[Dominic Veldiris]

Dominic watched the children and piglet with interest, listening idly as the Butcher spoke. He was getting ideas - the little critter, as well as being a nice meal, was reasonably quick and agile. Dominic briefly wondered if he'd have better luck catching the piglet, before quickly deciding that he'd be able to catch it with ease. He returned his attention to Mikhail, just in time to decline the roll of tobacco - he didn't smoke. He drank, but he didn't smoke. The coughing was just ugly.

Metaphors. The impressive Vagaran was speaking in metaphors or analogies, or something like it. Dominic wasn't really sure. He was a simpler man, simple both when he was a cheerful boy and when he was a ruthless fighter. He rarely had deep thoughts, but Dominic got the gist of it - he was to be greedy, but not too greedy, and he sure as hell had best be fair to Mikhail.

He too caught that Mikhail didn't trust his name - insightful of him, no doubt, but what was in a name anyway? The name Dominic meant nothing, just as the name Theo meant nothing, and so Dominic felt nothing at the pointed way that the Butcher said it. Besides, it wasn't as if this man's name was actually "the Butcher." Aliases were common and necessary in the underworld, and Dominic would keep to what little security he had.

"I can do locks," Dominic said, nodding and once again ignoring Mikhail's off-hand remarks. "And I can do more than locks too, Butcher. You'll test me once as you please, but I'm not going to waste my time with, ah, what'd you call 'em? Little enterprises, right? Yeah, I'm not going to waste my time with little enterprises to create a bond of trust." Dominic smiled with a lopsided grin, some mix between a smirk and a smile.

"Test me once, then, but I'll be moving on to, well, big enterprises." He shrugged, looking at Mikhail square in the eye. "'Cause, well, I'm not a fething idiot, and I'm not really a fan of rose bushes or tulips. Or rosary beads, at that."