ESCAPE THE NIGHT | Stars

[Embergleam]

Username: Embergleam #127087
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The sun disappearing out of nowhere had been strange. (To say nothing of deeply concerning.) Getting tackled out of nowhere by a quite possibly murderous cat had been even stranger. (And somehow even more concerning!) Being roundabout accused of working for something called 'the CIA', though? That turned a nebulously worrisome situation into something immediately and unignorably troubling. Cats didn't start spouting off like that without good reason. Either this stranger knew a great deal Owlflight didn't- which, he had to admit, was entirely likely- or something was badly amiss.

He knew better than to say any of that aloud, of course. Antagonizing a stranger who'd already demonstrated a willingness to escalate the situation was a good way to end up mauled. Instead he blinked, took a slow breath to steady himself, and thought back to his long-ago lessons on illnesses of the mind.

Rule number one of interacting with patients in altered states of consciousness: never challenge their delusions. In this case, that meant not pointing out the sheer impossibility of lava simply appearing in the middle of a fairly flat section of woodland. Pointing out the fact that radiant heat would kill long before lava itself would was just as much of a non-starter. Instead Owlflight offered a rather more neutral answer:

"Run as if the Dark Forest itself was on my heels, I imagine. Lava isn't something you can fight. It's the sort of thing you have to run from." He paused a moment, squinting up and around in search of a break in the trees around them. Sure enough, he spotted what looked like a long, narrow gap in the canopy off in the distance.

"And while I was running, I'd look for water. Lava turns into rock as it cools, yes? Flowing into water would cool it down instantly. Even a small stream or river would be enough to keep me safe."

Word Count: 321

[MireyaDC]

Username: MireyaDC + 1046878
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Fringilla frowns, surprised by the string of craziness she’s been experiencing in just a few hours, but… asking about lava… that really takes the cake. What is this cat thinking? He’s not planning to throw her into an active volcano, is he? Lava wasn’t her thing…

Shaking her head, she replied, "I don't see how such a thing could happen; to flood the world with lava, the lava would first have to cover the oceans, and they have enough water to cool vast amounts of lava. But to satisfy your curiosity... Lava is a complicated topic... The closest I’ve ever been to lava so far was seeing Pompeii in the distance, and thank Minerva I didn’t get any closer."

"Even so, the first thing I’d do is back away until it can’t reach me immediately and try to determine the type of lava by its density and viscosity, how fast it can rise, and what materials each type can melt, since its density is also tied to its temperature. I’m a warrior, but not a dimwit; I was chosen by the leader as an advisor for my intelligence and cunning, because if there’s a problem, I’ll have the answer—I’m a warrior of the mind."

"Next would be... Maybe grab a piece of cloth—the healers surely have some—wet it with water if it hasn’t all evaporated, and cover my snout so I can breathe but not inhale ash like they did in Pompeii. Then find a high place. Trees don’t usually catch fire from lava; it’s so hot that instead of igniting them, it instantly carbonises them. They should be able to stay standing if I climb one, although it’s risky—a mountain or a cliff would be better."

She think for another moment before finally adding: "Oh! And the armour off, of course—it gets as hot as hell, and I don’t want to get burnt wearing red-hot armour."

"Does that answer your question? Or are you going to add a fire-breathing dragoness to your sea of lava so I can’t escape...? Wait, did you say 'Firebreather's sacred bunker'?"

Word Count: 347

[Shuurock]

Username: Shuurock #933052
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Sticky twitched at the onslaught of words before responding. Lava, they'd heard of lava before, but they'd never seen it. Maybe there would be some in the mountains if he went looking for it. They shook the thoughts out of their head focusing now on the world surrounding with lava thing.

“Well… if the lava was real lava it would be burning me and probably kill me instantly. But if this lava is flowing at my paws maybe it's… good lava?” Sticky sat down paws rapping the ground as they thought, “Safe lava is really suspicious! I'd start looking for the source of the lava, probably a weird safe lava spewing creature! I'd ask him, ‘Hey man, what's up with the lava? You ever thought about maybe not spewing lava?’ And if he was rude in response I'd yell at him and splash him with the not burning lava!”

Despite Sticky's pride in their answer Bonesmasher was looking back at them with a bit of confusion twisted in his face. “Hey don't look at me like that, you're the one asking me about touchable lava.”

Word Count: 185 words

[knickknacks]

Username: knickknacks
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Answer:

Pidge stops in her tracks, whiskers twitching as she ponders the question. After a moment, she realizes that in the case of such an emergency, stopping in place would be the worst thing she could do, and she starts walking again, hurrying to catch up with the stranger.

"Um- lava?" She lengthens her stride into a trot to keep up. "Well, higher ground would be the obvious answer, yeah?" As she speaks, she glances around, trying to scope out the scenery around her. "A tree if necessary, but that wouldn't be a good longterm solution on account of wood being flammable, and once you're up, you can't really come down. So to start, I'd grab whatever supplies I needed and? Run? I suppose? To wherever the highest elevation around me is. A hill or mountain or someplace where the lava wouldn't reach me. It would depend on how quickly the lava was rising, I suppose."

"I'd probably also want to cut my fur shorter," she muses, flipping her braid over her shoulder. "I know that's kind of a stereotypical apocalyptic design choice (don't ask me how I know about such things. Don't worry about it), but it'd be helpful in this case- less likelihood of a stray bit of fur dragging in the lava, or getting set on fire or anything like that."

Satisfied with her answer for the time being, Pidge lapses into silence again as she trots beside the stranger, thinking over her immediate strategy some more. After another moment, she stops in her tracks as another thought strikes her.

"Wait. What's the CIA?"

Word Count: 266

[feather ']

Username: feather ' + 979911
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Answer:
gumdrop frowns a little at the question, squinting her big round eyes at the stinky stranger. she tried to formulate some deep response to this very ominous sounding question, but under the judgemental stare of the stranger, she just let out a nervous chuckle instead. to her astonishment, she realized that she was wishing that sugarplum, her very mysterious brother, was here with her! well, not really him, but his long book of knowledge that he carried with him wherever he went. what did he call it? the supreme dictionary of peculiar things?

she jumped as she remembered that the stranger still had his evil looking eyes fixed on her. he was analyzing her every move, as a chess player would watch his opponent. which. she found a little creepy.

"um… uh… " she cleared her throat, "umm…. i would definitely… embrace the lava and all its heat, and hope i do not die– for i do not fear death." this was absolutely not what she would do, but she hoped that this was the right answer. really, if lava flooded the world, she'd be running and screaming her head off. but that… was not a good answer.

the stranger seemed displeased with her answer. it was almost as if he could tell the lie that she spewed in her moment of sheer panic. gumdrop decided that she best spill the truth, lest she linger here longer than she needed too.

"okay fine! really! i would run away screaming my head off, because life is kind of valuable and i do not want to die yet! also lava is probably hot and I HATE THE HEAT."

she swore a ghost of smile passed over the stranger's features. which she also found, mildly creepy.

Word Count: 292 words

[Tilluels-Paradise]

Username: Tilluels-Paradise + 1108908
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“CIA? What exactly is that? A new clan?” Melpomene asks with a strained smile, she’s not one to be overly kind to cats that get her well maintained coat dirty and call her an idiot. However she supposes she doesn’t have any better options so she will have to work with this lunatic.

“Well if for some ungodly reason the entire world was flooded with lava, the first thing I’d do is climb to the highest section of land I can find. I’d try to avoid areas with trees, any water would be useless against the lava but perhaps getting my fur wet could help if flames get close to me.” She rambles on for a few seconds as she thinks the issue over pausing as she almost trips over a branch from how lost in her head she is before speaking again.

“If I saw other animals nearby, or if I didn’t too, I’d yell to get to high ground. No chance I’d risk myself to save animals who might not even be around, but yelling should be a fine warning.” She glances towards the stranger for a second making sure they’re still listening.

“Once I’m somewhere safe I guess I’d try and figure out what happened but I doubt I would be able to find anything, much less do anything about it. If the lava doesn’t recede I suppose I’d have to try and find others nearby and try to find food or something. If the lava did go away I honestly would do the same, if it happens once whose to say it won't happen again, being prepared would be much better.” She flicks her tail and looks towards the stranger after she’s finished talking.

“Is that good enough for you?”

Word Count: 294

[Kazin]

Username: Kazin
Sign-Up Form: Forum/viewtopic.php?p=150291352#p150291352
Answer: Honeycrisp tilts his head at the word 'lava.' He has never experienced anything like it, and after contemplating the question, he sits back, puzzled. "Truly, I don't think there would be much to do if I was already finding myself engulfed," Honeycrisp admitted, shuffling around a bit in discomfort at the thought. "If it was close enough to be around my paws, I'd like to think my first thought would be to jump it higher ground where it cannot get to me." Honeycrisp gave another pause, searching his soul for something else to give to this stranger. "Perhaps I would run as fast as I could to warn others of the danger, telling them what they needed to know, for I don't want to be selfish either. I have family and friends I care about, and even the cats I do not know deserve to be able to have a chance at escape."

Honeycrisp looked at the apple he characteristically always kept with him, a thought passing his mind. "I suppose, if lava truly were filling the world and we found a way to live in it still, I would want to utilize it. Sort of like how we utilize water power and irrigation techniques," Honeycrisp rambled away, thinking of the orchards near the human dwellings he likes to look at. "We could figure out how to use the flowing lava to power some inventions and create a new world, higher than the lava filled one, and start living there in peace away from the lava. In that case, I would try and gather as many seeds from different plants as I could, to start a new colony of plants up higher where the lava couldn't reach. Apples would be my first priority - they provide food for many things, and as they decay they can be used for fertilizer too." Honeycrisp glossed over the fact that truly he would only pick an apple first because they were his favorite.
Word Count: 329 words

[razr]

Username: razr
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Answer:

while lacewing hadn't been taking anything bonesmasher said seriously before, now an almost comical look of concern appears on lacewing's face. brilliant blue eyes dart around rapidly, only for her to then spin in a circle to make sure there's positively no lava surrounding her. she even checks the edges of her ribbon to make sure it's not singed, checks her pristine white paws for soot.

"...lava?" she repeats, voice trembling as she meets bonesmasher's gaze again. "is the forest really so dangerous?"

when bonesmasher nods seriously and says something or other about the end of days and the CIA and other such horrible things, lacewing straightens up and licks over the fur on her chest.

"well, i- i'll have you know, i've faced much larger dangers!"

she has not.

"obviously, i would... run! i'd run, of course! lava is.. lava is very slow, and i am much faster! there'd have to be... somewhere around here that's safe.."

she looks around again. it's all trees.

"hm. well, i suppose i'd just have to enter that bunker you mentioned! i'm sure such a sacred bunker wouldn't be made of something flammable!"

neither cat says anything for a few moments. lacewing shifts on her paws, graceful weight feeling sheepish under the stranger's intense stare.

"...surely you'd let me in, right?"

bonesmasher says nothing. lacewing sighs and shakes her head.

"well, anyway. if i'm to take you literally, and the lava is, as you say, 'flowing around my paws,' then i suppose it's already too late for us. all i can do is have arrange my kingdom a proper royal funeral for us."

Word Count: 271 words <3

[sparkypines]

Username: sparkypines #144935
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Answer:

Pebbles couldn’t help but feel his ears press back against his head momentarily as the stranger prodded him with such a weird question. It was something he’d never been asked before, and it caught him off guard.
“Lava?” He was almost incredulous, and rather shocked by the sudden change in subject, “Could you even begin to outrun it? Do you really think a bunker would save you from lava if it came chasing you?”
Pebblesnout looked over the cat in front of him warily- were they to be trusted? He could play along and gain an ally in this uncertain time, or he could choose to make more enemies… Though with the unpredictability of the situation, he was leaning towards making an ally. He first needed to make sure this allegiance would be a sound one.
“I’ll humor you, and say that if lava were an issue, I’d be trying my hardest to swim to the land bank off the shore I live on. Big enough that there’s prey almost every season, and enough to feed more than a few mouths.” Pebblesnout regarded the cat in front of him once more before asking, “Why do you have a bunker, old friend? Why are you scared of the CIA? Surely we are safe here, now, yes? We are so deep in the woods that only two lost souls might find one another.”
Pebbles thought worriedly of his clan, how he was separated from them, and whether they knew he was missing. There was such a commotion that morning he’d all but lost his way back home. This strange turn of events was not helping.

Word Count: 273 Words

[SkyWishes21]

Username: SkyWishes21 + 603852
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Answer:
"The CIA?" Helena raised her eyebrows, swishing her tail behind her with annoyance. Although her life on the road has taken her through many hard trials that would wear a lesser cat down, she has kept her elegance, poise, and business sense as sharp as ever. This stranger is... well, she can handle him. "Rest assured, darling, the CIA are as much my enemies as yours. They are... less than enthused about my mother's business, though they hardly stand up to the Things that Live Along the Rails. Idiots."

As for the absurd question, Helena had to stop to think about it. There aren't any volcanoes where she roams, though from what she understands she simply hasn't gone far enough north. Still, she's heard enough stories to have half an idea of what she might do.

"I suppose that would depend on how the lava began flooding the earth. Has the ground cracked in half due to an earthquake and the lava is spilling from that? In that case, I would probably flee into the faerie realms such as the one we're in now. They aren't affected by catastrophes such as that." She narrows her gaze thoughtfully. Most mortal cats such as herself cannot simply hop into a fae realm, but her mother's deal with Jack Frost (why is he here) and her friendship with Kore have given her back doors into both Wintertime and Springtime.

"However," she continues, "were it a volcano I would simply run for higher ground as far away from the burning mountain as possible. I doubt I'd be fast enough to survive, but I very well might be. Such is the nature of these tragedies."
Word Count: 280