| Author |
Topic:
Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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Jedi_Perigrine
Registered:
Apr '08
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Date Posted:
6/16 8:45am
Subject:
Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
- Date Edited:
6/16 8:48am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Jedi_Perigrine
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Author: Jedi_Perigrine
Characters: All OCs
Genre: Pre-TPM
Notes: This story was crafted for the Hairband Challenge. Many thanks to the Hairband Sock for this bunny! As always, comments, questions, and concrit are highly welcomed!
Geota ducked under a thicket of pointed branches, hoping the Nightsister would follow the rest of his village as their panic-stricken run carried them over the crest of a hill. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have cared about the safety of the people he had lived with for his thirty years of life, but fear had warped his mind entirely. His gasping heavy breathing covered the soft drip-drip-drip of his blood as it slid down his elbow and onto a wide black-green ivy leaf just centimeters off the ground. Geota couldn’t even feel the gash that sent the crimson rivulets cascading onto the plant, so focused he was on not moving and watching for signs of the witch.
After he endured the painful pounding of his heart for what seemed like the entire night, he heard the crashing rumble of the Nightsister’s rancor beast. It wasn’t running anymore and that couldn’t be a good sign. Either she had captured somebody or she had found him. His breath quickened as fear took a hold of him again, completely petrifying what little motion he retained. Geota quaked impotently in place, frightened witless at the sudden sound of her voice, singing.
“ In the dead of night
She’ll come and take you away
Searing beams of light and thunder
Over blackened plains
She will find her way”
Tinkling laughter followed the verse as she chuckled to herself. “These villagers are creative, no? I doubt it would scare them as much if I had come up with my own tune.”
A rumbling growl answered her with something that sounded like rocks grinding together.
There was a muffled whap, as if the witch were affectionately petting the head of the beast who served as her loyal mount. “Of course there’s more, let me just recall how it went…”
“Riding high through the night
She will hide your fate
As she takes your soul from under
And the blinding light of the castle fades
There is no escape
Its the ending of your precious life”
The song’s volume increased as beast and rider headed directly for the bush Geota had chosen to hide in. With a roar of complaint, the rancor rattled the bush’s leaves with his fetid breath. The terrible stench made the frightened man back up a step, crackling dead branches as he backed into the thick shrub.
He knew all hope was lost.
She didn’t react; apparently she knew where he was already. “Oh really. What do you mean, ‘that’s not how it goes’? If you know the song so well, why don’t you sing it?”
Beyond belief, the beast screeched an incomprehensible guttural growl. While the words were completely untranslatable, the tune was true and the melody was pure and on key.
The cornered human instinctively backed further into the brush.
Geota should have been offended that the witch was standing in front of his hiding spot, debating the minutiae of music borne out of fear of her. The whole ordeal was made more disturbing as she conversed with her huge, smelly, sentient monstrosity that could sing better than she could.
He should run; he knew he should try to escape again. But dread had effectively rooted him as thoroughly as if the rancor had hammered him into the ground like a tent-peg.
“’Flying high throughout the night’?” the witch translated. “How does that make sense? I can’t fly... I just ad-libbed with ‘riding high’.”
And then to belie her own admission, with a murmured incantation of some sort, she leapt off the back of her tall rancor. A dark woven cape bellowed behind her as she glided ever so slowly through the air, landing gracefully as if she hadn’t just fallen ten meters. Thick boots clung to her ankles. They climbed half way up her knees, and were made of white hide of some sort that seemed surprisingly supple. The rest of her garb was black and seemed completely nondescript compared to her eye-catching footwear. Geota couldn’t even bare to look up towards her face, for fear of catching her eyes. Lost in the contours of her boots, he caught sight of a dark outline that seemed to be inked into the material. It was a particularly familiar design.
“Come now, you don’t want me to come in there after you, no?” Through the strength of her voice, he couldn’t hear the mumbled words invoking her power.
The strong suggestion implanted itself into his head. Geota’s feet seemed to move of their own accord, one step, then another, and another, until he was standing directly in front of the Nightsister. Her head barely reached his shoulders, but he was still locked in anxiety, unable to take his eyes off her feet.
“Ah, noticed my boots have you?” He could tell she was amused by her light tone of voice. “Wondering why they look familiar, hmm?”
Familiar.
Family. Brother. Cregmo! That was his tattoo!
His knees gave out but Geota wasn’t allowed to fall; something had grabbed him by his head and was dangling his limp body like a marionette. The tiny fraction of his brain that was still working didn’t know whether or not he should be glad it wasn’t the Rancor holding him up.
The witch’s light cackle could barely be heard over the snorting breath of the hulking rancor. “Weak minded fools like you are easily controlled. That’s why you might not die.”
If he wasn’t still being held up, that announcement surely would have dropped him to his knees--either through relief or increased horror, one of the two. Geota didn’t know which one was worse.
“Take him.”
A hugely clawed hand reached out and picked him up like an insect, swinging him around in an arc. As the world rushed by, Geota tried to resign himself to his fate. He wouldn’t be the first villager who was turned into a meal for a rancor, nor would he be the last. It was an ignoble fate, truly, but not as horrible of an end as could be. He closed his eyes, waiting for the dagger-like teeth of the monster to start gnawing through bones. But they never came. Instead he found himself plastered to the armored back, hooked by his thick coat over some sort of saddle horn.
After saying some magical rite, the Nightsister jumped fifteen meters straight up. After performing an acrobatic somersault in air, she dropped five meters to land expertly in the beast’s harness. Her face leaned towards his, their noses only a few centimeters apart. The witch’s bright yellow eyes flashed maliciously.
“Look boy, you live to serve me, now. Sing well and you will live. Sing poorly and…well…I can always use a set of matching gloves.”
The small part of him that was trying to rebel against this nightmare managed to claw its way to the foreground. He didn’t have the courage to tell her “no”, but his lack of an answer was all the revolt he had left in his terrified consciousness.
Her jaw tightened in annoyance. “I said sing, boy.” Her warm breath tickled his cheek as she made some devilish incantation. One long pointed fingernail was aimed directly at his nose. Bars of flashing blue lightning started to pulsate around her digit, sliding up and down its length like a feather in an unpredictable breeze.
His defiance held. At least it did until the lightning leapt out and slammed into his face. Pain receptors were almost immediately overloaded. Just that one trickle of energy caused his body to gyrate so much that every bone in his limbs could have been broken. And the heat--surely his clothing was going to catch fire from that much searing hotness. He could smell his skin smoldering. Geota begged her to stop in between screams and the gasping breaths he sucked in to shriek more.
Moments later, she stopped. “Sing,” she said flatly.
He sang.
“ You’re fading away
Your life cast astray
A victim the beast shall obtain
The light will not shine
For you’ll die tonight at her shrine
And black is the last thing you’ll see”
The tremors in Geota’s voice only increased as the groaning harmony of the rancor’s perfect pitch joined in.
“Over and over
Dreams of dying fill your head
Its the sign of the cross
That you’ll find ahead
No one will answer
The light is fading away
Captive souls are screaming out in pain
There is no escape
It’s the ending of your precious life
Your soul slipped away
It belongs to the queen of the night
You’re fading away, no, no, no
The queen of the night
You’re slipping away, yeah
The queen of the night”
As man and beast sung, the queen of the night laughed on.
-----signature-----
TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
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VaderLVR64
Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots
Registered:
Feb '04
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Date Posted:
6/16 9:19am
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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Wow! I loved it. You've got a knack for rich, complex OCs.
His knees gave out but Geota wasn’t allowed to fall; something had grabbed him by his head and was dangling his limp body like a marionette. The tiny fraction of his brain that was still working didn’t know whether or not he should be glad it wasn’t the Rancor holding him up.
The witch’s light cackle could barely be heard over the snorting breath of the hulking rancor. “Weak minded fools like you are easily controlled. That’s why you might not die.”
Loved that bit especially. 
-----signature-----
If you have to choose between tears and laughter, remember that laughter burns more calories.
Proud New Army Mom - off to bootcamp!
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dianethx
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
6/18 4:32am
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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That was great. I loved your Nightsister. She had such a horror about her. The way he found out that his brother was dead was just perfect.
“Ah, noticed my boots have you?” He could tell she was amused by her light tone of voice. “Wondering why they look familiar, hmm?”
Familiar.
Family. Brother. Cregmo! That was his tattoo! 
Great job.
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Jedi_Perigrine
Registered:
Apr '08
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Date Posted:
6/18 8:26am
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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VaderLVR64 posted:
Wow! I loved it. You've got a knack for rich, complex OCs.
Thanks very much, Master!  Coming from you that means a lot.
dianethx posted:
That was great. I loved your Nightsister. She had such a horror about her. The way he found out that his brother was dead was just perfect.
“Ah, noticed my boots have you?” He could tell she was amused by her light tone of voice. “Wondering why they look familiar, hmm?”
Familiar.
Family. Brother. Cregmo! That was his tattoo!
Great job.
Thank you very much Diane! It's fun to play with different genres from time to time. I'm not a huge fan of horror films but writing something like this was kinda fun. Someone else almost begged me to continue the piece... heh We'll just have to *see*.
-----signature-----
TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
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earlybird-obi-wan
Registered:
Aug '06
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Date Posted:
6/20 11:25pm
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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Great response to the challenge and loved how you wove the words together. Interesting OC's
-----signature-----
writer and Star Wars fan
FANART [link=http://boards.theforce.net/fan_art/b10020/25793899]fanart[/link]
stories in my bio
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Jedi_Perigrine
Registered:
Apr '08
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Date Posted:
6/23 10:36am
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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earlybird-obi-wan posted:
Great response to the challenge and loved how you wove the words together. Interesting OC's
Thanks very much Earlybird I appreciate your kind words. I enjoyed your story as well!
-----signature-----
TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
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sidious618
Registered:
Apr '03
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Date Posted:
6/24 9:18pm
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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Wow, that was remarkably original. I had no idea where it was going but that ending... I never would have thought of that in a thousand years. Great job.
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But in purple, I'm stunning!- Londo Mollari, Babylon 5
Obama '08
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Stroja
Registered:
May '08
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Date Posted:
6/24 9:41pm
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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Wow, an amazingly vivid bit of writing! The wicked witch of the west has nothing on that chick.
-----signature-----
Causality - A Far-future saga: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28556597 Will engage in repartee for gourmet food.
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Jedi_Perigrine
Registered:
Apr '08
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Date Posted:
6/26 7:44am
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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sidious618 posted:
Wow, that was remarkably original. I had no idea where it was going but that ending... I never would have thought of that in a thousand years. Great job.
Thanks Sidious! I was going to write the story more in line with the Queensryche Video but I decided that was too cheesy even for me.
stroja posted:
Wow, an amazingly vivid bit of writing! The wicked witch of the west has nothing on that chick.
 How true! Maybe I should rewrite the Wiz into the SW universe. Thanks very much for reading and the comment!
-----signature-----
TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
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SilSolo
Registered:
Mar '04
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Date Posted:
7/1 3:50pm
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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so poor Geota has been captured for a nightsister's pleasrue
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Jedi_Perigrine
Registered:
Apr '08
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Date Posted:
7/5 9:31pm
Subject:
RE: Queen of the Night--OCs. One Poster for the Hairband Challenge
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SilSolo posted:
so poor Geota has been captured for a nightsister's pleasrue
Indeed he has. It's unknown if survival is a good thing or a bad one, at this point. Hopefully he'll avoid being made into gloves, in any case.
-----signature-----
TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
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