>>50543279>All gingerly placed atop the counter without a sound.“You…” You gestured at the food, as if she didn’t know what was bothering you.
“Went to the grocery store, I take it?”
>She nodded and clasped her hands together.>Her fingers fidgeted.>You hoped she’d explain on her own, but she remained passive.“I’m guessing you didn’t pay for these, did you?”
>After some hesitation, she bobbed her head again.“Well, let’s, uh…”
“Let’s sit down, huh?”
>She obeyed, and sat at the dinner table as you did.>You knew she’d stolen before.>She had to have.>To keep up appearances at birthdays and Christmas.>Food for cookouts and gatherings.>Probably to survive.>But this was different.>She was living with you now.”Well… Please, I’d, uh… Like you to tell me why.”
>The pokémon acted like when she revealed her true form.>She bounced her teal hairpiece between hands, and brought her hair around her in an unconscious, defensive gesture.>You kept staring. You weren’t going anywhere.>It took a minute to collect her thoughts.>”It’s something we’ve… always done.”“We?” You asked.
>”Family.”>”We’ve always done it.”>She shrugged at the thought.>”Humans always…”>She finally looked up at you.>”Always,” She stated again, “have more than enough.”>”We take from farms and groceries and houses.”>”Save for a big lock, nothing stops us.” She huffed. “Even then, we’re patient.”>”Not hard to wait and see where the keys get placed.”“Or what buttons need to be pressed to get where we want.”
“Just enough to feed you, the young, and the sick, mom always said.”
“O-Okay…” You responded.
>Zoroark didn’t talk much about her time in the forest.>Or her family.>Misdirection and secrets were the way of her species, you assumed.>But you caught her deflection here.>Intentional or not, she dodged the question. 