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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Gavin got inside Crow's head a little bit ^^;

I know. I couldn't even imagine living like that xD
I don't understand why so many people retire there either. Like aren't you more vulnerable to dinosaur attacks if you're over 60?

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow finished off the rest of his supper in silence, finding the last bit of stew more tasteless than the rest. Even though he had chosen not to defend himself against the knight, he couldn’t get Gavin’s words out of his head. He found it frustrating that Penelope’s former suitor thought he was treating his relationship with her like a fling. Though Gavin might not approve of it, most of the kingdom didn’t operate like the nobles in the inner cities. Formal courtship wasn’t practical for the people of the outer villages. Everyone courted to a degree, but they didn’t have traditions to fall back on like the knights, so they all made due with what they could.

He leaned into Penelope’s side, appreciative of her relaxing presence during the tense silence. Their situation was especially tricky, given their differing classes and their positions in the war. With so many barriers to overcome already, it wasn’t possible for them to have a normal courtship, even by peasant standards. It was a fact the thief had come to accept, and it annoyed him to know that Gavin was trying to use it to get between them. After all, just because Penelope was a noblewoman didn’t mean he had to court her in the same formal way that her ex suitor would have… right?

He closed his eyes and let out a long exhale, hating how the knight was getting in his head. There was still a part of him that felt like he wasn’t good enough to be with Penelope, that she would be better off with a man who could give her the life she deserved, and Gavin’s words hadn’t done anything to lessen that insecurity. While he didn’t believe he was disrespecting her in any way, he did wish he could do more to provide for her, or at least prevent her from losing everything else she cared about in order to be with him.

Lost in thought, Crow blinked a bit dazedly when Penelope addressed him. “Of course you are,” he offered her a half smile and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, he rose to his feet and stretched tiredly, ready to sleep now that the rest of his energy was being spent on digesting his supper. He stepped over to his bag and grabbed his bedroll, unfurling it on a flat part of the ground for them to share.

Once the bed had been set up, he laid down and gestured for her to join him, wrapping his arms around her when she did. Glancing up one more time at the camp, he saw that Olivia had already passed out on her mat, while Gavin stood off to the side to keep the first watch. The knight was pointedly avoiding looking in their direction.

Crow pulled Penelope a bit closer to himself and touched a tender kiss to her lips. “I missed this,” he murmured, nestling his head against hers. With the knight by his side, he expected that he was going to sleep quite well that night.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow really didn't appreciate Gavin's last comment

Yeah, Florida is really cheap to visit (that's why we picked it for our honeymoon, actually lol). Disney World is the part that breaks your bank.
Alligators are a protected species, so they're legally not allowed to remove them unless they're actively putting people in danger.
One of our Uber drivers lives on the edge of a lake, and the city apparently provided him and his family with a rope loop on a pole to hook the alligators' necks if they try to come inside their house xD
The locals are just badasses who don't give a crap. They're like "snakes and gators? They're just pests."
Oh, and another one of our Uber drivers said he runs them over if they get in front of his car when he's driving, and my husband and I were like what the hell xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow dug into his food as Olivia tried to harass Penelope, deciding to stay out of the conversation, since he knew she would only be encouraged to keep prodding at them if he got involved too. He focused on the flavor of the stew instead, finding that he was impressed with Gavin’s ability to cook in spite of himself. The broth was expertly seasoned. Even though he and the other thieves occasionally dipped into the knights’ supply of spices to put on their own food, none of them had the skills to apply the seasonings this well. The rich taste filled his mouth, and he ate ravenously, filling his empty stomach with the large helping of stew.

For a while, he managed to ignore Olivia’s taunting, but she eventually caught his attention with a particular sultry question: “So, Penelope, why don’t you tell me a bit about how Gavin was in bed?”

The thief looked up from his bowl, catching both Penelope and Gavin’s uncomfortable expressions as he did, and turned towards Olivia with a warning look. It was the first time that the knight’s troublemaking had caught all three of them at once, and unfortunately, she seemed to have realized it as well. She refused to let the subject drop, even after Gavin and Penelope both tried to make her do so.

Crow averted his gaze again, finding the current topic of discussion just as distasteful as they did. He wasn’t concerned about comparing himself with Penelope’s ex suitor, but he certainly didn’t want to hear any details about their time together. However, as Gavin explained curtly that they’d had a formal courtship, he glanced over at the knight curiously. Even though he’d heard that noblemen and women often had businesslike relationships, he was a little surprised to hear that it sounded like they hadn’t slept together at all. Perhaps that was why the knight had been so uncomfortable when they had come back to the camp from their walk.

He was just about to tune out their conversation again, but Gavin added one last comment that made him bristle: “I certainly wasn’t treating our courtship like a frivolous fling.”

“I beg your pardon?” Crow growled, narrowing his eyes at the knight.

“I’m just saying, I treated her with the respect she deserves,” Gavin shrugged, meeting his gaze evenly.

“No, you’re saying you don’t think I’m treating her with respect,” the thief curled his lip.

“You certainly aren’t acting like it.”

Crow clenched his jaw, trying not to give in to the knight’s accusations. Normally, he didn’t care what noblemen thought of him, but he didn’t like being told that he was disrespecting the woman he loved. He didn’t see Penelope as just another ‘frivolous fling’—far from it, in fact. He cared more deeply about her than anyone else in his life. Even though he couldn’t court her the same way a noble could, he had every intention to ask her to marry him after the war ended. But, of course, he couldn’t say any of that to Gavin.

“You know what? Think whatever you want,” he muttered, turning away from the knight. He reached to take Penelope’s hand in his, seeking comfort in her touch. He still wanted to keep his promise to her about not fighting with Gavin, but it was hard to do when the man kept falsely accusing him all the time.

Beyond Expectations [AHeartlessNobody & Summer]

No worries! It wasn't that short.
Caeyin didn't care too much, but he did have to fit in one more quip, because he's annoyed xD

Beyond Expectations [AHeartlessNobody & Summer]

Caeyin didn’t bother giving the human he courtesy of looking her way as she spoke up again. However, he had to bite his tongue to keep from retorting to the nonsense that she spoke of. She didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. There was no glory in dying at the hands of an inferior being. The fact that he had allowed himself to be tricked by her was shameful enough, and if his blunder resulted in the end of his life, he would be mocked, not praised. If anything, he hoped that if he died as this human’s prisoner, the other Scouts would never find out. He would have rather been marked down as ‘missing’ as opposed to ‘killed by an Earthling.’

As she went on to explain how she was going to keep him alive as some sort of primitive form of justice for her people, he began to lose interest. He didn’t care how she planned to kill him. He had already accepted that he was going to die if he couldn’t figure out a way to escape or take the human’s life first. Sine he didn’t want the others to find out what had happened to him, he had already ruled out calling for help. His only option left was to rely on his own natural abilities to get away.

The creature addressed him one more time, and this time, he casted her a sideways glance. It seemed she had been lying to him after all. He wasn’t that surprised, since he had suspected she was just trying to save herself by telling him there were others. What he didn’t like was the fact that he hadn’t been more prepared to combat her when she had turned on him. He had gotten too distracted by his concern about getting ambushed by other Earthlings. Even if there had been more of them, he should have known better than to turn his back on her. At the very least, he should have taken over her vision before searching for others. His overconfidence had been the cause of his capture.

“I’m sure you’re quite pleased with yourself,” he said dryly, averting his gaze again. “Enjoy the feeling while it lasts, because it won’t be long before the others find you. You may have survived against me, but you can’t outlast us all.” He rolled his wrist uncomfortably against the metal chain, disliking the way it restrained him from moving. Though he had accepted his fate if he was truly going to die here, he hoped death would come quickly, if only to free him from the irritation of being tied to a pole.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Olivia's causing trouble again

It was super cool! It's actually not too expensive of a trip outside of the park tickets too.
If you do go, just watch out for the alligators. Some of them live on Disney property xD
They're like common pests over there, but they're not too hard to avoid as long as you stay away from bodies of water
They don't really go on land unless they're really hungry, which is rare. We didn't see any outside of the ponds the whole time we were there

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow was relieved to hear that Penelope believed Gavin wouldn’t try to shortchange him completely on his supper that night. He didn’t mind eating his own food, but most of it had been purchased at the market in Whitebridge. While he didn’t like to praise nobles often, he couldn’t deny that their food was always of higher quality than the food of the outer villages. The meats were especially good, because they were spiced with seasonings from the inner kingdom that the peasants could never afford. Having a bit of an affinity for good food, the thief would have much preferred to eat whatever Gavin had prepared over the things he had bought at the marketplace.

He glanced down at Penelope as she told him that Gavin was talented at cooking. It was somewhat surprising to him that the knight would have such a skill, since nobles tended to have servants do such menial tasks for them. However, he also recalled the way Gavin had packaged their food the day before, and suddenly the knowledge that he could cook as well wasn’t quite so shocking. It seemed like the knight knew how to do more than most other noblemen.

As they stepped back into the clearing where the others had set up camp, Crow headed straight for the fire, where he could smell the scent of freshly cooked stew. As he and Penelope drew closer, he noticed Gavin glance in their direction only once before turning away again, clearly uncomfortable about seeing them return together in such a ragged condition. Olivia, on the other hand, beamed at them in amusement. She wasted no time in making a comment about it too.

The knight shifted a bit to make room for the couple as they joined them beside the fire. “I see you two had some fun,” she purred, plucking a twig from Penelope’s hair and twirling it between her fingers.

Crow glanced over at her and rolled his eyes. Normally, he didn’t mind bragging a little, but knowing Olivia, he guessed she was probably just trying to cause trouble somehow. So, he ignored her and reached for a bowl to fill up his portion of stew. Fortunately, it seemed like Penelope’s guess about Gavin had been right. The knight had left enough food for them that he was able to give himself a rather large helping.

Meanwhile, Olivia hadn’t given up on her mischief making just yet. The knight leaned a bit closer to her friend and nudged her side, interest glittering in her dark eyes. “Getting the most out of this mission, huh?” she smirked. “Not that I blame you. Thieves can be quite the satisfying lovers.” Her gaze flickered briefly towards Gavin before returning to Penelope’s face. “But I’m sure you know that already.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Ah, that's cool. I love thrill rides, so I was a little disappointed that they only had about one good thrill ride in each park that we saw xD
If you like slow rides, you'll love Disney World. They have tons of those, and they're all really well done.
Epcot is definitely an adult park. They don't really have many rides, so there aren't many kids there. It's mostly about learning about the histories of different countries, trying foreign food, and watching street performers from around the world. Also, all of their employees are from the countries they represent, which was really amazing

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“That’s true,” Crow nodded drowsily when Penelope said that they wouldn’t have to part that night. He nestled closer to her and rested his head against hers, wanting to enjoy the last of their time alone while it lasted. Even though they couldn’t sleep in the woods, he wished they didn’t have to go back to the others so soon. Unfortunately, if they waited too much longer, he didn’t doubt that Gavin would come to look for them. He didn’t want the knight to walk in on them while they were lying together unclothed.

So, when Penelope said that they should head back to the camp, he murmured his agreement and got up as well, stretching his arms and back to shake off some of his tiredness. At her comment that he probably wanted to eat when they got back, he glanced over at her with a grin. “You know me too well, love,” he chuckled softly as he pulled his pants back on. “Although, I came prepared. Even if he didn’t save me a portion of supper, I brought my own food as a backup.”

The thief picked up his shirt from the ground and slid it over his head. Once he was ready to go, he stood aside to wait for Penelope to collect her armor. Looking her over, he bit back a smirk as he noticed how disheveled she looked. There was grass tangled in her hair—he was sure he likely had some in his as well—and she had only loosely tied her armor back on. It wouldn’t take much for anyone to guess what they had been doing during their ‘walk.’

Regardless, it wasn’t like they had been particularly sneaky about it when they had left earlier, so he didn’t bother to point it out to her. Instead, he slipped his hand into hers when she was ready to head back and took the lead as they walked.

Glancing up at the sky, he noticed it had gotten a bit darker since they had left around dusk, but it didn’t seem to be very late yet. He guessed that Gavin and Olivia would probably still be eating if the male knight had prepared a cooked meal for them. The thought of freshly made food made his mouth water. “In all seriousness, do you think Gavin actually saved me a portion?” he asked a bit wistfully, glancing down at Penelope. “I did bring my own food, but you knights have much better meals than anything I could buy in a village.”