Playing with the Dibbuns (open)

[Eckolet]

Snow and rain made it hard on the younger element, the dibbuns, of Redwall, and many of the older members of the abbey knew that. Suilfurr, the kindly foremole, took several of the dibbuns with him into Cavern Hole, setting them around the warm fire with candied chestnuts and blankets, a smile on his homely face.

"Aroight naow, you'm dibbuns, settle daown. Oi'm a gonna set oop a game for youse." He smiled again at the rough band of infants as they watched him set up the small wooden contraption. It was a movable sort of teeter totter for them when it was bad weather, and Suilfurr knew that this would be out of the way of any other creatures wandering about in the abbey.

[Rosebud]

Ushering several more dibbuns down the stairs to Carvern Hole, Rosebud smiled tiredly. The abbeybabes were quite a rambunctious lot, especially when the weather was bad. The early spring didn't help, either, what with it's unpredictable weather full of rain and occasional snow.
"All right, ye li'll ones, we've got some candied chestnuts an' the teeter totter... Pansy! Don't stuff that many candied chestnuts inta yer mouth, ye'll choke!" Running to the small dormouse, Rosebud quickly relieved the mousemaid of the pawfuls of chestnuts.
"Bu' Sissa Rosee, I likes eat'n lotso' chesknuts like dat! I's deh bes' way t'eat 'em," complained Pansy, trying to pull the sweet treat from Rosebud's paws.
"Ach, I can't refuse the li'll ones! 'elp me, Suilfurr, afore I aspoils 'em all t'death!" Rosebud pleaded, half serious. The middle-aged mouse loved the dibbuns, and found it hard to refuse even the silliest request from them.

[Eckolet]

"Noaw, you'ms listen to the sis'er," Suilfurr admonished the dibbuns. The only problem with it was that his face clearly said that he was not angry. He picked up the jar of candied chestnuts and looked very seriously at the mousemaid in question. "Iffen you eatem so many cheskernutters so farst, you'm'll be gettin a tummy ache!" The mole looked over at Rosebud and smiled, his face crinkling slightly. "Ain't that roight, Roseybud?"

[Rosebud]

Grateful for the support, however slight, Rosebud said,
"Aye, he's right, y'know. Not only could ye choke, ye might get a tummy ache... or even worse!...The flibertygibbers!" Of course, that statement was met with much incredulity. A small mole was the first to voice his doubt of the disease,
"Burr, I doan't knoaw of ennee diseaser loike that'n..."
Pansy was quick to throw out her support for the mole. She was quite fond of candied chestnuts.
"I tink mebbe we shou' ask bruvver Malt, he'd knows sometin' like dat..."
"Ach, ye're all too smart for me! Ye all go an' enjoy yer rides an' chestnuts now, an' I'll carve ye some toys t'play with after." This statement was met with much excitement. Rosebud's carving skill was well known to the dibbuns, and they loved playing with the small toys she carved. Realizing she probably shouldn't have announced that she was going to carve something, Rosebud attempted to shoo the dibbuns away in order to have some peace to carve. "Ye go an' play now, I'll show ye when I've finished!" She shouted over the clamor of excited dibbuns. Too bad she couldn't put any authority into her voice. She doted on the dibbuns far too much.


{Made up Infirmary keeper name, seeing as we don't have one currently, to my knowledge...}

[Eckolet]

Suilfurr smiled at Rosebud. How could a creature not like the kind mousemaid. Especially when she got along with the dibbuns so well. It made the foremole quite happy to e around her. "Roseybud, Oi was awonderin', could you'm do Oi a favor?" He shuffled from one foot to the other, taking off his glasses and wiping them on the front of his smock.

The dibbuns continued to play on the teeter totter and eat too many chestnuts, which made Suilfurr keep one eye on them while he waited for Rose's answer.

[Rosebud]

Grateful that the dibbuns had actually listened to her and turned back to the teeter totter and chestnuts, Rosebud pulled a chunk of wood out of her pocket along with one of her two knives. Slipping off the knife's barkcloth sheath, She began carving out the toy's basic outline.

"Roseybud, Oi was awonderin', could you'm do Oi a favor?" asked Suilfurr, as the mouse carpenter went to work. Satisfied with the basic shape of her block, she answered,
"Aye, I s'pose I could. What d'ye have in mind?" As she asked, she began pulling the toy's three dimensional shape out of the triangular one she first carved.

[Eckolet]

Suilfurr held out his spectacles. They were getting quite battered from daily use. "A box," he said simply, smiling at Rosebud. It was just then that one of the dibbun mice ran into the back of Suilfurr, knocking him aside, and sending the spectacles flying. Suilfurr made a grab for both the mouse and the glasses, but missed the glasses. He did keep the young mouse from rolling right into the wall, however.

[Rosebud]

Rosebud attempted to catch the flying glasses, but with her hands full of carving and her head full of thoughts on how to make a box for said glasses, her attempt failed. Putting her knife and carving on a nearby table, the mouse hurried to the glasses and picked them up.

"Oh dear! Is the dibbun all right? I think yerr glasses are fine, although you might want to look them over yourself..." Handing over the glasses, Rosebud made sure the dibbun wasn't hurt, then sent him back to play. Picking up her carving again and looking slightly flustered, the carpenter resumed her toymaking, asking,
"I do hope yerr glasses are fine... And I can see why ye'd like a box for them! D'ye have any idea on a type of box?"

[Eckolet]

Suilfurr patted the mouse on the head as he went back to playing before turning to retrieve his glasses from Rosebud. "Whoi, serpintly, oi did. One oi could put upon moi belt." He ran a digging claw across the bottom of the spectacles, which had received another dent in the metal rim. "Hurr hurr, moi specteekles are torn all oop, boi okey, they are." He gave Rose a nod and carefully put his glasses on his belt.

[Rosebud]

Mind awash with box designs, Rosebud nodded happily. Woodworking was her favorite hobby, and being able to make something useful for someone else was especially nice.

"I think I've got an idea of what ye're lookin' for. I'll see if'n I kin whip somethin' up in the next couple o' days. Right now, I aughta finish this toy fer the dibbuns." As she was saying this, She finished fleshing out the bottom of the triangle's shape. Now it was a smooth cone, tapered down to a point. Whittling out a small hole in middle of the cone's base, she pulled a small twig out of her pocket and inserted it into the hole. "Mm... Not too bad, considering I carved the hole, and didn't drill it," Rosebud muttered to herself, wiggling the stick in the makshift hole. "Right. Let's try an' see if'n it works like this." She said, pulling a short length of thread out of her pocket. Winding it around the top's stem, she set the contraption on a table in front of the dibbuns. Pulling hard on the string as she balanced the top with her other paw, she spun the toy into motion.

"Hmmm... Not to bad... Coulda made the cone a li'll more even 'tis wobbling a bit much... The stem seems to be staying in there surprisingly--Oops! Never mind. I'll have to drill a hole on the next one!" She said, as the top's stem flew out of the makeshift hole in the top.

[Eckolet]

Suilfurr picked up the toy and stem and smiled. "Could oi help?" He pulled some dirt from one of his pockes (which wasn't at all surprising) and tamped it into the hold. Taking the twig, he wiggled it into a firm fit. His face was crinkled as he took some of the mint tea he had brought for himself and Rosebud and dribbled it into the hole as well, tapping it down. The tea acted as a binder, which sealed the twig in place. "Thur you'm go." He handed the spinning top back to Rose with a nod. "Naow it should work good loike."

[Rosebud]

Watching Suilfurr work, Rosebud was impressed with the mole's ingenuity.
"Ach, I shoulda thought o' that... Good work, Suilfurr! Now the dibbuns'll have one t'play with while I work on another."

Smiling as the excited dibbuns clamored to be the first to play with the toy, Rosebud put it into the paws of the mouse who ran into Suilfurr. After showing him how to operate the toy, she left him to give it a few spins. chuckling at the dibbuns' excited antics, Rosebud proceeded to carve another. This time, however, she fetched a bradawl from the cellars, and bored a proper hole into the top of top. Inserting a twig and wrapping another length of thread to it, she gave it to Pansy, then started on a third top.

"If'n ye'll let me measure yer glasses after supper, I think I can finish yer box by tomorrow evenin'," She informed Suilfurr.

[Eckolet]

Suilfurr nodded sagely and set his glasses on the nearest table. He pulled a piece of parchment and charcoal from one of his pockets and set about drawing the dimensions of the spectacles. "Thurr you'm go," he said with a smile, handing the paper to Rosebud. "Oi appreciate it."

Looking over at the dibbuns, Suilfurr walked over and separated two of the dibbuns who were fighting over the teeter. "One at a toime!" he said, putting a small molemaid on his shoulder and placing the hedgehog infant on the teeter totter.

[Rosebud]

Examining the dimensions, Rosebud smiled. It was a good, clean drawing with the dimensions clearly labeled; exactly what you would expect from a mole. Mind awash with designs, and absently doodling on the piece of parchment, it took several proddings from a small hedgehog for Rosebud to realize she was needed.

"Sissarosa, d'top bwoke!" The hedgehog said, holding up a top with a broken stem.
"Aye, they tend to do that, 'specially when ye go rough on 'em. Be a li'll more gentle with it next time," The carpenter told the hedgehog as she embedded her knife into the twig stem's stump and carefully twisting it loose. Pulling another twig out of her pocket, she put it into the hole. Noticing the twig was a little thinner, she took a page from Suilfurr's book and filled the space with dirt and a little bit of tea. Retrieving the thread from the other half of the original stem, she wrapped it around the new twig. "There ye go, laddie!"

[Eckolet]

"Hurr hurr. They'm liddle ones always bees arfter you'm toys," Suilfurr said with a smile as he approached Rose again. The dibbuns were playing together finally, taking turns, and it looked like everything would work out just fine today. If only they could take the young ones outside. But, with the wetness out there, it would be soggy and damp, and of course the molemums would all be furious with Suilfurr for taking them to play in the mud.

Not that Suilfurr never played in the mud either. That was how he knew that it would be a bad idea in general. He was not going to be reprimanded for dirty smocks and the like. Not again, at least.

[Rosebud]

"Aye, that they do, Suilfurr." Rosebud replied, looking fondly at the playing dibbuns. She remembered when she was that age... By then she was already practicing with wooden swords with the other smallbeasts in the island village. Life on the coastal island was hard, and even at a young age the villagers worked to prepare themselves and the village for defense. It made Rosebud happy that the abbeybabes didn't have so much to worry about. Yes, life in the abbey was certainly peaceful. There were no raids to worry about, no walls to build, no shields to carve... No graves to dig, for loved ones killed in a pirate raid...

"Ach, th'babes have a wonderful life here..." Rosebud sighed, contentedly.

[Eckolet]

"Hurr hurr, Oi keep furgettin' that you'm bees from elsewheres," Suilfurr said in response. "Oi grew oop hereabouts, so Oi bees a nartive." He was about to say more, but a rough and tumble looking hogbabe landed on his foot, begging for a ride. "Of Oi goes agin'," he said with a smile and a wave at Rosebud, walking back over to the seesaw with the most curious sort of limp, as the small babe had yet to let go of him.

[Rosebud]

Smiling at the dibbun's antics, Rosebud's eyes followed the kindly mole and his passenger as the stumped to the seesaw. Aye, the young ones here certainly had it off a lot easier. Rosebud wondered what it would have been like had she had such an innocent childhood. Would she ever have needed to learn swordplay? Or even carpentry, for that matter? What would her rough hands be like? would they have remained soft and smooth, untarnished by the scars from oar-pulling? What abou--

"Sissarosa! Cum an' play tops wivvus!"

Ach, enough wondering. Why worry about what's past and gone, when ye can worry about the dibbun's future, Rosebud told herself, as she went to join the playing dibbuns.