Hey folk I'm back.  How have y'all been?

"Where are they?" wondered Cancer out loud, staring around.

"I don't know," said Pisces. "Maybe Libra and Capricorn, as sane human beings, decided to drive under five thousand miles per hour."

"Look, everything I did in that car was perfectly legal," argued Saggy.

"Look, there's Libra!" pointed Cancer, as a car pulled up to the beach.

"Hey guys!" waved Libra, getting out of the car. "How come you're all waiting outside?"

"We love you and couldn't bear to go inside without you," said Pisces, hugging Libra.

"We don't have any money," said Scorpio.

Libra rolled her eyes. "This doesn't surprise me at all." She pulled her wallet out of her pocket and went up to the counter. "Eight tickets, please."

"I got it," interrupted Gemini. "I'm, like, super rich, remember?"

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting," frowned Libra.

"Hey, what's that?" pointed Saggy. Everyone looked, and she swiped Gemini's wallet.

"Eight tickets," said the guy behind the counter, handing them their wristbands. "Have a good day."

"Thanks," smiled Cancer, and they all walked down the path to the beach.

It was fairly early in the morning, so there weren't too many people there. Cancer and Libra had both brought umbrellas and towels, so they set up next to each other, and began forcing everyone to put on sunscreen.

"You can't tell me what to do!" cackled Saggy, running all over the beach.

"Okay, your burn," shrugged Virgo, as everyone else put on their sunscreen.

"Scorpio's not putting any on either," pointed out Saggy.

"Sunscreen is for the weak," said Scorpio, lying down on Cancer's towel with her sunglasses covering her eyes.

"Alright, I'm hungry," said Taurus. "Anyone want to go get a snack?"

"No, Aquarius is covering my food," said Scorpio.

"Sure, I'll come," offered Gemini. "Think they're serving hot dogs yet? I want to see how many I can eat today."

"I bet I can eat more," said Taurus.

"Twenty dollars?"

"Bet." They shook on it.

"Gemini is toast," winced Pisces, as the pair walked back up the trail to the food stand. Then, he jumped to his feet. "Okay, I'm ready to go in the water! Who's coming?"

Cancer yanked him down. "You have to wait for your sunscreen to dry!"

"Ugh, I forgot," groaned Pisces. "Wait, can we do one of those narrative devices where someone says in an ominous voice "One half hour later"?"

"I'm down," agreed Saggy, and cleared her throat. "One half hour later...

One half hour later, Gemini had paid Taurus the twenty dollars he owed her, Taurus had spent twenty dollars more than she was planning on hot dogs, Cancer Virgo and Libra were talking about a book series they'd read, Pisces was complaining about how bored he was, Scorpio was apparently trying to tan with all her clothes on, and Saggy was running around the beach screaming. And people were getting kind of concerend about where the other car was.

"Maybe it was a mistake to put Aries Leo and Aquarius in the same car," frowned Libra.

"Did they get lost?" wondered Cancer.

"I'd text them, but I really don't think we should make another group chat," said Virgo.

"I'll call Cap," said Libra, pulling out her phone.

It rang for a few seconds, and then Leo answered it. "Hi???"

"Hey Leo, it's Libra. Where are you guys?"

"We're on the road. Capricorn got lost."

"No I didn't!" yelled a voice.

"Really lost."

"Aries was navigating!"

"We should be there soon," concluded Leo, "Capricorn's really sorry he messed up. He said you can all throw sand at him when he gets there."

"Oh you'll throw sand-"

"Alright see you soon byeee!" The phone disconnected.

"Are they on their way?" asked Cancer.

"Oh, they're on their way," said Libra, putting down the phone, "But I'm starting to get seriously concerned about Leo's long term health."

"I'm not even going to ask," grumbled Virgo.

"Hey guys, it's been half an hour!" said Pisces, excited. "Let's go build a sandcastle!"

"Sure," agreed Cancer, pulling her top layers off of her swimsuit. "Let's go."

"Want to go for a swim?" Libra asked Virgo.

"Sure," he shrugged, standing up.

About ten minutes later, Aries, Leo, Capricorn, and Aquarius walked onto the beach. Capricorn wordlessly set up his umbrella and towel, put on a pair of dark sunglasses, and lay down on his towel without saying a word.

Once Libra noticed they'd arrived, she harassed Aries Leo and Aquarius into putting on sunscreen, and forced them to sit for half an hour.

"I'm boreeed," whined Aries.

"I shall entertain you!" announced Leo. "What do you call a dwarf with ESP who escapes from prison?"

"What?" asked Aries.

"A small medium at large," grinned Leo. Aries snorted in amusement.

"I have one," said Aquarius. "What's a patronizing criminal walking down a staircase?"

"..."

"A condescending con descending."

"Dude!" grinned Leo, high fiving Aquarius.

Aries shrugged. "Eh, Leo's was better." Leo stuck his tongue out, while Aquarius pretended to cry.

Capricorn turned to Scorpio, who was currently dead to the world. "Any ideas on how to make them shut up?"

Scorpio adjusted her reflective sunglasses slightly. "We could kill all of them."

"I was thinking something a little more extreme," said Capricorn.

"Okay, that's our exit cue," said Aquarius jumping up. "When weighing the options of 'slight sunburn' or 'murdered my Capricorn and Scorpio' I prefer 'slight sunburn."

Leo smirked, rolling up his sleeves. "I don't know, I think we can take them."

Scorpio sat up. "Oh yeah? Are you ready for an arm wrestle, lion boy?"

"You are going down," grinned Leo, and lay down on his stomach facing Scorpio so they could arm wrestle. They both started pushing.

"Go Scorpio!" cheered Aquarius.

"Dude!" complained Leo. "Why are you on her side?"

"Because if she loses she's going to buy more food and I'm paying."

"That's actually true," said Scorpio.

"Don't worry Leo, I'm on your side," grinned Aries, "I want Aquarius to lose money."

"I love how supportive all of my friends are," said Leo.

Aquarius checked his watch, and stared at Leo and Scorpio, locked in concentration. "Yeah, I'm going to scoot before this blows up. Toodles!" He and Aries ran off, the half hour was almost up anyways.

Meanwhile, Pisces and Cancer were building sandcastles when Libra and Virgo came up to them. "Alright," said Libra, smiling, "You guys being the only ones building sandcastles has gone on long enough. Virgo and I want in. Are you down for a sandcastle building contest?"

"Sure," agreed Pisces. "Cancer and I against you two?"

"Yeah," nodded Virgo.

"Ooh! Me too!" Aries ran over, dragging Aquarius. "We're also playing."

Virgo stood up. "I am no longer interested in this competition."

Libra yanked him down. "Virgo, this was your idea."

"Who's going to judge?" asked Cancer.

Libra scanned the beach, and saw Saggy running around like a maniac. "Hey Saggy!" she called. "Want to judge our sandcastle building contest?"

"Sure!"

"Won't she be biased towards Aries?" asked Pisces.

"Are you kidding? She'll be biased against Aries."

"...yeah," shrugged Aries.

Saggy ran over, and started building a throne out of sand. "I'm accepting bribes in any modern form of currency."

"This was a mistake," groaned Virgo.

"...and begin!"

Meanwhile, after lurking at the snack bar for a solid twenty minutes, Gemini and Taurus returned to the main part of the beach, where Leo and Scorpio were having an arm wrestle and Capricorn was pretending not to notice anyone.

"Hi Cap!" waved Gemini. "When did you guys get here?" Capricorn pulled his hat over his face. "Rude."

"We've been here for a while," grunted Leo, sweat rolling down his forehead.

Taurus leaned down to inspect the pair. "Dude any bets on who wins?"

"Twenty bucks on Scorpio," said Gemini.

"Hey!"

"Ooh, betting on the safe side I see." nodded Taurus.

"...hey!"

"What's everyone doing down by the beach?" pointed Gemini.

"Don't know, don't care," said Capricorn.

"Wanna go see?" Gemini asked Taurus.

"Sure," she shrugged, and they walked down to where the sandcastle competition was in full swing.

Virgo and Libra had a very good foundation for their sandcastle established, and were starting to add decoration. Libra was making drip castles around the fronteir, while Virgo was using a couple different sized buckets to add towers to the main structure. Cancer and Pisces's castle was significantly more developed, they had moved on from the foundation to an intricate design of towers and bases, with actual staircases descending between them and seashells pressed into the sides. Aries and Aquarius... well perhaps the less said about their castle the better.

"Okay so clearly Virgo Libra Cancer and Pisces are building sand castles, but what are Aries and Aquarius doing?" asked Gemini.

"This is a sandcastle," said Aquarius, pointing at a roughly mound-shaped patch of sand. "See? There's a moat."

"That's a moat?" blinked Aries, turning to look. "I thought that was a plumbing accident."

"I'm judging," said Saggy, kicking her feet up onto a footstool made of sand.

"Our castle is better than Virgo's castle," said Aries.

Virgo looked up from the tower he was building. "Please enlighten me as to how you came to that conclusion."

Aries pointed at her castle. "Yours is derivative of classic sand caslte archetecture. Ours... has a moat."

"Yes, I can see that," said Virgo, as a wave rolled in and washed away most of the castle.

"You're going down virgin!"

Virgo turned to Libra. "Why does she always call me that?"

"...and done!" said Pisces, stepping back, looking proud. Their castle stood twice Cancer's height and even had carvings in the sides. Pisces looked at Virgo and Libra's half done castle, and Aries and Aquarius's patch of beach. "You guys ready?"

Aries cracked her knuckles. "Heck yeah."

Aquarius cleared his throat. "Um, actually-"

"I think we're ready," nodded Libra.

Saggy cleared her throat. "Are you ready for my verdict?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, Cancer and Pisces win. Virgo and Libra get second. Aries and Aquarius... please destroy that thing before it frightens any children."

Cancer and Pisces high fived, and so did Virgo and Libra.

Aries glanced at Virgo and Libra. "Sure, it looks pretty, but can it stand up to an invasion?"

Virgo glanced at Aries. "What do you mean?"

Aries rolled up her sleeves. "Aren't you the least bit curious about how well your castle could actually defend against a hostile attacking force?"

Virgo shot a look at Libra. "Are you okay with this?"

"By all means," gestured Libra, stepping back.

"Okay, go crazy," nodded Virgo. Aries charged the sandcastle and started trying to push it over with her head. Virgo went up behind her and picked up both of her feet, dumping her in the sand.

"MMmm!?"

"I think she forgot about the defense patrol," Virgo said to Libra, who was laughing.

"You sneaky virgin!"

"Want to go get some food?" Virgo asked Libra.

"Love to," she smiled. "I'll go get Capricorn, he looks way to happy right now." The pair walked off to go annoy Capricorn.

Saggy snapped a picture of Aries pulling herself out of the pile of sand. "This is for the scrapbook."

"Virgo needs to die," said Aries.

"Guys our sandcastle has a functioning drawbridge!" exclaimed Pisces, pulling a lever. A drawbridge lifted up and down.

"Neat!" said Aquarius, running over. "How does it work?"

"We're not entirely sure," admitted Cancer.

Saggy slid off her throne. "I'm going to help you guys make your castle even more epic than it already is so that when people walk by I can say "I helped build that"."

Pisces shrugged. "At least you're honest." Saggy and Aquarius started building a moat around the castle.

"When I grow up," mused Cancer, "I want to build an actual house made of sand."

"Let's do that," agreed Pisces. "You and me. We'll become world famous sand architects."

"I don't know," frowned Aquarius. "Is there really an industry in that?"

"Well, no, but is that really the grain point?" challenged Cancer.

"Yes, it was, you should have been claying more attention," glared Saggy in mock anger.

Pisces wrapped his arms around Cancer. "Jeez Saggy, no need to be such a beach."

"DANG!" said Aquarius. Saggy smacked his arm. The four of them went back to working on the sand castle.

Virgo Libra Gemini Capricorn and Taurus went over to the snack bar to get some food. "Didn't you guys just eat?" Libra asked Gemini and Taurus.

"I'm still hungry," shrugged Taurus.

"I actually don't know why I'm here," frowned Gemini.

"I'm here for food," grunted Capricorn, paying for some fries.

Libra elbowed him. "And to socialize with your friends."

"Ah, yes, that too." After buying their food, they went over to sit down on a bench, and were just about to dig in when someone behind them yelled "Boo!"

Everyone except Virgo jumped six feet. Virgo merely groaned. "We're not doing this again."

"You bet we are," grinned Aries. "I still have to scare you."

Virgo pulled up his ice cream in front of his face. "I'm eating my ice cream right now."

"Good idea, I'm going to go get some..." Aries left for the snack bar.

"Note to self," said Virgo. "Aries can be distracted with food."

"Hey does anyone want to go swimming after this?" asked Gemini.

"Sure," nodded Libra, and everyone else agreed too (even Capricorn!). After they were done eating, they walked over to see if any of the sandcastle builders were interested, and... Leo and Scorpio were still doing an arm wrestle?!?

"Whoa, is this the same game?" asked Gemini.

"Yeh," grunted Scorpio, staring intently at her arm.

"We're going swimming, are you guys coming?" asked Libra.

"One sec," Leo said shortly. Capricorn shrugged, and they walked towards the ocean.

To be continued...