Rachel's P.O.V.
Before the night meeting, but after hitting Drew...
Rachel was fuming. How dared Drew come to her place of work and bother them? Bother Octavian? Wait, what?! When she saw Drew talking to Octavian, her first thought told her that she was dreaming and that it was a nightmare. Her first instinct was throwing her her hairbrush, nightmare or not, Drew was a small menace, a small plague that lurked into her work zone and had to be controlled.
"Thank you for that..." Octavian thanked her, once Drew hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. Rachel grunted in reply, while grabbing Drew's legs and dragging her away from them. The messy, full with dirty look will be her warning to never bother them again. When she was satisfied by the distance between them, she cleaned her hand and walked back, with a frown in her face.
It was obvious that Octavian wanted to ask her what was wrong and if he could help, but he didn't bring himself to do so in case she would blow up. Rachel sighed, thinking he had the right to know, so she sat back down and faced the table, and not him like he was doing with her.
"It shouldn't bother me, you're free to do whatever you want in your free time..." She emphasized, gritting her teeth a little. "But, I guess you deserve to know that Drew only considers you an attraction, a 'toy', like she said, because you're the new guy and you're not paying her enough attention..." She explained, finally turning to see him. He was with both eyes on her, listening.
"She mentioned something about stealing me..." He mentioned, making Rachel's blood boil for a second before she could keep it under control.
"Drew likes to have what she can't... Though, I don't know what she meant with that..." She admitted, with sorrow. Octavian picked up on that, but kept quiet about it. "Like I mentioned before, you're free to do whatever you want in your free time, but now..." She motioned to the piles of paper with her head. Octavian got the indirect and began reading again, but this time, Rachel joined him.
"She's not my type." Rachel heard Octavian mumble, though she wasn't sure or maybe it wasn't meant for her to listen.
"I'm sorry, what?" She asked, politely, giving him time to change his answer. Blushing, that was what he did.
"That I think I found something..." He pointed at the paper he was holding and Rachel immediately rushed to his side, reading it from behind him, her head placed almost on his shoulder. "It doesn't make much sense..."
"Returning circles you must follow / Three goddesses dispute the place / Directions from the moon must be asked / If you want- urgh, can't read the end!" She complained, seeing how it was burnt to the side. Frustrated, she ran her hands through her hair.
"Sorry, I'll read it before showing it to you..." Rachel turned around to see the submission of Octavian in action, and was left startled.
"No, it's OK... It's not your fault... You didn't burn that side on purpose, did you?" She comforted him, which was an odd image for anyone. Any Roman passing by would had thought, 'comforting Octavian? Is she on her right mind?'. The Greek wouldn't mind much, though they'll be surprise as well.
"Is Drew like me?" Octavian surprised Rachel with the question.
"Um, well... I guess she is more like a spoiled kid than a- than a-"
"-a backstabbing bastard that created war between the camps and deserves to die?" Octavian completed for her, though that was not what she was going to say. "You can speak your thoughts, I'm used to it..."
"That was a mean thing to say." She argued, leaving the papers she had in her hand and faced him. "I don't know you enough to say that about you, but I guess that is more under that tough/fake humble exterior..." It was Octavian's turn to gape at her, making Rachel smirk. "I don't expect you to become my buddy-buddy, but... we should at least get along while we do our job. Like I said, you're free to do whatever you want on your free time..."
The thought of what Octavian could do in his free time bumped her down a little. Part of her wanted him to attach to her like a scare little kid that didn't know around and thought everyone was going to hurt him, but she knew that he was a full-19-years-old grown up and he took his own decisions, no matter how bad or mad were those decisions.
"Maybe, um... we could?" She was taken again by surprised. It has been the fourth or fifth time in a lapse of thirty minutes and she was not fond to it. Though, it was nice not knowing what was going to happen with him. Looking at him, Rachel titled her head and imagined that Octavian was some kind of Pandora's box. Someone had opened him out of curiosity and released all the bad things of him, while the good ones are still at the end of the box.
"You're a puzzle, Octavian..." She recognized, surprising him. "And, I like puzzles." She smirked, before going back to her task of reading papers after papers. What she didn't notice was that Octavian's face was sporting the sweetest smile he never showed anyone. She also didn't noticed how their elbows seemed to always brush against each other, gently.
Nope, she didn't notice any of that.