![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
A couple more DVD commentaries
I can keep on doing these forever, so if you still want to request something, go ahead.
Penwiper26 asked for a clip from "Offerings," and then mentioned the boat scene as well, so I went ahead and did that too.
First of all, L, you know me too well; this is one of my favorite bits in one of my favorite fics. I loved writing this story: the snappy dialogue and the friendship relieving Gregor of all that darkness, and the chance to write Gregor POV in a not-horrible situation.
The most tense bit between Miles and Gregor is over when we reach this section, but it's just over. So they are still feeling each other out (and no, that wasn't innuendo. I don't think) but they've decided to do the right thing.
Honest Ekaterin. Milady, when you break an oath, you break it all the way. Formatting issue in this milieu, but that's in italics, internal monologue for Gregor, after Miles has revealed just how much truth Ekaterin told. Not all of it, even so, but more than Miles tells him here; there's reference to more in "Fathers and Sons." That was unfair; he'd strained her oath to snapping point, and Miles was her husband. "There are Auditors," Gregor said carefully, example of what I said above "and then there are counselors. Both listen, but what they do with what they hear is different. Though," he added, "Ekaterin surprised me. Not that she should have, considering other secrets to which we are both privy, Komarr but... God, Miles, your wife is amazing."
"I know," Miles said with a smug little smile. He really can't help saying it.
"That bluff she tried to pull off, telling Serg that the two of us were having an affair and meant to escape the planet together" -- no, she hadn't told Miles about that -- I love writing self-satisfied Gregor "I just about choked. It almost worked, too. Bluffing is not really her style, though. A sort of terrifying straightforwardness, that's more like it." Oh yeah.
"I could have made it work," Miles said. He could have helped saying THAT.
"What, telling Serg that you and I were having an affair? You probably could have, at that." Probably? Absolutely. Miles made a face, and punched him in the arm. "Don't hit the Emperor," said Gregor. "Or pound him into the mattress. Darling." Oh, the dialogue in this. That refers back to the not-included line about Cavilo; he says "not her preferred position" with the implication here that... well, never mind. But clearly I do enjoy writing hints of Miles/Gregor. And I think something might actually have happened, not much but something, back when they were teenagers.
"Fuck off," said Miles mildly. Take that, Elmore Leonard. "All right. I bow to no one, except apparently you, Sire, in appreciation of my wife, I adore that line but wasn't this a job for ImpSec, if not for the skills of one rather small and crippled Imperial Auditor?"
"I wasn't asking Ekaterin to take him down. I was asking her for advice on what to do... how to feel, even, on a personal level. As things turned out, ImpSec was busy overestimating and underestimating Serg simultaneously, This is all plot I didn't write. Or even know about, actually. while Ekaterin managed to get him just right. Goldilocks, except not. And we survived. And," Gregor added, "now you know how she feels when one of your investigations runs into a terrorist plot, or other such adventures." Which he does, really, from Diplomatic Immunity, but it's a good point of Gregor's nonetheless.
And the boat scene! Some days this is one of my favorite scenes I've written ever. I had to cut it short before Gregor falls in the lake, or even before the fish-slapping, but so it goes.
Miles seemed preoccupied through lunch, This is how we know there will be More Plot. I didn't know then I'd write it, but I should have known I wouldn't be able to resist. but then recovered himself in planning their afternoon. As a combat drop mission, no doubt. An hour or so later, Gregor found himself lying on his back in a boat, under a blazing sun, still in his suit but with his shoes off, nice picture, really lake-scented breezes wafting over him. Well, fish-scented; Miles had insisted on the fishing, because it is now a Tradition with people he's trying to cheer up and it had been moderately successful. He had entertained Gregor along the way with tales of other fishing expeditions, real and metaphorical, more and less successful, including one about Simon, with quotes, that left Gregor snorting and determined to take his former security chief to task about the elephant. I wonder how many other people he's told?
ImpSec, lurking in the bushes, had clearly not been thrilled would love to hear their conversation about the idea of two middle-aged drunken louts, er, supremely important men ha going out in a boat alone, but Gregor had given the Imperial don't-worry wave (rationed very carefully these days) ha again, with bells on and climbed aboard. He wasn't worried; for one thing, Miles was less drunk than he appeared, or at least had been drinking less than he tried to make Gregor think he was. Something to do with his medical condition, no doubt. Gregor is a little tipsy too. I'm sure he knows the details of Miles's medical condition. And he certainly knows Miles has never been able to hold his liquor. Or...
"You have made me drunk in order to take advantage of me," Gregor intoned, opening one eye to see Miles's reaction. Again with the insinuations, Gregor.
"In a boat? Are you insane?"
"Probably you should stop asking me that question. There are implications." Oh, I loved writing this sequence, and I can just hear Gregor's voice, perfectly dry and precise and just a wee bit sloshed, but if he can refer to the Legendary Vorbarra Madness as a joke he's feeling better than he was.
"Ah, um. Sorry. No, I have no designs on either your virtue wouldn't take advantage, since he's drunk or your purse. I... wanted to see you relax a bit. And lo, another stunning success!"
"Rather like fishing with Simon. Miles lobbed that one right to Gregor; he understands being a subject, at times. Thank you for the hospitality."
"Not leaving, are you?" Another lob.
Gregor opened the other eye and looked around meaningfully. "No," he said. Another favorite line, and very cinematic. You have to be able to see that he's looking at acres of water.
"Good." Miles sat back too. "We really are pretty damn lucky, y'know?" You say so, sitting in the middle of your private lake.
"Indeed. Could be worse," Gregor said in a lugubrious imitation of himself. I think Miles does use that adjective to describe Gregor once.
"It has been, apparently. Don't... don't ever do that again, all right?" And now Miles gets serious. It really is a good thing he missed all the excitement, but he's been worrying retrospectively all night.
"What?"
"Bottle yourself up. I know it's what you have to do, Emperor-wise, one of Miles's "I get what's up with you" nods. He does and he doesn't but you have friends. We don't mind being burdened, seriously. If anything like this... well, let's hope not. But talk, dammit. Doesn't have to be to me. If Ekaterin can help, call on her." And that's an advancement from earlier in the story.
"I was planning," Gregor said, "to visit in order to formally apologize for... the incident. You should be present." He sits up a little as he says this, because even saying it is formal.
"What, as chaperone? Or in case you start confessing something else and trip over another usurpation plot?"
"Ha," said Gregor. Yes, because what else can you say?
"An apology would be appropriate. But the way it works is, you say you're sorry and then you don't hesitate to come back and do it again."
"Mm. So that's your secret." Zing! Gregor always comes out on top. I think we're not going to elaborate on the implications of that.
"No, I..." Miles seemed to recognize he was being baited. "No debts, is what I'm saying. If anything, we owe you a debt. For... being a steady hand on the tiller of state."
"An appropriately nautical metaphor." Gregor closed his eyes again, feeling blissful. Oh, I was so glad to write that. Wouldn't last, of course. "I'll do that," he said. "Unbottle." That seemed a good metaphor too, considering the drinking. Gregor likes words, when he gets a chance to.
And I could go on, but that's too tempting. I so enjoyed writing this fic, especially after what had gone before. And it was time to bring Miles in.
Penwiper26 asked for a clip from "Offerings," and then mentioned the boat scene as well, so I went ahead and did that too.
First of all, L, you know me too well; this is one of my favorite bits in one of my favorite fics. I loved writing this story: the snappy dialogue and the friendship relieving Gregor of all that darkness, and the chance to write Gregor POV in a not-horrible situation.
The most tense bit between Miles and Gregor is over when we reach this section, but it's just over. So they are still feeling each other out (and no, that wasn't innuendo. I don't think) but they've decided to do the right thing.
Honest Ekaterin. Milady, when you break an oath, you break it all the way. Formatting issue in this milieu, but that's in italics, internal monologue for Gregor, after Miles has revealed just how much truth Ekaterin told. Not all of it, even so, but more than Miles tells him here; there's reference to more in "Fathers and Sons." That was unfair; he'd strained her oath to snapping point, and Miles was her husband. "There are Auditors," Gregor said carefully, example of what I said above "and then there are counselors. Both listen, but what they do with what they hear is different. Though," he added, "Ekaterin surprised me. Not that she should have, considering other secrets to which we are both privy, Komarr but... God, Miles, your wife is amazing."
"I know," Miles said with a smug little smile. He really can't help saying it.
"That bluff she tried to pull off, telling Serg that the two of us were having an affair and meant to escape the planet together" -- no, she hadn't told Miles about that -- I love writing self-satisfied Gregor "I just about choked. It almost worked, too. Bluffing is not really her style, though. A sort of terrifying straightforwardness, that's more like it." Oh yeah.
"I could have made it work," Miles said. He could have helped saying THAT.
"What, telling Serg that you and I were having an affair? You probably could have, at that." Probably? Absolutely. Miles made a face, and punched him in the arm. "Don't hit the Emperor," said Gregor. "Or pound him into the mattress. Darling." Oh, the dialogue in this. That refers back to the not-included line about Cavilo; he says "not her preferred position" with the implication here that... well, never mind. But clearly I do enjoy writing hints of Miles/Gregor. And I think something might actually have happened, not much but something, back when they were teenagers.
"Fuck off," said Miles mildly. Take that, Elmore Leonard. "All right. I bow to no one, except apparently you, Sire, in appreciation of my wife, I adore that line but wasn't this a job for ImpSec, if not for the skills of one rather small and crippled Imperial Auditor?"
"I wasn't asking Ekaterin to take him down. I was asking her for advice on what to do... how to feel, even, on a personal level. As things turned out, ImpSec was busy overestimating and underestimating Serg simultaneously, This is all plot I didn't write. Or even know about, actually. while Ekaterin managed to get him just right. Goldilocks, except not. And we survived. And," Gregor added, "now you know how she feels when one of your investigations runs into a terrorist plot, or other such adventures." Which he does, really, from Diplomatic Immunity, but it's a good point of Gregor's nonetheless.
And the boat scene! Some days this is one of my favorite scenes I've written ever. I had to cut it short before Gregor falls in the lake, or even before the fish-slapping, but so it goes.
Miles seemed preoccupied through lunch, This is how we know there will be More Plot. I didn't know then I'd write it, but I should have known I wouldn't be able to resist. but then recovered himself in planning their afternoon. As a combat drop mission, no doubt. An hour or so later, Gregor found himself lying on his back in a boat, under a blazing sun, still in his suit but with his shoes off, nice picture, really lake-scented breezes wafting over him. Well, fish-scented; Miles had insisted on the fishing, because it is now a Tradition with people he's trying to cheer up and it had been moderately successful. He had entertained Gregor along the way with tales of other fishing expeditions, real and metaphorical, more and less successful, including one about Simon, with quotes, that left Gregor snorting and determined to take his former security chief to task about the elephant. I wonder how many other people he's told?
ImpSec, lurking in the bushes, had clearly not been thrilled would love to hear their conversation about the idea of two middle-aged drunken louts, er, supremely important men ha going out in a boat alone, but Gregor had given the Imperial don't-worry wave (rationed very carefully these days) ha again, with bells on and climbed aboard. He wasn't worried; for one thing, Miles was less drunk than he appeared, or at least had been drinking less than he tried to make Gregor think he was. Something to do with his medical condition, no doubt. Gregor is a little tipsy too. I'm sure he knows the details of Miles's medical condition. And he certainly knows Miles has never been able to hold his liquor. Or...
"You have made me drunk in order to take advantage of me," Gregor intoned, opening one eye to see Miles's reaction. Again with the insinuations, Gregor.
"In a boat? Are you insane?"
"Probably you should stop asking me that question. There are implications." Oh, I loved writing this sequence, and I can just hear Gregor's voice, perfectly dry and precise and just a wee bit sloshed, but if he can refer to the Legendary Vorbarra Madness as a joke he's feeling better than he was.
"Ah, um. Sorry. No, I have no designs on either your virtue wouldn't take advantage, since he's drunk or your purse. I... wanted to see you relax a bit. And lo, another stunning success!"
"Rather like fishing with Simon. Miles lobbed that one right to Gregor; he understands being a subject, at times. Thank you for the hospitality."
"Not leaving, are you?" Another lob.
Gregor opened the other eye and looked around meaningfully. "No," he said. Another favorite line, and very cinematic. You have to be able to see that he's looking at acres of water.
"Good." Miles sat back too. "We really are pretty damn lucky, y'know?" You say so, sitting in the middle of your private lake.
"Indeed. Could be worse," Gregor said in a lugubrious imitation of himself. I think Miles does use that adjective to describe Gregor once.
"It has been, apparently. Don't... don't ever do that again, all right?" And now Miles gets serious. It really is a good thing he missed all the excitement, but he's been worrying retrospectively all night.
"What?"
"Bottle yourself up. I know it's what you have to do, Emperor-wise, one of Miles's "I get what's up with you" nods. He does and he doesn't but you have friends. We don't mind being burdened, seriously. If anything like this... well, let's hope not. But talk, dammit. Doesn't have to be to me. If Ekaterin can help, call on her." And that's an advancement from earlier in the story.
"I was planning," Gregor said, "to visit in order to formally apologize for... the incident. You should be present." He sits up a little as he says this, because even saying it is formal.
"What, as chaperone? Or in case you start confessing something else and trip over another usurpation plot?"
"Ha," said Gregor. Yes, because what else can you say?
"An apology would be appropriate. But the way it works is, you say you're sorry and then you don't hesitate to come back and do it again."
"Mm. So that's your secret." Zing! Gregor always comes out on top. I think we're not going to elaborate on the implications of that.
"No, I..." Miles seemed to recognize he was being baited. "No debts, is what I'm saying. If anything, we owe you a debt. For... being a steady hand on the tiller of state."
"An appropriately nautical metaphor." Gregor closed his eyes again, feeling blissful. Oh, I was so glad to write that. Wouldn't last, of course. "I'll do that," he said. "Unbottle." That seemed a good metaphor too, considering the drinking. Gregor likes words, when he gets a chance to.
And I could go on, but that's too tempting. I so enjoyed writing this fic, especially after what had gone before. And it was time to bring Miles in.