Author's Note: This was for a Kyp/Tenel Ka challenge on a message board, but I had switched a few things around so it didn't end up working for the challenge anymore. This one was just a fun little story to write – in a crazy RPG I'm a part of Kyp likes to drink, so this insanity sort of spawned from that. Written: 04/03/2005.
What Rhymes With Tipsy?
"Gegeeegegegegegegehh! Heh! Woo! Hmmmhmmhmmm gegege."
That storm was brewing again, it was those eyes - those cloudy eyes snapping open, drifting over to the window of her quarters.
The Jedi Academy on Ossus. A wide building, sprawling across a large chunk of land. The building was a few floors high -- her quarters happened to be on the second floor.
But that didn't mean she couldn't hear that Force forsaken noise. "What the..."
Stumbling out of her bed, Tenel Ka padded over to the open window, resting her right hand on the ledge. She peered over, down into the backyard of the Academy -- her eyes narrowed at what she saw.
"Kypsie rhymes with tiiipppppsssyyyy!" Skipping around the grass, he almost tripped a couple times before she spoke up.
"Master Durron..." Her voice came out in a monotone drawl, her Hapan accent really coming out in the first word.
"Wha?! Who issss dats?"
"Up here, Durron."
Snapping his head upwards in what looked to be a mildly painful gesture, Kyp peered above him. All he could make out was a halo of copper hair. "ARE YOU A... A WHAT ZAT THING? AN ANGEL?"
Tenel Ka ignored his silly question. "How much did you have to drink tonight, Master Durron?"
"Call me Kypsie, Miss Queenie!"
"Master Durron..." Tenel Ka inhaled deeply, preparing to continue her interrogation ---
"KYPSIE!!!"
Her breath came out in a slightly annoyed sigh, "Kypsie..."
"What makes yoooou think I had drinks and drinks and drinksssss, milady?"
Shaking her head, Tenel Ka pulled herself back into the window and threw a robe over her shoulders, slipping her feet into a pair of slippers. She escaped into the corridor and started to the turbolift down to the main floor.
When she got outside, Kyp was in a grove of trees near the west end of the backyard, spinning in a circle with his face towards the sky, arms thrown out towards his sides. Tenel Ka sat down on one of the benches and stared to him, head tilted a bit. She couldn't help but crack the smallest hint of a smile. He looked like such a child. Times like this actually helped Kyp -- since he basically didn't have a childhood.
"Maste---" A sigh. "Kypsie."
Stopping his twirl, Kyp faced her and knelt in front of her, on both knees. "HEY! When did yooou get here?!"
"Just now."
"WELL SHAVIT THAT'S GREAT LET'S GO!!"
"What?"
Before he answered her question, he jumped up, grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the bench, dragging her into the woods behind the Academy. "Come on Queenie Teekay! We're gonna have an adventure 'sploring the woodsy stuffs."
Tenel Ka could feel her robe and her nightgown getting pulled and caught on branches as Kyp galloped through the woods, one hand around her wrist, the other shoving branches and vines aside.
They were only proceeding for a minute or two before Kyp stopped, Tenel Ka running into his back.
"STAY PUT MILAAAADY I SENSE HEAR SENSE A EVIL MONSTER THINGUM!"
Tenel Ka's eyes widened as she listened for anything -- she heard a little rustling, but that was all.
The "monster" that Kyp heard was a man around Tenel Ka's age, watching from the underbrush.
Jacen Solo.
He had been meditating in the woods, eyes closed, mind wandering -- until he had heard a drunk Kyp Durron squealing about going on an adventure. A lopsided grin had broken out on his face when he saw a bewildered Tenel Ka in tow, eyes wide, lips pursed. He could tell she was playing along with his little game. Jacen had run into the drunken Jedi Master once, one night a few standard months before -- and he had forced Jacen to go diving in the lake with him for treasure -- when all they found was a pretty hungry Massatear.
Kyp hadn't had a lot to drink since that night -- but it looked like he was at it again now, and was forcing Tenel Ka to play with him this time. Solo had told Tenel Ka about that night, so he figured she knew to play along like he had.
Jacen felt his muscles tense up as Kyp tore his lightsaber from his belt and flipped the switch, swinging it around wildly. "DON'T WORRY QUEENIE MAJESTY! I'LL PROTECT YOU AND YOUR SIX THOUSAND SEVENTY TWO HUNDRED MILLION PLANETS AND STUFFS!"
Swinging the lightsaber in a full circle around him this time, Tenel Ka dropped to her haunches, luckily in the right frame of mind to do so. Jacen, still in the bushes, felt his breath catch in his throat at that -- but noticed that Kyp's lightsaber only caught a chunk of her copper hair.
Tenel Ka noticed that too, Jacen could tell. She was scowling down to the tuft of it that now lay at her feet.
"Kypsie, I think we should go back now."
Thumbing the lightsaber off, a look of shock flooded into Kyp's jade gaze as he spun around to face Tenel Ka. "Mayhaps we should I think yesssssss."
Jacen followed them back to the Academy, where Tenel Ka helped Kyp to his room and tucked him into bed. "Night night Queenie Chume Ka Djo Ka Chume Chume Djo Ka Tenel Mother lady!"
Emerging from his room and scowling at the missing locks that left an empty shape at the ends of her hair, Tenel Ka padded down the corridor back to her own quarters.
That was when Jacen slipped into the Jedi Master's room.
The morning sun streamed in as Jacen stood from the long breakfast table to greet the Queen Mother with a kiss on the cheek. "Did you sleep well last night?"
"Mmmm... I guess."
They both sat down, across from each other, Jacen's eyes on her now shoulder-length copper hair. "Your hair... what happened?"
Tenel Ka's eyes drifted to Jacen's brandy-brown gaze -- which widened at her words. "Kypsie strikes back."
A chuckle erupted from Jacen Solo's lips as he took a sip of his juice. "What was it this time?"
"There were monsters in the woods that we had to get rid of. The only thing he managed to get rid of was a good lot of my hair."
Tenel Ka saw that sparkle in Jacen's eye -- and that was when he got up with his tray and meandered off, not saying another word.
Odd.
A presence drifted up beside her and she glanced up.
"Master Durron... or Kypsie, is it?"
"Did you do this?" Durron turned his head to the side, letting the back of his hair flip over his shoulder. There were some pretty massive cuts in it, a nice design actually.
Tenel Ka's gray gaze widened, "No."
Before Kyp could respond, he felt a tugging on his pants. He glanced down to a young Ben Skywalker, his wide blue eyes peering up at him, "Master Durrrrron! What happened to your hair?"
A pause.
"Shoo, kid."
Ben giggled and ran off, down the aisle into the open arms of his cousin Jacen. Kyp's eyes had followed him and they narrowed once they stopped on cousin Jacen's face.
Solo winked.
Solo... I had a feeling...
"Maybe you shouldn't drink so much, Kyp. Then you would have least been in the right frame of mind to smack me around a couple times."
Kyp crossed his arms and snickered.
"But you were too tipsy."
Tenel Ka stood up beside Kyp and grinned a bit, "He's right, Kypsie." Nudging his side, she sauntered off to start her daily training.