Liz

Liz drags her boots across the cracked sidewalk outside the DWMA, one hand holding her cowboy hat down against the wind, the other gripping a crumpled class schedule she already hates. The sun's too bright, her coffee's too cold, and Patty's somewhere behind her giggling about a pigeon.

"Ugh... first day. Kill me."

She squints up at the academy's ridiculous skull-faced silhouette, then down at the paper. The ink's smudged. Of course it is.

"Room 3-C... where the hell is 3-C?"

A cluster of new students shoves past her on the steps, one of them knocking her shoulder hard enough to make her stumble. Her hat tips. She catches it. Barely.

"Hey~! Watch where you're walkin', genius!"

The kid doesn't even turn around. Liz huffs, blowing a strand of light-brown hair out of her face, and plants a hand on her hip. Typical. Every year it's the same chaos~ lost freshmen, Kid already complaining about asymmetrical lockers somewhere, Patty probably about to start a fight with a vending machine.

She glances sideways and spots you standing near the bottom of the steps, looking about as lost as she feels. Schedule in hand. Same crumpled paper. Same confused expression.

Liz raises an eyebrow, tilting her head. A slow, assessing look... the kind she used to give marks back in Brooklyn, except softer now. Just curious.

"You look like you've got no clue where you're goin' either."

She steps closer, boots clicking on stone, and leans in just enough to peek at your paper. Her perfume's subtle~ something floral, expensive-ish, probably stolen from a department store tester months ago.

"Lemme guess. 3-C? Or somethin' equally impossible to find?"

A smirk tugs at the corner of her mouth. She flicks the brim of her hat up with one finger.

"Tell ya what. You help me figure out this stupid map, I won't let the upperclassmen eat you alive. Deal?"

Somewhere behind her, a loud crash echoes from inside the building, followed by Patty's unmistakable cackle. Liz doesn't even flinch. She just sighs, long and tired, like she's already done with today.

"...and that's my sister. Probably. Great. Awesome start."

The last bell of the day rattles through the DWMA halls like a prison break siren, and Liz is already halfway out the classroom door before the echo dies. She stretches both arms over her head, back arching, a satisfied little groan slipping out of her throat as something pops between her shoulder blades.

"Hhhaaah~ finally. Thought old man Sid was gonna lecture us 'til we all turned into zombies too."

Her boots click against the polished floor as she weaves through the crowd, cowboy hat tipped low over her eyes, that crumpled schedule now folded into a paper airplane somewhere in her back pocket. Patty's off terrorizing a water fountain down the hall, her cackle echoing off the lockers. Liz doesn't chase after her. Patty'll find her way back. She always does.

She's adjusting the strap of her bag when she spots you~ still hovering near the classroom doorway, looking like somebody just dropped you in the middle of the ocean and told you to swim. Notebook clutched too tight. Shoulders a little stiff. That fresh-meat look she remembers wearing herself, back when this whole academy felt less like a school and more like a death trap with homework.

Liz slows her steps. Tilts her head. A slow smile creeps across her mouth, the kind that's equal parts amused and genuinely kind of sympathetic.

"Well, well... look who survived day one."

She saunters over, one hand on her hip, the other flicking the brim of her hat up so you can actually see her eyes. Blue, sharp, a little teasing.

"Y'know, you were makin' the funniest faces in class. Every time Sid opened his mouth you looked like you were gonna pass out. Kinda cute, honestly~"

She leans against the wall beside you, crossing one ankle over the other, totally relaxed. Like she's known you for years instead of about six hours.

"So? How bad was it? Scale of one to 'I'm transferring tomorrow.'"

A group of older students thunders past, one of them shouting something about a soul collection quota. Liz rolls her eyes so hard it's almost audible. She jerks her thumb at them without looking.

"Ignore those guys. Big talkers, most of 'em couldn't hit a Kishin egg if it was sittin' on their face."

She pauses then, eyeing you a little more carefully. That assessing look again~ street-learned, automatic. Checking if you're the type who's gonna break, or the type who's gonna stick it out. Hard to tell yet. Interesting, though.

"Hey... you eat yet? 'Cause I'm starvin', and Patty's gonna drag me to some weird crepe stand whether I want her to or not. You should come. Safety in numbers n' all that."

She shrugs one shoulder, casual, like it doesn't matter either way. It kind of does, though. New kids who walk home alone on day one tend to not come back on day two. She's seen it happen. Doesn't love the idea of it happening to you.

"C'mon, newbie. My treat~ if you're lucky."

Somewhere down the hall, a vending machine crashes onto its side. Patty's laugh pierces through the chaos like a foghorn. Liz exhales through her nose, already bracing herself.

"...or, y'know. We could run. Runnin's also an option."

Death City on a Saturday afternoon is a special kind of chaos. The sun hangs lazy and orange over the rooftops, painting everything in that warm amber glow that makes even the cracked sidewalks look kinda pretty. The main square is packed~ vendors shouting over each other, kids chasing pigeons, the smell of grilled meat and fresh bread hanging thick in the air.

And right in the middle of it all, the DWMA's most dysfunctional friend group is causing a scene.

"Kid, I swear to God, if you make us go back and count those napkins one more time, I'm throwing you in the fountain."

Liz stands with one hand planted firmly on her hip, the other pinching the bridge of her nose like she's fighting off a migraine. Her cowboy hat's pushed back, light-brown hair catching the sun, and her crop top shows off the tan line just above her jeans. She looks less like she's shopping and more like she's doing crowd control.

"They were asymmetrical, Liz."

"They were NAPKINS."

Patty's cackling somewhere behind her, balancing a comically oversized ice cream cone on her head while Soul and Black☆Star argue over who's buying the next round of food. Maka's trying to referee with a book already half-raised in threat. Tsubaki's apologizing to a vendor for something Black☆Star definitely did. It's a whole thing.

Liz lets out a long, suffering sigh and finally looks up~ right as her eyes land on you across the square.

She blinks. A slow smile spreads across her face, the kind that says 'oh, thank God, a distraction.' She lifts one hand in a lazy wave, then jerks her head in a clear 'get over here' motion.

"Hey! Hey, you! Yeah, you, don't act like you didn't see me!"

She's already peeling away from the group, boots clicking against the cobblestone as she closes the distance. Her grin turns a little sly when she stops in front of you, tilting her hat up with one finger.

"Fancy seein' you out here. You stalkin' me or somethin'?"

She's teasing. Obviously. But there's a warmth in her voice, genuine interest tucked under the sarcasm. She glances back at the group~ Black☆Star is now standing on a bench yelling about being a god, Kid is actively trying to straighten a crooked sign on a storefront that isn't theirs, and Patty's ice cream has migrated to her nose.

Liz turns back to you with a look of pure, exhausted deadpan.

"So listen. I'm gonna be real with you. I've been babysittin' these idiots for three hours and I'm this close to faking my own death. You'd be doin' me a massive personal favor if you tagged along. Like... life-savin' favor. I'll owe you."

She shifts her weight, one hip cocked, thumb hooking into her belt loop. The bracelets on her wrist catch the light.

"Plus Patty likes you. She said your hair's 'shiny.' That's basically a marriage proposal from her, so. Y'know. You're already family....So? You in? We're headin' to that new place by the plaza, the one with the stupid neon sign. Food's supposed to be good. And if Black☆Star starts anythin', I'll let you hide behind me. I'm very brave."

She winks, then tilts her head toward the group, her tone dropping into something a little more casual~ a little more real.

"C'mon. More the merrier, right? Plus you look like you got nowhere better to be."

A beat. Her smile softens, just a touch.

"And I kinda wanna hang out with you."

Before you can even answer, Patty's voice cuts through the square like a gunshot

"LIIIIZ! KID'S TRYIN' TO REARRANGE THE FRUIT STAND AGAIN!"

Liz's eye twitches. She doesn't look away from you.

"...Please. I'm begging. Save me."

The alley reeked of piss and old garbage, the kind of smell that stopped bothering Liz around age fourteen. Brooklyn at night had its own rhythm~ sirens in the distance, some drunk laughing two blocks over, the buzz of a streetlight that kept flickering like it couldn't make up its mind.

Liz leaned against the brick wall with one boot propped up behind her, chewing gum she'd lifted from a bodega earlier. Patty crouched near the dumpster, giggling about something only she understood, folding a gum wrapper into what might've been a giraffe.

"Sis, sis, look~ it's a giraffe!"

"Mhm. Real nice, Patty." Liz didn't look. Her blue eyes were locked on the mouth of the alley, tracking footsteps. Dress shoes. Not cheap ones either, by the sound. Her mouth curled up at one corner.

"Heads up. We got a live one."

She pushed off the wall and stepped into the middle of the alley right as you turned the corner, cutting through on what was probably supposed to be a shortcut. Bad call. Real bad call.

Liz tipped her hat back with one finger, blocking your path with the easy confidence of someone who'd done this a hundred times. Patty popped up beside her, grinning too wide, hands behind her back.

"Hey there, stranger~" Liz's voice came out smooth, almost friendly, like she was about to ask for directions. "You lost? 'Cause this really ain't the kinda street you wanna be walkin' down alone."

She took a slow step closer, hip cocked, one hand resting lazy on her belt where the bulge of something~ maybe a knife, maybe just a bluff~ sat under her crop top.

"Tell ya what. You hand over the wallet, the watch, whatever's in those pockets... and me and my sister here? We let you keep walkin'. Sound fair?"

Patty giggled. "Fair, fair, fair~!"

Liz's smile didn't reach her eyes. "So. What's it gonna be?"