SAVAGE ♪ ♪ ♪

"You didn't fail me. You were a good apprentice and an even better brother. I have regretted ever since you died that I never told you that."

"Don't, brother. We all have regrets, but serving you was never one of mine."

The person that means the most to me in this insane world and the last member of my family that is still within reach to me. Deerington brought him back to me after I thought I'd lost him forever and I've made sure not to waste the second chance we've both been given, especially now ending up in the reality here after the dream ended. I know many here think I am using him, that he is merely a dumb brute blindly following my every order that I take advantage of, but our relationship is much more complicated than that. He is the first person I ever learned to love again after I thought myself incapable of doing for so long. I trust him implicitly and know he feels the same way about me. I will do whatever it takes in order to ensure he finds lasting happiness here. Perhaps I should find him a mate so he won't be lonely....

Savage remains a constant with me throughout everything this place will throw at us. I continue to try and train him in the ways of the Sith. His lightsaber skills have much improved though he remains hopeless at meditation. After having the memory of his death being broadcast, I was able to start to mourn his loss for the first time in a way I'd never thought I'd be able to, especially since he was returned to me. That has started to heal an old injury for me. He was recently killed by Willow and I am almost more angry he had a friend betray him by doing such a thing than the death itself, especially after he'd just started to really make an attempt to make them here. No, scratch that, the death still remains the worst part. I failed him again but never again. I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe and to help him find happiness here.

OBI-WAN KENOBI ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

"Obi-Wan has been a constant presence for over half my life. Even when I had nothing else, the thought of him is what kept me alive. I wouldn't rest until I saw him again." The line between hate and love is a thin one with Maul.

"You are not my shadow anymore." But he may still be Maul's.

Things have been complicated with Obi-Wan but since when has it ever been anything but between us? After much thought and deliberation, I have had to face some hard truths about the way our lives have always been entangled with one another. I told him in Deerington of how my life ends by his hands and the conversation left both of us feeling shook I am sure. I thought long and hard about what my future dying revelation meant for me. Finally, I was able to admit for the first time to both him and myself that he was not the sole reason for the misery of my life. He has just always been the easier target, incapable as I am of defeating my master on my own. Where do we stand now with each other? I don't know. Nor do I know where we will go from here. But I do know the Force seems determined to have our lives always entwining into each other's and it seems that will continue on here in Trench.

Things, as usual, have remained complicated between us. I eventually confessed (against my own will I might add!) that I am in love with him. That went about as well as to be expected. He cannot return my feelings after all I have put him through, and while I may be in love with him, I don't want to be with him since I am thoroughly in love with Reaper and wish to spend the rest of my life with my husband. But somehow we have managed to form something like a friendship. I have been there for him as he has slowly lived through more years in the galaxy, first through the Purge and then ten years beyond that. He still remains as handsome as ever through it all. I have been able to ask him if he can continue to support me in my efforts to do better, and after all this time, he was able to say yes. That's quite the accomplishment for both of us.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER or THAT IDIOT APPRENTICE OF OBI-WAN'S ♪ ♪ ♪

"You are a whiny, selfish, petulant boy who thinks he's a man simply because someone handed him a lightsaber and praised him for being strong with the Force. The Jedi should be ashamed to call you one of their own. My own master would have killed me out of shame long ago if I were as pathetic and weak as you."

This is why I never understood why everyone has been so adamant that he's changed. He needs to be put down permanently. Kill him again and again no matter how many times it takes.

Still whiny. Still immature. Still having mental breakdowns in public. And still convinced the Dark Side can save the ones that he loves. Moron. I have no idea why the Jedi decided this was the boy destined to become the Chosen One but I have always had severe doubts about their ability to decide anything to begin with. He seems convinced I am unable to change and I am half-tempted sometimes to prove him right just so I would have the opportunity to kill him again. My ire rose up when he recently let a misunderstanding over who had killed the first Sleeper here become a full-blown case of mistaken identity where I was blamed instead of him. And then the whole population seemed to turn out to criticize my methods of getting the Jedi to confess on the network. I just can't win with these people.

The turning point for us came when I forced a bond between enemies on him so that I could access his power. That backfired spectacularly given how many people actually still like Skywalker. (This is a phenomena which needs to be studied for science.) I let it be broken as a way of atonement once it was made clear to me what I'd actually done, though I still don't feel all that badly it was done to him particular. He wants nothing to do with me any longer. After FINALLY giving him an overdue apology, during which he acted like his usual whiny self, I haven't spoken to him and don't plan to do so at any point in the future.

LUKE SKYWALKER ♪ ♪

"Your father. He's Anakin Skywalker, yes?" Maul stares hard at Luke. Maybe it's just because all humans tend to look alike to him but still... "You look just like him."

Luke couldn't help but quietly marvel at the Dark that Maul summoned in his mind, part of him wanting to reach out and touch it. He'd never seen it just... there before. Usually it was overwhelming and oppressive, trying to swallow him whole and leave him lost. Like this, it was almost... tame, nestled almost comfortably in his mind and not at all intrusive.

Anakin's son from some far-flung time in the future, long after I am dead I am quite sure. Though he doesn't know it, this is the second time I have met him, thanks to the usual kind of trickery this place can pull. Despite his resemblance to his father, he has very little of his personality, thank the Force. Instead, he is kind and compassionate, frankly reminding me more of Obi-Wan in terms of how a Jedi should be. He's worth ten of Anakin, that much is clear.

After spending a year here together, he and I have grown quite close. I consider him to be like family, for he has stayed firmly by my side and consistently seen the good in me no matter what I have done. That is his great gift and it has helped to make him the finest Jedi I have ever known. (Yes, I play favorites, but why not?) After redeeming his father, I must seem like a far easier project. I have taught him much by becoming his teacher, things that have been lost over the years through the dwindling of the Jedi and Sith, and he has also taught me much by being my student.

EZRA BRIDGER ♪

"Ezra Bridger..." Maul murmurs after the name is given out to him. It sounds somewhat familiar, but only in the same way one might have heard it in a dream before. He feels like the Force is nudging him towards this boy, though what the connection is between them, Maul has no idea. He supposes the Force has a plan he just can't see yet, the way it often guides Maul's life.

"I thought about, um, telling him some things from my version of the future. And I would, if I thought it would get him to actually listen and think things through..."

A boy from my own galaxy that seems to be from around the same time period Luke is. He is.....interesting and the Force seems to keep drawing me to him. I suspect my future might have been intertwined with his at one point if not recently but he hasn't been one much for talking of such a thing. I shall have to keep an eye on him. He might prove most useful if the need arises.

When some memories of my future came to me, I finally remembered what part the young Jedi has to play in what is to come. He remains (rightfully) suspicious of me but he needn't worry about any manipulation on my part. Contrary to popular belief, I DO occasionally learn from my past mistakes. While he remains wary of me, we've come to something of an understanding, and primarily Ezra has lately been teaching me the......shall we call them social lessons I missed out on thanks to a childhood of being raised by Sidious. He has extraordinary patience for someone who by all means should want nothing to do with me.

DARTH IMPERIUS ♪

Maul's eyes light up with friendly excitement when he hears Talwyn speak up. There's something so relieving in having someone else know exactly what he's talking about. He cares about his friends from the various versions of Earth deeply but sometimes their point-of-view feels so very....small. "Yes. Sometimes it seems like the farther one goes from the center of the galaxy, the stranger the planets become."

"Why am I not surprised? The Sith of your time sound just as cutthroat as the Sith of my time."

A Sith Lord of a species I have never encountered before from a time long ago, so far back it is beyond any recorded history of the Sith that I have ever been able to find. Talking with him always makes me acutely aware how foolish the Rule of Two was, for so much knowledge and sources of power have been lost from his time to mine. It is refreshing to have another Sith in the city, though I still won't be surprised if he eventually ends up betraying me in some fashion.

ANAKIN SOLO ♪

Maul blinked at hearing Anakin's name and wasn't quite able to disguise the snort of amusement that bubbled up, his lips twitching into a smirk. Really? Luke's sibling had named their child after his dumpster fire of a grandfather? So he said the first thing that popped into his mind. "...........My condolences. Did your parents hate you?"

He understands that Maul doesn't feel bad about what he did to Anakin Skywalker. But regretting acting like his master is enough to help Anakin let go of his anger. "You know I don't actually hate you, right?"

Another member of this tangled family tree, Anakin's grandson and Luke's nephew from that sibling he still hasn't told me much about. Despite being here for some time, I'm still not entirely sure what to make of him. He's not much like his namesake grandfather, thank the Force, but I still can't get a good read on his personality or motivations. Sometimes, he seems to be better equipped to deal with a Sith than the Jedi of my era and sometimes he seems to struggle more with such a concept. I suppose time will tell on what becomes clearer when he's in my scope of vision.

JAINA SOLO ♪

Maul seems just a touch surprised when he's approached by the young Jedi. But even moreso upon hearing the person she was asking after. "You're kin to one of those nuisances in this town? Which one?" That says pretty much all that one needs to know about the opinion Maul holds of both the elder and younger Anakins.

Perhaps the more important question here is how many people from this singular family are going to be drawn into this city. Maul is going to sit down and write down all of them when he gets the chance just so he can keep them all straight.

"That's a natural consequence of using the Force to get what you want. When people get in your way, you have to remove them and by force if necessary."

"That's not what we're supposed to use the Force for. We're supposed to use it to help people."

Another Jedi from far-flung in the future. She's Anakin's sister. We have not interacted much but there is good in her, that much I can already tell. The Jedi of the future tend to make me less cynical from those of my time. Apparently, Luke did well to rebuild the Order the way he did.

KYLO REN ♪

"How wonderful for you, becoming the leader of a bunch of rabble. What do you want for that accomplishment? Applause?" Kylo doesn't seem like a young man but he's got the temper of a teenager. Maul can't help but want to poke the reek a bit and see how far he can rile the Knight of Ren up.

Kylo listens, his reaction settled for the time being. "That might be the first thing that you've said that I agree with. My first teacher tried to rebuild the Jedi, but he wanted to keep everything the same as it had been, seemed to believe that it would all turn out differently." Luke hadn't been prepared, for his own nephew. He'd been so afraid of the darkness. "All I strive to do is cast aside the old ways and create a new order for the galaxy. Only then can we bring about 'balance'." He's almost too surprised by this sudden turn in things to remember to be annoyed that Maul hadn't risen to his bait.

An arrogant upstart who is the leader of the Knights of Ren in his time. He's strong in the ways of the Force but he lacks the skills that would give him refinement. His temper might be the only one that is worse off than my own here in Trench, for it is easy to bring it to the forefront when I talk with him. Still, there is potential in him to learn if he can put aside some of the worst of his emotions. I can feel a duality in him, something that is filled with both light and dark. How strange.

REY ♪

When the girl appears, Maul plans on answering, but the jolt he feels through the Force is enough to make him go silent as he stares at her with unblinking golden eyes. She's Force-sensitive, he can sense that plainly enough, but there's more to it than that. She feels.....familiar, almost, as if the Force is nudging him towards her with a whisper of 'She's an important connection.' He waits for a moment to see if any clarity will come from that feeling but nothing concrete comes.

"A lot of people pass through Jakku. I've met Zabraks from Iridonia and I've never seen one that looked like you. But I know stories about Dathomir and the witches there." She'd always liked stories like that. Anything that was exotic and different, which was just about everything when you lived on Jakku.

A Jedi from the far future, as often arrives in this place, but this one is.....different. I can't quite put my finger on how but there's an odd sensation in the Force whenever I get near her. It as if the Force is trying to nudge me towards her for some reason or another. Within her there is darkness, unusual for a Jedi, and rather like the torment I can feel in that Knight of Ren as well.

MICHAEL ♪ ♪

Even before all that, though, I wasn't exactly a popular guy. I think people thought I was sort of a dork.

..........Michael, if you haven't realized that fact about yourself by now, I fear there is no hope for you whatsoever.

Michael is a demon, though one would hardly know it just looking at him. Though after talking with him for five minutes, one would definitely get the sense that he's anything but human. He's one of the many here who have helped me go down a better path. Having a completely different mindset than human beings or most sentient creatures for that matter means that he understands me when I don't always immediately have a sense of empathy or a conscience towards those that I have wronged. Despite attacking him when brainwashed, he hasn't held it against me, instead still seeing me as a friend.

REAPER (GABRIEL) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

There's a slightly softer look on his face than Maul is warranted to have with just about anyone else in Deerington. Much as he hates to admit it, something in him needs this strange, growling old murderous man who had somehow wormed his way into whatever remained of Maul's hearts. He didn't like to think about it too much, afraid as he always was that if he cared for someone, they would eventually be taken away from him.

"Because it reveals a part of who you are that otherwise would remain hidden," he said, reaching out with blackened dead-looking fingers, seeking to grasp Maul by the arm to ground him. "It's beautiful and raw." And because he decided he needed something to shock Maul with, he added, "like you are."

Where do I begin with Reaper? Well, for starters, I never thought that I would ever be in a healthy relationship with anyone for over a year now. We grew extremely close over the time we spent in Deerington together and I trust him the way I do with few other Sleepers. He understands me and always encourages me to be true to myself, no matter how that means others will perceive me. I had resigned myself to the fact he was going to go back to his own world and complete his revenge after the town collapsed, leaving me to follow my own path. It was a shock when he told me he loved me, a sentiment I could not reply with...

....Only for us both to end up here in Trench. I'm ready to pick up immediately where we left off in the most solid and steady romantic relationship I've ever had in my life. We'll watch each other's backs and take on everyone else if we have to. Perhaps I can even find the words to tell him that I've grown to love him too.

Much has happened since I last wrote about us. After he died, I was finally able to confess my love for him, a daunting prospect for someone like me. Things remained good with us until I realized I also loved Obi-Wan, something that caused a couple of horrible fights between us and ultimately led to us breaking up. But I still cared about him deeply, and when he went on a blood-crazed rampage, I knew I had to stop him. I was successful, partially because of showing how much I still loved him, and we got back together. Recently, there was a month where we weren't quite in our right minds, and thought that getting married sounded like a good idea to solidify how much we meant to one another. We did so and also formed a lovers' blood bond between us. When the haze lifted from our minds, we decided it had still been the right decision for us. So now I find myself married and possessing a husband. This might be the oddest turn of events that has ever happened to me here in this place. But I don't regret it one bit. I wish to spend the rest of my life with him, I know that now.

NEOPOLITAN "NEO" ♪

See, this is why Maul and Neo get along. She gets him and the way his mind works.

Being brutally honest, most people want easy answers. You're an "easy answer" when they are looking for a violent person who might have done aa thing. So am I, though, but they forget that because I'm cute and short.

Neopolitan, who bears an uncanny resemblance to ice cream by the same name, is another good friend of mine. Completely silent, she has never spoken a word to me but often makes herself known. She's a good fighter and has no qualms about killing someone to get the job done. On a more personal note, she also knows all about becoming obsessed with the idea of revenge when it comes someone who has personally wronged her, given her history with Ruby. Previously, I didn't understand when she told me how detrimental such actions could be to the person seeking revenge. Now, I think I do.

Usagi Tsukino ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

It is not an easy path, no. But you are not alone. Even if you take a wrong step, and slip, I will hold onto you. Even if you misplace your hand, mine will be right there for you to hold onto. And there are others who would do the same for you. You are never going to be alone in this, Maul. We cannot walk your path for you. But we can help along the way when you stumble. [...] "You mean a lot to me. I love you very much."

There's a long pause and he almost doesn't answer back. When he does, it's mumbled and the words all seem to run together in a single long breath. But says it he does. "Iloveyoutoo." He's got too many people in this damn town that are making him go soft and Usagi is at the top of that list.

One of my dearest friends in this place, a phrase I would have never even been able to say a year and a half ago. She is beautiful, kind, compassionate, powerful, and loyal, always believing in the best in me even when I don't believe in myself anymore. Usagi has been my strongest advocate in thinking that I can become a better person. Being full of light, the gentle kind that comes from the moon instead of the harshness of the sun, she has shown me I don't need to fear the light but can instead turn to it for comfort and strength. She assured me that despite the change we would undergo in coming to this place, we would find each other again. As usual, she was right.

She continues to support me through everything I have gone here. No matter how often I falter or make mistakes, she is always there to nudge me back onto the correct path. Granted, it is not always done softly or gently because light can be just as firm as the darkness in helping someone, but that is something I often need as well. She has been right about me the entire time, especially thinking that I could do good instead of just being evil. I try not to take advantage of her good nature and show her the same sort of support that she does to me on the rare occasion she needs it. Despite being so strong, there are still moments where she needs to have time to weep and still be vulnerable herself. During those moments, I will be a rock for her and shelter her from the turmoil she experiences.

VIRA-LORR ♪

"You did well, Maul. Not simply today, but in general. You've done well here. For all the difficult points, it's been good to fight beside you." Somehow? She felt like that needed to be said.

Maul straightened up tall when Vira-Lorr complimented on all he'd done here in Deerington. Despite what everyone else thought, he had tried in his own way to do better, to not simply be the monster that went around scaring people and killing them all the time. He usually doesn't believe that he's succeeded at all, so to hear that he's done well from someone he respects is something his younger self used to dream about. He gave her a deep bow. "You have been a good ally to fight with....and a good friend."

One of those who had been in Deerington practically since the first group of Sleepers arrived in Deerington, she often took a proactive role in the town, being the leader of F.E.A.R. and also often providing information those who had just arrived might otherwise not know of. She also had the misfortune and dubious honor to die the most times out of any Sleeper. Often full of good advice for me that I don't always take, given her wisdom out of the amount of years that she has lived, it appears she's taking Trench as a well-deserved opportunity to pull back from all the hard work she's done over the years.

She's done a good job of balancing out not taking as active a role as she did in Deerington while also being able to learn much about this place as she survives it. Indeed, Vira-Lorr is probably one of those that is the least-fazed by what the Pthumerians continuously put us through. I suppose it is hard to top having one's head cut off and then having it remain as such for months on end. Strange to think that we are now some of among those who have been here the longest and can still remember Deerington as well.

ARIADNE "AIRY" ♪ ♪

Her bewilderment is so genuine that he knows it's no act to try and throw him off to the fact she's a clone or some body double. No, she truly has never been in space before, moving among the stars in a ship. It makes him relax just a little. He needs nothing from the past haunting him here.

Ariadne pulled her hand back. But not quickly, and she didn't allow herself to flinch. If Maul was going to behave like an animal, she knew how to deal with animals. She'd grown up in a rain forest. And the last thing you ever did with a wild animal, especially a wounded one, was show fear. Deference. Vulnerability.

So she growled right back at him.

A woman who looks so shockingly like Senator Amidala from Naboo that even I mistook her at first, assuming she either had to be the former queen or one of her lookalike bodyguards. As it turns out, she is from a completely different universe, one where they have yet to even travel to the stars. Still, despite coming from a primitive place, she has a great measure of kindness within her. She seems just know how to handle me when I am in one of my more furious moods.

I can now say with certainty that we have become friends. She has her small quirks regarding her plants, something I enjoy, much as I also do the things that mark her as being something other than human. It's an odd position to be in for the two of us have almost nothing in common, Ariadne with her love of plants and kindness while I am full of nothing but rage and old pain. But still she seems to care for me a great deal and is one of those here to mention to me I indeed possess a pair of hearts even if others don't always believe that.

WILLOW ♪ ♪

"You, on the other hand, have now gained my interest." His eyes glint in a malicious manner, all full of anger, hate, and rage. "What an unfortunate state for you to be in." Willow had deliberately put herself in his sights and she was going to end up paying the price. Maybe not right this moment, but soon enough, Maul would come for her, oh yes.

"He sounds, um. Pretty unpredictable in some ways, and really predictable in others, and I'm not really sure which is worse, honestly."

One of the three witches that cursed me. While I was ambivalent to her presence at first, the fact she sought to chastise me and try to block my attempts to do harm angered me enough to tear down her home while in a fit of rage when she was dead and I couldn't take out my anger on her personally. She managed to talk me into a truce for the remaining period of time I was in Deerington, but now that it is over because we are here in Trench, I shall have to see if I feel like making her life far more miserable than it has been.

I eventually ended up killing her, though I was not in my right mind when I did so. We regarded each other with a wariness after that. I knew such a thing might have consequences but I never imagined the cost that I would be forced to pay. She killed my brother! For that, I will never forgive her, not ever. She could die twenty times over by my hand and I still will hold my anger towards her close my hearts. But I will not go after her again, not if the price I must pay will be Savage. Besides, it was not entirely her fault. For that, I look towards the one behind everything: the Emperor. As I have learned, sometimes you don't always blame the person who does something to you. You look for the one who is actually behind everything and take your revenge upon them instead.

WESKER ♪ ♪

Maul nods slowly along to what everything Wesker was saying in a very approving manner. People like this were the reason Maul knows he has to keep the allies and friends he already has. It might be a new start for him here but he's sure there are those that won't be so quick to forget or forgive. He'll need people to be in his corner when he inevitably messes up or gets used as a handy scapegoat by the residents here.

He motions for one of the Wakers to come over. They have a robe ready for Wesker. Maul steps back to allow him to take it, kneeling in the sand again, making the words a little smaller. 'I'll watch your back if you watch mine.'

"I owed - owe you that much and more, for the good turn you rendered me in a life-threatening situation and for what we saw and experienced. The town, or rather the powers in it made sport of us, but you deserved a fair hearing from those who were quick to judge and slow to consider all angles," he says. Dryly, he adds, "And I suspect this place will present more of the same. Though perhaps the ones quick to judge will learn not to fear dirtying their hands in order to survive."

A strange man who is well-acquainted with the Darkness that is within myself and many others here. He has a mistrust of too much organization, though whether this just extends to government or everything in general is something I still need to ask him. I saved his life a few times in Deerington and by now we have enough trust in one another to consider ourselves allies. With how the Sleepers like to shun those who don't fit their little boxes of what a perfect "good person" should be, we definitely need each other to stand against the rest.

The two of us have grown much closer in our time here together, surviving many perilous situations. Alas, I encountered him after the blood-crazed zealots had gotten ahold of him. There was no hope for his survival and so I mercy-killed him, one of the few times killing someone hasn't felt good to me, something my friends have told me is a good step to be taking on my journey. After some discussion late on, we formed a blood bond of family as brothers. I will stand by his side now no matter what happens or what he might end up doing.

LANCE ♪

It's probably in Lance's best chances of survival just to nod his head and agree with the clearly homicidal lunatic no matter what he says. [...] Luckily for Lance, he does have enough sense built up from his time in Deerington and dangerous situations even before that to do exactly that. He nods, even placing his hand to his chin in the pose of a thoughtful listener.

"Not gonna lie, of all the answers I expected, that was not even on the runner up list." Who would guess that Darth Maul was so self aware and so open about his own self loathing?

Another one of the many idiots that resided in Deerington, I met him when I wasn't quite myself. (But what else about that town was new?) He managed to survive the first encounter with me intact which says something about his self-preservation skills. He ended up being the last person I killed in town, snapping his neck to give him a mercy kill rather than be eaten by cannibals. I could have intervened, of course, but why bother when all anyone ever does is yell at me when I try to take initiative?

He recently killed Reaper, an unforgivable act which led me to try and get revenge. It went about as well as all attempts I have ever made at getting revenge have got, though not for lack of trying. We fought for three days until I finally had to concede I wouldn't be able to kill, our power sets too evenly matched. But I will not forget or forgive him for killing someone I love so dearly.

And yet somehow our strange relationship has continued to morph and change in the time we have been here together. While my rage towards him remains steady, that is not all I feel towards him anymore. We're not quite friends but not quite enemies any longer. I find myself able to tolerate his presence more often than not unless he is doing something extremely foolish. Unfortunately, foolish behavior from him seems to be a consistent trait. He is also a perfect target for the past-time of trolling, something that I take delight in often doing to him.

RUBY ROSE ♪

What sort of weird little hobo is this girl? The food here didn't cost anything and yet she still felt the need to scavenge like a hungry Jawa? He was ready to just shoo her out the door with a broom until she mentions his lightsaber.

He blinks in confusion. Most people who see him on the verge of igniting his lightsaber tend to not want to see it. Yet this girl seems excited by the prospect. It's a little intriguing if only for being a change of pace.

Gosh darnit, this sounds so much like Maul. THEY JUST GOT HERE, MAUL.

A young warrior who has overcome a lot of hardship in her life. Despite all this, she still has an amazingly optimistic personality, though sometimes I think she's smiling through the pain much as Obi-Wan does. She is one of those who keeps insisting there is good in me and has been doing so since the moment she met me. She's got an amazing and uncanny sense of both weaponry, which she can both wield and create. She also has very good personal style because one cannot ever go wrong with a red-and-black color scheme. I am fortunate to have a friend like her on my side.

It has been interesting to watch her grow and change during the time she has been here, going from a small, crazy, loud, and impulsive teenager into a beautiful young lady who is still crazy, loud, and impulsive. She is another who has managed to still believe in me despite the many times I have backslid and it has been gratifying to show her that faith was not misplaced as I have finally begun to do better. The one sticking point is her significant other Ange. I don't know what she sees in her. But then nobody's perfect.

PAIMON (AND HIS HOST PETER) ♪

"You seek control, whatever it is you are, and someone to guide you. There are precious few here who will know how to do that. But I can offer it." Like the devil out of a Faustian legend, Maul was here tempting Paimon with what he thought he wanted. Of course, in those legends, it usually was a devil tempting a mortal, not another demon, but the same principle still applied. Maul saw a vulnerable soul he connect with and manipulate. Power is what he saw and power is what he sensed in this creature.

...Then there's the other thing within him who knows exactly where he's at, because he's the one who intentionally came here. This is the Magical Place, and he sees the man beside him as... something belonging here. A creature of the forest, perhaps, and something deserving a deep respect. Paimon isn't afraid of him, but intrigued, and that sensation only grows when he feels that pressure reaching out to him. He's highly sensitive to energy, and though it's only a vague form of it, it's enough to get his attention.

His own energy blossoms a bit, opens up and reaches back out to meet that inky black greeting his mind. It's meant to be tentative, cautious, but it's impossible for Paimon to keep contained; there's suddenly a flash of it leaking out to the man — the demon's presence buzzing like insect wings and bright white-gold and too many sounds. A cacophonous flood, painful for most to witness — not a darkness, but a brightness. It only lasts for a few seconds before it shuts off abruptly, chittering nervously as though it's frightened itself.

One glance at him tells him which one is in control right now. But rather than do anything to terrify Peter, he just sort-of absentmindedly pats him on the head in a manner reminiscent of someone showing affection to a pet they haven't seen in a while. He's almost being nice, for whatever given value of nice Maul can even get. "Oh hello there, useless creature."

"It's not problem." That awkward moment when you mean to say 'no problem' and 'not a problem' and mess up your words. "—A." He quickly adds the missing word. Peter...... just stop talking.

A powerful demon who sees me as something of a mentor and elder demon, a fallacy I have yet to correct him on. Once lost like a scared little shaak, he's grown in both power and confidence since I first met him. I have tried to give him guidance on how to progress in his strength and he seems to have taken the lessons to heart. There has been one wrinkle to my plans I have had to adjust for and that is his teenage host Peter. While very much a useless creature, his nervous nature and desire to please around me out of sheer terror could have its uses if they are channeled in the proper direction. The two of them seem to be melting into one another more in this new town and it is a little hard to tell where one begins and the other stops. This could be beneficial if they can combine their minds, a feat that is no easy task for them to achieve.

Amazingly enough, while I continue to mentor the demon and his fragile host, it is Peter who I have learned the most about being here. No longer is he just the weak host body for a much stronger entity but he has worth in his own right. He is very empathetic, something I didn't quite understand before and saw as a weakness. But now I see the value in being able to understand others in such a way. His ability to be able to see me for myself and understand my emotions has become something I am quite interested in. He has been able to give me a new understanding of how my mind works, telling me it's alright to be angry all the time and not want to change that part of myself. I am grateful to him for that and finally understand his nervous nature comes from him going the opposite route to survive the abusive childhood he underwent. I shall continue to try and mentor he and Paimon together as best I can in return for the kindness he has shown me.

LUZ ♪

There's something about Luz that Maul can't fight against. Like Ben, she had the tendency to both cut through his bullshit and see the good inside of him even when Maul himself couldn't do that.

"Darth Maul. I'm not going to tell you how to live. In the end, I know I'm some kid from a world you don't know. But I've always thought you're more than just someone's weapon. I think all of us are more than what we think we are. Why else would we be here?"

A good and kind teenager, much more so than some of the mouthy little impudent ones around here. I've never felt the desire to Force Choke her the way I have with so many people here. She has the ability to see much within and cut through all the walls that I put up around me. I know I hurt her quite a bit when I killed Margot but she hasn't written me off as an irredeemable monster yet, so she must have given me a second chance. I intend not to waste it.

Of all those who have remained as they are instead of changing due to this place wearing them down, it is good to see Luz has remained very much static in personality. Despite the horrors she has gone through and continues to undergo, her kindness and sweet nature have remained the same. Recently, she has gotten a girlfriend, the bookseller Lexi. It is heartening to see her have some happiness even in such a place as this.

LUNA ♪

Despite his distaste for Luna that borders on outright hatred, Maul can't help but chuckle at Paimon's assurance that Luna must be kept safe. "Oh, I don't think that one is in any danger from anyone soon." After all, she'd gone up against Maul several times now and won by a clear margin against the Sith Lord every time.

"You said yourself you'd destroy anyone who gets in your path. So here I am, in your path." And she does not destroy easy. She might have cursed him with the help of others, but he's not seen her magic on its own.

A powerful young witch I am in a feud with. She was one of the three that cursed me, and frankly, she has far more for me to be wary of in terms of power than the other two have. She is extremely protective of the demon Paimon and by extension Peter, which means I shall have to watch myself around the two of them, since everything will get back to her eventually. Her one large mistake is that she sees me as little more than some sort of dumb animal and that shall be to her downfall one of these days.

OSCAR ♪

The fact Oscar returns the gaze gives him some points in Maul's mind. He's tougher than he looks and what he looks like to Maul is just slightly above a creampuff on the toughness scale.

".......Do you believe me?" There is a very piercing way he asks the question and then looks at Oscar with those unblinking eyes, like all he cares about in that moment is this specific answer.

"I do." Spoken without hesitation. Oscar met that unblinking gaze without flinching, understanding exactly how important this was. "We don't know each other well... But you've been nothing if not completely honest. A person with your skill has no reason to bluff or lie."

A strange boy but in a good way even if he has all the threatening nature of a powder puff. Very wise for one so young, a talent that seems to be innate rather than anything learned. Despite possessing Glitch as a friend, which shows there's no accounting for taste with some people, he's got a kind streak in him. He seems have befriended me somehow and doesn't have much judgment for that things that I have done. For this, I am grateful to him if also confused as to how he can do this when so many others can't.

MANABU ♪

"Fair? Since when is life fair? If you are still under that delusion, I am afraid you are going to be sorely disappointed."

"Wuh--" Indignant: "I, I know that! Everyone knows that! But it's not like making things worse for others makes anything better...! Fairness is something you cultivate, not something that just is...!"

An idealistic sort who has done me a good turn a time or two, such as providing my brother and I with food or aide when this place puts us through all sorts of trials. I do think he is too naïve in the way of how the world actually works but that is a lesson he shall have to learn eventually living in this place. Though given it has been a full year and it has yet to sink in, perhaps it never will.

VYNG ♪

He feels connected to all things and is beginning to think Vyng really knows what he's talking about. "You know, you're one of the only people here who know how to meditate properly." Then Vyng goes and asks.....that. Maul growls without opening his eyes. "I take it back. You're a fruitcake."

"'The Force'? You mean, like...spiritual energy?"

Maul looks surprised, a marked departure from his usual stoic expression. Most people don't hit the nail right on the head when he starts talking about the Force. "Well, yes. That's exactly what it is."

A magic user who I am still becoming acquainted with. Despite both of us having survived Deerington and now being here in Trench, I do not speak to him often. But even acting the part of a fool some of the time, he is far smarter and more perceptive than he lets on. He was the first and still one of those that have a better understanding of the Force while not being Force-sensitive themselves. While I get the sense he does not approve of the path of the Sith I have taken, he has not also outright condemned me for it the way so many here have.

The two of us have continued to learn about one another. Vyng is one of the few here that can feel the crystals of my saberstaff in a way that means he can feel the pain and agony they are in as they bleed. I know he would prefer I purify them but I am just not ready to take that step. It is gratifying to have someone understand both the Force and magick, someone I'm not constantly having to explain it all to and who instead already has an innate understanding of what I mean. I feel as we grow closer he might be able to help me find the balance I've so long denied myself, the kind I often feel when surrounded by nature.

KATHERINE ♪

"Just because you were made to be a weapon doesn't mean you're not allowed to have feelings."

JSYK!!

If he was made to be a killer and nothing more, then his master did a very poor job when he chose to allow him to have feelings and his own thoughts. But Katherine understands it, in a way. She had to make herself a weapon in order to survive five hundred years. It doesn't mean that's the only way to live...and by how maul sounds, maybe he's growing out of his weapon-shaped box.

"Tell that to my master. He just had me kill over and over again until I was as unfeeling as the saberstaff that I wielded. It gets easier the longer you do it and I did it far too much from the time I was a young teenager." He feels Katherine will understand that last part quite well. She seems like a survivor from what Maul has seen, someone who will do whatever it takes to stay alive. Perhaps she could have ended up staying alive if someone cut her in half as well.

A strange and mysterious woman who is far older than she actually looks. I think she shall go into the category of "somewhat human" where I have also put Reaper and Wesker in my mind, given her apparent form of immortality and possible other things she may be able to do. I'm not sure of her intentions with me but I see certain similarities between us the few times we have talked.

RITSUKA ♪

"Unfortunately, this place has decided to be cruel to both of us." Maul squinted at the catboy's form. "Unless you are only an illusion as I suspect you might be." It wouldn't be beyond this place to bring him a figure from the past in order to torment him.

"I'm not an illusion," he hissed, his ears pressed back against his head. He didn't trust Maul not to suddenly grab him by the throat and start choking... again.

"And I wouldn't waste the mental energy to hallucinate about you, so we're both clearly real and, unfortunately, alive." He moved to stand up, wobbling on newly remade legs. He was so skinny, too skinny, honestly. Every ounce of him was thin.

Ah, my young nemesis from Deerington has made a reappearance in this town at last. I had begun to think I'd seen the last of him but apparently not. I felt him the moment the bond between us crackled back to life. Having him here shall test my self-control greatly, for that desire for power still is quite strong inside of me, and I know he can provide it for me. But I have also changed since we last saw one another and so I know that is not all I can look at him and see any longer. I remember what I learned about his past in Deerington and he's not just a tool any longer. I suppose my relationship with the catboy boils down to still clinging to who I was versus trying to stay on the path of who I've started to become.

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

SNOW WHITE ♪

Mostly, though, he was still trying to process Snow's entire being. He'd never met anyone quite like her, not even with all the cheery, sunshiney types he'd met over the course of his time in the dream town and now the real world. Someone who was just so effortlessly effervescent and who could charm the animals around her. She looked like maybe the twittery little birds all perched nearby had helped her to get ready that morning. Right now, he wasn't considering anything to be too far-fetched.

"But hopefully, now, you can be allowed to be happier! That's what I truly believe. After all, if they are not here, then in a way, by making sure I'm happy and going on with my life, I'm doing what they would like least!" she smiled. "Not that I wish to be so unkind to my stepmother. I think she has a deep sadness in her, which is why she acts the way she does. No one is born cruel, after all."

A very beautiful soul both inside and out, she can charm even the most ferocious creatures in this place and apparently communicate with them as well as easily as she talks to the people in this city. Despite surviving a horrific childhood with a stepmother that makes what my master did look like good parenting, she has kept her optimism and kindness alive. It has given me much to think about, that perhaps I won't always need to be defined by my trauma, and can grow past all that I have been through someday.

She and I remain good friends. With her inability to see the bad in anyone, it has given me good motivation to continue on my quest to become a better person, since she has utter faith that I can do so. Recently, she got into a relationship with Rose here, and I couldn't be more delighted. She deserves every bit of happiness she can find in this place. There is not much I can do in exchange for all the kindness she has shown me but I will protect her with my very life if need be.

ANOTHER IDIOT ♪

"I gave him a warning to stop his foolish actions but instead he wanted to fight. He'll be back soon enough. Maybe he will learn a lesson from this on insulting people simply because he is full of ignorant ideas on how people should act according to something as insignificant as gender."

"Wait- I've heard about you. You're the real horn dog, Maul, right? Dude the chick who told me about you gave you no credit at all. She made you sound like a total fairy that paints his nails and does other weird prissy shit. You look way more badass than that." Johnny was doing his best to balance complimenting Maul for looking like a badass and insult him for making fashion choices that weren't weren't to his liking and failing absolutely miserably.

Well, I had to break my streak of non-malicious deaths at some point. It might as well have been with this idiot. He has clearly learned nothing from being murdered. I wonder how many more times he will end up a squid by my hands before he finally learns the lesson of holding such ignorant ideass about women. A shame Ahsoka isn't here, I would love to see the Jedi put him in his place. At least there are still plenty of women in this town who can still happily beat him up.

I've discovered it. It's astounding. A person literally too stupid for me to continue to hate. But here he is. A true moron, so entrenched in his idiocy I can't continue to be mad at him for what he's done and continues to do. This is a first for me and it shall be interesting to see how he continues to learn (or not learn a thing as the case may be).

LUCA ♪

"I warned you I was a monster. You shouldn't be this surprised."

"I know what you said. I guess I just didn't know what you meant."

A young boy here who only looks human part of the time. He's actually a sea-monster, though that part of his appearance only comes out when he gets wet. I don't mind, it's nice to have more non-humans in the city. Despite being here for so long, he still has yet to lose that childlike innocence some of the younger residents here possess. I hope to protect him from that fate, though his association with Reaper and I may cause him to lose it all the same.

THE EMPEROR OF THE UNIVERSE (OR WHATEVER OTHER TITLE HE WANTS TO CALL HIMSELF) ♪

"I should have known you would have the title of Emperor." People with that title are just not to be trusted, that's just a big old NOPE in Maul's book. "If you're as powerful as you claim, frankly, I'm disappointed. Just another petty little man with delusions of grandeur who can't take it when he reaps what he sows."

"You sure you can't just relay a message that he was very scary and hurt me very much, and now we're good?" It'd be more convincing if he didn't say it in the tone you'd give a coffee order.

Out of all the people I hate most in this Force-forsaken city, he is at the top of the list. He claims to be a god but unfortunately only has the mentality of a mortal man, which meant when he severely messed with this place and hurt people his only reasoning was to then double down on everything he'd already done. Just another petty fool who thinks he can somehow outsmart the beings that are keeping us here. Thanks to him, my brother was killed, and for that I wanted him to hurt. I will admit his powers are formidable and I was far out of my league attempting my own revenge, so D and Reaper both took it for me. He can do what he wants....for now. But if anyone I love ends up hurt because of him again, I'll find a way to hurt him so badly he'll never want to come out of the sea again, even if it makes making a pact with one of the Pthumerians.

SHARON DA SILVA ♪ ♪

"I know most people would be horrified to hear you did such a thing, tell you that it was wrong and you should have 'risen above it' or some such nonsense. But I am not one of them. They hurt you, an innocent, very badly and so they suffered the consequences of their actions. People like that cannot keep letting their evil trample over the mind and body of a young child forever. Eventually, it will turn back on them tormentors and they will be forced to pay the price."

The quiet, dark part of her that she keeps under wraps had hoped to see a hint of fear in his eyes as she told her story. Instead, she got understanding. The only person she knew in the world to accept her as she was, horror and all, was Rose so Maul's reaction stuns her. He was right. Anyone who would have expected her to just be the bigger, better person after that weren't people she truly wanted to associate with—let alone help her with her powers. [...]

"If you'd reacted any other way to what I'd told you, I don't think I'd have wanted you to help me." He understands. He understands. He understands. She never knew how much that mattered until then. "I never really expected anyone to... to get it, you know? My mom's the only one who has ever understood, who has never judged me for any of it. Of course I'd like your help." As if there could be no doubt now.

Rose's daughter, a young lady of much anger, pain, and hurt. Her situation is complicated but it boils down to once again having monstrous adults abuse the children under their care instead of showing them compassion and love as they should have been doing all along. Much like Snow, she is one of the few here who I can say suffered far worse than me in their childhood. Fortunately, she at least got a second chance to have a better life in the form of her adoptive parents, though the mystical powers that allowed her to take revenge on her tormentors remained. I have been training her on how to use them better, for the two of us completely understand one another, including that need to hold onto anger close instead of letting it go. We understand each other quite well and I have learned much teaching her just as she has learned from me.

ROSE DAWSON ♪

Yes, I recommend on seizing the moment. With how uncertain this place is, you will regret it later on if you don't at least try when the opportunity presents itself.

"Yes. This place has become a second chance for me in so many ways. I don't intend to waste it."

The fangs don't bother her one bit. In fact, she's glad he felt comfortable enough to smile. "As it is for me. If I may? Perhaps we can look in on one another to make sure we're doing well here?"

A young lady of good manners and a very sweet temperament, I've been able to talk with her quite a bit and never end up getting angry with her, a feat unto itself where my temper is concerned. I recently learned that she is the person Snow White was courting and accepted her, so the two are now in a relationship together. I fully approve of this for both of them, I can't think of a more well-suited pair for one another here in Trench for one another save for Reaper and I. I shall do my best to protect both of them from any and all harm.

D ♪

Still, there was something about this strange young man that made Maul feel like he'd met someone a bit different than the standard Sleeper that usually arrived in this city. "Ah, so you are like me. Stranded in a place both much like home and not like it at all in other ways."

"If you gain enough power, you do have control."

"I've killed many vampires who thought as much, and seen many people chase vampirism thinking it would give them that. Perhaps we do, to some extent, but I doubt it's as much as people think."

A taciturn hunter of quite striking beauty (a beautiful predator to better attract prey, perhaps?) who never seems to be affected by too much that happens here. He's not human (I seem to gravitate towards those a lot, don't I?) which makes him a formidable foe and not one I would want to face anytime soon. I requested his help to gain revenge on the Emperor and he obliged. For that good turn, I will help at the outpost he is trying to create as long as he will have me there. Hopefully, I don't end up getting banished from by doing something foolish, though he seems to have quite the tolerance for me.

TORY ♪

This is very interesting for Maul, seeing some of Tory's background. She's told him a little but this gives him a lot more insight into what makes the girl tick, why she acts the way she does. "People always will try to knock you down in life. It's getting back up that is both the hardest and best thing you can do."

"My therapist said anger is sadness' bodyguard. And when you've had a hard life and you can't afford to show weakness, or even give yourself much time to deal with that sadness in private, anger helps you through that. Whoever said it's okay to have anger as your go-to emotion is right. It's fine to feel it. It's fine to express it. It's just keeping it in check and not having a disproportionate response that takes work."

A teenager who I have found much in common with. She's a fighter both mentally and physically, and has not led an easy life back in her own world, something that has made her quite tough. She also has had much trouble learning to control her anger. In return for lessons in furthering her combat training, she has been teaching me alternative methods on how to manage my anger, which has been more successful at certain times than others. Still, it is gratifying to have someone who can understand why I am so angry all the time and don't feel the need to change that anytime soon.

FAITH ♪

He scowled when he saw Faith. He didn't particularly like the woman and their relationship, as most in Trench were with Maul, was rather complicated. But he had tried to help her when she'd been corrupted. This was how she repaid him? Hmph, why did good people bother with this whole 'helping people' thing again?

"I'm not scared of him, Willow, and I'm not going to let people get pushed around by some angsty prick throwing a tantrum over his actions having consequences." Is she projecting? A little bit. Part of her feels like if she can put down someone just as bad if not worse than her, then maybe, just maybe, she could actually get to be the hero.

A warrior of quite some toughness from the same world Willow is from. Her self-loathing and lack of ability to think she can seek redemption are all too familiar to me but it doesn't make me feel much sympathy for her or seek to understand her all that much. If she wants to remain in the darkness and see herself as irredeemable scum, that's her business. Besides, it's hard to feel much but hatred for someone who killed me. She sided with Willow during her rampage that cost the lives of my brother and I, clearly enjoying the fight we got into until she killed me out of some misplaced sense of mercy.

CHARA ♪

"That's a bad way to be. You're young and still have time to change. But if you do it long enough you turn into what I was when I first came to Deerington." A bitter, angry, broken-down man who had lost everything and expected to find nothing in his life but more pain and misery. Maul saw life as nothing but suffering and figured he was in for more of the same. Then he started getting close to people despite himself and began to change for the better.

"But I'm not here to preach at you. I think you've got enough people already to do that. All I can do is commiserate with you that, yes, the people we care about often end up leaving us. It's unfair but since when has life ever been fair?"

From what I've seen and experienced of him here, I do think he means it, for all the nothing that that's worth. Or at least he thinks he does. He's made attempts at changing, though he struggles with basic concepts such as consequences for his actions. He wants to be feared but not hated, sympathized with but he recoils at pity like there's a difference, wants to be understood but refuses to understand anyone. It's one of Trench's most popular soap operas.

A young child who reminds me quite strongly of myself at the same age, all nihilistic and thinking they have all the answers when they really don't know anything at all. Fortunately, they've still got a lot of growing up to do, so there's hope for them yet. Until then, I'll do my best to guide them towards the right kind of thinking (if I don't end up stabbing them in frustration along the way). They seemed surprised to discover I don't share their same viewpoint regarding how life isn't worth living when one already knows everything about how it is to be lived, something that is the complete antithesis for someone who is on the Dark Side.

NARA'A ♪

"That certainly is quite the tale. Have you thought of having this all written down in a book for the Archives? Your world's past is quite fascinating. [...] Might help to focus on that instead of your compulsion to help everyone all the time." But the words are said gently and in an almost teasing manner.

"I'll repeat it as many times as you need, until you can believe it yourself." He smiles at Maul, nodding. He's determined to not give up on Maul - he's decided it now. He's clearly got issues, but... he can't be irredeemable. No one is.

A catperson from a faraway place full of magic that is very different (and complicated in its background) to either most versions of Earth or even the galaxy I am used to. He is friendly, easy to talk to, and occasionally a little odd with that compulsion he has to help people all the time. I think we are something approaching friends at this point. But when do I ever know if someone is actually friends with me unless they tell me so themselves? He has a good heart and is another person who has said they shall be there for me as I continue to walk this path of redemption.

LEXI ♪

It's strange for Maul to be considered a person that people actually enjoy being around. For the most part, most people here tend not to really see him as a very pleasant person. But his efforts to become better seem to have been noticed, especially by Sleepers who were unaware of his previous reputation.

He's never been anything but nice and polite to her. Even if she had heard the old stories, she'd dismiss them as having nothing to do with whom he was in the present and that was the important part.

A kindhearted bookseller whose place of business I tend to frequent quite often. She is a good example of how my efforts to change my reputation have come to fruition. It appears she and Luz are dating now, something that I feel shall be good for both of them. The two of us have discussed the ways in which our worlds are both similar and different a number of times now.

JINX ♪

Maul watches her, reading her body language more than listening to the actual words she's saying. His next words come quiet and soft. "I felt much the same way when I was your age."

But he'll leave it at that. If someone had told him at age eighteen all that he's said now, he either wouldn't have believed them or broken their neck for trying to get him to a different mindset. Back then, his loyalty to Sidious was absolute. He'd committed murder and far worse for his adoptive father, desperate to earn love that his master wasn't capable of giving him.

He's already told Jinx enough about the path his own life has taken. It's just food for thought right now, planting a kernel inside that still-growing mind. She's young and it took Maul nearly three decades to get to where he is now, permanently damaged from being raised by Sidious and still a psychopath, but finally able to function on a level where he can accept the love of family and friends.

"There it is, so an~gry ♪. I love it." What an evil little girl she is. The grin is twisting sinister and black hearted. "— You oughta take full control of that. ... That fire in your veins. You don't feel it, don't you?

A need to just... take whatever you want? Aren't you growin' tired with everyone tryin' to cloud your mind with cute lil' fuzzy speeches that we know it's bullshit? The world is dark and cruel. And their solution is just sit back and work through them like good lil' boys and girls. Letting 'em get away with it."

Jinx leans further into the camera feed with the wicked smile still in place. Her eyes are lock solely on him and nothing else around him -- her pinks flicker furiously with excitement and so much devious intent.

"But we can be crueler than world, can't we? Sometimes we gotta show the mistakes they've made. Not tell. Make sure they don't repeat 'em... ya know? Aaaaand what better people out there than us, hm?"

She's crazy. That's not an opinion, it is a mere fact, and one I'm sure she agrees with. Jinx has led a hard life, perhaps part of why her mind is so unstable, and she'd just as soon blow someone up for fun as make their acquaintance. Fortunately, the darkness within her and the kind within me makes it easy for us to get along. I see quite a bit of myself in her, the way I was when I was her age, and that's not always a good thing. But she's young yet and can learn in a shorter time what it took me two decades to learn.

VI ♪

"You two were separated. That is a terrible thing. It happened to Savage and I as well, though we were much younger than you two, so.....I understand. Just a little."

He wasn't able to fully articulate the right words that applied to such a situation but he was extremely sympathetic hearing about what the two sisters had gone through. The hand Vi rested on him was much appreciated. Maul knew all too well what having such a tragedy happen to one's self was like, the parallels in his life so similar as to make it almost uncomfortable hear about them happening in someone else's.

All she can do is watch the scene play out - just because it's short doesn't mean it isn't any less painful. It's another mistake, another place where she zigged when she should have zagged. Should have, could have, would have. It's a litany of failure, and this is just a small piece. Two things she could have done differently, and she's not as ashamed as she could be - what good would that do anyone? It's done, and here it is again. It's just a shitty roll of the dice that maul has to see it - Maul has a brother. She'd seen what happened to Maul's brother in that terrible memory she'd borne witness to. Of all the things ...well, she supposes there's a worse one he could have seen. maybe better this than that.

She waits a moment before speaking, before approaching. Doesn't care that her eyes are shining again (when will this stop she should be desensitized to this by now. but.) Or that her voice is also small, soft and full of regret.

"We do. We try and try, and sometimes ...sometimes we make terrible mistakes."

Jinx's older sister. Despite being so tough on the outside, there is a certain vulnerability to her as well that I've been exposed to after repeat encounters, thanks to the usual group therapy this place wants to put us through. She knows the burdens of being an older sibling well and unfortunately also knows what it is like to fail those duties. As I well know, there's no one a person hates more than themselves when they fail their family. I hope she and her sister can get a second chance here the way Savage and I have.

DUTY ♪

He can't sense anything coming off of Duty, the same way he'd felt around the Emperor. There was just that....lack in the Force. No sense of life, emotions, or any stray thoughts coming from him. Interesting. Most interesting. That makes him sit up and take notice a bit more. He's not sure what Duty himself is capable of but he's not letting his guard down.

Trust has levels. You've earned some of mine working together. Less than someone I've known for years, yes. It's still trust.

One of the smarter and more level-headed of the oddities found among the Sleepers in this city, he works as the head of construction at the outpost. There is something strange about him, a lack of life force that I've found among a few others in this city. But since he's not nearly as malevolent as they are, I'm not as wary of him as I could be. If everyone could explain things to me as clearly and concisely as he's been able to, I wouldn't get myself into nearly so much trouble given I don't always have a talent for communicating with others. He always makes things seem very clear when he talks to me about such things as boundaries and the ways to express myself that aren't self-destructive. It has led me to feeling a great deal of respect for him.

EDEN RIN ♪

Eden is making a lot of sense but that just fuels Maul's ire all the more. What she's saying goes so contrary to what he's thought for so long that he can't simply discard what he's always believed in favor of something else, even if he knows logically it makes a lot of sense.

"There's not taking it well/getting over it and there's murdering a bunch of people. I'm not saying 'when won't you murder the person who is responsible.' I'm saying 'when won't you murder the people who are not responsible.' So long as you do collateral damage, you are the person in the background causing innocent people (again, including your brother) to die. Suspend your disbelief for this: pretend every time you killed an innocent party (by your definition of innocent), your brother died. Would you change your ways?"

A woman who runs the Entertainment Feed, providing this city with some much needed culture. She's not precisely kind and seems more to be more about serving her own interests, though she has helped me a time or two when it was sorely needed by me, so I cannot begrudge her too much for doing the same thing that I do in looking out for what I want most of all first and foremost. Still, she does irk me in the way she has talked to me about revenge and murder. These are two subjects she is woefully unprepared to talk with me about, no matter how many books or TV shows she consumes.

KEITH ♪

"Luckier than most I will definitely say. Most don't get a chance like that or lets it pass them on by when it does come." Maul could see Keith going the same way he had if not given that chance: becoming hard and angry, making life more difficult for everyone else around him until one day he did something horrendous, making it so that there was no going back to a chance for a better future. It makes him feel oddly sympathetic in a way he usually doesn't for most Sleepers here in Trench.

"It's weird, but... I think... I think we kind of have an understanding. I feel like, if things had been different for either of us, we could have probably ended up a lot more alike."

In either direction, really.

Another one of the paladins who all come from the same world and just as meddlesome and 'heroic' as the others, for all the good those traits do them here. At least he's not nearly as idiotic as Lance, though he does have his moments, and very much not as self-righteous as Shiro. Indeed, based off the many times we've been thrust together here, we have more in common than I think either of us would like to admit. There's a bit of darkness to him, though rather than embracing it, he went the other way and turned towards the light. Perhaps had I been given the same chances he was, I too would have gone the same way. Best not to dwell on such a thing for too long.

SHEN YUAN ♪

Maul cocks his head at hearing Shen Yuan talk about how they are stories. He's used to it himself given he's fictional on other versions of Earth but he hasn't encountered too many people who believe the same thing. "Yes. But one can write their own version of their story if they don't like the way it is going."

Holy shit, holy shit, it's Darth Maul. Right here! In Consort Shen's thread! He could just die.

Okay, gotta play this cool. Be cool man, be cool. Don't make it weird.

Can I have your autograph???

It has been a while since I encountered a fanboy here in Trench but I suppose it was only a matter of time before another showed up. This one is rather amusing in how much he seems to honestly enjoy me for my own personality, a rarity among the Sleepers here. Perhaps I should see if he would like to join my cult... Still, I feel there might be more to him than meets the eye. We shall simply have to see.

DANIEL ♪

"I've seen enough as well. I see someone who claims to be a 'good person' but who passes judgment without knowing even a tenth of the actual story." Typical for a lot of people who encounter Maul. It used to not bother him as much, but with his recent efforts to do better, the sting is a lot worse than it usually is. Maul's anger is bubbling up and he keeps it close at the surface to keep him from feeling anything else.

"I hope you're far kinder to your students. Or do you pass judgment on them upon first meeting them as well before you decide to train them?" It's a low blow to bring Daniel's students into this given they have nothing to do with this but Maul's not in a charitable mood. He wants to get under this smug son of a bitch's skin.

But there's just levels where that sympathy runs out. Daniel has great admiration for those who manage to get through that and overcome it, or at least manage to turn themselves into a better person, but he isn't quite seeing that in Maul's words here. No matter how much he says he's getting better, if he can still think of having killed Johnny as a somehow good and just thing, Daniel can't believe it. And that drains all possibility of him actually thinking more kindly of Maul for everything he's gone through.

Another sanctimonious, self-righteous type who thinks they know anything about me and have the right to judge me after learning the barest facts of my life. If this is what 'good people' look like, I'll continue to mingle with the forces of darkness, thank you very much. He's a hypocrite like all the rest, one those who likes to do things like claiming to have compassion for others until it's inconvenient for him. Then he just condemned me for being a monster like others always do. Well, let's see how long that compassion and goodwill towards others lasts in this place. His true colors will be revealed sooner or later, of this I'm certain.

ROBBY ♪

"You tell me where I overcame anything."

When Robby finishes, Maul stays silent for a few moments as he formulates a response. "You didn't curl up and give into your circumstances at any point, so that's something. Resilience is not as easy to come by as people would think."

"You know, when people talk about not judging a book by its cover, they're gonna be talking about the guy who trained in a Dark Side of a Force and wears black really well, but talks about his students like this." Is it okay to tease your staff teacher in a very complimentary manner this way? It's a good thing, he'll promise, and the fondness does come through -- really, it's a nice reprieve. Robby will take this.

A new student of mine who has not led an easy life and holds much anger within. Considering I found out he's Johnny's son, that explains a lot about where that anger comes from. I think the meditation and staff-fighting sessions we have been helping are good for his state of mind, letting him feel those emotions in a healthy manner. He is one of those who does not judge me for the things I have done in my past and instead lets me prove myself through the person I am in the present, something I am eternally grateful for.

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

NAME ♪ RELATIONSHIP_INFO

DIARMUID ♪

Maul eyes what Diarmuid has in his hand. “First a taser and now a dagger? My, my, you are growing some sharp teeth,” Maul says in a sardonic manner. No matter how many weapons Diarmuid ever ends up possessing, he’s always still going to seem a bit like a ball of fluff to the Sith Lord. A nice ball of fluff to be certain, given how fond he’s become of his monk friend in the time they’ve been here, but one who definitely needs people to watch out for him lest he get his head bitten off by one of the many monsters here.

It's... complicated, to stand near a man who he knows had harmed another young boy not too long ago. He would rather keep both his arms, you know. So there is undoubtedly some hesitation in his eyes. (But Maul did save him; just now, he had rescued him, with no benefit to himself; it must mean something.)

A young monk who has a peaceful and kind spirit, rare for someone living in this place. He is a simple soul but I don't mean that in a detrimental sense. Being that way makes it easier for him to see past the barriers I keep up and look inside myself to see what I really am down at my core. Much to my shame, I repaid his kindness by seriously wounding him while brainwashed. It was only thanks to Reaper's timely intervention and sacrifice that allowed him to escape with his life. Even after such an act, he was able to forgive me, something I can't quite comprehend. My young friend made one last trip to see me and tell me that he was leaving. We shared a last meal together and he said a prayer in his usual fashion and with the faith that always seemed to come so easily to him. I shall miss him and the kindness he has shown me time and again deeply.

PETER B. PARKER "SPIDER-MAN" ♪ ♪

"Man, has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful bloodshot eyes?" Okay, maybe he's giving Maul reasons to stab him. Hopefully the rescuing part nullifies the jokes.

He's actually feeling quite grateful for the rescue until Peter just has to get in one of his infamous quips. Then he scowls and growls just a little. Watch it, bud. Just because he's the one being rescued doesn't mean he won't bite one of your ears off if the notion comes over him.

A human with fantastic abilities, he calls himself Spider-Man, and is some sort of hero in his own world. His diligence in taking notes and summarizing everything that happened in Deerington was a boon time and again. His compulsion to save everyone eventually led to his death, something I was unable to stop even after having visions of it. He saved me when I first got here to Trench which does no surprise me at all. I do wonder if he'll continue to take diligent notes on the happenings of this new world. He is gone now, back into the ocean from whence we all came. I do wonder who will take up the position of being the main source of gathering information here in his stead. Some other do-gooder with a compulsion to save others, no doubt.

EDDIE KASPBRAK ♪ ♪

"You fucked up, Maul. You fucked up and that means accepting what happens because you fucked up. Part of growing means fucking up constantly. You'll probably keep fucking up and as long as people have hope in you, they'll keep getting mad at you. [...] But you can change and that's why people are gonna get more upset with you. Because they're gonna have higher expectations and higher expectations means a bigger fall when you fuck up."

"And that includes you, you callous, cold little creature. You do very little of it yourself. I've seen cats with more empathy than you. You can claim to care about people all you like, but at the end of the day, you only give a damn about a handful of them. The rest are just noise in the background to you, a sounding board for your issues as you sort out whatever is going on in your head at the moment. It's all take with you and no give."

A boy who has the dubious honor of probably having the most mental issues of anyone I've met in this Force-forsaken town. He never uses one word when five will do and sometimes it feels more like I'm listening to a monologue than participating in a conversation with him. There have been many moments when I felt like removing his other arm or just choking him until he collapses on the ground. He also is holding an (understandable) grudge for maiming his boyfriend Richie back in Deerington when I was out of my mind. That being said, he's got very good insight in how to deal with me and my moods, which is always a boon as far as I am concerned.

It seems even being one of those who have been here the longest does not keep one from ending up back in the ocean. He survived Deerington and Trench and other places but now is gone once more. I wonder if he returned home or ended up travelling to yet another realm where he'll have to survive evermore terrors.

Rei Hino ♪

His memories are jumbled but it is hard to forget the memory of literally turning into a weapon and sharing part of yourself with another person. Maul's yellow eyes focus in on Rei's face, now seeming to understand that they're both real. He looks a little more warmly at her than he has with a lot of other people today.

Maul's presence and aura aren't really that shocking to Rei. She'd been more fortunate than Maul when it came to the crabs, having quickly cleaned her injuries thanks to a flash of Paleblood insight. She's still bruised, still a little battered, but she's here and she's nodding to him as she approaches. They're friends, she knows, or as friendly as they can be.

Another Senshi like Usagi is, Rei is a calm, composed woman far wiser than her years would otherwise suggest. The two of us understand one another greatly given an early experience in Deerington where our minds melded. We don't talk often, but when we do, she is often able to set me on the right course of action when I start deviating or going down a darker path. Usagi and I will both miss her and the strength she was able to lend us terribly.

CHARLIE ♪

"I am going to hunt you down AND THEN I AM GOING TO RIP YOUR SPINE OUT AND SHOW IT TO YOU!!"

"It's like getting chased by the big and little M&Ms. Fucking blows, dude."

He's not human. He can't possibly be one. No human I've ever met has been this much of a fool, so I can only conclude he's from a planet where some species of rodent evolved into a humanoid form. I tried killing him but was talked out of it by cooler heads, something that I am still not sure was the right course of action. We are in a truce right now and I am temporarily seeing if I can get along with him. We shall have to see about that. In the meantime, I am astounded at the fact he seems capable of surviving literally anything trying to kill him. I may have to try a few experiments on the space rodent......

Alas, after many attempts to kill him, he managed to not only survive but return to the sea intact after one last attempt on his life. This now makes two people I have desperately wished to kill who have evaded my grasp. Well, I'm sure he goes back to his home planet just as durable and still without an ounce of wisdom.

HELENA "HUNTRESS" ♪

"Clearly. I shudder to think what you act like when you are yourself." Maul should write a book: How To Insult People In Twelve Words Or Less.

"I'm guessing you've pissed that guy off before, though, if you know so much." "Kind of. Well -- okay, yes, I have. Granted, I was never in my right mind when I did, but he's not thrilled with me, regardless."

After many attempts to kill each other, one being successful on my end, I managed to come to a sort of understanding with Helena before we left Deerington. Now that we are in Trench, I am hoping we can start over anew. People think I can't let go of grudges, but seeing as how we are on even footing with one another now, I can afford to let the past go with her. I do wonder who will become my new occasional nemesis now that she has gone back to the sea.

JEZEBEL ♪

"That is because I believe you and I are of a-- certain temperament, shall we say?" Basically, they're monsters who freely admit to what they've done.

"What a wonderful way to bring us to reform, then -- simply drop us in a place where everything else is already trying to kill everyone, and we sudden shape up with no issue. Marvelous, really."

Another in this town that might be labeled a "psychopath" the way many also see me as. From what I've learned of his past, we have very much in common in being raised by monsters who then turned us both into monsters ourselves. Fortunately for our interactions, neither of us seem all that interested in turning into what anyone else might refer to as a "good person." While we are very much alike in temperament, I don't trust him, which is wise given I feel like he'd be looking for a good place to stick in a knife if I were able to let my guard down around him. I pity any other sealife swimming around in the water with him. He'll eat them alive.

SAM WINCHESTER ♪

Maul blinks in surprise at hearing that. That was something he was hearing for the first time. Frankly, it made his opinion of Sam drop extremely low. The man was a shitheel if he had used his own brother for bait with the intention of having him die. Maul was a bastard in his own right but he'd never sink so low as to do that to Savage. His brother meant everything to him and Maul would die before using him like just a tool to be disposed of.

Don't screw with the Sith, don't screw with the Sith, don't screw with the Sith...Well. He isn't screwing with them, this is all fact, but man talking to these wackadoodles is such a bad idea. "Makes sense. He's a phantom menace." Ha. Sorry, can't help himself. Eeehhh...no actually he isn't sorry about shit. "If you kill him can I have his lightsaber?"

The other Winchester. At first, I thought him just arrogant and cocky like his brother, but when I was informed he'd deliberately used his brother as bait with no thought for the fact he might get killed, my opinion of the man dropped so low it is now hovering somewhere within the internal core of this planet. To betray his brother like that, it's something I could never do. Good riddance to the man, may his squid form be eaten by a fish with sharp teeth.

GLITCH ♪

"Good. You're an abomination and will hopefully be eaten by something horrible and deadly soon."

"He’s a monster. Whatever made him this way, he still made his own fucking choice to do this."

A thorn in my side that will continue to be so I am sure. His sanctimonious judgment for a past he knows nothing about makes me want to choke the living daylights out of him every time I think upon it. I gained some satisfaction in taking off the little pest's arm during my last months in Deerington, though the fallout from it all was rather irksome. If I never have another conversation or need to be in the same room with him, it will be all too soon. Not that there's any need to, for I've made a promise to stay away from him. Hopefully this will include turning and walking the other way if ever he finds himself in peril near me. Just what the mouthy little abomination's appeal is to other people is something I can only guess at. Finally, he has left this city for good. At least this has given me solace in a lesson learned: when it comes to enemies in this place, sometimes one can simply outlast them.

FERN ♪ ♪

Maul most definitely isn't expecting to be caught up in an impulsive hug by the grass boy and he stiffens up for a moment before returning it by awkwardly wrapping his arms around him and patting him on the back. He's really not cut out for moments of affection, but for Fern's sake, he'll try.

well aware Maul isn't a good person, dude. He isn't blind, he just has extremely questionable morals and Maul doesn't judge him for it.

The other half of the two teenagers along with Varian I have found myself grown close with. The two of them are together which does make things both simpler and harder when dealing with them. Dealing with school-aged nonsense does try my patience time and again. But while Varian is the mad scientist of the pair, Fern is the warrior. He's someone who has a love of fighting to solve problems and killing as a permanent solution, two things I can greatly agree with. His record for making mistakes rivals my own. This has caused us to have a lot of friction time and again, notably when I killed Varian right in front of him and also wounded him. But things have recently gotten better between us for however long that lasts. Well, he is gone, and Varian with him. I never did fully patch things up between the two of us, something I shall have to live with.

VARIAN ♪ ♪

"You- you're one of the most important people to me in this whole place. I love you like family. I've backed you over and over and over again."

"I love you too," he said quietly. "You are my family. And I know I lean too much on people like you and Usagi, those that haven't turned their backs on me yet despite what I've done. But it's only because I'm afraid to walk this path alone, that ultimately you'll grow sick of my actions and leave me. What good will it do me to become a better person if there's no one there waiting for me at the end of it all?"

A very close friend, Varian is also the closest thing I will likely ever have to an actual child. At both his best and worst, he is very much a disaster. He has intellectual brilliance that allows him to create virtually anything that his mind can create and that makes him one of only a handful of people I feel comfortable working on my prosthetics, given how vulnerable of a position that can put me into. He also has done many terrible things in his past before he was able to atone for them and so he knows firsthand the struggle I keep going through in trying to become a better person. Our relationship has gone through many peaks and valleys, most recently at a low where I killed him with my lightsaber while brainwashed before it was able to shakily be repaired right before we left Deerington. We seem to be back to a good spot now and I am trying to take the lessons he has taught me about seeking redemption to heart. But, as usual, things did not last between us. He managed to set aside what was going on to fix my legs one last time but then he was gone, called back to the sea along with Fern. I shall simply have to live with never fixing what became broken.

JOHN CONSTANTINE ♪ ♪

"John Constantine, that smug wizard, decided to curse me as punishment for all that I have recently done wrong."

"You're right I bloody did! No one else was keen on dealing with you and your bastard temper, ready to just let you wander about and do as you please! I won't fix a damned thing and the more you do like this the more time you'll stay this way." His lip curls in a sneer, looking down at the man holding him against the wall. "Getting rid of this curse is in your power but that requires change from you. It's up to you how long you stay like this."

The day the two of us stop bickering with each other will be the end of the world. Gruff as he is on the surface, there's something beneath which oddly enough suggests he has a heart. While things have been tense ever since I attacked him in the hotel, they boiled over when he apparently had enough of what I had been doing in the town and cursed me to be able to do no harm without suffering pain myself along with two other witches. For that, I shall do more than simply beat him up next time.

....and I still owe the man a damn favor.

Things never did improve between us for all that we saw of each other's pasts. We were just too alike in that respect. He got called back to the sea but not before leaving me a note on how to fulfill that favor I owed him. He wanted me to do better than I've been, to become the person I keep trying to. Damn that smarmy wizard, I wish he'd chosen something I could actually do.

ORPHEUS ♪

"If you ever leave this place, travel as much as you can. Go as far and visit as much of the world as you can. It is the best way to learn how diverse your personal universe can be." Not bad advice from someone who used to travel to a majority of those planets and moons in order to assassinate someone.

"It makes sense. I mean, according to Mother Superior, we're all stories Sodder heard at one point or another? And if that's true, it makes sense that we might've heard each others' stories too, somehow." At least in a weird sort of dream logic sort of way. Orpheus doesn't question these things very hard.

A singer of quite some talent and a gatherer of tales, two arts which I can greatly appreciate given my love of both. He doesn't seem to trust me but that just proves he has a working brain. Comparing notes between our two universes has made for some interesting stories being shared and he has said he would like to do so again at some point in the future. The last time I saw him before he was called back to the sea was after he'd been de-corrupted from some terrible form. Perhaps he is still telling tales out there in the deep.

LUCILLE SHARPE ♪ ♪

"I agree. There is nothing I would not do to protect those I love. Some people just don't understand that murder is the only solution for those that would try to harm them. Such a pair of little wholesome psychopaths they are.

She accepts his admission with a disturbingly casual nod as though they're friends talking about the weather rather than assassination. She's certainly the last person to judge; they're both killers for seemingly different reasons, and if anything she feels more comfortable around Maul than someone innocent. Someone who lacks understanding. Those who lack understanding are often the quickest to judge. "I attended these gatherings purely to find targets of my own: people who had what Thomas and I needed, and who would not be missed. I often only killed out of pity for my targets."

Again, she speaks like she's making casual comments about the food. Scary.

A friend very near and dear to my hearts. We have similar mindsets despite coming from completely different worlds and times. Lucille has experienced much hardship in her life and it has given her a core like a red kyber crystal: bright, dangerous, and unyielding. She understands that sometimes there is no option left in life but to kill, something very few here do. She is very protective of Will and seems to be something of a mother figure to him. I know her parents were as monstrous to her as Sidious was to me and her brother also died, points of similarity I can more than sympathize with her on. Some here might see her as a monster for what she has done in her past, but if so, I am happy to be a fellow monster right alongside her. I miss her intensely for both her friendship and the way she had of understanding me. Other monsters are not so easy to find and befriend here as one might think.

RALEIGH ♪

It only hits Maul right then that Raleigh is right. He'd saved the other man's life. With the same sort of instincts that ran straight down to the bone, the ones that always told him to kill, for once they had run in the other direction. He hadn't stopped to think about it, he's just done it.

You know something, the more he gets to know you the more he likes you. Troll or not. And you are definitely a troll. He knows that big brother smug 'I did no such thing' crap like the back of his hand. [...] "... Hey. I didn't really get to thank you. For what happened that night. I was a little shook up. Thank you. You saved my life, man. I really owe you one."

The first dumb dog. In other circumstances, I might find his presence annoying, but he seems to have worn me down into a state of tolerance. I saved his life without thought when at the hotel, something that has given me much to mull over in the months since then. Apparently, there is a movie franchise on their version of Earth that shows events from my galaxy. Still unsure how to feel about that. I will miss him and his boyfriend, they were able to tolerate my presence much better than many here.

CHUCK ♪

"You have interesting tastes." Considering he'd watched a fictional version of Maul's life and was already something of a fanboy, Maul would normally have said he needed to find better role models, but right now he was just gonna enjoy the ego boost.

Movies? Congratulations, Chuck, you might be the first one to have to break it to Maul he's fictional.

The other dumb dog. A bit more abrasive than Raleigh and seems to spend at least half his time in any situation looking for the other man. Has apparently watched all the films that show the events from my galaxy which really makes me think they lack worthy entertainment on Earth or that Chuck needs better taste in media altogether. I shall miss he and Raleigh but at least they are together. One without the other still here just wouldn't seem right.

WU ♪

"I've seen your posts before. You are sensible and seem to have compassion for many people. You are still rather stable for someone who has been in this place for some time." He could be way off the mark here but Maul's not entirely without observation skills. He's far more perceptive than most people who consider him little more than a rabid dog want to admit.

"You're right, I do believe that most people are good. If someone isn't good, it's generally because of their circumstance or upbringing--from what you've told me, your circumstance wasn't great, so it makes sense that you might not have seen many good people around you. I hope you can see it more here." Maybe it's a futile hope. Wu knows he's not going to change Maul, but at least he hopes he can help a little.

A (former?) king in his own world who had a great-aunt that sounds terribly like she might have been related to Sidious despite being from different universes. Wu has the tendency to try and understand things from everyone's point-of-view. While this has been fortunate for me, I can't help but feel someday this is someday going to be to his detriment. But if he can get along with someone who has murdered scores of people like I have, it just might save his life instead. He's one of the few that didn't outright condemn me during the witch hunt after I maimed that little pain Glitch, something I shall not be quick to forget. He always showed me kindness, compassion, and understanding up to the point when he returned to the sea. It shall not be easy to find someone who understands me as well as he did without judgment.

DEAN WINCHESTER ♪

"I can't tell if you're brave, foolish, or both." These Winchesters seem very cocky and arrogant to Maul, two qualities that aren't bad in small amounts, but which he knows can get very aggravating quickly. He was that way once. All it had gotten him was getting sliced in half.

"Dude. Hey-- Sam! Sammy? I got a Sith-Lord direct dialing me--" This is hollered over his shoulder, but of course he's alone. Damn.

A man who got caught up in my plans when Anakin fell. I didn't mean for him to die, merely be used as bait, but he was caught in the crossfire regardless. That is my fault, something that took a while for me to admit. I've been keeping an eye on him since then even if he doesn't realize it. I failed him once but I intend to repay back the debt I have accrued. I watched over him for some time until he went back to the sea....and subsequently came right back with no memories of what had happened. It didn't erase the debt I owed him in my mind, not until I'd done something to save his life. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. He returned to the sea yet again, this time possibly for good, without me having been able to repay what I owed him. His home was torched to the ground by the time I realized what had happened and I still have yet to figure out who did it.

DIRK ♪

When he's done, he has the decency to keep his shirt over his junk as he makes (shaded) eye contact with Maul. "Hey. I'm Dirk Strider. Good to meet you in person". (Ahem.)

Maul watched as the human sauntered out of the closet as naked as the day he was born acting like he owned the place. Maul kept his eyes firmly fixed on the sunglasses because he really didn't want to look lower, although his gaze finally slipped once Dirk mentioned cleaning up.

"Charming."

He said dryly upon finally seeing Dirk in person. He supposed there had to be some good qualities that Savage must have seen in him for the younger Zabrak and the human to have been getting along so well. (Although if the only one was "good in bed" he reeeaaalllly didn't want to know.)

My brother's paramour, a decidedly odd.....being (I'm fairly certain if he ever was human he isn't any longer) but he makes Savage happy and that is what is important to me. I've already made sure he knows if he ever breaks my brother's hearts I am going to break him and he seems to have accepted that as part and parcel as one of the hazards of dating one of my kin. His brazen attitude towards life in general can be both aggravating and beneficial, sometimes in the span of the same conversation. When he left, Savage was downhearted for days, something that made me very angry on his behalf. I should have cut off his head when I had the chance.

KARKAT ♪

...............Considering I know exactly who off the top of my head fits the first three of those "quadrants", I am beginning to question everything I have ever known about myself. No, really, Maul is completely and deadass serious here. Reaper, Usagi, and Obi-Wan sprang to mind immediately upon reading those. He's...just going to sit down now and rethink everything going on his entire life. Thank you, small weird creature, you've sent this alien into an emotional tailspin.

SURE, TECHNICALLY MY FAULT, BUT HOW MUCH OF THAT IS A SERIES OF POOR CHOICES ON YOUR END TOO? SOMETIMES FUCK-UPS HAPPEN TOGETHER. YEAH, AND SOMETIMES YOUR RAGE MAKES NO SENSE. JUST HOW LIFE WORKS. YEAH, WHY NOT. MY KIND IS USED TO CASUAL VIOLENCE. BUT MY BOYFRIEND HAS TO BE OKAY WITH IT BECAUSE THAT IS KIND OF FLIRTY. YOU ARE KIND OF COMING ACROSS AS HATE FLIRTING RIGHT NOW, WHICH AS FLATTERING AS THAT IS, I'M TAKEN AND ALSO UNINTERESTED.

A creature called a troll. He appears to be the significant other of Kyle and frankly the two of them deserve each other. He opened up my eyes to some interesting ideas about love but he also has proven he enjoys causing chaos and then not apologizing for it. That latter caused great rage in me but somehow I was talked down to merely beating him up, which provided only a small portion of the satisfaction I was craving. As always when people manage to do such a thing, I'm not sure that was the best course of action. Good riddance to him. Having him around was far too much of a hassle to handle.

KYLE ♪

"Somehow you were a lot more polite when you couldn't talk."

"Oh good, you're not dead." How's that for polite, Kyle? He chuckles for a moment.

One of the newest Sleepers that arrived here at the same time as those of us from Deerington did. As per usual when meeting people, we were put into a perilous position from which we barely escaped certain death, this time from man-eating crabs with hallucinatory toxins. For some reason, despite clearly finding me terrifying, he also seems determined to befriend me as well. He's brought food by the house several times now. He can try even though it may very well literally be his funeral in his attempt to do so.

Eventually, he did wear me down into something of a friendship. He was one of those that always staunchly remained on my side no matter what I did, something that is always difficult to find in this place. No matter how bad I became, he always saw the good in me. Though he was decidedly odd, I shall miss him for being one of the first new friends I was able to make in this place.

DARTH NOX ♪

Maul watches the confrontation in fascination. He's never seen this many Sith Lords in one room before and it just hammers home how different things are in the long-ago time period Darth Nox is from in comparison to what he sees as his present. Really, it goes to show how hypocritical Sidious was. He called the Jedi weak, stagnant because they had become complacent, too caught up in their own stodgy rituals to remember why they'd started them in the first place. Maul had absorbed this rhetoric his whole life. But now he sees the Sith were no better, with their heyday far gone by the time Sidious had risen to become a Sith Lord. The Rule of Two had castrated their power for good, that much was clear.

There was a lot about the current situation that should have alarmed him, most of it not quite in the way Maul might have expected it to. Chief among those things was why a cyborg covered in black and red tattoos with horns jutting out of his head didn't actually strike him as at all unusual. He had no obvious explanation for why, he couldn't recall ever encountering anyone so distinctly not human, and yet Maul was handily the least confusing element present.

A Sith Lord from ages past, so far back in the history of the galaxy that all records of such a time have faded from memory. He has shown me the hypocrisy that I had long suspected in Sidious' teachings: the Sith of my era have stagnated just as badly as the Jedi have. So much potential has been wasted and so much knowledge lost over the millennia. His tendency to use Force Lightning has left me a bit on edge on around him but he doesn't seem as nefarious as he could be. Still not one I would want to turn my back on anytime soon. Though he was not here for long, he allowed me to see a different perspective on Sith dogma than I had always been led to believe as told by my master.

AMARA ♪

"Oh, for shit's sake. Is now really the time to start this? Can't you at least wait until we all get out of this dreamscape to be a psycho?" This dude, honestly. He seemed a lot calmer when he first arrived, though, so either Amara's a really shitty judge of character or his brain has been through the wringer. Maybe both? She has a small amount of sympathy for him, despite herself.

"I think not. You are loud and obnoxious and rude. Therefore, I am not going to waste my time with you." The more Amara demands him to talk, the more he's going to dig in his heels about clamming up.

A Sleeper with whom I have a mostly antagonistic relationship with. It's not surprising given how she is tough and a fighter, reminding me of myself upon many occasions. I had a vision of her death during the last months in Deerington and tried to stop it. That......did not turn out as I had hoped given the way both of our personalities tend to brush up against one another's. Now that she is in Trench, perhaps there is another chance to soften things between us, leaving us mostly battling with words rather than any of our powers. But her return to the sea put a damper on that idea.

SOME ARROGANT GIRL ♪

"If you feel the need to get utterly trounced fighting someone, I am more than happy to help." Oh look, it's Clarisse's favorite nuisance that hasn't bugged her for months now. Gotta start off the new year proper by rectifying that!

"Right now I'm 70-30 on whether it's the town or he's just always been a psycho." Those face tattoos don't exactly speak to, like, normalcy. But Maul has been around at least as long as she has and she's never heard of him doing anything like this before, so after a few seconds she amends: "It's probably the town."

Yes, by now I do know her name. But I will start calling Clarisse properly by it when she earns respect from me, which she still has yet to do. She's a good fighter for someone of her class and has the unfortunate tendency to remind me of me with how much arrogance and pride she has in her physical abilities. I do wonder if she holds getting injured by me in Deerington against me but I haven't asked, given I harbor a suspicion she might throw something sharp and pointy at me if I get too close to her. After much time here, just as I was starting to get a sense of the girl's background (which again unfortunately reminded me of myself and my past) she was returned back to the sea.

WILL ♪ ♪

He's willing to offer his help but only for his own sick, twisted reasons. He's been wanting to get under Will's skin for some time now. "I could help you. You know that I have the power to do so." This is why so many fell to the Dark Side. It was easy to give into its power and to use. Far, far easier than the struggles those on the Light went through. To just say yes and use it was something most simply weren't willing to fight that hard against.

Will has the usual Paleblood-related symptoms, but he's...actually showing up in support of Maul??? What. "He did it for me back in Deerington. And it worked. So." Yes, he has to actually grit the words out through clenched teeth, but he's honest to a fault.

A strange boy who had many secrets he was hiding in Deerington, the foremost of which was a creature inside of his mind known as the Mind Flayer. When I first arrived, he was the only one to know what a Sith was and see me for who I actually was instead of what everyone else merely thought I was. Despite his natural mistrust, we managed to shakily form a bond, primarily due to when I put up a wall in his mind to contain the entity within. I'm still not sure why I did that besides having a soft spot for children being tormented by entities much stronger than they are. He has relaxed his suspicions towards me by degrees over the time I have known him. As of right now, he doesn't precisely trust me, but he does understand me quite well.

We finally began to understand one another a little bit, especially after I stopped trying to manipulate him for my own ends, something I wasn't happy about but which also had to be done if I had any hope of improving myself. He even defended me from others who had skepticism about my motivations. But back he has gone to the sea and it is a shame. He was an interesting young man even without the entity in his head......also, that damn horse-creature of his is still around and occasionally watching me. It's terrifying.

Richie ♪

Perish the thought of there being more than one version of you. Good Lord, that sounds like a nightmare. Or at the very least a headache, given how Maul tended to react around teenagers.

"Holy shit, you pissed off Maul?" A snort of laughter, as Richie holds his hand out to help pull Charlie out of the sewer. "No fucking wonder you hid in the sewer, guy's terrifying when he's pissed."

The boyfriend of Eddie and an annoyance of the worst kind. They certainly deserve each other, that's all I can say about their relationship. I sliced off his ear when brainwashed in Deerington. He's very lucky it wasn't his head. I would like to say that was the only time I've felt the urge to mutilate him but that would be a lie. His mouth often overruns his head and any sense of common sense he may possess, if any. He survived here for many months in Trench and spent most of them successfully avoiding me before this place finally called him back to the sea.

LYSITHEA ♪

Lysithea is out here doing the Lord's work by making sure Maul keeps stable here in Trench. Every Sleeper and native should be grateful to her.

"Must you provoke him?" A young woman's voice lightly murmurs. "Of all the Sleepers in Deerington, the only one for whom we ever required Public Discourse" --one can hear the Capital Letters-- "should perhaps be treated with more care."

A Sleeper who has been here since before the collapse of Deerington. While I have not interacted personally much with her, it is clear that my reputation proceeds me given how she interacts with me whenever we meet. Her business might be a good place to visit from time to time given that Paimon works there and it seems quite popular with the Sleeper population at large. Who knows, I might pick up some valuable information by hanging around the place and engaging in the occasional chat with her. She returned to the sea without much fanfare and it took me quite a while to notice she had left given her quiet and reserved personality.

SABÉ ♪

"I cannot say the same although...." He pauses, once again giving her a long, steady look. "....there is something about you which is strangely familiar." He still can't put his finger quite on what it is.

"You wouldn't." She was made up, acting decoy to the Queen... but also from a distance, her face wouldn't have been easily recognizable. Even if he had seen her as herself and from a closer distance, she always made sure she was forgettable at best. "I was a handmaiden to Queen Amidala of Naboo. I'm not meant to be remembered."

"Ah. That explains it." Maul knew about the queen's handmaidens to an extent, how they were deadly bodyguards for their young mistress, and had been informed by Palpatine not to be fooled in case they switched places when he went to kidnap the queen. Maul sees now just why he was told that. She looks near-identical to the former queen. Not the exact doppelganger that Ariadne is but Maul would have believed them to be fraternal twins if that's what he had been told. She must have seen him that day when he was on Naboo before he'd fought the Jedi.

One of Padmé Amidala's former handmaidens from the time when she was queen. I was astounded by the resemblance between them when I first met. While it's not an exact likeness, one could have told me that they were twins and I would have completely believed it. A mysterious woman who held much close to the chest, I never could get a read on her personality or goals while she was here.

PADMÉ AMIDALA ♪

"Queen and Senator. I suppose you always have been an ambitious one. That's why he picked you." Palpatine needed someone both young enough to manipulate like a puppet on a string and strong-willed enough to make decisions that would still benefit him. Amidala had been perfect for that role. And despite Maul's failure in capturing her, things had still worked out to his master's benefit, as they almost always did.

"Yet the question is, what does that make you?" "A Sith." He says. It's the simplest way Maul has always been able to describe himself. Despite the attempts of many other people here to get Maul to see himself as more than just a Sith Lord and forge his own identity, he's not quite ready to shed that title just yet. It is a multi-layered question, and Padmé does wonder which direction he would choose- how he would choose to answer it. What it does reveal to her is schooled behind her face. "I trust we won't have issues."

A do-good senator from the galaxy I reside in who also happens to be Anakin's wife and therefore the mother of Luke. I cannot understand why anyone would willingly marry the man but stranger things have happened every day. (Perhaps it's not so much his personality she's attracted to as other physical factors...) I didn't cross paths with her more than once or twice while she was here, so I was not able to get to know her all that well.

TAVION ♪

So, a Nightsister was here in Trench. Maul figured it would not do to turn his back on this one. She could end up being a dangerous foe or have the potential for an alliance. Only time would tell.

"And nothing so prosaic - in fact, the Sith are...well, at least temporarily dead in my time. Victims, once again, of their own limitations." She says the last in a sighing, sing-song sort of voice.

"I will be much more than they ever were," she adds. "And you could be, too."

A Nightsister who showed up here who was from long after my time. She may have been the first one to arrive but I doubt she will be the last. She had a very powerful Sith artifact that she planned to use to gain power here. (Whatever became of that when she left? I must look into this...) I was skeptical that would come to pass and she returned to the sea before she could have too much of an impact upon this place. She was another reminder not to trust the witches of Dathomir.

BAIL ORGANA ♪

"Trust does tend to need to be earned."

"On both sides. I don't trust many people and I do not give them many reasons to trust me."

"If you refuse to take a step, how can you expect other to?"

A Senator from the galaxy who was briefly here. I am not sure if he was one of those bleeding-hearts always looking for a cause to back or one of those corrupt who can easily be bought and manipulated like my master so often did with those in the Senate, but either way I was not one to trust anyone that involved in politics.

ROSE DA SILVA ♪

Slowly, she lowers closer to the ground, kneeling next to him. Though he isn't meeting her eyes, the woman's own pair stay right on the boy's face. Gently, a hand reaches to his shoulder, fingertips softly touching there.

"I'm so sorry. No one should ever hurt you. Not ever. No matter what, you never, ever deserve to be hurt."

Her voice is thick with emotion, though she tries to control it. After a moment, her hand finds his shoulder, gives it a soft, affectionate squeeze.

"Do you know why? Because adults are always supposed to protect kids. And if they don't...? That makes them bad. Not you."

Even as a child, Maul isn't good at vocalizing his thoughts. He tries to get a few words out but he's overwhelmed by emotion. So instead he bursts into tears because he has no other way of expressing his emotions right now. He just melts into Rose, his small frame pressed up against her's and his arms wrapping around her, seeking the warm, maternal comfort he's been missing in his life for years now. He misses his own mother terribly, having been away from her now for nearly half of his short life.

A good, kind woman whom every parent could take lessons from on how to be a good one. Though no warrior or knight herself, she was brave in her own way, and had more love in her little finger than some here possess in their whole bodies myself included. Sharon is very lucky to have her for a mother. She helped me immensely come to terms with some things I have been struggling with when I was turned into a child and continued to be a good friend afterwards once I was returned to the form of an adult. I miss her quite a bit and still have hope she might return from the sea.

AMATERASU ♪

His breath is taken away when he first sees Amaterasu. She is so beautiful. There is also a small bit of awe-inspiring terror as he feels the power coming off of her. That's par on the course for Maul, he associates beauty and terror in the same part of his mind given the life he's led.

Her enjoyment is in the little thumb thump the tip of her tail makes, too. Onward, Darth Maul, petter of gods. you are doing an excellent job.

One of the most beautiful beings I have encountered here, in the sense of being lovely and terrifying at the same time. She was just so full of life in a way I've never encountered before. Being near her was like being near the Force in its purest form. And happy too, such an optimistic being as she tended to the balance of nature. She touched the lives of many while she was here and many still speak of her fondly and with reverence.