Saga Thursdays with my Father (ANH-ESB. Vignette)

Title: Thursdays with my Father
Author: oqidaun
Timeframe: ANH-ESB
Characters: OCs / Canon Politicos
Genre: vignette
Summary: Sometimes lies are easier than truth?



I visit my father on Thursdays and every Thursday when I leave his room I tell myself that this is the last time I?m going to visit him. My other siblings have not been sucked into his mind games to the same degree that I have and I envy them for it. They were smart and when the opportunity presented itself, they left home and made certain that they would never have to return. For example, I have a brother who fought to get an Imperial accountant?s position on some pathetic little backwater world in the Outer Rim. He?s making about ten percent of what he could have had he stayed on Coruscant, yet he was willing to sacrifice his financial for his mental health. However, as my lot in life must to be to suffer and I am youngest, it is my responsibility to go and visit the old man.

I hate the lift ride with a passion. It is so sterile and cold and invariably there is always some miserable person who is anxiously going to see some beloved relative in their last hours. Unfortunately, I am not that lucky?the old cheater will probably outlive me just for spite.

Stoicism is the hallmark of our species. Outside his door I plaster my dutiful-son expression on my face. It is a cheap imitation of the one I wore quite honestly for my mother all those years ago when she lay in a hospital bed dying and the old man was too busy to visit, as apparently someone more important needed a bribe put in the right direction or their backside kissed.

The suite is well appointed and made to look more like home than hospital. He?s awake and I begin my routine queries about his aches and pains, the quality of service and whether or not he?s been responding to his treatments. Seems all those years he sucked on nico-baac inhalers have given him a pretty nasty case of cancer that puts up a hell of a fight with the overpriced therapies his pension guarantees him. I think he tells them to let the cancer win its share of the battles so that I have to keep coming. The master manipulator to the very end...

I prepare to discuss the weather and tell him about the opera I saw last night. I will not bring up my life partner as they do not approve of one another. Addar tells me every Thursday morning that I should tell him I won?t be coming back. Addar has it easy as both his parents are dead. I am not so fortunate.

?Look what Nadrah brought me from home,? he affects an especially pathetic rasp and shows me an image-holo the housekeeper has dropped off to amuse him. Poor Nadrah, she always thought the day my mother died she?d have him all to herself. She got the same bargain my mother did, except he never had the time to marry her. I imagine he?s got her twisted around his rotten blue finger the same as the rest of us?or at least me as I?m closest and not as smart as my siblings. Why did I turn down that post on Alderaan? Granted I?d be blown bits, but at least I would have my Thursdays free.

?That?s fabulous, Da. What is it?? I settle in my seat, refresh the good-son smile and attempt to look interested while I think about whether or not I should refinance the loan on my apartment?the interest rates are really quite good these days.

?These are old,? he coughs. ?From the days of the Republic,? he keys through the images of beings I don?t know and don?t particularly care about. He was something back then, but I was in college and my mother was dying. I paid as much attention to him as he to me.

Da only showed up for the good things. I get my law degrees and he?s there. I get my seat on the bench for the Imperial Court of Criminal Appeals for Alien Species (don?t laugh, occasionally we overturn a sentence) and he?s there. I receive an Imperial commendation for honor after I uncovered a rebel cell in the Office of the Judiciary (quite accidentally to be honest, I thought they were talking about the holo-cinema) and he?s there for the awards dinner. He ch

 

Moving, touching vignette. I've always wondered about Amedda and his complicity in the entire plot. It was chilling how Palpatine revealed his plans to him immediately after he was elected, as he was still portrayed as such a meek and humble senator in that first movie.

 

Nice Tuesdays with Morrie feel to this, but inverted. Mas Amedda doesn't talk about the wonders of life or any such thing. He doesn't say that his life is complete. He says that his life has just been a lie and he's just been a pawn of a very evil man. I've always thought that there might have been something more to him. Bravo.

 

Wow, very moving insight that I'd never even begun to think about before. Liked it a lot.

 

Wow, oqi, you keep hitting them out of the ballpark!

This was a very moving piece, and unexpected as well. Once again you took a minor character and breathed life into him -- really a tragedy, when you think of the lie he had to live and all the resentment it caused in the family -- and all again because of Palpatine. The consequences of the Emperor's manipulations truly touched every being in the galaxy...the implications are quite appalling.

Bravo!

 

That was great. You showed his reluctance to know the truth very well and how everyone was lied to and took it for truth without any doubt, because their leader had said it. And I loved the little details you dropped in there, for example how he remembers which shoes he had been wearing on that day. It makes the story seem very real, because it's always those odd little details you remember in life. Very well done.

 

Whoa! That was awesome! Sorry for the cliche review, but I was blown away!

 

Oh wow! (feels like she's been hit by a ton of bricks) I don't usually read OC centric fics, but I made an exception for this one because it intrigued me. Beautiful job! I love the way you had the confessions of the father; that poor son! I can't imagine what he's going to do know, with the knowledge that he gained. Gahhh.

Thursday afternoon comes and only after I step into the lift full of the usual miserable people does it hit me that he?s not on the ninety-third floor anymore. He?s gone and Thursdays will never be the same.

So poignant and powerful. Bravo!

Stormqueen

 

I'm beyond flattered.
It was just one of those stories that had to be written as it was running laps in my head all morning.
Again, I'm honored by the responses--thank you all for reading this.

 

Brilliant viggie!! This is one of those times when I'm speechless and have no idea what to say other than that I loved it, so I'll just say that

 

Oqi, I have one word for this fic: perfect. From the first sentence, it had me riveted in place. As always, your characterization is astounding; I am at once sympathetic with and intrigued by your OC, and you have brought a depth to Amedda that I hadn't really thought possible.

Thank you so much for another brilliant piece of work.

 

I really liked how you worked in so many details about the narrator through little remarks - it gives his voice life. And I especially loved how you built up to the end revelation through building up the characters - like the guy says, it suddenly makes sense why Amedda acted the way he did towards his family.

Plus, I enjoyed the bit about the life partner. That's the way to work within the rules.

 

You did a terrific job of bringing a background character to life and making us take notice of his story! Bravo!

 

I enjoyed this very much. Very vivid portrayal of the character.

 

I will not bring up my life partner as they do not approve of one another. - Sneaky.

?Look at it. What do you see?? I?m surprised he?s so agitated about this one image. I look closer?maybe there?s a naked girl in there somewhere.



If he?s about to start coming clean on telling lies, I?m going have to cancel my evening plans and send out for dinner.



Very interesting. It says something about the son that he almost immediately believed Mas when he told him everything was a lie. I'm not sure what it says, but it seems important.

 

Thanks for all the positive feedback.
I'm still amazed by the responses this little thing got.
Thanks so much!


And of course I'm sneaky...

 

oqidaun, you undoubtedly have the best vignettes on the boards. The natural voice of this made it so easy to read. And I'm glad I did. It was fantastic. Nicely done!

 

Wow, what a vignette!

I too thought this had a Tuesdays with Morrie feel to it, and I don't think I've ever read anything with Amedda in it, so this was definitely very interesting..

I felt sorry for the son, having to visit the old man like it's a burden, and for a moment I really disliked Amedda, the nerve of him having a picture of the burning Temple!
But then you get the feeling that he really does care for his son, and tells him the truth, which was a nice surprise...

and I guess in a way the son cared for him too, more than he would acknowledge, there's an empty space after his death, and you captured that so well with the ending.

I always truly enjoy your viggies/stories, you are easily one of the most talented authors on these boards.

Thanks for the read, oqidaun!

 

I love the issues that this story raises, that by telling his son the secret he has almost *condemned* him to the same fate as he had to face in his service to Palpatine... that of knowing a lie but having to live within that lie and by doing so perpetuate it. That inability to change things, well it affected me

Fantastic writing

 

Wow, I just found this and it was stunning, but wonderful!

 

I have NEVER read such a good story about Mas before. Bravo!!

 

Beautiful!

 

Great viggie. Brilliant and fantastic!

 

Again, I'm floored everytime this one rises to the surface.
I went back and reread it and made my own heart a little mushy.

Thank you again to all who have read this.

Ladynaye:
I have NEVER read such a good story about Mas before.

**blush** Wow! However, unless I'm mistaken the only other Mas Amedda fic I've seen was also by me...

 

I have to admit that I didn't have much interest in Mas Amedda when I watched the movies. Then, I read this story. It was as though I had never really seen him before, but everything in the story made sense. As in, *this* is what working for someone like Palpatine, and knowing what he is, would do to someone.

Then, there's the narrator. His voice could not be more clear, whether dealing with horrible truths, or ordinary things, like when he considers making dinner.

I think he helps make Mas Amedda more than just a bit character standing next to Palpatine. He makes him real.

(When I first read this, a while back, I didn't realize just how who the narrator's father was a for awhile. Sneaky, indeed. And I agree with what JadeSolo said earlier. It's within the guidelines, and the narrator mentions his life partner in a matter of fact way. It's not a big deal.)

I do wonder how the narrator will live with what his father left him. I understand why Mas Amedda felt he needed to--confess, maybe?--before he died. Only now his son has the same secret. He knows it's all a lie--and he also knows he must continue as though it is true.