The reason is that you can't actually get better until you do that. It's like... it's like a chain around your leg. You're never going to get anywhere while it's weighing you down.
I'm not sure you really want me to do that. Excluding all the things you've already told me you did back home, need I remind you of all the dumb things that you did when you and Fern were in the process of figuring out your feelings for one another?
[Yep, Maul's going for the low-hanging fruit of the idiocy that was teenage romance.]
[Maul just smiles, clearly having fun messing with Varian. He can’t help it. Teenagers are young and dumb and given the way things go around here, he’ll take the amusement he can find where he gets it.]
At least you can be rest assured I don’t give up easily.
[He’d had that molded into part of his personality from the time he was young. To give up on a task meant punishment, death, or worse. Even now, Maul doesn’t quit when he’s set out to do something, whether that’s a simple task or a quest that might take a lifetime. Bad when doing things like getting revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi, good when trying to change his evil ways.]
Good. My stubbornness has kept me alive more than a time or two when I otherwise would have given up and I know it is the same for you.
[Maul closes his eyes and when he speaks again it’s clear he’s quoting someone.]
You’re strong and you will survive. [He still doesn’t open his eyes as he adds on:] That was the only thing he ever told me that had even a speck of kindness within it.
[Maul doesn’t even have to say who the ‘he’ being mentioned refers to.]
And even then he didn’t mean it kindly. It was merely stating fact. He knew I was too stubborn and angry to die no matter what he put me through.
It sure is! It gets me through a lot of tough spaces. It...also, admittedly, puts me into a lot of dangerous spaces too, but that's beside the point.
[He can tell Maul is quoting something important and he does his best to pay attention. He knows who Maul is speaking of pretty quickly, and something uneasy twists in his stomach. ]
Of course, he didn't, he was just...awful. He's right, you are strong and you'll survive, but...but you'll do it because of your own choices nothing he can take credit for. He doesn't deserve that credit.
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countryclub2021-08-09 05:25 pm
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[Is it, Varian? Is it really incorrect?]
The reason is that you can't actually get better until you do that. It's like... it's like a chain around your leg. You're never going to get anywhere while it's weighing you down.
DW, y u no give me tags???
[Rude, Maul. R U D E.]
I've told you about how I feel about my chains.
[Namely that he still hasn't found a good way to break the ones holding him back in his mind given they're familiar to him now.]
roooood
[He's just gonna call your bluff, Uncle. ]
Yes, you have, and I stand by what I said about them. Just keep testing them.
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[Yep, Maul's going for the low-hanging fruit of the idiocy that was teenage romance.]
I do my best and that's all one can ask for.
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...No. You don't need to do that.
[So rude, uncle. So very, very rude.]
I know. And I do appreciate that you're trying at all.
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[Maul just smiles, clearly having fun messing with Varian. He can’t help it. Teenagers are young and dumb and given the way things go around here, he’ll take the amusement he can find where he gets it.]
At least you can be rest assured I don’t give up easily.
[He’d had that molded into part of his personality from the time he was young. To give up on a task meant punishment, death, or worse. Even now, Maul doesn’t quit when he’s set out to do something, whether that’s a simple task or a quest that might take a lifetime. Bad when doing things like getting revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi, good when trying to change his evil ways.]
no subject
Oh, trust me, I learned that one a long time ago. You're probably more stubborn than I am, which is really saying something.
[He says it (mostly) affectionately, though.]
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[Maul closes his eyes and when he speaks again it’s clear he’s quoting someone.]
You’re strong and you will survive. [He still doesn’t open his eyes as he adds on:] That was the only thing he ever told me that had even a speck of kindness within it.
[Maul doesn’t even have to say who the ‘he’ being mentioned refers to.]
And even then he didn’t mean it kindly. It was merely stating fact. He knew I was too stubborn and angry to die no matter what he put me through.
no subject
[He can tell Maul is quoting something important and he does his best to pay attention. He knows who Maul is speaking of pretty quickly, and something uneasy twists in his stomach. ]
Of course, he didn't, he was just...awful. He's right, you are strong and you'll survive, but...but you'll do it because of your own choices nothing he can take credit for. He doesn't deserve that credit.
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[Whatever Deerington is trying to prove by making them go through this all.]
....I hope so. I hope that what I have accomplished has all been on my own and never with his help.
[But he doesn't sound too confident as to whether or not that is so.]
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[He offers Maul a smile.]
Exactly. He didn't make who you're trying to be now. You're choosing that for yourself, and that's stronger than anything. Try...try to remember that.
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[Maul glances around. It seems like their time here in this funeral setting is finally coming to a close.]
I think we have accomplished whatever this place was meant to bring out in us.
[Another one of the "group therapy sessions" as Maul is starting to refer to them as.]
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[Varian nods.]
Yeah, looks it. Let's...get out of where while we still can.