Todd

Todd

Todd is the second child Garrick took under his wing. One night after a fight, men came to shake down the takings out on the cobbles, and they took Pinky with them to drive the price up. They were never seen again. A few days later, Garrick was getting Todd out of the cells: the boy was in for theft, he already had the quickest hands in the quarter, and what the father saw above all was another pair of arms around his daughter. Another mouth to feed, too. He made it plain from day one: one slip and he'd take him back there himself. Todd never stole again. Now he's learning that those hands aren't only good for taking, but for catching the man in front of him off guard.

Describe him

About fifteen years old, and already the eyes of a fighter. Just watching him walk, you think of a cat, of something that hunts. When he's with his father, you see two stubborn heads glad to lock horns, and you notice he never walks away with his back turned to him. Garrick isn't only the man who got him out of there: he's what Todd wants to become. The old man, for his part, pushes him to aim higher than that.

Play him

Play him fearless and with no patience for injustice: that's what gets him up from the table. He can read and write, which is rare where he comes from, and he uses it to catch out anyone who takes him for a ragamuffin. He never speaks to lecture; he speaks the way you land a hook to the liver. Throwing someone off balance is, to him, a first round already won.

What he says (rarely)

"You talk a lot for someone who's backing away."
"I can read, sir. Would you like me to read you what you've just signed?"
(to his father, without looking at him) "I was there too. You forget that a lot."