Damp Morning (open)

[suzume]

The morning dawned damp and foggy. A small sparrow, seeking food, picked its way along the brush - its movements sending small droplets off the branchlets, shimmering as they fell.

One waterdrop landed precisely atop a dark eyelid. Big Brother twitched slightly, and raising his mountain of a head, sent the small bird to panicked flight.

He barely registered the fading cheeps, however. Bro woke slowly. Stretching. Yawning - showing massive jaws and teeth, normally buried under thick jowls. Finally getting up and with a shake, sending a flurry of dirt and waterdrops into the air.

He didn't like the wet, but bore it with a sense of the unavoidable.

Scratching his neck, his rear foot hit a soreness - and a questing tongue discovered a trace of blood on his nails - his own. A memory from the chain that had bound him by the neck to his old life at the fighting ring. No matter now. That was days ago.

His stomach distracted him, with a loud complaint of hunger. He needed to find food somewhere, and then perhaps a dry place to sleep.

With no more direction than that, Big Brother put his nose down and started off, lumbering along further uphill. He wasn't a dog to contemplate much, instead just took life as it came.

[Roxie]

The faint sound of rain finally hit downtown Shikoku. A light mist that gently darkened the pavement and added a sense of simple sleepiness towards any living creature. It was a perfect day to snuggle deeper under the blankets and just sleep the morning away.

The lone mastiff took advantage of the lack of humans, his mass of fat and fawn-colored skin had been stuffed into the innards of a black trash can. It's frame illuminated by the warm glow of a a single, broken street light that didn't realize it was time to turn off. Thin, black metal complained under the weight of the elderly dog, he felt it bend irreparably around his thick body and dark paws.
Laelaps backed out, suddenly remembering it wasn't trash day and that the smell of delicious fried food was only coming from down the street at a tiny stand. His light brown eyes cast a tired look under his stomach, trying to see the light of an exit from between his legs.

In his haste to get out, poor Pooh Bear had gotten stuck in Rabbit's hole. This situation was not unfamilar to the obese mastiff, though he'd always been able to simply obliterate an object to free himself. As he pressed harshly against the metal, it simply stretched in a separate angle. He blinked in confusion, continuing to smack himself around the lip of the can until he was more uncomfortable than when he started.

Laelaps flopped down, feeling the now oddly-bent trash can wobble it's abuser onto his side. His belly was just too big to squeeze out and instead of a rabbit hole, it was simply an oversized tin-can. The mastiff grumbled a cuss and simply waited. After all, someone had to find him.

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[suzume]

Big Brother sniffed his way along, then over, the ridge. He found a few animal scents, but following them proved fruitless - his heavy paws were warning enough to send every creature for half a mile running for cover. He was used to being fed, the whole concept of stalking/hunting was alien to him. The morning's wandering did nothing but give him a fresh coat of mud.

Finally, he turned downhill again and Big reached a stream, where he promptly wandered in and lapped noisily, before following its course. A road joined the stream, and the large dog shifted to plod along the smoother paved course. This brought him to the familiar smells and sounds of a human city.

The large mastiff wasn't used to wandering about among humans, unattended, but he proceeded on without concern, and if any person noticed, they either assumed the dog had a purpose or were too afraid of his size to interfere. Either way, he continued on. A few dogs, behind fences or tethered, threw him insults or challenges, but Big Brother ignored them, unless, of course, they had a bowl of food. Thrice he stole food from tied-up dogs, never needing to do more than show his fangs to earn the meager meal - but three small bowls of partly-eaten dog chow wasn't nearly enough for a full-grown Old English Mastiff.

He hadn't really intended to frighten off the owner of the food stand, but when he put his front paws upon the shelf and tipped the entire cart over, spilling hot oil, bread, and fried meats across the pavement, the man did little but run off, shouting something that sounded like "Dogzilla!"over and over.

Only after his belly was distended with oily meat did he, feeling a bit ill, wander down the road again. Trying not to heave, he almost stepped upon a large dark hind paw before he realized there was another dog next to him. Well... sort of next to him.... it was mostly hidden within a badly-dented metal trashcan, and by the sounds of it, was snoring. The end that Big Brother could see wasn't the flattering side.

At this moment, his stomach decided to revolt, and Big coughed up a good amount of oily meat chunks and stomach slime, right onto the hind legs of the dog in the trashcan.

[Montgomery]

It was just one of those peaceful mornings that Battousai enjoyed. It was dense and foggy. Normal folks and dogs could barely see in these conditions, but he thrived in them.

The city atmosphere was nothing new to him. He was used to the strange looks humans gave him for all the metal on his body. Not that he cared, mind you. Plus the slight drizzle of the rain made the killer feel at peace as he looked out from the cardboard box that was sitting up on the top of other heavy boxes.

His red and black furry head rested on his paws as he began to drift to sleep. He slowly began to close his eyes and prepare for sleep when he heard a metal can topple over, followed by some rolling sound and a grumbled swear. His ears perked up at the sound, but he never opened his eyes. A slight scoff escaped his shut maw figuring some dog had knocked over a garbage can because they weren't watching where they were going. Settling himself back in his box, Battousai yawned and perked his ears up yet again when he heard a human scream something about 'Dogzilla.' The serious dog only arched a brow at this and shook his head. It wasn't important, some stray must be causing trouble...Once again, he lay his head down on his paws that dangled out of the box, over the pile of other boxes.

Here sleep came again, he felt his mind starting to shut down and his body relax even more. Suddenly, the sound of a gag and the sick splattering sound of vomit hitting the wet pavement, snapped him from his sleep state. "Dammit to Hell..."

The French Spaniel Mix slowly lifted his head up and out to peer at the funny but sick sight before him. There was a very large, no, a FAT mastiff stuck in a metal garbage can, with oily, meaty vomit all over his back legs. Beside the scene stood another large mastiff with a sick look on his face. The stoic and rather annoyed expression on the killer's face was starting to crack. He stifled a snicker as he watched the two dogs. The strong smell of oily vomit caused the dog to flinch a bit. "Just goes to show you...don't eat food drenched in oil..." His cold stare went back to the stuck mastiff. "Heh...are you stuck, old man...?" He was still trying to hold back a laugh.

[Fancy]

(Mind if I join?)

The world seemed to have slowed to a stop. The normal hustle and bustle of the city was quickly tamed by the appearance of a thick fog and a mist of rain. It was actually quite amazing on how little of an effort it took nature to scare most of the population into the safety of their homes.

Days like this normally meant food, and Fancy would take any opportunity she could get. The soft thudding of her paws were quite audible on this quiet morning, making the small kooikerhondje feel unusually vulnerable. Taking a fearful glance around she slowed her pace to a leisurely walk, her focus completely on the ground attempting to make her steps absolutely soundless on the wet pavement.

Up ahead, a loud crash followed by what sounded like scraping metal screeched a loud alarm. Fancy, fearing she was too close to whatever had made this noise dodged into the nearest alley. Her breathing quickened as she listened to the struggle slowly come to a stop. Believing whatever made that noise had left or either died she peered cautiously around the corner, her ebony noise quivering in attempt to pick up any unknown scents. Fancy could easily smell two dogs, and what seemed like spoiled meat. Pulling her head a bit more forward to get a better angle she noticed yet another dog coming forward through the thick fog.

Something was said to one or maybe both the dogs, unable to distinguish what was being discussed she took a few more steps forward to get a better listen. The smell of oily meat was much stronger as she came to the entrance of the alley which caused her to sneeze quite loudly giving away her current hiding spot.

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[Roxie]

The old dog wasn't sleeping, rather he was so fat that it impaired his breathing to the point where it only sounded like snoring. Having been unable to hear or smell the other dog coming, it was only when he felt the thick slime on the back of his legs did he react.

And damn was he pissed.

It was like someone shocking a bull with a cattle-prod. The can erupted with all the anger of a soccer mom in the middle of a traffic jam. Laelaps sent out a flurry of cusses and kicked out violently as he attempted to gain footing, sending a disgusting spray of slime chunks towards the sick mastiff. Like a turtle on it's back, he simply rolled around, though he did manage to maneuver it well enough to propel himself to the middle of the street.

"Goddammit as soon as I get out of this, I'm ripping your throat out." The mastiff snarled clawing and biting at his tin prison. The sound alone was enough to wake any normal person, it was like sharp nails scraping over a blackboard and even gave him chills just listening to it.

His bad ears picked up the sound of someone else talking. Great. Now the pack was on him and there was nothing he could do about it. All because he smelled something remotely honey-flavored. The mere thought of it had him drooling for some honey barbecue chicken.
Then someone addressed him, asking if he was stuck. A low, guttural laugh resonated from the trashcan.

"Nope, just wondering what it'd feel like if I was a sardine." The elder joked. In truth, even he knew it wasn't that funny, but Laelaps was never really good at making a quip.

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[Montgomery]

[Don't mean to post outta turn, but I can't pass up this chance to talk back ]

What a sight it was. The massive mastiff had thrown a hissy fit and ended up rolling himself into the street cussing wildly. Oh how comic it was to watch this situation getting worse, but then it happened. The sharp painful sounds of the claws ripping at the trashcan's skin. The assassin's ears flattened and he wanted to wince, but he showed no signs of pain. He heard the elder dog's retort and couldn't be more pleased.

Battousai's stoic expression finally cracked into a wide grin as he hopped down gracefully from his elevated home. The loud sound of his metal paws striking the concrete rang down the alleyway. By now he was used to this sound and he merely stretched.

His cold red eyes was set on the trashcan laying out in the street. With a proud stance he padded over next to the can, snickering and laughing now. "Well, old timer. You certainly smell like one..." A harsh raspy laugh escaped his throat. As soon as his laugh had faded, it was replaced with a snarl.

He lunged forward, tearing into the metal trap, using his steel like fangs and paws to rip the can off and away from the old fat mastiff. "Is that better, Old Man?"

[suzume]

Big Brother's eyes got big when he realized he'd puked on the other dog and then... everything happened far too quickly.

Some other dog growled from above, distracting Big, who looked up just in time to get a great glob of vomit kicked up into his face, blinding his eyes and stinging his nose, and making his stomach clench even worse.

Backpedaling as quick as he could, Big strove to avoid the large noisy and now smelly trashcan dog, which had started scrabbling around the alley like a thing demon-possessed. He lost track of his surroundings when he puked again - splattering more oily fishy meat chunks onto the ground. Spinning around, he ran into the debris stacked along the wall of the alley - not cautiously stacked, so when hit by 300 lb of panicked mastiff, it caused an avalanche.
Big Brother soon found himself buried among trash cans, boxes, and garbage bags.

Something little - a rat perhaps? - squeaked nearby in protest.

Big Brother, now trapped himself, proceeded to start tearing about. This resulted only in opening up the surrounding garbage bags, covering him in human refuse - and most of it was not the good-smelling trash. In fact, it seemed to consist mostly of dirty diapers.

Now utterly at a loss, there was only one other option. Start HOWLING for help.

[Fancy]

The small female kept her head craned around the corner of the alley, her ears pinned up at attention enabling herself to listen to the clever comments being passed from the large dog in the metal can to the dog who appeared to have some sort of metal on him.

The next series of events seemed to take place in under a minute. The large gold and brown dog, who just threw up on the dog struggling in the trash can, barreled backwards towards the entrance of the alley. Fancy bolted around as fast as she could, her claws scraping on the asphalt trying to get away from the huge brute gunning in her direction. Curling behind a large stack of boxes she figured she had found a great hiding spot until they all crumbled down on top of her and the other dog.

Breathing hard from the ordeal, Fancy's eyes widened, was she trapped? Quickly gaining back her mental composure, she searched for an escape. Thrashing from the direction of the nearby dog caused her to gain and loose exits. After the massive beast seemed to have stopped and took up the next option of howling, she took one last look around. Fancy seemed to be trapped under a box if not a few. The stench from the garbage was becoming completely overpowering. Trying to use her nose as a wedge she attempted to lift the box up off her, but it wouldn't budge. Soon she was scratching furiously at the side in hope to dig her way out.

Whether Fancy knew it or not, her scraping was causing the box to move out of the wreckage, onto the sidewalk, and over the curb, the natural lift giving her just enough space to slide through if she was careful. The open opportunity made her stop, take a deep breath, lowering herself down she squeezed herself out between the curb and the box.
Her senses, quickly overwhelmed with fear and her new-found freedom caused her to bolt in the first direction she looked. For her unfortunately, it was in the direction of the other two dogs she was trying her very best to avoid. Dodging past the trashcan dog, who seemed to have been freed, she looked back to get another look at him. But while in the process, she ran head on into the other dog, the one who appeared to have steel as a replacement for his skin in some areas.

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[Roxie]

Laelaps rolled out. A massive chest heaved as he took a deep, stuttering breath of bitter, city air. His deep-set eyes blinked furiously in confusion as they adjusted from the pitch-darkness to the graying morning. They finally settled on the blurred figure of half-metal dog. Laelaps opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it. A grateful look crossed his wrinkled features and he nodded a curt 'thanks' to this stranger.

He stood slowly, his body screaming for him to lay back down. It did not approve of such activity, cracking and creaking as if he were a thousand years old. Before he could ask his companion if he knew where the nearest bath-house or hotspring was, a yipping howl resounded from a separate corner of the alley. The cry was quickly followed by a moving box and a bolting white-thing.
Mustering all the agility of a sumo-wrestler, he whirled on his heels and galloped into more of those bastard cans. Rolling over them as if he were a bowling ball and he'd just gotten a lucky strike.

For a second he wished he was back in the trashcan. Everyone out here was insane.

{ OOC:// Lateminipost, sorry! D: }

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[Montgomery]

He grinned at his assisting of the old man. He was about to smart off again, when the howling started. Oh God how that hurt. A snarl ripped through his clenched jaw. "Would you FUCKING shut up, blubbering hound?! You aren't dieing. You just got startled and just fell into human trash! Stop bellowing like a hound before I shut your trap!" His words came out like a very loud and angry hiss. Those hateful cold red eyes zeroed in on the howling mastiff.

Just as he was about to continue his verbal threats, something light and fast moving crashed into him hard. The steel legged assassin didn't move an inch. He slowly moved himself around, to get a better look at the smaller white dog. A cold smile spread across his maw as he gazed at her. "Well well...so you were what I was hearing sneak around while I saved the old man...? So glad of you to show yourself, Little Missy...You should really watch where you are going...Not everyone is kind when you bump into them at a break neck speed...eh?" Even as he spoke to her, his words were cold and really unaffected. The only sense of emotion you could feel in his voice was nothing but mild amusement.

Again, he was about to continue a conversation when the older mastiff crashed into more garbage cans. Slowly, the red and black setter turned to face him and began to pad over to him. This was the first time he had seen the old dog up close. His careful red eyes caught sight of all those scars, that old wrinkled face. He knew this dog...it was The Butcher. This old and massive dog was one of his comrades in a very secretive organization. That sick grin on the menacing expression of Battousai widened into the biggest 'shit eating grin' possibly known to dogs. With one quick motion, he swatted some of the cans away from him and gazed directly into the eyes of his comrade.

"Well well well...It's you...I didn't get to really speak with you at that gathering...What a way to get to know each other, eh? Let me reintroduce myself. I am Battousai." He bowed his head in respect to the elder dog, his smirk faded ever so slightly.

[Sorry for posting out of turn AGAIN! I just wanted to keep this thread going. And sorry for bringing up the yakuza meeting. I can delete that part if its too soon or out of place. I just really wanted Battousai to work with the Butcher]