Ketra was the normal hustle and bustle it's known for. For Inigo, it was just another day. The boy dug in his pockets and counted out what few coins he had. He didn't even have enough to afford a simple room or meal for the day. At this point, Inigo had no choice but to start begging. He walked over to a woman first. "Excuse me ma'am," he said while outreaching a hand "Could you please spare a few coins to help a hungry boy? Even a single coin would help me." The woman simply ignored him and walked away. Inigo tried the same thing with a man. "Pardon me sir, do you have any spare coins? I'm very hungry and need only a few more to afford a meal." he begged once more. The man only chuckled and walked away from Inigo.
It was at this point, Inigo had run out of luck and had to resort to the lowly art of thievery. He put both his hands into his pockets as the boy slowly started the walk down the street. The next person he bumped into he froze up as he started apologizing almost immediately "Sorry, sorry! I need to watch where I'm going!" before suddenly running off. What the man would soon notice is the fact that he's be relieved of some of his coins. When Inigo had bumped into him, he simply reached his arms backed and grabbed a small handful of coins.
By now, Inigo was already running. He didn't know if the man planned on pursuing, but he just wanted to get lost in the crowd. There weren't many great hiding spots, and it also didn't help that Inigo stuck out like a sore thumb. He was the only person in the crowd that looked so dirty with his torn up clothes and lack of shoes. Hopefully, Inigo could finally get a warm meal that he didn't have to fight for.
"Hey! Stop, thief!"
Verik had to bite back a sigh, munching a bite of the apple he'd just bought. He was a soldier, a keeper of the peace- and he was so damn conspicuous with the massive dragon by his side, he would have ducked his head and tried to slip away as the man who'd just been pickpocketed set up a ruckus.
"Sir, that boy, he-"
"Yes, yes." Verik waved the man off and patted Bane's shoulder. "You're up, old boy."
The dragon snorted and snaked his head forward into the crowd to clamp his jaws delicately on the back of the boy's shirt. Another sigh and Verik moved forward, waving people out of the way and muttered, "Make room, make room, official business."
Gods, didn't he have anything better to do?
He gave the kid a quick once over, then held a hand out. "Alright, lad, hand it over."
Inigo thought he had gotten off scott-free until he felt something clamp down on his shirt. When he looked back he saw a dragon directly in his face. The boy gulped as he saw the man approach. When he held out his hand and asked Inigo for his money back. "Up yours." Inigo retorted as he slapped the man's hand away. That's when Inigo looked at the dragon and seemingly stared at a random area where there seemed to be no one. "Samson, some help?" he asked in an almost worried tone. He was more so worried that the dragon would snap his head clean off than the man he just insulted. In a matter of moments, the dragon that was holding Inigo suddenly snapped in a attentive manner. He released Inigo, who instantly run off, before turning to face the man that chased after Inigo. A snarl arose from the dragon as he paced forward before suddenly swinging his mighty tail at the man. Regardless of it whether or not it hit, the dragon seemed to snap out of it as Samson followed closely behind the boy, of course this couldn't exactly be seen.
Inigo ran and ran, he was not about to be caught...not now! Samson was ready to create a diversion in whatever way he needed to ensure that the boy wasn't harmed. Him and this young man had bonded for such a long time, it'd be criminal if he didn't help him in his time of need.
Alright. Now it was personal.
Verik had no idea what had just happened, but no one screwed with his partner like that.
Normally a pickpoket was well below his notice- he'd done what he could, the man should report the incident to one of the street guards. But there was no way he'd let this slide.
"Bane." He gripped the dragon's muzzle gently as the creature crooned at him apologetically, looking confused and angry. "Hang back, alright? Head to the barracks."
Reluctantly, Bane nodded, taking to the air with a bond as Verik set off after the kid.
Inigo continued to sprint until he managed to find a place to hide in a alleyway. He ducked behind some wooden barrels that gave off a rancid smell, but it didn't bother Inigo. Samson kept watch and could already see the man sprinting after Inigo. If he dared to get any closer Samson would take action.
No one was going to hurt this poor child. He was merely trying to afford a meal. He look at another barrel and was ready to launch it at the man like a projectile.
Verik was well trained. He saw the kid dart into the alley and paused, taking stock of the situation.
The boy obviously had some sort of magical ability, strong enough to affect a dragon. He should proceed with caution.
"Oi. Kid." He approached slowly, warily. "Look, you gotta come out. If you just give me the money you stole, I'll make sure the guy doesn't seek further retribution, alright?"
Technically, the boy's victim could demand the kid's hand be cut off- but that had never sat well with Verik, not with the little urchins who most often fell prey to the law.
Samson watched closely as the man approached and told Inigo about his options. Inigo carefully peeked his head out.
"Or, I can just run away. He's not the first or the last person to want me dead." he responded as he stood up now. Inigo watched the man very closely. Any sudden movements and Samson would take him out, easy as that.
He sighed. "No one wants you dead, kid," he rumbled. "You're a petty thief. Just hand over the coins, alright."
He looked the boy up and down with a frown. "And while you're at it, tell me what you did to my partner back there."
"And if I don't?" asked Inigo as leaned up against a wall. It seemed like Inigo was basically pinned at this point with nowhere to go. At the same time however, a smile fell onto his face. He seemed to almost laugh as the man tried to order him around. Just like the people at the orphanage, and look what happened over there. This man didn't scare Inigo in the slightest, he was more scared of the dragon than anything but Samson could take care of that thing.
Yet another sigh and he rolled his eyes. "Look." He huffed and hunkered down to be closer to the young man's level, eyeing him up and down. "I don't wanna fight ya here, kid."
His mouth tightened a bit at the edges as he looked him over. "You're hungry, right? That's why you took the money?" It was all too easy to remember how close he and Ilia had come to being just like this boy after their parents' deaths, and he couldn't help feeling a twinge of empathy, despite what had happened to Bane.
Inigo watched very closely as the man stepped forward. He didn't seem to be threatening Inigo, so Samson settled down a bit as well. When he asked if Inigo was hungry, almost on cue, his stomach growled as his expression changed from a smirk to a look of depression. He put a hand over of his stomach and finally responded "Yes," he said while trying to avoid the man's gaze "I only took a few coins...enough to finish paying for a meal. I had most of the money already from begging, but I still needed a little more...so I-I did what I had to."
Inigo then suddenly went silent as he looked up at the man with tears welling up in his eyes. "I n-never thought I'd have to do this. But, here I am. It's not like I do it for fun, I have to if I want keep myself from starving in an alley like this one. There are times where even stealing can't get me food and I have to eat stale bread I found in the trash."
Verik rubbed at his chin, closing his eyes with a huff. "Aw, kid, don't sell me the sob story," he muttered, frowning. "I know what it's like. You're too old for a foundling home, huh?"
He looked him over again and let out a sharp breath. "Alright. If you gimme that coin, what say I come back here with something for you to eat, huh? Oh."
He reached into his vest and pulled out the apple he'd bought earlier, then tossed it in the kid's direction. "I know it's not much, but it's all I've got on me. Call it a good faith payment."
Inigo simply nodded as Verik asked if he was too old to be put in a foundling home. When he asked once again for the coin Inigo reached into his pocket and took out what few coins he had. Barely enough to eat with what he stole. He handed it back and put the rest in his pocket. When an apple came his way Inigo caught it and instantly began to eat it. It didn't take a genius to tell that the poor boy was starving. The truth was, Inigo hadn't really eaten in a while. The last time he actually ate was most likely the day before yesterday.
Verik stared at him for a moment, then stood with a huff. "Just...stay here, alright?" he muttered. "I'll be back with more food.
And he still had some questions.
Inigo continued to eat the apple as Verik told him to stay in the alleyway. Only stopping to nod as he finished up what was left of the apple. He tossed the core and waited patiently for Verik to return. This day seemed to be shaping up.
A while later, Verik made his way back to the alley where he'd left the young thief, having returned the money and reported that the kid had managed to give him the slip after throwing the coin as a distraction.
"Hey, lad. You still here?"
Inigo laid with his back to the wall, waiting and waiting. Eventually he heard a familiar voice call out to him. For a minute, Inigo thought the man returned the money and left. He stood up and looked at the man. "Yeah, I'm still here. I took you long enough, did you take the damn scenic route?" he said in a bit of an irritated tone but didn't seem to be shooting him the ice cold look he had earlier.
The soldier arched an eyebrow at him. "Y'know, if you're gonna take that attitude, maybe I'll just take this back to the nice baker down the way," he said pointedly, lifting a little paper bag that was still steaming gently and smelled strongly of meat pies.
Inigo stared at the bag and licked his lips. He sighed as he quickly muttered,"I'm sorry." before he started to reach for the bag already. Normally, he'd just have Samson swipe the food for him but he didn't want to risk the bag ripping.
"Hmph." Verik handed the bag over and leaned against the wall. "Now. Why don't you tell me how exactly you were able to force my partner to attack me?"
Inigo took the bag and quickly opened it before going to town on the meat pies. They were so good, it had been such a long time since Inigo had actually treated himself. That made the pies all the better.
"Wasn't me...that was Samson." Inigo said in response to Verik's question. But before Verik could continue to press on, Inigo held out a hand to shut him up before taking another bite out of his pies before continuing, "You can't see him, but I can. He's a spirit, he only wanted to protect me. That's all he wants is to make sure I get through. He hates it when I steal, but will always defend me if someone tries to hurt me. The dragon was a threat, so Samson possessed him. I can see spirits. Right now I can see Samson and I can see your spirit. If I focused a bit more, I'd be able to see much more."
Well.
That was a lot of information at once.
For some reason, all Verik could think to say was, "Bane wasn't a threat- we're peacekeepers, we don't hurt kids."
"Oui, if you saw a dragon holding someone you care about by the shirt as a man of your stature isn't too far behind you'd probably be as worried as Samson was. He acts on impulse and it didn't really help that I spurred him on." Inigo said in response to Verik's statement. He then looked down slightly, wanting to avoid direct eye contact.
Eventually, Inigo looked up at the man and finally said,"Thanks...for the pies." It really was an act of kindness he would not forget very soon. It was nice to see that there were still people out there who actually gave a damn about kids like Inigo.
"Yeah. No problem." Verik was still eyeing him thoughtfully. Eventually, he muttered, "Look, what do you say to comin' with me down to the barracks, huh? You're not too old to enlist quite yet- three meals a day and a place to sleep. Could be worse."
Inigo sighed and shook his head. "I don't know," he responded "I kinda like being able to travel around. I've met so many people and seen so many things." Inigo honestly had no idea whether or not he should accept the offer and go with the man. Samson said nothing but knew that hopefully the boy would make the right choice.
"Alright." Verik nodded. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Ask for Corporal Ares."
He turned to leave, then added over his shoulder, "Or...you could go to the house with the blue door that sits in that string leading down the street to the barracks. Say Verik sent you."