Private Late for Life Day

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Axilla

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes| Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Coruscant had been claimed. Folded into the Covenant's rapid expansion in territory and power. The skyline had survived the worst of it, spires scarred but upright, transit lanes rerouted instead of erased... but the planet was still rebuilding. Quinn's storm still clung to parts of the city like a bruise that refused to fade, pressure in the air that reminded everyone of what had transpired. And what was yet to come.​

​

And as a consequence of all that, Ace had earned his place as Arris Windrun's apprentice. He was closer to the top. Closer to seeing what the Covenant's next movements were first hand. Closer to putting them down for good. At least that's what he told himself to make everything he'd done feel worth the cost.​

​

Then there was Sibylla. He'd visited her on Naboo after what had happened on Corellia, checked in on her following... his rough introduction to Aurelian Veruna. After that, there had been nothing urgent left. No fires to put out. No orders waiting. No city actively collapsing on his head. Just time. Time and the hollow ache that accompanied it.​

​

Ace hadn't informed Fatine he was coming. It was the simple, selfish need for something good. He wanted the surprise. Wanted to see the moment her expression shifted, the instant recognition sparked, the smile that always hit him harder than it had any right to. He needed that like he needed to breathe.​

​

The tiredness clung to him anyway, deep in his bones, deep in his spirit. Carrying too much, for too long, without setting any of it down was beginning to eat at him. Even now, standing on solid ground, there was a sense of being… unfinished. He pushed it aside anyway.​

​

Axilla's streets were alive with evening movement when he reached the Aesop Theater Company. Voices. Laughter. Well-dressed patrons moving in loose clusters. He stood out worse than he did the first time he'd been here.​

​

Ace was leaning back against a low pillar near the entrance, posture casual. He didn't reach for the Force. Didn't scan for threats. Didn't calculate exits. For once, he let himself simply be there.​

​

In his hand, held carefully despite the gloves, was the gift. Late. Embarrassingly so. Life Day had come and gone but he'd kept it with him anyway, all this time, tucked away through hyperspace jumps and collapsing headquarters and quiet moments he hadn't trusted himself to linger in.​

​

He watched the doors and waited. For the first time in what felt like forever, Ace let himself hope that, just for tonight, he could exist somewhere untouched by what he'd been through.​

​

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Was it possible to sneak up on an acolyte?

Fatine liked to think so. At least, she liked to think that Ace would humor her. So when she glimpsed him lingering at the edge of the crowd, she abruptly turned tail back into the theater. Making her way from a side exit, she crept up slowly from behind the pillar.

A red silk scarf was thrown around Ace's neck. Fatine gripped both ends and twirled around to meet him with a shriek of laughter.

"Acier!"

Giggling, Fatine beamed as she let the sheer red thing rest over his shoulders. Her hands found their place at his chest, anchoring herself in familiar warmth. She'd missed him, but only now she realized by how much.

Even swathed in dark clothing like he was trying to melt into the shadows, the streets of Axilla felt more awash with color than ever.

"When did you get here? Did you see the show?!"

Words began to bubble forth, but Fatine held her tongue when she got a good look at his face. Her brow crinkled, and her joyful tone shifted sharply into concern.

"Ohmystars, are you hurt??" She took his chin between her thumb and forefinger, turning his head this way and that while examining him with a critical eye. That was far too many bandages for comfort, but in truth, she was just glad that he'd made it out alive. How many times had she waited until Lysander or Cora pinged her after a battle to begin breathing again?

She'd watched coverage of Coruscant, but it had quickly become too violent for her to stomach. Fatine didn't share Force sensitivity with her siblings, so she'd been hopelessly in the dark until after the clash had wound down. "You didn't do anything too stupid, did you?" Her lower lip jutted out in an exaggerated pout.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Axilla

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes| Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace had felt her before he saw her.. Fatine's Thread didn't behave like that of a trained acolyte or a noble scion raised on composure. It was bright and forward and unapologetically there, a warm, buoyant pull that didn't bother masking itself or smoothing its edges. Utterly intentional. Loud in the way a laugh was loud. Brazen in the way joy refused to ask permission. Braided together into something vivid and unmistakably her.

Ace smiled to himself before she even rounded the pillar. So when the red silk scarf snapped around his neck and tugged him back, he let his shoulders jolt, breath hitching as he played the part of someone surprised and caught momentarily off-balance. The act cost him nothing, but the sound that followed, her laughter, more than paid him back.

She twirled in front of him, the scarf settling across his shoulders as her hands came to rest against his chest. Despite everything, despite how near they stood, how easily she fit there, she still called him Acier. Not Ace. His full name, spoken like it belonged to them alone. Oddly… he liked it.

Her giggle hit him like a stimulant straight to the bloodstream. Ace didn't answer right away. He just looked at her, at the way the lights caught in her hair, the confidence she wore like costume jewelry, the sheltered brightness she tried so hard to pass off as worldliness. Beautiful, in a way that didn't need polish or pretense.

His hands slid naturally to her waist, thumbs settling where they fit as if they'd always known the place.

"I just got here." He said at last, voice low, steady. "Wanted to surprise you." Then, softer. "Wish I could've seen you on the stage."

Then he felt a shift before she spoke again. The moment her Thread tightened, concern sharpening into focus. Ace's expression faltered. He deflated just enough to be noticeable, head turning away as guilt crept in. He hated being the reason her light dimmed, even for a second.

Then her fingers were on his chin, guiding his face back toward hers, and his attention snapped to her completely. When she pouted and asked if he'd done anything stupid, his answer stalled, gaze lifting, unfocused, skimming moments better left unshared: freefalling from a transport shuttle into open air, carving through a fighter squadron with nothing but a lightsaber and the Force, the brief fight with the Mandalorian in Coruscant's skylanes, the ISB archives collapsing behind him as he outran it by the narrowest of margins.

He swallowed it all. Ace's hand rose instead, gentle as it brushed her cheek.

"It's nothing that won't heal." He said quietly. "I'm okay. Promise. Me and Lysander both."

The intimacy of the gesture registered a heartbeat too late. His hand dropped almost immediately, concern flashing across his face... had that been too much? Too close?

Before the moment could settle into awkwardness, his other hand lifted. A small pendant placed in her view, the metal catching the light as it swung slightly on its chain.

"Hey..." He added. "Remember that transmission I sent you?"

A faint smirk tugged at his mouth

"Kept my promise."

Fatine von Ascania ​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

The lines of Fatine's pout deepened.

She knew what Ace was doing. He was reviewing each and every step that had led to the bandages over his face, and then he minimized them.

Then his thumb brushed her cheek, and those concerns started to melt beneath his gentle touch.

"Yeah. You and Lysander can both be pretty dumb, though," she grumbled.

His hand fell away, and the cold air that rushed in made her skin tingle unpleasantly. Fatine wrinkled her nose.

"Well," she chirped, an edge of wariness to her tone that insisted she didn't quite believe him, "at least you're well enough to have the good sense to come and visit me. I forgive you."

Without delving exactly into what needed forgiving, the girl seemed to brighten. She'd missed him more than she'd let on, and worried for him in a way that startled her. The sort of worry that sank into the marrow of your bones and weighed you down.

She'd seen the sort of company Lysander kept. Dangerous company. Where did Ace fit into in all that?

Then, he lifted the pendant. Fatine's eyes followed the bauble as it swayed, like a nexu with a toy.

"You didn't have to!" She nabbed it with a level of force that said: but it's a good thing that you did.

Fatine was all giggles as she held the pendant between two fingers for observation. "Oh, it's so modern looking. Do they wear things like this in the core?"

She handed the necklace back to Ace, turned around, and brushed her hair over her shoulder.

"I want to try it on!"

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Ukatis - Axilla

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes| Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace let out a quiet laugh through his nose at that, head tipping just slightly as if conceding the point without surrendering the argument. He preferred reckless, personally.

When she said he was well enough to have the sense to visit, something in his chest loosened and tightened all at once. At this point, even if the galaxy was crashing down around his ears, and... truthfully, it felt like it was, nothing would've kept him away from her. He'd have found a way.

Because Fatine wasn't just a reason to come back. She was one of the reasons he was still there. Embedded in the Covenant. Walking deeper into rot and shadow with eyes open. Working, slowly and quietly, to snuff it out before it ever reached her. Before it blackened whatever bright, unguarded thing she carried so effortlessly. She felt like one of the only pure things left in the galaxy, and standing this close to her, Ace couldn't escape the sense that she was the only thing keeping him from drowning in the dark he'd been wading through for far too long.

Her reaction to the pendant pulled him back. When she asked if they wore things like that in the Core, Ace huffed softly, just shy of a smile.

"Wouldn't know." He said. "I made it myself."

He took the necklace back when she offered it, stepping closer. Gently, he fastened the clasp at the nape of her neck. When he was done, he didn't step away. Instead, he caught her hand, softly guiding her to turn back toward him.

Ace smiled properly, eyes meeting her brown ones. For a moment, he just looked at her. Cherished her. Then his hand came up, fingers closing around the pendant resting against her collarbone.

"It's… not just jewelry." He said.

He rolled the cylinder between his fingers, demonstrating without flair.

"Everything's mechanical. Nothing that can glitch or die at the worst moment."

He twisted it subtly, barely perceptible.

"There's a small pick in there. For latches, cuffs, things that aren't meant to keep someone in forever."

Then Another motion.

"A filament cutter. Light duty. And a flat edge driver for access panels, quick fixes. Nothing dangerous."

His thumb brushed over the smooth housing as he continued, quieter now. "It won't help you in a fight. It's not meant to. But it'll always be on you. And it won't draw attention."

Ace let the pendant fall back into place, hand lingering for just a moment before dropping away.

"Figured you should have something pretty. And useful. All in one."

Fatine von Ascania ​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

These little moment frightened Fatine for how heavily she felt them. Even brush of his fingertips against her collar had no right to stir such butterflies in her stomach.

Fatine was a flirt - there had been no shortage of playful banter with handsome young men in her life. It was harmless fun where she, a young woman living in a staunchly patriarchal society, was in control.

Ace never took control. He didn't take away anything from her. He only added onto what she already was.

And strangely, since they'd met, she didn't feel like carousing around with other men. When she held the arm of some Ukatian dandy, it didn't feel like Ace's, and she found her interest falling away.

Men competed for her fickle attention. Somehow, Acier always held her focus without even trying to. In fact - Fatine had been so lost in the sharp lines of his face that she'd forgotten to listen to his voice.

…a filament cutter?

Fatine blinked as she was drawn back into the present. "Wait, so it's like…a mini tool kit?"

Her brow pinched, but not in displeasure. "What, you think I'm gonna get myself into trouble?" The laugh that followed ended up with a knowing quality to it.

"Okay…fair," she relented. The fingers of one hand wrapped around the oblong cylinder, suddenly reverent with the knowledge that Ace had taken the time to make this for her.

No one, aside from Lysander, ever really saw her like that. As more than just another face in a bustling noble brood.

"Thank you," she whispered. "It's too pretty not to wear every day."

Maybe, it would make her feel a little closer to Ace during those long stretches of time where they had to be apart. Which brought to mind…

"Everything went…alright then? Lysander is okay, too?"

Alright wasn't the word for it, not for what she'd seen in the news. Fatine might've been naive, but she suspected that what he'd gone through had been far worse than the coverage cycling on every station.

Acier Moonbound