BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope smiled as Crow moved to sit down besides her and leaned into her side. The knight pressed into him as well, enjoying their small break together. It was nearly beginning to feel peaceful when Rikki suddenly popped in. Penelope turned her head to see Rikki leaning over Crow with her hands on his shoulders, immediately making the knight feel uneasy again. At her words, Penelope stiffened and bit her tongue. Annoying witch. She thought with a hint of venom, wishing that Rikki would put some distance away from Crow.

However, she kept jealousy-fueled words to herself. It would be ridiculous for her to get jealous. Afterall, she was the one that had won the thief's heart, not Rikki. But maybe that's not enough... Am I enough? The thought sounded unpleasantly from the back of her mind as she eyed the female thief, subconsciously beginning to compare herself to the female thief. Penelope blinked, realizing what she was doing and quickly focused back on the conversation as she realized she hadn't replied. It wasn't a question she wanted to dwell nor one that she ever planned to.

"No thanks." she muttered, unable to keep a bitter edge out of her voice.

"Oh, are you sure?" Rikki said with a small pout. Penelope swore she could still make out a grin tugging at the edges of her lips though. "Crow can testify to how good they are."

"Positive." she grumbled in reply. Feeling rather powerless to do anything else—she didn't want to make a scene in front of the others—she turned her head to look the other way. As she did, she unintentionally ended up catching Gavin's gaze. Just when she thought the situation was bad enough, it seemed to get worse as the male knight was close enough to overhear the conversation and was now looking over at Crow and Rikki with a hint of confusion as well as suspicion in his dark eyes.

Gavin shifted his gaze over to her questioningly and Penelope quickly shifted her gaze elsewhere. She didn't want to have to explain the situation to the male knight. He already didn't trust Crow and him finding out that Rikki was trying to get between them as well didn't sit well with her.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Gavin's in hell XD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope noticed something seemed a bit off with the grin he gave her. However, it was so slight that the knight barely dwelled on it and instead gave a nod of agreement, glad that he seemed optimistic. After all, Jaxon had managed to kill comrades on both sides so Penelope didn't doubt he was just as eager as her to bring down the murderous thief. She looked back ahead as Olivia suddenly spoke up requesting a break.

Though Gavin tried to keep them moving, it appeared he was vastly outnumbered now. She bit back a smirk as Crow added to it with his mocking tone. Gavin looked back at them with a frustrated gaze and his gaze shifted to Penelope, as if hoping to find some sort of ally in her. Unfortunately for him, the female knight just shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like it." she agreed with Crow, making the male knight deflate slightly as he seemed to realize just how outnumbered he was now.

"Fine. We'll stop." he growled in reluctant agreement.

"Perfect!" Olivia chirped happily.

Penelope shook her head in amusement and followed after Gavin as he headed towards the small clearing. "Seems like Gavin just lost a good deal of control over this mission." she whispered to Crow with a hint of amusement. "We just have to be careful not to abuse it too much though." she gave him a small wink before letting go of his hand as they reached the clearing. The knight placed her bag down under one of the trees and rolled her shoulders.

They hadn't been traveling long so she wasn't overly stiff but unsure when they would stop again now that they had taken a break rather early, she decided it was still best to make the most of it. She glanced around as she moved to sit down under the tree and watched as the others settled into the clearing. Gavin was the only one who didn't relax right away. His gaze swept over the others before he moved to sit down relatively nearby her, as if worried about putting too much distance between them. She let out a quiet sigh and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree, making no comment on it for now.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Same xD
This group is a mess and I love it lol

I'm also really excited for when Penelope eventually finds out about Crow and Jaxon... I think her reaction is going to be fun for me at least xD not so much for her or Crow

It really is lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope nodded her head in agreement with Crow's words. "I know and hopefully he will eventually." she mused. The knight didn't think much of the short silence that fell over them. As the thief spoke up again asking about patrols, she looked over at him and gave a small smile. "Well we shouldn't have to worry about them too much." she told him with a proud gleam in her gaze as she looked up at him.

"I helped my baroness plan a good majority of the patrols. Most won't be near us but we should keep an eye out once we're closer to Wheldrake. I believe she's sending a couple to search between Wheldrake and Azmar." The knight shrugged her shoulders and glanced up at him. "I figured it could be helpful to have a patrol search there just in case the thieves headed straight past Wheldrake. We should be able to avoid them pretty easily though. I saw the route their meant to take and it's separated from ours.

"The only ones we might have to be a little concerned about are the patrols by uncle and the other baron send out. However, I doubt they'll send them this way. My uncle and brother think my lead isn't worth the time so they'll likely send patrols elsewhere. Bennet, the other baron, isn't very bright so I imagine any patrol he sends out won't be near us." Penelope added. She smiled up at Crow and gave his hand a small squeeze. "Also I managed to give my baroness a little bit of a warning about Jaxon's group.. At least, I suggested that it was likely a different group than yours. So with any luck, the patrols she sends out might actually be looking for the right person which could be helpful if they manage to find anything."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oh geez xD
And we thought just the small group before was a trainwreck lol

Meanwhile Olivia's probably going to have a lot more enjoyable time this trip XD she won't even have to worry about trying to cause trouble at this rate lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope laced her fingers with his as he took her hand again, giving it a small squeeze. She noticed there seemed to be a bit of tension between Rikki and Crow but she didn't bother to ask about it as Crow spoke up instead. The knight nodded her head. "Yeah it's all fine." she assured him then paused before correcting herself. "Well, as fine as it can be." She gave a small frown as her gaze flickered ahead towards Gavin, who was walking alone at the front. He remained tense but now he seemed to be glancing over his shoulder less so she took it as a sign that he had at least accepted the group for now.

"He's not exactly thrilled about having the others with us..I think he just wanted to see if I knew anything about them coming." she replied, keeping her voice down. The knight glanced over her shoulder towards Olivia and Alistair. Olivia seemed rather distracted now that the other male thief had joined and though Olivia denied any feelings for him still, Gavin seemed to pick up a bit on their closeness.

Looking back to Crow, Penelope leaned in close to him, dropping her voice down to a whisper as she added, "Plus seeing Olivia and Alistair flirting like they do certainly hasn't help. I imagine he's not very fond of the idea, that not only one, but both of his comrades are involved with thieves." She gave a roll of her eyes and looked back ahead. "He probably thinks you two are tricking us to turn against him or something. Regardless, I think you guys will need to be a bit more careful around him at the moment.. At least until he gets a little more used to working with you or at least less suspicious."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Honestly xD combined with Gavin's distrust of the thieves it's just going to be a mess lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope gave a nod, glad to hear that everyone was at least somewhat on the same page. As he moved closer to her and took her hand in his, she gave him a questioning look and was about to glance over her shoulder towards the other thieves when he informed her that they had no reason to hide anymore. She blinked and then gave a small smile before nodding her head. "Of course." she mumbled, feeling a small bit of joy that they didn't have to put a ton of distance between each other.

That joy was soon squished as Rikki popped up on the other side of Crow, causing for Penelope to grow a bit tense despite herself. The knight shifted her gaze to focus ahead as they walked, intent on trying push away any discomfort she felt, however, it seemed that wouldn't be easy to do as Rikki went on to address her directly. She turned to look over at Rikki, catching the faint edge to her words despite the friendliness she portrayed.

The knight hesitated to reply. Her discomfort and insecurities made the knight tempted to act defensively with the female thief, however, Penelope managed to restrain herself. Acting overly petty and insecure would only make a bad situation worse. "There have been some perks." she admitted slowly with a quick glance at Crow. Just because she planned to try and act civilly with the thief didn't mean she was going to completely back down. Just like Gavin, Rikki would have to eventually come to accept that the two were together.

"Though I think I would have just taken our regular meetings over all of this happening." the knight said with heavy sigh and attempted to switch the subject. "I'll just be happy once we've gotten rid of him." She noticed the female thief's friendly expression waver for a very brief moment. Before she could reply though, another voice cut in.

"Penelope," Gavin glanced over his shoulder with an uneasy gaze. "Can I speak with you for a second?"

"Sure?" Penelope raised an eyebrow at him. The male knight said nothing at first, glancing towards the two thieves before looking back to her with a faint look of pleading. She let out a sigh, realizing that he clearly wished to speak with her alone. Normally she would have denied his request but with Rikki around, she decided it was likely best to handle whatever was bothering him alone rather than making him voice it openly. She glanced up at Crow and gave her shoulders a small shrug. "Guess I better see what he's worried about now." she mumbled before letting the thief's hand go and picking up her pace to join Gavin at the front.

"Did you know about him bringing them?" Gavin asked in a hushed voiced.

"I knew there was a possibility they would come." Penelope responded with a small shrug. It seemed Gavin was still upset with having to work with the additional thieves. "I've met them before. I don't know them well but they seem fine enough."

Gavin looked over his shoulder again before focusing back on Penelope. "And I take it you're not the only one who's met them before huh?" he asked with frown. "Olivia seems quite... familiar with that one thief."

Penelope shrugged her shoulders. "You know how Olivia is." she replied simply. The female knight offered him a small, reassuring smile. "Look they're not thrilled to be working with us either and with any luck, you won't have to work with them for very long if we're able to track down Jaxon in Wheldrake."

"Right.." Gavin mumbled with a reluctant nod.

Penelope eyed him for a moment. There wasn't much more she could say to ease the tension for Gavin, who hadn't even been fond of working with one thief, but she hoped it was enough to at least pull him slightly out of the worry he felt from suddenly being forced into working with three thieves. She let out a soft sigh and moved to fall back besides Crow again.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice xD

Ok!