Poe Dameron (flyboydameron) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-02-24 22:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caleb danvers, poe dameron |
Who: Poe Dameron & Caleb Danvers
When: Backdated: End of January
Where: Pandemonium
What: The dreams are driving Poe to drink
Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly
Status: Complete
If Poe had been left confused by the first few dreams he’d had, about another planet that he still couldn’t figure out where his subconscious had come up with, he was even more confused after the next dream he’d had. For one thing, Poe had never had a dream that continued, let alone continued well over a week later, but there he was, a child on Yavin IV once again, only this time the tone of the dream had changed. There was no waiting for weeks to hear news from his parents while they were away with the Rebel Force and no flying with his mother because in this particular dream, his mother had died.
Dreams had never really affected Poe emotionally, but upon waking from this dream, his eyes had welled up and his chest constricted at the mere thought of something happening to either of his parents, let alone something happening to his mother. Tears unshed, he’d gotten up and immediately called his parents to make sure they were alright.
For the rest of that day he’d tried to go about his usual business, pushing any thoughts of the dreams out of his mind, but as night approached he’d decided that what he really needed was a drink or a few drinks. And maybe he could even find someone to hook up with. Poe didn’t usually do the whole one night stand thing, but every now and then it happened and he wasn’t exactly complaining.
Instead of going to some dive bar, he’d decided that he wanted to go someplace loud and he knew the perfect place. Stepping into Pandemonium, he took in the club, which he had visited a few times now and headed towards the bar, hands in the pockets of his brown leather jacket.
It was a fairly busy evening at Pandemonium and Caleb enjoyed that steady pace because it meant that time went by at a decent clip and he didn’t find himself feeling bored at any point in the evening. Granted, when he got bored he usually started doing some of the cleaning he needed to do later, so at least he wasn’t just standing behind the bar twiddling his thumbs. He had just finished serving a couple their over the top cocktails and secretly wished he worked at a bar that only served beer for moments like that. He grinned to himself at the thought as he quickly wiped off the counter.
And in walked a new person and Caleb lifted his head to greet him. He was a handsome man and Caleb knew that the man would probably not be leaving this place alone if he wanted that this evening. “Welcome,” Caleb announced once the man had gotten within earshot of the bar and tossed the bar rag over his shoulder and put a charming smile on his face, “What can I get you tonight?”
Poe looked up as the bartender greeted him, a few dark curls falling over his forehead, “I’ll have a beer.” He slid onto one of the stools at the side of the bar as he waited for his drink and sighed as he ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to brush his it back, but he hadn’t bothered to put any product in his hair today so it was curlier and more mussed than usual so it wasn’t doing what he wanted it to at the moment.
Since Pandemonium tended to cater to a crowd that tended to like cocktails more than beer there weren’t a lot of choices for Caleb to pick from. Since the new customer hadn’t directly said what kind then Caleb was just going to go with the one that he tended to drink when he was at the club with his friends. He heard that sigh when he was pouring the beer and knew this guy definitely needed to get something off his chest. He set the beer down and gave the man a smile, “So, what’s eating at ya?”
Normally when Poe came out to a club like this he tended to go for mixed drinks and cocktails, but at the moment ordering anything more complicated than a beer would require him to think more than he wanted to, “Ah...just got a lot on my mind,” He said as he glanced up at the bartender. Poe had no idea just how far reaching these dreams were so he wasn’t about to just begin talking about them to a complete stranger who would likely think that he was crazy.
“You can talk to me if you want. That’s the nice thing about being a bartender; I am an unbiased party that you can rant to and then never see again if you wanted,” Caleb commented with a laugh. It hadn’t happened to him yet, but it would be easy to just avoid a bartender at a crowded club fairly easily; either by not coming by anymore or only on busy evenings. Caleb knew he was a good listener as well, so he was happy to give some advice if needed.
Poe looked up at Caleb, dark eyes hooded slightly as he regarded him, wondering if he was crazy enough to actually tell him what was going on and whether or not the bartender was likely to think he was crazy once he had. What it all came down to was the fact that Poe was pretty sure he’d drive himself crazy if he dwelled on the dream any longer and kept it himself, “Anyone else come in talking about dreams?” He asked, taking a sip of his beer.
Caleb knew this man didn’t trust super easily by the way those eyes studied him; weighing in his mind if he should share or not. Then he finally made his decisions and out came the word dreams. Caleb almost started laughing, but instead he crossed his arms, placing elbows on the bar, and leaning in conspiratorially, “They do. Not a lot of people do, but there’s definitely a few. You’re talking to one of them. This place is run by dreamers.”
Poe didn’t know what response he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been that one. Unsure if exactly how to respond, Poe stared at the other man for a moment or two. “Are you serious?” It was probably a dumb question, but it was the only one that came to mind at the moment; that and “Well shit…” It was either a giant coincidence that he just so happened to come to this particular club tonight or simply dumb luck. Either way, if he decided to tell this guy what he’d dreamt at least he didn’t risk sounding like he was crazy.
Caleb knew he dropped the bomb pretty quickly onto the poor guy, but man it was hilarious to watch his expression as he tried to comprehend everything. It was basically kismet timing and Caleb definitely knew that there was some weird stuff involved when it came to the dreams and pushing people together. He let out a hearty laugh, “Listen, the next beer is on me once you tell me what’s going on so you won’t think you’re so insane. I can tell you that I’m a witch in my dreams along with my 3 best friends and someone is trying to kill us. It’s very Harry Potter in a sense.”
Yeah, definitely not what Poe had been expecting, “You’re really not fucking with me.” There was something about the way the bartender was talking that convinced Poe that he was telling the truth. Sitting up straighter, Poe regarded the other man for a moment before speaking, “I’m apparently from another planet, in another galaxy, in mine.” He ran a hand through his hair again, trying to push the curls back, but failing, “That’s obviously not the shitty part. The shitty part would be where my mother died.” He picked up his drink and took another swig.
“I’m not,” Caleb couldn’t help but laugh at how Poe put that. He listened carefully and resisted the urge to start asking about if he was part of the Star Wars universe because it really sounded like he might be. He had met Anakin Skywalker already, so maybe he was meeting someone else. Shit, did he look like one of the new trilogy characters? Caleb cursed the bad lighting and then frowned at the man’s comment, “Shit, that’s awful. Is she dead here or is she still alive? I can definitely understand needing a drink after something like that in your dreams.”
“She’s very much alive. Thank god,” Poe had called his mother right away, after waking up from that particular dream, just to make sure that everything was alright at home and that the dream hadn’t been some kind of sign or something. “Yeah, drinks definitely sounded like the best decision tonight after dreaming about that.”
“Oof, that’s even worse. It’s terrible because those dreams feel so real and sometimes you forget that you’re even dreaming,” Caleb knew how it went because he was scared that his father was going to end up here like he did in the dreams and had to remind himself that hadn’t happened. He moved to grab another glass after Poe spoke and filled it up with what Poe was drinking and slid it over to him, “On the house because you definitely need at least two tonight.”
Poe nodded and took a sip of his drink, “Yeah, it’s pretty shitty. How have you dealt with these dreams? I still don’t know how to process all of this.” Maybe if he wasn’t still so new to these dreams it might have been easier to handle, but from what he’d heard the dreams were never exactly nice to those who had them. “Thanks, man.” Poe would never say no to free drinks; especially from cute guys even if they were just doing their job.
Caleb gave a little shrug, “I’ve got a good group of friends that are also dreaming, so they keep me in check. The thing that sucks is that I’m ahead of them so I get to see what’s coming and warn them about the bad shit. The network is really good for talking things out, but there really isn’t a fast and true way to deal with it.” It really depended on what happened in the dreams as well. It seemed like some people had nicer dreams than others and Caleb had to admit he was jealous about that.
“So you and your friends….share dreams?” Poe didn’t know how any of that was possible, but he wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a long explanation so he wasn’t going to even ask how it was possible. “Obviously I don’t have a group of friends who are dreaming; otherwise I wouldn’t be here drinking alone.” Poe smirked and finished off his first drink. “Looks like I’ll have to put out an ad for more friends now just so that I don’t lose my mind cause of these dreams.”
“We do. And you never know, there might be people on the network that share the same dream universe as you and you don’t even know it! There’s been a lot of weird stuff that goes on with the network,” Caleb wasn’t sure how much to warn the guy because some of it sounded just so unbelievable that no one would take it at face value, “And you’ll make friends on the network. You already got me as a friend! I’m Caleb.” He held a hand out to the man for a proper introduction.
“Maybe. It’d be interesting for sure.” Poe didn’t know if other people who shared his dreams would be better or not, but he supposed only time would tell, “Look at that. And I didn’t even need to put out an ad. Nice to meet you, Caleb. I’m Poe.” He reached out and shook Caleb’s hand, feeling just a little bit better than when he’d walked into the club.