return; semi-closed

[flightforfreedom]

WHO: Poe Dameron and Friends
WHERE: Nonah
WHEN: Jan 24th, evening
WHAT: Poe wakes up back on earth
WARNINGS: there's a good chance poe is going to get laid, other than that i got nothing


[ OOC: This is going to be a catch-all post for Poe checking on his CR once he gets back to Earth. Hit me up on plurk (daestwen) if you want an individual prompt. Potentially open to non-cr if you want to catch a man and a droid running around. ]

Poe was completely disoriented until he finally woke up fully. He remembered the tattoo, the nanites -- and when he woke his brain was already starting to try to shuffle his memories back into order. It wasn't an easy process. The time differences didn't line up. He'd been home for a few hours, but now he remembered the things that had happened to him before that as clearly as yesterday, even though here - on Earth - they had been six months ago. It was enough to make him very, very nauseous as he tried to catch up with where he was. He couldn't totally remember everything, not at first, and he mostly stared confused as they ran him through the introductory process again. They all knew who he was.

One asked for his autograph. He stared at her until she blushed and left.

There was only one major difference.

At his feet, a nervous ball rolled back and forth, making a low concerned whistle sound. It made complete sense to him, for BB-8 to be there - after all, they'd been together in his universe moments before he'd been ported back here - but he also had six months of memories of being without him.

Fuck, he needed a drink.

By the time they finally got him to the Porter, he had answered many of BB-8's questions, gotten his new file, his memories were coming back fully, and he was overcome with very sudden and complete desire to go home, right now, right this instant. He kept it together okay until he was threw the porter and out on the Nonah side, but then realised he had no easy way to get home. No carpet. Nothing to fly. 

So he ran the whole way there, right down the sidewalk, BB-8 rolling along side of him matching speed and chirping warnings at pedestrians to get out of the way that none of them would understand. 

Half way there he remembered he could text messages from his brain.

Comments

Finn

[flightforfreedom]

He didn't text Finn. He texted a few others, during his race home, but he didn't text Finn.

He wouldn't fully be able to explain it, if asked. Something about stubbornness and something about not wanting to repeat mistakes and something about just wanting to see him in person.

Something about just being so fucking glad he was alive. So he didn't message ahead. Instead he almost slammed sideways into the door in his rush to get through it, fumbling for his keys, dropping them, and cursing as he bent down to pick them up.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Buddy," he was saying to the droid at his feet, who was whistling worriedly at him. "I got it, I just - what do you mean, he's not in the house? He's not coming up on your-- well where is he, then?" BB-8 whistled and turned around, leaning in the direction of the woods out behind the housing complex.

Poe swore, shoving his keys back into his pocket. "Alright, take me there," he told the droid, who whistled a happy affirmative and took off in front of him.

By the time BB-8 reached Finn, the droid was several seconds in front of Poe himself. So BB-8 appeared, at first, completely alone, rolling up towards Finn while whistling and beeping with unrestrained enthusiasm.

[freedomflighter]

Finn being in the woods wasn't for any actual, practical reason. He simply didn't know where else to be. He couldn't sit still in the house. Didn't much care for whatever new crisis was happening over the network- was sure if it was something that would actually threaten their little corner of the world that Beth or Leia or let him know. Had snapped at one of the kids a couple days ago, so called off events for the week.

Finn was just drifting. Alone in the woods because he could be. Because it was quiet. Not literally, the birds and other wildlife all around, but free of questions or concerns-

And now filled with whistling beeps. Finn stopped dead in his tracks, head snapping to the side in shock to watch the little, unique droid roll it's way towards him.

It says something that his first worry wasn't that he was going to get shocked again, this time.

"BB-8?"

[flightforfreedom]

The droid whistled a happy affirmative, clearly just as happy - or perhaps happier - to see Finn than Finn was to see him, rolling up until he knocked into Finn's knees affectionately.

It was at that moment that Poe actually appeared - having run for the last twenty minutes, he was looking a little worse for wear. His hair, so absolutely perfect every day for six months of living on Earth, was now matted to his head with sweat, a bead of it rolling down the side of his neck.

He stopped, for about three and a half seconds, when he finally saw Finn, a wave of relief crashing through him. It was hard, to think about seeing Finn both a few weeks ago, and a few hours ago. Eyes shut, locked in stasis, clinging to life. Even the argument they'd had the last time they spoke utterly flew from his mind. It was just - pure relief.

He was moving towards him again without even thinking about it, BB-8 rolling out of the way as he ran up to throw his arms around Finn.

Odin

[flightforfreedom]

He's already about to send Odin a message, running through the streets, when he sees the notifications for several unread messages. He can't really read them very well and run at the same time - he checks them, anyway, but there's a lot of text that he can't unpack right away.

Later.

He's not entirely sure how long he's been gone - last thing he remembered he was about to receive his wings at bootcamp - and he's having a hard time getting all his memories to line up in order. But it's more than a day. He knows that much.

So even before he has the chance to read Owain's texts, he shoots one off into the ether.


back

i'm okay

you alright? how long was i out

[shadowglitter]

Owain had sealed himself away, over the past few days. Keeping things grey and easy and manageable, grinning for Lucina and Leo but going to bed early and keeping the door locked. It had been hard, trying to figure out what he was going to do with himself, if this was the end. He'd imagined the sound of his communicator going off time and time again, since the 21st only to find no messages waiting for him. He doesn't even think this is real, until he checks and sees Poe's name.

Doesn't even have a chance to open Poe's message before so much relief floods through him that he's brought to tears.

He reads Poe's text again and again and again and again just to make sure it's there, and it is. He considers counting up the hours, as he had been before. Considers asking Poe where he is so he can come find him, but knows, with a pang, he'll have somewhere else to be. He tightens his jaw and keeps his hand steady as he writes.

Fuck you, Darkness, you all-encompassing fuck. Owain will not be victim to the whims of your chaotic winds today.


A few days. Three, almost four.

I'm okay. If you're okay.

Sorry. For everything.

I'm sorry.

Is there anything you need? Anything I can do?

[flightforfreedom]

i'm fine

head a bit messed up



and i think this might be a new body

but i'm fine


why are you sorry?

Bodhi

[flightforfreedom]

Poe is quickly learning that reading and running don't work, but it can see the unread message notifications from Bodhi in his inbox as well. He doesn't have time to actually open them, not yet, save the last one. The single line of text catches his attention.

you're not allowed to be gone, too.

He grinds his teeth together. That wasn't good. That was not a good sign.

He immediately fires off another text, while he manages not to run into a woman who starts yelling at him about how he made her drop her bagels. "Sorry--" He manages to get out.

i'm back

i'm okay

you okay?

He's super eloquent, when he's running.

[onlydoubts]

Bodhi doesn't notice the message flashing on his device right away. Having just come back from his walk with Ace, he'd fed him and went back to his room and... stared up at the ceiling.

Glancing over to his bedside table he sees the blinking light of a new message, he scrubs his hand over his face. Pulls the message up - hands freezing, as he sits right up to stare at the display.

with shaking hands, he types out a reply.

Poe?

I'm fine.

[ It's a lie, he's not but: ]

are you okay? what happened, when did you get back?

[flightforfreedom]

It's a little later still, that the reply comes, after reunions. So when he does reply, he's managed to see the rest of Bodhi's messages.

The really don't make him worry less.

a few hours ago

i'm okay, bud, promise
sorry to worry you

you sure you're okay? i just read your message about jyn

Beth

[flightforfreedom]

Beth gets the first of his text messages, and it is completely sensible and useful.

is finn at home

A little while after that - perhaps because he realised that was a fairly ridiculous thing to text someone who had probably been worried about him, he follows up with:

i'm okay
just got ported back in

you guys okay?

[littlemissfutility]

oh thank god

The last thing she'd expected upon coming home from the mountains was Poe's gone, we think he's home. It made for a tense night, not least because something obviously happened between Finn and Poe, but she doesn't know what.

But there was no avoiding work today, so she's just leaving the recording studio when she gets Poe's text. Stop the presses, Poe's back.

are you okay what happened??????

[flightforfreedom]

not sure
last thing i remember i was getting my wings

i think

i don't know, i think i was there a few hours at most? it feels like it all happened at once, but i can remember remembering things, here, and trying to remember what i didn't remember

head's a bit messed up

Kaytoo

[flightforfreedom]

He's still going through all his immediate contacts while he's running home, and Kaytoo is right beside Bodhi on the list.

hey
ported back in today

you guys okay
bodhi sent me messages

[reexamined]

Oh nothing new. Just both you and Jyn going entirely offline, indicating being Ported out, and I once again reconcile with myself the fact that everything happens for a terrifyingly random reason.

[flightforfreedom]

sorry, kay

last thing i want to do is worry you guys

but hey, i'm back?

is cassian okay

Cassian

[flightforfreedom]

The messages from Bodhi were enough to make him worry, initially, about Cassian - and hearing Kaytoo's report only confirmed it. So when he texts Cassian, it's when he's already on his way to his house.

hey I'm coming over
someone I want you to meet.

When Poe finally arrives at the house, he lets himself in, the carpet still under his arm, but this time there's something else with him. Someone.

BB-8 rolls in behind him, whistling lowly and mournfully, and Poe reaches down to give the droid's head a rub as he closes the door behind him.

"Hey? Cassian? You here, buddy?"

[candor1]

The answer is timed to be in response to Poe's voice, but in the form of a text:

out back
hope whoever it is doesnt mind present condition

Cassian's in the backyard, on his knees among Bodhi's plantings, sleeves rolled up, hands covered in dirt. Beside him lie an open book and his commpad, both displaying pictures of local weeds. Survival training already has him pretty good at plantlife recognition, so no confusion re: what to pull and what to preserve. He's accumulated quite a pile. In fact, has moved beyond Bodhi's plants and seems poised to do the whole yard.

(He's having a hard time staying in the house. But not deserting them again. So… liminal spaces. Sublimation.)

He levers himself more upright, grabbing a cloth he'd stuffed in his pocket to wipe his hands, at the sound of Poe's voice—then pauses to listen more closely to the other sound coming through. Droid? Newgen binary…? …No shavit…

[flightforfreedom]

He should have guessed, but he follows the instructions and heads out back into the woods, talking lowly with BB-8 as he does so. Each sentence answered with a curious set of whistles and beeps as BeeBee inquires after who exactly Poe is looking for.

"-- yeah, that Cassian Andor. Yeah. I tried to warn you, buddy, time back home just doesn't make any sense, here." The droid was rolling along at his side, and let out a low woo to indicate that it didn't think anything here made a particularly deep amount of sense, and Poe snorted slowly. "Yeah. Exactly. Tell me about it. Hopefully when we can get you those files from Kaytoo--"

But it was at that moment, exactly, that Cassian finally came into sight, and Poe broke into a jog as soon as he saw him.

He hoped that Cassian wouldn't fault him, for not waiting for permission to throw his arms around the man and give him a tight hug. His memories were still messed up, trying to slot back into order, and he couldn't quite tell if it had been a few weeks since he'd seen Cassian, or a life time, but it didn't matter. Even if it had only been yesterday, after the news about Jyn, he would be getting this hug.

"Hey, bud."

Behind him, BB-8 rolled towards them, a low nervous whistle. Poe kept hugging people. This was fine, by BeeBee, the droid just wished that he knew who these people were. And since Cassian could actually understand the binary, he was one of the few people on this planet who would understand as BeeBee lowly commented to Poe: He does look a lot like his file...

Bela

[flightforfreedom]

He wasn't sure if Bela knew he was gone - no messages left on his comm. But he'd promised her they would get together for drinks when he was back from boot camp, and had disappeared right before he should have been making good on that promise. So he really needed to let her know what was up. It arrived as text messages.

hey
got ported out for a few days there

back now
you okay?

[cleptes]

Hey you. Welcome back.

And yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking.

Are you okay?

[flightforfreedom]

yeah, fine

head's a bit messed up
can't tell if things were from yesterday or six months ago but

i'm in one piece, at least

sorry i left you hanging on post bootcamp drinks

Maxwell

[flightforfreedom]

Maxwell, like Beth, he texted almost immediately. Unlike Beth, he had realised that maybe demanding to know where Finn was might not be the greatest opening salvo.

So instead, while running for home, he texted the following:

i'm okay
back

on my way home

you okay?

[dreadinquisitor]

[Even knowing there was always a chance, Maxwell's hopes had begin to dwindle as the days passed. Touching the message and hearing Poe's voice - even in his head, as strange and uncomfortable as he found the mind network - sent a wave of relief through him so deep he almost felt weak.]

Thank the Maker.

Better. Now, yes.

Are you? Where you are?

Leia

[flightforfreedom]

Leia was top of his immediate call list, but there's no unread messages from her in his inbox. He wonders, with a brief pang, if she even noticed he was gone.

But she's so fresh and clear in his mind - his Leia, his General - that he doesn't hesitate.

general

sorry for the awol, porter decided to play a joke

i'm back

everything there okay?

SLAMS INTO YOU WITH DELICIOUS STARBUCKS 84 YEARS LATER

[articulations]

You left without notice. I'm beginning to take note that this sort of thing is what the porter likes to do.

Where have you been? Where did you go? Are YOU alright?

There's a breath of relief when she receives his messages, shoulders dropping. It was one thing to lose Ben for that short while, but to lose Poe?