deernet | Video; un: darkness (Storytime With Maul!)

Video; un: darkness (Storytime With Maul!)

[Maul's doing a little better than he has been the past few months. At least he's not all corrupted into insanity like he was for a couple of weeks in July or about to breakdown after his video in June. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice he's got a new piece of jewelry. On the ring finger of his left hand, there's a black, sparkly wedding band made of Darkblood. Yep, Maul got hitched. But who would be crazy enough to marry the Zabrak Sith Lord? A question one can ask if they're feeling especially brave.]

Everyone always thinks they're the hero in their own story. And it's easy to justify that you are no matter what you do because you're the main character in your mind. No one ever wants to admit they're just one of the side characters or even the villain. And how do you even know when you've become the bad guy? It's easy to say what actions you undertake are for the greater good or at least something that will get you what you want. You keep telling yourself that until you look around one day and see the only monster around you is yourself.

[He leans forward.]

I am very fond of stories. So I'll tell you a story about a villain from my world and you can tell me one about a hero or villain from yours in return.

Once upon a time, there was a young man who had darkness in his heart. He coveted power amongst all else and to that end he committed many monstrous acts to gain it. When he saw that his family stood in his way, he killed them all without thought. Over the years, he gained power but it was never enough. Always, he wanted more. Eventually, he realized that no matter how much power he possessed, he would lose it all when he died. And so he sought to gain immortality.

He eventually found a Sith Lord, very old and wise, who told him he had discovered the secret to living forever. "Become my apprentice, do everything that I command, and I will teach you my secret," he told the man. And so he did. Day after day, year after year, he obeyed the Sith Lord, committing many more atrocities in his quest to gain immortality.

He would often ask the Sith Lord, "Am I ready?"

The response was always the same. "Not yet."

After many years the man, no longer as young as he once was, began to grow impatient. He went to his master. "I have done all that you asked. Teach me what you promised."

The Sith Lord merely laughed in his face. "You will never be ready to learn."

The man felt rage rise up within him. "Why not?"

"Because only a Sith who has no fear can conquer death. But you? You will always fear dying no matter what you do and so you will never master the secret of immortality," the Sith Lord told him with contempt.

The Sith apprentice was furious. He felt he had been lied to and so he waited. His master never slept, for he had seen the future and knew he would die in his sleep, but his apprentice was cunning. Eventually, he got his master drunk, and the Sith Lord finally fell asleep. So the apprentice took up his lightsabers, stabbing his master in his hearts, and killing him. Only then did his anger abate and he realized he still did not know the secret to living forever.

He would spend the rest of his life seeking it out and never finding it until the day he died, always shackled by his fear instead of facing it head on and conquering it instead. He used the power he'd acquired to create a vast empire that stretched throughout the entire galaxy but still it was not enough. Always he was afraid of what was to come at the end of his life. And when he finally died, betrayed by his own apprentice as usually happens with Sith Lords, it was done so screaming in fear as he realized he had failed in his lifelong ambition.

[He pauses for a moment, examining his claws without looking up.]

That was a true story by the way. It is called the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Sith Lords often have a dramatic way of doing things, especially when it comes to teaching their apprentices.

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Well put, my friend. I seek the type of immortality that no one can take away from me and that comes from sheer infamy, nothing else.

Tell me a fable. Your world holds such fascinating ones from what I remember.

[He recalls Ozpin telling one in Deerington that Maul greatly enjoyed.]

Oh how that sounds like the sort of thing you'd love.
A history so magnificent that everyone's calling you a bastard a thousand years from now.

This is one of my favorite fables from home. It's from Vacuo.
There once was a man who was a farmer, and his family was in need.
He sought to have a staring contest with the Sun.
If he could win the staring contest, his family would forever have better crops.
And so the sun refused to set and the two continued to stare at each other, unblinking.
Eventually, the sun did relent, having had its fill and letting the man win.

When it set, the man was smiling, but he'd been struck blind.

The moral varies. Some versions of the story say he was always blind.
That he tricked the sun with his cunning for the benefit of his family.
Others that he became blind because anything was worth it.

Trust me. It's a really "Vacuo" sort of story. Hah.

Interesting how one can interpret the hero of the story in different ways. Either he comes off as a clever trickster who risked nothing to gain everything or as a self-sacrificing fool who traded his sight, thinking the security of his family worth no longer being able to help them harvest the fruits of their labor.

Well, I think some might take issue with your views there.
But like you've figured out this is a story where the slightest variety changes it up.
And it can teach a different lesson either way.

And both of them are very "Vacuo" sorts of lessons.
Lot of cunning, lot of self sacrifice, lot of "We endure the worst you throw at us" to them.

I like stories which can be interpreted like that. It makes one want to read them and tell them over and over again.

All things that I myself can appreciate.

[Given those were qualities Maul himself possessed.]

You take what you want from it when you hear it.
And if the situation changes, you can grow with the story over time.
It's kind of a neat story as fables go.

Those are the best kind of stories. Someday, I hope to be woven in the fabric of one myself.

[Even if it is only as a villain, he shall be satisfied with that kind of immortality.]

I hope so too.
Me? I never want to be the subject of one of these kinds of stories.
I like to keep my secrets all to myself.

Maybe you shall end up in the background of one. Just the mysterious character there in the shadows that no one knows anything about.

As long as I'm having fun then it's good.
You never know, maybe I'll get to watch someone become an object lesson.
That CAN be very funny.

It can be. But not when you're the one being used as an object lesson.

[As has happened with Maul in the past before.]

True enough.
It's only fun when the egg isn't on your own face.
Now we just have to figure out how to put it on them.
Right?

That is truly the key. The trick is to do it successfully.

Doesn't hurt if you can do it without getting caught.
The reprisal can be such a pain if they're the whiney sort.

That I know all too well. One of these days, I shall learn how to point the finger at others and let them be made into the focus points when people are taught what not to do.

I think probably the biggest gift of this?
It's all in the timing, and figuring out when it's the perfect time to strike.
So a game of patience and plotting.

Patience has never been a great virtue of mind.

[Any that he had was cultivated into him by Sidious with long hours of practice. It wasn't an innate quality he was born with.]

Patience is MUCH more my strong suit.
But I'm used to waiting for years to get my chance to pay someone back.
I'm still waiting for Cinder.

I'm much more about the instant gratification. I do hope you get your revenge on her. She deserves it.

Oh god you have no idea how many people are in line.
You're not wrong. She's not quite as bad as your mentor is, because she's too dumb.
Girl could never get the kind of power he had, from what you've told me, but she had enough.
She's hurt everyone who ever cared about her and most who didn't.

She's got a whole lot of revenge coming her way, and I want a piece.

That's the problem with people like that. They have no trouble hurting everyone around them, even those who care about them, and see nothing wrong with it. But I have also learned such people always get what is coming to them even if it takes a very long time.

She probably wouldn't even understand that people actually do care about her.
As strange as it may seem, there were people who did for a very long time with her.
Of course, part of why she'll get it isn't me?

It's the fact that she eventually burned those few bridges she still had.

She sounds wonderful. [Maul said dryly. And then in an even drier tone:] It sounds like she and Darth Sidious would get along quite nicely, at least until one of them stabbed the other in the back.

Yep. That's probably close to her relationship with Salem.
She was always plotting how she was going to one-up and get her spot over Salem's power.
Not that she actually had an ice cube's chance in hell doing that.

Salem was completely, absolutely and universally immortal.
Probably the most powerful user of magic in the entire world, or second most.
That idiot will never stand a chance in the end.

What foolishness. I've long since learned that when you are subordinate to someone and want to take over as being the one on top, there's a reason you're not there already. Usually it's because the other person is much stronger than you will ever be.

From what you say, her delusions are pure folly.

(no subject)

threelayers - 2023-02-15 19:39 (UTC) - Expand

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