Xena FanFic Challenge

[Joxcenia]

Create a scene (or whole fanfic), using whatever writing style you prefer, that includes a combination of any or all of the following:

• Sky
• Villagers
• Argo
• Necklace
• Kaleidoscope
• Exorcism
• Banishment
• Outbreak

There is no wrong direction in which to take in order to complete this challenge. All is good. So feel free to experiment in all areas of style & technique.

BTW: Please keep it PG-13... If it was used in the show, you can use it in your work here.

UPDATE # 1: The assignments can be uber if that's where the muse leads you... and can also include other show/movie/comic book characters, such as: Alias/Xena... Star Trek/Xena... Spiderman/Xena... Wonder Woman/Xena... etc. Argo can be a horse... a ship... a pet... a car... whatever...

UPDATE # 2: A written "scene" isn't a whole fanfic manuscript/script, or even a whole chapter/act. For example: In Sins Of The Past, Act 1 has several "scenes" that make up the one act. There's Xena being told to leave by the villagers and Gabrielle begging to be taken along... Xena's meeting with Draco to save the village... Gabrielle taking off to follow Xena... Xena's meeting with the Cyclops... Gabrielle's meeting with the Cyclops... etc. Each one of these is a separate "scene", and some are longer than others.

There is no word limit to go by. Your scene can be as long or as short as you choose. Your scene may also be a television script or a play. As I've stated above... there is no wrong way to go about creating your scene... all is good. And you don't have to use all of the words above. You are free to pick and choose which words you want included in your scene. You may use them all if you choose to.

You can post your works in this thread,
or start a new one.

The original thread at ezWhoosh was a contest that never took off, but there were some nice entries and I didn't want them to disappear should ezWhoosh get deleted.

[Joxcenia]

Oooh! If you're having trouble getting started, try looking the words up in the dictionary, as some words have several meanings:

Kaleidoscope: (Not necessarily an object/toy.) Anything that constantly changes, as in color and pattern.

Necklace: (Not necessarily something worn around the neck.) In nautical usage, a strap around a lower mast to carry blocks.

Banishment: (Not necessarily banning someone from a place or action.) The act of driving away or dispelling; as, the banishment of care.

[Joxcenia]

My Xena Challenge Scene

The Warrior, The Phantom, And The Temple's Tomb
Written by: ChelSierra Remly ©

The Triskelion and Chakram slice through the air with a whoosh! Both weapons swirl, zigzag & spiral as they dance a frenzied tango across the sky.

“You know, Gabrielle, you’re getting pretty good with that.” Xena shifts her weight from one foot to the other and leans into position to catch the Chakram on its return flight.

“Well, it isn’t the Chakram, but it handles much the same,” said Gabrielle. She leans to one side and plucks the Triskelion from the air as it tries to fly past.

“If you wanted to keep the Chakram, you should have left me dead,” Xena shoots back.

Gabrielle gives Xena a sideways glance. “I thought about it,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “But then I weighed the pros and cons…”

“Oh, so that’s why it took you so long.” Xena teases.

“That isn’t fair, Xena.” Gabrielle forces the Triskelion back into the air with a flick of her wrist. The Chakram follows suit. “It isn’t as though it were a simple exorcism. I had to find a way to reform your body from ashes that were a year old before I could resurrect your soul. And then of course there’s the fact that you wanted to stay dead."

“Oh that,” said Xena, forcing a smile. “Well, I had my reasons.” Both Xena and Gabrielle catch their weapons in unison and place them on their hips. “I think we’re ready now to check out that temple.”

They walk through the woods in silence, each in their own thoughts, and hide behind some bushes near a temple. The day is hot, but the gentle breeze sends chills through their bodies as it flows across their skin, evaporating beads of sweat. A lone bird calls out, but the guards standing around the temple take no notice of it, they are intent on their mission and nothing will distract them.

“Oooh!” a woman’s voice penetrates the air.

“Help, someone help! My wife has gone into labor.”

The temple guards look to their right, but see nothing out in the open.

“Aaah!” a woman’s scream sends a murder of crow into flight, they form a black cloud which flows across the sky and settles into trees further down the trail leading to the village just down the hill. “Aaah!” the woman screams again. And again the murder of crow takes flight, this time leaving the area completely.

Virgil steps from the edge of the tree line and waves his arms overhead to alert the guards to his position. He doesn’t see Xena and Gabrielle in the bushes to the left of the men, but he trusts that they are there. “Hey,” he yells at the guards. “Can you come give me a hand? My wife is giving birth, and I need some help.”

The guards ignore Virgil at first, but a group of villagers come around the bend and take notice, so the men slowly stride over to assess the situation, glancing back at the temple doors from time to time. “We don’t know anything about the workings of a midwife,” one guard states loud enough for the small band to hear. “Why not get those men over there to help you take your wife into town?” He points towards the villagers. “I’m sure they have a midwife there.”

Eve steps out into the open and waddles up to the group of men. “The pain has stopped now. I think maybe the baby decided to wait a little longer.” She smiles apologetically at the guards. “I’m very sorry to have troubled you.”

* * * * * * *

Inside the temple, crystals hung from the ceiling, while the sun’s rays shone through small openings in the roof and walls, sending patterns of various colors and shapes throughout the room as both sunlight and glass intermingle. The multitude of shapes change in size and form as the colors battle for dominance, first blue wins, then red, green, yellow, red, blue, yellow, green. On and on and on, the sunlight and crystals continue their play.

“This is beautiful,” said Gabrielle, mesmerized by the hypnotic grace of the shifting colors and patterns. “Too bad this place is being run by warlords. It would make for a nice retreat for the villagers.”

“Yeah, too bad,” said Xena, her eyes on the tomb in the middle of the room. “But they can do what they want with it after we’ve taken care of these warlords.”

Copyright © 2004 ChelSierra Remly

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Note:

• A Triskelion is the "Triangular Flying Killing Thing" that Prince Morloch used in Dangerous Prey. I've wanted Gabrielle to have it ever since I first laid eyes on it... and now she does.

My Back Story: The temple is used by warlords, masquerading as Priests, who are forcing villagers in the surrounding area to pay homage to Xena. They claim to have her remains placed inside a tomb that rests in the center of the temple, and the villagers must bring money, food, and other supplies to her in return for her protection from beyond the grave.

If Xena had appeared to the villagers as a ghost, it would have reaffirmed their belief that the Priests were telling them the truth. Thus, Xena had to be brought back from the dead to prove the lie and save them from the warlords. (I haven’t worked out how Xena was brought back to life, or how the souls of Higuchi were still avenged and not lost forever by this, but then I didn’t need to just for this one scene.)

[Joxcenia]

prmystic
Registered Member
Posts: 342
(4/9/04 1:04 pm)

The sun was rising. The sky was awash with blue, pink and blazing yellow. The birds were a chorus to the beginning of the day. Xena and Gabrielle walked along in silence, Argo by Xena’s side. As they crested a hill they could see a great cluster of huts and other buildings in the valley below them.

“Nice village,” Gabrielle’s quiet voice momentarily broke the silence, which was immediately shattered beyond retrieval by a blood curdling scream.

A man’s body broke through a wall, followed by angry pursuers. Women and men burst out of their homes to head toward the commotion. The man that originally seemed to have been thrown through the wall, staggered to his feet and began sprinting away, armed men and women following. A woman snuck out the other side of that building and headed for a nearby woods. A young woman followed after her.

Xena and Gabrielle watched, stunned.

“Yeah, real nice,” Xena replied.

Xena mounted Argo with a leap and called out to Gabrielle, “I’ll try and stop the villagers, you –“

“I’ll go after the two who headed into the woods,” Gabrielle was already sprinting away.

Argo raced into the melee and Xena hurled herself into a somersault through the air, drawing her sword as she landed. The wounded man was behind her trapped against a wall. The villagers closed in. Xena, sword in hand, launched a series of kicks and punches that sent the attackers sprawling. One woman, knocked to the ground, got up and grabbed a nearby iron pike and raced at the warrior princess. The sound of metal on metal rang out through the air. Xena divested her of her weapon and sent her backwards into a nearby horse trough filled with water. She then turned her attention to the man behind her, fighting for his life against three others. One had him in a head lock with a thick piece of cloth and was squeezing the life out of him as the others punched him in the face and body. The man was gasping and choking.

“Where is it!” one of the attackers screamed, his face twisted in rage. He landed a devastating blow on the man’s face. “Where is it?!” he screamed again. His accomplice landed a blow to the man’s solar plexus.

One swift kick from the warrior princess knocked the face puncher’s hands out of the way, the second kick sent him flying. A blow to the head twirled the second assailant into an unconscious heap. Xena’s sword curved through space with incredible accuracy, slicing the victim free from the cloth that was choking him without scratching either him or the third man who wisely jumped back out of the way.

Xena took her place beside the man who was the object of all of this fury, sword out to ward off any fool that might rush in.

“Alright, that’s enough!” she shouted. “Now what has this man done to any of you? What are you after?”

The man by her side was still coughing and trying to recover.

“The necklace!” one woman shrieked. “He’s got the necklace!”

“Yeah!” “Yeah, the necklace.” the crowd murmured in assent.

“What necklace?” the warrior woman snapped in contempt. The thought that the entire village was beating up one man for the sake of a simple piece of jewelry confounded her.

“The necklace of the Goddess of Lerenika!” the woman snapped back as though everyone would understand. “The famous necklace, with the Plague Star Diamond! He brought it back to impress his wench!”

“She’s not a wench!”

“She is too!”

“It causes outbreaks! See look at the spots on my baby!”

“It doesn’t cause the outbreaks! It cures them!”

“It cures the outbreaks, I want it for my sister!”

“We need to get rid of it! It’s killing my family!”

“We don’t need the diamond for a cure, we need an exorcism!”

The villagers began to grow more angry, both with each other and with the hapless man that Xena had chosen to defend. They moved in closer, threatening and shouting. Xena swung her sword through the air in a great horizontal arc, forcing the closest in the mob to jump back and maintain their distance.

“Alright already, just hold on there!” she shouted back at the crowd. She turned to the frightened man beside her. “Just where did you get this necklace, anyway?”

“I bought it from a man who said that he stole it from the temple of Lerenika. He said he had to get rid of it because the penalty for stealing from the temple was banishment and death and it was too late for him, because he was dying.” he paused then continued. “He was dying of the plague.”

A gasp ran through the suspicious crowd.

Xena eyed the crowd, then turned back to the man and considered the situation.


Deep in the woods Gabrielle was sitting with the two women under a tree, clearly trying to understand their situation.

“It’s not just a diamond,” the slightly older woman explained. “It’s part of a magical instrument, it enables you to see the wonders of the world in a whole new way. It’s a part of a tool,” she continued. “Sabina, my bag.”

The younger woman reached around and handed her a velvet bag. The older woman detached the huge stone from the beautiful and elaborate necklace in her hands. It was banded around with a metal casing that formed a simple frame for the enormous clear round jewel. She reached into the bag and pulled out two beautifully decorated tubes. She detached them and dropped the jewel into one where it seemed to slide down into the end. She manipulated the end, then she reattached the tubes and handed the instrument to Gabrielle. “Look through it.” she said.

Gabrielle peered downward through the tubes. “I don’t see anything,” she said.

“Not down. Look up. Look up where there is light, and color.”

“Oh!”

“Now twist the tubes.”

“Oh My!”

“It’s called a Kaleidoscope.”

Gabrielle looked at the woman in amazement. “How did you get this? Where did it come from?”

“It’s from the temple of the Goddess of Lerenika.”

Gabrielle looked serious. “You stole it? No, you had someone else steal it.”

“I had someone else retrieve it. I’m the high priestess of the temple.”

“Then why hide it? It belongs to you. And what are you doing in this little village if you’re the high priestess of a temple.”

“Because…because I’m guilty of murder. And the punishment is banishment and death.”

The look of confusion on Gabrielle’s face faded to a look of dismay.


<<Cue: XWP intro>>

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Okay, technically, it's not one scene, it's at least two. But my excuse is that I wrote it as the teaser before the XWP intro, the very beginning of a show.

Your critique is welcome.

mystic