#heartlcssboy

"Just wanted to give you this."

Bandit glances around before pulling out a familiar, ornate KNIFE. The bronze-gilt blade glistens orange in the low rays of the setting sun.

"I found it on the ground near the lagoon." His face is blank--in well-practiced stone--but his eyes are sharp as he gives Peter a knowing stare. "Figured you might want it back."

GENERATED STARTERS  ⇢  #33

“ I was left to my own devices. ”

“ You truly believe that? You think that soft, cowardly, little girl really intends to spend the rest of her days here? ”  She was puffing out more scoffs than she was punctuations at the thought.

“ That mewling little parrot of yours only wants the one thing from you, from this place. She wants an escape. She’s not here for you, Peter. She’s not here to embrace the life of the Lost ones. She just wants stories. Not even her stories, Peter! ”  The longer her diatribe went on, the more vexed and uncomfortable Tink became. This was the calmest she’d managed to compose herself since the Darling ( and what a tragically inaccurate surname was that ) girl had re-emerged.

“ It’s just a game, Peter! ”  She kicked the rocks in front of her, her upset manifesting as her rouge, before bolting off the ground.  “ It’s not even the same one you’re playing and it’s disgusting. ”  The faerie repeated herself. That was the only feeling she was certain she had in the moment. She was disgusted by how fooled she knew Peter Pan was by this act. 

“He started it…” Ace rubbed the blood from his busted lip with the back of his hand. He and Rufio didn’t necessarily get along, but this had been the first time a blow had actually been thrown between them, and it landed directly against Ace’s mouth. The punch had knocked him off his feet and into the night’s kindling, snapping most of the branches into an unusable mess beneath him. Now he’d have to go collect some more, when all he wanted to do for the rest of the night was curl up and listen to another story.

Ace was too ashamed to meet Peter’s gaze. He always liked to lick his wounds in private, but Ace especially hated the thought of his hero to seeing him lose at anything, be it fight or game, against the boys. A well of shame began to bubble within him as he realized this loss might have consequences that reached beyond the fire being delayed. “I-I… I know. But it’s okay! I’ll fix it. I can fix it.”

The more Ace thought about it, the more Peter made sense. Of course it was all his fault. If he’d been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened. He was stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid for not being better prepared and stupid for momentarily doubting he was in the wrong. Peter was only trying to look out for him after all, even if that meant being harsh.

“Stupid,” he muttered again, to himself, and wobbled onto unsteady feet. His head was still pounding from the blow, but if Ace grit his teeth he could pretend it didn’t hurt as much.

⇢   D&D STARTERS  ;

“ Not bad, ‘uh? ”  Not her best work, but Tink beamed with pride nonetheless.

“ I couldn’t let these go to waste… ”  Palms up, she gestured excitedly about the cup, stained molars bobbing their way to the surface. Treasures from a past conquest of Peter’s, no doubt. She was very nearly giddy at the thought of someone unknowingly choking, she’d perhaps imagined, on someone else’s teeth. How novel a prank!

“ Peter, if you don’t want me to slit that one’s throat while it sleeps ...  ”   She  gestured haphazardly, hoping there was some Lost Boy in the vicinity.  She  was  burning up  with too much frustration to take notice otherwise. “ ... you will try. that. again! ”  Her threats didn’t always work, but she’d spit the venom nevertheless.

It wasn’t an obvious recoil, the way his jaw went tense and inwardly that nasty sensation of his stomach knotting up hit Thorn; on the outside he remained perfectly calm unless one just happened to catch the quick blink that marked his breath hitching, brain leaping back into action to bridge over the tiny slip. 

Frustrating though, he’d been so pleased with himself and his latest trinket snatched from the decks of the Jolly Roger that mentioning it to Peter had tumbled into a ramble instead while he looked over the stolen coin. Not the most unique find, true, but it had certainly caused a good amount of fuss on deck while the fools threw blame at each other when it went missing. 

It was only having a bit of fun, wasn’t it? Not that he had any intentions of returning the coin though, it would end up tucked away in his lair as another trophy taken right from under the noses of those clumsy sea rats. 

Thorn was going over the conversation in his mind, desperately searching for whatever he might have tossed in with everything else he’d been carrying on about that might have set Peter off. He really couldn’t afford to be doing something that risky. 

That blink turned owlish while he perched on the tree branch near Pan, hands still wrapped around the bulk of the sizable coin and peering at him over the top edge of it with just the picture of innocent confusion. When all else failed…playing dumb at least tended to appeal to peoples’ sense of superiority.

“Ah?” Thorn ventured very carefully, not wanting to confirm that he had said anything yet.