Founders of the new warren

[Myrkin]

Let get this RP started.

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Rowan was growing impatient. It was a two days and half since he had left the warren and still he had not found any other rabbits or their trails. He could take care of himself, but even he would not survive long only on his own in the woods. For a moment he considered returning to his old home, but he pushed that thought away. There was no future for him there or at least not the kind of future he would desire. He was intent on finding a new place to live, somewhere where his skills as a fighter and former Owsla officer would be put to great use.

Therefore, he run forward, stopping from time to time to listen and to smell the surroundings. Yet there was no sign of other members of his kind, so he was moving on, untill he came across a small stream. Rowan decided to stop and rest for a while. He sat by the edge of stream and started nibbling short grass that was growing there.

[Speedwell]

(Two days earlier)

"Where are you going?"
The voice was not demanding or criticizing to Cayenne's, but inquisitive all the same, and she silently cursed her poor timing with a wince.
"Cayenne," it said again. "What's going on?"

After hrair moments of desperate tension, the doe turned to find her sister, Fennel, looking at her wide eyed. "I'll... see you later, Fennel."

"It's dangerous in the night. We should head back. Come on."

"Fennel, I'm leaving this place. The determined life of a doe is by no means acceptable to me."

"Acceptable?" Fennel's voice became a few degrees harsher as she realized what was happening. "Nobody's asked you  if you accept it."

"Fennel-"

"You're mad if you really mean to go. We all thought you were just being silly when you first started to talk of it. But... no... You're mad. You must be."

"Don't say th-"

"I'm telling someone. Dad... or the Owsla. Someone."

"Don't you-"
But Fennel had already turned to run. Thoroughly upset with that final conversation, Cayenne turned and plunged into the foliage at the outskirts of the forest, knowing that if she was found she'd be taken back and punished the way that does were handled with.

(Presently)

Cayenne was limping bitterly, replaying that night over and over in her head and trying to figure how she could possible have made it turn out better. Still, it didn't matter now- there was now changing it. The Owsla had probably assumed her dead, anyways. In their eyes, that was the last of her.

She just hoped that they weren't prematurely right.

Suddenly, she stopped, picking up the scent of something else- another... rabbit? Though the scent was stained with dirt and leaves and... the smell of travel.

A hlessi?

Back at her old warren, she'd heard horror stories about grimy hlessi, stumbling upon lone travelers and gobbling them up like the insane cannibals they were.

Perhaps she may have turned back if not for a sudden thud in her ear- a water droplet. Rain.

"Hraka," she whispered, feeling a shudder of horror- not wanting to be touched by the rain, her hydrophobia suddenly seizing control of her. Blindly, once more she barreled forward as though she could outrun it, madly searching for cover, but finding just the opposite. First she saw the stream, swirling past her and sending her tharn. Then she noticed the other rabbit.

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urgh. >.< posting while playing a violin.  Hope this fits in all right. Uh... sorry about the obnoxious backstory.

[Myrkin]

"Oh, it's nice. Rain and no good cover nearby. That's what I needed," Rowan grumbled, his ears twitching every time water droplet fell on them. Time to look for some bush or anything that could serve as cover. Buck turned around and he saw a rabbit, female to be precise. Even though she was a stranger, Rowan was glad ot see her, as it meant he wasn't alone anymore.

"Hello," he said simply, not used to making acquaintances with the hlessi.

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It's quite good, This Girl. Nothing to be sorry about.

[Speedwell]

Cayenne was silent, not knowing if the water or the stranger were to be feared more. Well- the stranger did not seem to have evil intentions, and his speaking civilized language was a good sign. "I... um," her lungs felt a great weight overtake them as she backed up. Finally she shut her eyes and looked away, trying to ignore the water. "I'm sorry. The water... it's..." she shuddered, feeling as though she were soaked through and drowning, although the rain had only just began to fall.

Well... now he'll be thinking I'm mad, too, she thought, angry with herself. Then she opened her eyes and focused only on him. "Err... Hello." Her fear and sudden weakness could easily be read in her eyes.

[Myrkin]

Rowan looked at the doe warily, noticing her shuddering and great nervousness. The thought crossed his mind, that she might be carrying a sickness, but he dismissed it quickly. She didn't smell of any diseases.

"I am Rowan," he introduced himself to the doe "Are you living in this place?" he asked, hoping she was from some nearby warren. Rowan would rather prefer to wait out the rain in warm dry burrow than spend that time in the open.

[Speedwell]

Well, he sure seems friendly, thought Cayenne bitterly, noticing his blatant business-like tone. She continued to creep away warily until she was looking around at him - and the water - from a tree that at least did something to intervene with the rain. "No. I absolutely do not live here... Rowan. I'm Cayenne. Are you... alone?"

Knowing that there were no warrens anywhere nearby since her own, the thought occurred to her that this buck must be quite lonely. A wave of sympathy overcame her.

[Myrkin]

Rowan followed the doe under the tree. It wasn't the best cover you could imagine, but it was the best the could find at the moment. He looked at Cayenne. So she was a hlessi, a wandering rabbit, like himself. Rowan wondered what had made her leave her own warren? Was she dissatisfied with the life there, like he was?

"I was alone before I've met you, yes," he answered "Do you know where are you going?" He surely didn't. He had just been moving forward, hoping to come across some other group of rabbits. It had seemed like a good enough plan when he had been leaving the warren, but now... Now Rowan wasn't so sure about it. He sighed. At least he wasn't alone anymore.

[Speedwell]

As the stranger, Rowan, came closer, Cayenne staggered back a bit more, having no interest in getting very close to this... buck. She continued to look at him in caution from the opposite side of the tree, thinking with fire that she may look vulnerable if she admitted how lost she was, and, if anything, an illusion of power was something she'd want to maintain. "I, umm... I've heard tales from other hlessi who've spoken of better life out on the path of the setting sun, and... well... I wanted to make way for that direction. Have you heard, as well? About life out in other warrens, I mean. Is it... better?"

The desperation in her voice escaped a moment before she could stop it, and her gaze dropped in embarrassment. Still, she was glad she'd asked, as she indeed was desperate to know if there was anything better than what she'd left, or if her escape was in vain; and surely this buck must know. It's the only sensible assumption as to why he'd be traveling alone.

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Ohhey- Have Cayenne and Rowan come from the same warren, or two neighboring different ones. They haven't recognized one another, but that could be due to their difference in hierarchical position.  

[Myrkin]

If the rabbits could shrug, then Rowan would probably do so now. Through all his life in the warren, he had met only two hlessil and one of them had been dying. Rowan had heard a few stories about far away warrens, but he hadn't learned enough to know their exact location.

"It depends what are you looking for, Cayenne," Rowan said to doe "But even if I did know that, I wouldn't be much of a help to you. Like you, I heard a few stories about other warrens, but they were a bit vague. I don't think I could find any of those warrens only by remembering tales. Besides... They were told to me a long time ago. Who knows what these warrens are like now?"


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I thik they come from different warrens. They could be relatively close to each other, since Rowan left his home over two days ago.

[Speedwell]

Cayenne's heart sunk at this, suddenly heartbroken, and feeling foolish about the fact that she'd been so hopeful about this. Rowan was right- she could just shoot off in one direction and expect herself to stumble on some magical haven after two or three hops. She looked up coldly at the pouring rain, feeling as though it may wash her away. "Then... perhaps..." she looked right back at him, suddenly determined. "Perhaps I shall start a new warren- one that is exactly what I'm looking for, and rabbits will come from all over the land just to join, and life will be..." she stopped short, halting the explosion of her true hopes. "Life will be something worth living."

At this, Cayenne shut her eyes and finally sat down, letting her tense guard relax a bit. Now she was just expecting this buck to laugh at her crazy idea, the way that everyone had, but it didn't matter now.

[Myrkin]

Rowan listened to Cayenne words, thinking carefully about her idea.

"It's going to be difficult task. We will have to find a good place to start the warren first, somewhere where humans don't come often. A place we could guard easily. Even if we find such a place, there is no guarantee, that other rabbits will show up there. If they don't come then we won't be able to dig whole warren on our own. Not to mention, that without any new recruits this whole plan is bound to fail, once we are dead," buck said calmly. He could see she had high hopes with this idea, but he had to point out to her how hard it will be to succeed with her plan. And yet, because it would be so difficult, Rowan wanted to help. He had left his warren, since the life there was completly unchallenging. He had wanted to do something meaningful, something important. Creating a new warren was surely that sort of thing.

"It's not an easy task, but I am willing to do it," he said firmly.


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In near future we will be needing to find new rabbits willing to live in our warren. Either other members of forum will create them or we will have to.

[Speedwell]

For a moment, Cayenne was stunned by the fact that this other rabbit- a buck, no less- was actually listening to her and taking her seriously. "You mean... you'll help me?" Suddenly, she was full of gratitude, thinking that perhaps she wouldn't be alone anymore; thinking that maybe she'd just made an ally.

"Then we should move; there has to be other rabbits out there who are looking for better life, just like us. We should..." she stopped short, looking back up at the rain once more in serious tension. "We should go on as soon as the rain stops." Just then, there was a rustle from nearby, and she turned to watch a pheasant explode from a bush, much to her surprise.

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Sounds great! We do have 17 members here on the forum- and they can't all be Role Play-phobic.... And even if they are. ^_^ It'd be great if we could get the entire forum involved as a... collective forum project. xD
Ah, yes, and the foreshadowing of elil- I figured it's time we get these two moving, but do with it as you will. ;D

[Myrkin]

Rowan was caught by surprise with pheasant's sudden emergence. It seemed like it was escaping from something else. Rowan listened to the surroundings, his ears twitching and moving at every sound.

"We may have to go sooner than we planned, Ceyhanne," he said quietly to the doe.

[Speedwell]

Cayenne heard his cautious tone of voice and crouched low in sudden awareness, trying to quiet her breath. "Sooner...? W-Where is there to go?" She looked around in fear; she could handle the rain if she needed to, but how would she get around the stream? The scent of elil- or what she assumed was elil, for she'd never really faced any of the sort- became strong. She shut her eyes fearfully and backed away. "Rowan..." she said again, if only to assure herself that she was not alone.

[Myrkin]

Rowan could recognize the scent ot this elil. It was a fox. He was certain of that. He had one close encounter with a fox once upon a time and he prefered to avoid having a second. Rowan knew that every healthy rabbit could outrun a fox without a problem, especially if he or she had an early warning. Rowan and Cayenne knew the fox was there, while the latter had yet to notice their presence. Rowan looked at Cayenne. She seemed to be afraid, which was quite natural, if she hadn't been outside of her warren and had not met any predator before. Buck nudged her side gently with his nose, to comfort her and said:

"It's alright, Cayenne. We will move along the stream, going quietly from cover to cover. That fox may not notice us. However, if he do sense us, then you must be ready tu run very fast with me."