poeticforce | meme overflow.

[ Poe's brow furrows in clear confusion. Either he'd heard wrong or hit his head harder than he thought. ]

Tatooine? No no, can't be. I was headed back to Jakku.

[ Granted, it didn't make sense for a presumed local to misspeak, but one of them had to be wrong, and he knew the star destroyer hadn't taken a joyride while he was busy screaming himself hoarse. Poe had been in a race against First Order forces to locate the map for weeks now, there was no way they would give up when it was this close.

He tries to decide how much potential debate is worth it as the stranger comes closer, which he absently appreciates just so he doesn't have to keep looking up.

Mention of the ship has Poe glance back the way he'd come, sparing a moment eying the smoke trail. A regrettable beacon that he's sure the First Order won't have any trouble spotting. ]

Calling it a landing is generous. [ Poe manages to joke as his gaze returns to the stranger. ] But any landing you can walk away from is a decent one.

[ Obi-Wan’s head tilts in agreement with this pilot’s sentiment. Some days walking away alive is a victory itself.

But Jakku. A place so obscure that for a second he tries to think of where on Tatooine it might be, patiently running through the name of every valley or dune sea or homestead he knows. ]

Your navigation system must have been very damaged to bring you so off course, then. [ Or your head has been damaged in that landing, Obi-Wan adds to himself, humming sympathetically. It certainly looks as though it has been knocked around several times. From within his robes he withdraws a canteen, its exterior well-worn, like the rest of his appearance. He offers it, and then tosses the canteen carefully across the short distance between them. It’s heavy with water. ] Rough flights can be confusing for man and machine.

These are the Jundland Wastes of Tatooine, though. I’d know – I live here.

[ A beat, as if to let that sink in... and to let the man drink. Obi-Wan, still in that unflappably pleasant tone, asks, ]

Where did you get an Empire ship?

[ It's because of his ordeal that he subconsciously tenses for a moment, relaxing once more when he sees it's only a canteen and not a blaster. Poe catches the canteen with ease, his reflexes rarely letting him down, and he murmurs an appreciative thanks. After all he's been through the last short while, the water feels like a little slice of bliss.

Careful not to drink too much, he mulls over the stranger's assertion of where they are. It didn't make any sense. People didn't just fall out of the sky and land on a different planet than they were intending.

Poe tosses the canteen back before he shakes his head — and immediately regrets it as the motion makes pain flare, though not enough for him to wince — at talk of the Empire. ]

It's a First Order model, actually. They took the Empire design and made it a two-seater, gave it a little more firepower.

How long have you been out here? The war with the Empire ended years ago.

[ Well, in name, at least. Poe knew well enough during his time flying for the New Republic that it had been a cold war for a while, that in a lot of ways the First Order felt like a rebranded Empire. The New Republic's insistence on inaction despite the First Order clearly building toward something had been one of the things that pushed Poe to join the Resistance. ]

[ The pilot catches the canteen easily – too well coordinated and speaking too coherently for Obi-Wan to blame the oddness of their conversation on a concussion.

The First Order?… A war with the Empire?… Had the ship been different? He thinks back to the wreckage he had seen little more than an hour ago, but his concern at the time had not been on discerning the finer details of its make through smoke and swarming scavengers. ]

Not so long to have missed a war.

[ And certainly not so long as to have missed the Emperor’s fall from power. News from the Core comes slowly to Tatooine, perhaps – but not that slowly.

A sound interrupts Obi-Wan’s next question before it can take form, distant at first, but building to a mechanical scream as a ship passes low overhead – too fast to be scanning the ground below, headed directly toward that line of smoke. His eopie gives a discomforted shift while the reverberations in the valley fade to familiar desert silence.

That had been an Empire ship – a TIE reaper, if he wasn’t mistaken. ]

What would you say to a trade? Rooh and I give you a lift a little closer to civilization [ he pats the eopie, settling her with just that touch ] and in turn you can catch us up with whatever news I have missed. The First Order, you said?

[ Poe looks up at the sound of the TIE fighter, growing tense as a frown settles on his face. Great, just great. He tries to find reassurance in the fact it was just a single ship, and that there's no sign of any transports that he can see. ]

Yeah, sure, that sounds like a plan. [ He tries not to sound too eager to put more distance between him and the wreck, more for his own sake than anything else. Normally he's not easily rattled but it's fair to say he's a little on edge after his time on the Finalizer. ] Anywhere closer to civilization is good with me right now.

[ As he comes closer Poe can't help giving the kind stranger a curious look. ]

You really haven't heard of the First Order? That's... kind of impressive, in a way.

Impressively ignorant? [ The corners of his mouth and his eyebrows flick upward at the same time. ] I would rather be moderately informed.

[ Anchorhead is closer, but while the pilot approaches, Obi-Wan finds himself rethinking the wisdom of bringing this sort of trouble to such a small community. And this stranger is trouble, he knows. Two Empire ships – or First Order ships? whatever offshoot that was – is concerning enough. But to have them this close to the Lars Homestead? It’s unacceptable.

He steadies the eopie, which shifts a little beneath the additional weight; as he holds out a hand to help the other man climb up, Obi-Wan finally introduces himself. ]

I am Ben.

You said it, not me. [ A ghost of a grin comes with the easy reply. It's a touch of familiarity that helps Poe to settle and steady himself, even if just a little. But a little is better than nothing right now. He can't afford to dwell on — or think too hard about, really — the last however many hours or he risked falling to pieces in the wake of something that had been impossible to train for. That kind of moment could come when he was back on base and far, far away from anyone who might overhear him.

(Lies. He wouldn't let himself have that moment, he'd just keep delaying it because there were more important things to tend to, and with any luck he could bury it in the box of emotions and memories that only came out when he drank entirely too much.)

Poe's thankful for the hand, well-aware of his body's tiredness and the aching even if he's ignoring it and pushing past it for the time being. ]

Good to meet you, Ben. I'm Poe.

[ He climbs on the eopie behind Ben without a problem, and gives the eopie a light pat as if to apologize for the extra burden. ]

Not sure where to start with catching you up. I guess the easiest way to put it is that the First Order's trying to pick up where the Empire left off, more or less. They're pretty damn similar, just with shinier toys.

[ Granted, a planet-destroying weapon hadn't been unveiled yet, but Poe's heard the rumors. It's a quiet unspoken dread a lot of them had. In his opinion the First Order was plenty bad enough without needing to toss that into the mix. ]

meme overflow.

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sorry for the delay!!

no worries!

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apologies for the lateness of this