spiritwalks: (Free to run)
Vyng Vang Zoombah ([personal profile] spiritwalks) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-10-01 09:40 pm

September & October Catch-All

Who: Vyng [personal profile] spiritwalks and YOU
What: Catch-All for September + October. See comments for prompts!
When: Various
Where: Various

Note: Style veers wildly between prose and brackets. Just choose whatever style feels good when responding, and I'll match it ♥

Content Warnings: Listed in subject lines when applicable
survivalthroughhate: ([TPM 26] Serious middle)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2021-12-02 08:20 am (UTC)(link)
Kyber crystal.

[Maul corrects absently. Then he goes on to explain.]

The Sith’s tenants believe in bending the Force to our will, that it is there to be for our use and benefit instead of the other way around. Because of that, we bleed our kyber crystals, pouring all of our negative emotions into them until they turn red, to show we have mastered them.

[It truly is a horrific process, taking all the anger, hate, and pain that one possesses and forcing it upon a crystal that is nearly sentient in nature. For Maul, it was even worse, given he’d bled six crystals over the course of his lifetime to create his double-bladed lightsaber. In a way, it shows just how damaged the Sith really is at his core, so full of anger and pain that he was able to do that six times over to crystals that had been attracted to him simply because they wanted to help him.]
survivalthroughhate: ([TCW 32] Advice)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2021-12-08 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
The Sith believe in power above all else. That's one way to show it. If I had been too weak to bleed my crystal and show that I could wield my power over it, I'm sure my master would have considered me unworthy and killed me on the spot. [He pauses and considers what has happened in his past.] It was not an easy thing to do young and inexperienced as I was, even with all the rage I possessed.

[He'd been a teenager, barely fifteen years old when he'd made his first lightsaber.]

But they would not let themselves be found by me at all unless they had intent for me I cannot yet see. The crystal chooses the Force-wielder, not the other way around. I could be standing in a cave full of crystals and never be able to take a single one unless one of them spoke to me.
survivalthroughhate: ([Other 15] Animated lightsaber glow)

cw: physical child abuse mention

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-01-03 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
In a fashion, I suppose. I spent most of my early years blindly following my master's commands because I knew that if I did not, nothing but horrific punishment and possible death would follow.

[It really was a matter of survival for the young boy, scared and alone as he was, being terrorized by a monster. Of course, that didn't absolve Maul of knowing right from wrong when he'd gotten old enough to make his own decisions, but it did explain why he'd done the things he'd done being raised by Sidious.]

Traditionally, yes. Most Sith gather their crystals by killing a Jedi and taking the kyber crystal from their slain foe. I, however, was an unusual case. My master knew if I killed a Jedi, it would draw suspicion onto him, and he wanted to keep his secrecy until he was ready to unfold his plans. So he took me to a planet that was full of them called Ilum. He gave me an hour to find one. It took me an hour and a half because I kept finding another and another until I had four, which is a most unusual number for any Force-user, Light or Dark aligned. He whipped me in the face for taking too long before he ordered me to bleed them all.
survivalthroughhate: ([TPM 91] Alone)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-01-06 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
No. Still alive currently back in my own galaxy. I have been told he will die in the future but I will unfortunately be dead by that point.

[Ah, the complications that came with time-traveling, people from the future showing up, and all the other shenanigans that this place could get up to. Still, Maul does sound quite satisfied at even just knowing that Sidious will die at all. He's been afraid the old man never would, just go on ruling the galaxy forever and ever until the end of time.]
survivalthroughhate: ([TPM 85] Red and black)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-01-07 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
One of the apprentices he takes after me eventually betrays him when he tries to kill his son. [Maul sounds very satisfied with the future he has yet to behold.] He never has understood the loyalty and love that binds families together and never will. It shall be a fatal mistake for him.
survivalthroughhate: ([TPM 14] Hooded mid)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-01-11 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Maul nods slowly.]

A very good way to put it. And why I have been trying not to do the same.

[Maul knows anger and vengeance will only end in an empty life for him, so he's determined to do better while he's here in Trench.]
survivalthroughhate: ([TCW 90] Now what?)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-01-23 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[Maul moves his hand back and forth in a 'so-so' motion.]

I do my best. But it is easy to backtrack when my entire life has been spent looking out for myself and my own interests rather than others.

[Maul's got a lot of people here who are looking out for him and helping him along the path of redemption but it's not easy. So often, he's liable to backtrack into what's quick and easy for him instead of trying to what's right and just.]

I don't want to be a good person. I don't think I'm ever going to be good. But a better person...perhaps that I can manage.
survivalthroughhate: ([TCW 82] Eyes closed)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-01-31 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[He pauses and thinks on that hard. Maul's not good with talking about abstract concepts. There's a reason he's a much more physical being in nature, used to getting what he wanted through force or using his skills as an assassin.

When he speaks, the words come slowly and haltingly.]


I suppose...I don't want to always have to hurt and kill people to get what I need or want. I want to protect and help those I care about without having to worry that someday I'll need to kill them for some reason. I've only ever cared about a handful of people before in my own galaxy but here...I have formed actual connections with people and have become friends with them. That isn't always a good thing, you seem cognizant enough to realize love can be as toxic and destructive an emotion as something like anger can be. I've done my best to kill people when they hurt those I care about. It's easy to slip back into the idea of murder in those moments. But so many here believe I can be redeemed, and while I don't think that process will have a set end goal of ending up on the Light Side, I at least think their faith is not completely misplaced.

[This is the first time Maul has really put into words what he actually sees his end goal as on the path of redemption that so many of his friends are helping him to walk. He's not looking to become a "good person" in the sense that he sees people like Usagi and Obi-Wan are. But better is something he can strive for, someone who isn't just a destructive force of nature, a weapon meant for killing.]
survivalthroughhate: ([TCW 4] Looking up)

[personal profile] survivalthroughhate 2022-02-05 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
[Too often, Maul bristles when people congratulate him on how far he's come in his path of redemption, especially when they've already made it clear they don't like him. It feels condescending to him, like someone saying 'Here, doggie! Have a bone for being a good boy!' But he doesn't get the sense that Vyng is like that at all. If anything, the Druid seems to get his personality, mindset, and past better than many people who have known Maul far longer in the city do.]

From you, I shall take that as a compliment.

[Maul's eyes soften up just a little bit.]

You are not nearly as much of a fool as I first mistook you for.