#praevii

Such a simple sentence, maybe even uttered before. In a family setting perhaps. But in this one? It only gave Otto a headache.

Her arms were remarkable, not unlike his but at the same time so different! Where his were cold and mechanical, sharp and edged, hers were sleek, elegant. In no way did he believe even for a second she could be any less deadly than he, being an Octavius as she claimed -- but it struck him as odd how they seemed to suit her in a way.

“Quite an entrance.”

His poker face gave nothing away, but he was indeed staring behind his goggles. Excellent physical condition, just as accomplished as he was in the way of enhanced prosthetics, polite -- He wasn’t sure he was entirely fond of this new... variable.

Competition always made things more complicated.

“Otto. Pleased to meet you.”

“Though, sidetracking -- with a spectacle like that, I’m not entirely sure our company will be pest-free for long. Can you walk?”

They could both take him. They could certainly both take him. But did Otto want to share the victory with anyone? He wasn’t entirely sure, still, what to think about her.

“I miss that babysitter, I don’t like this new kill-y one.” Peter complained, launching another one of his webs at her, tangling an arm. 

His tone was a mix of genuinely hurt and still laughter, keeping as far away from her as he could. Octopi, always so grabby...

“And you can’t just-- you used the same pun I did! That’s totally uncool -- Think of something else or laugh, we practice squid pro quo around here lady.”

If this were any other interview, Jack wouldn’t have been at all nervous--with her grades and skills, it wasn’t as if she had anything to worry about. But this was Alchemax, and an internship here meant more than one elsewhere, because the chief research subject at this lab was the multiverse itself. It was perhaps the only place in the world, beyond Miss West’s school, that might have the information she needed to open her door again.

   Today on ‘why is Peni in here again’, Peni has just sorta... slammed a box down on Olivia’s desk. A smaller version of one of her tentacles is stuck to the top, flailing madly with a knife taped to the end of the tentacle.