Maul was trying to figure out just what had happened. Really, he'd been fine with the usual kind of horror Trench had thrown at him thus far, but what he hadn't counted on was apparently a girl who was able to charm even a fearsome stallion. This was just one bizarre thing too many to happen to him recently and his tattooed brow furrowed in confusion as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

His mouth hung open and one could practically see the question marks that would have been hovering around Maul's head were he in a cartoon as he saw Snow White just go right up to the giant beast and immediately act like they were best friends. Then when she invited him over, his mind just collapsed under all that confusion. Okay, sure, why not, yes this was happening now.

He moved forward cautiously, ready to jump onto a nearby rooftop if the Nightmare Steed decided to gore him like he had looked like he was going to initially. He glanced at Snow, still very confused. "Is this something you do.....often?" But this almost seemed like a stupid question given all the animals she had around her at present.

Maul noted the big beast ate meat distantly in a part of his mind that was still able to process what was going on around him. Well, he wasn't surprised something that vicious and with such aggression would be a carnivore. Also he was almost alarmed to hear there was a Nightmare Steed even bigger than this one roaming the streets, one that apparently this young girl had also befriended.

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.

The way she was talking about them made a question come into his mind but first things first. He wasn't at all surprised to hear her name was Snow White given what his own was. "My name is Darth Maul." He paused. "So can you....understand the animals then?" He glanced dubiously at the Nightmare Steed, wondering if it would bite him if he tried to put a hand on him.

"Can everyone understand animals where you are from?" Maul asked, still unsure of what to make of Snow. Was she really as sweet and friendly as she seemed? Or was this all just some sort of act to get him to lower his guard?

Since the horse was allowing Snow to pet it, Maul reached up a tentative hand to see if it would allow him, only to end up quickly pulling it back when the stallion snapped at him with lightning speed. He hastily examined his fingers to make sure all five of them were still there. The stallion had been so quick it looked like he might have been missing part of the claw on his middle finger. Yikes. Looked like the Nightmare Steed's goodwill only extended as far as Snow White herself.

He glared at the horse and the horse glared back, pawing at the street a few times with one of his dinner-plate sized hooves, creating a grim scraping sound. Oh, if he wanted to throw down, Maul was more than willing to! He was going to go right up to grab him by the nose if he tried to bite him again and show him who who was boss.

"Ah. An ability unique to yourself. Interesting. Is this something one can learn? Or an innate talent?" He was betting on the latter, because if everyone could talk to animals, he knew of at least a few people in Trench who would have already been taking advantage of it. For instance, Obi-Wan sprung to mind.

Maul's mouth dropped open again seeing such a fearsome beast be scolded by a girl about a twentieth of his size and actually looking contrite over it. This entire experiencing was getting stranger and strange. He wondered if this was still reality or some weird alternate zone cooked up by one of the Pthumerians. "Yes. Adorable. That's the word for it." Though he thought bizarre might have been a better turn of phrase given these giant Nightmare Steeds became as tame as tabby cats around Snow.

"I did. I was curious about what such a steed would be like." Maul pointed a finger, still glaring at the stallion. "If you bite me again, I will bite you back," Maul said, baring his own sharp teeth. The black horse actually seemed to respond to that better than any of the hesitancy Maul had shown around it thus far, snorting in response as if acknowledging him.

"Ah. That does make sense. I was surrounded by nothing but droids for several of my early years." Honestly, he's wondering if Snow's life wasn't very happy. The whole reason Maul had even been surrounded by droids taking care of him is because he was isolated and lonely on a hellscape planet. All he ever saw for years on end was his master.

"Hmmmm, he likes crab does he?" Maul made note of that. It didn't surprise him that such a big, fearsome beast might like to eat crabs that were also capable of eating people in large numbers. "I'm sure I can get some for him." Maybe the big beast would be less likely to chomp on him if it had a belly full of crab meat?

He reached out a hand again, this time with no hesitancy. The stallion gave him the evil eye but allowed himself to be touched now that Maul was showing less fear. Maul was surprised at how soft his fur was. Something that looked this ominous seemed like it would have coarse fur but apparently that wasn't the case. "I'll get you some crab and then you won't need to take any bites out of me. Alright?"

"A droid is a robot--" But what if she didn't know what a robot was either? "--like an artificial person created from metal and wires. When my master wasn't around, which was often, the droids were my only caretakers." They hadn't been cruel, for the most part, but neither had they been warm or affectionate to a young, scared boy who was craving love and kindness in his life.

Maul was unruffled by the stallion's hot breath on his face. He was going to find a way to get on his good side. If a cheery little waif surrounded by animals could do, he certainly could!

He hesitated for a moment as he thought before he nodded. "Alright. Let us then."

"Some are nice and some are not, much like flesh-and-blood people are." Sidious had just deliberately made sure that the ones watching over Maul were cold and distant, not caring about the little Zabrak child who had cried himself to sleep more nights than he wanted to think about.

"I suppose it depends upon the droid in question." He was as fond of them as he was of everyone else he met, which meant not very given Maul's natural personality. Maul blinked in surprise at what Snow White told him. That....sounded like an oddly familiar tale to his ears given his own lonely upbringing. "Why did the queen forbid people from talking to you? Did you have no siblings or parents?"

The idea of a parent treating their child cruelly resonated very deeply with Maul for obvious reasons given how his own childhood with Sidious had gone. What surprised him is that Snow had such a sunny, cheery personality if her stepmother had done things like punish people for daring just to talk to her.

"I understand. My adoptive father....he was a very cold, cruel man." He normally didn't share even that much with people he'd just met but Snow seemed very sweet and innocent. It was hard to imagine someone like that using anything he told her against him later on. "It left me with a lot of anger in my hearts."

That was the understatement of the century but Maul wasn't about to launch into the details of his sad life right off the bat with the girl.

There was a twitch that ran through Maul when Snow placed her hand on his arm. Anyone else he would have gruffly pushed them off at best and broken their fingers at worst given his dislike of contact with other people. But given the touchy-feely way she'd acted with the animals around them, Maul just assumed she was this way with everyone.

There was a strange look in Maul's eyes as he stared at Snow. "I...never thought of things like that before." In his own galaxy, he'd been afraid to be happy, knowing that Sidious could and frequently did take it away just to make his apprentice miserable. But he was far away and would eventually die if what Luke had told him was true. So perhaps he could dare to be happy here without having to worry. "I'm not so sure about that. My father-- there is nothing in him that is loving or kind and never has been. I think he has always been that way." Given Sidious had killed his entire family when he was young in his mad quest for power, there was nothing he wouldn't do in order to become the most powerful Sith ever to rule in the galaxy.

Maul's brow crinkles as he thinks of what he likes to do. "Well, I tend to fight people when I am upset." It gets all his foul energies out and directs them into something that he's good at. But he thinks Snow might not like that answer, so he does have a back-up one. "Or meditate so that I can center myself in the Dark Side of the Force. When I am deep in meditation, it feels like nothing can touch me there, connected as I am to all life."

Snow just kept giving him things to think about regarding Sidious. “Hmmmm, perhaps.” The longer he thought about it, the more he began to wonder if Sidious ever had been truly happy. There had been fleeting moments here and there where Maul had seen his father show a fiendish glee when his plan was going the way it should have but true happiness? No, he wasn’t sure that was possible for the elder Sith. All he’d ever wanted in life was power but now that he was on the verge of gaining it as emperor of the galaxy, was that going to satisfy him? Maul didn’t think so.

The fact she knew someone named Grumpy didn’t sound at all to the Sith Lord. After all, his own name was Maul, so that sounded like a perfectly normal name for someone to have by Dathomirian standards. “He sounds like someone I would get along with quite well. I’ve been attempting to find a way to channel that fighting spirit here so that it is not simply destructive.” Some of his friends had suggested he start protecting other Sleepers but Maul wasn’t quite to the point of being able to care about the well-being of others enough to want to protect them.

“Meditation isn’t easy for all but it is something that I greatly encourage people to try at least once. One can find out things about themselves they might not have otherwise while practicing it.”

Maul eyeballed the large Nightmare Steed again with a brief glare but the beast just gave a shake of its thick mane and looked nonplussed. Really, the two of them were going to definitely get into it the next time there wasn't a Disney Princess around to be a mediator for them.

Maul thought over the suggestions of Snow White. Honestly, going out to the woods somewhere and just hacking up a bunch of trees into kindling with an axe was probably one of the healthier suggestions he'd heard to help with his anger management issues. "I don't think I have enough of a noble nature to be a knight, not from the ones I already know personally--" His lips twitched though as he thought of the two Jedi Knights in town. Obi-Wan certainly was the epitome of one, but if Anakin was where the standards were set, maybe Maul could have made a go at being a knight after all.

"But a guard....hmmmm, perhaps there might be merit in such an idea. Keeping people safe is not something I have done much but I am sure I would be good at it." The few times his friends had asked for his help in taking care of a physical problem like a monster, Maul had utterly obliterated it.

Maul grit his teeth, willing himself not to punch the horse in the face right in front of the young girl. Oh, he was going to get even with this big beast later on, oh yes. The Nightmare Steed could count on that for certain.

Instead, he focused on what Snow was saying. “I shall definitely have to consider it. I’ve never been one much for protecting people but I have always been a very good warrior. Anyone who needs something wicked defeated should come to me, for I can destroy almost anything when I put my mind to it.” That part at least was the truth. Maul had been meant to be an assassin but maybe in this new city he could become more of a protector of people instead of their destroyer.

Maul wondered if she was making fun of him but she'd been so kind to him thus far that he couldn't see her suddenly deciding to be sarcastic and mean now. She almost got him to smile with those words, his lips twitching slightly. "I'd like to think so." Maul didn't have much in the way of fear the way most people did, not at least when it came to physical threats. Being brave and strong were probably two of his better traits all things considered.

"You have a poison apple?" Huh, that was odd. But possibly a very useful creation to have around all things considered with how dangerous things could be in Trench.

Maul decided he was just going to ignore the Nightmare Steed for the moment. He was just horribly rude and wasn't going to be saying anything pleasant at all for the moment. Later on, they'd have to get into it again just so he could show him who was boss around here.

"Interesting," was all Maul could manage at first. He wasn't even thinking of how having a poison apple around could be useful. Mostly, he was just thinking of what kind of woman would be so cruel as to poison their daughter when she was someone as kind as Snow White. Granted, Sidious had tried to kill him many times over the course of his life but never quite so bluntly as to poison him. Mostly, he just put Maul into circumstances that he was sure he wasn't going to be able to survive and then sat back to watch what would happen. "I'm sure my father would have tried to kill me if I hadn't been useful to him." That's why he'd taken Maul captive, to lure out Talzin and dismantle his criminal empire. Fortunately for Maul, things hadn't quite gone according to plan.

Maul glanced at the small hand on his arm and managed the ghost of a smile. "At least I had it from my mother," Maul said in a sad, wistful manner. He hadn't gotten to have her in his life long at all but Talzin had proven she loved her son dearly in the time they'd gotten to spend together. He had solid proof in so many ways, not the least of which was his mother giving her life to give Maul a chance to escape.

"Perhaps we shall both find what we are looking for here in this city," Maul mused. After all, he had so many people now who cared for him here in Trench, and wasn't that what he'd always wanted at his core? In her own way, it seemed that Snow White was looking for that too.

"She was. Very loving and kind in her own mystical way, though few ever got to see it besides myself." Poor Savage had mostly gotten used as a tool by their mother but she'd honestly cared for Maul. Most of what she'd done in her plotting had been to get him back by her side after being forcibly separated decades earlier.

Maul straightened up just a little bit at the girl's words. While he thought her another naïve optimist, he couldn't bring himself to tear Snow down the way he often did with such types. Part of Maul couldn't believe that. Hmph, he was starting to get soft with people. Or maybe just soft in the head, he wasn't sure which.

"I think I have had enough of dealing with our friend over there." Maul nodded to the Nightmare Steed. "Would you like to get some lunch with me?" He was growing rather fond of Snow even on such short acquaintance and was more than happy to learn more about her during a long conversation over eating something like sausages.