Old Books and New Friends(private)

With a sigh, Rey turned the page of his book, his free hand adjusting his grey hat. His black hair fell slightly in front of eyes, but he hardly noticed, too absorbed in his book. Sheathed safely at his side was the sword he always carried, black hilt gleaming in the dim light of the library. Rey wouldn't notice if the building was burning down around him, so absorbed in his book was he. The library was paid my becoming his favorite place in camp.

The book shut with a small snap as Rey finished the last page, eyes wide. It was such a good book! He needed to read the next one. Now. As he went to return the book to its proper shelf and get the next one, he noticed the shelf was just a bit out of his reach. Frowning, he found a stool, having to stand on his toes even on the stool to reach the shelf. As he went to replace the book and grab the next one, he lost his balance, and as he fell to the ground books came showering down from the shelf and hitting the quiet boy on the head. "Ow!"

He was a bit stunned from the fall as he struggled to sit up. He could already feel the lump forming on his head as he swivelled his head to face the speaker. "I'm obviously alive." He said with a quiet roll of his eyes, pushing the mountain of books that had fallen on him off, and sitting up. Fixing his hat, he began to grab the books to put them back, sincerely hoping none of them had been damaged. None of them had ripped any pages or anything... at least it seemed so.

Rey made no move to respond as he also began reshelving the books, blue eyes automatically picking out where the books should go. He always had had a bit of a thing for categorization, and soon enough the books were categorized neatly, all except for the one book he had been trying to reach before he fell. The look of concentration on his face made him look as if it was just him and the books, until he spoke and broke the spell that was. "Thanks for the help, nonetheless. I'm Rey." He said, holding out one hand to the other boy.

"Nice to meet you" he said, a small smile on his face. He noted Matias's expression and his reluctance, surmising that the handshake made him uncomfortable. He didn't hold the handshake for long, and stepped back a bit, giving Matias a bit of space. "What was that you were reading before I fell, by the way? I'm always interested in hearing about new literature I've yet to read."

"Ah. I see. I don't even know who my godly parent is, all I know is that mum was a goddess. But it was probably one who has less physical powers, because I don't have any physical powers, nor does my twin, Kase. For some reason mum never claimed us." He said, tilting his head. This boy interested him a bit, because he actually seemed to be a lot like him. More a loner than anything.

Rey's expression softened a bit at the boy rambling about his sister. It seemed he wasn't the only one who was only really close to their sibling. He smiled at Matias, the smile transforming his usually bleak features. "You sure do care about your sister, huh? I'm like that with my brother. He's my polar opposite, a total bad boy, but we match in ways nobody else can."

"You wound me. Just kidding, I am a bit of a loner. Mainly because I choose not to trust anybody but Kase. Not after dad, I can't trust anybody easily." Turning his head as he said that last bit, he was a bit red now, having realized he had just made a confession as to the kind of father he had. He had never told anybody about that but here he was blurting it to a total stranger.

"Alright. It's not like I need comfort. Though I suppose talking about it can't hurt. Well, here it is. My father was abusive, more so to me than Kase because I was the one he knew wouldn't fight back. Sometimes he carved... words into my skin. And it only grew worse after he figured out I wasn't straight." Rey took a deep breath as he said this. Moving his collar aside, so it wasn't in the way, and turning his back to Matias, there, on the back of his neck, it revealed a single word, carved deeply into his skin. Freak.

"My father was not a great man. All in all, I think he gave me 20 of these marks carved into my skin." Said Rey, indicating the word as he turned to face Matias once more. "He blamed Kase and I for mum leaving us, he didn't know who she really was, apparently." Next, he rolled up his sleeve, to reveal another one of those words on his arm. Faggot. There was another on his hand too. Mistake.

"Sure, it hurt I guess. But I won't let what he did ruin my life, you know?" He asked, looking at Matias. When Matias pulled his hands out of his pocket and shook them out, he saw the blood and his eyes narrowed. "You're bleeding." He said, looking at the nail marks on the other boy's hand.

"Liar. I can tell when people are lying." He said, fixing that knowing gaze on Matias's face, his blue eyes seeking the truth. He was a son of Athena, after all, and was good at figuring things out. "Judging from those scars on your hand, this happens quite often, doesn't it?" He asked, knowing already what the truth was, but wanting confirmation anyhow.

"Trying to change the subject, are we? Alright then. If you prefer tragedies you've probably never heard of it, but it's called The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa. It's a vampire series, but not one of those dumb romances. It honestly had me transfixed the entire time I was reading it." He responded, happy to talk about books bit also slightly curious as to why Matias was so desperate to change the subject. What was he hiding?