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[gidge]

PICK YOUR POISON
PIC PROMPTS / TFLN / RANDOM SCENARIO
HAN SOLO velocities	BETTY MCRAE bombsheller	RIVER TAM subsulcus	RIVER TAM (AU) comprehender
SIMON TAM vest	BRIA THAREN exulted	NADINE CROSS bridaled	GU JUN-PYO toddler
available on special request: veronica sawyer, benjamin linus, imani, maria deluca, mushu, poseidon, niccolò machiavelli, malik al-sayf, chloe

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[ergane]

As Octavia attacks the mantis's front, Annabeth takes the opportunity to roll behind the monster, and aims her dagger at its unprotected metathorax. She scores a hit at the same time as Octavia, and the monster roars (do insects roar?) angrily. It lashes out as though to smack Octavia like a kangaroo; and then, even more disturbingly, its head rotates almost a full one-eighty to glare at Annabeth, kicking a good leg in her direction. She's thrown backwards, landing on the rocky earth with a groan.

Her head feels like it's splitting in half, but she's not going to lie around like easy prey for the -- well, praying mantis. She pushes herself back to her feet as soon as she's able, hoping Octavia's managed to hold it off in the meantime.

[throudon]

This is easily the strangest fight Octavia has ever been in. She manages to dodge the punch (if it can be called that) by dropping to the ground and going for the other leg, but misses as it swoops out to kick Annabeth. Then the thing's head spins around and she is very ready to just be done with this.

With Annabeth down and the mantis looking very much not in her direction, Octavia aims for its neck. Even with it hobbled, she has to jump to reach it with anything more than the tip of her sword, but the momentum she takes with her follows them both down. The arms and legs twitch as if to keep fighting, but the head rolls off into a darker corner of the cave.

She stands for a few breaths, still ready to fight, but the twitching limbs slow and stop, and there's nothing else for her to take out the rush of adrenaline on.

"You okay?" Octavia doesn't move across the body to where Annabeth is, doesn't even sheath her sword, but she relaxes enough to hold the weapon at her side.

[ergane]

Annabeth exhales, taking in the beheaded monster. It doesn't disintegrate like the monsters she knows -- the fact that it was vulnerable to Octavia's weapons at all means it isn't like the monsters she knows, not unless there's another kind of enchanted weapon that Annabeth's never heard of. She doubts it. The fact that Octavia could see it was equally weird. If there is a Mist out here, it doesn't work too well.

"Ow. Yeah." She almost nods but luckily thinks better of it. "Believe it or not, that thing isn't the angriest bug I've ever met."

Her dagger had clattered away when she fell; she goes to pick it up and resheathe it, moving a little slow from soreness. She wouldn't admit it, but she's actually...impressed. Mortals taking on monsters isn't the king of thing she's seen much of, and she'd honestly assumed Percy's mom and stepdad were the exceptions. They still are, obviously, but maybe this girl is an exception too.

"I'm Annabeth, by the way."

[throudon]

No, nothing enchanted about anything with Octavia. Just sharp.

"Octavia," she says only now because she was never particularly skilled at introductions, and finally sheathes her sword. "How many of these things have you seen?"

Because that was... Something. It's almost refreshing to fight without killing someone, just something. To lose herself for a few moments in the adrenaline and movement of a battle where she feels accomplishment looking at the body instead of, well, nothing.

[ergane]

Octavia. That's an incredibly Roman name, and Annabeth doesn't think that's a coincidence. She files that tidbit away for later, something to think more about when she has more information.

Right now, her expression grows wary. Maybe Octavia did see the monster, and maybe she won't call Annabeth crazy. But mortals have never been very reliable. Not when it comes to the truth about Greek gods and monsters.

"That was my first praying mantis monster. As for the other kinds...a lot. Hundreds, at least. Probably more. I've been fighting them for a long time."

[throudon]

"Oh yeah?"

Octavia watches Annabeth like she is, finally, trying to figure her out as a person instead of just a clue to why the forest suddenly became completely unfamiliar. Not that she can't still be both, of course.

She looks down at what's left of the mantis and kicks it hard enough that one of the arms that had been standing upright flops over onto the ground. "I saw a two headed deer once, but the worst I fought before this was other people." It isn't meant to sound like a threat, Octavia doesn't even look up at Annabeth when she says it, but it could serve as one. Mostly it's an example of how she absolutely has no experience with giant bug monsters.

[ergane]

Whether or not it's a threat, Annabeth doesn't feel threatened by Octavia. Octavia's clearly dangerous, sure, but not to her. Not right now. Her tone, her body language -- it's all wrong for an attack. Annabeth doubts the other girl would hesitate to strike back if Annabeth acted aggressively, but that's not an issue. Fighting mortals just isn't something that a hero does.

Which is why she frowns. She knows that mortals fight each other, obviously -- her dad's a military history professor, for crying out loud -- but that's not the kind of thing she expects to hear from girls who can't be any older than she is.

"Sounds like we're both a long way from home."

[throudon]

She looks over at Annabeth and scoffs, almost a laugh, the kind completely devoid of humor. "You think?"

Octavia isn't interested in fighting her, if only because there's nothing to gain on top of a hundred other reasons to not fight a stranger. Annabeth isn't Azgeda, she isn't from some other clan threatening peace. None of those reasons makes Octavia a hero in comparison. Of all the things she feels like lately, 'hero' doesn't even make the list.

Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim. There isn't time to worry about any of that right now.

"Helios," she calls and turns back to the mouth of the cave. Wherever they are, she doesn't want to lose her horse to acid rain or having him get spooked enough to run further away than she can chase him.