BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Definitely lol

Penelope noticed something was off pretty quick xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope pressed into him as he kissed her again. Though his touch sent her heart racing like before, there was something slightly different in his kiss. The knight wasn't sure quite what and didn't think too much about it, caught up in her own passion for him. She panted as he finally pulled back and smiled at his words. "I love you too," she mumbled in return, closing her eyes serenely as he kissed along her jaw.

As he kissed her again, the knight was unable to shake the feeling something was off again and this time she didn't dismiss it so easily. Penelope held him tightly to herself, blinking in surprise as he pushed her back against the tree. There nearly seemed to be a desperateness mixed with his affection and it made her wonder if something was wrong. She shivered at the feeling of his lips and his warm breath against her skin. Combined with his alluring words, it was nearly enough to make her ignore whatever was off so she could fully enjoy her time with the thief, especially after how long it had been.

He hadn't kissed like that even when they had first reunited after the three weeks so surely something had changed. Did it have something to do with his illness? The thought was enough to bring the knight to a clearer state of mind amidst her passion. Hazel and Jane seemed certain they had reached the closest thing to a cure and that Crow would live but perhaps they had been wrong. She shuddered at the thought. Worried that such bad news was why he was kissing her so fervently, she could no longer ignore it.

Penelope slid her hands down his arms, reached to take his hands in hers rather than helping him undo the fastening of her dress. "You're kissing me like you're going somewhere," she murmured softly, as she gently moved his hands away from the strings. She leaned her head back against the tree look at him with concerned frown, studying him as she tried to figure out what was wrong. "Crow.. Are you alright?"

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

No worries c:

Uh oooh xD
I love how differently Gavin and Rikki are approaching this situation while still having similar end goals xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The day went by relatively quick, something the knight was incredibly grateful for. Tomas taught her a few different moves with the shield and Penelope even found herself improving quite a bit at using it. It still felt strange to wield the weapon alongside a sword so she doubted she'd be using the combo in battle anytime soon though. They ended their training in the late day and Penelope spent the rest of her time with Olivia, relaxing a little before the time would come for her to sneak off to see Crow.

Luckily it wasn't long before the sun fell from the sky and Penelope made her way out of camp. She weaved carefully away from the tents, making sure she was alone as she began to travel towards the meeting place. Follow the river from the waterfall. She repeated the herbalist's words in her head as she headed towards the river. The knight was a little worried she wouldn't be able to find the meeting place, after all she hadn't been to it yet. However, Hazel had made it sound like it was easy to find so the knight focused on following the river.

Passing the waterfall and heading further upstream, the clearing soon came into view and with it so did Crow. Penelope smiled and picked up her pace to see him, but faltered as she noticed how he was pacing around the clearing. Perhaps he was just impatient? She glanced at the sky, wondering if should have left camp earlier. The knight didn't dwell on it for too long as excitement of seeing him again took over.

She stepped into the clearing and smiled at him affectionately. "Hey stranger." She paused for a moment then quickly closed the distance between them overcome by her excitement of seeing him again. She wrapped her arms around him as she pressed a passionate kiss to his lips. After a moment, she pulled back and looked up at him as she let out a peaceful sigh, "Thank gods it was only three days this time."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Olivia's teaching Penelope how to friendzone XD
Also hope I played into what you said about Alistair courting Olivia alright xD he's being lowkey enough that she hasn't noticed yet lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

"Sooooo," Olivia drawled as she looked over at Penelope. "what are you going to do about lover boy there?"

Gavin had just left to retire to his tent, leaving the two female knights alone. Penelope looked over at Olivia and raised an eyebrow at her with a mild look of confusion. "What are you talking about? We're just friends now, you know that." she responded, shaking her head.

Olivia laughed a little. "Does he know that?"

"Of course. I ended things as soon as I made my decision." Penelope paused for a moment, her gaze becoming a bit troubled as she recalled ending the relationship with Gavin. Though she was rather certain that he knew she was still with Crow, part of her did worry that he was waiting for her to come back around to him. She had told him not to but perhaps that hadn't been enough to deter the male knight. She shifted uncomfortably at the thought that he was still hoping she would change her mind. "At least.. I think so.." she added with less confidence now.

"Well you might want to double check that." Olivia smirked as she leaned back on the palms of her hands. "At this rate, he might think you're changing your mind.. I don't like the guy but leading him on like that seems a little harsh."

"I'm not." Penelope rolled her eyes. "I just.. I don't want to make things awkward by bringing it up if he does understand we're just friends, you know? Aside from your opinions, I do like hanging out with him."

"You're in quite the pickle then." Olivia mused. She thought about it for a moment then smirked. "There might be one solution to your problem that might work though."

"What is it?"

"Well the best way to make him understand without telling him directly is by talking to him about Crow." Olivia told her with a confident smirk. "It's a great way to get the message across without having to bring it up to him directly. You can thank me later."

"Well.. I guess I could try that.." Penelope said reluctantly. She didn't quite like the idea of talking about Crow to Gavin, mainly because she wasn't even sure what she could tell him. There was very little she could share with him, both because she needed to keep Crow's secrets as well as a few of her own, but the knight guessed she could start by telling him when she was going to meet the thief again. She didn't want his involvement like he had offered before but perhaps telling him would be enough to make the male knight understand her commitment to the thief and her decision. "You seem to know a little too much about stuff like this for someone who says they're not interested in committed relationships." Penelope shook her head.

"Even short term ones have their flaws." Olivia shrugged.

Penelope gave a small nod and eyed her friend for a moment. "I've been meaning to ask you but what's with the necklace?" she asked with a small gesture to the thin chain around Olivia's neck. It was barely visible since most of the necklace tucked beneath the collar of the shirt she wore but some of it still remained visible and it hadn't escaped Penelope's gaze. Olivia didn't often wear jewelry, much like Penelope, and what surprised her even more was that Olivia had been wearing it for a couple days in a row now.

"Oh this?" Olivia blinked and pulled up the necklace into view. At the end of it, a rusty looking pendant was at the end of it. All in all, it didn't look like anything expensive or valuable. "Alistair came across it before our last... 'meeting'. I guess it didn't have much value so he let me have it." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Penelope raised an eyebrow curiously at Olivia. "Oh really?" she smirked.

"Yeah.." Olivia looked down at the pendant for a moment longer before looking at Penelope. She gave a snort. "Stop looking at me like that."

"I thought you said you weren't getting attached."

Olivia flushed. "I'm not. I just thought it'd be rude to refuse it and besides there's not much jewelry to be found out here in all places."

"Uh huh. So why have you been wearing it so much? This isn't the first day I've seen it on you." Penelope snickered.

"Ok maybe I like him a little bit but I'm not like you and your lovestruck ass ok?" Olivia huffed before quickly recovering and flashing her a smirk. "I've had a fun time with him is all and figured I might as well have a souvenir to remember it by."

"I guess." Penelope said as she eyed Olivia. As Olivia held her gaze, it was difficult to tell if her words were true. Olivia was a difficult person to read when it came to her emotions so perhaps she was just being a little sentimental because she knew she'd eventually move on from Alistair like she had done with other men. However, Penelope still had a small feeling that wasn't the case. She decided not to push it, still too uncertain how deep her friend's attachment to the thief went. "Just don't go getting too soft on me." she teased her as she stood up to go head off to her tent.

"Me? Never." Olivia laughed.

"Good." Penelope smirked. "I'll see you tomorrow Olivia." She waved goodbye to her friend and then walked off to her tent, ready to lay down for the night

----

The next day went by quick and without much problem. The barons held their usual meeting and more firm discussions of the next battle were held between the knights. It became clear that the next strike would likely be in the southern part of the outer villages as Layth had suspected. Plans were being mapped out on how to go about the attack and the details were hashed out between the barons and their lieutenants. All that was left was to ready the knights and set a date, however that would come in the next meeting.

Penelope also attempted to follow Olivia's advice with handling Gavin. That evening she had attempted to speak about how she was looking forward to seeing Crow the following day. It hadn't been a comfortable conversation but at the very least, Gavin didn't seem too troubled or hurt by it. It made her wonder if she had misjudged him and that he did truly understand that they were just friends. She decided to wait a while before mentioning anything about Crow again after that.

The day finally came when she'd meet up with Crow again and the knight felt a rush of excitement. Their last meeting had been far too short due to Jane alerting the guards so Penelope hoped they'd have a bit more time this time around. Even though Hazel had been rather strict with the conditions, the knight was certain they would be able to make the most of the time they were allotted.

She stretched a bit as she walked through the camp, heading over to join Tomas for another lesson. Her gaze occasionally flickered up to the sky, hoping the day would go by fast enough.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Gavin has yet to fully give up cx

I'm good with that. I don't really have much planned for the knights

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The rest of the patrol felt longer than usual due to the uncomfortable silence. At least, for Penelope. Layth didn't seem too bothered by it, aside from an angry expression that didn't seem to fade from his face. As suspected, they didn't find anything of concern and eventually returned to camp. Layth headed off without a goodbye as soon as they returned, leaving Penelope alone for a moment as she walked off to find her friends before supper was served.

She walked off towards where Bran's tent was. Ever since Gavin took the position from him, the male knight often visited with Bran, both to make sure the captain was doing alright as well as get approval on how he was handling his duties. from what Penelope could tell, Bran wasn't too bothered by it and instead enjoyed the occasional visit. As she neared, she spotted Gavin standing outside the tent and waved to get his attention as she walked over. The male knight spotted her and smiled as he walked over to meet her halfway.

"How'd your patrol go?" he asked.

"Alright." she shrugged then paused. "I might have got into a bit of an argument with Layth but I suppose that's not too strange."

"Considering how your brother is, not really." he smirked a little. "What was it about?"

"How he doesn't like the rule meant to protect the villagers." she explained to him as they began to walk. "It didn't go very well of course."

"I can imagine." Gavin frowned and shook his head. "Well, you got through to the barons so that's what really counts."

Penelope nodded her head. "I suppose so.. It's just he's my brother, so I was hoping that out of all people, I could get him to understand."

Gavin sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze. "Not everyone can change unfortunately. But your brother will at least obey the rule enough so you shouldn't let it bother you too much."

"Ah! There you two are!"

The exclamation ahead made the two knights look ahead to see Olivia bounding over to them. The other female knight eyed them for a moment as Gavin removed his arm from around Penelope before giving a cheerful smile. Penelope caught the look and rolled her eyes. Olivia smirked, "I was nearly thinking I'd have to eat by myself."

"I'm sure you'd find company of some kind." Gavin rolled his eyes, making Olivia shoot an annoyed look at him.

"Well, we're here now." Penelope smiled as she moved in between her two friends. "Come on then."

Gavin and Olivia still didn't get along very well but most of their arguing had died down as of late. Luckily, neither seemed intent on arguing with the other so they followed after Penelope without any hesitation or additional comments. The three made their way to grab a plate and moved to sit down by a small campfire that had been started by another small group of knights as the sun was beginning to set.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oh nice XD
Glad that worked out then lol

I wasn't as prepared XD
I also wasn't completely expecting Penelope to go off on Layth like that cx she might have gotten through to him a little bit though

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The next morning, Penelope woke up early as usual. After learning that the healers had gotten close enough to curing the illness and seeing Crow, the knight felt more energetic and relaxed than she had been in a while. There was still plenty to worry about, they were in the middle of a war after all and Crow could end up being sickly for the rest of his life, but at the very least, she was going to enjoy it the small victory while she could.

"Are you coming or what?" growled Layth.

Apparently, she wouldn't be able to enjoy it for too long. She had nearly forgotten that she had told her brother she'd go on patrol with him the day before. The male knight stood with his arms crossed over his chest with an impatient look in his gaze as he waited for a reply. Penelope let out a small sigh and nodded her head. It wouldn't be too bad, as she had gotten a bit used to patrolling with him over the recent days, but her brother had never been pleasant company, even if she did care for him.

"Let's go then." he grumbled before turning and beginning to lead the way out of camp. Today they were headed north near Whitebridge and the border, which was luckily far from where the thieves were actually located. It also meant that Penelope would likely have a rather laid back day. The two traveled in silence for a while, something that was rather common as neither seemed too willing to discuss much with each other. Surprisingly though, the silence didn't last as long as usual and Layth was the one that broke it.

"I heard you and that physician ran into a bandit last night." Layth glanced over his shoulder at Penelope. "Do you think he was one of those thieves?"

Penelope quickly shook her head. "I doubt it. Those thieves usually don't directly attack attack like that unless they get caught by us.. Plus he wasn't organized. The thieves are more skilled in choosing when to target us, even you have to admit that after they've had quite a bit of success."

"I guess." Layth said with his lip curling up slightly in annoyance. She was glad that her brother seemed to buy her words, afraid that he would be all too quick to turn the patrol around to search for the thieves down near Myrefall if he thought she had encountered one the night before.

"At this rate, I doubt we'll have to deal with them again before the next battle." she shrugged and focused her gaze ahead. "Speaking of which, have you heard any talk of it yet from our uncle? Mia hasn't mentioned it yet but I think she's still working on plans."

"Only a little. Edward's been trying to figure out where to attack next. I think he has his eyes set on striking a little further south this time since we've managed to secure two victories in the north." Layth responded as he glanced over at her. "We have the meeting in a day don't we? They'll probably speak more about it then."

"Probably." Penelope agreed quietly. Her thoughts wandered to previous battles and what future battles might look like. A moment of silence fell over the two until she looked over at Layth with a curious gaze. "Layth.. I know you don't agree with me but I'm curious, why are you so against being mindful of the villagers in battle?"

Her brother stiffened slightly and shot a glare at her. "Because we're the ones fighting a war. They should be mindful of us and not get in our way in the first place."

"They're just trying to protect their homes." Penelope argued. "We might be fighting but our homes are far from here and safe from the damage of the war. Surely you can understand some kind of desire to protect your home."

"I can which is why I'm out here fighting in the first place. Difference is, I'm trained to fight." Layth snorted. "They just have to understand that they're in an unlucky situation and stay out of our way. It's not like we want the battles to end up in the villages anyways."

"Of course not but clearly it's not something we can completely avoid either." Penelope frowned. "They don't have to be so unlucky, you know. We are trained to fight, so shouldn't that be why we're able to both protect the villagers while also handling the battle? Besides, is it really right to just force them to accept the damage of the war? It'll leave the outer villages in an even worse state than before."

Her brother paused for a moment before shaking his head. "Our job is to win battles, not to needlessly fret about the villages around us." Layth grumbled.

"Perhaps you need to look past your job title then." Penelope snapped back, feeling a bit of anger rise in her at her brother's lack of care for those affected by the war. "Our father taught us that being a knight means to enforce the law as well as protect those in it, did he not?"

"We're protecting them enough by fighting this war." Layth growled.

"We're hurting them more by fighting this war. This war was only a decision made by the king not by the people." Her gaze narrowed challengingly at her brother. "Is it really that difficult for you to sympathize with these people? Everytime a battle strays into their village, their home, they do everything in their power to protect it and themselves. Instead looking at them like obstacles, you should, at the very least, start looking at them like allies. They're defending their homes from the Younisian forces just like we are.. Unfortunately they're also having to defend it from us as well, but I'm trying to change that." She let out a sigh and gave him a hopeful look. "You could try to change that too."

Layth glared at her but remained silent. There might not have been any point in arguing with her brother, as he had never been the most sympathetic person, but she remained hopeful that her words had gotten through to him. The silence dragged on for a moment longer before Layth snorted and shook his head before abruptly turning his back to her.

"Enough of this nonsense.. Focus on the patrol." He ordered harshly as he began to storm on ahead. Penelope sighed and followed behind him. It seemed that he still refused to listen to her so there was no sense in arguing any further with him for now. Instead, she let a heavy silence fall over them again, this one more tense than peaceful like before, as they carried out the rest of their uneventful patrol.