Royal SMP

Stealing may be wrong, but if it's for survival does it really count?

The night air was chilly with autumn approaching, and the group huddled around the fire. Justice laid leaning against Jellyfish who was sleeping softly, his arm wrapped around Beanie who sat next to him, her head resting on his shoulder and her eyes slowly fluttering shut. Hannah laid on her back, staring at the stars. She had never seen the stars so clearly before coming to Otha, the pollution from all the factories in Dimore covering the sky with fog for as long as she could remember. The stars shone bright, and Hannah was infatuated with them. Eggy sat a little further away from the fire, curled in a small ball, eyes closed. Hannah's mind wandered, and she found herself thinking of home. It was funny that she would be homesick for a place that she hated. Maybe it was because she missed the familiarity, or maybe she feared the magic and strangeness of Otha. Either way, she drifted off to sleep thinking of her hometown.

~

It wasn't hard to be silent if you were careful. If you only took what you needed, no one ever noticed. She was observant because she had to be. One wrong step, one wrong move and you were caught, and being caught would only ever slow her down. Her eyes flew over the ground taking in each and every twig or rock. She stepped slowly, lightly and carefully, so as to not make a sound. She knew stealing was wrong, but she only ever took what she needed, and it was for survival. Once she found him she would stop, because then they could go home. She normally wouldn't go for a larger group, especially not when they had animals, but she hadn't seen many people come this way. She would just have to be more careful than she normally was. The group's fire had gone out a few hours ago, the only light guiding her came from the moon and the stars. She had been watching the group from afar for a while, waiting for them all to fall asleep. She was aware watching people like this could be seen as creepy, but she wasn't watching them in a weird way. She just needed to be sure they weren't awake. The one with horns stirred often in their sleep, and it had taken Emoly a long time to realize that the ram hybrid was asleep. She crept her way past the lanky clown and around the fire's remains to where the cart was. She didn't dare to breathe as she fumbled with the clasp for the bag she had seen the snowman grab bread from. She found two loaves of bread and two apples. She was about to take all of it when the horned one stirred in their sleep once more. Emoly tensed and her eyes flashed over the group, they were all still asleep. A wave of guilt washed over her, they had seemed nice from what she had seen. They needed food just as much as she did, and they had a big group. She was just one person. With a silent curse to her conscience, she put one loaf and one apple back. She then snapped the second loaf in half, she tensed once again at the noise and put one half back as well. She shoved the food in her pack and fumbled with the clasp of the bag she had stolen from once more. Her hands were shaking, her body riddled with anxiety. The clasp snapped into place with a loud click. Someone stirred behind her and Emoly's eyes widened, she slowly turned around, hoping with all her might that it was just the one with horns moving in their sleep again. But luck was not on her side. She was met face to face with a man who looked to be made of snow, his mouth hanging open. They both stood frozen for what to Emoly felt like hours, though in reality, only a few seconds passed. The blonde stirred from her spot on the ground having been woken up from the snowman moving,

"Justice?" She murmured sleepily. The girl's voice snapped Emoly out of her stupor, she shoved the man made of snow backward and leaped over the blonde girl booking it deeper into the woods. Emoly was fast, she could get away, she had done it before.

~

Unluckily for her, Justice just as fast. Emoly didn't make it far before her bag snared on a tree branch and her supplies poured out on the ground. Her brain spun and she made a split-second decision. It was either keep running, getaway but have no supplies, with no idea where the nearest town was; or stop running and try to grab as much of her supplies as she could. Running was what her gut told her to do, but she knew she wouldn't last a week without any supplies. And even if the snowman did catch her, he wouldn't do much to her, just make her give the food back, maybe take some of her supplies as punishment. But some supplies were better than none. So she stopped running and scrambled for her supplies. She had managed to grab her water bottle and half a loaf of bread before Justice was on top of her. A firm hand grabbed onto her arm and pulled her up from the ground. The snowman looked her up and down, his face shifting from one of anger to confusion.