"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.