Oh...That Plan (Nike)

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan glared at the goddess. "Yeah, yeah," he growled. He made no comment to the nickname. It'd probably just get them into another verbal fight. Mental hit; oh gods she was rubbing off on him. He wouldn't go soft soft any time soon. As much as he hated this, he was becoming softer. Then again, he was the one who agreed to try and become friendly. Now he was questioning his sanity and why he did agree to it. As always, now he was going to be stubborn. He had said yes, he would do it, so he wasn't going to break that now. Sure, he'd try since he said he would; as much as she could probably see, it wasn't going extremely well.

"Sure, in your twisted up book," he snapped. Ryan was thinking of a nice laugh. One that she usually did. He hadn't done that type in... he thought. Quite a while; nine years if he was right. A snicker was a sort of laugh, sure, but a mean one; he had been doing that sort of laugh for the three years he was there. Synonym in the thesaurus. Oddly, he knew what those two things were. Kath hadn't been that much into education, but she had taught him the basics. He had been horrible at reading; mostly because it required staying still, the other reason being his dyslexia.

"Uh-huh," Ry said skeptically, giving his eyes a slight roll. There was the the joking thing, again. Ryan was getting slightly better at knowing when someone was joking or not, but he wasn't that much better than he was a few days ago. His facial expression depicting was also not improving by much. He still went with verbal emotion most of the time. All the nicknames she was giving him were sort of ironic. They had nothing to do with him for one and they annoyed the Hades out of him for another. He shook his head. "Thought right," he snapped. Of course, Goddess of Victory.

She became unusually quiet. He had sort of become used to her mouth blabbing all the time. The silence was fine with him. He was usually silent himself and he didn't mind the quiet. Half of him liked it, half of him didn't. Ryan aimed his eyes up at the clouds. He was half wondering where Ed and Alex were placed in hades, half hating himself for thinking about them, half upset... wait, that was one and one half. Thirdly? Quarterly? He rolled his eyes, he had no idea what was going on with him. Ryan wasn't that sure how or what he was feeling, which was weird; he didn't mind, it was just... he was confused. The grey eyes came down from the sky and looked back at the goddess as she began talking again. He was aware that she was having some sort of emotional breakdown, but he didn't chew her out or make fun of her. He had had one infront of her, and she didn't make him feel that bad about it. Ryan gave his head a nod. "Yeah..." he said. "A lot..."

[*nike*]

Such negativity in one person, Nike mumbled internally, though she did notice one good thing. He didn't growl about her calling him babe at least. That was progress from when he growled when she called him darling. And that wasn't too long ago. So maybe he was doing a better job than he intended too. Or maybe he did intend to. Who knew? She wasn't going to ask about, that was for sure. Mostly because his answer would start with an eye roll, progress to a growl and end with a snarl. With some sarcasm added for the duration of the response.

"Hey, hey! Don't make fun of my book," The goddess defended herself and her metaphorical book. She probably could have left out the comment about her book since her 'book' probably wasn't that great anyway. Well it definately wasn't great in anyone's opinion except for her one. Scratch that, Rion probably approved of her 'book' since it consisted of loving the Lion King. Which he evidently did as well. Or at least she was able to assume that since they had started singing songs from the movie together. Very good songs, she might add. Ryan would probably make fun of the songs though, or growl and mumble about it being stupid.

"You could try it," Nike offered, referring to joking around, not gum. Although, she found it highly unlikely that he would even make an attempt at it. Not to mention that if he did, it would be a complete failure. Of course, no offense was meant by that. "Yay for me?" The girl replied, her tone of voice questioning. Yeah she had been right, go being right and all, but she didn't exactly appreciate him snapping at her. She wasn't sure if being right that time was really worth the getting snapped at. It probably wasn't.

"Thanks," Nike managed a half-smile, laying her head sideways on her knees. "For not making fun of me and what not." She explained, reaching out with one hand and petting Lila gently on the head. It was highly unusual for him, but she was happy that he had chosen to be unlike himself for the moment. She didn't really need a voice in her ear, mocking her. To be honest, she could have used a hug, or an arm around her shoulder, or even just a hand to hold. But she knew that there was no way in Hades that that was ever going to happen. So her substitute for that was just to hug her knees a little closer to her. A hug from herself, she decided. Not that it was all that comforting. If anything, it was a little depressing that the only person willing to give her a hug at the current time was herself.

[/blockquote]

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan was beginning to think that she was way to positive for her own good. Well, that could be both a good thing and a bad thing. He gave a slight exhale and looked at the sky again. As he was sitting there, he was realized that he hadn't started growling at her when she had called him 'babe'. Ryan gritted his teeth slightly; Nike was getting to him to much. Right now, he didn't think he'd ever be a mush, but he was staying more neutral than angry. Ryan was thinking that he was putting to much effort into her "Becoming Nice" challenge.

"Fine, fine, whatever," he said, deciding not to lead this into another verbal fight. "It's probably filled with to many bubbly and happy metaphors for me anyway," he shrugged, dropping it. His book was probably filled with negative stuff. There'd probably be complete opposite philosophies; but then again, from what he was seeing he and Nike were sort of polar opposites. He guessed everybody's book of life was different, depending on how they were raised and all.

He gave her a look. "Try which? Joking or gum?" he asked mildly; they had been discussing both. As far as gum went, he thought that all the sweet and sugary stuff she was giving him tasted odd. That would make gum odd as well; then again, he wasn't used to anything sugary. On the other hand, if he tried joking around, that'd be an epic fail. It'd be a total fail if he even tried at all, that was; he was thinking he wasn't going to. He half rolled his eyes. "Exactly," he grumbled. Well, it wasn't really all her fault she was right all the time... yeah, it pretty much was.

The demigod half looked at her. "No problem..." he muttered. Gee, this was depressing and this was unusual for both Nike and for him. "You didn't do it to me when I went on mental breakdown," he muttered, shrugging slightly and looking at a tree. It was true; she hadn't made fun of him or anything and he had gone on complete breakdown. The only thing he wasn't going to do, was hug her. That was not happening, not a chance in Hades. Lila seemed to be the only creature to be oblivious to this depressing mood between him and the goddess. It was weird, but well, whatever, he was used to being weird. Ryan glanced at her slightly and did something that he didn't think he'd ever do. He didn't hug her, but he lightly put his hand on her shoulder. Ryan was fully ready and wouldn't be hurt in the least if she shoved him off or anything.

[*nike*]

Nike ventured a small look at Ryan, noticing that he seemed to be frustrated. But it didn't seem like he was frustrated with her, maybe more frustrated with himself. Like maybe he was getting mad at himself for being nice. "Do you like music?" She asked, tapping her foot on the grass. Music was one of the things that she liked most. It had a variety of songs, and there was at least one song to fit each and every mood. Usually even just a happy, upbeat song could make her happy. She doubted the same was true for Ryan, but it was slightly possible. Most damaged people had to have some way to sooth themselves. And she knew that she counted Ryan as damaged. Not that she herself wasn't a little damaged, but just not quite as much.

"Well there are a few of those 'bubbly' metaphors." The goddess mumbling adding something to herself. But not as many as one might think. Surprisingly, there were also quite a few cynical metaphors that she stuck to. In reference to music again, there were even more cynical songs that she listened to. In fact there was one song stuck in her head currently, that was verging on depressing, but happy at the same time. "Don't walk away, don't say goodbye, don't leave me here, no not tonight, don't walk away like any other time.." She sang to herself quietly, trailing off before the chorus.

Nike shrugged, changing her mind about the answer. "Neither," She replied, even though that made absoloutly no sense at all. But it was probably a good answer at the same time. Ryan would hate the gum, and he would hate and suck at making jokes. "Exacatacally!" She agreed, using her adjusted version of the word. Personally, it reminded her of Tic-Tacs. The orange ones, because the orange was the only good flavor. Not that Ryan would know what Tic-Tacs were. And not that he would like them, if he ever tried them.

"True," Nike mumbled. Of course, I'm nice..and you're really not, She added as a side note. She chose not to say that aloud though. Because no matter how tough he was, she figured that somewhere. Very very very deep down, that might offend him. Not that he would ever show it. The touch of his hand actually caused Nike to jump a little bit. "Um, sorry," She apologized, still startled by his action. Him, trying to be comforting? Just a little more than weird. But Nike didn't push his hand away, it actually felt kind of comforting. More so than if maybe someone who was actually nice had done the same thing. It meant something more and different when the gesture came from Ryan, simply because of who he was. The physical contact hating person that he was. Well any physical contact besides probably kicking someone's butt. "Thanks," She mumbled again, honestly feeling a little bit safer, and better. Which was sad, because it shouldn't have even been that big of a deal.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan scowled. Well, at least he didn't have the internal conflict of weather he should be nice or not anymore. Nike had decided that one for him. Try to be nice, he rolled his eyes. Against his better judgement, he had agreed. One of the things that was sometimes good, but in this case bad, was that if he agreed or disagreed to anything, then he'd stand by it and not let it go. Gee this was getting just as frustrating! Half of him wanted to stop the challenge and just become himself again. The other side, the stubborn one, wanted to not let go of it and follow through with his agreement. "Music?" he repeated, getting snapped out of his thoughts. "What the stuff that was coming out of the car?" he asked, remembering her turning a dial and sound coming out of it. Of what he had heard of the music in the car, some of it had been upbeat, some of it had been slow. It had been all sorts of things.

Bubbly metaphors... he was sure there was quite a few where Nike was involved. Then again, as she had shown him once or twice, she did have a sad side to her. He knew that his life book or whatever people wanted to call it was full of negative and angry songs or saying or whatever. That was just him; he had been like that most of his life and he didn't think he was going to change. Maybe he was, thanks to Nike and her darn challenge that he had said yes to, but hopefully the transition wouldn't go to fast. Half of him wanted to become nice, half of him didn't. Great, here he went again with that internal battle. The demigod looked over at the brunette goddess as she began to sing. That was interesting. He had never really been around music with his aunt. But then again, what wasn't he around that people already knew about?

"Fine," Ryan said with a shrug. He hadn't wanted to try either. Gum, he was sure he'd hate and he would be horrible at joking around since he hadn't done it in so long. He rolled his eyes and shook his head as she responded with another one of her upbeat words. She was so optimistic it was annoying sometimes. Then again, him being negative all the time was surely not that pleasant either. He wondered if that word the goddess had said was even a word. Ryan didn't have the best vocabulary ever; his aunt had kept real schooling and learning to a minimum and preferred weapon teaching. When Ryan was little, he enjoyed the book education more than the weapon education.

The demigod gave a half shrug. Then again, she was nicer than him. In fact, she was usually nice and he wasn't nice at all. He didn't care... not that much. Not really... right? Nike jumped when he put his hand on her shoulder. He didn't blame her, he was shocked himself. "No problem," he muttered. "It's fine," he said. Now he felt really weirded out. He had just done a comforting motion; now he was wondering exactly how much Nike and this challenge was getting to him. Maybe he was putting in to much effort, he didn't know; he just knew that this felt really weird to him. Ryan gave a half shrug. "No problem," he muttered. It felt really weird to him now, but somewhere really really deep deep deep (get the picture, right?) down it actually felt sort of good in a weirdish sort of way.

[*nike*]

Nike rolled her eyes, more in amusement than anything else. Unlike Ryan, she was capable of making into more of playful gesture instead of just a 'you're being ridiculous and pissing me off' kind of gesture. "Yes, which this time I'm actually kind of surprised you don't know what it is. What, with the Apollo kids and all. Don't you guys usually all go gather up after dinner and they sing and what not?" She asked. Though she had a suspicion that Ryan probably skipped out on those camp gatherings. With him being antisocial it wasn't unlikely. But she still found it very odd that he didn't know what music was, well besides from their little car ride.

Feeling Ryan's glance, she shifted a little in her spot. She felt like she was being criticized again, and she really didn't appreciate that. Maybe he wasn't criticizing, but it sure felt that way. "Would you prefer if I didn't sing?" The girl asked, starting to chew more rapidly at the gum. Yes, the sound was kind of annoying, but at least it calmed her nerves a little bit. "Or maybe a different song?" She offered, considering quite a few possibilities that reminded her of him, and of course ones that she thought he might like. In fact she was thinking of one called 'Pray For You', but she doubted Ryan would ever go to church, much less pray, but if he did the things in the song that were prayed for were probably identical to what Ryan would pray for.

"Out of curiosity, what food do you like?" Nike asked, since it seemed he hadn't heard of or liked any of her suggestions. "I mean do you have like a favorite? Steak? Chicken? Because we can have whatever you want for lunch," She smiled, cutting out the Red Lobster idea temporarily. This was probably his first day out of camp since he got there, so she was willing to let him pick the activities, besides the dog of course. Picking up Lila had been a must. There was no compromising about that.

After a minute or two his hand felt kind of familiar resting on her shoulder. Like it belonged there, which was probably the farthest from the truth. If anything, he probably just put his hand there so she wouldn't start crying excessively. That thought stung her a little. "It means a lot," Her voice was sincere, but it cracked a little near the end. Like maybe she wasn't completely done with her breakdown, even though she really wanted to be. Nike did not want to cry in front of the guy who would most likely withdraw his hand in two seconds and sit there awkwardly in silence.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan watched the goddess. He half thought he was ticking her off, half thinking that she was humoring him. She was so confusing sometimes; then again, maybe it was him who was confused, not her. He looked at her and shrugged. "Sure, I've heard it, but I just think that's the noise people make when they're dying a death of torture," he snorted. "I try and stay away from them as much as I can. Being in the amphitheater os Hades when its sing along," he growled, rolling his eyes. To him, those were stupid social moments that he didn't need.

He didn't really mind her singing, it was alright he guessed. It was a heck of a lot better than the Camp's in his opinion. Ryan just found her sining interesting was all. "No, its fine," he said, looking at her and tilting his head slightly. "It's just interesting is all," he commented with a slight shrug. Ryan noticed that Nike had started to chew a bit harder on her gum. He wondered if gum calmed nerves at all as well. "Nah, whichever," he muttered with a slight shrug, not really caring. He wondered if people used songs to describe emotion, what Nike had been singing a second ago sort of reflected a mood.

"Uh..." Ryan thought. Truthfully, he had just sort of ate what his aunt gave him and didn't ask any questions. Then again when he had refused to go into the kitchen and half starved himself, he had to know of some sort of names of food. "Chicken sounds fine," he said with a half a shrug. Durning the few months that he didn't go into the kitchen, he'd eat some of the berries that Edmund had told him weren't poisonous in the forest. He had gotten used to the food in the Mess Hall of Camp, but still was slightly wary of it sometimes.

Doing this felt more than weird to him. Well, Nike was nice to you when you went on total break down, his head reminded him. Yes, she had; she had hugged him too, which Ryan was not doing. He found himself sort of caring for her, which in his head was very bad. If he ever said it out loud to her, (which of course, would never happen; ever) she would probably rejoice or something that he had finally found the good side of him. Mental slap; yeah, he was putting way to much effort in her become nice challenge. Ryan half wanted to stop, but liked it just the same for some odd reason. He nodded slightly. "No problem," he grumbled softly and stayed there. From that, it sort of sounded like she was going to cry.

[*nike*]

"Well it certainly can sound that way," Nike agreed, nodding her head absentmindedly. Some people were absoloutly terrible singers, but at least they knew it. The worst kind of singers were those that were terrible, but thought that they were great at singing. She almost felt bad for them, because no one ever got up the nerve to tell them that their voices were horrid. No matter how harsh she sounded, Nike usually always informed them that they sucked at singing. And then people got all defensive and pissy and started growling at her. "Not to mention you hate civilization," I'm surprised that he wasn't on Kronos' side during the war, She grumbled internally.  

"Awesome because I love music and singing," The immortal smiled happily, sifting through more songs in her head. "You're most likely going to hate this next one though. It's a love song," She informed him, stuck on a new song that she heard on the radio. "You laugh at the garden that we grow in the lawn, drink coffee in the kitchen with no make up on. Sing all the wrong words to my favorite songs. You're beautiful, and that's beautiful. You got lines on your face from sleeping on me.." The girl sang a little more quietly this time since she knew Ryan probably wouldn't appreciate a song about love.  

Nike clicked her tongue at the Ares boy's statement. "Sounds fine? I was going more for a 'I love...'" She explained. If he could have anything he wanted, he should choose his favorite food in the world. Of course he didn't really know about a lot of things. Did he even know what steak was? She knew he was a little clueless, but that would even be surprising.  

"Don't worry, I don't think I'm going to cry," Nike assured him, because she was sure that he was already assuming that she was going to. And she knew that Ryan wouldn't be able to deal with crying. He just wasn't the kind of person that felt comfortable dealing with that kind of situation. Bringing her hand up to his hand on her shoulder, she gently removed it. But instead of letting go she intertwined her fingers with his and simply held his hand, her fingers brushing against the grass.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan shrugged and gave a nod. Well, all the campers at the sing along made it sound that way to him. He never told them because he didn't bother with them after the first week. The first week he was there was the only week he had paid attention. After that, he didn't care about anyone or thing. "That could be a valid point as well," he said flatly, shrugging. True, Ryan always said he hated Camp it was living Hades, blah blah blah, but when he seriously thought about it, did he? He was here at Camp during the war with Kronos; it had been his first year here. But during that period, he didn't side with Kronos and the others. During that year, even though Ryan was antisocial and everything, he remained loyal to his Cabin and to Camp. He took a second to consider it. He always said he hated Camp, always said he wanted out. The war with Kronos sort of proved that wrong, but it had been two years since then. Did he still feel the same way? Ryan half sighed, not really sure.

The demigod nodded. "I suspected you did," he muttered. Ryan looked around, wondering how Nike could remember so many songs. The fifteen year old half rolled his eyes. "Great," he muttered sarcastically. Love, ugh. He sort of hated it, but he listened just the same; it was more in interest then in respect or anything. "How do people come up with songs, anyway?" he asked, looking at her, head tilted slightly. All of the things she and other people had been introducing to him were so weird but very interesting as well.

"Yeah, it sounds fine," he grumbled. His aunt had more been into the nutritional sort of stuff. He didn't have any junk food while at his house and all the barbeque and stuff that he was eating at Camp were sort of foreign to him when he had first come. For the first month or so, he had just stuck with bread and fruit and healthy stuff. His aunt really never had steak or beef or anything. It was mostly chicken and turkey.

He gave a slight nod. "It's fine, if you do you know..." he said in a half mutter. Okay, that felt really weird for him to say. He started feeling like he did when he met Aria in the arena. Really weird for comforting the person and half hating himself for becoming so soft. Way to go Nike with the "Become Nice Challenge". He really hoped it didn't start extending to outside of her as well. As Nike removed his hand he went to just put it back by his side. He was half surprised when she intertwined her fingers with hers and just held it. Ryan had half a mind to tug away, half a mind to stay. His hand sort of decided for him, it stayed.

[*nike*]

"I think my point is pretty damn valid," Nike mumbled quietly. He probably hated the whole of mankind even if he didn't know all of mankind. Though the goddess thought that if you met enough people then you could pretty well assume that the world was made up of those exact people just with different looks and different accents and what not. It was almost comforting to think that at least. Of course sometimes the thought wasn't comforting. Because it meant that if you met some type of sadistic creep then there were plenty more like 'em. It also meant that there were a lot more damaged people out there, just like the Ares boy.

The girl continued to hum something vague to herself as Ryan commented. "At least you're observant," Even though that assumption about her singing was an obvious one to make. How do people come up with songs? Nike reviewed that question in her head, coming up with an answer easily. "Songs are a person's way of expressing their feelings through a melody and words," She explained, wondering if that could be considered an accurate description. "I've never written a song though...so I'm probably not the best person to ask."

"Chicken it is then," She agreed absentmindedly, her mind already searching for a place to eat. Buffalo Wild Wings, maybe. They had delicious food. Their honey barbecue boneless wings were the best. Did Applebees have chicken? Because she could definately go for their baby back ribs right now. Oooh or maybe Hu-Hot, Nike contemplated their options, almost completely oblivious to Ryan at the moment.

"Really?" The goddess asked suspiciously. She would have raised an eyebrow if she could, but she still felt too depressed to even try. She couldn't really comprehend those words. Not when they were coming from one of the most bitter people she had ever met. And that was really saying something because she had met a lot of people. What surprised her even more than his words was the fact that he didn't try and pull anyway when she took his hand. To be honest, she had expected Ryan to slap her hand just like every other time. "And don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone about earlier," Nike assured him, referring both to Alex's death and Ryan's crying. It wasn't her story to share.

[Ryan Simons]

"Sure it is," Ryan said in half a sarcastic tone. He wondered if there were any good people in the world. There had to be some; they were far and few, but they were there. Maybe others just needed to find them. The world (especially because it was being run by these freaks of gods) needed good people. It needed people who would just love and accept others unconditionally. People who were able to just push past other's histories and attitudes and just stay them. Not that Ryan would ever be on that list; he'd probably never be on that list.

Ryan looked at Nike as he continued to hum something, Ryan had no idea what it was. "Eh," the Ares boy muttered. "Usually, when I want to be," he said. That was mostly during fighting. "Oh," he said, thinking about her description of a song. It sounded sort of interesting to him. "You haven't?" he asked, looking at her. "So only certain people write songs?" he asked. To him, whenever it was Camp sing along, it looked like they were just making up words on the spot. Now he was thinking that they had heard the words somewhere else and had just memorized them. Ryan looked at her. He could sort of see her song writing.

"Okay," he said with a shrug. Knowing her, Nike was probably considering all the eating possibilities for them. All the places she was considering were oblivious to him. He wouldn't know a single one if she said her thoughts out loud. The only eatery he had ever been to was at his aunt's kitchen and occasionally, the forest. Oh joy, why had he agreed to this outing? One, he had gotten a dog; two, he was becoming nice.

"Yeah... really," Ryan said back; his voice half didn't sound like his own to him. This felt so weird it wasn't even funny. Out of his comfort zone? Oh yeah, way out. He half looked at Nike and him holding hands. This was enough weird for one day. First he comforts her instead of chewing her out. Now he was allowing her to hold his hand. He gave himself a mental slap. At first he was expecting to just slap her as any other time she did that. Now, though, he found that he just couldn't do it and just sat there. He didn't resist or anything. Ryan gave a slight shrug. "Eh, whatever," he grumbled. He wouldn't really care if she told anyone; they all knew he was sort of falling apart anyway.

[*nike*]

"Your sarcasm offends me, love," Nike informed him, blowing another bubble of gum. "Not that you care," She shrugged, unbothered by that fact. And she was sure that it was a fact and not just an assumption. Well on the bright side of things: I still have plenty of nicknames to annoy him with,. A mischeivious smile crept onto her face, a perfect match to the twinkle in her violet eyes. They weren't all creative but they still served a purpose. If annoying Ryan could be counted as a purpose. Poor Ryan. He picked the wrong day to be walking past the Big House.

Ryan, social? Somehow it just didn't seem right to her. Although she supposed she could see him being social while arguing with people, and insulting them. Which wasn't exactly good socializing, but it was socializing nonetheless. "Nada, but anyone can write them. It's just that I'm not very good at making them up." The brunette shrugged. It was the truth, and she wasn't going to lie about it and tell him she made awesome songs.

"Buffalo Wild Wings," She nodded her head decisively. Now she was craving the wings, and the kid's macaroni and cheese. Whenever she went, she somehow managed to convince the waitress/waitor to let her order it off the kid's menu. It was creamy and definately yummy! One thing that she questioned was whether or not she would have to order for Ryan. He really had no idea what anything was, so she figured it was possible that she might end up picking something for him.

"Oh..well, thanks," Nike's lips twitched up in a very small smile. It expressed her gratefulness, but it still wasn't a happy nor cheerful smile. Although, she didn't really feel like she was going to cry much. "You're a sweet guy Ryan. And I know you'll hate that I said that, but it's not a bad thing, and you really are a good guy." Nike glanced up at Ryan, using her free hand to pet Lila gently.

   

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Good," he growled. What didn't she find offending about him? Everyone found him offending in some way. He gritted his teeth, great another nickname; this one was particularly sickening. "Nope, I don't," Ryan snapped flatly. Sort of a weird and sad goal in life, but his was to tick off anyone and everyone. He hated everyone, everyone hated him back, it just worked better that way. The demigod half rolled his eyes to himself; just another way that could show that one day could change your life. He just had to go walking past the Big House the day she was up there, hadn't he?

The only time Ryan had ever tried to socialize was the first week of Camp. Beyond that, his socialization was fighting, sparring, arguing and insulting. It was a pretty bad list, but it was with other people. All other moments of the day he was either training or running around the forest. "Oh," Ryan said with a shrug. "Okay," he grumbled. He didn't think he'd ever be a song writer. Nope, no way, to much emotion involved and stuff. He guessed that people just memorized other people's songs and sung them. It made sense sorta.

"Uh-huh..." the fifteen year old said, eyeing her. This goddess and food; she had introduced, he couldn't count how many, new foods to him in the past two days! One thing, was that his aunt was sort of on the healthy side and the other, was well he had lived under a rock. A rock that specialized in training and torturing. He really had no idea what to expect from a restaurant. Ryan could only half remember that Alex and Edmund had tried to sneak him food when he was on the kitchen strike; however, it didn't work out that well, like always.

"No problem," Ryan grumbled. Okay, this was just getting to weird for him. He wondered if he'd ever let someone hold his hand without the person getting smacked. However, Nike was holding his hand now, and she wasn't getting smacked. That becoming nice thing was getting to him to much. Way to much. That and Alex's death just made him a wreck. Ryan hoped that this Becoming Nice challenge didn't start to overflow into Camp. That would be way out of his comfort zone, awkward and just plain weird. Ryan stared at her, his head tilted slightly. Okay, he was not expecting that. "Well," he grumbled. That had just been plain confusing to him. "I do hate you for saying it... but," he hesitated. He hadn't said this word in a long time; nine years, in fact. It would sound completely foreign to him, but: "thanks..." he muttered quietly. No one had ever called him sweet or good, ever. That was what was really confusing him.

[*nike*]

"You know, one of these days, you're really going to offend me in some unforgivable way." Nike informed him, blowing another big bubble of Big Red gum. "And you're going to regret it because you're going to lose your bestie," Her voice turned to a mumble, a half seriousness to her tone. She could almost swear that he was trying to drive her away. Well screw that, I'm the goddess of victory, She grumbled internally.

"You might be able to write those seriously depressing ones." She suggested, scratching Lila behind the ears again. The goddess had already picked up the fact that the little puppy liked that. Picking the small dog up, she pulled her close to her body, cuddling with Lila. "You're so dang adorable!" Nike exclaimed, allowing the dog to lick her nose. Dog slobber didn't bother her in the least. 

Nike could sense the underlying doubt in Ryan's voice. "Don't worry! It's good food, and I can go in and get it to go. Then I'll just wait for it while you wait in the car," The girl offered, trying to allow him to avoid any socialization of any sort. Well actually he might have to see people while sitting in the car, but she figured that he could suck it up. It's not like they would try and strike up a conversation with him. Not unless they were a daytime alcoholic, or a severly flirty teenage girl. And it was highly unlikely that either of those two kinds of people were going to be there. "Did you know that you're more likely to get attacked by a cow than by a shark?" She asked him randomly, aware of how stupid that bit of information made her seem.  

Nike laughed quietly to herself, noting that he had used that phrase quite a bit in the last few minutes. The thing that she found funny though was that he was using that phrase. 'No problem.' And yet she could tell that he definately had a problem with being this nice, and being comforting. Although she had been expecting it, Nike still visibly flinched when he mumbled about hating her. "You're welcome," She replied, surprised at the fact that the thanks just escaped Ryan's mouth. He didn't strike her as the kind of person who said thanks.

[/size]      

[Ryan Simons]

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life
~Welcome to My Life, Simple Plan

OH! Btw, congratulations for winning Female of the Month!! *claps*

Ryan half glared at her. "Yeah... I know," he muttered, switching his gaze to the grass again. "I probably will." Then he'd feel bad about it. This was like Edmund all over again. Ryan gave himself a mental kick; he'd be mentally bruised, he'd been doing that so much. The demigod watched her blow yet another bubble. Those things were still confusing to him; then again, what wasn't confusing to him? "Mhm," he grumbled, twisting some of the grass around; the glared dropped off and he was back to looking at the grass. "I would," he said in a grumble. He guessed he would; he had felt really bad about when he had shouted at Ed and then Ed got shot. Was he seriously trying to drive Nike away, he had no idea. This was just getting so confusing to him!

"Oh, joy for me," Ryan said in a half a snarl. He could never really see himself writing anything. Depressing things, doing them, yeah, probably; however, he could never see himself making a song out of it. He looked over at Nike and Lila and half shook his head. He was still hoping that Lila would more be Nike's dog than his, but he doubted that would happen. Stupid goddess of victory. Of all the gods he had to run into, it had to be the victory goddess.

"Great," he half hissed. Great food in his aunt's eyes wasn't that great at all. Oh well, whichever. "Sounds fine," he muttered. Half of him wanted to try socialization, the other half didn't. Ryan had grown up with minimal socialization, so that could be one of the reasons it was just so uncomfortable with it. Besides fighting, he hated close contact. "More likely to get attacked by cow than shark?" Ryan repeated, slightly blank. "Well... I guess that makes sense," he said, slightly puzzled and trying to think. Cows were on land and then sharks were in the water, right? "People are more on land and around cows than in the ocean with sharks... right?" he asked, looking at her. Ryan sort of found that interesting.

Sure, it was sort of way out of his comfort zone to do this, but he was okay. He wasn't going to die from this, he'd just suck it up and live with it. Maybe he should just try to be nice from now on, it sort of made things simpler... sorta. To become nice was sort of a weird thought to him. Maybe he could just lighten up a bit, still be him, but just notch it down a bit? He wasn't sure. Great, another head battle was coming and he knew it. She flinched slightly when he said that he hated her and he half felt bad. Yeah, he was so beating himself up for becoming this soft. He nodded and just looked at the grass.