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 Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:47 pm
Darkbrier did not normally travel far out of the burrow during the bright part of the day, feeling her dark coat was better suited for early morning or the later part of the evening, but for whatever reason she had decided to step out in the late morning today. She shifted cautiously, peering about the bright sky with her good eye while her ears flicked every which way, then peering about the rest of the area.
It seemed safe enough and so she padded further from the warren, out to a spot on the side of the hill where she paused and stood, peering around once again to be certain. Her shadow loomed down the hill and the silent sentinel watched for some moments, both for danger and just to see what the others in the area were doing. Most were silflaying, a few Owsla were to be seen here and there doing patrols and fulfilling other duties. It seemed that so far at least today was a good day.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:41 pm
 It had taken a lot of time and energy, but Roseroot was once again back in Watership Down where she belonged. And her family and friends had even managed to make her feel fairly safe from the disease that had threatened them all. And really, if she looked at it rationally there was no chance that the ex-hlessil still carried the disease. But despite the fact that she kept telling herself she was safe from this danger she couldn't help feeling decidedly uneasy if she saw one of them. Uneasy, but not panicking, and to her it meant progress.
However, at times like this she didn't think much about the disease. Silflay always came with a more normal sense of unease, one that served a purpose. The anxiety made her alert, and less likely to become elil-dinner. Roseroot was excellent dinner company because she was anxious. She always kept an ear up, and often stopped eating to check her surroundings one more time.
She had nearly finished a dandelion she had found tucked away a few hops down the hill when a shadow fell over her. She turned with a start and her heart nearly stopped, and then started to race uncontrollably at the sight of the dark rabbit looking at her. A distressed teeth clatter was the only noise she managed to make, and she was too frightened to run.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:44 pm
It was actually not until Darkbrier was about to settle back to all fours and go find a bit of flay that she realized the red-tinted doe was looking at her so fearfully. She regarded the other with her good eye for a moment before sighing and hopping a bit closer. It's so awkward when someone reacts to me like this...
"Inle doesn't seek you from my shadow, if that's what you're worried over." The words were not harsh, nor even frustrated, though there was that air of exasperated resignation to them. She offered a bit of a smile to the other, hoping the words would reassure her enough to shake her from her frozen state.
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:21 am
It took some time for Roseroot to unfreeze, even after Darkbrier's kind words and reassuring smile.
"I know," Roseroot croaked when she found her bearings and finally managed to open her mouth and speak to the doe that had rattled her, "I'm sorry. I'm... I'll be fine."
But it was painfully obvious that the doe was still in a bad state and that she was far from "fine". She spoke now and was not tharn, but the wild look in her eyes and a shiver that she couldn't seem to shake betrayed that the red doe was far from okay. Not even the embarrassment of overreacting like this could force her to calm down, and Roseroot clamped her clattering teeth shut, waiting for her heartbeats slow down. It would pass, it always did.
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:32 pm
While Darkbrier held no qualms about using her larger than average size and unusually dark coloring to her advantage to scare stray kittens and young outskirters back in line when they tried to sneak out in the dim of night, it was not currently night, nor was this an overly adventurous young rabbit that she had frightened, however accidentally. It did not sit well with her to simply wander off and leave the doe in such a state, and while conversation was not necessarily her strong suit she felt, perhaps, it would help to sooth the other.
"Bit of the nerves today, hm? Never hurts to be careful." The black doe settled down to nibble at a patch of flay a few small hops from where the other doe had been eating. "And it's not so much of a trouble that it needs an apology. I get that sort of reaction fairly frequently, especially since I usually stick to the dim hours at the beginning and end of Frith's daily travels. Rumors about the black rabbit wandering the warren in the dark help keep the kittens from wandering too far from their marlis while they slumber though, I dare say."
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Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:28 am
"I... Ah... Yes," she mumbled, and swivelled an ear towards Darkbrier, silently letting the doe know that she wasn’t upset or angry at her. "Bit of the nerves I suppose, yes... Sorry, I'm Roseroot. I don't know if we've talked before."
A bit of the nerves today, and too many other days if she was completely honest with herself. These frights messed with her head and made her forget things until she regained her balance again, and she didn't like it. She rose on her hind legs and checked the surrounding area before dropping down on all four in a slightly more relaxed pose. She couldn't help but smile a little as the doe talked about scaring kittens. She could relate to that and she was grateful that someone like this doe watched out for the young in the warren.
"Oh, I know some need more persuasion to stay out of trouble," she said, "Mine are outskirters now so I'm not as involved, but kittens can sure be too curious for their own good. It takes a warren to raise a litter of kittens... I worry about them sometimes, but I know they need to sort out their lives on their own now."
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Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 8:13 pm
"My marli dubbed me Darkbrier. I was a bit more prickly when I was a kitten, so she said." She chuckled. "Or perhaps I was just a bit more obvious about it."
"Worrying for them is natural. They might think they're grown and know it all but they're still your kittens. Though it is best for their sakes that they know you will be there if they need you... but that you'll not relieve them of responsibility for what they do. Ah, that can be the tricky part!" She shook her head. "Not that I've a litter of my own to point to, but I've helped with a few. They can be such adorable little heart-attacks, eh?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:27 am
Roseroot smiled as Darkbrier chuckled and she started to seem slightly more relaxed. Still alert of course, since it was a very bad idea not to be during silflay, but much less tense and no longer looking as if she would go tharn any minute. She nibbled on a patch of short cropped grass while she listened. Darkbrier might not have hade any kittens of her own, but what she said sounded very sensible.
"It might be good for me to have someone to worry about," Roseroot admitted, "When I'm busy worrying about them I worry less about myself." And other things.
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