deercountry | Welcome to the Satellite of Love!

"Really? Which parts, if I might ask?" She likes her smartphone back home, but she sometimes wonders if technology is progressing too fast for morality to keep up. That any minute now, a true AI which could pass the Turing test might happen and then what?

"The overreliance on technology. And the idea of censoring those who do not agree with you." The Jedi had done that with the ideology of the Sith as a whole, trying to stamp out any remnants that they had ever even existed in the galaxy. Then his master in turn had done so when he formed his empire, making sure anyone or anything that didn't agree with the way he saw things was no longer allowed to be made public.

"Yeahhh, those are. Bad signs for how a society is doing. Especially the censorship, when something is censored it almost always means that someone doesn't want the truth out there. The truth is messy and inconvenient for them. Or they just label it all fake news and their legion of followers will parrot that so much, they start believing it and then start convincing others." She's one of those people where if someone tries that line on her, she researches it herself until she comes to her own conclusion. But even that was getting harder and harder as society grew more polarized.

"That is why it is always important to make sure to always have your own thoughts. It is easy to start listening to one singular person and doing whatever they ask of you, believing whatever they say. And that is where the danger also lies." Maul has been there and done that thanks to half a lifetime of being brainwashed by Sidious. It took the other half of his life to break free of it, albeit at a painful cost.

"My home is kind of failing at that these days. There's this---this guy. He's my country's leader, but he's ignorant, hateful, and cruel. I'm not sure how much longer my home country can last with his influence looming over everyone." She worries that it may already be too late, that the person has a death-grip on politics. She'd like to think that it's not so, but there are lots of evidence to contradict the idea.

That description sounds far too eerily similar to what Maul has experienced with Palpatine over the years. If he had hair, it would be raised up on the back of his neck. "............Sounds like that man and my old master would be delighted with one another."

He tries to keep his voice light but he can't quite manage it, not with such a heavy subject as this is.

And she also tries to keep her reply light, but it's hard when contemplating such awful people. "Oh, great. There's another one of him. I'd been kinda hoping that the entire rest of the rest of the galaxies didn't have any."

"Perhaps in the same way we have all been drawn here, such people all end up in the same hell together to suffer for all eternity." Such a thought sounds comforting to Maul's mind even if it is also a cruel one.

"Oooh. Let's hope so, it seems fair. They were dicks when they were alive, let them pay for it for all time" It's actually comforting to Lexi as well. The thought of a miserable afterlife for all such people.

Maul runs one of his clawed fingers gently along the edges of the book. "Well, I shall have an interesting time reading this considering all you have told me. If I find it agreeable, I shall return for more."

Of course, he'll likely be back regardless. He rather enjoys this bookshop, the way it is set up makes it a place Maul could see himself spending a lot of time in.

"I hope you like it! If you do, I have a ton more recommendations to offer," she says smiling warmly at Maul.

And she's glad for that! She likes him, he's smart and thoughtful, two qualities she prioritizes.

It's strange for Maul to be considered a person that people actually enjoy being around. For the most part, most people here tend not to really see him as a very pleasant person. But his efforts to become better seem to have been noticed, especially by Sleepers who were unaware of his previous reputation.

"Then I shall definitely return," he says. "What do you accept as payment?"

He's never been anything but nice and polite to her. Even if she had heard the old stories, she'd dismiss them as having nothing to do with whom he was in the present and that was the important part.

"Great, I'm glad to hear that! And, typical barter goods are fine, preferably those I can use when the occasional trade ship comes and I can get more books."

"Would this do?" Maul pulls a knife out of his belt. It's not great fancy affair, no intricate designs on the hilt or precious stones adorning it, but it is sharp and made well for all its simplicity. "One of my followers is a metalsmith. She makes both weapons and armor. This is one of her designs."

Lexi's eyes widen as she sees the knife. "Yeah! Yeah, that'll more than do! And one of your followers is a genius and you can tell her I said that. I think something that nice would get you...two more books?"

He brightens up at the idea of getting two more books. "That will work." He walks around the shelves, for a few minutes, taking his time before he selects a Western. "One for my brother," he says. Savage's reading has much improved and Maul wants to keep on encouraging him.

Then he goes over into the non-fiction section and picks up one that he mulls over for a moment before he adds it to the stack. Really, some self-help books aren't the worst idea he's ever had in order to keep on his journey of improvement. "And one more for me," Maul says. He turns back towards Lexi. "Thank you. I shall return for more later on."

She follows along curiously, then brightens at the fact that he has his brother here. "That's lucky, to have him here." She wonders what would happen if Cassie arrived, if she'd finally tell her what was going on to make Cassie act so weird.

And she'd say that he's already doing a good job at the whole winning friends thing on his own, but a little more positive reinforcement couldn't be a bad thing. Everyone needed that from time to time. "You're very welcome! I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon!"

Welcome to the Satellite of Love!

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(CW: Trumpism)

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(CW: trumpism)

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