Planetary Aversion (Star Wars: TLJ, Poe Dameron, hints of Poe/Finn)

[fufufufu]

Set after The Last Jedi. I tried to avoid overly specific spoilers, but nevertheless… there be spoilers.

 

 

 

~~~~~

 

 

Veldis Five lay on the outermost part of the Outer Rim. It wasn’t a particularly prosperous planet, far off from any common shipping routes. It was, Finn realized, a forgotten backwater just like Jakku – except if Jakku had been stunningly gorgeous, instead of a sand-covered hellscape. 

 

Streams ran fresh and clear, cool enough to feel refreshing against bare feet. The sun shone warm, and a tree-scented wind rippled the grass. They’d parked the Millenium Falcon at the edge of a rolling meadow, the hills of which were dotted with bright bursts of wildflowers of every hue. As a backwater, the planet was an ideal place to have clandestine meetings with members of other Resistance cells. It had the secondary benefit of being a welcome respite for the beleaguered Resistance crew.

 

Finn could certainly not recall seeing a planet of such beauty in his days as a Stormtrooper. Rey looked as if she were in paradise. Rose was too weary to respond as enthusiastically. But as she recovered, she seemed to take sustenance from the fresh air.

 

Poe, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Finn might have expected him to embrace the sun and scenery with his usual enthusiasm, but in the five days they’d been planetside, Finn swore he’d seen more of the damn porgs than of the pilot.

 

Thus Finn set off through the Millenium Falcon, which seemed to have no end of random nooks and crannies. Although it wasn’t a large ship, it still took a good fifteen minutes of searching before Finn finally found Poe tucked away in an alcove in the bowels of the ship. Only the top of his curly head was visible, but it was unmistakable. He was forearm-deep in BB8’s circuits, muttering to himself as he performed routine maintenance.

 

Finn leaned against the wall, arms crossed, but Poe’s head did not lift.

 

“You have a funny concept of downtime,” Finn finally said.

 

“Mm?” Poe twitched slightly. “’m enjoying myself just fine.”

 

“You sure?” Finn asked.. Poe’s voice sounded strange – scratchy and low.

 

“Positive,” Poe answered, not lifting his eyes from BB-8.

 

“Huh,” Finn said. “I never took you for a guy who gets his kicks doing droid maintenance.”

 

This drew a half-chuckle out of Poe. “Haven’t you heard? I’m a whole new man these days.”

 

If there was a hint of bitterness in his voice, Finn chose to ignore it. “That so? I didn’t mind the old Poe."

 

“Nice of you to say, buddy.” Then Poe huffed a breath suddenly, and turned his face away. He seemed unwilling to dislodge his hands from BB-8’s circuits, and pressed his face sort of awkwardly against his shoulder, his nose scrunched and his eyes unfocused. “…hpp’TCHOOO!”

 

“I should’ve known you had another reason for being back here,” Finn said, approaching and crouching down. “Are you sick?”

 

“hii’IIISHOO!” Poe deeply wrinkled his nose, and grimaced. “No.”

 

Abruptly, BB-8 erupted in a series of beeps. Finn didn’t speak Binary, but the droid’s tone was distinctly argumentative.  

 

“Oh, don’t you start too,” Poe groaned at the droid.  

 

BB-8 shot back a few shrill beeps.

 

“I have not sneezed that many times,” Poe said.

 

“Enough that BB’s keeping count, it seems,” Finn said.

 

Poe sighed. “It’s just this planet. It started when we landed here, it’ll probably stop once we leave.”

 

“Oh,” Finn said, studying him more closely. Irritated throat, watery eyes, obvious nasal irritation -- “Allergies, then.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“There do seem to be a lot of wildflowers in the field outside.”

 

“Don’t remind me.” Poe squinched up his nose, snuffing fiercely. “I’m not a flower guy. At all.”

 

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

 

Barely had the words left his mouth when Finn froze. He’d meant it as a dumb bit of banter, but hearing it out loud, it sounded like – well – Where the hell did that come from? By the way Poe’s gaze had suddenly and intensely shot towards him, he might well have been wondering the same thing.

 

“Uh,” Finn said, fiddling with his jacket. Poe’s jacket. Whatever.

 

He was saved from any awkward elaboration when Poe’s face crinkled.

 

“Oh, for kriff’s sake…” Poe tore his hand away from BB-8’s circuits, but wasn’t quick enough to do much more than curl his fingers uselessly in front of his nose. “ihp’PPPTSCHEW!” After this Poe drew his hand down his nose, slow and hard. “Ugh. Excuse me.”

 

"You know we've all seen worse lately," Finn said lightly.

 

“True,” Poe answered with a grim smile, returning his attention to BB-8’s maintenance. “Even so, you seem to be in good spirits.”

 

“I won’t tell you it’s because of the nice weather outside.”

 

Poe snorted. “Thanks, buddy.”

 

They fell into a friendly silence as Poe went back to work on his droid. He focused intently on his friend’s circuits, distracted only by the urge to sneeze, if the sporadic catch of his breath or flutter of his eyes was any indication. He lasted long enough to finish up maintenance on BB-8, at which point he closed the droid's access panel and sat back against the wall.

 

The faintest hhhhuh noise hitched in Poe’s throat. Finn rolled a glance over. Poe had seemingly frozen in place, his mouth parted and his eyes three-quarters shut, as if by holding perfectly still, he could quell the urge to sneeze. Only the bob of his throat, and the flare of his prominent nose, suggested he was losing the battle.

 

“ehh….EPP’SCHEW!” he exploded, his curls bouncing forward sharply and then back.

 

“Have you really been like this since we landed?” Finn asked.

 

“It’s been a little worse today, for some reason,” Poe admitted, rubbing at his face. Redness blossomed across his nose and cheeks.

 

“Don’t touch your eyes. They’ll just get worse,” Finn admonished, gently tugging Poe’s hands away. .

 

“How do you…?” Poe mumbled.

 

“Believe it or not, allergic reactions did come up in the planetary operations training when I was a trooper.” Finn looked him over. “There must be some medical supplies we salvaged.”

Poe looked at him flatly. “A few sneezes or sniffles are absolutely not worth using up any medical supplies.”

 

“I guess.” Finn sighed. “At least let me find you a rag or something.”

 

A defeated-sounding snuffle. “Wow, a whole rag?”

 

“If you’re lucky and the porgs haven't shredded it for nesting material.”

 

Poe laughed, even as his cupped hand instinctively came up to his nose. “haa’IPPPPTSH!”

 

“You know, I’m pretty sure the General would be fine parking somewhere on this planet with slightly less flowers,” Finn said.

 

“Yeah,” Poe said, “and I’m pretty sure I don’t feel like asking the General for any favors right now.”

 

Finn sank back. “Fair point.”

 

Poe rubbed at his nose, his sniffling incessant now.  “Ever just kind of… heh’EPPPSHH!... feel like a planet hates you, Finn?”

 

For the briefest of moments, visions of sand dunes floated through Finn’s mind. He clapped Poe’s knee. “You have no idea.”  He rose to his feet. “Let’s get you that rag.”

[MeForever]

awwww, I like this! Nicely written too, good job!

[ALilSneezy]

Ooh, I can't wait to see where this goes! 

[Garnet]

Fjkldjhjdf. I always get so hype when you post something new, fu! Your characterizations are spot-on, spellings are delicious, and everything is wrapped up in such a nice, neat little package. I've only seen the first of the new Star Wars movies, but this was still totally enjoyable <3

[Owlinatree]

This is so well done! I'm a bit opposite to Garnet; I've only seen the new ones (except for A New Hope). 

I love the way you've written this TLJ dynamic -- hold on I have to make this a spoiler, sorry

Spoiler

I love the situation here where Poe is kind of nursing his pride and dealing with his lack of control in two ways: his demotion/apparent loss of status with Leia and his allergies. I always am fascinated by Poe's selfless devotion to the cause yet stubborn self-righteous attitude toward resistance administrators. (idk what to refer to them as, so I went US presidency-style.

Anyway, the descriptions and characterization are awesome

[uniquelyme]

This is absolutely adorable and beautiful!! The banter is so sweet and Awwwhhhh, poor thing! <3 Squeeeeee! You’re writing style is awesome! I’ll be hoping for an update. Thanks for posting!! <3 

[fufufufu]

Thank you so much y'all!!  You are way too kind!

 

11 hours ago, Owlinatree said:

This is so well done! I'm a bit opposite to Garnet; I've only seen the new ones (except for A New Hope). 

I love the way you've written this TLJ dynamic -- hold on I have to make this a spoiler, sorry

  Reveal hidden contents

I love the situation here where Poe is kind of nursing his pride and dealing with his lack of control in two ways: his demotion/apparent loss of status with Leia and his allergies. I always am fascinated by Poe's selfless devotion to the cause yet stubborn self-righteous attitude toward resistance administrators. (idk what to refer to them as, so I went US presidency-style.

Anyway, the descriptions and characterization are awesome

Regarding your spoilers: YES. I know Poe's storyline in TLJ was a bit controversial but leaving that aside, it was an interesting character arc. Really glad that aspect came off well here too!

[Wolfwings22]

I can't even express how much I loved this story! Poe is like my favorite Star Wars character (besides BB-8) and you wrote him so nicely. I hope to see more. This was just so awesome!!!!

[fufufufu]

Thank you!! I adore Poe as well and this was fun to write!

[gingerbreads]

this was so well written and I love how you wrote poe!!

[Jelloicious]

Lovely voices, lovely sneezes.  This is just yummy!