[003] video | un: lyreplayer

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ It's early November when Orpheus posts to the network again, this time sitting cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom with his guitar in his lap and the Omni propped up in front of him. The camera catches him leaning back after having set it to broadcast, and he waves as the recording starts. ]

Hi, everyone! I'm Orpheus, and, I thought of something that might be nice for us to do together? I know we're all busy building new lives here, but I don't think that means we have to forget the places we came from completely, or leave those memories behind. Unless you want to? That's fair too.

[ He pauses briefly, looking thoughtful and a little solemn as he considers that, before shaking his head and getting himself back on track.]

But! In my experience a big part of any place a person calls home is the stories that people tell there and the songs they sing, and it seems like it might be nice to share those with each other, as a way of giving each other a glimpse into where we came from, and of preserving them for the future. It can be anything you want to tell us about, whether it's a piece of history or a legend or a song or even a nursery rhyme you like. You don't have to share anything if you don't want to, of course, but I'd really love to hear anything and everything people are willing to add.

[ OOC: This is a mingle post! Please feel free to comment on other peoples' additions and otherwise tag around. ]

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Video; un: darkness cw: a little gore

[survivalthroughhate]

[He can recall Orpheus and he exchanging stories before, how similar the tales seemed to be despite coming from completely different universes.]

This is an old Sith legend I read as a young boy. There are few left in the galaxy who even know it any longer.

[He takes a moment's pause to think of how to word it correctly before continuing on.]

Long ago, there was a Sith lady, Darth Vanitas, who was said to be the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. Beings of all shapes and sizes were enamoured merely by a glimpse of her. Wars were fought by those who sought to gain her favor that encompassed many planets and systems, though she cared for no one but her own reflection, and trampled upon the hearts of those that tried to love her. Any suitor who came to seek her had to prove their cunning and knowledge as well as their skills with a blade. All of them failed and she took their heads with her lightsaber, putting them on spikes in front of hr castle. She had a mirror imbued with powerful Dark energy that she stared into every day and it showed her to indeed be lovely....on the outside at least.

But one day her rivals had enough of the bloodshed that she had caused and came to her castle. Though she fought back with all she had, they eventually overwhelmed her and permanently disfigured her so that no one would ever love her again. Vanitas fell into despair, for without her beauty, she felt she was nothing. Eventually, despair turned to insanity and insanity to something much more deadly. She began to kidnap young maidens, using Sith alchemy and the energy of her mirror to find a way to remove their skins, and wore them as her own while the maidens perished. But they never lasted for long, always rotting away, and so she kept going on and on, always seeking to regain the beauty she had lost.

In one last mad effort, she decided to use all the energies of the mirror and her own powers to restore her beauty by draining an entire planet of life. But word of her cruelty had spread and the Jedi arrived to stop her. Eventually, they shattered her mirror and she let out a scream of despair, stating she would never be beautiful again. She collapsed on the floor in front of the shards, weeping for what she had lost and would never be able to find again. It seemed nothing would ever stop her tears. Several of the Jedi felt nothing but disgust for her but one was moved to pity and gave her comfort before departing. The small act led her to finally stop weeping, accepting the kindness she had been missing for so long. That was the last anyone ever saw of the Sith lady and no one knows to this day what she did until the end of her days.

video; UN: TripleJ

[kyley_b]

Dude. That's pretty fucked up right there.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul laughs.]

Sith legends usually are, for the Sith lead hard, brutal, and unhappy lives. And I read that one in my master's library when I was about seven years old.

[Is it any wonder why Maul has turned out the way he is?]

[kyley_b]

It's like a combo of the evil queen in Snow White and Elizabeth Bathory.

Was it your favourite story?

[survivalthroughhate]

I don't think I've heard either of those tales. [Then he pauses as he realizes something.] Snow White? Like the name of that young girl here in the city?

[Ah, the moment when the fourth wall collides with reality once again.]

No. But there is something very visceral about the image of a woman ripping the skin off of another and wearing it in a mad attempt to maintain what she has forever lost. At least it stuck in my mind for all these years. And now it will be in yours as well.

[Maul hadn't scared easily as a child, not after living with Sidious, but there was something deeply disturbing and creepy about a woman wearing the skin of a sentient being that had appealed to his morbid little brain.]

[kyley_b]

Is there a Snow White here? Huh. Maybe she's named after the story. [He doubts it.]

Elizabeth Bathory was a real person, but the legend is she drained the blood of beautiful young women to bathe in so she'd stay young. There's not a lot of historical evidence for it, though, so it was probably just sexist propaganda.

[survivalthroughhate]

It's hard to miss her. She's very pretty and usually has a plethora of animals around her.

[Maul wasn't one to usually remark on someone's outward appearance but he made occasional exceptions when someone particularly striking came along and Snow fit the bill.]

Honestly, I'm surprised someone such as that has not already been conjured up by this place.

[kyley_b]

Huh. I'll keep an eye out.

I mean, we've only been here a couple of months. Maybe she's lurking around.

[survivalthroughhate]

True. Perhaps such a phantom will be conjured up here eventually. I'd be careful if I were you. Red is a highly desired color to possess for skin or hair tone in some cultures and on some planets.

[Among fellow Nightkin, Maul himself was considered quite a catch because of that fact.]

Someone like that might decide you will make a fine prize for the next skin to take.

[Maul, must you sound so pleased at that idea? Sorry, Kyle, he's just like this sometimes.]

[kyley_b]

Does that mean you were super popular?

Where I'm from having red hair isn't generally considered desirable. Some people think we have no souls.

Dude, that's fucked up.

cw: gory fairy tale description

[survivalthroughhate]

Yes. I stand out among other Zabrak.

[He sounds a little proud of that fact. Despite not caring too much about his appearance, Maul can be just a touch vain when it comes to being judged by others, hence why he gets a bit snappish here when people call his appearance weird or strange in Trench.]

Why would they think that? I have never heard of there a correlation between hair color and having a soul before.

Just lock your doors if a woman wearing a robe and hood with a face hidden in the shadows approaches you and comments in a hissing voice how pretty you look. There was illustrations that went with the story and that's what she looked like, ensnaring a terrified young maiden within her grasp as she reached out a hand that had no layer of skin, only blood dripping off of it and muscles shown as the outer portion.

[No wonder such an image had been burned onto the brain of the young Zabrak when he was only a small boy. It's a wonder he got any sleep the night after reading all that.]

[kyley_b]

You'd have slayed on Sith Tinder. [Kyle, no.]

I dunno, some people just find gingers creepy. Usually they're really pale and burn in the sun easily so, ugh, this is so stupid... so SOME people compare them to vampires. When I was a kid I got called 'daywalker' because I don't burn so easy.

Dude I assure you no women are knocking at my door to call me pretty. But thank you.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul tilts his head in confusion.]

Tinder? [Maul, definitely no.

He shakes his head and sighs at what Kyle says.]

Once again, I am reminded just how small-minded the people of Earth are. I hope you took suitable revenge upon your tormentors.

[The Sith Lord would have just killed them but Maul was Maul.]

She might not need a door. She might just appear right there in the middle of your room in the middle of the night, skinless hand dripping blood and muck as she reaches for your face.

[Alright, now he might just deliberately trying to scare Kyle because he's a shitbird.]

[kyley_b]

It's a dating app. Nevermind.

Uhm. Kinda? I guess. Mostly it was just my one friend who instigated everything.

Dude! You are trying to scare me like I'm ten! I was a camp counselor this is exactly the sort of story we'd tell the kids! [He's laughing a little, amazed that yes, Darth Maul is basically trying to spook him Bloody Mary style.]

[survivalthroughhate]

Some friend. You should have done what I did upon one of my bullies at Orsis Academy. [Really, the fact anyone would bully Maul even when he was a child showed they clearly had a death wish. Even at age fifteen he was no one to be fucked with.] When my master told me to kill everyone there, I made him the first. He was the first person I ever killed. [Maul sighs, reminiscing happily. That was one death he'd never regretted.] I made sure to wake him up so he knew what was happening before I strangled him with my own two hands.

Well, I've got nothing else to do today. You're it as far as entertainment goes.

[kyley_b]

I'm having the most difficult time picturing you being bullied, dude. Guy must have been nuts.

But I couldn't do that. I'm not a killer. [At least not on purpose.] Plus it was like... Karkat calls the sort of thing we had as being a kismesis. So he wasn't just some bully. He was more like a rival or a frenemy. Someone you hate but also kinda don't want to go away entirely, I guess.

I'm flattered.

video | un: lyreplayer

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus is silent for a good long moment, before saying, quietly; ] Wow, that's terrible.

[ And for another moment, before realizing how that sounds and hurrying to add; ] Oh, um, what she did, and what happened to her, I mean, not your storytelling.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Fortunately for the continued state of Orpheus' health, Maul understands right away what he means.]

The Sith are rarely satisfied in life. Always they seek more and more while never being fulfilled.

[Maul himself was that way too which really did explain a lot about his personality.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

I guess that makes sense, if your philosophy is one of always seeking change. I guess it would be hard to keep doing that, if you ever found complete fulfillment in anything, instead of thinking about what could come next if you kept on striving for it.

Still, the idea of someone so beautiful that wars were fought over her and so terrible that she'd behead her suitors, even before the, um. [ Nope, he can't bring himself to say it. ] What she did after that... Or that someone would do something so terrible to her, even as awful as she was. I'm glad someone was able to show her compassion in the end, but it's all so much.

[survivalthroughhate]

Interesting with someone who has so very little personal darkness in their personality that you always seem to well understand Sith philosophy and tenants.

[That's approval in Maul's voice. He doesn't possess the talent of easily being able to say what he means. The words always seem to come out wrong. So he's thankful some people here can still understand him when he's not always all that clear.]

What's interesting is that only one of the three versions of the story mentions the compassionate Jedi. The other two just say the Jedi felt contempt and disgust at seeing her kneeling there on the floor, completely broken, and then they left her to eternally weep. But I like the version that does mention it the best.

[themuseabandonsyou]

I always try really hard to understand how other people see things, if they're willing to share with me. I'm not always good at it? But it seems like the least I can do. [ he says, earnestly. And at that next part he nods, frowning thoughtfully. ]

It would be easy, to be disgusted by her? After what she did, both before and after what was done to her. But sometimes compassion isn't about what's easy. And it's like I was saying to some of the others - sad stories have a place, but I think the ones that have the most meaning are the ones that have at least some glimmer of hope in all the tragedy.

[survivalthroughhate]

That is more than I can do much of the time.

[Maul is frightfully stubborn and his anger makes it hard for him to see things from the point-of-view of another person, so often because that person usually has morals and a mindset so directly contrary to what he thinks.]

Hope and compassion.

[He sighs and looks down.]

Two concepts not all can possess. I thought I had lost my hope for good before I came to Deerington. Interesting to find it again in hell and mostly due to the compassion of others.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Sometimes weathering hard times together can bring out the best in people.

[ And sometimes it does exactly the opposite, but Orpheus is happy to leave that unsaid. ]

I'm glad you had people there who were able to help you find hope again, though. It's one of the most important things a person can have, I think.

[survivalthroughhate]

I am not so sure about that.

[Given what Maul saw in Deerington and now here in Trench, it can happen, but just as often people will give into their worst desires.]

.....Perhaps.

[He's too stubborn to admit that Orpheus is right. Maybe some other time if the topic of conversation comes up again.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus shrugs, good-naturedly.]

It's what I've found, at least. Whenever times have been hard, for me, I've tried to hold onto the idea that things can get better. It's not always easy, but dreaming of a better world and the ways to reach it has kept me going through a lot. I don't know where I'd be, if I couldn't do that.

[ He does know where he was, though, when he managed to falter on that front at the exact wrong moment. And he would very much like to never go there again. ]