Hi, sorry I nearly murdered you

Alice stood by the lake, overlooking the calm water sparkling in the cold sunlight. For once, her hair was not tamed in a braid over one shoulder but flowed over her shoulders, and it suited her, framing her lightly freckled face with caramel-coloured waves. Over her tattered jeans and camp t-shirt she wore an unzipped hoodie with an expensive designer label, and in her hands was a bow, strung with a celestial bronze tipped arrow.

She always liked to have target practise out here; as sociable as she was, sometimes she needed a break, and the archery range wasn't exactly quiet. There was almost always a spot at the lake where she could practise by herself, even if she had to be careful not to shoot the naiads or dryads by accident.

Carried away by thoughts, she suddenly heard a noise behind her and instinctively whipped around and fired.

Nestor would find the lake peace and quiet whenever he wrote stuff about astrophysics. He held his laptop in his arms. The Athenian demigod wore dirty jeans, Reebok sneakers, a jumper over a t-shirt and a Yankees cap. His sword was strapped to his belt.

As he walked down the lake, he thought more about Einstein and how to prove his theory of relativity wrong. For twelve years he knew it was impossible to do so. But Nestor didn't give up so easily.

Then when he passed a bush he felt an arrow whoozing at him. Instinctively, and without any acknowledgement, he pulled out his sword and ducked, then lunged at the one who fired it and pinned her to the ground, kicking the bow out of her hand and put her throat near the sword.

"What--are--you--doing." he gritted his teeth

"Practising archery," she said. "Hi. Sorry I nearly murdered you." She nodded slightly to the sword at her throat, careful not to impale herself as she did so. "Do you mind?"

Alice was slightly annoyed that the boy hadn't told her he was there, but she supposed she shouldn't have just shot him. Well, it wasn't her fault; didn't everybody know she practised archery here?

And he'd actually had the audacity to touch her bow. That was just plain rude.

Nestor shook his head. "Sorry." he released her and sheathed his sword. "It's just--being Athena's kid makes me all defensive and stuff." he shrugged. "Really sorry. I'm Nestor." he reached out his hand and offered to help her get up.

Alice noted his attempt to help her up, and was stubborn enough to pick herself up, and shook his offered hand. "Alice, daughter of Apollo. Athena, huh? You don't have the, you know-" she gestured to her eyes "-I'm-planning-how-to-murder-you grey."

"No I don't." he shrugged. "I don't murder. It was merely self-defense." Nestor still felt guilty for pinning her down. "Hey, sorry about that--you know, pinning you down and put a sword on your throat. I guess after certain conversations I've grown a bit--hostile. Toward everyone."

"It's all good, my friend," she promised, remembering how she'd been in her first couple of years at camp - knowing her mother had abandoned her there and seeing her idolized by other campers. It was no wonder she'd chosen not to tell anyone that she was Katrina Moore's daughter. "I did kind of shoot you, so I guess we're square."

She leaned down to retrieve her bow, adding as an afterthought, "Just don't touch the bow."

"Welll--that's rule 1 of self-defense: disarm." Nestor said. "You must really treasure the bow, huh?"

He then sat down on the grass, opening his laptop and typed in more algorithms, theories and drew more charts. His laptop continued to get filled with charts. As usual

"I guess," she said. In truth, the bow signified camp. It meant being able to protect herself and it meant stability and it meant fighting back. To not have to talk about it, she sat down beside him and peered curiously at the screen. "What's that then?"

"Physics. Astrophysics, to be precise. Very complex science and sort. I was just drawing a few charts and mapping out a few stuff on it." he shrugged. "I've been doing this for years--trying to prove the theory of relativity wrong."

"Uh-huh. I totally know what that is." Science - except medicine and animals - was not exactly her strong point. Definitely not physics.

When the theory was wrong again, he hastily shut down the laptop and took off his Yankees cap. "So anyway, how was archery practice?" Nestor turned toward Alice.

"You managed to dodge, didn't you? Still need some work - not that I wanted to hit you." She zipped up her hoodie as a cold breeze stole across the lake, and absent-mindedly picked up his Yankees cap, putting it on her own head; it was too big, but it made the small sixteen-year-old look just a little bit adorable.

"Cold?" he raised an eyebrow when he saw her picking up the cap and put it on her head. "You need another layer of coat?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, I'm good. No need to be all gentlemanly - I want to use your surname here but I don't know what it is." She was doing well; friendly, but keeping him at arm's length, like she did everyone.

"Layman. Anyhow…" he looked out the lake. "Great view, huh?" The trees were quiet, the water surface was smooth and the sky was clear

She was surprised by the sudden conversation turn, and looked out over the water with an almost wistful expression. "It sure is."

Nestor booted the laptop. He re-read the files he'd written earlier that day. Still junk and junk. He felt like he was ready to give up. He closed it again and dug his head between his knees, thinking desperately.

She looked mildly alarmed but also concerned; and she softened her voice to ask, "You alright?"

"Yeah." he lied. Something he never told anyone was that he's emotionally fragile.

"Don't lie to me," she said, a little overly harshly. "I know what it looks like when people give up. Tell me what's wrong or I might very well shoot you again." She idly considered mentioning her power, but firmly decided against it. There was a reason she told nobody about that; it would scare people off, just like it had her mother.

"Go ahead." he muttered, still trying to lift himself up from all the desperation he was drowned in. (No, he wasn't crying. Literally)

"Exaggeration," she muttered. "Come on, work with me here. Is it the science thingy?"

"Yes." he muttered, doing all stuffs with his fingers. "Every time I fail for the past decade I feel like quitting. I've been in this for so long now. I just…can't continue. "

Alice tried to think of something to say; something that could inspire him to keep going with his work. "Well, my mother always said in her interviews that every failure is just another step towards success. It's all progress."