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

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

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.]

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Unfortunately, it hadn't occurred to Palpatine that if the girl's body was resistant to cold and heat, so might other people. Pride. That had been what called to him about the girl, but he couldn't imagine a set of circumstances where it could lead to his fall.

And he cursed the lad, for being able to avoid the flame with ice, throwing down lightning at the ice shield in an attempt at shattering it.

He's visible as a silhouette in the smoke of the fire and lightning, having flown down enough to enjoy the destruction he'd caused.

The lightning worked, shattering the ice everywhere. The tiny shards flew out into the foggy steam in multiple directions. Sorry for anyone getting hit by ice shrapnel. Keith desperately tried to see through the fog they'd created. He didn't want to create a flame to burn it off because he knew that, as much as he was having trouble seeing through it, so was the other person. If he burnt it off, he would ruin his own cover.

There was something behind him, and Keith's senses piqued. He spun, startled, spotting that ghost-like silhouette in the steam, and threw his hand up, initially meaning to throw either a fireball or an ice spike. He hadn't fully decided it, though, and the startled sensation he felt muddled his other thoughts enough that he ended up shooting a bolt of lightning back!

There was where Palpatine made another error in judgement. He'd being using Force lightning, not realizing that the girl had lighting of her own. He certainly hadn't gambled on the lad having it as well! As a result, it was too quick to counter with his own lightning, striking the girl's body head-on, releasing an enraged scream.

But he wasn't so easily convinced . This body was useful. He narrowed its eyes and said "You like to play with lightning, do you, boy?"

He didn't wait for an answer before unleashing a barrage of Force lightning upon him.

Keith grunted, a distressed kind of noise as he tried to duck out of the way. It wasn't going well. The hit yanked a scream from him, and he barely managed to summon an ice shield to redirect it away from himself. He wasn't really sure where the electricity had come from in himself, so finding it again was going to be hard, but, for now, he'd stick with something familiar. He shot a fireball at the girl, deciding to stop holding back. He could apologize to her later if he killed her, but at least she'd be free from Sidious...

Palpatine laughed. It sounded nothing like Tinya's usual bell-like, silvery laugh, but it was a low chuckle, the sort more appropriate for an old man than a young woman. But he was so busy gloating that the fireball, especially at such close range, was impossible to dodge and he screamed as he felt the girl's body be burned. He collapsed to the ground and decided to attempt to be the girl instead of himself.

"Oh, please, please, I'm so very frightened, I don't know what's happening to me. You mustn't try to hurt me, I'm innocent!"

Keith had brought up his fist, engulfed in flame and ready to attack again, but hesitated... He narrowed his eyes, trying to see the girl's eyes. Was Palpatine still in there? He couldn't tell. He put his other hand out cautiously, ready to bring up an ice shield if he needed it.

"Can you push him out?"

Palpatine fluttered the girl's eyelashes, relying on the Force to see what was going on rather than on the girl's simple eyesight. The boy seemed to be tricked well enough, so he decided to continue the ruse as long as possible until the boy's guard was well and truly lowered.

"I--I think I can. I'm so very frightened, I don't know what's going on."

"You were possessed..." Keith was still on edge. It was hard for someone with his history to let down his guard completely. After all, he didn't really know Tinya enough to be able to judge if it was really her, and he'd seen people get possessed before back home... and had been tricked by it, even with someone he knew very well.

"I was trying to get him out. Is he still in you? Can you tell?"

However, the flames around his hand died away...

"Was--was I," Palpatine stuttered out, keeping the girl's eyes low while still pretending to be in shock. "How could such a thing happen?" Easy. Pride called to pride and from there, it was a relatively simple path to hide in the girl's mind.

She thought she was invincible. It was too much of a temptation for Palpatine to prove her wrong. He didn't care what kind of damage he might leave behind, just so long as the girl served as a nice, cozy hiding hole.

And he rolled the girl's eyes behind her eyelids, leaving only the white showing. "I--I don't think he's still here. Please, won't you come closer a little closer so I can be certain I'm me?"

He waited for the flames to go out. Waited for the boy to approach.

The flames definitely went out visibly, but they were still just below the surface. His power ready to erupt at the first sign of trouble.

He stepped a little bit closer.

"Let me see your eyes..."

At the request to see his eyes, he inwardly cursed that the boy wasn't as foolish as he thought he was.

He could let the girl take control for a small amount of time and let the boy see those eyes, but for once he was afraid. The girl was willful. There was a chance she could wrest control away from him, given that small inch given.

So there was no other option, not as long as he planned to possess this body. Yellow eyes showed with a wicked smirk as he prepared to shoot lighting at the foolish boy.

There was something to said for not trusting others easily. Keith could be pretty reckless, and had this been someone he knew with a convincing facsimile of their personality, he'd probably be easily duped. But he didn't know Tinya well enough to know if that had been really her or not. So, it was time to play it safe. He did know how to do that from time to time.

And, as much as he didn't want to kill her, he was beginning to think he might have to in order to get Palpatine out. He knew she'd come back, and he hoped that she'd forgive him if it happened... but... he was starting to think he had no other choice.

He saw the hand come up, crackling with electricity, and he reacted, firing off an icicle spear in defense.

Tinya didn't trust people easily, either. Not anymore. Not after three years in a hellhole she'd been desperate to escape from and a year here at the mercy of the Pthumerians. But Palpatine had been certain that the wounded bird act would work, he pulls the girl's lips back in a snarl as he prepared to counter.

And it may indeed come to that. He'd be happy to take the boy with him when he went because he certainly wasn't giving up such a nice host without those being the stakes.

He brought the other girl's hand up, blasting fire in his direction, then pulled the other hand up and unleashed Force lightning.

Keith yelped as he was enveloped in the electricity, gritting his teeth against the pain. Being electrocuted at this level wasn't exactly a pleasure, especially when it had the hateful emotions powering the Force as it did. He dropped to one knee, groaning as he struggled to focus past the physical sensation.

Patience yields focus.

Shiro's words from all those years ago still held weight in Keith's mind. It had become something of a mantra, a way to clear his thoughts and think in the moment. It gave him just enough purchase on his thoughts to latch on to his fire magic, engulfing himself in flames before shooting out a fireball at his attacker.

And while Tinya might be an attractive host on several levels, Keith as a host might not be a terrible idea either.........

Palpatine cackled with glee as he saw the boy struggle against the pain. Weak. Weak. Why was everyone here so weak? The girl thought she was strong, but her deep-seated rage had made her a perfect morsel to pick up.

Patience was important to Palpatine, too. How long had he focused on young Anakin, befriending the boy and training him to trust Palpatine even over the precious Jedi Order. Long, but the reward was made even sweeter.

But overconfidence was one of Palpatine's flaws, not that he'd admit to having flaws at all. So the fireball took him by surprise, screaming in rage as he felt the heat blister skin and and burn hair. He bared his teeth at the boy, seething with hatred as he gathered all of his strength and rage and hate, throwing another even stronger bolt of force lightning at the boy.

((OOC: let's go for maximum angst, go ahead and kill her! 😁))

It was hard to focus on bringing out his ice powers when he was using his rage to fuel the flames. His bloodmagic had manifested through his emotions, and ice was based on fear. He'd only just discovered that he could use electricity thanks to this fight, so he wasn't sure where that came from, but the Force lightning was different than the pure elemental electricity that came from bloodmagic. Keith was having trouble resisting it and pushing against it.

He screamed again as it got stronger, and, for that moment, his emotions switched. The flames flickered unable to hold on as Keith started to feel more fear than anger, and he latched on to that. The ground below him began to freeze over, and that was the only hint that something with him had changed before he created an ice spear in one hand. He yelled, digging deep, the fangs of his teeth lengthening from his Galra side, and his eyes glowing yellow as he tapped into that strength of will to feed his push. Surprisingly sure-footed on his own ice, Keith gave a last ditch effort, charging the short distance between them and thrusting the spear of ice into his enemy.

The transformation was entirely unexpected. The boy had seemed to be a human, fragile enough when it came down to it, but the eyes and fangs were something new. The yellow of his eyes reminded him of Sith Lords, but he hadn't felt an ounce of the Force in the boy.

He was taken aback just enough for the boy to slide the ice dagger home. Whith an enraged scream, he vacated the girl's dying body, letting her fall to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Tinya laid on the ground, releasing a soft groan of pain. Blood was rapidly spreading around the wound and she coughed up blood, her already pale complexion closer to a pallor.

She tried to smile. "...at least this time, I didn't burn to death," and let herself let go

Keith stumbled back, the transformation fading as quickly as it had come. It wasn't something that happened often. Keith didn't even have control over it. But there was something about Trench that left his Galra side closer to the surface than back home. The fangs didn't retract fully because his corruption levels were still just enough that those were almost permanent on some level, but his eyes shifted back to their regular white with indigo irises.

He dropped to his knees, exhausted, sore, and in shock. He heard her words, even if it was quiet. And she... smiled? Keith didn't know how to process that. Did that mean Sidious was gone? Was she relieved? Did she hate Keith for hurting her and killing her?

He stayed that way for a while, not sure what to do, feeling lost and confused. His hand shook when he reached for his omni, intending to call Shiro, until... he went still.

Palpatine had seen another chance. This boy... he was full of rage and anger. Perhaps that would be even better than pride. There was a moment, and then, slowly, Keith smirked. The girl had been useful, and fun, of course. The flying had been a nice touch. But her death meant he needed someone else to latch on to. And this boy was quite useful. Similar powers, yes, with the bloodmagic. And a slight sensitivity to a Force-like power. Palpatine could use that. And the physicality, the athleticism, it was like having a new lease on life after being stuck in that decrepit form of his own body.

Yes. This was good.

Sidious stood, staring down at the lifeless body bleeding before him. It didn't matter. He'd still won in the end...

He turned on his heel and left.

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

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/yelling seal gif, but with AAAAAAAAAAAANGST/

/inserts their own of a screaming kitten who does not have the shiny and WANTS THE SHINY

MYYEEEEEEHHHH! LOL