of. Lovecraft has someone called Basatan who often resembles a crab. But Lovecraft was writing intentional fiction. No, there is an artist who makes fake toys. One was the Prawn God."

"She did!" Daizi gasped, kissing Ivy's temple, "Great job, baby! Is that fun?" Ivy babbled at her, and Daizi leaned in to pat the castle too, so Ivy would try again.
 
"Ah, gotcha," Xander nodded. "Alright, we got the castle, the church, and the diety. I think we should stick a workshop blacksmith thing in next. That'd be super important."

Alec giggled, watching them. "You two should make your own feudal land and city."
 
"It would be," Dark agreed, "farm lands are not difficult, we can make till marks just by dragging lines."

Daizi sat down in the sand outside of the wall, figuring Ivy would do less damage to the wall, "I think they are, although this may take all day." She chuckled, and in a lovesick sort of way said, "My Goose loves miniature dwellings."
 
"Ivy can help make the fields!" Alec cheered. "That would be the perfect job for her!"

"I guess I'll get started on the workshop," Xander said, watching Dark. "You can put on the finishing touches after I make the basic structure, if you want. Alec, I need shells."

"Okey-dokey!" Alec readily agreed and hopped to it. "Mama, this area right here is clear if you and Ivy want to do something."
 
"Perfect," Daizi said, cautiously stepping over the wall and sitting down in the open area and setting Ivy down in the sand, "Do you want to dig, baby?" She reached around and found one of the plastic shovels, which she handed to Ivy, who really just waved it around.

Dark finished up the extent of what he could manage on his 'Church', at least before he sought decorations, but he still wasn't quite satisfied with it. Taken on its own, it was a bit lackluster. He had anticipated more from it. Still, taking a step back and looking at their walled-in settlement on its own, he found it more impressive. This was the result of hard work and collaboration. So his own frustration with his own part could be set aside to appreciate the whole. It was like a Monet.
 
Xander started carving out a shallow indentation around the outside of the wall to represent the moat. Alec brought all the shells and smooth stones he could find to lay in a single layer along the bottom of the moat. It would have taken a long time and a lot of shells and rocks to fill the maot tightly, so, instead, he spaced them out a little, which helped the process move along. Xander finished digging the moat long before Alec finished filling it, so he turned his attention to sculpting out a blacksmith's shop. He wasn't certain what a blacksmith's shop should look like, so he kept the shape basic. It was hard to do anything but a basic shape with his rudimentary tools, anyway.
 
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