Dungeons and Dreams

Tommy

Tommy Innit was many things. Most importantly of those things, he was a human, the Biggest Man in Existence, the sneakiest rogue ever, a criminal, and, most recently, a runaway.

Being a runaway, he found, wasn’t actually that much different from his life before. You see, Tommy was from a notorious family of criminals that made their home in Esempi and regions surrounding the kingdom. As such, they were often on the run from the law, sleeping in abandoned buildings and stealing food and the likes.

This wasn’t much different.

Not that it wasn’t anything Tommy couldn’t handle! After all, he was the Biggest Man and the sneakiest rogue! He could handle snatching up some food and making himself at home in random buildings and alleys.

It was just that he had left the place for a reason, and yet things didn’t seem to change at all. 

Tommy didn’t want to be a criminal anymore. Not that it wasn’t cool and all, and he certainly got lots of skills from it, but..

Well, it just.. wasn’t what he wanted to do. Sure, the thrill of it was amazing and all, but then there was the pure fear that came after, knowing that you'd always be on the run, someone would always be after you. 

Not that a big man like Tommy was scared, of course! He was the Biggest Man, no way was he scared of a few guards coming to arrest him and his family! If they tried anything, he’d just beat the shit out of them with his trusty shortsword!

So even with the fear that came with it, there was no reason why Tommy wouldn’t want to stay with his criminal family, right?

Well, you’d be wrong. In fact, there were two reasons.

For one thing, Tommy felt bad about it. Sure, he was still stealing food even after he left, and sure he liked a good prank or two, but that was different. The crimes his family committed weren’t just stealing because they lacked resources and harmless practical jokes. They were serious things, many of which Tommy felt guilty about, though he’d never admit it to anyone. They weren’t things he wanted to keep doing.

And, though he would never acknowledge it, the main reason why he left: Tommy was lonely. He was lonely, and he kept losing everything he got attached to because his parents didn’t want to keep anything around if they couldn’t find a use, and his attachments tended to lack use in their eyes. 

And it sucked, because he got attached to things fast and when he got attached he didn’t want to let go, but those things got torn away from him so fast each time. It sucked because while he mourned the loss of yet another beloved object, his parents would scoff and roll their eyes at him.

And it wasn’t like it was just things, either. There were people, too. Purpled, for example, had been a great friend of his for the longest time, until his family had to move to a new area of the region once again, leaving Tommy unable to contact Purpled anymore. When they went back to that area again, Purpled wasn’t there anymore.

Worst part was, he couldn’t imagine how much it had hurt Purpled when it happened. Yeah, it was painful for Tommy, but he had left Purpled without a proper goodbye or explanation of any kind, and Purpled had some pretty bad trust issues. He couldn’t bear to think about how horribly that must’ve affected him.

Tommy didn’t want to hurt people like that (both with the crimes and the accidental abandonment), and he didn’t want to keep losing the things he cared about, so he left.

He supposed that was where things really changed, then. The only crimes he commited now was stealing food to eat, nothing like what he’d done with his family. And while it wasn’t a lot, he had managed to keep hold of something special to him. Two things, actually. A beat-up stuffed cow showered with his rough affection which he named Henry, and a very poggers (and somewhat burnt) green gemstone that he found in a dumpster for some reason.

To any other person, they might seem like random junk, but like everything else Tommy had to throw away, he had given them special meaning that only he could really understand. 

It really wasn’t much, but it certainly was a start.

His feet silently battered the ground as he ran, not bothering to look behind him to see if he was being chased. There was no reason, since this time he wasn’t running from guards after stealing some food. This time, he was on a journey, trying to find a new place to camp out for a while until he was ready to move again. 

He was trying to get as far from the region his family took base in as possible, and once he did that he’d be able to find a more permanent home.

As he was running, though, he heard the sounds of humming not too far ahead of him, around a corner that he had planned to turn on. And while the sounds of people weren’t too odd in this city during the day, as far as Tommy knew, people weren’t typically awake in the middle of the night. Nor were they typically humming in random alleys.

He skidded to a stop, not wanting to alert the other to his presence in case they were someone who he couldn’t trust - very likely, considering his criminal background and the fact that this was a person in a shady alley.

He pressed himself up against the wall, quietly creeping up to the entrance of the alley way and poking his head around the corner to see who was there.

He was met by the sight of a rather small person, crouching over some sort of contraption that Tommy couldn’t really recognize as anything in particular.

Tommy’s first thought was ‘What in all planes is a little kid doing in an alley with that sort of thing?!’ So naturally, he decided to step a bit closer to investigate.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t make out what the contraption was, still, but he could make out some more details about the kid. They had a wavy sort of hair type, which went down to chin length and seemed to be a darker color, though that could just be the lighting.

The kid was also dressed in a way that made them look like they were either a monk, religious, or both. Not that Tommy was judging - he was a devout follower of Lady Prime, himself. But the outfit was pretty dirty, suggesting that they were a runaway like him.

Whatever the contraption was, they seemed to be tinkering with it or something, when they looked up as if they knew someone was watching. They looked around, but didn’t seem to notice Tommy thanks to his amazing rogue skills. 

While they didn’t seem to notice Tommy, he managed to figure out something else about them - they weren’t a little kid, they were a halfling. Well, it was a good thing he figured that out before saying something to them - didn’t want to offend them or something.

Maybe he could make a friend, here.

“Hey there,” Tommy said at last, stepping out of the shadows with a friendly smile, “You a runaway too?”