deercountry | He's a feral creature (Open)

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He's a feral creature (Open)

Who: Darth Maul and you!
What: Event prompts + TDM overflow
When: All throughout September
Where: Beach and boardwalk for TDM prompts, throughout the city for event prompts

Content Warnings: Corpses of teenagers, stalking behavior

A. Event Prompts

I) Growing Pains

After hearing about the ritual from some of the Trench natives, Maul decides what the hell, might as well participate. While he isn't inclined to believe too much of what they have to say and is still suspicious this would lead to possible harm, he also knows letting go of the past and looking towards the future is nothing but a good thing for him personally. To that end, he is in his front yard near one of the big trees that adorned the house, several items surrounding him for the ritual to be completed.

Maul scribbles down a few words in a large, blocky script on a blank page in journal he's been writing in since it showed up with the rest of his Welcome Bag. While he means for this to be a private moment, anyone around snooping will be able to see what it says. 'Break the chains.' But anyone who comments upon it will receive a glare and harsh growl in return. He looks at it for a moment before dropping it into the hole he's made. Once it is covered with dirt, he picks up a dagger given to him by a dear friend and slashes his palm open. He lets a few drops fall onto the dirt and waits.

After a few moments, a beautiful rose with most peculiar coloration blooms. It remained vibrant and healthy only for a few moments before it begins to wither and wilt. Maul stares at the limp flower for a moment as a frown crosses his face. "Of course" is all that he had to say on the matter. He is not at all surprised his flower would be defective right off the bat.

II) River of Regret

Really, Maul is doing his best not to be surprised about what has happened. He's just been waiting for the other shoe to drop now that he's started getting his bearings here in Trench, so this had been bound to happen. Granted, having a raven feather touch him and then getting swept up in a whirlwind of them only to be deposited in a canoe on a sun-spackled river wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. When he sees the corpses, Maul's first instinct is to throw himself out of the boat and start swimming, but he knows he'd drown with his lower metal half before he got more than a few strokes out. No, he and the other person are going to be forced to sit here and look upon all the regrets of his past.

There are faces, so many faces up there. There is a whole group of teenagers of various species, the most prominent one a young Nautolan with large purple eyes that seem to bore right into Maul's, a strange sort of smile on her face. He can see his family, Savage still with the two holes that had been stabbed through his chest by his former master and Mother Talzin, also with lightsaber wounds in her chest. Some people from Deerington are there as well. Usagi. Xue Yang. Reaper. Ben. Varian. Fern. Luz. Even Darth Sidious is hanging there, his corpse looking as if it had fallen from a great height. Maul pointedly avoids staring at that one as if he's trying to avoid staring into the sun for too long.

Maul's face is set and determined after he is done staring at all the corpses without blinking. His voice has a note of grim resignation in it when he turns to whoever he is stuck with. His hands are tense, claws digging small grooves into the wooden sides of the canoe. "Alright, if this place is at all like Deerington, it wants us to experience some emotions by talking out what's in front of us. So do you want me to go first or do you?" He's been around the block enough times to recognize one of the usual group therapy or friendship building exercises this place was already likely to entail when he saw it. That doesn't mean he is going to like it at all but he knows better than to fight it for too long.

III) Bloodsport

Maul can feel it right from the start of the moment, that restlessness that makes him want to go out and kill something. It's not really different than his usual state at first, so he doesn't really feel like anything is out of the ordinary, chalking it up to being in a new place and trying to be on his best behavior instead of immediately going out and massacring the populace.

He makes offers to spar or train with anyone during this time to help get out all that extra energy and they are completely genuine. If he does get a little bit more vicious than usual during these sessions, at least the curse he's still under is able to rein him back in fairly quickly, preventing him from going too close to the edge of turning it into a potentially lethal fight. He can also be found meditating a lot more as well during these feelings of murderous energy, also offering to show anyone the basics if they want to pull up a seat next to him wherever he might be and learn how to meditate in the ways of the Dark Side.

But he can't resist his feelings forever and so he's eventually led towards the Gate. Despite the handicap of feeling pain when he attacks anyone sentient, he's not willing to back down. His truly terrifying side comes out when he faces the monsters and he can go all out against them, but his brutality towards the Sleepers he faces is only slightly less. He'll twirl around his lightsaber or whatever weapon he currently has in his possession, a cocky smirk on his face. He twirls his weapon around before facing the business end towards whoever he is facing. "I'm not going to go easy on you. So let us get this over with as quickly as possible, shall we?" With those few words, he's on the attack.

[OOC: Maul is still under a magical curse from Deerington where he feels pain anytime he inflicts it upon someone else. He can still hurt someone thanks to the naturally high pain tolerance of a Vileblood, it's just going hurt him as well. For this reason, he likely won't be able to kill anyone.]

B. Newsletter Prompts

I) Moon Flowers

Standing in front of his house in Prufrock, Maul was studying the outside of it with a puzzled expression on his face. The entirety of the still somewhat worn-down old giant house is now completely covered in white roses. While he's confused by this, he's also not complaining given they seemed to be having a calming effect on his mind, which Maul being Maul was always a good thing.

He clipped a few of them off at a time and carefully sliced off any thorns, twisting a piece of spare rough brown cord around them to form them into a tiny bouquet. He sat there outside, watching Venge and Malice the vornskr play fight in the front yard while Slicer the warg slept underneath his favorite tree. When anyone he knew passed by, he'd hand them a bouquet of the roses. "For you," he'd say simply without explanation. Maul wasn't usually keen on being nice to people but keeping a stable mind was always important considering all that he'd experienced in Deerington.

II) Drawn to Palebloods

It wasn't the first time Maul had been drawn towards certain people due to the machinations of whatever was going on around him. At least this time, he seemed to be in full control of his mental faculties, something he and everyone around him could be thankful for. It just felt natural to be drawn to certain people as surely as if the Force itself was drawing him towards them.

Of course, being a psychotic Sith Lord, Maul wasn't always one for the best social niceties. So it would be no surprise to have someone suddenly see Maul watching them from the shadows of a dark alleyway or perched like a sentient gargoyle on top of the nearest building. Actually just talking to anyone seemed to be out of the question for the weirdo. Granted, the minute anyone actually called him out on his strange behavior, he'd be sure to actually approach them, but until then the Palebloods of Trench were going to be having fun with a creepy sort-of Sith stalker.

III) Walking Around The City

Maul had wasted no time in learning the ins and outs of the city. This place had a far different vibe from Deerington and so far he's liking what he's seeing. His Maalraas Omen, Venge, was always by his side. Though with the way they could cloak themselves in the darkness of the Force, he oftentimes seemed to be alone until suddenly there was a monstrous apparition that appeared out of the dark, all teeth and beady eyes, watching whoever was talking with Maul intently.

He'd taken note of certain places that he was sure he would want to investigate further like Ursula's Ink and Earworm. For the most part, he was just absorbing the atmosphere, but what started to annoy him was the way that the citizens of the city kept staring at him for long periods of time, whispering among themselves whenever he passed by. A few of the bolder ones even tried to follow him unobtrusively. He already knew he was a distinctive individual no matter what galaxy he was currently inhabiting but after the fifth time this happened he'd had enough.

Maul, with how little patience he usually possessed, could only put up with this for a short period of time. He whirled on them, saberstaff suddenly ignited in a show of intimidation. "Go on. Be off with you."

This didn't seem to dissuade them at all. One of them was nudged forward to be a spokesperson. "But you are the one we have heard talk of. The ancient Sleeper who wields great power over the Dark. The one with the face of a demon and two hearts, one dark and one light."

Maul was not likely to trust any of the residents of this city anytime soon but the fact they'd heard of him did appeal to the part of him that still had a large ego and a heaping dose of arrogance even after all these years. He stopped trying to make them leave, now a little intrigued. "So you have heard of me. Tell me more then of what you know about me and the other Sleepers."

One could find him then sitting down at a nearby tea shop as he listened to what the citizens had to say about what they had heard of the Sith in their old legends. Though Maul wasn't at all inclined to believe them too much, he had an inkling of an idea beginning to form in his mind. If they didn't prove to be malicious, the people of this city could prove to be very handy indeed...

IV) Wildcard

[Want a customized prompt? Something a little different for any of the above or with a bit more horror in it? Let me know at either

Light_shade or Lightshade#4738 on Discord! I'll match format and tenses. This will also be an overflow post for TDM threads that are still ongoing.]

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Though he may be a paleblood, Lance still packs a hell of a punch with the powers he got in Deerington. Not to mention, he's had quite a lot of training in combat by now if he doesn't feel like vaporizing his opponent. And he doesn't feel like doing that at all, even if it is Maul, the guy who watched him start to get eaten, but... he also mercy killed him when asked, so that sort of counts for something.

In a split second, Lance has formed a broadsword with his bayard, the advanced paladin weapon that takes whatever shape the user is capable of mustering/using. He grins slightly and parries Maul's attack before hopping backwards to put more distance between them. He may know how to fight well enough to go toe to toe with a master, but he's still more comfortable with some distance.

"No offense, man, but I'm gonna have to be the one going easy on you."

"You're cocky," Maul says as he steps forward and jabs at Lance's midsection with his axepike weapon. He smirks. So was he. "I like that."

The curious weapon Maul is wielding seems to be equal parts axe, spear, and scythe. It's the perfect combination of deadly weapons for someone like Maul, each one needing a different type of skill to use them effectively. Currently, he's using the spear the most, trying to jab and stab with the blade.

Well that sure is a scary looking weapon, but he's dealt with worse, he's pretty sure. Lance leaps back and to the side and then his bayard shifts into a rifle and he takes three shots precisely aimed at Maul's chest.

"No offense, but you're not my type."

Yes, because Maul was clearly just flirting and not trading battle barbs.

Maul doesn’t attempt to move out of the way of the shots, instead using the Force as a sort of shield, sending the energy blasts veering off in different directions to hit the wall of the arena instead of smashing into his body.

“Perish the thought. I think my mate would take umbrage to me being attracted to a boy almost half my age.” Alright, so Lance isn’t a child in the strictest sense of the term, but he’s yet to show Maul he’s a competent adult either. He flips the axepike around and moves towards Lance with purpose, striking out fast with it towards his midsection, trying to score a hit.

Edited 2021-11-06 07:50 (UTC)

Lance doesn't take offense to being called a boy, compared to Maul he pretty much is. And even looks kind of relieved that Maul really wasn't flirting with him, "Oh good, I really didn't need more reasons to think you're a total freak."

He grins and does his best to leap out of the range of Maul's weapon but it quickly becomes apparent that the man is far more skilled than he is. Like, ridiculously so. And it's not long before that blade does strike across his middle and he grunts before lighting up his body from the chest down with solar energy and using it to rocket himself several feet away, placing a hand over the wound leaking red blood that would turn pale if the moon were out. The longer he stays in that range, the more dangerous it's going to be for his head remaining attached to his body.

“There are many reasons to take pause with my general state of being. This shan’t be one of them,” Maul says with a smirk. Fortunately for the sanity of just about everyone in Trench, Maul has all the sexuality of a bag of sand, and is solely focused on two individuals to the exclusion of the other 99% of the population.

He is now thoroughly enjoying himself, though when his blade strikes true he pauses, and stumbles back a few steps, the only time during the fight that his movements haven’t been elegant, graceful, and already planned out. The curse was still upon him and making him feel pain whenever he caused it to another Sleeper. He points the axepike at Lance once more. “Surrender and I will make your end quick.” Well, that’s absolutely the least comforting thing he could say.

Lance laughs lightly from his spot at a distance and repeats "shan't" like Maul just said 'boner' or something, then he replies properly: "You mean like your face?" He is the king of comebacks, it is him.

Though he notices that stumble, he's not sure exactly why it happened. It's definitely weird after Maul's flawless execution of his moves up until now. Also, he's seen the Phantom Menace though his memory of it is hazy, he does know well enough this is unusual. He decides to use it and goads: "You sure that's a threat? Or are you just losing your edge?"

Taunting Maul is the wrong way to go, especially when he's peeved over being reminded of the shackles the witches had put on him that have yet to be broken. They're handicapping him in a good fight right now and that makes him mad. So he looks up, yellow eyes glaring at Lance, and he flings the axepike at him. It hits his sleeve and pins him to the ground with the momentum of the strike.

It's no lucky shot either, instead being Maul's accuracy that's backed up by being guided by the Force to very deliberately show he could take any of Lance's limbs off at any time he so desired. He strides slowly towards Lance like he's the very harbinger of doom some people here in Trench think he is, a satisfied and psychotic expression on his face. "I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you over the sound of pinning you to the ground like the little worm you are."

As a sharpshooter, he's pulled off precise shots with his rifle that were even more impressive. But he does look pretty impressed regardless, and also pretty nervous because empathy means he feels Maul's frustration well enough to know he's not messing. Yep, that also isn't a look he enjoys seeing either and Lance frowns a bit.

"You pinned my sleeve, dude. Fabric rips." And with that, he pulls and lets the fabric tear so he can pull free and stand, then he pulls the pike out of the ground and looks at it contemplatively and tosses it back to Maul. A risk to be sure and it's clear by the look on his face, he understands that and is okay with it. But still, he's on the nervous side and starts to blab a bit, "Sooo remember when I told you I wouldn't spar with you because I'm not an idiot? …Guess the blood in this place is messing with my head because this is kinda fun. Are you having fun? Is that your 'I'm having fun' face? I bet it is."

Edited 2022-01-17 03:06 (UTC)

Well, Lance seems to being learning quite a bit about Maul. That's definitely his 'I'm having fun' face and he typically tends to wear it when he's in the middle of a good fight like right now. He doesn't even need the bloodlust to get him all riled up and ready to rumble.

Maul catches his pike onehanded and then twirls it around a few times, flashy moves that would be completely impractical in a real fight but that look damn cool when one is just trying to show off like right now. "Next time I think I shall pin your hand. Let's see how many smart quips you can make with a hole through your palm." It's both a statement of truth and a warning for Lance not to get too cocky. Maul can end this fight anytime he wants but he's enjoying himself far too much to let just come to an abrupt conclusion.

And here he was just nervously rambling out a joke of sorts, but it seems like he was right on the money. The emotions he's picking up on from the man certainly screams 'yep, i have fun maiming people, u right.'

Lance swallows as he watches that twirl spin around expertly and Maul talks about pinning his hand. He raises an eyebrow and then does a fancy spin of his own with his broadsword, though Maul may notice he pointedly never looks at the blade in his hands even as he's fighting. Yes, he knows that can put him at a slight disadvantage, it's complicated.

"Dude, I talk a lot more when I've got holes in me. Bad plan if you wanna shut me up. Buuut, it kinda seems like you like my smart quips. Eh? Eh? Come on, you're loving it. Admit it."

The Sith Lord watches and listens as Lance does his own spin. He feels like the boy is stalling, trying to get him to let his guard down so he can try to get in a good strike on Maul. But he won't let him get off that easy in this fight.

Maul takes another swipe at Lance, this time using the axeblade part of his weapon. "Less talking and more action from you, worm. Or you'll end up with more holes in you than I think you would want."

Jeeze, not everyone has an angle, man! Lance squeaks slightly as he raises his sword to block rather deftly without much thought. Though his tone and words come off as nervous and inexperienced, the way his body moves tells another story. But he does purposefully make the block wobble to give the impression that it was hastier than it was.

"Jeeze, fine! Your threats are super lame, though." He then puts a bit of distance between them and tries to knock the blade to the side as he tries to get an angle on Maul's flank with a spin.

When Lance blocks his movement, the Sith Lord begins to focus in more on what he's doing rather than what he's saying. For all that he plays the part of the fool, this kid knows more about how to fight than he's letting on. Maul switches the weapon around so that the scythe part is facing Lance. Then he quickly swipes diagonally at Lance's legs with the curve blade, starting up at hip level and going all the way down to his ankles. "That's because I spent my youth learning how to fight properly instead of learning witty quips, as I assume you have done."

Oho. So apparently Maul has been taking note of what Lance has been saying, even if he's tried to do otherwise.

Lance responds to the swipe at his legs by doing a backflip over Maul's scythe. When he is back on his feet, he has his blade poised to block any counter swipes from the scythe or the other end of the weapon.

"Never underestimate the power of a good one-liner, man."

Maul sees that Lance is waiting for him to strike again, anticipating his next move. Well, it is time to change things up again.

"Then let us see what you shall say to---this!" With those words, Maul calls upon the Force, lifting Lance up bodily and throwing him hard at one of the walls in the arena. He braces himself for the pain he'll feel at doing such an action, using the long shaft of his weapon to keep himself upright and alert. His sharp eyes watch to see what has happened to Lance.

Lance yelps when he's grabbed with the force. WOW, that is not fair! And now he's being thrown? Well, if Maul wants to bring powers into it, he supposes he has no choice but to activate his own. Just before he makes contact with the wall, he lights up and creates counter force with continuous blasts of energy from his hands and feet, even coming off of his back. Heck yeah, he just made all the laws of Thermodynamics his bitch, suck on that.

"That was an illegal move, jerk!" He calls from his spot blasting energy into the wall against the force Maul is placing on him. Along the way, he dropped his bayard and it de-transformed to its base form in the dirt. He also probably could have allowed Maul to shove him into the wall, but he's not armored and he may have powerful abilities, but his body isn't indestructible when force is applied like that. He's not interested in risking a broken back.

"All's fair on the battlefield," Maul sneers.

Watching carefully to see what Lance will do, Maul is both impressed and disappointed to see that he manages to create a cushion large enough to keep him from ending up as a gooey Splat! on the wall. "I'll do far worse that next time," Maul says in a cocky fashion. He knows he could really do some damage to the kid. For the most part, he's been taking it easy because he's in a good mood.

"Now surrender before you end up getting truly hurt," he says imperiously. He doesn't think Lance will take it, but later on if anyone yells at him, he can at least say he gave the kid an out that he didn't take

"Well in that case-"

And with that, he turns up the 'heat', his entire body is engulfed in blue-gold light, like he's turning into energy itself. And then he's rocketing forward. In a blink, he's back to where Maul is and a blade made of searing hot star plasma is arcing its way down aiming for Maul's chest. But it's shallow, because he knows the blade he made is enough to slice right through Maul's weapon and he doesn't want to kill him.

Whatever the Sith Lord was expecting the boy to do, it certainly wasn't that. Maybe he shouldn't have kept goading someone who has what appears to be nuclear power at his fingertips but Maul will be Maul.

For a moment he's shocked and that's all the time that it takes for Lance to make his way back over to him. Instinctively, Maul reaches for the Force again, seeking to freeze Lance's body entirely in place before he can end up sliced into several different pieces. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, wouldn't recommend to anyone else.

The hilarious thing about Lance having nuclear power at his finger tips is that he's too much of a dumb good boy to use it to its fullest potential. Sure, he's doing cool shit now, and he's capable of big destructive things when he's upset, but he's too afraid of it to consciously use it for more than zooming out of a force hold and making swords and shields etc.

On top of that, he's not experienced enough yet to avoid that force hold. But this moment does teach him how to keep on the move to avoid getting caught and killed by Maul later. He struggles in the hold, his body still glowing, and he could probably break free again… but again, too much of a dumb good boy.

"Ugh, would you cut that out??"

His weapon is wrecked but at least Maul's not been sliced in two again. He takes a few steps back and stands up straight. He may not have his axepike anymore but he's hardly out of the fight yet. Still, it's gone on long enough, and he's interested in wrapping this up before he and Lance end up destroying the entire arena of the Gate.

"Surrender now and I will let you live." He's become impressed enough with Lance's skills and the sheer dumb luck he seems to possess that he's willing to let Lance leave this fight alive. After all, he's already killed the boy once. Where's the satisfaction in doing something again when he already knows he can accomplish it?

Despite bloodsport pushing him to keep fighting, he's also just not interested in letting this get out of hand. He often has to resist and pull himself back from dark influences on his mind, sometimes he succeeds, other times he doesn't. In this case, the fact that even Maul is restraining himself and looking to not kill him, gives him some pause. He squints at him, his blood roiling in his veins and whispers in his ears trying to look for the trick so he has a reason to keep fighting.

But the part of him that is well practiced at fighting that and has the past experience with Maul's crazy… reels that in with great effort. He heaves a breath and grumbles, crossing his arms, "Fine, I'm bored anyway."

Maul waits, body completely tense as he waits to see what Lance will do. He isn't looking to turn this into a death match but if it ends up going that way he won't back down. Still, there is a part of him that is glad Lance agrees to end the match, for Maul knows whenever he kills someone in this place that it always ends up getting more complicated for him.

Maul's hardly paid attention to the crowd but they go wild as the match ends and Maul grins happily. He doesn't know about Lance but that was a lot of fun for him! "You fight very well for someone with very little brain," he tells Lance.

"Oh, don't even start or I'll turn you into Darth Roast."

He snarls petulantly, definitely goaded further by bloodsport to be more aggressive. To avoid getting sucked back in, he immediately starts to stalk off.

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He's a feral creature (Open)

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