Things are never quite the same as they used to be

[im_not_the_pope]

WHO: Palpatine and Anakin
WHERE: Palpatine's warehouse
WHEN: Tonight
WARNINGS: Dunno. Probably some trippy head shit, idek.
SUMMARY: Anakin comes to make sure that his friend the Chancellor is okay.
FORMAT: Para?

Comments

[orderofhisown]

Entering the Chancellor's sequestered section of the warehouse was like stepping straight into the Republic's capitol building itself. For a flicker of a moment, Anakin forgot about the existence of the city, parallel universes, and empty skylines.

The squeal of an ambulance several miles away brought reality flooding back.

Shucking the weight of familiarity, Anakin stepped forward and within conversational distance. The Chancellor's back was to him, but that stately posture and centered Force presence were unmistakable. It was a relief to see him alive and in one piece; The mission on the Invisible Hand hadn't been going well.

"It looks like the old one," he offered fondly.

[im_not_the_pope]

"Oh, Anakin," Palpatine said, making himself sound surprised. "You snuck up on me, I nearly died of fright." He chuckled, his voice upbeat and much like his former self, before he turned around slowly to look at his old friend. Under the black cowl of his robes, his features were revealed to Anakin; the years of wrinkles covering his face, the fact that he now relied upon a cane to walk upright. His eyes lifted and met Anakin's, before he smiled at him, and spoke once more.

"You couldn't believe how happy I was to see you here," he said, taking another step closer to him. "Well, I mean, obviously, I would rather us both be home, doing our jobs, but at least there is a friendly face here now." He laughed slightly before walking towards his chair, motioning for Anakin to take the one to the right of it so that they could sit as they spoke. "I trust that you are well, then?"

/rushes in ridiculously late with coffee and donuts ;_;

[orderofhisown]

Much of the Chancellor's courtesy fell, unfortunately, on deaf ears. While Palpatine himself might have grown accustomed to his new face, Anakin hadn't.

It took the young Jedi a moment to recover from the shock of the disfigurement. The effect wasn't helped, either, by the Chancellor's cavalier attitude. Anakin had never once thought his mentor a vain man, but such a dramatic change deserved some kind of explanation. Had it been a product of the city's porting system? Some careless hero's mistake?

Somehow, Anakin managed to stumble into his voice again.

"S-sir... your face." He was incredulous- still too surprised to be upset or angry. Part of him still couldn't believe it. He had to check once, twice, to make sure that the injury wasn't an illusion of a sleepless night. "What happened?"

/om nom nom

[im_not_the_pope]

Palpatine's face dropped, a sigh escaping his lips. "You noticed, eh?" he asked, a slight, sad chuckle escaping his lips. He walked over to Anakin, placing his arm around his shoulders. "I was hoping that for a little bit, we could forget about that, and just catch up on old times...I suppose I'm too hideous, now, for that, hm?" He looked up at Anakin before removing his arm, motioning towards the chair in front of his desk instead, as he moved around behind it.

"Forgive me, Anakin, and please don't take this the wrong way, but perhaps it is best if you don't know how this happened to me..."