Story Survival of the fittest (multi-fandom) Kessel Run Challenge 2024

Week 1:

Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that begins with this sentence: “The rain hadn’t let up in days, and all I wanted to do was scream.”


Fandom: Jurassic Park/World


The rain hadn’t let up in days, and all I wanted to do was scream, but that wouldn’t have been very productive and the Jurassic World theme park was still open but some guests were getting miserable.


“Shawna!” I heard someone calling out my name. I was Shawna Morrison, and I worked at the Petting Zoo at the park. I originally came from San Diego, California where I was studying Zoology but one day one Simon Masrani came to my university and offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to work with real life dinosaurs (well, technically, they’re more like hybrids since some of their DNA is mixed with that of other animals, but they still looked like dinosaurs which I’ve had an interest in since seeing The Land Before Time when I was a small child) and now, here I am.


One of my co-workers at the park wanted me to find the missing child that seemed to wander off when they got the order that they needed to find shelter due to the typhoon that was now plummeting the island in a heavy downpour. Who would abandon their child in the middle of a tropical typhoon? Isla Nublar, the island where the Jurassic World theme park was located, had many tropical storms, and this was one of many. Wasn’t it during such a storm when a disgruntled employee sabotaged the original park all those years ago? My mind seemed to wander. Since Simon Masrani was continuing on with John Hammond’s dream he had to brief the employees of what happened to the original park (which never opened to the public) all those years ago, but back on to the task at hand.


“Where is the child, now?” I asked my co-worker.


“She was heading towards the Jurassic World Lagoon.” was the reply.


“With the Mosasaur?” I exclaimed, fearing the worst. Unless the child either got on the platform or fell into the lagoon itself, there was a good chance that she would be safe. The Mosasaur got fed on a regular basis, but if the attraction was somehow shut down because of the storm and the child got too close… I seemed to always fear the worst in situations like this. Perhaps I’ve seen too many movies where things like this happened, but I liked to prepare myself for any possible scenario, especially after what happened at the original park, but luckily, no dinosaurs have escaped yet, but that could change in an instant.


“Yes, the attraction has been closed because of the storm and the guests secured in the hotels or emergency bunkers, but I don’t think the Mosasaur would attack a curious child, would she?”


Like with the original park, most of the dinosaurs in Jurassic World were female, and breeding was pretty much controlled, since some of the DNA of the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park were blended with that of frogs and some of them were known to change gender in a single gender environment and I was pretty sure Simon didn’t want that happening again, even though we did employ one Henry Wu, who was the chief geneticist in the original park as well. “Not unless she was either hungry or perhaps provoked in some way?”


“We better get to the lagoon, since I don’t think the missing child is very old, and you know what unsupervised curious children can do.” My mind flashed back to a story my Zoology professor told the class about a lost child at a local zoo in San Diego, where I was born and raised. The child somehow managed to find a way to climb the fence and wander into a lion’s den. When the parents finally noticed that the child was gone and tracked them down to the lion’s paddock in the park, there was nothing much left and the parents wanted to sue the park for causing them to lose their son, when it was actually negligence on their part.


Luckily the missing child was nowhere near the Lagoon and managed to make it into one of the emergency shelters scattered around the park for just such an emergency. The parents somehow lost track of their daughter and went back to their hotel, so one missing child was found safe and sound.

 

Oh, that is a scary situation indeed! And I definitely don't blame her for preparing for the worst, it's probably a good idea in her line of work.

Glad to see it all turned out okay, though!

Great start!

 

Week 2: Substitute prompt

Write a story between 300 and 1,200 words in which your characters must deal with that most classic of fanfic tropes: There Is Only One Bed


Fandom: Jurassic Park/World


Marida was no longer in Middle-earth, she was on Earth on a tropical island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Though not technically “divorced” from her first husband, one Thorin Oakenshield of Erebor, she was no longer in that world, so hopefully it counted at least as a “separation” of sorts. Now she was with another man, one Owen Grady who was employed as a Velociraptor (or just Raptor for short) Trainer at the Jurassic World theme park on the tropical island of Isla Nublar. Marida first came to this island (and this world, which was much more advanced than her own) through what some would call a “time portal” which was a gateway between worlds.


The park was open for 10 years before it was closed down due to a hybrid dinosaur that got loose and ran amok, endangering both the staff and visitors to the park. Now, only Marida, Owen Grady and one Lowery Cruthers were the only humans left on the island. Most of the Raptor Squad was killed in the incident, except for Blue and Echo, who still didn’t trust Marida. “Why should they? I was almost their dinner if it hadn’t been for Owen.” the former Queen of Erebor thought. There was another thing that was nagging at her: she knew that Owen had a bungalow somewhere on the island (since most of the staff lived on the island rather than having to constantly commute back and forth between the island and the mainland, since that could get expensive after a while), but she doubted that there was more than one bed, since he was the only one using it.


“Get a hold of yourself, Marida, it’s not like you’ve never been with a man before!” The former Queen scolded herself, though since her marriage to Thorin had been going downhill for a while, she didn’t even want to be in the same room with him, even though they were still technically married.


Marida was old school. She believed to not get intimate with anyone until they were officially married. She never did with Thorin (but since they were still technically married, would this be considered “cheating” as some liked to phrase the activity when you were involved with one person and then “ran around” with another? This world was so confusing for someone of mixed heritage that had to not only get used to being in a different world, but with a different person that was the complete opposite of the one she was used to) and she wasn’t planning to be with Owen, either. If she hadn’t stepped into the picture, Marida was sure that Owen would have gotten together with Claire Dearing, another redhead, who was the Operations Manager of the Jurassic World theme park.


“Owen must have a thing for redheads.” The newcomer to this world thought to herself when she heard that he had had a date with Claire but it didn’t go so well.


Marida was sure that if she talked to Owen about her misgivings (since they might be becoming a couple, but they weren’t married yet) that he might be able to bring in a cot or set up a place for her to sleep (even if it was on the floor, since because of the constant fights with Thorin, sometimes she had to do the same in Erebor, so it’s not like she minded if the occasion called for it).


“Ready to check out my bungalow?” Owen said with a smirk.


Marida rolled her eyes and wondered if he said a similar thing to Claire during their one and only date. “And where am I supposed to sleep?” she inquired with the bravest voice she could muster.


“Don’t let that smirk fool you,” chimed in Lowery Cruthers, who was hauling a military type cot as he followed Owen to meet Marida at the arranged rendezvous point, which was in between the Innovation Center and where Owen’s bungalow was located, near a lake somewhere in the north of the island but some ways south of the restricted area, which housed the island’s still dormant volcano, Mt. Sibo.


When Marida saw the cot (Owen once told her that men and women in the military and navy had to use them when stationed in places that didn’t have a lot of decent shelter areas), she relaxed a little.


“I heard he said a similar thing to Claire during their one and only date. Since you’re from what we would call a ‘fantasy’ world, I talked him into retrieving the military type cot he brought with him in case he’d have to bunk with a few of his buddies in the Navy, though I’m unsure if there was any more former Navy men employed at the park, other than some security guys.”


“What exactly happened on this date?” Marida inquired, wondering if finding that “portal” was even worth checking out after all.


“I’m not sure, but according to Claire, he was dressed inappropriately.” Lowery concluded.


“It’s Central America, it’s hot.” was Owen’s response, which is exactly what he told Claire when she accused him of showing up for their date in “board shorts”.


Behind his back, Owen could almost hear both Marida and Lowery secretly rolling their eyes in unison, as if to say “Oh brother, what was he thinking?!”

 

Week 1:

Very cool to see what the daily life of an employee at Jurassic World looks like! The events and issues she mentions sound like realistic things that could come up with working at a zoo or wildlife park in general. The addition of, you know, DINOSAURS heightens both the rewards and perils.

Yeah, I can imagine that was an opportunity too fascinating to pass up for someone interested in dinosaurs (even if they are somewhat hybridized with modern animals, which can be pretty interesting in their own rights).

No, I think Shawna is panicking just about the right amount here! Especially given the history of storms and unfortunate incidents with the animals. Glad that the kid was found safely and quick.

And I liked the practical details of them trying to estimate whether the Mosasaur would actually even take an interest in human appetizers, as somewhat ghoulish as it is. It gives a better sense of how well Shawna and her coworkers know the creatures that they work with and their actual behavior as opposed to how scary they look. (Reminded me of how the vast majority of Great white shark attacks on humans are believed to be mistaken identity when they're hunting seals. Since apparently we're just not that delicious, actually. )

 

That would definitely be a big transition, especially when you throw in the dinosaurs. I'm glad she got the bed situation sorted out and now she can focus on exploring her new world!

 

Catching up here, and before I beginmy review I need to say that I've only ever seen a fraction of the first Jurassic Park movie, and that was in an airplane, so yeah, let's just say that I know only the very broad strokes of what this 'verse is about...

... which turned out to be a nice surprise when I read your first entry for the challenge and found out that the Jurassic island is now a theme park that one can visit. I'm not too much in favour of genetic manipulation, but that's a place I would definitely want to see – although the typhoons might dissuade me! Like Kahara, I though Shawna was panicking just the right amount here, and losing a child under these circumstances is definitely not something that should be taken lightly!

And in week 2, it must have been quite a bit for poor Marida to adapt to, being pulled out of Middle Earth and thrown on a dinosaur island where a prehistoric monster went on a rampage – and having to deal with a "heavy" dude as well. It's lucky that Lowery was around to resolve the "only one bed" situation!

 

Week 3: Prompt #1

Write a set of 5 drabbles with the following prompts: midnight, endeavor, inheritance, disaster, horizon

Each drabble must be exactly 100 words, for a total of 500 words


Disaster (Stray)


There were four stray cats living outside a forgotten underground city closed off from the outside world for nearly a century. One day, as the cats were exploring “inside the wall” of this underground cyber city, they had to jump across a broken pipe. All cats made it except for a ginger cat that didn’t quite make it and fell to the city below. His comrades couldn’t do anything but watch, and no matter how often they meowed in order to locate him, he was nowhere to be found.


Was he dead? Did he miraculously survive the fall? Only time would tell.



Midnight (Supernatural)


It was past midnight, and the little kitten that Lisa Winchester had rescued from a vampire “haven” was fidgety. He was a stray, so he might have found it hard to trust anyone, since perhaps midnight was when his former owners tormented him in ways that would make even a “seasoned” hunter such as Lisa cringe. “How can some people be so cruel?” Lisa thought to herself. Though more of a dog person, Lisa adopted the kitten after rescuing him from the vampire “family” so that he wouldn’t suffer a similar fate with other vampire “havens” in the place where he was found.



Endeavor (Lord of the RIngs)


Talina was very young when she lost her family to the Corsairs of Umbar. Originally from Pelargir, she was now living in Ithilien training to become “one of them Rangers” as Butterbur liked to put it. Her most prized possession was the journal that her mother gave to her when she was about six years old for her birthday. She nearly lost it when the Corsairs attacked, but a little girl found it and gave it back to her. The girl and her mother kind of took Talina under their wing after that, encouraging her to become all she could be.



Inheritance (Star Wars)


Jira Elnath was force sensitive. She didn’t know this until one of her captors on Corellia accused her of having these “divine” powers as she liked to refer to the Force. Apparently, her father was also force sensitive, but he left a long time ago for reasons that Jira never understood. Jira and her mother and siblings were captured and forced to work in the mines on Corellia. Once Jira was rescued, she would have to figure out if she would follow in his footsteps (but wasn’t she too old) or create a new path known only to her.



Horizon (Stray)


Now that Walled City 99 was open to the outside world (thanks to a ginger stray cat and his drone companion) what would befall the Companions that still dwelled within? The Zurks had been destroyed when the sun came flooding in, but what was to be done with the ones in the Sewers where there was no light? The Sentinels were shut down when the roof opened as were the Peacekeepers, since their mission was over, due to Walled City 99 being open to the world and no longer being under confinement procedure.

 

Awww! I'm glad she rescued the kitty.

I really liked "Endeavor", too. Nice work!

 

Week 4: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words from the perspective of an inanimate object

Word limit = 100-1,000 words


Fandom: Stray


I am a sarcophagus. I allow humans the ability to upload their minds either to what they call a Companion robot or the City Technical Network in an underground city size bunker known as Walled City 99. There are many other similar type city size bunkers throughout the world. The human race built these bunkers as shelters to protect them from some catastrophe on the surface.


I reside in a place called Antvillage. It is the first place you come to if you come through the sewers in a safe zone known as the Slums in the Lower City. If you climb up Antvillage you can get to Midtown in the Upper City that might lead to the Outside world.


There is another like me in a place known as the Dead City located somewhere in the Lower City. It is in a scientist’s flat that tried to upload his mind into a Companion robot but failed and got stuck in the network for hundreds of years. Unlike this sarcophagus that has some kind of dried liquid coming out of it, I’m more pleasant to look at; I’m decorated on the outside by a string of cans on the top and artwork on the bottom. Probably done by the various Companion robots that reside in Antvillage, including two that are members of the Outsiders, a group of robots that are trying to reach the Outside world. They consist of Zbaltazar, who is in a meditation state at the top of Antvillage; Clementine, who found a way up and resides in an apartment complex in Midtown; Doc, who’s somewhere in the Lower City with Momo, who’s in the safe zone known as the Slums.


Unlike the one in the scientist’s flat, I’m unsure if any other human tried to use me for the same purpose, because unlike the scientist’s, I have no dried liquid coming out of me (unless some of the Companions cleaned it off). There may be another like me in the Upper City, but like the one in the scientist’s flat, may be well hidden.

 

I'm not familiar with the fandom "Stray" but you know how much I love cats, so I really enjoyed learning about it both through your drabbles and your latest story. Tha ginger cat apparently made quite a difference by falling off that pipe! Meanwhile, the tale of the sarcophagus was very intriguing. Strange going-ons in that walled city, between the robots who are trying to escape from it and the other sarcophagus leaking liquid (ewwww!) I wonder if there's anyone in this one, and if a future story will tell us about them.

 

I'm not familiar with this fandom either, but this was so creepy and intriguing all at once! Good job with a tricky prompt!

 

Week 1
I will, reluctantly, admit that I have never seen any of the Jurassic Park/World films (). However, that did not at all diminish my enjoyment of this story.

I imagine fearing the worst comes naturally when you're involved with dinosaurs. Now, of course I'm going to have to go watch the film(s) to find out what happened at the original park.

Oh, this is so... Of course, it's never the parents' own fault they lost their kid. Not that you can keep an eye on your kid at all times, but still...

At least it all turned out okay in the end.


Week 2
From Middle--Earth to a dinosaur-infested island-that's quite the transition for Marida to make.

Week 3
Great drabbles. Glad that Lisa rescued the kitty. As for Endeavor-nice that Talina was taken in and encouraged.

Week 4
As has been said above, I am not familiar with the fandom either, but this entry was...unsettling enough that I want to learn more.

 

Week 5: Write an AU (alternate universe) story of at least 500 words in which your narrator has amnesia, using this picture as inspiration:

Spoiler

Minimum 500 words, no maximum limit


Fandom: Supernatural


My name is Lisa Renee Winchester, and I’m the daughter of Sam Winchester and Eileen Leahy and younger sister to Dean Winchester the second (named after my late uncle). I’m what you would call a Supernatural hunter, which can be a dangerous profession, but not half as dangerous as the time I temporarily lost my memory and forgot I was a Winchester, which would make my late uncle roll around in his grave, if he ever found out about it.


It was during a case in San Francisco about two years ago. I was investigating a case where the “monster” was a shapeshifter and taking on different personas in order to mate with an unsuspecting female in order to save his race from extinction (probably due to being taken out by us hunters). When my back was turned, he managed to hit me over the head with something, and when I woke up I didn’t know who I was, where I was, or where I came from. My older brother, Dean, located me later and when he told me who I was, I didn’t believe him. I thought I was having a nightmare or something. Even two weeks later at home, my memories didn’t return. I learned why when I finally regained my memories about a month later. It was the weapon the shapeshifter used. It was supposed to wipe out the memories of the intended victim so that he could mate with them without the victim objecting to the act (since they couldn’t remember if they knew the person the shapeshifter was taking the form of). This shapeshifter has been dealt with and his weapon has been locked away for safekeeping (sort of like the Warrens did with cursed objects, but we have no museum to store them in).


While I was waiting for my brother to show up (luckily, someone witnessed the shapeshifter hitting me over the head with something and yelled at them to get them away from my unconscious form) I was put in a guest shack with a large window. This window had some kind of a tree design on it, so it made me feel like I had been locked away in an insane asylum (perhaps I’ve seen too many movies). When my brother finally showed up, the witness to my ordeal led him to the shack where I was placed until help arrived.


Perhaps my late uncle did find out about my predicament, since I regained my memories shortly after I had a dream about him in a peaceful place. Was it heaven? He told me how dangerous it was to turn your back on a shapeshifter, since you don’t know what their intentions were until it is too late. Somehow this reinstated my lost memories and I vowed to never let my guard down again.

 

Oh, yikes! That does sound like a dangerous line of work!

I'm with Lisa, that was my first thought seeing the picture of that window too. Great work!

 

Week 6: Write a a story between 600 and 1,500 words with your OTP (or other romantic pairing) that includes one or more flashforwards and takes place entirely in the same setting.

Word limit = 600-1,500 words


Fandom: Jurassic Park/World


Chloe Sanderson, a 25-year-old Zoology student originally from San Diego, California, and her 27-year-old dino nerd boyfriend, Charles Donovan, were on the run. They had just commandeered a helicopter (luckily for the pair, Charles had some helicopter training from his father, who used to be a Navy pilot in his youth) in order to keep a bunch of Compsognathus eggs from getting into the wrong hands. The Compsognathus (or Compys for short) eggs were found in the abandoned Jurassic Park facility in San Diego.


Charles and Chloe went to high school together, but they didn’t start seeing each other until after Chloe helped Charles locate his missing youngest sister, Kristin, about five years earlier when Chloe was still enrolled in a Zoology course. Chloe didn’t learn that Charles was a dino nerd until they learned there was a new park that opened up on the island that started it all: Isla Nublar.


“Wasn’t there a park that failed on the same island?” Chloe asked Charles at the time.


“That one never opened. It was sabotaged by a disgruntled employee.” was his response.


“Disgruntled, how?” Chloe wanted to know. She was the type of person that wanted all the details before coming to a conclusion about a dilemma.


“Perhaps he was underpaid. So he wanted to sell some dinosaur embryos to a rival bioengineering firm.”


The employee in question was Dennis Nedry and he almost got away with it, if it hadn’t been for a storm that hit the island, stranding him and running into a Dilophosaurus when he fell down a hill and lost his glasses. Needless to say, the Dilo didn’t die of starvation that day and the embryos were considered lost, so the rival bioengineering firm (which turned out to be Biosyn, led by one Lewis Dodgson) never got a hold of them.


Being a dino nerd, of course Charles wanted to visit this new park but never got the chance. Then, a few years later, after some of the dinos were rescued from the impending eruption of the island’s dormant volcano, Mt. SIbo, becoming active again, he learned they were being auctioned off at the estate of the late John Hammond’s business partner, Benjamin Lockwood, so he kept an eye on who the buyers were to bid his time to rescue the dinos (or their offspring, if they had any) from these multi-millionaires that probably wanted to exploit them in one way or the other. That somehow led the couple to the abandoned Jurassic Park facility somewhere in San Diego where Chloe came across the Compsognathus eggs and tried to talk Charles into taking them back to the islands (if Isla Nublar was off limits because of the aftermath of the volcanic eruption, perhaps they could take them to that other island, Isla Sorna, which was what Hammond once called as a “factory floor” where they originally created the dinosaurs and then when they were ready, flew them to Isla Nublar by helicopter, which was to the north of the archipelago).


Now, here they were in a commandeered helicopter flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean with some very shifty characters chasing them.


“I thought you said we wouldn’t get caught?” Chloe demanded.


“How did I know they would have agents in an abandoned facility?” was his response, as he continued to try to shake off their pursuers.


Unbeknownst to the couple, there was a rip in time and space a couple of meters in front of them, but since it was a bright and sunny day, it was hard to see it, so when Charles and Chloe flew through it, their pursuers seemed to have disappeared. They were headed to a singular island, Isla Nublar, and it was long before even John Hammond leased the island from the Costa Rica government to make Jurassic Park a reality. What dangers would the couple find on the island?


When the couple landed safely on the island, Chloe was confused. “Charles, where are we? And what happened to our pursuers?”


“It looks like we travelled back in time.” Charles said.


“That’s impossible! We would have had to fly through some sort of rip in time and space and there was nothing in front of us except endless miles of ocean.” Chloe told her love interest of a couple of years, even though they’ve known each other since high school.


“Nothing we could see. Need I remind you that it was a bright and sunny day and the sun was shining, unless that was actually the rift.”


Next thing they knew they were back in the helicopter in the present being shot at from behind by their pursuers. Chloe was once again confused. “What’s happening?” she asked Charles.


“We’re being shot at, that’s what’s happening!” he shot back.


“No, we’re back in the helicopter. Didn’t we land on an island a few minutes back?” Chloe asked.


Whatever caused the “flash forward” happened again, and Charles and Chloe found themselves on Isla Nublar before it was chosen as a location to house Jurassic Park all those years ago. What was going on? And why was Chloe the only one that remembered what they experienced when they flashed back in time’? Did they already crash on the island and she was unconscious and she was remembering what she read about how John Hammond acquired the island all those years ago?


When the couple returned to the present a few minutes later, the helicopter had crashed on the island of Isla Nublar about ten years after the volcanic eruption threatened the dinosaurs that still resided there, and now the couple have brought some dinosaur eggs back to try to keep them out of the wrong hands. Charles didn’t survive the crash, and Chloe was unconscious, hurled into the back seat of the helicopter by the impact, which luckily for them, didn’t explode on impact due to the fact that the helicopter landed on its side. But would it remain that way and would Chloe regain consciousness or had the island claimed a few more victims? And it looked like one of the Compsognathus eggs had hatched and the young Compy was already out of the helicopter exploring what the island now looked like about a decade after the volcanic eruption of Mt. SIbo, which had become dormant once again, but for how long?

 

That was quite an adventure! I hope things work out for Chloe, and for the dinos, too!

 

Week 7: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that is set in a dream and told from the perspective of an EC (established character)

Word limit = 100-1,000 words


Fandom: Jurassic Park/World


Owen Grady was sleeping, having a very disturbing dream. Actually it was more like a nightmare. A fear he had since learning there’s a similar “time portal” on Isla Nublar. What if something were to happen to that time portal and it affected the one in Middle-earth, sending Marida back home and Owen back to the timeline he’s supposed to be in?


The dream started pretty innocent:


Owen was gathering supplies and bringing it back to the underground bunker he shared with his wife of nearly a decade. He saw a flash of light and rushed into the bunker to find a fearsome sight. There was his wife, Marida, staring into a blinding white light of unknown origin.


“What is that?!” he asked Lowery Cruthers, who came out of his section of the bunker to see what all of the commotion was about.


“It looks like some kind of rift.” Lowery answered.


Owen’s worst nightmare had come true. After nearly a decade in a world she wasn’t familiar with, his wife, Marida, who was a dwarven/human hybrid was being sent back to her world. And him. Her ex, one dwarven king by the name of Thorin Oakenshield. Since they were still technically married, Thorin wasn’t Marida’s ex, but her current husband. She was just estranged from him, not actually divorced, which would make her an adulterer, but since she was from another world, she was unfamiliar with the term and would have to ask Owen what it meant.


Marida wasn’t mesmerized by the scene she saw playing out before her, she was crying. Like the scene that was playing out before her was bringing back memories. But both Owen and Lowery weren’t close enough to it to see what scene was playing out. When she heard voices behind her, the former Queen of Erebor turned around, tears streaming down her face. “The time portal on the island, where was it?” she asked innocently, which meant she knew what was happening.


“What did it look like?” Lowery wanted to know.


“Like a large circular mirror with strange symbols all around it.” remembering the time when she first mistook it for a mirror in that empty room in Erebor all those years ago.


“I think I saw something like that in the garage of the old Visitor’s Center.” Lowery remembered coming across a rather strange device just after the island was evacuated because of the incident with the Indominus Rex.


“Do you think it survived the eruption?” she asked.


“Doubtful, why?” Lowery was as curious as Owen was, but didn’t have to live with the aftermath, since he wasn’t actually involved with the former queen.


“Would it affect the one in my world?” Marida wanted to know.


“If they were somehow connected, why?” Lowery responded, already guessing what would happen next.


“No, you can’t!” Owen exclaimed, wanting to run to Marida and pull her out of the way.


“Owen, she doesn’t belong here. She belongs in her world. This timeline will cease to exist once she gets pulled back through that time rift.” Lowery told the distraught Owen.


“What will happen to us?” Owen wanted to know.


“We’ll return to where we’re supposed to be in the proper timeline. Me back home. You, probably with Claire…” Lowery began.


While this was going on, Marida sat mesmerized by the scene playing before her. It was in Erebor during Smaug’s attack, so if she went closer to the white light, she would be pulled in, just like she did when she got too close to the “mirror” in the empty room in Erebor. This would mean that she would have to relive her entire relationship with Thorin, including the “ruse” they came up with to invite Marida’s family to Erebor to get her mind off the mining accident that killed her mother, Michaela, who was from the city of Dale, and apparently made the same mistake as Marida did, but could be excused, since she was human and didn’t understand the dwarven custom. Marida, being half Dwarven, should have known better but was blinded by her budding relationship with a certain Dwarven Princeling. If she got closer to that white light, she would have to relive the entire experience over again, and if things played out the way they did before, there would be no time portal in an empty room to escape her troubles so perhaps she could somehow prevent the “falling out”?


Looking back towards Owen and Lowery, she gave him one last message: “Owen, if you end up getting together with Claire Dearing, no more board shorts, it’s not appropriate for a date no matter how hot it is outside”.


“You did what?” Lowery asked, incredulous of this new information.


“It’s Central America, it’s hot!” was his response.


It was during this exchange that Marida approached the white light of the time rift and was swallowed up by it, restoring the timeline and putting Owen and Lowery back to where they should have been in the proper one.


“Owen?” Claire Dearing nearly yelled. They were in some kind of bar and Owen awoke with a start. Since he couldn’t find Marida, he freaked.


It turned out that Marida only went to get some more supplies from a different part of the bunker, but was this actually a dream he had or a premonition? Owen would have to ask Lowery if the time portal on Isla Nublar was still intact or else his “nightmare” may just come to fruition if both time portals were somehow connected; if one gets destroyed, it’s only a matter of time before the other one starts to break down searching for the last person who activated it, pulling them back to where they originated from.

 

Week 1: Wow, that would be a scary situation until the child was found.

Week 2: How fascinating! A time portal between worlds is something I am always intrigued by and to have someone from Middle-Earth pop through.

Week Seven: Quite the dream there. Shame if Marida has to return to her own world and relive unpleasant stuff all over again.

 

That is definitely a Worst Case Scenario kind of dream for Owen. Marida's life before Isla Nublar sounds like it was A Lot and I think I can see why he isn't keen on her ending up dumped back there by some portal hijinks (possible permanent separation aside, which is a whole 'nother thing).

That sounds like a real (possible?) problem to investigate, which is maybe not the most reassuring thing to think about his own nightmares!

 

Week 8: Write a story of at least 400 words in which a villain has to protect a hero. You must also include this line of dialogue: “I always wondered what that was like.”

Minimum 400 words, no maximum limit

Fandom: Lord of the Rings (before the War of the Ring)

Naelia (pronounced NIE-LEE-AH) was a minion of Mordor. She’s the daughter of one of Barad-dur’s greatest Captains (one of the Black Numenoreans, but not the Lieutenant of the Tower himself, though they are of the same race) and a Mirkwood Elf (but not proud of her Elvish heritage, which is why she hides the only Elvish part of her; the points of her ears, under her shoulder length black curly hair). She has a half-sister, Lathana, on her mother’s side who was sent to live with her in Mordor after their mother was killed for attempting to take Naelia away from the only life she ever knew. Her mother’s intention was just to teach her more about her Elvish heritage, she wasn’t attempting to take her away from her father.


During this time, the Elves of Northern Mirkwood didn't always treat her like her mother was expecting (but only behind her back, never in her presence), and gave her the moniker of Lady of Shadow, whom even her fellow minions use on occasion to warn the free peoples of Middle-earth not to mess with her, and if they attempt to redeem her, they will fail. The Elves gave her this moniker because they either didn’t know her true name or sensed her true intentions.


Once during a raid with her fellow minions, Naelia was forced to protect her nuisance of a half-sister, Lathana, from a fellow minion, who seemed to have a thing for blondes, and unlike Naelia, who has dark hair and dark eyes, Lathana has long medium blonde hair with blue eyes (like their late mother did).


“Just a minute, scum!” Naelia tried to get the attention of a minion known as Mort (or at least that’s what she made out his name to be, since that’s the name his compatriots called out when referring to this particular minion).


It seemed this Mort character wanted to claim Lathana as his own and the only person that could make the she-elf’s life miserable was Naelia herself.


“What do you want?” came his reply, not really caring what this female minion of all things had to say.


“That blonde is an escaped prisoner! She is my half-sister, Lathana, on my late mother’s side who was attempting to escape, yet again.” Naelia told this to the Mort character.


“So?” Mort sneered, his compatriots laughing along with him.


“So, the only person allowed to make her life miserable is yours truly!” Naelia cooed, taking out her handy whip that she often had to use on prisoners that she was interrogating if they weren’t cooperating with the interrogation.

“You and what army?” Mort cooed again.


Naelia was prepared for this, since many minions such as Mort weren’t that good at following orders, no matter who was barking them out. She had a small dragon-like creature with her (though wasn’t actually sure that he was a dragon, since he never grew any bigger) by the name of Drinch that got in Mort’s face until he finally gave in. “Alright, you can have her, just call off your little beast!” he screeched.


Satisfied with her work, Naelia picked up Lathana by the hair and forced her to march along with the other prisoners. “I always wondered what that was like.” She thought out loud to herself, imagining what Drinch’s pecks felt like when he was trying to scare others (whether fellow minions or prisoners) into what Naelia or other minions were telling them to do.

 

Week 10: Write a story between 100 and 400 words, and include these three words: diligent, grandiose, berate

Word limit = 100-400 words



Fandom: Lord of the Rings (before the War of the Ring)


Lathana was Naelia’s half-sister on her mother’s side, so both her parents (unlike Naelia’s) were Elven. When she lost her mother when she attempted to take Naelia away from the only life she ever knew, she was sent to live with Naelia in Mordor. Lathana, being one of the free peoples rather than a minion like Naelia, didn’t particularly like this option, but though she recently lost her mother, nobody knew her father’s whereabouts, so to send Lathana to live with him might have not been an option.


When Lathana first arrived in Mordor, she was sent to the Dark Tower of Barad-dur, which was her half-sister’s home base, since she was the daughter of one of its greatest captains (one of the Black Numenoreans, but not the Lieutenant of the Tower himself, though they were of the same race). When she first saw it, she couldn’t believe the grandiose of it. “How long did it take the Orcs of Mordor to build such a thing?” was her first thought. Even though it filled her with fear, she would have to suck it up, if she were to live with her Mordorian half-sister, Naelia.


Lathana later joined the Black Guard, Mordor’s army, but was later accused of betraying the Dark Lord by attempting to escape. It was Naelia herself who later captured and tortured her, which proved that Naelia didn’t care if she either lived or died and often called her a “nuisance”. If Lathana would have been more diligent, perhaps she wouldn’t have gotten caught when she attempted to escape and go back to her homeland in Northern Mirkwood (even though she may have no more family there, so even Naelia wondered why she even bothered).


When she was being tortured by her very own half-sister, Naelia would berate her, calling her “she-elf” instead of using her actual name (even though she was part Elven, Naelia often shunned this part of her heritage, hiding the points of her ears under her shoulder length curly black hair). Lathana wondered if her experience in Northern Mirkwood made her half-sister dislike Elves even more than she usually would have, but Lathana’s presence in the Dark Land probably didn’t help matters much.

 

Week 9: Pick your least favorite piece that you’ve posted for this year’s (2024) Kessel Run challenge and rewrite it in a different genre, using between 300 and 1,200 words to do so.

Word limit = 300-1,200 words


Fandom: Supernatural


Midnight drabble rewrite in the slapstick comedy genre


There was a stray black and white cat that ended up being the target of not a vampire family, but a chicken one. These chickens were running around with their heads half off of their bodies, since this stray cat wanted to eat them, but the chickens happened to get supernatural strength when they were in any way threatened and made a run for it, even if it wasn’t humanly (or more accurately, fowl-ly) possible.


Since the locals didn’t know what the heck was going on, they decided to call upon the Winchester family once again.


Sam Winchester couldn’t believe what he was reading! Even though he didn’t like the fact that his youngest child, 25-year-old Lisa Renee Winchester, had gotten into the “family business”, he thought that she might get a kick out of this particular case. “Lisa, you’re going to laugh your head off after hearing about the case I’m sending you on.”


“Say what?!” Lisa Renee Winchester tried to keep a straight face when she heard about the case her father, Sam, was talking about. There were some chickens in San Francisco with their heads nearly severed threatening a stray cat! “Are you sure you’re not high on demon blood again, Dad?” Lisa asked, trying her hardest not to burst out laughing.


“Nope, it’s all here in black and white.” Sam Winchester replied, turning around his laptop so that his youngest child could see that he was telling the truth. “Do you want to take the case or not?”


“This will be the strangest case I’ve ever been assigned to, but perhaps I don’t have to worry about being taken out, so why not?” Lisa assured her father, who was already making all the necessary travel arrangements.


“Take your brother, Dean, along, since he might need a laugh for a change.” Sam Winchester suggested.


When Dean and Lisa Winchester arrived in San Francisco, they found the stray cat who was being terrorized by the chicken “clan” with the nearly severed heads.


“Is this really a case, or is this another ruse by that Trickster character?” Dean Winchester the second asked his younger sister.


“You mean the angel, Gabriel? I wouldn’t put it past him.” Lisa admitted, hearing the stories of the Trickster from their father many times.



“Hey, you chickens with nearly severed heads,” Lisa began, biting her lip to stop her from bursting into uncontrollable laughter, “leave this little stray kitten alone, or else.”


“Cluck, cluck cluck…” came the response, as the chicken “clan” approached the only redhead in the Winchester family.


The stray kitten, in the meantime, came to Lisa’s rescue, since he sprung on the nearest chicken and tore his head right off, but that didn’t stop him, he kept coming, so this is where Dean Winchester the second came in. He brandished a demon slaying knife and stuck it in the gut of the chicken, finally ending its tyranny. Dean then tossed the knife to Lisa: “Stab them in the gut, it’s the only thing that will end their reign.”


Catching the knife, Lisa did exactly that, ending the reign of the clan of the chickens with nearly severed heads. When she was sure that they were truly dead, she motioned for the stray cat to come over and survey her handiwork: “It’s okay, little kitty, their reign of terror is over.”


“What are we going to do about the stray?” Dean asked.


“I could adopt him and bring him home.” Lisa suggested.


“But you’re more of a dog person.” Dean told his sister.


“Yes, but I love all animals, unlike some dog people that don’t understand cats and want to rid the Earth of them.” Lisa replied. It’s people like that that she truly didn’t understand.


“I hate people like that.” Dean admitted.


“You and me both, dear brother, now let’s go home and tell Dad the news.” Lisa collected the dead chickens and fed it to any stray animal that would appreciate a good meal. If these chickens were actual demons, they seemed to have vacated the moment they were stabbed with the demon slaying knife.

 

Week 11/12: Long vignette (2,000+ words)

Write a story in which two or more characters exchange letters with one another. There should be no additional narrative framing – only the letters themselves! You may substitute a fandom equivalent (e.g. voice recordings, holo messages, email, etc.) if actual letters don’t fit the world you’re writing in. However these should not be real-time conversations, so no phone calls, comlinks, video chats, or anything of that sort. Let your characters express their thoughts at length, without the benefit of instant feedback from the person they’re corresponding with.


Word limit = minimum 2,000 words, no maximum limit


Fandom: Supernatural


Kristin Donovan
San Diego, CA


Dear Kristin,


Do you remember me? I helped locate you when you disappeared from a family picnic when you were about five years old. This family picnic was in the woods surrounding the abandoned Jurassic Park amphitheater somewhere in the city. My name is Lisa Renee Winchester and I’m the youngest child of Sam Winchester and Eileeen Leahy and younger sister to Dean Winchester the second (who was named after my late uncle; whereas I was named after a former flame of his). I was contacted by Chloe Sanderson, the girlfriend of your older brother, Charles, since she heard stories of some kind of “monster” being seen around those woods, and knew of our family and our reputation, so she thought that it might be better if a Winchester checked it out instead.


Of course, the “monster” ended up being nothing more than a lonely child who just wanted someone to talk to, since his family had recently moved into the area, and he was being picked on at school for being the “new kid”, but still, not as bad as I was fearing.


Since I didn’t know your email address (or if you even have one, since not everyone likes to use electronic means for keeping in touch with family or friends), I thought I would write you a letter instead (if you’re in the hunting business, many of us like to keep what we call “field journals” so we still like to jot down the occasional note of the history of the “monster” we’re hunting, especially if we can’t find any useful information online), so we still use paper and pen quite a lot.


Your rescuer,


Lisa Winchester

Lisa Winchester
Lawrence, KS


Dear Lisa,


Thank you for your recent letter. Yes, I do have an email address, but I don’t use it much, so it was probably better that you wrote a letter instead.


I don’t know if you know this, but my older brother recently died in a helicopter accident on Isla Nublar. He and Chloe rescued some baby Compsognathus eggs from the abandoned facility you mentioned from some rather shifty characters (probably employees of the rival bioengineering firm called Biosyn whom disgruntled Jurassic Park employee, Dennis Nedry, was planning to sell the dinosaur embryos to during that storm that doomed the original park thanks to his meddling). Chloe survived the crash. Our aunt Lisa (it was a popular name back in the ‘60’s when our aunt was born) went to the island with her colleague, Jonathan Morris, to measure the stability of Mt. Sibo (she’s a Volcanologist in Costa Rica, originally from Naples, Italy, so if anyone knows anything about volcanoes, it’s her, since she grew up near the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius, which buried the city of Pompeii all those years ago) and came across Chloe, who was unconscious in the back seat of the helicopter (it landed on its side, so it didn’t explode, or at least not on impact). When reporters came to the island to investigate what happened, my aunt Lisa asked them to send word back to their families on the mainland, so that’s when we got the sad news.


Chloe, Lisa and Jonathan remained on the island to help keep the baby dinosaurs safe and are planning to turn it into some kind of nature preserve (that only scientists and fellow paleontology students can visit), so no more parks, since even the Jurassic World theme park was closed after ten years due to that hybrid dinosaur breaking out of its enclosure (these animals really don’t like being caged, and who can blame them), so probably for the better.


Yours,


Kristin “Krissy” Donovan



Kristin “Krissy” Donovan
San Diego, CA


Dear Krissy,


I’m glad to hear that Chloe, your aunt Lisa (it’s still a popular name, even though it might not be on the top 100 like it was in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s) and her colleague are remaining on Isla Nublar to protect the dinosaurs brought back (and any remaining ones) and not planning any more parks. A nature preserve only accessible to a smaller number of people seems like a better choice. And Biosyn needs to be taken down, I would have much rather been employed by InGen than Biosyn (who may have also had issues, but something about this Lewis Dodgson character rubs me the wrong way. I kind of liked the idea of what John Hammond was doing, even if it went terribly wrong).


Your rescuer,


Lisa Winchester



Lisa Winchester
Lawrence, KS


Dear Lisa,


Losing family is never easy, but luckily, I still have my parents, Stephen and Emily, and my older sister, Alexandra (Lexi). Hunting monsters must be a pretty dangerous profession. How did your parents react when they learned you would be taking over your uncle’s “profession” if I can call it that?


When I was five and I wandered off from the family picnic, I just had a short attention span back then. Then, when I saw that other child that seemed to be “spying” on me, I thought that I would follow him. Maybe I had a bit of a “crush” on him, or we simply lost track of the time, since he was hiding from school bullies. Why do bullies always like to pick on the “new kid” or anyone that’s different?


Though I’m not as obsessed with dinosaurs as my late brother was, I was thinking of exploring the abandoned facility, just to see what any kind of “amphitheater” looked like, since every time my parents or siblings went to one, I was left at home with a babysitter. Because of being “spied” on, I never got the chance, so luckily, there was no “monster" for you to hunt and put an end to, just a lonely child, who didn’t seem to fit into his new school and wondered why everyone was making fun of him. I didn’t find him that odd, just a little shy, which was to be expected when you’re the “new” kid in town.


Yours,


Kristin “Krissy” Donovan



Kristin “Krissy” Donovan
San Diego, CA


Dear Krissy,


My parents were hoping that I wouldn’t get into the “family business” as we like to call it, but there was this one case in Salem, Massachusetts, about some kind of cult and my older brother, Dean, was busy with another case, so it was me or nobody. There were reports of earthquakes in the region, and New England has more hurricanes than earthquakes, so what was causing them wasn’t anything “natural”. After this case, my parents became more open to me becoming involved in the “family business” and I’ve even teamed up with my older brother on the odd occasion where two Winchesters are sometimes better than one (since the reason my dad got into hunting in the first place was because my late uncle seeked him out, since my grandfather had gone missing).


Do you have any pets? I’m mostly a dog person, but I adopted a stray cat I helped rescue from a “coven” of vampires that were feasting on people’s pets if they couldn’t find a hapless victim. I made the mistake of taking along a demon slaying knife that looked like a common pocket knife and the leader of the vampires wasn’t impressed. Since he mocked me for it, at our next meeting, I made sure I took the usual wooden stake with me and put him out of his misery.


Since your aunt Lisa is a Volcanologist originally from Naples, Italy, why did she decide to relocate to Costa Rica? To be closer to her nieces and nephews?


Your rescuer,


Lisa Winchester



Lisa Winchester
Lawrence, KS


Dear Lisa,


I’m glad you rescued that stray kitty from those awful vampires! If I ever ended up becoming a vampire (unless it was one like the ones in Twilight, which I quite enjoyed, but I kind of had a thing for Robert Pattinson back then, and the actress who played his love interest was also named Kristen, even if she spells it the more common way. I have a very hard time finding personalized items for the way I spell it), that’s one thing I would have a hard time with; drinking other people’s blood in order to survive. Have you played the Stray video game (just be warned that after about ten minutes or so, you might be a little worried about the Stray’s fate) yet? If there is some kind of environmental disaster that forces the rest of humanity to move to city sized bunkers, please find another way to deal with the accumulating garbage (which is all I’ll say about it, in case you haven’t played it yet, since I’m not sure how you feel about spoilers)!


I’m also a dog person, but don’t mind cats (unlike some dog people that wish that cats were wiped off the face of the Earth! I don’t know what cats ever did to them to think of such blasphemous things! Perhaps we should put animal abusers through the same torture they did to the poor, innocent animals that didn’t do anything to deserve such treatment).


You're right about my aunt Lisa, she did relocate to be closer to family, but also for new opportunities in a place she’s never been before. When you study volcanoes, you move around a lot (otherwise she would probably have a family of her own by now, but since she’s in her 60’s, it’s probably not in the cards).


Yours,


Kristin “Krissy” Donovan



Kristin “Krissy” Donovan
San Diego, CA


Dear Krissy,


Yes, I have played Stray. Shortly after I adopted Loki (named after an identity the Trickster character, who was actually the angel Gabriel, not the god of the same name), my father bought me a copy of the game for my X-box Series X (yes, I get a lot of questions of why I didn’t get a PS5, but they were still hard to find at the time, because of the chip shortage, so I bought the new X-box instead). It started out as a Playstation exclusive, but moved over to the X-box a year later (since I was watching a lot of walkthroughs on YouTube and something one of my favorite streamers said struck a chord: “I wanna play this!”). I know what you mean about the garbage. No matter how late it is in the future (but it’s not seven million years, since there would be no city left for the stray to fall into, so people aren’t calculating those numbers right. Remember, they’re robots, so they calculate time differently than we do).


I don’t understand animal abusers, either. Just because you don’t understand cats (or dogs, or whatever animal you’re not that fond of), doesn’t give you the right to harm it! I agree with you that they should suffer the same abuse that the poor, helpless animal has, since it would be good karma (if you believe in that kind of stuff).


I never got into the whole Twilight craze. If I want to watch a movie (or TV series) about vampires, I might opt for Interview with the Vampire or Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (more the TV series than the movie it was based on, since like many women, I kind of had a thing for Spike).


Better wrap this up for now, and if you ever need someone to slay a “monster” of the week, so to speak, you know where to get a hold of me. You can email me at bigredwinchester@aol.com if you wish.


Your rescuer,


Lisa Renee Winchester
Signing off (for now, at least)