In the belly of the beast, I'm a wolf amongst the sheep.

Vidi barked out a laugh while his young protégé seethed. “’Yeah, sure, pocket change, I’ll clean the little shit up. Where’s your daddy? I can find you a new daddy.”

“Gross…” Veni’s nose wrinkled, already knowing what those words meant. Those people were the lowest of the low.

“You know I’m kiddin’, kid,” Vidi scoffed, more to keep the young Veni around than to defend his reputation. “Beat it, brat. We got business. ‘Can’t have pocket change rattlin’ around.”

That man somehow was creepy… but it didn’t keep Loqi from crossing his short arms and glare at him. He talked just as silly as Veni did. That had been the boy’s name, right?

But Loqi didn’t appreciate being insulted.

That just upset little Veni even more, considering he had no mother. He reached into his pocket to fish out a pocket knife, but, before he could even pop the blade free, he heard a voice shout from across the street.

“Veni, stop fucking around and get your ass over here!”

The boy perked up and shoved his opponent away before pocketing his weapon. “I’m comin’!” Vidi needed him! If he was lucky, he’d teach him something new, like how to pick a lock. He scrambled to his feet and looked at the boy one last time. “Step on my turf again and I’ll turn ya into kibble, y’hear?”

Loqi was too surprised in the very first moment to get what was happening – but the other boy was hissing some kind of threat and then ran off to some guy. That man looked… weird. He looked bad. Like the bad guys in the cartoons.

Surely that was the father of that boy! Or uncle!

And Loqi wasn’t afraid to point his son’s or nephews’ misbehaviour out to him. So he simply followed the boy and the dog, standing right beside Veni in front of the man, pointing at him.

“Gross...” Veni’s nose wrinkled, already knowing what those words meant. Those people were the lowest of the low.