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 Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:42 pm
 News about the upcoming raid had started to spread in the warren, and the rumours had reached U'tuhlroo's ears. It was hard to miss really, what with the warren suddenly swarming with brainless bucks eager to prove themselves or die trying. Outskirters even! In her opinion the Owsla would be better off sitting on those young troublemakers instead of encouraging them. Some outskirters she had met lately certainly needed to be put in their place.
She was starting to fear that if she encountered one more stupid buck that made her roll her eyes she'd risk to get stuck looking like that. Better to seek some safe and less annoying company... She started looking around for any familiar does to graze with, but instead her eyes were drawn to a characteristic white and black coat. Cowslip... She couldn't decide if it would be safe to approach him out here or not. He was rather eye catching, and coming from U'tuhlroo it wasn't a compliment.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:21 pm
Cowslip's mind was still churning with excitement as he nibbled thoughtfully at the stalks of grass that were unfortunate enough to find themselves in the way of his maw. He was busy thinking and contemplating and, honestly, worrying.
He was dead set on carrying out this raid to prove that he was more than a hutch rabbit, he was tough enough to be a member of the elite. In the past, it never really did seem that important to him, but for some reason now it did. It certainly wasn't a sudden change, The thoughts took hold of him when the Diseased first arrived at the Down.
He wanted to make a difference.
He hardly noticed U'tuhlroo was out and about. In fact, he really didn't take much notice of which rabbits were out to siflay. Rabbits were there and he had his thoughts to keep him company as his silver eyes flickered to the horizon.
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:46 am
Unfortunately Cowslip seemed to be the most appealing choice of company from the rabbits out to silflay at the moment. U'tuhlroo silflayed her way towards his spot, and took her sweet time doing so. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to approach a hutch rabbit, she was just careful was all. He might as well have a target painted on his back, since even a half blind elil would be able to pick out his contrasting colours easily. It all made her a bit uneasy, but she told herself that the elil would probably go for Cowslip first, so in theory she should be just as safe near him, no?
"Hello Spotty," she greeted him when she came close enough, "Still running I see."
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:33 pm
He did notice her, after a while, as she slowly made her way towards his spot. At first he thought she might of been blind or oddly oblivious, for he doubted she would ever approach him above ground. Yet she was.
"Certainly am, surprised? I can take care of myself well enough to make it a few seasons." He couldn't help but to grin as he paused between bites of grass.
"And you're doing the same, that's good! Heard any good talk amongst the runs?" His ears swiveled at the distant sounds of birdsong as he waited for a response.
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:02 pm
U'tuhlroos ears kept moving as she listened to Cowslip. One ear was politely pointing forward, but the other twitched and turned to keep track of her surroundings. Her pelt colour gave her the advantage of good camouflage, but that wasn't the only reason she had survived to adulthood without too many mishaps.
"Good talk?" she huffed, "Ugh, don't talk about it! Every which way I swivel my ears I hear about the upcoming raid. It's even caused most rabbits to stop gossip about the diseased. Err... The no longer diseased, I suppose."
It looked as if the ex-hlessil had settled in nicely and there was no sign of disease, not even among the foolish young ones who had "bravely" investigated the scrapes after the quarantine was lifted. Perhaps the rumours about those rabbits would have ended naturally soon anyway, but did it have to be replaced by such an annoying topic of conversation?
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Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:15 am
"At least talk about the disease has lifted though, right?"
The spotted buck suddenly felt ashamed of himself, if only because he half agreed with the doe. He was going to do this raid, but did that really make him a brainless buck? He dismissed the doubt that gnawed at his core and briefly preened an ear.
"From what I hear, though, Bracken-rah thinks the raid is a fairly good idea, to get the Owsla and Owsla hopefuls some practice and to bring flay-rah to the growing warren... I think I want to help."
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:17 pm
"I suppose," she agreed reluctantly, "I was starting to get tired of hearing about that too."
She tucked in on the lush but short grass at her feet while listening to Cowslip. It wasn't flayrah, but it was nice and filling, and as a rabbit she needed to eat a lot to keep going. Perhaps some flayrah would be nice, even if she did not agree that a raid was the only way, or best way, to find it. And... What?
"Help?" she asked, and then remembered to swallow. She was not sure she had interpreted him correctly.
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:12 am
"Well... Yeah?"
He regretted saying it almost instantly, but it was certainly too late to go back, now. The buck had quit grazing by now and was grooming his paws and running them over his long, splotched ears. It would be dangerous, he knew that well enough... But there were mouths to feed and he did sort of miss the flayrah he had often when he had been a hutch rabbit.
And it was a chance to try and catch the eyes of the Owsla.
"I think I am going to go on the raid, too."
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:36 am
U'tuhlroo couldn't stop a groan from slipping out and she was tempted to just go burrow somewhere to get away from all this insanity. Not Cowslip too. She wasn't at all thrilled with the fact that he seemed to have been afflicted with the latest bout of collective insanity that swept the warren. And it wasn't just disappointment that what seemed like a sensible buck considered joining this potential suicide mission. Whether Cowslip liked it or not his pelt gave him a big handicap compared to most other rabbits in the warren. The fact that he wanted to leave the safety of Watership Down and put himself at risk made her upset for a myriad of reasons.
"Are you completely out of your mind," she said, a bit too loudly. She wasn't really shouting at him, but she was definitely not using her softer and more polite 'burrow-voice'. "The blindest elil would see you from a mile away! Why don't you go look for a lendri's burrow and get it over with if you're tired of running?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:34 am
His swollen ego seemed to deflate almost as soon As U'tuhlroo began to speak and his ears drooped, but the splotched buck was keeping a stiff upper lip, so to speak.
"Not completely, but I do know I'll be in a good bit of danger. Point is, there are many mouths to feed and a few marli expecting, and the Chief thinks it is a good idea. He's been pretty right so far and the rabbits." He returned to grooming himself self-consciously as he thought over his reasonings for going. Perhaps some of his reasons were more on the selfish side, but that naive little voice in the back of his farm-raised noggin didn't want to believe that harm would befall him.
"Besides, one of the officers approached me and asked me to come. I must be good at something, right? I can be pretty fast."
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:02 am
"Someone asked you to come," she parroted, unable to hide her surprise. Sure, not all Owsla were perfectly camouflaged, but those that were unusually coloured, or smaller than average, or female usually had to prove themselves even more to be accepted into their ranks. She was genuinely surprised that Cowslip could have done anything to make Owsla notice him in a good way. Surprised and slightly suspicious.
Good at being a distraction while the others are getting away, she thought, but somehow avoided saying it out loud. This was stupid, and from the stubborn look that was settling on Cowslip's face she knew she couldn't just yell at him until he changed his mind. That would only make him more determined. Perhaps... Perhaps he would be more inclined to see that this might be dangerous to someone else than himself?
"Well, if you're sure," she said reluctantly, resisting her impulse to cuff him over the head to show him just what she thought about all this. There had to be some way to discourage him from running towards an early end, but she was not sure how yet.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:14 am
"I'm pretty sure... Besides, I've already told the officer I am going. Right shame for me to back out. I want to try to do what is best for the warren."
He groomed his paws between words and kept an eye on U'tuhlroo all the while. Yep. She definitely wasn't thrilled, about as much as he expected. He was well aware of just how much his pet stood out. Painfully aware. But that didn't seem to want to stop him...
He made it all the way to the Down without too much incident, so that had to account for something... Right?
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:55 am
She huffed impatiently as Spotty added reason after reason that he should, not that he must, go on this raid. Curse all males and their stupid pride. And curse the Owsla and their poor taste when recruiting. She nibbled viciously on some grass, taking great satisfaction in cropping it as short as possible.
"It's only natural to want to help your warren, but you don't have to leave the warren to help it," she said, trying not to sound too defensive (but probably failing). "But if you want to go I suppose I can't really stop you. Just don't get someone else killed in the process, will you?"
She tried to end her tirade with a good natured grin, but there was a hint of seriousness under it all. It was one thing to risk your own life, but she sincerely hoped that Cowslip had more sense than to put someone else in danger during this raid. She remembered incidents from her youth when a kitten had put much more experienced rabbits at risk by behaving foolishly, and to her this overgrown farm rabbit was a lot like a kitten. There was so much he didn't know about being a real rabbit and she would have been happier if he hadn't insisted on learning the hard way.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 5:29 pm
"I'm not. I don't want to put anyone in danger. I'll be most careful." He replied, his head low as he nibbled thoughtfully at a blade of grass. Perhaps he was having a bit of an ego trip, to think that he could haul his spotty butt to a farm and return unscathed, but those thoughts were far from his mind by now.
"That I'll promise, for sure." Despite her grin, he could practically feel the seriousness radiating off of her like heat. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel uncomfortable, but he did his best not to show it and offered her a wry grin as he swallowed his current mouth of grass.
"Things will be fine, you'll see."
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:40 am
"Fine, fine," she grumbled, "Everything will be fine."
Had he been just any old buck in the warren she would have left in disgust long ago, and perhaps she ought to do just that, but strangely enough she cared about what happened to this big spotty kitten of a buck. Since he refused to listen to the voice of reason (her voice of reason!) she furiously tried to think of another way to make him change his mind. She decided against yelling, and instead said the first thing that came to mind.
"I'll just have to come along and make sure you don't do something stupid," she said, hoping to provoke some kind of reaction from him.
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