BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope was caught off guard by how genuinely confused he sounded. It was far from what she had been expecting. The knight faltered at his reply. She flinched at the hurt in his voice. It seemed to her that he truly didn't know anything about what had occurred the night before. She felt a bit of relief wash over her as she began to realize that Crow was innocent while also a new feeling wave of guilt for accusing him. "You really don't know anything about what happened last night.." she mumbled as looked over at him searchingly.

The knight frowned and averted her gaze. "All of our night guards were killed and about half of our supplies were stolen. The camp's been in chaos all day since it was enough to put us at a heavy disadvantage.. I thought-I thought only thought it was you because everything seemed to point to that. I mean, you had a raid planned that night and told me to give away by guard duty. If it had happened any other time, I wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion so fast." she gave a soft sigh. "I was even expecting you to have some reasoning for it when I came here tonight.. I mean.. If it wasn't you then, who-"

"He's lying."

Penelope jumped and whirled around at the sound of Gavin's voice behind her. The male knight stepped into the clearing with one hand on the hilt of his sword as he glared across at Crow. She shot a glare at him and shifted in front Crow protectively. "You followed me? I told you to let me handle this alone." she hissed with clear annoyance seeping into her voice.

"And let him hurt you? Or manipulate you like he's trying to do now?" Gavin snorted and stepped closer to Penelope. "I'm sorry but I'm not just going to stand back and let him do that." he shot an accusing look at Crow. "Why don't you start telling the truth, thief?"

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

No I've never tried either of those xD
We just build a yearly snowman and sled sometimes lol

I haven't! I've only been to Yosemite before but that was a long time ago. It was really beautiful there though and I really liked it from what I remember cx

Penelope blew up on him a little bit xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope stiffened as Crow quickly wrapped her up in an embrace. She was tempted to return it, suddenly wishing it would be so easy to ignore what had occurred. As he pulled back, the knight blinked as he asked her what was wrong. It sparked a bit of hurt and anger in the knight. Does he really think I wouldn't be upset over that raid? she wondered, narrowing her eyes at him. At his guess, she took a step back from him and gave a snort.

"If she blamed me for that raid, I'd lose everything on the spot and I certainly wouldn't be able to sneak out here." She shook her head and shot a glare at Crow. "All of our night guards dead and half of our supplies gone. Gods Crow, what else would be wrong!" Her voice was sharp with anger. She glared at him for a second longer before dropping her gaze away from him as her anger died down into hurt.

Her voice grew strained with emotion as she went on, "I never ask for details about your raids because I trusted you would never do anything to put my comrades and I at a disadvantage in this war.." she frowned and lifted her gaze to look back over at him. "I know you had to steal supplies but surely not that much and to kill all of the guards too.. That had to be planned. That's why you wanted me to trade shifts so badly isn't it?"

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Yeah Big Bear is really nice! I love it because it has a small town feel and the forests there are beautiful cx I go once a year with my friends for the snow usually.
Ahh LA is always a fun spot to visit lol it's crazy but worth it

Very sneaky. Penelope made the mistake of being too distracted to not realize he'd follow her xD
Honestly Crow's in for a very bad surprise lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Things didn't settle down easily in the camp. The barons were furious over what had occurred and were already making plans to try and track down the thieves. However, they decided to hold off on sending out any patrols until the next day, mainly due to the fact that the camp needed a bit of extra held in doing damage control. Penelope spent most of her day in a long meeting with the barons and other lieutenants as they pieced together what they would do about the thieves as well as how their shortage of supplies would now force them to postpone the battle plans. For the most part, she didn't contribute to the discussion and merely listened as the others planned.

The female knight spent most of her time silently trying to figure out how she would face Crow in their upcoming meeting. She wanted to know what had happened for him to leave her camp in such a devastated state while also finding a bit of anger beginning to boil inside her. How could he do this to the knights? Even if it was to postpone the battle, he had left them in an overly weak state and not to mention how many of her comrades he had killed.

As the meeting finally ended, night had already fallen so Penelope headed straight to her tent, planning to get ready for the meeting she had with Crow. Her stomach churned anxiously as the time grew closer to see him. She felt very little excitement for their meeting and nearly wanted to avoid it all together. She took a steeling breath and carefully stepped out of her tent, to begin her trip to the meeting place.

"I knew it. You're sneaking off to meet with him, aren't you?"

Penelope jumped as a voice came from nearby shadows and she whirled around to spot Gavin as he stepped into sight. She frowned, realizing that the male knight had likely been keeping a closer eye on her after the day's events. "I told you I need to hear what happened." she said softly with a hint of desperation in her voice. "I just.. I just don't understand how he could do this."

"He's a thief with no sense of loyalty. He used you so he could hurt us, I'm sure of it." Anger flashed in his brown eyes. "You shouldn't see him."

Penelope averted her gaze and crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "He wasn't using me..but something did go wrong here. Maybe I made a mistake and misjudged him.. I'm not sure but that's exactly why I have to see him, Gavin. I need to talk to him. I-I might be able to get him to give us some of our supplies back."

Gavin let out a small sigh and shifted uneasily. He fell silent for a moment before taking a step closer to her. "If you have to talk to him then let me come with you."

"What? No." Penelope blinked and quickly shook her head. "I need to deal with this on my own." That, and she wasn't quite sure how Crow would react if she were to bring Gavin with her, especially after what had happened on the raid. Bringing Gavin could put him in potential danger as well as make Crow much less willing to talk with her about what had occurred.

"What if he tries to hurt you?"

"He won't hurt me." Penelope said. She was at least confident of that much. She didn't doubt the thief's feelings for her, considering he had gotten her to trade her guard shift. It didn't lessen the betrayal but she certainly didn't believe he would try to harm her.

"How can you be so sure after everything that happened?" Gavin questioned with a frown. "Just let me go with you."

"I know him. He wouldn't hurt me, Gavin. Just let me handle this on my own." Penelope insisted. As Gavin opened his mouth to argue, she quickly cut him off. "I'm not going to change my mind on this so please just drop it."

Gavin hesitated then let out a small sigh. "Alright..But please, be safe Penelope."

"I will."

Gavin took a resigned step back and Penelope turned to head off into the woods. As she walked towards their meeting place, the knight tried to think over what she would say to him when she finally met with him again. For a moment, she worried what his excuse would be. He must have been planning for a such a big attack and that also meant he was confident enough about his reasoning to be able to face her again so soon after. I'll have to stay guarded.. He hurt too many this time. she told herself as she looked ahead with a somber expression. Millicent died because I listened to him so easily before. I can't do that again.

The meeting spot eventually came into sight and she slowed her pace. Her began to race anxiously, which was a very different feeling from the usual excitement she had from seeing him. The knight clenched her fists at her side, trying to ready herself to confront the thief as she reluctantly stepped into the clearing.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Yeah that's good.

Nice cx I think I'm more of a two season person but I'd like to see the other seasons on occasion lol I usually go up to Big Bear for that type of stuff though
Oh nice cx Maybe one day!

I may have typed most of that up last night cx
Gavin's pretty pissed but he's also trying to make the most of Crow's 'betrayal' xD and unfortunately for Crow it's kinda working

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The next morning, Penelope woke up to the sounds of voices outside of her tent. The knight ignored it at first until she realized that she must have slept in too late. Crap it sounds like half the camp is already up! Despite her grogginess, the knight shot up from her bed with alarm and quickly scrambled to throw on her armor. Perhaps there was still a chance she could catch up with Nina. As she got ready, the knight slowed her actions as she became more aware of the talking going on outside. Most voices were muffled and too far to understand but nearly all of them seemed panicked. She even caught the words of a few yells.

"-they're dead!"

"Our supplies-!"

"Someone get the barons!"

Something was wrong. Penelope froze as she recalled the raid Crow and the other thieves were going to do on the camp and she felt her heart sink. Had they been caught? The knight stormed out into the chaos of her camp, feeling a flash of worry coarse through her. However, it was far from the sight she expected. Around her, her comrades were scrambling to wake everyone up in a panic and as she walked further towards the middle, she was quick to notice a number of dead guards on the ground. Penelope felt a hint of panic welling up in her as she took in the sights. Something must have gone rather wrong during the raid but it seemed like the thieves had gotten away.

The knight faltered as her gaze landed on the body of Millicent. The archer was slumped over on the ground with an obvious wound on her neck caused by some sort of blade. Penelope quickly averted her gaze away from her dead comrade, immediately feeling a wave of guilt. She should have just kept her guard duty, then there would have been no reason for Millicent to die.

"Penelope! Oh thank the gods."

Before she could even react, she felt two strong arms suddenly wrap around her and hold her tightly. Penelope blinked, looking up to see Gavin. The male knight trembled with relief and finally let her go as he met her gaze concernedly. "I-I thought you were dead. I knew you were supposed to be on guard duty last night and.." he frowned and shook his head.

"I had Millicent take over my shift.." Penelope shook her head and glanced over at the archer. The female knight shuddered and looked up at him. "Gavin.. Do you know anything about what happened? What's going on?"

"From what I've heard, all the night guards were killed and nearly half of our supplies were stolen last night."

Penelope's eyes widened with alarm and panic began to wash over the knight. "A-Are you sure?" she stuttered.

"That's what Layth and Tomas were saying before they ran off to get the barons."

The knight felt sick at his response. It was one thing to merely kill a couple guards to keep from getting discovered but it seemed they had all been killed rather mercilessly, leaving not even one left standing. Is that why he didn't want me on guard duty? She trembled and brought a hand up to cover her mouth in horror at the realization that Crow had likely been planning this. For a moment, the knight tried to think of any other possible reasoning, wishing that there was another explanation for so many of her comrades deaths as well as their large amount of missing supplies. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to.

"Penelope.." Gavin took her hands in his giving them a small squeeze. He glanced around before pulling her off to the side, behind a nearby tent in hopes to get them some privacy. The female knight didn't resist and followed after him silently, whirling from everything that had happened. He met her gaze with a concerned look. "This.. This was him wasn't it?"

Penelope remained silent.

"Please don't tell me you're still protecting him after this, Penelope."

"I-I just.. I don't know. We don't know what happened last night, I just need to hear his side of the story first.." Penelope said shaking her head. A heavy feeling of guilt and betrayal churned in her stomach. She had never asked too much about his plans because she had trusted him. The knight never would have expected him to leave her camp in such a devastated mess, regardless of whatever reasoning he had. As hurt as she felt, she couldn't just turn on him though and that was something Gavin didn't seem to understand.

"He killed our comrades ruthlessly and took enough of our supplies to leave us more than vulnerable for the next attack. Does it even matter what his excuses are?" Gavin asked with an edge to his voice that made her flinch. He exhaled softly and shook his head. "I know you cared a lot for him but you have to see how dangerous he is now."

"I do but.. I just need to hear what happened." Penelope mumbled meekly.

"Ah there you two are!"

Penelope and Gavin jumped slightly and looked over to see Olivia hurrying towards them. The other female knight looked quite relieved to see them as she joined them behind the tent. Her gaze immediately focused on Penelope. "What's going on? Do you know anything about what happened last night?"

"Not really.." Penelope paused then lowered her voice as she spoke to Olivia. "Crow told me he was planning a raid but... I-I didn't expect this."

"Lover boy really stabbed you in the back this time, huh?" Olivia frowned, lowering her own gaze and seeming rather bothered by Penelope's words.

Gavin wrapped an arm around Penelope's shoulders. "We'll figure out a way to properly deal with this." he mumbled. "But we should head off to the center of camp. Everyone's suppose to gather there to hear what the barons have to say."

"I imagine it's nothing good." Olivia sighed.

Penelope glanced up at Gavin. Though he had his arm around her, she didn't fight it, instead finding it a bit comforting. With Crow's betrayal, she felt less than inclined to keep her promise to the thief at the moment. She wasn't even sure where she stood with him now. Her trust in him was wavering and the hurt she felt weighed heavily on her heart. He might not have been willing to hurt her, but the damage he had done to her camp couldn't be excused easily. The knight let out a shaky sigh and followed her friends as they headed towards the center of camp.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

No worries and that sucks! Good thing they were just small ones but that's still a mess
I'm lucky California only seems to have two season very hot and slightly chilly lol

Ok c:

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Honestly xD
Yeah cx I imagine she's going to be excited but she'll worry Crow won't be happy with that life so she'll be really conflicted lol

Let the chaos begin!

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

"Gods, can you slow down a bit." Olivia panted as she took a step back from Penelope.

Penelope chuckled at her friend and lowered her sword for a moment. "Come on, Olivia. Usually you keep up better than this." she smirked a little. Training had begun as usual and this time Penelope had decided to partner up with Olivia as a sparring partner. Olivia wasn't as skilled of a swordsman as she was but the other female knight was still a competent opponent. It had been a while since the two had tested their skills against each other, mainly because Olivia usually avoided sparring with Penelope.

"I've spent the last two days practicing, I'm sore." Olivia rolled her eyes. "What I don't understand is why you're not."

"I am but I just try to push past it." Penelope shrugged.

Olivia gave a heavy sigh. "Of course you do." The other female knight subtly smirked and then suddenly lunged forward with her sword. "Think fast!" Penelope quickly deflected the attack, having partly suspected Olivia would try such a move. She had sparred with her enough times to know that Olivia often resorted to some type of trick or surprise to gain the upper hand against opponents of higher skill. In the past, it had worked but now Penelope knew better than to lower her guard around her friend until the sparring match was officially over.

She raised her sword and swiped at Olivia's side. Her friend blocked it quickly, clenching her jaw slightly as she strained. The two clashed their swords a couple more times as Olivia went back on the defensive as Penelope tried to find an opening. She finally managed to slip past Olivia's defense to get close enough to hook a leg out and sweep her feet out from under her. Olivia fell on her back and Penelope quickly advanced on her, pointing her sword down at her throat.

"Yield now?"

"Yeah, yeah." Olivia panted tiredly.

Penelope smiled and sheathed her sword before offering her hand to her friend and helping her up to her feet. "You're improving a lot with your defense. It was hard to find an opening that time." she mused.

"I guess." Olivia shrugged. "I'm not good with swords.. I think I'll just stick to my dagger and mace."

----

The rest of the day went by smoothly and Penelope even managed to have a bit more free time than the day before. It wasn't long before night fell. She spent the evening with her friends and eventually parted with them to head off to her tent. She still planned to go to sleep early, intent on actually staying true to her word about heading out with Nina on a patrol the next morning. As she walked, her gaze drifted over the guards that she passed. It was the night of the raid.

She hoped it went smoothly for the thieves. Penelope didn't worry too much about it. Crow was feeling better and he was a skilled thief so she managed to not focus on any lingering concern as she headed into her tent for the night. Hopefully my comrades won't go crazy about a few missing supplies like before though.. Penelope thought as she settled down in her bed. Closing her eyes, the knight soon drifted off into a deep sleep.