Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow crossed his arms, pretending to listen critically as Penelope told her story. He did smile at the mention of the plan involving a dress, however. It was somehow difficult to imagine her wearing something ‘fit for a princess,’ and, come to think of it, he had never seen the knight wear anything even remotely feminine. He tilted his head and knit his brow slightly, attempting to picture her in the clothing of a noblewoman. Now that he thought about it, she wouldn’t look half bad in a fancy dress. If she let her hair down and sat a bit more regally, she could actually pull it off. He could see why her old comrade would have wanted to try a plan like that.

Penelope went on to describe how the other knight, Jonathan, wound up wearing the dress in the end, and Crow laughed. He would have liked to see a knight dress like a woman and flirt with a nobleman. The members of the king’s army were always so arrogant. It would have been quite a sight to watch one of them do something so embarrassing.

Crow clapped when Penelope finished her story, “I must admit: I never expected you to come up with a tale like that. It was quite entertaining.” He wasn’t even lying. It was amusing to hear about a knight getting publicly humiliated by his own comrades.

He clicked his tongue, “I suppose this means I’ll have to hold up my end of the bargain and tell you something about myself now, huh? You said you’re not interested in learning about me, but I think I can change your mind. All it takes is one simple, little detail.” He smirked at the knight, his eyes glittering with amusement, and moved closer to her, dropping his voice to a whisper. “My real name isn’t Crow.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

My teacher actually just moved the test to Thursday, so I can procrastinate tonight~ XD
I'll get to work on a post in a little less than an hour :3

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Sorry if my writing is bad lately. I just woke up and read my post this morning and realized how choppy it was ^-^;

Also, I've got a midterm tomorrow so I may not be able to post today unless I can get my studying done early. Just thought I should let ya know :)

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow stared at Penelope in surprise when she agreed to let him keep his dagger. He had been fully expecting her to ignore his protests and take the weapon away whether he consented to it or not. The knight was putting a lot of faith in him by knowingly allowing him to be armed like that. Was she honestly beginning to trust him or was she just playing at some sort of angle? He couldn’t think of any advantages she could gain by giving him the dagger, but maybe she knew something he didn’t. He slipped the blade back into his boot. Whatever she might have been planning, he now had a weapon he could use in his future escape. The dagger would be quite helpful when they reached the outer villages.

Crow took another bite of his apple and let out a quiet sigh as he watched the trees pass by the window. The journey was so dreadfully dull. He almost found himself hoping for another bandit attack just for the sake of entertainment. He finished off his breakfast, tossing the core out the window, and nestled more comfortably into the pile of blankets. With nothing better to do, he decided he might as well catch up on the sleep he missed from the previous night. He yawned and closed his eyes, letting himself drift off.

--

At about high noon, Crow awoke again. He was a bit dazed, momentarily forgetting why he was in the back of a wagon before he remembered the king’s assignment from the day before. Right. He was supposed to sneak into the palace of the king of Younis, steal a holy walking stick, and bring it back to his own king without getting killed or potentially smote by the Younisian gods. But, on the bright side, he was no longer locked up in a prison cell. That had to count for something.

Crow glanced across the wagon at Penelope. She didn’t seem nearly as concerned about watching him closely as she had been before. Somehow, getting attacked in the woods together seemed to have bonded them, if only just a little bit. She may not have fallen for him outright, but at least she appeared to trust him more. This was good news for Crow. If he could just get her to lower her guard enough, he wouldn’t even have to go through with the king’s ridiculous quest. He watched silently. She had been so nice to him lately that he almost felt sorry for manipulating her like this... Almost. The prospect of freedom was still too sweet for him to throw away to spare the feelings of one woman.

Thinking about his escape again, he felt his heartbeat quicken. They were getting close to the outer villages now. It wouldn’t be long before he found a chance to take off and leave these foolish knights behind. It was exciting, but he also knew the preparations had yet to be completed. He had to make use of the time he had left to get Penelope to trust him enough that he could get away from her.

Just a little bit more.

“Well, that was a nice nap,” Crow said, raising his arms over his head in a long stretch. He glanced out the window and then turned to meet Penelope’s gaze across the wagon. “It seems like we still have a while to go before we reach the next village. How about we play a game? I’ve always enjoyed a good story, so here’s my proposition: If you tell me one from your days as a knight and I like it, then I’ll tell you something about myself.” He smiled at her mischievously. “I’m well aware that you have hardly any records on me. You must be dying to fill in the blanks, right?”

Curse of the Shadow [Jones Sparrow + Summer]

Okay, I like that idea :)

I'm also a fan of the concept of shadow people (I eluded to one in my first post), so I was thinking we could put one or more of them into the story. I'm still debating what their influence would be on the characters and NPCs though. There's so many options lol :)

Curse of the Shadow [Jones Sparrow + Summer]

Hey, sorry I haven't replied in a while. It's been a hectic week, so I haven't gotten around to a lot of my RPs.
Hopefully I'll be able to post sometime soon. I'll definitely start working on my reply over the next few days :)

Anyway, do you have any ideas to spice up the story? I feel like it will get old if our characters just keep chatting, but I don't want to take over and throw in some drama without your OK. There is an element of horror to this RP, so maybe we could do something with that if you're interested?

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow shrugged when Penelope revealed that she had indeed seen him take the apple. It didn’t matter to him so long as he had something to fill his empty stomach. He could always find a way to sneak some more food later if he got hungry before lunch. He reached into his tunic and pulled out the fruit, lifting it to his lips to take a bite as the knight went on speaking. He frowned slightly in confusion when she told him to give back the dagger, and then remembered the attack the night before. Of course. She must have seen him use it to hit the noblewoman. In the midst of the fight, he had forgotten that he was supposed to keep the weapon a secret from her. He sighed in resignation and drew the dagger from his boot, holding it up to look at it one more time.

“The king spoils you knights,” he muttered wistfully, turning the small blade over in his hands. It really was a fine piece of work. The smith who made it must have been quite talented in his craft. Crow hadn’t seen a dagger as fine as the one he held now since he had raided the weapons storage of the citadel knights, and even then he hadn’t gotten a close look. He had been targeting the knights’ bows and arrows that night to disarm the bowmen—by leaving the archers with no weapons, his entrance and escape had been much easier—before he had gone on a second raid in the palace.

Still reluctant to hand the dagger over, Crow glanced up to meet Penelope’s gaze, “Is it really so terrible for me to borrow one weapon? As you said, I’ve already helped you once. Who’s to say that won’t happen again?” His eyes flicked to the front of the wagon and then back to the knight, and he lowered his voice. “William doesn’t have to know, and I’ve already shown you that I can be cooperative. Can’t we just keep this our little secret?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow got up from the ground when Abraxas finally returned with the wagon. He walked over to the back and climbed inside, finding his old spot beside the piles of blankets and leaning into them as he sat down. As he waited for Penelope to join him in the carriage, his green eyes swept over the other supplies in search of anything worth taking. Naturally, his gaze rested on the food stock. They had yet to eat breakfast, and he was still hungry. He glanced at Penelope as she began to enter the wagon, and then crawled over to the burlap sack, slipping his hand inside and quickly withdrawing an apple. He dropped the fruit down his tunic and moved back to the pile of blankets to lie down again. It wasn’t a particularly sneaky attempt, but he wasn’t trying to be clever about it. It wasn’t like the knight could complain if she had seen him taking the food. It was time for breakfast, and he had only grabbed one apple, which was a portion fit for a single person, anyways.

But, just in case Penelope hadn’t seen him take the fruit, Crow kept it hidden in his tunic so he might be able to get a second helping. If she did know, he could just say he was saving it for later, which wouldn’t be completely unbelievable since William had skipped lunch the day before. Either way, Crow would get at least one small meal out of this situation. He smiled to himself and leaned back against the blankets, resting his arms behind his head as he relaxed.

With everyone positioned where they were supposed to be, William cropped his horse and they began to travel down the road again. In the back of the wagon, Crow decided to see whether his breakfast plan would lead him to one meal or two. He looked at Penelope from across the carriage and gave her a playful smirk, “Feeling hungry, love? It’s going to be a long trip, so how about we have something to eat?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow laughed when Penelope became flustered and tried to justify her actions, “Is that so? Well, maybe you knights should take a hint from us ‘criminals.’ You wouldn’t have lasted until morning if you had stayed to fight with no armor and only a small dagger to defend yourself. Disagree with me if you like, but I think even the most cold-blooded warrior would have reason to turn tail and flee in a situation like that.”

As they rounded the last corner, Crow could see William standing with Abraxas right where he had left them. The former had his typical irritable look plastered on his face, and he glared at the thief the instant he came into view, “It’s about time.”

“It looks like she didn’t need my help, after all,” Crow threw the knight a lopsided smile and held out his hands in a shrug.

“Let’s head out,” William said to the others, ignoring the thief once again. “We need to reach the next designated inn by nightfall. If all goes well, we should make it to the bordering villages before tomorrow ends.” With that, he turned and started walking towards the exit. Crow followed after him, grinning to himself in unchecked excitement. In less than two days, he would be rid of these knights. He knew the outer villages well, so he would have no trouble slipping away when he found an opportunity to do so. It was only a matter of time now.

When everyone was outside, William sent Abraxas to fetch the horses and the wagon from the stables, where everything had been guarded by the local knights overnight. While they waited, Crow sat down on the ground and began stretching out his limbs. William gave him an estranged look, to which the thief indignantly replied, “Thievery requires limberness. Do you want me to steal the king his staff or not?” The knight just rolled his eyes, but Crow didn’t care what he thought as long as he bought the excuse. With the date of his escape looming so close, it was time he started preparing for it more seriously.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow nodded thoughtfully. It was interesting to him that her father had trained her to be a knight rather than a housewife. Since she was able to join the king’s army, she must have belonged to a family of high status, and from what he knew about noblewomen, they always seemed to marry young so long as they weren’t… hard on the eyes, to put it lightly. But Penelope had no physical deficiencies. He found it odd that her father would have trained her to fight rather than raise a family. Crow casted her a sidelong glance. She was a formidable knight. Perhaps her father had seen her potential early on and decided to put it to use.

“Alright, my turn then,” Penelope said when she finished telling her story. “What led you to becoming a thief?”

He thought for a moment. He knew the reason why, but he wasn’t sure if he was willing to share it with her. From what he could tell, the knights of Brerra had very few personal records on him, and he wanted to keep it that way. He had no intention to quit his life of thievery when he escaped, so he wanted to keep them in the dark for as long as he possibly could. Besides, how did he know Penelope wasn’t just trying to pry information out of him? She might have been attempting to coax answers out of him to report back to William.

But, thinking about it again, he somehow doubted that. She didn’t seem to bear any ill intent. Her voice and facial expression held only curiosity, and she had proven to be a terrible liar earlier in their journey. It wasn’t likely that she was hiding anything from him. He considered her request again. Maybe he could just share some of the vaguer details of his past in return for her answer to his question earlier. Besides, it wasn’t like he had to be honest about everything.

“My mother was also a thief,” Crow started slowly. That wasn’t too much information. His mother had never taken on any ambitious runs that would have put her name in the knights’ records. As far as he knew, they didn’t have any clue who she was, and therefore had no way to link him to her. “In the part of the kingdom where I grew up, there weren’t any opportunities to advance. Everyone was poor, and everyone was condemned to stay that way.” He paused again, feeling satisfied with his answer so far. All of the outer villages were impoverished, and they made up a large portion of the kingdom. The knight would have a hard time pinpointing the location of his home from that single detail. He looked up to meet her gaze as he went on, “My father left before I was born, so my mother took care of me by stealing food from the knights that patrolled our village. As I grew older, she taught me the basics of thievery, and eventually I was the one stealing food for her.

"Like many peasants, she became sick when she reached the age of thirty. She died shortly after.” He shrugged. Most people died young in the outer villages. They were underfed and many of their water supplies were contaminated. Diseases and death were an everyday occurrence, and he had come to accept the fact that his mother had just been one of the masses.

“But that’s not why I became a thief,” Crow continued. “Sure, my mother taught me the basics, but I don’t steal to ‘keep her memory alive’ or any sappy reason like that. I do it for myself.” He shook his head and smiled. “I know that sounds greedy, but it’s difficult to explain to someone who’s never experienced living on the outskirts of the kingdom. There’s just something rewarding about teaching the rich what it’s like to feel need. And besides, it’s fun.” Crow gave Penelope a teasing nudge. “You can’t lie to me; I know you enjoyed running from those nobles last night. That’s just a taste of what it’s like to be a thief—a successful one, mind you. Amateurs don’t know how to get away with stunts like that, but luckily for you, you’re working with a professional.”