Sasha curled into a tighter ball, keeping herself as small as she
could. It had been a while since the last assassin came looking for
her. She knew another would come soon but she didn't want to be
found. Didn't want to watch as another would be murderer turned to
stone, making her the bad guy yet again. Her long hair blanketed
ber back, most of the snakes sleeping. She'd leaned most of her
mothers tricks before she lost her. But this one had always been
troublesome. Sasha was prone to feeling passionately, and the
snakes responded to the heightened emotions. Of course, that left
people running in fear of her as soon as she'd started her
transformations. Now a young woman, she was older then her great
grandmother had been when Poseidon had attacked her and Athena had
only punished their family further. Sasha had no love for the gods
who had destroyed her life before she was even an idea. And she
would be all too happy to turn their cruel hides to stone. Let them
come for once. Let them try to attack her. Instead of the
frightened or worse, self righteous or arrogant jerks who came to
kill her. For now, she was content to hide in her small den. Away
from the accusatory glares of the stone people beyond the opening.
Agathe had lost her way again. She was stumbling and fumbling along
trying to find shelter. Her face held fresh bruises and small cuts
from the stones that were thrown at her. The rest of her had other
bruises from sticks, stones, shoes, and anything else that could be
used to hit or be thrown. She could hear the voices of animals as
though they were human. She would be run out of town for fear of
other catching her insanity when she was found having a
conversation with a dog or a horse. Being blind made it difficult
to find the owner of a voice, and so few people talked to her, so
she would talk to anyone who wanted to which led to problems such
as the one she was running from. Her grey eyes stood out against
her tan skin, which would be quite fair if it lacked the bruises
and cuts which were frequently replaced and renewed. Her deep brown
hair was very short. It had to stay that way. Her hair would always
get pulled on, so she'd find a sharp rock or a knife and would cut
it. This time the people had made things worse. They had put her in
a boat and sent her off into the sea. She was only on the water for
maybe an hour until her feet found dry land. She wasn't sure if it
was the gods or some devil that had guided her here, but she was
grateful to have not drowned. In her stumbling she tripped and
landed on something cold. A large flat stone. Like it was a step.
Slowly she found her way up and found herself at the doorway to
some sort of building. She needed to get out of the scorching sun
and the cool stones were comforting to her aching feet. Easing
herself into the building she jumped and bumped into something as a
bird cawed outside. Crash!
Sasha jumped at the sound of the crash. Quite an accomplisment
considering the weight of her tail. Her pale skin turned even more
pale. Someone was there! Mentally kicking herself, she bemoaned the
fact she hadn't gone fishing earlier. To make matters worse the
snakes had all woken up. And were hissing around her head. Trying
not to flinch, she couldn't help but wince when one head bit
another. Keeping her hands down, she didn't dare try to tame them.
Not when they were still groggy and hungry. Peeking out, she tried
to spy the intruder. Maybe...maybe it was a bird or
something...maybe she would get lucky and not be the cause of
someone's death.
Agathe tried to work herself around the mess she had just made, and
she was silently praying that no one lived here. She kept a hand on
the wall as she thought she had gotten past all the pieces, but
nope. She stepped on a large piece and slipped. It didn't cut her
foot, but the fall definitely hurt. Not her pride. She didn't have
much if any of that left. She rolled to her stomach to get up and
snapped straight up as she heard quiet voices. She'd been found.
"H-hello?" Her already quiet voice cracked as she turned around
trying to locate the voices and hear what they were saying. "I-I
don't, I didn't mean to intrude... I'm sorry about the pottery... I
didn't mean to knock it over... I," She swallowed the nervousness
that was holding her tongue. "I didn't see it..." She never really
liked to play the blind card since she never really liked pity.
The intruder was apologizing? That was a new technique to get her
out in the open. Sasha's forked tongue flicked out, tasting the
air. There was blood. Whoever was out there was hurt. But was it a
trap? "I-It's okay. I didn't like that vase. Um...you can just
leave it there. I-I'll clean it later. Just d-don't come near. I
don't want anyone to get hurt. Er, hurt any further. I don't hurt
anyone here. I just live peacefully. So you can go someplace else.
I would never hurt someone on purposd!" She called out, peeking out
and looking around. Seeing the woman not too far away, Sasha
cringed. She was too close for comfort! Why was she here? "You need
to look away. Back towards the place you came, okay? No more
towels. Just...just...go back to where you came from. Take your
weapons and the lies the gods told you and go. My great-grandma did
nothing wrong and neither have I! I can't make people listen to me
and go away when I say don't look. I didn't hurt no one!" She
gasped, scared and desperate not to hurt someone this time. Maybe
if she curled deeper into her den. Her scars were proof of that.
They didn't make it long after that. Thinking her dead, they always
looked. Those who got close enough to try to kill her turned to
stone shortly after. She had never physically laid a hand on
people. Not yet, at least. But there would be a day...ever since
that no good god of the sea chose to force himself on her
great-grandma, the woman in her line carried daughters they had not
planned to have. She would be no different. Athena had seen to
that. Blinking back tears, she tried desperately to get her hair to
quite down. Just because she had made it the longest without
someone trying didn't mean it'd stay that way. Though, this voice
hadn't been masculine. It could be a trick. Reaching up, Sasha
tried to call her hair down. Only to yelp in pain as the meanest of
the group bit her hard. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she fought
off the pain.
Weapons? Lies? What was going on here? And then this new voice let
out a pained sound, the quiet voices suddenly increased in
intensity, but she still couldn't hear them. Against what she
should probably have done Agathe stayed where she was. "A-are you
okay?" Even if she wanted to she wasn't entirely sure where the
entrance was. In her scramble she lost her direction. "I-I'm lost
and, well," She didn't want to say she was blind. She hated
admitting her weakness. She wasn't a beggar and never would be. She
was looking in the direction the voices came from and she took a
step in that direction. "I can't go back where I came from... Even
if I wanted to..."
"No...I'm not okay...I just want to live in peace..." Sasha asked
once she'd gotten control of her voice. She slid a bit closer to
the opening of her den, peeking out. She spotted a figure moving
about the stone. "You are...lost in here? Do you promise not to
hurt me? And keep your eyes closed...you can't look at me. Whatever
they told you, it was a bunch of lies. I can't stop it. I can't
choose who I turn to stone.if you look, you turn to stone. If you
promise not to look and not to hurt me,I can lead you back
out...but you don't have anywhere to go, do you? Why not?"
"I, I am lost... No one told me anything about this place... I
don't know where I am or who you guys are..." Agathe still heard
the faint whispers, but couldn't tell what they were saying. "I
haven't hurt anyone in my life, and I intend to keep it that way."
She sighed slightly and held one of her arms, rubbing it a little.
"No... No where to go... I'm," Which word should she use? She'd
been called so many. "I'm a monster... A demon... A witch..." Her
voice broke again but thankfully no tears fell. She had turned
towards where the female voice had come from, having not paid any
mind to the instruction to not look. Her skin would be quite fair
if it didn't have so many scratches and bruises, and her grey eyes
reflected nothing of her surroundings yet somehow held a kindness
within.
"'You guy's? It's just me here. The statue's..don't count. I doubt
you are a monster. Not more then I am...witches aren't bad. Not by
nature. What they choose to do defines if they are bad or not,"
Sasha said, then gasped and cried out for her to stop when the
strange woman turned and looked at her. "No! You will turn to
stone!" She sobbed, ducking back into her den in horror. She'd done
it again! "Why didn't you listen...why do people always look..."
She whispered.
After the outburst Agathe stayed quiet a moment before moving
towards the sound of the voice again, this time being right at the
corner. She put her back against the wall and sat down. "Why are
you crying?" She asked very softly so as to not startle whoever the
voice was. She had no fear of the potential risk of this person
killing her. If they did they'd be doing her a favor. She wouldn't
have to live in constant fear of being beaten for accidentally
speaking to a cow and getting stoned for it.
Sasha was so stunned, she slithered out and hunted down this
strange woman who most definitely was not a statue. "...you are
alive....how are you alive? Please, don't go! I'm sorry for
sounding angry earlier I just...people think I am a cruel monster.
By I am a victim of fate and the gods. I don't want to hurt people.
But when they look at me, into my eyes, they turn to stone. I can't
help them...but you didn't! You are still alive!" She whispered,
watching her from behind a statue. She had positioned herself so
that only her torso showed. Her hair wiggled around her head, the
snakes excited as she was. "Despite my looks, I am not evil...at
least, I try not to be..."
Agathe turned once again towards the voice. "Either by sheer luck
or curse from the gods is how I'm still alive." She chuckled
slightly and shook her head. "I don't judge people by looks, I
judge by actions if I judge at all." The faint smile that pulled on
her lips faded almost as soon as it came. "People think I'm evil
and will curse them or turn their animals against them." Then she
chuckled, her grey eyes blinking slowly as she moved her head
trying to focus more on the voice. "Perhaps we're not too different
in that respect?" Her blindness was obvious at this point as she
tried to step but stumbled over one of the pieces of broken
pottery. She hissed as she felt the pain from the cut on her foot
that had started bleeding.
"Hold still," Sasha said, coming closer and putting her hand on the
woman's. "I can lift you up and away from all of the sharp pieces.
Then we need to get this cleaned. May I pick you up? I...I
have...scales...and a serpent tail. My...d-d-don't touch my
hair...it is...snakes. And sometimes they bite when I get
excited...like right now. Because you can't see! You have no idea
how happy that- oh no...I am so incredibly rude! I'm sorry, I
didn't mean it malicious or mean. It's just...maybe...maybe I can
be friends with you if you are willing to forgive my rudeness."
"Y-your hair is snakes?" Agathe said slowly as she stared at her
feet. "So those are the voices I was hearing..." She thought about
it for a minute before nodding. "Y-yeah, you can pick me up... I
hate not being able to see sometimes..." She chuckled. She hated
not being able to see almost all of the time. She hated being seen
as weak. She hated n- Wanted to be friends? "You, want to be
friends?" It took her a moment to process that. "With me? I don't
have any friends... Come to think of it I don't have anything..."
She decided then and there that she did, she wanted to try. "I've
never been really angry at anyone, and there's not much to forgive.
In the short time that I've known you, you've already been nicer to
me than anyone else. You tried to keep me from turning to stone,
and now you're asking if it's okay with me if you can pick me
up..."
Sasha smiled, her arms hooking under the young woman's armpits as
she picked her up. "Yes. I want to be friends. I don't have anyone
else either. I had my mom...but...she has been dead for a couple
years now...all I wanted growing up was a friend. I can't hurt you
on accident. And you don't think I am a monster! Of course I would
like to be friends. And it is always nice to ask for permission
before just doing it. I only put my hand on yours so you knew where
I was and could help steady you. I figured it outweighed being
polite." Once they were far enough away, Sasha set her down. "Go
ahead and sit down. Nothing is close enough to hinder you sitting.
I just need to grab the kit then I can clean up your foot."
Agathe didn't want to grab onto anything since she was concerned
about accidentally grabbing this snake woman's hair. "I never had a
mom... Or a dad... I just remember, well, being. Polite and
permission are words that I've honestly never really heard... I
know what they mean, but," She'd never been around them. No one had
ever asked her permission for anything, not one bothered to be
polite to her. She'd been more like a moth than a butterfly. Just
something that's there. An annoyance. She settled herself against
the wall more securely and she smiled. "I won't be going anywhere."
After a pause she spoke again. "Thank you."
"I'm smiling," Sasha grinned, hurrying to go grab the kit. "Though,
I am sorry about your parents. They should have been there...my
father, well, the men in general of my family since my great
grandpa on my mom's side have been jerks. I hate my father. But
more then just him...I am not really used to kindness either. Not
from people who are not my mom. Everyone who comes here is pitch
forks and torches...or just trying to cut off my head so they can
use it to destroy others..." Heading back to the woman with the kit
in hand, Sasha settled down. "Okay. I'm going to touch your ankle
and foot to clean it. Just water. Then I am going to dry it with
some cloth before putting on a herbal cream and covering it with a
bandage. That okay?"
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