Kress chapter
Judges: Ulf/'Steve' Auctifer, Oditr, Titania, Mint
Criteria: Looks, Not-sand features, Structurally Sound, Creativity, Looks
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The illusion around Kress shattered and he could see that Oditr and Auctifer were standing back in a line with the other judges. Mint was still over by Kat, but Thyme was reaching over to grab her. Literally. Kress watched as Thyme inflated their form and leaned all the way over like a creepy shadow monster. Mint froze in place as Kat and Lily looked up at Thyme behind her. Mint slowly raised her head until she saw the grasping hand of Thyme, and then screamed as Thyme snatched her and put her back with the rest of the judges.
Mint was holding a hand over where her heart would be as she said, "Geeze Thyme that terrified me. I nearly lost control of this body as you did that… also am I holding my hand over the correct spot for my heart? The lack of beating makes it hard to tell,"
"Yes it looks about right," said Thyme with a nod before turning seriously. Deadly serious. Thyme now had on a suite and tie with a big briefcase… and looked super dried out and creaked as they moved. Deadly serious. "Now. We've had enough fun and games. You all need to actually JUDGE the final entry. You haven't even moved from this podium judges,"
"Can we just call this team the winner and go eat?" asked Steve.
"No," said Thyme. "You can't. Things might surprise you,"
"I give them a ten. Now can I go eat?" said Steve.
Thyme walked over and went to slap Steve on the back of the head before pausing. "Wait… would slapping you for not doing your job properly be considering interfering with the judges because I'm inflicting pain upon you after you've given a score? Even if I don't think it's a valid one… is that my place to judge?"
Thyme mumbled a few more things as they opened up the briefcase and reached in, with their whole arm so clearly it was bigger on the inside, and pulled out this massive book. Thyme swiftly flicked through the pages until they reached the one they were looking for… probably. At that point Thyme took out a pair of spectacles and carefully read over the paper while mumbling nonsense as they went. "Ok… says here I can make a formal protest but going so far as to hit you would constitute undue interference on my end, despite the fact that it wouldn't hurt you and certainly wouldn't cause any lasting damage…" mumbled Thyme.
Thyme then put the book back in the briefcase before rummaging around in it a little longer and pulling out a piece of paper. Thyme flicked a hand over it quickly and suddenly it was completely filled in. He then slapped it on Steve's face. "There, that's my official notice of complaint. You can go do whatever you want while everyone else judges the sculpture,"
Steve shrugged and moved off to the side to lean on the wall. While he did that the other judges investigated the scene. Kress walked out onto one copy as well, the one with Oditr, because he didn't want to give away that it was his and Blue's work. It was also nice to look over what they'd done with fresh eyes.
Honestly? What they'd done was stunning. Kress was beyond happy with how things turned out now that he'd seen how things had gone for everyone else. Kress had been worried about what everyone would use Timmy for and what ways they might've found to use the little guy better then him. A big worry was Gareth and Burgandy using magic to make stone platforms, having Timmy magic up a sand sculpture, and then carry it back into the square.
Clearly they didn't think about that. No, it was all… rather simple things for everyone else in the end. Kress knew he could be proud that he'd built a whole damn town. Hopefully the fancier buildings would show enough creativity for Titania. The parks, flags and various other little details would impress Auctifer, and that it would hold up well enough under the shaking.
There was just so much for everyone to poke at. Thyme had to make the invisible surface visible in a few places. Stairs down into the ravine, stairs up around the castle so you could look at it all properly. There was so much there. The only thing Kress was a bit sad about was the lack of a dock area, but that was at too big a risk of being washed away, so while it was sad, it did still make sense planning wise.
The houses were still a great touch. Kress especially liked how Timmy had ensured they weren't quite perfectly space, and that they had different little details. Some had trees, others had fences, something that must've been Blue's idea. Then there were the houses that Blue had intentionally destroyed to add a bit of flair to certain sections. Or the few houses that were half finished and Timmy had added scaffolding too.
Lots of nice little details. *I can hardly believe we managed it. I'm proud of what we accomplished. Though… hmm… I wonder if Thyme will keep it around and preserve it somehow? I wasn't too bothered with it washing away before. It was just four hours of work… but now I kinda hope it sticks around. I'll mention it to Thyme later I guess.*
Eventually, it was time for the destruction testing. Kress watched as things started to crumble. The ravine was surprisingly stable, and so was the castle. The road was the first thing to go, because the nice crisp lines quickly fell apart. The houses were next, even if the trees near them tended to stay strong. Then came down the prison. Too many delicate bits of work there. Once a small part went down, so did the rest.
The library held up surprisingly well, even as the castle started to collapse. It was in fact, the last building standing if you didn't count the parks. Timmy had clearly planted those trees quite firmly. Eventually though, it too fell and Kress berated himself for not paying attention to the destruction tests the other sculptures went through. He didn't have the context to know if this was a good result.
With the destruction done, everyone walked back over to the main platform and Thyme said, "Right, you've now seen everything so it's time to go over the final scores. Most of them will be hidden for now… but as is tradition, why don't you tell us all what you're thinking for this final sculpture?"
"I already said, 10," called Steve from the corner.
Mint spoke next and said, "I think I have to go for a ten as well. It's fantastic really. All the colours, the little details. Everything from the little houses, to the parks to the massive castle in the background is all just… exceptionally done. Heck there were ROADS, sand roads. How they had the time, even with Timmy's help just… it's not something I could imagine being done in four hours.
"Then there were all the unique buildings and the ravine! They could've just made a town out of copies of the same house but they branched out and added so many cool things. It's just… yeah it's wonderful I'm giving it full marks,"
"I'm giving it full marks as well," said Titania. "The unique buildings show enough creativity for me to give high marks, but the extra details are what push it up even further. If that wasn't enough, finding out just how well they leveraged Timmy adds the final point of creativity for me,"
Auctifer went next and said, "I hardly need to say anything here. I never considered that anyone would make such good use of things other than sand. It's worth mentioning that the sand is still definitely the star of the show. This isn't a case of making things and putting sand on them like last time. It's a SAND TOWN with a few little things that couldn't use sand, like the trees, added in to really make things pop. I give full marks as well,"
"I'm not sure I want to give full marks like the others," said Oditr. "I mean… I might still do it, I need to think about it for longer. Unlike the rest of these guys I only just saw the destruction stuff… and I'm still on the fence. The colours make it look awesome even after its all been destroyed… but in the previous examples more things survived if that makes sense? Sure the sand structures were sturdier then any of the others, but the trees stuck around after falling over. So… I'm a bit torn. It does look wonderful though, so I think this team is looking at least an eight from me. Just not sure if I should give the two extra points on the 'holds up to destruction' side of things,"
*Even if Oditr doesn't give us full marks… we've still won. I've done it. I've got another win under my belt for the team and I couldn't be happier.*
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om