My Skin: Song Challenge Fanfiction

[ansketil_rose]

Title: The Wages of Honour
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Star Wars characters, they belong to George Lucas.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 9,000
Pairings: Anakin/Padmé and Anakin/Palpatine (obviously)
Summary: A general campaigning on the edge of winter is recalled by his emperor - only to be shocked into remembering the past they both share.
Author’s Note:

Comments

[veronicaprof]

I just wanted to say that I hope to give you more feedback on your story soon, but I did look over it quickly, and found your approach very interesting and refreshing. :) I loved your opening scene, with the battle-scarred Vader -- a Dark knight, but in a totally different way, and loved the descriptions of the Jedi as a Jesuit order. I really enjoyed the intimations of sex between Vader and Palpatine, and only wished selfishly that I'd gotten to read an actual sex scene. They are hard to write, especially as the Internet becomes glutted with them, I realize.... I guess I should say that, as more and more fan writers seem to easily write PWPs and sex scenes without discipline, it's harder and harder to find well-written erotic scenes of any sort, including many that are intended to be, and which actually just leave me cold

[ansketil_rose]

Thank you! Just looking over it I see that many of my italics are still missing (I am an italics whore) and I have many typos. *sigh*

I wanted to take the characters out of their own context and put them in a context where their behaviour is not only acceptable, but admirable. Where "the Dark Side" is not marginalised and selling your life to your liege is the height of honour. That made for some interesting character developments.

I didn't want to go the whole way with this one. I didn't really have time and the setting is in some ways the opposite of Star Wars: the "dark side" is acceptable, but homosexuality is not, so because Anakin was educated in a seminary he shies away from it and cloaks sexual attraction as something else. I absolutely agree with you about sex scenes, many have become utterly dull and without any kind of power. I love writing good spontaneous erotica, but sadly it wasn't appropriate here. I tried to keep that idea of longing on Vader's part because Palpatine doesn't dare go so far either. I never said why

[veronicaprof]

It all worked very well, and I hadn't even thought of Dr. Zhivago when I read this... but you're right! Shades of Camille or La Boheme, too, although perhaps that's stretching things a bit far

[ansketil_rose]

My main influences for this tale were Napoleon, the Austrian Empire, Doctor Zhivago and The Iliad, book 19. The classicist in me won't let go of the Virgilian system of revelation by references - it's terrible, since the the Homeric reference is the biggest clue to why Father Jinn was killed, although I'm sure you worked that one out without it.

Oh god, don't even start on how Lucas had Palpatine disfigured, if with you all the way. A more pointless scene there never was. You could cut it out of the film and the story line would not alter one whit. The only thing it does is make Palpatine look incompetent. I have fantasies where, if that's the effect of Force Lightning, Luke is horribly disfigured in RotJ.

Of course they would have that discussion! I wrote this partly as a protest against the immortality Palpatine is said to desire in the EU, so they had to have that talk - I do vaguely remember something similar in the cave. I love that tale of yours. :)

Oh, that? That was just this thing that randomly came to me in the middle

[veronicaprof]

What time *is* it there, anyway? We seem to both be up at the same time, although for me it is in the wee hours. :)

[ansketil_rose]

I posted the above comment at 7pm on Friday the 15th. I'm ludicrously ahead of everyone else I know online!

[veronicaprof]

I will see if I can come up with something specific for ideas. I'm sometimes plagued by the desire to write, and even phrases and scenes in my head, but they don't always gel into anything concrete. So please, if there's anything *you* would like me to write, let me know.... I can't promise anything, of course, but it might help me. I do remember Ziggy asking me to write a comedy a few months back, but so far the muse isn't cooperating on that one. Sith and comedy are such a hard combination.

I quite liked the "middle of the night" story. Let's see...does Vader spend the night? :)

[ansketil_rose]

I don't know... I suppose I always wanted to find out what happened with catamite!Luke and youthful!Palpatine and their meeting with rebel!Vader. Probably because I had thoughts in that direction myself with Alexis, that story has fascinated me. I generally find that Sith comedy has to be situational - otherwise it's just Palpatine's cynical and often hilarious inner-monologue to fall back on.

Does Vader...? You just want me to write some erotica, don't you? ;)

[veronicaprof]

Yes, sadly, that story died stillborn a long time ago. The problem was that without co-authors urging me on (Z.P.'s health prevented her from continuing to help, and Cara Loup lost interest in SW and moved on to Frodo/Sam fic, and M. J. Mink and I couldn't reach a consensus on where/what the story should go/be/do), I just couldn't do it alone

[veronicaprof]

I'm tired, too, obviously, as I'm writing in fragments. Sorry about the numerous replies! How annoying....

Anyway -- immortality is all very well as a goal and even an obsession, but until one has achieved it, one had better damned well have a back-up plan for one's chosen and, yes, at least occasionally beloved, successor!

The disfiguration scene makes me curse and cringe every time -- and I thought nothing could be much worse than the Special Edition changes to the OT.... The only scene I hate as much or more is the damned Frankenstein homage at the end of ROTS, and Padme's labor -- is it surgery, or is it labor, damn it?!?!?! It's insane, is what it is....

[ansketil_rose]

Exactly. Of course Palpatine would have a back up plan - he's Palpatine! And he knows that if he dies without a strong successor his empire will crumble like Alexander's.

Ah yes - Frankenstein; it's disgusting and cheapens the entire film. Absolutely. But I still hate the disambiguation scene more. *sigh*

[ansketil_rose]

Um, hello there spell check! If only it were a disambiguation scene rather than a disfiguration scene! *facepalm*

[ansketil_rose]

Second paragraph: for "if" read "I'm"

I'm tired, lol.

[veronicaprof]

I received this at around 3:15 in the morning here. What time did you write it? I'm trying to figure out the time difference, LOL.

[veronicaprof]

And no, I don't know what UTC stands for.....ugh.

[ansketil_rose]

7.03pm for me. :)