Filtration

[lumy12]

Title: "Filtration"
Fandom: Star Wars
Characters: Vader/Palpatine
Prompt: zigsternenstaub's request: Vader/Palpatine + epiphany.
Word Count: 310
Rating: R
Summary: Palpatine observes Vader early in his rehabilitation.
Author's Notes: Hiatus drabble #3. And it's another 2nd person fic >.> Not sure this is what you had in mind but this is what came out!


The moans in your mind are just as raw, just as guttural as these... and some of them even stem from pain. The defining difference is the raspy quality of the sound as it's now filtered through a respirator. (Well... that, coupled with the distinct lack of pheromones saturating the Force.)

You've forbidden him to destroy any more medi-droids, and it does please you that he strives to obey this mandate. It is but a tiny spatter on the insatiable inferno of your rage.

You know the emotionless, mechanical ministrations of the medi-droids perturb him. He wants them to acknowledge his suffering, if not apologize for contributing to it.

They do neither. They simply do what must be done to ensure maximum rehabilitation -- physically.

Emotionally, he's best left to you. You know part of him wants to be coddled and soothed like a child, but the time for that has passed; you'll never mold him into the ruthless leader he needs to be by cooing nonsense to him. Let him hate you for it. Better he should feel hatred than apathy.

Better you should hate him than pity him. And oh, how you hate him for this.

He was your prize, a perfect physical manifestation of the Force. The mere sight of him would titillate every fiber of your being. Now he is but a broken shell of wasted Force potential, and the stench of what could have been repulses you even more than the charred remains of his once-beautiful flesh.

His cry of "Master" is dreadfully inferior to the one in your fantasies. You can stand it no more -- you turn away and leave him to his agony, though his moans follow you down the hall. Your inability to watch him suffer has nothing to do with compassion or love, of course.

Or so you tell yourself.

Comments

[ansketil-rose.livejournal.com]

Very nice. And the second-person POV was certainly an interesting departure. I like it, it draws the reader in very well. Vader wanting sympathy from the droids made me chuckle (not sure it that was very nice of me) and the integration of the movie line in "do what must be done" anchored the piece well.

(Well... that, coupled with the distinct lack of pheromones saturating the Force.) This statement intrigues me!!

"The mere sight of him would titillate every fiber of your being. Now he is but a broken shell of wasted Force potential, and the stench of what could have been repulses you even more than the charred remains of his once-beautiful flesh."

These two sentences are WIN! The pheromones comment makes me unsure of whether this was previously unrequited - let's call it lust - on Sidious' part. I'm imagining it was unrequited, in which case Palpatine was having fantasies for years about having Anakin as his dark apprentice... and everything they would get up to... and then this happens... all because of a stupid act of bravado! Just think of all the creepy!hot!Sith passion he's caused us to miss out on. But unlike Palpy, we'll forgive Vader because there is only one ruthless!awesome!dark!angsty!cyborg!of doom! Er... yeah.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. It's unusual that I have "first comment jitters" on a fic all day long! Slow day on my f-list, I guess. (plus the pairing doesn't interest many of them)

Insightful comment as always :) I like to think here that it was indeed unrequited -- or at least unfulfilled.

Of course we forgive Vader. Bwahaha!

I'm glad this intrigued you ♥

[ansketil-rose.livejournal.com]

Hence the "don't be afraid kiddies" on the cut link! Just you wait until Ziggy reads her gift and then you'll have a line by line dissection of the whole thing. I'm trying to be a good reviewer but I have nowhere near her dedication.

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

You're still the only commenter! Bwah! Oh well.

And you're a wonderful reviewer!

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! This is only the second time I've done 2nd person and both times it was kind of on a whim... both for creepier fics. Just seems to fit.

So glad you enjoyed -- and enjoyed enough to have a favorite line! :)

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

This is lovely, Lumy! Thank you so very much! :D I am not in the least bit disappointed by this.

I particularly appreciate the title. Filtration...a very mechanical function; a very fitting association for both the brand new Darth Vader as well as the emotional screening that Palpatine so coldly imposes on himself. And you've extremely effectively conveyed that emotional screening by employing the second person present tense. This tense is always remote, alien, doesn't quite connect with either characters or reader, and so of course is perfect for emotionally remote scenes. Brilliant!

You've forbidden him to destroy any more medi-droids, and it does please you that he strives to obey this mandate. It is but a tiny spatter on the insatiable inferno of your rage.

Interesting. I can see the droids being destroyed, Vader's helpless rage countered by Palpatine's cold fury. I find it most interesting of all, though, that he merely *strives* to obey this mandate. As if Vader's self-control at this point in time is so minute that he might very well disobey without even meaning to!

You know the emotionless, mechanical ministrations of the medi-droids perturb him. He wants them to acknowledge his suffering, if not apologize for contributing to it.

Oh, oh, oh! This is marvellously insightful, Lumy. Anakin is always so wrapped up in his own suffering, so determined to impress its intensity on others--that he desire the same from even droids should be entirely self-evident!

They do neither. They simply do what must be done to ensure maximum rehabilitation -- physically.

I like that you've isolated the word 'physically' here, giving it its own paragraph, because it really is very important, the source of Vader's despair and Palpatine's frustration.

Emotionally, he's best left to you. You know part of him wants to be coddled and soothed like a child, but the time for that has passed; you'll never mold him into the ruthless leader he needs to be by cooing nonsense to him. Let him hate you for it. Better he should feel hatred than apathy.

And, yes, Anakin would want to be coddled and soothed like a child. Palpatine's always been the one he's gone to for this kind of treatment-- and you have so silently yet effectively conveyed Palpatine's newfound resentment of this expectation; his disinterest in continuing this kind of behaviour with the mutilated Vader. Darkly amusing because likely he would have done so with a healthy Vader, thus revealing his own attachment to the temporal.

Better you should hate him than pity him. And oh, how you hate him for this.

And there's the crux of it. I think we can trace his cavalier treatment of Vader in the future right back to this--his disdain for someone who was so stupid as to weaken himself, to destroy his own potential. Even more, I think, than his destruction of Palpatine's plans, this is the reason the emperor resents his apprentice.

I am all the more amazed that you managed to write a fic with a Palpatine and Vader who are at odds with each other! Marvellous job, and thank you again for this, Lumy. :)

P.S. Sorry I am a bit late in commenting. I was ill most of the weekend.

[ansketil-rose.livejournal.com]

See - see? I told you Ziggy would!! lol. ^_^

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Yes! You were right! ~Tell your sister you were right!~

And I see you posted something but tonight I'm too tired to read/review myself :| Maybe tomorrow!

[ansketil-rose.livejournal.com]

Fair enough! Have a good sleep with delicious hot!doctor+swcrack!slash dreams! ^_^

[luminations.livejournal.com]

a;slzdkjg /ieahu/rgoiae/ib/inung.fjvhbkjnlkmlk.m,nbvbgcdrftlyghujinlk

(...even my keysmashing likes slash. Ha!)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Omigosh Ziggy thank you! I love that your comment is like twice as long as the fic itself! <3333

And another thing so wonderful about your comments - sometimes you put things into words that I don't consciously notice about what I've written. In other words you make me look smarter than I am!

And YES I love that you caught that about the title! *squees*

And you've extremely effectively conveyed that emotional screening by employing the second person present tense. This tense is always remote, alien, doesn't quite connect with either characters or reader, and so of course is perfect for emotionally remote scenes. Brilliant!

So THAT's why I gravitate to it for darker pieces! Heh. It feels like I do it on a whim. "This would be creepy in second person" flits through my head but I wasn't sure why.

Isolating the "physically" part was also done on a whim whilst typing it up :) How cool is it that you can tell me why I do these things!

Ah, yes, dark amusement in our beloved Emperor's dismissal of Anakin-coddling! I usually can't resist throwing some mushy stuff at him on SOME level though >.>

Little side note for you: I wrote this one after beginning physical therapy. Being in pain and watching other people go through pain while the staff is talking, laughing, joking around... it's kinda weird! (even when the "victims" are joining in the banter, myself included) It's so routine to them to cause us this pain. And we know it's for our own good so we grit our teeth and bear it. With Vader, of course, it's GOT to be a zillion times worse, and you know those droids don't give a shit ;)

I'm sorry you were sick! You're not "late" in commenting at all <3

Thanks again for this glorious comment ~

So, uh... how's Chapter 10 coming along??? *grin*

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to have pleased, but this definitely deserved a nice, long review. :)

Little side note for you: I wrote this one after beginning physical therapy. Being in pain and watching other people go through pain while the staff is talking, laughing, joking around... it's kinda weird! (even when the "victims" are joining in the banter, myself included) It's so routine to them to cause us this pain. And we know it's for our own good so we grit our teeth and bear it. With Vader, of course, it's GOT to be a zillion times worse, and you know those droids don't give a shit ;)

You know, it is so true that personal experience makes a fictional account that much more believable. Even if it's not exactly the same, your physical therapy gave this just that little edge it needed to push it into being truly impressive.

And I agree that it is bizarre that people can be so cavalier around the pain of others, but of course medical workers become somewhat innured to it. They would have to be in order to the survive their jobs--no that this is much comfort to their patients, I am sure! And of course it is equally true that we can never experience what another is feeling; we can never feel his pain. Watching another in pain is always a slightly surreal experience. We know it is happening, but there is always that edge of disbelief, almost of impatience, born out of the fact that the brain forgets our own experiences with pain so quickly.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

If I remember tomorrow, I'm going to ask if saying "I'm sorry" is a n00b thing. I don't think I could do what they do and NOT say it.

Why DOES the brain forget pain so fast... it does, though, doesn't it. Huh.

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

Did you ask?

A survival mechanism, I expect. We'd never go out of our caves and hunt down meat, or go to battle with that other tribe that wants to kill us, or have babies for that matter if our brains remembered just how awful pain really is.

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

I did not! Ack! I thought of it once, but it was busy and I didn't bring it up. I go back Monday, I'll try to remember again.

[caffeinatedkate.livejournal.com]

Clever piece of writing, very atmospheric and creepy but I still want to say it serves him right.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I suppose it does. *huggles Palpy anyway*

I think the next one due up is yours. *fights wave of nausea*

[ansketil-rose.livejournal.com]

PS - have decided to do THE FIC (shhh) in the second-person since this is your request. And make it a mystery!narrator... mwhahaha! so people don't realised what they're eatiing until its too late!! >:)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHAHA! I love you! (er... I harbour some sentiment for you? :D)

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

Hi Lumy! I made a recording of this, too. Do you mind if I YouTube it? And would you like a copy of the mp3?

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee YOU ARE AWESOME! Go ahead and yes a copy would be lovely! <3333

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GCG044B1

Enjoy! :) And it should be up on YouTube either sometime today or tomorrow.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

IT'S GLORIOUS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! ...I might have jizzed myself when you said my name. LOOOOVE the last line especially! Oooooooo!

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

YOU'RE WELCOME SO MUCH!

...I might have jizzed myself when you said my name.

Happy to be of...service. ;)

LOOOOVE the last line especially!

I think that was my favourite too. :)