Under the Sun

[Jasper]

January 1st, Year 1

He supposed he should have been thankful that it was so early in the morning. The usual African heat wasn't blazing across the green long blades of the Savannah, beating down on anyone who was foolish enough to stand out in it. The heat was something most of his army wasn't use too, most of them couldn't handle it. Hell, more times than not he couldn't handle it but thankfully that wasn't something he had to worry about at the moment. The heat wave would not hit until at least high noon.

Near silence echoed throughout the Freedom Fighters camp, the only noises coming from those who started to stir from their long night's slumber. They had survived another long and uneasy night, the tensions and worry of being attacked only seemed to be growing each day, and Jasper doubted it would get any better.

In all honesty, the shapeshifter would have never thought he would be standing on the edge of the mighty rock formation at any point in his life. Nor did he think that he would be looking over the seeming ever-growing 'ocean' of people that filtered in every day. People who were looking for a place to call their own, or to earn glory, or whatever else they were there for. He hadn't wanted this responsibility. This was supposed to be King Simba's job, he was somewhat decent at this but not as much as he wished he was. Simba had always been good at these types of things, despite his sometimes naive behavior, he was better...

But Simba wasn't there anymore and Jasper was. The war had been going on for at least a month now, maybe more and in the majority of it he was the one that was leading. He had lost track of how much time past after the first week of his leadership. However, he knew one thing for certain, before they started to seriously recruit others the war could be described as absolute blurry chaos and that was before he took over as leader. Before then Simba had been leader and the events that lead up to Simba's fate solidified their reasons for growing their numbers so things like that didn't happen again. The event still made the shapeshifter's mind go numb. The yowls, the blood, claws hitting flesh. It almost made his throat grow dry, the feeling of bile crawling up it soon coming after.

That ambush shouldn't have happened the way it did, he should have been able to have Simba's back but they were outnumbered, overwhelmed in the heart of all of it.

Mismatched hues closed tightly as he tried to refocus his mind away from those violent memories. He had lost a friend, and the guilt of surviving often weighed heavy on his mind. Yet, he couldn't focus on that. He had to focus on what was happening then and there. He had a war to fight, they had a war to fight. They needed a leader who was there in the moment, not an absentminded fool. That would just get more people killed.

It was hard to tear his thoughts away from it but he managed to do so after a short struggle. He managed to focus on something else that was just as important as everything else. There were many newcomers to his army, he needed to welcome them and get to know his people. He needed everyone on the same page. He swallowed thickly, trying to settle his frayed nerves before moving to head down the path that led to the intertwining tents scattered throughout the grounds. This would be an interesting morning...

[Lucky]

Lucky meanwhile had just exited his tent with much more youthful, naive and excited thoughts in his head. The pup stood for a moment, soaking in the exotic African morning sunlight, a huge smile across his maw, before executing an adorable puppy stretch: Front paws splayed across the grass, upper body lowered to the ground and muzzle wide open, showing tiny sharp puppy teeth and a pink, healthy gullet. A yawn escaped the pup's maw before he switched positions and stretched out his back legs as well, grunting in contentment. Yes, this was the life. Thunderbolt himself couldn't ask for a better place. Excitement, adventure, new places to see and explore. And best of all, the opportunity to prove himself the hero he knew he was. Lucky was beyond excited.

He couldn't understand why he hadn't been deemed a peacekeeper yet... hadn't he seen enough episodes of Thunderbolt for that? Keeping peace between warring factions was easy, right? Everything came easy when you were a hero. One ebony ear perked and he turned his head, distracted from his rather naive thoughts by the sound of footsteps. Human footsteps from the sound of it. Lucky liked people. Like any other puppy, it was hard not to associate people with food and petting. He wagged his tail a little at the sight of the man approaching. Time to get acquainted with the masses!

He trotted a few paces out to meet the guy and yapped a little to grab his attention, and waited. With Roger, that usually was enough to reward him a pat on the head and a friendly hello.

(are animals able to communicate with humans here? just wondering.)

[Michi]

Another tiny nose poked it's way out of one of the many tents surrounding Pride Rock. Teal eyes blinked in the sunlight before taking in the surroundings. The African Savannah was much different than the concrete jungle of New York Michi was used to. The closest she'd ever experienced to this much wide open space was Central Park, and even then it was vastly different.

Michi stretched, purring softly as the sun warmed her fur. it was still early enough that the heat wasn't unbearable yet, just warm enough to remind her of the days spent napping on the windowsill. 
She was brought out of her thoughts, the idea of sunbathing tossed aside, when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. A spotted puppy, who had just awoke as well by the looks of things, was outside a tent just a few away from her own.
Beyond him, she could see one of the humans walking through the rows of tents. 
Out of habit, she almost got ready to walk over and try to get hand outs for food, before remembering that she didn't need to do that here. Not that she still wouldn't do it just for fun every now and then though.

For the time being, she sat on her haunches, watching the pup trot over to the human with an amused purr.

[Rapunzel]

She was going to have to wear her slippers.

Rapunzel liked to go barefoot as much as possible, but the terrain of the world wasn't always as forgiving as the wooden floor of her tower. The savannah floor was dusty and peppered with the occasional sharp rock and stick. Not to mention how hot it got when the sun was at its apex. A girl could really burn her tootsies... and she had.

She adjusted her slippers, making sure they were nice and snug, and traipsed out of her tent. Rapunzel was starting to get her bearings of the camp, but she still got lost. Turns out living your life in the space of 500 square feet wasn't very conducive to developing a sense of direction.

So she was going to keep exploring the camp, and its many colorful inhabitants.

[Hikaru]

Inhale, sit up. Exhale, lay down. Repeat.

There really wasn't much for an ex-blackblood to do in the Freedom Fighter camp. Hikaru was under house arrest unless supervised. This left her with little to do but exercise.

Inhale, sit up. Exhale, lay down. Repeat.

Hikaru hoped she'd be given a job soon. Something to occupy her time. She was never one to stay idle. Hikaru just always had SOMETHING to do.

She had been told that some one would escort her through the camp today. She looked forward to the chance to actually do something.

Inhale, sit up. Exhale, lay down. Repeat.

[Boso]

The encampment of the Freedom Fighters stretched for miles in every direction, the great convention still dwarfed by the land in the shadow of Pride Rock. Burlap tents dappled the landscape as far as the eye could see, and around them hundreds of cooking fires illumined the terra firma. Beyond the great camp, herds of bushbucks, oryxes, sable antelopes and zebras stripped the ground of grass in their constant hunger. 

In a monumental sulk, Cadet Boso lugged a heavy pail of food to Hikaru's tent. Silver had put it together and told Boso to go take it to her. Boso knew full well Hikaru was not allowed to leave her tent, so somebody had to deliver her meals. But it was always the cadets  - as if that was all they were good for! 

Boso hated being treated like an errand boy. Like Lucky, he expected to be made a peacekeeper when he enlisted. Instead, they made him a cadet like his little cousin Ferto. To be put in the same category as that baby was just embarrassing. Well, they'll soon see just how wrong they were about him!

Boso entered Hikaru's tent and set the pail down. "What are you doing?!" he demanded.

[Hikaru]

Inhale, sit u-

"What are you doing?!"

Hikaru stopped in mid sit-up. Her torso at a 45° angle to the floor. She looked at the fawn shouting at her.

"Exercising," she stated plainly.

Hikaru's muscles started trembling from holding the position, so she sat up completely. She turned to face the fawn with her legs crossed, and nodded to the food, "Is that for me?"

[Jasper]

Cadets seemed to literally appear out of the woodwork. At first, it was a small Dalmatian pup, then a cat, then-

When did they get so many dang Cadets? Was the whole of his army really cadets right now? That was problematic, seriously problematic. They would still need proper training to fight, learn how to defend themselves, this was a little bit of a nightmare.

The yip that Lucky gave out caused the temporary 'King' to pause, his mismatched hues looking down at Lucky quietly for a moment. He barely resisted patting the pup on the head, the temptation being quite great but he would have to draw a line somewhere. "Good morning to you as well." A dark brow quirked down at the youngling before he turned his gaze towards the movement out of the corner of his eye. He spotted Boso and barely resisted sighing, he could see the youth sulking again. Not that he expected much else but it was hard not to start growing annoyed at the behavior.

He scrubbed his hand over his face hearing Boso 'bark' what are you doing towards their current 'prisoner'. Maybe he should have stayed in bed. Fingers rested on his temple before he breathed out sharply. Patience Jasper, patience. Remember that they are children, soldiers true, but also children. "I hope you're settling in well?" He questioned down at the pup, trying to steer his mind away from his frustration.

[Rapunzel]

"Good morning! Hello! How are ya?" Rapunzel greeted each person she came across with the same energy. Even those that may see 'scary' at first glance. She learned a lot thanks to her friends at the Snuggly Duckling about judging people from their appearances.

But she still needed to work a little bit on watching where she was going. She nearly tripped on a kitten. She squeaked and managed to catch her footing with out hurting Michi. Then she immediately crouched down.

"Ohmigosh, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

[Boso]

"Okaaay." Exercising to the roe fawn involved running and jumping, or "frolicking" as Friend Owl put it. Not writhing like a worm. Still, it was not like Hikaru could walk anywhere, let alone run or jump. It was all she had.

He nudged the pail closer to Hikaru with his hoof. "Yeah," he replied. "Silver put this together for you just now."

Boso sat down, folding his long legs beneath his chest. He decided to stick around a little while longer to avoid being asked to do something else. "So...why did you leave the Blackblood Legion?" he asked Hikaru. "I thought they didn't allow anybody to leave."