"You're way too nice with someone like me…" Rose sighed.
Like that, Rose and a band of brave kids started to rob. They began stealing fruits in the market, sometimes fish in the port, and other times, the wallets of unsuspected tourists. Fooling them with their cuteness asking for money and food, while one of them would sneak behind the person they targeted, stripping them off their stuff.
If things were to go badly, Rose would use her strange Illusion Magic to get them off trouble, always managing to escape in time… barely. Like this, they slowly accumulated money and food, and improved the situation of the orphanage greatly. Children and babies inside were able to eat every day, even up to three meals a day!
The money went to buying more food, and sometimes even repairing the orphanage building's walls which were breaking down… yet money always dissolved faster than they could keep it, always needing more and more.
Many times they were ambushed or caught, children were often dragged away by the guards, to never been seen again. A frustration over her own powerlessness to change her future slowly grew inside of Rose's heart, the more she thought about the future, the more grim things seemed to be.
As more cases about disappeared children that lived in the streets came to her, the more worried she felt about whatever the people of the Queendom might be plotting, but as a child, even with her rare Illusion Magic, she had a very limited way to change anything…
She continued her daily routine, while trying to protect her friends and the orphanage, but the guards became harsher and more cunning, while the Orphanage began receiving taxes from the Queendom once they got the information a large quantity of children were living in there.
The corrupt nobles even wanted to dry out of food and money a group of innocent children, without any disregards over their health or anything at all. Rose and the other kids always thought of the more privileged as bastards, leeches that robbed off people from anything they produced.
While they were often called parasites, the real parasites were always those sitting on their high horses while demanding things from those that worked hard… yet it wasn't as if she could say much about it, she was a thief at the end. And strangely enough the Stigma mark had begun to itch more and more the last days… although that luckily intensified the powers of her magic.
Her life went by, insecure about what she could do. Always thinking that her future wasn't in her hands, and that whatever she could do now was… the most she could. A world filled with darkness where the light was only made by the gentleness emanating from the heart of good people, that was the world where Rose always lived in.
Miracles? They were merely a fantasy… an unreal dream by delusional people that couldn't accept how harsh the real world was.
…Until that day came.
Amongst the group of people she always saw around the streets, this particular assortment of individuals was very unique. There were a large amount of Ice Giants, tall blue skinned people with very muscular bodies, often feared by most mermen living in the city due to their intimidating presences.
Not even she had dared to rob these people, but due to her itching Stigma and the intensification of her magic power, she wanted to give it a try… She wouldn't had considered it before but now… Well, it made her slightly angry after seeing them.
Especially the family. Rose always envied other families because she had no mother or father to take care of her like they did. She saw these two girls being carried by their father and mother, the two beautiful ice giant girls with long, silvery white hair and shiny eyes, eating up some tasty, salted fish and other delicious seafood enjoying life without having ever suffered any setbacks.
Privileged by their family of birth, they lived happily without knowing the suffering and pain she had gone through. She hated them, even. Even without knowing them or even without having talked to them… Rose's heart slowly became darker over the years due to such thoughts.
It was going to be the daily routine, the did it rather nicely, bringing the attention of the adults while making them pity them. Tourist, unlike most of the islanders, were often softer with the children.
"Please, can you spare a coin mister big giant?" Rose approached them silently.
"W-We're hungry…" And then Coral played along with her.
"P-Please anything will do! Please!"
"We are starving…"
"Nobody feed us!"
"A coin, a little coin will do!"
The rest of the children also supplicated for food and money. It wasn't as if they really didn't needed it, but they had ulterior motives behind simply asking for food and money.
They knew that the heart of people was dark, they knew that they wouldn't spar a single thing, distracting them and stealing them would net them more than supplicating for the goodwill of anybody.
They had learned it the hard way…
"Would you buy this flower if you don't want to give us a coin for free? I-It is a medicinal flower I picked up!"
Rose tried something that often worked out, giving a special flower that would make pain go away for a few minutes once consumed. They often bought it for a single copper coin, which she would happily get while also distracting her targets.
The tall ice giant she was targeting inspected the flower a bit too much, making Rose think he was quite greedy if he hadn't even given them a coin yet… then again, it wasn't something she wasn't used to already.
"Eh? Y-You kids are starving? And would you look at all of you! You're all so pale…"
The mother of the girls seemed moved by the children, kneeling, and checking on them with magic, she seemed worried about their declining health. Lately all the children have been sick with cold and fever, which often reflected with paler than usual skin and gills covered on mucus.
"Ya hungry? Here! Eat!"
