The dark hunter draped himself lazily in the plush faux leather lazyboy, each arm draped over either side as a sat there in typical Lazarus fashion, a half empty glass bottle of Canadian Mist whiskey clutched in his right hand, sporting faded blue relaxed fit jeans torn in a handful of places from age and standard wear that came with age. While it wasn't particularly cold in the living room, the man still had that signature black zip-up jacket only halfway closed to reveal the charcoal gray t-shirt underneath. Dark forest eyes stare out into the middle distance, seeming to bore into the television as random news of the city's activities flash across the screen. While it appeared like the man was simply watching tv with that blank expression on his chiseled features sporting that usual stubble to match the roughly brushed caramel colored hair visible from just beneath the hood that was drawn over his head, in all actuality, none of what was flashing across that flat screen screwed into the wall beside the couch or even the words being said about this thing or that was even registering within those thoughts as Lazarus just... existed. It was a miserable one, but one all the same. Had Donovan been there, perhaps he wouldn't be looking like his typical irritable self with those brows furrowed and dark forest eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Hell, if the were wasn't off doing whatever it was he seemed to enjoy disappearing to do, there was little doubt that Lazarus and his unorthodox friend would probably be stalking the streets of downtown likely looking for some sort of trouble to stir up. A deep sigh ushers silently through the dark hunter as he lifts that bottle to his lips, relishing in the smooth warmth that burned down his throat. Anything that didn't involve thinking of the white-haired woman was a significant improvement, really. It was especially helpful that Ellie seemed to be busy with exams that were going on in her classes, hardly seeming to have much time between studying and household chores that she could use to try and bribe the witch to come over for dinner or something. If he wasn't so damn protective of the honey-blonde woman, perhaps he and Donovan would have gotten their own place, just to get away from... things he didn't need in his life to make it more difficult that it already was.

That wasn't going to happen, though. Sure, his little sister wasn't really "little" anymore, and she could probably even room with one of her other close friends, Beylani, whom Lazarus had yet to actually meet, although for one reason or another Ellie seemed determined to keep this other friend of hers away from the townhouse. Something about how she didn't want the dark hunter harassing this friend of hers or whatever, which only made the man wonder if he should be concerned that Beylani was just a secret name for some guy she was trying to sneak around with, but for the time being Lazarus opted to just let her have her wish on keeping the name faceless. What were the odds that Ellie would actually lie to him anyway? Sharpened senses tell the man's mind that someone was making their way down the stairs, and he focuses his gaze onto the honey-blonde woman as she appears at the bottom of the steps, wearing jeans and a pale-yellow hoodie."Where are you going? Don't you have studying to do?", he inquiries as he eyes Ellie suspiciously for a moment. She responds as she usually does - or at least ever since that witch managed to make a best friend out of the honey-blonde woman â€" with a roll of those glacier blue eyes."Unlike you, I'm going outside to get some fresh air. Lani wants me to go with her to Hyde Park for some more photos. Besides, I need a break. Maybe you should stop all that drinking and actually get some air yourself. You might be less gloomy", she replies cheekily as she walks over to the dark hunter, bending down to give Lazarus a hug despite the clear grunt of displeasure at her embrace. She removes herself from him, flashing him an affectionate smile before moving over to the front door."I'll be home in a few hours, Lazlo. Try and behave yourself, okay?", she teases him with a bubbly note of laughter before closing the door behind her without giving the man a chance to give her a snide remark in return.

He sat there for an unknown amount of time after his little sister left, that brooding expression written clearly on his features as he continues to stare into the television. He hated how right she could be sometimes... Maybe he could use a little walk... even if it also just so happened that it would be through the park as well. She'd been spending a lot of time at that park lately "with Lani", and that suspicion that his little sister might be getting too bold from all the time she also spent with the white-haired woman now getting the best of him as he clicks off the television and stands up. He gives himself a lazy stretch, reaching strong arms laced in sinew muscle, before setting the bottle down on the coffee table and departing through the front door. Locking the door behind him, Lazarus removes those black aviators only to put them on so they could hide those dark forest eyes and then shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket beginning the walk towards Hyde Park. I swear, if this Lani person is really a guy, I'm gonna flip the fuck out. Like he so often did, the dark hunter was content to focus that rage that burned so readily in his blood at the degree of boldness the more masculine sex could be all too capable of feeling towards women that they might be determined to give chase after. After all, Lazarus of all people should know... he was one of them. Perhaps it was this knowing and the fact that the very things he hated about men were also on his own nature that drove him to the stubborn determination to beat the hell out of any guy that dared to even look at the honey-blonde woman two seconds too long, even if Ellie had made it clear that one day these days she would be wanting to find someone to devote herself to. Unlike Lazarus, she was not so jaded and she very much dreamed of that typically life where she had a man to love her endlessly, raising kids and tending to a house all her own... The dark hunter was hardly ready to think of such a life for his little sister, though.

His heated breath hits against the frigid air, steam leaking from his nostrils with every exhale as he walked through the streets and among the churning sea of faces until he reaches his destination. It was here that her scent was easy to find, and tapping into those innate tracking capabilities, he begins venturing down that well-traveled path. Maybe if he had been able to pick out a scent that mingled intricately with his sister's own only to find that Ellie was indeed with a friend that was female, he might have been content enough to turn around and walk back home. It was impossible to distinguish the multiple trails that mixed with hers though, some of them certainly male and so with a begrudging groan, he walks deeper into the park, hardly caring to stop and admire the beauty of everything blanketed in glittering white. It was when he approaches a fork in that paved pathway, a smaller and nearly unnoticed trail through the snow splitting off into three trees, that an all too familiar scent assaults his senses and causes him to stop in his strides. It was fresher than Ellie's trail, the man surprised that he hadn't been able to pick it out among the many until it was so clearly standing alone. How coincidental that Vhalla would be here. Maybe she, too was seeking out the honey-blonde woman and yet the fact that her trail diverted ao sharply from Ellie's told Lazarus otherwise. He is almost able to force himself on his previously decided path to find his sister and make sure she wasn't finding herself any trouble, almost able to shrug off the mere thought of the witch quickly before those damn memories resurfaced like the enjoyed doing. What was fresher in his mind though was how she'd stormed out of the townhouse that day upon simply letting herself into him and Ellie's home in a way that could only be labeled as standard Vhalla style. He still couldn't figure out what the hell her problem had been... Growling lowly to himself, he finally diverts from his own path and follows the witch's scent now. he was sure that he was going to regret it, but for some absolutely infuriating reason, he couldn't convince himself to just pretend he never noticed her obvious presence here.

Everything becomes quieter as he stalks silently through the trail that became increasingly less traveled until there was only one set of tracks in the snow, making it easy to guess who it was thay ventured this far into the snow-covered wood. His steps are surprisingly light for his size and muscle mass - not that he was anywhere near as large as men that lifted weights for hours on end multiple times a day for lack of anything better to do - but his silence was aided by walking in those already made footprints so that his own steps did not send out that crunching sound to give him away too quickly. Maybe he'd be able to see her doing whatever it was she was up to and be able to slip away like he'd intended to that night after she'd crashed his party in the western streets of Sacrosanct. He follows those footprints in the snow until those keen dark forest eyes searching between the trees finally find their mark, though it was hard to miss that black clothing he knew only one woman to wear so well - too damn well. He moves slowly, silently over to a nearby tree just on the outskirts of that clearing, hands still shoved in the pockets for that black zip-up jacket as he leans his shoulder against the cold bark. He watches as she suddenly vanishes only to appear less than a single breath later about ten feet in the air before falling to the ground with a thud, keen ears hearing the breath being forced from her lungs with the impact. A wolfish grin finds his chiseled features as he watches her sit up in the snow, her back covered in white as she finally gets up to her feet."That was almost impressive", he says smoothly in those deep tenor tones, hardly moving from where he stood as he watched her from behind those black aviators, curled hair only just visible beneath the hood that remained drawn over his head as it almost always was.