cairistiona: (Hope)
cairistiona ([personal profile] cairistiona) wrote2012-03-12 09:54 am

B2MeM fic: Out of One Nightmare Into Another

B2MeM Challenge: B7 Beasty: "Watcher in the Water"
Format: Drabble
Genre: Gen/Horror
Rating: PG
Warnings: Scary Nightmare Imagery
Characters: Aragorn, Boromir, Watcher in the Water
Pairings: None
Summary: Nightmares abound when one is forced into darkness...



The tentacle reached for him, wrapped itself snakelike around his leg. He tried to move, to run, to flee, but it held him fast, and more tentacles emerged from the water, trapping his arms, pinning them to his sides. Pulling him toward the gaping maw...

Aragorn gasped and jerked awake. Boromir held out a hand to steady him. “Are you all right, friend?”

It was several moments before he found breath to reply. “A nightmare, that is all.”  He looked around the shadowy cavern of Moria and wondered if they’d escaped one nightmare only to plunge into one far darker.

[identity profile] lindahoyland.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I liked this , great use of the prompt!

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I've wanted to do an Aragorn vs The Watcher in the Water nightmare for a long time and this seemed a good time to try it. :)

[identity profile] inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh a very good way to work this into canon! Nicely done.

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I really couldn't think of any other way to do it within canon, as it didn't seem like he (or any of them) had any prior knowledge of the beast. (But boy, wouldn't an AU of Aragorn and Halbarad or young Estel and the Twins coming across it be a grand adventure...!)

[identity profile] ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, so well done! Well said - from one nightmare to another.

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I imagine Moria spawned a lot of nightmares for the Fellowship. *shiver*

[identity profile] mrowe.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmmm, yes, just a bit from one nightmare to another...

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Just a bit! Of course, we have the advantage here over Aragorn in that we know what he's about to face in the not-so-distant future. I think at this point he's still hoping that the Watcher was the worst of it... but also figuring there's plenty evil yet to come. :P

[identity profile] nefhiriel.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww. I do love me a bit of Aragorn and Boromir friendship when I can find it.

And seeing the Watcher in the Water would totally be enough to give me nightmares!

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
It certainly would give me nightmares!!

I like Aragorn-Boromir friendship stories, too. There's not a ton of them out there, though, I guess because the window on their friendly feelings was a little narrow.

[identity profile] nefhiriel.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Inconveniently narrow time-frames are what AUs (like plasticChevy's) are made for, no? ^^

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
True! I don't read many AUs and write still less--I don't know that I've ever written a true AU, come to think of it. I think if I were tempted to write AU's, it'd be that Halbarad lives!

[identity profile] nefhiriel.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"I think if I were tempted to write AU's, it'd be that Halbarad lives!"

You'd have my vote on that. :D (In My Own Little World, there's never really any danger of canon happening to Halbarad. It's too sad!)

[identity profile] estelcontar1.livejournal.com 2012-03-12 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Short and sweet and very chilling indeed.

[identity profile] rs9.livejournal.com 2012-03-13 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
So realistic. We've all had nightmares like that where we long for that wake up "jerk". hmmmm.... don't know quite how to rephrase that!

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-13 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
I know just what you mean!
shirebound: (Sleeping Frodo - Mucun/Rei)

[personal profile] shirebound 2012-03-13 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
A very scary and realistic nightmare.

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-13 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Poor Aragorn... hopefully he only had it the one time!

[identity profile] imbecamiel.livejournal.com 2012-03-13 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
*shivers* Nicely creepy. Yikes, Moria would not exactly be a comforting place to wake to after a nightmare. :P

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-03-13 12:24 pm (UTC)(link)
No, it really wouldn't!!! Glad you liked this!

[identity profile] lilybaggins.livejournal.com 2012-04-06 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
Ooo, I like. I actually really enjoy friendship scenes with Aragorn and Boromir, even though they didn't know each other long. Still, as the only two Men in the group, they had to have felt something in common.

[identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com 2012-04-06 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep, I don't think it was always prickles and tension between the two. I like to think they would have become really good friends had circumstances turned out differently.