InsaneJournal

Who: Poe Dameron and Finn
When: Sometime in January
Where: Some bar, somewhere
What: Finn needs a drink. He’s a bad guy in the dreams.
Rating/Warnings: Low
Status: Complete.



Finn sighed, nursing the same beer he’d been sipping since he’d gotten there fifteen minutes ago. The dreams hadn’t exactly given him much info, but according to the replies he’d gotten on Valar, it seemed the people who shared the same dream universe as he did were pretty certain he was a bad guy.

“How can I be with the bad guys?” he muttered to himself, and took another sip from the cold pint of amber liquid. “Sucks.”

The fact that there appeared to be several people dreaming of this world really still astonished Poe. The fact that he shared current dream events with two of them (and that he dreamed of a much older Leia Organa while her younger self ran around Orange County) was really just the cherry on top of the whole messed up sundae. So he felt bad when it was brought to Finn’s attention that he was actually a bad guy. It was a good time to make good on that promise to go out for drinks and be friends.

When Poe showed up, he clapped Finn on the shoulder and took a seat next to him, beer in hand. “Hey, buddy. Long time no see.”

Finn was startled out of his thoughts at the hand on the shoulder. He looked up into the familiar face of Poe, a man he hadn't seen in at least two years. The last time they'd been together was when they had been deployed to the Middle East. A smile spread across what had been gloomy features and he returned the gesture.

“Hey, man! Too long. Glad you could make it.”

“Like I’d miss this,” Poe answered. And the way he said it sounded sincere and not at all joking. “So, why the long face? You looked like you were trying to figure out how to take a dive into your beer and hide in there when I showed up.”

Finn let out a small, rueful chuckle. “Kinda wish I could.” He paused a moment, took another sip, then went into full confessional mode. “Y’know, I spent my whole life tryin’ to be good. Tried to be a good kid - mighta’ screwed up a bit in my teens but that aside - I joined the Navy to help people, help protect this country. Fight the bad guys. Then I go and freakin’ dream I'm 0ne of them?! The hell is that?” He drained his glass in a long pull. “It's not cool man.”

“Ah.” Poe frowned, then nodded. He took a drink of his beer and patted Finn on the shoulder again. “I’m sure it’s not … It’s not like that makes you a bad guy here, right? You could dream of being a helluva lot worse.” They all couldn’t be heroes, could they? As rad as that would be.

“Yeah...I know.” Finn agreed, still sulking a little. “Just wish I could have been on the other side of things.” He wasn’t sure why this mattered so much, they were just dreams, after all. But still…

Finn’s brow furrowed as a thought occurred to him. “Hey, you know how you said you dreamed of the First Order killing a bunch of people in a village? That reminded me of a reply I got from some chick on my post about my dreams. She said the same thing. I didn’t know what to think of it at the time, but now with you dreaming about it and she’s dreaming about it...I guess that means the First Order is up there with the Nazi’s and ISIS.” He frowned. This conversation wasn’t getting any better. “I need another beer.” He flagged down the bartender and ordered another, happily accepting the fresh glass with eager hands.

“Whoa whoa whoa -” Poe paused, ordering a new beer for himself. “Don’t. Stop thinking like that. You’re not a Nazi, you’re not even close to a Nazi. You’re not even really with the First Order, right? Like you’re just a soldier, but that doesn’t make you as bad as the people telling you what to do. Dream Finn doesn’t know any better.”

Poe put on a smile, hoping somehow he could cheer Finn up. He didn’t think for a second there was anything bad living inside Finn here, and couldn’t imagine that any version of him would. There had to be more. Finn just hadn’t gotten that far yet.

“C’mon, man! Tell that to the 90 something year old guards they’re still trying for war crimes from the concentration camps of World War Two!”” he blurted, after taking a sip. He sighed heavily and looked at his friend. The look on Poe’s face made him realize he wasn’t listening to him and he really shouldn’t be taking the dreams so hard. “I’m sorry, Poe I’m just...it just freaked me out. That’s all.” He ran a hand over his hair and forced his expression to be less doom and gloom. “Anyhow...what’s been happening on your end?” He was hoping changing the subject would help.

“I know. It’s allowed to freak you out.” And it was. The whole dream phenomenon was already so freaky. Poe shrugged and took another drink. “Not much. I got sent on a mission to go retrieve a map on Jakku, and that’s when the First Order showed up. They wanted to get it first. BB-8 - my astromech - got away with it but they knew I knew something about it. Kylo Ren? Tall guy, wears a lot of black, has some serious headgear? He told them to take me prisoner and. That’s about where I am.”

Finn listened with rapt attention, but his brow was furrowed. None of that meant anything to him, just about. He knew what an astromech was - it was some sort of droid, and in his dreams those were all over the training facility he was in - but he’d never heard of a Jakku or some dude named Kylo Ren.

“A map? What’s it for? Resistance base location or something?” he took another sip of his beer and leaning back in his chair finally. “And who’s Kylo Ren?”

It was hard to gauge where they all were, dream wise. Poe knew that Rey was a step ahead of him, and Finn was behind. How frustrating. It was hard to know what to give away and what not, but in the end it wouldn’t really matter, would it?

“He’s one of the First Order’s Big Bad. I think you’ll meet him eventually, or dream of hearing about him. I think it’s impossible to not know him if you’re one of them. But the map.” Poe shrugged. He smiled, like he was holding some big secret even though it really wasn’t. It didn’t matter much here, did it? “It’s a map to Luke Skywalker. You’ve heard of him, right?”

Finn’s eyes went wide at that name. “Luke Skywalker?” he said in an excited, hushed tone, as if somehow the First Order might reach between realms at the utterance of that name. “The dude who helped blow up both Death Stars? Legend has it he was a Jedi or something too. I mean, yeah the First Order would love to get their hands on him.” He regarded Poe a moment, trying to suss out their roles in this unfolding tale. “No wonder they took you prisoner. I haven't heard anything about a map but then that's probably intel for actual, deployed Stormtroopers.”

“I know, stuff of legends, right?” Poe grinned. He leaned in, letting the conversation stay between them. “But he’s real. My General sent me to get it. I got to it first but the First Order was right behind me. I stuck the map in my droid and sent him off. Apparently Rey finds him.”

“Rey?” Finn asked, brow furrowing. Then his eyes lit up as the internal light bulb went on. “Oh! That chick that commented on my post and you two had that whole conversation about your droid?” This was getting crazy...and more and more curious. He wondered how far down this rabbit hole went. They seemed to be on all different sides of this story.

Poe nodded when he saw Finn figure out Rey. “Yeah, her. Somehow my droid - BB-8 - ended up with her. Small world, huh?” He snorted and leaned back in his chair. “But enough about this dream stuff. What have you been up to, man?”

Finn’s mind was racing trying to figure this all out, his original misery about his role momentarily forgotten as he wondered when or if they'd all cross paths in the dreams. He almost didn't hear Poe's question.

“Hm? Oh. Not much. One weekend a month stuff.” meaning his service in the Navy reserves. “Otherwise looking for work. If I don't find something soon I'm gonna need a roomate just to make rent. I mean I know I'm a SEAL but that doesn't mean I like sleeping out under the stars all the time.” He smirked. Finn had saved money, but living in the OC wasn't cheap.
“You’ll find something. You’re a good guy. And who doesn’t wanna hire a SEAL?” Poe raised his eyebrows. “If I had an extra bedroom, believe me, you could move in any day. I guess my couch is always open,” he teased.

Finn chuckled and leaned back with his beer. “Apparently Cali doesn't. I had to move back to the one state in the union with the worst unemployment. But you're right, something’ll come up. I'm gonna hit one of those veterans job fairs next week. So here's so hoping.” He tipped his glass and drank from it.

He smiled at Poe's offer. “Appreciate that man.” He flagged down a waitress and ordered some fries and popcorn shrimp. He was getting hungry and figured Poe might want something too. “So what about you? What real world stuff you been up to?”

“Yeah, well, I mean it. You ever need a place to stay, you let me know.” Poe leaned over so he could clap Finn on the shoulder. “Not much. Just working on the base. Putting the engineering degree to use and all that. Keeps me busy. “

“That's good,” Finn replied and was grateful when the food came. He pushed the basket between them and started munching on the fried shrimp, popping them into his mouth like, well, popcorn.