𝓕𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓛𝓲𝓷𝓮 // Clarisse La Rue

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝔀𝓸

The news of the minotaur slayer spread like wildfire. Nothing in camp could be kept a secret for long, especially if Florence Ferrara knew about it and even more so if she told her siblings. Most who heard about his feat were skeptical but Florence and Annabeth had seen the horn and in turn began theorizing.

"He might be the one." Annabeth said, a hopeful tone in her voice. She was waiting for the arrival of a special demigod, who would go on a quest even Chiron couldn't prevent and when that happened he promised Annabeth she could join.

Florence understood that she and Annabeth were the same in a sense. They had both left home at the age of seven and made their way to camp half blood. Where they found a real family and where they trained tirelessly to prove themselves. The only thing left for them to accomplish was a successful quest, but Luke's failure had set them back, with Chiron putting a halt to any possible quests before they even started. But to console Annabeth Chiron had promised her a position on the next one while Florence was left with no reassurance but the off chance her mother might answer her prayers.

She tried to be happy for Annabeth, she deserved it. She was competent, intelligent and had more knowledge about monsters than anyone Florence knew. But still, it hurt. It hurt to know that Annabeth was so close to going on a quest, just because her mother was revered as a war goddess and Aphrodite was not seen as one even if the Spartans had worshiped Aphrodite Areia.

It wasn't as if Florence was weak. Sure, she might not be as naturally intelligent as Annabeth but she was still one of the cleverest demigods in camp. She excelled with her dagger. She could talk her way out of anything with her charmspeak. She had trained and proved herself worthy time and time again. But they would still disregard her as just "one of those Aphrodite girls who spend all day talking about clothes and break people's hearts for fun" when they didn't know the first thing about her or her siblings.

"But he drools when he sleeps." Annabeth commented, pulling Florence away from her bitterness.

"Ew." Florence giggled. "But he might not be so bad, you know, drooling aside. They're saying he's big three material."

"I suppose I'll just have to wait and see aren't I?" Annabeth said. "Chiron let me show him around when he's all healed."

"Oh, fun! Can I join?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course. It'll be a little boring though." Annabeth said.

"I don't mind." Florence smiled.

꒰🕊꒱

Their time with the newbie proved to be far from boring.

Florence and Annabeth waited for him by cabin eleven. Annabeth read a book on architecture in the original Greek, which all demigods were fluent in. And Florence read a romance novel in the original French which all children of Aphrodite were naturally fluent in, due to it being the language of love.

They heard the sound of Chiron walking over, hooves against the grass. Simultaneously they looked up and snapped their books shut, looking at the newbie up and down. He had sea green eyes, dark messy hair, a tall and skinny frame and an awkward smile as he noticed them analyzing him. He was nervous and Florence knew it.

She tried to send him a reassuring smile.

"Florence, Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have a masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"

"Yes, sir." They replied in unison, making the newbie give them an odd look. Florence suppressed her urge to giggle, her and Annabeth's coordination was a trick they had mastered long ago to freak people out. It never failed.