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drowningisinevitable-retired · 3 years

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Bad Blood || Athena & Mina

TIMING: Early June PARTIES: @drowningisinevitable and @athenaquinn LOCATION: The Toll Bridge SUMMARY: :) CONTENT: mentions of past emotional abuse

It was very, very, early, and Mina was running. Her leg muscles burned in that good way that came from physical exertion, not just from being hurt or harmed. She forgot how much she missed this. How much she needed this. Yes, Mina was a water nymph, but she was raised as a hunter, and hunting did not allow for extended time in the water. Hunting was a human pursuit, and training was a hunting pursuit, so she’d adapted. She’d learned to like running, to like being on land, to seeing water as a necessity, not a want, and she was good at treating it that way. Sometimes, now that she was in White Crest and running was less about learning to flee for her life and more about just being exercise, she even listened to music. But, even with Barrett Wilbert Weed singing “Dead Girl Walking,” she still heard the sounds of voices, some deep, some high, and Mina squinted as she looked into the distance. There was some sort of bridge, and her eyes widened as she took in the familiar figure of Athena Quinn standing with… a troll. Mina slowed to a jog as she got closer, not sure what she was supposed to do, here.

After everything with the whole tree growing out of a spriggan thing, Athena had been hesitant, for a little while. Hesitant wasn’t a word that she’d ever, in all twenty-one years of her life, ever used to describe herself. Hesitant didn’t get things done. Hesitant let humans die. Hesitant cried on the floor unable to move on the day of her birthday and made it so that her brother had to deal with everything. She’d been different since October, she knew that much, and she kicked herself for it all the time. So she’d gone out - not even to hunt, not necessarily (though she still had all her knives on her, of course, always, always), and yet, as luck would have it, she’d happened upon a troll. Which was certainly not anything ideal, though for the moment she was standing about twenty feet away from it when she felt another, more unfortunately familiar feeling shoot up through her whole body. Fae. Rolling her eyes, she whipped her head around, her high ponytail swinging. Mina. Former not-really-needed math tutor who she’d tried to go on a hunt with and was possibly more than met the eye. “Mina.” Crossed her arms.

“Ah, hi,” Mina said as she jogged up to Athena. She didn’t… quite know where she stood with the younger hunter. A warden, at that, and quite the impressive one despite being a few years Mina’s junior. Better than the other warden she’d run into as of late. Off in the distance, the troll seemed to be… talking to itself in several different voices. Or maybe there were others? Mina couldn’t make out anyone else on the bridge. It was just… a troll on a bridge. “So…” she trailed off. She didn’t really know what to say. There was always the question of where she stood with wardens when they realized that she wasn’t as much of a threat as she appeared. Some of them still attempted to go after her until her dad said no. But Mina’s dad wasn’t here anymore, and she couldn’t use the “I was raised a hunter!” thing without a lot of people just not believing her, despite the whole being unable to lie thing. Still, small talk would be awkward, wouldn’t it. Not that it wasn’t already awkward. “I don’t suppose you have an idea how to pass… that?”

“Hi.” Athena replied, tone terse. Mina was an unfortunate conundrum. Unfortunate, namely because killing her hadn’t proven to be fruitful at all, so far. Every time, something came up - either they were in the middle of a library at school, or they’d gotten attacked by something that had proven to be far more necessary to deal with in the moment than Mina was. “So…” she raised an eyebrow, looking straight at Mina. “No, I do not. Otherwise I might have already gone by it.” Trolls weren’t something she was an expert in, but she did know enough to know that even if the troll seemed relatively unbothered at the moment that could all change in a second and that then they might both be in a bit of trouble. Don’t get a headache, she had to remind herself. Just deal with this whole situation. Troll and maybe even the fae, too. “It is quite a that, though, and it’s just about ruined my whole afternoon, how unfortunate.” She clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth.

Athena was one of those hunters that had the capability to make Mina feel small, even though she was the taller and older of the two. Mina had never carried herself with such confidence, even in situations that she thought she had some semblance of control over. This wasn’t a situation that she felt she had control over. She looked away from Athena, not particularly wanting to show that she was unsure about this. “Right.” She looked towards the bridge, towards the troll that seemed to be talking to itself, though Mina could hear other voices answering back from under the bridge. The only thing she really knew about trolls was that they were very, very distantly Fae (though, she didn’t think this particular kinship would matter) and that they were hard to kill. They’d do better off just trying to talk their way out of this. Or… they’d do better just turning around. “How do you want to go about this?” she asked. “I mean, would you like to turn around? It’s a troll. Those aren’t… fun to deal with. Or they like to make-- to make deals, maybe, so safe passage over the bridge?”

She hated trolls. They were stupid and bothersome and actually vaguely dangerous (though Athena had dealt with worse), not to mention they were a pain to kill. Mina would have been easier to kill. So much easier, even though she could hold her own surprisingly well. She didn’t like the fact that there were voices replying under the bridge. Being outnumbered wasn’t anything that truly fazed her, but it also didn’t mean that she liked it. “I mean, we can stab it.” A harsh giggle escaped her lips. “I’m good with a knife, and you know that we’re not in some children’s tale that my preschool told all wrong. Why would goats go over a bridge anyhow? Never mind, not the point. Also I don’t do deals. Not with anyone but those I trust, and especially not around you.” Athena frowned. “You’ve dealt with them before?” The question escaped her before she could stop it, but she was admittedly curious. The troll was grumbling now, and Athena took another step away from it.

“It’s skin is quite thick, otherwise stabbing it might work,” Mina said, considering the situation. “They’re practically made of rock. Not really! But there’s a lot of minerals in their skin. It’s best to go for the stomach, it’s more sensitive, but I imagine they’re aware of that fact and try to keep everything protected.” She shrunk in on herself, brushing a few fallen strands from her ponytail out of her face and looking away from Athena. Of course she wouldn’t make deals around Mina. Athena was smart. She was a good warden. She knew better than to be stupid. “Right,” she said, quietly. “Sorry. I could make a deal to make sure you can pass? Unless you want to stab it. I’m also good with knives.” Probably not as good, though, but still. “I helped my dad and a few others deal with one before, and it took a bit of time to take it down..” It followed her to its doom without even realizing it until it was too late. Troll body parts were pretty expensive, her dad had told her. He ended up making a pretty penny off of it.

“YOU THERE!” the troll called, causing Mina to jump. “YOU THERE COME HERE.”

“What a bummer,” Athena replied, voice just edging on the verge of whining, though not crossing over quite fully into that territory. “I was so hoping for a chance to use my knife.” She continued, pulling one out. Her lips curved into a smirk. “Yes, they just might be aware of that, though it might not hurt to try. You know?” Mina was shrinking away just a bit and Athena felt proud of herself for that, though it was hardly anything to make a big deal of. She knew she was good at being more collected than most, and she felt grateful that she hadn’t started to hear her parents’ voices again too much, yet. “It is just in your nature to try, it is no fault of your own.” She replied, her voice changing to one sickly-sweet and patronizing, “oh? Well, stabbing might be good. Otherwise I might have to find another use for these.” She didn’t hide her glance at Mina's neck and chest. “I might like to see how you do it.” She bit her lip, chewing on it for a moment. A moment that was cut quite incredibly too short by the troll’s voice, and she found herself stiffening.

“Which one of us?” She called out, crossing her arms over her chest, twirling the knife in between her fingertips. “We just want to pass, and I can make things so very difficult if you don’t let us, you know.”

“I mean, you’re welcome to try,” Mina said, swallowing down nerves. She’d worked with hunters like Athena, their words laced with malice and something harsh. The difference now was that they had known Mina was working with them. Athena probably still thought that she was a very unusual, very dangerous Fae. “The worst that could happen is that they kill us.” Athena for trying to stab them, Mina for allowing her to do so and not leaving. “Right. My nature.” But Athena really had no idea what Mina’s nature was. Or maybe she did, but she didn’t know how hard Mina fought against it all the time. There was no way to tell the other girl that and have her believe Mina. She could say that she spent her entire life fighting for people, and she’d probably still be accused of lying. Even when it was almost impossible for her to lie. She made eye contact with Athena after the intent of where those knives could go was clear. Oh no. This was not being careful, was it? This was willingly putting herself into a dangerous situation. The situation just so happened to be a short blonde girl twirling knives between her fingers. “Wait, do you want me to try too--”

“Me. My turn now.” And the figure on the bridge was jerked down and replaced with another. “YOU.” Pointing at Athena. “AND YOU.” Pointing at Mina, too. “COME HERE.”

“Maybe I will.” Athena giggled, though it was softer this time. Except she knew that at least some people had seen her with Mina, and though she doubted any of this could be directly traced back to her, she did have to give it a moment’s pause. “Well, it’s in their nature to do so anyhow, so I wouldn’t be surprised, even if they weren’t specifically provoked.” She gave a small murmur of agreement at Mina’s statement. No matter what confusion the fae made her feel, she was still fae and that wasn’t good. She might have been relatively well-behaved thus far but it was always relative, and Athena knew better than to let her guard down. She flashed her another grin as she made eye contact - at least she seemed to know her place. “I -” she began, though her words were quickly cut short by the trolls on the bridge.

“You know,” Athena began, taking a few steps forward, “I don’t especially like being told what to do.” She could hear the trolls grumbling and could also practically hear her brother sighing at her potentially angering a bunch of rock-monsters. “Did nobody ever teach you any manners?”

Feeling her heart plummet, Mina wondered just how smart it was to go about tempting a hunter like this, especially so soon after she’d been attacked by one. And she… It wasn’t that she necessarily liked Athena. The younger girl made her vastly uncomfortable at times, and made her feel small, and made her feel like she was so much younger, still working with her dad and an endless parade of hunters and slayers and wardens that hated her more than she hated herself. It wasn’t that she liked Athena; but she understood Athena. So she wouldn’t beg, if the younger girl decided to turn that knife on her. But she would run. “Athena, I know that you think I’m dangerous, but I promise I--” Once more, she was cut off by the sound of the trolls. She watched as Athena walked forward, and there was a part of Mina that considered just walking in the opposite direction, but she didn’t. She took a few steps forward of her own. She wasn’t going to leave Athena to deal with this alone. She couldn’t help but flinch at Athena’s words, though. Trolls were stupid, but that didn’t mean they should be antagonized.

“YOU KNOW NO MANNERS,” the troll grumbled back, his voice sounding like boulders tumbling down a mountain side. He was tall. Not the tallest creature ever, but he clearly towered over the warden and the fae, and that was clear to see even from a distance. “YOU WANT CROSS TROLL BRIDGE? YOU PAY TED’S TROLL TOLL.”

Athena’s smile was still cruel - and perhaps Mina didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t care. Maybe she could up and get rid of some trolls and a fae all in one fell swoop. “I do not think you are,” she rolled her tongue around in her mouth - over and over again - “well, you said it, not me. I’d say more of a pest than anything else.” Lydia had been dangerous. Mina - she was a nuisance. Athena still held her knife out in front of her. She killed flies and spiders with her hands or with shoes, but that wouldn’t work when the pest in question had a good few inches on her. “Do not promise. Do not use that word.” She could feel herself bristling. You’re weak. Her father’s voice. Not now. Please, not now. She had to concentrate. She had to, had to, had to.

She stiffened as the troll’s booming voice echoed through the forest. “I don’t pay tolls for this. This is a public space, so let us go by or else you might have a little more of a problem on your hands.” She spun the knife quickly between her fingers. “How does that sound?”

Leaning away from the knife, Mina muttered, “Right, just a bloody pest, then.” She was beginning to realize that she needed to leave. Athena was going to try and kill her, and Mina… she was supposed to be not ending up in these situations. But Athena hadn’t attacked her yet. She didn’t think she’d get a chance to explain herself, but she could at least try to prove to Athena that she didn’t need to die, that she’d actually really, really prefer it if she didn’t. “Sorry, sorry. I-- No promises, but, please, can’t we just make it across the bridge and go our separate ways and… I’d just like to get home,” Mina finished, quietly. “I have people I’d like to get home to with minimal injuries.”

“YOU CROSS TOLL BRIDGE, YOU PAY TROLL TOO,” the troll, Ted, apparently, shouted back at them, stomping his foot and causing the ground to shake.

“Sheisse,” Mina said under her breath, as she looked between Athena and the troll. To the warden, she said, “Why are you antagonizing them, there’s only two of us. We can’t take them on our own.” To the troll she called out, “What… what is the price?”

“WE WANT SOCKS. YOU GIVE US RIGHT SOCKS,” the troll yelled. “MUST BE RIGHT SOCK.”

“Yes. Exactly.” Athena clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Pest. Not a threat. I’ve dealt with worse.” Besides, you squish pests, which is what I should have done with you before. She could feel her whole body tense up, because she was bad, she’d let too many things go, and wasn’t even always hunting as much as she used to. She didn’t like to focus too much on that, but far, far too often it just came all flooding back to her, and sometimes, the fact that she wasn’t what her parents had expected of her (even though she did still hunt - heck, she’d killed that spriggan just the other month) felt like she was drowning. She couldn’t mess up here. “Yeah, well, we can see. Maybe you should’ve brought one of them with you.” Maybe that was too harsh to spit out, but she couldn’t help herself. Might’ve nearly been valedictorian, but that didn’t mean she was always careful with her words, just good at using them. Most of the time.

She steadied herself as the ground shook, before turning to Mina, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “I’m just being honest.” She replied, drawing out the ‘o’. “Isn’t that what you like? Honesty?” She turned to the troll. “Seriously? That’s - ew. What exactly are you gonna do with them, anyhow?”

Mina didn’t think Athena had dealt with anyone like her at all, but she decided against saying it. She was tired. “Not a threat,” she said, and the words were acrid. She didn’t believe them. She wasn’t going to hurt Athena, though. She’d been raised not to. She knew better. She stayed small, cowed. “How gracious of you. I appreciate you considering that.” Thinking about it, really, who could Mina have possibly brought with her? She said she had people to that cared about her, people to get home to, but she’d been distancing herself from the people that remained in her life. Instead, she said, “I guess I should have. Really did think this was just going to be a quiet run, though.” She sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Honesty’s fine, not antagonization. There’s at least two of them, and it’s bad enough to attempt taking on one.”

“NO EW. IT’S--” The troll stopped speaking and looked behind him, before disappearing under the bridge.

In his place, a much, much smaller troll stepped out, completely different from the other two. “It’s no ew!!! You give socks, I keep and let you go!”

Mina blinked. How strange. “And… you… just want our socks?”

“Right socks!” the tiny troll said. “You give right socks, and Ted let you pass his bridge!”

“Mmm,” Athena simply hummed in response. She knew that she really should just kill Mina and be done with it. Kill her, turn around, walk the other way. She didn’t need to go across the bridge, though the fact that horrible-ugly-grotesque supernatural creatures were blocking her way made her more keen to attempt it, to do it even if it wasn’t a must-do. She’d always been stubborn that way, climbing up play structures and trees with Dani, even when her brother told her all the ways that she could probably hurt herself. Which was outrageous, especially since she had far superior reflexes than just about anybody else she knew. “This town doesn’t always know the meaning of that, though.” She giggled. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand in the air.

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, knife still dangling between her fingers, Athena looked at the trolls as they had their exchange. “I’ve dealt with enough creeps in my time who like my clothing items.” She wrinkled her nose. “What are you going to do with them?”

How hard would it be for Mina to retaliate? She thought Athena was a good hunter. She thought Athena was dangerous. All of her life, she’d been taught not to hurt humans, even humans that threatened her. She wondered if she could snap Athena’s wrist before she could use those knives. She wondered if the knives would even hurt that bad. Wouldn’t be the first time she got stabbed with something iron. Mina had no doubt it would be the last. But she didn’t. She didn’t. She couldn’t. She just sighed. She was tired. She was so wretchedly tired, and she knew she wasn’t going to sleep, even if she did make it out of this without a tiny warden girl stabbing her in the forest. “One day, you’re going to come across someone who isn’t a pest, Athena. Hunting isn’t a game. I thought you’d know that.” She kept her eyes on the ground, though, and her voice quiet.

Mina turned her focus back to the short troll in front of them and called out, “Do… do all of you want socks or--”

“All?” the troll squeaked out. “Who is all? There is just we, just you and Ted.”

“But there’s two other trolls at least under the bridge, and--”

“Just Ted I am Ted!!” the troll said, his voice growing higher and higher with indignance. “You come here and give Ted socks or face the consequences!!”

“Kurwa mac,” Mina muttered, certain that both the warden next to her and the troll wouldn’t understand Polish. “Fine. I’m crossing the bridge, and I’m going-- going home.” Another lie, bitter in her mouth. She fought it down. She’d go somewhere. She started untying her right shoe.

“I do know that.” Of course she did. Athena narrowed her eyes. The very fact that Mina was even halfway implying otherwise was revolting and infuriating and she figured, for a moment, that perhaps she should just slit the fae’s throat and be done with it. Squish the pest, make sure she stopped talking and talking and even though Athena knew that Mina wasn’t being very loud or even especially long-winded (asking her about math got more out of her), it was still almost too much. But she was determined to not get a headache, even though that particular fight might end up being a losing battle, depending. She knew that she should be better - after all, she was an actual adult, and the fact that fae sometimes still gave her headaches was something that made her stomach twist itself into knots.

“All.” She raised an eyebrow. “I -” bit her lip for a moment. Because she needed to think. She wasn’t keen to give away socks to something, even if it would make for easier passage. The troll’s rising voice did make her ears hurt, but she pushed the feeling aside.

She wasn’t going to let them get the best of her. Athena knew she was better than that.

“I don’t think you’re going home.” She moved closer to Mina. “Why are you giving into their wishes anyhow? Just move on by.” Athena huffed, hearing the troll’s voice rising in pitch. “Don’t untie your shoe, come on, grow something of a spine.” She ran her tongue over the front of her teeth, picking up a stick. “What about this?” She waved it at the troll - she knew it likely wouldn’t do well, but it was worth an attempt. “I’ll give you this, you let us go, and then everyone’s happy.” She flashed them a bright, wholly fake smile.

“I just wanted to make sure,” Mina said, looking up at Athena with tired eyes. She wondered, if this became a fight, how long it would take her to hold the smaller girl off before she could run. She’d just have to keep the knives away from anything vital, possibly throw Athena on the ground. She could get away like that. She’d just have to be quick. At the very least, it’d be a nice work out. It’d be something to think about that wasn’t the ache in her chest that still hadn’t dulled.

Mina got up and leaned away from the smaller girl, but her eyes narrowed as she finally looked at Athena. “You caught me,” she said, the tone of her voice growing dry. “I’m not going home at all. Why, I’m headed out into the woods with the other Fae to lure unsuspecting humans into faerie rings so that we can have our wicked ways with them.” Mina was so tired. The lies scratched at her throat like nails. “The faster we give them our bloody socks, Athena, the faster we can leave. It’s that simple.”

Ted, meanwhile, was looking at the stick, the frown on his pinched little face almost comical. “Stick? You give Ted stick? Ted can get better stick! Give Ted sock or else!”

“Do you have a legitimate plan on how to deal with three trolls, or do you have a death wish? I’d really like to know,” Mina asked the younger warden.

“Oh, of course you did.” Athena shrugged. Mina looked tired - and if the warden were to be totally honest, she looked the way that Athena had felt more often than not in these past months. It was overwhelming, sometimes - the way that it could seem to nearly swallow her up. She hated it - but, the one positive of running into a fae in the middle of the woods was that for once, her own insecurities that gnawed at her were not the most bothersome thing around.

“Nice sarcasm, Mina.” She huffed. Athena knew it was an exaggeration - probably - but that didn’t mean that she appreciated what the fae was alluding to much at all. Especially because there were fae (too many fae) who did, or something similar (something worse) which made this not funny to make light of. “I still don’t want to. Why do they get to demand that we give them things? What happens when they want more than socks?” She sneered, voice turned mocking, “what about if they want someone’s arm or foot or more than that?” She didn’t think most trolls did that (she might have been set in her beliefs but she wasn’t entirely keen to over-exaggerate

usually.)

“Or else?” Athena whipped her head back to the troll. Then back to Mina. “I’m working on a plan.” She hissed. Her brother would probably give her whatever his version of an I told you so look was. She knew that angering trolls was, quite frankly, not smart, but she didn’t believe in regrets.

Except that she figured she might want to start, because one of the trolls (she hadn’t paid attention to their names - name?) was starting to walk their way with an angry look on his - its - face.

“Sarcasm? Who said anything about sarcasm?” Mina asked. She was playing a dangerous game, between the warden and the trolls, but she was beginning to care less and less the longer they stayed out there. “The implication of sarcasm makes it seem like I can lie, right? But I can’t. I’m really going to go out into the forest and lure people to their doom. Isn’t that what you want to hear?” Wasn’t Athena just looking for an excuse to attack? Well, there. Mina was giving her one. She wanted an excuse to get out of this situation, no matter what. “And what if they just want socks? I mean, really, I feel like, if they wanted an arm or a foot, they would have already asked.” She started turning in the direction of the Teds… the trolls. “Hey, would you prefer an arm or perhaps a foot? What about-- fuck!”

Ted, in all of his not even five foot tall glory, threw a small boulder in Mina’s direction. She ducked out of the way, moving closer to the smaller warden.

“Give Ted socks or leave!” the little troll said.

One of the other trolls came out from under the bridge. “LET TED HANDLE THIS. TED WILL DEAL.”

“No, Ted has this!” the smaller troll yelled back.

Mina looked at Athena. “How’s that plan coming along?”

“Exaggerating,” Athena practically hummed to herself. “I have no specified thing that I want to hear, Mina.” She sighed. She didn’t know why she was choosing to be actively honest with a fae (or, at least, as honest as was possible for her). She chewed her lip. She didn’t know why she hadn’t attacked Mina yet - it would have been so easy (so so so easy) but she couldn’t bring herself to. Her father would have been so displeased, and the thought of that made her stomach twist up in knots. “Could be leading up to it and -” she took a few steps away from the fae as she moved closer to Athena, but not before one of the trolls threw another rock in their direction, causing her to duck down.

The back-and-forth of all the Teds was becoming more and more bothersome by the moment. “Plan is going fine.” Sure, I didn’t take into account the whole rock throwing ordeal, but hey. I’m quick on my feet. “I just have to get to one of their stomachs, and then we’re good to go.” Athena ducked away from where Mina was, sneaking towards one of the more distracted trolls - or Teds, or whatever they were calling themselves now. She aimed one of her knives towards its stomach, but before she could send it into the creature, and this Ted had turned around and raised its arm, and Athena twisted away just before the troll’s fist came crashing down onto the ground.

“TED DOES NOT LIKE WHEN HUMANS DO NOT LISTEN.” It grumbled.

“You want a good excuse to stick that knife in me,” Mina said. “Not that you need one. Not that that’s stopped anyone. But it always makes people feel better to have a reason.” She’d always felt better when there was a reason for her dad and his cohorts to kill whatever supernaturals they were up against. She felt better when she thought that they were murderers, thieves, the worst of the worst. It made it seem like there was a reason for what they were doing. She was doing her duty, leading these people to their demise. It was a good thing. She wished it still felt like a good thing. “They were just asking for bloody socks. That’s the deal, and— Would you stop throwing things, please?!”

“TED GOT THIS. TED DEAL WITH PUNY HUMANS.”

“TED GOT THIS. TED THROW ROCKS.”

“No, Ted deal with puny humans!!” The smallest one was trying really hard to be heard, but it wasn’t working.

The trolls were closing in and clearly not listening to Mina, and Athena was attempting to attack their stomachs, but all three of the Teds were coming out from under the bridge. They bickered and ignored each other’s commands, much like Athena and Mina did. They all really thought they were one creature, Mina realized. They all thought they were Ted, but they were arguing over who got to be Ted. Clearly, they were used to fighting at all. Especially not with each other. Mina turned to Athena. “We shouldn’t go for the stomachs. We should use them against each other. Make them fight themselves and then make an escape.”

“I mean, yeah, obviously.” Athena didn’t see any purpose in denying it. For all that she drove her up the wall, Mina was intuitive enough and she did understand things, even if she’d been unaware of what Athena was for a good few months of the beginning of them knowing one another. Though that was part of the beauty of being a hunter - you could sense other species, but they didn’t have any sort of an idea of what you were - until it was too late. She didn’t like how Mina was talking to her. She could never understand why Athena didn’t want to just give in. Giving in made you weak, and she would never be that. “I guess it makes some people feel better.” She shrugged. “I’m just trying to deal with them, since you clearly seem incapable of doing so.”

She didn’t like how loud the trolls were. They were giving her more than a bit of a headache and unlike the children at Sunday School who sometimes managed that with how busy and noisy they could be, the trolls had no positive side to their headache-giving abilities. “Stomachs are how you deal with them.” She quipped back. “I’d prefer to be rid of them altogether.” Athena dug the toe of her shoe into the ground and rolled her shoulders back. “Besides, I want my knife back.” Except she did at least sort of maybe see the point in Mina’s idea. “What if they still attack us?” She grabbed another knife from by her ankle. “What then?”

“I’m just trying to give you a good excuse,” Mina said. “Get this over with. I know how this works. I’ve lived it. It’ll make you feel better to have an excuse.” And, if Athena attacked her, then Mina wouldn’t feel as bad about dealing with the trolls her own way and attempting to go back to her run. She knew how this was supposed to go; she should be deferring to Athena in this situation Athena was the proper hunter. Athena was the human. Mina should be listening to her. Instead, she was butting heads. She should stop. Instead, she gritted her teeth. “What you’re trying to do is get yourself killed, whether you realize it or not. There’s three of them and two of us, and one of you, Athena. They have size and strength. They don’t have brains. This isn’t about fighting them. It’s about outsmarting them.

“YOU NOT EVEN REAL TED. I TED.” The two bigger trolls were pushing each other, the sound of it like rocks running down a mountainside. The smallest one was jumping around them, trying to get them to pay attention.

Mina said, “Certainly, if there was only one of them or we had a hunting party together.” She looked at the knife in Athena’s hand and wanted to slap herself again for coming into the woods so under— There was a small iron blade in her shoe. She bent back down, pulling the shoe off enough to pull the knife out of the makeshift sheathe she’d built into the sole. The iron pricked her finger and burnt the tip, but she didn’t care. It felt nice to at least be armed. “If they still attack us, then we fight, but we’re outnumbered, and they’re significantly stronger than us. This is about survival, now, not hunting. We can agree on that, yes? And we can get your knife back, as well.”

“Aren’t you accommodating.” Athena rolled her eyes. Your existence is excuse enough. It was true, it was what her parents had always said. By virtue of existing, fae were a threat. Even if they behaved for a moment, there would always come a time when they didn’t, and so it was best to just do away with them when the opportunity arose. Preventative, the same as bringing bandaids or an umbrella or whatever it was she’d told her brother. “I’m not, I am just doing what I am supposed to do.” She narrowed her eyebrows. It was bad enough when her brother told her off - but a fae? Even if it was one as confusing as Mina was, she didn’t like it one bit. “Why not both- ?” She began, before being cut off by the trolls yelling.

They pushed at one another and she wished that they would just fall over the edge of a cliff but there were no cliffs in their immediate vicinity which was really unfortunate, right about now. Athena could have used that - especially because the trolls were arguing about what was likely one of the stupidest things possible.

She watched Mina bend over and remove a knife of her own, rolling her eyes. “It is about survival, sure, fine, but I’d also prefer to deal with the problem, because what about innocent humans who might come across them?” Athena scoffed. “What if they kill them? That’s on me, for letting them go.”

“Yes, well, I was raised to be,” Mina snapped back. This wasn’t the time or place to explain that she had just as much hunting experience as Athena. Maybe more, given that she’d travelled so much. Maybe less, given that she’d never killed anyone. Mina had the experience of time, of bearing witness to countless deaths. Athena had the experience of actual practice, execution. If they fought, Athena would follow through with her actions. Mina couldn’t say the same. She didn’t want to fight, anyway. She didn’t. She didn’t. “Is doing what you’re supposed to charging head first into a fight against three creatures who have size, strength, and most likely stamina on you? You’re really quite smart, Athena. I know you didn’t need me to tutor you. But that’s just stupid.”

“WHAT ABOUT YOU TAKE ONE AND TED TAKE OTHER?” one of the larger trolls said as the grappling stopped, albeit briefly. The little one was jumping up and down, still begging to be seen, to be heard, but the larger two of the three seemed to be getting scarily close to an agreement.

Mina gripped her knife a bit tighter. “I imagine that anyone else that comes across them would simply give the trolls their shoes and leave,” she said. “If you want to deal with the problem, I’d prefer you didn’t do it while I was here. I’m not going to leave you to deal with three trolls alone, but--” She sighed. “But I think it’s stupid to do this.”

“So was I. Just only to humans, oopsie daisy.” She giggled, a sharp contrast to Mina’s voice. Maybe she did that just because of how satisfying it was to be Mina’s opposite. Athena didn’t pay too much attention to that, because it didn’t really matter, not in the end. She still didn’t know a great deal about the fae’s past, and she frankly didn’t care so much to learn about it. That didn’t matter. “You’re right, I just wanted an excuse to get close to you.” There was no use in lying about that particular tactic. “I was acing that class even before you came around, but you offered, and so I just didn’t want to turn you down. Also, maybe it is what I’m supposed to -” her voice was cut off by the sound of the trolls arguing about taking them down and that absolutely wasn’t what she’d had planned. She’d have the reflexes to fend off a few more haphazard punches, but if they really tried - well, Athena certainly wasn’t keen to get squashed by a mountain. Not today, and not ever, if she could avoid it.

“So you don’t want to deal with the -” another rock, thrown by the smallest of the three, came zooming between them, “problem, but you won’t leave me to do so?” Athena rolled her eyes. “But you do know that leaving four monsters alive is quite a bit of an issue, don’t you?” She wove the handle of the knife between her fingers. “So what am I supposed to do about that?”

Mina laughed. There was nothing funny about this. “Coincidentally, so was I. Only to humans.” Oopsie daisy. Athena still treated this like a game. She treated this like it was something that could be enjoyed, laughed at. Was that what duty was to her? Was that what killing was to her? Mina didn’t understand. She wasn’t raised like that. Her training had always reminded her that it wasn’t a game. It wasn’t something to laugh at. “Right, well, congratulations. You did peg me rightly as a fool that would help you.” Mina had opened herself up from an attack, and yet Athena had never taken it. It was understandable that she wouldn’t attack while on campus, and Athena had made it abundantly clear that she wanted Mina dead. But she kept hesitating. Even now, Athena was hesitating. Mina didn’t understand it.

The trolls were still debating among themselves, but there wouldn’t be much more time before they reached a consensus.

“No, I won’t leave you to deal with this alone,” Mina said, her voice resolute. She didn’t care if Athena hated her. She didn’t care if Athena wanted to kill her. Mina refused to leave the younger girl to deal with this alone. “Four? But there’s-- oh.” Right. Mina was the fourth monster. She was a monster. She forgot that, sometimes. Swallowing, she looked down at her feet before looking back at Athena. “What do you want to do about it? Decide quickly. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Figures.” Athena rolled her eyes. She still didn’t know much about Mina’s history, but she did know that some aspects of it had been atypical. Or something. She only knew that she didn’t really care enough to actually learn the truth behind it. She knew that her parents wouldn’t have approved of the laugh, but she couldn’t help herself. “I mean, you offered. You know there’s others out there who’d stab you in public. Who don't care so much about public image as I do.” She’d never been this honest with Mina before, but the incessant yelling of the trolls was really starting to get to her. She was weak - she’d stopped being golden the second her parents had come into the kitchen on her and Rio’s twenty-first birthday. The thought made her stomach turn and she pushed it aside - box it up, ignore it, bury yourself in blankets when you’re back in the apartment. If she were still golden she’d up and stab Mina right in the heart and then deal with all the trolls, no matter the outcome.

So why wasn’t she?

“You - because of duty?” Her words still had a bite, but it was weaker, more tired. “Four.” She repeated. Three trolls and a fae who would have-could have-should have been a friend were she an actual hunter. Athena glanced over at the trolls. I want to kill them. “I want to kill them.” She huffed, blowing a few strands of hair out of her face. “But I’ll settle for injury.”

“You’re not--” Mina cut herself off, frustrated. Athena wasn’t going to listen to her. She wasn’t going to care. Nothing Mina said mattered. She couldn’t even goad Athena into a fight. She sighed, thinking about the warden who had attacked her in front of Rio out in the woods, how he hadn’t cared at all about another presence, how he’d attempted to kill Rio, too. “I’m well aware that there are plenty of people out there that would attack me in public, I assure you. I do appreciate you not attacking me in front of my colleagues.” Though, it was just as much for Athena’s benefit as it was for Mina’s. Athena struck Mina as someone who did care about her public image quite a lot. There’d be no furthering her education if she went to prison for murdering a TA on campus.

“Yes, because of duty,” Mina said. Why did everyone say it like that? Even Athena, someone who should understand duty said it like that. Maybe it was just about Mina being Fae. She hated being Fae sometimes, most of the time. She closed her eyes tightly. She didn’t want to deal with trolls. She opened them, looking at Athena. The younger girl looked tired. Mina almost told her to join the club. “Alright, fine, you want to injure the bloody trolls? Then let’s injure the bloody trolls.” She looked back to where the trolls were still arguing, trying to figure out which of them was the real Ted. That didn’t matter, in the end.

“Yes, of course.” Athena sighed. “Wouldn’t want the department to have to waste time finding a new TA.” She could tell Mina was annoyed, and well - if she couldn’t kill her, then maybe she could settle for just driving her up the wall. She figured her brother would probably say she was equally as good at that as she was at hunting. In another life, she might have complained about that but she couldn’t bring herself to be so bothered by it now - not if it would benefit her. Even if not too many people knew she was connected to Mina, and even if they were in the middle of the forest, she couldn’t bring herself to kill the other fae.

Maybe another time. She tossed her hair over her shoulder again. Besides, it’d have to be quick now and she’d prefer for it to not just be a stab-and-go.

“Divine power too,” she said, voice softer. Divinethebestthemostdeservinggolden. For a moment, Athena couldn’t catch her breath, but then she let it steady again. Everything was fine. Everything had to be fine, no matter what her personal opinion on that was. Personal opinions weren’t something she had about this, because too much thinking just got her in trouble. It was why she’d almost gotten squashed by the trolls and why she hadn’t just done away with the fae in front of her. “Yes. I’d like something good to come out of this. Have you ever injured a troll before?”

“You’d be surprised with how hard it is to fond and keep TAs at UMWC, especially in the maths department,” Mina muttered. She and the three guys she shared an office with were the last line of defense in a revolving door of graduate students in the department that had somehow managed to survive this town. If they didn’t annoy her on a regular basis, she would almost be endeared to them. If Athena didn’t annoy and terrify her in equal measure, she might be endeared to her, too, after tutoring her for so long and because she was another hunter. Instead, she was just annoyed and tired.

“I don’t do divinity,” Mina said. “There’s duty. There’s a code. And anything that follows is second. But, sure. Have you divine power.” She’d never met any hunters that were so steadfast in their believe that it was the divine that gave them their abilities, but sure. She could see them believing that. It made sense. As much sense as anything else she’d been told over the years. Mina wasn’t taught to put stock in divinity. There was only herself and her obligations and, before, the knowledge that humans were good and everything else was bad. She’d changed that line of reasoning, but she still believed in her duty. “I’ve…” She’d run distraction while other people had stabbed a troll. “I’ve got a good aim. If I can see where to aim at, I can probably throw a knife hard enough to injure.”

“I don’t know if I’d be that surprised. So many people go missing.” She muttered right back. Athena was practically positive that only Mina could hear what she was saying - for one, because she doubted that the trolls could fully comprehend anything halfway resembling complex language, and for two, because her voice was barely above a whisper. Unless there was a beast hunter nearby, nobody else would be able to hear.

“All three.” Athena gave another shrug. Her parents had always remarked that she and her brother were blessed with a divine ability, and that said ability permitted them to do their duty. It wasn’t what every hunter believed, but it felt comfortable. Solid, even when other things felt more fragile. She needed something to hold onto, because otherwise she knew that she’d feel like she was drowning. Even if holding onto her parents’ words perhaps kept them in her mind more than they should have been, she needed it. It made her feel like who she’d always been. “Works for me.” She quipped back. “If I can’t kill, I need to do something. I can’t just… walk out of this without doing something.”

“Yes, well, it’d be a shame to add to that number, wouldn’t it?” Mina asked, hoping to still try to appeal to the part of Athena that cared about her public image. Would it work? She didn’t know. Even if she made it through this encounter, Mina had no doubt Athena would try to kill her again. Or at least corner her and attempt to annoy her to death. The younger girl seemed to have a knack for that.

“Sure. Fine.” Mina couldn’t understand Athena’s logic, but she supposed that’s what it was; an absence of logic. It made no sense to believe in such things. Then again, wasn’t she starting to slowly think that Deirdre might be onto something about the idea of Fates? She didn’t know. “Then let’s do something, yes. We hit what we can and run for our bloody lives, and we can both live to have you threaten me at knife point another day.”

Reaching down and picking up a rock, Mina threw it at the closest Ted. “Hey! Only the real Ted would be able to come after us,” she called out, hoping to goad them into action. Her hand tightened on her knife. The three trolls looked up, ceasing their arguing. And then they immediately started charging forward, pushing and shoving at each other in their haste to get to the warden and the Fae.

“I suppose so.” Athena tapped her fingers against her thigh. It was true that enough people went missing (or died) at the university, and it was also true she’d been the reason behind at least some of them - and given that she and Mina had been seen together there was part of her that knew killing her would make it almost too easy to point fingers. Though she wasn’t the only warden on campus - and she’d always been good at faking things, after all.

“It’s how I was raised,” and perhaps, if Athena thought about it too much, it didn’t always make sense - but then again, it had to, didn’t it? If she didn’t hold onto that belief then where would she be left? She didn’t like to think about that, about the foundation of who she was being pulled out of her. “Works for me. It’d be a real honor to hold you at knifepoint without trolls around.” She managed to fight back the giggle that time, instead flashing a smirk at the fae.

At Mina’s words, the trolls began running toward them and Athena took a few steps back, holding out another one of her knives. “She’s right, you know. Only the real one can do anything about us intruders.” The sounds of the trolls pushing against one another sounded like the clattering of rocks and boulders, and she took a small glance over to Mina. “Ready?”

“We’re all just a product of our raising, aren’t we?” Mina asked, her voice dulled. Athena didn’t realize just how similar their raisings were. Except, where Athena was taught that she had some sort of divine purpose, Mina was taught that, if there was a divinity, she was nowhere near it. Her purpose was to serve and die serving, not for a god but for people. She still took that to heart, even if she’d adjusted just what it meant to be a person. “I’m sure, and there’s really just nothing I’d like more,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice, the tone foreign. She’d never used sarcasm; it was basically lying. But, then again, Mina had been lying a lot, lately. It only somewhat turned her stomach.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Mina said, looking down at the one knife that she had, looking up to the trolls fighting for a taste of blood. Off all the situations, and with all the people, she didn’t expect to be facing down a group of trolls with Athena. Mina steadied herself, her heart, and prepared to throw at the first opening and run. Run from the trolls, and run from the girl that might still try to kill her if given the chance. She’d really rather live another day, if it was all the same to everyone around her.

#chatzy: athena quinn #bad blood #emotional abuse tw #:----)

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