Another day comes with the sunrise, golden shards filtering through the white linen curtains that draped over the window to the eastern side of her bedroom. Slowly, long lashes flutter softly over eyes of early morning frost opening to yet another beautiful and quiet morning. There is a soft smile that curls her plush lips as she stirs beneath the warmth of her sheets, arms reaching out over honey-blonde hair askew across the down pillow she can hardly help but nuzzle a little further into as she stretches out the sleepiness that clung to her awakening mind. It had been a restful night, the you woman finding that she can only remember the pitch black of slumber's embrace rather than the realm of dreams which she was often carried to. It was not often that she was able to slip into such a deep slumber, but goodness she had forgotten how glorious such nights could be! A deep sigh ushers contentedly, almost wistfully through Ellie then as turns over onto her side, burying her nose further into the comforts of her pillow and allows for her eyes to close for another moment more. With her autumn semester for college having yet to start and the next few weeks, the only thing that she truly needed to worry about would be her work schedule, when the French woman whom she could not help but adore â€" after all, the huntress adored just about everyone that she'd encountered during her time here in Sacrosanct thus far â€" might decide to have the honey-blonde working an earlier shift. Although, it seems that even Adelaide had little need for the young woman before eleven o'clock in the morning. Her shift last night had been a fast-paced one, though the Beachside Bar & Bistro always seemed to be humming with life as Inner Sanctum was in those earlier hours of the day. Perhaps part of the young woman's apparent need for rest came from all the hustling to take orders and ensure that they were both delivered to the chefs in the kitchen and to the customers all in a timely fashion. She could hardly remember when her breaks had been, if she'd had them at all, though she knows entirely well that Adelaide would never make her workers skip such crucial moments to catch their breath. However, in the end, Ellie was certain that all her hard work from last night only contributed to a small portion of why it was she was taking her time getting out of bed this morning.

A small sound of soft chittering is what calls Ellie to open those glacier blue eyes once more, turning to the small wooden box that rested on the floor beside her bed. Her gaze is met by a pair of beady little black eyes, the silvered, black, and white fur of the young racoon she'd been looking after over the past week no longer nearly as matted and filthy as it had been when she first found the small creature. She'd been returning from her little venture to the beach, towel and wicker basket in hand, a loose-fitting white tee covered the black bikini top as she made her way back to Hawthorne Village. The sun had been setting then, Ellie entirely aware that if she stayed out past dark, Lazarus would begin either calling or texting her with demands on where she was and exactly why she was out so late. The last thing she wanted was for him to end up searching for her, because then he would be in more foul mood than he tended to be. She could have stayed at the beach all night, to be honest. And she'd even asked for the man to come with her, going as far as to say that it might do him some good to get some fresh ocean air and simply relax on the sun-bleached sand instead of cooping himself up in either the townhouse, a bar, or some sweaty, smelly gym surrounded by men lifting weights and working out. Naturally, he'd refused, telling his sister that if she wanted to go to the beach then she would need to either get ahold of Lani for company, try and coerce Donovan into tagging along, or content herself with being alone. Of course, Donovan had hurried off to work and she still hasn't heard anything from the blue-eyed blonde lately, which in and of itself was beginning to concern her a fair amount, even to the point of Ellie thinking to bring Chika back to her home until Beylani returned from wherever it was she'd vanished to. The poor tortoiseshell seemed so anxious for company when the young huntress would go over to check on her that Ellie found herself sitting there for a number of hours reading just so the feline had some sort of company. She'd even thought to perhaps go to the pet shop and bring home a fish so that Chika might not feel so alone... but, she would always take a few deep breaths and tell herself that it could be any day or any moment that Lani called her back and told her that she would be home that evening. She just needed to stop worrying so much for her friends and where they'd disappeared to. It was summer after all. Odds were that they were visiting family or on some sort of road trip.

It had been on her way through Hyde Park, halfway home, that she'd heard the poor creature whimpering quietly in the bushes beside one of the paved pathways, his leg broken perhaps from a nasty fall or close call with another larger animal that had been after him. And naturally, there'd been no way that Ellie could simply leave the juvenile racoon there. She'd been uncertain at first on how the small thing would react, but even her late mother had always told the young woman she had a way with all living things, human and non, so it wasn't too entirely surprising that it allowed for her to drape the damp and sandy towel over him only to scoop the small bundle into her arms and carry him the rest of the way home. Of course, Lazarus had been waiting for her to return as he always did, Donovan still gone from the townhouse which had become a common thing upon their arrival to the big city, and when he'd seen the lump covered in her towel moving, he'd demanded that she put it back outside. Well, Ellie being Ellie and Lazarus being Lazarus, she had argued that there was no way she would just leave him to fend for himself injured, and the dark hunter had simply grunted and sunk into the recliner in the living room with a bottle of Crown Royal and resumed what she'd been sure was a night filled with drinking and brooding over something he never seemed willing to tell her about. It was always easy for the honey-blonde to win most arguments with her brother, the man hardly capable of telling her no even when he would narrow dark forest eyes in obvious agitation. He would complain that they already had enough stray cats that came to their front door in search of food, the last thing they needed was a racoon coming by to cause trouble. Disregarding her grumpy brother, she'd set to work making a box into a bed for the small animal, filling it with old and worn blankets so she wouldn't have to listen to Lazarus complaining about how she used perfectly good clothes or sheets for a "filthy creature". In all fairness though, the poor thing certainly had been in rough shape, so she'd carefully given it a sponge bath and remedied the broken leg with her healing a little more each day while creating a splint so that the bone set back together properly. She may not be a licensed veterinarian, but she's helped a few creatures in the past, so this was really no different for the young woman than the cats and kittens she'd saved before.

Ellie smiles tenderly to the stirring creature that simply looks up to her, black-button nose wiggling as it scented the bedroom."Good morning, Luca", she coos softly to it then, finally convincing herself to get up from the comfort of her sheets. Sitting at the edge of the bed in her black pajama short and tang top, she looks down at the young animal as it nuzzles into the blankets, chattering lightly to itself all the while, her smile growing softer upon plush lips as she watched him for a moment. No longer did it whimper in pain or lay there in the bed the young woman made for it, curled up and sleeping as the effects of her magic worked upon the wounds which would have surely done the creature in had Ellie not found it that night. She moves from the bed and lowers herself to the hardwood floor, reaches for the splint. Most wild creatures would have flinched sway from her hands as they came ever closer, but Luca simply watches her with his dark eyes as she undoes the bandage wrapped around its hind leg. Once removed, she carefully runs her hands along the appendage, satisfied to feel the bone set back perfectly and notice that the young raccoon no longer yipped or winced."Looke like today's the day you get to go home", she says warmly to him then, giggling gently as he chatters back, the huntress wondering exactly what it might be saying then. She turned to look at the clock, noting that it was nine thirty in the morning, remembering that she needed to run a few errands and clean the house before taking him back to the park and the sun was going down. She wanted to make sure that the park would be mostly empty before she released the creature, mostly just concerned that someone's dog would try and hurt it again - even when she wasn't entirely sure it had been a dog that wounded Luca in the beginning. She still didn't want to take that chance. She moved to scratch under his chin and he closed his eyes in delight at the gesture, having taken a liking to Ellie, though it was hardly surprising to her."Okay mister, I've got some things I need to do today. So behave, and when the sun starts setting, we'll head out, alright?", she says to the raccoon then before rising to her feet and padding quietly from her bedroom, closing the door, and moving into the bathroom. First thing's first, she needed to shower and get ready before going grocery shopping.

Once she is showered and dressed in a pair of white jean bahama shorts, a powder blue tank top, and white flip-flops, she is quick to pull her honeh-blonde hair into a French braid that falls over her right shoulder. Gathering her keys and wallet without bothering to stop outside Lazarus' door to see if he was still sleeping, entirely sure that the soft snoring she could hear was in fact the dark hunter, Ellie moves down the stairs of the townhouse, across the living room, and departs out the front door. Locking it behind her, she melts into the crowd on the sidewalk and sets off towards her favorite market on 180th Avenue. Perhaps she would even run into Ashton, although it wasn't Thursday, so she considered it to be unlikely if she did. He'd made it rather apparent that he was a man of habit, but that hardly effected how fond the huntress was of her new friend. She could never have enough friends, that she was very certain of. She walks through those familiar streets having yet to reach their most crowded, taking her time as she glanced into the familiar shops and department stores to admire the things inside. Soon, she reaches the market and retrieves one of the little hand baskets there, selecting with care a series of fresh fruits, vegetables, and natural pastas to stock the fridge and cupboards at home with. Deciding that today she would be making Lazarus' favorite dish of baked salmon, brown rice, and sauteed zucchini with bell peppers, the young woman gathers up what she can here. The next stock would of course be the meat market not far from here, where she would get the rest of the groceries she'd set out to collect. After gathering what she needed, she moves to the register and pays for her goods, thanking the clerk before moving out the small building and makes her way through the streets on the southern part of Sacrosanct. It doesn't take too long for her to reach the butcher, though by this time it is well into the afternoon and everyone seeme to be out and rushing around to their destinations today. She slips out of the thinning crowd the further towards the beach she walks, soon stepping into the cooled shop."Hello there, Ellie! Back so soon?", the man behind the counter says as he works on cutting a large slab of ribs into smaller portions, the honey-blonde unable to help the radiant smile that illuminates her features."Good afternoon, Greg! And of course, this is the best place to get that salmon my brother likes so much", she says brightly back to the owner before moving along the coolers and freezers, easily finding the wild-caught Alaskan salmon and picking up some chicken breast as well. Maybe I ought to buy a car, then maybe I wouldn't have to go shopping for food and things so often.

Paying for her meats, she says goodbye to the butcher who had taken a liking to her and heads to one of the nearby bus stops. There was no way she was going to carry everything back through the city on foot. She settles there in the covered bench, thankful for the shade as the day carries on and the afternoon gets warmer. She isn't left waiting long, the city bus soon appearing down the street and pulling to a noisy stop, latched doors swinging open. Gathering up her groceries, she moves onto the bus and pays her fare before settling into one of the first rows, placing the bags on the empty seat beside her. She contents herself with simply staring out the window, enjoying the air conditioning as the bus makes its way from southern side of the city and back towards the east. By the time it finally reaches her stop only a few blocks from home, the sun is already approaching the skyline. Thanking the bus driver as she always does, even when he never answers back, she gets off at her stop with grocery bags in hand and walks down the street and back to Hawthorne Village. Returning home and stepping into a silent townhouse, she can only assume that Lazarus is either working at this point or out at the gym as he so often does lately. So, she puts away the groceries and decides to make dinner later tonight so that his food might be at least a little warm when he gets home. She moves up the stairs and opens the door to her bedroom, seeing Luca exactly where she'd left him, rummaging through the blankets looking for the last remnants of kibble she'd left for him. Walking across the room, she retrieves one of the blankets she had draped over the foot of her bed, turning to smile down to the young raccoon."Ready to go?", she asks the creature, who simply looks up at her and wiggles his nose. She was going to miss having the little guy around! But he deserved to be wild again, so she wraps him up in that blanket and makes her way back downstairs and yet again departs from the townhouse and heads south through the streets so knew by heart now. He hardly moves within her arms as she holds hom close to her chest, smiling innocently to people she passed them, entirely aware of the odd looks she is given though no one stops to ask her what was moving there within the fabric, Ellie for once grateful for the cold indifference the city seemed plagued with. The last thing she wanted was for someone to stop her and startle Luca out of her arms only to have the small creature get hurt all over again.

They reach Hyde Park incident free, the clear summer sky painted a bright display of golds and pinks as the sun sets behind the tall buildings of the city, Ellie walking along the same paved pathway she had the night she found Luca, but instead of stopping on the trail to let him go, she turns onto a dirt trail she's seen once before but never wandered, following it into the depths of the trees. She wanted to release him as far away from the park as she could, and the dogs that frequented it with their owners. The trail gets more overgrown the further she walks, and soon she finds a small clearing that would be perfect. Bending down to the tall, wild grasses that grew here, she unravels the blanket and sets the young raccoon on the ground."Home, sweet home, right little guy? Now, be more careful, okay?", she says sweetly to the creature. He site there and looks at her for a moment, and there is a small sadness that pricks are her heart as she watches him turn away and wander off into the bushes, having naturally grown a little attached to him. However, Lazarus would never have let Ellie keep th4 creature anyway. It was then that she hears a loud bang, at first thinking it sounded a lot like a gun... Who would have a gun in Hyde Park? It was probably just a car backfiring or something. Sighing almost wistfully, dismissing the sound altogether, she makes her way back through the forest, the blanket now folded neatly in her arms. She is lost in thought as she walks on, but the sound of running and shouting has her pausing there in the shadows. She hides behind a tree then, not entirely sure what to expect but certainly not wanting to get caught up in something tonight. She hears rustling as a body pushes through the undergrowth, but she can't see anything... until suddenly, the sound of larger frames pushing through the trees can be heard and she sees the shadows two men racing through the trees."He's gotta be this way! Come on!", one of them shouts out, the duo disappearing into the distance with clear intentions of catching something... or someone. She lingers there behind the tree, wanting to make sure that they wouldn't be doubling back or anything, unsure of just who or what they were after and definitely not wanting to get caught up in whatever was happening here. While she herself was a dark hunter, it had been for the sake of family tradition that she'd gone through with the change at all, the honey-blonde probably one of the last beings that should have ever chosen the path that she had. Now though, with her parents gone and the family council disbanded, it meant little to nothing, though she was thankful for the magic that coursed through her veins, allowing for her to do more for those she cared about than she ever could have when she had been human. Everything happened for a reason... she just needed to find what that reason for her was.

She lingers there for a moment more, part of her telling the honey-blonde that she really should just disappear, make herself scarce, and hurry back home... It would only be a matter of time before Lazarus came home and noticed that dinner hadn't been made, and his sister nowhere to be found. She is about to push through the undergrowth when suddenly, she can hear the rustling again. Freezing nearly mid-stride, glacier blue eyes peer through the shadows and settling darkness, and that's when she can smell it. The odor was metallic on her senses, sending a sense of dread through the young woman as she recognizes the scent of blood. So that sound really had been a gun! And whatever it was that they'd been after that she couldn't see earlier, it was wounded... Then, the nearly missed sound of bones and joints clicking has her quieting her own breath. Were. She knew enough from her father and the family council to know what such a sound could mean, Tal having often described it in his lectures mostly intended for Lazarus and yet Ellie had eavesdropped from a distance. Again, she can hear movement, and this time, she does exactly what most would not have done. She moves quietly through the brush, cautious as she searches for the presence she can't help but feel. And that's when she can sees the source of the sound there a small distance away, though it is only bronzed hair that she can see just barely above the brambles."Hello?", she whispers softly. Goodness knows how the other would react, but in the same moment, she knew that someone was hurt. She couldn't just walk away... She moves closer still, and finally she can see him clearly. He looked young, perhaps a year or two younger than Ellie did. His skin is sun-kissed where hers was fair and freckled across her face, his eyes dark when hers were icy blue. She can see his hand jerking from the wound on his shoulder that bleeds freely, and she knows it was likely a silver bullet that inflicted the damage. And yet... how was he not dead?"Do you need help? I could get that out for you...", she says gently as she stands partially behind the tree in front of him. She expects rejection, but then again, it was something that had become rather â€" and unfortunately â€" familiar to the young huntress who only ever sought to make friends even in a place that seemed far less keen on such an idea. She studies the defined muscle carved into his torso, not nearly as hardened or defined as her brother who also enjoyed lounging around the house shirtless, but it's only when she noticed that he was only in boxers that she quickly looks to the ground, feeling the warmth creeping into her cheeks."Oh, I'm sorry! Um... I'm Ellie, by the way", she stammers at first, failing at hiding the embarrassment of meeting a half-naked male in the woods just before nightfall... Gods, if her brother ever found out...