Inbox (Deer Country)

[opress]

[ Text | Voice | Video ]

Comments

[opress]

You're strange.

[Which is and continues to be the basis of 'not knowing what to say to something that might be a compliment but have to say something'.]

Don't you just kick soil for vegetables and talk about how great it is to be a Jedi?

[ezra_of_lothal]

The strange part isn't news.

Don't talk trash about Jedi and I won't feel like I have to argue about it.

...that's not at all how gardening works.

And, you know what, I'll amend my previous statement about non-lethal. I've hunted for food before. Add hunting non-sapients for food to the list of activities.

[opress]

When the Jedi stop trying to kill me or change me to something that suits them, I'll stop talking trash about them.

Whatever. Throw other plants in dirt, make sure soil is wet and if you're lucky, something will grow.

[His gardening experience is literally bleeding into the dirt to get a Dathomirian plant which he keeps inside.]

You'd go hunting with me?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra isn't making any promises about that first part. He'd still try to stop outright murder and every conversation with Savage just seems to reinforce that the Zabrak is deeply unhappy. Ezra is too empathetic to not be upset by that.]

Yeah. I'd go hunting with you.

[opress]

I would accept that.

[He liked hunting, and it was actually one of the few activities that he preferred to do with another person or a group.]

[ezra_of_lothal]

Cool. Then we'll do that. Let me know when you want company.

[opress]

I hunt every day for blood crazed beasts, but I hunt for food every two days or so. Accompany me on food hunting.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Oh good, he doesn't have to argue about not going beast hunting. He knows beasts can, at least sometimes, come back to their senses. So between that and the risk of corruption, he's got some ethical and practical qualms about actively hunting them.]

What time of day and where do you want to meet up?

[opress]

I hunt for food in the forests of Shiver or around the Sanguine Station. I head out either before dawn or dusk.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Either place is fine with me. Before dawn fits my usual schedule better.

[opress]

Fine. Meet me on the Stone Path as the sun is rising in two days. We'll hunt then.

Action

[survivalthroughhate]

[At the start of the month, Maul came down one morning, and sat down next to his brother at the kitchen table after he pulled out a container of meat from the fridge. He gnawed on bits and pieces of it as he spoke.]

There is something I have been meaning to ask you, brother.

[opress]

[Savage was far more of a morning person than Maul, so he was generally up much earlier than his brother. He used such time to review the network, even if he might not reply. It was his opportunity to practice the words that people wrote and convert them to sound when he couldn't figure out a word pronounciation.

Yet, when Maul appeared on that morning, he shut off his OMNI and leaned back in the chair. He watched his brother, keeping it cool as he always liked to.

Instead of answering, he made a noise in his throat to welcome his brother to continue. Then he reached out to steal a strip of meat to chew on.]

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul chewed and swallowed the current bite of meat he was on before he spoke.]

Have you heard of the bonds that can be formed between people here?

[In everything that had happened over the last two months to Maul, he'd meant to have this conversation with his brother and just kept putting it off until later. Well, later had turned into now, so here they were.]

[opress]

I have. A bunch of people doing a night ritual and placing their hands on each other.

[He glanced at his brother out of the corner of his eye. He had noted some time ago that hand prints had began to appear on his brother's skin. Who they were he didn't know, but he could guess what they meant based on their location.]

Wu had one on his face for his mate. Who do those you have belong to?

text | un: kd6-3.7

[obeir]

[ Trench is full of surprises. After the complicated feelings that arose from knowing of Savage and Dirk's association in prior months, he never could have guessed that he'd find Savage's company as agreeable as he had. The dire circumstances surrounding their meeting maybe hadn't been ideal, but it had been good to meet him on emotionally neutral ground and in a manner completely unrelated to Dirk, so things wouldn't be too clouded by those complicated feelings.

And now K's in the completely unexpected position of... wanting to follow up on that meeting. They'd gotten along. Savage has interesting insight and opinions. There's undeniable parallels between their lived experiences, and the android is curious to know more. There's probably no harm in at least seeing where this might go. He won't force his presence on anyone who doesn't want it, but he's willing to initiate contact. ]

Hey. It's K. [ If his user name didn't give it away... ] I lost track of you when I was pulled down into the catacombs. Did you make it out of that "game" all right?

Voice; un: ...

[opress]

[Savage was often taken aback on the very rare occasion someone actually texted him. For one, few did contact him and he was fine with that. Two, he didn't read well, though he had been practicing daily to improve his skills at it. Third, why would the droid be contacting him? He hadn't hated the androids company, and their discussion had been oddly refreshing.

He just hadn't thought that they would speak again except potentially running into one another on another one of Trench's adventures. It reminded him a little of Dirk randomly contacting him, though he didn't have the same very odd, very flirty and very obscene conversation topics with K.

He could reply in text, but it would take him awhile. His reading was better than his writing these days, and it would just take more time than necessary.]

Of course. A few broken bones could hardly stop me. Were you injured in the catacombs? That place was a tight squeeze in places. [There had also been cursed gold and that had been extremely disappointing to find out.]

→ [video]

[obeir]

[ The response coming as voice is a little surprising until K remembers — right, that seems to be how Savage prefers communicating on the network. After a moment he switches over to video and the screen will show him sat at a piano, since his Omni is propped on the back of it, in a room dimly lit with candles. The wide windows lining the wall behind him glow with the foggy green moonlight of Trench's perpetual night. He continues playing quietly as he answers. ]

I was fine. [ Mostly. ] Helped a few other people I ran into. There was this massive fire, a huge pit, a puzzle room that filled with blood... [ He shakes his head as he trails off. It was definitely a Time and he still isn't sure what purpose most of the challenges really served. Testing how perceptive or gullible Sleepers are? ]

It could definitely be a tight fit with those narrow passageways. Wouldn't be surprised if that's what got some people. [ Such as seven foot tall Zabraks, possibly. He glances up at the Omni screen. ] How'd you do down there?

[Voice]

[opress]

[Musical instruments were far more rudimentary on Dathomir, but he had been exposed to music well beyond his own culture when traveling the galaxy and even in Deerington. He recognized the instrument as a piano but not the song itself.]

Yes. Plenty of hallways and a lake of black glass and a room full of treasures. [He liked the room of treasures, probably too much. It had landed him in trouble, but honestly having a touch of gold hadn't seemed that terrible at first. Then a nightmare.] I found an illusion of exit that turned into flesh eating fungus. People are reckless in that one.

[Some portions of the cave were quite claustrophobic.] I saved a bunch of humans from themselves. Mostly new people to Trench.

[obeir]

[ That last description has a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He can definitely relate to it. ]

Sounds like you've been practising some altruism yourself. [ Which isn't as surprising as it probably should be. K does tend to see the good in those who struggle to see it in themselves. ] Saving humans from themselves. If that doesn't sum up the Trench experience.

[ As well as the Deerington experience. Not that it sounds like he minds. A few of those humans are counted among his good friends, and he likes to think they'd do the same for him if he ever needs the help. Martin Blackwood in particular had always come through for him, no matter the circumstances... truly a shame the man had chosen to return to his doomed homeworld. K still misses him. ]

The room full of treasure, I didn't see that one. [ The treasure wouldn't have had much of an effect on him, so it could be that he bypassed it completely unaware... ] What sort of trap was that?

[opress]

It would be a waste of perfectly good meat for them to die in that place. [That was altruism, right? He'd used the word once while he was in the labyrinth of catacombs, even if he had butchered speaking it. Nightbrothers were usually not altruistic, not even with each other.] Humans seem to consider themselves at their best when they are in trouble or escaping it.

[Savage had no issue killing humans as much as he cared little about saving them. He simply knew that living in a primarily human society meant that he couldn't just walk around kicking them off buildings or being too rough with them on a daily basis. He didn't need another bounty on his head and this place was uppity enough about his brother's behaviour.]

There was an overwhelming urge to take it, but it bestowed the curse that everything touched would turn to gold. Credits don't have much value here, but the gold was annoying too. [He had completely been enraptured by the treasure, and he hadn't resisted touching it. He'd survived the experience at least.]

Blood seems to be the currency of most value anyway. Did they give you a blood type in this place?

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul spoke of each hand print, pointing at the corresponding ones where they were now etched into his skin.]

This one belongs to Wesker. After all the two of us have been through together, we agreed to form a familial one. [And Savage out of everyone in Trench knew just how seriously Maul took family. Anyone who was considered among them now had his wholehearted support no matter what they did, all the way up to and including outright murder.]

Kenobi agreed to one with me as well. With how complicated things have always been with us, it seemed appropriate. [There was no better way to establish the fact the two of them would always be connected in their lives than with a bond that let them literally feel what the other one was feeling physically.]

The last was with Skywalker. [Maul smirked.] He didn't want it but I forced it upon him once I learned doing so would allow me to be able to use some of his power.

[opress]

[He hadn't met Wesker, but now he intended to with that one being considered so close as to be family. There was no jealousy within him; brothers were brothers no matter where they came from or the story that they told. He grew up in a community of harsh brotherhood, and yes he had cared for Feral above all the others - and he had his rivals - but he had never thought any of the Nightbrothers less than that. So who was this new brother to their family? He wanted to know.]

Wesker... Where do I find him? I want to see this brother for myself.

[He nodded about the other two, aware that they made sense given the limited knowledge he had about the bonds. He was a touch surprised Kenobi had agreed to one given the rich and bloody history between Kenobi and his brother. Those two had come far then or at least his brother had worn the Jedi down enough to agree.

He snorted from his nostrils at forcing a bond on Skywalker. It wasn't a surprise.] There you've gone and stirred up the bane back's nest all over again. I doubt it will come down to a physical fight when all realize it.

[He, of course, bonded with no one. He wasn't close enough to willingly engage in giving parts of himself to another, and he had a Force-bond with Maul already. It wasn't his priority.]

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul seemed very pleased Savage wanted to meet Wesker. He knew even more than himself, Savage understood that brothers weren't always necessarily bound by ties just of blood. He and Wesker had been through a lot together and so Maul was proud to have another brother in his life again.]

You can find him often in Lumenwood at a blood minister clinic. I am sure he will be glad to meet you.

[Maul himself had been surprised when Kenobi agreed to a bond with him. But perhaps he'd finally said the right thing in order to make Obi-Wan understand what he meant to him. Or maybe he really had gotten the poor man worn down.

He did grin at the mention of what he'd done with Skywalker. Maul couldn't help but cause chaos no matter where he went. He was just that particular brand of terrible.]

He'll whine and complain that life is so unfair to him as he usually does. But it won't change anything. His power is now at my fingertips and I intend to use it.

[Then Maul paused, looking a touch uncomfortable. Now they came to the heart of the matter. This shouldn't have been that awkward given he was talking with his own brother but for some reason it still was. Finally, he just spoke. Savage had always been blunt and forthright with him, so it was logical he would do the same.]

Would you undergo a family bond with me?

[obeir]

[ A waste of good meat...? That makes K pause in his playing as he stares at the Omni screen for a long moment, looking almost amused before he resumes playing again. ]

Can't imagine eating them. Who knows where they've been? [ Because that is clearly the biggest concern when it comes to eating humans, the risk of disease. But, to be fair, it isn't as though it would be cannibalism for either of them. That sort of shifts the moral aspects.

Sometimes Savage's bluntness is... weirdly charming and kind of hilarious. K relates to it. It's also refreshing to not always have to wonder if someone is saying one thing while actually meaning something else — the head games some people here like to play can get tiring. ]

Blood, trade, and labour. The latter two are how I get by. [ Because he has already had enough of his blood spilled for humans while being treated like a commodity. ] Too bad about the gold, though. I think it could have some limited uses here.

I'm a Coldblood — the one with elemental abilities. [ Which he demonstrates by lifting a hand into view of the screen, diminutive crackling arcs of lightning passing between his fingers. It's a level of control he's only been able to achieve thanks to John Constantine mentoring him. ] What about you?