A Lizard for your Thoughts? [Draco]

[Goldie]

@Draconian

Ketra was busy today. The sun was high and grinning while a nice cool breeze helped stave off the heat. Anxious folks bustled about haggling over everything from fruit to more expensive jewels that were probably all fake. No one in their right mind would keep their expensive stuff out in an open market setting where anyone worth their salt could just....slip it into their pockets.

Áine's pockets were much heavier now than they had been when she started her day. Mostly junk, she knew, but just like her unknowing suppliers she knew how to run a con.

The shop owner with the spiced nuts hadn't even looked up from his ledgers when she passed by, walking away with a warm bag and a handful already in her mouth.

No one seemed to notice her.

And who would? A young girl, no older than 16, walking through the square with a sensible basket clearly meant to carry a loving family meal back home. She had carrots, potatoes, a cut of lamb, some fresh bread and butter.

All for the low low price of free.

Her homespun dress was covered in a cream apron that had been mended a few times along with some stubborn stains that wouldn't budge after many different washes. Áine was perfectly....

Forgettable.

The fruit stand was next. It was the last stop she needed to make for her list of errands. It was her most important stop some might say.

She stared at the fruit and bit her lip.

"Ya got money, girl?" The shop keep asked her, "We don't do charity."

"Oh..." her eyes widened in innocent shock, "oh, yes sir. Yes I have some coin left. Let me just--" she fumbled with her purse strings and the few coins that remained spilled onto the ground. She quickly stooped to retrieve them when a young boy bumped into her and all of the contents of her basked spilled onto the stones.

"Oh no no no no!" She sobbed, trying desperately to pick up her items. People didn't stop moving however and her bread was trampled, her carrots broken, and even her lamb had fallen out so hard that the wrapping split and dirt crusted the meat.

Tears filled her eyes as she tried desperately to collect the items that had fallen in the hopes that something could be salvaged

She looked around and noticed her coins were gone.

"No!" She turned to the other shopper at the fruit stand, "please, sir! That boy! I think that boy took the last of my coins! Please sir. Please. Did you see him? You're so tall, you must have seen him!"

[Draconian]

Ketra was a regular jumping point. Right in the middle of everything. He'd stayed here a few times, before setting off again - a nice little calm before the storms. There was an older woman he rented a room from and had been for a good number of years. He may have lied a little bit about his scaled heritage but he wasn't a terrible person beyond that, if they worshipped dragons and he looked like a humanoid distant relative to one, maybe he was? Currently, he was out collecting groceries for the pair, he'd gotten his breads and had been browsing the fruits and vegetables. The meat was for last and he still didn't understand why humans insisted on cooking it. Yuck.

Kal was very good at minding his own business. One didn't travel the world and survive by shoving his nose where it didn't belong, so when the young girl beside him got caught for her quick sticky fingers all he did was flick his ear and keep a side-eye on it. While he was good at not sticking his nose into things, it was mostly he was good at not getting caught eavesdropping.

His ear flicked and Kal swallowed, his spine shivering at being addressed and he repressed a sigh and a grimace when he pretended to finally notice what was going on. Had he seen another kid steal her coin? His sharp eyes looked from her and followed her line of pointing and Kal's lizard brain kicked in, his tail gave one wave before flicking off to the side and he took off.

A sleek hunter, his golden eyes caught onto his quarry and no amount of zigzagging from the boy tricked Kal's eyes. It was a child though, or at least was small enough to be one, so he was careful when he finally caught up to not dig his sharp nails into the back of the kid. Then up he went and under the arm.

The smaller person struggled and kicked, screamed but Kal brought him back to the young lady who'd cried for help and frowned down at the boy, his mouth opening slightly in a threatening display of teeth. "I sure hope this is the right boy or I'm going to get flogged," Kal said, his words and then gave the boy a little shake, "give the lady her coin purse back. Quickly."

[Goldie]

Perfect.

The man ran off into the crowd and it took all of Áine's training to keep her tear streaked face from breaking into a smirk. She had been tracking Kal for weeks now, always trying to find the perfect 'in' so as not to raise suspicion.

She had mapped out every one of his moves from studying to shopping. Hell, she even knew when he took a shit.

These imposters needed to pay and she was the blade that would see it done. Her master demanded it.

Blood would be spilled.

But he needed to suffer first. He needed to think the world had abandoned him. That the Gods themselves had sentenced him to a lifetime of misery.

Kal returned with the boy in hand and Áine forced a quiet sob to escape her lips as she cradled her broken carrots. Sure enough, it was the very same child she had paid earlier to jump through the crowd and take her things.

Perfect.

The coins fell at her feet and she sobbed while picking them off the stones.

"Thank you." She bowed low and let a single tear fall to the ground, "Thank you, sir. This is all I have. My parents died after their bookshop caught fire a few weeks back," not her parents, but the fire had been real. After all, she had set it. And made sure the doors and windows had be boarded up.

"This is all I have left."

[Draconian]

"You should keep a better eye in it," Kal chided, giving his head a shake and putting the boy down gently. He kneeled and pat the kids pockets before sighing and shooing the boy off. He chewed on his lower lip, ears turned down in an expressive way he'd never managed to hide.

"Look, Kid," Kal helped with the remainder of the fruits and veggies, dusting them off  and picking a pebble out of something else. "I'm sorry you have it rough," she mentioned her parents dying and he could assume, their means of income also going down with that.

"Do you have somewhere to stay? Or a place to wash off your food?" Kal wanted to be comforting, but smiling only showed off his sharp teeth. Instead, he did his best to look disarming and approachable, which was difficult when he was absolutely massive.

"I rent a room not far from here, I can pay your room and board for a few days and you can get your feet under you, hmm?" Kal gave a small close mouthed smile and tilted his head, the end of his tail gave a tick-tock and his ears perked up. Then he stood up and held out a hand, "I can help you carry your things, if you'd like."

[Goldie]

Áine sniffled wetly and rubbed her sleeve across her face which was red and puffy.

"No....I don't....don't have any place. But I couldn't ask you to help me more than you already have." She picked up her bundle of broken carrots and hastily tried to brush the mud and Gods knows what else was now caked to them. Her bundle of meat had a clear footprint on the broken packaging.

"I'll be fine....they're not too bad. I shouldn't need to wash them...." she looked at him as if suddenly seeing him for the first time and her eyes widened.

"Are.....are you a.....dragon" she whispered in awe.

[Draconian]

Kal made a face when the girl claimed to not need to wash them and he blinked while he processed. "I..." the question caught him off guard and he stood up quickly to his full height, his tail going still behind him.

Was he a dragon?

"I..." Kal sighed and crouched back down, offering a hand out and trying his best to appear less intimidating. "I'm not sure," a nice vague answerbecause he didn't actuallyknow, "I am called a Kulshedra, we're kind of dragon-ie I guess."

He wiggled his fingers at the girl, "please. I insist. Once you rinse it in water your food will be fine, it grows in the dirt anyway so a little mud and some breaks won't be the end of it." He eyed the meat and decided that would probably be fine with a bit of a bath, too.

[Goldie]

Áine's eyes grew wide in wonder and a soft "wow" escaped her lips as if she had never encountered something like him before.

It was almost too easy. At least after all of the planning that had taken weeks, no, months really. People around Ketra knew her face, they knew she was that poor child of the booksellers who was now all on her own. If Kal looked into her, everyone he spoke with would shake their heads sadly and say something like "oh that's poor little Emilae. We do what we can, but it's only a matter of time before she ends up on the streets, or worse." The whispers were already spreading that she would soon need to turn to....unsavory means of survival.

"Ok." She agreed, reluctantly, "If you're sure." And then, much like a child, she was back to the more interesting part of their conversation, "Mama used to say people with dragon blood were basically Gods. That sometimes they like to look human and trick us to see if we're just pretending to be good people or if we really are good. Can you transform, too? Kulshedra." She tried the name out, "we're...? There are more dragons like you?!"

[Draconian]

The curiosity made his ears perk and he blinked at the girl while they walked. He gently took her veggies from her to hold them before taking a moment to place them in his shoulder bag with his own things. Then, his interactions with children infrequent, he mimicked what he'd seen parents do when their child was distressed. Kal reached out a hand for her to take so he could lead her to his home away from home.

"There are a number of us, usually we keep to our tribes out in the wilderness, worshipping the Fire." A small shrug, eyes forward, "I'm no God though. I'm as mortal as any man, though perhaps I'll live a little longer if I'm not foolhardy." Kal smiled and saw the building getting larger as they got closer, "Don't worry about the landlady. I'll pay for your stay, I have to leave in a day or two, but I can cover you for a little bit. Maybe she has work for you to do, too!" Kal smiled and nodded to the eyes looking at him through the window.

[Goldie]

Áine smiled inwardly but kept her face a mask of awe and delight. When he offered his hand, she took it without question.

Just touching his skin made her skin crawl and her stomach churn. He was an abomination, pure and simple. And her kind worked to rid the world of imposters such as him.

Not a God indeed. He might claim it with his words, but the smugness with which he spoke said otherwise. He thought he was so good, so righteous. No. She would make him beg for death before the end. That condescending smile would turn to grief. To pain.

But for now, she walked with him.

It wouldn't be long now before the real work began.

"What kind of work?" She asked quietly, lacing her words with uncertainty and fear as if she assumed the work he suggested would be completed on her back. "I don't....I won't do that kind of...." she fell silent and let childlike hand tremble.

[Draconian]

Kal's eyes opened wider than he thought possible and he gave her hand a little squeeze, terrified on her behalf.

"Sweeping? Perhaps cleaning rooms?" He didn't really want to broach the subject of this young person being a ... courtesan but... Kal frowned deeply while they walked, concerned. "Can you cook? Maybe she'd hire you to cook for her." He wanted to let go of her hand a little, feeling uncomfortable but... She was a child. She should be protected.

"I think you said it before," his voice was soft as they walked, "But I missed it, what was your name again? Mine is," He paused before frowning gently, "Kal."

[Goldie]

Áine looked up at him in awe, but her gut was twisting within her and she felt like she would be sick while holding the hand of such an abomination and then hearing him speak as if he would try to protect her. [i[Ha![/i] What a joke. He couldn't even protect himself. If he could, he wouldn't be holding her hand and looking for work.

She couldn't fail. Failure would mean punishment. Failure would mean crawling back to The People and explaining how she had used so much time and gold on this one mark...she didn't want to think about it. She needed to complete this job. She needed to prove herself.

And he needed to suffer.

Yes.

"Emilae." She responded meekly, stepping a little closer to him as if his mere existence would protect her from the world.

Then she twisted her face as if she were remembering an old conversation before glancing up at him, "Are there a lot of you? Of people like you?"