Accidental Video: UN: Filledwithsunshine

[onebadapple]

(CW: Attempted child murder and mildly disturbing images)


[Snow White's memory begins in a very lovely and pleasant way! In fact, there is the sense that Snow White hasn't been able to do something like this in such an agonizingly long time. As she collects wild flowers, she hears the cries of a little bird calling for help. Snow White quickly comes over to the little bluebird to assure it everything will be fine, they'll find the parents soon.

She is completely ignorant to the huntsman behind her. She has no clue he's looking all around to make sure there is no one to watch, no one to observe his next act.

He approaches her, dagger raised high, having every intention to cut out her heart, just as the queen commanded. He steps ever closer and closer until his shadow looms swallows her form.

She turns around and screams at the sight of him ready to kill. She has no defenses. This was the point. She is supposed to die.

But his hands are shaking and the huntsman drops his dagger. He can't, he says. He can't bring himself to kill her. He warns her of the queen, how he wants her dead, she's jealous, mad with it, in fact. She must flee! She must get out of here NOW! No time to do anything but run.

Run! And never return!

Flee!

Her head is spinning, one minute she's being threatened. The next she's being told to flee and never return. She can never return. She can't come back! She has to get away, to get out! No food, no supplies, no nothing, just get away and don't return!

She runs and run, every turn seems like the eyes of her stepmother watching her, every branch that snags her feels like claws trying to drag her back to her stepmother. All she can hear is the blood rushing in her ears.

Snow White has no clue where she's going! She has no idea! She's never been outside of the castle before! Every which way she turns is unfamiliar and looming and dark. As she stumbles back, she feels the ground beneath her give way and she tumbles.

Finally, a voice cuts through:]

Oh dear! Faramund, what are you showing people?

Comments

[survivalthroughhate]

I hope she did not hurt him badly.

[Though knowing what he already did of Snow White's stepmother, he fears the Huntsman's act of mercy may have ended up costing him his life when she found out. He cocks his head in curiosity at Snow's usual optimistic attitude.]

Why don't you think it is alright to complain?

[Maul complains all the time, not that it's made him one iota happier.]

[onebadapple]

I... don't know, I'm afraid. I hope one day I can repay him for his kindness.

Well, what does complaining get done? It isn't going to make the blood go away or flowers suddenly grow. No, there's simply no time to complain if I have things to get done!

[survivalthroughhate]

Perhaps you will. I hope you do.

[Stranger things have happened in this city so he'll never say never to a hope like that.]

That is an......interesting way of looking at things.

[As often happens when he speaks with Snow, Maul starts thinking of things in a different way he never would have thought of before.]

[onebadapple]

Thank you, Maul! You're always so sweet to me! [She giggles but her tone and words are sincere.]

Well, how else would I look at things? I've never heard of complaining getting anything done.

[survivalthroughhate]

[He smiles just a little when Snow calls him sweet. Honestly, she's one of only a handful of people who would ever refer to him as 'sweet' and it amuses him.]

You do speak some truth there. Not that I ever thought of it that way before.

[Maul complains all the time. Bitching and moaning as Reaper would probably refer to it as.]

[onebadapple]

How do you usually think about it then, Maul? [She goes about making herself some tea, her animal friends helping with every step of the process.]

[survivalthroughhate]

[He thinks on that for a long moment. Just what does get out of complaining all the time? For once, he does in fact have an answer that isn't just sarcastic or selfish.]

For me, complaining is a way to express my emotions when there are situations I am in that I cannot control as so often happens here. That, at least, is an outlet I can control.

[onebadapple]

Well, it is very important to express your emotions. I show mine through singing! I'm very glad it gives you a sense of control as well. But I also hope you don't just stop there. Like when I say a house is dirty, I have the utmost control in cleaning it from top to bottom.

I'm so sorry that you feel like you have so little control here, though. Perhaps rather than focusing on the big grand things you can't control, you could focus on the little things you can! That's what I do! I will never be able to control a storm rolling in or the tides coming and going, I will never be able to stop bad things and good things from happening all over, but I can control how I respond to it, I control how much good and bad I do!

[survivalthroughhate]

That is indeed a very different way of looking at things than I have been warranted to do so in the past.

[Mainly because Maul clings to the Dark Side as a form of control. He thinks if he can gain just enough power then he can control any of the outcomes that come from the situations thrown his way. It's a fiction that was fed to him his whole life by Sidious and one of the things he still has yet to shake from his master's brainwashing.]

I suppose.....the idea of looking on the good and bad I can do isn't something I often think about. I've always been so concerned with just looking out for myself and what I want so often that I fail to see what consequences my own actions have.

[onebadapple]

Well, just because you didn't before doesn't mean you can't start now! Everyday is a new day and everyday is filled with new choices and whether or not we put sunshine in the world or only see rain clouds as terrible things and not what comes before rainbows!

I can't control that I was exiled and I can't control that I was poisoned and the poison apple followed me here. But I can control putting it safely away so no one else shall fall under its spell and I can control making the best out of this place! If it weren't for my exile, I would have never made my first non-animal friends, the dwarfs! And if I never came here, I would have missed out on so many experiences I've gained.

Here, we can practice together right now, if you like! Is there something upsetting you, Maul?

[survivalthroughhate]

[If it were anyone but Snow asking, Maul would have snarled at them to mind their own business. But he rarely gets this far into a conversation of how he can do better at all. Since he's already this far into it and he knows Snow White has no guile in her whatsoever, Maul is well-aware he can trust her with whatever vulnerable information he gives out.]

.......My memories being broadcast on the network.

[He felt a whole spectrum of emotions about that, everything from anger at two very intense moments of his life being able to be viewed by anyone all the way to grief over Savage's death that he's never fully been able to express before.]

[onebadapple]

Oh, yes, I do understand how that feels. [Considering they're literally discussing this after hers did. She thinks for a moment and then closes her eyes, tilting her head.]

Still, we cannot change the past, it has happened, after all. Whether or not someone knows doesn't change that we lived it. And we can't help how people might react to it, only how we let it shape us, and even then our memories and pasts are just a part of us. Our past is only a part of the beautiful story we get to live. In my story, I wish to be kind and I wish for no one to know the same sort of pain I knew, and so, I choose to be. In that way, I get much more say in my present and future, since I had no say in my growing up.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul listens and as often happens when Snow gives him advice, he now has something to think about in a way he didn't have the chance to before. His words come slowly as he parses out what he can take away from what his young friend is telling him.]

So.....a way to take control is to make decisions to make your present and future better than what came before?

[onebadapple]

Oh, absolutely. I do understand what it means to not have any say in things that happen to you. But we have all the say in the world on how we respond to things now and what we choose to do at this moment and the next, and wouldn't you want a better life than the one you had?

[survivalthroughhate]

You are right in thinking that. I do want a better life than what came before. And despite the grim nature of this place, it's far better than what came before for me.

[onebadapple]

There see! Happy thoughts and a happy attitude! That's something that will help see you through. My stepmother would never wish me happy, well, to be fair, she'd wish me dead. But I keep trying to live my best life instead! And by doing just that, I think it's plain to see, I've managed to get along quite nicely, though I wouldn't say with ease.

[survivalthroughhate]

I've never been one much to try and have happy thoughts. But......there is a lot of merit as to what you say.

[Why should he remain unhappy when it is just as easy to change his attitude and have a chance to be much happier?]

[onebadapple]

Well what harm could it bring, except happy thoughts? [She giggled.]

[survivalthroughhate]

You always make things seem so simple.

[Not that it's a bad thing. It's nice for Maul to just hear things put so plainly. It gives him no room to dismiss them as not worthy for him to think about.]

[onebadapple]

While it's true there are some things in the world that are incredibly complicated, our own actions and choices are always rather simple in the end. There may be an endless amount of "what-ifs" from our choices and actions, or inactions, but in the end, it comes down to doing something or not doing something, trying something or not trying something, being kind or unkind, and so much more along those lines! The situation may be complicated, but our responses to everything are usually not.

While we might try and explain our reasons for something, at the end of the day, it all really is an is or isn't, do or don't!

[survivalthroughhate]

Yes. It is our actions that cause consequences made by those choices and only we are responsible for them.

[Look at that. He's finally starting to get it!]

[onebadapple]

That's very wise of you to say, and very true! Which is why I do everything I can to treat everyone and everything with kindness.

[survivalthroughhate]

You are also very wise and very much so for one so young.

[Some of the fierce expression Maul usually wears leaves his face.]

Thank you for talking this through with me, Snow. So many people here don't have the patience to do that.

[Usually they start judging Maul for what he's done, causing him to dig in his heels and refusing to listen to anything else they might have to say.]

[onebadapple]

Oh, I'm glad to be of help. I'm very good at listening. It's how I learned to listen to my animal friends. [Well, that and innate magic but shhh.]

Everyone has different strengths and skills, listening can be a very difficult one. So we just have to be understanding.