Tesla Coils & Steam Vents

(February 3rd, open to Lady, the puppies, Zira, Dixie & later Scar possibly. About ten am.)

"Lookit the lady in the cage!" 

"Enzo Quit it! She's a prisoner! Stop poking at her!"

"She SMELLS funny!" 

"That's cuz she hasn't had a bath." 

Sasha groaned and swished her fluffy head back and forth, ears lifted as her chills and worry set in. In the dark they'd wandered away from their mother to check out the jails and found Lady, captured and still sitting in the dark. Sasha pitied her. Zira was now just keeping her around to be cruel and that didn't sit right with the soft hearted female. She sat scooted away while Enzo and Umeme stared and poked through the bars at Lady. Soon their mother was going to find them hopefully. But in the meantime Sasha was concerned about getting caught.

"So why d'ya think Zira's keepin' her here?"

"Umeme," Enzo scoffed, "She's right THERE. She can hear you, dummy!"

"I'm not a dummy! You are!"

“I also have a nose...,” Lady voice was chipper, if not a little sassy. She raised her head and looked over her shoulder to see the three pups who where currently clattering at her cell door. “And if your voices had not announced your arrival, your own funny scents would have.”

The imprisoned spaniel had been laying on her side, with her back facing the cell door. She had not been sleeping, just merely laying with her head in her paws, having woken an hour or so earlier. Two Tone did not come by to visit the day before, and Lady had begun to fear something may have happened to the odd colored dalmatian. Indeed, since the coming of the darkness, Lady's life had been fraught with fear.

For the first few days, she had been overcome with terrors. Not for herself, but for her family. No one had come even close to explaining to her why the world had suddenly gone dark, and her mind had come up with all sorts of terrible explanations for this scientific impossibility. As much as her logical mindset attempted to re-assure her as to the safety of her loved ones, her heart forced visions of her frightened litter, facing off an untold number of monsters in this unnatural haze.

For the first hours of the darkness, she had barked, yelled, and whined at the cage door. Hoping that someone would take pity on her and explain. She demanded to speak with Zira, hopeful that above all odds the sudden incursion of night would allow her to appeal to the queen's motherly side, and be allowed to visit the Pridelands and make sure her litter was okay. All she got was a hyena guard demanding her silence, or she would find herself atop the evening dinner table so to speak.

She piped down, but still plotted to take on Two-tone's offer to escape. But as time went on, she convinced herself that to do so may bring wrath upon the ditzy dalmatian's head. Amongst others. As the days went on, the same routine was preformed. She was still marched out and put on display. Even in the darkness, her forlorn body and unbroken spirit now lit by the glare of torches, and still locked away at what would have to pass for night.

So having the three pups suddenly ogling her at the door was actually a welcome respite. As Lady stood to her paws, and turned around to see her visitors, she couldn't help but be reminded of three other equally feisty girls. The graceful spaniel sat down on her hunches, her silky ears catching the light from the nearby torches. Despite the obvious effect that the Outlands had on her, her natural beauty remained unmarked. In a strange way, her honey colored actually was starting to take on the ruffled look of her wayward daughter.

Even still...she agreed that she needed a bath.

“As for my ears and eyes, I do believe I see and hear three little girls who may not wish to have their mother hearing where they are.”

An all knowing smile crossed her lite muzzle, her brown eyes sparkling mischievously. Her voice taking on a honey smooth, maternal tone. Soft and kind, but laced with a small degree of strictness.

“Oh, Let me guess. You all must belong to Miss Dixie, right?”

"Uh oh, she heard us..." Enzo swallowed.

Sasha joined her siblings, politely sitting up and looking at the motherly cocker spaniel before them. The kids had the idea that Lady was the more baking cookies in an apron type of Mommy. Umeme cackled. "Ha ha! She thinks you're a GIRL!" She pointed out, turning to Lady, "You're right to assume that Ma'am. He's SUPER girly."

"AM NOT! I'M NOT A GIRL!" Enzo gasped, trying to throw away the most horrible insult a boy could get at his age, "I'm not a girl! I'm a boy! My name's Enzo, what's your name?"

"He's also an idiot," Umeme said, face pawing in the dark, "You don't tell her your name! She's a prisoner!" Sasha got the closest to the cage. She looked Lady over. She looked terrible in there. Zira was incredibly cruel, Sasha thought, how could she imprison this motherly looking woman.

"I'm Sasha, Ma'am," she said softly, "I'm sorry you're in there." Umeme and Enzo stared at their sister. "Yes, Miss Dixie's our Mama. And you're right, she doesn't know we're here."

Lady held a paw up in front of her mouth in a polite attempt to stifle her own laughter. The skin under her furry cheeks turning red with embarrassment. Perhaps it was the way the three pups looked and acted, but in the darkness she really had been unable to tell that he was a male.

“Oh dear, please excuse me. I truly did not realize...” she apologized, before casting a warm smile upon the young male pup. She silently cocked her mouth to one side and raised an eyebrow in a hint of displeasure as Umeme called her brother an idiot. Had it been Annette or Danielle, she would have only had to cast that look to bring the girl in line. Indeed, they all three had a sort of bond to each other, that even as they acted out, easily gave away their sibling hood. Lady could especially draw parallels between them, and her own litter at that age.

Heck, her own litter sometimes still acted that way amongst each other.

“Now, now, settle down.” She polity requested, casting her eyes across the trio. She lowered her head slightly, and said in a mock hushed voice, sly smile across her maw. “Your sister is right, you shouldn’t be seen with the prisoners. But if you're too loud, we'll get caught. That would never do.”

Her stubby tail began to wag as Sasha introduced herself. So she had been right, Judging by the fur patterns, she had no trouble recognizing Dixie...but took note that there was nothing hat said “Cash” amongst the three.

“Well, Miss Sasha, it's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Lady. I'm a friend of your mothers.”

Well, friend was a bit of a stretch. If friends had the habit of whacking one another in the head with lanterns. Or came to take the other into imprisonment. Still, the spaniel cast that aside. At the moment it seemed to be the best way to simply explain her complicated relationship with the diva dog.

"Nice to meet'ya Ma'am," Sasha whispered. She smirked towards the other two who curiously looked at their sister, then each other, then up at Lady. "So yeah...that's my brother Enzo and my sister Umeme."

"Can you see us in the dark?" Enzo asked curiously, "How'dja know we were our Mama's?"

"And if you ARE friends with Mama, how come you're in jail?" Umeme asked suspiciously. She took a laying position while her siblings stared up at Lady as if a family friend had come to visit. Sasha wondered why she was there as well but didn't speak it. She remembered when Mama had returned with the strange iron collared dog. The collar came to her attention again as the silver, despite being dulled in the darkness, shone. Her maw parted but closed quickly. She didn't want to ask about it and potentially be rude.

"You sure are fluffy," Enzo giggled, "Way more than Mama."

Of course peace couldn't be with this meeting for long. The queen of the outlands was creeping, curled in the dark watching and waiting. She had a bone to pick with the other female. A demand if you will. But it would wait...the pups were distracting her. And giving the queen some sinister ideas of her own.

The graceful spaniel gave a polite nod of her head as they exchanged smirks. Upon their question, she couldn't help but chuckle. Her voice likened to a wind chime. "There is a torch behind you. While my cell most certainly is dark, I can clearly see each of you...no mystery. I knew you're mother very well. She and I sorta have some history together. In some ways, we have our similarities."

Indeed, while the torch had been placed specifically to make the inside of her cell dark and foreboding, the aisle-way illuminated by the dim flickering glow. Even as she held a kind manor to them, she couldn't shake off a small hint of unease. The arrival of the pups was a strange surreal cocktail of enjoyment, and erreness. While she most definitly enjoyed the sudden companey, seeing three young pups emerge out of the darkness only helped to remind her of her own. Silhouetted by the torch they seemed almost like ghosts to her, reminders both of her past history with Cash and Dixie, and that Annette, Collette, Danielle, and Scamp where out there in the darkness, their fates unknown.

"Hmmm?" She cocked her head to the side, her mind had been wondering when Umeme asked her question. "Oh well uh..," a delicate forepaw picked at the earth slightly. "I did something to help one of my pups out, she was in trouble. But some people saw that as being bad, and want to punish me."

There was no way that she could explain to pups as young as them the whole story. That she was there, using herself as a barter for not only the lives of her own litter, but perhaps theirs as well.

At Enzo's comment, Lady found that her tail was quickly increasing it's wagging and her long fluffy ears perked happily. She gave him a smile. Not in a flirtatious way, but rather as if silently apologizing to him for mixing his gender. Even here, locked away and surrounded by darkness, she was still a prim and proper little lady.

"I did something to help one of my pups out, she was in trouble. But some people saw that as being bad, and want to punish me."

"See?! I told you guys she was a Mommy!" Enzo whistled to his sisters.

"Sasha said that," Umeme pointed out, "You said she looked pretty." Enzo blushed softly in the dark, head lowering as he grinned up at Lady. Umeme snorted. "That's...not right..."

"WHAT?!" His siblings gasped. Umeme was agreeing with someone kind?

"What? It isn't! Like what if Mom helped us and then Queen Zira punished her? That wouldn't be cool." Umeme decided to get a little closer. She wouldn't apologize to Lady for what Zira did but she did feel bad for the dog who was more and more reminding her of her mother. The pups looked back at the torch and all three laughed a little. "See? Dumb."

"Stop calling me dumb," Enzo barked, "Anyways...I wish you could get out of there...then we could play!"

"I don't think she wants to play, Enzo," Sasha hissed to her brother, "Sorry Ma'am...he doesn't quite...get it..."

If not for their fur patterns, their attitudes definitely would have given them away as Dixie's pups. She shook her head as they three young canines went back and forth at each other. They where obnoxious, lacked manors, and seemed to have no trouble belittling one another. Yet they all seemed to have a sort of unit feel. As if without one member they would not be whole. In her mind, they where just a set of troublesome pups.

Perhaps that's why Lady gave a puzzled look at the outpouring of sudden confusion as Umeme expressed her displeasure in the spaniel's imprisonment. She had expected them to just shrug it off and fallow their mother and their queen's edict. She only blinked her eyes at both Enzo's comment, and Sasha's retort.

"Oh, well...I don't think he would be too wrong. I would love to come out and romp again." A forepaw gently scratched at the earth again. "And you shouldn't call your brother dumb. It's not polite."

She rolled her shoulder blades in order to toss her long fluffy ears across her back, the iron collar around her neck clanking as she did so. The ends of her mouth curled up in the beginning stages of a smile. Lithe as it was, coupled with the soft look in her chocolaty eyes, the mother took on a genteel appearance.

"But that's okay. I'm not sure I "get it" myself. When I first came out here, it seemed that everyone was just mean and cold, and wanted to hurt me. But the longer I stayed, the more I think that everyone is just pretending to be mean."

She shrugged. Much like her opinion of their mother, she was starting to see more and more of the brutal nature of the Outlands.

"Maybe even Queen Zira and King Scar have a little kindness in them too." A soft chuckle rolled from her maw at the thought. "Then I could come out and play."

"And you shouldn't call your brother dumb. It's not polite."

Enzo and Sasha grinned, turning to Umeme who flushed with embarrassment at being called out. Normally her mother would just holler at her and tell her to be quiet. However, this time Lady had scolded her properly, which shocked her beyond words. Enzo's tail batted back and forth as he turned towards Miss Lady. "THANK YOU!" He shouted. Umeme wanted to reply but she felt funny doing so after Lady pointed out she wasn't being polite.

Sasha stared up at her. "Pretending to be mean?" She asked, "You think so?"

"Like Mama and Daddy? You think they just pretend to be mean too?" Enzo asked, as if Lady had the answer.

"Maybe even Queen Zira and King Scar have a little kindness in them too. Then I could come out and play."

"Oh I doubt that VERY much. But it is a nice thought isn't it?"

The pups all froze as the voice slid from the dark and was heard from above them. Zira grinned wildly in the dark, her vision only visible by the flicker of the torchlight. "But perhaps Miss Lady CAN come out. For a favor..."

Lady instantly backpedaled, dropping her head as if someone had attempted to swipe at her. She had no idea that Zira had been listening in. Looking up at the lioness queen, the spaniel's features hardened, and a deep scowl appeared on her muzzle. Eyebrows furrowed and eye narrowed. She padded closer to the bars, indeed, sticking her head between two of the bones that where the most widely spaced. She was able to force her head and neck out, but the bars caught her shoulders and prevented anything further.

"What do you want?"

While her tone was sharp and obviously protective of the three pups, there was a hint of exhaustion. Zira's appearance never boded well. It usually was fallowed by some harsh words, and some sort of public exhibition that put the cocker into worse and worse situations. The fact alone that there where now three pups between her and the queen made Lady a bit uneasy. No matter how she presented herself, loving mother or otherwise, the spaniel matriarch just did not trust Zira any further then she could toss her. But what really made the hairs on the back of the cocker's neck raise was the toothy grin that the queen held.

Lady had seen that grin before. On two Siamese cats as they looked at a goldfish in a bowl. But it was her words that seemed to ooze wickedness.

One eyebrow rose at the statement. Whatever her favor was, Lady knew it could not bode well for herself.

"What kind of favor?"

Zira stepped gently over the pups and sat next to them in the line, as if she was the last of a quartet. When she stepped over them however, she kicked Enzo with her left back leg, causing the child to let out a little (albeit overdramatic) yelp. She rolled her crimson eyes and stared at Lady in the darkness. The fire behind her made her look even more hellish than she actually was. She let the silence and the pup's trembling whimpers hang on the air for a while before turning to Lady to answer her statement. The favor she was about to ask for was something she wasn't even sure the dog could do. But she'd driven a train and lived in a land filled with lights and power. It was entirely plausible that she could help.

And if she needed some pushing, well, there were ways to make her work.

"You drove that monstrous thing into my outlands," she hissed, "Which means you can work technology, I'd assume. I note you realized the sky hasn't lightened up." She would never admit that fact was making her uncomfortable. Unnatural. "The fire's good for now...but I had another idea."

Scar was so against improvement. Tradition was key in his book, hence his search for the perfect male heir and his refusal to relocate. But Zira wasn't so sure that was the way to go. So while she respected the king, she decided to try and improve what she had. And to do that she needed some expertise that was only found in the outlands at that moment. Lady.

Her claws dug into the dirt and dust. "You," she commanded, "Will assist in harnessing what little power we have. I want lights like you have on your houses and streets. We have power. We're rather close to to elephant graveyard. I've heard tell humans use steam for power."

She got close to the bars. "Do what I say and there may be reward. Do not and...well...we'll just have to see what kind of torture I can dish out. Actually forget that. Torture...is far too NICE of a word."

Lady backed away from the bars, her hind legs splayed as if she was ready to leap into the air. A scowl of pure displeasure split across her maw as the feline queen approached. Her long ears shivered as her gaze slowly fallowed the lioness, the stone cold stare only interrupted by a wince when her back hind leg gave a sold plant into the pup. While he and his sisters where an obnoxious bunch, it had to be said, she still felt a hiss of a growl rumble in her throat.

She gave a most unlady like snort, the edge of her lip curling as she did so. Eyebrows remaining furrowed, and nose wrinkled. But she felt a cold shiver work it's way up her body at the way the queen emphasized what awaited should the cocker refuse. She held her head high, and rose to her four paws before trotting in a small circle, turning her shoulder to Zira. Her long silky ears shivered in the torch light.

"Oh, that won't be necessary,...for what makes you think I can help you? I'm just a house-pet after-all. " The spaniel declared in an even, neutral tone. Nose coldly raised to the ceiling, and eyes closed.

On one hand, she knew of ways that the humans used steam to create power, but on the other she knew there was no way that she could reproduce such complexities on her own out here in the Outlands, with the limited materials, tools....and thumbs. Perhaps it was the nature of the countless empty threats that had been tossed at her over the course of her imprisonment, but Lady was starting to get a little bold. She looked over her own shoulder, eyes cracked slightly in a disinterested stare. As if she was looking down upon the Outlander queen.

"So, perhaps you would be better off simply not wasting your breath."

The queen looked less than impressed. "Just a housepet you are NOT," she pointed out, "A housepet couldn't work all those levers and gears. I know you're smarter than you say so you'd better stop acting like a spoiled brat and help us out." She was keeping calm. For now. The pups still shivered beside her. She flashed a snarl at them, crystal white teeth scaring the pups. Enzo even wet the ground out of fear, his sisters not reacting to him piddling on the floor of the jail but just shaking in terror.

She chuckled, low in her throat. The hand she'd keep in her back pocket.

"You WILL help me here," she said, raising a paw, "What kind of cruel guest would allow for the primitive use of fire when lights we can control are available." She cleared her throat. "I have troops who will help. Hyenas for bulk, apes and others with hands. How do you think this jail was built?" She stepped closer towards the spaniel's cage and pushed on the bars causing them to rattle a little and shake looks some chunks of the termite mound they were stuck in.

"Come now, don't be an irritant. I can offer you many things in exchange for your help. I'm not unreasonable." Even she had to snort a laugh at that statement.

Lady continued to glare at the lioness from over her own shoulder. But her focus was on the pups, who all seemed to change instantly. Where before they seemed inquisitive, bordering on the obnoxious. But now they all seemed subdued, frightened. A fact made obvious by Enzo's sudden release of bladder control. But it was the way that Zira pushed against the cage bars that made Lady suppress a shiver.

"What kind of cruel host would keep their guest locked up." She spat, before turning her nose back to the ceiling. "Perhaps I would be more willing to listen if you hadn't shown just what happens to those who make deals with you."

Lady did not trust Zira, not one lick. The mother could see the wounds on Annette's shoulders, the condition that Danielle had been in, and the state of the Outlands all in the back of her head. Perhaps on one hand, striking a deal with the queen could make the situation bearable, even if it was just over knowledge. However, she knew of only one place where such tecnology existed, and it was the same location where her family was currently residing.

"I'm terribly sorry, but no deal. I refuse to help you or your army."

"Oh aren't we snippy!" Zira rolled her eyes, claws digging even deeper into the termite mound beneath her. She needed to hold her composure but she was growing very impatient. Her ear flicked back and an annoyed scowl appeared on her face. No deal. She snorted.

"I don't think we're on the same page, my darling Lady." She glared at the female. "Allow me to...turn the page for you."

With a single, fluid movement, Zira's claws were unsheathed and she picked up Enzo by the scruff of his neck. He squealed as Zira gripped the back of his neck tightly as he squirmed in her hands. "STOP SQUIRMING, you horrid little creature," Zira hissed before turning back to Lady. She smiled and pushed Enzo towards the bars. He stared at Lady, terrified as the queen put him not even an inch from the bars.

"THIS is a member of the army Lady," she said plainly, "What will you do to help him? Will you let him wander in the dark? Or will you SAVE him?" Zira tightened her grip and the pup let out a yelp.