One step closer to the edge and I'm about to break (May/June Catch-all!)

[survivalthroughhate]

Who: Darth Maul survivalthroughhate and others! Old and new CR welcome!
What: Catch-all for May/June shenanigans with open and closed prompts!
When: Over the past two months
Where: All over Trench

Content Warnings: Event prompt warnings, will add others if necessary

Comments

For Ariadne - Sleeping in the garden

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul hasn't left his house much this month. Between the memory-sharing, nightmares, and ghosts he's been a bit overwhelmed mentally and just can't take much more of this. But one of the few places he makes time to visit is the garden Ariadne has created. He can sense things in the Force from the trees there. They are not alive in the way sentient beings are but there are certain signatures that he can feel around them.

There's the sense of being loved and cared for, of someone spending a very large amount of time to make sure they have everything they need. It's the faint traces of Ariadne herself that surrounds them and it brings Maul peace, as much as he ever gets living here in Trench. Serenity is a good name for the place he thinks to himself, for it calms that anger within him just a little bit.

He stops in front of Riot, the avocado tree he gave Airy for Christmas. It has been growing nicely and there is clear signs of being tended to. He can almost sense the love that surrounds the little tree. He plans to only sit down nearby and meditate for a bit. But he's been sleeping so poorly over the past few weeks that he ends up curling up a on a few pillows and falling asleep next to the tree instead. Pretty soon, he's breathing deeply and slowly as the sun warms his red-and-black skin.

[demonicbeauty]

When Ariadne returned from her shopping expedition in the Willful Machine, she paused on the edge of the garden, her face turned up slightly. Although it was becoming commonplace for her to pick up scents in the garden, she had to admit that she wasn't expecting Maul's.

Not an unwelcome scent, of course. She'd come to like him and Savage quite a lot. Especially when they surprised her with how secretly kind they could be.

So, basket of baked goods on her hip, she turned around, walking into the garden, carefully picking her way through the hedges until she spotted him, asleep beside Riot. A little incongruous, admittedly. But something in the sight kind of warmed her heart. Ariadne truly believed that there was good in everyone. And here was the proof of it, at her feet.

She only hoped he wouldn't get sunburned, lying out there. Truthfully, she didn't know if he could or not, but all the same, she set down her basket and fetched a parasol, opening it up and setting it beside his head, to shield his skin.

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul was rarely an easy sleeper. Too often, nightmares crowded his mind, echoes of the past mixing in with the fears that plagued in in the present day. But out here, amidst nature, it helped to quell some of the worst things that plagued his mind. He still tossed and turned on the pillows, muttering occasionally, but it was nothing like the thrashing and screaming that he had to deal with on other occasions.

He didn't stir when Ariadne approached and placed the umbrella above his head. Even in sleep, he could sense when threats and friends alike approached him. His subconscious recognized Airy as the latter and so he didn't snap awake ready to deal with a threat. He merely sighed, rolled over, and curled up a little more in the shade. Eventually, Maul's eyes opened back up. His sharp canines were on display as he woke up and yawned, stretching out in a luxurious fashioned. He looked up to find a parasol shading him. Now where had that come from...?

[demonicbeauty]

Since it felt a little creepy to watch someone sleep, Ariadne moved to one of her many non-magical trees, carefully tending to the branches. When she heard him yawn, she looked over her shoulder and was instantly reminded of a cat.

Well, with the stripes on his face, he was kind of like a tabby.

"Good afternoon," she said gently, plucking a withered leaf from the tree and adding it to the collection in her hand.

Politely, she turned away in case he wanted more privacy while waking.

"There's some bread in the basket over there, if you're hungry."

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul scrubbed at his face to wake himself back up. He used to have the habit in his youth of having the ability to wake up instantly and have all the grogginess completely disappear, making him ready to do his master’s will. He’d been glad to break it, for he felt it made him little more than a machine, and he was glad to be rid of a habit that depersonalized him so.

He glanced in Airy’s way when she mentioned that there was something to eat. “Many thanks.” Maul then immediately pounced on the bread, taking up a large roll and chomping down on it. He had no manners whatsoever when it came to eating, though considering who had raised him, that wasn’t much of a surprise.