Private Paradise Before War

[Anet Raine]

PELAGON
PELAGAR CITY
Wearing: Acolyte robes (no helmet)
Acier Moonbound

Pelagon, what a perfect world. Anet, of course, hated perfect worlds. They reminded her too much of home. At least there was one blemish to lighten the mood for her; the fleets of the Sith Covenant, armed and packed with hordes of warriors, all ready to embark for the Deep Core. The Scholar would be among them when they did, but first she had other business to attend.

In the waterworld's capital, Pelagar, she was tasked with the security and transport of looted Jedi relics - because yes, of course, Pelagon was once an important world to the Jedi Order. It had produced many of the Order's heroes across the ages, and their legacy was honored in the artifacts and trinkets collected over millennia. Eventually, even a small temple was erected in the fashion of the fabled Jedi Consulars of the First Galactic Republic. Hers was a task most suitable to her academic background, but something caught her attention...

"You there," she barked out to Acier. "Can you help me with this?" A pale blue digit pointed at the box beside her. Large, presumably heavy.

She stood out in her robes as a fellow acolyte from Desevro, though the two had only crossed paths once before on Nar Shaddaa. Of course, Anet didn't remember him at all.

From the ocean waves lifted a massive warship, separating the seawater in a great cascade that rendered the horizon beautiful with the dark sheen of its hull as a backdrop against the clear sky. Quite scenic, if not foreboding of the bloodshed to come. The half-pantoran paid it no mind, though, as she tapped her foot impatiently for Acier to comply. Fellow acolyte or not, she felt herself the one giving orders around here... Not that he had to listen.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

The Covenant fleets hung heavy over the waterworld. Coruscant was coming. Everyone knew it. There was a particular tension that always settled in before a major push, that quiet hum of inevitability. Ace felt it through the Force's Threads. Like faint vibrations in a spider's web.

He'd fought on Serenno, Kattada, Sevacros II. He'd bled in the shadow of Death Star III. Chandrila. Tapani. All of it in under a year. By now, the scale didn't matter. Planetary assaults, orbital insertions, urban sieges - they blurred together into patterns and muscle memory. Large scale combat had become… ordinary.

His attention stayed on the crate at his feet. Ace crouched slightly apart from the flow of acolytes and warriors, a pocket of calm amid the motion. One gloved hand turned over a compact case, its surface still unmarred. He popped it open just enough to confirm the contents: MicroThrust computer spikes, nested cleanly in their housing. A gift from Windrun.

Ace rolled the case in his palm, eyes narrowing as he checked the interface port and seal integrity. The spikes were clever things: self-altering, self-sacrificing. They would burn themselves out rewriting their own code to slip past Imperial security. He was halfway through re-seating the case when a voice cut across the space.

He didn't flinch. He closed the case first, thumb snapping the latch shut, then straightened and turned. She stood out immediately. Acolyte robes, no helmet, pale features sharp against the light. Her face was one he'd catalogued at the Red Ronin.

Her finger pointed. The box. Expectant as if she had any authority over him. Ace's gaze followed the line of her gesture, then returned to her, unreadable. He shifted the plasteel case under one arm, freeing his hand, and stepped closer at a leisurely pace.

"Yeah." He said calmly. "I can."

He reached for the box, testing its weight before committing to it, adjusting his grip with quiet efficiency. When he lifted it, it was smooth, controlled, like he'd decided to help, not been summoned to do so.

His eyes met hers briefly as he straightened, the faintest edge of amusement, or maybe assessment, passing through them.

"Where do you want it moved?"

Ace turned slightly, box secured and ready to move, waiting just long enough for her to answer before he did.

Anet Raine​

 

[Anet Raine]

Well, he was helpful. That was good, though a little unexpected. Anet was fully prepared to insist upon it, and maybe a little disappointed that he took that away from her in kindness.

"Where do you want it moved?"

Anet's arms folded across her chest. She nodded in the direction it needed to go, where a convenient flatbed speeder idled.

"Over there," she answered.

The acolyte followed him in stride, step by step at his side. She looked him over as if he were a puzzle to be solved, or a specimen to interrogate, as might've been the likelier case among the Sith.

"I haven't seen you before... Which Academy are you enrolled?" She asked.

It might've been a funny way to say it, 'enrolled,' given many of them had no choice in the matter. That wasn't the case for Anet, however, who gladly joined the Sith, even if Desevro had been more than a trial that tested her in every sense.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace didn't answer right away. He simply shifted his grip and moved where she indicated, carrying the crate toward the waiting flatbed speeder without breaking stride.

He felt her fall into step beside him. Studying him. He, in turn, did the same. Ace let his gaze drift forward, then sideways. He didn't look at her face, but instead the Thread beneath it.

It was rigid. Drawn tight and elevated, running straight through the surrounding Force with an almost doctrinal insistence. Conflict lived there, but not as heat... more like pressure, ambient and constant. Something that expected resistance and counted on it. He didn't linger. Just enough to understand the shape of it before letting it pass.

When she spoke again, asking about the Academy he was enrolled in, Ace didn't slow.

"I'll let you figure it out." He said evenly.

They reached the flatbed speeder moments later. Ace stepped up, set the crate down with care, and nudged it into place. Only then did he straighten.

"I've seen you, though." He added, almost as an afterthought. "At the Red Ronin. That one time."

His eyes flicked to her briefly now, not searching, just confirming.

"And during the training with Tane."

Then he stepped back from the speeder, already disengaging, leaving the words where they were: facts offered, nothing more, before the moment could become anything else.

Anet Raine​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

Anet tilted her head at him. "Let me?" She smiled a little. "So that's how it is..." Unclear if she was being serious.

She inspected him as he set the crate down on the speeder's flatbed and nodded approvingly at the care he took. When he mentioned having seen her before, at the Red Ronin, and again during their trials with Vestra Tane, the scholar tried to recall who he was.

"Oh," she arrived somewhere, "you're the one who was in my way." This time, the cheek in her words was left unambiguous. Anet, of course, meant when she brushed past his shoulder into the caverns.

Anet hadn't seen him at the Red Ronin, though... At least not that she recalled. Then again, she was busy getting drunk and... Well, nevermind that.

"Since you've been so helpful already..." No, she was not about to let him walk away. "Care to help me with something else? I promise it'll be more rewarding than a simple workout."

She wasn't the type to wait for confirmation. Already, she walked backwards and waved him along with a little grin. She turned around and walked along the city's edge as sunset glistened across gentle ocean waves. It wasn't very far before they arrived at a building that looked strikingly like a Jedi Enclave, ancient statues and all. There was even a touch of harmony in the Force, as if the encroaching darkness of the Covenant hadn't yet tainted hallowed grounds.

The building's state of disrepair, however, told another story. One where the Sith entered uninvited and likely killed those inside or took them prisoner.

Before Anet stepped inside, she turned to him. "This is where they came from," he nodded towards the entrance. Cryptic in what she meant.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace very nearly rolled his eyes. Of course that's how she remembered it. He kept the reaction internal, nothing more than a flicker of thought that never reached his face.

"I was actually just standing there." He said calmly.

With that, he turned away from the speeder, already taking a step to leave the moment where it was. Logistics handled. Interaction concluded. Or... it would have been.

Her voice followed him, light, suggestive, dangling implication instead of explanation. Ace slowed, then stopped. He turned back just in time to see her already moving: walking backward, waving him along like the decision had been made without him. He watched her. The grin. The confidence. The assumption.

A quiet huff slipped out through his nose. Then he followed. Ace kept pace a step behind her, gaze forward, senses widening. When the building came into view, he felt it immediately.

The architecture struck first. The lines were familiar. Too familiar. Clean symmetry softened by age, statues worn by time but unmistakably intentional. He'd seen enclaves like this before... on worlds long pacified or long ruined. Jedi construction had a habit of echoing itself across the galaxy.

Then came the Force. Harmony. Quiet. Untouched. Despite everything. Ace slowed without realizing it, as the sensation settled over him like a memory he hadn't meant to revisit. It had been… a long time since he'd felt the Force this way. Pure. Since joining the Covenant, everything had been steeped in distortion... weight, hunger, heat.

He studied the structure more carefully as they drew closer. The damage was there if you knew how to look for it. Scoring along the stone. Breaches where there shouldn't have been any. Violence imposed on something that hadn't invited it.

When Anet spoke again - This is where they came from. Ace finally turned his head, casting her a sidelong glance. Not sharp. Just attentive.

"Who?"

Anet Raine​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

If Anet had heard his correction, she did not reply.

At the Enclave's entrance was the next time she'd respond to him, if only to correct him this time.

"Not who, what." She said. "Those crates - the ones filled with Jedi relics."

Inside was another story. Not only were there signs of a struggle, but also of looting. Furniture thrown about, smashed into. Doors forced open or breached with precision explosives. Lightsaber scorch marks along the floors, walls, and pillars. Smashed glass and broken lamps. Natural light filtered in from large holes in the ceiling.

It was a rather small complex, likely home to a council of four or five, and perhaps a few dozen other Jedi; instructors, staff, and students. The floorplan was quite simple... straightforward. Two wings, one for training, the other for study. On the far end from the entrance led to the living quarters and the council chambers.

The latter concerned Anet's attention more than anything.

"We still need to take the chairs," she spoke as they walked. "Odd as it may sound, they were requested, too."

Her sauntering pace was slow enough to allow for some more conversation, and she took advantage of it.

"I don't think you gave your name." Said as if it was expected. "I'm Anet."

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace finally turned his head when she corrected him. When she clarified, those crates, the relics, his gaze settled on her for a little longer than before. He didn't comment. The correction stood on its own.

He followed her inside. The Enclave opened up into ruin. Ace slowed without stopping, eyes moving as his senses widened. The signs were everywhere: scorch marks scored into stone where lightsabers had struck walls instead of bodies. Furniture shattered or hurled aside with purpose, not panic. Doors breached cleanly... military precision, not desperate flight. Looting layered over violence, methodical and thorough.

When she mentioned the chairs, Ace's brow lifted a fraction.

"The chairs?" He asked, glancing toward the council chamber ahead. "What would they even need with chairs?"

He kept walking as she spoke again. When she remarked that he hadn't given his name, Ace answered without looking back.

"You never asked."

But he did nod when she introduced herself, the motion small but acknowledging.

"Acier."

Something on the floor near the center of the chamber caught his attention then. Not the obvious damage, not the broken stone, but a place where the Force felt… denser.

Ace drifted away from Anet without announcing it. He crouched low near the mark, tugging his glove free and pressing his bare, organic hand to the scorched surface. It had been a while since he'd done this.

Psychometry wasn't something he used casually. He hadn't needed to in recent months. Most places these days were loud with fresh violence, too much noise to sift through. But this was different.

The echoes came slowly. Threads stirred in the Force's tapestry, old and brittle but still present. Jedi - fear and resolve braided together. Scrambling to organize, to buy time. Then the intrusion: sharp, ordered, overwhelming. Stormtroopers moving in formation, their presence rigid and uniform.

And behind them… something heavier. A dark figure, immense in the Force, clad in black armor. Purposeful. Inevitable. He loomed through the structure like gravity given form, bending every Thread around it. The Jedi faltered. The echoes fractured. Then... nothing.

Ace pulled his hand back and straightened, the present snapping back into place around him. He slid the glove on again, expression unchanged, though something had settled behind his eyes.

"Of course." He said quietly.

He didn't know the figure's name. Didn't recognize the shape beyond its weight. But the stormtroopers were enough. The imprint was unmistakable. This place had been touched by the Purge.

Anet Raine​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

"I didn't ask."

The truth was that Jedi chairs went for a lot on the market. That was it. Business. But really, Anet did not ask. Even as a historian, this place was of little interest to her - only the relics, now packed away.

"Acier," she said his name as if confirming. "That's an okay name."

It was hard to tell if she was still teasing him or meant that. Actually, scratch that. It didn't take long for Anet to show the world how much of a bi--

She stopped. "What are you..."

Acier touched the surface and seemed drawn into some sort of trance. She knew the Force immediately when she saw it, and felt it too, if only a small reverberation of the echo. Like a finger gently tugging the thread of darkness, she felt it.

"... doing..."

It reminded her of events on Desevro, down in the Red Library with Kirie , but Anet hadn't a clue why those feelings were invoked.

By the time Acier had disconnected, Anet was already on one knee beside him.

"Of course, what?" She whispered. Like a bad friend who habitually extracted secrets.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace glanced sidelong first, only then realizing how close she'd come. Psychometry always did that to him, and it bothered him. The echoes pulled him inward, narrowed his awareness until the physical world dulled completely. Useful, sure. But it left blind spots. He hated blind spots.

He didn't answer her right away. Ace pushed to his feet, brushing his hand against his trousers as he straightened, like he was wiping residue away. Not dirt. Not ash. But the memories.

"The Purge." He said finally, voice even. "The first Empire's purge of the Jedi. The memories here… they were from back then."

He took a step, eyes forward again.

"Every time I'm in some Jedi ruin..." He added, almost to himself, "It goes back to that."

Ace shook his head once, sharp and dismissive, like the thought didn't deserve the space it was taking.

"Whatever. Past is the past."

He moved a few steps deeper into the chamber, already shifting back into motion, back into task.

"We needed chairs, right?"

Anet Raine ​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

She was surprised... Anet didn't quite imagine him the knowledgeable type. It wasn't personal, but she never saw him at the Red Library, where more of the scholarly acolytes spent their days on Desevro.

But now, of course, things were different. With war on the horizon and the Core in the Covenant's sights, she wondered what would become of those old ruins they called an academy on icy Desevro.

But, that wasn't as interesting a thought to her as what he said after Jedi ruins.

"The past is the past? I know, that's what's so wonderful about it."

Had he known he was speaking to a leading authority on Sith history...

Anet nodded at his question, and turned her attention to the council chambers.

She took the final steps and entered. It was colder than the rest of the building, and darker; she didn't mean the lighting. Whatever happened here, it left a deeper scar in the Force than Acier's echo. It was here that the enclave's survivors were rounded up and executed - at least, save the few who were (un)lucky enough to be taken alive.

Seven chairs in a half circle. Carved of a fine wood from somewhere off-world. Heavy too.

"Shall we lift one together?" She turned to ask.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace glanced toward the council chamber as she moved ahead of him, the drop in temperature registering a split second before the weight did. It wasn't just cold. It was absence. The kind left behind when something living was cut out of the weave and never replaced. He felt it settle against his senses.

Seven chairs. Half-circle. He took them in without ceremony. Her earlier comment about the past stirred in his mind. So she was a historian, or a history buff at least.

Ace stepped into the chamber with her. When she asked if they should lift one together, he stopped beside the nearest chair and regarded it for a moment longer than necessary.

"Why?"

The question wasn't confrontational, but he didn't wait for an answer. The Force stirred at his periphery and four of the chairs lifted cleanly from the floor, weight surrendering to invisible pressure. It hovered a few meters off the ground, steady and controlled.

Ace started walking, chairs gliding alongside him at a measured pace.

"Not that I care." He said calmly, eyes forward, "But I noticed you aren't that much like the others."

The chairs adjusted their positioning as he navigated the chamber doorway, precise enough not to scrape stone.

"You seem… normal." He continued, as if noting the weather. "Besides being stuck up. And thinking you're in charge."

There was no bite in it. Just an observation, offered without concern for how it landed. He glanced sidelong at her then, brief and unreadable, before returning his attention to the path ahead.

"Where do you want it?"

Anet Raine ​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

"Why what?"

She hadn't considered that he didn't understand what she meant. So, naturally, it must've been some secret other thing he asked 'why' about.

Acier called Anet normal, then stuck up, which earned a dry laugh. No telling which remark set her off.

That he used the Force to grab the chair, though? That... It disappointed her. Her laugh stopped so suddenly, and her expression was judgy.

Anet waved him along again - because what else would she do to get him to follow?

"Maybe I'm different because I want to be here."

From her perspective, too many of the acolytes lived miserably within the Academy walls, as if this wasn't an opportunity of a lifetime. It wasn't that Anet didn't experience hardships herself... They all did, but that was life, that was the way of the Sith.

"You're different too," She said.

Their path took them back through the haunted halls of the enclave and back outside, where it had grown darker since. Street lights illuminated the city, and a cool ocean breeze rolled through. Maybe a little uncomfortably cold for some, but Anet's blood was made for ice worlds, so Pelagon remained positively idyllic even as the sun set.

She pointed at the sidewalk. "You can leave it there. Someone will come pick it up."

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace didn't answer her. Not the why what, anyway. The reason was obvious enough to him that explaining it felt unnecessary. Why'd they need to lift one together when both commanded the Force.

He kept walking. When she said she might be different because she wanted to be here, the idea lingered longer than he expected.

"Yeah." He said after a moment. "That could be it."

Plenty of acolytes didn't ask to be here. Some had been dragged in. Some coerced. Some broken down slowly until wanting felt like the only option left. The line between the last two was thin. Ace found himself wondering, briefly, which side she fell on.

When she said he was different too, his attention shifted to her properly for the first time in a while. Not sidelong. Not peripheral.

"I don't think so." He said, a touch more defensive than before.

They moved back through the enclave's hollow corridors and out into the open air. Night had settled over Pelagon as the ocean breeze rolled in. Ace detested the cold.

At her gesture, the chairs descended where she indicated, settling onto the sidewalk with a muted thud as the Force released them. He folded his arms, posture easy but expectant.

"Anything else?" He asked. Then, after a beat, added. "We're about to hit the Empire in their backyard. Shouldn't we be doing more important things than moving furniture and artifacts?"

Anet Raine​

 

[Anet Raine]

"Anything else?" He asked. Then, after a beat, added. "We're about to hit the Empire in their backyard. Shouldn't we be doing more important things than moving furniture and artifacts?"

"What - you think they're going to give us something important to do?" She was arrogant, but serious when she said it.

Anet Raine did not anticipate that their Sith Masters would throw the acolytes at anything meaningful. How wrong she was, of course, but that didn't matter to her now.

Instead, she considered what they might get up to while the calm lasted.

"You wanna get drunk?"

The way she asked was almost a little too clinical.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace's eyebrow lifted at her question. He didn't answer immediately, but his gaze held on her, weighing the seriousness in her tone. For a moment, he wondered if she truly understood what was coming. This wasn't a border skirmish. It wasn't Desevro politics or academy theatrics. It was a siege.

"If they expect us to fight their battles." He said at last, voice even. "Yeah."

He let that sit between them. There was a brief stretch of quiet after, filled only by the low hum of distant city traffic and the ocean wind threading through. Ace shifted his weight slightly, already preparing to step away again. Conversation concluded. Task completed.

Then, she asked if he wanted to get drunk. He paused, looking at her properly. He didn't much care for spending his downtime socializing with other acolytes, especially someone like Anet. Most of them were volatile, competitive, or desperate in ways that grew exhausting fast. And he didn't get drunk. Losing clarity, even briefly, never appealed to him.

But he considered it. Anet wasn't like the others. She wanted to be here. That alone made her unusual. There was something deliberate about her. Structured. She wasn't chasing power blindly. Maybe there was use in that. At the very least, it wouldn't hurt to learn more.

"I'll have a Scarif Slush." He said.

It had been a while since he'd had one. His favorite, if he bothered to name such things. A small indulgence wouldn't compromise anything. And it might tell him what he needed to know.

He stepped forward, motioning slightly with his chin.

"Know a spot?"

Anet Raine ​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

A Scarif Slush? "Oh, you're boring," Anet teased with a laugh.

Now that their job was done, her energy shifted. She stepped into the role of a twenty-something woman. Were it not for the robes and the air of the Force about her, it would be hard to tell that she was an acolyte at all. Let alone one so committed to the Sith life.

"Yeah, around the corner." She waved him to follow again. But this time, there was a certain laxness in it.

Anet turned and crossed the street, then continued to stroll down the sidewalk. She slowed her pace enough so that he might catch up and walk with her, side-by-side.

She looked at him. "I like to mix my own drinks... Or sometimes if I'm feeling mean, I'll make one up just to watch the bartender respond. Usually they ask, but the fun ones pretend they know what I'm talking about and make it up on the spot."

It was silly, really, but it never escaped her why those ones went out of their way. They wanted to impress her, of course. Or at least, that was what she expected.

They walked around the corner, onto a street that drew a bit of a crowd, and at the other end was the telltale sign of a cantina. The signage, the drunkards crawling in and out, the distant, tacky music. It had the Pelagon flair, though. Beautiful building. Two stories, a rooftop bar, and likely one inside. Perfect for an ocean world like this.

When they approached the entrance, it appeared they weren't the only acolytes present. Which hadn't shocked her. They all stuck to their cliques or paired off. It was rare for an acolyte to be found alone. Those who did... Well, they tended to get picked on, or worse.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

"I like what I like." Ace replied, unapologetic, eyes still forward.

He fell into step beside her as they crossed the street, keeping pace easily. Her energy had shifted... lighter now, almost careless in a way that didn't quite match the robes she wore. He listened as she spoke about her drinks, about inventing names just to see what a bartender would do. The "fun ones," she said, pretending they knew what she meant.

Ace finally glanced at her, expression completely deadpan. "Where exactly is the fun here?"

He wasn't mocking her. Just dissecting the logic. The cantina came into view ahead, polished stone and curved glass catching the streetlights in a way that felt… expensive. A little too refined for the backwater dives he was used to. Ocean facing architecture, sweeping balconies, open air sections that let the breeze roll through. It looked less like a den of desperation and more like a curated experience.

Other acolytes lingered near the entrance, some in pairs, some clustered in small circles. Laughter too loud. Posturing too obvious.

"Guess one night of fun before maybe dying takes the edge off." Ace muttered.

He stepped past the small knot of robed figures without slowing, slipping through the doorway into the hum of music and conversation.

Inside, the cantina opened into a broad, two story chamber. Polished dark wood floors. Lantern light casting warm gold against sea blue walls. A curved bar dominated the lower level, behind it shelves lined with colorful bottles that caught and refracted the light.

Above, a mezzanine wrapped around the perimeter, leading to an open rooftop access where the ocean air filtered down through arching windows left intentionally ajar. The music wasn't the usual off-key wail he expected, it was something smoother, atmospheric, threaded with percussion that echoed like waves against stone.

Patrons filled the space, locals in light, flowing fabrics suited to the waterworld climate, merchants with too much jewelry, a scattering of Covenant acolytes who carried themselves like predators pretending to relax. A few glanced their way. Most didn't.

Ace moved straight to the bar. "Scarif Slush." He said to the bartender without embellishment.

He rested his forearms lightly against the polished surface and waited for Anet to order. Once she did, he turned slightly toward her.

"What's the occasion?" He asked. "There's not an acolyte here that doesn't have their own group to hang out with."

His gaze flicked briefly across the room, then back to her.

"Why waste your time?"

He meant "why waste your time with me." The tone wasn't self-deprecating. It was measured. Observational. As if he were assessing a variable rather than fishing for reassurance.

Anet Raine​

 

[Anet Raine]

Acier Moonbound

Anet shook her head at his answer. If he wanted to drink like a university girl with exams the next day, so be it. Rich statement - considering Anet worked at a University. Or used to. Shey Tapani wasn't in great shape following the Covenant's conquest of Procopia.

Ace finally glanced at her, expression completely deadpan. "Where exactly is the fun here?"

She gave him the most puzzled look in return. "It's a cantina, Acier. You drink, you mingle, you dance, or - if you're interested - you find a nice little corner with a nice little someone and make a fun mistake together." She topped that off with a smirk.

When Acier led them to the bar and ordered his university girl's drink, Anet sighed dramatically.

"I'll have what he's having, but mix in some choholl and kankee."

Anet turned to him while the bartender made their cocktails... Or, well, mocktail in his case.

"What's the occasion?" He asked. "There's not an acolyte here that doesn't have their own group to hang out with."

She tilted her head at that and raised her brow when he followed up by asking her why she was 'wasting her time' with him.

"Do you not just spend time with people?" She laughed. "Why - we're co-workers now."

When their drinks came back, Anet interjected before Acier could have his, 'accidentally' knocking the glass on the floor between them.

"Oops," her tone said otherwise, as did the growing smirk when she offered hers instead. "Here's to you and Jedi chairs."

The bartender grumbled. A little cleaning droid pivoted from across the room and made its way over.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Pelagon - Pelagar City

Equipment:
Acolyte Robes | Lightsaber | Cybernetic Arm

Ace listened while she answered, watching her rather than the room now. Do you not just spend time with people?

"People I like being around, yeah." He replied bluntly.

When she added the co-workers comment, he exhaled faintly through his nose.

"That's… a way to put it."

The bartender returned with their drinks. Ace's attention shifted immediately, there was just a flicker of anticipation there, subtle but real. It had been a while. He reached for the Scarif Slush, and saw it... the "accidentally on purpose" nudge of his glass. The drink hit the floor between them and shattered.

The cooling splash of liquid fanned out across polished wood and stone. Ace's eyes lowered slowly to the spill, he clicked his tongue once, quiet. So he couldn't even enjoy a simple drink now?

When his gaze lifted to Anet, she was already offering her own with that smirk. A twitch pulled faintly at the corner of his mouth. He reached to take it and in the handoff, his grip "slipped". The glass tipped and fell, then shattered.

"Oops." Ace said, deadpan.

On Bonadan, he'd learned early that moments like this weren't accidents. They were measurements. You let someone punk you, you stayed a punk. If you pushed back, just enough, you reset the board.

The cleaning droid whirred over, pivoting neatly as it began absorbing the mess.

"Pardon me." Ace said mildly to it, stepping aside.

He leaned one elbow against the bar, posture loose but eyes steady on Anet.

"To me and Jedi chairs." He said sardonically, then... "Another round?"

Anet Raine ​