The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

Thu Feb 14, 2019 5:04 am

Adamant

Something about... cool water nipping at the ankles.

The midnight beach glittered with speckles of uncharacteristic color, tonight. Dim moonlight highlighted a number of shiny red objects scattered across an otherwise plain sandy oceanfront. Few were larger than a golf ball in size, but caught the caught the light so well that their presence was a small blaze in the dark. Most of them hadn't escaped the reach of the tide, either, and were covered up by every wave that rolled up, if only for a moment. Yet among the shattered mess was one great mass that could not be disguised or ignored. Where each small piece was an ember, this radiated like a pyre: A substantial pile of red crystal...

I remember something about... a murky darkness, and a heavy pressure.

The pile shifted, moving like it shouldn't be able to, as though that crystal was instead as if pliable like a tangle of hair. It twisted and turned until something opaque peeked out from under the translucent scarlet material. With a little more strength, it managed to lift up high enough to unveil what was... a face. Unexpected, unnatural, but if nothing else, real. The crystal continued to self-animated, opening one eye and then two—showing off surprisingly human eyes. But as it kept up its struggle, it soon would collapse back into the sand with a plop, burying itself back under the weight of its own crystalline coat.

I remember... a feeling of loss.

It turned its head, looking down to the torso that was connected to its head. It found its own shoulders, chipped as they were, and tried to follow them down the forearm... but that was where it stopped. Gleaming in cardinal, were the stubs of its arm, snapped in half and splintered into sharp points. No wonder its attempts to rouse itself failed, if its arms were gone. Any attempts to move its hands or fingers would be for nothing. It also explained the haziness in its head... the more parts of its body it was missing the less intelligence it could retain. It hoped it could quickly reclaim those missing pieces... and it could feel those pieces nearby.

With that goal in mind, the entity then tried to bring its legs up under it, and stand up that way. It arched its back up into the air, brushing aside the bulk of gemstone 'hair' that was covering it. With a strain it made its attempt, hearing the sand being shifted by its efforts... only for something to give way again and make it collapse back into the wet silt in the sound of utter failure. A new tide rushed past the thing's broken, pathetic body as an insult to injury, just at that moment. For indeed, its legs were gone as well.

As the water receded, Adamant was left staring dull-eyed along the length of the beach. For a time it just lie there within the tide, for an amount of time it didn't really comprehend. A consistent train of thought was incredibly difficult in its state, with more than fifty percent of its body missing from the whole. It would take quite some time before the cogs began turning again, and it began to drag itself up and away from the waves.

"Not the first time..." it said, a matter-of-factly. Its voice—while it was faint as a whisper and weak as hell—sounded as equally like a girlish man's as it did a boyish woman's. It managed to reach the piece of itself it was hunting for, a thin long shard of ruby nested not far from the water's extent. With nothing but its two useless stubs for arms, it rotated and oriented the shard just how it wanted, before pressing it against one of the arms. There was a light clink accompanied by a gentle sting... but it stuck. As if it had never broken off in the first place, the shard had rejoined the whole. "Back together again... like a puzzle..."

Then, slowly, pitifully, it began dragging itself toward the next.

Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:15 pm

Alex

Artist: - Song: - Word Count: N/A

Apparently, the ol' West Coast had changed hands since the last time Alex had been around. Used to be President Mana's spot, but the Vanguard- oh wait, didn't they have a new name now? Lucky Order or something? He didn't really keep track of these things. The Lucky Ducks had been taking America from the ol' queen of demons, and that was pretty kosher with Alex. He'd always wanted to kick down the doors of the White House and ask her what the fuck was up, maybe beat the shit out of her. Could always maybe nail her too, she was pretty hot...

What was he doing again? Oh, right, beach walk. He remembered now. Got a little sidetracked. It was a pretty night, most guys wouldn't wear dress shoes to the beach but he liked 'em. If they got ruined he'd just buy more, he couldn't really give too much of a shit. Watching the stars as he walked across the sand was pretty nice, but he wanted to take a look at the sand, too. It was pretty this time of night, sometimes you just-

Shkt.

Looking downward, Alex noticed a rather red shard of...something poking through his shoe. He considered himself lucky it had gone through at the very end and missed his actual foot, considering that probably would've hurt like a fuckin bitch if it'd actually hit his toes. Like, Christ, it just went through his shoe like paper, and these were nice shoes! Some serious bullshit goin' on with this thing... He removed his foot from the shard, very fucking carefully, and crouched down to poke it once or twice. The fuck was it? He didn't actually know, but pulling a rag from his pocket, he (again, very carefully) pulled it from the sand, wrapped it to keep from cutting, and put it in the breast pocket of his jacket. It could probably sell for a pretty penny, he figured.

Cracking his knuckles, the red-haired wanderer continued on down the beach, whistling some tune or another. It was honestly impossible to tell what song it was, he actually sucked at whistling, something he'd fully admit to if you really pressed him. Deciding it sounded like shit, he just lit up a cigarette, something far more comfortable to him. He wondered, idly, if he'd find anything else cool on the beach tonight. He was kinda hopeful.

Thu Feb 14, 2019 10:51 pm

Adamant

Working with a puzzle, there was a certain simple process to solving it. For people who couldn't quite visualize the whole from scattered pieces, it was best to start out with an outline; the border. If you could get all the pieces that had a flat edge first then you had less to worry about as you built the outer edges of the picture. Even if it was still quite difficult, at least you knew you had a base to work off of. Even Adamant, who never had the pleasure of being able to solve a puzzle before, could understand that sort of thing.

Adamant, the rose gemstone being that found itself upon the beach this cool night, was fortunate to have a base to work off of. It was just finding the next part that fit that it had to worry about, and every time one was added, it became easier and easier. The picture was becoming more clear to the moon's eye, as the very human-like body was slowly filled in under its watch. Certainly, undoubtedly, the first step had been the hardest. Each one was more difficult than the one before it. The darkness was fading, and light was rolling in to fill its place. The memory of its own name, for example, had finally returned to it.

"Adamant," the word fell from its stone lips with a note of familiarity, mulled over and tested in its throat before that. Yes, though it had been born with no name, that is what it was called. It pondered the various tidbits of knowledge that had returned to it over the past few hours, while it meticulously clambered all across this beach in order to recollect its physical parts. Deep troughs were dug through the sand in lines that rebounded back and forth from point to point, without obvious rhyme or reason. Each stop had held the next piece of itself that it had been looking for—if nothing else, it could always remember how to put itself together, even when all else was forgotten.

There was a degree of self-satisfaction when it finally managed to fill out the length of its right arm, all the way to the fingertips. There were parts here and there where the beige powder had been scratched off, the thin layer of grain that was giving it its skin-like appearance... but the ruby gemstone underneath remained untarnished and whole. It was one solid piece, as if it had never been broken in the first place. Adamant turned its hand over and back again, wiggling its fingers to test if they moved. All was in order.

It pushed itself up with its one able arm, until it was seated properly on its backside. Time to take inventory of itself, so it thought. The left arm was fixed up just past the elbow now, but the legs still looked as if they had yet to be started. If it wasn't for its right arm keeping balance, Adamant would probably not be able to even sit up light like this... it looked like its lower half was buried in the ground like this, what an embarrassing thought. The beach was still glittering with red shards, of which Adamant was disconnected from but prescient of. The toil was bound to go more quickly now.

Looking up only to take a glance at the shore aside of it, where plenty more fragments lie dormant, it discovered a whole new sight before it. It searched for the right word within its disorderly memories, and echoed it aloud at the same time it found it. "Human...?" in fluent Hawaiian language of all things, the only thing it knew how to speak. Still not fully cognizant, Adamant froze without a good way to react to the sudden development. In this sort of darkness, it looked like a statue proper... one of considerable detail and beauty. And it just stared at the human while it casually approached them.

Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:15 am

Alex

Artist: - Song: - Word Count: N/A

Thankfully, Alex was a good bit more alert now, as he wasn't really excited at the prospect of getting another sharp-ass piece of ruby or whatever the fuck go through his shoe. Or maybe even his foot this time. Just the thought of losing a toe or whatever would probably suck real bad. Of course, so enthralled by this incredibly mundane train of thought was Alex that he didn't actually notice the statuesque figure before him until he'd nearly run into it.

“Oh, shit.”

Examining the golem carefully, walking around it a couple times, Alex then pulled the shard of crystal from his pocket, being extremely careful with it and holding it near the statue to compare. Looked like they were the same, so that explained...well, some of it, he guessed. Looked to him like someone'd been working on some piece of modern art or whatever and like...dropped the thing? Who actually knew. He wasn't sure how something shattered at the beach. With a shrug, he set the shard of his down on the ground in front of it, and began searching for other pieces.

Why was he pursuing such a relatively selfless act? He didn't really know. It was something to do, and he always liked that. But he kinda figured if he fucked something up like that, it'd make him feel pretty good if he came back and all the pieces were together for him to work with. He was here and walking around the beach anyway, after all. May as well help some poor guy out, yeah? Every time he found one of the shards on the beach, he used his rag to very carefully pick it up, not wanting to lose a finger here, and brought it right back, slowly but surely accumulating a pile before the creature. This was...well, it was kinda rewarding, he guessed.

Fri Feb 22, 2019 9:14 pm

Adamant

The lack of light was debilitating for Adamant. With only the reflection of the sun upon the moon to sustain it, the body was forced to become conservative with what it had remaining, lest it fall back into a deep slumber until sunrise. There was a danger of that happening this moment, so it was unsurprising to suddenly become unresponsive in this moment. As the stranger of a human walked closer, something inside Adamant triggered a lethargy. It felt as if looking through its own eyes from a distance, the nearby undulation of waves barely audible over a deafening vacuum. Time moving too quickly to be normal—Adamant a hostage within its own body as the human moved back and forth along the beach, often disappearing from view.

Then, it suddenly came to. It flinched uncomfortably and immediately brought its hand to its forehead, trying to shake itself from the torpor that weighed on it. Once its senses managed to adjust properly, it caught a glint of luster on the ground in front of it... and it only need look down to see a small pile of crimson shards—pieces of its own body—accumulated in a pile like an offering. Did the human do this? That must have been what all the roaming was about... wasn't it?

Utilizing its one able arm, it reached into the pile to pull from it a pointed diamond-shaped fragment, turning it over in its palm. It was a strange but fortunate coincidence, for a considerable number of these pieces to be ones Adamant was looking for. The next pieces of the puzzle. This one, this diamond, could be fitted into its right leg... like so. There was a light 'tinkly' ring from the gemstone adhering into place, to the satisfaction of the whole. Without delay, it went for the next one to fit onto its body, and the next, and the next. What had once been an ample pile of gems was quickly reduced to a few out-of-place remnants, not quite ready to place.

But by then, the human had returned.

Adamant did not freeze up this time, pretending to be like a statue. It moved, with the same fluidity any other human could display. It smiled somewhat sheepishly; very human-like emotions as well. The way its hair shifted was also kind of like human hair... but there were more than enough aspects about this thing that shattered the illusion of humanity. The scarlet radiance that glimmered through the pale coating of dust on it, for one, was incongruous with the image of a human. The fractured ends of its broken limbs were unnatural. And its pristine beauty was far, far too perfect to behold. At best, it was only an imitation.

"Hello," it began, as it was taught to open conversations with others by the ones whom raised it. Aloha, in the Hawaiian language. It gestured at its legs, which had now both been filled up down to the knees, thanks to all the pieces the human had managed to gather thus far. "and sorry... it was not my intention to deceive. I'm alive yet. Trying to put myself back together. I did not expect for someone to come across me in this darkness... I'd thought humans would be asleep at this time."

It may have been made of rigid gemstone, but there was no other way to describe how its face relaxed other than that it softened. The gaze it gave to the human who had assisted in its recovery was kind and grateful. Adamant had no need to ask for help, but received it still. Just as it thought... humans really were good people. It was no wonder Adamant admired them. The memories in its legs had returned, reminding it of their virtuous nature. "Thank you, nonetheless. It surely would take many more hours to complete the rest of my body by myself. If it is no burden to you..."

Sat Feb 23, 2019 8:24 pm

Alex

Artist: - Song: - Word Count: N/A

Mm, yep, that was pretty weird. Generally statues didn't move. So that kinda startled him a bit, by which he meant that he actually took a step or two back in surprise and nearly fell over. Thankfully, he didn't do that, and instead caught himself in time to actually listen in carefully. He caught the “aloha,” which took him back briefly to his Hawaiian vacation. Damn, that'd been a good time. Maybe he'd head back at some point... Right, back to the matter at hand. Alex didn't exactly speak Hawaiian, but he did know Hawaiian when he heard it, so he kinda gave the statute a sheepish smile and squatted down next to it.

“Uh... Aloha to you too. You uh... You speak English? Hold on, what the fuck were the words for that... Oreo? No, something like that though... Man, thought I had a cool way of saying this and everything. No wait, olelo? Yeah, Olelo, uh...”

Alex was, rather impressively, trying very hard to communicate with this shiny statue, and it was obvious even in his body language that he was a touch annoyed with himself that he couldn't. He ran a hand through his hair in irritation, occasionally tapped his fingers on his leg, and in general seemed a little bit on edge. His tone of voice was friendly as could be, really, and it was very clear that he wasn't annoyed with Adamant about any of this. He just wished he could actually convey stuff.

“Man, what the fuck was it... Something about birds? Shit... Seagulls? Pelicans? Pelicans! Fuckin oreo pelicans, that's what it was. Oreo, olelo, pelican-y... Olelo pelehane? No, no, Olelo pelekane?”

There was obvious hope in the redhead's voice as he posited this question to the statue, hoping deeply in his heart of hearts not only that he had actually gotten that right, but also that the statue even knew English if he had been correct about all that. He didn't really wanna communicate with gestures this whole time, and judging from the spiel it had given, it had a lot it wanted to say.

Sun Feb 24, 2019 5:32 am

Adamant

There was a brief moment for which Adamant thought its consciousness was wavering again, as the the sounds coming from the human's mouth were only partially intelligible. But it was not gibberish, without rhyme or reason. The way syllables were articulated and flowed together was purposeful, not aimless. Even some of the words isolated from the rest of the human's dialogue echoed in Adamant's memory as familiar. It was not the first time heard, but the recollection was incomplete. There were missing components like obvious gaps to Adamant. Unfortunately, that left the two at an impasse, from what it could understand.

It reached for the human's hand—the jittery one ceaselessly drumming on their leg—trying to bring calming rest to it. Its own hand blanketed over his and weighed down on it. It might have looked pliable and soft just by the way it moved, but the moment they touched would have disenchanted that. It was cold, hard as stone, perhaps even a faint bit alien. Any sensible person wouldn't be amiss to suddenly pull away, or take unkindly to the sensation...

But Adamant's face was a whole different story. The gentleness emanating from its soft expression, and the sheer amount of emotion it managed to convey with just one look was entirely too human. It looked sheepish, apologizing to the human with a look because of its inabaility of communicate properly. Also concerned, as someone able to read the irritation that the human was experiencing in this moment, trying to soothe it away with a bit of direct contact. They may not have been friends, or even acquaintances, but Adamant wasted no time in caring for the stranger's feelings... of a man it could not even speak with.

"What a small problem to get worked up over. I'm flattered, honestly." It spoke aloud, but in a low voice, as one might talk to themselves. Adamant knowingly voiced its thoughts with the assumption it really wouldn't be heard. For now, perhaps they could cooperate with a little bit of improvisation. So long as the human was happy to continue donating his time and effort to Adamant, it shouldn't have been difficult for them to solve this puzzle of itself. After all, he'd already been on the right track.

Adamant released the human's hand and reached back into the pile of scattered ruby fragments in the sand. All these pieces all had the same color; maybe difficult to tell in the dim moonlight, but clear up close. And those pieces in turn shared the same hue with the edges of the gemstone body. With only a glance, Adamant could tell where any given piece was supposed to fit instantaneously. But for the sake of the human, it made its motions deliberate, slowly pushing the shard against the stub of its right leg. With a barely audible clink, it was slotted into place... and stuck there. Just as every piece before it, it was now a part of the whole, seamless in its assimilation.

And yet the beach still glittered with that which was waiting to be returned to its master.

The human could leave at this point. Walk away without looking back, pretending none of this was his business. Adamant was understanding of that possibility, and hated to inconvenience him with what it could only assume was its own foolishness. But at the same time, Adamant had a belief. It was something ingrained into it, before a time it could remember... it believed in goodness of humanity. "If I could speak to you, I'd probably ask you to leave me to my own troubles."

It beamed at the human, probably confusing the hell out of him, before continuing its pleasant thought: "If only to hear you insist it was no big deal."

Fri Mar 01, 2019 12:04 am

Alex

Artist: - Song: - Word Count: N/A

It was very true that Alex was pretty confused as Adamant spoke once again, and he did admittedly try his best to catch any words he could to no avail. But while most might assuredly have been unsettled by the feeling of Adamant's decidedly inhuman hand resting upon theirs, the redhead was instead genuinely comforted by it. He'd gotten pretty worked up about all this, and if anything the cold touch of a living statue was exactly what someone like him needed. The look it gave him, too, was inordinately comforting. It felt like people were concerned about him more than usual lately. It was weird, but...kinda nice, too.

He watched curiously as the crystalline being repaired itself, then, and nodded in some vague level of understanding. So that was how this worked, eh? He didn't get it. Made no sense, but then again a lot of stuff didn't for Alex, so he just kinda accepted that part of this whole exchange and took it in stride. As it smiled widely at him, he couldn't help but feel as though he was on the right track with all of this, eve if he had no particular idea what the rockthing had said.

“Uh...yeah. Alright, well, I'm gonna... Keep at it, yeah?”

Alex really wasn't good at communicating, but he figured there was at least one gesture that had to be universal. He held out his hand and gave a thumbs up, before standing and dusting off any sand that might have blown onto him. Unbuttoning his jacket, the wanderer let the wind blow through his hair as he took in a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of the sea air for a brief moment before returning to work. He still had a whole lot of shards to pick up.

Mon Mar 04, 2019 9:25 pm

Adamant

For however close to completion this sculpture may have looked, it belied the true magnitude of the project the human was willing to undertake with Adamant. Even the size of a human consisted of puzzle pieces numbering in the thousands; all of them, scattered amongst the grains of the beach. It was still possible to single them out by their scintillating luster, but with shards that could be as small as a fingernail or eyelash, progress would still be slow. Combing through the sand was extraneous, monotonous, and unrewarding. It was the dead of the night, and instead of peaceful slumber, the duo were toiling away at such a dull task. Assuredly, Adamant would much rather let its consciousness slip away... forcing itself to keep awake in such dim lighting was not a good feeling for it.

But they persisted, admirably. The human was able to easily scour the furthest ends of the beach where more of Adamant's parts lied in wait, thanks to his ability to walk. In contrast, Adamant was mostly dragging itself by its arm, but it had the useful ability to discern where the pieces of itself were hidden even if it could not see them. They were, after all, somewhat alive in their own right, regardless of whether they were properly attached to the whole or not. Adamant's biology was quite complicated, but... that was an exploration for another time.

Adamant found himself admiring the human from time to time, watching his back as he departed once again to go find more fragments. It was hard not to hold him in such a high regard. In such a sorry state, it must have appeared so alien and inexplicable to him, or so it believed. But it was despite appearances, or even their inability to speak with one another, that the human brought upon himself such a long-winded burden. Just putting back together a beautiful statue, yes... but it was more than that. To Adamant, a living creature, the human's actions were akin to healing; to saving its life. It was alone and wounded on this beach, until this individual found it and decided to help revive it. Compounded on top of its predisposed beliefs, Adamant couldn't help but stare fondly.

Hours passed still, and he remained. It was incredible to witness such unearned devotion. With his help, Adamant was almost spending more time piecing the remnants of itself together than searching for new ones. And each addition brought with it a wonderful feeling. Imagine, if every piece was filled with knowledge and memories, what it would be like to lose them. The less of itself that was connected to Adamant, the less intelligent it became. The brilliant light of life itself was stripped away as the consciousness was cast into an oppressive darkness... but when those pieces were returned to it, so too was that light. It was as if experiencing the past anew, and reestablishing old lessons learned. It came with such a sense of empowerment, and liberation!

One after another, Adamant pushed the puzzle pieces into place, and a clear picture was forming. Each enticed it to progress faster, to finally see this project to its completion. Though it did not have that many memories to recall, that did not mean they were without value. It was convenient, of course, to realize that the communicative barrier between it and the human was not as impermeable as it seemed. Although it was quite obvious that the gemstone originated from Hawaii, and spoke as such, that did not exclude those who spoke 'English' on that island. Adamant was studied in the language, so it discovered, as various recollections of time spent with its 'parents' flooded back into its body. The words that the human had spoken were suddenly reacquiring their meaning.

Speaking of, he had returned again, dropping another collection of glistening rubies onto the ground in front of Adamant. The arm had already been completed at this point. Even the legs were relatively usable by now. Its hair was far longer and more voluminous than when they had started, even. Really, just the feet were left to complete, and this new shipment might very well take care of that problem. It... It'd been a long night for sure. Adamant just had to express its gratitude to the human, if nothing else.

So in proper English, this time, it did just that.

Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:54 pm

Alex

Artist: - Song: - Word Count: N/A

Oh, Alex was pretty tired, all things considered. He'd had a long day before this search had even started. But you'd better believe that if he started this search, he was gonna finish it. Hours upon hours spend scouring the sands of this beach for even the slightest fragment of Adamant's form. It was a good thing that menial tasks were something Alex was pretty exceptionally familiar with by now, but it helped that he didn't even really consider this menial. If he was stuck on a beach with all his parts around the place, he'd want someone to help him get it all together too.

He dropped the latest batch of gems on the ground for the cute statue to pick up, and as he stood and straightened out, he ran a hand through his hair. This was definitely exhausting, but you'd be hard-pressed to see him even thinking about quitting just yet. He was just about ready to head on back out to start the search again, but blinked to himself as he heard a voice speaking in English to him. Huh, that was weird. It sounded like it'd been the statue, but he was pretty sure it'd only been speaking Hawaiian...

Of course, after the fugue of exhaustion gradually wore off, he realized that he had indeed been spoken to in English by the current object of his efforts, and he smiled almost excitedly as he had that realization. So that'd been the trick, eh? Look at him, what a fuckin smartboy he was. That was what he'd always been told, anyway. Not by anyone, but he'd told himself that when he said smart stuff. Which wasn't really often, but you never know.

“Well hey, nice to hear you speak real people language. But it's no big deal, yeah? I'm happy to help out. Can't imagine it's super cool to be stuck all broken like that.”

How casually Alex treated the whole affair, and that was honestly fairly genuine. He didn't see it as some grand undertaking on his behalf, he'd just been doing something helpful, and he'd have been kinda a dick not to, ya know? Besides, he was pretty sure there was still even more to be done, so he'd definitely not mind sticking around as long as needed.

The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

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Re: The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

Re: The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

Re: The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

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Re: The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]

Re: The Rough [Rawk, Open-ish???]