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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Sweet ^^ I'll reply tonight or tomorrow depending on how late I'm up

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Those are both good options. I think we can go in whatever direction the story takes us :)
Crow and Penelope's next interaction will be interesting for sure

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Awesome x3

Poor Crow was basically heartbroken when Penelope said William was right :'(
He didn't realize she was only saying it to prevent more trouble
Also, I feel like William is gonna keep a close eye on Crow and Penelope for a while.

What do you think should happen in the next town? The group will probably set up camp again somewhere since they can't check in at an inn without revealing they're from Brerra.
Maybe some drama with Hartley, Crow, and Penelope? Or between William, Crow, and Penelope?
Or if we want more action, maybe a patrol of Younisian guards finds their camp

I'm honestly down for anything :) Let me know if you have any ideas!

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As William began to press down with the edge of his sword, Crow felt time slow down. His mind wandered to things that were surprisingly unrelated to his situation: The typical near-death thoughts such as memories of the past and people he had left behind during his lifetime, but also strangely simple details such as the feeling of the wood beneath him and the smell of the air in the wagon. Above all, however, was the regret of leaving Penelope behind. The force of the emotion shocked him. He already knew they would be parting eventually, but somehow the idea of losing his remaining time with her stung more painfully than the sword at his throat.

I guess my pride finally got the best of me, he thought as his mind grew hazy from a lack of air. William had been pressing down on his chest so heavily that he hadn’t been able to draw a breath for a while now. His eyelids fluttered as he began to fade from consciousness. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll pass out before he kills me…

Just as Crow was about to succumb to the darkness, the pressure lifted from his body and he was able to draw breath again. He gasped and rolled onto his side, coughing as his lungs filled with air. He opened his eyes to see Penelope standing between him and William. She had stopped the older knight from finishing him off. He sat up slowly, taking advantage of the knights’ fight to regain his composure. Still dazed, he only caught pieces of their argument.

“…do you think you were doing?! Can’t you… for one second!”

“My hot head? …dared to challenge me!”

Crow shook his head, trying to clear away the fogginess. After a moment, he felt pretty clearheaded again, so he was able to follow the rest of their conversation with some focus. Penelope was telling William he shouldn’t have let the fight get so out of hand, to which the latter replied that she should stop treating the thief like a comrade. He shot William a glare for trying to shift the blame onto her. Penelope’s kindness hadn’t been the cause of his frustration. If anything, she was the reason why he hadn’t stood up for himself sooner. She made the trip much more bearable by treating him like a human.

He glanced at Penelope and was surprised to see how pale she looked after William’s comment. He tilted his head curiously. Did her comrade’s opinion still matter that much to her? He wondered why she was so distraught that William knew she had been nice to him. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right? He stared at her intently as he waited for her response.

“You’re right. I apologize, William.”

The words sent a dagger through Crow’s heart. He averted his gaze. How could she turn against him like that—after everything they had been through? Just when he was beginning to think he could trust her, she turned on him like everyone else. I should have known better, he thought bitterly, curling his fingers into fists at his sides. She may have been nice to me, but her equals will always come first.

William nodded, seeming satisfied with Penelope’s answer, “Glad to see you’ve finally come to your senses.” He turned away from her. “Get back to your posts, you two. We’ve wasted enough time in this town.”

“Of course,” Abraxas said obediently, heading back to his horse.

Once the wagon was moving again, William took up his seat in the corner of the cart. He began addressing Hartley with questions, asking him about the Kingdom of Younis. Crow ignored the interrogation as he crawled to a spot that was as far away from William as he could get. With the knight distracted, he took the time alone to lick his wounds, inspecting his body for bruises—he had some on his head, back, and chest—and checking the severity of the cut on his neck. He gingerly touched a finger to the injury, grimacing as he came away with blood on his hand. It wasn’t deep, since Penelope had intervened before William could do any serious damage, but the sight of his own blood made him sick.

Crow drew his knees to his chest and gazed out the side of the wagon, attempting to distract himself so he wouldn’t throw up. He wasn’t about to give William the pleasure of watching him lose his breakfast over a small cut. Besides, as far as he knew, the knight still didn’t know about his aversion to blood, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Aside from the injury, Crow was also still reeling from what Penelope had said. Her words rang in his head over and over like an incessant bell. He couldn’t believe she would betray his trust like that. He had opened up to her more than anyone else in his life, and it meant nothing to her when compared with her companions’ opinions. That’s what I get for trusting a noble, he closed his eyes as another pang of hurt stabbed at him. What made the pain worse were his feelings for the female knight. They made the ache in his heart all the more unbearable. I should never have let myself fall for her.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Lockton,” William spoke up. Crow looked to see that the knight had finished questioning Hartley—the boy had gone back to pestering Penelope, as usual—and was glaring at him from across the wagon. “Your little stunt just now only reaffirmed that you need to be chained up.”

“Go ahead,” Crow muttered dully. He didn’t care what William did to him anymore. If complying with the knight’s demands would make the journey go by faster, then so be it.

William was quiet for a moment, considering Crow’s change in attitude. “I see you’ve finally learned your place, thief. Good.” He crossed his arms and leaned back contentedly against the corner post of the wagon. “This will make the trip a lot easier.”

“I thought you were going to chain me up.”

“I was,” William said, examining the blade of his sword. “But I don’t think that’s necessary anymore.”

“Why’s that?” Crow eyed him warily.

William met the thief’s gaze and raised his sword, moving to stand up. Crow flinched. He smirked, “Breaking a criminal is just like breaking a horse, and I can see now that you’re quite tame.” He shook his head. “If Penelope had only done this sooner, I’m sure we would have avoided a lot of unnecessary trouble. She has a lot to learn about handling prisoners.”

Crow curled his lip hostilely at William. He didn’t appreciate being compared to a horse, and he didn’t like the fact that the knight believed he had “broken” him. I have quite a bit of spirit left, thank you very much, he thought. I just know how to pick my battles. He kept the thought to himself, however, biting his tongue and laying down with his back to William. If letting the knight have the final word meant he could stay out of chains a little while longer, then that’s what he would do. He closed his eyes to get some sleep.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It's all good! I have something tonight too, so I'd only be able to post for a few hours anyway.
However, I have nothing going on Friday (my husband is taking the car for work and other stuff, so I'll be at home), so I'm pretty much available all day to write tomorrow xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I can’t wait~
I’m going to an event tomorrow morning, so I won’t be able to reply tonight, but I’ll get to it as soon as I can in the afternoon :)

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Yeah, Hartley is enjoying every moment xD He just likes being entertained
I can imagine him thinking that he's glad he chose to tag along with this group lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow finally exploded at William ^^;;

EDIT: Btw, you can write the interrogation between William and Hartley if you want to. I didn't have anything special planned for it :p If William asks why he wanted to tag along, Hartley just wanted to travel to a new place because of his reputation in the last town.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow braced himself, not sure what to expect when William confronted Hartley. He kept his mouth shut, knowing the hot-headed knight would just get more upset if he tried to defend himself. Penelope was quick to explain the situation in his stead, although he didn’t find her description of the events very tasteful. Yes, Hartley had been a jerk for throwing him to the dogs, that much was true. However, he didn’t appreciate her comment about him being an idiot for stealing the money. He preferred to think of it as a precaution. They didn’t know if they would come across a situation where they needed more gold, and now they would never have to worry about it. If anything, he had done them all a favor.

William didn’t seem pleased to see that they had picked up another thief. This wasn’t surprising to Crow, since the knight could barely put up with him by himself. What did surprise Crow was William’s announcement that they would be bringing Hartley along as a captive. He groaned inwardly. The brat was going to get what he wanted, after all…

He met Penelope’s gaze when she complained to him that the trip would be longer now that Hartley was joining them. “That’s an understatement,” he muttered in return.

“Penelope,” William said. “I’ll ride in the cart for this next leg of the trip. I have some questions for our captive.” He glared at Crow. “And a few choice words for our resident criminal.”

“Lovely,” Crow whispered to the female knight. “Now I have two people to talk my ear off…”

As everyone took their positions in and around the wagon, Crow found his spot by the blanket pile once more. He laid down and closed his eyes, ignoring the lurch of the cart as William and Hartley jumped in after him. With any luck, the knight would choose to interrogate his new prisoner before he chewed Crow out for delaying the mission. But luck wasn’t on his side.

He grimaced as he felt a sharp prod in his side. He opened his eyes again to see William replacing his sheathed sword, which he had just used to prod the thief awake. “I’m not letting you sleep just yet,” the knight growled. He held out his hand, “First, you’re going to hand over that money you stole. We unfortunately can’t return it to its rightful owner, thanks to your antics, but I’ll be damned before I let you keep it.”

Crow eyed him in annoyance, “And what are you going to do if I refuse?”

“I can poke you with this again,” William rested a hand on the hilt of his blade. “Without the sheath.”

“Sure you will,” Crow rolled his eyes. “We both know you’re not allowed to harm me.”

“Who told you that?” the knight drew his sword and leveled it threateningly against Crow’s cheek. The cold metal bit icily against his skin. “You just need to be in good enough condition to steal for us. No one said I can’t cut you a little.”

“Alright, alright,” Crow yielded, leaning away from the weapon. He reached into his pocket and tossed William a coin purse.

“I remember Penelope mentioning more than one.”

The thief tossed him one more, “Here. Happy now?”

“Is that everything?”

“That’s all I could get before those knights caught me,” Crow lied. His eyes flickered briefly to Hartley as he silently prayed the boy would keep his mouth shut about the third coin purse. Fortunately, the other thief seemed distracted at the moment, as he currently had his head out the side of the wagon so he could keep talking to Penelope, who rode up front.

William held his gaze for a moment longer before he nodded, “Fine.” He reached out the front window of the wagon, handing the coin purses off to Abraxas. “Hold onto those for me until I can find time to count up what we have. I don’t want either of the thieves finding a way to steal them back from me while I’m in here.”

“Yes, sir,” Abraxas nodded, taking the money and stashing it away in his satchel.

Crow watched the exchange, letting out his breath in relief when William believed that those were the only two bags. He may have lost most of the money he had worked for, but the third and fattest coin purse lay safely tucked away in his tunic pocket.

“Now then,” William growled, raising his sword once again. “What should we do about the thief who delayed us by nearly getting himself arrested for stealing in a market?”

“Let him off with a warning because he’s sorry?” Crow tried with a shrug.

“I don’t think so,” William furrowed his brows in an angry glower. “You’ve caused us quite a bit of time and trouble, thief. You’re lucky I’ve been so merciful to you thus far… but you’re out of luck.” He reached into a nearby bag and pulled out a set of chain cuffs. “Remember these? I warned you that I would use them if you stepped out of line again.”

“Don’t you want to save those for Hartley?” Crow frowned, shifting farther away from the knight. “He’s your prisoner, after all. And I’ve already told you I’m not going to run away.”

“First of all, I don’t believe that for a second,” William said, moving towards him with the cuffs. “And second, this is about keeping you in line, thief. You’ve already proven to me that you’re incapable of behaving on your own, so now I’m going to make you. Now hold still!” He reached for Crow’s wrist, but the thief dodged his grasp by rolling to the other side of the wagon bed.

Crow hurriedly clambered to his feet, standing a bit unsteadily in the moving cart. “Come on,” he said, holding up his hands. “Let’s be reasonable here.”

“I’m done trying to reason with criminals,” William snapped. He jumped to his feet as well, brandishing his sword. “Stand down, or you’re going to hurt yourself, you idiot.”

At this point, Hartley had finally taken notice of the action in the wagon. He poked his head back inside, grinning wildly, “Fight! Fight!”

Crow shot him a glare before he turned back to William, “You know, I don’t normally care about what snotty nobles like you think of me, but I’m starting to get sick of the way you constantly treat me like a disobedient animal.” He reached down into the burlap sack that contained the knights’ spare weapons, drawing the sword he had toyed with on the first day of their journey. He raised the blade towards William. He may not have had the same level of skill with a sword as a knight, and he may not have had a particularly strong stomach at the sight of blood, but he wasn’t about to kneel and give William the satisfaction of chaining him up again.

“En garde,” Crow spat.

William lunged at him with surprising speed for his muscular build. Crow ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the knight’s blade. He struck with his own sword, aiming for his opponent’s legs, but William was quick. The older man jumped back and rocked on his heels, wasting no time in springing at the thief with a counter attack. Crow rolled out of the sword’s path, but before he had time to recover, William was on him again with another swing of his weapon that forced him to dodge yet again. He cursed. The knight was incredibly talented, keeping him on a constant defense. He barely had time to find footing, let alone retaliate.

Crow’s eyes widened as the point of William’s sword slashed just a hair’s breadth away from his nose. He needed to find an opening… There! Between two of William’s attacks, he spotted an opening at about shoulder-height. The thief lunged forward, his sword sliding right through William’s defense so that the blade hovered next to his throat. The two men stopped, breathing heavily from the skirmish. Crow curled his lip at William, “Now, leave me alone.”

William snorted. Before Crow could react, the knight rushed toward him, tackling him to the floor. He felt his breath leave him as William pressed his forearm against his chest and raised his sword to his neck. William glared down at him with more hate than Crow had ever seen in him before. His heart raced in terror, He looks like he’s actually going to kill me. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the knight’s blade sting the skin at his throat.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Just got back! We were super late, so we were just there for the last 2 hours xD
I'll get started on my reply now!