_fn_2187_ is a Finnamon Roll (_fn_2187_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-11-28 23:24:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | finn, poe dameron, rey |
Who: Poe, Rey, Finn and of course BB-8
When: Labor Day Weekend
Where: Finn’s place
What: Star Wars marathon! What could possibly happen??
Rating/Warnings: Low
Status: Complete! (Man this was a work of love, it’s practically a novella!)
Finn had the DVDs set up all in order on the glass oval coffee table, like cards spread out for a poker game. They were FINALLY doing this! He’d waited anxiously all of August to get to Labor Day weekend so they could get together and marathon these Star Wars films and figure out what the hell.
He was in the kitchen, heating up the last of the five (yes five) popcorn bags. It might just have been the three of them, but he knew Rey would need at least two for just herself. He waited impatiently as the last of the popcorn kernels were popping. He could hear BB-8 rolling around and chirping away with Poe and Rey in the living room of the small house he was renting. Man he really needed to learn to understand droid.
Rey was not entirely sure about this, but she’d committed and she didn’t dodge her commitments. She still didn’t quite understand how there were movies about their lives. Was it like a documentary? Did this George Lucas person randomly get a look into their world and decide to make money off of their suffering? “This feels so wrong.”
Poe was excited and nervous. Mostly excited. He wanted, more than anything, to see everything that happened when he wasn’t around. And, yeah, he wanted to learn more about the world they came from. “I don’t know, Rey, it’s sort of cool. A bit surreal, but cool.” He picked up one of the DVDs titled Episode Two and flipped it over in his hands. “Maybe it’ll be good for a laugh.”
“I dunno what’ll be funny, but here’s to hoping.” Finn remarked, hearing Poe’s words just as he entered the living room, carrying two huge bowls of popcorn. There were already everyone’s preferred drinks on the table. He practically danced around BB-8, trying to navigate around the rolling droid and his own furniture. “BB-8, bro, move over.”
Finn handed Poe one bowl and Rey the other. He figured he’d just dip into whichever bowl was closest to him, which technically would be both since he was sitting between the both of them. His couch was a large sofa chaise, with enough room for all of them to spread out and chill. Finn flopped down in the middle and stretched his legs out. Picking up the remote he looked at both of them and asked, “Ready?” He sure was. He was practically bursting with curiosity as to what these discs contained.
“Attack of the Clones. Honestly, who named that one, a third grader?” Rey folded her arms and pouted, before tossing popcorn into her mouth and nodding. “Ready as I’ll ever be. I always wanted to be entertainment for the masses.”
“Yeah, but it at least sort of tells you what’s going on, right?” Poe reclines in his seat, reaching for some popcorn. “Like, I’m willing to guess that’s gotta be around the time of the Clone Wars, right? See, we’re already putting our history lessons to good use.” BB-8 whirred his agreement as Poe gave a go-ahead nod at Finn. “All right, buddy. Let’s go.”
Finn nodded back to his bro and hit the menu button. The screen flickered to life, with a digital BB-8 sitting there, moving his head around cutely on the language selection menu. “Oh hey, look who it is!” Finn teased, grinning at the droid. He hit ‘English’ and it went to the droid rolling in the middle of the screen as it loaded the menu. As they waited, Finn could sense how palpable Rey’s hesitation was with this and how excited Poe was. He felt caught in the middle - both brimming with curiosity as to what would be shown of their lives (and what he’d missed when not with either of his friends) and also apprehensive - exactly how much would they be showing? How invasive was this going to feel? Or embarrassing? Or painful?
The menu came up and Finn held his breath a moment as various scenes rapidly played on the title screen. Oh, this was weird already, and they hadn’t even started the movie yet! He sat frozen, spellbound by the fact they were on the screen. They and everyone they’d come into contact with in the dreams. And there were glimpses of things Finn had experienced but not seen from various perspectives that were not his own - vistas of Jakku, Rey and BB-8, their flight through the junkyard from the TIEs, Nines fighting him on Takodana, some dude’s metal hand touching R2-D2? He didn’t remember that. And there was Poe and Han and Chewie and what Starkiller’s lethal blow looked like from on-board a Star Destroyer…
Finn had completely forgotten to hit play, just staring open mouthed. “Wh…” he couldn’t even form words.
“That’s...interesting,” Rey said. She decided she’d try to enjoy herself, but she wasn’t sure if she could. The shots of Jakku brought back memories of emptiness, and R2 vividly reminded her of her visions. She could do this, she could do this.
BB-8 whirred his awe at seeing the BB-8 on screen, his head swivelling around to make sure everyone else was seeing this. Poe was just as fascinated, but his delight at seeing just the menu play over and over faded a lot more quickly than that of his companions. Snorting a little, he reached over to take the remote from Finn, hitting play. What - they came here to watch movies! Though Poe realized pretty quickly that he had no idea what he was getting into.
The surreal feeling of watching everything that happened when he first got the missing piece of the map was crazy. He spared a wince for having to watch himself shoot down Finn’s friend, but for the most part he couldn’t stop gaping at what was going on.
The blaring fanfare (which jolted Finn as he wasn’t expecting it) and the opening crawl struck Finn as odd, considering no modern movie did this. He took in all the information it gave, and as the scenes gave way to star destroyers and the transporter of Storm troopers, there was a slightly nauseating feeling of unease. He knew what was coming. He knew Rey didn’t know about this. Seeing Poe huddled with the old man, and then watching the ensuing chaos as he and his unit deployed under Phasma’s orders made Finn’s throat tighten a little. This was where Slip died. This was where Finn, newly graduated in a hurry from the First Order academy, completely lost it. People were dying all around him, and he didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t a simulation, he remembered thinking. This was happening. And it was all wrong.
Then Kylo came on screen. Poe was caught, BB-8 was long gone, and, “Holy shit...that looks even crazier from that angle.” Finn couldn’t help exclaiming as on-screen Poe passed that mid-air suspended blaster bolt. He did snort a laugh at Poe’s snarkiness in Kylo’s face. It was pretty brilliant, and he nudged his friend to let him know.
But Finn’s brow furrowed and, guilt stricken, he nearly turned away from the screen at the order given to kill all the villagers. Yes, he’d hesitated, but he’d done nothing to stop it either. A part of him still felt like a terrible coward - especially as this hadn’t been the first time this had happened. Thankfully that scene wasn’t in this movie. Unless there were flashbacks. He hoped to God there weren’t. Finn was practically curling up into himself, avoiding even looking in Rey’s direction. “God...why would they…” he uttered under his breath, meaning why would the movie dare to show this bloodbath.
Kylo deserved more snark than that, Rey thought. But Poe was brilliant and she nudged BB-8 as if to tell him ‘look at you.’ She quickly sobered up, lifting her hand to her mouth as the innocent people were all cut down. “They didn’t deserve that!” Had that actually happened? Was that real? Who was that old man anyway. She felt like she should know him.
Okay. So it definitely wasn’t all fun and games. At least where most of the story seemed to be concerned. Watching Rey’s introduction to the screen made Poe feel some sympathy for her, because he felt like this would have to be hard. The whole thing would probably be particularly hard on her, and he gave BB-8 a nudge to go whirr something supportive at her. Or at least that was the plan, except that once BB-8 showed up on screen again, the real droid ended up blurting out a series of beeps that equated to everyone be quiet, I’m on the TV.
Poe snorted. “For a droid, you’ve got a pretty big ego, buddy. “ He shrugged, his sympathetic look turning into a what-can-you-do sort of expression. “Try not encourage him too much, guys.”
“I wonder who he resembles.” he teased Poe with a smirk. Finn chuckled at BB-8’s antics, grateful for some distraction from the opening scene horrors and the awkward feeling of seeing himself on screen in the moment he removed his helmet and his freaked out expression was plain for all to see before Phasma chastised him. He wanted to ask Poe who the old man was, but they were soon so engrossed in everything there was no way he was going to pause to have everyone explain everything about each of their situations.
When Rey showed up and her story started, he stared mouth agape at her insane spelunking inside the Star Destroyer, and his stomach nearly churned at her sled ride down the sheer sand dune. “Damn, girl, that’s what scavenging is? That’s hardcore.” But as it went on, he saw just how grueling it was, and precisely WHY she loved food so much. If he had to subsist on green insta-bread he would too.
But then they got to the interrogation scene with Poe and Kylo Ren, and instantly Finn’s insides tightened. Subconsciously he balled his hands into tight fists and he was scowling angrily at the screen. It was so hard to watch, his best friend’s agony as Kylo tore into his mind with the Force. With eyes whose vision was nearly blurred with unshed tears of anger he stole a glance over at Rey to see how she was doing.
It was a lot harder for Rey to watch than she’d thought, though she didn’t turn away. Grand feelings of lonely emptiness at Jakku came rushing back along with the memories of being so hungry she could barely move. "That was actually a pretty good day."
Finn wasn't the only one who's hands were fists. She wanted to hug Poe. She also felt a great deal angry.
Now that part was strange for Poe to watch. He remembered all too well having that particular dream, and waking up in a cold sweat and the ache in his whole body. His head had hurt for days after, and that had been around the time he’d met Orange County’s version of Kylo Ren. Honestly, he could see why Finn and Rey distrusted him. If he hadn’t met him when he did, Poe would probably feel the same way. And there was something very heartwarming about the protectiveness of his friends.
“It’s fine, guys,” Poe told them. He reached around Finn to give Rey a squeeze on her shoulder, then he punched Finn in the upper arm . “My knight in white armor is gonna come save me, remember?”
Finn couldn't help but smirk over at Poe, remembering that moment from the dreams. “Knight in white armor. Please.” He playfully pushed at his friend's head and tousled his curly locks as if trying to mess up his hair. “I just needed a pilot to get my ass outta there.” Of course that wasn't the entire reason. He truly didn't want the First Order to have Poe after what he'd seen on Jakku. The unshed tears forgotten he returned his attention to the screen in time to see Rey's next scene. His brow furrowed and his jaw dropped. “You were gonna sell BB-8 for food?! For real?” Of course in the next moment it was obvious she wasn't but Finn couldn't help teasing, and tossed a popcorn kernel at her. “How could you! Poor little defenseless droid.” He was absolutely teasing now and started peppering her with popcorn.
“I was, yes,” Rey admitted. “But I have too big a heart for mechanical things.” She rubbed BB-8 on the top of his dome. “It wasn’t the right thing. My moral center was stronger than my hunger.” She threw the popcorn back at him, laughing. This was better than focusing on the bad parts. She didn’t entirely know what was coming next. Except she kind of wanted Poe and Finn to kiss. “Wow you two hit it off really fast.”
This was perfect teasing material.
Poe also kind of wanted him and Finn to kiss. He also seemed more offended at BB-8 almost being sold than at anything Kylo Ren had done to him. He almost said something but Finn beat him to it, and BB-8 whirred something to defend Rey, and, hey, it had all turned out for the best, hadn’t it. He grinned as he shoved some popcorn in his face. “I owe this guy my life. It was one hell of an adventure.”
Finn was the only person in the room who didn’t want to him and Poe to kiss. He was as straight as they came, both on screen and in the real world, but what he was relishing was the epic bromance being reborn before them. “I owe you mine. I’m pretty sure Phasma’s ‘reconditioning’ wouldn’t have worked and I’d’ve been a dead man.” He grinned stupidly at their antics, hollering and whooping in victory as they took out the Destroyer’s cannons. “We make a helluva team. And yes, Rey, that’s how I got my name.” He laughed. “This knucklehead over here.” He winced when they got shot down. “Dammit, if we hadn’t been arguing we probably would have made it together.” He frowned as he watched himself believe Poe had died, chewing on the inside of his lip in discomfort. He’d hated that moment. He’d just made a friend and in the next moment, he was gone. Dead. Or so he’d thought anyway.
The Kylo/Hux scene was a bit amusing actually at their sniping at one another over his defection, but their conversation about the army was nothing new to him. That’s what the First Order literally was - born and bred (or kidnapped? Drafted?) soldiers. The desert scenes leading to his encounter with Rey had him looking over at her. “THAT’S why I hate deserts!” He pointed at the screen. “You’re lucky I didn’t show up buck naked. That black under armor just made everything worse. It was like being inside a sun!” And then he facepalmed at the water scene. “Oh god. That water. Poe, that water was so god awful. I can still taste it.” He shoved a fistful of popcorn into his mouth to rid himself of the memory.
“I’m very glad for both of you,” Rey said, returning her eyes to the movie. Without Poe, she’d have never met Finn. Chances were she might have died in that ‘starport’ without Finn warning her what was coming. She wondered if Finn felt bad, killing those troopers. How many of them might have been like him if they were given the chance.
“How fortunate for all of us that you were fully clothed.”
This was the stuff Poe wanted to see. He knew his story, he wanted to know everyone else’s. Even it was a bit voyeuristic. He leaned back against the couch and watched as Finn, Rey, and BB-8 escaped the First Order and he laughed when Finn tried to pass himself off as a member of the Resistance despite BB-8’s hesitance. It was a weird sort of roller coaster, going from moments like that to the severity of the First Order and back again. But he grinned, shaking his head in amusement. “That’s sure one way to meet Han Solo,” he said, though there was a hint of sadness to his voice. They all knew what was coming. That dampened the mood.
“Hey!” Finn peppered Rey with a few more kernels of buttery popcorn for that comment, a smirk on his features. Watching himself blubber a lie about being Resistance had Finn flushing with embarrassment and nearly facepalming. It didn’t get better when they landed on Takodana and he tried that line with Han Solo - of all people! - and he got shut down by the old man point blank. From this viewpoint, he looked like an idiot, and was surprised Rey had actually believed him for as long as she had, let alone that BB-8 had been willing to keep his secret.
“Yeah, man, those Rathtars were no joke.” Finn had finally said, long after the scene had ended, only because it had been so nail biting watching it, and remembering the experience at the same time. He missed Han quite a bit, even if he’d only known the cranky old smuggler for a small time. He’d even been okay with the whole ‘Big Deal’ nickname thing. But the scenes on Takodana, and all the Kylo ancestor worship stuff (which was super creepy), had Finn wishing the movie would end before all the horrible stuff he knew was coming would happen. They all knew, from various vantage points, what was about to happen. But right now, Finn was on screen begging Rey to come with him and leave BB-8 to Maz and Han’s care. It was cowardice, and he hated his dream self for it, even if he understood fully the reasons why. The First Order was terrifying, and he knew if Phasma ever caught up to him, between her and Kylo, he would die a horrible death along with anyone with him.
But then…
“Holy crap, is that...your vision?” Finn sat up ramrod straight, staring at the screen, absorbing every detail. Rey had described it to him once, best as she could, but seeing it was a trip and a half.
And then there was Maz trying to explain the Force, and suddenly the First Order attacked and it was chaos. Rey was in the woods, Finn was climbing out of rubble with Solo and Chewbacca and Maz, and suddenly he’s swinging a laser sword and squaring off with Nines until Solo blew him away. He frowned at the ease as to which it seemed he had no problem killing or hurting his former brothers in arms, because it hadn’t felt that way once the adrenaline had worn off. He’d felt sick to his stomach and inwardly miserable they were suddenly at odds. Guess the screenwriters didn’t think that had been worth putting in there.
What they had put in however, made his insides tighten. Kylo had found Rey in the forest, and the way he Force froze her and tried to invade her mind left him feeling angry and self loathing at the same time. If he hadn’t been so damned selfish he would have been with her, she wouldn’t have been-
Finn shot up from the couch as the scenes cut from the forest to him seeing Kylo carrying Rey away. Unshed tears blurred his eyes and he mumbled something about getting a drink from the kitchen (which of course made zero sense as his beer was right there), stepping over Poe’s legs and power walking out of there, listening in silent torment as he heard his on screen self desperately trying to get to her before screaming her name in agony. He made it to the hallway between rooms, ducking around the corner and leaning against the wall, closing his eyes. Goddamit.
Being in the Falcon at that point had been terrifying. She’d killed before. She’d had to to survive, but she’d never liked it. But poisoning someone? That was something else, but she’d have done it to survive. She was a survivor. Luckily, Han had turned out to be an ally. A friend. Maybe that father-figure she’d always wanted.
After all, he’d offered to sign her onto the Falcon and she got the impression that was a rare and impressive feat!
But she knew Finn leaving was coming, and it hurt. She knew the vision was coming, and it hurt. And then Ren in the forest, which made anger and fear flow off of her in waves. The feelings evaporated when Finn excused himself. “Finn?”
Poe, for his part, was lost in the story. He might have even been on the edge of his seat, like this was all new to him. And seeing it was, though he’d heard about all these things happening. It was just unreal. Finn’s exit pulled him out of the moment, too, so Poe pressed pause as he turned around on the couch.
“Buddy?” Poe furrowed his brows, glancing at Rey, then back towards Finn. “Hey, now, they’re just dreams, right? And, yeah, they feel a little real but we all know how it ends. Come on. I want to watch you be everyone’s big hero, and. You know, Rey finds Skywalker and all that.” And a lot of shit happens in the middle, but they need to focus on the good parts.
This was so embarrassing. Finn hadn't expected to react this sharply, though he'd figured the moment would make him really uncomfortable at most. But he was the sort of guy who wore his emotions on his sleeve and sometimes just couldn't help himself. Like now.
“I'm...okay.” Yeah no he wasn't. He didn't sound anything within the zip code of okay. He was silent a moment, gathering himself, wiping at his eyes with his sleeves quickly. He could hear BB-8 inquiring Poe or Rey, or he guessed as he didn't speak that droid’s language.
He closed his eyes again as he tried to ignore the first person perspective memories the movie was reliving. That moment had been so horrible. Watching that monster Kylo Ren carry off an unconscious and helpless Rey onto his ship, and Finn too far away even to stop him with a blaster shot, which he knew Kylo could have stopped in mid-air anyway. It’d actually been worse than losing Slip on Jakku, that fateful night that had changed everything. Or when he thought Poe had died in the wreckage of the TIE fighter. No, with Rey there was something there far more powerful than even the camaraderie between brothers in arms.
It was love. The love of friendship, and for dream Finn, perhaps something more. For this Finn definitely more.
He opened his eyes and took a breath to brace himself, before reappearing. “I dunno why you think I'm the hero.” he said, as he took his place on the couch again with an almost sullen flop. He took a fistful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth. “Everyone knows you are with the whole blowing up the generator thing.” He had gotten that story from Poe himself. He threw him the smallest of wry expressions, reading clearly enough to his friend that he was making a pilot joke.
“Heroes start out as everyone else,” Rey pointed out. She reached for Finn’s hand and squeezed it. “You came for me, remember? Without you, without your plan, they would have destroyed the resistance, and then used that weapon to sow terror across the galaxy.” She had no doubt she’d have escaped. But there would have been no resistance to go back to. No Finn.
She would have probably just returned to Jakku and faded away into obscurity. Or until Ren came for her there. A life on the run, perhaps?
“Oh, please,” Poe said, scoffing as he waved a dismissive hand. “I fly around in a fancy X-Wing and show off. Which I wouldn’t be doing at all if you hadn’t busted me out of there at the start. And Rey’s right, without you plan, what hope did we have? I blew it up because you told me how. And you got BB-8 back to me,” he added, nodding to the screen where their beautiful reunion was taking place. “Face it, pal, you’re the big hero.”
Finn blinked, his brow furrowing as he absorbed the words of his friends. He hadn't thought about himself that way, not in the least. “Huh.” He smiled at the both of them, giving Rey's hand a return squeeze. “I...I was just trying to do the right thing.” He watched as the resumed movie indeed showed him trying to hunt down who the badass pilot was of that black X-Wing at the Resistance base, only to be dumbfounded to find a very much alive Poe Dameron. It had been a helluva moment, both of them finding hope still alive in the smallest of miracles.
“You know I'm never giving you that jacket back, right?” he teased, elbowing his friend. “That sucker’s mad comfortable.” As the scenes unfolded, the question of how the hell Kylo Ren could be Han and Leia’s son continued to baffle him. He looked like neither parent and couldn't fathom how creepy ass Snoke could have lured him away from such heroes of the Rebellion.
Suddenly came a scene he’d only imagined as Rey had told it to him, and his hand, still holding hers, squeezed it tighter as Kylo started prying into on-screen Rey’s mind. But as the scene went on, Finn found his grip loosening as he leaned forward onto the edge of his seat, absorbed in the intensity of it all as she fought back - and gave him a dose of Kylo’s own medicine! He barely had time to process that after yet another Snoke scene before they were watching Rey do...what exactly? Mind control? He busted out laughing as the Storm Trooper suddenly obeyed every command and Kylo came back to an empty room and raged. “Oh my god, Rey, that was amazing!”
Rey was taken back to that table again, strapped to it, her mind invaded. But Ren had left the path clear for her to follow, right back into his mind. There was so much fear there, uncertainty and doubt. If nothing else it proved that anyone could lose themselves in the darkside. And it certainly provided her with fuel for her own feelings. But her escape was a triumph. “I could hardly let you have all the fun trying to rescue me.”
Poe, at least, understood what that feeling was like. He hadn’t been able to turn it around, but he’d at least planned on going down with some snark. And maybe he shouldn’t be sort of proud of Rey for it, all things considered, but he threw her a grin anyway. “Don’t tell him I think he deserved it,” he added, with a bit of a smirk. Things were starting to get interesting, though. They’d always been interesting but the tension was building. He hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you guys wanna fast forward through --”
Finn found that this movie was such an emotional roller coaster - between the euphoric highs of victories against the First Order to the devastation of the destruction of the seat of the Republic to daring rescue operations and attack plans - it was almost too much. And Poe bringing up Han’s inevitable death only added to it all.
He frowned a little and looked over at Rey. “We were too far away to hear what they were saying - maybe we should watch it.” His hand took hers again and squeezed a little; his expressive eyes were asking permission, because if Rey didn't want to, then they wouldn't. He would just watch it on his own. Just then, Han's weathered old face appeared on screen, snarking about how Finn had the concept of the Force all wrong. He busted out laughing.
Rey sighed, and nodded. She didn’t want to relive that, but there were parts of this she knew she needed to see. “Lets just...watch the whole thing. We’ve come this far, haven’t we?” She looked between the two of them before turning back to the tv. Her stomach started tying itself into knots.
Poe wanted to see this. He, obviously, had been busy during this part - the cuts back to him and his squad made him quirk up his lips - but the attitude turned quickly somber. It was hard knowing what was going to happen, and hard, too, seeing a person he cared a lot about being someone so different. Beside him, BB-8 whirred something angrily and Poe shushed him. The moment came and he held his breath, and despite it, even Poe had to glance down at the floor for a moment.
Finn wanted to form words at his astonishment as he got a close up view of what exactly had happened on that bridge, especially in the light of the knowledge that Kylo Ren was friggin’ Han Solo and General Organa’s son. In his dreams, Kylo had simply been a rage filled psycho, someone all the Storm Troopers steered clear of if they could. But now...now he understood more fully Rey’s rage in the forest. It wasn’t just that he’d murdered Han; he’d murdered his own father. Tears filled Finn’s eyes and he blinked them back, looking away from the screen over at Rey a moment. “I thought dreaming it was bad,” he mumbled, shaking his head. This was much worse, with all the up close angles. With the agony and heartbreak written all over Han’s weathered face before he fell into oblivion.
Now there was running and shooting and explosions and then they were in the forest confronting Kylo. “Man...that is some serious editing. It takes time to get outta that place. They made it look like Kylo beat us to the forest from being on the bridge.” He had to talk. Otherwise he’d be wallowing in grief over Han’s loss all over again. He also knew this scene was going to be super awkward for Poe. He glanced over at his buddy, gauging his expression as he watched the movie.
Rey’s face had fallen into an expressionless mask. It was the only way to keep from losing her temper, from giving into the rage she’d felt at what had happened to Han, and what had then happened to Finn. But she couldn’t stop the Force from rolling off of her like a wave. Subtle at first. The popcorn bowl rocking once or twice. She remembered how it felt, calling the lightsaber into her hand. She’d been reluctant at first, and it showed in how easily Ren had beat her back. “I remembered what Maz had told me. About letting the force in. I let it in and….”
And then the Rey on the screen was beating Ren back. She slashed his face and then loomed over him. It would have been easy to kill him. Something had told her to, and she’d recoiled from it.
For the most part, Poe was enthralled. He knew all about this from having spoken to Finn and Ben, and Ben had gotten that scar across his face in the waking world, too. It was just strange to see it played out. He could understand why the other two didn’t like him, it wasn’t like anyone could blame them, but before long they’re all getting off the exploding base and heading back to their headquarters. Here, really, is where Poe held his breath. “Is that - is that him?” he asked Rey, when Skywalker finally made his short appearance.
Watching Rey duel Kylo was more engrossing than Finn had realized. Finn had been rendered unconscious due to his injuries and had relied on Rey's retelling. Now seeing it for himself, he was spellbound. Her anger, determination, sheer bravery was evident in every slice of the lightsaber. He had a moment where guiltily he’d wished she’d finished him off. Meanwhile, Poe and his people had managed to finish taking out the thermal oscillators and things were wrapping up. He almost reached for Rey again when he watched her on screen crying over his still form. Had people seeing this movie wondered if he’d died, like they probably had with Poe earlier?
Back at the base joy and heartbreak were intermingled and he tried not to wince as Rey kissed his head yet called him ‘friend'. And then she was leaving and a moment later there he was - bearded and old, unlike the Empire data he’d been forced to study about a much younger Luke Skywalker. The dramatic reveal then ended abruptly and Finn flung his hands up. “Wait…that's it?!”
“That’s him, and that’s it,” Rey said. “I don’t remember anything after that.” She pulled her legs up, wrapping her arms around them. She didn’t know enough to be able to center her emotions or anything like that, and the movie had left her feeling drained. It only reinforced something her gut had been telling her for months. “It seems like we’re living in a cliffhanger.”
“I agree,” Poe said, in response to Rey. “There’s no way we’re done dreaming. We all have a lot of story ahead of us, I guarantee.” That said, he stood up, stretching. “I think we need a bit of a break before we get on with the rest of the marathon. Do you guys need drink top ups? I can grab them.”
“Yeah well I better not be out for the count for the next movie, whenever that is.” grumbled Finn. He’d clearly missed enough as it is.
“Yeah sure, man that’d be great.” he smiled up at Poe. He looked over at Rey once their friend had left the room and noticed how withdrawn she’d become. “Hey,” he said softly, scooting over to her. “You okay?” He nudged her gently with a shoulder, offering a friendly smile.
“Bring me something alcoholic,” Rey said. She needed a drink and she didn’t really care right now. Leaning against Finn’s shoulder, she gave a little shrug. “I’ll be okay. Seeing him again, like that, on the screen. It only makes me more certain about some things.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to give drinks to a minor,” Poe teased from wherever he was in the kitchen. That didn’t stop him from cracking the lids off of three beers and giving one to BB-8 to help carry (though in his eagerness to offer it to Rey, the droid ended up sloshing some of it on to her leg with an apologetic whir).
“Yeah?” Finn said, “Like…” and he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper so Poe and the droid couldn't hear, “You mean like how you think Skywalker’s your dad?”
And just then BB-8 in all his eagerness came rolling in and spilled the beer a bit. “Whoa hey, man! Slow your roll!” Finn scrambled for napkins and handed some to Rey before trying to help, dabbing at her leg.
“I’m legal in England,” Rey protested. “And that counts!” Somewhere. According to her it counted, anyway! And really, that’s what mattered. She took her beer, laughing at the help from Poe, while steadfastly putting off answering Finn’s question by nodding at him. It wasn’t something she was particular about thinking about for the time being. She wanted to focus on the now. Her and Finn and Poe. And BB-8, of course.