Oh...That Plan (Nike)

[*nike*]

"Your words, they hurt!" Nike exclaimed, covering her heart dramatically with her hands. She wasn't quite sure but she was assuming that Ryan meant he would have preferred that he didn't have to be around her.So she was only half joking. No matte. What that stupid saying said about sticks and stones, words did hurt. Nike was trying her best to be nice, and Ryan was sitting there somewhat grumbling and griping about being there. "Guess so? I know so," She snorted, pulling a pair of sunglasses out of the glove box and putting them on. She loved sunglasses. Actually Nike loved a lot of apparel related things. She had great collections of sunglasses, hats and especially shoes. High-heels, flats, converse and any other types of shoes. She was girl just as much as any other.

The girl shook her head slightly as Ryan grumbled on about her apology. "Not for insulting you," She pointed out, adding to herself that he kind of deserved any insult anyways. "I mean I'm sorry about Alex. I'm sure he was a great friend," The words came out a little softer than intended, inaudible to any mortal so she repeated them once more. Then a quiet little silence seemed to enclose the inside of the car. Not quite awkward, just quiet.

"Not worth explaining," The brunette waved it away, taking another sip of the Sprite. An excited smile passed across her face as she could see the city line approaching in the distance. "Our puppy is going to be the cutest puppy ever!" She announced enthusiastically, wiggling in her seat with excitement. The puppy would probably stay at the camp a majority of the time if Chiron allowed for that which she was pretty confident that he would. And of course she would bring him to any actual houses she had or even up to Olympus on the rare occasions that she went there. "Just drink it, it tastes delicious. I don't know how to explain it, it's just good and that's all there is to it."

"I suppose I'll have to save you then if we crash," Nike laughed, her mood lifting with the proximity to the city. She wasn't actually too excited about the city itself, just the dog and the movies and the such. The city was actually kind of horrible. People getting killed, mugged, etc. Nike was honestly not a big fan of that. Stupid mortals.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

"Really?" Ryan asked skeptically, glaring at her. "I don't see any wounds," he snarled. He knew that he meant her feelings, but he was just being difficult. He didn't know what to do with himself, so he had finally decided to just close himself up again. The fifteen year old rolled his eyes as she went again, with the dramatics. "I seriously don't care if you didn't want to waste your time with mortals. Go into the gods theatre production or something!" he snarled, glaring at her. He was really confused right now. He had decided to just cut himself off, and then he went soft and now he was back as just closed up again. "Yeah, I guess you do," he half muttered. Wait... was that an extension of trust as well?

Ryan shrugged as she told him that the apology wasn't for him. "Whatever," he snarled. He probably did deserve all those insults anyway. His aunt made it seem that way all the time. "Huh?" he asked, looking at her. He saw her lips moving, but had no idea what she had just said, she had said it so quietly. "Oh," he muttered, his stomach sinking slightly as she hit him again with the reality of what was going on. He couldn't believe himself. Alex had just died and he was back to his old self, pretending that this had never happened. What the heck was wrong with him? "Yeah," he grumbled. He had been. Anyone would have to be a good friend to stand him.

"Oh," the fifteen year old said, shrugging. "Okay then," he said, taking a look at the Coke bottle in his hand again and twisted the cap all the way off. He gave her a slightly uncertain look. "You sure about this...?" he asked more concerned than skeptical. Oh, yeah, the dog. "Guess so," he muttered. He wondered what they would act like. According to Nike, they were way less vicious and all. Nike was practically squirming with joy, he half rolled his eyes. "Uh...okay," Ryan said, taking a sip. It tasted like...he had no idea. "Well...that was interesting," he said, looking at the liquid in the bottle again.

Ryan shrugged. "Fine," he muttered. He didn't mind if she saved him or not. Dying didn't look to bad right now. He looked at the outline of the city. He had never been there. "How is it in there?" he asked, looking at the skyline curiously. Edmund had told him about it once or twice, but he didn't really go into depth, mostly because Ed sort of knew about Aunt Kath's 'no imagination' policy. Ryan seriously wondered how she got through her child hood. Maybe she was just like him. Had been left and everything and then never healed from it....he had never thought about that.

[*nike*]

"It's times like these, when I seriously consider killing you," Nike retorted, her voice steady and though the words were harsh her tone was not. She was doing her best not to get put down by his mood because she was excited, but it was nearly impossible. "Maybe somebody should turn the car around and go sit his cranky a** down at the lovely Camp Half-Blood." She grumbled, glaring at him behind her sunglasses.

"Yeah.." She repeated his words, wondering if there was really any meaning behind them or if they were just something to say. Fiddling with her hat, the goddess eventually decided on taking it off since for some reason it just seemed to be bothering her. Unsuprisingly, it was a hat with the Nike logo on it. Under her breath, Nike hummed along to the song coming from the radio. Once again, she knew all of the words to it, which was a common thing for her. She knew quite a lot of songs. Good ones and bad ones.

The goddess nodded as he asked if she was sure or not. Of course she was sure. It was more than annoying that he was suspecting her of poisoning him. "We're getting a border collie, by the way. Whether you want to or not." She stated, smiling innocently as she pictured a little border collie puppy. Nike absoloutly adored them. Of course huskies and retrievers were pretty darn adorable too. "Good or bad interesting?" She asked automatically, not really too concerned about the answer. "Try the Sprite too." The girl suggested, holding it out for him.

Nike shrugged, tilting her head back and forth as if choosing her answer carefully. "Loud. Annoying. Fun." She rambled off some adjectives that described the city, all which were seemingly contradictory. How could anything annoying possibly be fun? She didn't know, but she knew that's what it was. "Take a left up here," She advised, gesturing to a road that led off their current one and into towards the city. Nike already knew exactly where they were headed, because she had already pinpointed where the pet shelters were and which ones had border collies.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan looked at her slightly, the words were mean, but her tone wasn't that harsh. Maybe she was just trying to put up with him. He wondered what was wrong with him some of these times. "I wouldn't blame you if you did," he grumbled, his head starting to feel slightly dizzy. His aunt had given him daily death threats, but never really executed him. He wondered if she hoped that he would just die on a freak accident or just kill himself, he was never sure. He looked at her and shrugged. "I will if you want," he muttered, his head going out of it again. Sure, back to living Hades, why not?

The fifteen year old wondered if he was still in shock. Probably as he had gone back to only one word answers again. Camp Half Blood had been really sort of scary for him because he had never really been around that many people at once in his life. Maybe that was one of the reasons he hated it. He just wasn't used to it, maybe. He had gotten used to Ed and Alex being around though, for the two years that they were. Those two years were the best of his life. After that, it just had gone down hill.

The goddess nodded. Ryan knew that she must be really insulted that he was questioning her, but him being him, well. "Border collie...?" he asked, wondering what it looked like. Nike had said there were different types, hadn't she? That meant that they must look different, right? "Fine," he grumbled. "What does it look like?" he asked, trying to imagine, but couldn't. He took a look at the Coke again. "Uh...I don't know," he said as she asked him if it was good or bad interesting. "It tastes like...what is it? Sugar?" he asked, looking at her. He looked at the clear liquid she was offering him. "Why's one colored and the other one's not?"

Edmund had said loud and fun. It had made sense back then because Ryan did have some slight imagination. When Nike threw in annoying, however, it made it confusing. "Loud, annoying and fun?" he repeated, trying to think of what she meant when she listed those. Well, that was contradictory. "Annoying and fun at the same time," he muttered, thinking of how that could happen. "Alright," he said, steering left. He was sort of amazed that he hadn't gotten them killed, yet.

[*nike*]

Nike sighed, slumping in her chair. "Stop being so depressingly suicidal." She mumbled in response, the sun's rays making her kind of sleepy. Seriously, what was his problem with dying? It's like he seriously wanted to. Yeah, because that would solve everything. "Are you for cereal?" She asked rhetorically, using another one of her favorite phrases. She figured that Ryan might understand this one though since it wasn't too different from 'are you serious?'. Of course, he would probably just mock her saying anyway. "Anyways, we're still going, because I want my puppy now." She was well aware that she sounded like a spoiled little kid. But frankly she didn't care, it got lonely being a goddess, was it so wrong to want some company every once in a while?

"Yes, border collie." The goddess smiled to herself, excited about the whole dog concept. She had never actually owned a pet. Of course she was a goddess so why would she? Yet, she had always wanted one. Nike was sure that her getting a puppy was like any other god getting a new weapon of sorts. Quite a ridiculous comparison actually. "They are black and white." She mumbled, figuring he could be patient and just see the dog when they got there. "Yeah there's lots of sugar, and other ingredients of sorts. And the two have different ingredients and such so they look different color wise." The girl explained, snatching the Coke from his hand and taking a sip of it. She wasn't particularly concerned that he had already taken a drink from the beverage.

"Well, it's just the people that get annoying." Nike elaborated, noting his confused state at her description. Suprisingly, the Ares boy was actually a decent driver. And besides that, they were entering city limits fast! Which ultimately meant....puppy! "What do you want to name it? Do you want to name it Alex or Edmund, or something else? Your choice, unless it's a weirdly disturbing name. Then I have the right to veto." She clarified, feeling that it was totally possibly that he might choose a stupid name, something that most likely insulted her or the dog.

"Pull over!" A small squeal escaped her lips, as she gestured wildly at an open parking spot. "There it is!" She clapped her hands together excitedly, her eyes locked on a medium sized, blue, building. "Whose excited?!" Nike exclaimed, knowing that Ryan probably wasn't. Actually he was probably far from it. "Can I get a high five?" She asked eagerly, holding up one hand.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan's eyes flitted over to her again as she slumped slightly. "Nah, I don't think I will," he said in half a snarl, but he couldn't quite make it. Dying would sort of solve everything for everyone. "Uh...isn't cereal a breakfast food?" he asked, looking quizzically at her. She never failed to confuse him. "And isn't it..." he looked at the sun in the sky, "afternoon?" he asked. He had sort of learned how to tell time from looking at the sun, but he was still really bad. To tell the truth, Ry had lost a sense of time since his aunt had come and told him...stop. He had never owned a watch, so he could never really refer to that. "Fine, fine," Ryan grumbled as she said that they were still going as she now wanted the puppy.

Dogs. Ry exhaled and mentally rolled his eyes. "Fine then, border collie," he said, shrugging slightly. He had never really seen a dog up close and first hand. Edmund had showed him a picture of one, he thought. He couldn't really remember. But what Ed did show him, it sort of looked like a hell hound. And then again, Ed had said that it was some sort of hound. So, obviously, if he had never seen one fist hand, he had never owned one, either. He looked at her. Black and white. "Real descriptive," he said sarcastically. "So I should be expecting a newspaper?" he snorted. He looked at the drink again. He remembered he tasted sugar a long time ago. He forgot when though. "Oh," he said, shrugging. "Okay." Nike snatched the drink away. "I'm guessing you like soda..." he said, eyeing her.

"Oh, alright," he said, shrugging. "Can't be more annoying than me," he muttered. He watched the place getting closer and closer. The closer they got, the more that it meant that they were minutes from getting a dog. Ryan looked at her. "Whatever you want," he muttered. He wanted it to be more her dog than his. It seemed that she spent a lot of time around Camp, so she could easily be the owner, Ryan could just be the dog sitter or something. He looked around, the city was coming into view fast. It looked sort of interesting. He was still surprised they hadn't been pulled over by the police or they weren't in a ditch or anything.

Nike squealed to pull over. Ryan had half a mind to cover his ears, but he was still driving. He did as she asked and parked the car in the lot. "A simple pull over with no squeal would of sufficed," Ryan growled. He looked at the building that she was looking at. "Ode to joy," he snarled, half sarcastic. She was acting like Edmund at the prospect of being able to visit Ryan without his Aunt pouncing on him...or candy. "You are," Ryan grumbled. He wasn't that excited. Interested, but not ready to jump up and down with enthusiasm. He looked at her hand quizzically. "Uh...no?" he asked more than said. He remembered when they had first met and she had gave him the knife. She had asked for a high five before, and Ryan didn't know exactly what that was.

[*nike*]

Nike rolled her eyes at another comment of negativity. "Maybe while we're here, I'll set you up for a shrink appointment and get you some anti-depressants." She offered, putting the passenger seat back into an upright position. "Nevermind, just let the cereal thing go," She waved it away, now thinking that a bowl of Trix sounded delicious right about now. Maybe they could find a place that served cereal for lunch. She knew there was this little place that did that, she just was unsure if there was one here and if so, where it was.

"No need to be negative, you make it seem like you don't want to get the dog!" She exclaimed dramatically, even though she figured that he definately didn't want the dog. He was just coming along so that she would shut up. Which was sooo not going to happen. "Nope, you don't deserve a newspaper with all that sour attitude," The goddess replied, completely aware of his sarcastic mood. "I'm thirsty, okay? Geez," She took another sip of the Coke, the icy liquid feeling nice against her throat.

Nike bit her lip, considering his comment about nothing being more annoying than him. "There are different kinds of annoying," She pointed out, comparing them all in her head. Well there was Ryan's kind, the little kid kind, the people who move to slow and block the sidewalk kind..And the list went on and on. Of course there were nice people there too, just a whole lot less of them. "Our dog means that we share the dog. Which means that you have to partcipate and since I already picked the breed, you have to pick the name. Now. Pick. One." She stared at him, her eyes unblinking.

"It probably would have, but really? Where's the fun it that?" Nike asked with a small giggle. It was clear that she was very excited over this. She almost frowned again at his rejection of the high-five, but instead she decided on jumping over her car door and walking around to the other side. Grabbing the door handle, she pulled open Ryan's door and grabbed his hand, yanking him out of the car. As soon as he was out she grabbed a small black purse from under the driver's seat since she figured they could pretty much walk anywhere from there and most shelters always had an adoption fee of sorts. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She exclaimed, linking elbows with him and practically dragging him towards the store.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ry stared at her. Was she crazy? "No," Ryan growled flatly to the suggestion of a shrink and anti-depressants. He hated medicine. He hated healing. He hated staying still for more than a minute. Medicines and doctors never seemed to work. You just had to deal with stuff on your own and then it usually got better. Nike put her seat up. Ryan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Already forgotten," he mimicked. He did remember having some sort of cereal when he was at his aunt's house. Never really tasted that good, but he lived. It was either that or eggs, and after the kitchen episode, he didn't cook his own food anymore.

"If I stop being negative, I've stopped breathing," Ryan growled back. He would get her into a theater somewhere. Even if annoyed the heck out of her. It was better for her to take it out on stage than at him. The more and more he thought about it, a tiny part of him was curious to know what a dog would be like to raise and all. "Whatever," he growled, not even wanting a newspaper. They were useful to know events, but his dyslexia messed him up all the time. He wasn't that much of good company and he knew it, he just didn't care. "Fine," he said, shrugging. He hadn't really meant it to be offensive. He didn't really like soda, it tasted a bit to sweet and sticky...like candy.

"Yeah, I know," Ryan said, shrugging. He could name so many categories. The Camp was the annoyingness of the first degree, followed by him, probably. He wondered if there were any nice people in the world. Probably, but very few. Only a couple had entered his life... three to be exact. His aunt could be classified as the scary annoying. He blew out. So it was co-ownership, dang. And he was picking the name. "Uh, what do you think?" he asked. He honestly had no idea, he had never named something, so he had no idea.

"Exactly why I didn't want you to do it," Ryan snarled. He thought Nike was having way to much of a good time. And to much fun. But then again, he didn't know much about fun. The next thing Nike did was almost vault out of the car, open his door and yanked him out. Ryan got pulled right out of the seat. "Okay, gee!" Ryan growled as she linked arms with him and was practically dragging him. "I can walk," he snapped, trying to yank his arm away from her leading one.

[*nike*]

"I think it could help you," Nike shrugged her shoulders, sipping down some more Coke. Until you purposefully overdose on them of course, She added silently to herself, looking at Ryan questionably. It was quite a strange look, but Ryan didn't know what it was for so it wasn't really important anyways. "Could we please dial down the angry-o-meter?" She requested, annoyed with his immitation of her. For one, that was stupid and mean, and secondly, it sounded nothing like her. If he was going to make fun of her, he could at least do it properly.

"Maybe you should stop breathing then," The brunette replied, clearly not concerned about hurting his feelings. He didn't exactly have feelings to hurt anyways. "Some people," She grumbled to herself, low enough so that Ryan couldn't hear her. Seriously, why did he have to be negative all of the time? Pretty much every demigod had some crappy thing wrong with their lives, but they managed to deal with it. Maybe I should drag Ares down from his perch and make them do some quality father-son bonding time, She smiled wickedly to herself, wondering just how appreciated that would be.

Nike shrugged, biting at her finger nail absently. What to name it? "I don't know. You're supposed to be coming up with something. I can't do everything geez." She sighed overdramatically, yet again. They could name it Ryan Jr. and call it Ry-pie, but Nike doubted that Ryan would approve of that. In fact, he'd probably kill the dog just to make a point about it.

"Oh so you can do something useful?" She teased, smiling so that Ryan knew it wasn't an insult. Not that he really cared though. His response would probably be "Whatever" with a scoff or a snort of some kind. Pushing open the dull blue door, Nike entered the shelter, smiling in excitement the whole time. Finally, the puppy! "Follow me!" Nike piped up, not bothering to see if Ryan was as she wandered towards the back of the place where they kept the dogs in kennels.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan rolled his eyes. Nothing ever helped him. If he did try something, it usually hurt him. Like making friends, for example. "Yeah, sure," he snorted. "I'll probably overdose or do something stupid," he said, rolling his eyes. "Or I'd just throw them out," he said, shrugging. Nike was looking at him, strangely. He still wasn't good with depicting facial expressions, but this one was sort of odd, even for her. "What?" he asked, tilting his head slightly and looking at her in turn. He looked at her, he wasn't that good at facial expressions so he didn't really have a diverse stock of them. Sometimes confusion and mostly anger, those were his faces so far. He let a breath out, maybe he could try and be nice for once? He'd try, Nike was being nice to him, no matter how mean he was being to her. Plus, she hadn't killed him. Yet. "Fine," he half grumbled.

He rolled his eyes. He had set himself up and he realized it. "Yeah, yeah. They wish," he growled. Most people would wish that he was dead, and by now he was fine with it. He looked at the building they were approaching. He had never seen really big buildings or any, for that matter. Just as he had never been around more than three people at a time before he came to Camp. A tiny part of Ryan knew that Camp had scared him at first because he wasn't used to seeing that many people. It also lead him to being antisocial, somewhat.

Ryan was still thinking of a name. He had no idea, he had never named anything. He didn't know an array of names to call anyone anything anyway. All he knew where his aunt's name, his father's name, his mom's, his, Ed's, Alex's and the people he had met at camp. Not very many. He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get you into a theater weather you like it or not," he snarled. "Uh..." he thought. "What if it's not a boy dog?" he challenged. He thought of the first girl name that came to his head besides the goddess standing beside him. "Lila?" he asked. He honestly had no idea. He started to think of names if it would be a boy.

"Guess so," Ryan grumbled, only feeling half annoyed as usual. He was sort of getting used to the goddess' way of humoring him. Even though it was a insult to him, he knew she was joking since she was smiling. He sort of remembered that smiling was used for teasing and being happy and that sort of stuff. Yuck. "Okay," he muttered, following her in. He looked around and as much as he wanted to stop and look at stuff (he had no idea what half the stuff in here was) he followed Nike, half because he was afraid that if he got lost, he wouldn't be able to find his way out again.

[*nike*]

Nike giggled to herself, shaking her head at Ryan. "Just what you said there, the possibility of you overdosing." She replied, still laughing to herself about it. Though she would actually feel bad if he did overdose, but she'd get over it eventually and laugh her butt off at the irony. "Really?" She asked, widening her eyes in suprise. He was going to try and be nicer? What was this? A parallel universe?

"Only sometimes, mon cherie." She pointed out, dragging up her nickname for him. Well maybe not just sometimes. For her it was only on occasion, but she didn't doubt that some people really did want him to kick the bucket. His aunt for one, of course. "I'm just going to ask this one more time. Are you suicidal?" The goddess asked, raising her eyebrows. Sometimes it seriously seemed like he was.

"I'd probably rock acting classes anyways," The girl waved it away, picturing herself on a stage actually acting. It was highly possibly, she thought she could do a pretty good job of it. "Well then we'll name it a girl's name." She replied, that undertone 'duh' in her voice. She thought that it was a pretty simple concept. "Lila's pretty," Nike smiled, thinking of how it reminded her of the flower, lilac.

Glancing over her shoulder, Nike smiled slightly as she noticed that Ryan was actually following her. "Awww.." She murmured, smiling in excitement as they reached the back of the store. Scanning the small kennels, her eyes landed on one of the middle ones where a small black and white bundle was bouncing up and down in excitement. "Hey there buddy!" Nike squealed, reading the small tag attached to the kennel door. "Lucky for you Ry-pie, it's a girl!" She clapped her hands together before reaching her fingers into the cage and patting the puppy lightly on the head.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan half rolled his eyes as she started to giggle then looked at him, shaking her head. "Great," he said in a half snarl. That had been sort of weird. She thought it, he said it. But he could seriously see that happening. He hated staying down and healing. His ADHD was really bad, so he wouldn't stay down and relax for anything. That's why he had most of his scars, he hadn't let them heal properly. He looked at Nike, he had wanted to do this. He had wanted to try, this. It must of been odd for her hearing this. Him saying fine to turning down the anger dial was like saying that pegasus didn't fly. "Yeah," he muttered. "Unless you don't want me too," he grumbled.

"Want to bet?" he snarled. "Everyone. Mostly on a daily basis, sometimes on occasion for some people. It depends on their fuse," he growled. What? It was a fact and he had picked it up as he continued to get older. There were people like Ed, Alex and Nike that would only wish he was dead on occasion. Those at camp who wished him dead daily. His aunt, who had wished him dead the very second that he was passed on to her. He looked at her a bit confusedly as she asked the next question. Was he? He wasn't sure. He had thought about it a lot, but never done anything serious. He had been pretty close to it in the forest with Nick, but he didn't actually do it do it. He told her the closest thing that he thought it was. "Sometimes," he muttered.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd be the top student," he snarled slightly, rolling his eyes. She'd get a lot of people to go to dramas again. Great, so he had picked out a name. For a girl. He had no idea why Lila popped into his head. He couldn't really remember were he had heard the name from. His aunt maybe? No one in camp had the name of Lila that he knew of. "Yeah, right. And what if its a male?" he asked raising his eyes. "I call you name it if it is."

The store was so big. It was like Camp all over again. And that freaked him out, that was what made him keep following Nike. Even though he was very curious about many things in the store, he kept behind Nike and didn't stop to look, he was just slightly nervous in here. He stopped infront of the cage that Nike had stopped in front of. He hadn't expected them to look like that. They were a tiny bit cute... he gave himself a mental kick. "Yay for me," Ryan muttered, half sarcastic. Dang it, she hadn't stopped with Rye-Pie. Hopefully there would be no Ryealisious.

(Sorry, my original one was longer The web browser 'quit unexpectedly' and I was angry at it and it made my post shorter... sorry again!)

[*nike*]

"No, no of course I want a happy Ryan!" Nike smiled happily, excited at the very strange concept. Well of course he wasn't going to be completely nice, and all sweet now, but it was an improvement that he was willing to try and be nice. "You know what would be even better? A smile!" She encouraged, putting her index fingers on her cheeks as though she was pulling up a smile. "What if the puppy thinks you don't like it just because you won't smile? Do you want to hurt its feelings?!"

"Well...Yeah, they do hate you," She shrugged. Not like there was much she could do about that. Sure she could try and convince people otherwise, but seriously who would believe that he was good company? No one. "But that's ok, my love for you just cancels out everyone else's hatred!" She clutched at where her heart was dramatically, before dropping them to her sides and laughing yet again. "Oh.." The goddess ceased her laughing, a sort of depressing mood set in the air now that Ryan admitted to being slightly suicidal. "Uh...Not really sure what to say to that. I don't know too many suicidal people.." She scratched the back of her head thoughtfully. She seriously had no idea what to say to that. 'Sorry you're suicidal', just didn't quite sound right.

"Oh I so would, people would love me. I could be Juliet in Shakespeare's play, that's how great I am. Though, I'm not a big fan of the dying at the end." Nike smiled, picturing her trying to fake a death. She would actually probably do it well. She didn't actually have to breath, being immortal and all, so it wouldn't be terrible. "Fine, I'll name it if it's a boy, but only because I'm nice like that,"

Nike giggled to herself as the puppy licked briskly at her hand. "Hey there, Lila," She greeted the dog, testing out Ryan's name. It was actually pretty cute for the little dog. "Um, excuse me? My friend and I would like to adopt this one!" She called out to one of the store clerks, who started making his way to the back to help. "Come on, you've got to admit she looks like a sweetheart, Ryalicious," Nike insisted, plucking another one of the nicknames he hated out of her head.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan half shut his eyes, half revolted that he had agreed to trying to be nice or happy or any positive adjectives. Gods this was going to feel so weird, trying to be nice. He hadn't even tried being nice; he hadn't given one shred of effort to it in a very long time, if ever. Now that he sort of knew why he was breaking around Nike, he wasn't sure if it was good or bad. Oh well, he had gotten himself into this, so he guessed that he'd just ride it out. Well, I don't. Ryan thought, but half bit his tongue to keep it from coming out of his mouth. Okay, this was going to be hard. Well, at least this was a tiny bit of progress. Smile? Okay, out of the question. "Uh, no," he muttered flatly. Even though he was trying to be nice, didn't mean it'd exactly happen all at once. He wasn't going to become extremely happy or sweet or anything anytime soon. He gave a small shrug. "Guess it'll have to get used to having a stone faced co-owner," he said.

"Yeah," the son of Ares muttered. It was just a plain truth and fact, they did and it probably wasn't going to change. Even if Edmund or Alex was here and tried to convince people, it wouldn't happen. Ryan wasn't sure if he wanted it to happen, in all honesty. "Sure," he said. "How ever you want to look at it, I suppose," he muttered, looking at her and tilting his head slightly. He tried not to roll his eyes. Again, with the theatrics. He gave a shrug as she frowned at hearing that he was sometimes. "Eh, whatever," he said indifferently. "Drop it," he said, she was obviously not to thrilled with the topic. Frankly, neither was he. Then he thought of something. A very slight ghost of a smile flickered into his eyes for a second. "Just try and avoid your toes."

"Oh, most defiantly," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Juliet...?" he asked, looking quizzically at her. Hey, anything modern or something that was outside knowledge, he would have no idea on. "But you're immortal," he said, looking sort of confused. Okay, this was really confusing him now. "What's a Shakespeare?" he asked. Sounded like someone shaking a spear to him. He shrugged. "I don't think anyone would be a fan of being the one lying dead," he muttered. He nodded as she said she'd name it a boy if it was one. That was good, because the only boy names he knew where Al, Ed, himself and then the guys at camp.

The fifteen year old stiffened sort of when he looked around to see that Nike was summoning some sort of worker. Why did there have to be a bunch of people in here? Okay, there were only around ten or whatever including the staff, but Ryan wasn't used to even that many. Three had been his maximum at his aunt's house. Ryealicious. He gritted his teeth. She had to use every single nickname that she made up, that annoyed him, didn't she? Great, he just hoped to the gods she wouldn't use that name and she used it right now. He looked down at the puppy. Yeah, she was a bit cute and Nike had been sort of right. "She looks nice," he commented.

(I found a possible look for Lila... if that's the name you want to keep for her astrasheepdog.com/puppies/Peg%20x%20Buzz%20litter/Peg%20Pup%201/Peg%20pup%201%2001.jpg)

[*nike*]

Nike frowned at Ryan's negative attitude about smiling. Apparently there was no way that smiling was ever going to happen with him. Smiling was fun for her, she smiled quiet frequently actually. Well not quiet as frequently when she was around Ryan, but that was because he wasn't exactly positive company. Though the goddess could honestly admitted that sometimes she did appreciate his company. Sometimes other peoples overly-happy about the world attitudes got a little sickening. No one was happy all of the time, or at least they really shouldn't be. It was just abnormal. Ryan's negativity seemed to mellow out the bright personalities which was sometimes nice. "Awww, look at that," She smiled sweetly, "You just agreed to being her little co-owner. I'm so proud!" Nike gushed, patting him lightly on the head despite the fact that she knew he would protest.

"Whatever, their loss," The immortal insisted, pulling her hair back into a ponytail so it wasn't hanging in her face. Plus it was supposed to be a little windy today and she wasn't exactly fond of her hair whipping her in the face. "Already dropped," She mocked his own immitation of her. Wait, was that a joke? Her eyebrows shot up in suprise as she noticed a small flicker in his eyes. It wasn't particularly funny, but Nike burst into another fit of giggles at the simple fact that Ryan was making a joke. Even more progress, she decided with a huge, genuine smile.

"Huh, haven't heard of Romeo and Juliet either? Okay well I'll give you the short version. Two people fell in love, but they were from two families that hated each other. Okay so then Romeo got banished for killing some guy who killed his friend, right? Then Juliet freaked out and insisted she be with him so she devised this whole plan to run away with him. She drank this potion that made her seem dead so her family put her in their little family crypt," She paused, trying to figure out all she should include. "So Romeo hears that she's 'dead'," Nike used actual air quotes to emphasize the fact that Juliet wasn't really dead. "And he goes down to see her 'dead' body and pretty much claims that he can't live without her, and kills himself by drinking poison. Right so then, Juliet wakes up and sees that Romeo killed himself, and she in turn, stabs herself with Romeo's dagger." The girl finished, shaking her head at the idiocy of the whole play. It took them like two seconds to fall in love. That wasn't how it worked in real life. Not to mention the whole play was kind of sexist.

"Hear that Lila? Ryan thinks you look nice!" She smiled, still playing with the dog through the kennel bars. "You're the first one I've heard him compliment. Consider yourself lucky there sweetheart!" Nike stood up, greeting the worker politely as he came over. "Would you mind getting the papers and everything set up while we pick out a couple of things for her?" She smiled sweetly, thanking him as he nodded and went off to set things up. "Okay, so we need dog food, two bowls, a collar, a leash, some toys, a dog bed, and she's staying inside somewhere so no need for a dog house," The goddess clarified, glancing over at Ryan briefly. She didn't really like leaving dogs out in a dog house. What if it was too cold or too hot for the dog? And of course she would take Lila out for walks daily and let her play outside, and she'd probably convince Ryan to do the same. "Okay! Let's go start picking some things out!" She suggested, wandering towards the part of the store where they kept supplies for dogs. Picking up a basket as she walked, Nike started tossing numerous items in it. Two little packages of dog treats, a couple of bones, two purple boys because she personally thought Lila went well with purple. "What color do you vote for on the collar?" She asked picking one up and holding it out to Ryan so he knew what it was. "By the way you can just grab whatever you want off the shelves, I'm paying for it so anything is fine,"

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