riverviewlogs | Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea

Entry tags:

Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea

who: Finn Nolastname, Poe Dameron, AND YOU
what: A FINNDAY CELEBRATION. One year in quarantine and one year since Finn got his name
when: Backdated to November 11th
where: Finn and Poe's apartment
warnings: None!

[ Poe didn't keep this party a secret. Not from Finn, and certainly not from anyone in quarantine. He posted to the network about it more than once, sent invitations to every friend Finn has ever mentioned, and has been preparing noisily for it for almost two weeks.

He might have gone a little overboard.

There's catering, some of it exotic and some of it more on the bland side and all of it painfully healthy. Even the desserts are healthy--fruit salads and delicate little pastries with unprocessed sugar and dark chocolate, sweetness cut with savory or bitter so none of it is overwhelming. The dessert feature is a "cake" constructed entirely of fruit from around Riverview, held together by magic and served in slices. The magic only holds until you stick a fork in the slice, but by then you should have it on a plate anyway, right?

Beyond the catering, Poe got permission from Jyn to borrow her bottomless shrimp dispenser, so there's that. The Mystery Flavor is kumquat chutney dipped and you'd better believe that Poe has eaten half his weight in kumquat chutney shrimp by the time the party actually rolls around. There's also one broccoli pizza positioned carefully in the place of honor at the center of the buffet table. Poe couldn't help himself.

Beyond the food, there are games set up all around the apartment. Card games, board games, a couple takes on carnival games--even a board pinned up against one wall with balloons fixed to it, along with a set of darts set up a short distance away. It's fairly obvious what that one is for. Each balloon has a little folded-up paper inside with a code for a gift card at various places around town--and a sign that says "Don't be an asshole, leave some for other people (Jyn)."

When Poe isn't up in everyone's business making sure people are having fun, or hovering near Finn making sure he's having fun, he's still easy enough to spot--he's in the corner, sprawled on a chair with BB-8 resting against his ankles.

Yeah, he might have gone overboard, but as far as he's concerned Finn deserves the best. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The last 24 hours have been extremely disorienting for Amilyn Holdo, and not a little upsetting.

She'd walked out of her office one afternoon and, from her point of view, appeared back at the portal moments later without any recollection of having gotten there. And then she learned from a helpful (if startled) technician she had in fact been gone from Riverview for months.

She's been quietly re-orienting herself before reaching out to anyone she knows, and finally decided that if there's anyone she ought to start with, it's Poe. Unaware that there's a party going on, she makes her way to his apartment and knocks.

It's only after she has spoken to Poe that Jyn stumbles upon the elegant fucking towering sequoia that is Amilyn Holdo. Jyn was on time for this party, she was! (She came with Cassian, she had no choice but to be on time.) But then she'd had to run back to her own house because, surprise, she forgot to bring Finn's present.

"Hey! You're here!" Well spotted, Erso.

She gestures openly, as if Holdo isn't yet aware that she is, in fact, here. Luckily Jyn is here to illuminate her. She's a helper.

"So it seems," Amilyn says with a wry smile. "I'm still not sure what happened, but apparently I lost several months there."

It takes a minute for Poe to open the door. He's momentarily busy picking all the broccoli off a slice of pizza and throwing all the florets at Finn one by one. When he gets there he has a mouth half-full of pizza and the rest of the slide dangling from one hand.

And there's Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo.

He forgets to chew. He doesn't notice the cheese sliding off the slide in-hand until it's almost too late, and then he solves the problem of having his hands full by throwing the pizza in question into the bush outside their door. Something will eat it.

Poe almost chokes as he swallows. Then he's left staring at her again, mouth and hands empty.

Amilyn Holdo is here. She's here, she's alive, she's here. Her second chance at life is a third.

He laughs, or rather makes a tiny aborted noise that could be interpreted as a laugh under the right circumstances. Then he throws his arms around her in a patented Poe Dameron bear hug.

She almost laughs when he throws the pizza slice into the bush, but the expression on his face stops the laughter; it hits her then, what it must have meant for her to vanish so abruptly, with no explanation. Still, when Poe embraces her, she actually staggers a little under the force of it.

"I'm ... glad to see you too?" she manages.

He laughs, kind of. It's a whispered exhale of laughter more than a real laugh. "You're here. You're alive."

Stating the obvious is about as much as he can handle right now. Doing more would require him to look at all the feelings he's bottled up and set aside, feelings about Holdo, feelings about Paige. He lets Holdo go and looks behind him at the party inside. "You, uh. Want to come in?"

Finn is another one who doesn't get around to her until some time after she's seen Poe. When he arrived, he was a little ensnared in a card game with Chyler-- the kind neither of them had heard of until they picked up the pack, and therefore had to learn the rules to by reading the box on the fly.

He thinks she won, but it was honestly really unclear.

Beyond that point, it's obviously fairly hard to miss Holdo even in any sort of crowd or distractions. Even putting aside the ways in which she physically stands out, she does still have a certain air about her.

Finn never got to know her especially well in the months she last spent here, but it's still an unmitigated relief to turn his head and suddenly register her presence. She is, after all, one of theirs. He makes a beeline for her ASAP, naturally.

"Welcome back." It feels like it would be rude to not cover that ground. "You okay? Can I get you anything?"

[it looks a lot more like a festive party than the house party that doubled as his and jyn's birthday Thing, but it's very fitting, and there is no doubt in cassian's mind that finn will be into it.]

[he brought the cat, naturally. raddus is finn's best friend hands down, there's no reason she shouldn't be there for the party! raddus immediately decides her favorite spot is lingering by the shrimp dispenser, but she also darts around the house curiously, because new space! maybe she will take a flying leap onto your board game and scatter the pieces like any good cat would.]

[cassian himself will give the darts a try, and by try i mean hit a balloon on the very first throw because his aim is just Too Good. victory is gonna taste like his favorite soup shop, how nice.]

[he's much better at lingering and socializing, like, as a person, and a large part of that is thanks to some of the people here at this party. he doesn't mind being here at all, even if it weren't for celebrating finn. catch him mingling like a real functioning adult, or at least one who's gotten even better at pretending.]

[ jyn also gives the darts a try, with enough violence to probably jam the dart through the board and into the wall. damage has been caused. she hands the little certificate to cassian to read before she vandalizes the sign next to the board, scribbling go fuck a hutt underneath the note calling her out. ]

I should get a second one just because I let him borrow the shrimp.

[ SO THERE. ]

[ Poe scoops Raddus up as soon as he sees her, carrying her around for as long as she'll let him before she claws her way up to his shoulder and leaps free. So like, three seconds, but those three seconds were totally worth it.

Raddus being here means Jyn and Cassian are here, and there aren't so many people present that he can't spot one of them right off. Cassian nails one of the balloons and Poe is shocked, truly shocked at his accuracy. He walks over to clap Cassian on the shoulder, grinning. ]

Glad you made it even though it's a party.

[ FINN IS HERE. On time. Since he lives here. It would be kind of unfortunate if he weren't. And he is, overall, probably in one of the best, easiest moods that he's ever been able to be caught in in the wild. There are smiles happening. RPing this character with John Boyega's natural wattage so rarely gets to pay off, but today it does.

It's the perfect trifecta. Finn loves 1) being Finn, 2) all of his people, and 3) getting to do something fun that doesn't seem like it can go horribly, horribly wrong.

There are a lot of soft and complicated emotions to go around for the occasion itself, sure, but he's taking great strides to really channel being glad to be here right now, which makes up the bulk of those emotions anyway.

He'll be making the rounds about as long as the party's going! His personal mission is to talk to everybody who shows up at some point, and he will achieve that goal. If he's not approaching for the conversation, catch him anywhere. Gently trying to shoo Raddus away from the shrimp dispenser (failing). Trying his hand at games, because the competitive streak don't stop. Snacking around a little. He eats some of the broccoli pizza, probably exclusively at a point where he can spitefully stare at Poe while he does it. The joke and the broccoli will only make him grow more powerful. Fool. This is not how he leads into giving Poe his thank-you gift, it's just Finn in his natural habitat looking dumb.

Or pretty much find him wherever else! He is definitely very much around and ready to appreciate........ the power of friendship. ]

[ Poe is mid-chess-match with Cassian when he spots Finn staring at him eating the broccoli pizza with all that spiteful power, and he's invested enough in winning said chess match that he just grins at Finn and feels pleased with himself for no readily apparent reason.

He loses the chess match. Shocker.

It doesn't take much to find Finn afterward. It's not as though their apartment is huge or the number of people here is so overwhelming that he can't find his best friend among the guests.

He sort of tacklehugs Finn from behind, one arm slung around Finn's shoulder and the other one a fist noogying Finn's ribs because I can't think of a better way to describe it. ]

Happy Finnday, buddy.

[ What's important is that Poe did see it in the moment it was happening. None of the spite had to go to waste on a maybe. Which is definitely enough for Finn to go ahead and finish the pizza and move on with his life. Throw some darts around. Talk to some friends and acquaintances. There's no one here that he doesn't trust.

And it's been quiet out there lately, or as quiet as it ever gets. Finn dares to believe this is going to be a nice, uneventful... event. About a year ago, he was staring at Cisco and Eddie's table centerpiece like it was set to activate a First Order homing beacon and bring a cruiser to town any second. It's weird to think about it now. Those first few weeks of dread and tension, all three of them living piled on top of each other.

He hasn't seen Rey yet. He'll have to doublecheck before trying to send her a message.

Finn accepts his tacklehug with the usual mixture of indignation and good grace, because he's been half-expecting it all day. He lives with Poe; he knows better than to not expect it. The happy Finnday-ing all but drags a snort out of him. The good natured kind of snort. ]

Yeah, happy Finnday to you, too. [ Just have to accept this good quality occasion and roll with it. Every Finnday is at least 10% Poeday anyway, based on very scientific research. It's part of why he's got that gift he's gonna remember he got Poe in about ten seconds. ] How'd your chess game turn out?

[ He sounds suspiciously like a person who knows exactly how the chess game turned out. Hmmm. ]

How do you think it turned out?

[ Poe doesn't sound particularly bothered. It's Cassian. No one can beat Cassian at chess except maybe Jyn and that's just because Cassian gets easily distracted by Jyn. No, they don't exactly moon at each other, but there are definitely some stars involved.

BB-8 comes rolling up with streamers stuck to his dome and Poe sighs happily. ]

So, you like it? It's good?

[ There's comfort in the way Cassian and Jyn orbit each other. She is definitely the only one who can beat him at chess.

Kind of unfortunate when most of Finn's remaining friends are very competitive soldier types. But Cassian is very smart and talented. A winning streak is to be expected.

He looks at Poe in a broadly offended sort of way. He looks at Poe like Poe just asked what colors make green in the most patronizing way possible. Which is something. Poe is frankly really bad at sounding patronizing. It's not so much because of the question or the touch of uncertainty he can pick out threaded into it, because Poe cares about doing things for people that they'll like, because he's a good person like that.

It's more because Finn hasn't considered that someone else might possibly not like it until this moment, and he's offended by even the possibility. He is already scanning the room for suspects. ]

Of course it's good. Best party I've ever had. [ That's a joke. Like it's true, but it's a joke. ] Everyone likes it.

[ And if they don't, too bad? They like it now. He's ready to argue them into it. Later. ]

You got a minute?

[ Poe pats Finn's shoulder and lets go, satisfied with Finn's answers and also satisfied that he doesn't immediately have to run off and fix something because he would totally do it if Finn had mentioned anything amiss.

BB-8 rolls in an aimlessly cheerful circle around them, presumably just to make the streamers on his head trail through the air. ]

For you, always. What's up?

[ Poe truly never fails him in his times of most important need. Which is great, since this being something for Poe automatically means it's very important.

Finn pauses for a second, just to doublecheck that BB-8's circling really is more cheerful than "get these things off of me." He doesn't know enough droid to translate that anyway, but since BB-8 is pretty much a superhero, it feels safe to assume the point would get across.

Being able to take a moment is nice. Being able to ask for one and know he'll probably get it. It's also very useful to come up with a vague enough answer. ]

Oh, I just-- have to show you something. [ He tries to sound chill. ] No big deal.

[ Not... technically untrue... but very obviously not the whole actual truth. There's the exact type of nervous false assurance undercurrent in there that almost always gives him away. Because in this household we respect that Finn is bad at lying except to himself.

His immediate follow-up measure to try to counteract further questioning is to catch Poe by the wrist and start towing him towards what is technically Finn's room. The Finn room. It's not a big apartment. He thinks he can just get them on in there in good time.

"Why doesn't Finn just say he got Poe a present instead of this unnecessary buffering?" Because it's Finnday and he can do whatever he wants?? But also because it's a personal gift that he'd rather not turn into a spectacle in front of all their friends, realistically. So. ]

Okay....

[ Poe knows very well that Something Is Up. Finn isn't exactly subtle. But he willingly lets himself be towed along in his friend's wake, amused and weirdly... touched. Finn's Finn-ness is so endearing. So genuine. Maybe Poe just feels it more today, when they're celebrating Finn becoming Finn, throwing the First Order off his shoulders and learning how to be himself.

One they're in his room, Poe swings the door mostly shut. It seems like the right thing to do somehow. ]

So what's up?

[ All according to plan. Excellent. It pays to be in tune. To know someone well enough to read them, know they know him well enough to read him back without it being weird.

Things are easier with Poe like that. Easy to fall into step most days. They've worked for that. There's a fine line between trusting that it's there and not wanting to take it for granted, and Finn likes to straddle that line like a consummate professional. ]

I got you something.

[ With the buildup comes no real ceremony in the presentation. Finn hits his closet, pulls a gift down from the shelf that's been very neatly wrapped in plain orange paper, and expectantly holds it in Poe's general direction. The narration will not confirm exactly how many times he rewrapped it until he achieved the level of neatness he decided that it had to meet. That's just standard Finn fare.

He is, dare he say, pretty pleased to have a gift that's actually good enough for the occasion, unless he's gone horribly wrong and misread everything Poe has ever told him about loving his mom, ever. But it's too late for that train of thought to throw a wrench in the works at this point, really.

(Not pictured: all their friends making it a heist mission to carefully deflate balloons and steal gift codes while they're gone.) ]

Finn--

[ Poe is clearly as surprised as he is affected. He wasn't expecting anything. This is Finn's day, not his. Still, he takes it gently and starts to unwrap it, popping the tape up and peeling the wrapping paper back as carefully as he can. Normally he'd just tear straight on through, but something in him wants to show Finn that this matters to him, regardless of what's inside. ]

[ It was really easy to come up with reasons to get Poe something, honestly. This was pretty much cemented the second the thought crossed his mind.

Reason number one being in reality that he just wanted to do it. But it added up the longer he had to think. It's been a year, so that means Poe had a birthday in there somewhere. He put a lot of work into this party, and he wanted to, and he thought it was worth doing in the first place, and that's one of those... very soft and hard to articulate sorts of things.

Finn could probably try to make a list of good reasons, but it seems like one of those things that would just keep getting longer. He's easy like that.

Poe will find one (1) framed photographic rendering of himself and Shara Bey in front of her old A-wing, from about a month back. It took a little doing to root around to some of the points where they'd been looking at each other instead of one or both looking in his direction, and then a little more finagling to land on something that he thought fit, but Finn thinks the end result was worth it. Weird magic being the norm turned out to be good for exactly one thing when all is said and done.

He thinks if parents look at their kids even halfway to the benchmark Poe's mother set, Kylo Ren really doesn't have an excuse for being awful and a murderer. That's a whole other thing, though.

Right now it's good to know Poe would have even appreciated getting framed macaroni art today, probably. ]

[ For perhaps an uncomfortably long time, Poe just stares at the picture, an expression somewhere between wonder and mystification on his face. He touches the glass over it lightly, like if he places his fingers just the right way he can step through the frame and back into that moment. ]

This is....

[ He doesn't say what it is, but actions speak louder than words and all that. He yanks Finn into a full-bodied, clinging hug. ]

[ Yeah, that's about why he figured this was better as a semi-privately given gift.

Family stuff. It's always pretty personal.

Finn, of course, takes no issue with hugging back, albeit not with the same bursting-out-of-him power. Every once in a while, even he feels like he's maybe done right by someone important, and it's a good energy to have. ]

I'll take that as a "good."

[ Poe squeezes him tighter. Is that a pilot sniffling? Are those pilot tears? Surely n--

Yeah, yeah they totally are.

He gives a brief, watery laugh. ]

It's perfect, buddy. It's perfect.

Why's there only one broccoli pizza?

[ because it looks appetizing af and jyn is gonna take a slice but it's certainly not enough for a party. like wow, poe, that's just shit planning. ]

Oh-- Poe thinks he's being funny. But it only works if I'm the only one in the room who actually likes the pizza, so.

[ Is it possible to shrug smugly???? Yes, obviously, because Finn is doing it.

This is the story of Poe's joke backfiring spectacularly, because at least 2 of Finn's short, british-accent, self-reliant survivor friends who could beat him up have indicated distinct interest in enjoying the broccoli pizza. Finn is vindicated.

It's a Finnday miracle. ]

[ finn:

]

[ jyn folds the pizza in half because she is not royalty and takes a bite that is probably more than half the pizza. she does not waste time chewing before she speaks. ]

Poe's a moron.

[ It's that gif exactly. Same energy. Important for everyone to know and understand but especially Poe.

Or would Poe just be even more pleased with himself... doesn't matter, it's worth it. And so it's that comment exactly that gets a snort of laughter out of Finn. ]

I don't know if he'd agree with you or just tell you you have bad taste in pizza. Big talk from someone who broke our first egg roller by shoving cookie dough in it.

[ No Poe never gets to live it down. It's equivalent exchange. ]

[ Gonna make this short and sweet because my brain is spent today. Poe is mingling! He's having fun! He's playing his own dart game and not doing half-bad at it even though he's way more accurate behind a flight stick than throwing pointy things!

Catch him feeding Raddus in the corner, feeding the fish in the living room, or challenging people to chess which is a sad version of Dejarik with no holographic creatures beating each other up. It's kind of fun, though. Or just collapsed on the floor along some wall with BB-8 tucked up next to him, enjoying watching people enjoy themselves. ]

[ jyn flops down on the floor next to poe because she is about the floor sitting life, as it happens. ]

Can't believe you were dumb enough to play Cassian at chess. Do you like losing?

[ honestly, he should know better. she reaches over him to fist bump her favorite salad spinner, miraculously not getting tased this time. she is growing on him. ]

I like Cassian, and he likes Chess.

[ Poe rests his hand on BB-8's dome. The little droid has streamers stuck to it. ]

Besides, you can still learn by losing.

[ If there's one thing he's learned over the past year, it's that. ]

[ Chyler feels a little weird being here. She's easily the youngest person in this particular crowd, but this is for Finn, and Finn is her brother. There's no point in calling him anything else at this point. Brother in arms, brother in general.

She loves him, he loves her, and she's not afraid to show it.

So here she is, nailing targets on the dart board, participating with caution in some of the other games, eating the food (including the broccoli pizza, thank you very much). She's even caught in more than one corner trying to make friends with Raddus, who's playing hard to get because she's a cat and Chyler smells like dog.

Speaking of dog: Dom is here too! Also trying to make friends with Raddus, play the games (by shoving his nose into the middle of them), and eat the food. Which Chyler stops him from doing. Several times. ]

[ Chyler showing up is obviously one of the biggest highlights of the occasion. It's not that Finn thought she wouldn't. He just thought to himself at some point that he'd totally understand if she didn't for whatever reason.

They're alike in a lot of ways. Some of the ways they're alike boil down to things that don't always make going to parties a fun experience. So it really is great to see her show up. In general. With every single person he cares about that walks through the door, Finn only grows more powerful. More than 5 people coming to this party will make him so OP that he breaks the game. I can't believe it's the real reason Riverview is ending.

Anyway, he definitely makes a point to hang around with her more than once. This party is chock-full of quality time. It's his jam. Which is how he ends up here by the dart board with her, watching Raddus keep to a specific distance range like the most overdramatic thing in the world as he gives Dom a scratch behind the ears. ]

How far back do you think you'd have to get before you started missing?

[ The apartment isn't the most spacious place in the world, but he thinks there's room to get creative for the sake of RR-1 brand fun. ]

[ She glances at him with one of those tiny, ironic smiles of hers. She's glad she came, for Finn's sake. He seems to be having fun, real fun, untempered fun, which is something she still finds rare enough to be precious.

She even has a present to give him later, tucked away in the small back slung over her shoulder, though she's not entirely sure how he'll feel about it. She wanted to give him something important, and it was the only thing she could think of. ]

Are you willing to take out a wall?

[ It's about what he expected her to say, but that was half the point of asking her in the first place. This has been a good day to revel in knowing people. Really knowing them. It could be said that he's luxuriating in it a little. That's what it feels like, still. A luxury.

Finn knows that by all technicalities, he doesn't belong in Riverview. He knows that when the time comes, he'll leave. But he fits. He has people that he fits with. Some where it took work, cautious feeling out, to settle there. Some he could fall into step with without even trying. More than he thought he could ever get. (More than he's inclined to think he deserves, even with the edges of that sentiment slowly being smoothed over with time.)

Chyler's always been easy to fall into step with. They're a lot alike.

Today feels like a good day to appreciate that. ]

I'd think about it. Not sure I could afford it. [ They'd never get their security deposit back if they took out a wall. ] Maybe we could set something up at headquarters. Give us more room to work with. Just target practice with extra work, right?

[ One week later Chyler and Finn were practicing with throwing knives, probably, those Extra wonders. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

shh im here on time shh

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

SLAMS INTO

SLAMS BACK TEN YEARS LATER

no subject