Nika let her figure out what she wanted to watch, washing the few dishes that there were before she went back into the living room.

Dawn settled on Food Network, where an older rerun of Challenge was running.

"This is a good channel," she said. "Do you watch it at all?"

Nika shook her head, watching with some fascination. "No. So, what's the point of the show?"

"Four cooks, cake artists, pastry chefs, or what-have-you are brought together to compete against one another," Dawn explained as she settled in. "The challenges vary, and so to the competitors, but in the end, whoever wins gets ten thousand dollars."

"Huh. That's not bad money." Nika shrugged. "Sounds very stressful, though."

"I can imagine it is," Dawn replied. She smirked. "Though nowhere near as stressful as what we do. Hell, I bet it can't even touch your job."

"Baking a giant cake for ten thousand dollars," Nika said with a wry grin, holding up one hand. "Or killing monsters that have escaped Olympus and could cause the entirety of civilization as we know it to collapse. Yeah, I think I have just a bit more stress involved."

Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Not all the monsters are like that," she pointed out. "Hell, any one of my brothers could shoot down a Harpy."

"Harpies aren't bad. It's when you get into things like Sphinxes and Stymphalaen birds that it gets rough." Nika shrugged.

"And that's how Ares described the job to me, so that I wouldn't decline. Bastard."

"Things like that almost make me glad I'm ignored," Dawn replied. "Then again, I get to train my brothers."

"Yeah, my job sucks sometimes." Nika sighed. "And if you think your brothers are bad, try training some Ares kids."

"No thanks," Dawn replied. "I like knowing how many weapons they're carrying at any given time, and I've heard rumors that you all can literally pull weapons out of thin air."

"Like this?" Nika reached back and pulled a stilletto from seemingly nowhere, holding it with a wry grin.

"Yeah, like that," Dawn replied, eying blade warily. "Just like that. That's really creepy, you know."

Nika grinned and put it back. "Yeah, that's a trick. I love it sometimes. Actually a lot of the time."

"That's kind of awesome and really creepy, from an outsider's point of view," Dawn said. "And ultimately not surprising."

"Yeah. We need weapons. All the time." Nika shrugged. "It's much easier if we're working with our own weapons, so we can usually kind of summon in any of our weapons."

"I am perfectly happy with my bow and my dagger," Dawn replied. "I have five varieties of arrows, I'm set with those."

"I think you might pass out if I showed you my stash," Nika said, eyeing her.

"Perhaps," Dawn replied. "Again, awesome, creepy, but now surprising. You know how nervous it makes everyone when your siblings show up for sparring day? Nobody has any idea what's going to happen." Except Dawn, really, but even then she was only ever able to see that nobody would be seriously hurt.

Nika grinned broadly. "Next time sparring day comes around, tell me. Or Capture the Flag day. I'll join the team against the rest of the Ares kids."

"That would be my team," Dawn replied. "We team up with Athena cabin and Demeter Cabin. The others are all on the other team." She grinned. "Though I had to swear not to act on any visions that showed me the outcome of the game."

Nika snorted. "Yeah, go figure. Next time, I'll play on your team. Just watch my siblings reactions."

"They'll probably be aiming at me for 'corrupting' you," Dawn replied. She shrugged. "I can usually snipe people from the trees, though, so it's all good."

Nika snorted. "Or they'll be horrified that I'm pitting myself against them." She shook her head. "I taught most of them."