I Am Night, Color Me Black

(February 1st, open/required for all outlanders to appear. Get ready for the new arc people.)

Nine O’clock in the morning.

Then why is it so dark?

Zira’s mind started to curl and roll in the darkness. DARKNESS. Why was it so dark? Her ear folded back as she emerged from her cage. No sun. No moon. No stars. Nothing. Just an entire blanket of inky liquid black. Her maw parted in confusion. Her chest rose and fell. Her eyes glowed in the dark, shining like it was night. But it WASN’T night. Her internal clock was telling her it was NINE AM. But it was just as obscure in the sky as if it was midnight. She let out a soft grumble from her throat as if she was annoyed. She lifted her head lightly before leaping down from the perch of her termite castle.

The day prior had been particularly hot, she mused, and perhaps the sky was just full of smog. But something much more sinister seemed to be at work here. She felt…off color about the whole situation. It felt uneasy and…not natural.

She almost turned to grab Scar but she decided against it, crawling towards the bottom of the sleeping place. The Outlander queen could see but due to night vision. Night vision. In the morning. Something was not right. Did she go blind? Her ear flicked upwards, maw parting as she craned her head to the sky again. She shook her head.

The female lifted her head and opened her jaws. A powerful roar echoed from her maw. For the first time in forever she wouldn’t blame her troops for sleeping late. After all it still appeared to be nighttime.

"...Well, that's new."

Almost invisible against the darkness all around, Elf strode up to answer Zira's call. He'd been woken by her roar and when he'd looked around he had taken in the darkness almost instantly. It was disturbing, and that was saying the very least that could be said about it. On the one hand, it gave Elf an advantage because he blended in so well. The other hand was a bit trickier to admit to. Cats could see well in the dark, it was true, but in total blackness it was almost as though he didn't have the capability of doing that. He still had a fairly decent idea of where to go, though, so he wasn't worried. ...Yet.

The black feline came to a stop somewhere in the general vicinity of Zira. What did she plan to do about this? It wasn't as though they simply could brush off the darkness and move on. Normally Elf would have been the first one to make some snarky remark, but words failed him. It felt so... Wrong to be in complete darkness. He hardly had the words for it at all.

...And then he felt someone bump into him. The cat whipped his head to the left and found that Kishan had been the first one to bump up against him. A larger shape was easily made out nearby, and Elf guessed that it was Chippy. Whether or not Crystallene and 627 decided to show themselves was another matter, but he could make out another feline shape nearby. Toulouse, more likely than not, had decided to join the gathering.

Finally, against all odds of not giving a shit, 627 approached and placed himself near Zira. He'd dragged Crystallene along with him and let go of her when he was closer to Zira. The pair of them were genetically modified with enhanced eyes to see in the dark, 627 having eye sight just a smidgen better than Stitch's, so they at least could see the gathering assembly of animals. Just what they would do about that remained to be seen. None of them seemed to have anything to say about what was happening. Not that that surprised Elf. He'd already written off 627 as stupid and Crystallene too much of a meek creature of question what was happening.

"Wrrrrrrr? Meega scared! 627! Boojiboo!"

The female rolled towards 627, giving a gentle shove to Crystallene as she gripped 627's arms. She was terrified, ears folding back. A genetic experiment who thought something wasn't natural? What would she care normally? But she was scared and that was that. Tucking her arm in 627's, she snuggled up to his arm. "Bootchi boo, what happening?" She let out a soft purr, snuggling against him tightly. Her stance was a tad wobbly, her tail curled gently around her body as if shielding her from the dark.

Black, no stars, no moon, no sun, no clouds. Just a whole hell of a lot of black. She looked up at Zira and swallowed before turning to 627. She lifted her hand over her mouth and whispered to him. "Big kitty know what to do. Big kitty know."

Zira's roar startled Tendaiji from his dreams. As soon as he got up, he noticed how dark it was. Odd, he thought. Why would Zira wake us up in the middle of the night? What's going on?

Without questioning it further, the hyena moved out of the termite mound he had been sleeping in, only to stop in his tracks the moment he stepped outside. He lifted his head and gazed up, but he saw nothing. Only endless fields of black where stars used to be. The moon was nowhere to be found. The sun didn't shine its light to illuminate the dry Outlands.

Tendaiji felt an odd wave of nervousness wash over him. What was going on? Why was it so dark? Even clouds wouldn't block out the light this effectively, right? The hyena swallowed nervously and kept going, determined to answer Zira's call. She would know what was going on, he was sure of it.

As he found the gathering of the outlanders, he could feel the uneasiness that practically radiated from the group. So, I'm not the only one who thinks something's off, the hyena thought as he walked in silence. He didn't dare to make a sound to break the tense atmosphere, so he sat down as quietly as he could and waited.

"Mamma! Mamma! The sun's gone!" the little cub exclaimed, pouncing on Dotty's back. The lioness waved a paw at her energetic young daughter.

"The sun's not gone, you're just up too early. Go back to bed." the mother replied, turning over. It wasn't until she heard Zira's roar that she lifted her head. The lioness looked over at her two daughters, looking at her for answers. It seemed Nia was right, the sun was gone. Eyes narrowed, Dotty looked at her girls and then back up at the sky. As scared as she wanted to be, she had to be strong for them.

The lioness pulled the girls closer to her, afraid they might get lost in the dark. She glanced from Nia to Kuzimu. "From now on you two don't leave my side until this darkness gets settled, got it?" The cubs nodded, as their mother glanced from one to the other once more, as if they would disappear.

While Dotty herself had decent night vision, Nia and Kuzimu's wasn't as good. They could get hurt or killed and none of that was going to happen again. Not while Dotty was around.

That same sinking feeling in her gut told her to run. The same one all those months ago when her mate was alive, when the flying rocks struck their world and wrecked havoc. Nelleke's huge footsteps thudded in the darkness as she made her way towards the sound of Zira's roar, and she bent down to speak to the queen. "My queen, I think I witnessed something like this before," she muttered, her small yellow eyes making out the shape of the lioness in the darkness.
------

"Chippy?!" Claudius roared, in search of his close friend. Yes, they flirted. Well, he did at least but calling the chip-fanged lioness his girlfriend sounded odd on his tongue. He was a warrior after all.

Hyenas just couldn't get a good night's sleep, could they? If it wasn't training it was patrol, if it wasn't patrol it was hunting, if it wasn't hunting it was Zira bitching about how awful the heroes were or something of the sort. "You've got to be kidding me. This early?! The sun's not even up," Banzai bitched, having being woken from his peaceful slumber by Zira's loud roar. Well, there was no point in going back to sleep since he particularly didn't feel like having his ass chewed out before noon again. Still laying down, the hyena raised his head, blinking his yellow eyes and looking around. He snorted softly in annoyance. He was so warm and comfortable, thanks in part to two solid body masses surrounding him: Missy and Shenzi. Once again he found himself close to the female, and their little monster, and it bothered him. Why was he always so close? It wasn't like him. All those feelings aside, something certainly wasn't right. Banzai's body told him it was nine-o'clock the more he woke up but the sky said something otherwise.

"Hey..HEY! Wake up ya' lazy asses! Somethin' ain't right," he stood up, griping to all the other hyenas and other animals that Zira's roar didn't already wake up. The feeling of dread that found refuge deep in his gut sobered him up from his sleep-like state. A new feeling of panic and urgency filled him, tensing up his muscles and causing his blood to pump hard against the walls of his veins. This wasn't right. It was far from right. Banzai shook out his coat, hoping to shake off not only dirt but also the paranoia that was filling his body. The hyena blindly stumbled out of the sleeping den and into the dark..day? Night? At this point, he had no idea what to think. A soft gasp escaped his maw as his golden eyes scanned the sky and found nothing. No stars. No sun. No moon. Nothing. Banzai hadn't been one to believe in all of the "Great Kings" bullshit, but perhaps he should now. If the Kings have turned their back on their own earthly followers, they were damned sure to do the same to the non-believers. 

"Oh shit," he cursed, walking towards the crowd of animals that have gathered. Banzai sat down on his haunched and listened to the babble of those around him, trying to keep himself calm. He couldn't be having a mental break-down, not now. That was weak, and especially now he couldn't be as such. 

---

word count| 429 |
muse| Comatose by Skillet |
notes| woah |

Missy jolted awake at Banzai's announcement, instinctively looking around for some kind of danger. She relaxed the muscles she didn't realise she was tensing at the realisation there was nothing around to harm her. Then what could be wrong? Her immediate thought was an attack, but that didn't seem to be the case. Her bones popped and cracked as she stretched out her limbs, shaking off the sleep before letting out a tremendous yawn. 

"Banzai? Hey wait!" she called as the hyena promptly left, before deciding to wander out after him. She padded towards the usual gathering spot, taking care not to bump into anyone else in the process. It was a fairly open space, so thankfully navigating the area wasn't all too hard. Why did it seem so dark? Missy assumed it was nighttime, but even still it shouldn't be this dark. The dalmatian furrowed her brow as she looked towards the sky. The moon was gone. And the stars were gone too. Something wasn't right here. Not at all.

The young dalmatian glanced around, trying to find Banzai again, or anyone for that matter, but it was too dark to see clearly. This darkness was unsettling, and as brave as she wanted to be, she would rather not ride it out alone. She could make out silhouettes, shapes that didn't quite blend into the darkness, but as for who it was she was looking at she had no idea. Missy wandered around, squinting her eyes and tilting her head in some kind of effort to make her sight clearer.

"Hey, whats going on?" she asked to the crowd, hoping someone would hear her amongst the worried mumblings and give her an answer.

Butterball had woken up and had noticed how pitch black it was . It was not like he wasn't used to darkness. This was not regular darkness, however. It was too dark, he couldn't even see his own paw in front of his face. Feeling around, he tried to maneuver himself toward the group of animals talking, but, he heard a few yelps of surprise, unknowingly probably bumping into Little Bro or Wiz by mistake. "Whoops, Sorry, excuse me" Butterball said finally walking over to the group. "What is going on" Butterball said.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Yeah, whatever happened to the moon, and the stars, and that big yellow shiny thing in the sky"? Little Bro said taking a seat with the rest of the group next to who he thought was Missy.

The female didn't mind letting it show on her face.

She was looking almost frightened.

She looked down towards the ground, her nose wrinkling in the darkness before her glowing eyes closed and she ripped apart her jaws. "QUIET!" She roared up at the sky. She looked down that them. In her eyes they would see the strangest thing ever. A gentle queen concerned for her subjects. Truly, the cruel woman was confused. Her teeth were clearly shown in the dark.

"Listen to me," she hissed, "Listen. I don't know what is going on. I do not mind admitting that. I am not above that." She shook her head. "What I DO know is we must find a source of light and fast so we can gather and figure out what is happening. YOU." She pointed towards one of the hyenas on the edge of the group. "Go light a fire with the geysers in the Elephant graveyard. Now." The hyena took off. Zira knew he'd be back shortly as the graveyard wasn't far. "Now we wait briefly," she said, "And figure out everything. Can ANY of you see the moon or stars? Or something?! How many of you have night vision?"

"You've got to be kidding me. This early?! The sun's not even up,"
Shenzi groaned at Zira's roar, ignoring the Queen, the daily routine. Shenzi moved her head to see her friend had moved. "Banz, shut up, it's probably nothin'. Go back to sleep." She  groaned automatically and flatly, before turning away, and started to doze off. "Hey..HEY! Wake up ya' lazy asses! Somethin' ain't right," Angry, tired female hyena was angry. Shenzi gritted her teeth and turned towards the hyena. "What did I just say Banzai?!" She yelled out at her friend, clearly pissed that he had interpreted her sleep.  

 "Oh shit," That was when the female noticed it; no stars, sky, light, or sun. This was bad. She padded towards Missy and her friend( and also the crowd), fear glistening in her eyes. "The sun shoulda risen by now. But it's still dark. Banz, something's wrong and I don't like it one bit." The heroes could be behind this. But if it's here, it's possible that the heroes could be under the same thing. Heh, now we can kill them since they can't see. But we can't see either.   

---

Word count:  191

Muse: NA

Notes: NA

---

Iseult was waking up from her sleep. She was getting ready for a hunt, mainly for herself. Some for the others, if she felt like sharing. "Ugh." Zira roared, the lioness' head whipped to the Queen. She looked confused? Amber orbs moved towards where Zira was staring at. The sky. It was black? No light, no blue sky, no sun, only inky blackness. Someone had turned off the sun. Or taken it away. Something was wrong. Very, very, wrong. Iseult wasn't concerned as some of the other soldiers.  She padded closer towards the group.

"QUIET!"  "Listen to me," "Listen. I don't know what is going on. I do not mind admitting that. I am not above that.""What I DO know is we must find a source of light and fast so we can gather and figure out what is happening. YOU.""Go light a fire with the geysers in the Elephant graveyard. Now.""Now we wait briefly," she said, "And figure out everything. Can ANY of you see the moon or stars? Or something?! How many of you have night vision?" 
 
"I have night vision." Iseult said, fear starting to leak in as the lioness realized what was going to happen with the sun gone. No more grass, no more antelope. No food. Death everywhere. Uh oh. This is bad, really bad. The lioness looked up at the sky, secretly hoping that the sun would come back. 

---

Word count: 237

Muse: NA

Notes: Dun, Dun, DUN! 

Feb 2, 2015 15:39:33 GMT -5 Spats said:

"Wrrrrrrr? Meega scared! 627! Boojiboo!"

The female rolled towards 627, giving a gentle shove to Crystallene as she gripped 627's arms. She was terrified, ears folding back. A genetic experiment who thought something wasn't natural? What would she care normally? But she was scared and that was that. Tucking her arm in 627's, she snuggled up to his arm. "Bootchi boo, what happening?" She let out a soft purr, snuggling against him tightly. Her stance was a tad wobbly, her tail curled gently around her body as if shielding her from the dark.

Black, no stars, no moon, no sun, no clouds. Just a whole hell of a lot of black. She looked up at Zira and swallowed before turning to 627. She lifted her hand over her mouth and whispered to him. "Big kitty know what to do. Big kitty know."

It was thanks to his night vision that 627 could see Spats coming. He laughed when Spats shoved Crystallene away, and when the purple Experiment scrambled back a bit to join some of the other animals 627 looked at the yellow little girl with his one good eye. She was scared... That much he could tell even without her needing to say it. He let her snuggle up closer to him and gave a soft purr in an attempt to try and reassure her. Brutal though he was, 627 did still have a sort of soft spot for her. He wouldn't let the darkness get her. Not if he could help it. That was probably remarkably stupid, but he didn't care. No darkness was getting the little fighter snuggled up beside him.

"Naga know," 627 said. His eye shifted from Spats to the darkness around them, and a frown formed on his face. Whatever was happening wasn't going to stop him from fighting if he could help it. If anything, it would give him an easier time of sneaking around and attacking unsuspecting victims. The thought made him all the more excited for those possibilities. No hero could stop him if they couldn't see him coming. Oh, this was too good...

He became more and more aware of the gathering animals, and instinctively he put his arm around Spats to hold her a bit closer. Nobody was going to hurt her if he had anything to say about it. But then, Zira spoke up and asked if anyone had night vision. 627's ears perked up and he answered straight away.

"Meega! Meega see in dark real good," 627 said. Meek little Crystallene answered with something similar, but her voice was so soft that only those with more sensitive hearing would have heard it. 627 didn't acknowledge her, anyway. He was the important one. After all, he was a General. His voice got more say than anyone's, he felt.

---

"Claudius? I'm over here."

At first, Chippy hadn't known who could have been addressing her. She'd been so caught up in her own little world of wondering that she had forgotten about who may have been around her. When she realized who it was, though, she relaxed a bit and thought about what she even could say. She hadn't the slightest idea of what was happening. Claudius, by extent, probably didn't know either. All she knew was that she was scared. ...Though she wasn't going to admit that much if she could help it.

"What if the Great Kings are displeased about something?" Chippy wondered out loud. She didn't know if that much was true, but the Great Kings did have a lot of say in what happened... Didn't they?

She didn't have long to wonder about that, though. Zira was barking out orders about finding a source of light. Of course, that was an order meant for the hyenas. Now Zira was also asking about who had night vision. Chippy, of course, decided not to speak up. She could see decently, but who would she have been trying to kid? Nobody really could see that well with darkness all around. Not until their eyes adjusted, anyway.

"Um... I kind of can, Zira," Chippy said.

"Who woke me up?!" Beast's voice echoed out from his termite mound that he used for his sleeping corridors. Sky blue eyes narrowed in confusion as he stopped out into the open and looked skyward, his jaw shifted again in confusion as he tried to put the pieces together. It was some sort of lunar eclipse of sorts at least that was what he remembered reading in books years ago. He moved towards the mound the held Queen Zira. who wanted some answers.

"Now we wait briefly," she said, "And figure out everything. Can ANY of you see the moon or stars? Or something?! How many of you have night vision?"

"I do, your highness" Beast says,

Zira couldn't think straight. She passed back and forth on her makeshift cliff, looking just as frustrated as she felt. This didn't make sense. The darkness was thick, saturated in the Outlands. The blackness of the caves and the nooks and crannies of the place would not help them. She raised a claw to point them out. Two loyal lionesses, Dotty, Beast and of course her little demonic 627. She nodded but was grinning inside. Of course he could see in the dark, the precious little imp.

Before she spoke the hyenas returned with branches of fire. It gave an eerie, disturbing color to the normally red vibrant outlands. She instructed the hyenas with her claws and the creatures created what humans would call a fire pit. The fire blazed beneath her and gave her more of a view of the creatures below her.

"We might have to continue to make fires, at least to keep warm," she announced, "To light our way...Scar and I will come up with a solution to that." Her mind clicked and whirred with thoughts. How could she light her way...

"In the meantime, stick with someone who can see in the darkness," she said, "If you fall and die..." She blinked. Fuck. The pit. "Listen to me carefully," she hissed, "Someone who can see in the dark. Go fetch a blaze of fire. Throw it in the pit or at least place it by the pit. If we lose more soldiers because of that damned canine I will slit her throat."

Darkness. The world had been swallowed into pitch black chaos. The young kitten stumbled around in the darkness trying to find someone or anyone she knew. It should have been a good thing, cats could see in the darkness, better than most species anyway. If that was the case, why? Why was she so freaked out?

One wrong step and she would end up dead, knowing that made her more cautious as she walked around. Her blue eyes searched the animals for Toulouse. Where was he? Her thoughts shifted to the sound of Zira, commanding that someone throw a torch into the pit. This caused relief to lift in her. Good. At least, that way, no one would meet their death by falling into that pit.

The question was, now what were they going to do? Were they going to fight the other armies in the dark?