"Somehow....Palpatine Returned." (Player Plot)

[survivalthroughhate]

Who: survivalthroughhate and anyone who wants to join in!
What: Palpatine ends up in Trench and no one wants that, so it's time to give him the beatdown!
When: Throughout the month
Where: All over Trench.

Content Warnings: Physical child abuse mentions, mental manipulation mentions, gaslighting, exorcism, food deprivation mentions, weed mentions, will add as necessary.



Maul's followers had come to him with the worst news possible. They'd been tracking the signs and had come to one conclusion: Palpatine was back to full strength and here in Trench. The Sith Lord was now possessing people, monsters, animals, whatever that could hold his form for any length of time before it was destroyed or rotted away from the pure evil of his spirit being contained within the body.

Maul knew he had to do something. He'd been responsible for unleashing this menace and so it was his responsibility to stop it. But he was scared too. The fear of his (former, he had to remember that part) master was deeply entrenched into his mind, the simple fear of a child scared of their abusive father and wanting to avoid punishment by doing anything possible mixed in with the more complicated fear of an adult who had been broken down through brainwashing and physical abuse until he'd been turned into a weapon rather than a person. Even now, letting go of his anger and pain hadn't diminished the fear he had of Sidious.

He'd hide for a period of time after warning the other Sleepers, too afraid to go out and face his master for good. It was all well and good to let them try to deal with this. None of them had any personal connection to Sidious, so they could try whatever methods they saw fit in order to exorcise those he'd possessed.

But as the month wore on and his master's spirit still stubbornly clung to the realm of Trench, Maul began to realize he had to face his master even if it was the scariest thing he'd ever have to do in his life. If he didn't confront him, Sidious was never going to leave. Bolstered by the encouragement of his friends and family, plus with the motivation of knowing only he could end this, Maul would go out to face his master. It'd be the hardest thing he'd ever have to do in his life, but to protect the people he loved so deeply and the place he called home, he would find a way to banish Palpatine forever from his life.

[OOC: This is the log post for the Palpatine in Trench player plot! Feel free to start your own open top-levels, set up closed threads, or just head straight over to the network post if you want to interact with Maul or threadjack people there. As a reminder, Maul doesn't necessarily need to be involved in exorcising an NPC or character if you just want to do to something among two of you.]

Comments

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul heard the meows and came over to the door, not surprised to find Bluestar there on the other side. "Come in," he said, gesturing for her to enter the home. There was the scents of many different animals inside as if Maul had a whole menagerie that were lurking somewhere on the property. It really wasn't far from the truth all things considered.

He went to the living room, sitting down heavily in a comfortable, overstuffed chair. His mind seemed like it was preoccupied and far away right now. "Would you like some fish?" Even if he was terrified out of his mind right now and afraid to leave his house, he could still have some manners when it came to having people at his home.

[dousedflame]

"I ate before I came here. Traveling is difficult on an empty stomach."

She has tried her best to stay away from fish here, mostly out of pride, but the signs of that are showing - her fur is a little duller than it was when she got here, and she's a little skinnier. Not enough to see her ribs, but enough to clearly feel them if he were to pet her.

She jumps up onto the arm of Maul's chair, and hesitates with a paw in the air before stepping onto his lap and carefully laying down. It's not exactly comfortable, and she keeps all her paws below her. This is a huge trust act, but she's still ready to jump off at a moment's notice.

"Have you eaten?" Best to start out with something simple - something she could actually help with. Bluestar herself struggles to eat enough when she's feeling anxious.

cw: food deprivation mentions

[survivalthroughhate]

He shook his head no at the question. "Not for some time now." He'd been too worried to focus on food which in itself showed how awful Maul was currently feeling. Food had always been a priority for him given the amount of times in his life that he'd had to go without and he tended to get a bit odd when he didn't have enough, such as during the fall of Deerington.

There was something immensely comforting about having a small, furry, warm body in his lap. Without even thinking about it, he reached out a hand and gently pet her. Was this probably not the best thing to do with a sapient cat? Probably. But Maul's mind was a bit too all over the place to consider the act might come off as rude or demeaning.

[dousedflame]

Bluestar's eyes close briefly, in a slow blink, and her chest rumbles with a soft purr. She's still not used to being petted, but it's happened enough to know that she likes it. Still, she's watching him with obvious concern on her face.

"A good meal tonight means a good battle tomorrow." One of the few snippets of wisdom she remembers from Pinestar, the leader she was born under. "If we're lucky, he won't find you, but you shouldn't weaken yourself in the meantime."

[survivalthroughhate]

The sound of the purr coming from Bluestar was a familiar, comforting sound. After a few moments, his own started up, a sound borne of a desire to self-soothe rather than feeling any pleasure he was experiencing at the moment.

"You are right," he admitted. If he was going to face his master eventually, and he would no matter how much he was dragging his feet about it now, he'd need to be at the top of his game. "The only way I can hope to defeat him is by taking care of myself."

[dousedflame]

She's never heard a Twoleg purr before - she has to remind herself that Ezra mentioned Maul is not really a Twoleg and perhaps she shouldn't treat him as such. He is closer to a cat than he is to the Twolegs from her world.

"I can fetch you something if you'd like to stay put - where do you keep your freshkill?"

She's seen plenty of people food around Trench, but still hasn't learned a new word for it. The idea of food that isn't recognizably a dead animal is already a big concept to wrap her head around, and she still sort of imagines that Twolegs eat pellets like kittypets do.

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul had no hesitation about accepting freshly-killed animals from Bluestar. After all, he'd eaten plenty of animals he'd killed himself while he'd been stuck on Lotho Minor and had learned not to be picky. In fact, he felt rather touched she'd be willing to go through the time-consuming process of hunting to get him something to eat.

"In the fridge." Realizing that a feral cat likely would have no idea what that was, he added on some details. "The machine in the kitchen--" He gestured to where the room was. "--that makes a lot of noise and produces cold air."

[dousedflame]

Her ears flicker toward the kitchen - she can pinpoint it exactly, with how loud the machines are. Just the hum of the lightning in them would likely drive her wild if she lived around them.

"Wait here, I'll bring you something."

She slides off of his lap and pads away in the direction of the kitchen. It is... incredibly loud in here, and she can smell cold air coming off of a giant machine that seems nearly the size of a Twoleg. This must be the Fridge.

A few moments later she returns to Maul, trying not to look sheepish and lost.

"I can't open it."

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul smiled gently at the cat. A for effort, little friend. “Come. I will show you a way my pets have learned to open it up when they want food.” Granted, most of them were bigger than Bluestar, but the principal remained the same.

He went over to the fridge, showing her the corner on the bottom of the door where the seal met the rest of the fridge. “You have to hook your paw under the corner and pull hard on it until the door pops open. Sometimes it takes both paws.”