BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope listened quietly as Crow opened up about his aversion to blood. It seemed he was willing to open up quite a bit to her as he went on to tell her a lot about what had happened to him. She frowned a little as she listened though, wishing there had been a way for her to prevent Crow from going through the hardships he described to her. It was much like how she had wished there had been a way to change what had happened with the tax collectors from his childhood. Only this time, she felt actual guilt over the war she had failed to prevent.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that..." She murmured, shifting her gaze to look up towards the night sky. "It's good that it doesn't affect you as badly I suppose though."

She fell silent for a moment, this time more comfortably than before. The knight couldn't help but enjoy them both lowering their guards for a moment to speak openly to each other. It made her realize just how much she often kept to herself nowadays. No one knew her fully anymore. Not Olivia and especially not Gavin. After her journey with Crow, she had secrets to protect and it was nice to finally speak so openly again. For a moment, the knight wondered if she would ever be able to lower her guard around Gavin like she did Crow.

She didn't come to a conclusion as Crow suddenly turned to her again. Penelope looked over at him curiously. "Well I'm definitely open to suggestions." She mused with a small smile. "What is it?"

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

That's good lol
Penelope's not good at keeping her guard up around him xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope listened as Crow answered her question guardedly. She was glad he was at least willing to share something with her, even if it wasn't a fully detailed story of what he had gone through. As he mentioned the other thieves being good people, she merely gave a small nod. The thieves had obviously given her a bad first impression, mainly due to how cruelly they had spoken and acted, but she supposed it might just be because she didn't know them well enough. She was glad that Crow wasn't on his own though.

As he went on to describe how he had risen to leadership, she looked over at him with a small frown as he averted his gaze. It was clear he took his position rather seriously, and the way he lost himself in thought for a moment told her that something had likely gone wrong before. She felt a great sympathy for him, understanding the weight guilt could have on a person. "It's fine." She assured him with a small smile.

Her smile quickly faltered as he asked about Olivia. That one would be a difficult one to answer without speaking more about what had occurred between them. The knight shifted, unsure how honest she should be. She looked over at Crow for a moment, wondering what to do. The knight let out a sigh and decided she might as well be honest with him, otherwise it'd be a difficult question to answer and skirting around the topic would just be difficult.

"We grew close a little after this happened." She admitted finally, gesturing to the scar on her face. "I returned to my regular castle job and ran into her again there.. Of course, after we ran into her before, she had a few questions for me." The knight averted her gaze as she recalled Olivia's incessant questioning about what had happened between her and Crow upon her return. "She eventually figured out what happened.. between us. At least, parts of it."

A frown crossed her lips. "I told you that your secrets were still your own and I meant it. All she knows is that we.. were together at one point and that I had to leave. She doesn't know I was planning to leave with you." She added in a quiet, strained tone. Letting out a long sigh, she went on, "Anyways, after that, she kept my secret and she became someone I could trust. We got along pretty well.. Especially since she doesn't enforce the law as strictly as some you know."

Penelope shifted uncomfortably, wanting to move on from the topic. "So what happened with your aversion to blood?" She asked him, quick to change the focus.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope opened up a little by mistake xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As a silence fell over them, Penelope lifted her gaze to look up at the sky. It was an uncomfortable silence to her, especially since they had usually spent such times talking in the past. For a moment, she considered just trying to get some sleep, as it seemed Crow intended to stay with her until she was able to return to her camp, but with the knights still possibly looking for them she decided it was best for her to just stay up as well.

Just before she was ready to try and ignore the awkward silence, he finally spoke up. Penelope turned to look over at him as he asked her about her new job. The knight paused before shrugging her shoulders. "It's.. different." She replied a bit slowly. Though she wasn't sure why, she felt a bit hesitant to talk with him about her more recent life. "It's a lot of meetings, with some less than friendly faces. Namely my uncle.. But I suppose it's alright.

"I have more of a voice than I would if I was a regular knight, which is turning out to be quite useful." She mused, referring to how she had convinced the barons to be mindful of the villagers. There was a hint of pride that seeped into her gaze as she began to speak a little more openly, falling into it a bit natural with him. "My baroness is a good person who I'm glad to serve under.. Honestly I'm not even sure why she trusts me so much."

Her pride faded and though she tried to keep a more stoic expression, sorrow, regret and guilt managed to faintly cross over her face. "I failed the last mission so badly... A damn war started because I wasn't careful enough." She shook her head, feeling that all too familiar weight of guilt over everything that had happened. Penelope realized she was rambling a bit, going into a rather touchy subject that she normally didn't talk about with anyone, much less Crow himself. The knight let out a sigh and glanced over at him, eager to switch the focus away from her.

Penelope considered what to ask him about. She decided there was likely very little he would share with her as she thought about the last time she had asked him about his recent past but she still wanted to know what she could. The knight was tempted to ask about how he had learned to fight again but in that moment, decided against it. "A-Anyways..You're not working alone anymore, huh?" She asked quietly.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope's hoping she can just sleep it off lol

And I found a song for Gavin! I imagine this is what will be going through his mind once Penelope's about to go back to Crow
I also believe he's already having doubts about the 'just friends' thing cx

Let Me Down Slowly by Alec Benjamin

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope nodded her head and followed him over to the ridge. She was grateful that he moved slowly, allowing her to keep up easily enough with her sprained ankle. Once they were beneath the overhang, she carefully moved to sit down and leaned back against the wall as well. She eyed her ankle and let out a small sigh, trying to think of what their next move needed to be.

Her gaze flickered over to Crow as he questioned her and she shook her head. "No.. Olivia knows I left but she doesn't have guard duty tonight so she isn't staying up to wait for me." She paused. "And Gavin doesn't know that I left but he knows that I intended to meet with you again at some point. Both of them probably won't realize I'm missing until morning." Even if Gavin woke up before then to check on her, she trusted that the other knight would venture out to look for her on her own. Olivia, on the other hand, would likely just assume that she was sleeping with Crow and wouldn't worry about it.

Clearing her throat as she felt a hint of embarrassment at the thought, she quickly brought her attention back to the situation at hand. "We have until then but I'm not sure that helps much." She mused. Penelope reached down and rubbed her ankle, grimancing slightly as she pressed the spot that hurt. "Maybe it'll lessen enough by morning for me to make it back on my own." She told him hopefully.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

They're a mess XD
Penelope's really in the denial phase lol

I bet!

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope looked up at Crow as he smirked at her. She was hesitant to accept his help, believing that he should have left to go back to his camp. However, she didn't protest as he moved to her side to support her. As he held her against him, she felt her heart begin to hammer despite herself. He was just helping her and nothing more but that didn't help calm her heart. It must just be because of old feelings.. She told herself, trying to dismiss what she felt. She still cared for him so of course old feelings would occasionally stir when they got close like they were. However, they were a bit stronger than she expected.

The knight nodded her head at his words. "Alright." She agreed quietly, shifting her gaze away from him. "Thank you." As they began to walk, she tried to only lean lightly against him, feeling a bit overly conscious of how close he was to her. However, she found that it was still difficult to walk when she only partially leaned into him so eventually the knight caved in and pressed a little more fully into his side so she would be able to keep up without slowing them down.

A small silence lapsed over her, causing for her mind to wander a bit. The situation reminded her of the time after they had fallen into the river and he had helped her back to the town after she had been too tired to make the journey back on her own. It was the first time they had put trust in each other as they made the deal for him to complete the mission and for her to let him go after. So much had changed since then but yet, somehow they ended up in a similar situation, which caused for her to wonder if that much had really changed. She snuck a glance over at Crow and felt her heart pound a bit faster once again. She quickly averted her gaze and tried to focus on something else. Perhaps it would be harder to ignore what remained of her old feelings than she thought, especially when she kept thinking about the past.

"So what's the plan?" She finally asked, breaking the silence and trying to focus on the present in hopes to calm her pounding heart. "I know we can hide from the knights and all but at some point, we're both going to have to get back to our camps. And while I appreciate the help, we both know you taking me all the way to the knight's camp is too risky."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

She's lowkey impressed
He does deserve it lol

Oh cool xD didn't even realize that was a thing lol
I'll add it there in a moment!