2025-04-16 - A Castle Compulsion

It's getting nicer outside, but still not quite 'the warmer months' yet, which means the beach is not yet full of towels and blankets and umbrellas and the like. There is at least one blanket, though; it's hung over the arm of a tall blonde man with a shovel and bucket in one hand, a dog leash leading to a very enthusiastic golden retriever in the other, and a sort of faintly-unfocused determination on his face. He's clearly headed directly for the lakeside.

Amadeus spends a lot of time in the water, and not just because it's become his job as part of the mermaid show. His aquatic adaptation has given him plenty of excuses to simply go out and dive for the sake of diving and explore the waters off the coast of the islands -- not the parts that have been forbidden, though; he's not interested in getting fired.

And so it is that his shimmery silver and pale blue tale shifts away as he nears the shore, coming up out of the water in a pair of pale blue board shorts and a silver short-sleeves surfing rash guard. There's a bag laying on the sand not too far away with a pair of water shoes next to it and he heads in that direction just in time to see Austin and the golden retriever approaching. He lifts one hand in a wave, the other pushing wet hair back out of the way. "Hey," he greets.

"Hey!" the distinctly taller man greets brightly, holding the leash tightly enough to thwart the dog's excited desire to come over and investigate this new, damp person. "This's Pickle, she's really friendly but I'll tell her to leave you be if you don't like dogs. I'm Oz, or Austin, either way. Is the water actually nice? I thought it'd still be cold." The weirdly temperate weather of the island means he's nonetheless in cargo shorts today, khaki ones, with a heathered green t-shirt and a green and blue plaid flannel open over it. He's also got slip-on sneakers with no socks, like someone planning to be here in the sand.

Amadeus grins as he approaches the very excited Pickle and says, "Aw, she's alright. Hi Pickle. I'm Amadeus, but most folks call me AJ." He crouches down in front of the dog and offers pets and ear scratches, looking up at the very much taller man with a grin and a squint before looking back over his shoulder to the water. Laughing, he says, "No, it's cold. But I'm kind of adapted to the cold and the pressure. So it doesn't really bother me." He looks over toward the shovel and says, "Man.. I keep thinking I need to bring some stuff out here and build a huge sandcastle. Been thinking about it for days."

Pickle is thrilled to hear this, or possibly just thrilled to be offered the affection and have her leash loosened to take advantage of it. She moves in immediately to accept the pets and scritches and get a good sniff of her new friend. There's definite danger of a lick if Amadeus doesn't move out of the way, but she doesn't seem inclined to jump on him. Her tail wags like mad.

Austin's doesn't, but possibly mainly because he doesn't have one. "Yes! Exactly!" he exclaims at the mention of the sandcastle. "Me too! So I figured, I'm not working today, why not go do that? Tarjay had a pretty cheap bucket and spade." He lifts it a bit. You know. Just in case an illustration is necessary. "If I knew someone else would be here I would've got two!" He clearly isn't well-versed in the art of sand sculpture, but more than willing to give it a go the same way he probably did when he was five. A tiny pause, and a thought hits him. "Do you need my shirt? I'm not wet so it's not so cold in the breeze."

Amadeus doesn't seem too worried, either about being licked or about her jumping on him. He just gives her a lot of scritches and attention and grins broadly while doing so, delighted to have founds a new dog friend.

"Oh, it's okay. I can just use my hands. Or, I suppose I could run over there and get one." He seems to weigh his options and then says. "Actually, it's right over there.. I'll be right back!" He nods toward his bag and asks, "Mind watching that for me for a sec?"

He reaches in and pulls out a hoodie that he pulls on over his rash guard, not caring that he's getting it damp, too, and tugs on a pair of sneakers, grabbing his wallet and stuffing it in the pocket. "Back in .. ten."

And then he runs off across the square to the Tarjay to get his own bucket and sand castle accoutrements. It really does only take him about ten minutes before he's trotting back over.

Pickle is just as delighted with her new human friend, and gives Austin sad eyes when said friend zips off out of Pickle-range. "'sokay, he's coming back," he assures her, before calling after Amadeus, "Okay! It's safe with us!"

And, indeed, it is. When Amadeus returns, the bag is just where he left it, and Pickle is sitting guard, looking very... well, not distinguished, but determined, maybe. She has been told to guard and she is guarding. Yup. Not far away, Austin's slipped off his shoes and spread out the blanket, and is a few feet away from it gathering moist sand. Not yet building, really, but getting the ingredients ready. "Hey!" he calls over when he spots AJ trotting back toward them. "Welcome back! I thought here looked pretty good, but if you know a better spot let me know."

Once Amadeus returns, he grins and kicks off his sneakers, leaning down to give Pickle some much-needed attention and appreciation for her willingness to stand guard over his belongings. "Thanks, Pickle!" He gives her several pats and then pulls out his own bucket, shovel, and even a couple of little castle molds to make towers and crenelations with.

He quickly joins in with amassing a mound of sand large enough to make a very impressive castle. "Here works," he says with a bright grin. "We pretty much have the beach to ourselves for the moment so may as well claim it in the name of.. hmm.." He tries to think of a name for their castle. "Coral Keep!" Then he squints and looks over at Austin, checking for name approval.

Pickle barks once in happy acknowledgement of the thanks and the attention, which indeed she was in strong danger of dying without. She clearly does love a pat.

"Ooh, you got the fancy ones too!" Austin observes as the tower molds come out; he sounds wholly approving of this, as well as of the name proposed. "Yes! Coral Keep is good. it's got that similar sound thing going on and everything." Glancing over at Pickle, who's still sitting where she was but now looking a bit more restless, he says, "Okay, Pickle! You can run, but stay where I can see you." As if she can understand, she sprints off down the beach, but turns around and makes a lap back and past them a similar distance that direction. She seems inclined to just keep doing that for a while.

Austin gives her a grin when she passes by, but most of his attention is on their work. The mound of sand to work with grows steadily, as he pulls in sand from all around where he can reach. "If we dig it out from around the pile it could be a moat," he suggests.

Amadeus grins as he watches Pickle take off down the beach and come back again, just long enough to be sure she's not going to vanish, and then it's time to settle in and build the sandcastle. Studying the giant pile he nods and says, "We can carve it out of the pile in the middle and then make some flat areas where we can build up the towers and add the tops of the walls." He gestures toward the molds. "And then we can maybe make a drawbridge or something over the moat."

There's a little bit of a squint as he studies the pile, envisioning the castle within wanting to get out. "Okay, let's see.. maybe.. like this..." He starts working on one side, kind of making it into a hill and then straightening some of the walls by cutting away with his shovel and putting the excess into the mold.

"Yes! Maybe we can find some wood lying around to make the drawbridge out of?" Austin takes a glance around, but not instantly seeing a suitable piece sparkling and/or waving at him, puts off hunting one for later, and goes back to adding to the pile -- now, by digging out a moat around it. Despite having the little shovel, he seems to have ended up doing a lot of it with his hands. When Amadeus starts working on one side, he puts sand only on the other, and then starts packing it together a bit more, to see how it comes together.

"What's the J for?" he asks out of nowhere.

Amadeus is so focused on his very careful wall carving that it takes him a moment to register that a question was asked. He looks up for a moment and then says, "Oh. Jones. It's my last name. Amadeus Jones." He offers a little smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "Amadeus is kind of a lot. AJ is easier." He packs the tower mold and then sets it atop the flat spot on the wall that he's made, carefully shifting it off the sand and then smoothing it around the base so it looks like part of things instead of just dropped on top. "You're in the arena show, right? The one next door?" He then explains, "I'm in the mermaid lagoon at Venture Cove."

"Amadeus isn't that much. I mean it's a fun song. ...people probably sing that to you all the time, huh?" At least Austin thinks of that before doing it himself, though it's likely in his head now. "Anyway, Amadeus Jones is a good name. It just sounds good. Do you like one better than the other? Of your names, I mean."

He takes look at what AJ's doing, and starts working somewhat similarly on his side. "I am sometimes! Usually I'm in one of them a day, but which one depends. Mostly I walk around a lot talking to kids. Or ride my horse talking to kids. ...I do a lot of talking to kids." He sounds reasonably happy about this. "And a bunch of parents and some grown-ups who just want to talk to me anyway, I guess. What's mermaiding like?"

"It feels like I should be an old composer," Amadeus laughs. But then he shakes his head and says, "No, not often. Thankfully." It's a non-zero amount, but not enough to bother him. "I think I like my middle name the best," he admits. "Florian. Which is almost as much as Amadeus but I feel like it's, I dunno. There's less expectation in it." Then he asks Austin, "What about you? Which of your names do you like the best?" Not that Austin has told him more than one, but now he's curious.

Grinning, he says, "Horseback riding sounds like fun. I've never done it, but it always looks fun." Then he laughs and says, "I do a lot of waving at kids rom underwater in the tank. Less talking, a lot more swimming around and underwater dancing. Though when I do come to the edge of the pool after the show, then sometimes there are people who want to talk to me."

"I've never met a Florian before," Austin says thoughtfully. If this suggests he's met an Amadeus before, that may just be a matter of '80s songs. As for names, "I'm Austin Sindri Healey. I think..." he considers, while smoothing a bit of wall-to-be and sitting back slightly to appraise it, then lean in again to work on it some more, "...I think I like Austin and Oz best. Oz is short, and I like that. Sindri I think people would have more trouble with but my folks say it means 'sparkle' and I do kinda like that."

He makes another mound on top and tries to mold it into a tower. It likely won't be long before he realises it's really going to work better with the mold. "You could ride Aurelius if you like. I don't think he'd mind. It is fun though you can't really go fast in the open areas of the park, 'course. I've never tried dancing underwater but that sounds fun also."

"Sparkle is pretty cool," Amadeus agrees with a grin. "But I like Austin. It's a cool name. Oz is a good nickname, too." He seems to approve of both choices. He muses on that as he pats another bit of sand into his wall to make the tower blend into it. Then, he's busy making another wall and filling up the crenelated mold to add that on top of it.

When Austin starts making a tower, he offers out his tower mold to him while he's busy using the other one. "Really?" he asks when Austin says that he could ride Aurelius. "That'd be so cool. I uh, probably wouldn't really want to go that fast considering I've neer ridden a horse before." He then grins and says, "The fact that I can breathe underwater makes it a lot easier. But I was a dancer, on land, before I came here."

Austin looks at the mold, looks at his tower-so-far, looks at the other tower, and accepts the mold. "Thanks!" All the sand that was part of tower mark one gets moved into the mold and pressed in firmly. "This is kinda like brown sugar. I mean, flattening it into here, though I guess it also kinda looks like brown sugar..." If there's any temptation to eat it, it is resisted. By him, at least. No promises about Pickle, who's found some sort of interesting smell a ways down the beach and is thoroughly investigating it.

"And yeah, really. He spends a lot of time just hanging out in the stables and he'd probably love another outing." The mention of breathing underwater gets a small blink, and then a nod. "Okay, that sounds like it'd help a lot, yeah. Otherwise you could only dance down there for like... a minute or two at a time, right? So how come you decided you'd rather dance underwater?"

Amadeus draws back for a moment to look at the castle taking shape and then laughs. "It does look like brown sugar." He wrinkles his nose though and says, "I'm not licking it. I know where that sand has been." Let's forget about the fact that it is sand in the first place and not at all brown sugar. He cautiously applies his crenelations but one side of the wall starts to crack and topple and he grabs at it with both hands to try to stop the destruction "Oh nooooo.." and then he laughs. "Uh, this side was damaged in the great Crab Wars of 1837." That's his story and he's sticking to it.

"Yeah, most who can't do that use a little breathing tube thing to get air while they're under," AJ says. "Well, originally I was going to dance over at the amphitheater but then when my magic happened, they offered me this job because it pays a little more and it looks more realistic when you don't need the breathing tubes and stuff to do it. I just happened to get the right magic for it. And it sounded like a fun thing to do. I was on the swim team at school. And I love the water. What made you become a Prince?"

Austin's eyes widen at the sudden collapse of the newest crenellation, and for a moment it looks like he might try to catch it as well -- but thankfully, he catches himself, instead, letting Amadeus handle his tottering tower. 'The great Crab Wars' get a laugh, and a nod, as he relaxes again. "That's how you know it's a real castle," he agrees, and hesitates just a moment before risking the attempt to unmold his tower into place. It doesn't come out immediately; he's probably being a bit too ginger with it.

"The water's pretty great," Austin allows. "...and that makes sense 'cause I never heard of anyone yet knowing what magic was going to find them before they got here." He goes quiet for a moment, then, before saying, "I got hurt. And after a while my trainers and coaches and parents and sister all said I should go do something that wasn't just physical therapy for a while. So I starting going to amusement parks. And... I liked this one, and I missed having a team, and they said I'd be a really good prince so... now I am." He gives the mold a little tap, and tilts his head at it as the sand continues not to emerge. "...if this was a cake I'd put a knife up the side but I dunno if that works with sand." A beat. "And also I don't have a knife."

Amadeus grins as Austin accepts his reasoning for the somewhat damaged walls. "Lends authenticity!" Sure, we'll go with that. He continues working the crack and bit of crumbled wall into the aesthetic of the castle before he goes along flattening out another area, creating a strange tiered sort of look, like the castle was continuously being expanded over time up the hill.

He nods though and says, "Yeah, mine happened pretty quick, within the first couple weeks. So I was rehearsing and training at the amphitheater and then I found out my magic and they were like.. well.. how do you feel about doing underwater stuff instead?" He grins and says, "And it sounded like fun and something new, so why not?"

"What did you do before?" he asks. "Like, before you got hurt?" he asks curiously. "And that's awesome that you have a team again and something that you're having fun with. You definitely look like a Prince." He then studies the tower and looks around as though some sort of cake knife might miraculously show up on the beach, but it doesn't. "I'm not sure if that'd work with sand.. and I don't even see like.. an abandoned plastic knife." Which is probably good. No littering!

Austin seems perfectly happy to go along with this claim of authenticity, too, though he doesn't chime anything in on that front. "...who was here fighting the crabs?" he wonders, glancing over the lakeside for any local denizens, "Or I guess the crabs could've been fighting invaders? I think usually something-wars are wars against the something though, aren't they? Honestly I wasn't that great at History."

He doesn't instantly answer the question about before, instead breaking into a brief grin and ducking his head slightly when Amadeus says he looks princely. "I can make my hair do itself now when I'm in character so that helps." Indeed, his hair lengthens a bit and the curls arrange themselves into a more perfectly-imperfect array of loose curls and waves, even more 'fantasy prince', before they slide somewhat shorter and more genuinely tousled again. "'s kinda neat." It's only then that he gets back to, "I played baseball. I'm a pitcher." Still present tense, apparently.

He gives the mold another wiggle and a careful experimental squeeze. "Ah! It moved!" He positions it with some focus, and tries a little more. "Probably it'd be a problem if we were finding knives lying around here, I guess. The crabs'd maybe get cut. ...or start using them to cut other things. Maybe that's what started the Crab Wars."

"Maybe the crabs won the war," Amadeus says, "And now they have made the castle their own." He flashes a grin as Austin seems willing to go along with him on this journey into strange sea-life battles.

"I can, too," Amadeus grins, of being able to make his hair do itself. "That's why it's kind of teal blue in the show. And why my eyes are blue. Contacts suck." And his eyes are definitely not blue now. They're a dark brown.

"Oh, very cool! Baseball's fun. I used to go watch games from time to time." Not since being on the island, but before then.

"Have you seen those tik tok videos of crabs running around holding steak knives? Like, they're no joke. I have no doubt that crab gang wars are a thing. Speaking of which! We should find some denizens for our castle." And so the crab search begins!

Austin's eyes definitely are blue now, though after the example he laughs and concentrates a moment, turning his own brown to match Amadeus's. "Did it work?" he asks, widening them so it's easier to see. "And yeah maybe it is Crab Castle now. They kept the cracks and stuff to remind everyone the old owners couldn't stand up to them. And their knives." He considers this a beat. "They don't sound very nice really."

He (and his blue-again eyes) brightens at the mention of baseball being fun. "I love it," he replies, "I've been playing since pretty much I can remember. Where'd you go see games? Did you have a team or just whoever was playing?" His tower makes it out of the mold and onto the castle. It's... well, it's suffered a little from the need to squeeze it out, but it's still a tower, even if it a less-defined one than ideal. And a bit wonky on the angle.

"Ooh yeah I saw one of those! Probably we should be extra careful about people leaving knives around here.... but yeah!" He turns his head and whistles, which leads to Pickle zooming towards them. "Pickle! Find crabs!" he calls to her, "And... and other little dudes that need a castle!" This is surely not within any dog's repertoire of commands, but Pickle nonetheless gives a little bark and starts off, combing the sands, while Austin pushes up to his feet to join the hunt.

Amadeus laughs and says, "It worked," giving Austin a double thumbs-up. "Sometimes nature is brutal," Amadeus says with a shrug of his shoulders. "And only the stabbiest survive."

"Sometimes when we were in Detroit we'd go to the Tigers games. But really whoever was playing around wherever I happened to be. I moved around a lot with a performing troupe so we ended up in a lot of different cities."

There is no shame in a slightly wonky tower, and AJ gives him a round of applause when it finally makes its full appearance. Then he's off with his bucket to go collect some sea creatures from their tide pools to confuse verily with their new luxury accommodations.

"I don't think I'm made to be all that stabby," Austin reflects, considering this. Hm. Currently he only has a plastic shovel and bucket to consider stabbing with, so it's probably all to the best that he isn't.

He grins a little at the mention of the Tigers. "We were 3-3 with 'em last year," he says, dimming just a touch as he corrects himself, "Year before last." There's the feeling of a silent 'anyway' before he asks, "What kind of places did your troupe dance?" as he moves down toward the water's edge. "Oh! The moat!" He scoops water -- checking it for any stowaway potential castle residents -- into his bucket, and brings it back to fill the ring they'd dug. Maybe it'll confuse the creatures slightly less?

"I am definitely not made to be stabby," Amadeus laughs. He has only a plastic shovel as well and little to no skill in stabbing even if he were better equipped. "So I guess it's good that we don't have an army to defend the castle against at the moment."

"Oh, various performing arts centers and theatres, sometimes schools, depending on what we were doing," Amadeus says, as far as where he performed. "Performing for kids was actually pretty fun, which is why I figured this would be a good place to come and perform."

Crouching down, he grabs a few critters and puts them in the bucket. Perhaps the moat will indeed help them feel a little less confused. Either way, they get deposited around the structure of the castle, some staying where they are, others working to dig new holes in it in which to hide as promptly as possible.

"Maybe we could just talk them out of it, if we did..." Austin doesn't sound entirely convinced of that possibility, but he does sound hopeful. One thing he should probably hope is that they never need to test that. On the bright side, they probably won't.

The remark about performing for gets get a little smile and a nod. "Kids are kinda great for it. Even when some act like jerks it's like... well, they're not actually jerks, they're just little, you know?" He shrugs, and dumps yet another bucket of water into the moat. Nearly full, now -- one more, and then he's off to work on the great rehoming project, over where Pickle's found another tide pool. "You know how hermit crabs are always moving into new shell homes? They'd probably like a castle, yeah?"

"Maybe," Amadeus agrees with a little laugh. He is definitely hoping that they never have to find out.

Instead, he's busy placing small confused creatures all over the castle, watching them scurry about, or try to dig, or just sit there perplexed. All of it is very entertaining. "Yeah," he agrees. "Sometimes they're just kids being kids and you know, as long as their parents correct them and help them understand, cool. It's more the parents that are annoying than the kids most of the time."

He then grins and says, "Yeah, exactly." That's not exactly how hermit crabs work, but he's embracing the joy of this creation that they're making without worrying too much about the actual facts of the situation.

Austin nods firmly at Amadeus's note re: kids vs parents. "Right! ...hey, if Florian's your favourite of your names, do you want me to call you that? 'cause I could."

He looks pleased at the confirmation that the hermit crabs will probably like the place, "And I'm pretty sure they're not usually, y'know... stabby. I don't think I ever saw a video of a hermit crab with a knife. But if the crabs did win and this is their castle, they can represent at least, right?" His next trip to the tide pools brings back three of them, among a couple frogs and other tiny ambulatory critters. "I kinda wanted a starfish but I wasn't sure it could get back later," he says, settling his new tenants in, "...and anyway I didn't find any. Maybe they don't do lakes." He draws a little star in the sand of the walls instead, and sits back on his heels, admiring their work as Pickle comes back over and bonks her head against his shoulder.

He wraps an arm over the dog to give her a scritch, and grins over at Amadeus. "I dunno why I wanted to do this but I'm glad I did. Thanks for doing it with me." Standing, he releashes Pickle. "You were getting out to leave when I got here, right? If you're not in a hurry, wanna go find get a snack and some apples or carrots or something? I can introduce you to Aurelius." On the theory that even if not, they'll be heading in more or less the same direction, he starts that general direction, turning around to walk backward a few steps and give his new friend another brilliant smile. "C'mon!"