BuzzingBee

Everything has a price [Suki & BuzzingBee]

Rowan looked over at him and quirked up an eyebrow as Evan raised the stakes of the bet. "When I win, I'll be sure to pick out the most expensive place I can." she teased in return with a devilish smirk. As he went on to offer to sneak her out the next day, her smirk widened into a grin. "I like that idea." she agreed eagerly. She was bit surprised the Evan had even offered what with him being Damian's right hand when it came to his business. Rowan certainly appreciated that he wasn't strict like her brother or too obedient to go against his word.

As they reached the pub, she hurried out of the car, saying a quick thanks to Evan before ducking into the shelter of the building. Though she didn't mind watching the rain, she did want to try and stay as dry as possible. Plus it was rather warm inside, a nice bonus after briefly being blasted by the cold stormy day. She followed Evan over to the booth, slipping in across from him as she glanced over the menu. She looked up from it as he made a comment on how confident she was about winning.

"Confident for a good reason. You know I'm going to win. Honestly Evan, I'm beginning to think you're just using it as an excuse to take me out on a date." Rowan joked with an amused gleam in her gaze. As he brought up the image of the girl trying to run, she shook her head and leaned back against the booth. "She'd be screwed that's for sure. My brother knows this city like the back of his hand and he's got people all over even if she did manage to slip away from him. I'm still certain she'll try but I definitely don't think she'll succeed." Rowan shook her head and flickered her gaze back onto the menu.

"Well the chicken sandwich for sure... And since we're at a pub might as well get a drink too." she mused with a grin. "I think I could use a cold beer or two after what this day has been like."

---

Damian gave a small grunt as Iris pointed out it was likely that his gang wasn't the only gang Regis had dealings with. That didn't surprise him too much. Her father seemed the type who, when pushed into a corner, would do everything to get himself out of it. Those type of people were often the clients he dealt with after all. As she asked for his help to get her things, he gave a small nod of agreement. It was getting late and with the sudden turn of events, he just wanted to get home to relax.

As a short silence followed, he nearly figured that she didn't have any other questions. He thought it a bit strange, thinking that the girl would be bubbling with confusion. Instead, she seemed a lot more calm than he would have ever expected. Damian supposed her father had been honest when saying she'd understand it was all business. Despite her brief period of being upset, it seemed like she had accepted her fate other wise. Well good.. Less trouble for me. he thought as he turned the corner.

However, it seemed his guess had been wrong.

Damian stifled a grimace as she asked how much she had been worth. To be honest, that was a question he really didn't want to answer. Though he had stubbornly accepted the offer, he didn't like actually associating an amount of money to a human's worth. He was tempted to deny it but supposed that she had a right to know. "£50000." he answered in a quieter voice.

Luckily her home came into view, offering for a switch of subject. He pulled off to park and glanced over at Iris. "Alright let's go get your stuff."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Very true xD They've both been going non stop lmao

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope shivered at the feeling of his warm breath on her ear. She was about to respond when he suddenly tugged her over to the bed. The knight smiled, amused by the playful gesture, and closed her eyes as she kissed him back. Feeling gleeful at the thought of spending the day with him, her concern about getting anywhere fast was momentarily put on hold. After all, it was still early enough for them to catch breakfast. They could spare a bit more time alone before they headed out.

She bit her lip lightly as Crow teased her and rolled her eyes as she looked over at him. "Well I might have a couple ideas." she mused thoughtfully. It likely wasn't a far off guess to assume alone time at the castle would be damn near impossible. Not only would they have a bigger risk of being discovered there but chances were someone might try to join either of them for the day. Namely Naida or even Elizabeth. While the knight had gotten over her insecurity about the other woman's tricks, that certainly didn't mean she was any more eager to spend time with her.

Plans aside, she didn't plan to take his teasing one sidedly. A devious smirk crossed her lips and she began trailed her leg up against his. "There's a river not far from the castle that we can meet at. If you follow the water, upstream there's a clearing we can meet up at." she explained, moving to trace her fingertips over the side of his face. Penelope's gaze drifted to his lips but instead of moving in to meet him for a kiss, her gaze shifted back up to meet his with a playful gleam in her gaze.

"Of course, I can just walk out the front gates and claim I'm going to my home but you'll have to figure a less obvious way out. Provided you haven't gotten too soft being a viceroy and all." she teased, giving his cheek a poke. "If you need help with sneaking around, I'm sure I could give you a refresher course. I had a fairly decent teacher, after all."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Yep xD

Penelope kinda jumped at the chance to take a break xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope smiled as he grinned at her. "I hope so." she mused as he said Toreus picked the right person. With everything that appeared to be riding on the end of the war, she couldn't help but hope the god knew what he had been doing by entrusting her to end it. As Crow went on to say that he had had some success of his own, her smile widened. "That's great!" she mused happily. Knowing that two nobles were already signed on for the party made the knight's hope soar a bit more. If Crow had already managed to convince two, then there was a good chance he could easily increase that number.

As he leaned in to kiss her, she eagerly met his lips with equal passion, her spirits lifted greatly after settling their issues as well as talking about the progress they were both making to end the war. She closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly as he began to press kisses to her jawline. Her heart began to race, excited by his touch after having keeping a distance for so long. Penelope cracked open her eyes slightly at his next words, raising an eyebrow as he said he had more good news. As he explained that his father had given him the day off, she blinked in mild surprise. Going day after day of lessons, she almost didn't think he was going to going to get a break until he had finished his studies. She was glad to know she had been wrong.

A smirk crossed her lips at his words, more than a little tempted by the offer. After all that had been going on, taking a day off with him sounded quite appealing to the knight. Plus it wasn't like she had any major plans that day, so surely it wouldn't hurt, right? "I'd like that... I don't have a guard shift today either.. I don't see why we shouldn't as long as we're careful.." she moved to capture his lips in another kiss, lingering for a moment as she slipped her arms up to wrap loosely around his neck. She pulled back a from him and let out a soft sigh as she recalled there was one responsibility that would likely need some attention that day. "Although I might need to stop by and speak with the Lenzs at some point... We decided to host this party by the end of the week."

Penelope casted him a smile and leaned in to press a few kisses up along his neck. "It's fine though.. I can visit them before supper. I'm sure there isn't much to do yet." she murmured.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Unfortunately Penelope's biggest critic has always been herself cx

And nice lmao when there's conflict in this it just feels like I'm a third person looking in and I want to duck out until it's solved xD especially when I know my character's response haha

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope shifted easily as he spoke, unsure how to take his first words. As he went on to say that it was ok to go to him with questions so long as she didn't jump to conclusions first, the knight nodded her head in agreement. She was glad that it sounded like Crow was forgiving her for the slight mess and hurt she had caused him. It would have been much worse if he hadn't accepted her words after all. However, she was still caught off guard when he wrapped her up in an embrace. Penelope blinked and looked up at him as he went on to reassure her of her worth.

Hearing him speaking of her so highly, she felt a bit of embarrassment for getting so worked up before. The knight should have known better but it had been difficult at the time to remind herself of such things. Penelope looked up at him and smiled as he touched a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you." she murmured softly as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. She felt herself relax a bit. She was still mad at herself for hurting him but at least he seemed to realize it wasn't based past lies. The knight didn't want him thinking she was paranoid of history repeating itself when that wasn't the case.

"I'm sorry about this mess I caused." she sighed softly and pulled back slightly to meet his gaze. Penelope gave him a half hearted smile. "I love you, though Crow, and I do trust you. There's nothing you have done in the past that would make me worry about it now." Feeling a fondness for him, she leaned up and pressed an affectionate kiss to his lips. As she pulled back, a gleam sparked in her gaze as she remembered a more light hearted topic that she had been meaning to tell him about.

"Speaking of something to be proud of," Penelope smiled up at him hopefully. "I got letters in yesterday from some of the nobles I wrote. Including those barons. That other lieutenant, Jonathan, actually helped me out a great deal. Practically all the letters were ones of support for a peaceful end to the war. If this party goes as well as I hope, I think we might be able to pull this off still."

Everything has a price [Suki & BuzzingBee]

Oh nice! That's the first positive review I've heard for it xD

It's been good c: mainly just chilling with the dogs

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope feels extremely bad xD
also can I just say I realized that as a 9 even confrontation is difficult for me to write lmao

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope glanced at Crow as she waited for him to reply. As he finally stepped back from her, she frowned as he expressed the hurt she had caused him. It made the knight's chest feel tight at the knowledge that she was the one who had caused it. This was exactly what she had been trying to prevent before the rumors had happened. Feeling ashamed for the pain she had caused him, she found it difficult to look over at him as he spoke but she forced herself to. Hearing the strain in his voice made the knight grimaced and she couldn't help but lower her gaze for a moment. After everything he had done for her, she had still hurt him this badly and had fallen for her own worries much too easily.

As he finished, the knight was silent for a brief moment, trying to collect herself before giving a small nod. "You deserve much more than just that." she said softly as she forced herself to look over at him. "I know you wouldn't misuse my affection, Crow... I.. I just messed up and let my own insecurities cloud my better judgment." Penelope shook her head and rubbed her hand over her arm. "It doesn't excuse anything but I want you to know it wasn't so much about my trust in you as it was..well," she shuffled her feet. "my own confidence really. I never thought your heart would stray but at the time, I worried that maybe, the rest of you would get tired of waiting for me. I love you Crow, more than I could put into words and sometimes it's just difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that you love me just as much."

Penelope looked to the floor again. Admitting her insecurity out loud made the knight shrink slightly. She knew that they were ridiculous but at the time they had been nagging at the back of her head. It also likely hadn't helped that the day before both Dimia and Liz had verbally gone after her. While she didn't really care what they thought persay, there was only so much the knight could take before feeling a bit torn down. She took in a breath and forced her gaze back up to meet his. "You don't need to prove anything to me though. You've proven more than enough, done more than enough. I'm sorry that I made you feel like you had to do more. I just need to trust my own worth a bit more. And it won't happen again." she added with a hint of firmness despite her voice being soft. The knight never wanted to see him hurt like that by her again.

"I can't say I won't ever ask you about something if I do hear gossip but I won't let myself buy into words that aren't your own and I won't let my insecurities get the best of me. Things will be different.. I'll learn from my mistakes." she promised him with soft determination. Penelope paused and tentatively reached for his hand, as if unsure he'd accept the gesture at the moment. "You have my word on that."