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[survivalthroughhate]

"This is Darth Maul. Say what you must."

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Feel free to also use this for overflow, thread ideas we didn't get to in previous events, etc!

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[opress]

He nodded his head. "Do you believe the others brought here to explore their own potential will also allow us to gather power together, brother?" He hadn't been here long enough or encountered enough people to know how any of the power dynamics worked. He could guess that they would not be the only ones looking to carve out a part of the planet for themselves, and he was looking forward to that kind of conflict. It stirred his blood; he wanted to fight.

He stopped where Maul did, looking at the sign and uncertain what it was supposed to indicate. Transit of some kind he supposed. "No, I have not. That's why I came. I need to be better for you, for us." He also had never taken the step to think of what he might want, and it was a mixture of thrilling and terrifying to know he was here because he wanted to be and not because he had been directed or was on a mission that required a certain end goal. This was... personal.

[survivalthroughhate]

"I am sure they will. Most of them are frightfully passive when it comes to doing anything in this place. There might be one or two that we will have to keep a close eye on. Most of them are from the galaxy." He had a feeling Cobb was going to get riled up if he found out Maul was making a power play. He almost hoped he did. It would have been satisfying to watch Savage fold the sheriff in half.

"I will continue your training. We shall refine you into a sharp blade, ready to strike." Savage had been taught the basics of how to use the Force but Maul knew it was time to start refining his brother's abilities. He would try with meditation, though he knew Savage usually just fell asleep during such sessions. Still, he'd find a method that would work, one way or another.

The catbus came charging up with all the usual enthusiasm the feline god possessed. Maul nodded at the creature as if this was perfectly normal. "There is our ride. Come along, Savage."

[opress]

"They don't have a warrior's spirit then. If that's the case, they will be ruled over and the others will be brought to heel." He was curious of those from their galaxy (and other galaxies), and what sort of challenge they would bring up for himself and Maul. As always, he would allow himself to be directed by his elder brother to whichever of their enemies would need to be shown the error of their ways. "We shall tread carefully, but I will fight by your side to establish ourselves." At 7'2", few would want to fight him head on; that much was always true.

"I am always ready for a fight, my brother. It was what I was born to do, and I will learn my potential here." Would that effort eventually bring him into conflict with Maul who was by all intensive purposes stronger than him but in a few ways? He didn't think so, not with how oddly close he found himself to Maul and his brother was reciprocating more than he ever remembered. This 'other' him was someone he would have to learn more about and possibly emulate.

Savage was staring at Maul when there was movement, and he was taken aback when a living feline bus charged up. He snarled and set himself to fight this massive beast before looking at Maul in surprise. "We're going inside this beast, brother? It's Force is strong! Why is it carrying us inside of it?"

[survivalthroughhate]

"You shall make quite an impression on everyone when I introduce you." Maul planned to make a network post as soon as he could that would serve as a warning. One not to mess with his little brother in any capacity. And the other for everyone to stay out of their business, lest he sic Savage on them. It wasn't going to make either of them very popular but since when had Maul ever cared about anything like that?

"There will be many opportunities to test your abilities here. Not only just against the people but the Trials that come every month. They do not all require fighting but some do. We shall strengthen you up physically and mentally to prepare for them all." Plus the Trials were a good way for Savage to make friends and possibly find a mate. So it was all a win-win in the end!

"Of course we are going inside it," Maul said as if this was a perfectly natural thing to do. He stepped forward as the doorway to the inside of the catbus widened enough to accommodate even someone of Savage's formidable size. "I have no idea why the catbus does anything it does. But be sure to show him respect. He is a minor deity and one of the few I've seen powerful to travel to different worlds under nothing more than his own power." Maul may have been making assumptions and come up with his ow narrative due to encountering the catbus in Deerington as well as in Folkmore.

[opress]

"My size always leaves an impression," he agreed. Though, perhaps his impression could be greater if he thought of a way to push Maul's own impressiveness. Normally, he simply had to cross his mismatched arms over his chest and stand behind his brother; his natural intimidation factor was usually enough and Maul brought the magic of language and tone to push the narrative. Would that be enough? Was that a good start to his own potential? "Do you... want me to do more for these introductions?"

Perhaps he would test his abilities against this mode of transportation which was still freaking him out. He stared at its yellow eyes and grinning face, baring his teeth in return as if he had any chance. He growled low in his throat, stepping from the front of the 'bus' towards his elder brother who seemed so nonchalant about riding inside of a beast like this.

"Are you certain we shouldn't just walk, brother?" He had made his way to the side entrance into the catbus, but his focus remained at the head end. The showing respect thing? Well, fear was respect in their world, and he lowered his chin just a touch after Maul's instructions. "If this beast takes us to the dining table of the Fanged God, I will be annoyed. I want to see so much more." Which apparently now included riding in a sentient bus of fur and limbs. Fine. He stepped on board tentatively, and the interior was more familiar. This remained an eye opening experience.

[survivalthroughhate]

"No. Just be yourself." Savage's natural quiet nature and tendency to loom in the background would work to their advantage as Maul made plans to gain more power in this place. "But don't be afraid to strike out on your own." Savage wasn't usually one to take initiative but perhaps that would all be part of finding his own potential while being here.

"If we could, I would have already had us doing so. Alas, home is on that floating island up there." He pointed to where Never Fade stood in the sky. Perhaps he should have mentioned that at some point before Savage had gotten on the catbus? Oh well. It was too late now. The catbus was already taking off with all his passengers on board, moving swiftly over the terrain and beginning to leap up to a higher point.

Maul made sure to be seated as soon as the bus began to move given how he already knew from experience that it would jostle back and forth in a dramatic fashion. "We'll be fine. The catbus has never crashed yet." Maul wasn't even sure he could given how powerful of a god he was.

[opress]

Just be himself. That was easy; he literally had to stand there at Maul's elbow and let his brother do the talking. He nodded his head, agreeing to his elder brother's instruction, expecting that it would be done and they would begin Maul's new conquest for this place slowly and subtly. He had considerable to learn in that regard.

He looked out the 'window' towards the floating island, as if waiting to see some sort of connection between the two that would allow them to simply climb to the next place. That was short lived as the catbus took off and Savage had not taken a seat nor decided on a hand-hold either. He flew backwards, crashing into a furry seat and grabbing onto a handle and looking comically like he was flapping with the motion of the bus.

Anger and embarrassment fueled him as he set his feet back on the 'floor' and gripped the handle-hold with both, glaring at his brother for the lack of warning about how chaotic this ride was going to be. Of course, it was better now. "Perhaps it has never crashed because everyone inside is concussed or too badly injured to make a protest."

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul didn't even bother to hide the smirk that was on his face when Savage went flying. "You're a Nightbrother. You have a hard head," Maul said in a teasing fashion, clearly having enjoyed his little brother's loss of dignity. "You'll be fine."

The catbus moved swiftly over the terrain, leaping high and landing on the treetops before making even higher leaps that were almost like flying. Some of them caused him to land on low-hanging clouds and others on nothing but air pockets but both helped to bring the catbus closer to their destination. "You might want to hold on tight," Maul said as the catbus went flying high up in the air and begun his descent down towards where the bus stop was located on the flying island. He'd gotten used to the daily commute of the bus god but knew it was going to take Savage a bit longer. Until then, there was going to be much teasing to be had.

[opress]

He would not deny that his skull was extra thick by virtue of his species. Born and developing horns using for goring required certain bone supports, but that didn't mean he couldn't or wouldn't be concussed from flying around this beast of transportation. Maul's amusement at his ill-preparedness also didn't help with his mood. "I'll let you experience how hard my head is when I concuss you with it."

Of course, he had a grip on a hand-hold but stubbornly remained on his feet to learn how to move with the creature. There was a lot of bouncing motions, though he would admit that they were moving rather swiftly to wherever they needed to go. His grip tightened at the large leaps, and he maintained his feet which had to be spread further apart to keep his balance. "I am holding on tightly. I won't fall or lose my balance." That was a considerable declaration to make given how this catbus was moving, but he'd use the Force if he had to.

[survivalthroughhate]

“You may try,” Maul told Savage in a gleeful tone that told him Maul didn’t think he was going to succeed in that particular endeavor. Still, it was nice to be able to spend a moment joking with his brother. So much of their time together had been spent in serious situations, many of them life-or-death. It was a nice change of pace to be able to act like a pair of normal brothers.

Maul struggled not to laugh at his brother’s stubborn insistence on remaining on his feet while the catbus traveled. Finally, he skidded to a stop, and a door opened up on his side to let out the passengers within. “We have arrived. Come, Savage,” he told the other Zabrak. Once he got outside, a curious pair of goats approached. One was a rather ominous-looking black goat who seemed like he would have fit in well with the fauna of Dathomir. The other was one Maul hadn’t seen before. “In Never Fade, everyone has a goat guide that will show them around. The big black one is Titus Andronicus. He is mine. The other one must be yours.”

[opress]

There was relief on his expression when the ride finally came to a blessed end and he didn't have to cling to the pole and work the entire trip to keep his feet on the floor. To save face thanks to his brother's mirth at his predicament - and baffled Maul was amused by so much - he was second off the catbus and all the more thankful for his feet on the solid ground.

He came to a stop when they were approached by strange prey animals, glaring at them. He looked that the black goat then his brother and shrugged; it did seem the match if he squinted. The other strange white goat stared at him with its strange prey eyes and offered a bleat of greeting as if recognizing him for the first time. "Did you name the strange beast or it comes with a name, brother?" It seemed to him that these would be better for supper than to have them be shown around, but he wagered that starting off his trip here killing a goat might not be wise. He looked to follow Maul's lead instead. "Does it go where we want it to or just follows us?"

[survivalthroughhate]

"I named the beast. It comes from a particular Earth tale which I am quite fond of. Full of mutilations, death, and suffering for the main character. It seemed appropriate for such a noble looking beast, don't you think?" Then again Maul was biased as to how magnificent Titus Andronicus was as a goat.

"Oh, they will follow us about but also sometimes guide us to where we need to go. Be prepared, if you do not obey yours, she may butt you with those horns." Maul had been fine with Titus doing it since all it left was a few dents in his metal legs and figured with Savage being the size of a small tree, he'd be fine with it too. "Come, they shall probably follow us home. Do know that sometimes you might awaken to find one of them in the room simply silently staring at you as they watch you sleep. It is a normal occurrence here."

[opress]

Savage stared at their apparent new companion, and he was not particularly impressed. However, Maul was confident with the beast of his, so he supposed that there was no reason to doubt the importance of a prey animal wandering around. "I suppose. I don't know many, if any, human tales." He stared at the goat, and it stared right back at him, finally wandering up to rub those twisted horns on one of his knees as if assuring him of the correctness of Maul's instructions.

"Feral then," he said simply as a way of naming the beast. The description did match some of what their little brother would do when they were young with the headbutting and staring, though Feral tended to follow him around rather than the other way around. He didn't have many names or tales to draw from for inspiration, and it was fitting their gentler younger brother was held in memory as a goat.

He nodded his head, stepping around the white goat so that they could continue on their way. It did appear that there was a lot to learn from Maul about this place, but he would be keen to be instructed so he would walk this path that he had chosen. "It is no different than hunting parties with watches then. Or sometimes those Death Watch humans would stare while I slept."

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul made no comment on the choice of name Savage had given his goat guide. But he knew why. Their little brother’s death would forever weigh on Savage’s mind, even though they both knew he’d had no choice in the matter. Maul would never understand why their mother had been forced to give up one son’s life in order to bring the other home and any answers to that question had gone to the grave with Mother Talzin.

“No, not much different at all,” Maul told Savage as they walked towards where his windmill home lay at. “The people here for the most part are friendly enough, though as always there are a few idiots who should have been culled from the herd a long time ago.”

They came to the windmill and Maul led him inside. The goats, of course, followed. Paradoxically to the exterior, the interior seemed much bigger and almost as though it was underground. Still, it was a cozy space, and one that held an aura of being safe.

[opress]

For the most part, Savage went about ignoring the strange prey animal he had just named. He was far more keen to follow his elder brother and learn what he could from him about this place and what it was that he needed to do to thrive. He was not the best in social situations, which was helped along by having an elder brother who was perfectly content to chew the scenery and fill the air with a diatribe of speeches. For all that Darth Sidious was the worst Master, he could see that his brother was well-trained on many aspects that he never would be. Or at least, Darth Tyranus could have but they had parted ways before that could be accomplished.

He walked and listened, nodding his head and issuing low noises in acknowledgement. "Have you culled anyone from this herd yet, brother?" He wanted to know if there would be similar consequences of them having to go on the run mostly. He knew that if his temper was stoked that he would be hard pressed not to murder someone. "Otherwise, I don't care about people being friendly. They all have a purpose to serve." Just as Maul had taught him.

He stepped inside the windmill, ducking his head to avoid cracking his forehead or horns on the door frame. He stopped to look around the place, at its large size and then simply accepted it without question. Feral the goat nudged the back of his knees with curled horns, and he growled as he walked further inside. "You live here? Did you take it by force from someone else?" It was... a nice place honestly.

[survivalthroughhate]

"Not yet. Murder tends to be frowned upon here and I have preferred to keep a low profile instead of stirring up trouble." Then he smirked. "But there is always a possibility in the future of it happening."

"Just interact with them once in a while so you can gather up spoons. You never know when you might need to summon something to your side." The way Maul had slowly been growing his menagerie of animals yet again. Some things never changed.

Maul took Savage on a tour of his home, showing him all the different aspects of it, including the amount of spare bedrooms that were there. He didn't offer any suggestions as to whether or not Savage would like to take any of them. Privately, he hoped his brother would share a bed with him again. "No. I searched for near on a month to find a suitable home for myself. When I found this, I knew it was the one I wanted."