Brambleberry
I swear on the name of El-ahrairah... I shall never run from a fight again.
-------------------------Name: Brambleberry
Significance of Name: Brambles are thorny plants within the rose family. Bramble fruit, or Bramble berries, are the fruit of any such plant, including the blackberry and the raspberry.
The name was specifically chosen because brambles are barbed with thorns despite being fruit-bearing plants--which makes quite the statement about his personality; Bram is a good person on the inside, but his past experiences have caused him to put many sharp walls around him in order to guard himself.
It should also be noted that in his Anthropomorphic form, Brambleberry has dark purple hair, almost the color of a
blackberry.
Approx. Age: A little under 1 human year, or about 19 in Leporidae time.
Physique (Height / Weight): 15.5 cm (6.1in) at his haunches & 21cm (8.2in) at the tips of his ears / 9.2 lbs. Brambleberry has a lean and compact sort of frame; he's sizable enough for a rabbit his age, but nothing overly-so. His trim and muscular body-type make him a formidable opponent and prime Officer for the Owsla--and he has the scars to prove it!
Relations:Parents: WoodBridge (Sire, deceased), Ethethnang [Lonely Leaf] (Marli, deceased)
Litter-mates: Restharrow & Azelia
Friends: Edgecreek (deceased), StormCloud, Tangleweed
Favorite Mating Partner: Tangleweed
Previous Mating Partners: Samphire, Tangleweed
Offspring: Eleer'lé [Winter Moon] & Gorse
Opinion of others in the warren:•Bracken: as his rah, Bracken has Brambelberry's utmost respect and sincere devotion.
•Cocklebur: unsure how he feels about the buck, considering the circumstances surrounding his promotion into the Owsla fold. Being the Captain however, he puts his trust into him none the less.
•Althea: has impressed Bram greatly. Being such a powerful and strong-willed doe, he finds her very attractive.
•Samphire: Bram thinks she's a beautiful doe, beautiful as they come anyway. And she is the mother of his kittens, so he is very protective and supportive of her. Drops by her burow often to see how she's doing.
•Eleer'lé & Gorse: As his children he is very proud of them & expects great things from them both.
•Tangleweed: the buck confuses him at times because of his lack-of-knowledge about rabbit society, but he finds him amusing just the same. They get along well, and Brambleberry will come to care for him deeply with time.
•Stormcloud: quiet but confident, and strong enough to pull through despite the tragedies that have befallen him, Stormcloud has earned Brambleberry's deepest respect and loyalty as a friend. He enjoys his company.
•Silverweed: Bram thinks the kid is annoying and loud. He could do with a muzzle.
Alignment: Lawful (albeit occasionally chaotic) Good - It doesn't mean Lawful Nice.
Goals & Ambitions: To carry on living for his dearest friend, who was taken by the black rabbit. Perhaps to become a Captain someday.
Personality:• sharp-tongued. sarcastic & snide when provoked, otherwise usually quiet
• strong-willed, stubborn, & proud. Can be temperamental at times
• confident, strong, but knowledgeable of his own weaknesses
• loner - prefers to keep to himself
• VERY protective of his friends & loved ones
• has a profound sense of justice, truth, and loyalty, but is guarded when around those who he doesn't trust or who haven't earned his respect yet
• hardened, embittered, jaded, worn, experienced
• a crushed optimist
History: Brambleberry's mother was a doe of Efrafan decent, who's own Marli had instilled in her a great deal of reverence and gratitude for the fore-fathers who established the Watership Warren and brought her own unto salvation. As such, it is no surprise that she taught her own kittens every ounce of that same respect, and brought them up knowing that their liberties and freedoms--that their very
lives there on the Watership Down--were entirely due to the sacrifices that had been made and the blood that had been spilled in pursuit of something greater. It was because they were a "free warren" which accepted new-comers and Hlessi with open arms that they were even born.
Awed by his mother's pure and undying devotion, as well as moved by the fact that his own father had given his life in the service of the Owsla, Brambleberry decided from a very tender age that he would follow in his father's footsteps and become and officer in order to protect and serve his people in the most patriotic way that he knew how.
But Brambleberry was not alone on his journey; his childhood friend, Edgecreek, would be there beside him all along the way.
Edgecreek was only a week or so older than Bram, but treated the younger buck and his two sisters as though they were his own siblings (since he had no litter-mates of his own) and always did his best to look after them. Both boys were very protective of the girls, and as they grew, they promised that they would become Owsla officers together.
The two of them grew up side by side, the closest of companions and the truest of friends. They shared eachother's hopes and dreams, as well experienced one another's trials and hardships, and slowly Brambleberry realized that what he felt for Edgecreek was something more. Though it is true that rabbits do not view love quite the way that people do, it do not mean that they are incapable of feeling the emotion. Brambleberry loved his dearest friend even more than he loved himself, and even when Edgecreek decided to became mates with his baby sister, Azelia, Brambleberry still kept the secret feelings that he housed for his friend alive in a very small corner of his heart. He didn't interrupt the relationship tough, and he never did tell Edgecreek how he felt--about any of the deeper sort of emotions that ran through him than just their bond as 'brothers'. He didn't ever see the reason to. He was so sure that they'd always be together that he merely contented himself with what they did have instead.
One day however, all of this was to change;
While out in the woods with a few other rabbits from around the warren, only just a stretch aways from the bottom of the down, Edgecreek was attacked by a Homba. While the other rabbits fled, Brambleberry tried his best to stand his ground and fight back. But the fox proved too much, and in the end, when his friend stopped kicking, the young buck was forced to retreat. Barely managing to escape with his life, Brambleberry emerged from the brush bruised and torn, with a deep and bleeding gouge torn from his left shoulder. But as he drudgingly made the climb back up to the birch tree on top of the warren, only to haphazardly throw himself down into his burrow, it wasn't his body that was truly aching. It was some place deep inside.
When she caught wind of what had happened, Azelia was deeply saddened by the event; being a very soft-spoken and mild-mannered doe, Edgecreek was her whole life, and with no kittens to remember him by it was very hard for her to move on, but thanks to Restharrow's gentle re-assureneces she somehow found a way.
Brambleberry was even slower to recover.
For several days he refused to get up from his burrow at all, and if Restharrow had not brought him flay to eat nor cleaned and cared for his injuries, he surly would have died. Wounded some place deep, Brambleberry tried to make sense of why it was
his friend, why it was
Edgecreek who's life the black rabbit had taken. He cursed the stinking thousand, prince El-ahrairah, Lord Frith, and everyone in-between. It just wasn't fair...! The outrage and the anguish came in sudden flashes, violent and strong, but gradually even the intensity of these emotions began to fade and only numbness was left in their wake.
As a young outskirter he had once been vibrant and showy, a cocky little punk... Now he had been sufficiently broken-in. Embittered and left just a bit cynical, Brambleberry no longer had want for anything, other than to just be left alone. His will to keep going had died with Edgecreek, and his desire to make Owsla had all but been snuffed out. Still, he made it just the same.
Perhaps it can be called ironic, but despite how many times both he and Edgecreek had tried-and-failed to properly impress the captain, it was not until Edgecreek had lost his life and Brambleberry had fought valiantly to try and save him that either of them had roused any real interest. When he was well enough, Bracken-rah gave him the honor of promoting him to Owsla rank. Bram was speechless over the decoration; he finally had what he had always wanted, what he'd dreamed of being since he was a kitten. But cost had been so high... had the sacrifice really been worth it?
No. Edgecreek's life had been worth so much more than this.
Brambleberry did his newly-appointed duties with admirable precision, but only because he had to; it was what was expected of him. All of his actions were mechanical and spiritless. His heart wasn't in it anymore. His heart wasn't in anything anymore. He kept himself distanced away from the other officers, and even the other members of the warren that he had once cared about, all because he never wanted to experience that sort of hurt ever again. For some time he stayed like this, until finally his sister felt like she had finally had enough; Restharrow sat her older brother down and rebuked him for his behavior, insisting that Edgecreek wouldn't have wanted to see him like this. He wouldn't have wanted to see him wallow in his sorrow, or be lost to his angers---he would have wanted him to be happy. She reminded him that It is by Frith's will alone that the world is run; what is, is what must be, and that regardless of what it is that he wanted, Edgecreek was gone and he was still alive. With this same sternness, she told him that if he didn't go on living for himself, that at the very least he could at least go on living for their fallen brother.
And somehow those few sharp words were just what Brambleberry needed to hear. They struck him at the very core of his being, and after that day he began his duties with his conviction anew; He would live each day taking each breath for his friend, because Edgecreek couldn't anymore.
But this new resolve didn't end the sadness, and it didn't stop the guilt. Nor did it erase any of the shame. While his heart was slowly on the mend, and his fits of anger had gradually come to a halt, he still felt as though everything that had happened was all his fault. If only he had been just a little stronger, tried just a little harder... it would still be some time until that pitiless hole within the very core of his being was something that he could truthfully say that he had recovered from. While he could laugh and smile again, while he wasn't drowning in the grief, he still found it hard to open up to anyone around him. His words were barbed, his disposition guarded. His entire outlook had changed.
It was Stormcloud who first began the work to undo this.
When the small black and silver hlessi stumbled upon the down, covered in dirt and mud and worn beyond his year, Brambleberry felt moved with compassion for his plight and decided to take him under his wing. While spirited and proud, Bram was glad to help the younger buck when and where Storm would allow, and even when he finally got himself situated within the warren, Brambleberry would still drop by to see how he was doing. He enjoyed the younger male's company. But still flighty about forming emotional bonds, he refused to allow himself to get too close.
Still, despite his resolve, he found himself fighting constant urges to seek out Stormcloud's companionship whenever he could, and when another Hlessi by the name of Tangleweed--a former would-be hutch rabbit--happened upon the warren, he felt himself just as moved to protect and look after the other buck as before.
Tangleweed was particularly helpless in Bram's opinion, because (being raised around men) he knew, quite literally, next to nothing about rabbit society. None of the words or terminology, none of the appropriate mannerisms or behavior. Unable to fight his very nature as a care-giver, Brambleberry took it upon himself to look after the young English Spot and see to it that he found his place within the warren--and Tangleweed was all to glad to have the company. Used to the environment of the farm, being around his brothers and sisters, he had been quite lonely without companions of any kind.
That warm appreciation seems to have reassured Brambleberry of the merit of his intentions. While for now he is still on the threshold of his insecurities, and greatly hesitant, slowly, gradually, he will come around. While Tangleweed can never fully replace him, eventually the other buck will come to will the void that Edgecreek left in Brambleberry's heart.
-It should be noted that while Brambleberry genuinely does not find himself particularly roused by does, he still treats them with equal dignity and respect. During the breeding seasons he is motivated enough to find hardy, healthy does to pass his genes on to, so that he may help produce strong kittens for the warren. However, for all intents and purposes, he is to be taken as a homosexual character; it is Tangleweed who shares his burrow and who he will devote his life to.
RP Color: Purple (Indigo)Personal theme song: "Not Tomorrow" - Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill)
Current Roleplays: •
A Strange New Arrival - (Brambleberry & StormCloud) the story of Storm's arrival upon the Watership Down.
•
A Brand New Day - (Brambleberry & Tangleweed) Bram and Tangleweed's initial introduction after Tangleweed finds himself living in the Watership Warren.
•
Battle for the Butterflies - (Bramblberry vs Blueflax) Brambleberry gets himself roped into a very intersting sort of contest, thanks to Silverweed. His opponent; Blueflax, another Owsla officer. How will this end?
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Brambleberry's Pictures:
