Wiping the Clock

This thread occurs directly after “All Alone in the Night” and concerns the return of the scouting group (and prisoner) back at the campgrounds from Notre Dame. Its early morning, on the 24th of January.





The sun was slowly raising above the horizon, at first a thin sliver of red, which quickly turned into a semicircular glowing mass that threw scattered rays of light onto the Savannah.

Lady’s tired eyes finally saw the giant monolith of Pride Rock. She smiled, eyes dropping from being up all night. The mission was a success, and they where almost home. She looked to Cash, and without speaking, motioned to look out at the sight of Monolith, outlined by the rising sun. No doubt the camp was still asleep.

She reached up, and pulled on the whistle cord, the sound of Casey Jr’s steam whistle echoed out over the plains as he rolled around the final curve, and began to descend into the camp itself. The flanges shrieked against the rails, and the very earth seemed to tremble.

The tan spaniel closed the throttle, and bell tolling, started to apply the brakes. The train slowed to a mere crawl as it rolled past the training grounds and tents, bell clapper clinging away, steam hissing from the cylinders. Slowly, the bake shoes started to screech, and with one final jerk, the train stopped.

Lady turned the headlamp out, and stopped ringing the bell. With one final blast on the whistle, Casey called out “Last Stop!”

The 2-4-0 steam locomotive let out a blast of steam from his cylinder cocks. The air compressor ticking away became the only sound aside from the slight simmering of the locomotive after the smoke cleared.

Clopin woke up in complete and utter darkness, except for the small slivers of sunlight entering through the small gaps of the boxcar. As he stirred and opened his eyes fully, he looked around. Where were the others? Clopin thought frantically, trying to spot any sign of the others. It was then that the gypsy king realized he had fallen asleep in the very same boxcar as his prisoner, who was still fast asleep.
Clopin rolled his eyes, and waited patiently for the other to wake up.

Kida jerked awake at the constant ringing sounds followed by a piercing noise.

What is that noise? she asked herself, rubbing her eyes with her palm.

She looked around to realize that she had fallen asleep right where she had fallen the previous night: sitting up against the wall of the car. She looked around. Nope, no gypsy king. Clopin hadn't returned from his midnight excursion on the train. Where could he have gone? She stood and exited the boxcar, the gentle glow of the sunrise hitting her eyes in the dead center. She walked out to the train cars behind the one they were in and opened the door to see the gypsy king and a new face sitting on the ground. The newcomer was sleeping, curled up on his side, almost like a dog. She looked over at Clopin with a confused look.

"Who is this?"

Where am I? Ray wondered as he began to wake up. He couldn't recall actually falling asleep, but there he was curled up in a corner with his arms serving as a pillow of sorts. As he began to wake up more completely, memories of the night mission slowly began to return to the firefly until he finally recalled just where he was. They were safe in the boxcar of Casey Junior. It wasn't until Ray began to look around the boxcar to see if the others had woken up that he noticed Clopin had not returned and Kida was missing as well. Feeling they wouldn't miss him if he went to look for them, Ray fluttered out of the boxcar and toward another car with Kida standing in front of it. "Mornin', y'all. Dat was some..." he began, but he trailed off when he saw there was someone in the boxcar with Clopin. Was this who Clopin had thought he had heard before they left?

Angel simply groaned and put her paws over her face, trying to block out the sudden noise and light. After a minute, though, she heard voices from outside, and so reluctantly climbed to her feet and exited the boxcar, blinking in the light of the rising sun. They were back in thr Pridelands, she realised. She paused for a stretch, before heading over to the rest of the group, gathered around a different boxcar.
"What's going on?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her face with a paw.

Clopin stood up, before dusting himself off, and crossing his arms. "This,mes amis, would be our prisoner." he said, turning to the sleeping young man. He then faced the others, continuing with his explanation.

"You see, last night, I'm sure most of us felt some kind of ominous feeling. Being your general, I felt it necessary to go and find out what it was that was making me feel so...on edge. You see, when I first came to this camp, I made a promise to myself. The heroes, I would adopt as my new family, and protect them at all costs, much like my Court of Miracles. But I digress." Clopin said, shifting his weight onto one leg before continuing.

"I decided to climb atop the boxcars, using those wooden walkways on top. It was then that I sensed our prisoner in the car here, and I approached him. He gave me a mixed jumble of information, including that he is, or was, as it were, Shan-Yu's second in command. The boy also told me that he wanted to switch sides, because a dear friend of his is being held up at Notre Dame. Her name is Meg, from what he told me." Clopin said.

Meg. Angel remembered Meg. She'd met her on the night of the singing performance, when she - along with Madellaine and a couple of otehrs - had helped Meg perform her song.
"So this was your spy." she sumarised, hopping into the boxcar to inspect the prisoner. He had something of a familiar scent to him, almost like a dog, but not, not really. She knew she'd smelled someone similar before, though - she just couldn't place it.
"Have I fought him on the battlefield?" she asked, hoping for a clue.

Copper came back to awareness slowly. He didn't even remember falling asleep.....something had happened last night.....something important....but wha- Suddenly he was aware that people were standing over him. Acting on instinct He shot to his feet. Wheeling around he crouched down in a defensive position reaching for his weapon, ready to fight back if they attacked......

His hand groped air though.....there was nothing there.

Then the memories of last night swarmed back. Shan Yu sending him here, being "captured" by that gypsy king. They were on their way to the heroes camp to see if he was worthy of becoming a hero. Realizing that his position could be taken as threatening he quickly dropped back to his knees before his captor. "Sorry" He stammered out, "I'm so used to Shan Yu's training. I'm sorry"

At the sight of the dog reaching for some sort of weapon, Kida instinctively leaped into the car to tackle him, in an attempt to prevent him from harming the others. She then realized he was resuming a position of surrender, but it was too late. Her body collided with his, knocking him back. She scrambled to her feet, embarrassed that her reflexes had gotten her into trouble yet again...

She scrambled to her feet, backing away slowly.

"I..."

She didn't know what to say. She hung her head slightly, eyes downcast, refusing to look at him again. He wasn't untrustworthy, yet something was significantly... (How did they say it in this world?) "off" about him. Not bad or evil, just "off"... She focused on the sensation that his presence gave off, trying to figure out what it was...

Belle jolted upright at the sound of a whistle, hair tousled and out of it's usual ponytail as she automatically reached for her tunic and breeches, eyes bleary with sleep.

Wait... What was that? Belle rubbed at her eyes as she waited to completely awaken, sighing softly as she twisted her body so that she was only half-covered by her blanket. Gooseflesh rippled up her arms, and the woman shivered, clad in the thin shirt and shorts that had been provided for her as sleepwear. Well... At least she had clothes to sleep in.

Belle slid her shirt off, replacing it with her light blue tunic. White tights replaced her shorts as well, and Belle stood, walking to the flap of her tent as she pulled on her shoes.

The tents for the common hero soldiers were all rather uniform; light brown fabric, a bedroll, blanket, and candle or lamp. Any personalization was forbidden but for items kept inside the tent. That way, if any hero were to die, their tent could be handed off to another hero without further ado. For Belle, it was just a small pack, sitting atop Felipe's saddle. That was all she really needed- she didn't spend much time in her tent.

The woman stepped out into the cool dawn air, tucking the ribbon she used to tie her hair back in her pocket. As far as she knew, there was no training today, and with the chill in the air, she didn't feel like exposing the back of her neck just yet.

Heading in the direction she assumed the whistle to come from, Belle stopped in her tracks at the sight of a train in the middle of the camp. She stood there, brows raised in surprise at the sight of the huge contraption. They certainly didn't have anything like that back home....
(... I made that up since I don't know if there's a rule about what the tents are like.)

*OOF!*

Copper was knocked over backwards by a flying form of blue and white. Dimly he was aware that it was a *SHE* that was colliding with him and even as he fell he reached out to cradle her. Attempting to take most of the blow to keep her from getting hurt.

Almost as soon as they hit the ground she had scrambled back to her feet, a look of horror and sadness in her eyes. Any anger that might had surfaced because of her act vanished instantly. She hadn't meant to hurt him. She had reacted to what she perceived as a threat. He would have acted the same way.

As he settled himself back on his knees he grinned at her, "There was no harm, my lady. You did not hurt me. You reacted as a warrior......I would have done the same." He smiled at her again, trying to show that he held nothing against her. She was a fierce warrior. Maybe they could be allies.

There was indeed something familiar about him, in his mannerisms or voice, that she couldn't quite place. Angel observed the man carefully. "Have I fought you before? On the battlefield?" she asked. His appearance, certainly, wasn't familiar... but she was certain that there was something... His answer should give her a clue, at least.

(Hope you guys don't mind me jumping in here.)
Melody was up early training. She despratly need to prove to Shang that she was capable of surviving war. She stopped when she heard a loud whistle and a huge train pull up. Feeling a bit curious, Melody walked over and inspected it.

Lady padded alongside the train cars. As she reached the end of each car, she would hope up onto the ladder and turn a hand brake with her jaws. A slow process for a canine of her size. But the sporting dog was stringer then she looked. She had just damped down Casey's fire. Relieved Cash of his duties so he could do what he felt, and was working on securing the train so she could plop into her cot back in the tent.

she was tired, her nerves where frayed, and her eyes where bloodshot. Unlike the heroes back in the cars, she had been up the whole night. So, one could excuse her for waltzing past the group gathered at the boxcars as she auto-piloted her way alongside the train.

But as she walked by...she stopped, head whipped back, and she counted those deboarding her train....there was one extra "Passenger"

"Oh my" she said as she backpedaled to the group, standing on he hind legs, she propped her forelegs and head into the boxcar's floor to listen to Clopin's explanation.

"So, what is to happen to him?" she asked, head cocked to one side inquisitively.

At the sound of his kind voice and the merciful look in his eyes, Kida felt even more ashamed. She had attacked a prisoner of war who had not provoked her, which was a disgraceful thing to do. Her cheeks burned with shame as she stepped back behind the door to hide herself a little bit, like a shy child. She looked over at others, waiting for their reaction to him.