Another day, another exam conqured... hopefully, anyway, thought the honey-blonde woman to herself as she walked through the streets of Sacrosanct, grateful for the plethora of street lights that towered over the paved streets. It was one of those later evenings where her classes just seemed to drag on forever and ever and ever. It wasn't that the huntress didn't love her schooling. In fact, she adored most all of the classes that she was currently taking. Minus the math classes of course, numbers were essentially the bane of her existence when it came to all that fancy equations and everything else. But, it was always around this time of the year â€" and a couple others since everything was done in terms â€" that Elain found everything to be almost grueling. She was beginning to get restless from all the studying, sitting at her desk in her bedroom or downstairs in the living room of the townhouse just for a change of "scenery". It was getting to a point that she now looked forward to waking up when that five o'clock alarm drew her from the warmth of those sheets in the morning before the sun was up. The reason? Well, getting to have time to walk to the university, naturally. On the more rainy days, she would still take the bus, but in taking the bus, she had to pay that extra bus fare since she'd recently taken up a habit of stopping by The Bakery on the eastern side of town. If only the Italian man truly knew just how much she counted on those oatmeal sugar cookies to start her day of schooling off right. Just as she'd promised Ludo, she stopped by every single morning before her first class so that she could buy up that small batch that he would have made up for her every morning nice and fresh. They were like a lifeline of sorts these past few days, keeping that fraying morale bright and shining in typical Ellie fashion. That, and she would openly admit that seeing his smile every morning only added to that much-needed extra boost of energy these past few mornings. Gosh, how she absolutely loved his smile! It was more of a wide grin really, rather than a smile, smiling was normally what she did which was bright and beaming. His was subtler really, but it still had that warmth to it unlike any other smile she'd seen in Sacrosanct, and it made her happy to know that there was someone else in this big city that held that warmth so many seemed to lack.

After all, her best friend in the entire world â€" Vhalla â€" never really smiled, at least not often enough for the honey-blonde woman. And of course, Lazarus never smiled. He was just about as grumpy as a grizzly bear woken up from hibernation a couple weeks too soon. All. The. Time. She loved her big brother to death, there was no denying that. To the very bottom of her heart, she loved that man even when he was at his most unlovable which tended to be on most every day except she had noticed lately that he wasn't nearly as moody as he used to be. Maybe all those hours spent... training with Vhal were actually doing him some good? It still seemed a little strange to the young woman that those two could now tolerate being in the other's vicinity, remembering entirely well the first night that Lazarus drug himself through the front door with a hole burned into the center of his shirt, the scent of scorched skin naturally bringing forth concern from Ellie. He hadn't let her help him that night, but ever since then, things were... interesting. Regardless, the man never smiled. And then there was Lani, and she had a sweet little smile too, but it just wasn't the same as Ludo's. But what she did notice today was that the Italian man had seemed distracted today. It was almost like his smile was a little less like how it normally was, if that made any sense. It was a little bit of a concern for the honey-blonde woman, but she didn't want to make a fuss in front of the other customers waiting for their baked goods. So, she left the matter alone. Until she saw him next, anyway. It seemed silly, for someone to care about another without hardly knowing anything about that individual. But that was just how Ellie was. She cared. Probably too much, really. But she couldn't help it. That was just how she was. Even from when she'd been a little girl, her parents had always told her she was that silver lining against an otherwise dark and dreary day. She also knew that not everyone enjoyed being around someone that was always smiling and happy, someone warm and always eager to make friends, and she was okay with that as well. But whenever she was given even the smallest chance to make a new friend, to make someone else's day even just a little brighter, she would take that chance. This world needed a little more love to balance the crime and the sorrow that seemed to run rampant in just about every direction. How contradicting, the fact that the young woman was actually a dark hunter. Life worked in mysterious ways, though.

She decides to take a little detour this evening, messenger bang slung over her right shoulder and pressed against her left hip, that ever-favored pale-yellow hoodie fending off the chill that colored her cheeks a rosy hue, long honey-blonde hair twisted into a simple braid as it fell over her right shoulder, and hands tucked tightly into the faded blue jeans. It was clearly the long way back to Hawthorne Village, but she just wanted to take her time getting home. If anything, she would probably just end up receiving a text message from Lazarus demanding where she was and she'd reassure him that she was fine and decided to walk home. Sometimes it seemed like the man was determined to keep her trapped in that townhouse. Beige uggs lined in warm white fleece shuffle along one of the worn trails in Hyde Park, the young woman thinking of nothing in particular as she made sure to keep those sharp senses tuned like Vhal and Lazarus were always telling her since what happened at the bar a few weeks ago. It wasn't until the winds shifted and the metallic scent of blood brushed against her senses. Eyes of early morning frost flick up to the path ahead, brows furrowing lightly in concern. Was someone hurt? She quickens her pace a little, feeling for her cell phone in the front right pocket of her jeans to ensure that if she needed to call for medical help she hadn't forgotten it in her children's development class. Keen glacier gaze soon see a figure in the distance sitting at the base of a large birch tree, head hung and unmoving. Oh no! She hurries a little faster and it was when she was nearly upon the figure that she instantly recognized those dark, curled locks and her heart stopped for a moment."Ludo?", she calls out to the man as she closes the rest of the distance between them. She could see his shirt was dirty and blood-covered, causing that concern to dance across her pretty features as she kneels down beside him."Are you hurt? What happened?", she asks gently, sterling voice laced with concern as she places a hand on his knee, so focused on the man that she didn't even notice the two other scents that hung in the air...