[ Poe wanders in wearing something as close to the standard-issue browns of a casual uniform as he could find, a fresh leather jacket thrown on against the cold. He's not particularly focused as he scans the bar--he still has that list in his head, running like a mantra.
Muran. Lampar. Kun. Asty. Arana. Furillo. Meltsa. Seastriker. Teffer. Wright.
Blame yourself and you'll wish you'd died too, he thinks, with irony.
That's about when his meandering search finds Cassian at the bar. He slides onto a stool next to the man. ]
[he doesn't move when poe slides in, having already noticed him arrive. he does glance sideways when poe sits down though, expression fairly unreadable until he figures out what else poe wants from him.]
From a distance. I never knew so many people hated birds.
[but he can still treat it lightly because he DOES get the sense poe doesn't need a serious sit down]
I think what makes someone a kid is very dependent on circumstance. [he probably left most of his childhood behind as soon as his father died on carida and he hadn't even reached the double digits yet.]
[when he was rey's age, he was already in intelligence.] But I know she was isolated on Jakku.
[he orders something very very mild and watered down. there's a few moments of silence, then -] I don't know who Karen is.
Gee, you think? [ Poe snaps it out, then very literally bites back on his temper, briefly clenching his teeth before he relaxes into letting the anger go. He pinches the bridge of his nose. ] Sorry. Yeah, I know. She hasn't had an easy life. I know that. But it's about to get a lot harder and a whole lot meaner.
[ The bartender likes Poe. Their drinks come fast, Poe's tonic and lime and Cassian's whatever-it-is. ] She's still a kid, and I hate knowing what growing up is going to mean for her.
[ He hates knowing what it's going to mean for all his kids. His gunners, his techs. They're passionate, vibrant, driven. Some of them have lost more than he can imagine. But so many of them are still so young. ] Karen's a friend. She was the one toe-to-toeing with Taako.
[when poe snaps, cassian just gives him a very flat and very unimpressed look.] I am not here to fight with you. [he'll leave bro.]
Nor am I saying things did not get blown out of proportion. Of course Rey is young. We all are. War does not make exceptions.
[he looks at his drink, thinks about being dead, and knocks back a sip.] We are on a moon with a portal that pulls people in from different dimensions. A little open mindedness will go a long way.
I was not talking about you. You elected to turn yourself into a bird.
But obvious skepticism is too antagonistic.
[you gotta be subtly curious even if you're full of wtf because then people will actually answer you and no one fights! god it's like people don't know how to get information about strange scary things like magic.]
[he has zero doubts that poe enjoyed every single moment of it.]
[he also has zero doubts that he walked right into such a direct question. it doesn't quite catch cassian off guard, but it's a mildly sudden conversation shift.]
[the question hangs for a few moments, and cassian lets it.] I have worked with Pathfinders, but I have never been one. [even before scarif. he knew a lot of them. he takes a sip of his own drink.] You are fishing for what I did. The answer is Intelligence.
[ 'Mildly sudden shift' could possibly be Poe's middle name if Poe's middle name weren't Shara.
He shrugs expansively--yep, he's fishing, not gonna deny it.
He's also gonna stay quiet for a little while after Cassian says what he did. Poe knows Intelligence people. They're all sharp edges unless they're too smooth to show a fault, and suddenly Cassian makes a lot more sense to Poe. ]
My dad was with the Pathfinders. I've done a little bit of intelligence work, but. [ Poe squints, a prolonged wince. ] Usually it ended with blowing things up.
[ He's glad the First Order is in the open now, that there's no more pretending or ducking around the New Republic's embargo on military action. He's glad, and whenever he thinks about that, he hates himself a little bit for it. ]
At least I was mostly the one causing the explosions.
[the quiet isn't unusual. people tend to go a little silent when they find out he's intelligence, because even though it says nothing in detail, it opens the door to ideas. intelligence agents are like shadows.]
The Pathfinders are invaluable.
[cassian just sort of...looks at poe for a second, trying to imagine him doing any kind of undercover or intelligence work. it's literally impossible. he wears his heart on his sleeve.]
[of course he blew everything up.]
The only time it's a good thing to end with an explosion is if that is the end goal, you realize.
[ Poe sits up a little straighter at Cassian's declaration. Not that he didn't always think that himself, not that he won't consider his parents' service invaluable until his own dying day, but it's different to hear it from someone who was there that his father's contribution is valued.]
It usually worked out.
[ Except for that last time on Jakku. But hey who talks about that certainly not Poe.
[the pathfinders did a lot of the gritty and dangerous work on the frontlines. cassian absolutely utilized them when he deemed it necessary.]
[he stares again though. who tf put this man on a covert mission?]
'Usually' does not inspire much confidence. [there is maybe a little judging. or a lot. he is basically a super spy, okaY!!] I hope you did not do it often.
[that's a familiar round of logic, except cassian usually applies the no choice sentiment before a murder. self defense. they needed to die. for information, for the rebellion, for cassian himself to live.]
[he takes another sip of his drink, and his next words are dry.] There never seems to be much of a choice.
It may not really be a matter of what I want at this point anymore.
[there are THREE people from the future and he's already gleaned that even though the empire is gone, it's not... over. not really. it's disheartening, and he's been putting it off, as much as his compulsive need to know things fights against hiding from it.]
You have the right to say no. To keep us at a distance. If you want the three of us to stay away from you for however long we're here, we'll do it. You've earned that, more than earned it.
The only thing I earned from my death was being dead. The future should not have come to us at all. There are a lot of things I may not want but happen anyway.
She didn't want to put that on you. She wanted to protect you both. [ A small, sad smile. ] She does that.
But no. They're not just a fringe group. They might have started that way--might have stayed that way if the New Republic had done something--but no one wanted a fresh war. The First Order had thirty years to turn into something a lot bigger, a lot worse, and a lot better funded than anyone in the New Republic wanted to believe was possible.
[ It's... pretty obvious, how miserable Poe is talking about the New Republic's failings. He served them. He loved them. He was proud to be an officer in the New Republic Navy, right up until he learned their own senators were funding the First Order's activities. He tells Cassian that, too. About his tracking of the ship that the First Order hijacked, going AWOL, his recruitment by Leia, the capture of the Hevurian Grace. ] I'd been trying to get the New Republic Navy to do something about it for years. Appeal to the Senators. Form a commission. Investigate, broaden our protections of shipping lanes, something.
[ He thumps his fist lightly against the bar. ] Leia was the only one taking action. So that's where I went. That's where we all ended up, me and Finn and Rey.
[pointless, is his very first thought. what was the point of committing his entire life into stopping the empire if it didn't even last? he knocks back the rest of his drink in a few large gulps to stave off those feelings.]
[he recognizes poe is very upset about these matters just the same, and he tries to focus on that instead of his own thoughts too.]
I suspected it was not something quite so fringe, given their use of stormtroopers. [but he kind of wanted to pretend, at least for a little while.] There is only so much bureaucracy and official channels can do. I saw it in my work, and I saw it in the Rebellion even in my time.
My dad was afraid. [ It shocks Poe that he's even admitting this, that he would draw out a memory so private to share with a near stranger. ] When I was little, he told me he was afraid that everything he'd done would be for nothing.
[ Poe's jaw twitches around clenched teeth. He won't let that be true. He will die before he lets that be true.
The mention of Leia's last name draws his attention, though. As though he could have been referring to any other Leia. ]
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Muran. Lampar. Kun. Asty. Arana. Furillo. Meltsa. Seastriker. Teffer. Wright.
Blame yourself and you'll wish you'd died too, he thinks, with irony.
That's about when his meandering search finds Cassian at the bar. He slides onto a stool next to the man. ]
So you saw that mess.
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From a distance. I never knew so many people hated birds.
[but he can still treat it lightly because he DOES get the sense poe doesn't need a serious sit down]
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Yeah, well.
[ Poe sighs. ] She's a good kid. She just... Well, she's a kid. And Karen thought Taako drugged me, so that was fun.
[ The bartender appears, a crooked smile on her face, and says "The usual, commander?"
Poe salutes, and the woman turns her attention to Cassian. "What can I get you, hon?" ]
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[when he was rey's age, he was already in intelligence.] But I know she was isolated on Jakku.
[he orders something very very mild and watered down. there's a few moments of silence, then -] I don't know who Karen is.
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[ The bartender likes Poe. Their drinks come fast, Poe's tonic and lime and Cassian's whatever-it-is. ] She's still a kid, and I hate knowing what growing up is going to mean for her.
[ He hates knowing what it's going to mean for all his kids. His gunners, his techs. They're passionate, vibrant, driven. Some of them have lost more than he can imagine. But so many of them are still so young. ] Karen's a friend. She was the one toe-to-toeing with Taako.
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Nor am I saying things did not get blown out of proportion. Of course Rey is young. We all are. War does not make exceptions.
[he looks at his drink, thinks about being dead, and knocks back a sip.] We are on a moon with a portal that pulls people in from different dimensions. A little open mindedness will go a long way.
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Poe sighs again, leaning forward until his forehead rests against the bar. ] My mind gets any more open and my brain'll fall out.
[ He sits up again, the rolling the bleak mood off with a stretch of his shoulders. ] Which isn't true, but it sounded good.
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I was not talking about you. You elected to turn yourself into a bird.
But obvious skepticism is too antagonistic.
[you gotta be subtly curious even if you're full of wtf because then people will actually answer you and no one fights! god it's like people don't know how to get information about strange scary things like magic.]
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[ A tiny, tiny smile, backed by the memory of coasting on the day's rising thermals.
Poe turns his glass incrementally on the counter, studying Cassian in silence for a little while. ]
When we first met, I would've guessed you were with the Pathfinders. But you weren't, were you?
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[he also has zero doubts that he walked right into such a direct question. it doesn't quite catch cassian off guard, but it's a mildly sudden conversation shift.]
[the question hangs for a few moments, and cassian lets it.] I have worked with Pathfinders, but I have never been one. [even before scarif. he knew a lot of them. he takes a sip of his own drink.] You are fishing for what I did. The answer is Intelligence.
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He shrugs expansively--yep, he's fishing, not gonna deny it.
He's also gonna stay quiet for a little while after Cassian says what he did. Poe knows Intelligence people. They're all sharp edges unless they're too smooth to show a fault, and suddenly Cassian makes a lot more sense to Poe. ]
My dad was with the Pathfinders. I've done a little bit of intelligence work, but. [ Poe squints, a prolonged wince. ] Usually it ended with blowing things up.
[ He's glad the First Order is in the open now, that there's no more pretending or ducking around the New Republic's embargo on military action. He's glad, and whenever he thinks about that, he hates himself a little bit for it. ]
At least I was mostly the one causing the explosions.
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The Pathfinders are invaluable.
[cassian just sort of...looks at poe for a second, trying to imagine him doing any kind of undercover or intelligence work. it's literally impossible. he wears his heart on his sleeve.]
[of course he blew everything up.]
The only time it's a good thing to end with an explosion is if that is the end goal, you realize.
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It usually worked out.
[ Except for that last time on Jakku. But hey who talks about that certainly not Poe.
Don't judge him Cassian gosh. ]
I said I did it, I never said I was good at it.
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[he stares again though. who tf put this man on a covert mission?]
'Usually' does not inspire much confidence. [there is maybe a little judging. or a lot. he is basically a super spy, okaY!!] I hope you did not do it often.
[kanyeshrug tbh.]
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He looks away from Cassian and lifts his drink, studying the lime at the bottom without taking a sip. ] Didn't have much of a choice at the time.
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[he takes another sip of his drink, and his next words are dry.] There never seems to be much of a choice.
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How much do you want to know about the future?
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[there are THREE people from the future and he's already gleaned that even though the empire is gone, it's not... over. not really. it's disheartening, and he's been putting it off, as much as his compulsive need to know things fights against hiding from it.]
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You have the right to say no. To keep us at a distance. If you want the three of us to stay away from you for however long we're here, we'll do it. You've earned that, more than earned it.
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[don't make him ADMIT he likes people, god poe.]
The only thing I earned from my death was being dead. The future should not have come to us at all. There are a lot of things I may not want but happen anyway.
You don't have to keep secrets on my account.
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Softly: ] Okay.
Rey said she mentioned the First Order.
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Let me guess, they are more of a threat than she had me believe.
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But no. They're not just a fringe group. They might have started that way--might have stayed that way if the New Republic had done something--but no one wanted a fresh war. The First Order had thirty years to turn into something a lot bigger, a lot worse, and a lot better funded than anyone in the New Republic wanted to believe was possible.
[ It's... pretty obvious, how miserable Poe is talking about the New Republic's failings. He served them. He loved them. He was proud to be an officer in the New Republic Navy, right up until he learned their own senators were funding the First Order's activities. He tells Cassian that, too. About his tracking of the ship that the First Order hijacked, going AWOL, his recruitment by Leia, the capture of the Hevurian Grace. ] I'd been trying to get the New Republic Navy to do something about it for years. Appeal to the Senators. Form a commission. Investigate, broaden our protections of shipping lanes, something.
[ He thumps his fist lightly against the bar. ] Leia was the only one taking action. So that's where I went. That's where we all ended up, me and Finn and Rey.
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[he recognizes poe is very upset about these matters just the same, and he tries to focus on that instead of his own thoughts too.]
I suspected it was not something quite so fringe, given their use of stormtroopers. [but he kind of wanted to pretend, at least for a little while.] There is only so much bureaucracy and official channels can do. I saw it in my work, and I saw it in the Rebellion even in my time.
[a beat.] Leia... Organa?
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[ Poe's jaw twitches around clenched teeth. He won't let that be true. He will die before he lets that be true.
The mention of Leia's last name draws his attention, though. As though he could have been referring to any other Leia. ]
General Organa. Yeah.
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