Facing the past

Sebastian walked on the shoreline, collecting small rocks and listening to the crash of the waves. His feet were kicking the sand every time he walked. After collecting enough he sat down on the sand letting the waves wash his pants a little. He sighed and began skipping rocks along the ocean water and memories rushed past his mind. He could feel tears coming and started wiping his eyes. He sniffled a little as his fists closed around some sand.

Scratching his head with his free hand, Archer Benoit walked down towards the beach with his black sandals held in his other hand. It was a hot day -- the sun beat down on his head almost painfully, a strange weather phenomenon that contrasted the bitter cold weather outside the camp's borders. Mr. D didn't like snow, it seemed.

Feet sinking into the sand, the son of Hecate walked, mind wandering aimlessly: What would he have for supper today? Where should he go to avoid the Ares kids? When should he go sleep? When should he go IM his dad? So many questions, so little time for thought. He took a quick glance at his digital watch, wrapped tightly around his left wrist - it was around four in the afternoon, so they'd be called back in two hours or so to eat.

Squinting in the sunlight, Archer saw nearby a boy sitting on the sand, a little too close to the water for comfort; he was definitely getting his pants wet. Clearing his throat, he approached cautiously to his side, staying at least four feet from him in case he lashed out -- people in camp were so unpredictable. "Uh.... Hey, man. You might wanna move a bit further up the beach. Wet pants aren't fun."

"I don't mind. Not now anyways." He tried to keep his voice as calm as possible, and skipped another stone. He watched it bounce two times before sinking. "Do you guys not keep beach umbrellas around because harsh sunlight isn't really what I need right now."

Archer blinked, feeling the cold water rush over his feet and then recede with the waves. What a weirdo. He took a step forward to avoid sinking too far into the sand, sloshing a bit as he resettled himself at least a few inches closer to the other boy. "Er, no, not really. Some people keep them in a shed by the beach but that's it; we can't keep umbrellas out here or else some water nymphs might steal it or... whatever."

He squinted at the boy again for another second. Archer didn't know that many people at camp, so it wasn't surprising for him to figure out that he had no idea who this kid was at all.

He pushes three fingers to his forehead as if he has a head ache then sighs. "My name's Seb. Sebastian Rivera." He split the pile of stones in half and pushed it towards the other kid. "You can stay standing up for all I care but you might as well do something fun for a while instead of simply cooling your feet." His voice was cold and hard but also somehow saddening.

The son of Hecate paused to look down at his feet; the waves had drawn a small sheet of sand over his toes, almost burying his entire foot in the sand. Eh, whatever -- at least it was easier to clean off than mud.

"You okay, man? You sound pretty, eh, down." Something was, clearly, very wrong if this kid didn't want to get up and keep his pants dry, even if he wanted to toss rocks around for a while -- and the best part was that Archer was no good at comforting people. It wasn't his style, especially with strangers on the beach, to be a good shoulder to lean on and a good ear to be talked into. He could barely handle his own emotions, so handling other people's was probably out of the question.

But it was common courtesy to ask if something was up when one senses it, sooo.... He was sort of trapped.

"I don't want to talk about it." He flung a rock harder than the others then returned to his original position. "What about you? You haven't told me anything about yourself and here I am sharing some of my skipping stones." He smiled lightly at his own joke. "You could at least tell me your name."

"Archer Benoit, son of Hecate." The words had slipped themselves out of his mouth almost immediately -- robotic, rehearsed, so normal on his lips. Every demigod immediately rehearsed that introduction, over and over, to each other; it was all they knew, their identities so dependent on their godly parent's. Archer stood there squinting down at the boy in the harsh sunlight as the waves splashed over his feet, water and foam gathering around his ankles, sharp cold contrasting the heat of the sunlight. "Who's your god parent?"

"Hecate. Same as you." He gritted his teeth as he stopped the teraflop from happening. He wasn't going to cry. Crying meant hurting. He started to stare at the waves instead, letting the noises hypnotize him.

"Oh. You must be new then, I've never seen you around the cabin. When'd you get here?" Either that or Archer hadn't noticed the kid running around -- but he would at least have recognized his voice, even if he usually was knocked out on his bunk whenever he found the time to stay indoors. He knew his siblings' voices much better than their faces, thanks to the fact that he liked to sleep facing the wall and because he never really looked any of them directly in the face for too long. That wasn't his style, either.

"Idk a while I guess. Recently. Maybe" His head started to tilt around a little as he pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers and tried to stay focused. "I haven't even seen the cabin yet. I've kinda been avoiding it actually."

Archer frowned down at Seb, arm swaying slightly and swinging his sandals -- an inch forward, an inch back, repeat. To keep his arm from going numb, probably.

"Er. Not a very good thing. Why don't you come see it? It's not... Well, not terrible-looking. Comfy enough on the inside." Archer didn't even want to ask the kid where he'd been sleeping, if he hadn't just arrived at camp today; surely Chiron or some demigod guide would have taken him to see the cabin? Unless he wasn't updated on new camp procedures that fit "survival of the fittest" that had been recently enacted, Archer was really out of the loop with camp news.

"I guess I should. Don't wanna sleep outside on my first day. Who knows how cold it gets at night." He stood up and wiped as much sand off his pants as he could and put a small smile on his face. "So, lead the way."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. If you've got any bags or whatever, go pick 'em up and we'll go." Well, here was something to do -- finally. Archer had never really led a sibling of his to their cabin, so what a new, wonderful experience this would be.

Archer let his sandals fall to the ground as the water receded and slipped into them, grimacing at how sandy they were thanks to the sand the water had washed over his feet -- what a disgusting feeling that was. But he could wash up later, he would have plenty of time. Waving for Sebastian to follow, he turned and began to walk up the path leading back to the camp's main centers: the cabin courtyard.