Summary: Cedric is making a sandcastle, participating in a competition and deals with some would-be saboteurs.
Cedric carefully observed the stretch of ground that he had been told was his to build upon at his whim and desire. He gently touched the ground, scooping up a handful of the finely ground rock that the ground was made up of, allowing it to pass between his fingers. He looks over the tools he had been given to make the mock-fortification. One large bucket, two smaller buckets, an appropriately sized hand-shovel, and one stick.
He starts creating the fortification by starting to dig into the dry and soft upper layer of sand, keeping going until he finds the damp, but harder-packed layer beneath it. Cedric had been careful to pile the dry sand towards where the ocean waves crash into the sea shore, for transport later. Once he was certain that he had a good, smooth foundation, he got up and out of the four foot deep hole that he’d dug and began to dig a moat all the way around, for a rudimentary defense.
Once the moat was ready, Cedric carried the buckets of dry sand over to the water’s edge and dipping them into it, until he was sure that all of the sand and water had mixed together so that it would be an acceptable building material for what he needed it to be. He then carried the buckets back over to the hole that he had dug and his eyes narrowed a little as some of the dry top sand had been clearly kicked or pushed into the hole. A huff leaves the young black Templar and he puts the top sand back where he had placed it earlier, and got to work building the outer walls.
He was about a third of the way through making the outer walls, when he heard several giggles and the press of skin against sand behind him. Cedric frowned as he saw two teenage baselines and a baseline who couldn’t be older than ten years old, peering into the foundation of his sand castle, before they started to kick dry top sand into the hole.
“What are you doing?” Cedric asked, glaring up at them from when he was working.
The youngest of the trio squeaked and hid behind the legs of one of the teenagers.
The teenager closest to him huffed and rolled their eyes “We’re having some fun, man. Don’t sweat it.”
“Then have your fun elsewhere. I am building a sandcastle, and you kicking dry sand into the foundation of it is neither helpful, nor wanted.” Cedric mildly rebuked, keeping his tone even and calm, even as irritation bubbled just under the surface. Why did they have to bother him? There is miles and miles of beach to enjoy.
“Jeeze, don’t be so serious! It’s not as if we knocked down one of your walls. Kind of like thi-“ The second teenager responded, bringing one of their feet back and clearly aiming to kick out one of the walls that he had so carefully built.
Cedric was in front of that spot and caught their foot with two of his fingers, holding their foot very lightly but securely. “Do not. Attempt to destroy. My sandcastle. I am participating in a competition and do not appreciate your interference. There are miles of beach to enjoy that is not here where you are bothering someone else. I suggest that you leave.” With that, he releases their foot and uses minimal force to push them back. Not enough to send them flying, just enough so that they overbalance and have to take a couple of steps back, or risk falling over in front of the other teen and the baseline child.
“The fuck is wrong with you? You’re making sandcastles way too seriously! The point of them is that they don’t last forever. C’mon Daryl, Cora, let’s get out of here. There’s a rude bastard who doesn’t understand the meaning of fun over here.” The idiot teenager complained, aiming for bravado. The amount of fear that was coming off of them was almost insulting.
“Are you going to tell mom? I think we should…” Daryl - the other teenager - asked, also nervous.
“And tell her that we were messing around with an unknown astartes on the beach? We’ll be grounded for weeks!” The dumbest bastard of the three of them hissed back.
“Are we gonna have to give the five bucks back to the tall mister who told us to distract him from his castle-making?” The baseline child asked curiously, tilting their head up at the two teenagers curiously.
“Fuck no, we earned it. Let’s go, Cor.” Daryl answered, scooping up the child and heading off, with the idiot teenager trailing behind him, cursing Cedric out for not letting them do what they wanted.
Cedric returned to making his sand-castle. Once the outer walls were solid, he began making the inner defensive structures, going back to the water’s edge periodically to get more wet sand to work with. He will tell the judges what the trio of baselines had attempted to do, and give them the recording of their confession that they’d been sent specifically to try and sabotage him. Which, Cedric thought, was rather ridiculous, but it was against the rules.
