Nika sighed. "Fine," she said. "I killed a man. Happy now?"

Seth grinned when she didn't push him away but he didn't try anything else for the moment, just staying there.

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"I guess that depends," he said. "Do you mind if I asked what happened?"

Dawn was content to just stay there, as well. She knew she would probably catch hell for it later, but she didn't mind. It would give her a chance to yell at her father again, at any rate.

"I was an idiot," Nika said quietly. "And he played me far too well. He left me and he betrayed me, and I killed him."

Seth was quite content. He smiled a little as he looked up at the sky.

Jason listened as she spoke, and then started to climb up the tree. He carefully sat down as near as he could without being on the same branch.

"I don't think that's the whole story," he said.

Dawn noticed his expression.

"Keep doing that and my father might think you're taunting him," she teased. "He won't miss a second time."

Nika sighed. It was easier to tell him than to shove him out of the tree.

"I met this guy when I was sixteen. His name was Ian, and he was from Aphrodite cabin, actually. Kind of ironic thinking back on it. We started spending a lot of time together, and I even took him with me a few times on jobs, because he didn't mind waiting for me at the house or helping me clean up after or anything. But he started using me, taking me with him when he went gambling and drinking and things, and he turned abusive. I tolerated it for a while; nothing I wasn't used to there. But then he found out about my next job and he botched it. He broke my wrist, and I wasn't healing fast enough. So I went to go kill this thing, and instead it nearly killed me. Ian just laughed at me, said I wasn't good enough to live on my own anyway. He said he'd take me in if I promised to be a 'good girl' and do what he said. So I killed him." She shrugged.

Seth laughed quietly at that. "Well then, I'll have to do it when he's not looking," he said with a wink and a smile.

Jason couldn't help but briefly entertain the thought that dating an Aphrodite guy was a bad idea in the first place, but he didn't say anything. He wasn't suicidal.

"Well, I know well enough by now that you're more than capable of taking care of yourself," he said instead.

Dawn grinned and leaned against Seth a bit.

"Stickin' it to the man, I approve," she said teasingly.

"That's not the point. I killed the last person who tried to get close to me." She looked down at him for a moment before she returned to looking up at the sky, watching a few birds fly past.

Seth laughed quietly. "I live to please," he said, only half-teasing.

"Ian was an asshole," Jason replied frankly. "He always was." He remembered having to deal with Ian when he was younger, right around the time he was fifteen. When he never came back to camp, everyone just assumed that he either stopped on his own or got picked off by a monster. Aphrodite campers were generally never the best fighters. "I mean, yeah, he was another demigod, but that didn't give him the right to be such an asshole."

Dawn blushed slightly. She knew he was flirting with her, and she didn't mind. Hell, she was flirting back.

Nika rolled her eyes. Either he was obtuse or he was avoiding the point, because no one was that accepting. No one.

"Think what you want," she said, getting up and stretching her arms up to the tree branch above her.

Seth merely smiled and stayed there for a while, just enjoying the quiet and the peace and Dawn.

"If you're waiting for me to run away screaming, you're going to be waiting a while," Jason said. He didn't move from the branch he was sitting on. Hell, she hadn't pushed him out of the tree yet, that was something.

Dawn sat with him, enjoying the peace and company as well.

Nika paused for a moment. "That or for you to screw up so I have to kill you, too." Then she flipped higher up into the tree, ending the conversation.

"You know our siblings are going to throw one giant shit fit right?" Seth sighed a little at the prospect. His sisters would demand details.

Jason sighed, but knew the subject was closed. Carefully, he climbed back down the tree.

"It's not our siblings I'm worried about," Dawn replied. "I'm more worried about our parents."

"My dad apparently couldn't give a flying fig, so that leaves your father." Seth shrugged. "I'll stay inside all day and come out at night. I'll be a vampire!"

Dawn laughed and rolled her eyes.

"You're tempting fate, you know, and I doubt they appreciate it," she said.

Seth just snickered. "Yeah, I know. I can't help it once in a while."

Dawn rolled her eyes again, but paused when she heard something. After a second or two, a heart-song came into focus for her.

"...Someone's coming," she said after a moment. "And it's not one of my brothers."

"Seth! Where'd you vanish off to?"

Seth groaned. "It's my sister," he muttered. "One of them. Leila." He left it up to Dawn whether or not she wanted to be seen with him.

"I don't think we can escape without being seen," Dawn replied quietly. The heart-song sounded too close. "I think it's too late."

Seth shrugged. "I could cover your retreat if you wanted. Whichever you prefer."

"No, we may as well face this now," Dawn replied. "It could be worse. At least she's not one of the Aphrodite girls. They're the worst gossips ever."

"No kidding." Seth rolled his eyes but stayed where he was as Leila walked over to them. She paused, reassessing the situation.

"Keeping secrets now?" she teased, raising her eyebrows.

"Don't we all?" Seth shot right back.

There was really nothing Dawn could say as a proper comeback, so she just stayed where she was next to Seth. Let him deal with his sister, and she would deal with her brothers when they found out.

Leila rolled her eyes. "I suppose I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she grumbled.

"Not yet, no. I do still have those pictures after all." Seth grinned.

Leila glared at him before turning and flouncing off. "If you get in troouble I'm not helping you," she called back. Seth just grinned.

"Blackmail, I like it," Dawn said to Seth. "I'm not looking forward to my brothers' reactions..."

Seth chuckled quietly. "You can always pull the "I'm the cabin leader, so stop your bitching" thing."