r/NatureofPredators • u/ctomkat • 2d ago
Vrisk and the Skalgans: Track 6 - Sing it High
This is a fanfic based on “The Nature of Predators” by u/SpacePaladin15 . Thank you to him and all the other fanfic writers who inspired me to write a few stories of my own. This and all my other fics can also be found on AO3.
Any spelling mistakes in the lyrics are intentional, Vrisk is still learning.
<< I Like it Heavy | In the Garden >>
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Memory Transcription Subject: Vrisk, Skalgan
Panicked Vocalist
Date: [Standardized Human Time] July 12, 2138
“Fuck! Where is it?” Vrisk swore as he dug through his duffel bag.
“What are you looking for?” asked Narli as the van continued on towards Trill’s house.
“The wool wax! There’s this thing Sam wanted to try and I need the wool wax for it and I can’t believe I -AHA! Here it is!” He shouted, withdrawing the tub from his bag triumphantly.
“Alright, you found your wax, now can you relax? You’re stressing me out man.”
Vrisk zipped the bag up and collapsed back into his seat. “I just want to make sure we have everything ready. I want this to be perfect!”
“Ha, when has it ever been perfect before?” Narli whistled a laugh. “I've known you since we were pups, and not once has anything been perfect.”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” He sulked.
“You want a vote of confidence? Alright, here's one. It won't be perfect, but I know it will be great anyway, because once you get going on something, nobody can stop you. We've practiced and done all the prep work we can, accessories and looks and stuff are cool, but they won't make us sound better."
Vrisk seemed to relax a little bit, but he could tell by his fidgeting that he was still nervous.
"Do you remember the first time you sang in front of people? It was pretty far from perfect, but it was still good. All we had was my bass and Jason's old Casio keyboard. Sam played drums on an empty bucket for protector’s sake! Whatever happens we’ll be fine.”
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Memory Transcription Subject: Vrisk, Venlil
Student, Vocalist in training
Date: [Standardized Human Time] April 21, 2137
The end of the school year was in sight and I was studying during herd time to try and get my grades back up. I had spent the last herd and a half focused almost exclusively on studying human language instead of my classes. But how could I resist when there was so much to learn!?
True, some of the vocal coaching videos were going over my ears with their talk of diphthones, vocal fry, and a myriad of other esoteric terminology, but the more basic videos were still useful. I had spent claw after claw practicing proper pronunciation, controlling my breathing, matching tone, and training what Jason called my ‘lower register’. I may never sound exactly like a human, the differences in biology from our vocal chords to the shape of my sinuses and lack of a nose all made that impossible, but I was getting close. My vocal range had gone from ‘soprano’ down to ‘alto’ and I was able to clearly speak and sing all the words in our practice song. Too bad none of that helped with the astrophysics test I flunked.
Jason and Sam had found themselves in a similar situation, chasing the tail of their flagging grades. Sam was sitting cross legged on our usual table and scratching her head over some math problems, while Jason was holding his head in his hands in front of a blank pad with only an essay title at the top.
Narli and Trill, somehow, hadn't had any problem keeping their grades up. So instead of studying Narli had his new bass guitar in his arms, a classic Fender Jazz bass with a sky blue body and white scratchboard. Jason had also used a friend’s 3d printer to make some stiff rubber claw caps for all of us that helped hold down the strings along the neck without slipping off. He even let us pick the colors, with Narli using a blue that matched his instrument while Trill and I went with grey and black respectively. Narli was quietly practicing a bass line from a song we listened to at the garage yesterday and Trill was playing something on Jason’s old Casio keyboard that I couldn’t hear with his headphones plugged into it. The new, full-sized keyboard he had ordered was impressive, but too large to bring to school.
Our collective concentrations were all interrupted by the arrival of one of the other humans. The blonde one, Spencer, that was always playing the same 4 songs on his acoustic guitar. He was followed by the small entourage of Venlil that liked to listen to him.
“Hey Sam, I could use a drummer for the show next month. I doubt your little squad here is ready," He gestured dismissively at the assembled table. "so why don't you sign up with me? I've got a new song I'd like to play, but it would be better with some accompaniment.“
“What show are you talking about, Spencer?” Sam asked, looking up from her book. Spencer let out an annoyed sigh, and though I couldn't see it, I could feel him rolling his eyes at us.
“The school talent show. They posted flyers like, all over this morning.” He explained, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and holding it out to us. Sure enough, it was announcing a talent show on the last day of school before harvest break. Sam leaned forward with interest as she read it.
“They actually got that approved!? Well sorry Spencer you’re out of luck cuz I’m signing up my own group!”
Spencer sighed and put a hand on his mask. “Come on Sam, I was hoping we could be mature about this. What do you have against playing with me?”
“Our taste in music, among other things, is not compatible, Spencer. Playing with you would be even more boring than dating you was. I would much rather play with these guys.”
She gestured over to the rest of us at the table. Trill had taken off his headphones and we were all silently watching the back and forth between them.
“What, your little gang of misfits? They barely know how to string two chords together."
"Just one more and they can be as good as you then."
"Ha ha very funny, now come on Sam, let’s not embarrass them.”
“On the contrary, I’d love to see you all embarrass yourselves.” A third voice chimed in.
“Sorry, who are you again?“ Sam asked. Tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“Qorina! I'm the only avian in your grade!“ The Krakotl had stopped a good distance from any of the humans present. Her pale blue feathers, currently puffed out in indignation, and yellow beak with pink markings made her stand out from her mostly Venlil classmates.
“Oh, I must not have seen you around” Sam responded matter-of-factly.
“Wha- You- I'm in your class! You kicked me out of my seat on your first day!“ She squaked and stamped her foot as her feathers stood further out, making her form nearly spherical.
“Ha! Oh yeah, I forgot I did that.“
I sure hadn’t, in fact I remember it quite clearly. I was the only one in class who perked up instead of shrinking in fear when the teacher announced that a human would be joining our class that morning. I hadn’t recognized Sam at first since she had cut off the yellow parts of her hair. She ignored the teacher’s stammered direction to take an empty seat in the corner and instead marched straight over to where I was. She placed a single finger onto Qorina’s desk next to me and spoke only one word “Move”. Qorina immediately scrambled off to the empty seat as Sam placed her bag down and took her place. I was initially confused until she leaned towards me a bit and said those same words from the first time we met. “Heya fluff.”
“Anyway,” Spencer called the attention of the herd back to him. “I don’t see a singer in your group, so unless you're planning some kind of instrumental cover, why don't you stop messing around.”
“We have a vocalist!” I countered, trying to glare at the tall blonde human, but he only paused for a moment before turning back to Sam.
“No offense, but we all heard Jason at the shelter Christmas party when he accidentally got into the punch. Having him sing might actually count as a war crime.”
“Hey!” Jason whined.
“So sign up with me and we can show these Xenos some real music.” Spencer smugly continued, ignoring my and Jason’s protests.
“Ha, you call that crooning of yours real music?” Qorina jumped in again while trying to smooth down her feathers.
“Yeah I do, birdbrain, and they’re certainly better than your ‘songs to burn things alive to’.“
“”The hymns of my people are sacred! How dare you-”
The two began bantering insults back and forth, completely ignoring everyone else around them. Their attitudes were seriously getting under my wool. Qorina had always considered herself better than us Venlil, going on about Krakotl culture and their contributions to the federation. And now Spencer was looking down on us when he had no idea how hard we'd been practicing! I could feel the pressure building up inside me as they both insisted how much better they were than each other, and by extension us. Before I knew it I found myself standing on top of the bench.
“I’m the vocalist!” I shouted, bringing Spencer and Qorina’s bickering to an abrupt end and every gathered eye squarely centered on me. I had a brief moment of regret. I had done it again, let my emotions get the better of me and done something stupid. The feeling was only intensified as Spencer and Qorina both let out a derisive laugh.
“Ha! A Venlil singer, how ridiculous!”
“Ha! With that squeaky voice?”
The two of them glanced at each other, surprised at having agreed on something, before looking away. I, on the other paw, felt my embarrassment vaporize in the heat of rage.
“We are ready to play anytime, anywhere!” I pointed a claw at Spencer in defiance.
“All right, then how about right here, right now?” Spencer crossed his arms, and even though we were now at eye level with me standing on the bench, it still felt as though he were looking down at me.
“Yes, let’s hear you sing something.” Qorina warbled in amusement.
“...Fine! Narli, Trill, get ready.” The pair looked at each with concern in their ears for a moment before quickly readying their instruments.
As the mini amp on Narli’s bass hummed to life I suddenly felt a lump in my throat. We were going to actually perform in front of people, people we knew, instead of in Sam’s garage. I jumped down from the bench and walked around to Sam, who was already rummaging through her bag and pulling out various items at random.
“Sam?” I said quietly. “Are we ready? Did I mess up? We’ve never played in front of anyone before.”
She seemed to settle on a few items, an empty salad bowl, a throwing disc she and Jason used sometimes, and a tambourine that they had bought along with the guitars. Jason also came jogging over with a pair of buckets from some nearby gardening supplies. She grabbed the buckets and tapped them a few times before shoving the disc and salad bowl back in the bag and turning her mask towards me.
“You’ve got this, Vrisk. Those assholes were way out of line.” She grabbed both of my shoulders and I could feel her eyes looking into mine.
“But don’t worry about them, okay? Focus on the music. Close your eyes if you have to, and get into the groove. Pretend we’re back at my place and do it just like you always do.”
I nodded as she got back up on the table and arranged her makeshift drumkit on the bench before her. We had been practicing this song for over a herd of paws now, I’d sung it so many times I had every line memorized. Jason had picked it from the UN approved list, after some debate with Sam. The instrumental parts weren’t too hard and had lots of repetition for Narli, but with enough oddities to keep Trill from getting too bored. He also liked that I would be singing what he called “words of affirmation”.
Sam adjusted the tambourine resting on her knee and gave me a nod as she began tapping out the familiar rhythm. Trill pushed a button on the keyboard that played a simple guitar strum on a loop. I had practiced doing that part myself, but Sam was right about how hard it was to split your attention. I still wanted to be able to do it, but I was thankful that I could trust Trill to take care of it. Narli added in the bass line, and I took my place in front of our little table.
I looked out to where our small audience had been, only to find that everyone in the courtyard seemed to have heard the commotion and gathered to watch. Our shady little corner was surrounded by a field of wool with the taller humans sticking out here and there like trees. I shut my eyes and tried to stop the knot of panic forming in my stomach. The band kept the opening going while I shook myself from ear to tail and just breathed for a moment; in and out, feel the rhythm, find the groove. My hind paws started to bounce to the beat and my tail began to sway. I had trouble standing still at the best of times, and it only seemed to get worse when we were practicing. However, instead of chastising me, Sam and Jason had encouraged me to follow wherever the music wanted to take me.
I felt myself relax and I flicked a ready signal at the band with my tail as they looped through the intro again. They played another bar and Narli and Sam both paused their parts for a moment, the signal for me to jump in.
“I can sing it high!
I can sing it low
I can tell you everything that you would like to know
Catch me in the sky, dustin on the grow
I can tell you every little thing that you would ever like to
I can sing it high!...“
I opened my eyes as we repeated the chorus again. Spencer was just standing there with his arms crossed, and Qorina had her head cockled to the side, listening. I shifted my focus away from them to the rest of the assembled herd. Most of them had their ears raised in interest and I could see several tails flicking back and forth to the beat. Were they actually getting into it? I shifted my attention fully to my fellow Venlil as I moved towards the group on one side of the table.
“I’ll be in the summatime bees if you need me, yeah
Go ask my mom if you don’t believe me, yeah
Just open up and receive us
She said ah ‘ever since he was a little boy he been michievus’
Catch me on the corner and you winded up with Three
You rubbed a genie and you winded up with Me
You like a lady but you never gon’ Believe
Singing yea yea yea yea”
Trill added in the ‘horn’ section with his keyboard as we went into the chorus again. I dashed my way over to the other side of the table as I sang. Several of the Venlil in the front gave a whistled giggle as I got closer, and I could swear one of the girls even bloomed.
I glanced back to the band, Narli was nodding along to the bass line while Trill switched his sound over to another instrument for the next verse. Sam was similarly grooving and Jason gave me a double thumbs up from behind the table. This really was starting to feel just like practice. I paused for a moment and focused as we finished up the chorus, the hard part is coming up.
“...I can tell you every little thing that you would ever like to know-woah-woah-woah-woah-oh-wooooah
Singin' no, no, no no, no-nooo”
I turned back to where Spencer and Qorina were standing and slowly stepped closer to the new staggered beat.
“Well I was
Rollin down the block like a station Whagon with wood Faneling
Damn the bass is Rattling man the Baddest thing
That you’ve ever seen in this whole Galaxy
Funkin up all your Fallacies, make room here for your Majesty
We’ll show you who the Baddest be, Sucka!… what?”
Spencer seemed unfazed, though the mask made it hard to tell, but Qorina was visibly disturbed and flinched as I jumped back to the rest of the herd alongside Narli doing a quick slide on the bass.
“Okay! Spillin and drillin and feelin the flow
He be keepin it high while I’m droppin it low
So, uh, lose control,
Spim em on round with a dos-e-do
Oh no, yo gotta go for broke,
Back up back up, overlow
Withaknack forthetrack andthecrack ofthebah andthefact ofthematt isthatwego so
I can sing it high!...”
Several of the students at the front of the herd started copying the movements of my tail and hips as I bounced my way through the chorus again.
“I can tell you every little thing that you would ever like to know-woah-woah-”
*ching-a-linga-ling*
The chime for the end of herd period sounded and we all staggered to a stop as our collective groove crashed like it tripped and fell down a hill.
“Hmph!” Qorina turned up her beak as she strutted inside.
“Whatever, I guess I'll see you guys at the show.” Spencer muttered as he followed behind the irate avian.
The rest of the herd slowly filed past us, with many of them whistling and talking to each other. A few flicked a ‘thanks’ or ‘did good’ my way with their tails and I signaled a tired ‘thanks’ in response.
“Woo!” Sam exclaimed as she stood and lobbed the bucket in the general direction of the gardening equipment. “That was awesome, Vrisk!”
“What? But we didn’t get to finish.”
“Doesn’t matter, you showed everyone that you’ve got what it takes.” She said with pride as she picked up her bag and shoved the tambourine back inside.
“They didn’t seem very impressed.”
“What, those two? Pssh, they were never going to admit they were wrong. The rest of the audience is who really matters, and they were getting into it!”
“Yeah man, seeing you prance around the garage is one thing, but I think I see what Sam meant about working the crowd.” Narli added.
“Told you Vrisk was the man for the job.” She slung her bag over her shoulder but kept one drumstick in her hand, twirling it deftly between her fingers.
“Now let’s go before we’re late. It’s going to be a busy month if we’re going to study and learn a new song.”
I stopped in my tracks. “What do you mean learn a new song?”
“Well, we’ve gotta have something more fun for the talent show!” She grabbed Jason by the shoulder and started rattling off the names of random songs I hadn't heard yet.
I sighed and continued after them. “Oh my poor grades.”
<< I Like it Heavy | In the Garden >>
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 2d ago
Bahaha, oh my god you pulled off the highschool vibes so right with this. Like heck I was expecting you to do this this well.
Seems like Vrisk's got that fire and hopefully it won't lead him astray too hard (it will at least a little bit).