[ closed/open ] Highway to the danger zone

[volitaunt]

who: Poe + CR + ALSO YOU, MAYBE??
what: Catch-all with closed and open prompts
when: April/May
where: ALL AROUND LE TOWN, more prompts to come i'm sure
warnings: Poe attempting to babysit ten thousand tiny Star Warses and then self-destructing when he doesn't have that distraction any more???

Comments

[bythehand]

[ Okay. As long as he knows that much. It's a start.

Finn lets Poe call the shots on how long the hug stretches out. Since it seems like Poe could use it, and it's not like Finn has anywhere he's supposed to be. Let alone anywhere he's supposed to be that would beat this in a priorities lineup. Riverview wishes it had anything to throw at him that could keep his people from getting top billing.

It also gives him that little bit of extra time to line up his... what to do next. He's winging it. Just a little. ]

[volitaunt]

[ It stretches out. It stretches into gratitude and guilt, from guilt back into grief. ]

We could be stuck here, Finn. We could be stuck, forever.

[ A wave of exhaustion he's been keeping ahead of for the better part of a month washes through him, carried by the image of his mom's ship, rusting quietly in the jungle. Is she somewhere out there on the Capital World? Is she alive, is she dead, was she never here at all?

This is the first time he's voiced a possibility that's haunted him from the moment he recognized the A-wing's scuffed red paint. It had been there long enough to start to come to pieces.

What if they never get to go home? ]

[bythehand]

[ Things start to make more sense, just like that. Finn can't put the timeline from point A all the way to point B. This is the heart of it, though. He doesn't need to dig.

He doesn't try to brush off the notion, because it's true. There's no way of knowing for sure.

The First Order raised his cadre for a war he didn't see until he was 23 years old. In a way, the situation in waiting to go home is almost second nature. It might be harder on someone like Poe. While Poe's about on par with Finn for impulsiveness, his brand of impatience is very different.

Poe is so much worse at sitting still. ]

We could. [ They could be here for years. They could go home tomorrow. ] Doesn't mean we're giving up, right?

[ He knows he's not. If it's another day or another ten years, he knows he'll take the first road home they offer. They need to be there. So they'll get there somehow.

(He's entertained the thought of hoping to be able to come back someday, maybe. It's the most he's put into any sort of after-the-war hypothetical in his life.

But it always, always, comes after.) ]

[volitaunt]

[ He presses his face against Finn's shoulder. Familiar rough leather, familiar rough smell. He can hear BB-8 making encouraging noises, agreeing with Finn, and feels the pressure of the droid rolling over to lean against his leg.

For a few seconds more, Poe just lets Finn hug him. For just a few seconds more. ]

No.

[ He doesn't do that. He doesn't give up.

(That's why the bars, the fights, the endless rounds he can't win. It's easier to have someone beat him into oblivion than to do it to himself alone. )

He slowly lets go. Exhales, lifts his head away from Finn's shoulder. He doesn't know what to do now. He's tired. Exhausted. He just looks down at BB-8, because it's easier than trying to look Finn in the eyes after all this. ]

[bythehand]

[ He can take his time with it. That probably goes without saying, of course.

It's a start. As long as Poe knows he's here regardless, it's a start. ]

Want some waffles? I know a place. If you don't wanna go back yet.

[volitaunt]

[ Poe stares at him for a moment, uncomprehending, trying to sort "want some waffles" into the context of this conversation.

His lips twitch into a smile. ]

Yeah. Okay.