An (Extremely Belated) April Catchall

[faithfulson]

Who: Luke Skywalker; some closed prompts, some open ones.
What: April is really not a good month for Luke, between hope sucking butterflies, portals to other worlds, and the moon constantly being out.
When: All through the month.
Where: All over Trench.

Content Warnings: Star Wars-typical violence, nightmares, torture, excessive use of lightning; further warnings are likely to be added.

[ Prompts will be in thread starters below; feel free to respond to multiple if you wish. Also feel free to contact me if you would like your own starter. ]

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Migrations

[faithfulson]

Luke hated being injured to the point that he was bedridden and either couldn't -- or as in this case, wasn't allowed to -- even attempt to get up. It was boring as all hell, and given he was someone that was always constantly in motion, either because of trying to duck away from the Empire or trying desperately to find some trace of the Jedi that he could learn from. But thanks to being jumped on by that strange creature, and because of a former Sith Lord zabrak that was a surprise mother hen, he was stuck laying in bed, taking turns staring up at the ceiling, looking around at messages on the omni, and absently petting the head of his omen that suddenly decided to appear (and trying not to think too hard on the fact that it was 1.) a krayt dragon and 2.) a krayt dragon not covered in fifty pounds of sand from living on Tatooine).

Of course, being stuck in one spot made him easy pickings for whatever weird thing of the month decided to crop up. So when he felt something calling to him from outside, his first response was to grab his pillow and shove it over his head. When the feeling didn't stop, he threw his omni at the wall, like that would actually do anything. Finally, he let out a frustrated noise, pushing himself up with a floof of his hair, before crawling over to the window enough to peer outside.

His mouth dropped open when he saw the sparkling butterflies coming to a rest outside, glowing wings fluttering brilliantly in the moonlight. He found it impossible to look away as more came to land, almost as big as the house and literally taking up the entire yard. Something about them called him to them, and his fingers found themselves scraping at the edge of the window, trying to pull it up to get outside.

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul had learned that while a number of creatures were benign in town, most of them were not. There always seemed to be a price to pay for interacting with creatures like the butterflies and he wasn't keen on paying it. Hence, when a number of these jumbo-sized insects landed in his yard, Maul was quick to pull the shades over his window and ignore any urge to look at the admittedly rather pretty butterflies.

Savage likewise didn't seem to be affected by the presence of the giant butterflies, so Maul went about his business for a while. Then he remembered with a start that he'd forgotten there was one other person currently residing in the house. Luke!

He ran over to the Jedi's room just in time to see him opening up the window. Nope, that was not happening right now. He grabbed Luke by the scruff of his neck, pulling him back further into the room and away from the window. This was one instance where being much taller than the Jedi came in handy. "That is not a good idea," he warned.

[faithfulson]

Luke let out a squeak as he was suddenly grabbed, sounding very much like a kitten that had just gotten busted by its mother. He flailed, reaching for the window, even if it was useless; Maul was definitely stronger than him at the moment.

"But they're calling me...!" he protested, his voice sounding a bit distant, as if he were too focused on that call.

[survivalthroughhate]

Phew. That had been a close one. Any slower and Luke would have been out the window and then what...? Maybe those things would have eaten him or done even worse. Maul bodily hauled Luke over to his bed and deposited him down onto it.

"No, no," Maul said in a manner almost flippant. "No, no, we're not dealing with these things today." He used the Force to close the window and draw the curtains on the other side of the room. He scowled as he looked down at the Jedi. "What did you even think you were doing?"

[faithfulson]

Luke let out a grunt as he hit the bed, nearly cracking his head on the headboard. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the soft calling of the bugs fade out once the curtains were drawn. His eyes finally fluttered open after a moment, staring up at Maul with a confused look on his face.

"Hngh...?"

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul sat down at the end of the bed, the mattress and bed both creaking under the weight of the heavy prosthetics. "And this is why I'm not letting you leave the house yet," Maul said in a scolding tone. Yes, Luke is perfectly capable of taking care of himself about 85% of the time, but it's the other 15% that had ended up worrying Maul on more than one occasion now.

"If I hadn't been here, what do you think would have happened?"

[faithfulson]

Luke stared at Maul for a moment, before his gaze drifted over to the closed window, like he couldn't understand what just happened. It finally pulled all together in his head after a few minutes, and he shot up in bed, staring at the window, before turning his focus back to Maul, pointing at it.

"Those... those bugs outside," he managed to get out. "They were calling to me, but it... it wasn't the Force, it was something else."

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul waited for Luke's senses to fully come back, making sure that he wasn't going to be heading for the window again anytime soon. Once it seemed like Luke was better than he'd been when Maul walked in, he relaxed just a little bit.

"It's just a trick of this place, nothing more," Maul said. After living so long among Pthumerians, he had come to see there was nothing that they wouldn't do if it meant being amused by the Sleepers' suffering. "And I haven't been getting you well just for them to do.....whatever it was those insects were going to do."

[faithfulson]

Luke shook his head, rubbing a hand over his eyes as he did so.

"I... I don't know what they wanted," he admitted. "I felt... hope, like they were made of it, but at the same time..."

He trailed off, frowning to himself. It almost was like they wanted him for the same reason he was drawn to them. A sigh escaped from him after a moment, and he flopped back on the bed like he was a petulant teenager.

"...I guess it's a good thing you're not letting me leave," he mumbled. Even though he was totally fine.

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul thought about those creatures outside, how they seemed to have an ability almost like a siren song, drawing people to them for a reason that clearly wasn't good. "As I've said before, any emotion can be toxic. Love and hope, these things are usually on the side of the light, but they can just as usually end up being used by the dark for nefarious purposes as well. Just as anger and hate aren't always a bad thing to possess even if they are mired in the darkness usually."

Maul folded his arms, a small 'Hmph!' escaping him at Luke's tone when he said he wasn't letting him leave. "You can leave when I deem you well enough to do so and not a moment before. It's clear you still need someone to watch out for you." This last word was punctuated by Maul poking Luke in the temple hard with one of his claws.