Tabloid President Thorne 'noticeably ill' body language expert suggest

[Voren Dhur]

With questions being asked as to the whereabouts of ISC President Thorne, society swots were delighted to see snaps of him entering into an opera on Coruscant recently - but these dashing photographs of a man once ranked as 'Coruscants Hunkiest Politician' *, have got experts worried. Speaking to Voren Dhur of the Hyperlane Herald in an exclusive interview, body-language expert Max Handiwork said that the President appeared 'noticeably ill' in the photos, whilst a deep analysis of the Presidents movements once inside the venue, suggest that he could have "been swapped with a body double once inside" the expert has claimed.

These stunning revelations have left the political world reeling, with some asking - is the Presidents absence down to this illness? And if so, does he have the AMS virus?

President Thornes office has not commented** on the rumours that the ISC leader could have the AMS virus. Some sources suggest that he could have contracted the virus thanks to the "close personal relationship" he is rumoured to have with MorataCorp founder, Dr. Morata.

"Look this is not the President we know. Just looking at the photo has he enters the opera, and the man is clearly pale, sweating - let's be clear, he is noticeably ill'. But, once inside that all changes, we see chatty Thorne back, and, maybe it is the camera quality here, but he's wearing a different jacket. He's ill, and has been swapped with a body double once inside. We all know it happens with the powerful, and it has clearly happened here."​

*Trademark, Hyperlane Herald
**and was not asked to

 

[Theo Magna]

Theo honestly didn't have a lot of time for tabloids these days - many of them weren't worth the bandwidth they used to be sent out onto the holonet - but he had some alerts set up for certain subjects. If anyone asked, the reason why he had alerts set up for anything relating to Emyric Thorne was because it would, naturally, be related to the ISC.

If anyone said it might have had something to do with why his datapad's lock-screen image was of President Thorne in a tight fitting dress shirt as he was mounting exiting a ship, he would have taken a swing at them. Of course Emilia (she insisted he not call her by her title since leaving the Guard) had sent him this one in a link.

Along with a text message that had caused the large man to temporarily become a spluttering mess.

"You still totally would though, right?"

He knew exactly what she meant and he had been steadfast in not responding to her message. His Queen's enjoyment of teasing him was well known to the former Royal Guard and it was always best to not answer when she was feeling in one of those moods. Still, he looked at the images of President Thorne as he waited inside his ship for the trip through hyperspace to end. Sighing, he touched the still frame of his President looking rather gaunt, spent.

"Spend so much time looking after the Galaxy... but who looks after you when you need it?"

Clearly whoever it was had neglected a duty that Theo himself would, privately, be very happy to have. Of course he didn't think that an ISC Ranger like him would probably ever see the President again but he could dream couldn't he? Cus in his dreams, Emryc Thorne looked like he could really use a chance to be the little spoon for just a little bit.

 

[Claudias Tannaras]

Claudias idly flipped through the holo channels, as he often did on slow days. His return to Brentaal had been marked in very little fanfare, which was about what he expected. It was greatly surprising, than, that he actually got attention once he arrived back in his family's palace in Cormond. Waiting for him on the landing pad wasn't just a handful of petty servants... but his brother. Wearing an expression that he hadn't seen on him in years, Claudias was wheeled out by an attendant, and who had been there besides Andronikas to rush over and hug the man.

Claudias had simply been stunned, blinking a few times before reciprocating, wrapping his arms around the larger man's back. He had to do a double take to see if there had been any cameras around, but he scolded himself. Andronikas changed plenty of his behaviors in public. He carried himself with enthusiasm, spoke with calm, stoic precision, and behaved with the utmost etiquette.

But he did not fake affection.

The moment passed, even though Claudias didn't want it to. His finger nails had dug into the back of Andronikas' toga as he pulled away. His older brother's demeanor returned to what it usually was; barely expressive, and tired. But for a brief few seconds, Claudias felt as if he had the brother of his youth returned to him... and just as quickly as it had began, the moment ended.

Claudias had been wheeled to his private chambers, where a number of nurses helped him onto his bed. the 77" holoscreen was turned on, and he'd been left there. Left to flip through channels, unable to move. He was bored, and he was tired, but he wanted some amusement. It was why he changed channels to his favorite bit of white noise; The Hyperlane Herald.

It was probably a bad habit, but picking up on these stations every once and awhile proved to be hilarious, if not infuriating. The juxtaposition from respectable networks like G-Span to this... drivel was incredible. He'd go from live feeds of information directly in the senate or government body, to a story about how a senator showed off a bit to much skin at some obscure party. GNN's pundits would spend hours considering the implications of a new trade deal and how it could impact the galactic markets, while HH would spend five minutes speculating over whether or not Emil Ro was a bottom or a top.

On the one hand, it was funny to just observe and wonder. To look at the garbage that passed for "news" in the second century ABY, or to wonder about who actually watched any of it. Was HH's audience entirely composed of men like him? Politicians, academics and rulers, all cynically watching a program that was so comically biased and badly researched that citing it would get one's PHD thrown out? It was fun to think about, for a little bit.

Than he'd get frustrated. Frustrated about how genuinely awful the program was. Frustrated that it was allowed to call itself "news" without being sued for mislabeling itself. Frustrated that it took up airtime and distracted people from what was important. That it focused on... on...

Claudias didn't immediately notice anything out of the ordinary with the current programming. Once again, they were going off about President Thorne... but over what? He realized that the answer didn't matter; it seemed to be HH's top prerogative to keep Thorne on screen as long and as often as possible. This time around, the man looked... different? As he paid attention that seemed to be what they were focused on at the very least.

He'd met the man in the days following the senate meeting, in an afterparty at an opera house. The man looked... fine while he was there, but he almost seemed disheveled.

Claudias paused for a few moments... and than he laughed.

"What is WRONG with you?! The man looks perfectly normal!" He thought to himself. He burst out into laughter as the host openly speculated about whether or not the man had contracted AMS, and Claudias let out a belly laugh. It was cut short when he felt the sharp pain of his broken ribs pressing into his lungs, and he quickly tried to suppress it.

Than he brought up Dr. Morata, and Claudias burst into laughter yet again.

Than he finally started to wail in pain.
​