Dagger

-06-

James and Sylvester were quite nice. Sylvester gave me some breakfast to eat while James went to go make sure that everything was good for the store to open. I was trying my best to hold down my dog ears, as they usually arose from curiosity.

And these boys sure were curious about me.

Sylvester sipped on a cup of coffee, his eyes gaping at me while I chowed down on the meal that I should have had sooner if that girl didn't attack me. My mind hadn't forgotten about her, and I felt that she would return sooner or later.

Sylvester suddenly placed his feet up onto the table we were sitting at, shocking me out of my thoughts.

"So, tell me... 'Dagger', are you some criminal or something?" My demeanor froze at this statement, my chewing quickly coming to a halt.

"Uh, no, Mr. Sylvester." I managed to say while I placed my fork on my syrup-covered plate.

"Then why were you in here? We left the door open because—" My ears under my hood were twitching now, begging to perk up.

Why was the door left open, anyway?

"Well, that's not important. How old are you, fourteen? Don't you know we can charge you for trespassing? That'll go on your record." I chuckled, leaning back in my chair. Sylvester rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"It seems like you don't really care." I nodded softly as a response, trying not to let the hood of my jacket seep down from my head. Sylvester peered up at them, but only for a brief second before turning his attention back to my actions.

He seemed disinterested in what was going on up there. That was a good sign.

"James, where's Dach? Don't you think he should be here?" Sylvester said, rotating in his general direction.

"He'll probably be here in a little bit." James replied solemnly, sweeping the somewhat stain-covered floor. Sylvester gazed at me one more time before standing up and going to the cashier counter. He carefully made sure everything was unlocked, looking over them constantly.

"Y-You really think I'm a criminal, don't you? I'm not going to shoot up your store—or deli—whatever this is anyway." I held up my hands innocently, looking at both Sylvester and James.

"Hmm, well that wouldn't be a pleasurable thing, now would it?." A gruff yet young voice muttered behind me. I jumped and faced him, almost preparing for another fight.

"Dach! Welcome, welcome." Sylvester said from across the store. "I see you've met our first customer of the day."

"Oh really? Has he given us something for the exchange of his money?" The boss of the deli said, looking up and down at my figure. I growled and took a couple of steps back to recoup my thoughts. He didn't seem like a bad person, at least from a first glance.

"No... well actually, we caught him trespassing in here earlier." I started to feel a little sweaty as Dach casually raised an eyebrow.

"Trespassing? You know that's against company policy, Mr..." Dach paused so that I could tell him my name.

"Dagger, sir. My name's Dagger." He smirked, placing his hand on the bottom of his chin in sheer judgement.

"Interesting. I like that name. Are you looking for a job?"

"Uh-uh, no, I was more looking for some food just down the street, and then I was going to get out of your hair... I wasn't planning on staying..." I stuttered nervously, even spouting a bit after. I put my hand on the edge of a table as the three began to pace around me in a circle.