Penelope gave a small nod as Crow explained the plan to act as if nothing had changed between them. She looked over at Gavin who hesitated to reply. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable discussing this directly with Crow, even though it had been his suggestion to her as well. However, he nodded his head. "I think so." he replied, glancing at her before shifting his gaze back over to Crow. "It shouldn't be too difficult."

"As long as you can lie well enough, no... And don't hesitate in getting closer to me when he's around." Penelope advised, trying to give him some last minute pointers. She really hoped that Gavin would manage to fool her father like he said. He seemed confident enough but she worried that would fade once her father was around them. "We have to act like we did before."

"Right." Gavin said with a small sigh. He glanced over his shoulder again, tensing up slightly as he heard footsteps approaching. Figuring it must be John, he shifted closer to Penelope. Despite this, she noticed that he was still keeping a distance between them. While part of her appreciated his hesitation to make any advances towards her, it wouldn't be helpful if he continued to do that around her father. Assuming John was the one entering the tent, Penelope closed the distance between them, taking his hand in hers and turning her head to look up at him as if they had been conversing. 

Luckily she had moved just fast enough as John stepped inside a mere second later. He eyed them for a moment before giving a small nod in greeting as he stepped over. "Everything alright in here?" he asked. 

"Of course." Penelope said with a casual shrug, trying to ignore Gavin feeling a bit tense at her side. "There's not much the thief can do injured and chained up after all."

"I figured that myself but, I'm assuming quite a few probably feel better having him locked up and supervised." John mused with a glance towards Crow. He studied him for a moment before looking back to Penelope and Gavin. "I'm glad to see you two are still getting along well."

"There's no reason for us not to be." Gavin said offering a small smile as he glanced down at Penelope. 

"Well, I wasn't sure.. You weren't really giving me very much information earlier." John pointed out. 

"I'm sure Gavin was just shocked by your sudden appearance." Penelope replied with a glance at Gavin. "We all were." 

John gave a small grunt before crossing his arms over his chest. "I'd like to discuss wedding plans at some point during my stay here by the way."

"W-Wedding plans?" Gavin blinked. Penelope's eyes widened and she felt her heart beat a bit nervously. Why was he bringing up wedding plans all of a sudden? He had no reason to rush their marriage.

Her father raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes... Is there something wrong with that?"

"It's just so out of the blue." Penelope frowned. "I thought we were waiting until after the war?"

"That was the plan." John admitted with a sigh. "But it's difficult to say when this war will end. I think we should start planning for it sooner before the war sets back your lives even more so. At least within the next year." His gaze narrowed at Penelope. "I'm assuming there won't be any issues with that right?"

"No." she responded quietly. While she was glad the marriage plans would be far off, it was still concerning that her father was trying to push for them before the definite end of the war. She prayed that the war would end soon to avoid that mess.

"Good." John said, pleased that his daughter didn't fight back against plans for her marriage. "Now then, you two can go relax. I'll be taking over the guard shift now."

"Thank you, sir." Gavin said respectfully dipping his head. The male knight paused and then pressed a brief kiss to her cheek. "Come on, Penelope. Let's go grab some supper." he mumbled as he took the lead to head out of the tent. Penelope merely nodded and casted one fleeting glance at Crow before looking back ahead as she followed Gavin. She felt a bit bad about having to act as if she was still with Gavin right in front of Crow but they didn't have any other choice. So she casted a subtle, apologetic look before disappearing out of the tent with her former suitor.