Give Me LIBERTY Or Give Me DEATH -(Nike)-

[Aria Hale]

Aria hated waiting. There were no two ways around it. And ever since Phobos dropped her off in Manhattan for his special whatever mission, she had been bored out of her mind with impatience. Sure, it was important and all for him to prep for this big attack on Camp Half-Blood he’d mentioned. That was all well and good, but why couldn’t she help out? Just because she was just a demigod? Heck, she didn’t even claim to be that most of the time. As far as she cared, she had no parents. Her mother was rubbish and her father was a useless lump. Most gods were, in her point of view.

She walked along an unpleasant-looking side street in one of the slums of the city, twirling one of the earbuds of the MP3 player she’d nicked off an unsuspecting kid in a better part of town, the other earbud in one of her ears. The kid who used to own the player didn’t have half bad taste in music. Sure, it wasn’t Linkin Park or Ozzy Ozborne, but it wasn’t some of the rubbish that some of her old half-siblings listened to. She’d found one Taylor Swift song and deleted it promptly. Could be much worse, like Britney Spears of Spice Girls or Justin Bieber. She skimmed through the songs and found one titled “This is War”. The artist was totally unfamiliar to her.

It took her roughly ten seconds to lose interest and start a flip for a new song. Ah, one she recognized and actually liked. She wasn’t usually one to follow trends, but who could argue with a classic like “Wanted Dead Or Alive”? She felt she could relate with it plenty of times. She selected the song and shoved the little device into her pocket as it started playing. Tapping her fingers to the rhythm on the side of her hip, she shot a glare at a woman who had been watching her from a scummy window of a tenant building. The face disappeared. Her kind of town.

And she at least fit into it pretty well too. She still wore the close she had left Camp in: an old t-shirt and jeans that had seen a bit too much wear and tear. And luckily she’d managed to keep hold of her shoes in the process of nearly drowning. Her long blonde hair was in a freshly dried tangled mess, giving her the appearance that she could easily be one of the several homeless people who sat around the street here and there. Well, except that she was carrying two knives and a handgun. Details.

Aria supposed she was supposed to have stayed in the same spot Phobos had dropped her off at, but frankly, she’d already finished every bit of amusement that spot could offer, using rocks she scavenged to play target practice with the local rats’ faces. The stray cats of New York probably loved her tonight. Besides, she wasn’t that far from the alley, maybe five blocks. His fault for taking so darn long.

Word Count: 513
Tag: Nike!
Note: This promises to be interesting!

[*nike*]

There was a reason this section of town was referred to as the ‘ghetto’ of Manhattan. Or more frequently referred to by Nike as ‘Sketchville’. Everything about this place screamed ‘someone’s going to knife you in the night’. Luckily that wasn’t much of an issue for the goddess, but it did pose a problem for the other inhabitants of the neighborhood. Like the ones who might actually bleed to death or contract some nasty type of infection with a ridiculously long name that almost no one could pronounce. It made one wonder why anyone would live there unless they absolutely had to. Perhaps even a cardboard box by the McDonalds in the nicer part of town would’ve made for a better living situation. At least there there were witnesses for when you got knifed, right?

The only reason Nike was even here was because she had been doing a little Team Olympus/Demi-God recruiting. Well, at least she had been trying to talk one or two of the more unpredictable minor gods into jumping on board, or at least sticking with neutral instead of going to Team Too Short To Ride Without A Booster Seat. Mania in particular had been her focus today, but she had already known that would be pointless. That bipolar weirdo was the goddess of insanity for a reason. Personally, she would rather drive a steak knife through her arm repeatedly than go back and talk to that immortal again. Just saying hello to her was a whole confusing process.

She was actually on her way out of ‘Sketchville’ when she caught sight of some blonde, grungy-looking hobo. Or was she a hobo…could little girls be hobos? Either way, hobo or not, she still looked like a mess, but the key thing that Nike could pick out, was that she was a demi-god mess. She was definitely old enough to have already been claimed, so why was she wandering in the ghetto when she could’ve been at Camp Demi-Dork with adequate shelter and food? …And well they had a brush and soap there too, which as Nike walked closer, she could tell the girl needed. The soap especially she believed. She didn’t smell as bad as this place looked which was good, but she certainly didn’t smell like she’d used detergent on her clothing in a while.

Nike was just starting to wonder if she’d gotten lost…for a week or more, when she noticed the extra weaponry that the girl was toting around. Last time she’d checked, no demi-god favored a gun of any sorts. Now either she was pretending to be a cowboy (in which case she was doing a terrible job, because she didn’t even have the boots or the hat), or she was demi-god gone dark side (and not the cool Star Wars side). “You get lost on your way to Toys-R-Us, kid?" The goddess finally addressed the small little blonde girl as she got close enough to her.

..Yep, definitely needed soap.

tag ;; Aria
word count ;; 520
note ;; Nike doesn't like posts for evil people >.>

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[Aria Hale]

Aria was running through her whole life to the tune of the song. Sometimes I sleep. Sometimes it’s not for days. How many times had she been kept up by that nightmare of her father and every ghost from her past taking their revenge on her by taking her life? Too many times. She’d even had the embarrassment of having Ryan Simons find her after one such dream. Crying. She refused to let herself think about how he had actually comforted her though. He was a traitor. Getting her to trust him like that just so he could try and kill her. The people I meet. Always go their separate ways. All of them traitors. Her mother and father, the people of Camp Half-Blood, Ryan, Avery. And those who weren’t traitors, she was forced to leave anyway. Her gang back in Detroit. And where was Phobos now? She had little faith in others. But given her history, she felt she deserved not to trust anyone.

Sometimes you tell the day. By the bottle that you drink. Each day was its own hell. Survival. That’s what it came down to. And the world liked to try and make you fail at that. And times when you’re alone. All you do is think. Those were the worst times. Times like now. Times when her mind could catch up with her, something she always tried to not let it do. She had too much crap in her life she preferred not to think about. And lately it had all revolved around two names: Ryan Simons and Avery Reynolds. If she ever saw them again, they were in for it. But they would see her again. Because she was going to go back to Camp Half-Blood. Not in a return or a pleasant visit. In an attack. She would wake those losers up to the idea that actions had consequences. Try to off her and she would take them down. Simple as that.

She probably wouldn’t have noticed that anyone had talked to her at all if it hadn’t happened to have happened right in the lull between lines in the song. Aria stopped walking and turned a little so she could give the person who dared to interrupt her a cold glare. Toys ‘R’ Us? She pulled the earbuds out of her ears with a jerk and turned to fully face the other person, taking a moment to size her up. She looked like a goody-goody from the nice part of town, the type of person Aria usually either avoided or went out of her way to pick a fight with because they were usually wimps under all the bravado. “You wanna use your brain and reword that, princess?”

Word Count: 456
Tag: Nike
Note: I am SO sorry that took so long!!!!

[*nike*]

Apparently taking a joke wasn't on this girl's list of things she was capable of. "I could try, but I can't guarantee that this next one would be very creative," Nike offered, trying not to smile in amusement at the girl's obliviousness. Clearly her ability to differentiate between gods and mortals wasn't exactly up to par. That or she was just plain stupid, insulting an immortal and all. Which was entirely a possibility, seeing as she didn't look all that bright. The evil ones never were. They were mostly about quantity rather than quality, which sometimes worked out, but that was still very rare. She would know. As goddess of victory she had tabs on practically anything ever won (including games of Life or Monopoly) so she could probably give out pretty accurate statistics on how often the 'evil' side conquered.

"How about you lighten up, duchess?" She suggested in return with an amused smirk crossing over her lips. Personally, she wasn't feeling very much in the mood for the girl's type, but well she had nothing better to do than spend a few minutes aggravating the girl anyways. And of course, her type being the I-think-I'm-so-tough-and-badass type. When, in reality, she wasn't, because Nike could snap her like a twig in a matter of seconds. Not that she would, considering she was a nice person...well, most of the time. There were the occasional temper outbursts, but only certain people could get her that annoyed and riled up. Specifically Ares and Zeus, because she'd spent enough time with both of them that they knew which buttons to push (technically Athena did too, but she was much too professional and polite for any of that). 

Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, the goddess debated whether or not it was worth it to give her the bad side is bad speech. Which it really wasn't, and she'd already gave out one of those little lectures once this week. To Momus actually, and she had enjoyed that conversation much more for two reasons. First one being he was overall more pleasant even with the multiple personality disorder thing he had going. Second thing being he smelled more like peppermint, and less like street trash unlike this girl. 

Oh also, he didn't look like a future, or possibly current, meth addict. There was always that that separated them too.

"Oh actually I do have one legitimate question, though it's not really a rephrasing of the last. Now remember this is a completely serious question, so answer honestly." Nike pursed her lips, her face masked by seriousness, and a little curiosity. "Is there a maximum height restriction of 5'3" for Phobos' team?" She tilted her head to the side, her face yet again graced by a taunting smirk. Normally, she would play nice, but this demigod clearly wasn't on the right side so there was no reason Nike couldn't have a little fun.

tag ;; aria
word count ;; 516
listening to ;; teeth by lady gaga

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[Aria Hale]

Aria looked her over skeptically. What sort of look was this weirdo going for? High class athletic bubbly stupid? Well, she got the bubbly stupid part easy. And the dribble words coming out of her mouth only emphasized the stupid part. She rolled her eyes. Aria couldn’t shake the idea that there was something different about this woman though. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. And it was bothering the ever-living crap out of her. Then the woman opened her stupid mouth again and Aria glowered at her. “Lighten up? How about you keep your nose out of other people’s business and jump off a bridge? You don’t know me at all. And I’m not lightening up.” She was in no mood for this.

She was in the process of turning to walk away when the woman spoke again and, though she usually didn’t care what others said, that nagging feeling there was something different about her made her turn back and watch her with a scowl, waiting for this question of hers. The first thing that came to mind at the woman’s question was rage. Aria was used to being taunted for being shorter than even other kids her age, and she hated it. She immediately pulled whichever knife was nearest her hand, the steel one. “Why you bitch.” Then the implications of the question registered. Phobos’ team. There was a chance her steel knife would not work, though she still held onto it tightly. This woman knew about gods and, she assumed, demi-gods and monsters and the like too. “I don’t know what team you’re talking about.” Phobos had a whole team? “Who are you and how do you know about the gods?”

So that was what was different about her. Either this woman was a demi-god or a god herself. Either didn’t sound good. A demi-god would probably want to take her back to that camp and turn her over to the mercy of her idiot ‘siblings’. A god… well, she had only ever met two. This woman was obvious not like Phobos, so she couldn’t count on her actually being worth two cents. Phobos was one of the few people on this entire planet that was nice to her. Then there was the other god she’d met: Apollo. The abandoning father who had tried to prevent her from leaving a camp that hated her by acting like for once in his long life he actually cared that she existed at all. She loathed him beyond words. So if this woman was a goddess, then Aria didn’t like the odds. She would wait until she knew to which group this woman belonged before answering her question, which, honestly, would have been more considered by most as a threat than an answer, she imagined.

Word Count: 468
Tag: Nike
Song: Place For My Head by Linkin Park
Notes: I'm sorry for the delay!!!! And for the language. It was what Aria would say, but... >.< sorry!

[*nike*]

Nike could practically feel the judgement radiating off this girl in waves. She remained unbothered by it though simply because she was used to it. At least around those more cocky, narcissistic demigods, or those gods-with that same attitude-who didn't know her well enough. Apparently the title wasn't enough to gain you a little respect, you had to have the 'aren't i amazing' attitude as well. Which while Nike was pretty proud of herself, and she would admit that she was a damn good goddess, she simply wasn't as egotistical as the rest of them. And boy did it show. If she had been, perhaps she would have been dressed up in more classy, respective attire, and she would have chosen a different human form. Not to mention she probably would have been a tad bit more of a bitch, with that whole 'i'm better than you' motto. But personally, Nike liked who she chose to be. She was a bit more unique..and she could actually claim that she was a nice goddess without it being a lie.

Chuckling inwardly, Nike tapped her pointer finger lightly on her chin, looking thoughtful. "Well let's see I could..but A. that doesn't sound like much fun, and B. I don't think it'd do as much harm as you're thinking it would, so essentially it would be unhelpful for the both of us." She pointed out, providing a little hint that if the girl was smart enough she would be able to figure out that the goddess wasn't exactly a normal mortal. Then again, she didn't put much faith in this girl's brain power. In her opinion, the demigod just didn't seem like the brightest crayola in the box.

"Not true. I know some anger management classes would do you some good..and I can certainly tell that you don't intend on lightening up. Apollo you certainly aren't." She mumbled the last part under her breath, looking quite amused. Which she was sure would only annoy the girl further, because she had a feeling that the demigod didn't appreciate being mocked. And everyone hated being out of the loop, which this girl was because she couldn't even figure out that she was spitting insults at the goddess of victory.

Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Nike actually felt a little shocked at the girl's language. What were they teaching the kids these days in that camp of theirs? Not manners, obviously. "That's Miss Bitch, to you, kid." Nike corrected her after a moment of silence, that same smirk returning to her lips after she worked past her initial shock. "And there's no use denying it, little girl. You might think so, but I'm not stupid." She shrugged, burying her hands in her pockets as she rocked back and forth on her heels. To her, there was just as obvious a divide now between the Olympian team and Evil Twin Team than there used to be between the Olympian team and the Titan team before the Battle of Manhattan.

"Well I happen to be a god, so I'd say that's probably how I know about them. And it just so happens, that I'm probably a god you should be nice to, kid. Because just like your little creepy friends, I can be just as-well actually, more-dangerous." Nike smiled with a little bit of mischief-even though given her words, she seemed a tad more threatening that usual.

tag ;; aria
word count ;; 602
notes ;; nike's getting dangerous ba da dum o.o

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