In The Grass

With special reference from Selene Hellian (lyrics)

## Content Information

Arsling carried her CD player and her sword Mighty Brid into a clearing to practice, after two years of being armed mainly with a pencil she was worried about her rustyness with the blade

She put the CD player down and looked in her jacket holding two CD cases, one of Tally Hall and the other Queen of the Night, glancing around Arsling puts in Queen Of The Night before stepping back and practicing a few swings

*Something projected a blurry image of Arsling in deep practice. It moved carefully, blending into the rustle of dead leaves from the pasting of winter. It stopped as it peered around the tree and remained in observation, broadcasting its vision to a certain individual.*

That individual was none other than an Afro-greek with her moderately long dreads, and a face filled with determination and a touch of justifying anger. Iva had confirmed her suspicions about the nature of certain power around a target. She was right, and now..she was already setting up a playing field to gather what is needed, to hopefully set things right or at least on the path.  While she admired Arsling for praising her moral standards, she can hope that the girl will understand that what she’s doing now is based on those same good moral standards.

Iva was wearing a set of jeans and a thick hiking jacket that she keeps for walks in the forest. This place is home to a lot of snakes and they cuddle up to her. Today, she called for a favor. She approached towards the direction of Arsling, having a nice little hike off-trail.

Arsling was distracted her training was her main focus, followed swiftly by just enjoying music she really wants to hate, though obviously she couldn’t deny the smile on her face if anyone was around but as far as she was concerned she was alone with her thoughts and while her thoughts weren’t the best company she could ask for she was certainly enjoying herself

“I make the paradise, I ain't playing nice..”

The footsteps came closer, almost blending into the steps Arsling made during her training. Iva can hear every footstep and feel nearly most of the motions against the forest floor. She can heard the album song playing vaguely, but she remembers the song enough to sing it out casually as Arsling was coming into view

“Cuz, your mine. Oh, baby,  I'm The Queen Of Night!”

Iva was not hiding that she was singing it, and was not being subtle about it and knowing that Arsling was enjoying the hell out of the song. She had leaned against the tree as she belt out that last part of the bridge perfectly.

Arsling was startled, scrambling towards the CD player pressing buttons skipping a few songs ahead before managing to take the CD out before stumbling back into the middle of the clearing very red in the face “jesus...Iva? Man you've got good vocals on you, but you can’t be sneaking up on girls with swords in the middle of the woods like that, i could’ve cut meself” Arsling says  stabbing the sword into the ground “this your clearing? If so i don’t mean to intrude i just wanted somewhere to practice my swordplay”

“Nah, I decided to walk off the trail and heard noises. I got closer and found “Queen of the Night” blazing through the forest and had to investigate.” Iva said calmly, not sharing that she knew about the girl practicing for some time. “Never took you for a swordswoman. I took you more for a ‘pen is mightier’ type of gal.

Arsling snorted at the pen is mightier comment “i wish i could be a pen gal, well technically i have been for the last few years, but eh nothing wrong with knowing a little self defence, plus Mighty Brid here is really cool right?” Arsling says genuinely trying to strike casual conversation and definitely gloss over the fact that she was listening to Queen Of The Night .

Iva took notice of the sword. While her sisterhood wasn't fond of swords, due the tragic story of Medusa, it was still an impressive piece of steelwork. “Yes, it looks pretty authentic. A question forms in my head on whether you acquired such a piece, but that’s a story for another time.”

“The more glaring word in my mind right now is self-defense. When I heard that, most would turn to a gun or taser or proper training with fighting. Even improvised fighting would be a common thing. A sword is a bit overzealous for self-defense, don’t you think? No offense, I’m actually kinda concerned if a sword is required.”

Arsling chuckles nervously almost off put by the questioning glancing over the blade “yeah but at the same token most people won’t go for a girl with a sword on her hip, i don’t wanna use it i see it more as a ‘back ye bastard’ kinda self defense” Arsling is a bad liar its a half truth, in truth she doesn't want to use it but this thing definitely isn’t just for getting people to back off that thing is sharp after all it cut cold hard dirt like butter

“While that is true, it’s not something that would normally fly with campus security or school rules. Otherwise, wouldn’t you be able to practice in a more official area, like the sports building? Also, I doubt you have that with you for a scare of would-be attackers. Those swings weren’t the one of an amataur. They’re more of someone who fights for a war or has prepared for one.” Iva calmly stated, as if it was a normal thing. She wouldn’t tell Arsling outright that she knows what was going on because she wanted to avoid connecting anyone for their safety. She doesn't know Arsling’s reasoning behind the incidents surrounding her and hopes to break this ice clean and gently before coming at it with a sludge.

Arslings body language becomes defensive “look i...look i was trained by my mam and she taught me properly, sometimes it's kinda hard to unlearn her teachings ok? Look its a ‘just incase’ kinda thing in last 2 years i only would’ve needed this a few times, trust me miss SGA President i don't plan to slaughter the student population” Arslings tone slowly increases in aggression as she feels somewhat offended by some of the implications she's picked up from Iva’s words

“That was a quick and abrupt bit of defensive aggression. I’ll forgive it, but I do want you to understand something. You should probably relax and stay still. I don’t want you to get in trouble because something acts in self defense.”

As she says this, there was a hiss, followed by rattling, several rattlings and hisses.  The forest floor was snakes...lots of them.  Venomous or no, they had made their way through the underbrush near and around the clearing while the two were talking. They were close enough to strike and enough for one to hit before Arsling could approach Iva or run away.

“Let me correct your assumptions of me. I came here because I was worried about you, just as much as I’m worried about the student body. It’s that selfless moral ground that I will have to curse myself in the long run.  Since you admitted a possibility of concern, I will say it. There were unsettling rumors about you, Ms. Broganson. Those that stress out certain people in the school. I, personally, want to believe in you, so I’m meeting you like this to learn more on your point of view.”

Iva closed her eyes, removing her sunglasses from her face, “Because of that, I will admit to you, as a show of cooperation.  I’m connected to those that are ‘different’. Not by choice, my family was cursed by a god in such a way that’s never going to be dispelled. I had come into terms with it. The fun thing about it, is that a certain type of animal likes me too much, as you can see.”  Her eyes were opened, narrow-slotted. “However, my family was hunted like a prized animal or beast of legend to be killed, and never once have they thought that they killed someone who had dreams and values of their own. I was even betrayed by my own friends who shared my bed for money. So you do understand my need for this even ground and being quite heavy handed.”

It was never easy to admit Iva’s trauma and keep a straight face, but she had gone through her tears prior to this planned encounter.

“Now, that being said. Thank you everyone, I’ll call you if I need you.” With those words, the snakes retreated away from the two and from view. There was no mistake that she was still well guarded by her friends if the need arose, but their presence was not as obvious as before.

“Now, sorry about that. I sense something trying to influence me when we met in the dorms. However, it could not implore me with its influence as strongly because I don’t have something that it wants me to do, am I guessing this right?”

Arsling tried to bring a smirk to her face but the fear in her eyes overpowers any display of confidence her mouth tried to summon “Gorgon, powers of petrification and general snake friendliness, and with no way to convert me my curse can’t influence you significantly, and i have no intention of hurting something that isn’t hurtin me, so if you could send your friends of and let me get back to practicing...wait rumours...huh word gets around fast doesn’t it?” Arsling says grabbing the sword and throwing it into a tree before sitting down cross legged “i'm not a killer Iva im just a victim of a curse, like you but instead of humans wanting me supernaturals do, our boats ride the same ocean darling, you wouldn’t want somebody stripping you of who you are would you?” Arsling asks trying to present herself as not a risk

“Our boats ride the similar boat but different methods of sailing and very different directions” Iva quickly retorted. “If I was riding the same way you are, I might have to kill humans left and right if it means to break my family from a god’s curse, and that’s something that my family decided not to do. Why? Because we thought ourselves better than sea god who didn’t have the decency enough not to force himself on an unwilling woman.”

A sigh escaped Iva’s lips,  “This curse compels others to convert you with no off switch. I know that now.  I know you’re not a killer by intent or this aura is not your special power that you chose to use, however killing is still killing. If you knew the way to stop it without causing any lost life, why would you take it? Why wouldn’t you take it?”

“That depends what you mean by lost life, is it lost life if someone becomes something they’re not, if their mind is twisted, my curse doesn’t have as sympathetic an origin, my ancestor Fergal Broganson wanted to be a Cu type of warrior, a hero of legend, he was an idiot and a narcissist, he tried to sell his own daughter Brona to a fae king for power and strength, when the time came he killed the fae king and got the family blood cursed, fast forward 8 genrations and there's me, little sixteeen year old girl with these stupid pigtails and her mam, few weeks after my sixteenth my mam was turned, and i mean completely turned she was just a creature of destruction wearing her skin, all the real compassion and love drained like her blood, she wanted to make me like her...i was forced to kill her…” Arsling says all this her tone slowly gaining more sadness as it goes on

“Thiers an out, if i let myself get turned, let a vampire make me their servant or a werewolf their pup, but it would make it all mean nothing, it would make my mothers death mean nothing and all the deaths that followed as well, not only that i just wouldn’t be me anymore, i might as well just die in that case if some new woman goes walking away” Arsling says seriously towards Iva

“Let me say something to you. First off, don’t ever think what *you* decide will make your mom’s life, death or anything mean nothing. She spared you from the fate of being something unpleasant and I bet she held back in her attempts to turn you because. . .She loved you despite the change and wanted something better.  Also, she *gave* birth to you, and protected you all that time despite her difficulty dealing with a curse, caused by an idiot who had the stones to break an oath with the fae.  What she protected was not your humanity, but your ability to choose what goes forward for you. My mother protected me from my curse until she could no longer stop it from manifesting for fifteen years. Only the gods know what means she went though to make that happen, but I do know I had fifteen years of good times. ” Iva pushed herself off the tree.

“Second of all, don’t assume that being transformed is a lost life. That’s a faulty logic. There are some humans that I know changed, accepted, moved forward, but never lost themselves. Yes, it  has its difficulties, but life is still life, whether it be human, vampire questionaly, werewolf, and whatever. Life is Life with the same values and dreams as before. I’ll say this. I believe you’re strong enough to keep yourself as yourself despite what happens, but to say that you lost your life because of a change of yourself is a saying of a …” *coward.* Iva paused, not wanting to speak out that last word. “Aside from that, I believe you have friends on this campus that would follow you though should you make that decision. You do seem like a welcoming kind of girl who can easily make friends. I just don’t want you to experience the blood of someone you grew close enough to call a friend or more than a friend on your hands out of self-defense. It’s not pretty and sometimes...it breaks...people, sometimes to the point of no return.”

Iva’s words trail off as she says something that came from experience. Her face was cool and confident, but her composure unknowingly broke for a second.

Arsling is frozen for a solid half minute her eyes and mouth frozen, in her eyes you can see inside her somewhere in her soul and mind she knows this to be true, the logical side of her spends these thirty seconds trying to push its way to the front of her mind and take control, but unfortunately her emotions take hold of her, shaking in a mix of fear depression and anger she simply shakes her head and says “no, your wrong, if your right that makes me a true monster and murderer, i’ll keep my humanity i promise i won’t hurt anybody who doesn’t attack me first, please trust me Iva” Arsling says this clearly more trying to convince herself she's right more than she's trying to convince Iva.

“I said as I said before I trust you. I trusted my secret with you. That’s why the snakes have been quiet and distant from this clearing. It’s why I’m having this serious conversation with you.”

Iva sighed, as she turned away from Arsling, having said what was needed. She began to walk away and paused.  “And such, this good hearted chat and  trust comes with its own warning label. If you ever brutally harm or kill anyone close to you or me *or* if you tell anyone about my existence to someone else, I will not hesitate and with any luck you will just be a piece of the last remaining work in the art room. . .I don’t want to do that, you understand? Don’t force me into that situation, I would rather that we speak again with some friendly, good-hearted terms as fellow students.”  With those final words, Iva began to walk.

“You’ll kill someone to protect what matters to you, trust me Iva i understand that more than anything sweetheart” Arsling says standing up and retrieving Mighty Brid and her CDs and CD player glancing into the woods at a lingering snake before turning away and beginning to make her own way back to the campus