ORIGIN

haruo wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but that was fine. he had a gist of an idea. he had begun to pick up enough of what the other animals were saying to volunteer himself for this competition, and although the creatures who had came and went into the circle formed by a crowd of onlooking animals intimidated him a bit, he was relieved that the one he would be facing appeared not to be so big that he could clearly see them through the crowd. 'wrestling' looked fun regardless, but haruo knew he wouldn't last very long against huger, stronger adults like he'd seen matched up so far.

at the sound of his name being called, he bleated excitedly and scrambled through the larger gembounds in the crowed. his heart was racing! he had been so deprived of a real opportunity to wrestle! this would be so fun!

and so into the 'ring' bounded the tiny, spotted fawn, still young enough to be suckling his mother no doubt. but not too young to have a good time! not this one!

"haruo... here!!!" bleated the little deer at the top of his lungs, and he clicked his hooves up and down a few times on the stone dramatically. his english was still clearly very strained, and he had a hard time pronouncing the hard consonants that weren't in his name, but clearly once the words left his mouth they were out of his mind. what was important was... his opponent?

his eyes scanned the area for several moments, looking back and forth in what was probably a pretty offensive gesture to the little bird (unbeknownst to him, of course) before he finally caught the source of the... well, literal chirping at him, actually.

she was so small... he would have to spend the whole time trying not to squish the little bird! this wasn't even a competition. he would just really hurt her if he tried to headbutt her! haruo was so sad and so disappointed. his hind legs faltered a bit, as if they wanted to sit so he could pout, but he righted them to stand straight. well... might as well have fun with it?

"こ、小と。。。small bi--rd-uh," it took him a moment to think of the words, and to say them was a struggle--his japanese accent was thick, and the words sounded soft and flowed together where they would have been hard and clear from most other gembounds. "watch-out," he over-enunciated between the words, creating a sort of 'ye-ouch' sound. perhaps not the most appropriate choice of words to use when addressing someone who wanted to prove themself, but haruo did not know anything about this bird, and it was the only way he knew how to say 'be careful' in a way other gmebounds understood. his worried tone would have to be enough to get across the message that he did not mean to taunt her!

even with all that said, haruo still didn't really think it would be fair to go first, so he ducked his head in traditional fawn-playfight-initiation fashion and waited for the little bird to make a move.

notes:
tags: @gypsy

"hover for translations."
others' speech.

strong... he knew that one. she was probably declaring her own strength. the little bird looked nervous, but she sounded determined; haruo could admire that, but he was still so worried about squashing her!

patiently he waited for his opponent to make a move, though he could not see very much anyway with the top of his head directly facing her direction. when she screeched, he winced, but held his position and waited for impact.

the feathery bullet that collided with his foreleg startled him more than anything, and he bleated in surprise and kicked forward reflexively, miraculously missing the baby bird by just the feathers on the tip of her head. it put him off balance, and he fell back onto his furry rump, sending him sliding sideways and quickly scrambling to get back on four hooves.

well!! it did kind of sting, but the pain faded in a few moments. it was enough to make him huff indignantly, though, and it was certainly reassuring that the little bird hadn't smashed her bones colliding with him like that. he should probably still be careful... but at least it wouldn't be totally mean and humiliating for her if he hit her now.

in the moments that he righted himself back into impending-headbutt-position, haruo watched gypsy flutter about and worried how he'd even connect himself with such a tiny target and not smash her.

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others' speech.

as gypsy seemed to get back on her metaphorical feet, she tweeted at him something... about heatbutts! maybe she was taunting him?

well, that was really unfortunate, because she was just jumping high enough for him to really do that, and she was doing a pretty poor job of being unpredictable about it too. haruo almost felt bad, but he couldn't deny this opportunity, so when she peaked the height of one of her jumps, he sprang forward and rammed his round little skull right in the direction of her fluffy tummy.

it was a lot more force than he'd really intended to use, and he'd forgotten to be careful... he didn't realize it at the moment, but if his hit landed, he would immediately worry he'd send her flying.

"hover for translations."
others' speech.

what he had done suddenly occurred to haruo as soon as he looked up from his headbutt and saw the little bird fly up into the air and then plummet into the ground. "ごめんーなー！！" he bleated; he knew she probably wouldn't want to hear it, so it was probably good she couldn't understand him.

oh--he didn't have much time to ponder that sentiment, though, before he realize she was falling right back onto his head! quickly he looked down, else he'd have had her feathers in his eyes.

within seconds of gypsy landing on his head, he was in searing pain--it was as if she was trying to pull his fur straight out of his head! haruo screamed in pain and began to panic, shaking his head wildly. if there was a noise from the crowd, he was unable to focus on it.

try as he might, the little bird had a tight grip on the fluffy hair on his head, and she would not fall free. driven wild by the pain, haruo twisted his body to the right and jut his right hind leg upwards to force her off of his head.

his leg wouldn't stretch all that far, especially in his youth, but he was sure it would be enough to knock such a tiny, fragile creature off balance.

"hover for translations."
others' speech.