“So, what do you think? Want to get arrested?” Yellow-Eyes asked Dodger as they were eating a fine breakfast in their room.
Yellow-Eyes had left early in the morning to pick up the money Veronica had left. Dodger was beginning to understand more about him as well as the secrecy necessary. She didn’t ask to come along or where the drop-off point was. It was something she didn’t need to know.
“Of course! What do you have in mind?”
“Just some petty thievery. Steal something from a shop or something. You have to do it in a way that looks like you are trying not to get caught, but you have to be sure you get caught too. Think you can pull that off?”
“Oh sure! They’re not going to cut my hands off or anything though, right?”
“No no. That’s the Thieves Guild. But even they won’t mess with a rookie who gets caught her first time.”
“What about you?”
“Leave that to me. By the way, I’m your father in this situation. No need for a name though. You’d just call me ‘dad’.”
“And me? What will you call me?” Dodger asked, getting excited about the role-playing now.
“Runt.”
“RUNT?”
“Come on. Let’s go find me some pants first,” he said, getting up from the small table and stretching his legs. “Don’t leave anything important here. We won’t be back till tomorrow.”
The two left the inn and Yellow-Eyes led her to a rather seedy area just outside the walls, but he knew just where he was going and they soon were looking over clothes in a large used clothing shop. The shopkeeper pointed them to a corner where Argonian clothes were kept. In no time Yellow-Eyes was properly dressed in a decent pair of trousers and a loose-fitting shirt. While clearly not new, the holes weren’t too noticeable and they were surprisingly clean, given the source.
“And now, it’s time to break the law,” Yellow-Eyes said quietly, nodding towards a small fruit stand after they’d returned to the city. “There’s a city guard just down the street. Should be perfect.”
Dodger swallowed hard. This was the real deal, and she knew she was going to get caught too. She was about to go to prison for the first time in her life. She looked back at Yellow-Eyes, hesitation in her every feature.
“It’s okay Dodger. If you don’t want to do it, no problem. I can go in without you. But they’re pretty tough on adults. No so much on teens or parents. I’m using you, and you should know it.”
Dodger thought about that. He was using her. He was honest, but he was using her innocence and naivete to get himself into the Imperial prison with the least chance of being roughed up by potentially aggressive city guards.
“Clever, but it still sends me to prison,” she thought.
Yellow-Eyes may not be a bad person, and he seemed inordinately honest with her, but he wasn’t above using her for his own ends either. She would have to keep that in mind.
She drew a deep breath, and headed to the fruit stand. Yellow-Eyes stayed some distance off, apparently browsing a nearby shop’s wares. Dodger grabbed an orange and stuffed it down her pants and awaited the alarms.
Nothing happened. She looked at the shopkeeper. He was looking right at her!
She grabbed another and down it went.
Nothing. He was smiling at her!
She reached for another when finally he spoke.
“Okay, that’s enough Miss. No more freebies,” he said kindly but with increasing sternness.
She grabbed another and stared back at him defiantly. Her pants had some very odd looking lumps in them now.
“Now stop it or I’ll call the guard. You can’t just steal from me, you know! I pay the Guild!”
Now her stare turned into a smile as she grabbed another and held it over the waistband of her pants, daring him to do something. Finally, he broke.
“GUARD! GUARD!” he yelled, his face turning red. For good measure, Dodger grabbed the last orange and pulled open her waistband in the back, preparing to drop it down her butt.
A strong hand caught her, “Here here, what’s going on?” said a gruff voice. The iron grip told her all she needed to know.
“This lizard girl was stealing my oranges! Right in front of me!”
“RUNT!” came a familiar voice. “What trouble have you gotten into this time?”
Yellow-Eyes came walking briskly over to her, his attitude completely that of a long-suffering father for his wayward teen.
She spun around to face the guard who had taken the doomed orange before it was lost to edibility forever.
“She’s got 5 more stuffed in her pants, Sir!” the shopkeeper said, his rage calming.
“Oh no,” Yellow-Eyes said, shaking his head. “Not again. Runt, give them back.”
She reached down her pants and pulled one out, then stuffed it back under her tail.
“Officer! DO SOMETHING!”
Dodger sat down. Hard. The smell of orange juice was obvious.
“Do you want to press charges, Ed?” the guard said to the shopkeeper.
“One moment, officer. Can I speak to you in private a moment?” Yellow-Eyes said conspiratorially to the guard.
Dodger sat with a big smile on her face as her ‘Father’ took the guard aside and they talked quietly. They spoke for some time before she saw the guard nod and they turned back.
“That’s it, Miss. You’re going to the Imperial prison. Your father tells me you’ve done this before. Well, it’s time you learned your lesson. Maybe a night in prison will straighten you up!”
Meanwhile, Yellow-Eyes was handing some coins to the vendor. “Serves you right, you little thief!” the shopkeeper said as she was led away, an orange stain growing on her backside.
She couldn’t help giggling.
Two hours later as they were being led through the prison gates, she had decided that the feel of squished orange pulp all over her tail and bottom was not nearly as funny as it had been.
bdfanfic 