[For Poe Dameron]

[tobereckoned]

 Rey was finding she didn't quite know what to do with 'leisure time.' She had always wanted so much of it back on Jakku, time where she wasn't struggling through sand and unbearable sunlight for hours in hopes of earning enough food for the next day. In Darrow, even on the days where she felt like she was actually making progress on the Falcon, Rey found herself with too many hours and either too little to occupy herself or simply too much. There were games on the phone she'd been given, films available to watch, and thousands of other sundry diversions. Sometimes it was too much and Rey found herself not doing any of it, simply sitting on the Falcon's lowered ramp and watching the world. 

It was a precarious business on the still-tilted Falcon, Rey's legs dangling a precipitous few feet about the ground even at the lowest step, but she was used to that kind of thing. It almost felt familiar, homey, sitting there with a hot thermos of coffee on a cool, gray day. 

In the distance, Rey thought she could see someone and lifted her head to see.

Comments

[hellofarebel]

As usual, BB-8 is ahead of him. This has been something steady that happens their whole time together and Poe's used to it by now. He shifts his bag of treats and continues forward, whistling to make sure BB-8 doesn't get too far out of vision, given how people here seem to think of the droid as a novelty and it's not like Poe wants to lose him.

"Hey, stranger," he greets Rey warmly when he's in earshot. He lifts the bag. "I brought donuts. You had these yet? They're incredible, I brought you some."

[tobereckoned]

Laughing, Rey bent to give BB-8 a little wave before she screwed her thermos shut and jumped down to greet them both. With the same devotion that someone would check on a beloved pet, Rey scanned quickly over BB-8, making sure there were no nicks or bumps that she couldn't fix on the spot. Unsurprisingly, Poe took good care of it and there were no scrapes or bent antennae to be seen.

"Not yet," she admitted. Without thinking much of it, she held out the thermos for Poe to take if he liked. There was an odd pleasure in sharing, in having enough to share.

[hellofarebel]

BB-8 seems pleased with the affection, even though he's definitely given Poe attitude in the past about fussing, but it's not like he's ever stopped because of it. Fondly, he peers into the thermos and gratefully accepts it, lifting it up to her in salute before he sips at it. "Here, take your favorite," he says, of the box. "You get a good dose of sugar, no matter what. I'm pretty sure they're one of the victories of this galaxy."

[tobereckoned]

"For all I know, all of them will be my favorite," Rey said, pretending to grasp the box like she might steal it. Instead, she chose one, it was brown and that usually indicated chocolate, a safe bet. As a show of good spirit, she held out the box for him to take.

"I'm supposed to train later today, but I was going to look for work too. I don't like sitting and doing nothing."

[hellofarebel]

Poe doesn't even bother trying to get it back as he makes himself comfortable, shooting BB-8 an amused look when the droid beeps in indignation that it can't join the both of them up there. "Train what?" he asks, reaching for a donut and speaking with his mouth full. "With Luke?" he asks, crumbs falling out of his mouth.

[tobereckoned]

Letting her feet dangle, Rey smiled down at BB-8, silently promising it a bit of company later. She set the donuts between them and smiled again, not bothering to tell Poe about the crumbs. The calm of the morning felt too simple, too contenting, to worry about crumbs.

"With Luke," she agreed. "He's different here, but he's still agreed to teach me."

[hellofarebel]

It's good that she's got that. Poe's missing out on his own leadership, but he'd rather not wish Leia on this place and doubly so, he doesn't want the conflict that comes with the Resistance. Still, it's not like he can even go back to flying Republic Navy ships, which has left him sort of scrambling for purpose. "Luke giving you time to keep working on this old clunker?" he asks, giving the Falcon a reverent pat.

[tobereckoned]

"Careful, you shouldn't call her names," Rey said, as if she'd never referred to the Falcon as 'garbage.' Even on her affectionate days, she and Han could both muster a few unflattering terms of endearment for the ship.

Finishing her donut, Rey licked icing off her fingers. "Han and Luke are friends. They both understand. I'd still like to find a job though. I don't like sitting with nothing to do."

[hellofarebel]

"Trust me, it's affectionate," Poe promises, rubbing the ship behind him with a fond smile. He's heard so many stories about the Falcon that he still can't believe he's sitting inside of it. It's practically a dream come true. The only thing better would be getting a run in one of Luke's old X-Wings or maybe Wedge's.

"I've been keeping an eye out myself. I was thinking maybe flight instructor," he suggests. "Or maybe I could do something with parts. Mechanic? I know I'm pretty enough to look at, but Dad would kill me if I was useless for a living."

[tobereckoned]

"As it should be," Rey said. She attempted to punctuate her words with a strong gesture but it was slightly ruined when powdered sugar flew off her second donut. When she realized what had happened, she hid a little smile behind her hand at how silly it was.

When Poe mentioned his father, Rey forgot entirely what she had meant to say about mechanic work and glanced away at the green countryside around them. "What was he like?" she asked. "Your father I mean. I never knew mine."

[hellofarebel]

"Dad?" Poe's smile is filled with fondness and the annoyed affection a son can have for his father, even as far away as they are. "He was with the Rebellion. He and Mom both were, but Dad was a soldier down on the ground, a ranger, and Mom was up in the sky. Both of them were doing plenty dangerous stuff, but I think he thought his work was safer. All I can remember is him talking about how he hoped what they did wasn't for nothing."

"It's what pushed me into the Resistance. I have a family legacy to uphold."

[tobereckoned]

Rey watched his smile, listened to Poe's words, and drank them both in as if they were the contents of a fresh water bottle. "I can't imagine what it was like," she said, a broad statement that encompassed every aspect of having a family or a legacy.

"I'm glad you joined the Resistance then."

[hellofarebel]

"Yeah, well, I couldn't just sit back and let my parents' work go to waste," Poe says seriously, a lot of the charm and joking falling aside when it comes to such a serious topic. "They gave up years of their life and risked their heads more times than I've got fingers. I hate the idea that it's all for nothing," he says, that old useless feeling bubbling inside him again.

[tobereckoned]

"You found the map to Luke Skywalker. You lead the team that destroyed Starkiller Base. And that's just what I know about." She and Poe had seen little of each other before she'd left for Ahch-To to find Luke but she'd been able to tell that he was respected among the Resistance.

"I didn't mean to make you think of that. It's just...I don't have any family stories."

[hellofarebel]

"Don't get me wrong, I absolutely know I have a role in the Resistance as much as anyone, I just hate thinking that all those years went by and all the sacrifices already made mean nothing." He could blame Kylo Ren, could put it all on his shoulders, but Poe isn't so blind to think that it's all on him.

No, there's a lot of parties that share the blame for this one. "C'mon, tell me what you think about the donuts," he coaxes. "I'd much rather hear about that."

[tobereckoned]

Rey nodded, a little sorry that Poe didn't want to tell her anymore. She rather liked the sound of his father and mother and thought she might be able to imagine her own parents a little better, even if it only stayed imaginary.

"I like this one," she said, pointing to the remainder of the jelly donut in her hand. "The sweet stuff in the middle is nice. Do the different kinds have names?"

[hellofarebel]

"They've got all kinds of names," he agrees, happy to be away from a topic that just makes him feel like a failure, especially given as trapped as he is here. "I think that's a jelly, to be honest, which is what you've got right there. They had other ones with much cleverer names, like Sweet and Salty," he jokes. "Maybe not so creative, just very enticing."

[tobereckoned]

"Next time, you should take me. Then we can carry more donuts," she said, as if it was the most sensible thing she'd ever said. Looking down at herself, Rey knew she'd gained a little weight, not enough to pad out her hard edges but to take the starvation off her frame. A few donuts would be nice.

"Or we could do something fun." Smiling, she looked sidelong at Poe, "What do people do for fun?"

[hellofarebel]

"See, I always just flew things for fun." That's been one of the hardest things for him to get used to. He's so used to being able to commandeer an X-Wing or something else that now that it's not so readily available, it's a hard adjustment and he finds himself in a mood more often than not. "There's got to be something we can take up. A plane, a balloon..."

"What do you think BB-8?"

The droid parrots back a quick reminder that he shouldn't steal. "All right, all right. Borrow," he replies cheerfully, with a grin.

[tobereckoned]

"I've got a flight simulator, but it's not the same," Rey says, tapping the spot in her bag with her datapad and its Y-wing sim. It had been enough, once, before she'd ever flown anything real.

A plane or a balloon would be wonderful. Anything that could get them on an adventure.

"If you ask nicely and Han's not around, we could go sit in the cockpit and pretend I didn't crash the ship."

[hellofarebel]

It wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't have thrill of being up in the air. "Maybe we should look into gliders," he says, because what she's talking about has sparked the idea in his mind. "It wouldn't be as controlled as an X-Wing or this thing, but it'd give that feeling like nothing else would," he raves.

[tobereckoned]

Rey smiled and nodded with disappointed understanding. It wasn't the same, not at all, and she understood. That didn't make it pleasant or easy.

"We'd probably crash into the ocean or something," she said, sounding as if she relished the adventure.

[hellofarebel]

"I know, isn't that a great part of the fun?" Poe says, eyes wild with delight as he takes in the way she reacts with as much interest. "Have you seen them? They're like wings you can affix to your back and glide over the skies."

[tobereckoned]

"Only if you can swim." And Rey couldn't. Crashing was all right, as long as it was into the ground.

But the chance to fly again...

"That would be incredible though." She could see why Finn and BB-8 had become so quickly loyal to Poe; he brightened up a lot of bad days.

[hellofarebel]

He gives her a curious look at her comment about swimming. "You can, right?" Even as he says it, his mind recalls Jakku and the seas of sand. Where would she have learned to swim? Where would the opportunity have come up? "Okay, first things first, swimming lessons," he decides.

BB-8 gives a pleased trilling beep, considering he's a droid who can't get near the water anyway.

[tobereckoned]

Rey smiled at BB-8. Even if the droid sealed every single port, she still wouldn't let him near water and they both knew it.

"Swimming lessons will come after the lesson in not drowning," she said. For all her dryness, she was delighted and curious at the prospect.

[hellofarebel]

"I'll bring you floaties and I'm an excellent buoy," he promises, puffing his chest out in order to brag about himself. "Hey," he says, a little softer. "Only if you want to, right?" He doesn't want to push her too far, especially when things are so new for her.

[tobereckoned]

Rey laughed a little then, trying to picture them in some body of water and Rey hanging on to him for dear life. The mental image looked like something off a romance novel she'd seen in a store, very silly.

"I want to learn. There's a lot more water here and I don't want to end up drowning. It's best to be prepared, isn't it?"

It wouldn't be an auspicious end to her career as a Jedi.

[hellofarebel]

"It's also fun to go swimming," he says, not wanting everything that she deals with to be about utilitarian need, especially when there's so many more fun applications for such lessons. "There's nothing like a hot summer day splashing around and a good cool drink when you get out. I mean, on the base, it was more a pond and whatever we could cook up, but it's still the same principle."

[tobereckoned]

Rey closed her eyes as he described it and tried to picture either scenario. As always, her mind simply left off at Takodana, the only other environment she'd really seen besides Jakku. That planet had been lush, the air cool and wet, and Rey didn't think it was at all the same.

"Do you think the seasons get hot like that here? Hot enough for what you talk about?"

Poe made it sound so simple but...nice.

[hellofarebel]

"I think that maybe once summer rolls around, we might have a chance. BB-8 did a few calculations when we first got here, to sort of show what the weather looks like, and it looks like the sun gets toasty enough. I mean, nothing like Jakku, so you still might be a touch cold," he warns.

[tobereckoned]

A touch cold. It wasn't the cold of Starkiller Base with its darkening sun. That cold had gone beyond temperature and sunk into her heart.

"I don't think I'd mind less scorching than Jakku. I used to have to walk away from good finds if I thought I'd run out of water."

[hellofarebel]

He gives her a sympathetic look, wondering how anyone could have left her in such harsh conditions and simply walked away, without a care. "It's not like that here," he says firmly. "And I'm going to make sure it's never like that again for you. Okay? BB-8 plans to help," he swears.

[tobereckoned]

Reaching out, Rey tapped the donut box with a smile. He had no idea how much those words meant to her or how much he'd already done.

"Ever since I met your droid, I've experienced so much more kindness than I had in my lifetime before that." And now, even here, she wouldn't be deprived. "I'm glad I'm not on Jakku anymore."

[hellofarebel]

"BB-8's good at making people feel the way they should," he says proudly, leaning over to give the droid a rub of the top sphere, grinning when the prod comes out and the threat of getting a good zap makes him lean sideways, laughing as he shoots Rey an amused grin from his place on the floor.

"So, you trying to fix this thing up? Can't imagine parts are an easy thing to find."

[tobereckoned]

"I am," Rey said. She looked toward the interior of the ship with a frown. Maybe Poe would have a solution if she talked about it. "Most of the damage is from the crash, on the outside, but the engine should be fine."

If anything, it was almost as if they'd been turned off externally like when Han and Chewie had caught them. Only there hadn't been any source of the pull and Darrow's own gravity couldn't have been that powerful. "They just stopped working and fell out of the sky."

[hellofarebel]

"Maybe we could take the engine out of the ship and see what we actually need," he suggests. "Well, I mean, we could always ask Han, too. Maybe there's something that happened to it in the years between there and here." And any excuse to try and get stories about the General in her youth is an opportunity Poe hates to turn down.

[tobereckoned]

Rey hid another smile and shook her head. Han Solo would just as soon let them take the engine out of the Falcon as turn Chewbacca into a decorative rug and they both knew it.

But maybe there was another option, once she understood herself better.

"Luke thinks I can move the Falcon with the Force. So does Galen."

[hellofarebel]

"And what about if all of you Force users put those big brains of yours together?" Poe suggests, because he knows that at least the three of them are pretty talented when it comes to that sort of thing. He tries not to flinch, tries not to let his own experiences get in the way, but it's a pretty harrowing thing when he thinks about it.

[tobereckoned]

"I think he wants me to have enough mastery to do it on my own. It's a challenge."

He meant to hide his little twinge of fear but Rey had the advantage of the Force and she looked away, trying not to pry. The emotion that Poe suppressed from his face was broadcast from his thoughts.

"You were a captive on Kylo Ren's ship before you crashed on Jakku, weren't you?" she asked, remembering what Finn had told her. "He used the Force on you?"

[hellofarebel]

He keeps his face even. He's good with your run of the mill interrogation, which is why they'd had to bring Ren down on him in the first place. He keeps steady, but nods his head. "Yeah," he agrees. "Yeah, I was. And I got to meet him in all his masked, evil glory."

[tobereckoned]

"He's not very impressive with the mask off," Rey said, quick and dismissive. He'd looked as if he was barely out of boyhood and his aspirations were little better, all tangled in how he wanted to be like Darth Vader.

"He tried to use the Force to interrogate me and it felt awful." She remembered feeling scraped out after, like someone had been scooping through her thoughts.

[hellofarebel]

Poe quiets, not sure he wants to talk about his failures. He can deal with the physical and mental turmoil that his interrogation had put him through. What he's struggling to cope with is the part where he'd given up information that he thought he'd sworn to keep secret.

He'd failed. And if it hadn't been for Finn, he would've failed and died with that on his conscience. "He's not here," he says firmly. "That's all I care."

[tobereckoned]

"And if he comes here, I'll master the Force from spite and banish him to another galaxy." The Force didn't actually work like that so it was an overly grand boast but Rey didn't care. It seemed like Poe needed some bravado.

"Let's go for a walk. This coffee isn't very good and there's better in town, isn't there?"

[hellofarebel]

BB-8 makes some noise about wanting to go into town and see if they can find some parts to get him running a little better. "I think we should definitely go see what kind of coffee we can find in town. Maybe once BB-8 powers down, you can show me some of the other things you've explored around this place."

[tobereckoned]

Rey nodded, thinking they could also see what she could do for BB-8 once they were a little more settled. They would make a funny picture, a scavenger, a pilot, and a droid walking sedately through town, but Rey found she liked the idea all the more because of the image.

"I wish neither of us were trapped here," she admitted. "But I'm glad we're not alone."