Somewhere Only We Know (Roman)

Faye sighed and wandered out to the woods. The weather had finally cleared up, spring was on its way, and the damn crow thing seemed to have passed she went back to what she loved.

The outdoors, nature, maybe even some animals. She just wanted to get away from the castle for a while. Everything was so-so-so...

Well she didn't know what it was any more, but either way, out here, it was nice - out here it was simple.

A slight chill was seeping into her body, so she wrapped her robes around her tighter. After a moment, she came to a small clearing, deciding this was as good a place as any to stop, she pulling up to a tree and sunk into the grass below.

This was right.

Roman walked through the forest with his wand out, occasionally glancing over his shoulder. Those damn fifth years kept popping out at him everywhere he went. They were still upset about him insulting Olsen.

Why can't they just leave me alone? The mud squished under his feet, a sign that the cold Russian winter was giving way to the cold Russian spring.

He thought he heard someone breathing and sped up his pace, holding his wand at the ready. They were following him. Roman knew it.

Nerves on edge, he sped into a clearing and physically jumped when he saw someone there, instinctively pointing his wand in their direction.

Faye had been almost dozing off, at least lost to the world in a any true sense - off dreaming about things that would most likely never be - when she thought she heard footsteps coming in her direction.

At least there was a constant squish that accompanied the displacement of the muddy ground.

Sitting up a little straighter, she tensed slightly and looked in the direction of the movement. Although the girl would say that she more or less came back from her crownapping unscathed, she couldn't help but deny that she had always been a nervous sort, and that particular incedent had not helped.

If the person who entered the clearing seemed startled to see her she was by no means any less so startled by them.

She let out a small squeal of surprise, and her eyes widened upon noticing the wand pointed at her.

Raising her hands slighly, she went on in a small almost hesitatant vocie, "Don't... shoot?"

Roman stared at Faye for a moment, then grinned, "Faye?" He started laughing at his own paranoia.

He looked around. They were pretty far into the forest, and very few people ever came out here, "What are you doing here?"

Faye blinked for a moment before, adjesting to want was before her. She let out a laugh, and smiled at the boy, "Roman? And here I thought you actually liked me."

She gave him a teasing smile before going back to looking at the leaves around her.

"I like the forest," she said with a gring and a shrug. "Sometimes I just come out her and walk. Not going anywhere in particular, but just walk... and see where my feet take me."

"So what brings you out here, Roman?"

Roman shook his head, smiling back at her. He took a seat on the grass near her, sitting cross-legged and fiddling with his wand.

"That sounds... really nice," he looked at the enormous trees towering over the two of them. Roman always appreciated the silent power that trees had, and how they could do so much but at the same time move so little.

"The same people that cut up my hand," he said with a grimace. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

She smiled and glanced at him as he sat beside her. She wiggled in her seat slightly, feeling oddly glad that he was staying - possibly more glad than made sense, but Faye was just going to roll with it.

Besides, Roman was nice - she didn't run into nice people it seemed all that much in her life. That was all it was.

She nodded and tilted her head back to watch the sun dance through the slowly growing leaves of the tree, "It really is. I use to do it at home too. I'd just get up and leave, go where ever, anywhere that wasn't there..." she trailed off as she got lost in thoughts.

"Again?" she asked, her voice going more than a little sharp. "Roman that's not- they need to-" she sat up a bit, moving forward as if to grap him, in a hug perhaps? Or... but after a moment she stopped herself, and just looked at him with a critical eye. "They did not... you are not hurt again are you?"

Roman plucked a piece of dead grass from the ground. He crumbled it up in his fingers, "You're very lucky, you know. If I ever tried that I think my mother would die of a heart attack. And my father... I don't even like to think of what he'd do."

He quickly looked away from Faye, remembering the promise he made to her. Roman warily looked out of the corner of his eye to see that she wasn't angry at him. Surprised, he turned back toward her, "No- no they were just... just..."

He shook his head, "They're just trying to scare me. It's okay, though. Really."

"Lucky?" Faye asked with a snort, "I guess you could say that... though that's how parents are supposed to act. They are supposed to care about where you are going. I could leave the house for days and I'm sure no one would notice."

Faye felt an odd spark of anger flash in the pit of her stomach. That wasn't right! They should! Should have to!

She impulsivly rested a hand ontop of the boys, trying to be comforting, not thinking about anything else.

"Its not okay Roman," she said softly. "You shouldn't have to deal with that. They should-should... they shouldn't get away with that."

Roman couldn't believe what he was hearing. He searched Faye's face for some sign that she was joking, but found no trace of sarcasm, "I'm sure that's not true. If any person were to ignore someone like you..." Roman leaned in toward her, "You could never go unnoticed."

Feeling her hand on his Roman looked back up at Faye, his head becoming very, very light, "No, no they shouldn't but... but they do anyway..." He smiled, "But thanks for caring."

Faye raised an eyebrow as Roman looked at her, and blushed a bit as he leaned closer and spoke.

She shook her head - he was sweet, but wrong, so very very wrong, she went unnoticed all the time. She was use to it, used it to her advantage ... sometimes. She was about to inform the boy of his mistake when something he said struck her.

"Someone like me?" she asked softly leaning in slightly herself even as she was completely unaware of doing so.

She smiled softly, "You're welcome... everyone deserves someone to care."

"Yeah!" Roman smiled, his face turning a light pink color. "You're one of the most amazing people I know," he added in a slightly lower voiced. Not that he was ashamed to say it. He just felt a little shy admitting it, which did seem odd to him.

"Not to mention... probably the nicest." Roman marveled at how honest he could be with Faye. Not that he wasn't with other people, but he had been trained to always keep his thoughts hidden. Roman was having a lot more trouble with that now.

Faye gave a small smile in and a laugh, even as she shook her head, her hair spraying out about her head.

"I'm not that amazing, I'm just Faye," her eyes twinkled as she spoke, "And I don't think it's that hard to be nice... if people want to."

She tilted her head as she looked at the boy, "But thank you Roman. You know..." she looked at her lap, blushing slightly before looking back up, "You're not so bad yourself."

"Exactly!" Roman said enthusiastically, " 'Just Faye' is possibly one of the best things you can be!" He laughed whole-heartedly for the first time in days,

"I don't think it's that hard either, but people seem to be really against it nowadays."

Roman grinned, "Thanks. I try."

Faye blushed and ducked her head. She didn't know why such a statement made her blush, but there it was the distinct warm feeling in her cheeks, as she attempted to hide such a look from Roman.

"Thank you," she said softly. Still looking away. Who knew? Someone thought 'just Faye' was the best thing she could be. That was certainly not something she heard often, or perhaps ever. Certainly not from home. If they ever paid attention to her it was to tell her to be something else.

"Well people are stupid now-a-days," she grumbled a bit, looking back up. "What does being unkind get you anyways?"

Faye smiled and nodded her head, "You're welcome."

Roman nodded in agreement. That was the truest thing he had heard all day. He looked down at the grass again, thinking about her question. He was pretty sure it was rhetorical, but what did that matter? "Money I suppose," he picked up a small twig and turned it around in his fingers, smiling, "But what good is money if you're unkind?"

"I supposed those who want money, could find pleasure in it for without kindness," she sat thoughtfully digging her foot into the ground, making a divet. "They like the prestiege or, power they assume it gives them - and neither of those things it seems require kindness."

She leaned forward, resting her arm on her knee, and winced slightly as it rubbed against an old bruise. At least she hoped that it was an old bruise and not that the simple action of resting her arms on her knees was now blemishing her skin with dark purple marks.

Sighing she rolled back her sleave to look at the colourful collection of bruises grouped together there The most recent were a nice deep red or purple, but the healing ones were slowly turning yellow or green and fading. Bitting her lip she prodded one that looked the most sensitive and winced again as her theory turned correct.

"Huh... I never thought of it that way." Roman leaned back on a large tree conveniently placed behind him, "But I suppose that makes sense. It seems like a very lonely existence, though."

Roman's eyes widened when he saw Faye's arm. "Wow," he gestured at the bruises, "That is impressive. I don't suppose that's the result of your clumsiness?" He wasn't really bothered much by bruises, unlike many people he knew. In fact, he was used to them, being someone who considered himself an athlete, and he wasn't very careful about getting injured.

"Prestiege conquers lonely for those people, and power," Faye shrugged. She should know, she lived with them. "What is company, friends... love.... compaired to money, power, magic, pureblood titles."

Faye gave a little laugh and smiled, "I'm not that clumzy."

She looked at her arm calculatingingly.

"Lets see... that one was from... the table I think, and that's from when I walked into the wall - I bumped my elbow into the head rest of my bed last week," she bit her lip twisting her arm this way and that. She had covered most of them, "And I can't account for the rest of them."

"Wow. That's very...." Roman paused for a moment, looking for the right word, "insightful."

Roman chuckled as he heard the long list of injuries, "Well you're either clumsy, or you have very bad luck." His eyes strayed to the ground and he immediately stopped laughing, his eyes wide, "Faye."

"I think I have a cure for your luck," Roman crawled over to a spot a few feet away on his hands and knees, a wide grin on his face. He plucked something from the ground, making sure to hide it in his hand so Faye couldn't see.

Retuning to her, he opened his hand. In it was a small four-leaf clover just the size of a penny, "Here. You seem to need it much more than me."

"I think stupid would be a better term," she gave a wry smile.

Faye shook her head and looked at her arm, "I just bruise easily... so I supposed it would be a combination of the two."

"What?" She cranched her neck trying to see what the boy was getting, and getting bemusingly frusturated when he hide it. "Roman! What? You know, its not fair to call peoples names and then refuse to show-"

She stoppped and grinned as she looked at the clover. It was so well... cute.

"Aww," she cooed taking it from his hand. She grined at it, spinning it just slowly about its stem. "I shall treasure it always."

Roman shook his head, "I meant that you're insightful. But for people like that, stupid is a great term."

"I'll hold you to that," he watched the clover spin in her hand, "After all, I hear those are hard to find. Of course, I wouldn't know.. I mean, I do have some pretty stellar luck," Roman said, laughing.

His smile faltered and he narrowed his eyes, thinking, "Faye, what time is it?"

"You have stellar luck do you?" she raised her eyebrow as she tucked the clover carefully into her pocket. "I shall remind you of that luck next time you ask me to heal a cut."

She gave a tinkling laugh, but stopped and tilted her head as Roman's face became more serious.

"Pretty late I'd imagine," she blinked after a moment looking up at the sky, which was actually being blocked by trees. She coudn't quite recall how long she'd been out here now. She shivered unconsciously and pulled her robes closer to her.

Roman stood up and tried to get a better view between the trees, but the chilled air was sign enough that it was getting dark. He looked back at Faye, "We should probably go.... Unless you don't want to... I'm fine with staying..."

As Roman was talking, he realized that now might be his last chance to say something he'd been meaning to say for a while, and after a long chain of stuttered sentences, he finally spat out, "We should make plans."

He bit his lip and dug his hands into his pockets, "It's just that, we've hung out a lot, but it's always been on a chance encounter... and... I really like you, so maybe we could see each other again... this time on purpose." This was never going to work. Of course she would say no. He looked back at her, an apologetic smile on his face.

"No..." she paused shaking her head, "Er, well I mean - I want to stay, but I think we might freeze to death if we insist on staying out here any longer." As if to emphasize her point she shivered a bit again. She laughed a bit.

She furrowed her brow as the boy began to stutter, and then her face went a little slack once he got the words out.

She felt an odd flutter in her stomach, and a warm feeling spread through her.

"Plans?" she asked softly, "As in like... a date?"