Private If We're Doing This

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Warm light spilled between the towering buildings of Sector 9G, filtered gold through layers of steam, smoke, and tangled overhead wiring. Neon signs still burned despite the afternoon hour. Vendors shouted over the endless industrial hum of the Vergeworks, selling fried street food beside stripped droid parts and salvaged engine components.​

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Ace moved through it all beside Fatine with quiet familiarity, dark coat hanging loose around his frame while people subtly shifted around him as he passed. It wasn't fear, more like recognition.​

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A conversation near a food stall lowered almost immediately. Someone standing outside a droid shop gave a small nod before looking away again. Further down the street, a pair of local runners abruptly cleared space along the walkway without needing to be told. Ace ignored most of it.​

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"This place looked different when I was a kid." His voice carried casually over the noise around them. "Or maybe I was just smaller."​

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The comment earned the faintest hint of amusement from him as he stepped around a leaking pipe venting steam across the street. He navigated the district instinctively, weaving through crowds and shortcuts without needing to think about where he was going. Like his body already knew the route before his mind did.​

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Somewhere nearby, oil crackled loudly against a hot pan. Ace glanced toward the stall automatically.​

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"You hungry?"​

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Without waiting long for an answer, he reached into his pocket and tossed a few credits onto the counter.​

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"Two."​

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The older Duros vendor looked up, then visibly paused after recognizing him. "...Right away."​

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Ace exhaled faintly through his nose at the reaction, somewhere between dry amusement and mild embarrassment.​

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"Comes with fixing this place. I guess."​

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But despite the humor, there was something noticeably different about him here. The Vergeworks still carried too many ghosts for comfort, but beside Fatine, the sharp edges felt easier to hold.​

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His eyes drifted briefly upward toward the rooftops overhead before returning to Fatine again. For a second, he looked uncertain whether to continue.​

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"I figured..." He hesitated. "If we're gonna be part of each other's lives, you should probably see where mine started."​

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Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Bondan was an absolute chithole. Fatine had enough tact not to say so out loud, but she showed it - at least initially - in the pinch of her expression.

But then, something strange happened as they walked. Instead of fighting their way through crowded streets, people started to part along their path. Voices lowered.

Nothing overt, but subtle enough to convey the quiet power and respect that Acier had cultivated here.

Fatine didn’t know exactly why it was happened, but that didn’t preclude her from enjoying the deference. Even if they were walking on a planet-sized hunk of garbage. Her boyfriend was someone here.

Ace asked if she was hungry, and before she could respond, he’d tossed a handful of credits onto the counter of some greasy food stall. Fatine raised a brow.

“Showoff,” she teased.

When Ace said that he’d take her to Bondan, she’d been excited. It was another chance to break away from the carefully curated life she’d been subjected to, and to step into something more real and raw.

“Bondan smells…” she wrinkled her nose, searching for a word that wouldn’t be too insulting. “Interesting,” she finished.

Still, the dingy lighting and sheer amount of people were enough to feel like she’d stepped into something modern and exciting. While Ace’s attention shifted somewhere higher, Fatine’s bounced from stuttering aurebesh signs to droids to a pair of aliens arguing.

Then, back to Ace.

“So, which sewage pipe did you grow up under?”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace accepted the wrapped food from the Duros before taking Fatine's portion from the counter and handing it over to her. The smell of grease, spice, and overheated circuitry lingered thick in the air around the stall. Somewhere overhead, a cargo shuttle screamed across the skyline loud enough to rattle the signage bolted to the walls. Without much ceremony, Ace started walking again, leading her deeper through Sector 9G.

"It's okay." He said after a moment, glancing sideways at her while unwrapping his food. "You can say it smells bad here. It does."

He took a bite, chewing slowly before the corner of his mouth pulled upward faintly.

"But you'll get used to it." The dry delivery made it difficult to tell whether he was joking or genuinely threatening acclimatization.

Around them, the Vergeworks continued its endless rhythm. Steam hissed from vents overhead. A pair of dockworkers argued in rapid fire Huttese while an astromech rolled directly between them without concern.

Truthfully, Ace hadn't liked the idea of bringing her here at first. The Vergeworks wasn't impressive. It wasn't beautiful. Most people with sense spent their entire lives trying to avoid or leave places like this behind.

Part of him had almost felt embarrassed by it, but it was easier to show her what made him than explain it. Easier than trying to put years of survival into words that would never fully land anyway.

When she asked about the sewer pipe, Ace lifted a hand casually toward a rundown structure half-hidden between stacked residential blocks and rusting support beams.

"Over there."

The building looked less like an orphanage and more like something condemned several years too late.

"That sewer pipe was an orphanage." He paused briefly before adding, deadpan: "But… orphanage may be too generous."

There was enough humor buried in the delivery to soften the ugliness of the statement without actually denying it.

The pair walked a little further in relative quiet after that. Ace took another bite before speaking again, voice lower this time and less guarded.

"I missed you."

It was simple yet direct, and somehow heavier than anything else he'd said since they arrived.

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine immediately tore into the skewered meat, all teeth and no grace. It tasted of an earthy, peppery spice they didn't have on Ukatis.

She snorted. "Food's not bad, at least."

Despite the snarky delivery, Fatine was in a good mood. Ace hadn't exactly jumped at the idea of a trip to Bondan, but here they were. Somewhere new. A place that had shaped the beginning of his youth.

As they walked, Fatine slipped her free hand around Ace's arm. Her attention was not on him, and it jumped from each new sight and sound to the next.

The joke about the sewer pipe was mostly that; a joke. She didn't expect him to, y'know…point something out. Not a drainage pipe, but a run-down building. Fatine wondered if this was also a joke. Then, he confirmed that it wasn't.

"Oh," was all she said at first. The delicate, sheltered maiden ripped another chunk of meat from her skewer and chewed loudly. It certainly didn't look like any orphanage she'd ever seen, more like a dilapidated warehouse.

"That really sucks." She squeezed his arm once. "Growing up in a place like that."

They moved on quickly. Fatine understood why Ace didn't want to stay.

"Yeah?" Grease stained lips quirked upwards. "Then maybe don't keep running away from me?"

Smirking, she poked his arm with the point of her skewer.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace continued eating as they walked, his attention drifting toward Fatine, watching as her eyes bounced between a multitude of things with open curiosity that she clearly wasn't trying to hide. It was endearing. Honestly, it reminded him a little of himself the first time he'd ever left Bonadan.

Then there was the way she was eating. Ace's eyes flicked briefly toward the aggressively ungraceful way she tore into the skewer before a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. Months ago, watching a noblewoman from Ukatis eat street food like she'd been raised in the Vergeworks probably would've broken his brain slightly. Now it mostly just amused him.

Truthfully, Fatine would've survived here better than most aristocrats. Probably would've made a name for herself within a week too.

When she squeezed his arm and sympathized with the orphanage, Ace just shrugged lightly.

"It wasn't the best." He admitted. "But..." He glanced ahead again, thoughtful for a second. "I wouldn't be me if things were different. Y'know?"

There wasn't bitterness in the statement. Just acceptance. Fatine's comment about him running away, followed by the poke of the skewer against his arm, pulled a faint chuckle out of him. Dry and quiet, but real enough to briefly soften the constant sharpness around him.

Ace slowed slightly then, reaching over with his free hand to wipe a streak of grease from the corner of Fatine's lips with his thumb.

"Who said I was running away?" His eyes met hers briefly. "Maybe I'm just scouting ahead and clearing a path for us."

The response carried the same teasing tone as hers, but there was something honest buried beneath it too. Something future facing.

Without really breaking stride afterward, Ace took her hand in his and subtly guided them away from the busier market corridors toward the older upper levels of Sector 9G.

The crowds gradually thinned the higher they climbed and Ace finished the last bite of his food before leaving the wooden skewer between his teeth like a toothpick.

Then he glanced sideways toward her again.

"Been meaning to ask." His tone stayed casual. "How're things back home? With the theater?" A small pause followed. "You haven't talked much about it lately."

Fatine von Ascania​