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