Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The final leg of their journey passed by, for the most part, in tense silence. Aside from looking out for night guards, Crow spent the time imagining different possible scenarios that they might encounter once they were within the walls of the castle and how he would handle them. He had hoped that by doing so, he would feel more prepared for the mission, but instead the thoughts just made him more aware of the countless unknowns they were going to face. His mind raced with unhelpful anticipation of situations he couldn’t even begin to prepare for.

Most prominent of all was the legend of the staff.

His heart fluttered nervously at the thought of it. It was something he had continuously heard about since the day they had left for the trip, and it was the one thing he could do nothing to change. If the legend was just a rumor, he was working himself up for nothing. But if it was true… well, he was no king. The realization that he may have been about to give up his own life for a piece of wood made his chest feel tight.

I’m doing this to stop a war, he looked up at the night sky, silently pleading to the gods. Surely you would agree that this is for the best. I don’t ask for much, but I’d like to live through this palace raid… so maybe don’t smite me just this once? Please?

--

When they finally arrived at the castle gate, the sun had just begun to peek over the eastern horizon. Crow hid with Penelope behind a wall of the nearest noble estate, just out of sight of the Younisian guards near the entrance. He squeezed her hand, suddenly finding it difficult to let her go. We have to part, he reminded himself. We have to stick to the plan.

He turned to Penelope, offering a halfhearted smile, “Well, this is it. Give them a good show for me.” He averted his gaze for a moment, forcing down the anxiety that rose up in his chest. She would be fine. Her initial role was the least dangerous between the two of them. As long as the servants believed her story, she would be taken into their protection. Everything would go according to plan.

Still, he didn’t like the idea of sending her in alone.

In a burst of affection, Crow wrapped his arms around Penelope in an embrace, holding her close to himself, and pressed a passionate kiss to her lips. They stayed like that for a long moment before he pulled back to meet her gaze, “I love you, and I’ll see you again at nightfall.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Are you good with a timeskip right now? I think both characters are a little too anxious to make much conversation with each other lol

And I was thinking they would overhear some guards talking about Brerratic prisoners in the dungeon that are scheduled to be executed the next day. Penelope would obviously want to save them, so they would split up then and agree to meet outside of the castle. It's too risky for them to meet up within the walls while Crow has the staff, because all of the able-bodied guards would be after him, so they would have to find separate ways out.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oh fun! That's nice of her ^^

By the way, when we get to the part when Crow and Penelope split up in the castle, feel free to include lots of action/dialogue/whatever before they meet up again. I have a few ideas for things to happen on Crow's end that will probably cover multiple posts

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When Penelope took his hand in hers, Crow felt a strange mixture of emotions. He shifted a little closer to her so their arms brushed against each other as they walked towards the castle. Her touch was calming, but it also reminded him that she was going to be with him in the castle. Even though she was fully competent as a knight, the raid they were about to perform would be completely different than anything she had done before. He tightened his hold on her small hand, suddenly feeling a wave of protectiveness. He wished she would just let him steal the staff on his own so she wouldn’t put her life at risk, but he already knew she would never agree to such a thing. She was far too stubborn to let him go in alone as long as she was still able to accompany him. There was no point in even bringing up the idea.

It won’t be the same as last time, he thought, trying to convince himself. Penelope isn’t reckless like Eligius was. She’ll be okay. Still, he subconsciously pressed a bit closer to her.

He met her gaze when she asked where they should meet inside the castle. “Hard to say,” he said, turning to look at the large wall in front of them. “I’d like to get in through one of the windows on the fifth level, since it would put me closer to the king’s chambers, but that probably won’t happen. It’s been quite a while since I’ve scaled the side of a building, so I don’t want to set a goal that I can’t currently reach.”

He paused for a moment, eyeing one window on the north face of the castle. “How about that one?” he pointed at it so Penelope could follow his gaze. “Third floor, second from the right of the battlement on the northeast corner. That looks doable enough.” He turned back to her. “We won’t be able to tell where that is from the outside, so you’ll just have to do your best to get as close as you can after you get inside.”

Masters of the Sea

@Silence Sounds Sorry it's been taking me so long to reply! My professors have already assigned an ungodly amount of homework for the first week of school, so I've only been keeping up with one of my RPs. I'll get started on a reply right now though! It should be done either tonight or tomorrow ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Seems like you have a lot of birthdays happening lately lol

Sounds good! I doubt I'll be busy on Tuesdays because I'm trying to keep that day open for me to stay home, so I don't get burnt out too early in the semester ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“It was pretty lucky,” Crow agreed with a nod. A small part of him was still apprehensive about relying on a method he had never used before to perform a heist as big as this. He preferred to try out new ideas on much smaller targets while saving his tried and true schemes for palace raids and other such risky endeavors. However, it wasn’t like they had a better option at this point. They would reach the castle in less than a day, and they knew next to nothing about its layout and security. None of his practiced methods would work on a heist with so many unknowns. He would just have to stick to the plan they came up with and hope it would be enough to get them both out safely.

He looked up at Penelope as she went to retrieve the quiver. “I can definitely still feel it, but I think it’s faded enough that I can keep moving,” he answered, stretching his arms to check his mobility again. His body was still responding slower than he would have liked, but they couldn’t waste any more time sitting around while he waited for the poison to wear off completely. Besides, whenever he’d had too much to drink in the past, walking around always helped him sober up more quickly. It wasn’t a far stretch to say that it would probably help him recover from the henbane as well.

When Penelope brought the quiver over to him, he took half of the arrows to start lacing them with the remaining oil. He dipped the first one in and lifted it back out, letting the excess drip back into the pot before he replaced it in the quiver. He repeated the process until he had finished his half of the arrows, and then stood up to stretch his legs. The henbane had worn off enough that he could definitely make the rest of the trip now, albeit a little slower than he could have if he hadn’t tested the poison on himself.

Gathering his things in preparation to leave, Crow looked up at the castle. This is it, he thought, his heart racing with a surge of adrenaline. They were finally going to reach the place they had been travelling for over two weeks to find. He turned to Penelope, “Ready to go, love?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

That actually works well for me. I have another club event that I'm helping run that ends at 5-5:30 tomorrow
Also a friend of mine is driving up from Phoenix to visit me on Saturday. I haven't seen him in forever so we'll probably hang for a while ^^

Dang, that's a lot x3
Tues/Fri should be pretty open for me next week
Wed/Sun are usually pretty busy for me, but I should still have a few hours to spare on both days

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Good timing. I just got back like half an hour after you posted cx
Did you have tomorrow off of work or was it Sunday? I can't remember which one you said

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow took the canteen from Penelope when she offered it to him and lifted it to his lips, downing a long draught of water. Once he had his fill, he let out a sigh of relief and set the container down in the grass. He couldn’t feel its effects right away, but he was hoping the water would flush the last of the henbane out of his body so they could keep moving. Regardless of whether he was right or not, it didn’t seem like it would be much longer before he was well enough to walk again. The hallucinations had faded for the most part, he was breathing easier, and his skin tingled slightly as he regained feeling.

“Well, oil doesn’t really dry,” he said in response to her first question, drawing his own dagger. “At least, it doesn’t dry for a long time.” He reached for the pot and dragged it closer to himself, turning his blade over thoughtfully in his hand. “I’ve never done this before either. Everything I know about it was taught to me by Evelyn’s daughter. She just said that to lace a weapon in poison, you just dip it in the solution and try not to let it rub off on anything before you use it.”

To demonstrate, Crow lowered his dagger into the pot and scraped the edge of the blade along the side until it was coated in a thin layer of henbane oil. He held it up, observing the way it glinted golden in the moonlight. It was interesting to him how the weapon was both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. He turned back to Penelope, “My guess is that you can only use it once, since the poison will come off when the dagger strikes something, but I think I have a solution for that.”

Taking a moment to steel himself, he rose shakily to his feet and stepped over to their supplies. He crouched down beside his bag and dug inside until he retrieved his old tunic, glad he had decided to stash his other clothing away when he had switched to the new outfit. Taking the fabric between his teeth, he gave it a sharp tug and ripped off a portion. Once he had that, he moved back to the pot and dipped the torn piece in, letting it soak up some of the remaining oil.

Careful not to touch the poisoned end, he folded the fabric over and offered it to Penelope, “Take this with you. It won’t dry, so you can rub more henbane on your weapon if you need to use it more than once.”