Author: Kit'
Timeframe: Legends: Saga (between PT and OT)
Genre: One Shot.
Characters: Zallie, Heilan
Summary: Written for @Kahara's Monster Challenge

Oozing

Slime, goop, mucus, all of that. These kinds of monsters are just oozing with natural or supernatural goo. Said goo may or may not be dangerous, but it’s usually pretty gross!

****

It was back. Zallie shuddered as she surveyed the damage. Everything that she’d worked so hard for was destroyed, shredded by the invisible monster that plagued her. She shuddered again as she saw the thick trails of silver slime criss-crossing the ground. She bent down, forcing herself to touch it and gagged as it oozed between her fingers.

She wondered if she should contact Lycs to see if the felacatian knew what other monsters wandered his lands, but decided against it. She was Hexa, she was supposed to protect the village. What would they think of her if she said that she didn’t even know what this monster was?

She slowly, reluctantly, followed the trails of slime through the devastation, her hands trailing through the dead and broken branches. She shivered as she reached the edge of the forest and noticed how the trails merged and met to form one long, translucent stream of sludge. She reached out tentatively with The Force but there was nothing there. No colours except the bright greens of the forest in spring met her.

She was concentrating so hard on finding something in the pattern of the weave that she didn’t, for a minute, notice how silent and still the forest had become. No bat-squirrels moved between the trees, no animals traversed the woodland trails and even the birds had stopped their chittering.

There was a plop sound.

Zallie startled and turned to see a thick streak of translucent slime slowly dripping down a tree trunk. There was a sucking sound above her and a long, oozing trail of slime landed on her shoulder. Tentacles of goo slid down her arm and dripped from her fingertips. Zallie looked up to see two blue eyestalks waving gently in the breeze. The creature inched itself towards her, eyes swivelling back and forth as she stood rooted to the spot. Its huge glistening, silver body, decorated with nothing more than a red triangle, loomed over her as more mucus dripped from its open, plate-like mouth.


Zallie screamed.


*

Two days later

*

Zallie nervously opened the door into the fading afternoon sunlight. Heilan was standing on her doorstep, a large sack over one shoulder. Blu whined from his spot on the overstuffed couch, even as he thumped his tail in welcome.

“Quick inside.” She motioned to the tall Zabrak who ducked into the hall and dropped the sack onto the ground with a thump, spilling small, iridescent crystals.

“Thank The Force you came so quickly.” Zallie said, trying to smile even though her heart was hammering. She’d felt on edge ever since the encounter with the giant thing at the edge of the forest two days ago.

“It was the least I could do.” Heilan shrugged, “although why didn’t you contact Del and Rin?”

Zallie shook her head. “I couldn’t ask them. I’m supposed to be doing this thing myself.”

Helian frowned. “But they’d still help.”

“Yeah, but then they’d never leave.” Zallie sighed, “I love them both but they always want to save everyone. I think it might be all that Jedi training.”

Heilan laughed. “I think that might be because they’re your parents Zallie.”

“Do you want tea?” Zallie asked ignoring the comment.

“I think I need to deal with your problem first,” Heilan said looking around the cottage. "So you were saying you couldn't feel it in The Force at all."

Zallie nodded. "Not at all. It was just normal. It was like it wasn't there at all."

Heilan frowned as if confirming something in his own head. "That makes sense. We should get to it then."

Zallie tried to grin to mask the butterflies that were uncurling in her stomach. Her hands were sweating at the thought of going back out there and seeing that thing again. The former Jedi hefted the bag back off the ground and there was another flurry of small white crystals.

“Is that a special Jedi recipe?” Zallie asked watching the Zabrak walk slowly to the door. Heilan turned looking confused.

“It’s just salt.”

“Salt? Don’t you want to take your lightsabre?”

“You have slugs Zallie,” Heilan said with a laugh and then looked down at his bag as if considering something, “although you didn’t say how big they were.”

 

Yuck! Those slugs would creep anyone out. Heilan is right about Del and Rin's motives and so is Zallie. They have compassionate natures and Zallie's family on top of it.

 

Yep. Zallie loves all creatures but not slugs...definitely not slugs (I actually don't mind them but then Australian slugs are kinda cute and only eat mould and algae not gardens).

Thanks That was my husband's contribution seeing as Heilan is technically his character. I'll tell him what you said, I'm sure he'll be chuffed

Thank you so much for reading it! I'm glad you enjoyed it

Yes, she is her parents' child even if she doesn't want to admit it while she finds her place in the world.

 

This is what the slug looks like. It's a red triangle slug (it's latin name is the name of the story) and it's Australia's largest land slug. It's also pretty cool in that it just eats mould and algae so it's actually really useful to have around.

 

The beginning of the story terrified me, while the ending caused me to laugh so much that my chest hurt. Your stories never fail to surprise!

 

terrifying begin but ending with a big laugh.

 

I recall this title jumping out at me a while back, and thinking it looked really interesting and making a note to myself to read and comment—but, as you see, I didn’t actually get around to that last bit till now! So glad I did, though—this was great, with its spooky beginning and humorous ending! Wow, the animal-loving Zallie almost got pushed to the level of what she could tolerate here in terms of critters, and that is saying a lot! Thank goodness Heilan was there, too, to help out with some common sense and an age-old recipe not unique to the Jedi at all—though I, too, tend to think he’ll need more than what’s in that bag! Very cool touch to base the creature on a real-life creature local to you, too; that gives the whole thing a personal touch, in a way. Thanks for sharing another Family of Scoundrels triumph!

 

I second this reaction! Icky goo monster!

Aww! Yeah, Heilan has it right there on motives, though it's totally understandable why Zallie wants to be able to meet this new challenge without her protective ex-Jedi parents hovering over her. It seems like she's early into becoming more independent in her role as Hexa (which is a bit diffferent again from Jedi-ing, as I recall).

And Heilan is such a good friend here, of course he brought a baggie of salt for the slug! Sometimes the simplest way to go is best. It might take a few more trips to Space-Mart, but this does seem like it may be the right track.

Thanks for including the picture and info on the real-life inspiration, that's fascinating. The red triangle thing on it is very striking!