the Rift - Bitter Taste

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White. White, but not snow. Seiji recalls this place almost as one recalls a dream: wavering and strange, half unbelievable. He followed the Matriarch through this way before Hope arrived. He and all the others. Now he is alone. Now he wanders, not lost but curious, a lonely shadow in the great expanse of sand.

Sort of an ugly place. It makes him long for the smell of the ocean, the soft voice of the waves. Sand shifts below his hooves with every step. Wind whispers secrets around his ears. No, he thinks, a little annoyed, and with a shake of his head he leaps into a canter. A long, fluid gait. Carrying. He moves at that pace for a long time, and the scenery doesn't change.

Seiji isn't sure how long he's moving. Only that eventually there's a strange taste in the air, something not like the ocean but a little reminiscent, nonetheless. Bitter. His ears come up; he slows to a trot. And because he has nothing else to do but search this place in every crevice, every corner, he moves in the direction of the stench. It grows stronger quickly. And now: a darkness on the horizon. A darkness growing nearer, nearer, like a pool of shadow nestled between great shoulders of sand.

Now his interest is truly piqued. He trots up to the very edge and with a snort, he pauses there. Gazes in. Thick. Dense. Not water. But.... something else. He's never seen the like before. His long face tilts; he contemplates dipping in a hoof. It feels warm, and it smells horrific, but.... While he thinks, he dances along the edge, surveying the circumference of the pool. A lonely bird wheels high above, unidentifiable from its great height.

Eventually, he stops again and tentatively lifts a hoof, about to dip in his very toe. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

or maybe ?

Requiem had been to the tar pit several times, but each time she was left with more questions than answers. Despite the horrible stench that accompanied the thick black liquid she was curious about it. She had spent time watching it, studying it. At first she had been tempted to step into it to get a closer look, but something had prevented her from doing so. Instinct, maybe? Whatever it was, she'd gotten an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach as she'd gotten closer to the dark pool. That feeling had prompted her to look around to find something to throw into the pool and observe what happened. A stone was her answer and the was intrigued when the stone stayed at the surface for a few seconds before disappearing slowly beneath the surface. The thick black liquid bubbled where the stone had been and then the surface was still once more.

The second time Requiem had returned to the black pool she had stood a little farther back from it, watching and wondering there was no one else around. Aside from a bird or two in the sky above there was not much else around aside from the occasional reptile or coyote. It seemed like most of the animals there were just passing through and none of them seemed to give the black pool a second glance. She did note that they gave it a wide berth and thought that maybe she should do the same.

She had just turned to leave when a commotion behind her grabbed her attention and forced her to turn back around. When she did she was met with the sight of a rabbit and a coyote, both stuck in the black liquid. She stepped forward then watched, horrified as they both struggled to break free from the pool. The more the struggled the more it seemed to grab onto them. Their terrified howls and screeches as they were slowly consumed by the black pool was something that she would never forget.

After that she almost didn't go back, but there she was again, going in the direction of the pit. She was expecting the area to be empty as it usually was, and was surprised to see a stallion as black as the pool itself standing at the edge of it. At first she suspected that he had fought his way out then decided against it once she drew closer. His coat was too clean and there was no goo dripping from anywhere on him that would indicate that he had broke free from the pit.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The girl said once she noticed that he seemed prepared to dip a hoof into the pit. "The last time I was here a rabbit and a coyote got stuck in it. They fought to get out, but the harder they fought the quicker it sucked them down beneath the surface."

"."

Requiem

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”
― Robert Frost

image | coding

A noise somewhere behind him. An apparition on the sand: white and black, gold and white. Feathers whispering at her sides. Slowly, Seiji's head comes up. He rocks back, his weight easily adjusting, and replaces his foot on the sand. A quizzical glint in his eyes: no?

He turns toward her fully and takes a step in her direction. She appears young, but he sees no others with her. Again, Seiji is left to wonder if no one here cares at all for their youth. A small flare of anger in his chest, though he should not feel it. What does it matter to him?

But it does.

He tilts his long face at her, digesting the warning. Blinks back at the black pool, ears twitching. And then to the girl again. He has never heard the word coyote though he supposes it must be some kind of animal. Does that mean she frequents this place? He has a feeling she will bring him no closer his goal, but perhaps she knows something interesting.

Stepping back, Seiji nods in the direction of the pit, a question in his eyes. What is it, then? And why is she here?

Requiem stood and waited patiently for the stallion she had warned to speak to her, but he seemed more inclined to just stare. He looked from her, to the pit, then back to her again and it dawned on Requiem that maybe he was mute. She remembered her father telling her about how some individuals were robbed of basic senses -- sight, hearing, and speech. "You cannot speak?" She asked, and waited a moment for a response, whether it be a shake of the head or him finally speaking up and saying that he could.

She stayed standing where she was for a few moments before deciding that the stallion was probably harmless, then finally moved to stand beside him. "I don't know what it is or what it's called." She admitted. "But what I saw ... once you get in it you don't get out." She frowned, thinking about it. "It just slowly sucks you down until there's nothing left..." And with that said she wondered just how many bodies lay hidden beneath the sleek black surface. It was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

"Are you here to study it?" She asked, her crimson eyes shifting from the pit to the stallion. "My mother told me back in our first home that there were scholars who would study a lot of different things. I wonder if any of them had ever found something like this before."

"."

ooc://
sorry it's so short D:

Requiem

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”
― Robert Frost

image | coding

"You cannot speak?" Her voice is sweet, the chiming of a bell. This does little to lessen the sting of the truth. Seiji shakes his head, something dimming in the very depths of his black eyes. No. No; it is the reason he stands here now, though the longer he searches the farther he drifts from his original purpose. How many names has he collected of the people living here? They weren't people to him, at first.

They shouldn't be.

Sorrow dampens his curiosity as he turns back toward the pit. The girl's voice rings again, and one of Seiji's ears turns delicately to catch it. She talks a lot, but her voice isn't unwelcome. It's merely a surprise after such a long time spent in silence. As she continues on, Seiji finds he rather likes it.

His features soften as she moves up beside him. He glows with a genial pleasure, his gaze skating only very briefly over her wings (they still feel as if they should be an omen). Now Seiji realizes she has asked him a question.

Ears forward, he blinks at her. She's asking if he's a scholar. He knew such people — or, knew of them. His pursuits, of course, were always a little more physical. He thinks about it now, though: why is he here? Why here in particular? It does him no good, this place. What he seeks isn't here. But he lingers, nonetheless. Slowly, thoughtfully, he shakes his head. But some thought moves like a fish beneath the opaque waters of his mind, and he turns away from her briefly to wander a little ways along one edge of the pit, his dark eyes studying the ground.

Not too long before he finds it: a smooth stone, pale, small enough to fit in his mouth but large enough to see from a distance. Leaning down to pick it up, Seiji returns to where he had been standing only a moment before. He blinks at the girl, regretting he cannot ask her name. But he cannot give out his own, either. Perhaps they don't need names for this. The two of them: just scientists. On the edge of darkness.

Seiji's neck recoils before snapping out again, a snake striking in reverse. He lets go the stone and watches it soar. Watches it strike the black. Stands watching, ears pricked, for the inevitable disappearance.

The shake of his head at he question was all the answer that Requiem needed, though she did not fail to notice his eyes. She wondered if he was ashamed that he could not speak and she wondered why he would be ashamed. "There's nothing wrong with that." She said in an attempt to soothe the stallion. "Everyone has something they can't do." She stretched her wings out then tucked them back against her sudes. "I can't fly." She said, willing to give an example of something that she couldn't do, though she wasn't sure if it would make him feel any better. At least she tried.

With that said she turned her attention back to the black pit. She wished that she had the answers to all the questions they both had about the pit, but she was almost as clueless as she had been the day she'd found it. The only thing that she knew for sure was that it was dangerous and they needed to stay back. She didn't know what uses it could have, where it came from, or even what it was called.

In her periphreal vision she could see her companion shake his head, indicating that he was not a scholar. So he was just a curious passerby as she was. Fair enough. When he turned away from the pit she finally returned her full attention to him and watched as he wandered away, wondering what it was he was doing, or what he was looking for. When he returned with the stone in his mouth her eyes widened in understanding. "I see." She murmured. "Much better than stepping into it." Then she offered a faint smile and looked back to the pit, waiting for her companion to throw the stone.

Requiem's ears tilted forward, her crimson eyes locked on the stone as it sat on the surface of the black liquid. At first there was no movement, then she could hear a faint hissing sound as the liquid began to suck the stone down into its depths. It was much slower than what she had seen before, but still unnerving. She looked away from the pit to the stallion beside her, interested in seeing his reaction.

"."

ooc:// i'm the worst D:

Requiem

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”
― Robert Frost

image | coding

They both watch as the stone sinks: united briefly by their curiosity, if nothing more. It happens slowly, but with less excitement than Seiji anticipated. Just a stone swallowed by darkness. Perhaps it makes a bigger impression to see living things thus destroyed. Perhaps he has become desensitized to terror. Convinced, though, that he ought to avoid the tar, Seiji turns to blink at he girl. He supposes she must be wise, must know her way around here a little, but he has no idea how to ask her what he wants to ask. Maybe if he continues conversation, the subject will arise naturally. Maybe...

His eyes skate from her face back toward the wings at her sides, and his thoughts snag on something she said a bit ago — "I can't fly". He blinks at them, but he sees nothing wrong with the mass of feathers. Not to his eyes — and he is familiar with the structure of birds, even if he has never taken to the sky himself. His gaze lifts to the empty vault above them, thoughtful for a moment, before it falls once more to the girl.

He motions delicately at her wings, wondering at once if the question is offensive. But — she did bring it up. And he wonders now if she is hurt, if something happened to her that he cannot see. His nose pushes in the direction of the nearest wing, though he stops far short of touching her. Blinks. Tilts his head a little. Why can't you fly? Perhaps she had no mother to teach her. That would be a sad thing, indeed.

ooc// Nah ;)

Watching the stone slowly sink and eventually disappear into the black muck had far less of an impact than watching a living being. The stone did not struggle. It did not fight desperately for survival. It did not scream and cry out in terror. It simply sank silently into the abyss, and would remain there ... well, forever, Requiem assumed.

Once the stone disappeared she turned her attention back to her companion and caught him staring at her. "It's different when a living being is stuck in it." She said, thinking that he was staring at her because of the stone. It wasn't until he looked up at the sky then motioned to her wings that she realized he hadn't been staring at her because of the stone. He was staring because she'd told him that she couldn't fly. Even though he couldn't speak his eyes, expressions, and body language was enough for her to figure out that he wanted to know why she couldn't fly.

"I never learned how." Requiem answered the unspoken question. She could have tried to teach herself, but she had never been concerned enough to put the effort into learning how to fly when there was so much else in the world around her that she could learn about. "My brother and I were separated from our mother when we came through the portal from our first home." She explained. "My father didn't have wings, so even if he had made it through he wouldn't have been able to teach us anyway." It was spoken matter-of-factly and without much emotion because, honestly, if Requiem thought too much about it she would realize just how lonely she was and how much she missed her family. It was easier not to talk about them or to think about them.

"Do you have family here?" She found herself asking. "Or are you alone, too?"

"."

Requiem

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”
― Robert Frost

image | coding

Seiji has never considered it this way before: Someone must teach every bird how to fly. He blinks as he absorbs her explanation, surprise blooming in his dark eyes. He had always expected, maybe subconsciously, that birds came into the world knowing flight as he had come into the world knowing how to walk. Though perhaps this applies only to horses with wings... He studies her now in contemplation as she tells the rest of her story. A story of family, lost. Of being far from home. He understands.

He steps nearer to her, hoping she will accept the gesture as he intends it: an act of solidarity. It is a terrible thing to be alone. He experienced this feeling once in his youth, when he arrived at the master's island. And now, again, having bid farewell to everything he loved. He wonders if Requiem, too wanders. Searching for something she may never find. If, in her, he comes at last to one who understands his situation.

He hopes not, for her sake.

She asks if he has family here, and Seiji shakes his head. His gaze turns outward, vaguely south. The Portal lies somewhere that way. He wonders how he can even begin to tell a fraction of his story — he can't even gift her his name! With a small shake of his head, he sighs. Blinks at her. Opens his mouth. Closes it again. And shakes his head again. He isn't sure the message gets across, though some have seemed to understand. He has come to this place in search of his voice. Though the longer he stays, the more hopeless his journey seems.

Perhaps Requiem could have taught herself how to fly, but there was an innate fear of it in the girl. The fear of failure. The fear of injury. The fear of the wide expanse of the sky itself. WIth her hooves planted firmly on the ground she had more control over her body. In the sky she imagined the wind would try and dictate where she would fly and how fast. Of course she had no one to explain anything about flight to her, so she could be totally wrong in her assumptions.

She didn't move when Seiji stepped toward her after she'd explained the disappearance of her family and being alone. She was young, but she wasn't dumb -- she assumed that his step closer was most likely an effort to offer her some comfort to ease the loneliness she felt. And she was lonely. It was hard not to be when you come from a tight knit family and then they're all suddenly gone.

Belatedly, she smiled and sidestepped closer to Seiji. He might not have said anything at all to her, but he had an air of comfort and understanding about him -- one that soothed her to her very core."We can stick together if you would like." She offered somewhat hopeful, though prepared for him to shake his head no. At least if they stuck together they could ward off the loneliness that plagued their steps -- or at least she assumed that he was as lonely as she.

The way he opened his mouth, like he was going to speak, then closes it and shakes his head made Requiem's ears tilt forward and her smile fade. She could only imagine how frustrating it was to have something to say and not have the words to do it. "Have you ever had a voice?" She asked, curious of if he'd had one before coming to The Rift. She knew that others had had things stolen from them -- magic, companions, items -- and wondered if the place could steal voices as well.

"."

Requiem

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”
― Robert Frost

image | coding

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