Xavier, startled by the sudden intrusion to his mission, feel backwards, landing on his butt as the brown haired kid swung his sword. Luckily for him, the sword was a bit too big for him, and he couldn't lift it properly, letting Xavier crawl backwards and just barely miss the blade. Still, it was more than enough to make Xavier break out in a cold sweat. Child or no, this kid looked to be about a year older than he was, and so he didn't know if he could deal with this situation physically. His only option was to talk things out, and he raised a hand in panic.
"Wait, wait, I'm not a criminal! I'm from this village, like you are, I was just looking around and the blacksmith shop looked cool!"
The brown haired kid narrowed his eyes, but lowered his sword, still struggling to look intimidating in the face of this information. The kid looked Xavier over as if trying to see if he was lying, before his gaze softened a bit.
"Hold on, you look like that one lady who always comes to dad's shop for weapons and stuff. What was her name….. Falia! Is she your mom?"
Xavier hadn't realized how much he looked like Falia in this world, but he supposed it would make sense for them to look alike, being biologically related. He also had seen her coming here before, so he decided this was probably the best way to keep from arousing any suspicion.
"Yeah, that's right! I was just curious what was inside the shop. I was wondering what she's always buying, so I came to look in the shop to get a better picture."
The kid gave him a hard look, not convinced by his admission.
"If she's really your mom, then why don't you know what she's buying? You'd see them if you were at home with her."
Xavier cursed internally, having fumbled his lie a bit, but thinking quickly, he came up with what he felt was a decent explanation.
"That's because she doesn't let me see a lot of the cooler weapons, just the bow she uses to hunt. I wanted to see all the cool weapons for a change, you know?"
This explanation seemed to be readily expected by the older child, who put down the sword and began thinking. Then, looking towards the wall behind him, gestured towards someone who had evidently been hiding.
"It's ok Nya, it's just another kid, you can come out now"
From behind the wall, a young girl who was about the same age as Xavier came from behind the wall, looking angry, though her anger didn't seem to be directed at him. She didn't say anything, but she did feel familiar to Xavier. Her brother on the other hand, now had a grin on his face in contrast to his earlier anger.
"It's nice to meet you then! I'm Kai, this is my sister Nya, and our parents run the blacksmith shop. Pretty cool, huh? I get why you'd want to take a look, but next time just ask. I thought you were a burglar."
Xavier sighed in relief, glad that things were being sorted out. The names Kai and Nya also rang a bell in his head. From what he could recall, those were the names of the brother and sister duo in Ninjago, though he couldn't remember what the girl's role was in the show. Still, Kai was the main protagonist right? It wouldn't be bad if he became friends with him when he could.
"Sorry about that, I guess I should have thought of that… oh right, my name is Xavier, but you can call me Xav. It's a lot easier, and I think it sounds cooler.
Kai grinned, seemingly wanting to take the initiative as the oldest of the trio, and extended his hand outwards for a handshake, and Xavier accepted it without question. Kai seemed to be in a good mood, so Xavier decided to try and use the opportunity to ingratiate himself to the two.
"That was pretty brave of you, to go out and risk yourself by fighting the burglar yourself. Is that sword made by your dad?"
Kai opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Nya cut him off.
"He was just trying to be the hero and protect me, like always, but there's never any bad guys around here."
Kai seemed to pout a bit in response to his sister stealing his Thunder
"Aw, don't listen to her, I'm just trying to keep an eye on things while my dad's not here."
Xavier could only chuckle a bit, seeing those two have a sibling argument, but not wanting to end lame things, opted to try and push the conversation somewhere else.
"Well, I might not be a bad guy, but I do want to see what's inside the shop. Mind letting me look around?"
Kai seemed to ponder this for a moment, considering whether or not Xavier was trustworthy enough, before nodding.
"I think so, the little metal sheet my dad uses to lock the place when he's busy isn't that hard to unlock. I don't think he ever thought anyone would be sneaking around here, so I can probably get it open if you want."
Xav nodded, and Kai tried to pull the partition open. Seeing it was a bit difficult for him, Xavier joined in, and together, the two were able to get it open. Looking inside, Xavier was a bit disappointed that it seemed to be filled with basic weapons, but still, as someone who had been born in the normal world and had never seen most weapons, and so he couldn't help but be filled with a fitting sense of childlike wonder as he got to view the weapons shop up close. Kai and Nya followed close behind, seemingly filled with pride upon seeing his expression.
"Yeah, it's pretty neat. Why did you want to see these weapons anyway? Thinking of training to be a samurai or something?"
Xavier gave him an odd look, unsure of what to make of it. The series was called Ninjago right? So shouldn't he want to be a ninja? Deciding to hedge his bets and take a risk, Xavier feigned a grin.
"Samurai? Why would I want to be a samurai? I want to grow up and be a ninja!"
Unexpectedly, Kai made a sour face in response to this, seemingly confused.
"A ninja? You mean those cowardly pajama people who go around sneaking everywhere? A real fighter fights head on to protect the people they care about."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on what we want to be."
Kai laughed a bit, seemingly amused by his response.
"I knew I sensed something good about you. Well, if you're a ninja and I'm a samurai, at least we can both protect the village. Let's pick out some weapons and start training."
Right at that moment though, a older man lifted the metal partition and sighed, seeing the trio in the shop.
"Kai, what have I told you about coming in here when I'm not here? These weapons can be dangerous, and you messed up one of these swords and left it outside."
Nya ran over to her father and clung to his leg.
"Dad, Kai was trying to fight the new kid with a sword!"
The blacksmith sighed, before looking towards Xavier, his inquisitive expression similar to the one his son had on earlier as he tried to place the kid's face.
"You must be Falia's kid huh? You look just like her. Well, I'm sorry Kai here pulled you into that situation, but I'm glad he tried to at least make it right by showing you around. I've seen you around before, but you've never come to the shop before so I guess this would be your first time seeing all this. Tell you what, tell your mom her order is ready, and I'll owe you one. Now, run along, I'll deal with these two."
Xavier didn't want to get caught up in family matters, so, acting embarrassed and sad, he nodded.
"Apologies Mister, it won't happen again."
The blacksmith seemed satisfied with this answer and smiled. Waving goodbye to the siblings, Xavier left the shop and headed back towards his mother's house. He could see she was already inside cooking, but after today, deer for dinner didn't feel so bad. At least he knew he had a friend to rely on, and that gave him a little more comfort to help him get through the day.