Post by cassidy on Dec 19, 2006 0:24:33 GMT -5
Burrowed Meadow
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Coriander, male juvenile rabbit
Bracken, male rabbit
Wilhelm, male rabbit
Dandelion, male rabbit
Nightshade, female rabbit
Sunflower, female juvenile rabbit
Coriander rests on a small rise above a burrow, his short ears pressed against his back and feet huddled up underneath him comfortably. He nibbles on a tasteless bit of dry grass he'd found, his dark eyes wandering the meadow. It was a bustly sort of twilight. The sky was dark and close and comforting, like
being underground, but the playful breeze kept reminding the young buck of the huge space all around him. He sniffs, testing the air. No elil. But not much rabbit scent, either, apart from the worn scent that always adorned the burrows. He lifts a hindleg to scratch idly at his cheek, his mind elsewhere.
From a nearby run, another buck emerges, making his arrival rather more noisy than is really necessary, scuffling at the dirt with his claws as he climbs out into the open. Bracken takes a cautionary look around to make sure that there's no immediate danger before hopping a few feet away from the hole with a quiet grumble, seeming not to notice the younger buck, or perhaps ignoring him purposely. He hunches himself over a patch of clover and nibbles rather sullenly, his ears drooping a bit, and mumbles to himself. "Bloody bunch of crack-brained louts.."
Coriander's ears perk forward as he notices the older rabbit's presence long before he makes it out of the run proper. He raises up a bit, tilting his head and squinting to better see the other in the dusky light. It was that rabbit from yesterday... Bramble? No, Bracken. His name was Bracken. The young buck inches forward, ears slid forward to try and catch the low muttering. He smirks and hops off the rise and sidles up near the sullen buck. "Who's a bunch of crack-brained louts, sir?"
Bracken ticks an ear towards the youngster, straightening his posture a bit and swallowing the mouthful of clover he's chewing, then clearing his throat. "Oh... err... hello, ... Coriander, is it?" He squints his eyes a bit as he peers at the other buck, making sure it's who he thinks it is, then glances off at nothing in particular with a disdainful frown. "Well, wouldn't be quite tactful for me to mention names, would it?" He goes on in a somewhat louder, more gruff tone, which causes a few other rabbits grazing nearby to perk up their ears in his direction. He pays them no mind, however, as he continues. "But all the same, I
think it's a shame what a barmy wreck this warren's hierarchy has regressed to. Why, if I--" But Bracken is interrupted from his burgeoning tirade (and the nearby onlookers from their staring and whispering) by the sudden crack of a gunshot. He startles with a jolt, his legs splaying and his ears shooting up as
he prepares to make a run for the nearest hole, eyes wide and nostrils flaring.
Coriander had been allowing himself a small little grin of amusement. He was obviously talking about the new chief rabbit, the female one. He had recognized a certain hesitancy in his mother to tell him the news, as if he'd be disturbed by it. He hadn't at the time, but he is beginning to realize that such things
just aren't done. And then there was the gunshot. It is a purely unearthly and unfamiliar sound and the young buck leaps into the air in shock and fear. He lands, his eyes rolling, their whites showing. Coriander shudders, going tharn from the shock.
The gunshot isn't the only intruder upon the conversation. A streak of tawny comes shrieking through the grasses at breakneck speed, large eyes rolling, eating up the distance with long leaps. It comes barreling in amongst the other rabbits and, without so much as an "if you please", dives into the nearest hole. There it remains, panting, whimpering.
Bracken somehow manages to fight the instinct to bolt, even as Wilhelm goes tearing past him and to the shelter of a run. Gradually, after reminding himself silently (and repeatedly) that the gunshot was far enough away not to be a danger, he manages to calm down a little, though his heart is still racing, and his nose twitching rapidly as he stares off in the direction of the river. "Frith in a hlao, that never fails to spook me out of my fur." He says to Coriander, his formerly-confident tone clearly shaken.
Dandelion does what any rabbit does who is completely insane when one hears a gunshot.. though he isn't.. perhaps.. and pokes his head Out of the burrow. He swivels his black ears this way and that and focus's beady black rabbit eyes on those above ground, taking note on their reactions and not seeming too pleased about it. "What are you all tharn?!!? Get in the burrow... NOW!" The urgency in his voice is of one nearing panic but thinking of others seems formost on this rabbits mind, though he doesnt seem to be straying too far from the hole. He's seen what man can do with their magic BoomSticks and that most certainly was the sound of one.
Coming up from the same burrow that Wilhelm darted down into, Nightshade hardly has time to check on the unfamiliar-smelling rabbit before he's run past her - and she decides her fellow warren rabbits are of a higher priority to be checking on the safety of. "Is everyone out here account--" she starts to ask before she's interrupted, and by the buck from before, no less. Narrowing her eyes slightly at him, she simply darts back underground, going to her second priority of finding the rogue rabbit. Maybe he's trying to get on Blackbriar's good side, or even trying to become an officer. Either way, she's not terribly happy about it.
Coriander's breath is still rapid and erratic even as Bracken calms, he not having the experience of the older buck. He swallows, trying to regain composure and stop himself from going tharn, although he's never had to do that before either and is finding it rather difficult. His ears twitch nervously at the
sound of a paniced buck inside a run, which doesn't help Coriander's situation. His eyes roll in that direction and he catches a glimpse of his mother. Letting out a harsh, hissy breath of relief, the shaken young rabbit darts in the direction of the doe. "Mother, what was that mother?" he pants, his hind legs twitching with the urge to thump the ground in unneeded alarm.
One wouldn't have to go far to find Wilhelm. The terrified young buck has stopped within sight of the burrow's exit, and he now stands frozen in place. It's not hard to diagnose the symptoms of tharn: wide, paranoid eyes, ears straight up, scrunched into a protective ball. The tailless rabbit's breaths come in short gasps, and he seems to be muttering something about "them" and "get
me".
Bracken turns to peer at Dandelion as he sticks his head out, but doesn't seem eager to obey. That's his defiant streak showing through, no doubt. He subdues the urge to ask a snarky question regarding when Dandelion was inducted into the
owsla, and merely gives a soft snort, shaking his head. Though still rather ruffled by the unexpected noise, he's becoming more reposed by the moment, and sits up to sniff at the air, ears swiveling. "Calm down, you lot." He says, his tone becoming increasingly at-ease again. "No humans here, nothing to go tharn over."
Dandelion doesn't much care about what Nightshade thinks of him or what he is trying to do, there was a gunshot outside.. and he's seen enough of his friends zorn by that same sound. A new family he's found himself in, and even though he's only just started to get to know these rabbits the last thing he wants to
see is any of them getting hurt. "Oh for Frith's sake, thats exactly what a rabbit will say before he gets Shot!" He bounds out of the burrow and races around the clearing, stopping here and there to make sure theres noone tharn outside, and then bolts back to Bracken. He is indeed an exceptional runner. "C'mon, down.. just for a bit ok?" He asks pleadingly. "We can silflay again after the danger's past." He starts away from Bracken before stopping and glancing back. "Please.." And then down the burrow he goes running into Wilhelm! He starts trying to calm him down again..
Her attention torn between her son and a stranger, Nightshade attempts to keep herself from panicking too much, forcing herself to focus on one thing at a time. Addressing her son behind her, she tries to sound as soothing and calm as possible: "That was a sound Man makes, Coriander. If you ever hear that sound,
you need to get to safety as soon as possible, but try not to go tharn." That teaching opportunity taken, she then moves up to the rabbit in the condition she just advised against. "Who are you, sir, and where are you from?" she demands, trying to commandeer his attention.
Coriander stops just shy of entering the run and composes himself. He sits up and rubs a paw down his muzzle, soothing his quivering whiskers and then grooming his ears. Imagine, running to his mother like that. Embarassing, really. The
young buck swallows the remnans of fear and makes note of the new information. Man noise, run. Simple. Although, Bracken hadn't ran. Coriander tilts his ears toward the older buck and listens to Dandelion's pleas. Hopping forward curiously, he settles near Bracken and decides to follow him, whether he concedes to Dandelion or stays in the open.
Through some sort of miracle, Wilhelm seems to be coming down from his frozen state, though the whites of his eyes still show. He slowly, slowly turns his head to regard the strange doe who is questioning him. His whiskers twitch in a terrified way. Oh, what did he stumble onto now? "Who am I?" he grunts out,
trying to draw himself up to full height and immediately knocking his head on the ceiling. Durf. "Who are /you/? On what authority do you question me?" That's right, it's all part of the Great Rabbit Conspiracy.
Sunflower blinks as she makes her way move towards the entrance and pauses as she catches sight of the others.. What the heck is going on here? Her ears flick one way then another while she tilts her head to the side looking rather confused to
say the least.
Bracken wrinkles his nose in annoyance as Dandelion continues to cajole him into going underground. Again, he refuses to obey, his whiskers splaying obstinately. "Well, if there -was- any danger, I'd be happy to wait underground for it to pass." He replies somewhat disparagingly. "But guns aren't dangerous from that far away. It was probably just the farmer shooting at rooks."
Dandelion glances up from Wilhelm as the doe who doesn't smile at him comes up the run and starts demanding answers from the tharn one. Then finds himself even more surprised as the rabbit snaps out of it. Hes never seen anyone recover that quickly but what a relief.. Well the owsla has it from here so he backs off..
but the only place to go is back up and out since the run is blocked.. he hops back up outside again and looks around nervously. He hears Bracken but only frowns silently. Its always better to be safe than sorry, especially if your a rabbit. Its the only reason he has been able to stay alive so long without a
warren up til now. He leaves Bracken to do as he wishes but does at least give one more try at convincing Coriander. "Cmon, down for a little bit yea? We can come back up later.." He looks around one last time and then disappears down a unhindered entrance.
"I am Nightshade, an Officer of the Hawthorn Owsla," the doe retorts plainly at Wilhelm's interrogation, pushing herself up closer towards Wilhelm in an attempt to intimidate. "Now let's try this again. Who are you, and why are you here?" She doesn't like playing 'tough cop', but sometimes situations call for it.
Coriander adopts a similar expression to Bracken, although its a bit less confident. He scratches at his ear in a show of strained calmness and shakes his head. "Do you really think there's danger, Dandelion, sir? The man noise is gone and..." He pauses, rising up on his hind legs for a moments, his nose to the
wind. "I certainly don't /smell/ man. And... it did seem a long way off..." He hesitates again, glancing uncertainly up at Bracken as Dandelion disappears down the run. "Is that right?" he whispers a bit uncertainly.
Sunflower blinks at the buck that is giving her mother a hard time. "Hey! She asked you a question, you best answer it!" The younger rabbit offers as she makes her way over to where her mother and the strange rabbit is and just glares up at
him while sitting back. Ya doesn't she look like she could do something? Most likely get in trouble more then anything, which she does..
Bracken gives a brisk nod of approval in response to Coriander, a stern expression on his face. "Quite right. At least a few rabbits still have a bit of sense around here." The second sentence is said a bit more loudly than the first, so that the rabbits still hiding underground might hear him. The older of the two bucks that remain above ground takes a few further hops away from the
muffled sound of conversation below, still looking mildly annoyed, and muttering again. "Bunch of quivering fieldmice. Amazing that some rabbits ever get above ground to eat with paranoia like that."
Dandelion crawls his way down the run and into the honeycomb center where he finds a quiet out of the way corner and starts cleaning out his fur. He tried to do the right thing, and if anything happens at least his conscience will be clear. He does of course here the snide remark and sighs quietly, starting to wonder to himself if it wouldn't indeed in fact be more pleasant away from the warren with all the elil instead.
Buh? After shaking off the initial confusion, Nightshade is simply frustrated. "Thornrove? Is that your name?" she presses further. At Sunflower's voiced support (ever the mommy's girl), Nightshade shifts forward, staring more intently at the strange buck. "I need to know if you are friend or foe, or else I'll have
to kick you out of our warren by force," the owsla doe adds. Lucky for Bracken, she's too preoccupied with Wilhelm to hear anything he's saying.
Coriander smiles a bit, ruffling himself up in a pleased little motion. He moves after the older buck for a few hops, nibbling absently on the dry flay of winter. He snickers lightly at the newly muttered comment and gathers his hind legs under him, looking around a bit, wondering whether his mother would be one of the ones to emerge soon.
Wilhelm's in full paranoid force now, complete with indignant vagueness and distrust of all. Sad that he should be displaying this side of himself to strange rabbits. "Don't feign ignorance!" he retorts, his eyes flitting between Nightshade and the younger doe who has joined her. "You can't bury the truth!" At the mention of losing the protection of the warren, though, his attitude seems to change abruptly. His head droops and his ears splay slightly, submissively. Yeah, it's all a noble cause, until a threat to his well-being comes into effect. "I'm a friend," he utters almost grudgingly. "My name's Wilhelm."
Sunflower is and always will be a mommy's girl, when someone like Nightshade is the mother that isn't a bad thing though! She glowers up at the large buck, doing her best to look all brace like her mother even though she's a bit scared of the strange rabbit. "Truth.. What truth?" She questions as her head tilts and she only ehs a bit. "See.. That wasn't /so/ hard to do!"
Bracken sets to work on the grass as well, nibbling and hopping along now and again, but not straying an unsafe distance from the holes. He may be a bit reckless at times, but he's no fool when it comes to elil. In the relative solitude of the meadow after the gunshot, it doesn't take much effort to find a secluded spot out of earshot of the others. It's then that Bracken speaks again, though this time in a tone that's not meant to draw the attention of bystanders. "So, Coriander. You seem like a level-headed chap. What do you think of all this claptrap about the new chief?"
Dandelion finds himself a quiet out of the way place deep in the warren. This new home is definetly going to take some getting used to. He lies himself down and calls that a day, hoping noone finds the need to disturb him, and hoping more to find a nice sleep without the nightmares haunting him with his past.
"Good. You're welcome to seek shelter here, so long as you follow the rules. That includes answering a member of the Owsla when they ask you a question. Right now, that includes myself, Captain Blackbriar, or Myrtle-rah.," Nightshade replies in full explanation of what is expected of the new buck.
Coriander angles his head upwards for a moment, squinting up at the sky, a typical expression of thought. "Well..." he pauses, wrinkling his nose. He rubs a paw down his muzzle, hesitant to answer. "I'm not really sure. It seems like... well... that it's not quite... right?" Coriander frowns a bit. "I'm not sure /what/'s not right about it, though. Do you know? I can't see anything myself."
"Owsla? That's your secret network, right?" Wilhelm comments. "You guys all know what's going on, and I'll get to the bottom of things like Thornrove. Or are you allies, fighting for the cause?" He boldly pushes his head forward, nose twitching, as though sniffing around is going to give him answers. He really is a bit loopy; must be from adrenaline.
Sunflower just eyes the new buck some. "What's Thornrove?.." She never heard of anything like that before.
Nightshade rolls her eyes, ears flattening back. "Just go get some rest, Wilhelm. You need it," she replies, exasperated, before turning around and heading back up to the surface - she desperately needs some air after all that chaos. She notes Coriander next to Bracken, and her ears swivel forward, listening carefully.
Bracken huffs quietly through his whiskers and gives his head a brief shake, his ears wagging slightly as he does so. "Well, it's unheard of, for one thing-- it's never been done, not in the whole history of the warren, so far as I've been told. Why do you suppose that is?" An ear flicks softly as the breeze picks up,
and he turns his back to it, then continues before Coriander can answer. "Because, it's not right, that's why. Like bucks digging out a warren- it's not natural at all."
Coriander tilts his head, angling his ears back a bit as he listens. "I suppose its not -- But, well... She must have done something right? Hmm." His head droops a bit. In truth, he has no idea what Myrtle did to become chief. It was only his alliegiance to his mother as an Owsla officer that had him questioning the 'natural order' at all. The young rabbit pauses, shakes his head, and looks back to Bracken. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you, sir." He smiles absently and hops back towards the burrows, not looking up at Nightshade as he passes her.
Well, that's that. Wilhelm, with a shiver and a muttered something under his breath, heads deeper into the warren to find an unoccupied spot to sleep. At least here, he's safe from Them. He thinks.
Nightshade watches her son return to the warren, meeting Bracken's gaze for several long seconds before turning and following her children inside. She'll be speaking with Blackbriar tonight, that's for sure.
Bracken is only mildly surprised when he turns to watch Coriander depart and notices that Nightshade had been listening in. Well, he'd known (and rather intended) that the owsla would catch wind of his feelings about this eventually, anyway. The older buck gives his paws a flick, and sits back to run them over
one of his ears nonchalantly, then turns his back to the departing rabbits and settles down to finish his bland meal.
---
Coriander, male juvenile rabbit
Bracken, male rabbit
Wilhelm, male rabbit
Dandelion, male rabbit
Nightshade, female rabbit
Sunflower, female juvenile rabbit
Coriander rests on a small rise above a burrow, his short ears pressed against his back and feet huddled up underneath him comfortably. He nibbles on a tasteless bit of dry grass he'd found, his dark eyes wandering the meadow. It was a bustly sort of twilight. The sky was dark and close and comforting, like
being underground, but the playful breeze kept reminding the young buck of the huge space all around him. He sniffs, testing the air. No elil. But not much rabbit scent, either, apart from the worn scent that always adorned the burrows. He lifts a hindleg to scratch idly at his cheek, his mind elsewhere.
From a nearby run, another buck emerges, making his arrival rather more noisy than is really necessary, scuffling at the dirt with his claws as he climbs out into the open. Bracken takes a cautionary look around to make sure that there's no immediate danger before hopping a few feet away from the hole with a quiet grumble, seeming not to notice the younger buck, or perhaps ignoring him purposely. He hunches himself over a patch of clover and nibbles rather sullenly, his ears drooping a bit, and mumbles to himself. "Bloody bunch of crack-brained louts.."
Coriander's ears perk forward as he notices the older rabbit's presence long before he makes it out of the run proper. He raises up a bit, tilting his head and squinting to better see the other in the dusky light. It was that rabbit from yesterday... Bramble? No, Bracken. His name was Bracken. The young buck inches forward, ears slid forward to try and catch the low muttering. He smirks and hops off the rise and sidles up near the sullen buck. "Who's a bunch of crack-brained louts, sir?"
Bracken ticks an ear towards the youngster, straightening his posture a bit and swallowing the mouthful of clover he's chewing, then clearing his throat. "Oh... err... hello, ... Coriander, is it?" He squints his eyes a bit as he peers at the other buck, making sure it's who he thinks it is, then glances off at nothing in particular with a disdainful frown. "Well, wouldn't be quite tactful for me to mention names, would it?" He goes on in a somewhat louder, more gruff tone, which causes a few other rabbits grazing nearby to perk up their ears in his direction. He pays them no mind, however, as he continues. "But all the same, I
think it's a shame what a barmy wreck this warren's hierarchy has regressed to. Why, if I--" But Bracken is interrupted from his burgeoning tirade (and the nearby onlookers from their staring and whispering) by the sudden crack of a gunshot. He startles with a jolt, his legs splaying and his ears shooting up as
he prepares to make a run for the nearest hole, eyes wide and nostrils flaring.
Coriander had been allowing himself a small little grin of amusement. He was obviously talking about the new chief rabbit, the female one. He had recognized a certain hesitancy in his mother to tell him the news, as if he'd be disturbed by it. He hadn't at the time, but he is beginning to realize that such things
just aren't done. And then there was the gunshot. It is a purely unearthly and unfamiliar sound and the young buck leaps into the air in shock and fear. He lands, his eyes rolling, their whites showing. Coriander shudders, going tharn from the shock.
The gunshot isn't the only intruder upon the conversation. A streak of tawny comes shrieking through the grasses at breakneck speed, large eyes rolling, eating up the distance with long leaps. It comes barreling in amongst the other rabbits and, without so much as an "if you please", dives into the nearest hole. There it remains, panting, whimpering.
Bracken somehow manages to fight the instinct to bolt, even as Wilhelm goes tearing past him and to the shelter of a run. Gradually, after reminding himself silently (and repeatedly) that the gunshot was far enough away not to be a danger, he manages to calm down a little, though his heart is still racing, and his nose twitching rapidly as he stares off in the direction of the river. "Frith in a hlao, that never fails to spook me out of my fur." He says to Coriander, his formerly-confident tone clearly shaken.
Dandelion does what any rabbit does who is completely insane when one hears a gunshot.. though he isn't.. perhaps.. and pokes his head Out of the burrow. He swivels his black ears this way and that and focus's beady black rabbit eyes on those above ground, taking note on their reactions and not seeming too pleased about it. "What are you all tharn?!!? Get in the burrow... NOW!" The urgency in his voice is of one nearing panic but thinking of others seems formost on this rabbits mind, though he doesnt seem to be straying too far from the hole. He's seen what man can do with their magic BoomSticks and that most certainly was the sound of one.
Coming up from the same burrow that Wilhelm darted down into, Nightshade hardly has time to check on the unfamiliar-smelling rabbit before he's run past her - and she decides her fellow warren rabbits are of a higher priority to be checking on the safety of. "Is everyone out here account--" she starts to ask before she's interrupted, and by the buck from before, no less. Narrowing her eyes slightly at him, she simply darts back underground, going to her second priority of finding the rogue rabbit. Maybe he's trying to get on Blackbriar's good side, or even trying to become an officer. Either way, she's not terribly happy about it.
Coriander's breath is still rapid and erratic even as Bracken calms, he not having the experience of the older buck. He swallows, trying to regain composure and stop himself from going tharn, although he's never had to do that before either and is finding it rather difficult. His ears twitch nervously at the
sound of a paniced buck inside a run, which doesn't help Coriander's situation. His eyes roll in that direction and he catches a glimpse of his mother. Letting out a harsh, hissy breath of relief, the shaken young rabbit darts in the direction of the doe. "Mother, what was that mother?" he pants, his hind legs twitching with the urge to thump the ground in unneeded alarm.
One wouldn't have to go far to find Wilhelm. The terrified young buck has stopped within sight of the burrow's exit, and he now stands frozen in place. It's not hard to diagnose the symptoms of tharn: wide, paranoid eyes, ears straight up, scrunched into a protective ball. The tailless rabbit's breaths come in short gasps, and he seems to be muttering something about "them" and "get
me".
Bracken turns to peer at Dandelion as he sticks his head out, but doesn't seem eager to obey. That's his defiant streak showing through, no doubt. He subdues the urge to ask a snarky question regarding when Dandelion was inducted into the
owsla, and merely gives a soft snort, shaking his head. Though still rather ruffled by the unexpected noise, he's becoming more reposed by the moment, and sits up to sniff at the air, ears swiveling. "Calm down, you lot." He says, his tone becoming increasingly at-ease again. "No humans here, nothing to go tharn over."
Dandelion doesn't much care about what Nightshade thinks of him or what he is trying to do, there was a gunshot outside.. and he's seen enough of his friends zorn by that same sound. A new family he's found himself in, and even though he's only just started to get to know these rabbits the last thing he wants to
see is any of them getting hurt. "Oh for Frith's sake, thats exactly what a rabbit will say before he gets Shot!" He bounds out of the burrow and races around the clearing, stopping here and there to make sure theres noone tharn outside, and then bolts back to Bracken. He is indeed an exceptional runner. "C'mon, down.. just for a bit ok?" He asks pleadingly. "We can silflay again after the danger's past." He starts away from Bracken before stopping and glancing back. "Please.." And then down the burrow he goes running into Wilhelm! He starts trying to calm him down again..
Her attention torn between her son and a stranger, Nightshade attempts to keep herself from panicking too much, forcing herself to focus on one thing at a time. Addressing her son behind her, she tries to sound as soothing and calm as possible: "That was a sound Man makes, Coriander. If you ever hear that sound,
you need to get to safety as soon as possible, but try not to go tharn." That teaching opportunity taken, she then moves up to the rabbit in the condition she just advised against. "Who are you, sir, and where are you from?" she demands, trying to commandeer his attention.
Coriander stops just shy of entering the run and composes himself. He sits up and rubs a paw down his muzzle, soothing his quivering whiskers and then grooming his ears. Imagine, running to his mother like that. Embarassing, really. The
young buck swallows the remnans of fear and makes note of the new information. Man noise, run. Simple. Although, Bracken hadn't ran. Coriander tilts his ears toward the older buck and listens to Dandelion's pleas. Hopping forward curiously, he settles near Bracken and decides to follow him, whether he concedes to Dandelion or stays in the open.
Through some sort of miracle, Wilhelm seems to be coming down from his frozen state, though the whites of his eyes still show. He slowly, slowly turns his head to regard the strange doe who is questioning him. His whiskers twitch in a terrified way. Oh, what did he stumble onto now? "Who am I?" he grunts out,
trying to draw himself up to full height and immediately knocking his head on the ceiling. Durf. "Who are /you/? On what authority do you question me?" That's right, it's all part of the Great Rabbit Conspiracy.
Sunflower blinks as she makes her way move towards the entrance and pauses as she catches sight of the others.. What the heck is going on here? Her ears flick one way then another while she tilts her head to the side looking rather confused to
say the least.
Bracken wrinkles his nose in annoyance as Dandelion continues to cajole him into going underground. Again, he refuses to obey, his whiskers splaying obstinately. "Well, if there -was- any danger, I'd be happy to wait underground for it to pass." He replies somewhat disparagingly. "But guns aren't dangerous from that far away. It was probably just the farmer shooting at rooks."
Dandelion glances up from Wilhelm as the doe who doesn't smile at him comes up the run and starts demanding answers from the tharn one. Then finds himself even more surprised as the rabbit snaps out of it. Hes never seen anyone recover that quickly but what a relief.. Well the owsla has it from here so he backs off..
but the only place to go is back up and out since the run is blocked.. he hops back up outside again and looks around nervously. He hears Bracken but only frowns silently. Its always better to be safe than sorry, especially if your a rabbit. Its the only reason he has been able to stay alive so long without a
warren up til now. He leaves Bracken to do as he wishes but does at least give one more try at convincing Coriander. "Cmon, down for a little bit yea? We can come back up later.." He looks around one last time and then disappears down a unhindered entrance.
"I am Nightshade, an Officer of the Hawthorn Owsla," the doe retorts plainly at Wilhelm's interrogation, pushing herself up closer towards Wilhelm in an attempt to intimidate. "Now let's try this again. Who are you, and why are you here?" She doesn't like playing 'tough cop', but sometimes situations call for it.
Coriander adopts a similar expression to Bracken, although its a bit less confident. He scratches at his ear in a show of strained calmness and shakes his head. "Do you really think there's danger, Dandelion, sir? The man noise is gone and..." He pauses, rising up on his hind legs for a moments, his nose to the
wind. "I certainly don't /smell/ man. And... it did seem a long way off..." He hesitates again, glancing uncertainly up at Bracken as Dandelion disappears down the run. "Is that right?" he whispers a bit uncertainly.
Sunflower blinks at the buck that is giving her mother a hard time. "Hey! She asked you a question, you best answer it!" The younger rabbit offers as she makes her way over to where her mother and the strange rabbit is and just glares up at
him while sitting back. Ya doesn't she look like she could do something? Most likely get in trouble more then anything, which she does..
Bracken gives a brisk nod of approval in response to Coriander, a stern expression on his face. "Quite right. At least a few rabbits still have a bit of sense around here." The second sentence is said a bit more loudly than the first, so that the rabbits still hiding underground might hear him. The older of the two bucks that remain above ground takes a few further hops away from the
muffled sound of conversation below, still looking mildly annoyed, and muttering again. "Bunch of quivering fieldmice. Amazing that some rabbits ever get above ground to eat with paranoia like that."
Dandelion crawls his way down the run and into the honeycomb center where he finds a quiet out of the way corner and starts cleaning out his fur. He tried to do the right thing, and if anything happens at least his conscience will be clear. He does of course here the snide remark and sighs quietly, starting to wonder to himself if it wouldn't indeed in fact be more pleasant away from the warren with all the elil instead.
Buh? After shaking off the initial confusion, Nightshade is simply frustrated. "Thornrove? Is that your name?" she presses further. At Sunflower's voiced support (ever the mommy's girl), Nightshade shifts forward, staring more intently at the strange buck. "I need to know if you are friend or foe, or else I'll have
to kick you out of our warren by force," the owsla doe adds. Lucky for Bracken, she's too preoccupied with Wilhelm to hear anything he's saying.
Coriander smiles a bit, ruffling himself up in a pleased little motion. He moves after the older buck for a few hops, nibbling absently on the dry flay of winter. He snickers lightly at the newly muttered comment and gathers his hind legs under him, looking around a bit, wondering whether his mother would be one of the ones to emerge soon.
Wilhelm's in full paranoid force now, complete with indignant vagueness and distrust of all. Sad that he should be displaying this side of himself to strange rabbits. "Don't feign ignorance!" he retorts, his eyes flitting between Nightshade and the younger doe who has joined her. "You can't bury the truth!" At the mention of losing the protection of the warren, though, his attitude seems to change abruptly. His head droops and his ears splay slightly, submissively. Yeah, it's all a noble cause, until a threat to his well-being comes into effect. "I'm a friend," he utters almost grudgingly. "My name's Wilhelm."
Sunflower is and always will be a mommy's girl, when someone like Nightshade is the mother that isn't a bad thing though! She glowers up at the large buck, doing her best to look all brace like her mother even though she's a bit scared of the strange rabbit. "Truth.. What truth?" She questions as her head tilts and she only ehs a bit. "See.. That wasn't /so/ hard to do!"
Bracken sets to work on the grass as well, nibbling and hopping along now and again, but not straying an unsafe distance from the holes. He may be a bit reckless at times, but he's no fool when it comes to elil. In the relative solitude of the meadow after the gunshot, it doesn't take much effort to find a secluded spot out of earshot of the others. It's then that Bracken speaks again, though this time in a tone that's not meant to draw the attention of bystanders. "So, Coriander. You seem like a level-headed chap. What do you think of all this claptrap about the new chief?"
Dandelion finds himself a quiet out of the way place deep in the warren. This new home is definetly going to take some getting used to. He lies himself down and calls that a day, hoping noone finds the need to disturb him, and hoping more to find a nice sleep without the nightmares haunting him with his past.
"Good. You're welcome to seek shelter here, so long as you follow the rules. That includes answering a member of the Owsla when they ask you a question. Right now, that includes myself, Captain Blackbriar, or Myrtle-rah.," Nightshade replies in full explanation of what is expected of the new buck.
Coriander angles his head upwards for a moment, squinting up at the sky, a typical expression of thought. "Well..." he pauses, wrinkling his nose. He rubs a paw down his muzzle, hesitant to answer. "I'm not really sure. It seems like... well... that it's not quite... right?" Coriander frowns a bit. "I'm not sure /what/'s not right about it, though. Do you know? I can't see anything myself."
"Owsla? That's your secret network, right?" Wilhelm comments. "You guys all know what's going on, and I'll get to the bottom of things like Thornrove. Or are you allies, fighting for the cause?" He boldly pushes his head forward, nose twitching, as though sniffing around is going to give him answers. He really is a bit loopy; must be from adrenaline.
Sunflower just eyes the new buck some. "What's Thornrove?.." She never heard of anything like that before.
Nightshade rolls her eyes, ears flattening back. "Just go get some rest, Wilhelm. You need it," she replies, exasperated, before turning around and heading back up to the surface - she desperately needs some air after all that chaos. She notes Coriander next to Bracken, and her ears swivel forward, listening carefully.
Bracken huffs quietly through his whiskers and gives his head a brief shake, his ears wagging slightly as he does so. "Well, it's unheard of, for one thing-- it's never been done, not in the whole history of the warren, so far as I've been told. Why do you suppose that is?" An ear flicks softly as the breeze picks up,
and he turns his back to it, then continues before Coriander can answer. "Because, it's not right, that's why. Like bucks digging out a warren- it's not natural at all."
Coriander tilts his head, angling his ears back a bit as he listens. "I suppose its not -- But, well... She must have done something right? Hmm." His head droops a bit. In truth, he has no idea what Myrtle did to become chief. It was only his alliegiance to his mother as an Owsla officer that had him questioning the 'natural order' at all. The young rabbit pauses, shakes his head, and looks back to Bracken. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you, sir." He smiles absently and hops back towards the burrows, not looking up at Nightshade as he passes her.
Well, that's that. Wilhelm, with a shiver and a muttered something under his breath, heads deeper into the warren to find an unoccupied spot to sleep. At least here, he's safe from Them. He thinks.
Nightshade watches her son return to the warren, meeting Bracken's gaze for several long seconds before turning and following her children inside. She'll be speaking with Blackbriar tonight, that's for sure.
Bracken is only mildly surprised when he turns to watch Coriander depart and notices that Nightshade had been listening in. Well, he'd known (and rather intended) that the owsla would catch wind of his feelings about this eventually, anyway. The older buck gives his paws a flick, and sits back to run them over
one of his ears nonchalantly, then turns his back to the departing rabbits and settles down to finish his bland meal.