Oh...That Plan (Nike)

[*nike*]

Nike rolled her eyes, ruffling Lila's fur with her fingers. "I hate it when people say that," She commented, pulling the plastic bag from the back seat onto her lap. Sifting through it she located the little golden collar that they had gotten at the pet store. Tossing it at Ryan she continued to look through the bag whilst still driving. Over time she had almost perfected the art of multi-tasking. If it could be considered an art. "Ah-ha!" She exclaimed, pulling out the matching golden leash. "Okay the collar goes around her neck, it works just like a belt, but make sure not to tighten it too hard around her neck." She explained, leaving the golden leash on her lap as she tossed the bag back into the backseat.

"Well you think she looks nice. And you can't deny that. You said it back in the pet store." She pointed out, recalling the moment perfectly. She had a pretty good memory considering the fact that she had witnessed millions of things. "That's the problem with your possible running away. You would probably end up going on a killing spree out of annoyance and you'd become number one on the America's most wanted criminals list. It's alright though, when it happens I will post your bail." The goddess assured him.

"Awesome," She smiled, grabbing the Coke out of the cupholder. Untwisting the cap she took one more sip before putting it back. "Now we're just going to keep her on a leash for now because she's not trained and all so she would probably run crazy all over the park." Nike confirmed, holding up the leash so that Ryan would know what it was. Pulling out the small bag of toys, Nike ripped it open, picking out a red squeaky ball. A game of fetch wouldn't exactly work well on a leash, but she figured if no one was around then maybe they could let Lila off of the leash.

"Agreed," The immortal shrugged. She wasn't an honest fan of the city. She liked the food, the shopping, and well the pet store. Well just the pets in the pet store, mostly Lila though. "Awww, hear that Lila?Another compliment for you!" Nike picked up the leash, clicking open the latch so that she could attach it to Lila's collar. "Come on. Could you please just admit that she is adorable? I mean look at those little eyes!" Nike exclaimed, petting Lila again, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan watched her pet Lila. It was still so weird in his mind that they now were co owning a dog. He smirked slightly. "Good, because I made that comment specifically to annoy you," he said. The son of Ares watched her as she began taking different things out of a bag while still driving. Yeah, if he was in the driver's seat, they'd sort of be dead by now. She was a good mulittasker, he had to give her that. Ryan caught the collar they had gotten and looked at it. "This is for...?" he asked, examining the thing. It looked like it would sort of fit around Lila's neck, but he was unsure. Nike finally got the leash as well. He looked at her. "Okay," he said. So he had been right, he took the collar and put it on the dog, making it a bit loose. "That okay?" he asked, looking at Nike.

He bit his tongue and half rolled his eyes. Yeah, he had said that in the shop; he had set himself up for this. "Fine, fine," he grumbled, and then exhaled. "You have a too good of a memory," he said in a half growl and rolling his eyes. He half shrugged. "Maybe," he grumbled. Sure, he threatened a lot and stuff, but he couldn't ever really see himself killing anyone. "America's most wanted...?" he asked blankly. Great, Nike would get him out of it, lovely. He didn't think he'd ever go that crazy, but hey, it could happen. Possibly.

"Glad you think so," he sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. "Okay..." he said, looking at the long piece of rope Nike was holding. Ryan assumed that that was a leash. The fifteen year old looked at the ball that the goddess had withdrawn from the bag. "That a toy?" he asked. He thought he had saw her pick it out when she said something about playing with her. Toys were still a slightly weird concept to Ryan, but he guessed he was getting sort of better about the outside world. Not great, but at least he knew some things now.

Did he mention that he thought the city was sort of freaky? It smelled sort of weird and there were lots of people. Honestly, if he had to come to terms with himself, he seriously needed to get over that there were lots of people around at once. Now that he was looking at it more and more, it just was sort of stupid. Ryan sighed. "Great for her," he muttered. "Uh, let me think about that," Ryan said sarcastically. "No," he growled. Gee, this becoming thing was going along so well.

[*nike*]

"Well at least you considered me," Nike commented, a smirk playing on her lips as well. She had purposefully tried to find the bright side in this just to annoy Ryan back. Glancing over at the collar, she reaching over checking how tight it was. "Perfect," She decided, scratching Lila gently behind the ear. Another decision that she had come up with was that their dog was definately going to spoiled and seriously well-loved. Even if she was mostly only loved by Nike and other demi-gods. Though she was still counting on Ryan to at least put in an effort to make this feel like a co-owner thing.

Nike shrugged, she knew that her memory could get a little annoying. She never let anybody forget anything. "You'll get used to it," The goddess commented, wondering if he was going to make some comment about it being unlikely since she still figured that Ryan hated her company. "A kind of list for the craziest murderers alive who the police want to arrest." She explained, not adding the fact that sometimes the people on that list went straight to death row. It was one of those unpleasant details that Ryan probably didn't need to know about the world.

Clipping the leash onto Lila's collar, she reached over, pulling the dog out of Ryan's lap. She wasn't exactly convinced that he wouldn't just open the door and drop her on the sidewalk. The dog wasn't that big yet and dogs didn't exactly land on their feet like cats. "Yes, sir" She squeaked it once, receiving a small excited bark from Lila in response. "Aww, see another cute quality! She's definately going to be the best dog ever!" Nike exclaimed, carrying Lila over to the grassy park before setting her down lightly on the grass.

"If I said please would you say it then? For her benefit?" The goddess asked, sitting down on the grass, stretching her arm out when necessary so that Lila could explore around her. There didn't seem to be too many people so she figured that Lila probably wouldn't have to stay on the leash too long. "Pretty please," Nike pouted, pushing out her lower lip in attempt to convince him to say it. On most people this would've worked, but the goddess already knew that it wouldn't work on Ryan.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

(You have 100 posts!!! *claps* Awesome job!

Ryan gritted his teeth and tried not to roll his eyes, he didn't quite make it. "Great for me," he said in a slight snort. She had to always take his negative aspect and turn it into something positive and it was annoying the Hades out of him. He looked at how he had put on Lila's collar, Nike said it was good, so that was pretty alright. When she first told him to do it, he thought he was going to choke the puppy instead. He exhaled and rolled his eyes slightly, this dog was defiantly going to be spoiled by Nike; he could tell that much almost right now. Lila was probably going to get the most love and affection by her, followed by the other dumb demigods in Camp. Ryan may join in too, after a very long time.

The son of Ares wondered how she could have such a great memory whens she had been living for around a couple of centuries, give or take. Perhaps having a good memory was part of being immortal. Maybe, either that, or it was just Nike. Either way, it could turn out to be both annoying and useful at the same time. It was mostly annoying in his case. He gave a slight shrug. "I guess," he said. He had had to get used to a lot of things, so he was sure he could get used to another. "Oh, great," he said, rolling his eyes. "I bet I'll be getting the death sentence straight out if I ever get on the list," he snorted. The world was a horrible place; his aunt had wasted no time in teaching him that. It was horrible, but you had to chose weather to see the light or not. The handful of good people, like Nike, like some of the other demigods in Camp, was what made it from turning into a complete Hades on earth.

Nike took Lila off of Ryan lap, and he was sort of relieved. He gave his eyes a slight roll and got out of the car. The goddess hadn't been kidding when she said it was sort of an isolated place, there was hardly anyone here. That was both good and bad; good because it suited him just fine, bad because he half wanted to learn to just buck up and learn how to deal with other people around him. The fifteen year old looked at her as she said he was correct. Well, that was one out of the (he lost count on how many things that had come out of her mouth that he had no idea on) many things that she had listed that he had gotten right. Nike squeaked the so called 'toy' and Lila seemed excited about it. Ryan gave a slight shrug, not having the slightest clue why. "Joy," Ryan grumbled. He followed the dog and immortal over to the grass.

"No," Ryan said flatly as the goddess asked him to say it. "I'm not saying it," he said, half glaring at her. Ryan remained standing, as he had sort of observed from Camp, he was slightly on the smaller height side than the other boys. Sure, they may have been younger than him, but he wouldn't of known or cared. He sighed and finally sat down, seeing no point in standing anymore; he wasn't so sure if he should be expecting a monster to attack him or anything. Ryan gritted his teeth and looked at her. "No," he growled with finality. "Maybe in a couple of years," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

[*nike*]

Nike shrugged, a smug smile playing on her lips. Annoying Ryan could become quite a fun hobby. Yet she didn't want to have to deal with cranky pissed off Ryan all of the time. It simply wouldn't be worth the small bit of amusement. "I agree that it's great," She commented, catching onto his sarcasm, but choosing to ignore it. In her opinion, there was a fine line between the appropriate use of sarcasm and seriously using it to the point of over-kill. The demigod's sarcasm had definately passed the line to over-kill. She was a fan of sarcasm herself because honestly she just liked the way it rolled off her tongue. It was easy unlike the many things in this world that weren't. Example of something that wasn't easy:: her friendship with Ryan. If it could really even be considered a friendship. Two thirds of the time he acted like he didn't even want to be around her. Well it probably wasn't acting, she found it highly unlikely that he really wanted to spend time with her. Which was offensive, but she was determined to keep working at this until he actually enjoyed her company. That would definately be a while.

The goddess gave a little smile at the fact that the Ares boy wasn't grumbling on about not hanging out with her. Sure his response wasn't exactly a positive one, but at least he wasn't putting a serious damper on her mood. "It's okay, I can break you out before they hang you or whatever it is they do now." Nike offered, trying to think of what they had changes it to. Different states had different rules and such, but she figured here it was probably lethal injection. Nike shivered at the thought of it. To get a death sentence you had to be pretty terrible. Glancing over at Ryan, she couldn't actually see him murdering anyone or doing anything close to that terrible. "But I won't have to, you're not like that," She shuddered again, pressing her back against the car seat to try and make it less noticeable. She didn't want Ryan commenting on it, and she especially didn't want him making fun of her.

Laying down on her back, Nike felt a little more comfortable in the park. The parks were really all that was left that resembled nature in the city. No matter how small and clean-cut it was it was still some form of nature. Though it was kind of ruined by the smell of smog and the constant noise coming from everywhere. One of the constant noises included Lila's continous sniffing at her new surroundings. Except that was more of a cute noise than an annoying city noise.

"Aw please? Pretty please with whip cream and a cherry on top?" Nike pleaded, looking over at him from her spot. He seemed kind of tense for some reason. "Don't worry, no monsters are going to bother you while I'm around," She assured him, finally making the connection. She didn't have to worry about that kind of thing, but the Ares kid did. "Oh please," Nike rolled her eyes, "I'll be lucky to get you to say that before you die," She grumbled, a laugh escaping her lips as Lila tried to lick her face. "Stop it," She giggled, playfully wrestling with the small dog.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ry just gave his eyes a slight roll as he still saw a smug smile on her face. He began wondering if this would become a fun sort of game for her. See how many times Nike can annoy Ryan. Sure, it'd be fun for her, it'd probably tick him off more than likely. He just shook his head and made no comment back to her. Ryan sort of knew he over killed the use of sarcasm, but that was just him now. The goddess staying around him was a pain three fourths of the time, but it was becoming just a bit okay; like one one thousandth okay. To get him to the point where he would actually enjoy anyone's company would be...after a few hundred years in the Underworld. Ever since Ryan had met Nike, he had sort of learned that she was going to stay stubborn in trying to get him to be nice. The demigod was beginning to think that she was going to try for all eternity. Did he mention that sometimes it stank that she was immortal?

So, he had said it was okay. He guessed he could get used to having Nike around, she wasn't that bad when he seriously considered and thought about it. One, she hadn't killed him yet; Two, she reminded him a lot about Ed; Three, well, she seemed like one of the good people (or in this case immortals) in the world. There weren't a lot of them and he defiantly wasn't in that category. Ryan looked at her. "Nah, you don't have to," he said, tilting his head slightly. "But I hope I never get in there," he muttered as an afterthought, looking back out the window. He seriously hoped he wouldn't go that crazy. As of now, he couldn't really picture himself doing that; however, things could change, take this morning for instance. But if he did wind up in prison or whatever, then he deserved what he got; suck it up, take responsibility and get your punishment. "It'd be better to be dead then on the run, anyway," he grumbled. Ryan looked at her, half surprised that she had said that about him. He sighed. "I..I hope you're right," he muttered. Goddess of victory, he hoped the gods that she was specifically right about that one.

Back in nature. Just grass and stuff. This was what Ryan was more comfortable around. He had grown up in the middle of no where. All he saw every day was a house (his aunt's), grass, sparring ring, forest. That was it, no cities, no camp, no mass amounts of people. Ryan relaxed slightly, there was still the weird city smell and noise everywhere, but the physical appearance of the park was what made Ryan relax slightly. Beside an occasional trash can and bench and other stuff in parks, this was pretty much what he grew up around.

The demigod rolled his eyes. What part did this Goddess not understand about No? Ryan was still on slight defense and alert for anything, as it was almost his second nature to do so. Half because that's how he was trained that way, other half was because of his ADHD and adeline. "Okay..." he muttered, relaxing and sitting down. Not all the way relaxed, but a bit. Mental hit. Trust, great. Ryan smirked. "You've finally caught on," he said. "Uh-huh, exactly," he nodded, rolling his eyes a bit. The fifteen year old rolled his eyes and then watched Nike with the dog.

[*nike*]

Nike laughed at Ryan's eyeroll. That she was definitley used to by now. Why wouldn't she be? It was common enough for him. Growl. Snarl. Eyeroll. Sarcasm. All perfected by the demigod. His hugs? Not so perfect. They weren't even mediocre, they were crappy hugs, but really what could she do? He was absoloutly refusing to hug her, or probably anyone for that matter. "Oh Ryan, you're such a killjoy." She commented, still laughing to herself. For some reason even his downright depressing mood wasn't affecting to her for the moment. Reaching over she messed up his hair, knowing that it would bother him, but not really caring.

"Of course I don't have to," The goddess pointed out, an amused twinkle in her eyes. "I want to, since we're besties and all!" She bit her lip, trying to stop another wave of laughter. For some reason she was feeling a little more than hyper today. Like maybe she had too much sugar or something this morning which was ridiculous since all she had had all day was a couple of sips of the Coke and Sprite. Which, granted, they did have a lot of sugar in them, but she hadn't had that much of them. "Of course I'm right!" Nike exclaimed brightly, not an ounce of doubt in her voice.

Letting out a small sigh of relaxation, Nike rolled over onto her stomach. The feel of the cool grass was nice against her bare legs. And for some reason, the smell of the clean-cut grass was simply intoxicating. The only thing that could possibly beat that smell were the smells of the fresh rain and citrus plants. Nike adored citrus, it was a wonderful scent. Lemons, oranges, grapefruit, anything fruity was just wonderful to her.

Pausing in her wrestling match, Nike glanced over at Ryan. Sitting there with a blank expression and looking relaxed. He almost looked peaceful and nice. Like maybe if you didn't know better, and you just him while passing by you might think that he had a good life and he was content with it. But the goddess knew better. And the scars on his hands proved that him having an easy life was anything but true. Looking down at his hands, she couldn't help, but stare. She didn't know all of the stories behind each and every scar, but she got the gist of it, and the gist was enough to bother anyone. "Do you like the rain?" Nike asked, her question random, but in her head it was connected.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan shrugged. "Yeah, you could call me that," he muttered. It was true, anything you got from him, it was negative. Anything positive you got from him never worked out that well. He knew that his negativity was something people had to get used to and he didn't really care. He think he perfected the arts of eye rolling, it was so common to him he had no idea he was doing it at times. Hugging? Forget it, he stank at it; he hadn't hugged anyone in a while. He hadn't even wanted to hug or anything affectionate. Nike had been the first in a very long time and even then he had no idea on how to respond to it. Ryan looked up as Nike went to mess up his hair, he half growled and swiped at her had instinctively to get it away from him.

"Eh," the son of Ares muttered, rolling his eyes slightly. "Oh, but of course," he said sarcastically. He still thought he should get any punishment that he had earned. Ryan rolled his eyes. "Hyper much?" he asked, half glaring at her. Well, Nike was hyper a lot, but right now a lot more than normal, and that was saying something. Maybe it was the thrill of getting a dog, he didn't see what was so exciting about it; however, he didn't judge, it could of been something else. "Yeah, yeah, right," he said, shaking his head. She was always to bubbly for him. Her and her always being right. Goddess of Wisdom point out, again. Ryan wondered for a moment if the soda had done it to her since that was the only thing she had drank since he saw her. His aunt had told him that somethings you ate or drink made you act like this. However, remembering back, she hadn't drank a lot of either of the beverage.

Now that he thought of it, it was sort of peaceful here. Ryan himself was no where near to relaxed, but it was just slightly (as in one millionth) calming. True, the city noises and smells did ruin it a bit; but the park here was at least what he was used to, slightly. He had grown up in an isolated area, so he was slightly less tense there than at Camp; to him, Camp was always very crowded and cramped and just... to populated. Only the gods would of known if this was just the least amount of demigods or the most, but to him, Camp was full up with demigods.

After watching Nike wrestle with Lila for a few seconds, the demigod's mind was just wandered. It didn't do that often; he was usually on guard and ready. Ryan felt someone staring at him, he wasn't really sure if it was Nike or just another mortal, but he didn't really care. He was just beginning to wonder just how out of it he really was, when he gave a small jump as Nike's voice broke his thoughts. "Wha-rain?" Ryan asked, thoroughly confused. He looked at her and saw that she had been staring at his hands, he looked down at them as well. They were just as he had seen them a couple of minutes ago, very scarred up. Sure, they were his hands and he lived with them, but when he stopped to think about it, it was sort of sickening to remember how he had gotten all of them and that he had so many. "It's alright...?" he more asked then said. He wasn't sure if this was a trick question or not; the question was certainly very random... but everything was random with this goddess. Maybe it made sense in her head, but for whatever reason it made sense to her, Ryan didn't get it at all. "Why?" he asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

[*nike*]

Nike smirked, still thoroughly entertained by Ryan and his muttering. "Would you prefer that over Rye-pie?" She asked, a hint of teasing lining her voice. It was almost a rhetorical question since she already knew the answer to that. She could tell that he hated those nicknames. Every single one of them. In his opinion killjoy was probably a hundred times better than Ryalicious. Or even Ry-Ry, which she didn't understand why it was so terrible. It wasn't much different from Ry, and if she remembered correctly-which she usually did-he was alright with being called that. "Ouch!" She complained his fingernails scraping against her skin. It hadn't actually hurt, but she figured it was always fine to be overdramatic about some things.

"Not that you would admit it, but you would miss me if I left." The girl claimed, her voice wavering a little bit. She thought that he might miss her, but honestly she wasn't completely sure if he would. He wasn't exactly giving off any manor hints that would indicate whether or not he would miss her. "Just a little bit," Nike admitted, tucking her hair behind her ear. Pulling a small piece of gum out of her pocket she popped it into her mouth. Big Red to be specific. Mmm, Cinammon! She smiled, blowing a big red bubble before popping it. The snap of the gum was ridiculously loud in the quiet neighborhood. Well it obviously wasn't completely quiet, but it was as quiet as it was going to get.

Laying her face down on the grass, Nike closed her eyes letting a sense of calm darkness enclose her. She honestly wasn't a big fan of the dark, but closing her eyes was completely different. She felt alone with her eyes closed, but it wasn't the bad type of alone. She wasn't lonely..just alone. And for some reason she felt the opposite when her eyes were open. She felt lonely, and Nike hated feeling lonely. But unfortunately she felt lonely all of the time, even when she was surrounded by other people.

Keeping her eyes focused on the grass, Nike made sure to avoid Ryan's eyes. She felt really bad that he had caught her staring again. She didn't mean to stare, it was just one of those things that you couldn't help but stare at. "Um, I'm not sure why." She paused. She knew why she had asked, she just wasn't sure how to explain it. Well maybe it was just a stupid reason. "I feel safe in the rain," Nike admitted, her cheeks flushing a light red in embarrassment. "Maybe I was just wondering where you feel safe," The goddess explained, patting Lila on her head gently.

[/size]

[Ryan Simons]

Ry was probably the only nickname Ryan didn't mind. RyRy got on his nerves for some reason; almost all the nicknames anyone gave him were annoying, especially Nike's. Her's by far were the most bizarre, and in his view, insulting. He glared at her as she suggested that be his new nickname. "No," he snarled, he could pick up a slight tease in her voice and sort of knew that that question wasn't in need of a real answer. She probably already knew what his answer was going to be. He rolled his eyes. "Way to be dramatic, Goddess," he growled, rolling his eyes. She was so dramatic sometimes, over the tiniest little things; why just not name her Goddess of Drama as well?

He just rolled his eyes and made no comment. Would he? A very tiny part of him somewhere deep deep deep deep deep (you get the picture) down said yes; way down, somewhere under all the denial and shields and lies said yes. It said yes, he would miss her if she did leave. Would he ever tell her that? Ever? Hades no. He just shrugged. Goddess of Victory, she seriously needed to be a bit more wrong abut everything... He looked over at her curiously. "I'm thinking that's another general knowledge sugar thing," he muttered, watching her blow a bubble and then sort of leaning away from it as it popped.

The demigod sighed and looked at the sky. He didn't mind the light, but he wasn't bothered by the dark; he was always alone, if he was with people or not. There were a lot of other demigods at Camp, but he always felt alone; like no one was ever really from the same Camp he was. He just sort of felt like that he didn't' belong there, he was starting to wonder if he belonged anywhere. Although, him not being much liked around Camp was his own fault and he knew it, he wasn't changing the way he acted. Actually, now he wasn't sure; he half laid down and just stared at nothing.

Rain. Interesting question to ask. But Nike was sort of striking him as a random sort of goddess. Ryan was now noticing that she wasn't looking at him. He hadn't minded that she had stared at his hands, it was fine by him; he was used to it. "Oh, okay," he said, shrugging slightly. So she felt safe in the rain, so what, it wasn't anything to be upset about or anything. He looked at her. Where did he feel safe? No where if he wanted to be honest. He gave a shrug. "No where really," he muttered.

[*nike*]

"I don't really think I even needed an answer," Nike pointed out, even though she was sure that Ryan already knew that. Well at least he should have. "You love my drama," She claimed, giving the park a quick over look. Upon deciding that no one would notice she made her tacky pair of blue checkered sunglasses appear. Plucking them off of the grass, she slid them over her eyes, also using them to tuck some of her hair behind her ears.

The immortal's smile faltered a little as he rolled his eyes again. Rolling his eyes was not exactly a good response for the question. It seemed like the overall translation would be 'I hate you'. Which if that was interpreted as the answer, it seemed that no he wouldn't miss her in the slightest. Blowing another bubble of gum, the goddess considered offering him a stick, but she already knew the answer to that as well so she didn't bother. Blowing a bubble seemed to be a bad choice because the second it got too big, it popped right in Nike's face. "Huh...didn't expect that." She mumbled, her voice muffled by the large mass of red gum plastered to her face.

Turning her attention to the sticky red mess on her face, Nike started to pick away at the gum. "Lovely," She mumbled, managing to chisle the gum off of her face. No more bubbles for me, The goddess decided, pulling out another stick of gum. Folding it in half, she slid the gum into her mouth, this time choosing not to start blowing any Big Red gum bubbles. Which was actually quite harder than she would of thought. She always blew bubbles when she chewed gum, which she was just now realizing.

Nike glanced Ryan's way again, surprised that he wasn't making fun of her and her comments about safety and rain. It seemed like a very un-Ry-Ry thing to do. Maybe he's getting therapy, Her inner humor commented dryly. One thing was for sure, Ryan was never going to get therapy in his life. That would mean admitting he needed help and that certainly wasn't going to happen, that much she knew. "What about when you were with anyone? Like did you feel safe with Edmund? Or Alex?" She asked, wondering if she should stop bringing them up. It would upset most people, but Ryan wasn't exactly like most people. He was colder, and tougher than most people.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan rolled his eyes. He knew that. "Yeah, I know you didn't need one," he growled. He snorted and shook his head. "Couldn't live without it," he said sarcastically. Her and her drama. The son of Ares watched as the goddess made sunglasses appear. He eyed them, that had been interesting. Ryan had watched Celeste bring up skeletons from the ground, but he had never seen anyone else make something just appear from thin air.

His eye roll to the question could of been a variety of answers. Some of the responses could go from 'I don't know', 'I don't care', to 'I hate you'. To her 'I hate you' was the most probable. He watched her blow another bubble, backing up slightly. She had put him on planet Weird. This thing, pizza and all that other list of things she ever had ranted off to him. He looked at Lila for a second then heard a giant popping noise that made him jump. The sticky substance had appeared to have blown up in Nike's face. He couldn't help but snicker slightly.

"No one expects a lot of things," he said in a half growl. He watched her scrape the stuff off of herself. "You looked better with it on," he commented dryly, smirking. The fifteen year old watched her take out another stick of the stuff and eat it. "So, you just chew it, not swallow it?" he asked after watching her for a few seconds. While waiting for her answer he looked over at Lila and gave her a slight pat on the back.

He himself was sort of surprised that he wasn't chewing her out or anything while she asked about safety and rain. It was sort of like when he had met up with Aria at the arena. He should of been making fun of her and everything, but then just found he couldn't. Ryan gave a slightly look at his hands again before just dropping them onto the grass. He gave a slight shrug; he thought he was getting over Alex's death pretty alright. His stomach gave a slight drop, but that was it; he had been much worse after Ed had died. "Eh," he said, thinking back. "A bit," he muttered flatly. Not that much though, Kath was almost always watching them for one.

[*nike*]

"Well then why did you give me one?" Nike asked, her question obviously rhetorical again. In her opinion, he answered just so he could fit in a bit of his signature negativity. Her joyous mood was no doubt getting on his nerves. Did Nike care? For the most part no, but a little part of her did. Unlike Ryan her goal in life wasn't to make everyone else miserable. And honestly she sometimes felt bad when she made other people feel bad. "Oh I know you couldn't," She commented, overlooking his sarcastic tone on purpose. Which would most likely annoy him even more.

An unfamiliar sound filled Nike's ears, temporarily distracting her from the explosion of gum. It was familiar in a sense, but unfamiliar in a different way. The sound was a laugh and it was quite obvious that it came from Ryan. No one else was around so he couldn't possibly pass it off on someone else. Sure the Ares boy was laughing at her, but it was a laugh nonetheless. "You laughed," The goddess accused, her comment painfully obvious. She knew he would deny it, but she knew what she heard. And if he did deny it, then she was going to argue with that. She was the goddess of victory, and she was going to win that argument. Which Ryan probably knew.

Determined to get on his nerves even more, Nike flipped her hair over her shoulder and made a joking comment. "I look gorgeous all of the time, no surprise that I still look hot with gum on my face," She winked, crossing one leg over the other. "Yup, it freshens your breath and tastes delicious! Want a piece?" The girl decided to offer him a piece despite the fact that she knew he would reject it. Yet again Ryan did something that surprised her. He actually petted Lila without instruction to do so. She was starting to think that maybe Lila could be Ryan's one soft spot. Well as soft of a spot as the boy could have.

"No where," Nike repeated quietly to herself, tapping her fingers on the grass absentmindedly. How could someone not feel safe anywhere? Of course it's not like Ryan had any reason to feel safe. With his crazy aunt and all of the death in his life. Honestly rain was the only place she felt safe. Which was almost as sad as the fact that Ryan didn't call any place safe. Rain didn't even really do anything to provide safety. It was just a steady downpour of water, and really, what shelter did that provide?

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Because I wanted to," he snapped. Now he knew that she was out to annoy him. That meant that he had just answered another rhetorical question. Oh, well whatever. Ry snorted and rolled his eyes. She was probably just making a happy comment to just get on his nerves. It was sort of working, but then again, when wasn't anyone on his nerves? His goal pretty much in life was fighting, becoming a good warrior and ticking off almost every person he met. Sad life? Yeah, when someone really thought about it.

She was the first to comment on it. Well, she was the only living thing that was near enough to him to do so. To him, snickering wasn't a nice laugh. It was more an insult sort of laugh and he had been doing it to others to Camp almost the whole three years. But as she had said, it was a laugh, sorta. But him being him, of course, had to put himself in denial and everything. "No I didn't," he growled. Oh, great. Now she was going to start arguing against him. Now that he had taken one side of the argument, he wasn't letting it go. He rolled his eyes and waited for the probably long debate to begin.

He scoffed and shook his head. "Oh gods," he hissed under his breath. Girls, goddesses, the female population! They could drive you up the walls. Specifically the females of the Aphrodite Cabin. The son of Ares rolled his eyes in half disgust. "Oh, great," he snorted. Another thing that tasted delicious. "No," he said flatly, looking at the gum weirdly. Ryan gave a half look at Lila who he had just petted, sort of sub consciously. He gave himself a mental kick for going soft. But then again, he should start giving himself mental kicks more often. His 'becoming nice' thing was slowly starting to work. Very slowly.

Safe. That word along with a lot of others probably wasn't in his most immediate vocabulary. If he was truly honest with himself, he didn't even feel safe anywhere at all. Not at his aunt's; never at his aunt's. It was a living torture house there, always under surveillance, always forced to be doing things he didn't really wanted to do. His aunt's house included not even feeling safe with Ed and Al; not in the forest where they played. Not at Camp either. Sure, Camp was supposed to be 'safe' for demigods, but him, being him, was always thought other wise. Besides, during the war, Camp wasn't safe. It could easily happen again.

[*nike*]

"Good one, babe," Nike rolled her eyes responsively, practically mimicking Ryan's exact look. Her voice was even tinged with the sarcasm that the Ares boy used so frequently. It seemed that his negativity was rubbing off a little bit just like her nice characteristics almost seemed to be rubbing off on him. Of course Ryan never would have called anyone babe in a million years. And she probably wasn't influencing him too much. Just to the point where he would remain neutral instead of angry in all situations. Wow two eye rolls within the same minute. Impressive, she thought, even for the frustrated demigod. 

The goddess shook her head vigorously in disagreement. "You did too, a snicker constitutes as a laugh! I'm sure it might even be listed as a synonym in a thesaurus," She argued, on the verge of ranting. Ranting was a thing that she happened to do quite often. Usually she ranted when she was arguing, when she was frustrated, when she was sad, anytime at all really. It was generally listed off as one of her most annoying traits. Ranting was also one of those things that she would probably change about herself if she could. Reason being was that she had inherited that habit from her father. The last rant she had heard from him was when he started ranting about how it was important to be on the right side during the first Titan war. 
 
Nike laughed, an amused smile making its way onto her features again. "I was just joking, sweetheart," She assured him, switching nicknames around again. She quite liked calling him by those names that couples usually used. They were just so different from him. Not to mention he most definately hated them. Which was just icing on the cake. "Didn't think so," The immortal shrugged, taking a chance on blowing another, smaller, bubble, which surprisingly didn't pop in her face. 
 
Falling into an unusual state of quiet, Nike focused her eyes on the clean cut grass. For some reason now the atmosphere felt extremely sad and even lonely. So the goddess did what she always resorted to when she was feeling sad. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. And as she sat there, she become to chew on her bottom lip again. Lila seemed like the only happy one in the area. For another reason that Nike couldn't identify, she felt even more sad than she had when she had been thinking about her father. "Do you ever feel like you're completely alone? Like even when someone's there, it's still just you, all by yourself?" Nike asked, not really bothered by the fact that she was almost having an emotional breakdown in front of the guy who most likely hated her guts, not to mention the entire world.

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