don't call it a fight when you know it's a war (aka reunions while sneakily skipping on lessons)

there's almost no supervision to make sure you get to lessons. taleis would complain about the lack of challenge if he weren't so busy being grateful he could skip out on his ancient greece lesson. seriously, nothing against ancient greece, but it's possibly the most boring hour taleis has ever had to endure in his entire life. sure, it's still cold out and the strawberries haven't grown yet, but it's far better to be out here than at lessons.

there's this old swinging bench in the back of the field, and taleis is almost positive nobody's found it in at least a decade, because he hasn't seen anyone there and the graffiti on it is all old and sun-faded. it's kind of his, really; taleis has carved his name into the wood and brought out some pillows. he tried to keep a food stash, but ditched that when he realized that, duh, ants. the donuts were for him, not the stupid ants. he's still trying to work out a way to sue them for his donuts because, like, rude.

he sighs as he flops down onto the bench, using his feet to make it rock back and forth on the chain. taleis feels like he should be smoking a cigarette or something. a leather jacket also wouldn't be bad. he could totally pull off the whole bad guy look. he could rock it like he was alex turner or some crap. taleis could do it better, probably. he is that good.

taleis flops back on the bench as he starts humming californication. man, it'd be sick if he could get a stereo out here or something. although that would require an electrical plug, which taleis happens to lack, currently. unless he could find a battery powered one that wasn't crap. he'll have to ask around the hermes cabin later.

he's so caught up in his humming, eventually going all out and playing the ai guitar and mumble-singing (seriously, who can even understand what anthony is saying?), that he doesn't notice that there's someone else is in the fields until they're close. he's about to get on the defensive, because he knows he has lessons and who else could they be if they're not a counselor coming to drag him back? but then he realizes that she's younger than the typical counselor.

there are bells ringing in the back of taleis' head, and he's pretty sure he's seen this face before. it takes him a second to remember the fieldtrip years ago.

"i know you!" he blurts out, sitting upright. he thinks a few seconds too late that that's probably not the best choice of first words to someone, even if he had met her years ago. oh well. too late for that now.

taleis snaps his fingers. "yes!" he says. "i'm taleis! and you're..." he trails off, brow furrowed in concentration. he knows her name, he does, it's just taking a second is all.

"andi!" he says, finally remembering. whew, that was a close one. he throws a bright grin at andi because, seriously, what are the chances that she's a demigod, too? this is great. they can go around and mess with people and pull pranks and maybe make fun of people. but only some. and while far away from them and any weapons. making fun of demigods with sharp objects is never a very good idea; taleis considers him a master of the art.

"i can't believe you're here!" he says, and his grin probably looks somewhat unhinged, but, hey. it happens to the best of us, right?

taleis lets out a bark of laughter, loud and carefree. who cares if a counselor finds him skipping on his lessons, this is awesome. "oh my gods, the looks on their faces!" he says, laughter still ringing in his voice. it truly was genius; he'd been retelling the tale for weeks. it's going to be in his autobiography when he gets his own famous talk show and becomes the male version of ellen, it will.

"so!" taleis says, clapping his hands together excitedly. "do anything exciting since we last met? pulled any great pranks?" he leans forward, his eyes wide.

taleis grins brightly, clapping his hands together like a child on christmas day. oh, this is good. his story is going to blow her mind.

"well," he says, giggling slightly. "andi, my darling dear, i -" he gets cut off by his own giggles. andi is going to be so impressed. taleis is awesome. "i," he continues in a stage whisper, "ran away from camp!"

he giggles again from the sheer excitement of sharing the news with someone. it was awesome. taleis truly is the best. who cares if benjamin did all the planning and stuff, taleis is the best. "and," he says, because andi is an important person and so is benjamin and andi must now about the other important people in taleis' life. "i ran away with a boy, and his name's benjamin, and now he's my boyfriend. running away leads to all the best romantic gestures, i swear."

taleis tries to hide the sappy look that's probably dominating his face right now. he most likely fails miserably. whatever, he's in love, he's allowed and all that.

"i've been made into an honest man," he says, trying to school his facial expression into something akin to innocence. it probably doesn't work very well. you spend so much time being devious and suddenly it shows on your face. taleis thinks that should work the other way around, actually; he should have a great poker face by now. damn his face.

taleis crosses his arms over his chest and tries to make a pouty face. "hey!" he says, aiming for offended and probably landing somewhere in obviously-trying-not-to-laugh. "laughing at people isn't nice, andi. didn't your mother ever teach you?"

he swings his feet back and forth, trying not to grin hopelessly. he and andi hadn't gotten to spend a lot of time together before, but he just kind of has this feeling that they should be friends. he's not quite sure how to explain it.

taleis snorts. "shame on your mother," he says, making a tsking sound. "then again, my aunt never really tried to teach me manners, so." he shrugs. "maybe they'll have a book about how to be a 'polite and refined member of society.'"

"andi, darling," taleis says, clutching his hand to his chest. "do you really think i would forget the day i met you? do you really think so little of me? i'm hurt, truly. you wound me," taleis says, trying to hold a hurt expression on his face. then he bats at her arm with his free hand and says, "of course i remember, you dingo."

taleis scoffs and rolls his eyes. "crazy you are, woman. as if i could forget," he says, ruffling andi's hair. "proper insane. i think you need to get your head checked if i could forget something like that. it was the best prank ever."

it really was the best prank taleis has ever pulled. taleis' friends back home weren't into pranking like he is, but andi was. he never knew that he could pull a prank better than what he'd been doing, but that was before he met another professional prankster.

sure, he got into trouble, but it was all in the name of pranking. everyone admitted it was funny after, of course they did. it was hilarious.