"Come on, at least let me help somehow," Jason said, teasing a little. "Leave me with a little pride, at least."

Dawn grinned a bit and leaned back against the tree. It was peaceful, and there weren't any more arrows being shot at them by her father. Life was pretty good.

Nika smiled hollowly and got to the training ground a minute later. Without replying, she started to attack one of the dummies. Then she stepped back, letting it fall to pieces at her feet.

"You still want to be a target?"

Seth stayed where he was, content to not do anything for the moment. One of his sisters had given him hell earlier, and he wasn't anxious to go back.

"Not entirely sure anymore," Jason replied, looking from the pieces of the dummy back to Nika. He paused. "Where did you pull those knives from, anyways?"

"It's nice out here," Dawn commented. "It feels good to get away from my cabin for a bit." She glanced at him and grinned. "Having eight brothers around and no sisters to balance them out gets old after a while."

"My secret stash." Nika grinned humorlessly as she went on to the next dummy, taking more time with this one so she could work herself out. "Some people have coke, some people have alcohol. I have weapons."

"Having siblings around all the time is bad for your health in general. Even if you do have an even number of brothers and sisters," Seth pointed out. "I'm tempted to throttle mine half the time. Or more."

"It's kind of creepy how you pulled them out of nowhere," Jason said. It made him nervous that he couldn't see where the knives had come from, but he also couldn't help but wonder what else she was able to do.

"It makes me glad I have my own place on the outside," Dawn replied. "I only have to see two of my brothers regularly, and only one of them comes to camp."

"Anything that's in my stash room I can grab when I need." Nika decimated two more dummies before she finally just moved to going through the motions by herself. Dummies were boring.

"I have an apartment up in Vermont. I work for a maple farmer most of the year." Seth shrugged. "I get the summer off, and he never asks."

Jason watched as Nika went through the motions.

"You know," he said after a moment, "the woods around here are usually kept stocked."

"Do you just take care of the trees, or is it a working sugar camp?" Dawn asked, interested. She really had no idea what anyone else did outside of the summer.

"No." Nika didn't look at him as she kept going through the movements. Enough of this would wear her out. Eventually.

"I do a little of everything," Seth said with a shrug. "And it's a working sugar camp. We actually make our own maple ice cream, too. It's really good."

"You'll feel better after actually killing something," Jason pointed out, relentless. He knew how to deal with stubborn girls. He was related to one, after all.

"That's awesome," Dawn replied. "I work at a music store. It was the only thing that really fit with my talents. I majored in English in college, with a focus on literature and poetry, but I haven't found anything yet that I can use my degree for. So for now, Guitar Center it is."

"No." Nika swung particularly hard at an invisible enemy. "I refuse to hurt anything else because of my inability to control my temper."

"I like hanging out at Guitar Center," Seth said with a grin. "Once in a while I'll play something, and they make it into a mock concert. Make requests and all that. It's fun."

"Then at least spar with me," Jason persisted. "You don't have to worry about hurting me, I can take care of myself." And he could heal any bruises or cuts he got. He wasn't all that worried.

Dawn grinned.

"They do that to me all the time," she said. "None of them have been able to figure out where I got my guitar, and I don't plan to tell them, and none of them know how I know so many songs. I don't plan on telling them that, either."

"I kill monsters for a living. You think I'm going to spar you?" Nika snorted bitterly. "No. You may as well go find something else to do with yourself."

Seth laughed quietly. "I doubt they'd believe you even if you did tell them," he said with a little grin. "Normal people don't like to have their view of the world contradicted."

"What part of that sounded like a request?" Jason asked, drawing his dagger. "I'll be fine, I can heal just about whatever you dish out."

Dawn nodded, grinning.

"You know, you'd probably be great friends with my stepdad," she commented. "Dave's a norm, but he knows what's going on, mostly. I think he's trying to put together a file on each of the gods, he's got three already. You'd like him, he's got a great sense of humor."

Nika ignored him, hoping he'd be smart and go away. It would be better for his health.

Seth laughed quietly. "Has he met Nika yet? I bet he'd love her." He shook his head. "But he sounds fun. I mean, if he can deal with all of this and be cool with it, that automatically makes him a good person."

Jason adjusted his grip on the dagger before moving in front of Nika and blocking her blade.

Dawn snickered.

"Oh, they've met," she said. "I think he wanted to adopt her. She helped him with one of his 'god files,' too. So far, I think he's got Apollo, Athena, and Ares in his notebook."

Nika glared weakly at him. "Seth..." she said, a clear warning in her tone. "Knock it off."

Seth snickered. "That sounds about right from what you've told me." He shook his head, amused. "Well, I look forward to meeting him, now."

Jason ignored Nika's warning and took a more defensive approach, letting her take the shots she wanted to. He wasn't worried much about getting hit, he could heal it up well enough later.

"Come on," he said, angling his blade to catch hers. "Take a shot."

"I'm sure you will, eventually," Dawn replied. "I have an agreement with my mom that if I drive Kevin here at the beginning of the summer, she and Dave come and pick him up at the end of the summer."

Nika's eyes narrowed briefly before she pushed his blade to the side, her leg swiping out to knock him flat on his back. In an instant, she crouched over him, her blade pressed against his neck and her other hand ready for any other retaliation. One knee pressed into his chest, just hard enough to keep him down.

"I win."

Seth laughed. "So you don't have to deal with him gushing about camp the whole way back?" he guessed, grinning.

Jason knew he was out of his league against her from the beginning, so it didn't upset him that he lost.

"Feel a bit better?" he asked, waiting for her to let him up.

"Exactly," Dawn replied. "Besides, it's his first summer away from home, by the time September rolls around, he's going to be so homesick that I doubt he'd want me to take him home myself."

Nika looked down at him for several long moments without moving before she dropped her sword off to the side, getting up off him. Her heart-song hand changed, and she looked at him for a moment before she turned and started walking with nowhere in particular in mind.

Seth laughed quietly. "Yeah, I kinda remember that." He shook his head. "Next year he'll be way too eager to come back, though."

Jason blinked and watched her walk away, a bit confused. He wasn't expecting that one.

"At which point my mother's probably going to foist him off on me for the week leading up to it," Dawn replied. "She dealt with it enough from me, now she's going to make me deal with him."

Nika walked so far into the trees she couldn't hear anything from the camp. And then she sat in a tree and stared at nothing.

"Turnabout is fair play," Seth said with a snicker. This is why he was glad he was an only child, sort of.

Before he could think better of it, and talk himself out of it, Jason followed her into the trees.

"Nika?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

Dawn just rolled her eyes and gave Seth a friendly shove.

"Go away, Jason," Nika said very quietly. She didn't look at him.

Seth just laughed and shook his head, draping his arm over her shoulders.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," Jason replied. He didn't bother trying to climb the tree to get closer, though. He got the feeling she would just push him out of it again, and that stunt wasn't worth the potential broken bones.

The action surprised Dawn, but what surprised her more was that she was okay with it. She didn't mind his arm around her in the slightest.