(Darth) Maul (
survivalthroughhate) wrote in
deercountry2022-02-11 09:07 pm
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Catch-all for Maul; Love is not the opposite of hate.
Who:
survivalthroughhate and you!
What: open & closed threads
When: Catch-all for February and March
Where: All over Trench
Content Warnings: Event warning for March, graphic description of broken nails
All starters in the comments, threads are marked open and closed! Will be adding more as the months goes on!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What: open & closed threads
When: Catch-all for February and March
Where: All over Trench
Content Warnings: Event warning for March, graphic description of broken nails
All starters in the comments, threads are marked open and closed! Will be adding more as the months goes on!
Personal Plot Prompts - Throughout March
After his latest encounter with the Nightmare Steed, which had happened while he'd been shattered into different facets, the beast seems to have softened towards Maul a little. His happy self had approached the beast with Snow White and had shown no fear, which had intrigued the large horse-like creature. It has taken to walking by Maul's house on occasion, just standing there outside the front yard, the wind blowing his magnificent shaggy mane around while his long tail twitches.
Maul eventually begins to realize there's a pattern to the Nightmare Steed's wandering and so he starts putting out pieces of raw meat and sometimes crab from the toxic ones to be found in the caves on the beach. At first, he just leaves them there, watching from afar, but eventually he starts getting a little closer and closer still to the beast. He uses the Force to hover the pieces over to him and the Steed seems highly amused by this display. On this particular day, Maul has finally decided to try and get the Nightmare Steed to come to him. He holds out a piece of crab in his hands and waits. "Come on. I'm not coming to you. You have to come to me this time," he says in a coaxing tone. "I know this is your favorite. Come on." The horse seems unsure, scraping one of its dinner-plate sized hooves along the ground as it decides whether or not to go forward. If Maul sees anyone approaching, he'll gesture for them to remain still and quiet, afraid their presence might agitate the large creature. After all, he has been known to gore Maul for fun.
II. Attack of the Mankey - Mid-March
Maul got three prizes out of going through the jungle and catacombs. One was the T-shirt and the other was two Pokeballs. The first got stuffed into a drawer. He'll wear it one day when he inevitably runs out of clothes and forgets to do his laundry. The latter two he studies carefully but still can't figure out what they are. Not until he presses one of the Pokeballs in the middle and out comes a Mankey in blinding light.
Maul's a little shocked but at first the Mankey is just inquisitive and bounces all over the house, studying everything. It even climbs onto Maul for a few minutes and studies his horns in detail before it jumps off to go look at something else. Everything is going smoothly......and then Maul accidentally steps on the Mankey's tail. In all fairness, Maul's heavy prosthetics do mean stepping on someone's foot or tail does make it very painful, but really the Mankey is going to take this way too far. The monkeylike Pokemon seems to take this injury personally and completely starts to go on a rampage.
If one approaches Maul's house during this period, they'll hear a lot of yelling and crashing sounds right before Maul gets thrown through one of the front windows. Before he can do more than get up and brush broken the glass off of himself, Mankey appears in the sill, his red eyes glaring at Maul. The Pokemon growls and makes a shrieking noise before it launches itself at Maul. For all of his fighting skills, Maul was definitely not expecting to be fighting a pig-monkey today, and is a bit overwhelmed by his current opponent. It's best just to let the two of them hash this out themselves, getting in between Mankey and Maul just means the third person is gonna end up with a broken bone.
Late on, one can find him sitting on his porch, head tipped back as his nose slowly bleeds and he presses a steak to his right eye. Behind and just off to the side is his Mankey, hovering there in the air and unable to move forward or back. It looks like Maul caught him in midleap and used the Force to hold him there. Mankey, his red eyes narrowed as he glares at Maul, continues futilely to try and move forward so he can continue to attack him. He chatters at Maul in an angry manner. The Sith Lord turns to glance at the creature, looking quite put out himself, and tutting at the Pokémon. "Tch. Such language. What would your mother say?" That just makes the Mankey screech all the harder and Maul turns to look at his new.....well, he doesn't really think it's a pet. More like a great nuisance that has been foisted on him for his behavior last month. This is definitely karma's way of making up for all he's done recently. "Oh, I see, your mother was the one that taught you to speak like that."
When he sees someone coming up the walk, he nods at them, his voice a little nasally likely due to the fact his nose is stuffed up with blood and quite possibly broken. He sounds far too casual for someone who just got the crap beaten out of them by an angry Pokémon. "Hello. I have been having quite the day. Yourself?"
III. Communing with Nature - Late March
After everything that has happened since he's come to Trench, Maul's had a lot of thinking to do. The first step to becoming better is to undo the lessons he's learned from childhood, the ones instilled by his master. Such trauma is not easily overcome but he can at least start by going back to the very beginning of his life and working his way up from there. Long before Sidious had entered his life, Maul as a kit had been connected to the Force on Dathomir, spending a lot of time in the woods surrounded by plants, animals, and nature in general. It was his first experience to sensing life around him, and while such memories have been buried for a long time, he's been mulling them over more recently. Even back then, as a young kit, he wasn't a people person and preferred to be on his own instead of playing with the other children, which accounts somewhat for his awkward personality as an adult even when he's not being absolutely psychotic.
He's taken Malice and his new Mankey (which he is still thinking up a name for) out with him to the woods on the edge of the city, allowing the two some much needed exercise while he centers himself in the Force. Malice runs around, patrolling the area for anything to eat while the Mankey swings happily through the trees. Whenever he appears to be getting upset, Maul tosses him a banana from a large bunch he brought with him, calming the Pokémon back down.
One can find him gently running his clawed fingertips over the various plants starting to poke through the ground now that spring is right around the corner, on the tops of bushes large and thorny around him, or even the bark that grows rough on the trees. Thinking himself alone, he's singing softly, a song that he learned after listening to a Metallica album he found in Deerington over and over again. What only one person in all of Trench knows (and Wesker isn't likely to mention it anytime soon) is that Maul actually has a very good singing voice. Not surprising given the tone and cadence of his speaking voice but he never sings when he's with other people. Surprisingly, it's more out of self-consciousness than anything else, Maul not liking attention being on him in that particular fashion. He'll continue singing as long as he thinks he's alone, but the minute he realizes he's not, he'll whirl on his heel towards wherever the person coming towards him is at, yellow-red eyes with their usual glare in them.
Alternatively, they'll find him sitting on top of a large rock in the middle of a small field, meditating peacefully with his legs crossed and eyes closed. Really, this is the calmest Maul has looked in months. Maybe that change he keeps talking about is actually taking affect? Once he senses someone else, one eye will open just to confirm to himself that they're no threat. He gestures for the person to come over and take a seat next to him. Once they do so, he asks: "Tell me, what do you sense about this place?"
IV. Dealing With His Cult - Mid-March
Maul is hosting his usual monthly meeting with his cult inside a bookstore, and while this is always an alarming process for anyone who knows Maul and realizes he's got a following of devoted natives that will obey his every whim, this month at least he's attempting to do a little better with them. "One must be cautious of the power wielded over others, whether that is magical, physical, or mental in nature. A few words can be enough to break someone down or lift them up to their highest potential." Apparently, 'with great power comes great responsibility' is definitely something Maul is starting to take more seriously. He'll invite anyone he sees passing by to come over while he talks with the members of his following, who have now started to take to wearing Mandalorian-style helmets in honor of their leader.
Once he's done with his lecture for the day, his cult begs him to stay just a little longer and talk to them more. Since he doesn't have another topic with which he wants to discuss with them, he merely pulls a book from a shelf nearby and starts to read from it. "On the 24th of February, 1815, the look-out at Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the three-master, the Pharaon from Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples....." Yep, it's storytime with Darth Maul and his cult. Really, he's got a very good voice for reading aloud and at least one of the cult members starts leaning against a bookshelf, looking a touch drowsy. Feel free to pull up a chair and listen in while he reads The Count of Monte Cristo.
III.
But even when Maul's vocals suddenly cut off, he continues playing. Vyng has been on stage enough times to roll with the punches, and some nasty glares are no exception.
"Pick it back up, pick it back up!" he encourages over the gentle chords. "You're doing great."
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Still, whatever rage he's come out here to help quiet in the first place remains tamped down, so at least the effect he was hoping for is still working. Otherwise he'd be far more likely to be snarling at Vyng and growling out threats.
no subject
A few crows caw from overhead, almost like they're laughing at him. But Vyng takes the gaffe in stride. He slowly closes the distance between himself and where Maul is sitting. Quietly, he adds:
"How come you don't sing in front of other people?"
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He lets out an indignant huff before answering. "I just don't!" He can't really tell Vyng why that is, he's not that eloquent. Maul's lack of communication skills and verbal ones in particular are coming through through loud and clear right now. He's not got an easy talent for explaining what he means to people, unfortunately having the bad habit of expecting them to just read his mind and know exactly what he means despite if he's saying something completely different than what he intends.
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"Your old master would've been an asshole about it, huh," he remarks with a sigh while shifting the harp in his lap to get more comfortable.
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Things like reading and even watching the holonet were allowed because it gave Maul the chance to understand things like Sith history and how his master’s machinations would fit into the scheme of the whole galaxy. But music? No, that had no place in Sidious’ plans for Maul, and so it was frowned upon to even listen to.
III
So when she stumbles on Maul singing, she speaks without otherwise announcing herself. "You've got a pretty nice voice."
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Moreso than the murderous instincts, Maul seems ruffled over the fact someone else heard him singing. A flush comes to his face as the Vileblood rushing up and it's clear he's blushing a little. "Next time, make yourself known instead of sneaking up on me!"
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"Whoa your reflexes are waaaaaaaay too good."
She looks down, a little self-conscious about the stumble, and brushes imaginary dirt from her skirt before she looks up at him again.
"I didn't know you sing."
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As it stands, he's just embarrassed at being caught singing by anyone, his cheeks still burning up with the emotion. "I don't," Maul says gruffly. "Not where anyone can hear." It's a very personal thing for Maul to do, which is why he's never within earshot of anyone when he does so. Malice comes trotting up towards Maul and he pets behind her small ears in an absentminded fashion, body language from Maul that lets her know she's not to attack whoever he is talking to.
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She huffs out a breath and tries not to smile as she sees him petting Malice. "What are you up to out here?"
There's nothing accusing or particularly probing in her voice. She keeps it purposefully light, because giving him a chance means this is conversation to her, not accusation.
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"I just came out here to realign myself. It's been a long, long time since I just took a walk in the woods and was by myself. Not since I was a child." Back then, Maul absolutely loved spending time in the woods. Feeling all the life energy that went through the plants and animals around him was the first way he'd ever learned that he was Force sensitive.