Jason just snorted and turned the car on. It came to life easily.

"So, care for a ride back to camp?" he offered, looking at her and grinning.

"Sure." Nika grinned briefly and got in, settling in. At least it was a nice car. Plus once they got back to camp she could set herself in to some real training, as opposed to having to play by human rules.

"This is a really nice car," Jason commented as he started back towards camp. He grinned. "Totally not jealous of my sister anymore."

Nika snickered. "I should hope not." She settled into the seat again, just relaxing there for the time being.

Once they got to camp, though, she got out and headed for the trees instead of the camp.

Jason parked the car and followed her. If nothing else, he could let her work herself to the ground and heal her if she needed it.

Nika drew her sword as she walked, waiting until she was far enough away before she started going through the motions of mock-battle, fighting an invisible enemy and slowly calming down as she went through the motions.

At least until steel clanged against steel, and then she yelped and danced back several feet.

"Calix! What the hell?!"

Calix grinned, unrepentant, and moved into ready position again. "Come on, kid. Spar with me. Unless you want to work off that energy another way." He leered at her.

"Go away, Calix."

"Aww, but I missed you! Besides, I'm not supposed to be here just for fun and games." Calix looked over at Jason.

Jason raised his hands and took half a step back.

"Leave me out of this one," he said. "I don't get in the middle of family arguments when they can skin me alive."

"There is no leaving you out of this one," Calix said with dark cheer. "After all, you're the subject."

"I beg your pardon?" Nika frowned at him.

"Dad's pissed that you're still seeing the lyre-toting golden boy. His words, not mine," he added when Nika looked like she was about to run him through with her blade.

"So? He can go screw himself."

"Yeah, telling him that isn't a genius idea. I thought you would have learned that by now, Nika."

Jason raised an eyebrow at being called a 'lyre-toting golden boy,' but didn't comment on it.

"I'm not entirely sure how it's a bad thing," he said instead. "It's not like my dad and yours have much of a history or anything. Not like with Hermes," he added under his breath.

"Granted," Calix allowed. "I think this is more of Dad being a possessive, over-protective father than anything to do with your heritage." He shrugged.

Nika looked totally flabbergasted for a few moments before she started swearing loudly and inventively.

"That's... bizarrely normal, but fair enough," Jason replied. He still didn't like it, but it was oddly comforting knowing that Ares disliked him for who he was, not what he was. Sort of.

"So I'd either start bribing him like no tomorrow or get away from her. Because Dad's itching to smite something since he missed the big fight against Pan." Calix grinned.

Jason made a bit of a face, and quickly squashed the thought that his offerings would be best used by Nemesis instead. He would need all the luck he could get.

"I'll figure something out," he said. Because there was no way he was going to let Nika slip away from him.

"Better figure it out fast," Calix advised. "Now that I've done my good deed for the century..." He popped up in front of Nika and the only reason he didn't manage to kiss her is because she got a knife at his throat first. "Ta ta, darling." With a cheeky grin, Calix vanished.

"When they're not saving my ass, I hate my brothers." Nika glared at where Calix had been.

"Makes me wonder if Aristeus has any killer bees anywhere," Jason commented. Because no matter which way he looked at the situation, he had the short end of the stick.

"Sorry, Jason. I intend to go have a chat with my father. See if we can't come to an agreement." Because now Nika was pissed. Ares had no right messing in her personal life as far as she cared.

Jason snorted.

"Personally, I'm grateful we got a warning rather than a sniper shot," he replied frankly. "All things considered."

"Sniper isn't his style," Nika replied rather distractedly, already figuring out any possible way of dissuading her father. "He'd want you to know who killed you and why."

"It wouldn't have been hard to guess," Jason said dryly. "But I appreciate the correction." After a moment, he figured he really couldn't be in much deeper than he was already, and leaned in to kiss Nika.

Nika blinked at that, her brain short-circuiting. And then she kissed him back, sliding one arm around his neck to keep him there.

Okay, that surprised him, but not enough to break the kiss. Putting an arm around her waist, Jason pulled her a bit closer to him, kissing her again.

Nika smirked, very pleased with that, and only stopped when she had to.

"Why didn't we do that before?"

"The world was in peril," Jason replied, catching his breath again. "Though now that things have calmed down..."

"The world can last without us for a little while," Nika said, grumbling a little. "I say we take a vacation. The two of us. Preferably somewhere warm."

"Anywhere you want," Jason replied. "I bet we can have it arranged. We've earned it by now." Damn right, they had, or else someone was going to pay for it.