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The Competitors: Kres, Borgick, Midnight, Stan, Ellenell 

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"Kress, due to your clear preparation for this event in particular, you'll get your chance to pick your assistant first and select who will be going after you," said Thyme. 

*Excellent.* Kress certainly wasn't going to argue with that. "Can I discuss it with my first choice before confirming things?" asked Kress. 

Thyme nodded, "You'll have a few minutes to discuss yes, but after five minutes I'll be forcing you to choose. We don't have all day anymore," 

Kress nodded and jogged over to Blue. Nabras and Bonas turned surprised gazes to Kress, but Nell seemed oddly smug. Blue seemed a mixture of exasperated and resigned. "Hey Blue, interested in joining my team for this event?" 

"Gee, I'm popular today aren't I?" asked Blue to the air. "Why is it exactly that you think I'm worth recruiting for this?" 

Kress shrugged and said, "Well firstly, I think your water magic will be useful for mixing sand and water to get the right consistency for things. On top of that, your mage training should've given you a good eye for details. Finally, I know you're at least somewhat friendly with Kat, so you aren't likely to deliberately sabotage my efforts." It wasn't quite the full reasoning, but it was good enough. 

Blue tapped her foot on the sand a few times. "I'm really not looking to use even MORE mana today…" Kress just shrugged. It was a decent worry and he wasn't going to force the issue if she wasn't interested. "Still… I've had a bit of a rest. How much work do you expect me to do exactly?" 

Kress once again, shrugged. "I'm willing to take what I can get. I'm sure I can figure out some good instructions for the Timmy to mix sand if you want a break or something. It just seems like using magic for what I can would be the best choice," 

"Hmm…" Blue let out a long hum as she thought on the answer. "Who would you grab instead of me? If I turned you down?"

*Do I actually want to answer that? Not particularly… but I do want to recruit Blue enough that I'm willing to reveal a few more of my cards. I'll just talk about my second choice. Nothing more. If Blue wants to turn me down, I can point out that the other contestants can ask after me, and I'm not sure if she can say no if one of us forced the issue. Plus technically, she'll have to follow instructions. At least according to Thyme.*

"Probably Burgandy? I don't actually know what other mages we have but Burgandy's earth element is something I could at least think of a few uses for. I'd just lose a lot of time transferring the completed designs into the marked area… but I worry about just how long that would take. On top of that, she's not a mage, so she might not be able to help get the details right," answered Kress. 

Blue nodded but didn't say anything. Kress pretended to check his watch… only to see a watch appear on his wrist. The fact that it was made out of sand and the numbers were counting down from five minutes implied rather strongly this was Thyme's doing. Apparently he had about three minutes left. 

Another minutes passed, so Kress had to ask, "What's your decision? I don't exactly have infinite time here," 

Nell elbowed Blue and made a 'go-on' gesture. Blue just sighed at Nell's response but nodded, "Right… I guess… is there anything you can say to convince me?" 

"Everyone saw that I was the most prepared for this task, and everyone also saw me come over here and ask you to join my team… so even if you say no to me you'll probably have to say no to four other people," said Kress. 

"That's a bit of a dickish way of persuading me, but fuck it, I guess I'm in," said Blue with a shrug as they both made their way back to the platform, with Nell clapping behind them as they went. 

Once Kress made it back onto stage, Thyme asked, "Right, so who's next then?"

"I guess… Ellenell can go next? I'm already working with his teammate so I might as well go with that," said Kress. 

"Right, I can see the logic," said Thyme with a nod. "Ellenell, you have five minutes," 

Ellenell shrugged and moved down to request Burgandy's help. He had heard Kress' idea after all and didn't have any better ideas for picking who should help. "Burgandy, would you do me the honour of acting as my assistant for this challenge?" asked Ellenell. 

"Sure, why not," said Burgandy, taking much less persuasion then Blue. Ellenell and Burgandy nodded at each other and then headed back to the stand. Burgandy's team wasn't surprised at this turn of events, considering they'd heard Kress talk as well. Still, Burgandy's teammates were planning to make fun of her for agreeing so easily when they next saw her. 

With that confirmed, Ellenell decided to do the same as Kress and pass the buck towards the team he was working with, and picked Stan to go next. Stan pouted at Kress for a few seconds before wandering off into the crowd. He looked everyone over a few times, with his gaze landing on Kat, who just raised an eyebrow as if asking 'you really want to do this?' but neither said anything. 

Eventually Stan turned to Gareth who had a full set of clothes on this time and said, "Gareth, you might not be Kress, but I humbly ask you work with me to show him I know how to build sandcastles!" 

Gareth felt his smile twitching somewhat but nodded and said, "Look, I'm not sure I can really help you beat Kress in a sand castle building contest but I'm willing to team up with you for this part," 

Stand seemed to think that was an acceptable answer because he turned around and headed back up towards the stage with Gareth following after them. That just left Borgick and Midnight who would be picking assistance from each other's team. Thyme was curious as to which one Stan would pick first. So they waited for an answer… and waited… and waited… "Stan… can you announce who's going next?" 

"Oh… um what?" said Stan somewhat distractedly as he looked around. "Um… sure that one," said Stan pointing towards Midnight… over Borgick's head. Thyme looked at them both awkwardly for a few moments. 

"Right… Midnight?" offered Thyme, not really sure who Stan had meant. Midnight shrugged but moved forward. He walked over to Carl.

"Hey Carl want to join my team?" asked Midnight. 

"I don't mind, but am I really the best choice?" asked Carl. 

Midnight shrugged, "I dunno but you seemed super chill in the earlier event, and that seems useful for a long task like this. Asteodia could work… but she overlooked the whole 'no magic thing' last time and I don't want to risk that," 

"Hey!" said Asteodia from the side. 

Carl rubbed his chin for a few moments before shrugging, "Right well, nobody ever said I don't know how to listen to orders, so I guess I'll be coming along," 

Thyme waited for the exact moment Carl and Midnight had stepped up onto the platform before turning to Borgick and saying, "Looks like it's just you my friend, who are you going to recruit?" 

"Oh ay, leave the dwarf till last. We're not going to complain," grumbled Borgick. Thyme just shrugged at the dwarf, not really sure what to say. Borgick waved Thyme's half-hearted concern off and went to Marigold's team and looked them all over. Marigold of course posed seductively, trying to draw attention her way. Vanya was pinching her nose, Burnice was looking away with a cloak on and Mauve was staring right at Borgick waiting for him to pick. 

"Looks like I'll be getting a lass on my team regardless of what I pick… but do any of ya want to sign up?" asked Borgick. 

"Oh memememememem!" insisted Marigold. 

Borgick looked at the rather telling silence from everyone else. "Nobody else going to compete for the spot?" asked Borgick. 

Burnice snorted and said, "Yeah like I'm going to get between Marigold and a chance to show off. I'm not that stupid," 

Borgick looked over to Vanya who just gave a shrug of 'what-can-you-do'. Borgick wasn't exactly pleased with that answer, but Mauve returned a similar shrug. "Right, guess you'll be on me team then Marigold," 

Marigold, not one to let a chance slip by pulled Borgick into her arms and rushed back to the platform like she was making a touchdown in football. Quite a few people were worried she'd slam the poor dwarf into the stage as well. Thyme just watched Marigold do her thing while making sure nobody got hurt in her charge. "Right, it seems everyone is paired up…"