10-27-2019, 08:00 AM
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<style> .Rajcontain {width:460px;background-image:url('https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7615/26376942823_7c401f9d5a_h.jpg');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:bottom;background-size:200%;background-color:#F8F8F8;padding: 20px;} .Rajname {font-family:'Barrio';color:black;font-size:22pt;} .Rajquote {font-family:'Pacifico';font-size:12pt;color:black;text-shadow:1px 1px 3px white;padding: 300px 20px 0px 20px;} .Rajtext {background-color:rgba(248,248,248,0.3);font-family:'Padauk';font-size:10pt;color:black;padding:10px;}</style><center><div class="Rajcontain"><div class="Rajname">Rajanish</div><div class="Rajtext">The bay appaloosa colt had always been way too curious for his own good. Or, perhaps, for the good of his friends.
He remembers joining the other boys in the forest, a secret hideout, and he remembers creeping up on the guys that came too close that day. Light purple and metal stood out, and Raj had always been excellent at being silent on his hoofs, almost unnaturally so (in reality, if was something he had done all his life; it was more or less the precarious way he had placed his hoofs, softly on whatever surface he walked on). Slow at first but rather good at it as he became older, he did not know any other way of walking than… creeping, that’s what the overly loud piece of metallic horse had called him. A creep. Or a freak? Frankly, Rajanish had been pretty pleased with such a name. He’d been even happier if someone would call him a ghost but, apart from his silence and his see-through appearance, it wasn’t the same as this mare. A pity - he could not travel to the afterlife to investigate it.
Either way, in the case of the squirrel, curiosity had killed it, and not himself - and yet Raj had always carried a kind of guilt with him that he now got a chance to get rid of. And sate his endless curiosity as well - what was it like to be dead? What did the afterlife look like?
Yes, he would pass through. If he couldn’t come back, then that would not be an end to his experiments - he’d just have to find a way to occupy himself in there, and he didn’t think that it would be hard. He could be wrong, of course - finally something in his life that he had absolutely no clue about! Or in his death - the veil being so thin, it was hard to understand what one would be if they went inside.
He dove into Carnage’s pit once, nearly reckless. Ready to give it all to prove to his father he was worthy of his choice. Gotten a most marvelous gift in return - even if today might have a totally different outcome, the risk would be worth the knowledge.
It’s easy for him to embrace the unknown, and so he does not hesitate where others might. The gifts he had received from the grey squirrel, he will return. They’ll bring him to his dead pet. It’s what happens next that is uncertain.
Rajanish enjoys the trip like a small child would a field of unknown wildflowers, marvelling at the colours and smells and the different shapes. Here, there is hardly any smell, and the color spectrum is dull. Much like twilight, but then again, perhaps it is only the twilight zone where he is now. Deeper and deeper he delves, continuing his walk and for a heartbeat, almost forgetting why he is here.
There are less and less words to describe the afterlife with - grey, dull, monotone, eerie. But Raj is only excited when the contrast between his spots and the white patch fade; when the colourful stones he had brought turn into almost regular-looking grey ones. He wants to know more, speak to more than just his friend. But he may not have that chance again if he doesn’t return on time, he reasons. And so he splits off of the group - they’re all looking for horses. He is not - towards an area that somehow calls to him.
An autumnal forest - how could it not. He smiles as he slides through the trees like the ghost he is now (finally for real?), where grey leaves rustle in a wind that should not exist. Yet it does - he reaches his former home, the place where his mother loved him and encouraged his odd behaviour as a child, rather than call him names like other horses did after her. He spies some movement in the corner of his eye, and finds that this is not the place he should be. No, this is his old home, but not the squirrel’s. Not really, anyway.
It’s an ironic realization. But he follows the strange ghost-instinct given to him by the token he had brought, and moves deeper into the woods. Here, a trail of blood, bones and organs lead him, and curiously, the bay appaloosa moves on.
The sight of the mother squirrel is downright frightening. Not because she is dead or ugly - but she is huge. Sharp-looking rodent teeth tear through the limbs of something that looks disgustingly like a horse - one of Rajanish’ shape and size. He backs off slowly, hoping she has not seem him, and turns a corner. Perhaps it’d be better to just go…
But his grey squirrel friend does not let him leave his horrendous forest. No, as Raj takes another path, he finds a clearing with something that looked like a disturbed nest - in it, his once-pet, is now his own size (thank hell, this one isn’t as big as the mother squirrel). Yellow eyes pierce at the bay appaloosa, until the stallion drops his token for his friend on the forest floor, that he may take it. ”I wanted to see how you were doing-”, Rajanish starts. He hardly ever speaks, and his voice is rather hoarse, in a way. But the squirrel hisses at him, interrupting, and takes the stones away from the spotted stallion. Ears fall flat on his skull as the horse then backs away - clearly his former friend dislikes him - but there is no way he is fast enough, and is grabbed by the furry giant’s claws. Normally made for climbing trees, these dig through the horse’s skin easily at this size. Yelling out in pain, the bay horse struggles against the grip, but realizes he cannot die again, here.
No, this is hell and he’ll know it.
And he realizes his mistake in coming here.
”Please, let me go, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have killed you.” But nothing he says seems to work. He feels things - things like pain and fear - that he had not expected to encounter here. Dead horses weren’t supposed to feel, were they? But here he was. His heart getting ripped out of his chest, and no-one to help stop it.
”I shouldn’t have taken you with me.” Not on purpose, not with the purpose of experimenting.
And then it stops as fast as it had begun. Whole again, Raj stands in the clearing, the now-grey stones at his feet, and squirrels leap over bushes and trees chasing each other. If he hadn’t known any better, he’d think the sun was shining through the canopy.
Seemed like his squirrel had all but forgotten him, and that it was for the best, this way.
He turned around to find his way back, if it was still possible.
Some experiments were better left alone.</div><div class="Rajquote">No cost too great. No mind to think. No will to break.<br>No voice to cry out suffering.</div></div></center>
<style> .Rajcontain {width:460px;background-image:url('https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7615/26376942823_7c401f9d5a_h.jpg');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:bottom;background-size:200%;background-color:#F8F8F8;padding: 20px;} .Rajname {font-family:'Barrio';color:black;font-size:22pt;} .Rajquote {font-family:'Pacifico';font-size:12pt;color:black;text-shadow:1px 1px 3px white;padding: 300px 20px 0px 20px;} .Rajtext {background-color:rgba(248,248,248,0.3);font-family:'Padauk';font-size:10pt;color:black;padding:10px;}</style><center><div class="Rajcontain"><div class="Rajname">Rajanish</div><div class="Rajtext">The bay appaloosa colt had always been way too curious for his own good. Or, perhaps, for the good of his friends.
He remembers joining the other boys in the forest, a secret hideout, and he remembers creeping up on the guys that came too close that day. Light purple and metal stood out, and Raj had always been excellent at being silent on his hoofs, almost unnaturally so (in reality, if was something he had done all his life; it was more or less the precarious way he had placed his hoofs, softly on whatever surface he walked on). Slow at first but rather good at it as he became older, he did not know any other way of walking than… creeping, that’s what the overly loud piece of metallic horse had called him. A creep. Or a freak? Frankly, Rajanish had been pretty pleased with such a name. He’d been even happier if someone would call him a ghost but, apart from his silence and his see-through appearance, it wasn’t the same as this mare. A pity - he could not travel to the afterlife to investigate it.
Either way, in the case of the squirrel, curiosity had killed it, and not himself - and yet Raj had always carried a kind of guilt with him that he now got a chance to get rid of. And sate his endless curiosity as well - what was it like to be dead? What did the afterlife look like?
Yes, he would pass through. If he couldn’t come back, then that would not be an end to his experiments - he’d just have to find a way to occupy himself in there, and he didn’t think that it would be hard. He could be wrong, of course - finally something in his life that he had absolutely no clue about! Or in his death - the veil being so thin, it was hard to understand what one would be if they went inside.
He dove into Carnage’s pit once, nearly reckless. Ready to give it all to prove to his father he was worthy of his choice. Gotten a most marvelous gift in return - even if today might have a totally different outcome, the risk would be worth the knowledge.
It’s easy for him to embrace the unknown, and so he does not hesitate where others might. The gifts he had received from the grey squirrel, he will return. They’ll bring him to his dead pet. It’s what happens next that is uncertain.
Rajanish enjoys the trip like a small child would a field of unknown wildflowers, marvelling at the colours and smells and the different shapes. Here, there is hardly any smell, and the color spectrum is dull. Much like twilight, but then again, perhaps it is only the twilight zone where he is now. Deeper and deeper he delves, continuing his walk and for a heartbeat, almost forgetting why he is here.
There are less and less words to describe the afterlife with - grey, dull, monotone, eerie. But Raj is only excited when the contrast between his spots and the white patch fade; when the colourful stones he had brought turn into almost regular-looking grey ones. He wants to know more, speak to more than just his friend. But he may not have that chance again if he doesn’t return on time, he reasons. And so he splits off of the group - they’re all looking for horses. He is not - towards an area that somehow calls to him.
An autumnal forest - how could it not. He smiles as he slides through the trees like the ghost he is now (finally for real?), where grey leaves rustle in a wind that should not exist. Yet it does - he reaches his former home, the place where his mother loved him and encouraged his odd behaviour as a child, rather than call him names like other horses did after her. He spies some movement in the corner of his eye, and finds that this is not the place he should be. No, this is his old home, but not the squirrel’s. Not really, anyway.
It’s an ironic realization. But he follows the strange ghost-instinct given to him by the token he had brought, and moves deeper into the woods. Here, a trail of blood, bones and organs lead him, and curiously, the bay appaloosa moves on.
The sight of the mother squirrel is downright frightening. Not because she is dead or ugly - but she is huge. Sharp-looking rodent teeth tear through the limbs of something that looks disgustingly like a horse - one of Rajanish’ shape and size. He backs off slowly, hoping she has not seem him, and turns a corner. Perhaps it’d be better to just go…
But his grey squirrel friend does not let him leave his horrendous forest. No, as Raj takes another path, he finds a clearing with something that looked like a disturbed nest - in it, his once-pet, is now his own size (thank hell, this one isn’t as big as the mother squirrel). Yellow eyes pierce at the bay appaloosa, until the stallion drops his token for his friend on the forest floor, that he may take it. ”I wanted to see how you were doing-”, Rajanish starts. He hardly ever speaks, and his voice is rather hoarse, in a way. But the squirrel hisses at him, interrupting, and takes the stones away from the spotted stallion. Ears fall flat on his skull as the horse then backs away - clearly his former friend dislikes him - but there is no way he is fast enough, and is grabbed by the furry giant’s claws. Normally made for climbing trees, these dig through the horse’s skin easily at this size. Yelling out in pain, the bay horse struggles against the grip, but realizes he cannot die again, here.
No, this is hell and he’ll know it.
And he realizes his mistake in coming here.
”Please, let me go, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have killed you.” But nothing he says seems to work. He feels things - things like pain and fear - that he had not expected to encounter here. Dead horses weren’t supposed to feel, were they? But here he was. His heart getting ripped out of his chest, and no-one to help stop it.
”I shouldn’t have taken you with me.” Not on purpose, not with the purpose of experimenting.
And then it stops as fast as it had begun. Whole again, Raj stands in the clearing, the now-grey stones at his feet, and squirrels leap over bushes and trees chasing each other. If he hadn’t known any better, he’d think the sun was shining through the canopy.
Seemed like his squirrel had all but forgotten him, and that it was for the best, this way.
He turned around to find his way back, if it was still possible.
Some experiments were better left alone.</div><div class="Rajquote">No cost too great. No mind to think. No will to break.<br>No voice to cry out suffering.</div></div></center>