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[003] video | un: lyreplayer

[ 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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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.

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.

Huh. I'll keep an eye out.

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

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.]

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.

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.]

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.

[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.]

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.]

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.

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.

It happened quite a bit at the Academy. I was very small for my age, you see, and didn't get along with most others there. They thought I was strange and different, which I was to be certain, and did their best to make me an outcast.

[It had only worked partially. Even though he was awkward and a bit feral, Maul had still found friends there, and as he turned older a few of them had become attracted to him. He may have been a vicious fighter and supremely odd but he was rather handsome for a Zabrak. Not that Maul knew what to do with any of the flirting directed towards his way. He tended just to freeze up like a deer in headlights when that happened.]

Ah, yes. The troll has been explaining that concept to me as well. I believe I have one myself.

[No prizes for anyone who knew Maul well as to guessing who his kismesis might be here in Trench.]

Oh. ...I get that, a little bit. Being different, I mean. [Yup, Kyle's just going to find something in common with Darth Maul. Besides a shitty temper.]

It's wild, right? That there's a word to describe that relationship. I feel like some missing puzzle piece has slotted in and it explains so fucking much.

You? You’re different somehow?

[Maul says with more than just a little bit of incredulity. From what he’s seen, Kyle is very much like most other human beings he’s seen. Maybe with a bit more compassion given he’s able to put up with Maul but other than that not so very different than most others of his kind.]

My thoughts exactly. I have had to reexamine one of the foremost key relationships in my life now with what I know.

Well, growing up, yeah. Ours was the only Jewish family in town. I got a lot of shit for it.

I still don't think the desire to fuck them is always a part of it, but still!

Jewish? [Maul still looks confused.] What is Jewish?

[He's really had zero conversations with anyone about religion and mostly read the Bible while he'd been in Deerington purely because the stories in it were pretty fascinating to him.]

......No comment.

[Alright, so Maul definitely found Obi-Wan attractive but he wasn't gonna admit to anything else, much less the desire to want to sleep with the man.]

Uhm, it's an Earth religion. But also an ethnicity. Like you can be non-practicing but if they ran a DNA test on me, for example, it'd be like, "yup, Ashkenazi Jewish." Historically we, uh. Kinda aren't terribly popular, to put it mildly.

[A smirk.] I understand.

Ah. That makes sense. I believe I have some human DNA far, far back in my ancestry. That's how the Nightkin originated, you know. Human women and Zabrak men interbreeding until a whole new hybrid species was formed.

[He frowns at that knowing smirk.]

Hush your mouth.

Was that taboo?

[He nods and mimes zipping his lips.] Hushed.

If it was back then, it hasn't been for a very long time. Hybrids between humans and other humanoid species are not unheard of, given the propensity of humans and the genetic compatibility they have with many other species, but it is rare for it to take place for so long and over so many generations that it creates an entirely new subspecies on its own. Of course, looking at any Nightkin you'd be hard-pressed to find any sort of human characteristics beyond the most superficial, so it appears the dominant genes were Zabrak in this case.

I can't even argue about the human propensity to fuck, no.

Huh. That's kinda cool, though.

.....That is one way to put it, yes.

[Really, human beings were like a disease given how they'd prospered throughout the galaxy.]

I am glad someone thinks so. This is all common knowledge in the galaxy so not many there care to hear about it anymore.

Well it's new to me, dude. You can tell me whatever stuff you like.

Duly noted. You are a seeker of knowledge and that is never a bad thing. I shall have to pass some onto you.

[One of the few good tenants of the Sith was their desire to pass on all that they knew to their successors. As Maul was officially done with the Rule of Two, he was ready to pass on as much as he could to those here in Trench, as he intended to make it his home for the foreseeable future.]

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[003] video | un: lyreplayer

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