Liv Blake quickly dropped down behind a heap of garbage. Her clear green eyes peered worriedly from underneath a thatch of dusty blonde hair, searching for the two inspectors that chased her into his smelly alley. Had they seen her duck down this way? Not hearing anything, she dared to raise her head a little to listen intently for any sound of approaching footsteps. Her breathing came in shallow pants from running, and she tried to quiet it, forcing herself to breathe deeply and silently. She stayed that way for a few minutes more, then taking a last look around to assure herself she had definitely not been tracked, she slowly stood up, stretching out her cramped and aching muscles.

Girl, you are getting careless, she thought to herself. It was sheer luck for you those coppers who tried to chase you obviously had good cooks for wives. But----

Liv pulled out the purse she had stuffed into her pocket, opened it and smiled widely at the shining silver coins inside.

----at least it paid off. Although, she thought, it had been a relatively easy job until that point. Walking up, brushing against the man long enough to take his purse, then walking away. Simple. You’ve done it a hundred times before. This man just happened to check on his precious pocket-change a little sooner than expected, that’s all.

Liv grimaced at the memory of the police chase. Fat cops or not, it had been touch-and-go there for a while.

"Damn inspector would just have to be walking by at that moment," she muttered under her breath.

Liv sifted through the coins in the purse once more, absentminded pushing her tawny hair out of her eyes. There seemed to be enough there to keep her from starving for a while if she was careful with it. Stealing food was successful sporadically at best, and this money would help out for when she couldn’t get anything.

Liv took a step forward and winced in pain. She lifted up her right foot to examine the nasty cut that now graced the underside of it. New shoes, she thought with a sigh. Definitely needed some new shoes, too.

Liv stuffed the purse back into her pocket. A growl from her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything for the past couple of days or so. There didn’t seem to be any vendors selling food out yet --- Liv could just start to see the pale light of dawn tinge the sky. She cast a quick, assessing look around. The only door she saw in this tiny alley didn’t seem to have any handle or knob, and it’s only distinguishing feature was some sort of black flower painted on it.

Oh well, she thought resignedly. I might as well try the begging approach. Liv didn’t like asking for help, her mother had always taught her how to take care of herself, that is, before her mother left. But, if begging meant getting some food in her.....

Liv walked resolutely to the door and knocked loudly. Too late she realized whoever lived here probably was asleep, and wouldn’t think kindly on a dirty teenager waking them. Best to leave before they even came to the door. She was just stepping off the ledge to get away from the door when it opened just enough to reveal a sharply pointed face and beady brown eyes.

I guess they weren’t sleeping, Liv thought with surprise.