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[flightforfreedom]

Zzz WHO: Poe Dameron, a small selection of his friends
WHERE: Outside Base One
WHEN: A couple weeks after 2020
WHAT: Poe’s been avoiding his friends, catchall for post 2020 stuff
WARNINGS: Talk of murder

Poe had been avoiding his friends.

This wasn’t in of itself a completely new thing. He had gone through phases like this before - especially around port outs of people he cared about. But it had been a little while since he had gone to quite such lengths to do it. He didn’t linger in the mornings, went straight to work far too early and came home far too late, going to his training area in the woods rather than back into his home.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see anyone, but he couldn’t shake the fucked up dreams he’d had or hurting them all. Hunting his friends down, murdering some of them.

He regretted his decision to stop drinking because damn, he wished he could drown himself in it right now.

Instead, he was in the woods, working himself far too hard. He’d get a handle on these one-armed push ups yet...

Comments

[fauxmarth]

"Your hips are starting to tilt."

Lucina had spied the shape of him from above on her way to the base, having landed some yards afar before approaching and confirming just who it was. And, of course, Lucina being Lucina, she had to take stock of the state of his training.

"It's going to put your balance off."

Oh good, someone’s been wanting to talk to you about a Certain Someone

[flightforfreedom]

He hadn’t even noticed her land, too focused on what he was doing, and the voice startled him so badly that he lost his balance and collapsed into his shoulder on the ground.

Lying face down in the dirt, he mumbled:

“Hi, Lucina. Good to see you, too.”

HEHEH

[fauxmarth]

She winces a bit at that, but smiles all the same, just grateful to see him. Since the return of so many, most have...not bothered to contact her at all, or have outright blocked her, and it hurts. It hurts a lot. It may not even be because of anything she's done, but it doesn't stop her from feeling cast aside.

Stepping over, she comes to crouch at his side, letting him sort out the matter of sitting upright himself.

"It is good," she affirms. "It's hard not to worry if I've been forgotten, especially in matters of porting in and out. I'm glad you remember me."

[flightforfreedom]

He grunts as he sits up, his wrists bound up in tensor bandages, so clearly it hasn't just been sit ups he's doing. Which would explain some of the bruising on his knuckles, too.

"... Sorry, Lucina. Of course I remember you." He wiped his brow with his arm, a little dirt streaking across his forehead. "I just... ah. I don't know. Keeping it close."

He wet his lips, lowered his eyes. "Jess is gone for good, though, I think. I don't even know if you got the chance to meet her."

[fauxmarth]

Her smile fades, eyes flickering downward to the wrist still holding himself up. The hands. He's been at this for a while. Training. Venting.

She knows the feeling.

At word of another loss, her heart sinks, hurt for him. She shakes her head slightly. "I missed my chance," she says softly, looking up. "I'm sorry. I wish it weren't so."

[loyal_soldier]

He'd hoped things would stabilize now that the situation with Atropos and OTO had been resolved, but this planet continued to find new ways to make their lives hell. He hadn't been sleeping well either, but once the initial flurry of activity calmed down, he started trying to claw back whatever stability he'd managed to get for himself.

And for Poe. He had to do that too. He owed him that much--he just couldn't separate himself from whatever the fuck that had been. Whoever they'd been.

He eventually made his way out to Base One, first looking for Poe inside, and then...

Turn your torso away from the supporting arm. It can help you keep your balance.

The neural uplink was almost too easy to use at times like this. He's never entirely gotten the hang of it--he sends a reflexive hi when he sees Poe react.

[flightforfreedom]

He'd left the neural link on. He was avoiding people but he wasn't trying to be completely out of contact, just in case something terrible happened. So he heard the ping and opened the message while on his next push up, grunting a little.

Oh. That--

He turned his head, which of course threw his balance off, and then leaned into it before his ass hit the ground. Ow.

"Hey." Slightly apologetic. He rubs some of the dirt of his ass but doesn't get up yet. "Uh- sorry, I don't know you were... coming over." Cool, Dameron, not awkward at all.

[loyal_soldier]

"Sorry." Definitely gonna need more pointers to get that technique down.

"I think I forgot to." He closed the distance between them, joining Poe down on the ground.

"My shift was over, and I wanted to check in."

[flightforfreedom]

He manages to sit up, and though he kind of wants to lean in - just to bump shoulders - he doesn't.

Instead he rubs a hand over his face, smearing a bit of dirt over his cheek.

"Pretty sure you're not the one that needs to apologize. I, uh..." He sighed. "I know I haven't exactly been keeping in tight contact. I just... I guess things have been a little weird since I got back."

[hatejakku]

Finn had been avoiding him, too. Or, at least he began avoiding him after the first day Poe came back when Finn was far too relieved to see him again.

But now, yeah, he was avoiding him. It wasn't really on purpose. He was pretty much avoiding everyone. It was just... particularly awkward with Poe right now. That didn't mean he was blind to the fact this friend had been going through some things.

He hadn't seemed to remember at first, but... Finn was worried.

And that's why he was coming out here, crunching on fallen leaves to make his presence known but not really speaking up yet. If Poe didn't seem to want his company, Finn would leave easily enough. They were both valuing their space lately.

[flightforfreedom]

It took him a minute to realise there was someone else there, but once he did he sat up, brushing dirt off himself as he stood.

"Hey, buddy." A little softly, a twinge of shame in the tone. Yeah. He knows he's been avoidant.

"Everything okay...?

[hatejakku]

He heard the shame - felt some of it - and grimaced a little.

"Yeah, of course." No. Things hadn't been okay in a while. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was coming to check on you."

[flightforfreedom]

"I'm fine." Too quickly. He heard it himself but somehow managed not to wince.

Then, quieter: "I'll be okay. I'm just... I'm just trying to shake it off, I guess."

He looked up. "Are you okay?"

[killtime]

This seems to be a popular coping method among her small circle of friends — the avoidance. And to be fair, Andy's been guilty of the self-same shit plenty of times. What can she say? She's tired. She's a hypocrite. And she's not particularly inclined to the emotionally vulnerability that's usually required by the alternative. But it's been weeks now. Chump change for her, as far as time goes, but still long enough that it's starting to irritate. It'd be one thing if there was an unspoken agreement to just go on with their routine as if nothing had happened — her and Rex have handled any number of traumatic disasters this way by now — but this isn't that.

She knows where he lives. So if he really wanted to avoid her, he should have picked up Base One and flown it to some other patch of trees a week ago, because it sure as shit is too late now.

Her greeting is the weight of her boot square on the middle of his back, pressing down mercilessly against the effort of his one-armed push-up.

[flightforfreedom]

Eat dirt, Dameron.

He hits the ground instantly, having not expected the assault and thus definitely not been prepared for it. He lets out a grunt and a muffled "What the fuck!" before rolling out from under the foot and glaring up at--

Oh.

The anger flickers into something like shame and he turns his eyes away, putting his hands down to push himself back up.

"Hey, Andy."

[killtime]

Hey, Andy earns a deeply unimpressed look that's probably all the more demoralizing for the angle as she looks down her nose at him, apparently disinclined to lend a hand. Let him squirm a little. The hint of something like shame in his expression doesn't so much tug at her heartstrings as vindicate her suspicions. He was avoiding her. On purpose. If that was even slightly ambiguous, it certainly isn't now.

Her voice is an unforgiving deadpan when she finally answers him.

"Oh. So you do remember me."

[flightforfreedom]

Ow. Okay. Deserved.

He pulls himself up until he’s standing, brushing dirt off himself a little too thouroughly.

“Don’t— of course I remember, I was just—“

Just what? Hiding? Yeah. A breath.

“What brings you out here?”

He regrets the question the second it’s out of his mouth.

[h2no]

You know, it's probably quite annoying being Archie's friend. When this whole avoidance thing happens, if he doesn't relentlessly text little things or pictures in an effort to remind them they still have people who care about them, then Poe's probably noticed Archie's Crobat hanging around a few times. Crobats are excellent trackers-- it could probably smell Poe's blood from a mile away. Or... just Poe in general. Shower, nasty man.

Archie himself shows up not long after Crobat makes itself known by hopping out of a tree and landing near the pilot with a heavy thwump. As it usually does to appear intimidated, all it does is glare at him like it's considering eating him.

Poe knows better though, right?

To Archie's credit, he at least looks surprised to have human company.

"Bro, you really gotta learn you can't escape a Crobat!" he says with a laugh. "Though... actually, I think he found you by accident this time."

[flightforfreedom]

Poe has known Crobat for a long time, now, so all he does is wheeze a little as he pushes himself upright and then shoot the bat an apologetic look.

"Hey, buddy." To Crobat.

Then, looking up at Archie: "I've never had doubts that he could track me down if he wanted to."

This.. this isn't awkward at all. He grimaces and looks away. "... Hey, Arch."

intimidating* not intimidated dagnabbit

[h2no]

"Just change your blood type, that'll throw him right off," he says with a snort, shrugging. Crobat, meanwhile, just pushes his head towards Poe. Vying for attention, as always. "Ah, don't be so troubled to see me!"

He can guess why, but like Poe, doesn't really know what to do about it. Might as well be honest.

"There's no hard feelin's, y'know."

[flightforfreedom]

Poe puts his hand out to rub the top of Crobat's head, which gives him the opportunity to not have to look at Archie when he replies.

"... I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse, Arch." Quietly.

[ct_7567]

[ Rex is a man on a mission.

Does it have to do with reconciling with the fact that he had betrayed his wife and son in another reality? No. Does it have to deal with his existential horror at the machine that lived within him and doomed everyone he had ever known and loved back home to endless torment? Not particularly. Does it have to do with the fact that some of his loved ones have been avoiding him? A little.

Mostly, he's on a mission to repair the roof. And who better to recruit for the task that one of the men who happens to be staunchly avoiding him and his family? It can almost count as a convenient stop on the way, passing through the Base - no Poe - only to wander into the clearing he thinks Poe's in. Jackpot. ]

Poe. Your form's off.

[ He plants the palm of his hand on Poe's back, exerting a little pressure to one side (he's lopsided, Rex thinks), head craned down to look him in the eye. When he's feeling particularly playful, he might call Poe Dameron, but now -- it's just a bit too close to who he was, in that other world. Poe will do. ]

I've got a job for you. Need an extra pair of hands.

[flightforfreedom]

[ He's about to get up when he hears footsteps, until suddenly there's a hand on his back. He scrambles to get his other arm in under him to catch himself, but still manages to eat a bit of dirt. Damn it.

He sigh, letting his weight give in as he just slumps to the ground. He turns his head up.

He's more thankful than Rex can know, for getting straight to business. ]

... A job?

[ Only a very brief pause. ]

Yeah. Of course. Whatever you need.

[ Even at his worst, he's never been able to turn his friends away when they need help. ]

[ct_7567]

Good. Come on.

[ Rex offers his hand to help Poe get up, then once he's up, turns tail knowing that Poe will follow him. That, perhaps, he'll be grateful to simply follow him and focus on a job for now, to pretend as though things are normal for at least a little while until they eventually have to talk about it. But for now, Rex will be happy just to get the man out of his own head.

Not that he's done a great job of that on his own, but Rex could teach a master class on repression. ]

We're going to pick up some materials. I was up on the roof the other month. It was banged up to shit -- probably from all the time Andy spends up there. It's about time I fix it up before it kills someone.

[ Like Andy.

...or like Rex, talking to Andy. ]

[flightforfreedom]

[ He takes the hand offered, and then does, indeed, fall into step as if he were one of Rex's boys from the war.

And he is grateful. It's always been easier to focus on work, on a mission, on a task than it is to actually try to grapple with demons in the dark.



But it also helps that he doesn't think he stabbed Rex. Or if he did, he doesn't remember it. ]

Roofing? Sure. I can't say I know Earth materials, much, but I used to help my dad out maintaining our place. So I'll try my best.