Making new friends

[Lysandros Evermore, Camp Half-Blood]

Just because I wanted to learn archery from the hunters, did not mean I wouldn't try and take some classes from the Apollo kids. Their basics were really great, I just had to get some tips and tricks from Artemis' side and I would be good to go.

And just like that, I started visiting the archery range every morning to train with them. I even managed to befriend their future head counselor Lee Fletcher. I don't think he was ever properly described by the books, so here is goes.

He is an energetic youth, with sun-tanned skin, blonde short hair, and green eyes. Standing at a good 1.65m tall (5' 6"), with a lean but athletic physique, fitting for a natural archer, very handsome as well.

Ahem... but not as much as me, of course!

He was a little over a year and a half older than me, soon to be 13 years old. And here I was, getting some pointers from him.

"So you want to learn archery? I heard you were quite good at magic. That seems cool." - He seemed surprised I was even trying to learn archery, as I already had a very good long range arsenal with my magical skills.

"It doesn't hurt to have more options, and you archers do look dashing aiming with your bows! Haha! Could you help me with it?" - I asked in a great mood, after Thalia seemed to have pardoned me, after my magic display in the kitchen the day before.

"True! Having more options never hurt. And you sure are right, in that we are dashing! Come, brother! Let me show you the way!" - We were not yet in the archery range, as I managed to meet him on the way there, and we hit it off well.

"By the way, you gotta tell me some tricks on how to hook up with some pretty ladies man! How the heck did you get up with Thalia?" - He asked.

"Hehe!" - I scratched the back of my head - "I did nothing too special, I was just upfront about it. But there was also a lot of luck involved. And we were quite stressed out with all those monsters around the camp. And so it kind of just happened. Thalia is also a very straightfoward girl, so she did not shy away either." - I said after reflecting on it a little.

"But if I gotta say something, is that you just need to be yourself. You are handsome enough for that to work. If you just want a girlfriend that should be enough. As even if you failed once or twice, you will eventually manage to find someone. But if you are onto someone specific that could be a bit more tricky. Do you have anyone in mind?" - I continued, trying to give some advice.

Seemingly embarassed, he feigned a cough before saying - "I guess you could say that... I have had my eyes of that girl Trika Roger from the Demeter Cabin... I just could not manage to build up the courage to talk to her yet..." - He seemed to deflate a bit on the end, so I put my arm on his shoulder trying to support him.

"You mean THAT Trika Roger? The brunette beauty? You know? Short, long hair, she also seems very shy? Whoa, buddy, you've got some good taste there." - I knew whom he was talking about from the comunal dinner. The girls from demeter are really attractive, most of them had great figures and a motherly aura, I can understand where he was coming from, and Trika, while still developing due to her young age, would definitely get there, I bet she would even put some Aphrodite girls to shame!

He just nodded humming, as if to confirm I was right - "Since you are after a specific girl this could be tricky... do you know at least some of her likes and dislikes? Have you ever even talked to her?"

"I never talked to her, but I can guess some of the things she likes and dislikes..." - He admited.

"We could work with that... given how shy she is, maybe being too upfront would not be ideal. How about this? After morning training, I can help you gain some alone time with her. And then you can ask her out for, I don't know dude, maybe just walking around in the noon?" - I sugested - "I guess the camp could do with some more couple spots..."

He nodded after contemplating things briefly - "That could work... thanks bro!"

We arrived at the archery range soon after, and he seemed very enthusiastic about teaching me.

"You have never used a bow before, right?" - He asked and I could only nod.

"So we first need to find you a good bow. Come with me" - He started pulling me towards the archery range's armory, talking to his half-brothers who were guarding it.

"Hey! Greg, Lina, this friend here wants to learn archery! Could you help me find a bow for him?" - He asked.

The camper I assumed was this Lina, a beautiful blonde with sky blue eyes who seemed to be in her late teens, smiled at us and said - "Sure Lee, let's take a look inside together!"

Greg greeted us, he is a tall, black haired young man, which is a little uncommon for the Apollo campers but not unheard of, with tanned skin, around the same age as Lina, and gestured for us to follow Lina. And so we did, leaving him behind to continue guarding the door to the armory alone.

We soon went towards one of the walls, where many different bows laid in a glass display. Lina went towards one of them, and grabbing it, she tossed it towards me.

"Try this one. See how it feels." - She said, as I tried drawing the bow, doing so with astonishing ease.

"How does it feel to draw it? Ideally you should feel some resistance, but not to the point you struggle. You should feel confortable enough to hold the bow at full draw for a couple of seconds without feeling strained." - She said, nodding as she saw me pulling the string.

"I feel nothing, this one seems too light." - I shook my head, handing the bow back to her.

"A heavier bow it is..." - She grabbed another bow, this time one that was a bit bigger - "See how this one feels like."

Taking the bow she handed me, I pulled the string, and while I recognized it was a bit harder than before, it was still very much the same. Sensing this Lina shook his head.

"Well, this is a bit troublesome..." - Taking the bow off of my hands, she went towards another display on the wall, where she grabbed a bow that was visibly bigger than the last - "Try this one! See how it goes..."

This time I felt considerable weight on my hands, pulling the string, I shook my head - "This is much better, but it still feels a bit too light... is there anything heavier?"

Exasperated, Lina responded - "This is already one of the bigger ones... but well, if you still want a bow heavier than this, there is only one... though I don't think you can pull it..." - Leading us deeper into the armory, we came across a display that seemed quite old, covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Hehe... we don't usually come here, as no one can really use this bow due to how heavy it is. It was created by some bored Hephaestus kids some decades ago to tease us from the Apollo Cabin." - She explained while scratching the back of her head.

"They thought it would be a good idea to make a bow so heavy that no one here could use. They got a little too excited while creating it, that they even used too much materials, and even some rare materials. From what I was told, Chiron was quite pissed at them for wasting so many good materials at some useless junk."

Opening the display cabinet, I could see a large dark red bow, with some very cool details and gravures of phoenixes in it. It looked really beautiful.

With some difficulty, she lifted the bow using both hands, and gestured for me to come and take it. I complied and soon took the big toy out of her hand. Feeling surprised at it's weight. But at the same time it just felt right in my hands.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hello guys! How are you all doing? I hope you are all just fine!

Thanks for all the power stones! They really encourage me to keep going on! We got some massive amount of new collections yesterday!

Hope you guys are enjoying the novel, as much as I am enjoying writing it. What did you guys think of this new chapter? I want to focus the next few chapters on the MC's interaction with the campers and other inhabitants of the camp, making some new friends and what not, before the hunters arrive, as I am planning a short adventure together with them.

By the way, feel free to correct any mistakes I make, as I am from Brazil, and so, I am not a native speaker, so without any proof readers and editors, any help is welcome in that regard.

I would also like to talk a little about MC's relationship with Thalia. Some people were thrasing him for going after a 12 years old, without taking into consideration several important factors.

First, demigods are way more mature than they should for their ages. Why? An immature demigod is often times a dead demigod, so they have no choice but to grow up quickly.

Second, MC is 11 years old. Some might argue that since he lived around 20 years in his first life, he should be around 30 years old mentally. But that would be really wrong. Those people are not taking into consideration just too many things! The body affects the mind way more than you guys would be willing to believe, with hormones and all of that.

So his mental age not only did not increase in his 11 years of living in the Percy Jackson world, but it instead decreased by around 3 or 4 years, being 17 to 18 years old. With Thalia being around 16 years old mentally.

MC has also adapted to this new world, and accepted his new identity as an 11 years old boy. He sees himself as an young teen, so he would pursue girls around his age as well.

There is also all the stress that they were feeling with the monsters and all that. With the MC clearly showing his interest in her, and her own good impression of him, and straightforward personality, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

What? Did you think this was one of those stupid high school japanese manga where MC and female lead take over 100 chapters just to hold hands?

Or would you much rather have him, an 11 years old boy, ending up together with some 30 to 40 years old middle aged cougars? -_-

Sorry for the rant guys, I just had to take it off of my chest. Hope you guys had fun!

Peace out!