Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

With the situation turning to his favor, Crow had to bite the inside of his lip to stifle the victorious smile that threatened to take over his lips. Even though he still felt guilty for operating against his companions, he couldn’t help the swell of pride that came with successfully putting his plan into motion. As long as everything else went just as smoothly that night, he would be well on his way to hindering their mission and keeping Penelope safe from harm.

“Unfortunately, Wheldrake doesn’t have an inn,” Crow said, feigning a thoughtful expression as he gave his input on where they could spend the night. “We also haven’t visited this village quite as much as some of the others, so I don’t know of anyone we could spend the night with. How about you two?” He turned to the other thieves expectantly, although he already knew they wouldn’t have any better suggestions. The only time any of them ever came to this village was when they needed to sell or trade goods in the local marketplace.

“I can’t think of anywhere to stay,” Rikki said.

“Me either,” Alistair shook his head and gave a sheepish grin. “At least, I can’t think of anyone who likes me enough to let me stay the night at their house here.”

“That’s fine,” Gavin spoke up again quickly, as if he wanted to make the decision before the thieves tried to come up with another idea he wouldn’t be fond of. “We can just camp at the town edge. I’m sure no one has a problem with that?” His eyes swept over them tensely, seeming like he was preparing himself for opposition.

“No complaints here,” Crow shrugged. He uncrossed his arms to reach for Penelope’s hand again, shooting Gavin a wry smirk. “Lead the way, captain.”

The knight rolled his eyes at the thief’s sobriquet but said nothing as he turned to head the group back into the surrounding forest. It wasn’t long before they found a clearing on the outskirts of Wheldrake, where Gavin announced that they would be setting up camp. Crow dropped his bag on the ground and yawned tiredly as he took some time to look over the area.

Off to one side, he spotted Alistair and Olivia grinning and speaking in hushed voices before they slipped off into the woods. Crow snorted and leaned closer to Penelope, gesturing discreetly towards the couple as they escaped together, “They certainly didn’t waste any time, huh?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice ^^

Also, I'm thinking it might work better to throw in a dinner scene when they get ready for the night (Crow's going to convince them to sleep in the woods, since there's no inn in Wheldrake, and the thieves don't know any locals they could stay with) because I had another few ideas for how he's going to go about sabotaging the knights lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

For Crow, the rest of the trip to Wheldrake was spent in silence as he worked on trying to come up with a way to convince Gavin to leave the interrogation for the next morning. It wouldn’t be difficult to persuade the rest of the group, since Olivia and Alistair were more interested in each other than the mission, Rikki would be quick to side with him on any decisions he made, and Penelope still trusted that he knew what he was doing. He just hoped that having the majority on his side would also be enough to make Gavin back down, since there wasn’t much else he could say to sway the stubborn knight. It wasn’t much, but it was the best chance he had to buy himself enough time to fulfill his deal with Jaxon. He had to try.

When they finally arrived in the village, Gavin promptly began to make plans for how they would conduct the interrogation this time, saying that he wanted them to split up. Crow stood aside with his arms folded loosely over his chest, listening to the exchange with a patient expression. He just had to bide his time until the knight stopped running his mouth, so he could make his suggestion to postpone the whole thing. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait for very long.

As Penelope turned to ask his opinion of Gavin’s idea, he nodded. “It is a good idea,” he admitted, indiscreetly glancing up at the black sky before meeting her gaze with a frown. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to matter tonight.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gavin growled.

“Well,” Crow sighed. “It’s so late now that anyone who’s even still in the tavern here will be too drunk to trust. We missed our window, so we might as well start our questioning tomorrow, when there will be more reliable voices to listen to.”

“So, you just want us to waste more time?” Gavin shook his head. “No way. I want to get this mission over with as soon as possible. We’re going to conduct the interrogation tonight and leave in the morning.”

“You’re only saying that because you don’t think we’ll find anything either way,” Crow rolled his eyes. “If we only question the village drunks, sure, we won’t hear anything useful. However, if we wait to ask around in the morning, there might be something worth waiting for.” He glanced at the others. “Let’s get some other opinions. What do you all think?”

As expected, a cascade of approval followed his question as Rikki, Alistair, and Olivia pitched their agreement with his plan to hold off on the interrogation. Lastly, Crow turned to Penelope with a smile, “What say you, darling?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow needs someone patient, since he's too stubborn for his own good xD
Yeah, that's going to be a disaster

Feel free to throw in a skip to when they reach the village if you want. I can't think of anything else that might happen before then, aside from a break for dinner, since they'll be getting to Wheldrake late

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow relaxed when Penelope seemed to have been reassured by what he had said to her. He was glad that his efforts had paid off. When she reached to take his hand, he gladly intertwined his fingers with hers, following her lead as she began walking to catch up with the others again. Absently, he thought about how relieved he was that they had been able to resolve the dispute so quickly. Looking back on it, their fights always seemed to end peacefully as long as whoever had been feeling put off—usually Penelope, he noticed, since he was still figuring out how to behave properly in a relationship and still often offended her—addressed the issue. He was happy that they were able to communicate so well.

As she said that he always knew the right things to say, he laughed softly. “So I’ve been told,” he mused, thinking about the many other people whom had said the same thing. Whether it was good or bad, he had learned that he had a knack for reading people and fine tuning his words to get what he wanted from them. It was why Hazel had been so wary to trust him and often called him a “silver tongued snake.” He was proud of his talent, but he also felt a little guilty since he often used his ability to manipulate others. He glanced down at Penelope. This case was different though, because he had only been trying to get her to understand the nature of his feelings towards both her and Rikki.

“I’m glad it helped,” he said, giving her hand a fond squeeze.

When they caught back up with the others, Crow was quick to locate Rikki amongst the group. He spotted her lingering a small distance away from the rest, eyeing him and Penelope as if she was toying with the idea of approaching them again. However, he shot her a warning look, and she turned away again, seeming to get the message.

Feeling satisfied that the rest of their walk to Wheldrake would go more smoothly now, he let out a sigh of relief and casted a glance up at the sky. The sun was already beginning its long descent, and they were only about halfway to the village. He bit his tongue to keep from smiling. At this rate, they wouldn’t arrive until well after nightfall, which meant it would be easy to convince the knights to hold off on their interrogation until the morning. Now, if he could just figure out a way to slip away from the group during the night, he could set his plan into motion.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

He's impressed she's even been this patient with him after all the times he's screwed up already xD
Crow is trying his best to make her feel better

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow felt a wave of relief when Penelope said that she believed him. After worrying that his slip up with Rikki had driven them apart, the words made him feel much better. However, even though things seemed to have been patched between them, he couldn’t shake the lingering shame he felt in the back of his mind. He needed to be more honest with her, even when it was painful. He shuddered to think what might happen if he betrayed her trust again.

As she gave his arm a tug, he blinked and turned to her again in confusion, wondering why she had indicated for them to stop walking. He didn’t have time to ponder over it for long before he felt her wrap her arms around him in an embrace. After a brief moment of hesitation, he mirrored the gesture and slipped his arms around the small of her back, holding her close as she leaned her head against his chest. It warmed him to hear that he hadn’t lost her trust, but her following words made him frown. He was slightly surprised to hear her bring up the more recent incident with Rikki and began to realize that he might have hurt her more than he had thought when he had confessed that the thief’s advances had tempted him.

He glanced down at her, hoping that she didn’t think his moment of weakness had anything to do with her, but also knowing her too well to discount the possibility that she had taken it personally. When she pulled back from him to say that she had forgiven him, he met her gaze and smiling halfheartedly. Even though he had let her down so many times, she was still merciful to him. I don’t deserve her, he thought with a faint shake of his head.

“I have a sinking feeling this trip is going to be a difficult one, huh?”

Crow nodded, shifting his weight uncomfortably. You have no idea, he thought silently, once again reminded of his assignment from Jaxon. He felt another burst of guilt and forced himself to push the thought aside. Despite how terrible it felt to keep yet another secret from her, he couldn’t let himself dwell on it. After all, she was the reason why he was working for the other thief in the first place. He studied her wordlessly for a moment before reaching out to catch her by the wrist before she could turn to keep walking. While there was nothing he could do about Jaxon, he still wanted to reassure her about the things that were within his control.

“Wait,” he said, averting his gaze for a moment before looking up at her again. “I know I’ve kept a lot from you—more than I ever should have. I’ve spent most of my life working and living alone, so I’ve still got quite a few old habits to break and relying on myself is one of them. However, I want you to know that I’m going to do better.” He held her gaze with a determined expression. “I meant it before when I said we’re a team, so I’m going to start acting like it.”

He wavered, his resolution fading slightly as he went on, “As for what happened with Rikki, I’m sorry if I hurt you. I swear, it had nothing to do with you.” He took on a more contemplative look. “It’s sort of hard to explain to a woman, but I was… detached, I suppose you could say. In the moment, I wasn’t thinking about whether or not you’re enough for me. It was just a physical drive, sort of like if you don’t eat for a few days and someone puts a plate of your favorite food in front of you. It doesn’t matter who put it there or where it came from. You just want to fill your stomach.” He shrugged sheepishly.

“It was wrong of me to even consider her offer, but I wasn’t thinking about it in terms of preferring her over you. If I had been, I would have said no without a second thought,” he smiled at her softly. “Stupid primal urges aside, I don’t want to be with anyone else. You’re the only woman I need, and you’re more than enough for me.” He leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. “Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oh geez, yeah xD
He's going to feel even worse when he has to fess up to lying to her yet again

Sorry that took so long. I just got home like 30 minutes ago from hanging out with another friend ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow lowered his gaze to the ground as the silence dragged on between them. He couldn’t tell what was going on in Penelope’s mind as she hesitated to answer him. Perhaps she didn’t believe that he had kissed Rikki on accident and that he was just lying to save face. He winced at the thought. He also hated the fact that this wasn’t the first time his independent habits had landed him in trouble. It seemed like every time he tried to withhold information to handle a situation on his own, someone got hurt—Simon had even gotten killed. His heart wrenched as he the pain of his companion’s death resurfaced. Despite the other thieves’ reassurance, he knew it had been his selfishness that had caused the tragedy. As much as he wanted to believe he could manage things on his own, the pattern of destruction that followed his decisions to work alone were beginning to make him rethink his conviction to keep others out of his problems.

When Penelope finally spoke, he remained quiet, weighed down by his regrets. Everything she said was right. If the situation had been reversed and he had found out she had kissed Gavin from him instead of her, he would have been just as upset. It wasn’t difficult to see how he had broken her trust by keeping the incident a secret from her. Even though she believed that he hadn’t betrayed her intentionally, he still felt terrible for having hurt her with his unwillingness to confess to it on his own.

At her final question, he felt like she had punched him in the stomach. To hear the quiver in her voice—to know that she didn’t feel like she could trust him—was devastating to the thief. He could tell that he had really let her down this time. He had promised her that he wanted nothing but the best for her, yet he hadn’t done a very good job of following through with his word. The very fact that she felt the need to ask if he had kissed anyone else while they were together was proof enough of that.

“It was,” he said softly without looking up from the ground. “And I regret that it ever happened.” He shook his head. “You have to believe me: I would never do anything like that to hurt you. I know I don’t really have a great reputation when it comes to this sort of thing, and I know I probably don’t come off looking very trustworthy after this, but… I promise, I’m taking our relationship seriously.” Taking a steeling breath, he finally looked up to meet her gaze. “I love you, Penelope, and you’re the only one I want to be with. I messed up once, but it was a long time ago, and I’ve been careful to stay faithful to you ever since.”

His expression turned wistful as he searched her eyes. “You... you do believe me… right?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow feels terrible about it xc