"Where in the hell did you get this idea now, Marsia?"
The two sat at the 1st cohorts table. Octavian because he was actually in the 1st cohort and Marsia because she was a bargain, to state it plainly. It was stupid, but since Jason was discussing things with Nico, and most of the 5th Cohort just up and left-, he was stuck with babysitting DiAngelo's demon of a sister.
Marsia laughed, short and cackle-y. "Oh, think about it- it's a decent plan!" She continued. "You have stuff you want, I have stuff I want... plus, you have this certain je nais se quois as an augur." She pointed her fork at him. "You can make people listen, Octavian."
"Except for Jason, apparently..." Octavian scoffed.
"Oh Jason can go suck a dick for all I care-" Marsia rolled her eyes. "Dude, c'mon- you have the mother earth voices in your head, I have the bloodthirsty life-granting voices in my head. Maybe we just have that homophrosyne, y'know?" Like mindedness.
He didn't want to be reminded of that. Gaia's awakening was enough, but the when the goddess spoke to him, in his head... it felt more than a little parasitic.
"You know what?" The augur raised his hands, willing to placate the child for a minute or two. "Fine. Fine. Get on with your damn plan-"
"Okay, hear me out-" Marsia mirrored him, raising her own hands. "No government."
Octavian raised an eyebrow. "No government?"
"No government." She continued. "We don't neccessarily have to abolish anything right now... but, but, but!" She snapped her fingers. "We also don't neccessarily have to live under a false monarch."
"False monarch? What do you mean, false monarch?" Octavian questioned.
"Octavian, don't play dumb with me." Marsia's mischevious grin went slack, replaced with a solemn, alll too familiar gaze, one he knew a person her age shouldn't have. "I've seen the same traits everywhere... back at camp, in the mortal world... hell, you could consider it a warning sign." She glanced around, as if to check they were alone. "Jason Grace, praetor, son of the god king, golden boy of Camp Jupiter- that's his rep. His facade." The girl continued, folding her hands in her lap as she spoke. "But that facade is cracking." Marsia chuckled dryly. "He's hesitant, you know? He leads with emotion. Pure, unfiltered emotion."
"How is that a bad thing, though?" Octavian tilted his head. "It's not the best mentality to have for a praetor, but isn't that just... human?" Despite his snide remarks about the now lone praetor, even he knew that.
Oh sure it's human, but even Dakota can tell what's going on." Marsia picked at her nails. "You saw how he was after the Argo."
"They literally sieged us-" Octavian interjected.
"How do you know that for sure?" The daughter of Hades responded curtly. "As far as I and Nico saw, he ordered fire as soon as he saw Reyna. They ordered fire as soon as they saw Annabeth." She said.
Marsia giggled. "Don't you think that's a bit more than a coincidence?"
Octavian put his hands on the table. "That would be completely irrational-"
"Exactly."
The table was silent for a moment.
Marsia spoke up again. "Either way, it's not like your side won. They have Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank."
"Look, my brother has some sort of sympathy for Jason. Call it denial or whatever." She rested her chin in her palm, staring directly at him. "But you see it too, right?" She spoke again. "Nico and I have been here for at least a little while. Nico longer than I, but you get the point, don't you?" She asked.
"With us here you could reconcile with Camp Halfblood-"
Octavian grimaced. "Until a while ago, I didn't even know Camp Halfblood existed-"
"Oh, don't make that face at me. I'm from Camp Halfblood." Marsia huffed.
Octavian shushed her. "Oh my gods, you can't say that shit here." He looked around- thankfully everyone else was too focused on their own food and conversations.
"Oh, whatever, whatever-" Marsia rolled her eyes. "All i'm trying to say, is- Jason is on the path to conflict. As bad as the greeks sound to you, we have bigger fish to fry."
"The prophecy of seven..." Octavian mumbled.
"It's all gonna come together eventually." Marsia said. "We don't have any time left."
"So... suppose we keep going the way we're going. What do you say the consequences of that could be?" Octavian studied the girl in front of him. How did she know what she knew? And who else did?
"If anything, the leaders of each side are too preoccupied with their own egos." Marsia shrugged. "It's like two kindergartners fighting over toys- they want their praetor and Athena- er, Minerva's girl back to their own camps, but they want to keep the other one as well. Very Helen-of-Troy-esque, if you ask me."
"Do they even know about it?" Octavian raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know you've had it in your books since like- the sibyline era or whatever... our Oracle, Rachel- she recited it after the second Titanomachy." The girl shifted in her seat nervously. Octavian barely had the strength to question. An oracle? "We didn't think much of it at first, but when Annabeth went missing, we knew something was going on." Marsia said.
"By the time Gaea wakes entirely, my fear is we'll still be preoccupied with getting Annabeth back despite the bigger danger looming."
"That could be a major issue." Octavian said.
"Yeah. So you get what I was saying earlier?" Marsia looked up at Octavian.
"I do get where you're coming from," It clearly got under his skin. "But, I- I don't really know what to think of it as of right now."
"Alright, alright. I'll leave you be for now," Marsia stood up. "Though my offer still stands. I'll be off- need to pay a visit to a certain someone." She winked.
The entire encounter with Marsia had put a pit in Octavian's stomach. What was he thinking? Betraying the praetor was basically treason. He could be demoted back to probatio- or worse, get exiled. He pressed a hand to his temple, grumbling with annoyance. How could one, one conversation with a freaking child make him question his loyalty? It didn't make sense.
But what Marsia said did make sense.
Whatever. Whatever!
If Octavian wanted answers, he was going to find them himself.