Nick and Archer (PRIVATE)

Nick arrived in the library. He picked out a couple books, then went to sit at a nearby table. He put the books against the wall next to the table. It looked like it was going to fall, which scared Nick a bit He knew how old this camp was, but didn't they ever rebuild? He adjusted his glasses as he opened the first book he got, about the Twelve Olympians. He went to page about his mother, Hestia. He began reading about her. The librarian approached him, and he looked up. He got one of his bookmarks he brought from his sweatshirt pocket and put it inside the page crease, where the binding was. He closed the book and out it down.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Are you going to get those books?"

"Uhm, yes."

"Library card, please."

"Oh, uhm, sure-" he reached for it. Oh no! He had left it at his desk at his cabin. "Uhm...I forgot...."

"HAND THE BOOKS OVER NOW!"

Archer had checked out the first Harry Potter book about two months ago -- and he'd failed to remember to return it until now, after finding it underneath his bunk while he was searching for one half of a pair of socks. Armed with his shield powers, his library card tucked into his chest pocket, and a few drachmas in case he had to pay a late fee, he stepped through the library doors, holding the old, beaten hardcover copy to his chest.

And apparently he'd walked in on some sort of shouting match, because somebody -- a librarian, maybe -- had, as soon as the Hecate demigod had taken a step inside, gone off on some poor sap sitting at one of the tables. Archer winced and glanced around; there was nobody manning the desk, so he'd either have to stand there awkwardly and look pretty or he could... explore. Until somebody came back.

Squinting, he stared at the poor victim: it was a guy who looked... vaguely familiar. Archer knew the face, but he couldn't place the name: Was it Michael? Alex? Clearing his throat, he decided it would be best to wait and see what would happen. He walked a bit closer to the table and waited patiently.

Nick handed the books over, and the librarian went to put them back. He saw a boy (Archer) close to his table. He looked extremely familiar, but he couldn't....was it....it was...."Archer? Did Claire decide to send you here to see how tall I was now?" he joked, grinning. Nick had grown a little less than a foot, and he had glasses and braces now. He walked over to Archer, holding out his hand to shake.

"It's nice seeing you again," he grinned, "I'll give you three guesses of who I am, in case you don't recgonize me."

Archer blinked, staring at the boy before him: he was taller than the Hecate demigod, and the braces and glasses threw him for a loop. The voice didn't help, either, but the boy felt unmistakably familiar -- especially by the way he seemed so at ease around Archer, like they'd met before.

Archer hadn't had many friends around camp: he'd normally hung out with Claire rather than make friends of his own, so he had a lot more acquaintances than, say, actual friends.

It took him a moment of studying the boy's face, imagining what it would have looked like without glasses and braces, when the name floated back to him hazily: Nick, son of Hestia. Archer broke out into a grin and took the other boy's hand, shaking it vigorously. If Nick had changed this much, then the other boy had probably not: Archer himself had only maybe grown another inch or so, and his hair was a bit longer and now gelled up and he wasn't so dependent on his twin sister anymore, but that was it. "Nick Hoover, son of Hestia. Gods, you've grown like a weed. When's the last time we've seen each other? A year ago? I don't remember you having braces or glasses back then."

"Correct. Haha. I remember Claire calling me short still. Yeah, around a year ago- maybe longer, if I didn't have glasses or braces then. It's been so long! Whatcha been up to? How's Claire?" He thought about all the adventures these two had gone through, from the time at the armory when they made himself a Hestia cabin leader badge, only for that older Hestia kid- Logan or something maybe?- had taken over his position because of Nick being so young. He still remembered things like Claire crititizing him when he was younger, around ten or eleven. He was now thriteen.

He noticed Archer hadn't changed much. It was funny to seem himself as tall as Archer, considering when he was younger, Archer was much taller.

"Aah, well, you know. She's still a major b****, but I don't hang out with her as much anymore. I haven't really done much, though, all I've been doing is reading and trying not to get killed because of all the damned Roman drama." Archer laid his book down on the table, deciding he could wait a few more minutes to return it to the Librarian From Tartarus -- she couldn't possibly charge him more for a late fee for only ten more minutes, right? Claire had never taken kindly to Nick hanging around her brother, but she didn't talk to Archer much anymore: she spent her time with her friends, and he with his or just wandering around alone. It was a bit sad, really, that the twins weren't talking -- they'd been joined by the hip back home, before camp, and now they... well, he didn't know what to call their relationship now.

"But yeah, dude. Anyway. What've you been doing?"