Private Rust & Hunger

[Lily Rhodes]

“Aww, come on, that was funny!”

Lily thought it was at least, she threw her hands up in mock despair before moving to catch up with him. He was so serious, a little laugh might actually do him some good. Maybe he’d forgotten how. Well, Lily had the whole night to poke at him, maybe she’d make him crack…or maybe he’d throw her through a wall, it really was anyone’s guess.

The noise got quieter, the press against her barriers easing as they shifted to a part of the Vergeworks that felt off the beaten track, or as much as it could do on an industrial planet. The safe house was unremarkable by design, Lily didn’t need to know Ace to know that.

It was clean and functional which was the best Lily could really hope for. She slid her own jacket off as Ace moved for the kitchenette, gently setting it on top of his as her eyes scanned the shelves, most pieces she recognised. She’d never been much of a mechanic, but she’d spent the last few years learning. Maintaining and repairing your own ship saved a lot of credits.

Every street kid had to find their own way to survive. For Lily, it had been about being fast, about reading the room and seeing the fight before it broke out, and about being able to spot the valuables worth lifting. Acier? A scrapper. In both senses, she was willing to bet. The way people thought about him when they passed said he had a rep before he claimed whatever seat he was sitting in now.

"If you tell anyone about this, I'll have to kill you."

Lily blinked and looked round at him. “Acier Moonbound, did you just make a fucking joke?” she put her hand to her heart, mock surprise on her face. “I might die of shock.”

She dropped her hand grinning before moving to the kitchenette, helping herself to a glass and following suit with the Slush, before settling herself onto the sofa and kicking her boots off.

“You grew up here a scrapper and now you’ve come back to what? Call yourself king of the shithole that made you?” She took a drink, watching him, the blue glow from the datapad illuminating his face. “Why?”


Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace simply glanced at her for a moment when she commented on the joke. The look lingered just long enough to acknowledge it before his attention returned to the datapad.

The faint blue glow reflected across his freckled features as he continued scrolling through reports, messages, and figures. He heard her drop onto the couch behind him and kick off her boots. A few seconds later came the question.

Ace's thumb paused briefly against the screen.

"Reading my mind again?" He asked dryly, the sarcasm subtle but unmistakable.

He resumed scrolling. For a moment, the only sounds were the quiet hum of the safehouse and the occasional tap of his thumb against the datapad.

"I killed the guy who ran this city a while back. It left a power vacuum I didn't know about until a little while ago." His tone remained matter-of-fact and detached. "So I came back and fixed it."

He didn't mention of Tessk, the bounty, or the responsibility that had settled on his shoulders the moment he'd realized what his actions had left behind.

Ace scrolled a little further before continuing, eyes remaining on the screen. "Vergeworks is the most stable it's ever been. Lot of orphans'll get to have an easier time growing up than I did."

That was all he offered. No speech about justice, no grand vision, just a statement. Finally, he set the datapad down on the counter and turned enough to look at her properly.

Brown eyes studied her for a second. Then one brow lifted slightly.

"You trying to make conversation." He asked, "Or is there an angle here?"

Lily Rhodes ​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily shook her head and tipped her head against the back of the sofa. "I don't need to read your mind or anyone else's to figure that one out." Her eyes moved around the room again listening to his answer.

The way he spoke like it was just business, emotionless and detached from it all. Yet what he spoke of should've meant more. To kill a kingpin that no doubt had sway over his life growing up and then to stand in his shoes...that wasn't nothing.

She lifted her head up at the mention of orphans, watching him again, wandering if he was actually reading what he was looking at or if he was just using it as a way to hide.

"I see." She said slowly, reading between the lines. A power vacuum meant chaos, the next layer of command all vying for the same spot, schisms, gangs wars. Suffering for the people at the bottom. Because it was always the people at the bottom who suffered most when power waged war.

As former bottom feeders, they knew that better than anyone else.

So the question was, did he feel guilty about the mess he'd made and stepped up to asuage it. Or was there something else driving it, some grand vision where Bonadon was more than just a scrap pile at the edge of the Galaxy.

She met his gaze with a small smile on her face. "Well, one of us has to make an effort, if you had it your way we'd probably be sitting in silence all night and that would be boring."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace studied her for a moment. Her small smile, the ease in her posture, and the fact she'd somehow reached the point where she was actively trying to pull conversation out of him. She was getting too comfortable.​

​

The answer that followed wasn't amusing in the slightest. A resigned sigh escaped him and he finally rubbed a hand through his ashen locs, pushing them back from his face.​

​

"Yeah, of course you'd say that." There was a faint edge of irritation in his voice now. "After dealing with people all day, you think I wanna spend my time off doing more talking?"​

​

He pushed himself up from the desk before she could answer. The datapad was abandoned entirely as he crossed the apartment toward the kitchenette.​

​

"You've seen this place."​

​

He opened one of the cupboards and pulled out two packets of instant ramen a second later.​

​

"Half of what I do is solving someone else's problem."​

​

Ace filled a kettle and set it to boil, then glanced back over his shoulder.​

​

"You're an adult." The statement was delivered with complete seriousness. "You can't entertain yourself?"​

​

He turned back toward the counter before she could throw something at him and began preparing the ramen like the question he'd just asked was perfectly reasonable.​

​

Lily Rhodes​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily’s smile faltered, a brief flicker of sadness crossed her expression at his attempt to shut her down before it vanished just as quickly. “I actually think you’ve probably said more in this room than you have all day. Pretty sure you typically live in the realm of monosyllabic responses and use single words like they are a whole fucking sentence.”

She wasn’t backing off, if anything his dismissal and his refusal to give her any kind of conversation just made her more determined.

“I am entertaining myself.” That little smile widened ever so slightly. She pushed herself up off the sofa, moving to lean against the desk and plucking up the datapad he’d been looking at, skimming idly through it.

“Literally everywhere I have gone since you got my off Coruscant I have run into one piece of shit or another from your little cult. Except Naboo, but I just got harassed there,” her mind drifted to Cora and she smiled “mostly anyway...”

The datapad bored her and she dropped it back on the desk folding her arms and watching Acier busy himself with making ramen. “Are you not even a little bit curious?”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace continued working without looking at her. Water simmered softly in the pot while he divided ingredients, and a sigh escaped him. She was exhausting.

What she said about the way he talked wasn't exactly wrong. Most people seemed to think he was quiet because he disliked conversation or didn't know how to hold one. The former was partially true, but mainly, it was because Ace spoke when he thought something was worth saying. That habit had been forged long in him during childhood.

On Bonadan, silence had been survival. Watching mattered more than talking, information had value, so did attention - drawing the wrong kind of attention could get you hurt.

It was just part of him now. Not that he intended to explain any of that to Lily.

Ace glanced over his shoulder when she added that she was entertaining herself. His eyes narrowed slightly. She was leaning against his desk and reading his datapad. Actually skimming through it. The sight alone made something tighten behind his eyes. The balls on this girl.

He turned back toward the stove before he said something. Behind him, Lily continued talking. Covenant this. Covenant that. Running into another piece of shit from his "cult". Naboo. Harassment. More commentary. The words blurred together.

The ramen was finally finished. Ace reached for two bowls and portioned everything out evenly. Only then did he turn around.

"I don't care." The answer landed flat and immediate.

His metallic hand lifted one bowl while the second rose from the counter on its own. The bowl drifted smoothly across the room under the grip of telekinesis, stopping a short distance in front of Lily and hovering there expectantly for her to take it.

Ace kept hold of his own, shifting his gaze from Lily, to the datapad, then back to Lily again. The look in his eyes had changed, and the easy indifference was gone.

"Just a reminder." His voice remained calm, which somehow made it worse. "You're a guest. You don't live here. Don't ever touch or look through my private shit again without asking."

Ace held her gaze. There was no smirk, no dry humor, no teasing. Nothing to soften the words.

"You understand?"

Then, after a moment, he grabbed a fork and began eating - his easy indifference returning.

"You need an off-switch."

Lily Rhodes ​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"I don't care."

Lily’s smile faded, slipping behind an equally stoney facade as she regarded Acier. If she took it at face value, it was believable. His tone, his delivery, the indifference that came so easily to him. It was believable.

Maybe her first assessment on Coruscant was right, she was just something to offset the guilt, that was the only reason he saved her. Her eyes moved to the bowl, which she took without taking her eyes off him, the unspoken threat regarding snooping in his privacy landing heavily between them.

For a moment, she said nothing, leaning against the desk with the steaming bowl of ramen in her hands, the heat slowly seeping through the ceramic to warm her fingers. Only when it became unbearable to hold anymore did she finally move, sucking in a hiss of breath before shifting the sleeves of her top to protect her hands and moving back to the sofa.

“Thanks.” She muttered.

She lifted the fork and started eating, keeping her gaze down. Apparently, Acier had found the off switch, and Lily was absolutely sulking about it.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace ate in silence and for several minutes, the apartment was exactly how he liked it. No questions, commentary, or attempts to pry into things he didn't feel like discussing. Just the quiet scrape of a fork against a bowl and the distant hum of traffic beyond the safehouse walls. Peace and quiet.

Or at least, it should have been. Unfortunately, Ace wasn't stupid. He noticed things, like when people stopped talking or stopped looking at him. When their answers got shorter. When the energy in a room shifted without anyone saying why. And right now, Lily was sulking. He didn't even need the Force to tell him that.

Ace continued eating anyway, pretending not to notice for another few minutes. Maybe she'd get over it. But the silence only got heavier.

Eventually, he finished the last of the ramen and set the empty bowl aside. A quiet sigh escaped him and he leaned back against the counter, folding his arms across his chest as he studied her from across the room.

"Why are you sulking?"

He knew exactly why she was upset, he just didn't understand why she was upset. The warning about the datapad had been obvious. Necessary, even. He'd given her food. A place to stay. A bed, because yes, he absolutely was going to take the couch. And he was taking her with him tomorrow.

From Ace's perspective, nothing had changed. Yet somehow she'd gone from talking enough for three people to quietly staring into a bowl of ramen like she'd been personally betrayed.

Lily Rhodes​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Silence was never really silence for Lily. Where there was no conversation there was only space for the noise beyond to press in. The Vergeworks was far from quiet, even in this area where the bodies were less, there was enough metal traffic to make it sound like she was sitting in a noisy cafeteria. Even with barriers set in place, the hum was there, pressing against them.

She ate slowly, keeping her eyes on her bowl, even when the sound of Acier’s empty one settling on the counter broke the silence and he sighed, the soft whisper of fabric reaching her ears as he folded his arms.

“I thought you didn’t care.”

Her gaze lifted as she slowly curled the last of her noodles around her fork. It wasn’t just him she was mad at, she was mad, because she always found it too easy to care. Lily caring, was half the reason she wound up in terrible situations.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace rolled his eyes. There it was. The answer somehow managed to be more irritating than the sulking itself.

He wasn't doing this. His patience with her was already thin, and his emotional bandwidth was non-existent. All this over, what he perceived as nothing, it was ridiculous in his eyes.

An annoyed sigh escaped him.

"Okay then." The words carried all the enthusiasm of a man voluntarily walking into a wall.

Ace pushed himself away from the counter and crossed the apartment. He dropped onto the couch and started pulling his boots off one at a time before setting them beside the low table. The conversation, as far as he was concerned, was over.

"You can have the bed."

He leaned back into the cushions, stretching one arm across the backrest.

"Sleep off whatever it is that's going on with you."

His tone wasn't cruel. Just tired. Ace closed his eyes briefly before opening them again and staring up toward the ceiling.

"I want to be at the meeting point a couple hours before it goes down."

He shifted the focus back to something useful, practical, and that actually mattered.

"The more time we've got to watch the area, the better."

Lily Rhodes ​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Stars, he was such an ass.

Lily looked away, her jaw tightening as she bit back anger, the fork dropping into her bowl as her interest in eating faded as her anger rose. Why did it bother her so much that he didn’t care? She exhaled a huff of a sigh from her nose and got up as he settled on the couch, setting her bowl on the counter a little heavier than necessary.

"Sleep off whatever it is that's going on with you."

She almost picked the bowl back up to throw at him, a humourless laugh escaped her as she turned back round to look at him. For a moment she thought about it, she thought about yelling at him, telling him what she thought but the moment passed and she deflated, a hollow sadness settling in her chest.

“Whatever.”

She moved for the bedroom door, grabbing her jacket as she passed, muttering “See you in the morning.”

The door clicked shut behind her and she tossed her jacket onto the bed before dropping onto it herself staring up at the ceiling. What was it about Acier, that him not caring wound her up so much? Because he’d saved her?

No, it wasn’t that.

He stayed there, present, acting as a conduit rather than a shield. If the Force was balance, like she suggested… then maybe this was what it looked like. Weight shared.

A lump formed in her throat, tears jumping to her eyes before she could stop them. There had been something there, something that could have been built on. The number of friends Lily had in this galaxy could not even fill one hand, the fact that Acier practically slammed the door in her face…

She rolled to her side, turning her back to the door, wiping away her quiet tears.

Fuck. Him.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace didn't respond. The bedroom door shut with a quiet click and the apartment fell silent once again. A few seconds later he pushed himself up from the couch long enough to remove his upper robe and gloves, setting both aside before dropping back into the cushions. One hand rested across his stomach while the other tucked behind his head.

His eyes remained fixed on the ceiling. Through the Force, he could feel Lily. Not her thoughts, the specifics, just the emotion. Sadness. Disappointment. It seeped through the apartment like gas filling a room, impossible to miss.

She was loud. Louder than most people. Most emotions brushed against his awareness and passed by unnoticed. Lily's lingered. Ace did nothing with it. At some point along the way, feelings like sorrow, empathy, compassion and sympathy had become distant things. Muted things. When he wasn't drawing upon anger or purpose, there was usually only emptiness left behind.

So he simply lay there. Thinking. Not because he cared, but because he wanted to understand. Why did it matter so much to her? She'd grown up on the streets, he knew that much. Hard life. Hard lessons. Same as him. Shouldn't she have learned by now? Getting attached, wearing your emotions on your sleeve, and letting people affect you like this.

It made you vulnerable. Weak.

Ace exhaled quietly through his nose, thoughts drifting elsewhere. To soft brown eyes, curly hair, theaters, cafés, and long walks through Ukatis.

Fatine.

The tension in his shoulders eased slightly. Honestly, he wished he was there right now. Not here dealing with this.

Then his eyes finally closed.

---

Morning came early. Ace was already awake, dressed, and moving before the sun had fully climbed over the industrial skyline. By the time he reached the bedroom door he'd already eaten one ration bar and had another in hand.

He knocked three times. "Get dressed. We gotta go."

Straight to business. When the door finally opened, Ace immediately handed her the ration bar before turning away and retrieving his jacket from the couch. He slid it on while heading for the apartment door.

"If you're still pissed at me and we need to fight whatever's waiting for us out there." He adjusted his collar. "Use that."

Lily Rhodes ​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily slept fitfully, drifting between reoccurring nightmares and restlessness that had her staring up at the ceiling, she hadn't long slipped into a deeper sleep when Acier's sharpy knock on the door jolted her awake. She sat upright taking a few seconds to remember where she was, a shiver running through her as her body recalibrated from sleep to awake. Swinging her legs off the bed she bent over, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes and waiting for the racing of her heart to settle and the sudden nausea to pass, only then did she start to get herself ready, raking her fingers through her hair and tying it back up, pulling her jacket back on.

She flinched when she stepped through the door to be greeted by a ration bar. Not even a good morning. She shoved it in a pocket, not quite ready to eat and moved to grab her boots from where she’d abandoned them, slowly pulling them on as Acier opened his mouth again.

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. “Could you be any more of an ass?” she muttered, not really expecting an answer as she finished tying her boots and stood up.

“Spare me the Sith one-oh-one.” she retorted, rolling her eyes. “Use your anger, your hate blah blah blah. Heard it more than enough and I am perfectly capable of holding my own without it.”

Lily moved for the door muttering under her breath.

“Nerf herder.”

Acier Moonbound