The Little Thief [Vaalto]

[eerolahtinen]

Place: Streets of Berlin, Germany
Time: About 15.40
Weather: A slightly chilly spring afternoon, cloudy, looks like it's going to rain soon

A small and nimble figure darted among people on the street, dodging men in tidy suits and women in plaid dresses as they went about their daily chores. As the summer slowly approached, the sun stayed up for a longer time each day but the air was still quite brisk and the slight breeze that was blowing through the streets made people pull on their coats to keep warm. Still the small boy that was running among the people was not very warmly dressed and his brown shoes were all too big for his feet. He stumbled forward and bumped into a young lady in a red dress, making the woman yelp with surprise.

The boy didn't stop to apologize and he scurried along, a small paper package in his hand. He pressed it against his chest to make sure he wouldn't drop it. The boy, Eero, could already hear the surprised and annoyed yells that followed him and he knew it wasn't just because he had caused people to stop in their tracks or drop an umbrella while trying to dodge the boy. Someone was after him and he was running much faster than Eero. The boy was constantly and frantically searching for an escape, for some place to hide, but couldn't see anything. He was having hard enough time fighting to keep his shoes on as they constantly threatened to slip from his feet.

Eero dashed around a corner of an old building in a flurry of speed, too fast to notice that someone was suddenly in front of him. He couldn't stop his momentum and the boy crashed into the man with force. Eero's other shoe went flying off his foot and the package he had tried to shield so carefully, slipped from his fingers and bounced a few times before settling on the street behind the man. Eero let out a small sound of despair as he noticed that the package had escaped his grasp, it seemed to be very precious to him.

Eero looked up, his breathing uncontrolled and his grey eyes wide with fear as his gaze fixed on the man he had crashed into. The boy looked to be something over ten years old and the dirt on his face and clothes made it clear he either had very uncaring parents or that he didn't have them at all. His jacket was too big, his sandy hair was a wild mess and the shoe that remained on his other foot was far too large for him. The boy quickly seemed to contemplate on how to get out of this situation and his eyes kept shooting around, searching for a way to escape.

[laukkenan]

The crisp air went through his system as though smoke went into a smoker. Fresh air, it made him feel so free. He stepped out of the Inn he was staying at called the "Das dritte Reich Gasthaus" or in english "The Third Reich Inn". A smile was on Vaalto Laukkenan's face as he patted his stomach. He had just had his first real dinner since he had been given time on leave. After being taken prisoner, he had seen the "enemy" first hand. What he saw did not scare him like the Nazi propaganda.

After giving a small stretch he looked around, to see people staring at him. What the hell is all of this about?, he thought as he spun around looking at the people. It's because I am part of the SS, they must think that I am going to do something to them, is what came to his mind after he questioned himself. A breeze came down the street, and Vaalto started walking toward his hotel. A small thing was that he had forgotten his way back to his hotel. A bad thing to have happen in such a large city.

A corner was right in front of him as he continued walking. The fifteen steps to the corner of the street. He stopped walking and looked out into it, only to see that it was a crowded with civilians shopping in the market. That is when it hit him, literally. A young boy came flying from out around a corner and ran smack dab right into Vaalto. The impact, caused him to fall over. "Kirota!" he hissed as he landed on the ground with a thud. Kirota roughly translates to damnit in Finnish.

Vaalto staggered up only to see that it was a young boy who was already standing and looked at him with his cool grey eyes. Vaalto heard shoutings of "Unterbinden jene Bube!" which in rough German means "Stop that boy!". Vaalto saw the men coming towards him. He fully stood up and moved in front of the boy when the soldiers came to him. As he looked them over, he noticed that they were both Corporals, and also they were Schutzstaffel. A burden befell him that he must help this boy, one of the innocent of this hard war. Another thing he noticed was how well dressed they were. Their uniforms were fully cleaned as though they were able to take care of them everyday.

"Hering Rottenfuhrers , bist Sie schauen als etwas irgend?" he questioned the men. Their reply came from the forward one who was pretty shrimpy looking. "Ja, ein junger Boy escaped unsere Kupplungen, können Sie uns sagen, wie er ging?" Hearing this made Vaalto get a new look on his face, one of anger while saying, "Warum wollen Sie ein Junge für sie dümmer Tod Camp Schweine. Hat er Mund Off über die glorreichen Leader. Dann werde ich mich mit ihm, während sie gehen zurück auf deine Jobs. Das nächste Mal, wenn ich sehe sie Schweine, ich werde persönlich reshape ihre Gesichter. Ich bin Ihrem Vorgesetzten, nicht als mir Fragen ohne sagen Sir. Nun, verlassen!" The Death Camp soldiers really made him made, especially the part of wanting a boy.
{translation 1: Mister Corporals, are you looking for something?/ translation 2: Yes, a young boy escaped our clutches, can you tell us which way he went?/ translation 3: Why do you want a boy for you stupid Death Camp pigs. Did he mouth off about the glorious leader. Then I will deal with him while you go off back to your jobs. The next time I see you pigs, I will personally reshape your faces. I am your superior, do not as me questions without saying sir. Now, LEAVE!}

Vaalto now got his coolness back while changing his thoughts to the boy. As he turned around and looked at the boy he said to himself, "I-KIRJAIN ihme mikä I-KIRJAIN olen astuva jotta ajaa avulla te?" After saying that in his home language he stared back to the young boy to see if there was some reaction. He really wanted to help this boy.
{Translation 4: I wonder what I am going to do with you?}

[eerolahtinen]

The man Eero had bumped into fell down on the street and Eero almost stumbled down with him. He had smashed into the man with such force it made his whole body ache and Eero grabbed his shoulder, wincing slightly. His eyes kept searching for the package he had dropped and the shoe he was missing, but then his gaze settled on the uniform of the man. In his hurry he hadn't even noticed that the man was wearing the same black uniform as Eero's pursuers and that on his collar were the two sharp figures that looked like twin lightning bolts. Cold fear gripped the boy and he felt the blood run from his face. He had ran straight into one of them, the same men that wanted to catch him and the ones that had taken his mother away!

Eero quickly decided to just leave the package and his shoe and make a run for it, but then he heard the man curse.. in Eero's own language. This stopped the boy dead in his tracks and he watched as the man scrambled back on his feet. The men who had chased Eero were already there and for some reason the man in the black uniform moved in front of Eero, as if to protect him.

It would have been the perfect moment for Eero to make a run for it, but for some reason his feet would not budge. Just hearing that one word in Finnish had suddenly made everything complicated, although Eero was not even quite sure if he had just been hearing things. He had been running away and hiding for such a long time, it might have just been his mind playing tricks on him. Eero blinked and carefully glanced at his pursuers from behind the man, his eyes wide with fear. This would be the part where they grabbed him and took him somewhere, jail or.. wherever those men in dark uniforms took people.

The man standing in front of Eero spoke to the other soldiers in German and Eero could make out only some of it. Something about a death camp, pigs and other stuff that just escaped his scrambled mind at the moment. His grasp of German was not that good, although he understood it better than he spoke it. Finally the man told the soldiers to leave and they followed the command, Eero thought that they looked slightly disappointed as they did so.

Eero flinched away as the man turned around to look at him. There was a certain kindness in the man's eyes, something that Eero had not seen for a long time. He was torn between the feeling of fear and the need to trust someone. The boy's mistrust was easy to notice in the way the boy kept a bit of distance from the man and how he tried to make himself appear smaller than he was, still contemplating on whether he should run or not. The man spoke to Eero again and the boy stared at him in awe. The man was speaking Finnish! For a moment Eero forgot about being scared and careful, it had been such a long time he had heard someone speak in his own language. Even Eero's mother had insisted in trying to speak in German so that Eero would have learned the language faster and a good while had passed since his mother had been taken away by the soldiers.

Eero opened and closed his mouth a few times, the right words just didn't come to him fast enough. "Olet- Oletko sinä.. Suomesta?", the boy finally asked, his voice quivering as he spoke. He swallowed hard and glanced at the direction where the other soldiers had disappeared into, then back at the man again. "Minä en ole tehnyt mitään pahaa", Eero continued meekly, clearly still worried that the strange man was affiliated with the ones that had been chasing him.

Translations:

"Olet- Oletko sinä.. Suomesta?"
"Are- Are you from.. Finland?"

"Minä en ole tehnyt mitään pahaa."
"I haven't done anything wrong."

[laukkenan]

OOC: Dieter, what translator do you use for the Finnish?

After he questioned himself aloud in Finnish, the boy looked as though he understood. It was then the boy opened his mouth as though he was searching for something to say. The boy's new comment astonished him, because it was in Finnish. He had not been able to speak the language with anyone for many months. He had only spoken it to himself.

"Jaa-ääni , I-KIRJAIN olen polveutua Suomi. I-KIRJAIN arvailla että te itse aari Finnish ajaksi te osata kielenkäyttö. Oi I'm kurja , I-KIRJAIN olen olemassaolo alkeellinen , I-KIRJAIN olen Vaalto Laukkenan." Vaalto said to this young boy answering his question about being Finnish. The next thing the boy said really was something suspicious, because he said that he hadn't done anything. A part in Vaalto, the real SS part didn't believe him and wanted to bring him back to the Headquarters, but the real Vaalto overruled that, and only smiled back as he responded. "I-KIRJAIN kin arvella että te hankkia valmis ei ensinkään hullusti." Hopefully his last comment would help the child calm down. It looked as though he was about to explode from how fast his heart rate was going. Maybe, I should extend even more gratitude to this child who has not yet seen the horrors of war.

"Antaa anteeksi we , ainoastaan te kuin jokin jotta aterioida , se ulkomuoto kuin te aari aivan laiha. Kin on nyt kuluva sinun?" Vaalto asked as he slowly bent over a small brown package that was laying on the small brick alley walkway. He became suspicious of what was in it, but decided, that aslong as it isn't his he shouldn't be messing with it. Hopefully, he could change this boy's day into something that he would enjoy.

A feeling started surging in him. It was a feeling of happiness. He does not know why he is feeling happy, maybe it is because he was actually able to help someone in this ruddy mess of a war. Hopefully, this boy will accept my invitation, that would make me feel even better, he thought as he waited for this child to talk more.


Translations

"Jaa-ääni , I-KIRJAIN olen polveutua Suomi. I-KIRJAIN arvailla että te itse aari Finnish ajaksi te osata kielenkäyttö. Oi I'm kurja , I-KIRJAIN olen olemassaolo alkeellinen , I-KIRJAIN olen Vaalto Laukkenan."
"Yes, I am from Finland. I guess that you yourself are Finnish for you know the language. Oh, I'm sorry, I am being rude, I am Vaalto Laukkenan."

"I-KIRJAIN kin arvella että te hankkia valmis ei ensinkään hullusti."
I also believe that you have done nothing wrong.

"Antaa anteeksi we , ainoastaan te kuin jokin jotta aterioida , se ulkomuoto kuin te aari aivan laiha. Kin on nyt kuluva sinun?"
Excuse me, but would you like something to eat, it looks like you are quite hungry. Also is this yours?

[eerolahtinen]

(( OOC: I don't use a translator since I speak Finnish. Can't really recommend any good translators either, the options for free Finnish-English -translators are very limited anyway. ))


Eero didn't even notice it himself, but he held his breath as the man answered. Hearing his own language again was enough to make his head spin and a rush of hope filled the young boy. The man said that he was from Finland and that he was called Vaalto. Eero held tightly on to every word he heard and nodded carefully at the man. He was still afraid that something would go horribly wrong, that all of this was a dream or some plot that would get him captured.

Vaalto told him that he believed that Eero had done nothing wrong and the boy felt a pang of guilt. He had actually done something wrong, but it was only because he had been so hungry. It was a miracle he had managed to run as far and as fast as he had. Eero had felt weak from hunger for over a week now, he had not been too successful in gathering food lately. Eero decided that it was best if he didn't tell Vaalto about his small crimes, at least not quite yet. Although he very much wanted to trust someone and just let a grown-up take care of him for a while, he still could not forget the markings on the man's collar. Vaalto was still one of those soldiers and he might take him to jail or wherever if Eero told him the truth.

Suddenly the man mentioned food and Eero's eyes lit up. Now after the worst panic was gone, he noticed how weak his knees felt. He felt the urge to just sit down on the street to rest, but he didn't want to show how weak he actually was. The promise of food was just too good to be true and Eero hesitated for only a small while before nodding enthusiastically.

"Kyllä, pitäisin kovasti ruoasta. Kiitos, herra Laukkenan", Eero made sure that he addressed the man very respectfully. His foster father, Herr Thomas had always insisted on Eero learning good manners, especially when soldiers were around. It was very important to show respect to your superiors, Herr Thomas had said, you had to maintain order at all times. If you didn't, the world would just straight out tumble out of balance and then nothing at all would work out in the society.

Vaalto handed the small package back to Eero and the boy glanced down. He accepted it quickly and searched for his other shoe, slipping it back to his foot and then staring at Vaalto expectantly. Somewhere a small voice was telling him not to trust the man, that it was all just a decoy to get him somewhere where they could capture him, but the growling in his stomach was more than enough to quiet that voice. He was hungry, tired and alone and Vaalto seemed trustworthy and nice enough. And he was from Finland like Eero was, so he couldn't be too bad, now could he? Those reasons were solid enough to make him follow the man wherever he went, Eero was just too exhausted to worry too much anymore.

Eero waited until Vaalto started walking and then followed the man obediently like a small puppy. "Herra Laukkenan.. Miksi te autoitte minua?", the boy asked carefully. "Ne toiset miehet.. ne sotilaat. Te olette samanlainen sotilas?"
The boy seemed worried that his words might make Vaalto angry and immediately he seemed regretful for asking such a dangerous question. His grey eyes filled with worry and fear again and he stared at Vaalto nervously.


Translations:

"Kyllä, pitäisin kovasti ruoasta. Kiitos, herra Laukkenan."
"Yes, I would like food very much. Thank you, mister Laukkenan."

"Herra Laukkenan.. Miksi te autoitte minua?"
"Mister Laukkenan.. Why did you help me?"

"Ne toiset miehet.. ne sotilaat. Te olette samanlainen sotilas?"
"Those other men.. those soldiers. You are the same kind of soldier as them?"

[Christopher J. D'Dario]

Due to the members no longer being on the site, this will be moved to the Archives.

-=[SeeJay]=-