Oh...That Plan (Nike)

[*nike*]

Nike noticed a sort of lessening in the growling and muttering. Maybe her comment had actually gotten to him, not that he was going to admit it though. "Don't worry though, I'm not that easy to get rid of," Her voice was joking, but she just wanted to make sure that she didn't actually make him feel bad. Though she was sure that if she had told him that, he would have snickered, rolled his eyes, and mumbled something about being happy if she left. And probably also commented about not being able to get his feelings hurt. She also kind of agreed with that anyways. So far, he didn't seem one to get hurt by words. Well besides being told that Alex had died.

"I can tell you're excited," The goddess replied with a thick layer of sarcasm. The sarcasm contrasting horrible with her smile that was directed to Lila. Out of her peripherel vision, she noticed Ryan shake his head at her and Lila's hugfest (OC:Oh snap, that's right, it's now a hugfest!). "You're going to hurt poor little Lila's feelings!" Nike exclaimed, hugging the puppy again, before setting the dog down close to Ryan. Just to make him uncomfortable or annoyed. Either one would do.

"I guess I'll order for you then, since you don't want to come in. Don't worry; I won't get anything repulsive and it will have chicken." She assured him. In her head, she had already decided that she would just get some sort of assortment of food so that he had a variety to choose from. "Uh-huh," The goddess clarified, sensing the drop in attitude. Apparently her randomness was a real mood neutralizer. "Correct. Cows are generally the white animals with black spots," She teased, because she was pretty sure that Ryan understood what cows were. And if he didn't, he could probably seriously be classified under the neandrathal category.

Nike denied the urge to glance over at him. She liked this Ryan. The nice, comforting Ryan. And honestly, she was kind of scared to move just in case that caused him to revert back to the mean Ryan. So she decided not to push her luck and remained in her same seated position for a few moments. Only after an alotted period of time did Nike decide that it was safe. So she opted to scoot over and sit next to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "I'm in a depressed mood, so no growling. Just sit there nicely. Please," She requested, even though if he argued she probably would just reply with 'You're sitting there, whether you like it or not so suck it up.'.

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[Ryan Simons]

Nike had sort of, kind of, really hit a nerve there. Would he admit it? Fat chance, nope; not now, not ever. He'd never admit that anything ever got to him. Well, he did sorta kinda when he was younger, but that was a long time ago. Things had changed, a lot, since then. He gave a slight snort. "Oh, I'm far from worried," he grumbled. "I can see that," he said in a slight scoff and not as sarcastic as usual. So what if he was getting soft? He could just bounce right back if he wanted to... maybe. Not likely, probably not now; he hated himself for not being able to do it, but right now, he was thinking that he couldn't.

"Overjoyed," Ryan said in a sarcastic growl, rolling his eyes. Nike was so confusing sometimes. The demigod rolled his eyes, watching the goddess and the dog; he shook his head and waited for the goddess to finish. This must of been the third or fourth time she had said this. "Oh my gosh, I wouldn't want to do that," he said, his voice layered with sarcasm. The son of Ares glared at the two of them, half in disgust. Nike and her stupid hugfests. He looked over at the goddess. "You're too affectionate for your own good," he growled. Nike put the dog next to him; he glared at her. She loved annoying the Hades out of him, didn't she?

"Okay, whatever," he said, shrugging. Ryan sort of learned the 'eat what you got' sort of thing. Now that he thought of it, she could of killed him at any given time, but didn't. He still hated her to no end right now, but he was wondering on that. "Oh, alright," he said, shrugging. Okay, well that wasn't to bad, he had remembered the animal thing. It didn't exactly annoy him that she was explaining it. He was sort of getting used to that; that and his name. Trying to get used to his name and the real world around him was confusing, but it would somehow work in the end. Now that he was in Camp and seeing a lot of stuff that his aunt hadn't taught him about, he was pretty sure that she wasn't much into regular education.

Nike was just sitting there. Not looking at him or anything. He sort of liked it this way. She wasn't to close and stuff; he was still way out of his comfort zone but it was tolerable. He just sat there, relaxed only in the very slightest. After a few moments of stillness Nike moved over to him and put her head on his shoulder. Ryan tensed slightly, ready to just throw her off. She began talking, Ryan rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth and relaxed from his tensing up. "Fine," he said in half a growl. Now this was way out of his comfort zone. Ryan thought that her holding his hand was unnerving, this was worse. He seriously was hating that he was going soft and snapping.

[*nike*]

Falling in the black, Slipping through the cracks
Falling to the depths can I ever go back?
Dreaming of the way it used to be.
Can you hear me?
Falling in the black,Slipping through the cracks
Falling to the depths can I ever go back?
Falling inside the black.

"Well thanks," Nike grumbled sarcastically, annoyance and frustration evident in her voice. It wasn't exactly a confidence booster when someone was implying that they didn't want you around in the slightest. She wasn't going to admit to it, but it even hurt a little bit. That sticks and stones saying was completely inaccurate and wrong. Words did hurt, or at least sometimes they did. Coming from the right person, they were quite effective. And even though she knew Ryan was rude to everyone, it seemed to hurt more coming from him than anyone else.

Rolling her eyes, Nike unclipped Lila's leash, letting her wander further away from the two of them. She kept a close eye on the dog, making sure she didn't run into the street or anything like that. "Please don't say oh my gosh ever again in your life," The goddess requested. Frankly it sounded weird coming from the king of negativity. Even if it was a sarcastic 'oh my gosh'. "Oh gods, she's just a puppy!" Nike exclaimed in annoyance as he glared at her. "Be nice! At least to her, and seriously, you're too unaffectionate," She insisted, crossing her arms defiantly.

Was he seriously having issues with connecting the cows? If he'd made the connection before she had explained it, she would have expected him snapping 'I know!'. Or growling and a small rolling of the eyes. "Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California," Nike nodded, pulling a random quote from her head. What was the cheese that it was an advertisement for? Oh, who cared anyways. Well actually, it would probably bother the goddess for the rest of the day. She didn't like not knowing things.

A surprised look flashed across the girl's face as Ryan didn't actually argue. She had honestly been expecting him to push her away and probably smack her arm. "Thank you," Nike whispered, one singular tear sliding down her cheek. She didn't bother to whipe it away, instead she let her eyelids flutter closed. She had noticed the quick tense in Ryan's muscles, but it faded after a few minutes.

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[Ryan Simons]

Ryan snorted, not phased in the least by her sarcastic tone. "Sure, anytime," he snarled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. The demigod half shook his head, half annoyed that he was feeling bad about snapping at her. He seriously needed to get back on track soon. His aunt used to tell him the sticks and stones thing when he was little; sometimes it was true, sometimes not. Usually, it was true; he could see that from the phrase. Words couldn't hurt you, physically. Mentally and emotionally, they could, sometimes. To other people, yes. To him? Well, sometimes. Not all the time and frequently like before; but, it was still there, it could still happen. He was, after all, still human. Sorta. As human as a demigod could be, anyway.

The goddess decided to unclip the puppies leash. Ryan gave a shrug and just watched Lila for a few seconds before turning his head towards Nike as she started to talk to him. He just rolled his eyes. "So what?" he growled. "I'll say whatever I'd like." The boy's eyes started to wander again, then he half bit his tongue as Nike broke into his thoughts again. "And?" he asked, eyeing her. "I'm never nice," he said icily, glaring at the brunette. He rolled his eyes, he'd act any way he'd like until the day he died. "Suck it up and live with it," he snapped, glaring her straight in the eye and crossing his arms as well. He wasn't the one to give affection or anything positive nor comforting.

If Nike hadn't noticed already, he was sort of still sort of slow and not as snappish when it came to things he wasn't that sure about. Then again, she may not have picked it up, because it hadn't started happening since she started to tell him about all the stuff that other people knew about. As all other demigods, Ryan had a really hard time paying attention in the class room. Not that his aunt had ever put him in a classroom. She had home schooled him; most horrible homeschool ever if you asked him. Ryan knew all the basics: grammar, animals, alphabet, counting, names, most arithmetic and other normal stuff. He didn't exactly absorb everything like he was supposed to, though. Ryan remembered the stuff, it was there, somewhere; he just needed verification sometimes. He looked at her as she blurted out something. "Oookay," he said, eyeing her. This goddess could be so weirdly random, sometimes to the point that it was sort of scary. California? Wasn't that one of the states or something? He wasn't sure what state he had lived in.

As he let Nike lean on his shoulder, Ryan began thinking. Maybe it would surprise her that he didn't actually argue or hit her or whatever. Truth was, he did want to; however, he couldn't really find the gut to do it right now. He gave himself a mental kick and felt a mental bruise forming; this was stupid. He shouldn't be comforting her or anything; he should be him and be hitting her arm off. No, she was nice to him so he should be nice to her. Stupid head battles! He bit his tongue and half looked at her as she spoke. Ryan let out a small hiss and mentally kicked himself again. "You're welcome," he grumbled.

[*nike*]

. . .
Falling in the black, Slipping through the cracks
Falling to the depths can I ever go back?
Dreaming of the way it used to be.
Can you hear me?
Falling in the black,Slipping through the cracks
Falling to the depths can I ever go back?
Falling inside the black.

Nike opened her mouth, fully set on using a couple of choice words, but she clamped it shut at the last second. One. Two. Three. She started to count in her head, using that old trick of counting to ten. Which was unsurprisingly useless because she was still just as frustrated when she finished counting. Plus she doubted it was as effective without the last part which was to walk away. Which she couldn't exactly do because she was his only ride back to camp and if she ditched him, then he'd be monster food. Ares would not be happy about that.. Or really, would he even notice? Correct answer:Probably not. Someone would eventually though and it would end up bad for her. And now I'm homicidal, great, She commented sarcastically to herself. Though she blaimed her current attitude on the Ares boy. His words couldn't be described as encouraging or nice. More like...vicious, annoying, frustrating, rude, mean, offensive, cynical.. The goddess continued to make a  mental list of very fitting adjectives. The list proceeded to grow and she found herself giggling aloud at just how long it came to be. 

"Just saying, that that is what all of the Aphrodite girls say." She pointed out, snorting at his simple stated fact about his lack of niceness. "No shit Sherlock," The girl grumbled, meeting his glare with a mocking smile of her own. She knew it would annoy him, which was exactly why she'd done it. She wasn't usually that way, but Ryan appeared to bring out the rude side of her. Not to mention he was also severely ticking her off.

"Do you just want me to take you back to the camp?" She questioned, awaiting the oh so obvious answer. "You obviously don't want to be here, and I think you've made it pretty clear that you don't want to be near me," That stung her a little bit, but the truth hurt. And she would bet that that was the truth, or something very close to it. His growling and snapping was becoming overplayed to her. Not to mention his insults weren't exactly making her feel happy and dandy. Her comment was going to be about how they could just pick up something on the way out of town, or he could just get something from the mess hall. They usually had leftovers, and she figured that there was still a little while before the lunch officially ended. Nike, herself, didn't really want to leave because she enjoyed the company, but if the company wasn't enjoying her than she wasn't going to force him to stick around. 

The immortal kept her eyes closed, but she was rolling them behind her eyelids. She could hear the hiss even if it wasn't that loud, she was a goddess after all. Things didn't really go unnoticed by her. "Uncomforable yet?" She asked, some of that tease returning to her quiet voice.

 

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan bit his tongue and tried to just not stay nor be angry with her. He immediately felt weird. Try not to be angry at her? He had always made it his business to be angry at someone or something. It was his responsibility to be angry and hate the world, but now, he was going soft. He half shut his eyes; Ryan was now thinking that he was taking Nike's challenge way to seriously. He had half a mind that she would just ditch him; she seemed pretty ticked at him and she had full right to be. Ryan wasn't really that good of a company to be around and he knew that. He half sighed. The demigod boy was almost everything on the negative list. Except for a murderer. No, wait. He had killed Edmund... yeah, he was everything on the negative list. The fifteen year old glanced at Nike then started playing around with the grass beneath him.

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he growled with a shrug and not really caring. Ryan was far from a kid of Aphrodite. He'd show her, he wasn't going soft. He was still him! Ryan shut his eyes for a second. No, never mind, he was far from himself right now. Ryan was going soft and he knew it. Weather he was going to lean more and more to that side was the question. She was giving him a mocking smile as he glared squarely at her. As usual, he refused to back down and kept glaring. Since he had met up with the goddess, she had seemed to start become a bit like him. It was sort of like he was rubbing off on her. He exhaled through his nose. "Don't change into me, goddess," he grumbled. To him, it sounded like someone else was saying it, but through his mouth. "It's not a good way to be." Ryan chanced a glance at her, he was feeling really weird now. That had been sort of off and odd. He knew that he was horrible; he sorta really wanted to change; however, he found he couldn't, not really.

The demigod just gave Nike a quick glance and made no comment as she asked him if he wanted to go back to camp. Truth was, not really; but it wasn't like he'd ever tell her that. He just kept staring at sort of nothing as she continued to talk. He wouldn't be that let down if she just dumped him back at Camp. Ryan was used to it; right now he was guessing that he sort of deserved it. Even if they didn't have any food left in the Mess Hall, Ryan wouldn't mind. Hunger wasn't a stranger to him; he had gotten used to not eating for a few weeks after the oven incident. He gritted his teeth slightly; if he was honest with himself, he actually slightly sorta enjoyed having Nike around. Even though he acted entirely the opposite way, he would actually be sort of upset if she left. Those feelings were way way way deep down inside; it wasn't like he'd ever tell her, ever. He probably never would.

As the goddess and demigod continued to sit there in silence, Ryan thought. This was uncomfortable, yet sort of soothing. Not exactly relaxing, Ryan was still slightly tense and alert; however, he was a bit more relaxed than he had been in a while. He never thought he'd feel this way about anyone, but he felt sort of safe around Nike. "Eh," he grumbled. "It's okay," he muttered.

[*nike*]

Nike continued to giggle, burying her face in her hands as she did so. "I'm soo bipolar," She choked out between laughing. She swore she didn't used to be bipolar. Or maybe this could be considered crazy. Maybe she should switch jobs with Mania. Although she doubted that Mania would make as good of a goddess of victory. And that wasn't her being mean or conceited, it was just most likely the truth. Mania just probably couldn't manage to hold up the strength and speed part of the job. "I blame it on you," She sighed, referring to her current bout of bipolarness. Recomposing herself, Nike absent mindedly started fiddling with her shirt hem. It seemed that she did that frequently. Mostly in awkward situations, which she deemed this one.   

The immortal rolled her eyes at the overly repeated word. Maybe she should buy him a thesaurus for his birthday, though technically she had already given him her favorite sword. Oh well, she didn't really have a problem with giving him more than one present. He deserved them. He had apparently never celebrated his birthday before. She would offer to bake him a cake, but she didn't really think that he would like it. Maybe she could cook him a special dinner of sorts. She'd just have to do some investigating to figure when his birthday was, what his favorite food was, and what she could actually get him as a present. It had to be the perfect present. One that he would actually appreciate, and not find ridiculous. That was going to very difficult, but finding out his birthday would probably be even more so. Maybe she could talk to Ares or figure out who the crazy Aunt was and then ask her. Nike frowned at his words. Even he thought so terribly of himself. She opened her mouth to say something, but she wasn't really sure on what to say. She didn't want to  offend him, but she knew at the same time that what he was saying was true. It wasn't a good thing to be like him. Her decision was a risky one, well maybe for someone who could actually die. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, actually touched by his words. "Wouldn't dream of changing, darling. " A genuine smile crossed her lips.

The girl sighed again, rubbing her temples in frustration. He was purposefully not answering the question. Which most likely meant that maybe he didn't want to leave. If he did she was sure that he wouldn't hesitate in offending her by saying yes. Why couldn't he just say that he didn't want to go instead of making her interpret all of his actions? Because clearly he wants to make my life frustrating. That was the one answer that she could come up with.

Nike aww-ed, surprised by his non-biting remark. It seemed that Ryan was actually okay with the physical contact at the moment. This was definately not going to become a daily occurence, that she knew. But it was nice while it lasted.

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[Ryan Simons]

Ryan took his eyes off the grass and looked at the goddess. Then he gave his eyes a slight roll as the goddess continued to giggle. Oh gods this was annoying. He snorted and shook his head at the brunette's comment on herself. "I can see that," he half growled. "Become goddess of the insane while you're at it." The demigod boy started to think. As he recalled, there was already a god of the insane, he just couldn't remember the name. Oh well, there were a lot of insane people in the world, why couldn't there be more than one immortal for it? He mentally rolled his eyes. Stupid gods... most of them thought they were so great, they never even visited their kids usually. If they had, part of that whole war two years ago would of never happened. "Whatever, go ahead," Ryan growled, rolling his eyes and not really caring who she blamed it on.

The fifteen year old half stared up at the sky. He wondered if anyone apart from him mum knew his real birthday. Lila was dead, so unless Ryan wanted to risk running to Hades, then he wouldn't know any time soon. Fish Face and Owl Brain had told him that his parent would claim him on his thirteenth birthday. Ryan had entered Camp Half Hades when he was twelve. Now, as he sat there and tried to remember, it clicked. He was claimed by Ares on his thirteenth birthday; problem was, he couldn't remember the date. Ryan was half sort of convince that Ares just picked any random day, it wasn't like he was there for Ryan's birth or anything. Since he had no knowledge of his birthday before, him being claimed on the given day was a complete surprise to him. Sure, he knew he was a demigod, but his aunt had never told him what god. She had just shoved him in the car, given him an hour or so worth of greek mythology lessons, a small explanation of where he was going and then dumped him in his living Hades. The only thing Ryan had ever really received from anyone was weapons. Aunt Kath had given him all of those and then taken them back when Ryan learned how to make his own. He was no son of Hephaestus and they could of certainly done a much better job than him. However, it wasn't ever going to be likely that he would ask for help in any way, shape or form, ever. Besides his blades got the work done just fine. For a second there he was so lost in thought that he had forgotten that Nike was there with him. Next thing he knew, he felt something up against his cheek. His mind made the connection. Nike. Dang it, she was still doing close contact. He wasn't sure what it was, and he didn't know how to react to it; all he knew was it was contact and he didn't like it. Finally, after tolerating her for so long, he snapped and did the original thing he usually would of done before this. He lashed at her. "Oh joy," he growled.

He knew he was being difficult. That was just him. He was just frustrating and a lot of negative adjectives. Ryan was half sure that Nike had been firing off an entire list of words she could use to describe him in her head. It was what most people did, many said them out loud; Ryan didn't care in the least. Ryan was not admitting to her that he didn't want to go; not a chance in Hades. He just kept quiet and looked at Lila for a second before switching his gaze to the grass again.

Great job Ryan, you've completely cracked and gone soft, his head growled at him. Ryan was really hoping this didn't last long. He had gone a bit soft and he knew it; right now he was sort of hating it and he was hating Nike and himself. Nike for giving him the challenge, himself for accepting it. Ryan just hoped that it only applied to her. He didn't want to start being nice to everyone all of the sudden. That would just be weird. Ryan seriously didn't want becoming nice or accepting physical contact other than fighting becoming a daily thing for him.

[*nike*]

Nike shook her head at his comment. Like his attitude was better than her being bipolar? It most certainly was not. Where is someone nice when you need them? She internally complained. Ryan was the only person, so far, at camp who wasn't at least moderately nice. Even Erebus, who was supposed to be the creepy god of darkness, was nice! "Nah, Mania would probably have a mental episode." She glanced back over to where Lila was running around in the grass. Kicking her sandals off, she squished her toes into the grass, enjoying the feel of the cool grass. Well it is probably your fault, She accused him silently. Because honestly, it probably was. Nike didn't think she was ever really bipolar except for when she was with this particular son of Ares.

A whistle from the goddess seemed to get Lila's attention because the dog ambler towards her before thinking again, and turning around to go play some more. Huh, snubbed by the dog. She scratched at a minor itch on her shoulder. Looks like Ryan's rubbing off on both of us. The girl exhaled a frustrated sigh. Why couldn't it have been someone nice that she had chosen to befriend? "Because life hates me?" She offered aloud, her voice somewhat quiet. Possible that Ryan heard it, but unlikely since he was off in his own little dreamland. What does he daydream about? Punching people? She was truly curious about that. Though she was sure that if she asked, he would deny any daydreaming. Surprised at his sudden reversion back to violence, she didn't move as fast as she would have before. So his fist actually connected with her left cheek. Nike withdrew very quickly after that, part of her face a bright red from where Ryan had hit her. While her face did hurt considerably, what hurt more was that he had actually hit her. "Thanks," She growled sarcastically, managing to keep most of the hurt from her voice. Yes, she, the optimistic one, had actually growled at him. Because besides being hurt, she was also a tad bit angry. Okay, a tad bit was an understatement. Truthfully, a little part of her wanted to snap his wrist like a twig. Which, all considered, wasn't terrible because any other god would have most likely wanted to kill him.

"Lila!" The immortal called out, actually catching the dog's attention. This time instead of ignoring her,  the border collie trotted happily to her, tail wagging in the process. "Hey there, girly," She greeted, ruffling the fur on the dog's head. This invoked a small playful bark from the dog, which in turn received an amused laugh from Nike. "Aren't you glad Ryan and I adopted you?" She purposefully included the demigod's name to make it clear that he wasn't getting out of co-ownership.   

"Would you prefer it if I dropped the physical contact for now?" Nike inquired. Despite the fact that he wasn't trying to shake her off, she still doubted that he enjoyed any of this. Not the hand-holding and definately not her head on his shoulder.

     

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan half hissed. This goddess could be so annoying sometimes. She was probably insulting him in every way possible in her head. Weather she was or not, Ryan didn't care. His attitude was horrible and he knew it; he seriously didn't want to change now, Nike's challenge or no challenge. "Oh, great," Ryan growled. "Just what we need, another mental case," he half growled. If he was honest with himself, he was probably one of them. He knew that he was the reason that Nike was acting this way. It was this way a lot; he rubbed off on people a lot, not necessarily in the positive way.

The demigod watched as Nike whistled to Lila. She seemed to walk towards her, but then changed her mind. The puppy went back to play. Ryan looked over, snapped out of his thoughts, as Nike exhaled loudly. "Join the club," Ryan said in a growl after hearing her somewhat quiet comment. Truthfully, Ryan was taken by surprise himself as he made a snappish recovery back to his old self. Thing was, he had never been kissed or kissed before. This would be a first. Nike had asked him if he had ever kissed a girl the first time they met. Truth was, he had never kissed anyone. He was to little around his mom, then he had been given to his aunt. Kiss Aunt Kath? He made a slight face at the thought. Yeah, sure, and be on your death bed a second later. Ryan was taken by full surprise when Nike didn't move out of the way and his hand actually made contact with her cheek. Perhaps she had been startled by his sudden reversal as well. "Don't mention it," he growled back sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Old Ryan was back, right now; it just kept flicking back and forth. One moment he was old him, other minute he was sorta different. He dropped his hand, open and still half in shock. Well, she had justification to kill him now if she wanted. If he was with any other god, he'd probably already be a pile of ashes.

Lila came after Nike called out her name. Ryan was actually surprised at how fast the dog had caught on to its name. "That was fast," he muttered, watching the goddess and the dog. Ryan gritted his teeth and hissed. Nike had included his name in that on purpose for sure. He was a co owner now, great. Ryan gave an eye roll. Weird, to own a dog; he hadn't owned much in his life time. Just clothes and weapons and that was it.

"It's fine if you need it," Ryan said in a grumble. He was sure the immortal would be able to hear it. She was a goddess after all. His voice sounded as if it wasn't his own again. Right now, he didn't mind it; it was really uncomfortable, but if necessary, he could get used to it if she stayed there. Hand holding was weird, head on shoulder was weirder, but if necessary, he'd cope and suck it up.

[*nike*]

"I'd vote for that, but I'm afraid she'd probably kill you. Because, well, doesn't everyone want to?" Nike shrugged, her voice teasing him even though it was probably true. She was sure that not a lot of people were in Ryan's fan club. Hades, there was not a fan club to begin with. Maybe there was a hate club, which was almost the same thing. Okay, it so wasn't, but they were both clubs! Oooh, I want to join a club! Nike internally squealed. Wow..I really am I little mental, She pondered the thought, chewing on her fingernails as she did so. Glancing down at her nails, she noted that the polish on them was severely chipped and worn down.

"Wasn't talking to you," The goddess snapped in annoyance. She wasn't in the mood for his growling and hissing now. This wasn't one of those things that she was going to let slide. Being negative? Yes. Insulting her? Yes. But, hitting her? That was a definate no. First off, she hadn't really done anything terrible to deserve it. Yeah, so he had a problem with physical contact? Her solution: Go see a therapist for it. Or just plain get over it. Unless he had a phobia of physical contact, then Nike figured he really didn't have an excuse. Don't mention it? She repeated to herself. Did he really just say that? She gritted her teeth, her purple eyes flashing dangerously, but a small flicker of hurt in them as well. Of course, she really shouldn't have expected a sorry. She should have known better than that, and maybe she did, but maybe a small part of her was hoping that he would actually feel a little bad. But of course not. Why would he? Not like he actually cares about anyone, especially me. Nike pushed herself a good distance away from Ryan, not because she was expecting him to try and hit her again, but simply because she didn't really want to be anywhere near him.

"Well she is smart, unlike a lot of people I know." She flicked a strand of hair out of her face. "Ain't that right darling?" The girl allowed the dog to give her lips a small 'kiss'. Though the kiss was more of a slobber-full lick than an actual kiss. Of course what dog could give an actual kiss anyways?

"Don't really need it," She commented, but snuggled closer to Ryan's shoulder. "Just like it, unlike you," Nike added, wondering if this was the point where he was going to shove her away. It seemed likely since he said if she needed it which technically she didn't.

[Ryan Simons]

"She's not the only one," Ryan growled, rolling his eyes. He looked at her, he had been thinking the exact same thing. "Yeah," he snarled, rolling his eyes. He could pick up a sort of tease in her voice, but he didn't go with it. What she said was true. Most people would be happy if he was dead. No one liked him; the only two people who did were dead. They didn't really count anymore, anyway. Ryan shook his head. Had it only really been this morning? He felt a painful stab of a whole mixture of feelings, but then shoved it away. Well, it wasn't like Alex was ever around, anyway. You should of gotten used to it, he scolded himself. Well, I did get used to it. But why does it still hurt so much? The demigod gave a mental eye roll. There goes the internal fights again. He was beginning to hate them. First the one on being nice, now the one on Alex.

"Then specify!" Ryan snapped icily. The shock that he had actually hit and made contact with her continued to wear off. To him, it looked like they had both been taken by surprise when he had had a quick reversal to his usual self. It was just an impulse, something he would of normally done. Whatever she had done, it touched him right on his face and he hated it. Nike glared at him dangerously and he just glared right back. She pushed herself far away from him, he was glad. Finally the shock completely wore off and he sort of felt horrible and guilty about hitting her, just a tiny bit. Okay, Ryan, take a step back. You're going way to soft. No, she didn't deserve that, just learn to put up with this and suck it up, its going to be a part of your life now anyway. No, it was never a part of your life before, so why should you let it be now? Just stay the way you were and it'll work out. But you said you'd try and become nice. Oh, excuse me, great job with that Champ. Just chuck the idea, she's a waste of your time any way. Look, if you feel bad about it, just say sorry. Ryan was going to have a headache after this. Dang mental fights; he was getting sick of them. He didn't care about anybody and no body cared about him, period. It worked better that way. He shouldn't care that he had hit Nike, he shouldn't be feeling bad or guilty or anything; but, quite truthfully he did, just a bit, deep, deep (yeah, you get the picture) down he did. Would he ever tell her that? Hades no.

"Great for her," Ryan said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, like me," he said, shrugging. He was quite out of it when it came to technology. He would go head first into a hopeless battle, he was stubborn and everything else negative. In that sense he wasn't really smart. The one thing he was decent at, was weapons. He rolled his eyes, watching Nike and Lila. He was still half hoping to get out of the whole co owner thing.

"Uh huh," he muttered. Well that was contrasting. She said she didn't need it, but stayed close to him. Then he rolled his eyes. "You bet," he grumbled. Ryan decided to just let her stay there. Maybe it would force him to become okay with physical contact. Right now he really didn't feel like being angry, as crazy as that sounded. The demigod boy half shut his eyes and just sat there. It still felt a bit weird to him, but it was gradually getting better.

[*nike*]

Nike shrugged, not bothering to argue with that. Any god who met him probably wanted to slit his throat. It was probably a good thing that not a lot of gods hung out around the camp. Besides her, there were really only occasional visitors who were either very bored or they were there to visit their kids. Or something prophecy related could bring them down from Olympus too. There were probably a couple of demigods who wouldn't mind having him out of the picture either. Was that a little harsh? Yes, but it was Ryan's fault that they didn't like him anyways. Glancing over at the demigod, she noted that he was most likely having another internal debate. "You okay?" She ventured again. The snappy response of 'fine' was expected. 

Her hands curled into fists in frustration. Oh how she was tempted to give him a broken nose and a black eye to match. "Well I guess abuse runs in the family," She muttered quietly, referring to Ryan and his Aunt. The brunette wasn't particularly concerned if he heard it or not. Although, after a moment she did feel a bit bad. Which was a little absurd in her opinion. "Sorry, that was mean." Nike apologized, not even sure if he heard what she had said before. She also wasn't completely sure why she had said sorry. Not like Ryan really deserved the apology anyways. The goddess just wasn't really a mean person. Unlike the boy, she actually did feel bad when she said something mean. Thinking the mean words was a totally different thing. That, she did very often, as in, all of the time. On that note, Why, why, couldn't this Edmund kid be here instead of Ryan? Or even the Alex kid for that matter. She groaned quietly, burying her still-red face in her hands. Calm down. She instructed herself, repeating the two words to herself in her mind.

"Pretty much," Nike replied with a smile that she knew would annoy him. She had already figured out that if she responded happily to Ryan's sarcastic remarks, he would get annoyed. Well quite obviously you, The immortal rolled her eyes, before diving in for a playful wrestling session with Lila. Sadly, the dog was probably the least messed up out of the three. Not to mention the happiest out of the three. Ryan was just plain angry and his attitude just made Nike a little irritated.

Nike's eyelids fluttered shut, and she ceased talking. The quiet of the park was nice even if the sound of the city was still audible in the background. "What's your favorite color?" Her voice interrupted the quiet, but Nike's curiousity always got the best of her. It was a simple enough question, but somehow she doubted that Ryan even had a favorite color.

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[Ryan Simons]

Ryan began to fidget slightly. Dang ADHD, sitting down with nothing to do was something he was absolutely horrible about. He was okay if his mind was occupied or something; but, when he only had his own mind and silence for company, it usually resulted in mental fights and memory roads. Ryan hated them both. Memory roads resulted in him feeling guilty and stuff. Mental fights were just giving him headaches. What Nike had said was the point blank truth. No doubt about it. Ryan didn't really care if everyone wanted him gone. He'd go when his time was right; besides, not many demigods lasted long. He could be one of those since he was one of the more stubborn, impulsive, insert all other negative adjectives here, run into battle without thinking types. "Hm?" he asked, half blank and turning to Nike. "Oh... yeah. Fine," he half muttered.

The demigod just continued to glare at the immortal. The usual him, he glared and stayed where he was. Whatever, he knew he'd have to suck physical contact up eventually, but now now. He wasn't putting up with it right now. Ryan looked up, his hearing was pretty decent. If she thought that he couldn't hear him, she was wrong. "Yeah. Guess so," he growled. For a nano second, he felt a tiny fraction of a millimeter offended. He had no idea why, not that he'd ever tell anyone that he was feeling that way though. He had no feelings for his family whatsoever, period. He hated his aunt, his father and all of his stupid half siblings! Abuse in his family? Heck yes, he had all the scars to prove it. Ryan subconsciously put his hand to his back and half winced. That had been painful. His aunt hadn't done that. That was one scar his aunt hadn't given him. The scar on his back, had come from Edmund. Not on purpose, they had been play fighting... well, not really play. He could be really aggressive in fighting, but he had never beat up somebody who was already down and not going to get back up. He stood up, but he had no memory of doing so. "Whatever," he snapped at her, not really registering that she was apologizing. Abuse runs in the family.... Now he was starting to get confused. Well, yeah, Ares to Ryan; Kath was in there too and Ryan had grown up with her. However, he didn't see any violence coming from his mom. Ryan had seriously been questioning if Lila was even his mom. Sheesh, even though his dad was Ares, he could of gotten some of his mom's genes, right? Obviously not in personality. He had never seen her picture, so he wasn't sure if he looked like her physically. Ryan thought he looked a bit like Kath, but then again Lila and Kath had been sisters.

"Great," he growled, rolling his eyes. It didn't exactly tick him off, but it did sort of frustrate him. Sort of was sort of minor. Okay, so it did tick him off. Pretty much everyone and thing was smarter than him. It wasn't his fault that he had to grow up under a rock. Ryan had no idea about any technology, he found them all sort of fascinating and he had no idea on things that other people knew. He rolled his eyes and watched Nike and Lila wrestling. The dog seemed to be the only innocent and least mentally disturbed.

Nike stopped talking and Ryan kept trying to adjust to this physical contact from her. It was happening now. Better to try and get used to it and suck it up. The park was quiet, like the home Ryan had had with his aunt. Then again, there was all the city noise in the background. True, the city was interesting, but he didn't want to live there or anything. "Favorite color?" he asked, semi blankly. "Nothing," he said, giving a slight shrug before remembering that Nike was on his shoulder. Ryan had never took any time on small talk interests. Colors were included in that. He had never taken time to think about what was his favorite anything. Besides, he didn't really like anything except fighting and ticking people off.

[*nike*]

Fidgeting was annoying. Ryan was squirming, and rocking irritatingly in his spot. Well, Nike found it irritating at least. She fiddled with her fingers a lot, but she put that in a different category. Fidgeting was a lot more movement, and people did it when they were nervous, anxious or simply just wanted to get away from a situation or conversation. The very last was probably true for Ryan. That or his ADHD was acting up. Either was very probable. She considered asking that he stop, but she doubted that he actually would. In fact, he probably would just put extra effort into fidgeting just to annoy her. Being an immortal gifted her with better senses. But that was a curse too. It meant she noticed the smallest things which quickly became annoying. And it made the already annoying things, even more annoying. Fine... She pondered over the word, a little annoyed with that as well. "You're not fine. Your aunt's abusive and your two best friends...Just..You're not fine." She said, her voice firm, but gentle at the same time. She didn't care who it was, those things didn't just happen to a person and they were 'fine'. Ryan could say that he was fine, and he could really mean it, but Nike was sure that she still wouldn't believe it.

She couldn't say that she wasn't surprised when Ryan agreed to her comment about his abusive family. If she had been surprised then she would have had to have been stupid. The goddess noticeably flinched as Ryan raised his hand. She knew why, but it was a ridiculous reason. Now that Ryan was back on guard, so was she. She could easily deflect another hit this time. But instead of trying to hit her, the boy was reaching towards his back. She raised an eyebrow curiously, but it clicked easily as he winced. Another scar, no doubt. That just made her feel even worse about her comment. Apparently she wasn't too good at staying angry at people. She stood as well, her fingers brushing the car keys in her back pocket, assuming that this was his way of indicating maybe it was time to leave. "Are you okay?" She asked the question again, concern seeping through her voice. It seemed like she had asked the question a few too many times today. "What's wrong with your back?" The girl elaborated, though she was sure it didn't need any extra explanation. That comforting instinct kicked in again and she reached out to try and comfort him, but quickly withdrew her hand, thinking better of it.  

"No offense, it's just kind of the truth." Nike gave him a slightly apologetic look, before tugging gently on Lila's short tail. The dog yipped, chasing her tail excitedly, snapping at Nike's hand all the while. The goddess giggled in reponse, tapping Lila on opposite sides of her head, causing the dog to continuously snap at her hands playfully. "Geez you have sharp teeth!" She was obviously smiling as she said it though.

"I figured as much," She mumbled, very clearly using Ryan's shoulder as a pillow. Nike wasn't really tired in the sleeping sense, but her eyes did feel a little sore. Maybe that wasn't quite the right word. "Green's my favorite. Not that it matters." The immortal informed him, adding the last part because she knew he didn't care. She was just trying to maybe invoke a reaction. Maybe a small, 'well i think ___ is a nice color'. It was highly unlikely, once again, but it was possible.

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