Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Damn canyon with its damn walls and damn sharp drop-off, catching a fellow unaware and making him crack his damn skull on the damn stone!" The litany echoed up the stony walls of the cavern, carrying in both the words and the tone a message of extreme frustration and irritation. The words were practically snarled out, each word enunciated to the point of sharpness and the tone full of anger and upset. If one were to follow the voice back, they'd soon encounter Hatsuharu, slouched against the side of the chasm and pressing his head against the wall in an effort to slow the oozing of blood from a wound on his head.

Assuming that someone was near enough to hear, that is. After all, it was a long chasm...

Ok, maybe 'chasm' was a strong word. What it was was a crack in the earth about six feet wide and eight feet deep where the meadow had, for some reason, split. A sensible person would have been paying attention to where they were going and either jumped over or gone around it; Haru had fallen in, hit his head on a rock, and become the poster child for bad language. Because a funny thing tended to happen whenever Haru took a knock to the head...

He couldn't pinpoint when it had first started happening; in fact, to a large extent he still didn't realize it DID happen. But for most of his life, Haru had been blessed, or rather cursed, with a dual personality. Normally, he was a pleasant, mild-mannered enough fellow, but if he took a knock to the head or was exceedingly provoked, a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered twin took his place and made sure that no one got away with anything. Those that knew him had long ago dubbed that personality 'Black Haru,' and gave it a wide berth.

The painful knock to the head had awakened Black Haru, and he didn't feel like pulling any punches.

Upon hearing the questioning voice up above, he had let out a soft, disgusted sigh, then barked out, "No, it's the damned wind trying to mess with your damned mind. Seriously, what ELSE would it be?" Not exactly the most polite greeting, and probably not the best course of action for a stallion whose head was dripping blood, but there you go. Black Haru wasn't known for his chattiness or sociability, no matter what. This was underscored when the mare almost fell on top of him, prompting him to look up with a scowl. "Watch your damn feet, woman; I have enough of a headache without being fallen on!"

The mare could hardly be faulted for her attitude, in the wake of what could only be described as overwhelming rudeness (and that, only if one was determined to be complimentary!). Indeed, it would take a very special and possibly masochistic creature to take such abuse with a smile and a laugh, and there certainly weren't too much of those lurking around these days!

But that didn't mean that Black Haru was in any mood to give consequence to the justification of the attack. All that he knew was that he was suddenly subject to a barrage of snow, gravel, and rocks, and he was in no mood to deal with that. "You b***h!" Practically snarling with rage, he lunged upwards at the mare, getting one hoof up on the edge...before he fell backwards back into the hole, unable to make the jump and more than a bit foolish for even trying, but Black Haru was never logical. Cursing, he pawed at the air for a moment before landing solidly on his back, his poor abused head hitting the ground with a solid 'thock'.

@@

"Ooooh, my head..." Wincing, he blinked and sat up, looking around him with a mixture of pain and bewilderment before he noticed the mare up above, peering down at him. Wincing again, he attempted to feel the spot; having no hands, he failed miserably, but he was more than able to feel the blood. Not good at all. So he looked up at the mare and in a very mild, polite voice, he queried, "Sorry to bother you, but is there any moss or anything up there? I seem to have hurt my head."

As the mare disappeared from sight, Haru, groaning, pulled himself all the way up to his feet. He couldn't feel his head to verify the size of his injury(s?), but it didn't take a rocket scientist to add the pain to the wet, sticky feeling of blood and the red stain on the ground where he'd been lying. It was only the knowledge that head wounds tended to bleed a lot that kept him from worrying; well, that and the fact that he wasn't given to much worrying. He was understandably concerned, but he also knew better than to get excited. That would just make him bleed more. He just wished he knew how he'd managed to hurt himself in the first place...

However, that was something to worry about later. As the mare tossed down the moss, he caught in his teeth and mumbled out a "Thanks very much." Moss was a known balm for wounds; the absorbent surface would sponge up the blood, and the chemicals would help seal and disinfect the wound. He'd used it several times before with good results.

Except, as he suddenly realized, he couldn't reach his head. That was a problem.

Turning his head to the side, he set the moss down on his shoulder and called up again to the mare, "I will be, but I think I actually need a hand. I can't reach the wound." Sighing, he turned in a slow circle, looking for a way out of the chasm, showing the mare his gaping injury at the same time, and soon spied a place where the ground angled upwards. "That looks promising."

It had actually been Haru's intent to climb up out of the chasm himself, but he wasn't going to turn down such timely assistance! It was a bit surprising to watch the mare's swiftness (to say nothing of her apparent pleasure at the action), but when it resulted in immediate help he wasn't going to turn it down. Especially when the blood loss was starting to make him sway with wooziness...

Having no idea how long it had been since he had fallen and having no real recollection of his time as his black self, he couldn't say how long it had been since he'd knocked his head open. But it was starting to become a trial to stay up and focused, so it was a relief when the mare answered her own question and set to work with the moss. Less of a relief when she had to peel it off and put it back, as some of his blood-soaked mane had stuck to it and pulled painfully when it moved, but that was small potatoes when it came to the big picture.

But when the moss was applied in the correct place, it was all worth it; he closed his eyes against the soft coldness, taking a moment to try and settle his bashed brains and unbalanced body. "I thank you, that seems to be the right spot. I can't feel it bleeding anymore, and this should staunch it well enough for the time being."

He'd have to figure out a way to secure it, eventually; for now it was somewhat self-adhesive, but if he wanted to move his head, he'd risk losing both moss and any early scab tissue. Not a pretty thought.

((Sorry I forgot to mention this, but ICly Haru doesn't have his clothes, only his necklaces. I can't figure out a way to rationalize a clothed horse in the Kawani lands XD ))

Haru kept his head cocked to one side as he in turn reviewed his helper, the better to keep his moss in place. His expression was very placid, considering that he had a crack in his head and had recently been spewing profanity and lewdness, but that wasn't very surprising. Neither was what the mare was saying, if he were being honest. He had long passed the point where hearing what an a** he had been surprised him; he could never remember what he'd been doing, but he'd had enough confirmation to know he'd done it. Oh well.

So he was very philosophical, taking his verbal beat-down with good grace and patience. "I'm pretty sure that my brains are intact, otherwise there would have been some white mixed in with the red on the ground here. As for what my deal is," Here he paused, adopting a more thoughtful expression. What was his deal? Or rather, how did he explain his deal? "I'm sorry that I said or did things that were rude. It wasn't exactly intentional." An explanation as clear as mud, that! "It's because of this."

A slight gesture of his head in the direction of his head wound hopefully got his point across; having no hands or wings, his gestures were exceedingly limited.

It might have been a disappointment for the mare, but deadpan was Haru's humor of choice and he'd long since learned that the best way to confuse others was to respond to hyperbole with literalism. Besides, it was the easiest thing to do with the raging headache he was currently sporting. Facetious though he was, he almost wouldn't be surprised if he HAD dashed his brains partly out; his head certainly felt like he had.

The fact that that head was an object of fascination escaped his notice for the moment, pain being a more than suitable distraction for staring. On top of that, he'd been getting stared at for years, ever since he'd been born with an oddly two-toned mane and tail. In comparison to most Soquili he knew it was unremarkable; after all, the mare herself was marked by numerous different colors and markings! But in his family, solid tones had been the norm, until he'd been born, and his very solid-coated herd had found him most unusual. It somewhat amused him in retrospect; who knew what those staring Soquilis would think if they actually got out into the world and saw the many colors possibility came in!

But that was neither here nor there; what was here was the fact that the mare was being very kind to him, and he was drifting in and out of attentiveness. "I sorry, I seem to be a little lightheaded at the moment. What was that about a toboggan?" Having only caught the last of her statement, his subconscious had swapped out noggin for another word he'd heard mentioned in the past. Though what she wanted to do with a human's sliding tool was beyond him...

A mild smile crossed Haru's face at that comment, as the mare likely had no idea how non-crazy he was. To be sure, he'd just asked about a toboggan, but a simple mishearing (for there was no way he could be imaging a word like that...could he?) was no reason to think that someone was talking like a crazy. This mare, helpful as she was, certainly liked to exaggerate things. Oh well, everyone had their own little quirks, and a bit of exaggeration at least made things colorful. Not that this mare needed any help with color...

Without realizing it, Haru swayed as he contemplated that fact, looking contemplatively out of the crevasse and consequently missing the pained look the mare had been giving him. Had he noticed it, it might have been another bit of amusement; Haru tended to take his amusement when and where he could these days, it just happened that his preferred brand of humor was a little...atypical.

But at her comment about help, he came back to look at her with the same mild thoughtfulness. "Well, that's very kind of you, though I can tell that it shouldn't take that long to take care of this. If you could help me find something to secure the moss, I'll be good to go." He wasn't sure what her definition of finding him some help was, but he was fully content that he would be a quick heal. He always had been in the past!