Rock'em Sock'em {Maye vs. Granite Golem} - Day 3

[charade]

Maye

One face in the sky. Myara Lowe. Relative of one of the victors. Maye was starting to get distraught. Almost half the girls in the arena were dead and she was nowhere near the sausage fest. Not to mention she was starting to think that feminine wiles weren’t going to take her very far if the menfolk were intent on putting all the women in coffins. At least she was safe on her perch, even in the weather was foul. Maye dozed off after the anthem, feeling miserable and not in the mood to play with the toys she’d acquired over the last few days.
--

The morning brought with it a sprinkle of rain and the taste of death in her mouth. Not only because she hadn’t brushed her teeth, but because bits of Sanders and blood had spent all night in there. It was unpleasant to say the least, and she knew she looked like a wreck.

She set off away from the stone structures and headed east, having heard a muted roar in the direction of what seemed like the cornucopia and saw smoke rising. Something bad had happened over there, and she was curious. Then she heard the cannon and decided she wasn’t that curious.

“I’ll bet you five bucks that it was another girl. We’re becoming an endangered species, I tell you.”

Given his silence, Yorick was apparently not a gambling man.

At some point after having heard the cannon, the grassy knoll gave way to rocks. Like, a shit ton of rocks. Nothing new there. She wondered how long it would be before she found the mailbox that the gamemakers had been talking about and being bored, started blaring into the megaphone again.

“WELCOME TO ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF THE LONE MAYNGER AND HER SIDEKICK BONTO!" Maye started loping along in her best impression of Mace Emberstatt and tried to speak in a rural district ten accent. But with no one around, she had no idea of how it sounded. “Yessiree Bonto, Ah’m tha rootinest tootinest cowgirl this side of district ten. Horses ain’t the only thing I cahn ride.” She said with a slow wink at the sky. There was a pause before she started counting things off with her fingers.

“There’s also mules and donkeys and cows and…” she trailed off with a low giggle.

“What did you think I was going to say?”

Even though he was dead and blind, Maye could almost feel Yorick rolling his nonexistent eyes at her.

Almost.

“It was dicks, wasn’t it.” She laughed. You thought I was going to say dicks.” She howled with laughter, ignoring the pain shooting through the back of her skull. “Get your mind of the gutter you naughty boy, or mama spank.”

If Yorick had had a throat, he might have grumbled. But, well…

She was still laughing to herself about how he didn't have a butt when the rocks stood up.

Wait, they did what now?

Maye turned around slowly as what she had taken to be a pile of shiny rocks stood up and shook the dirt off of its shoulders.

What.

“You’ve got to be fuckin kiddin me.” She breathed in exhaustion. The thing, whatever it was, the rock man, towered over her. It had to be nearing at least eleven feet, if not twelve. It looked like it was twice her height. Its feet were huge, giving off the impression that it was wearing stone boots. Well, you know what they say about big feet. She chuckled nervously as it rose to it's full height.  

Big…hands. Oh god those are big hands.

Is it time to panic now? Now seems like a good time to panic.

So Maye panicked, screaming in terror and hurling a javelin at the monstrosity in front of her.

-attacks granite golem-

fclqRGFsjavelin
-- SHALLOW CUT ON BACK -- 4.0 damage

javelin

[Stare]

[googlefont="Sanchez:400"]

ROCKWELL

Stillness was a comfort to him.

He knew not of anything that came before, of the mountains, like ancestors to him, that stood the tests of time. He knew only of the long nights and longer days, when the sun filled him with a warmth that thawed even icy bones made of stone. He knew of hunger, of thirst, of a deep instinct to wait because eventually food would come. And he did wait. He waited with the patience of the river that cut canyons over centuries. Because there was something about stillness that held a promise of something on its way, of something worth waiting for.

And it was fate when food finally came.

He was not very smart. It didn't matter. He sensed movement, and something in him shifted, old bones creaking to life. He liked the stillness, the comfort of a life he'd been living since the beginning, but the hunger made him to uncurl his spine and rise up toward the sun like something green and living rather than the mostly dead thing he felt like sometimes.

It was a fleshy, soft thing, small and easy to break. He'd never seen one before, yet some quiet voice inside of him, gentle and prodding, informed him that this was the very best kind of food. This was the food he was made to eat, whether he realized it or not.

It was loud, though, with something that shone like polished stone briefly before striking him. The pain was unexpected and he stumbled back with a grunt, blinking at the fleshy creature. Perhaps not an easy meal, but he was hungry and it had been days.

He was not very smart. It didn't matter. He knew how to eat.

[Rockwell attacks Maye with fist (blunt)]
JdVAu|YMblunt
[block, 0.0]

blunt

[charade]

Maye

The thing stared at for a moment, as if barely registering that she'd hit it in the back. Then it reared back one meaty fist and attempted to punch her. Somehow, Maye knew that would be bad for her. If it connected with her neck, why it'd probably knock her block off. And then she'd be like Yorick, and she simply couldn't have that now, could she? Stupid mutts trying to kill me every day. Suck a dick, Capri. I already told you me stealing the paper was your bodyguards fault. 

She held up the shaft of her javelin to block the incoming fist and it worked; granted she stumbled back a couple paces from the force of the blow, but the weapon held and she wasn't injured. It was surprising, but she was okay with it. "Thanks, Pokey." she breathed in relief as she recovered and proceeded to get out of the way.  

"Look Mr, Rock...well, I don't know what else to call you." she said in casual horror and she sprinted around it in a circle. "No offense, but I refused to be a sheep's brunch yesterday. I'm not about to get eaten by a rock. Okay? That''d be like, lowering my standards."  She wondered what Yorick would say if he was watching the fight instead of the inside of her rucksack.  Probably something rude. Then she remembered that he was a skull and therefore shouldn't have anything to say at all.  Phew, that was close. I'm all teetering on the edge of sanity and whatnot. I better do something about that. 

Then a stroke of genius struck her. It didn't have any breasts that she could see, so it was in all likelihood a male mutt. and it was roughly man shaped and it was towering over her.  Ah, man's greatest weakness. The family jewels. Then she noticed that the space between its legs was completely bare. Well, there goes that plan. she thought huffily. "And I was all set to stab you in the...pebbles? Boulders?  What would you call a rockman's testicles?"

If the mutt had an answer, or was capable of speech, it didn't respond, only staring at her like she was a rasher of bacon. Maye shrugged and readied a javelin to throw. "Oh well, I guess they never intended your kind to breed.  You don't even have a schlong." 

Guess I'll have to aim somewhere else.

-attacks rockwell with javelin-

D0RRAlhMjavelin
-- SPEAR THROUGH HAND -- 8.5 damage

javelin

[Stare]

[googlefont="Sanchez:400"]

ROCKWELL

He was not smart enough to understand his own strength. He could not comprehend that his skin was as strong as the land that surrounded them, that he was designed to be impenetrable and unbreakable. He'd never known his ancestors, the mountains, or his fallen cousins, the canyons, struck down by the mighty river. He did not realize that when the fleshy creature struck directly though his giant fist, it was a feat that would have crowds all across what was left of the earth roaring in disbelief.

All he knew was that when the soft bit of moving food hit him, it hurt.

He staggered back with a roar of surprise, swinging his fist blindly in front of him before drawing it toward his face. It could not be fixed, not as far as he knew. Which was not much. He knew pain now, though, and that the soft fleshy thing had hidden tricks. It was smarter than he was.

But he was the earth, borne of the sun and sky and sworn enemy of the mighty river, and he would not stand down.

He was hungry.

Staggering forward, he narrowed his gaze on the fleshy creature. He roared again, hoping to startle it enough to prevent another polished stone stinging thing being struck into his skin again, and swung with his good fist.

[Rockwell attacks Maye with fist (blunt)]
FOoOuEiDblunt
[bruised left femur, 3.0]

blunt

[charade]

Maye

Maye instinctively covered her hands with her ears when it roared in pain. It was loud as all fuck and it didn’t even have a megaphone. But the good part was, she’d stabbed its hand , even though Pokey was stuck in a meaty rock fist, the javelin had hurt it and hurt it good. It started roaring again and she panicked, having realized that even if it didn’t have any visible genitalia it had a mouth, which meant it could eat.

That also meant it could take a dump if it needed to, and she wondered briefly if the entirety of the granite flats was actually covered in rock man poop. Because what else would they shat except for rocks? Suddenly, she wasn’t as keen to pick up everything she could get her hands on.

“YOU KNOW,” she barked into the megaphone as she continued to run circles around it. “I WAS ALL SET TO FUCKIN MAKE GOOD TELEVISION WITH THAT MAILBOX, BUT YOU JUST COULDN’T LET ME GET THERE WITHOUT THIS THING GETTING IN THE WAY NOW COULD YOU?”

The arm came down again, and she tried to dodge it. I wonder if I can jump over it. It’s pretty slow. So she tried, and failed, getting knocked off of her feet and into the gravel. Her leg hurt, but nothing felt broken. There would probably be a nasty looking bruise in a few hours but at least it wasn’t like she wouldn’t be able to walk. Still, the fact that a glancing blow could knock her off her feet was terrifying, and she resolved to bring the rock man down before anything worse happened to her.

Maye pulled another weapon out of the strap and readied her throwing stance.
“HI-HO PIERCE AHND AWAY!” she hollered with a district ten inflection as she threw the javelin. She hoped the cameras were eating her heroics up, because in reality she was about two seconds from pissing herself on national television.

-attacks rockwell with javelin-

vNEafLNrjavelin
-- SHALLOW CUT ON RIGHT FOREARM -- 3.5 damage

"You know Pierce, I'm starting to think you hate me."

javelin

[Stare]

[googlefont="Sanchez:400"]

ROCKWELL

Sometimes, there were days upon days when he would lie against the ground and nothing would come. He would let the sun beat down against him until his very bones felt molten, and at night each breath would cool him back to stone. Though he sometimes thought the sun was like a good friend, staying with him over those long hours, it was the moon that he truly loved. Silver and white, cold, like him.

He thought he needed companions during those times of waiting. It wasn't that he wasn't patient - sometimes he felt that he was only patient with no room for anything else - but more that he was lonely. His thoughts, simple though they might be, were trapped within his own head. He grew tired of the earth beneath him being the only other presence he knew.

The loud fleshy thing, however, made him think that perhaps being alone wasn't such a bad thing.

He'd never seen such a volatile, crazy creature. How could something so soft and small be so loud? And where did it get such sharp polished stone from? Someone a long time ago had programmed him to recognize this animal as food, but now he was beginning to doubt even his own instincts.

Was it scared of him? If it was, he wasn't sure why it kept attacking him. It was too soft to consume him, so why not simply run away?

Perhaps it wasn't very smart, either.

[Rockwell attacks Maye with fist (blunt)]
vZzaR3Sjblunt
[gash/bruised right knee, 3.5]

blunt

[charade]

Maye

The creature regarded her coolly, if such a thing was possible, and swung wide again. She tried to avoid it, but even though she was faster, it was just so much bigger and it caught her leg with another glancing blow, sending her sprawling. “Do you enjoy the sight of me on my knees?” she said in a halfway sultry tone as she scrambled to get to her feet. She wasn’t sure if she was talking to the rock man or the gamemakers, but all she knew was that it would have been nice to make it to the mailbox without this nonsense.

“You know,” she said to the rock man. “I’m not particularly happy about this either. I could be making out with a boy and stealing the contents of his bag right now, and you could be sleeping under the rocks like you were. You didn’t have to stand up with the intention of eating me.” Maye nodded sagely, or as best as she could while she was moving. “You’re really the one to blame here.”

All the running she was doing was starting to make her dizzy, not the least because she was getting dehydrated or had an infected head wound sending pain throughout her skull, but also because cardio was the absolute worst and she was already running of breath. She was almost out of javelins to throw too, which meant she’d have to start using him. Hopefully not though. Maye tried to collect herself and pulled a fourth javelin out of the strap.

"Remember yesterday when you went through that sheep’s head?” Shishkebab didn’t nod, but that was probably because she didn’t have a neck. Besides being an inanimate weapon of warfare. “I’m going to need you to do that shit again. For all our sakes.” She sprinted around the creature for more a few more moments before she thought she was in a good spot. Maye let the javelin fly and wondered if such a creature was edible. Probably not, but there was always hope.

-attacks rockwell with javelin-
T2gfSpGSjavelin
-- SHALLOW CUT ON LEFT CALF -- 3.5 damage

"You're thinking of the Wrong head, Shishy. He doesn't even have the equipment. We talked about this, I was aiming somewhere else."

javelin

[Stare]

[googlefont="Sanchez:400"]

ROCKWELL

He was growing tired of the loud, fleshy thing with the sharp stones.

It wasn't so much that it kept hitting him. He didn't understand why it tried to fight back, but it wasn't the first and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Some creatures, like him, just weren't all that bright. He could withstand the hits, especially now that he was expecting them. He was stone, unyielding, tireless.

It was more that the creature felt the need to continuously howl and yelp and make all the other strange noises that it was making. He briefly considered trying to keep up a steady roar just to give it a taste of its own medicine, or perhaps to make it so that he could only hear himself rather than its high pitched, yippy sounds, but instead remained silent and just keep fighting.

He had the patience of his ancestors, the mountains, but this creature was was wearing it down quickly.

He thought about leaving it alone until it tired of its own voice, but something deep within him protested. He wasn't sure how, but that part knew that this creature was the tastiest kind of food. It may be loud and annoying and soft, but in the end putting an end to its noise would be well worth it.

He stepped forward again and was surprised to find that as hungry as he was, he was more determined to simply silence it.

[Rockwell attacks Maye with fist (blunt)]
lJXTbxLSblunt
[bruised left foot, 2.0]

blunt

[charade]

Maye

For some reason, the rock man really, really didn’t like her legs. Ever since she’d blocked his fist, he seemed intent on whacking her down, starting with her thigh and working its way down to her foot. It was disconcerting because it made it seem more intelligent. She wondered if it was trying to cripple her so that she couldn’t get away. But that was silly, rocks couldn’t think that far ahead could they?

Except it wasn’t really rocks, it was a man shaped mutt with rocky skin that was birthed in some unholy laboratory in the Capitol, so really, who knew what it was capable of? Well, I’m capable of a quite a bit of a lot. Her weapons were strewn about the battlefield and stuck in the creature, she so she but a single option left to her. “Okay, Vlad. Looks like you get to taste blood today.” The javelin quivered on her back, but clearly that was just her nerves shaking, not the weapon quaking in anticipation.

Because none of the things she had were sentient. None of them. Not even Yorick. She was alone, and had been ever since she’d gotten out of the bloodbath. And if they started talking back to her, she was in a real heap of trouble. “You asked for it, Rocky.” Maye pulled the final javelin out of her strap. It was the only one that was jet-black. But she didn’t ready herself to throw it; no, if she did, she’d be weaponless. Instead, she gripped the shaft with renewed vigor before charging full-tilt at the bleeding rock man in front of her.

Silent, stone sentinel that it was, it seemingly stared at her in annoyance.

Maye whooped, jumped and took the plunge.

-attacks rockwell using javelin as a spear- 

fwchNLwBspear

3079 -- Shallow Cut on Right Bicep -- 3.5 damage

spear

[Stare]

[googlefont="Sanchez:400"]

ROCKWELL

He grunted in surprise, but not because of the pain. No, slow as he was he'd learned that this little fleshy creature was good at delivering small blows that were gradually beginning to slow him down. He was more surprised by its proximity.

He did not know much. Whatever had designed him had designed him to be large and strong, not smart. But he did have enough self awareness to know that he was a fairly intimidating sight to behold. He knew enough to understand that this creature, loud and annoying and strange as it was, was scared of him. And yet, here it was, striking him close range, trying to act brave.

Perhaps that was why he was so good at being alone. When he was alone, he didn't have to worry about acting a certain way. He didn't have to tower above another creature and pretend that the blows he was taking didn't hurt. But who was this creature pretending for? It had every right to be afraid of him. He certainly wouldn't blame it for keeping its distance.

He wasn't designed to live with other creatures. It wasn't part of his internal programming. He didn't know that, though. All he knew was that in that moment, he felt a brief connection with the fleshy creature.

Then he forgot it, because he was still hungry, the thing in front of him was still food, and it still refused to shut up.

[Rockwell attacks Maye with fist (blunt)]
lrmOMhKxblunt
[bruised head, 3.5]

blunt

[charade]

Maye

The thing nearly knocked her block off, hitting her in the forehead with the back of its fist as if it were her pimp. Maye stumbled back, cursing the fact that she'd had to get this close in order to keep fighting it. It was also surprising that it had finally stopped paying attention to her legs. Maybe it had figured out that her head was the important part. Or maybe it was just tired of listening to her voice. Maye was tired too. Tired of everything she ran across trying to eat her. It begged the question, how exactly did the gamemakers instill a taste for human flesh in these creatures? Did they feed them avoxes on the daily?

It was an awful thought, but Maye was more concerned for her own well-being. Her strength was flagging and the rock man was still standing, even though it was bleeding in several places. Maye on the other hand, felt like a glorified punching bag. And Maye Talliago was nobody's punching bag. She straightened up, tossing some of her hair behind her head and narrowing her eyes. She was going to have to have a long talk with Yorick about the days events after this. It was too bad he didn't have hands, or a heart, or was alive, because she was in sore need of some back-up.

"Rude!" she screamed, running at the rock man like a racehorse and thrusting forward with what strength she had left.
S8mBT4byspear
-- Deep Gash on Right Calf -- 8.0 damage

spear

[Stare]

[googlefont="Sanchez:400"]

ROCKWELL

He staggered back and blinked in pain, surprised that this blow hurt so much more than all the others. Perhaps the fleshy creature had even more tricks than he'd realized. He was strong and patient and unyielding, but he was not smart. He felt the first jab of fear as he realized, rather belatedly, that this creature could be smarter than him, even if it didn't act like it.

And if it was smarter than him, it could kill him. There was no question about that.

His ancestors were the mountains. He was made of stone, designed to be terrifying and intimidating and large and strong. But the patience of the mountains crumbled against the persistence of the river.

Was this creature the river?

When he tried to rise again, he realize he couldn't. He was not smart enough to question this. The creature - the river creature? - had killed him. He glanced at it through his blurry vision and thought perhaps it was not so bad, a creature that could conquer a giant such as him.

And then he finally - finally - slipped into silence.

(end of Rockwell)

[charade]

Maye

-filler- 

Maye collapses from exhaustion, gives the sky the middle finger,  collects her javelins, uses -3 F/A -2 med plants,  taking her from 24 damage to 19, flees.