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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Before the Saga Celtic challenge: "I never will marry", story 9/9 from Sheev´s POV: answers

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by AzureAngel2, Apr 7, 2017.

  1. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    DarthUncle: After reading your kind and sweet comment, I have problems with my eyes, too. Might I use your empty pillow to blow my nose?

    :p;)

    Well, I tried to survive those immense stomach cramps last night and writing helped. This is perhaps why Sheev ends up in Nagina´s bathroom.

    O:)

    Did you also notice that I stopped calling him Palps? He really gets to me. I must re-watch the BBC series "The virgin queen" soon. Ian Ian McDiarmid is in it as far as I remember.

    As for "The Last Unicorn": I listened to the soundtrack for a while, because former kindergarten kids of mine gave me a lot of unicorn paintings to show their affection for me.

    All in all, I could explain a lot of details that show up in my stories that Darth_Furio likes. But then I would need to Force fry every reader for knowing to much.

    [face_devil]

    The humour part is "van zelf sprekend" , because my husband ordered me to have a much friendlier eye on Denmark. (Could not resist this "Hamlet" quote because the heavy Shakespeare DVD set fell on my head when dusting on Friday evening. Please don´t ask! [face_blush] )

    I sometimes do what I am told, especially from a distance!

    :p
     
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  2. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Sheev has something good in him. Love this post
     
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  3. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    earlybird-obi-wan: A long time ago a youtube clip made me thoughtful.

    It stayed at the back of my mind. Until the first ideas for the Nagina main story came to life...
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2018
  4. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Another Sheev (Palpatine) story:


    Story 5:She plunged her fair body in the waters so deep

    Summary: An elderly man sits in his private apartment. Life is not fun for him most of the time. There are people to bully and an Empire to be reigned. At least his niece is able to enjoy a beach trip to Scarif on his expenses.

    Time frame: The story takes place about 2 weeks after RotS (19 BBY).

    Planet of choice: Coruscant

    Disclaimer: SW is owned by George Lucas, Lucas Ltd. and now The Walt Disney Company


    It's not your Chair of Office that you sit it, but one of the three replicas in your private office. You made yourself comfy in it hours ago. The Naboo blossom tea in the mug next to your left wrist is already cold, but you don't mind. You never had the intention to finish it anyway.

    [​IMG]


    In an endless loop your favourite score of 'Squid Lake' fills the air.

    The window that Master Windu shattered during the duel got repaired. The splinters of glass are gone. Only your deformed features are the evidence of the fight, that happened in here.

    For a brief heartbeat you close your eyes. In your head you quote a line from Nagina's most favoured book. The one most fetching for the state that you are in. “I can feel this body DYING all around me!”

    You have become a being like Darth Sion, the former Sith Marauder. Every centimetre of your body crawls with agony. You are covered in cracks and scars, can feel the decomposing of your flesh day by day. A walking dead of Koriban, that's what you are now.

    The dark side of the Force comes with a price, but you willingly paid it. In return you are held together by powers that some may consider unnatural. But you are alive and that is all that counts.

    Eventually, you will get used to the new pain. It is but a question of time. Perhaps even a matter of patience with yourself.

    Pain is an old acquaintance of yours. He entered your life when you were almost strangled in your crib. You survived the incident, but he decided to stay with you. With growing leisure he followed you like a shadow entity. A phantom menace.

    Throughout your childhood you felt pain's touch. The man who sired you was very creative: knifes, canes and whip lashes.

    Finally came the day, when you accepted pain as a companion.

    But all the hardship of your youth was just a preparation for your years as a Sith acolyte. There, you learned a new definition of pain. It turned into a blooming flower in your chest.

    You look at Sly Moore out of the corners of your eyes. She still cowers where you told her too wait after you were finished with her.

    With a booming voice you say, “You may leave now!”

    Her head jerks up at the tone of your command. This way you can stroke her cheekbones with your left thumb. She quivers like a little rodent in a trap, longing in her colourless eyes.

    “No!” you breathe.

    There is another desire in you at present, one she will never be able to fulfil. But there is another who can.

    You watch your pet leave, enjoy the trail of blood her tortured feet leave behind.

    Quality time is rare for an Emperor, but you took the right to claim it anyway. Inside these walls you want to be a private person, deal only with private matters. Hours with Sly Moore are but pet training. But to plunge into Nagina's life is like a walk over a flowering meadow.

    It was not Krennic's idea to lure her away to Scarif. You want her there, because she is a water creature. Always was.

    Of course you have cameras all over the island and so you can watch the encoded security footage from your special chair.

    Nagina looks a bit worn out when she leaves the space ship right after Krennic. You suppose they had another argument.

    To your delight they already fight like real siblings. At least you think that this is the way brother and sister deal with one another. Your own family, long gone, is your only resource material on such matters. To contact the Anils is always a bit embarrassing for you.

    Child education is still a book with seven seals and Nagina already turns forty-one in a couple of days.

    You operate your inbuilt comlink while watching your niece walking towards the beach.

    “Thousands of white daisies for the guest bedroom of Mistress Samye.”

    “As you wish, my Emperor,” answers your secretary dutifully. “May I please you with anything else?”

    Normally, you would snarl at Dar Wac for too much efficacy on his side, but seeing Nagina in her cute tankini swimming suit sets something lose in you. She has worn it under her normal clothing the entire time. It pleases you that she is always so thoughtful, so practical.

    You hope that she also used sun lotion before leaving Lothal. It would be a pity if she catches a nasty sun burn. You do not want her to look like Vader.

    Thinking about your broken apprentice, you add, “White stargazer lilies for the brand new mausoleum of Senator Amidala.”

    Padmé had been a worthy foe until the end. Her life force was also useful to turn the leftovers of her husband into a loyal zombie.

    “May that be all, my Emperor?”

    “Make sure that Lord Vader knows about it!” you say promptly, straightening with negligent air.

    If that howling wraith would not consume most of your time, you would have been able to be with Nagina right now. Of course, you said that the two of you need a certain distance, but truth is that your heart cries out for her. You cannot let go of her so easily.

    Around your niece life seems to be normal. And when you get her to smile at you, it is so very rewarding.

    You hang your head. But not for long.

    Gleefully, Nagina hops into the ocean, which is a sight you always loved. On land she is graceful in your eyes. But when she connects with her true element, she is magical.

    She plunged her fair body in the waters so deep,you quote an old text from the Lake Country.

    It is a song about a woman committing suicide, but your niece is too strong for such a foolish act. You were worried there for a while, when Barin died. But she has recovered. No matter what obstacles are put in her way, she prevails. As solid as a rock.

    You should have taken her gene material to create life. Not yours.

    High midi-chlorian count or not, the boy is flawed. And stupid.

    Nagina showed more grace when moaning for her husband.

    You curse, using some very mean expressions in Huttese.

    Instead of white stargazer lilies you should have requested sand stinkhorn. You know too well how much Vader hates desert related things. It would shred him even more to see Amidala's grave blemished.

    Ugly crackling comes forth, but after a while it turns into a sob.

    You wish you could be with Nagina. Share the joys of Scarif. But there is an acolyte to harrow and an Empire to build. Krennic will have to do as a companion for your niece.



    Sources:
    The song “I never will marry”, the version of Heather Dale

    Quote from the Fantasy book “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle (1968)
    Wookieepedia – The Star Wars Wiki
    Jedipedia, a free German Star Wars-Encyclopaedia
    Wookieepedia – The Star Wars Wiki
    Jedipedia, a free German Star Wars-Encyclopaedia
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2018
  5. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Sheev is such a creepster here; well done! :eek: It's the juxtaposition of his unstinting emotional attachment to Nagina -- unhealthy though things are thanks to the whole being a Sith factor, he makes no pretense of not loving her for who she is -- with what an absolute monster he is to others in his sphere that makes him both horrifying and pitiful. It's interesting that he even half-acknowledges it to himself that much of the motivation for why he resents Anakin so much is because he's so closely related to Sheev, genetically speaking at least. [face_thinking] Or at least that's the impression that his thoughts made here for me.
     
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  6. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Kahara: It is always a bit nasty to dive into his head, but once I am in there, the ideas keep flowing.

    I was always in the back of my mind that Sheev and not his master, Darth Plagueis the Wise, was responsible for creating Anakin in unnatural ways. Back in the 80ies a childhood friend of mine and I played this theory with KENNER figures. And it stuck to me.

    And after I watched an interesting contribution of the youtube user Dash Star, who published lines that GL did not use for RotS any longer, I was happy to have more evidence for the flow of my Nagina fanfic.



    With my character Sionnach O’Conghaile I already have a clone created from the cells of a still born baby. But Grianán and her siblings refer to her as ´cousin´ anyway. For them she is the child of their dead aunt.

    So in one way or another Vader is Nagina´s cousin, but both are unaware of it yet. I read fanfics were he has a sister. Let´s see how he will deal with another type of relative. IF the secret ever comes out.
     
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  7. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    sheev sure is creepy but Plaqueis was too being the master of Sheev
     
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  8. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    earlybird-obi-wan: Ik zou niet weten iets over Plagueis te vertellen. Because I like Sheev way better. And so more I write about him, the easier it gets.

    Anyway, thanks for being one of the very few people who react on my fanfics with a feedback. And sticking to me since many, many years. @};-
     
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  9. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Plagueis was a main villain in Aaquillin and Darrin being the master of Anka Dynarsk
     
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  10. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    earlybird-obi-wan: You were able to write a good Plagueis, I remember that. But he never interested me.
     
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  11. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    Well said Kahara, that's my impression of him too - the last sentence:
    Really illustrates that too. If he'd be stronger as a person, he could just decide to go and join Nagina, but no, he can't turn or stop this train he set in motion. I wonder if he really somewhere knows already that it cannot last (as he leaves Nagina, hope for the galaxy).
     
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  12. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    DarthUncle: Thanks for your comment and your kindness!

    And as I just said in RL in RT: "Yes, I am stressed!"
     
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  13. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Argh, for some reasons this was a double post! [face_frustrated]
     
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  14. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Here it finally is, a sad update, fitting to the Celtic challenge I would say:


    Celtic challenge, song 2

    Title:“I will never marry”, a Sheev Palpatine vignette with several parts

    Story 6:My love's gone and left me, the one I adore

    Summary: The Lake Country usually is the most charming area of Naboo. But for a young girl it turns into a living nightmare.

    Time frame: The story takes place in 56 BBY.

    Planet of choice: First Serenno than Naboo

    Disclaimer: SW is owned by George Lucas, Lucas Ltd. and now The Walt Disney Company



    You are already in the stratosphere of Serenno, when you receive a message. Not the usual kind of holo message. It is a cry for help through the Force.

    Your skull vibrates with the naked fear and pain of your young niece. For some heart beats its impact leaves you breathless. The most horrifying impressions rain down on you.

    But even if you contact Convergence, the family lake retreat, nobody will be able to stop your father in his rage. Those fools fear Cosinga all too much to get in his way.

    You take the only option left to you: storming the cockpit.

    “We need to return to Naboo!” you shout. “Something has come up!”

    The pilot blinks at you, but knows too well to question your orders. “Yes, sir!” he prompts.

    Then you walk back to your cabin and lie down on the large Davenport. “Hold on, sun shine!” you let her know. “I am coming for you!”

    It seems to take hours to return to your starting point. All you can do it to nurse her mind. You try every trick in the book to calm her.

    “He can hurt only your body. Your spirit is as wild and free as a bog land fairy. ”

    By the time you are out of hyper space, Nagina's precious life is waning in your mind like a plucked flower.

    Not caring for the flowerbeds of your mother, you order to bring the ship down in the middle of the garden.

    [​IMG]


    Your father comes towards you. Blood is smeared all over his velvet tunic. He wears a stupid, most satisfied grin. It turns your stomach upside down to see him so victorious. You should have killed him years ago. Mandré, your half-sister, would still be alive if you had.

    “You forgot to bring out the trash, Sheev! Get it done!” he snarls at you and leaves you standing.

    Blind with rage and concern you storm towards the kitchen entrance.

    You can still feel Nagina. Her presence is like an echo in your bones.

    Concentrating hard, you turn towards the organic waste collection bin.

    “You really meant it,” you say with a hoarse voice.

    Cruelty never bewildered you before. Right now it clenches your heart like an iron fist.

    A grim promise comes to you when you yank the heavy lift open. “I will get you for this, Cosinga!”

    Your hands dive into the mass of fruit skins and withered vegetable remains.

    “Nagina!” you whimper, your brain still trying to cope with the situation.

    You have to dig for a while before you find a tiny foot. White and naked.

    Not caring for your fine garments, you free the rest of the broken body.

    “Oh my darling girl!” you sniff.

    Tears stream down your face, when you lift Nagina out of the bin. She is as pale as death herself. Her soul already seems to sail down the Solleu River.

    “Please, don't leave me!” you beg her. “Stay with me!”

    You kiss her dirty brow, trying to rekindle her life energy. Even a Sith lord can use Force healing.

    While the dark transfer takes place, her lids flutter like the wings of a butterfly. But she seems unwilling to return into the mortal world. Her trauma is too great to behold.

    “Please!” you gulp.

    Nagina is too young to give up like that. You want her to turn at least ninety years of age. She will be happy grand-mother with giggling youngsters on her lap.

    Carefully, but with haste you wrap her into your expensive cloak.

    You need help. This is beyond your expertise. In principal you can raise the Dead of Korriban. But not a three year old human girl. You are not powerful enough yet. Darth Plagueis has not shared all his secrets with you. Too many remain.

    Nobody stops you on your way to your speeder. The property seems empty and lifeless, beaten down.

    Once the engines roar in protest, there is no speed limit for you.

    You burst open the entrance gate with your willpower, making one of the solid doors fly out of its hinges.

    On the way to Theed, you continuously speak to Nagina. You do not tell her about the allies you try win these days. Nor do you speak about your plans for galactic domination.

    You quote from her favourite children books, sing the songs that your little niece loves most.

    Then you reach the outskirts of Theed.

    You race on.

    Absent-mindedly you notice that you just hit two pedestrians who were in your way. It can't be helped.

    You stop the speeder right at the Emergency Room entrance of the hospital.

    From there everything starts to become blurry. Nagina is ripped from you and you face a thousand and one questions. You come up with some cock-and-bull story about finding her on your way to the family villa. It sounds convincing to you, but you see the gazes of the hospital staff. Especially the paediatrician in charge is sceptical. He seems to know you.

    They do not allow you to see Nagina again.

    Only family members are allowed into the ER's bacta chambers after the operation.

    You want to scream into their faces that you are her uncle. But that would make you too vulnerable, would lead to more uncomfortable questions. Questions, that would bring Nagina into the focus of your enemies.

    Security personnel escorts you outside. Men you could easily fry with Force lightning.

    You stare into the blue afternoon sky.

    Child Care Services have Nagina in their grasp now. This is the outcome that you dreaded most of all.

    In a back alley next to the hospital you pause. With a roar of anger you hit your left fist into a brick wall. The pain and the blood fuel your fury.

    “My love's gone and left me, the one I adore,” you whisper to yourself.

    This is of course not Nagina's doing. She is without blame here. You failed her as a guardian, as her loving relative. It will haunt you forever.


    Sources:
    The song “I never will marry”, the version of Heather Dale
    Wookieepedia – The Star Wars Wiki
    Jedipedia, a free German Star Wars-Encyclopaedia
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2018
  15. DarthUncle

    DarthUncle Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2005
    This is quite heart-breaking, seeing sheev as a caring uncle who's trying to save his niece.Still, he's callous himself too 'Absent-mindedly you notice that you just hit two pedestrians who were in your way. It can't be helped.' ... and then I imagine Nagina finding out about that, adding to her trauma, no doubt. But, at least now we know how this essential part of Nagina and Sheevs backstory went that has been hinted at, and gleaned, quite a few times before from different points of view. She seems to have gotten over it reasonally well, considering; probably partly thanks to her adoptive parents. Sad to think some kids really have to endure horrible events, even in our own galaxy and time.@};-[face_good_luck]
     
  16. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Azure, wow. Intense and heart-tugging!! The second person POV is gorgeous anyway, and it is startling indeed that Nagina really is Sheev's "soft spot" if he can ever be said to have one. :p =D= =D=
     
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  17. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    DarthUncle: The German news have been full of debate on this subject the past days. Even The New York Times has an article about it. I am sorry that I had to bring it into the SW universe, but as a teacher & pedagogue I saw & heard much over the past two decades. Even before my job training.

    I remember the morning the Irish window cleaner broke down in front of me, the Au Pair girl from Germany. After giving the man a nice a cuppa with lots of sugar and milk in it, he spoke in a shivering voice about the Christian Brothers and what they had done to him as an orphan. We sat in that Dublin kitchen for a long time. Me listening (even a chitter-chatter box like me can do that), him talking (because he badly needed it). I learned words of the English language that day I never heard of before and they scared me.

    When I started writing this fanfic, I wanted to wave that uncomfortable subject into it. Asajj Ventress, Sly Moore and Aurra Sing are just a little example of famous SW characters who had a "rough" upbringing. But what about Sheev Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker as a slave boy? There are many forms of abuse.

    Of course Sheev Palpatine´s backstory is no excuse for the things that he does. But after reading of Cosinga´s bad temper in the Plagueis novel, the ideas ripened at the back of my head.



    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha: Thanks for the positive feedback! I ask myself at times if I do not overtax readers with my work because of the 2nd person PVO and with the subjects that I choose to write about. I can see people reading, but hardly commenting. Then I ask myself if it is not better to stop altogether. But my husband and other readers (such as Kahara and earlybird-obi-wan) think differently about it.
     
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  18. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Sheev can be caring for Nagina. Love how he saved her
     
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  19. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    earlybird-obi-wan: But you are aware that he killed two pedestrians while racing towards the Theed Main hospital, right? ;)

    Anyway, I hope that DarthMarly & Cowgirl Jedi 1701 will like this unconventional portrait of Palpatine, too.

    Perhaps I can lure The Ascendant into this thread here, too.
     
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  20. DarthMarly

    DarthMarly Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    May 10, 2010
    Seriously heart-breaking. And your choice to use second person brings us into the mind of Sidious further.

    I find your take on Palps unique and refreshing, making him a more emotional creature one can connect with throughout your stories. He's more human here, and one can really see the pain that allowed him to embrace the Dark Side so completely. For him in your stories, gaining power is a way of seeking justice, as the Sith Code implies, and losing the only person he seems to care for in the galaxy is a great motivator.

    Nice work! Thank you for sharing with me.
     
  21. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    DarthMarly: I am so glad that you say that. This approach still makes me a bit nervous. He is a great SW character and I wanted to do him justice with a re-interpretation. Seeing that a fan of his like you is satisfied makes me happy.
     
  22. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
    Sheev Palpatine is a complex man. Here, he loves Nagina deeply, and yet he is clearly a twisted person with no real care for anyone else's welfare (like when he mowed down two people who were in his way as he raced to the hospital). He seems to have channeled all his love and compassion into her. I wonder if he does it as a true caring for her, or if she is rather like a vessel that he shunts those "soft" emotions towards so that he can be clear of them. If he sends all his love to Nagina, then he won't be distracted by compassion in other aspects of his life.

    I really like how you show such a different side of Palpatine. But when you think of it, he was able to act as a compassionate man. Otherwise he would never have risen to such a high position as a politician on Naboo. It's hard to remember that he wasn't always evil (or at least, he wasn't always openly and obviously evil).

    I also see so much of your own caring and loving personality, as a kindergarten teacher, coming through here. You have, I am sure, seen children in your care who have been through things that they never deserved and never should have experienced. At least in your writings you can make things better (or at least try to make sense of them). I do the same thing; my stories often reflect issues that greatly bother me. Little children, like sweet little three-year-old Nagina, buried in a pile of trash, deserve so much more. They need a champion and a guardian who will always take care of them. Your students are lucky to have a teacher like you.

    Wonderful entries, and I look forward to more.
     
  23. Cowgirl Jedi 1701

    Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2016
    I could feel his panic. For the first time ever I was actually rooting for the Sheevster. It felt really weird.
     
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  24. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    divapilot: Thanks for the time you took to reply and your kind words. It feels good to hear that I did the character justice. This vignette for the Celtic challenge was the most difficult until now and I was nervous writing it.

    I heard, saw and experienced a lot of darkness as a pedagogue the past years. Especially my internship in an orphanage humbled me a lot.

    One thing I can definitely say though: darkness is a choice for some. As it is for Palpatine. His love for Nagina is a tainted one. But it is a kind of love. The only he is able to express for the better or the worse.



    Cowgirl Jedi 1701: I try to be sorry for your now. Hum, there was no trying, right?


    For later on this week I have a new idea, but I need to find some time. Things have been very exciting recently!

    But I have a new job and I am happy with the chance I am given. Especially after a former colleague told me about the dreadful things taking place at my former work place.

    And my new job gives me a lot of strength, joy and energy!
     
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  25. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    Apparently, Palpatine is capable of experiencing love--or at the least, an emotion that he gives that name to. I'm fairly certain that in the movies, he hasn't any personal connections--after all, he was intended to be Pure Evil--but it actually is more realistic that he would have them, nonetheless, and it is certainly makes him more interesting. And he does care for Nagina, at least as much as he can care for anyone, and all the more so because she is the only person he allows himself to care for in this way. Perhaps it was because he hadn't yet reached the state of Pure Evil when he assisted with her secret birth in that meadow, and perhaps it is their shared dysfunctional family background.

    The Sith may be dark, but the darkness found within the House of Palpatine is far more frightening, because it's real. Cosinga Palpatine didn't need dark side powers to treat a small child--and his own granddaughter at that--quite literally like garbage. I have to wonder if this background was part of what led Plagueis to seek out Palpatine as an apprentice, or for Palpatine to become his apprentice. It would seem all the more attractive to have that power his father used against him--and it is clear that he did indeed, as he said, use his gained power to make his father pay.

    But while he might love Nagina in his way, Palpatine is still a Sith, and he still treats near everyone else around him abysmally--he hardly gives a first thought to the pedestrians he ran over racing to the hospital; he holds those around him generally in contempt; and his treatment of Sly Moore, his "pet," is nausea inducing.

    I don't see the second person used much as a POV, so for that reason alone it's interesting to see it here. And it does have the effect of putting you--or well, me--up close to Palpatine's mind, though in a different way than the first person viewpoint generally does.

    As for Nagina, she may come from the same twisted house as Palpatine, but she could not be more different--and I don't think that is entirely because she spent most of her childhood with a foster family. As Palpatine mentions several times, she is a true Naboo, and no, not just because of her deep love for the water. She believes in the Naboo values that her uncle learned early to scorn: peace, love, and the innate goodness of people. Those values are what help her to love, and lose, and survive it--something Palpatine's power never helps him to manage.

    Finally, thank you for writing this for the challenge!
     
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