This is strangely not as cracky as I thought it would be...
Finn checks his armor one last time before turning to face his gathered friends. He makes his way through them slowly, exchanging goodbyes and letting himself appreciate the easy camaraderie that the Resistance fosters among its soldiers. Knowing that people like this are depending on him makes it easier to step back into the Long Dark again and face whatever nightmares it might contain. It fills him with a strange sort of warmth to grasp hands and exchange hugs and know that if he doesn’t come out again there will be people who remember Finn, the person, and not just FN-2187, the Fourth Year Sanitation Worker.
He saves Poe for last, hugs him for longer and tries to not cling when Poe pulls back to smile at him.
“Uh,” Poe says, “look, buddy, you know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, right?”
“I know,” Finn says gently, “I have a choice and I’m choosing this.”
“…Right,” Poe says, “right, okay - its just, isn’t this a little bit…” he trails off and then gestures weakly at Finn’s armor and the two blasters he has strapped to his hips.
Finn catches Poe’s hands in his and feels like he’s going to burst with happiness at Poe’s open concern. “I know I had to improvise a little with the equipment,” Finn makes sure to meet Poe’s gaze evenly and project as much confidence as he can, “but I was a Sanitation Worker for four years, Poe, I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay,” Poe says again, “if you say so. We’ll have a cold one waiting for you when you get back, alright buddy?”
Poe still doesn’t look convinced, but Finn knows that only a safe return from his mission will really prove his skill and settle Poe’s nerves, so he lets it go with a “sure thing” and turns back to the tunnel entrance.
At the door to the service tunnel Arnth Pwal, the Head of Sanitation, is waiting for him with a tool kit grasped in her clawed hands. The hulking Quarren female has been a Sanitation Worker for over thirty standard years, an almost unthinkable time span, so Finn salutes as crisply as possible and stands at attention while she looks him over. Eventually she ruffles her tentacles in approval and hands the kit over to him.
“I think it’s the third valve on the main line that’s sticking,” she says gruffly. Finn takes that for the dismissal it is, salutes sharply again, and heads off into the dark.
Mini-Fill: Gen (maybe Poe/Finn if you squint?)
Finn checks his armor one last time before turning to face his gathered friends. He makes his way through them slowly, exchanging goodbyes and letting himself appreciate the easy camaraderie that the Resistance fosters among its soldiers. Knowing that people like this are depending on him makes it easier to step back into the Long Dark again and face whatever nightmares it might contain. It fills him with a strange sort of warmth to grasp hands and exchange hugs and know that if he doesn’t come out again there will be people who remember Finn, the person, and not just FN-2187, the Fourth Year Sanitation Worker.
He saves Poe for last, hugs him for longer and tries to not cling when Poe pulls back to smile at him.
“Uh,” Poe says, “look, buddy, you know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, right?”
“I know,” Finn says gently, “I have a choice and I’m choosing this.”
“…Right,” Poe says, “right, okay - its just, isn’t this a little bit…” he trails off and then gestures weakly at Finn’s armor and the two blasters he has strapped to his hips.
Finn catches Poe’s hands in his and feels like he’s going to burst with happiness at Poe’s open concern. “I know I had to improvise a little with the equipment,” Finn makes sure to meet Poe’s gaze evenly and project as much confidence as he can, “but I was a Sanitation Worker for four years, Poe, I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay,” Poe says again, “if you say so. We’ll have a cold one waiting for you when you get back, alright buddy?”
Poe still doesn’t look convinced, but Finn knows that only a safe return from his mission will really prove his skill and settle Poe’s nerves, so he lets it go with a “sure thing” and turns back to the tunnel entrance.
At the door to the service tunnel Arnth Pwal, the Head of Sanitation, is waiting for him with a tool kit grasped in her clawed hands. The hulking Quarren female has been a Sanitation Worker for over thirty standard years, an almost unthinkable time span, so Finn salutes as crisply as possible and stands at attention while she looks him over. Eventually she ruffles her tentacles in approval and hands the kit over to him.
“I think it’s the third valve on the main line that’s sticking,” she says gruffly. Finn takes that for the dismissal it is, salutes sharply again, and heads off into the dark.