soddersays | Yearbook Meme

He asked you not to?

[ For real? This seems...... suspicious...... ]

Something about making a pact with someone so the two of you share the body.

[So apparently he hadn't been paying that much attention at the time. Sue him. Peter is a dreadfully boring human being and Maul is far more focused on Paimon most of the time.]

[ The pact with Luna? Holy shit... So Paimon actually is...... respecting that? ]

....Oh. Oh, yeah, that.... that's a thing.

[ So eloquent, is Peter Graham. Does this mean he doesn't have to be as afraid of Maul? Possibly. Will he still continue to be? Absolutely. Because he doesn't trust Paimon further than he can throw him (which is not at all, since the creepy fucker is, of course, inside of his body. ]

I didn't know you guys.... demons, I mean.... would actually.... honour stuff like that. [ He absolutely thinks Maul is a demon, too. ]

[If Peter ever has to wonder why Maul isn't inclined to give him the time of day or do so much as properly learn his name, he only has to look at his own dumbass nature as to why.

As for remaining afraid of Maul, well, he might be a dumbass but at least he has a healthy dose of fear, which is always a good thing when approaching the Dark Lord of the Sith.]

Simply because one follows the darkness doesn't mean that pacts and promises cannot be honored.

[Oh yes, he's not gonna be dissuading Peter of the idea he's a demon anytime soon. At his core, Maul's far more demonic than some actual demons in Deerington are.]

[ Somewhere in him, Paimon is offended that Peter would doubt his honouring the pact with The Witch. He really is a dumbass, the worst. Though he is his "fated" host... so Paimon's not giving up on him just yet. Maybe he can be taught. And if anyone can help Paimon prep his young vessel towards being a more manageable, fine host for him, he thinks Maul can.

......Which should be fine. Really. ]

Oh. [ Cue some surprised blinking at that. ] Well. I um. I'm... glad to hear that. The... pact he made, with... with her, I'm glad he's following it. [ Luna had, after all, made a huge sacrifice for him. ]

...I mean, this is my body. So. He shouldn't forget that. [ There's a daring rare little bit of resentment he allows to touch the surface of him. ]

Be glad I didn't tell him to break it. I'm sure he'd listen to me.

[Maul, no, stop putting ideas like that into the boy's head. He's already neurotic and anxious enough without you casting doubts on the idea Paimon might grow tired of the concept of sharing.

As for Peter standing up for himself, what he gets in response is a withering glance of contempt from Maul and words completely full of scorn.]

He should? And what meaningful things have you done with it so far that should warrant you wanting it back solely to yourself?

[ ......Okay yeah that's definitely a worry. Because as much as he trusts Luna's abilities and how much Paimon clearly is... creepily attached to her, he has no idea how this stuff works? If Maul is some kind of demon, Paimon might be compelled to listen to him over Luna? Peter's swallowing, visibly shaken by the concept. ]

I— I don't— I don't know. It's just... I mean it's just mine. That should be.... enough. [ But he doesn't sound so sure. ]

If you have to steal a body from someone else....... that's wrong. Isn't it?

What one considers right and wrong is a very subjective thing and dependent upon the individual's point-of-view.

[The same rhetoric ~~read: bullshit~~ that Sidious had fed him his entire life until he'd ended up believing it. Even now, some of his old teachings are hard to shake.]

From what I understand, Paimon cannot exist in a body of his own. Maybe he had as little choice in the matter as you did.

[Seriously, if Maul had to choose to take over someone's body, he definitely wouldn't have picked some dumbass teenage pothead. It makes him wonder how much choice Paimon had in the matter, something he intends to ask his acolyte the next time he's the dominant one.]

[ That..... makes sense. An uncomfortable amount of sense. The boy's pausing, seeming to really be thinking about that. ]

Okay, that's true... [ Peter, no..... ]

....But even if he didn't have any choice or whatever, it's not fair that he just gets to take over my life.

[ .....Except maybe it is fair, considering what Peter did and what he deserves. So he doesn't sound all too passionate about his claims. In fact, he's... hesitating, apprehensive but clearly wanting to ask something. After a pause in which he works up his nerve, he does. ]

....The type of demon you are, do you..... punish people? For their... sins and stuff like that.

Fair? Since when is life fair? My boy, if you still have that sad delusion, I am here to tell you life has never been fair and is not about to make an exception for you.

[He can tell he's having an effect on the teen, warping his thinking. It's so easy to do Seth individuals that are already broken.

He pauses, but for once, it's not because he's thinking of what to say. Maul's just doing this for the effect he know he'll have on the boy.]

Much as what I just spoke about life holds true for punishment as well. Many good, honest, innocent people have died by my hands who didn't deserve it. But so have many wicked, cruel individuals the galaxy was better off without.

[He fixes Peter with an unblinking stare.]

What have you done which is so terrible as to deserve punishment?

So should I just..... let him do it? Be okay letting some.... thing live inside me like I'm some open house?

[ He's not raising his voice, still docile, nervous — but he can't help voicing this. For over a year now, Peter's lived with the knowledge that something else is alive inside of him, and he hasn't... really gone against that. He's swallowed everything down and he's a bit overdue to be upset about it, in all honestly.

Maul's answer definitely isn't exactly comforting, which isn't really a surprise, but Peter looks a little disturbed all the same. And consequently, the question clearly has an effect on the teen; Peter flinches from it, looks away. ]

.....Someone's.. dead, because of me. [ He's a killer. So maybe it is all justice. He took a life, now something's taking his life. ]

[There's something in Peter's wording that makes him wonder if it was an accident or some other horrible circumstance that had caused the death of the one he was talking about. Peter hardly seems like he'd ever have the wherewithal to be able to kill someone. And after all, wasn't Savage dead because of him, though Maul had not and never would have killed his brother.

But he was hardly going to try and console the boy that it wasn't his fault. No, Maul was going to use his obvious guilt to his advantage, manipulating the teenager the same way Sidious had always done to him.]

Considering what you've done, you should know the obvious answer is that you have no room to protest. You're a murderer and deserve everything that has happened to you. It is only just to be punished this way.

[Having hooked him, it was time to reel Peter in.]

There is nothing you can do that will ever help you find atonement. To be a servant for a being of higher power with your own life shunted to the side is nothing more than what you deserve.

Edited 2020-12-25 07:21 (UTC)

[ Listening to Maul is like.... listening to Peter's own internal voice. The voice that's been inside of him all this time, telling him he's wrong and guilty and deserves to be eaten away by some darkness. Now that voice stands before him in the very suiting form of what Peter thinks of as demon, and all the boy can do is stare, eyes wide, mouth slightly opened. His expression is.... visibly wounded (Maul's words are a clawed finger pressing into not-quite-healed over wounds, slicing them open again, and it bleeds. It hurts).

But the words aren't a shock to hear. It's startling to hear someone say them out loud to him, but he's been well-acquainted with these words for a long time, now.

'You're a murderer and deserve everything that has happened to you.'

And he's right about the atonement, too. Peter knows that. Maybe some small part of him has wondered if there's any hope for... forgiveness, but he knows deep down there isn't. How could there be? Anyone who could forgive him are.... gone. His family are all gone, every single one. And his mother.... she wouldn't have forgiven him no matter what; she couldn't. It's her voice that the one inside of him often shifts to, scathing and hurting and hating him. ('I can't accept. And I can't forgive.')

Peter blinks against a swell of tears that glisten his eyes, and nods with a soft, shuddering breath. The demon before him is right, and Peter's acknowledging that he's right. That's all he can do. He won't fight against it, just as he really doesn't fight against the demon inside of him. This is what he deserves. ]

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