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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow followed Penelope’s lead as they began to search the tavern for people to question about the group of thieves. In his inebriation, he had to focus hard to walk in a straight line, but he still managed to do so without leaning on the knight for support. He looked around at the different tables of peasant men and women that were around them. It seemed like most of the groups they passed were still far from drunk, since it was still early enough that the sun had yet to fully disappear over the horizon. He was glad about that, but unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Penelope spotted a small table of villagers who looked a bit more intoxicated than the rest.

Hiding his unease, he nodded when she murmured to him. “Okay,” he mumbled back to her, trailing close behind as she led the way over to the peasants. When they reached them, he chose a seat next to the knight and sat down less than gracefully, watching as she struck up a conversation with the men and women across from them. He held his breath when she asked what they knew about the group that had travelled through. He hoped the villagers would be cautious enough not to tell her too much, but after seeing how drunk some of them were, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Right away, he could tell the interrogation was going to be worse than he expected.

The peasants all hesitated quite obviously at Penelope’s question and exchanged nervous glances. One of the women leaned over to a man sitting next to her and whispered just loudly enough that Crow could hear her: “Wha’ were we suppose’ to say? I f’rgot…”

The man elbowed her in the side and shushed her just as audibly before turning to Penelope with a hostile glare, “We ain’t heard nothin’ about any trav’lers.”

Crow groaned inwardly and averted his gaze, so Penelope wouldn’t be able to see the worried expression that he was unable to hide in his intoxicated state. They were only one question in, and the villagers may have already given him away. Not yet, he thought with forced resolve. They only gave away the fact that someone told them what to say. No one said it was me. I can still work with this. Recovering from his initial reaction, he snuck a glance at Penelope to see what she would do with the new information.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

He's doing his best xD
Although he's getting more distracted than he normally does (hence his annoyance with Olivia and Alistair and his playfulness with Penelope ;3)

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow was relieved when Penelope agreed to let him come with her even thought he was inebriated. If she and Gavin conducted the rest of the interrogation by themselves, he felt almost certain that something would come up to tip them off about his secret. Now, as long as he could prove that he was still capable enough to handle questioning the villagers, he still had a chance to turn this to his favor. He just hoped that he could think clearly enough to do that without drawing attention to himself. He sighed to himself. Everything had been going at least somewhat smoothly until Olivia and Alistair had tricked him into downing that strong ale.

Damn fools, he casted the two a scathing look.

Crow turned back to Penelope when he felt her kiss him on the cheek. “I guess so,” he smiled helplessly when she said she would be repaying him for the time when she had been drunk. Although we wouldn’t even be in this mess if it wasn’t for those two, he added silently, shooting one more cold look at Olivia and Alistair. Aside from the two months after he had found out Penelope was “dead,” he never let himself go like this. He didn’t like the feeling of having such little control over himself. It made him feel weak and, if he found himself in a dangerous situation, vulnerable to attack. It was far from the enjoyable activity the others tried to make it out to be.

As she offered him a hand to stand up, he shook his head. “Thanks, but I don’ think I’m that far gone,” he winked at her and then got up from the table by himself. The motion made him feel like he was tilting, but he managed not to sway as he rose to his feet. Reaching to take her by the hand, he leaned over and touched a playful kiss to her nose. “C’mon, darling. Let’s see what the people in this tavern have t’ offer.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

They really are xD
Crow is trying really hard to act sober

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The longer Crow sat at the table, the more he could feel the effects of the alcohol slowly getting more prominent inside of him. Usually one strong drink wouldn’t inhibit him this much, but after spending the whole day interrogating villagers without any breaks to eat—Gavin had insisted that they could stop to rest after the questionings were over—his empty stomach seemed to have doubled its effects. He shook his head again. He couldn’t believe he had let Alistair and Olivia trick him so easily. It had been foolish of him to believe they didn’t have any ulterior motives when they had tried to convince him to drink with them again.

When Penelope rested her hand on his shoulder, he turned to look at her again with a frown. At her words, he felt a flash of worry that he would be left out of the remaining part of the interrogation now that he was intoxicated. He couldn’t stay behind, not as long as there was still a chance that the villagers would tell the knights about what he had done. Drunk or sober, he was going to finish speaking with the peasants in the tavern with her. He had to do it.

“I shoul’ be alright,” he said, wincing as a subtle slur escaped his lips. It was getting harder to act sober. At least he still felt self-aware enough to try though. He supposed that had to count for something.

“This is ridiculous,” Gavin suddenly growled from across the table. “All of you fools are too drunk to get anything done. Penelope and I are going to finish questioning the villagers.”

Crow shot the knight a glare. “No way,” he said stubbornly. “You had your chance earlier today, and you didn’t find out an’thing more than Penelope. B’sides, we all know I’m the best at sort of thing, so I’m more likely to get us s’m real answers.”

“Please,” Gavin snorted. “You can barely talk straight right now. What good will a half-drunk thief be in an interrogation?”

“Half-drunk or not, I c’n still out-lie your ass any day,” Crow retorted obstinately. He turned back to Penelope with a pleading look. “Let me go with you. I really don’ want to stay here with those idiots any longer th’n I have to.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Same <3

Olivia and Alistair managed to trick Crow ^^;

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow gladly intertwined his fingers with Penelope’s as the knight moved to take his hand. He was feeling good now that they had managed to settle yet another difficult conversation between them. While he had never been in a romantic relationship of any kind before being with her, he couldn’t help but notice that they seemed to be especially skilled at talking through the troubles they had with each other. He was glad that they didn’t have any matters left unsettled that he knew of. Well, aside from his dealings with Jaxon, but he couldn’t tell her about that without risking her death. For her sake, he had to keep them secret.

As long as the rest of this trip goes smoothly, she’ll never have to find out, he thought as they reached the table again. Sitting down in his chair, he glanced up as Gavin and Penelope spoke about when they needed to finish interrogating the villagers in the tavern. When Penelope addressed him, he took a moment to ponder over the options. On one hand, he wanted to question the peasants sooner, so they would have less time to get drunk, but on the other hand, he hadn’t yet come up with a feasible way to prevent the knights from hearing about his meeting with the tavern keeper the night before. Perhaps it would be better to wait, after all.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Crow smiled at Penelope after a moment, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. “Besides, I still haven’t finished the rest of this drink.” He picked up his mug to take another sip, but before the glass reached his mouth, Alistair and Olivia jumped in.

“Wait,” Alistair said, putting a hand over his leader’s mug and grinning drunkenly. “I know y’ said y’ weren’ gonna compete wi’h us, but y’ should a’ least do one round.”

“What’s the point?” Crow snorted. “You’re all completely wasted, and I have no intention of trying to catch up.”

“’S jus’ for fun,” Olivia waved her hand dismissively, leaning heavily against Alistair as she fought to stay upright. “C’mon. Y’ shoul’ do it! ‘S jus’ one mug. Wha’s the harm?”

Crow glanced at Penelope and shook his head before turning back to his drunken companions. “I really don’t understand why you’re so set on getting me to drink with you,” he said with a sigh. “But fine. This is only my second drink, so I suppose I can go one round if it will get you both to stop pestering me about it.”

“Tha’s the spiri’!” Alistair raised his full mug and beamed dazedly.

“When I say three, ev’ryone drink,” Olivia slurred. “One, two… three!”

Crow brought his glass to his lips and tilted his head back as he downed it alongside the others. When he finished, he set it back down somewhat roughly on the table. “There,” he shot them a smug smirk. “I won. Now will you please leave me alone?”

“Di’ you really though?” Olivia’s smile turned mischievous.

Crow eyed her warily. He was just about to ask what she was getting on about, when he suddenly felt a fuzzy feeling begin to spread throughout his body. His eyes widened slightly in surprise, and he looked down at his now empty mug as he realized too late that the others had swapped his drink for a much stronger ale while he had been talking with Penelope.

“What the hell is this?” he shot them a glare, fighting to keep his voice level as he spoke.

Alistair and Olivia both doubled over laughing at his reaction until Olivia lost her balance and fell on the floor.

Crow leaned back in his chair and brought a hand to his forehead in exasperation. He turned to Penelope. “They switched my drink,” he explained with a groan, still focusing hard to keep from slurring his words. “I should’ve known better than to trust those two…”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

She helped him feel better cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow just shrugged when Penelope thanked him for being honest about what had been weighing on his mind. He had hoped that by opening up to her about everything, he would feel better, but instead he felt just as uncertain as before with the addition of some lingering awkwardness for speaking about his emotions out loud. Even though he loved her and knew he could trust her with the information, it was still a new experience for him to be so transparent with someone. He was used to keeping his feelings to himself or even ignoring them in preference of logic. Acknowledging and relaying his emotional state to the knight was just something he supposed he was going to have to get used to.

As she wrapped her arms around him, he did the same to her, slipping his arms around her back to hold her close while she went on to explain how things had changed between them since the first time they had been together two years ago. While it wasn’t enough to make him feel certain that the past would never repeat itself, her words did comfort him quite a bit.

He closed his eyes and rested his head against hers as he listened to her remind him about how they had been together much longer this time. She was right. Unlike their whirlwind three-week romance during their mission to Younis, he felt like they had a much stronger foundation to build on this time. They already knew quite a bit about each other from the past, but now, they were starting to figure out how to use that information work together in a completely different world—one in which they didn’t have the luxury of being in a different kingdom and pretending the barriers between them didn’t exist. It was harder, but it made him feel even closer to her in a way that he never had before.

As she also mentioned that they had talked more about the future, he opened his eyes again to look down at her with a soft smile. She was right about that too. Previously, he had only told her about what to expect in the outer villages. He had also told her that he’d wanted to live with her in Farhill, but that was the furthest their planning went. Well, aside from his intention to marry her after she met up with him at the Black Dagger, but that hadn’t been something they had ever discussed together. The plans and dreams they shared now were much more well-rounded and clear. Thinking about them again and seeing the color in her cheeks when she spoke of them made his heart swell with affection for the knight.

Suddenly, he noticed something in her expression change, and he listened quietly as she went on to tell him that she had learned from the past and had no intention of disappearing ever again. The words laid his worries to rest even more so than reminiscing about their relationship had, and he squeezed her a little closer in fondness, his smile widening as she kissed his cheek.

“But it did,” he said when she finished speaking, shaking his head. “I feel a lot better now. Thank you, love.” He leaned in to press a kiss to her lips, and then pulled back to meet her gaze with a grin. “Yesterday, you said I know just the right things to say, but I think you might even be better at that than I am.” He casted a quick glance back at the table where their companions were still seated, and then turned back to her more seriously. “We should probably rejoin the others. I don’t trust Rikki enough to leave her alone with Gavin any longer than we have to… especially after everything she’s already done tonight.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow decided to put his words into practice for once and be honest with her x3