Oh...That Plan (Nike)

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan was back at the Property Line. He had almost forgotten that he had said that he would meet Nike here. He had forgotten for a while. He felt empty, he was just falling into a black hole and walls were coming in all around him, he couldn't really hear anything. It was just... numb. Both Ryan's mind and body were in shock. More mind than body. He didn't want to believe it, but what else was there to go by? Just his aunt's word and that was it. It had sounded pretty convincing too. Alex was gone. He couldn't believe that he and Nike were just talking about going to find him last night. It felt like a millennia ago. It felt like that life time was non existent. He just felt out of it and that was it really.

The fifteen year old just sat a few inches behind the property line. He really wanted to run out, but he made himself stay at the border line, just to wait for Nike. He'd tell her, he'd move on and be fine with his life. He had been right before. Caring did nothing good for you. The more you cared the more you lost. Ryan was just giving up caring at this point even though he knew he had nothing to loose, except his life, which was pretty much not that good. Maybe he should just throw himself off a cliff or something like his aunt had tried. It was better then stabbing himself to death.

The guilt was there again. It would always be. Ryan's guilt over these things would never go away. He'd just have to live with the guilt, knowing that he killed his only two friends. Indirectly, but he still killed them. He had hated Alex for leaving. He hadn't tried hard enough to find him and now he was gone. Edmund? He practically could of been the one to pull the trigger. He just kept staring ahead blankly, waiting for the goddess to come. He couldn't take this or think about this much longer or he'd just break down again like he did in front of Aria.

[*nike*]

To Nike, it was just another nice day. The sun was already high in the sky and the it was nearly cloudless. If there were clouds, they were just the small whispy ones. Her outfit was well suited to the weather, as it always was. Light jean shorts and a black In-N-Out Burger tshirt. In her opinion, that place was the best fast food restaurant around. Their animal fries were delicious! And they contrasted perfectly with a half strawberry and chocolate shake. And now I'm hungry, again!She complained to herself as she drove up the road towards Camp Half-Blood.

The goddess had chosen a nice car for their afternoon adventure. She figured a car would be the best method of transportation. It was a silver convertible. There were two loosely placed bottles in the cup-holders. One was a Coke while the other was a Sprite. She figured choosing two different drinks was a safe bet. She had no idea what Ryan liked so this way he could choose between the two. And most people loved at least one of those two, so Nike assumed he would be fine with it. Though it did take her the longest time to decide on that. She had also decided against any types of food since she figured that he could just pick a place for them to go to lunch.

The goddess left the car parked sloppily along the rode as she hopped out. She could easily see Ryan's figure outlined by the sun. "Hey mon cherie! Ready to go?" She asked excitedly but as she got closer her smile faded into a frown. His expression was definately not expected. It was one of many mixed feelings including hurt and grief. "What's wrong?" Nike asked, her voice calm, collected and quite. The opposite of what Ryan's expression was. What could have possibly happened in one night?

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan was just sitting there, playing with the grass infront of him. A faint buzzing had filled his ears, as it always did when it was quiet. He wish it wasn't. Right now he needed to be somewhere crazy or something so he'd forget that this happened. Ryan remembered what his aunt had done after Edmund had died. Not let him think about it. He sort of needed that right now. Him being alone and it being quiet just helped him think and absorb all the shock that he was still in. Meeting up with people and all hadn't exactly helped. Aria saw him go into a mental break down, sort of humiliating, but he didn't care. He had gotten into a fight with a girl in the arena, which had sort of helped take his mind off it, but not by much. Then he had met a boy in the forest, he had sort of lost it, but was able to scrap himself together. He was being left alone for way to long, and that meant that he could think.

The silence didn't last him long enough to think about what he had thought about in the forest. The next thing Ryan heard was a car. Half jumped backwards, his mind going into over drive and thinking that Kathleen was back. If she was, he was in no mindset to fight. Maybe, if he got himself angry enough, but he sort of couldn't see it happening right now. That was weird, not feeling like fighting. He shook his head and gazed ahead of him, looking at who was coming out. He relaxed slightly as he saw it was Nike. Mon Cherie. He half rolled his eyes. She was never going to let that go now. His curiosity had been bubbling up before, almost to the point in asking her what that meant, but just figured that it would tick him off, so he decided to just leave it. "Hi," he muttered, not quite looking at her. "Yeah," he muttered, getting up. It felt like he had been sitting forever. All the blood rushed to his head and he felt light headed.

His blood half froze. What's wrong? So, even she had picked it up. Was he getting his obvious? Sure, with Aria, he had actually started to cry, so yeah, that was a dead give away but still. Gosh, his face must of really showed he was out of sorts. She looked really calm and collected. He guessed his eyes looked sort of scatter brained and upset or whatever. It was sort of weird how everything could change in one night, less than twenty four hours, but it had. He looked at her, his eyes slightly disoriented. Should he tell her what really happened or just lie? He really didn't feel like lying right now. He had probably told one of the biggest lies in his life when Aria asked him if he was okay and he had said yes. Tell her, or not tell her. Well, half of this had been about going to get a dog, the other half had been about finding Alex. He would sort of hate to lead her into a wild goose chase for someone who was dead. Especially after she had asked and he had accepted her help and all. Okay. Just tell her and get it over with. Go on with your life. Final decision.

The fifteen year old half opened his mouth. "Well....uh, my aunt found me.." he grumbled. "And..." Ryan's throat sort of closed up, he couldn't say it, but he had to. "And she said that..." Just stop stuttering and tell her! "That...that Alex is..." he couldn't say it. That would just make it final. He shot his gaze anywhere but at Nike. He was going to say it whether he liked it or not, he opened his mouth and half shut his eyes "...d-dead," he finished, his voice half cracking.

[*nike*]

Ryan's suprise at her arrival didn't go unnoticed by Nike. She was quite suprised that she had actually suprised him. He seemed to be the type that was always expecting something, always on his guard. There was a sort of exhaustion in his face as though the very thing he was simply exhausting to actually know. She kelt her mouth shut as she walked closer to him, waiting for a simple reply.

Ryan claimed he was ready to go but Nike wasn't quite sure on that. "Where to first then?" She cleared her throat, tipping her baseball cap as though she was a chauffeur. Although, she didn't think she would make too excellent of a chauffeur. "Ice cream?" The goddess suggested even though Ryan didn't know what that was. To her, it was comfort food. It was something eaten whenever the mood was dreary and sad. And seemed just about suiting for the moment. "Your choice, of course. You can even drive." She offered, wondering how his driving skills were. Probably not quite up to par but that could be fixed easily.

Nike respected the silence that seemed to be hovering around Ryan at the moment. It seemed as though he was having another internal debate, so she opted for a simple choice. Sit down and shut up. It was a good solution, she decided as she sat down beside him. Fiddling with a loose strin on her shirt, she seemed to sense that Ryan didn't exactly want to make eye contact. That was fine with her, she could just keep picking at the shirt's hem. Which was another thing she did in uncomfortable silences or when she needed a small distraction. That with her lip chewing generally annoyed the heck out of people.

Right...Crazy lady, She reviewed in her mind, assuming that this was the same crazy aunt that he played 'catch the dagger' with. She didn't seriously think he had too much family. Otherwise someone would have opted to raise Ryan themselves. Her carefree mood slid away as the word 'dead' came out of Ryan's mouth. Nike, personally, wasn't too great at those whole heart-to-heart speeches. And she knew that the demigod wasn't too keen on those either. "I-I'm sorry, sweetheart." The goddess spoke up quietly. She knew he would positively detest it, but she leaned towards him, wrapping her arms around him. The only thing that really made Nike feel better was hugs. She knew Ryan didn't appreciate it yesterday. But hugs were a feel good kind of thing. And Ryan needed it even if he didn't want it.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan knew that Nike would pick up something wrong about him as she had sort of surprised him with the approaching car. He usually was always on his guard, so it was sort of hard to surprise him. The fifteen year old looked at her as she just came up to him and stayed quiet. Sort of weird, her being quiet, he had gotten used to her talking up a storm, like she had last night. He blinked, waiting for her to talk first.

He shrugged, still feeling slightly light headed. Where had she wanted to go first? He tried to remember from last night ...oh, yeah. Get the dog. "I guess to get the dog," he grumbled. He stared at her. "Ice cream?" he asked blankly. "You knew I was going to ask you what that was," he said. Drive? He stared at her. "I never drove before," he said, looking at her weirdly. "I'd probably drive us off a cliff or something," he said, shrugging.

Nike just sat down and stayed quiet. Great, she was giving him time to decide over this, but he was thinking it'd do more bad then good. She had decided to pick on her shirt's hem, and that was fine to him. He looked down at the grass then just kept quiet. It was so weird, both of them being silent. Ryan had never really been a blabber mouth, but he never really was always shut up. It was either he was being mean or just making a smart comment or something.

He had just said dead, didn't he? He gave himself a mental hit. Yup, that made it sort of final to him. Alex was dead and he wasn't coming back. He wished he had someone else as a relative. Anyone but his aunt, she hadn't ever treated him like family. Of all the living family members (if he even had any except her) it had to be her. He still questioned if it was his aunt. Sometimes he had thought that she was really his mother but just to disgusted with him (or to stubborn) to admit it.

Great. He had told her. He felt like he was falling down a hole again. Sweetheart, great. "I'm not your sweetheart," he said, trying to growl but not making it at all. It came out flat. Then she hugged him. He was put into shock for about ten seconds, but then came back to his senses. He thought of punching her but then just couldn't. His want for being aggressive evaporated, he shut his eyes and started to cry again.

[*nike*]

Nike shrugged, wondering if he was really up for going anywhere. "We don't have to...We can do whatever you want even if that means just sitting here." She offered, scratching the back of her head. Yet another annoying habit of hers. "I'm not going to let you drive off a cliff, you'll be just fine." The goddess rolled her eyes, lifting the keys and dropping them in his lap. She honestly wasn't too concerned about them driving off a cliff. Maybe running into another car but it wouldn't be too horrible. A little goddessly magic and it really wouldn't be a problem at all.

Stretching her legs out, the girl laid back on her back. Might as well get comfortable physically in this clearly uncomfortable silence. She honestly wasn't a big fan of silence, she enjoyed talking, or simply noise for that matter. "Your day away is cleared with Chiron.." Nike offered, plucking a small dandelion from the ground. They were a weed, but the goddess thought they were actually pretty. Not to mention when she rubbed them on her face they left yellow behind. Which was actually quite amusing to her.

"Didn't say you were." Nike objected stubbornly. "I just called you sweetheart, not my sweetheart." She pointed out, knowing that this probably wasn't the best time to be arguing with him about nicknames and such. In fact, it was probably the worst time ever but she couldn't help it. Now there weren't too many things that suprised the goddess of victory. Yet, she felt as though she had been blind sided when tears started to roll down Ryan's face. She didn't know him all too well but she knew that he didn't cry. Well obviously he did, but very very rarely. She saw it as though he felt he was defeated somehow. So instead of cutting off the hug like she had planned to, Nike just gripped her arms around him a little tighter, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Okay, nevermind. I think you need the dog. It'll cheer you up." Nike spoke up quietly. Dogs were cheerful animals. Playful and adorable and always energetic. They cheered her up, that was for certain. "How about we name it Alex?" The goddess suggested, her voice a whisper just so that he could hear her.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan shrugged. "Nah, we can go," he said. He hated that now she wanted him to stay. He was half angry at himself, half angry at Alex and Edmund, half angry at his aunt, then just upset, then confused and really sad. Then, he had no idea; it was to many emotions mixed up at once to know the real sources. The fifteen year old half scoffed. "I've never driven in my life," he said, looking oddly at the keys as if they'd come alive or something. The prospect of driving sort of was interesting, but a bit freaky as well. He didn't want to become a danger to every single person on the road. Camp Half Blood was enough.

The fifteen year old stared at head, then looked at the goddess as she spoke. "Cleared with Chiron...?" he asked, confused. He watched her pluck out a flower. He had never been into nature really, just tree climbing and that was it. He was usually throwing one of his weapons at something. Tree, rock... the rock never really went well. Tree, it was better. Sometimes it would sink into the wood, sometimes it wouldn't.

"Well, that's what you could infer!" Ryan snapped back at her. He became himself for a few seconds then reality hit him again. He blew out. "Fine, whatever," he said in a half growl. He knew it was the worse time to get into an argument over nicknames, but it was just... them. Both being stubborn, going back and forth. He couldn't believe he had started to cry again. He guessed it was just the hug or whatever, having Nike there, maybe. He had no idea what had made him crack again, but, he did. As he had half suspected, Nike just kept hugging him. He didn't exactly hug her back, but he didn't exactly shove her away either, even when she put her head on his shoulder. He just couldn't really bring himself to be violent right now.

He half looked at her. "O-okay..." he said, not really understanding what she was saying. He sort of would agree to anything now. His mind had just gotten so zapped out of it since he had started crying again. He really needed to pull himself back together and get on with his life. It was so weird, nine years of not crying, then he just snapped.

[*nike*]

"Okay then," She replied simply, raising his eyebrows. She couldn't tell if he actually wanted to go or if he just wanted to go because he wanted her to shut up. The second, Nike found, was most likely. "There's a first time for everything, right? Even though I despise that saying." She grumbled, absentmindedly biting her lip yet again. "For one, it's overused. And it's all just kind of obvious. Of course there's a first time for everything. No need to say it really," The goddess tilted her head as though trying to find the reason in it.

"Well I didn't want him freaking out because one of his precious demigods disappeared." The immortal explained, rubbing the dandelion on her cheeks. The flower leaving a gentle yellow glow on her face. It might have looked positively ridiculous on anyway else but it actually seemed to compliment her personality. A small smile appeared on her face as she picked up some more of the small yellow flowers. Smiling to herself, she threaded the dandelions together by the stems until she made a crown out of them. Lifting it up, she positioned it precariously on Ryan's head.

"So don't infer," Nike piped up, her comment bordering on smart-alec. "Wow...we are like the worst friends ever." She raised her eyebrows, almost laughing to herself, but the sensitive part of her figured that probably wasn't a good idea. His friend just died, and she was going to laugh? That was a no,no. "So what was Alex like?" She asked, slowly unwrapping her arms and pulling away from the hug, for Ryan's benefit. He probably seriously hated the hug despite the fact that he wasn't showing it.

"Well then, let's go." The goddess declared, pushing herself to her feet, dusting any dirt of her shorts. "We'll get the puppy, I'll take you to lunch wherever you want and then we can do whatever you prefer," She grabbed the demigod's hands and yanked him to his feet before heading towards the car. Hopping over the passenger door, Nike slouched down into the passenger seat, propping her feet up on the dashboard.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan nodded and took a few steps off the boundary line. Okay, he was getting out and he was actually not sure if he wanted to come back. He could just...he had no idea. He could think about it on the way, he supposed. He gave a slight shrug. "I suppose," he muttered. "Yeah, true," he grumbled, shrugging. He didn't really see the point of that saying either now that Nike had brought it up.

The fifteen year old snorted and rolled his eyes, Ryan began to half feel himself again, but not by much. "I don't think he would of cared much if I disappeared," he growled, shrugging. "I think it would be better if I left. No one would loose out on anything," he snarled. He watched her as she rubbed the flower onto her cheek. It left a yellow mark. He couldn't help a remark. "What you doing? Trying to get a job as a clown?" he snorted.

"To bad if I want to," Ryan snapped. He exhaled and relaxed slightly, his anger evaporating again. "Yeah..." he muttered. More him than her. He sort of wished she'd let go of him, he was starting to hate it. He got his wish a second later as Nike let go of him. Thank the gods. Oh, right. She was one, okay, every god but her, for now. Ryan wiped his eyes and got a hold of himself again. "Eh, he acted like me sort of," he said, looking at her. "He was the one more with weapons and stuff and had the whole 'I Hate the World' thing going, but not as bad as me," he grumbled.

"Fine with me," Ryan muttered, he looked at the keys and his eyes went to the car. He stared at Nike, coming at him, full force of what she wanted him to do. "You sure about-?" he asked, then he got yanked to his feet as Nike grabbed his hand and pulled him up. She started towards the car and Ryan started after her. "Okay," he said, shrugging. "Sounds fine," he said. His stomach twisted as she sat on the side opposite of the steering wheel. Yeah, she was expecting him to drive. He half rolled his eyes and sat in the seat beside her. "Er...." he looked at the keys. "Where do these go?"

[*nike*]

Nike rolled her eyes, somewhat annoyed with Ryan's negativity. "And whose fault is that, Negative Nancy?" She quipped, knowing that it was definately Ryan's fault. If you want someone to like you, you have to be likeable and Ryan certainly was not. The goddess shrugged, picking up another dandelion and rubbing it on Ryan's nose. "No, but now it looks like you are too." She pointed out, twisting the now slightly misshapen dandelion in her fingers. "But unfortunately, I'm afraid that's a horrible career choice for you. You would be the clown that gives every kid a fear of clowns."

"Well then fine, infer all you want," The girl grumbled in return, wondering now if he was just trying to annoy her. It was a very likely possibility. Though he was also just that way on principle, so it was more likely Ryan being Ryan. "Poor Edmund, deluded into liking the I-hate-the-world duo. At least he liked the Lion King," She joked, now also considering how much more annoying it would be to have two Ryan's around. Of course maybe Alex could have been more easily persuaded into being nice.

"Of course, I'm sure. Is there anything in particular you want to do while we're out?" The goddess asked, untwisting the cap to the Come before realizing she hadn't asked about his beverage choice. "Oh and Coke or Sprite? You don't know what they are most likely, but they're good and definately drinkable." She clarified, remembering how he had rejected the pizza last night. Seriously, what crazy rejected pizza?

"The keys? Well take this key," Nike tapped one of the keys that was located on her key ring. She honestly wasn't quite sure what half of them were for. One thing she did know was that some of them were from quite a ways back. As in before Ryan's aunt had probably even been born. "And put it in here. Then turn the key until you hear the engine turn on," She gestured to the spot where the key was supposed to go. "After that you're going to put the car in drive. Just grab this and push the little button right here then pull it back and let it go once you have it on the D," She explained, pointing everything out as she went along. "Oh gods, I'm a horrible teacher. Anyways, the larger pedal down by your feet is the brake and the smaller one is the gas pedal. Now keep your foot on the brake when you first put it into drive. Then you take your foot off and put it on the gas pedal. Then depending on what speed you want to go, just push the pedal down. And this is clearly the steering wheel. Keep two hands on it at all times. And when you want to go to your left, just twist gently left." She demonstrated, figuring she could just inform him of the rest while he was actually driving.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan shrugged. "Mine and I don't really care," he growled. It was his fault he had made himself unlikeable and he knew it. He didn't care at all, he was a loner and antisocial and he didn't mind it in the least. "You're way to optimistic," he said, rolling his eyes. Back to square one, them being ticked at eachother. It just seemed natural, it was them being them. Ryan was always the one getting ticked first because of what she said, usually. He growled and whacked at Nike's hand to get the flower away from him. He rolled his eyes and tried to get it off. He glared at her. "Yeah, most probably," he snarled.

"Okay then, whatever," the fifteen year old snarled, rolling his eyes. He honestly wondered how Edmund had put up with both of them sometimes. Alex was way less than him though. Alex became much nicer with Edmund around, Ryan had been nice. So, technically, it was only Alex that Edmund had to deal with. "Yeah," Ryan said, thinking. "Besides, when Alex was around, believe it or not, I used to be sort of nice. Technically, Edmund only had to deal with Alex's I Hate the World attitude, but Alex softened up almost in a day." He looked at the goddess and it finally struck him why he had called her Edmund twice. "You remind me of Edmund a lot..." he muttered.

The fifteen year old shrugged. "No, not really. You?" he asked, his mind still trying to scrap itself together. He wasn't crying, but he still felt sort of beat up about it. "Coke or...huh?" he asked, still slightly dazed. "Are those fairies or something? Sprites?" he asked, remembering something his aunt had told him. "Yeah, I don't," he said, looking at the cans like they may explode or something. "Uh...okay?" he asked, not sure at all what it was. "Are you trying to poison me?" he asked with dead seriousness and still looking at the cans with slight curiosity, but mostly caution. "Fine, fine," he muttered as she said they were drinkable. Guess he'd have to take her word for it. Mental hit. Slight trust. "Uh...which do you think?" asked, looking at her.

"Alright..." Ryan said, taking the key she had indicated and putting it in the slot she had pointed out to him. He turned it and heard something turn on. This was so weird. He kept listening her, took the stick and pushed it down, he looked at all the dials and weird things in front of him. He found a glowing D and pushed it down until it lit up, he let go and looked at Nike. "Nah, you're not that bad. At least you don't whack me into doing it," he said. He gave himself another mental slap, was he this out of it? That was another as close as a complement as he could get. He looked down as she told him about the pedals and held the break pedal down. "Okay..." he said, watching her do the steering wheel. "Let's do this I guess..." Ryan said, grimacing slightly he put slight pressure on the gas pedal and moved the car forward. "This is so weird..." he said.

[*nike*]

"I would suggest being nice..but I think I've suggested that and you've rejected that already." Nike spoke up, rolling her sleeves up a little bit. She was personally a big fan of short sleeves, even when it was hailing. Which was somewhat ridiculous but she wasn't bothered by that. She snorted slightly at his comment about her being optimistic. "Trust me, I'm not. You're just overly pessimistic so that makes everyone, in your eyes, an optimist." She explained, watching him intently.

Him, nice? Well, that sounded highly unlikely, but somehow the goddess could see it. It was as if there was a ghost of who he used to be etched into his face. Like maybe he had been happy for sometime, but then something happened that took that nice little boy away and turned him into a cruel, angry man. "I assume Alex would have been way easier to deal with than you. No offense intended, of course." She shrugged. It was just the truth, and sometimes the truth was a tad harsh. "You should try being a tad more like that D.J. kid from your cabin. He's nice." Nike suggested, remembering her conversation with him. "Awwww...I'll take that as a compliment." She actually did feel sincerely complimented. Edmund had been one of his only two friends in the world, and so Edmund must have been pretty great to put up with him.


"We could rent movies for our movie night?" She suggested, her suggestion more of a question since she wasn't quite sure if he had actually agreed to the movie night. "Wow, thanks for your faith in me." Nike grumbled sarcastically as he suggested that she was trying to poison him. It was actually quite offensive. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done that yesterday. And I recommend the Coke." She held out the bottled drink. Coke was her favorite drink, it even surpassed margaritas and the such.

"That's true," The goddess stated, as he made a small reference to his aunt's abuse. "Just head that way, and the speed limit is 25. The speed you're going is located here." She gestured to the speedometere, and also to the direction of the city. Reaching out, she flipped the cd player on, leaving it at a low enough volume so it wouldn't distract Ryan but also loud enough so she could listen to a little Nickleback. "If you have any questions, I'm clearly available for help."

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know," he snorted. "Way to many times," he muttered, half glaring at her. The fifteen year old snorted. "No, not really," he said, shrugging. "Well, you're pretty optimistic if you can put up with me and haven't killed me yet," he growled, he was dead serious about that as well. He was seriously wondering about that. "Eh, I guess so," he grumbled. Okay, yeah. He knew he was stubborn, narrow minded, mean and sarcastic. Everything negative. Lovely. He was still not sure if he wanted to change that. Alex's death head just proved that the more you care the more you lost. Ryan was seriously not into loosing anything anymore. The only thing he had to loose was his life, probably.

The son of Ares knew that idea of him, being nice, was seriously off and unimaginable. But it had been true. For two years. When he was younger and then when he had Alex and Edmund around. There was the battle again. Become nice or not... nice or not... gah. This was so confusing. He could try to be nice again, but when he was nice, then the people he was nice to and got close to usually just left him or died. He would have to learn how to tease and joke around and smile again, but he could learn... eventually. The fifteen year old nodded. "Yeah, way easier," he said. Alex, compared to Ryan now, had been nothing. Edmund had gotten Alex to become nice the first few hours they met. "None taken," he said, shrugging. He didn't really care if he was being criticized, it just bounced off of him like a ball. Ryan shrugged and rolled his eyes. He wasn't really into hanging around with his 'family'. He just nodded as Nike said that he would take his comment as a complement.

"Sure," Ryan said, shrugging slightly. "Fine with me," he muttered. He would of agreed to almost anything right now. Just not nicknames, that was it. He still felt sort of horrible but the shock was wearing off and he was beginning to just come back to himself, slightly. The next thing, if he remembered, was probably just grief or whatever. He'd live and move on with his life. He had bounced back before, until how long, he wasn't sure, but he'd bounce back. "Uh-huh," he muttered. He had just sort of asked that out of impulse. "Yeah, I guess so," he grumbled, sort of blindly. "Okay...?" he asked more than said, he took a coke. "How do you get this thing off?" he asked, tapping the cap. "Just twist it?" he asked, remembering watching her open one.

The fifteen year old nodded, that had been his aunt's method pretty much. Life and death games or beating it into him through training. Her idea of fun. His idea of a torture house. "Okay..." he said, his eyes focusing on the dial that she had pointed out. There were so many of them on here. His on guard and critical mind was asking what they all were, the other side of his mind that was still in shock and out of it didn't care. "So just stay on the mark or below it?" he asked. Speed limit, sounded like that was a... well, a limit on the speed. Okay, so he wasn't as dumb with this technology as he thought he was. He thought of the whole list that Nike ranted off and then remembered his complete confusion. Okay, never mind. He nodded and started toward the direction she had pointed. "Alright," he said and started to move the car in that direction.

[*nike*]

"Actually it's not particularly hard. Yes you're annoying, stubborn, mean, angry, a fun-sucker.." Nike trailed off, realizing just how big a list she was making. She probably shouldn't have been able to put up with that much crap. "It is really a wonder why I haven't killed you yet. Any other god would have. Heck even the nice ones like Hestia might have." She rambled on, not bothering to apologize this time. It was simply the truth once again. Respect, was clearly not a word used in his vocabulary.

The goddess gave a small nod of her head as though acknowledging is response. Reaching down, she pulled a small handle and reclined the passenger chair back as far as it would go so that she could get a little bit of the sunshine. "I really am sorry," She added, considering that the words she had said might have made it seem like she would prefer it if he died right now. She was definately not that horrible of person. Okay, granted she really did hate a lot of people, but they were annoying and if she wanted them to die, then they probably deserved it.

"Do you have any ideas on that? Genre-wise. Horror, Romance, etc? " Nike asked, knowing that at least Ryan would know those words. They were for typical everyday use, though he meant not understand the question all too well. "Yup yup," She bobbed her head, taking the Sprite from the cupholder and untwisting the lid. Taking a small sip, she savored the flavor. So delicious! And bubbly, somewhat like her personality.

"Correct," The girl laid back, keeping her eyes open just in case he decided to crash into a tree. She wasn't too concerned about his driving skills. In her opinion, it wasn't that hard, although she actually knew how to drive. "Keep your eye out for any animals, or people. Don't hit anything..Blah, blah, blah." Nike mumbled, staring absentmindedly out of the window. "Oh and Ryan," She paused, looking over at him with a sparkle in her eyes. "Try not to kill us." A teasing smile rested on her face, knowing that the only person that would really die if he crashed would be him.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan glared at her. "To bad, it is to me," he snarled. Was it, or was he just being stubborn. He could change back, he knew it, it would just take a bit of time. "Yeah, I am," he said, shrugging and not really caring that Nike had just fired off a very long list of words that he was and they were all negative and (to some people) would of been insulting. But to him, he didn't really care, so he just shrugged it off. He didn't care what people thought about him and criticism just bounced off him like a ball these days. "Yeah, I guess so," Ryan said, shrugging. Again, just straight facts. That would always puzzle him: Why didn't Nike just kill me?

He eyed her as she tilted the seat back. That was slightly freaky. What else could this car contraption do? "Whatever," he snarled as she apologized. He seriously didn't take any offense at all. He knew what he was and that was the end of it. He didn't care, as if she didn't already know that. Well...yeah. He had cared, sorta half of what had just happened came rushing back to him. "Forget it," he said in a half mutter, then: "yeah, I know. 'Already forgotten'," he mimicked. Ryan had heard his aunt call him almost every single word Nike and called him, and worse, and all the unprintable names under the sun, daily. He was used to it by now and was beyond caring.

"No, not really," he said, shrugging. "Genres?" he asked. "What are those?" She should be expecting that by now. Oh, horror, romance and that stuff. "Uh... which ever you think," he grumbled. He really couldn't say as he had no idea what each were like in movie form. "Uh, alright then," he said, cautiously taking the cap and twisting it, the soda inside bubbled slightly. He eyed it warily. "You sure you're not trying to blow me up?" he asked, staring at the soda. He relaxed slightly as it started to go back down. "...so what does this stuff taste like?" he asked, making a slight face. He hadn't forgotten how she had threatened to shove the pizza down his throat. She had said the pizza tasted good, it smelled weird to him.

Okay, so he had gotten one thing right in this crazy contraption. "Alright," he muttered, then pushed the gas petal slightly so it would stay below the 25 mark. "Okay," he said. So don't crash into anything, basically. Should be okay...but he was still sort of freaked out on doing this. He half looked over at her. "What?" he asked, he could sort of tell that she was teasing by the look on her face, but he still wasn't sure. Besides, if they were to get killed, the only one to die would be him, anyway. "No promises."