[h1]Ward 5[/h1]

[h2]Elizabeth[/h2]

It was a sunny and enjoyable morning in the 5th ward, and if one was to have a moment of blissful ignorance, everything seemed thoroughly peaceful. Elizabeth had passed over here from the 17th as part of her morning routine for weeks now. It was a bit of a ritual to her, at this point. She would get up early in the morning, get herself something resembling a drink and wander over to a small shrine in the 5th to watch the sun rise. Or rather, the remnants of a shrine, as it lost its keepers before her time here, and since then slowly sank into the overgrowing maw of oblivion. It was an odd sight - a ghoul in worn-out, oversized rags sitting in a tiny, forgotten and overgrown temple, admiring something that trivial while sipping coke. 

[i]There was not much "normal" about Liz - for instance, she was probably the only ghoul in the world who didn't like the taste of coffee. It didn't taste like -dirt- to her, but the taste still wasn't to her liking, so she actually preferred the murky-rainwater-flavor of just about anything else.[/i]

The girl didn't really have her day planned out, ever. She would go and steal or buy some food at some point of the day - after all, she had a 'family' to feed - but other than that, she had no obligations. She was alone in the rat's nest currently, and the area had been rather quiet over the last few days. She'd  have to hunt soon, but that had no hurry. After sitting on a stone bench and enjoying the relative isolation from the usual traffic noise for the better half of an hour, Liz stood up and stretched her arms. She threw her empty cup at an overflowing trashcan, where it simply bounced off and tumbled to the ground. "[color=f7976a]We should probably clean this place up someday. Might score us some positive karma.[/color]" she said to no one in particular. But the attentive observer would notice a living bulge in her clothing move from the girl's stomach area into one of the oversized arms of her jacket and poke a whiskered snout out of its sleeve. "[color=f7976a]You heard me. I said '[i]we[/i]'[/color]." The snout disappeared and the living bulge wandered back to her torso to disappear there. She made a hybrid sigh-grunt noise and turned her back on the place, getting back down the small stone stairs, through a forgotten back alley, back onto the street.

To her great surprise, somebody saw her climbing over the waist-high barrier fencing off the temple area. And that someone bothered approaching her. What an impractical thing to happen. Two unfamiliar faces approached her. A tall man in what seemed to be a business suit, with a three-day stubble and warm, brown eyes. He was flanked by a less happy looking woman, who was equally overdressed. As they were closing in, it dawned on Liz that she seemed pretty annoyed, probably embarassed over being dragged into a conversation with some homeless girl, judging from her fiery gaze at the stubble face. 

"[color=c4df9b]I'm sorry miss, but I couldn't help noticing that you climbed over the fencing here. There is probably a good reason for the barrier being here, may I ask what you were doing back there?[/color]" The man's voice was friendly overall, as was his expression. He didn't come across as mad, rather interested and law-abiding to her. The woman, not so much. She glared back and forth between the two people in front of her and looked like she'd start giving a sermon every moment, to either her partner or Elizabeth, maybe both. So Liz hurried her answer out.

"[color=f7976a]I...yeah, I'm sorry that's true. The area behind here is a bit 'unsafe', the old temple isn't in the best shape and there's roots and stuff everywhere.[/color]" She assumed the two weren't from this area, seeing how the man didn't seem to be aware of what was back there. "[color=f7976a]I know it's not exactly [i]accessible[/i], but from up there you get a real nice look at the sunrise and... I was gonna clean up the place a bit. You know, paying my respects and all. That's not a bad thing, is it?[/color]" 

The friendly expression of the man turned into a genuine smile. "[color=c4df9b]A temple, huh? I didn't know we had one around here.[/color]" 

"[color=f7976a]Not a lot of people do, evidently, it's in a pretty awful state.[/color]" She added quickly, not giving the woman much time to throw in angry comments. But she pried her way in anyway.

"[color=ed1c24]How about if we check that, hm? See what's going on for ourselves?[/color]" Her point was directed at the man, but it carried several messages for Liz too. Obviously the woman didn't enjoy their little talk as much as the man did. And obviously, she didn't believe much of it, either.

"[color=c4df9b]Yeah, why not. I've seen a temple in a long time. Have a nice day, miss.[/color]" He didn't share her suspicions, evidently.

While the fiery woman was putting together an upset answer, Elizabeth smiled her brightest and replied "[color=f7976a]And you too. Be careful with the stairs, some of those are a bit brittle. Your ankles will be grateful if you stick to the left side.[/color]" She implied a bow and wandered away from the two before the woman could put handcuffs on her for ignoring certain furious implications.

"[color=ed1c24]We can't... you let her go? We don't even know what she [i]did [/i]up there! Have you seen how [i]happy [/i]she was? Don't tell me that's normal for a hob-[/color]", Liz could hear her wind up like a harpy.

"[color=c4df9b]Reiji, [i]calm down[/i]. Not being depressed is not a crime and there's not exactly a giant 'Off Limits' sign here either...[/color]" She heard him laugh the woman's anger off, then they were out of eavesdropping range.

The cogs in her head were spinning really fast. Business suits, out on the street, speaking up to homeless people and investigating in back alleys? Overdressed for a cop, but doing cops work? Teams of two? She didn't see briefcases on either of them, but everything else -did- point in a very specific direction. But except for her heart beating a tad bit faster, Liz was quite able to handle herself in situations like that. All they'd find up there was overgrowth, the old temple and a lot of trash, so really, she had nothing to be afraid of. Still, it happened dangerously close to her 'nest', and she'd hate having to resettle. At any rate, she made a mental note not to hunt in the 5th for a week or two, before returning to her schedule. Which involved wandering semi-aimlessly.