Before - Legends Watery Eyes (Mods' Dare Challenge - KotOR era, OCs, Revan cameo)

Title: Watery Eyes
Author: Vek Talis
Length: Vignette
Timeframe: 5~ years before the events of Knights of the Old Republic (video game)
Genre: Musical/Whimsical
Characters: OCs & ECs: Revan (female) and Malak
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars & never will.
Note: This is for the Mod! Dare Challenge, I'll show the exact details of the challenge at the end.



~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"We're looking for an ancient artifact; it could be at the bottom of your ocean," Revan said to their guide.

"I will help as I can, of course," Cenkis Hecro said. Something about these humans - these Jedi - rubbed him the wrong way. They were arrogant and angry. Cenkis wondered for what purpose they searched. He had a pretty good idea what they were after, deep down in the Hrakert Rift, but that was also the source of kolto, so leading them there might be dangerous to his way of life.

He was a Selkath, the aquatic species that ruled Manaan in harmony with the rest of the natural creatures of the world. His people had had a tough enough time in the distant past for him to be too welcoming of outsiders.

They walked down a street in the lower part of Ahto City, where modern conveyances seldom reached. Boats were moored to cleats on the docks; four sailors - not Selkath, but humans from a neighboring system - gathered their nets and catch after a day of fishing.

Three Selkath youth approached Cenkis and the Jedi as they walked the harbour. Two of them carried bouzoukis, traditional instruments of the Selkath. The bodies of the instruments were made of coral and the strings from the internal strands of kelp. The third young man carried two reeds similarly crafted from kelp; that, Cenkis realized, was an aulos, another traditional instrument. One of them suddenly leaped into the air; when he landed, he strummed the bouzouki with a dissonant chord.

"Apologies," he said. "That akli tick got me to strumming." Akli were a fish that lived at the bottom of the oceans and were occasionally caught and consumed by Selkath. They sometimes were infested with a mite that, when consumed, gave the host uncontrolled, jerky movements.

He began strumming again, this time a more sensible chord, followed by another. "Why not make it time for a song," he said arbitrarily as his friend joined in. The Selkath with the aulos slipped the instruments into his mouth and began to pipe an all too familiar tune to Cenkis.

In response, the Selkath felt his vrankio - his gills - begin to heat and swell to the patriotic music. It was sheer bravado from a bygone era, but he couldn't help himself. Not every Selkath possessed this trait. He quickly unbuttoned his tunic - as Selkath were wont to wear clothing around outsiders - exposing the changing colours of his vrankio for all to see. To call it machismo was perhaps unfair, but he reveled in it nonetheless.

With full voice, he suddenly burst into song.

"Masters of Manaan, the Selkath are we

With soaring souls we rule the sea

In our energetic fists we tame the seven mists

And spread into the galaxy..."

As the pipes became louder and the second bouzouki player switched from strumming to picking a fine alternate rendition of the melody, one of the human sailors, carrying a ridiculously large firaxan shark stuffed toy, performed a flawless pirouette. Immediately after, he and his friends joined in lock step, right arm upon the shoulder of the man in front. They did a perfectly timed stutter-step, then another before breaking contact to spin on their heels in a one hundred eighty degree turn, only to take some synchronized back steps before spinning in different directions. Their spell broken, they continued walking down the dock and away from the procession.

Cenkis went on singing, however, as he was now fully invested in the song.

"O once we were subordinate

Cruel masters oppressed our planet"

Right in the middle, a gondola floated into Cenkis' view in the Selkath made canal that paralleled the dock. It carried a few human tourists. The two gondoliers, fore and aft, joined in singing as they plied their craft, pushing the boat down toward an even more touristy area of the port.

"Every eye shed tears, all throats dry with fears

But our plans were O so intricate"

From the corner of Cenkis' eye, he spotted the Jedi. They'd stopped walking and were eyeing the Selkath from a distance. The guide cared little at that point, as he was enjoying himself, being carried away with a wave of patriotism.

About halfway through the song, the musicians began playing a frantic interlude, heavy with melody from the aulos. It was meant to be an instrumental, but, moved by the moment and love of his home, Cenkis lifted his voice in a powerful ululation. It was an old cry from the days when the Selkath threw off their oppressors - in legend, of course, no one fully believed the stories of conquerors thirty thousand years in the past. It melded well with the instrumental. In truth, the few times the Selkath had needed to fight to keep their independence, the ululation was used in battle as a way to show confidence in victory, and as a way to discomfit the enemy.

Coming up the dock were several human girls of about school age. Officials from the neighboring system had made a very lucrative deal with the authorities of Manaan to open up a small academy within Ahto City for a few select human students. It was not uncommon for humans, once indoctrinated into Manaan's peaceful ways, to wish to remain for life, taking up the objectively contagious patriotism of the Selkath. All three suddenly smiled brightly and began skipping to the rhythm of the tune. Cenkis couldn't blame them; it was shaping up nicely, if he did say so himself.

"Our victory assured, we overthrew our world"

As Cenkis got to one of the most important parts of the song, he noticed two Selkath rising up out of the water in a firax cage - made of durasteel, it allowed for close and safe study of the sharks inhabiting the waters of the great ocean. With mastery of the sea, the cages were mostly antiquated and - to Cenkis' mind, at least - silly.

"And vanquished all our foes"

The Selkath in the firax cage joined in, raising their voices, one a rich bass - Cenkis immediately thought of the homograph of a bass voice with the bass swimming in the mighty ocean - the other a stunning tenor, both complementing his honey-like baritone perfectly.

"With might we had the right, they lost without a fight"

As the firax cage lowered back into the water, drowning the bass and tenor, several dockworkers, caught up in the procession, tied a boat to cleats along to the rhythm.

"Now we sing this freedom prose"

Each of the workers leaped into the boat and worked in unison, to the beat of the tune, in taking down the mainsail and battening down the hatches. They continued in synch for the remainder of the song, doing all the tasks in perfect time.

At last, the final verse was upon them. Cenkis could feel his throat getting dry with righteous patriotism. The blood ran to his vrankio and his brain, giving him a heady feeling.

"Masters of Manaan, the Selkath we thrive

Without love and pain we wouldn't be alive

In our energetic fists we tame the seven mists

We live to excel and survive"

As quickly as it began, the musicians ended their performance and all went silent. Waves lapped against the durasteel and the boats in port creaked against the waves, their soft bumps on the dock occasionally creating a false sense of rhythm that broke intermittently.

The musicians began whispering among themselves and strolled on up the little road beside the docks. When Cenkis turned, the Jedi he'd been guiding were nowhere to be seen. Shrugging broad shoulders, the Selkath headed toward the nearest tavern, the credits the Jedi had given him burning a hole in the pocket of his tunic.

He reached for the door handle, but it turned, seemingly of its own volition and the door was soon opening. Another human strolled out. Tall, he had a somewhat rounded face and kindly green eyes. He cautiously looked up one side of the street, then down the other.

"Excuse me," he said, his voice soft and cultured. "Would you by chance have seen two Jedi?" He wore similar robes and Cenkis saw the lightsaber hilt swinging on his belt.

The guide pointed to the last place he'd seen the one calling herself Revan. "There," he said.

"Thank you," the human said and bowed at the waist. Instead of heading in that direction, he started walking the other way.

"Hey, don't you want to follow them?" Cenkis asked.

The Jedi turned, thrust his arms behind his back and raised an ironic eyebrow at the Selkath. "That would go counter to necessity, sir," he said, then continued on his way.

"Those humans are a strange breed," Cenkis said as he shook his head. Then he pushed thoughts of humans from his mind and stepped into the tavern. His throat was dry after singing one of his favourite songs. Second favourite, after Tastes like Adolescent Spirit, of course.



~fini

Spoiler: Notes

Here's the Dare Challenge I received (the asterisks next to each point show that I feel I completed them at some point or other [your mileage may vary]):

NOTE: I dare you to adapt this clip of the song Μάτια βουρκωμένα from the movie Διπλοπενιέςto the Star Wars universe, in the era and continuity of your choice. Here is a list of the specific elements that must feature in your story for it to be worthy of the glory that is 1960s Greek musical cinema:

1. Your story must take place in a harbour (or SW equivalent) *
2. There must be musicians walking down the street who are inspired to start playing their instruments for some wholly improbable reason that you will define. *
3. Your working-class yet handsome protagonist will of course start singing along. It is an absolute pre-requisite that a few chest hairs be visible along the collar of his shirt. If you choose a non-Human protagonist, you will have to replace this with a suitably antiquated and macho symbol of masculinity. *
4. Your protagonist’s co-workers will drop whatever they’re doing to belt out the chorus, as seen at 00:56 of the video. This must include people who arrive on the scene in a ludicrous mode of transportation, such as the workers seen at 01:11 who are coming up in a crane lift for no particular reason, and then going down again.*
5. Your protagonist must let out a war cry of sorts in the middle of the song (01:29 of the video), the deeper meaning of that war cry, if there is one, being entirely up to you.*
6. There must be sailors in uniform (or SW equivalent) who perform a few dance steps in unison, just because, and then resume their stroll (01:32). *
7. There must be someone who pirouettes while carrying a patently absurd object, such as the butcher boy with a carcass at 02:06. *
8. There must be schoolgirls (or SW equivalent) skipping happily to the tune of the music (02:17)*
9. There must be one or more people who integrate the steps of the dance seamlessly in the course of their work, such as the dock workers at 02:23.*
10. The lyrics of the song (which you may write or just summarise) must include the quote ‘without love and pain you wouldn’t be alive’. If you’re actually making up lyrics, it’s okay to adjust the wording of the quote to make it fit the type of verse you choose to write. *

Μάτια βουρκωμένα (‘Misty Eyes’), music by Stavros Xarchakos, lyrics by Nikos Gatsos, vocals by Dimitris Papamichael and choir

Διπλοπενιές (apparently known in English as ‘Dancing the Sirtaki’), director: Giorgos Skalenakis, 1966

 

Perfect. I love to see how you decribe Manaan and the Selkath having fun with their music. And Revan getting away after giving his Selkath helper his credits when another human Jedi comes.

 

I was honestly expecting something from either Disney or a jukebox musical based on this. What a delightfully specific dare. I’ve been to Venice and can picture this on the canals, but my current city is also based around canals and would not be able to pull this off! Cheers.

 

@Vek Talis This is absolutely spectacular! I don't know why you put that disclaimer that you "feel" you've included all the elements of the dare; I feel that you went above and beyond to include them in great detail: the reason the musicians begin to play, the Selkath equivalent of chest hairs (that was just perfect), the war ululation, the firax cage turning up and sinking again, and of course the firaxan shark stuffed toy that just came out of nowhere At the same time, this isn't entirely a crack!fic, because you inserted so many fantastic worldbuilding elements, like the use of coral and kelp to build musical instruments, and you even used elements of the dare for that purpose, like the display of vrankio and the history behind the war cry. This is a fantastic story on its own merits and an outstanding response to the Dare Challenge.

 

Thank you for reading! Manaan is one of my favorite places in KOTOR and was sad they didn't include it in KOTOR II. And Revan is always fun to have around, even when she's not utilized much.

I was actually trying for a Gilbert and Sullivan kind of feel for the song (think "A British Tar" from HMS Pinafore) especially, but I don't think I pulled off the meter as well as I'd hoped. A 19th Century operetta writer, I am not. Thanks for reading!

Thanks! I felt some of the items were somewhat vaguely done, open to interpretation, as it were, but I'm glad it came across better.

I figured, "This is a Greek inspired challenge", so why not go Greek? I found Cenkis' name in a Selkath name generator and (as an American of German-Irish ancestry) thought it had a Greek 'sound' to it, so thought it was the perfect name, and then googled the Greek for 'gills' to get vrankio, lol, etc and viola, a macho singing star is born. And who doesn't like a good war ululation, eh? I know I don't but that's just me.

Much appreciated.

Thanks!

I know, right? Poor Revan and Malak, and whoever that last, mysterious Jedi was who was not quite following them. Of course he got to do without the song and dance, but it's funny how Cenkis sent two of the mightiest one-day Sith scurrying for cover with nothing more than a song.

If they get, to use Cenkis' term, 'indoctrinated' into Selkath ways, they might just stick around... forever.

Thanks! Manaan is great and certainly deserves to see more inclusion in the SW universe. Not least because I love sharks and want to see a Jedi and a giant firaxan battle it out, lol.

You've either got the 'itch' for akli... or you're uninfected.

As someone who hasn't caught a lot of fish in his time, I do remember one thing about the ones I used to catch back home: when you get them out of the water, if the sun catches them just right, their skin can reflect it and give off a rainbow-like effect. That image popped to mind as soon as I read "It is an absolute pre-requisite that a few chest hairs be visible along the collar of his shirt. If you choose a non-Human protagonist, you will have to replace this with a suitably antiquated and macho symbol of masculinity."

You know how, after listening to loud sounds, once they stop, there's kind of a deafening void of sound? I wanted to portray that and the 'natural' sounds of a port returning to the ears. Hopefully that came across.



Thank you all, and thanks to all the challenge writers/readers of this great challenge! This was a lot of fun and I'm sad it's over.

 

I love a good Selkath story--they're my second favourite species in KOTOR. And fem! Revan FTW!

And also love your description of Manaan and expansion Selkath culture and history. Top it off with singing and toss in some aquatic species biology (loved the whole thing with Cenkis and his reaction to the "patriotic music"; as a science nerd, it was amusing to read )

Something about singing Selkath honestly makes it seem like it's completely something they would be into and I love the visuals of it all.

Now I can only imagine some Rakata tribe in the Unknown Regions singing about how they took over Manaan thirty thousand years in the past and nobody believing them either

It's also really impressive how you got all of the prompts to a tee---and also expanded on them instead of just treating them like a checkmark as another comment mentioned.

 

This was a delight to read; I've always thought the Selkath were an interesting species and it's great to see them in the spotlight here!

The musical instruments made of oceanic materials are a cool choice, and having the bouzouki as a Selkath thing is really fun!

And you wrote the song -- that is going the extra mile. Like how the lyrics capture bits of the existing lore and add some nice worldbuilding at the same time, while also keeping the rhythm of a catch folk song. This was a fantastic response to an extra zany challenge.

 

Female Revan is always a thing for me. In my AUs, that's what she is, without exception.

Thanks! Greeks and Selkath just have so much in common. Living near water... uh, singing... gills... no, that's about it. It was a joy to adapt them to fit the challenge, though.

My goodness, that is an interesting story you've cooked up there! Thanks for enjoying this, but you really have to blame, er, congratulate Chyn for coming up with the idea; I was just her willing vessel.

Same. Manaan is a really cool place to visit and Ahto City is beautiful!

As a bad songwriter myself, I thought it was the perfect vehicle to write another bad song. Cheesy war songs go hand in hand with ululations and exhibitions of machismo, so it was a natural combination.




Thanks everyone for reading and voting for this little ditty!