A Wooden Heart (Part 2) (Clove, PG-13 maybe?)

((Part one is here:https://camphalfblood7.forumotion.com/t52p15-a-wooden-heart#1739))

Andrew watched has his girlfriend ran down to her cabin, she could be moody but he still loved her. He smiled, man his life was great at the moment. Andrew chased after her, more than easily catching up to her. He noticed though that she was going inside of the cabin and he didn't want to detonate the land mines so he went to his. Since they were going to the Sound, why not bring a swimsuit? It was a nice day, they could swim. So Andrew stepped into his own cabin, trying to avoid the archers shooting at targets. He then grabbed a plain red swimsuit and changed, leaving his shirt on the bunk, he wouldn't need it if he was swimming.

He also put on some sandals and headed out the door, only to find Clove standing there. "Uhm, hey?" he said confused, he wasn't expecting her, but he quickly snapped out of it and realized she was in a swimsuit as well, so they had the same plans apparently. "Lets walk down together." he said and she nodded, so he put an arm around her and started to walk towards the sound, it was rather bright and Andrew wanted it a little bit darker, and the light seemed to respond to his command. Cool. he thought, I can control light.

After the long walk that Andrew was enjoying, since he was next to Clove, as close as they could get. He kissed her quickly then ran down to the water, tossing off his sandals as he went. The ocean came up to meet him as he dove into the cool waters, he closed his eyes and stayed under for a few seconds before coming back up for air. He came back up with a splash and he laughed and called out to Clove, "Why don't you come join me lovely?" Andrew had a feeling Clove wouldn't like being called lovely, but hey, he was in love, and there was nothing either of them could do to stop that.

He knew that they were meant to be together. After a few seconds of standing there, Andrew realized she was waiting for him, for some reason. So he clambered out of the water, "I'm just going to have to drag you into there aren't I?" he said, and wrapped a wet arm around here and pushed her towards the wake with him, but playfully, not a you-are-coming-in-or-you-die forcefully. Eventually he made it deep enough into the water that he let go of her and went back under to cool himself off after drying out a bit. When he came back up he stood next to Clove and looked into her eyes, "It isn't that bad, the water is nice and refreshing."

You could have said he was trying to get something romantic going that they weren't already doing, but he didn't really know what he was doing, though out of nowhere, as if Aphrodite made him, which he bet she did, he leaned in and kissed her for a good 2 minutes, longer than normal, which is probably the Aphrodite part if she was a factor in it, though he would have kissed her anyways more than likely.

Somehow Andrew had a feeling that Clove had the same feeling he just had. If he wasn't crazy or rather normal, he would be dead right now. Even though Aphrodite was crazy in making him love Clove, he loved it, and this time, it had been their own free will to go out. Andrew knew they were probably going way to fast and stuff, but they both seemed to go with it. Anything the 2 of them had against each other was now gone, and Andrew liked Aphrodite for what she had introduced him to, Clove. He just continued to look into her eyes and smiled.

Clove changed into her bathing suit without a single worry on her mind, she was going to have some not completely innocent fun with Andrew and she was happy about that. She'd steal a kiss or twenty, swim a little and otherwise, justt enjoy her day. Naturally it was a mirror that brought her crashing back to reality. When Clove turned to the mirror to put her hair into her typical ponyytail six large scars spoiled all the fun for her. For just a moment she'd managed to forget her past but it all broke down at that moment. The mirror didn't survive and was in a thousand pieces in less than ten seconds after she'd seen it. Clove didn't cry, she just got furious. She plucked a few pieces of glass out of her hands and left the bathroom. She grabbed a vest but opted out. She just covered the scars with her hands, she'd let the water hide them later.

Grumbling in frustration, she walked toward the door, ignoring her siblings. They could see the scars, they'd presume the same as all the other people only they'd see her scars as things to be proud of and perhaps even as beautiful. Clove might have agreed if she hadn't known the story behind them. With a sigh she made a pitstop on her bad, removing some glass from her feet. Puttin on a pair of slippers to avoid dirt getting right into the minor wounds, she walked out of the cabin. Her siblings would clean the mess up, or throw the shards at one another. Clove, taking a minor jump to avoid one of the new landmines that was right in front of the door, reached Andrew.

He greeted her and as they walked to the beach, the light dimmed a little. Clove would have prefered a nice set of thunder and lightning over happy sunny beach day. Let's just say the weather did nothing to improve her mood. He put his arm around her but he didn't notice the scars, yet. Clove walked, more at piece now that they were moving and she wasn't awkwardly hugging herself to hide her arms. She walked in peace beside hher boyfriend. She actually managed a minor smile as they arrived on the beach. Clove really wanted to swim and so did Andrew because he got straight in. Clove, now covering those horrid scars again just stood waiting for a bit. She didn't want her feet to get infected but attracting a shark with blood? Worth it!

Yet Andrew started to drag her, she only just managed to kick off her slippers before she entered the water. Refreshing it was, and up to a good point. Andrew seemed to be enjoying himself perfectly fine, making Clove smile and laugh. Yet no sharks yet, such a shame. Suddenly Andrew kissed her once more, for a good long while, making Clove lose track of time for a bit. It also made her slightly dizzy, in a good way. When the kiss broke, Andrew looked at her and smiled and Clove smiled right back at him, before it turned wicked and she disappeared under the surface of the water. Clove wasn't that good a swimmer but she managed good enough to get away from him. Also, being choked gives one an uncanny ability for holding ones breath.

Clove finally got out of the water, quite a while later, not near Andrew and with something shiny clutched in her hand. Her hands had started bleeding a little again but Clove didn't care. She looked at the thing she'd found in the sand. It was a pearl, white and very pretty. She stood still and forgot her scars for a moment. Also, she wasn't looking for sharks anymore. She figured she'd ask an Hephaestus kid to fix it into a ring for her. She'd probably have to rob somebody for a glimmer or two but this would make such a lovely gift. Or perhaps a necklace, since Clove wouldn't wear pearls. She hadn't send news to the gang in forever and so she thought it would be a nice idea to show she was fine by sending a token along.

She turned back and slowly made her way back to Andrew, making sure she didn't lose the tiny pearl. "Andrew, love." She said with a mocking smile. She didn't appreciate him calling her lovely after all. Clovely, possible but lovely? Never. "Look what I found." She said and held the pearl out to him, her other hand subconciously rubbing the scars on her arm. "Isn't it pretty?" She asked.

Clove's smile suddenly turned wicked and she dove under. What the fuck? Andrew thought. What was she doing? Andrew decided to follow her, but that was kinda hard, since she was underwater where he couldn't see her, and she seemed to stay under for forever. Eventually he was fearing that she drowned herself, that was, until she popped back up again and picked up something on the beach.

Andrew noticed her hand was bleeding, he could offer to help, and he also noticed some scars, but he knew better than to ask with Clove. If he asked, she would probably stab him, maybe the one downside to being Clove's boyfriend, you messed up, you died more than likely, but then again, he felt as if she let him get away with that stuff.

Andrew slowly made his way out of the surf and towards Clove, while she was calling out Andrew, love. Now he knew how retarded it sounded of him calling her lovely. "Yeah, that is lovely, I didn't think they had those out here, but you can't doubt that being demigods. Sorry about calling you lovely, you seemed to dislike it, do you mind me calling you Clovely or what, you decide." There it was again, the rubbing of the scars, though he did his best to ignore it, it was either notice it and ask and get stabbed or leave it alone and they would both be happy, Andrew preferred the latter.

He then slowley backed into the surf and called out to her, "Hey Clovely! Why don't you come joing me? I'd sure love it! So, are you coming or not?" Andrew then stood there and watched her, she was beautiful in his eyes, and that is all that mattered. Then it dawned on him, he hadn't waited to her response if she wanted to be called Clovely, well shit, he just prayed that she would mind it, at least from him.

Andrew wondered what he looked like in the eyes of others, if he was more of the buff, 6 pack abs guys you see in the movies or a fat, lame guy that could flood the whole United States with a belly flop. He really hoped it wasn't the latter, at least be mediocre. Of course, it didn't matter what others thought, just what Clove thought, and she seemed to like him anyways. Finally she ran down to him and he laughed, he outstretched his arms as if to hug her then fell backwards. Finally when he came up he was face to face with her, not the 2 feet away, like literally an inch away from her face, he could feel her body warmth and her breath on his face, and he liked every bit of it. "Hey, wanna see a trick I found out I can do?" he asked then changed the light from normal, to dark, to bright, then back to normal again, "Apparently I can control light, pretty cool huh?"

Clove saw it on his face, he had realised just how silly it sounded to call her lovely. Good, because Clove thought of herself as many things but lovely was not one of them. Lethal? Yes! Mean? Yes! Romantic? No, just no. Yet lovely? That would be more like 'Hades, NO!' With a smile Clove made her way back to Andrew. "Yes, I seem to dislike it." Clove laughed and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "But Clovely is acceptable." She said, suddenly feeling like making a cheesy comment. "But you're the one who put the love in Clove. I'm the one that put the laughter in slaughter." She said and poked against his chest before giving him another kiss on the cheek. Clove felt good and realised Andrew was ignoring her scars. Well good for him! Boyfriend or not, she would have stabbed him for mentioning it, although he was lucky and only got a blad to the arm or something, rather than the belly penetration most people would receive.

Clove looked over at Andrew. He wasn't what she had expected to fall for, he had never been. She'd been attracted to only one (well, maybe two) boy (s) before meeting Andrew. One of them was Meatcleaver and he had the physique of an athlete with the mind of a murderer. He was the bad boy girls thought they were attracted to but somehow they didn't considered him all that attractive when he was smeared in blood of other people. Even less when the blood was theirs. The memories made Clove smile. The other guy she might have been attracted too was Septimus and he was a street kid too, although by far more skinny and malnourished. Yet they both had one big thing she had, a life on the streets, no matter how different Septimus and Meatcleaver had lived on the streets. They had hardened by it and it showed in more than one way and Clove found that rather attractive.

Andrew didn't have that, he had nothing like it. He wasn't skinny nor as buff as Meatcleaver. He was a nice guy beyond doubt, good with people. Now that was something Clove absolutely wasn't. She still hadn't decided if she even liked that. Sometimes she wondered why she'd fallen for Andrew but the answers were obvious. Aphrodite and unknown. Unknown was why she still liked him but she guessed something had changed or that Aphrodite hadn’t completely removed the magic. Not that it mattered, she was in love with Andrew, which was most important. Let the why and how be a question for those who disagreed with it. She made her way back to her love with haste and was about to hug him when he fall backwards. She laughed and threw a little water at him.

He started playing with the light when he was only an inch away from her. “Why don’t you try some doom and gloom lighting?” She whispered while leaning even closer, for as far as that was even possible. Andrew stood there, in front of her and their bodies almost touched as he was playing with the light. "Nice gift. I can't do anything like that. I just know how to fight." Clove said with a shrug. It was enough for her and to prove her point, the girl quickly kicked Andrew so that he'd fall into the water. She wasn't resenting the fact her best thing was her ability to fight, she just knew that bright light was not her thing. It made one too easy to track while the shadows were a fine cover after murder.

((You called Andrew fat, saying not skinny :\ I modeled him after me, and you could say I am skinny...))

She laughed, gave him a kiss on the cheek, then said, "But Clovely is acceptable. But you're the one who put the love in Clove. I'm the one that put the laughter in slaughter." It was a cheesy remark, but he laughed anyways, he was in a good mood. She then poked him then kissed him again. She seemed glad about something other than him, maybe him ignoring the scars or something like that.

Clove looked over at him, and their eyes met, she didn't look anything like he thought his first girlfriend would be. Yeah, he liked some classmates when he was younger, but nothing serious. He was athletic though, but her personality made it strange for Andrew, it was one of those one wrong word and your dead type of personalities. Not to mention she had the instinct to kill on eyesight. She wasn't good with people, or rather nice, unless it was him or a few people. Clove also had a life on the streets, at least from what Andrew could tell by her past. You could say they were opposites brought together.

They had fallen for each other only because of Aphrodite, but he thanked her for that. Without her they would be killing each other every time they saw each other. There were other reason for sure, like Aphrodite didn't remove all the magic by accident maybe. Of course, he still loved Clove nonetheless, no matter how they came to be. Somehow though, Andrew knew Clove was doing the same thing, wondering how they came to be. Were they so close they could tell what the other one was thinking of?

After Andrew came up from falling backwards, she laughed and threw water at him, which he threw right back. “Why don’t you try some doom and gloom lighting?” she asked, then complimenting his gift, "Nice gift. I can't do anything like that. I just know how to fight." Before he could react to change the lighting for her she kicked him playfully, causing him to fall into the water. When he came back up, right where they were, and again they were inches away. "I was going to change the light you know." he said. As he said this the lighting turned dark, like she requested.

Of course he did this because she was his girlfriend, if it was anyone else, maybe, probably because he was a nice person, but Clove was more special then them. She didn't seem to be resenting her ability to fight, just showing she wasn't a fan of bright lights. They were so close Andrew could almost feel her skin, so he finished making contact by wrapping his arms around her while she did the same and held her tightly, closer than ever before. He loved her, and to proved that point, he leaned in and kissed her. It was probably there best yet, but to him they all seemed the same, amazing.

When he pulled away, he held her close still, not intending to let go of her yet, and still their faces were centimeters apart, to him this was the best moment yet of his life. Andrew then waited for her to make the next move, willing to let go of her if she let go of him, he wasn't going to be the one to pull away this time. The sun seemed to shine down directly on them, making it bright around them, of course, that was if he hadn't made it dark, though it still seemed to ignore that, as if his father was watching and making things even better than before.


((Sorry for the short post...))

((I wasn't calling him fat as I compared him to extremely buff and malnourised. That leads to a normal weight. Oki?))

Clove laughed as Andrew fell and landed in the water. Yes, this was a priceless moment to her. She'd love to have herself a knight in shining armour, for target practise. She didn't need saving, she could do that herself, and extremely well at that. She smiled satisfied as Andrew came back up again, closer to her than before. Her smile was nothing more than a pure challenge. 'Come and get me boy!' It shouted loudly. Clove wasn't exactly looking for a fight.... Well, maybe just a little. Andrew chose to ignore her challenge and gave her the doom and gloom lights she'd requested before.

Now doom and gloom light, as you can imagine, isn't bright, cheerful or giving any suspicion of anything being right. It's the type of light that makes people a little paranoid, fearing they will be attacked at any moment. Making them see shadows and and jump at minor noises. Throw all that together and you find a world of joy for Clove. Fear was often layered on so thick with those people that their fear ran away with them, while bright and cheerful lighting left room for hope for anything positive. Needless to say Clove didn't like that. She prefered seeing other people drowning in a sea of Chaos. So she happened to love the doom and gloom.

Andrew kissed her and Clove once again got lost as that happened. It was a special thing but it just kept happening over and over and over. Despite the fact she liked kissing him a lot, she managed to get distracted. Something broke past his nice light setting and Clove didn't like that one bit. Andrew seemed to notice something change as he pulled away. Clove looked to the side and glared at the bright light. Her glare was truly magnificent as she muttered something about sending her father to kick the light of somebody.

Naturally Andrew seemed to like the extra light, it probably reminded him of his father. Bright lights had some memories with her own mother and some with her gang but her best memories all had a far less cheery lighting so she preffered those. Maybe add a little rain and some buildings that looked like they might collapse on you at any given moment and you had a very romantic setting. Well, according to Clove at least. Yet nobody ever seemed to agree with her on that, or if they did, they hadn't bothered to tell her about that.

She turned back to Andrew and gave him a kiss on his cheek, wanting a small break from the kissing. "So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" She asked with a teasing smile on her face. Perhaps she could have some fun after swimming or go and hunt some monsters. Monster hunting sounded very good, kill some things to get her mood up a little and make the world a safer place, that sort of thing. If only she'd have her gang to hunt with her. Some might even start calling it repentance for their past deeds, although Clove wasn't really bothered with her past and didn't see much to repent for in the first place. She just liked the idea of bringing the monsters down, like they had fought in the old days. Yet fighting monsters had been like a second nature to all of them while fighting humans still took a little getting used to from time to time, not to mention cleaning up after yourself was a lot harder with humans. Clove felt a strange sensation in her stomach, as if she'd just been on a roallercoaster. What if her friends were also demigods?

((Fine, lol))

When Andrew came back up she was laughing, it was either a challenge or not, though he didn't want to attack her at the moment so he let it slide. She was his girlfriend after all, she could get away from things he normally wouldn't allow, like kicking someone into the water, unless it was playful. If it was challenging like that slightly was, then that was different. He stood back up and changed the lighting.

Yeah, the lighting wasn't the best, fearful and such, but he had to deal with it, he didn't want to piss her off on accident, that never solved anything with her, because when she was angry, she was angry. Of course, Clove liked the lighting, again, only because she was his girlfriend did he allow this to happen, otherwise he would have absolutely denied it. Darkness for a child of Apollo wasn't exactly a good thing, they preferred light.

When they were kissing the light broke through the setting, making her clearly mad. He relaxed a bit with the light, obviously from his father, but Clove clearly didn't like it, at all. She muttered something about sending Ares to kick the light out of somebody, probably his father. He wasn't sure, so he didn't get defensive, he would not let anyone, no matter who they were, insult his father.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" she asked, and he thought, he really didn't have anything planned. After she kissed him, he realized he wanted a break from the kissing as well and pulled away. "I don't know honestly, probably training and stuff like that, pretty much a normal day, unless you want me to hang out with you?" he asked her, just in case it was a trap, you never knew with girls, it was impossible to understand their motives.

"If you wanted too, we could go monster hunting or something." he said, unsure of what to say. He wanted to stay with her, but of course, Andrew couldn't do that. Hunting probably triggered something in Clove's brain, either that was good or not, he hoped it was the good if it had triggered something. He hated seeing Clove get defensive with him, it had already happened, and she almost stuck a knife up his ass, the one disadvantage of dating someone that likes to kick asses for a living.

Of course, it really wasn't his choice, more of Aphrodite's choice, Clove didn't really fit with him, but he still loved her nonetheless. Even if she would stick a knife up his ass if he made a wrong decision, he still loved her and was glad Aphrodite brought them together, intentionally or not, even if it wasn't met to be permanent, just a show for her to watch. Just a show. For just a split second Andrew managed to escape the side effects, and realized he disliked Clove, though they were still friends, and he hated Aphrodite for being part of her show, but that quickly ended, and he loved Clove once more, not that her magic was his only reason for loving her. With or without magic, he felt he would have ended up with Clove, even if they got off on, er, the wrong foot.

Clove knew, using her brain, that nobody was less suited for being her boyfriend than Andrew. Well, maybe some people but Andrew and she should never have worked out in any way. Her heart, however, told her a different story. Andrew was just right for her, they belonged together, it made Clove's brain want to puke and that made her heart want to slap her brain which made her brain want to beat up her heart and so on. Inner conflict of a very serious degree. She looked Andrew over when he proposed hanging out. Yet she said nothing and just studied him, trying to determine what he was trying to say. Clove could be rather dense at times but when he mentioned monster hunting she looked away.

"Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea, but I don't hunt with anybody but my gang. My mind goes into a certain state when I hunt and you wouldn't be safe. One of us would be dead before nightfall." She said and stepped out of his arms. She walked back to the beach and grabbed a few daggers from her pile of clothes. She studied them carefully. "It's been too long since I've hunted." She said softly her eyes already intent on the woods. She turned back to Andrew and looked at him. Her inner strenght showed, making her look years older and a lot wiser all of a sudden. The wind blew her hair to the side as she stood there as a proud and ancient warrior, strong a and very determinded. She walked up to Andrew, took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. "I'll see you soon." She whispered and walked to her clothes, quickly throwing them on over her bathing suit. She didn't look back as she walked for the woods.

Clove was off for a hunt, which meant she'd be gone for a good couple of days. She thought best in a hunt and at that moment she had a lot to think about. She'd be back before the dance and hopfully, clear on what she wanted and needed. For a while though, Clove needed solitude and time to hunt and think. It was her own type of meditation and when she'd found the answers, she wouldn't change her mind. Clove was commited to things, both as warrior and as a person. For now Clove would live off the hunt, as she'd done for nearly all her life. Soon, she'd return to camp and pick up a normal life with a decision made. It was time.

((Sorry for cutting it off like this but it was either this or her starting a fight or something like that))