Kasna

Nose to the ground, the aging husky moved along the outskirts of the dump, letting his lanky tail sway in lazy motion with his steps. It had been... how many years, since he'd last been here...? Kasna closed his eyes briefly, black-edged ears laced against his skull as old memories flooded through his mind. He wasn't sure what became of his best friend, Fresca, or of Ebony and the others; but his heart felt sick with dread already, having picked up on the all-too fresh scent of the Lurkers on the wind. If they were alive and well, as the winds seemed to speak of, then the fate of Fresca and the others didn't bode well.

Treading into the nineth year of life, Kasna was feeling his age. Yet despite how heavy his spirit seemed to feel with the apparent loss of his old friends, there was a sense of life dancing in his pale orange eyes. He was finally back home - for good or worse, the husky was back where he belonged. And it was with that in mind that he moved along the edges of the trash piles, nose working to find any edibles to fill his famished stomach.

Katabana, Stormpaw, Montrone, & Orchilla

"What do you guys wanna play?" Padding along more towards the center of the landfill, the group of yearlings were upwind of the husky's scent, and otherwise caught up in their own thoughts to notice the presence of the other. Katabana was leading her siblings along, her gray pelt matching Orchilla's to a T. With their matching black heads and front paws, the two siblings were incredibly hard to tell apart by sight alone. Montrone, the smallest of the group, at a slim fifty pounds, had the lightest coat of the group - a steely gray coloration, with a few tan highlights and a sepia and black marked face. Undaunted by his smaller frame, the brother powered along just behind Katabana, his brushy tail held loose and sure.

Towards the tail end of the little sibling party was Stormpaw, just a size smaller than the eighty-some pound Orchilla and Katabana, and almost entirely black in hue. Her shadowy frame was marred only by a few patches of tan here and there. "How about... oh, I know! Lets see who can catch the first seagull!"

Orchilla bobbed her head, "That or a rodent. Do those count, too?" The group stopped and looked about at each other, as if this were some major decision. "Yeah, they count too." Katabana piped up with a complimentary nod, "Everyone spread out! And may the best hunter win!" With that, the group dispersed across the Dump.

Kasna

Unlike his stealthy ways, the yearlings didn't seem to care where their voices traveled, and it didn't take long for Kasna to catch their words. Ears perked up and tail stiffened for a few seconds as he tested the wind. The voices certainly weren't familiar... but whoever these canines were, they were awfully confident. Either they were ignorant of the dangers, or they were part of a pack that could afford to do as they pleased.

With those things in mind, Kasna slid closer to an overturned freezer, his body now held low and his movements sly. Hunkering down beside the dingy appliance, the husky turned his light eyes this way and that, just waiting to see if one of the others would stray into his view. Only then could he decide whether they were friend, foe, or otherwise.

Katabana, Stormpaw, Montrone, & Orchilla

Bounding down along a particularly steep slope, Stormpaw was attempting to use speed to her advantage to catch her quarry - not a seagull, but a small magpie snacking on some stale bread crumbs at the bottom of the garbage slope. "Al-most...." The hybrid launched herself into the air with a powerful thrust of her hind limbs, only to catch her front paw on a large wire spring. Her momentum caused her to flip, and with a wild yelp of alarm, she landed on her backside and proceeded to tumble log-style down the rest of the slope. A bit battered but otherwise alright, Storm picked herself up and shook her head, trying to keep the world from spinning around her. "Man, and I was sooo close..." Now giving her dirtied pelt a good shaking, Stormpaw was about to trot off in a new direction when her line of sight happened to pass by the freezer where Kasna was attempting to hide. Above all the rank, rich odors around her, the unmistakable scent of canine was reaching her - and a stranger, at that. Curious, the ebony canine sauntered forward to investigate, having not yet seen the husky crouched on the other side.

Kasna

He'd watched her at first, holding perfectly still to avoid detection while she went careening down the slope. Despite the gravity of the situation, and trickle of anxiety that had started to creep down his spine - he was now almost sure these were Lurkers as their scent came to him - the aging husky had to bite back a chuckle. It had been so long since he'd been around younglings like this, to watch their antics and be reminded of the simple joys in life.

Surprisingly, there was a vague notion of alarm that wanted to creep up past the rest of his emotions, and a slight prodding that told him to see if the youngster was alright after her haphazard venture down the mountain of junk. Kasna hastily banished this from his head - he was certain she was a Lurker, and that made her the enemy! She needed to pay for the death of his pack... she and the rest of her unsavory kin...

It was a great struggle to keep the hackles from rising along his back, like the angry quills of a defensive porcupine. Kasna managed this, however, keeping his cool with years of practice as he ducked his head down once Stormpaw had picked herself back up. Ears that were still as keen as in his youth picked up on the sounds of the yearlings paw steps, drawing closer to his hiding spot. The husky sucked in a low, deep breath, further quelling his nerves as the other grew closer, closer... this was it, he should leap up, attack, kill, and bolt before the others even knew what happened...

That was the plan, anyway. For reasons unknown to him, Kasna did not leap at Storm when she began to venture around his hiding spot. Instead, on a last minute whim, the old dog hunkered down more, adopting the posture that suggested he was merely napping, rather than crouching in wait. When finally the enemy would draw near enough to see him, she'd be presented by a weary looking Kasna, who didn't harbor the slightest aggression in his lax position. That was the smart route to take, right...? Wait and see how she reacted, before he attacked?

Katabana, Stormpaw, Montrone, & Orchilla

Stepping around the side of the freezer, Stormpaw's eyes widened a little at the sight she found. Just as quickly, her tail began to wave a little, always happy to see a new face, and naive enough in her young age to think 'friend' first and 'enemy' later. "I'm sorry, did we bother your sleep, mister? My brother and sisters and I were just playing a game of hunting."

A black ear swiveled back, hearing a loud, hearty string of curses from nearby. Apparently, Montrone was having just about as good of luck as she was. Holding back a chuckle, Storm refocused her attention on the aging husky in front of her, "Oh, I'm Stormpaw, by the way."