Only Scar Deep.

Clove was feeling pensive, an emotion she wasn't used to. The usually oh so cruel girl had made her way to the forest to escape for moment so nobody would see her tears, if they did show up. She had ran into the forest and climbed a tree near a pile of rocks and stared ahead miserably. It had been a while since she'd been curled up in a tree with this feeling. A tear walked down Clove's face as she thought back to that night she'd ran away from home for the first time. It had been raining...

Little Clove ran away from home, off to the park where she hid in a tree. Her mother was usually such a sweet woman that it annoyed Clove and for good reasons. Every once in a while her mother would change and start beating Clove up. Clove screamed and cried the first few times but had learned that only brought more pain. She was silent now, if that happened. Yet today had been even more painful as her mother had grabbed an empty wine bottle and hit her with that. Clove had dodged one of the blows and the bottle had broken. Yet her mother had still hit her with it, causing several deeps wounds. Little Clove had ran as fast as she could when her mother had let go for a moment, straight into the rain. Her mother had yelled at her but Clove hadn't stopped. Now she was hiding in the tree, bleeding from a total of twelve deep cuts, not even counting the small ones. Three deeps cuts on her each of her arms, one on her cheek, one one her neck, to which she was pressing her bleeding hand. Both her hands were beeding from cuts and the rest were on her tiny body and legs. Clove had never been so scared in her short life and she had been silent as her mother had passed beneath the tree, searching her daughter while sobbing. The wine bottle was nowhere to be seen. Clove was only three years old....

The scene changed and a slightly older Clove was sitting at the dinner table with her mother. Clove was glaring at her mother, looking pretty impressive for a six year old. Her mother looked at the little girl. "Don't do that Clove." Clove just glared on. "Why not?" She asked defiantly.
"You're just like your father. He always thought he could get away with anything."
"At least he didn't beat me up with a bottle." Clove countered with a mean look and a pout.
"Hold your tongue little girl. I told you I had problems back than.""No wonder daddy left you. You're a nightmare."
"Hold your tongue." Her mother said and stood towering at the other side of the table. Little Clove picked up a knife and threw it at her mom, missing but still, it pissed her mother off. She got beaten up again that night, yet this time she hit back. Things would never be normal again between her and her mother, where they had been in the past.

Clove felt the tears streaming down her face as she remembered. A sob escaped her lips as her fingers traced the place where she remembered the cut to have been. It had faded and wasn't even visible anymore. Some of the other places hasn't been so lucky however. Her ribs still bore the bitter fruits of that night. Clove, by now crying in the little try, manage to stiffle some of her sobs when she saw somebody beneath the tree. It was Septimus, the guy who had stopped her from running straight into the mouth of a hydra. She was some sort of grateful but seeing him made her want to leave camp for some reason. She felt locked up and caged and so Clove climbed higher up into the tree. "Go away." She whispered to the shape, cuddling her knees up in the tree.

((One, this was on my nook, so sorry in advance, and two, this took FOREVER to write, so you better like it XD))

Septimus didn't know. He didn't know a lot of things, like general conversation skills, how to spell supercalifragelisticespilaladocious, and most importantly, much about his family. As far as he was concerned, his only family was Alex. Now he didn't even have that family because of harpies. It was Septimus' fault he died, which was something he did know. The only logical explination to his death was that the harpies smelled Septimus, who lead them to Alex, causing the poor mortal to be killed right before he came of age. Just remembering the day made him want to stay inside and look out a window, just watching. Well, not exactly inside, but you get the point. He would mope around, stalking random people that walked by. This is what happened today, when he just couldn't take it anymore.

First off, he randomly remembered Alex. Sep had no idea why, and it didn't really make sense. True to the past when he remembered Alex, he walked to the woods, and walked. He looked for the perfect place-- the place to remember, but not be seen. Eventually he did find this place, right next to a pile of rocks. He sat down, so if anyone came they wouldn't be able to see him. Then he plunged into the past, into the day that scarred Sep for life and made him think he was insane.

It was just another normal day, or so the twelve year-old Septimus thought. In truth, it was the worst day of his life. The day Alex died. At least it had started out a normal day. Alex had waken Septimus in the train station, and taught him his lessons, pretending they were waiting for a bus. In truth, they just had no whrre to stay. Alex had been looking for a job, but it seemed no one wanted an orphan boy working for them, even if he was just about to turn 18. "Come back tomorrow, and we'll tell you if you get the job then," they always said. Yet, when Alex walkes there the next day, there seemed to be no one home. Nor was there anyone hom the day after that, or even the day after that. Septimus knew Alex couldn't wait for his birthday to come, so he could one, actually get a job, and two, after that and he got a home, he could adopt Septimus. They were already practically family, it would just be official.

Then it went wrong. Alex had told Sep he would be right back, that he thought the old lady over there would have some cash in her purse. She was already staring at Septimus, probably suspicious. Knowing the drill, Sep got ready to run when Alex got him. Whenever they had to steal something, Alex did, and Sep was always ready to run and be on the lookout for the police. It worked well-- they hadn't been caught yet. Septimus had always longed for the day he would help Alex steal, but that day would never come.

The lady and Alex were in his line of vision, which gave Sep a clear view of what happened next. As Alex came up to the lady, she gave him a quick glance, but looked back at Septimus. Her eyes were all black, and very creepy. As Alex came closer, she changed forms, and tore him apart. Septimus thought he was either dreaming, or insane, and just stood there, mouth gaping, like all the other people there. Alex was dead. Septimus was never going to see him again, he would never be adopted, he would never be happy. Neither would Alex.

Something inside of Sep told him that the thing also wanted to kill him, so he just blinked, amd started running. He was sure Alex was dead, he had seen his head decapitaded from his body. No one, no matter how healthy, could survive that. There was nohing he could do. But whatever killed Alex could do somehing-- run toward Sep. Which is what it did, and eventually it got to him. It had scratched his hand, leaving a deep gash. Luckily, it was his right, so he still had his good hand. Septimus just kept running, until he lost the harpy and where he was.

A singe tear ran down Sep's face, but he quickly wiped it away. With his right hand. The hand the harpy had scratched, which bore no mark of what had happened. Sep bit his lower lip, and hid the hand in the pocket of his hoodie. Hearing a noise, Sep slouched, to make sure he wasn't seen. Gods, what would someone think of seeing Septimus, the tough, mean, exclusive Septimus, out crying in the woods? When the footsteps ended, Septimus looked over the pile of rocks.

Oh. It was Clove. The girl he'd saved from a hydra, and had stolen his sunglasses. She was climbing a tree, not that Septimus really cared. Did he? Well, she was hot, mean, and, well... exactly like Sep. Not to mention she was under 18. Too young for him, by the law's standards. That is, unless she wanted to be in a relationship. Whhic Sep was pretty sure she didn't. With Sep, who would?

Septimus didn't want to talk to anyone right now, but all this moping and regret could not be good for him. A wise man once said, do not dwell on the past, or dream of the future, concentrate on the present. Alex had taught him that one. Biting his lower lip, and waiting for her to be all the way up, Sep climbed over the rocks, and leaned against the tree. He would wait for her to notice him, which took a while. When she did, Sep barely heard her. Did she really expect him to hear her whisper from the top of a tree?

Looking at the trees across from him, he said, "I'd like to see you make me."

Clove could have tried to drop one of her knives on his head but in her sadness, she forgot the option. Clove stayed up in her little tree, tears still falling. She didn't want human interaction while crying, it just wasn't natural to her. Clove knew people, they left when you started crying, they didn't stay to comfort you or wipe your tears away. Glamour had lingered once, when Clove had been crying. Meatcleaver hd shot he a worried look before he'd left, joking away with Johnnyboy and Brawler. Those people had been her best friends for years on end, her gang with which she ruled the streets. She returned to that memory. Glamour trying to offer her comfort but being rather awkward about it.

"Are you alright?" Glamour asked her.
"I'll be fine." Clove said. "Just give me a moment."
"I could stay, you know. We could talk about it." She offered nervously, it was obvious that she didn't feel comfortable with trying to make Clove feel better, none of them would have. They fought together. Clove knew there had been a boy with them before she had joined them and that he had died but nobody talked about it. The group of friends saw nearly all things that caused tears as a taboo. So Clove has smiled at Glamour, who had a several allergy for bee stings and immitated the sound of a bee. Glamour smiled at Clove, taking it as a sign she'd be fine. "Keep those dagger sharp, Daggerdeath." She said and walked away, leaving Clove to her tears.

Clove broke down in another small wave of tears, one of them falling down through the tree, falling on Septimus. Clove, shocked, quickly dried her tears. She climbed down the tree and stood on the groud again. She grabbed her daggers and faced Septimus, her hair had twigs in it and her eyes were still bloodshot from crying, the sadness still in her eyes. "So you want to fight?" She asked and stood ready to fight. Yet Clove didn't want to fight at all. She let her daggers fall down. "I don't." She admitted while tears got ready to take back over again. She looked at Septimus and was reminded of her old friends once again. She just couldn't take it, remembering their strenght and the things they'd done together. She dropped on her knees, her head toward the ground and started crying, hiding her face in her hands.

After a while Clove looked up, her face wet with tears. "Just do it. Kill me, it's what you want, isn't it?" She accused him, yet there was no anger in her eyes. Only desperation, but for what she did not know. "You won't hurt anybody with it. My mother wished was never born. I left all my friends by coming here and most people who know me, would not grieve for me. I was on nearly every newspaper for a while when I was eleven. Perhaps you remember?" She said. With scorn she quoted the headlines of those dark days. "Eleven year old Clove Tyler threw a knife in her mothers stomach. Her mother is in the hospital but it is unsure if she will survive." She said with an edge of hatred in her voice. She took her jacket of and the scars on her arms were revealed. "My mother did that when I was three." She lifted her shirt up to show three large ugly scars on her ribcase. "Along with those. Nobody mourns the wicked." She finished spitefully.

Tears were still running down Clove's face when she asked the most important question. "Why did you save me, back on the hill? You could have lt me die, no questions asked. You didn't have to save me but you did. Why?" It bothered Clove greatly. He owed her nothing, but she did owe him now and she didn't even know why. She hoped he'd answer her, tell her why he bothered to save her. Was it possible he cared about her for some reason? No, it simply could not be. She'd been rude to him and had taken his glasses from him. She didn't like those glasses for some reason and so she didn't want him to wear them. "Why didn't you leave me to die?" She whispered, feeling defeated.

((Sorry about it being shorter ))

((My muse with this thread is gigantic o.o))

What was that? That... thing that fell on his head? Was it starting to rain? Sep held his hand out, so it wasn't under the tree, but nothing fell on his hand. What was the mysterious water droplet that had landed in his hair? It had rained a few days ago, maybe a droplet of water had just stayed on a branch? Then chose that exact moment to fall? It seemed unlikely, but still it was possible. Clove cut off his thinking, by climbing down the tree. Her face was all red and puffy, and... oh. Septimus was such an idiot sometimes. Clove had been crying, and a tear had fallen on his head.

Septimus was definitely not in the mood to fight. If he did, he'd probably be too slow, and get hurt. A lot. Considering Clove was a master with daggers and knives, he'd be dead in a minute. But she didn't look like she wanted to fight. She looked like she wanted to fall to the ground in tears, which is exactly what she did. Um... uhh... what was Septimus supposed to do in this situation? It had always just been him and Alex, no girls. Neither Sep nor Alex cried, at least, not while the other was watching. Sep had sometimes, when he felt lonely and abandoned. Not to mention after Alex had died. So Sep just leaned against the tree, feeling awkward.

Septimus didn't want to kill her. He'd saved her, right? If he wanted to kill her, why save her life from a hydra? Unless she thought that he wanted to kill her himself... but in truth, he wouldn't actually kill someone unless he needed to. Or if they were being really annoying, and... well, okay, he could kill someone. But killing some hot girl he had only just met? That was probably not for the best, not to mention he'd get in huge trouble by Chiron. Septimus already knew he wasn't Chiron's favorite student, he was probably one of the last on his list. Though it was fair, because the horse man wasn't topping Seps's list, either.

He rolled his eyes, which were now fully visible because he had no glasses, and-- wait. Clove had killed her mom? All those scars she had... it made Sep glad his had left. But she really expected a 13-year-old to read the newspaper? One who was on the streets? This reminded Septimus that Clove still didn't know Sep's history. He bit his lower lip, wondering if he should tell her. What harm would it do? The past was the past.

He answered her other question first. "I'm not going to kill you. Your mom probably deserved it." All of this was true, but he plunged further, into his own history. "No, I wouldn't remember. Why should I? I didn't have enough money to eat-- why should I have enough for a newspaper? I've only been on the streets since I was ten. Actually, I've been on them longer than that, but the cops got me at age nine, and it took me a year to get out of the orphanage. When I finally got out, I met Alex. He died when I was twelve, the harpies got him. Congratulations, you got my just joyous history out." Septimus said the last part sarcastically, and ground his teeth together afterward. "Nobody mourns the unknown," he countered. Looking to the side, he remembered what had happened after Alex had died.

Septimus was running frantically, looking for someone who seemed willing to take him in. He'd already visited most of the kinder friends Alex had, the drug addicts and thieves, but they all threw him out. Of course, this was expected, but Septimus needed to go somewhere. He couldn't just sit on the ground and cry-- he needed to do something. He walked on, not caring who saw him, not caring about anything. Alex was gone. That was all that mattered, besides finding someone to help. He walked, away from the train station, away from what used to be Alex. He walked until he found a little stand on the street that was selling sunglasses. Knowing the people at the station would identify him by his eyes, he slipped a pair of sunglasses off the stand, and put them on. They were a little big, but he could grow into them later, assuming the police didn't find him and put him in the orphanage again.

For a moment Sep came out of his flashback, long enough to ask, "where are my sunglasses, and why did you take them?" and hear Clove's response.

Eventually, he wandered into a thief who wasn't at her usual hangout-- Clay. Whenever she stole something, you'd never find out until you looked for it, her hands were so quick, not to mention the hand-eye coordination she used. "Hey, Sep! Where'd you get your sunglasses? Where's Alex?" Did everyone have to question him? "I-- I... I--" Clay squatted to stare at him in the eye. "Septimus, what did you do? What happened to Alex?" Septimus had told her what happened. Clay, feeling sorry for him, had given him a backpack, with some provisions in it, that lasted him a few days. When all of it was gone, he had learned to steal food, and learned that when people asked where his parents were, to tell them he was walking home.

Septimus zoned back in, just in time to hear, "Why didn't you leave me to die?" Truthfully? Clove reminded Sep of himself. Septimus had a feeling that wasn't what Clove wanted to hear, so he tried to make some stuff up. Every life is a life, no matter whose it is, sounded more like Dr. Suess, not like Septimus, so he just shrugged. "Camp could really need some new recruits, if you haven't noticed, not many people are here now a days."

As Clove talked, Septimus just listened, silently. As Clove poured her heart out he just listened, silently. Clove didn't ask him to speak though, she just told her little story. Yet after a while he rolled his eyes, around the time had told him about her being on the news. Right, most children didn't bother with the news. Clove mentally sighed at herself. Just because she had spend months running from it didn't mean others payed attention to it. She was just so slow sometimes. Yet the talk had been everywhere, the disbelief. How could somebody so young be so evil? Yeah, Clove would like to know that too. She was evil but nobody had seen the scars. A thought suddenly dawned on her. Her father could have stopped her mother, he was a god right? Why had he let that happen? Didn't he love her? Was she truly that horrifying?

The thoughts were shaken from her mind when Septimus told her about his own past. She nodded a confirmation. "She did deserve it, most of the time. I just wish she had died." Clove said with a sigh, which would probably raise some eyebrows. She listened to his story and felt like she saw her soul reflected in his face. He was just like her, horrible past and not the best future ahead. On one point though, she saw a minor difference. He acted indifferent to about the entire world in her eyes while she knew she was being intentionally cruel as often as she could. She had no other way to deal with things. Which reminded her, she should not be crying. "I ran away after what happened to my mom." She said. "I would have died if not for Meatcleaver. He took care of me and introduced me to his gang. He's the only one who ever cared for me. The others cared about me, Brawler, Glamour and Johnnyboy but he was the first to give a crap about what happened to me. When he'd heard why I had almost killed my mom, he just smiled and said he appreciated my style." Clove said with a sad face. She missed her friends.

Clove was sitting in the forest, hiding from the staring eyes of the people that had looked at her. She had found this place, a shelter of shorts and was hiding from the rain. A boy walked in and Clove's eyes shot wide open. He was around thirteen and had a huge cut down his face. He looked murderous but his face lit up when he was Clove. "Aren't you the girl who almost killed her mom?" He asked. Clove instantly had a disappointed look on her face. She wasn't dead but the boy had laughed at her expression. "So she was that bad. I'm Orlando but my friends call me Meatcleaver. They should be around shortly." He said and offered her some food, which she gladly took. Orlando, or Meatcleaver, waited patiently, humming to himself. He ignored the cut on his head, as if it would all be fine in a matter of seconds. Clove didn't speak but wait patiently. Suddenly they heard two people outside, arguing. One boy, one girl. They entered the tent and the girl took one look at Orlando and rolled her eyes. "What did you do this time? Run into a lamppost? Seriously Meatcleaver, you need to be more careful." She said and walked up to a medic kit, ignoring Clove and grabbing medical gear to sow his skin back together.

The other boy stared at Clove facinated. They were all about the same age, thirteen, perhaps twelve. "So you're the girl who almost killed her mom. I'm Johnnyboy and that is my sister Glamour."
"His real name is Marvel and mine is Marlinde." Glamour threw in with an encouraging smile before working on Orlando again. Johnnyboy just shrugged and sat down with a can of food. "Where's Brawler?" He asked with his mouth full of food. Glamour rolled her eyes. "She's out. Said she'd be in late. We don't have to stay up for her." She looked at Orlando sternly. "You have to protect the new one." She said.
"What is she called? I mean by us. She needs to leave her past behind so she needs a new name." Johnnyboy said. "She's good with knives, I guess." Orlando said with a shrug.
"Let her prove just how good she is. I'll take her." Glamour said. The boys nodded an Glamour kindly guided her out of the shelter and brought her to the woods.

Glamour had explained everything patiently and answered all of Clove's questions before allowing her to show how good she actually handled her knives. Clove had been good with throwing knives at that point and she'd thrown a knife Glamour had given her into the belly of a lizard. Glamour had let her keep that knife and had named her Daggerdeath. The boys had woken her for morning training the next day, finding out that she wasn't worth a thing in melee combat but they could honestly say they taught her all she knew on that point. Glamour was her closest friend after Meatcleaver. They were all real fighters but also the best friends she'd ever had. They were just like all the other kids, with a long list of evil and strange hobbies.

"Some people mourn the unknown. I personally think the dead care more about the people they loved in life and if they remember them. I don't think they would care that much about the people they have never known." Clove said, hoping she was right and that he might be comforted by the idea.

When he asked for his glasses Clove held them up. She had cleaned them and kept them safe, although she didn't know why. "I have them right here." She said and help them up for him to see. As for why she took them, not even she knew. She had been angry and had forgotten them in the fight with the hydra. But she said something that wasn't a complete lie, or rather, not the entire truth. "I like your eyes. I don't want you to hide them from me." She said with a shrug and held the glasses out to him. "Keep them off, for me?" She asked him. "Just for now." She added. She actually never wanted to see those glasses hide his eyes but she couldn't ask that of him.

Clove was disappointed when he'd only saved her as a new recruit. She couldn't help it, she had to try and get a different answer. She smiled, although it was still a tired and loaded smile. "In that case I'll hunt for the camp, bring some monsters down. That should repay my dept and get me out." She looked at him. "Or do I have to stay here?" Her eyes challenged him to say yes because she told him with her eyes that meant he needed her around. She had to be more than just a simple recruit, she needed to be worth something to somebody.

Clove shivered, suddenly feeling rather cold. She picked up her jacket and put it back on, rubbing to get her arms warm again. "Gah, where did the cold come from?" She asked disgusted. She didn't really like it all that much and she didn't feel too comfortable. She felt as if Septimus wasn't being fully honest to her, although she knew everything about life on the streets was unmistakably true. Clove shifted nervously, wondering what else he'd have to say. "How did you cope? With Alex's death I mean." She asked. Somehow it was important. If he dealt with things as bad as she did, there was no hope for her. She'd rather find out now than later.

So Clove's mother was still alive? That was poor. The world really didn't need more of those people-- people who abused, people who went insane, people who were just plain... using. Septimus didn't include Clove in this-- being on the streets changed you, Septimus knew that much. Sometimes he still wondered where he would be now if he wasn't abandoned. No matter, the past was in the past. The present is the present, the future is the future. At least in the past, Meatcleaver had saved Clove. Septimus nodded, though he had had no one to save him, when Alex died.

"Lucky. You had people with you. When Alex died, all Clay did was give me a backpack." Septimus sighed, wishing someone had actually been nice enough to keep him with them-- he'd been an asset to Alex, right? Well, he'd hoped he was. Many times, Septimus had been able to warn him when the cops were coming, and they got out of there. Seriously, some people just didn't realize a twelve year old can help them sometimes. People ignore kids, unless they're being annoying. Boy, had Septimus learned that the hard way. Though, in the end, it did help. No one paid attention when he stole.

Septimus snorted. Yeah, like the dead could mourn. If anything, they wanted to be mourned. Yet... "'Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night’s sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landscape, hoping desperately that their circumstances will improve, but suspecting, in their heart of hearts, that they will remain unloved forever. The best thing to do in these circumstances is to wake somebody else up, so that they can feel this way, too.' Lemony Snicket” Alex had taught him that one, and it was his favorite quote.

Septimus and Alex were sitting at a bus station, on a stormy night as Septimus was eleven. Despite the fact they hadn't eaten all day, Alex wanted Sep to learn some more, and had been teaching him about one of his favorite famous people, Lemony Snicket. Sep was starting to like this lemon guy, he seemed... interesting. It seemed like he knew what Septimus was going through, and had felt sorry for him, had wanted him to feel better. His writing was so sad, yet at the same time, it was happy. Septimus had no idea how to do that, but loved hearing about it.For a moment, all his troubles evaporated, and it was just Lemony. Nothing mattered.

As Alex told Septimus the quote, he quickly memorized it. It soon was his favorite, and he recited it to himself all the time, so he wouldn't forget it, and try to figure out it's meaning. Septimus had come up with different ones, such as not everyone can be loved, and sometimes the worst things happen to the best people, and... well, you get the point. Septimus started living by that quote, day and night. Well, it obviously had to be night. Alex got annoyed when Septimus woke him up at night (at least once a week), but he understood. Sometimes, even at the weirdest times, you just nee someone to speak to.

Sep was now out of his trace-like state, and being showed his glasses. Somehow, they were magically clean. Interesting, Sep had known he'd cleaned them a few days ago, but not fully. These were perfectly clean, as if they hadn't been touched before. Pretty ironic, considering they were used almost constantly. Now she was telling him that he wasn't allowed to put them on in front of her? Well, then, too bad. They were a reminder, a brutal reminder at that, of his past, and he wasn't ready to let go. As she handed the pair of glasses to him, he shrugged and put them on. He would like to see her make him take them off.

Sep had noticed the challenge in her eyes. He decided not to take her up on it. Why, you may ask. Well, he just didn't want to do much. He could just give her a choice, which is what he did. "If you really want to go, you can leave at the end of summer. Just remember now that you know you're a demigod, monsters can sniff you out easier. Basically, stay here or die. Well, I guess that's not true. You could leave on a quest, or some demigods can live in the outside world. It depends. Personally, I find it better here than on the streets. If I were you, I'd stay. Of course I'm me and you're you." It was true (not the he's him, and she's her, part, though that's true also)-- here, he didn't have to worry about starvation, or getting caught by the cops. There was only training.

Sep turned his head and looked away, at the ground. He didn't like where this conversation was going, toward Alex's death. It was a subject he didn't talk about often, it was only a conversation that went on inside his head. The words were never actually spoken by someone, and if anyone, it would be Sep. Apparently, that was not the case here. Truly, Sep just tried not to think about it, to try and concentrate on different things. It seemed to work for him, but everyone was different. At least, Sep thought so. True, they were all alike in at least one way, but everyone was different in at least one way at the same time.

"That's... ah, kind of... personal." Who asks how a person copes with the only person they'd ever liked's death? That just seemed... insensitive. Sep understood her curiosity, but it was a lot like the sunglasses. He didn't like explaining much about them. Why should he? He had a freedom of speech, which also included the choice not to speak.

"Yes, I still have them with me. I could return to them, they'd welcome me with open arms. They were sad to see me go, they enjoyed it all. Fighting monsters, hunting and their dominion on the streets, I miss that. Nobody messed with them and those who did ended in the hospital. Glamour was really good with the needle and other first aid things so she's been fixing us up since the very beginning. Our lack of hospital visits impressed the others a lot and so we didn't have many people who dared to challenge us." Clove said with pride. Yet she doubted Septimus would like them. Septimus seemed to be unhappy with his past where Clove had embraced it and by now was proud of what she'd done.

Clove's heart hurt with longing toward her old life, she missed her friends and their day-to-day life. When he told her the qoute she looked confused. "All I would have gotten is a knife in my body. Nobody woke the others up, unless there was a danger. We were allowed our sorrows but we had an unspoken agreement not to share them. I guess they did it to keep me from asking about Curly." Clove said with a shrug. Human affection was a lie to her. It was only there on the inside and people cried in public when you died, otherwise, no tears seen. Their group had some strange dynamics but they'd been very close, closer than any highschool group of so called friends. They had been very very close and would kill for each other, but that didn't pass the time.

Clove's eyes hardened when he put the glasses on. Fine, he didn't care, why should she? The problem with Clove is that she doesn't forgive things, even minor things. She would remember that he'd put those glasses on with every word he said from that point. It could be seen, by those who could see the subtle changes in Clove. Her body was a lot stiffer and her eyes were as cold as ice. Perhaps Clove overreacted but she was good at that. She had kept that habit after building it at her home and her friends had always laughed and accepted her stubborn side the moment they saw she'd gotten herself another grudge to hold. It mellowed her a lot, as it made her feel understood.

Clove snorted loudly at the 'stay here or die' part, but didn't give any other comments. "Yeah, I wouldn't stay here for the world. It's boring here and I miss my friends. Apart from that, I do not fear death. I fear one thing, and unfortunatly, this is closer to that than the streets are." She was not liking this conversation all that much and was closing down the part of her that was willing to talk and make a friend, rapidly. "My life was as perfect as it could get. I was happy! That stupid satyr messed it all up. He took my freedom away and I don't appreciate that much." Clove said calmly, although she wasn't as calm as she seemed to be. She was ready to leave at the first chance she got. She actually zipped her jacket and looked at Septimus warily.

Who'd stop her if she tried to go? He would but she had made up her mind. One of them would end up hurt to a point where they couldn't stop the other from getting their way, and Clove very much intended to leave. She simply couldn't settle down here. She would have, if she'd been with her friends and they had liked it here but she doubted that. It was ruled, controlled and they were like animals that had broken free. She took a breath and sighed in relief. She had decided. "Well, best be on the way. Lots to do." She said. She smiled at him, and her smile was full of life. "I'll leave you with your personal. I understand not wanting to talk about it." She said and started walking further into the woods, whisteling a tune. 'The road goes ever on and on' as she'd heard it in the first Lord of the Rings movie once, a long time ago.

The first thing Sep noticed: Clove didn't respond well to people not following her rules. Well, that was her problem, not Septimus'. She hadbto learn that not everyone everywhere will follow what she said, and she just had to get used to it. Not everything could go her way every time.

Septimus kind of zoned out during the talk of her gang, but he caught bits and peices. "Well, now that I'm older and cold be more of an asset, Clay may take me in, though I doubt it. She's more of an... introvert." This was true. Clay worked much better alone, without anyone holding her back. Over the years, Sep had also grown into being a loner, and relying only on yourself. He'd been alone from age twelve, and now he was 18. What did that tell you?

Sep raised an eyebrow at her knife in the body comment. Not that she could see it, but... you weren't really sipposed to follow this quote. Septimus thouht he would be the only one who'd heard it to literally do what it said. Really, how many people do you know call you in the middle of the night just to talk about sadness? Septimus would jist hang up on them. Though he wouldn't use the phone anyway, because of the dangers.

Septimus didn't know who Curly was, but he nodded anyway. He respected different groups had different rules,that some were more strict some others. Sure, Sep had no rules other than to listen to Alex in the beginning, but then he made his own rules. Well, rule, really. Do not get caught.

Sep wondered what the thing she feared was. It was probably something serious, torture or something. Whatever it was, Septimus should probably be scared of it, too. This was because, Clove was, well, Clove. If you haven't noticed yet, Clove was a bit... aggressive. Not that Sep would ever say that to her face. Please, he would rather not be punched.

Sep was about to say they had plenty of freedom at caamp, but stopped himself. Did they really have much freedom? Heck, they couldn't even get a single Oreo! Whenever they wanted to do something, they had to skip lessons to do it. Compared to the life Clove had had before, this place was probably like a prison. Septimus understood what it felt like to have your freedom stripped from you, from experience.

Was she really just going to leave? Just like that, she was hoing to go back to camp, and be all nice and happy? Septimus seriously doubted it, so he decided to follow her. Just in case, he had gotten out a cloth he'd always taken with him, soaked in the stuff that knocks people out. Sep didn't know what it was exactly, but who needed to?

Septimus didn't say much anymore but it didn't bother Clove. He was just another person passing through her life. She wouldn't regret leaving him behind. Clove was very good at leaving things behind and she didn't regret it often. She thought of the few people she'd met in her short time and camp and didn't really think she'd miss any of them. Well, perhaps Alex, although she still suspected Aphrodite caused all that mess. Clove didn't look back as she walked away from Septimus, deeper into the woods.

At first Clove had been humming but she was feeling so good she did something she hadn't done for years. She started singing. It was random, no standard words or tune, just making it all up as she went. She used a flowing melody, using high notes. Clove didn't know or care if it sounded good or bad, she just enjoyed herself. She would have skipped and danced if that was in her nature but it simply wasn't. Clove was so occupied with singing and moving away from camp she didn't pay much attention to any noises that would have alerted her she was being followed.

Clove had heard there were supposed to be monsters in the woods but she didn't see any. Perhaps they had a day off. Clove was aiming for anywhere but camp and she seemed to be getting somewhere. Somewhere not camp. She could see the treeline and the field beyond it. How surprisingly short her walk seemed. Then again, she'd been in a fair way when she'd met Septimus. On the other side there was a lack of tracking time so she could have been walking forever without noticing. The sky did seem a lot darker than when she'd gone into the woods so it was quite a bit later.

Clove walked up to the treeline and looked out over the meadow. She could almost feel that she was free again and took a deep breath, closing her eyes and enjoying the peace and silence for a few seconds. She was about to be free again, no longer locked up. She had expected it to be so much harder to escape with what people said and them staying there. Clove felt like it was a mistake to go to the camp in the first place and so she had no intentions of ever returning there, or at least not for as long as she still had her friends on the street.

Septimus had to follow her for a while, but he didn't mind. Soon after she started humming, she'd started to sing. It sounded just like random words, but it was still beautiful. Not beautiful enough for him to sing along (that would give him away), or even hum, but it was still very pretty. It wasn't just pretty-- it was stupid. For example: Septimus hadn't seen a twig in front of him a minute or two back. Trying not to smell the cloth, and preoccupied keeping an eye on Clove, he just had to step on it. Really, it was a rule of nature. Whenever Septimus was trying to be stealthy and silent, he just had to make some noise. Yet Clove didn't notice, because she was too immersed in her singing. The useless talent, over protecting yourself.

This was yet another reason she shouldn't go out of camp. If you were a demigod, you had to be careful. Not listening while you may be being chased is not careful, in anyone's opinion, Sep was sure. Sure, there could be no one chasing you, but for all you knew, Kronos was on your trail, attempting to murder you. It's only logical to pay attention to your surroundings.

Still, Septimus was kind of glad she didn't. If she had, he'd probably be lying on the the ground, in pieces right now. Knowing Clove, she would probably find a monster and feed it his remains. She'd probably cut him up with the knife he'd stolen before, just for a good laugh.

Soon enough, they got to a treeline, which led out into a meadow. Septimus had been here before, on one of his former trips through the woods, and now knew where they were. This is where Clove paused, and took a deep breath, which was yet another mistake. Quiet and fast, like a ninja. Septimus ran up to her, putting the cloth over her mouth and nose. Unlike Clove, he was actually thinking, and started collecting her knives.

Gods, she hid them everywhere! Literally, even under her clothes. Yet he had the feeling he had missed some. Well, it's not like if she threw them at him he wouldn't collect it then... Not that worried, Septimus started carrying her to the big house...

((This thread will be continued at the Big House))