PEACE & PURPOSE

Getting Poe out of trouble felt like settling back into a familiar routine and the incident in general had succeeded in distracting her from the bigger issue at hand, which is why she was momentarily confused when he abruptly stopped.

His question made her nervous, paranoid thoughts suddenly plaguing her. What if he didn’t like her in this more useless form? As a droid she had much more value on missions and helping him out of his various shenanigans. And what if he didn’t even believe her at all? She had no explanation for how this had happened and only her memories as proof…

Then, she wasn’t sure how, but he suddenly seemed to recognize that it was her, and a grin broke out on her face. Now she did hug him. “I don’t understand how it happened either, but right now I’m just glad to see you.”

BB8 was always the only person - well, droid - poe dameron knew would always be there, no matter what. she was by his side always and would be until the day he died. he NEVER ONCE doubted that.

leave it to her to find him and get him out of trouble again - now - a million light years away on a foreign planet neither of them had ever visited before. leave it to her to somehow end up like... this. human. as human as him. a grin spreads across his face as the ABSURD and IMPOSSIBLE idea dawns on him as both POSSIBLE and R E A L all at once. 

poe throws his arms back around her and laughs, almost hysterically, at how wonderful it feels to be able to hug his closest friend in all the galaxy. “it’s really you,” he laughs, thinking if he doesn’t laugh he may, embarrassingly, cry. “i can’t believe it - how is this possible - how did you find me -- ?!” he’s sure that, at some point, all the answers to those questions would matter much more to him, but just then, he doesn’t care all that much.

there was no way this was 2002, clara knew 2002 and this wasn’t it. the world was looking a bit too ahead of the early 2000s to be in that time frame. it was looking more likely to be around 2014 onwards. nothing seemed to have changed that much from when she had died but it didn’t mean that was the time period they were in. the last time she was even on earth was the 3000s and that was just to go and play the song by mcfly.  this wasn’t anything like life then so they were still in the twenty first century.

figuring out what time they were in would be most important. then it would be figuring out where but clara had a strong feeling they were on earth and most certainly in america. the brunette hadn’t met any other english people thus far. 

“not 2002, too advanced for 2002. we’re looking more at the late 2010s. definitely after 2014.” clara answered quickly and with certainty.

O K A Y, dana thinks. NOT 2002. “great,” she says, unaware that the word slipped out aloud. logic. that was her “ t h i n g ” as mulder would say. find the logic in every situation. but in this, there seemed to be none, which she is especially aware of when she realizes that the young woman in front of her doesn’t seem bothered at all about the year and the fact that she may or may not be in the correct one.

PANIC isn’t logical, but she feels it bubbling up in the pit of her stomach, threatening to break the surface and take her back to the hotel room she woke up in. “well,” she sighs, a little shakily, “it seems like you’re more used to this than i am, which is unsettling because i thought i was used to quite a lot.”

To say he was worried was an understatement. He was out of place with no idea where he was and, more importantly, he was conscious. For what reason, he had no idea, but it was enough to set him on edge. Moving to turn around, he collided with another person and immediately reacted with a quick step back, fist clenching as he eyed the other. “Sorry,” he muttered, quick and fast.

MARY FOXE is growing quite fond of this new place, as curious as it was. it had beautiful beaches with warm sand, and the sun was hotter than it ever was in L O N D O N. she has already gone for a few swims ( though she’d had to buy a bathing suit; something told her swimming naked like she did when she finally left st. john simply would not do in this world ) and took to reading outside of cafés. 

she is walking to one of these cafés, book in hand ( published in the twenty-first century no less ! ) when another man collides with her. she stumbles backward but stays standing and, more importantly, smiling. “oh, there’s no need to apologize,” she says brightly. she looks up at the stranger and sees immediately that something’s wrong. he looks curiously more upset than most of the others she’s met, and her brows furrow in worry. “are you alright? i don’t mean to offend, but you look quite ill.” 

hey !! i’m not dead !! sorry for my absence; work at a medical office right after the new year AND the last week before school gets back in is... hell on earth. anyway, i’ll be posting some tomorrow and then i’ll be officially back on sunday. until then i hope you’re all doing great !! 

and i’d like to make a note ( x-files spoilers ahead if u care ) that the Big Reveal of the 11.01 is total bullshit and will be ignored 100% on my dana. william is mulder’s son. 

cheers all and talk to you tomorrow !!

The tears would not stop and BB-8 was growing increasingly frustrated. How did she turn them off? Not thinking about Poe was the obvious answer, but she couldn’t quite control that. There had to be some trick to stopping it, her crying was starting to draw attention from others. Wiping her eyes for what felt like the 100th time she asked the person nearest, “Do you have any suggestions for this predicament?”

MARY FOXE is no stranger to crying. in the beginning, she didn’t cry very much - even when st. john was in charge, beautiful women didn’t c r y, only D I E D - but after the separation, after she took a life of her own, she found it was quite easy to cry. she cried over happy things and over sad things and she cried when she thought about the childhood she never got to have and she cried when she wrote letters to st. john and daphne. she’d finished crying just half an hour ago when she realized what year it was and that st. john and daphne fox would have been long dead.

so when mary foxe sees a young woman she’s never met before crying desperately, she can’t simply walk away. 

@behdelia

She heard his voice before she saw him and she would have launched herself into his arms, just as she had with Rey, if it weren’t for the fact that he seemed to be in a heated argument with another man. It probably was best to introduce herself first anyway. Sensing that the stranger was not going to back down, and suddenly worried for Poe’s safety as their voices continued to rise, she approached.

“I’m sorry to interrupt.” Her tone felt much too wooden for sincerity, but she couldn’t seem to land on the right inflection. Lying was difficult. “But his… brother is very sick and I need to take him with me.” She grabbed Poe by the arm and pulled, not wanting to give him or the other man a chance to keep engaging.

“He was about to hit you!” She pointed out in exasperation once they were far enough away.

should he have obeyed the “NO TRESPASSING” sign? yes. should he have just listened to the property owner when he angrily approached him? yes. does he at all regret taking the risk in order to find an x-wing? absolutely not. he had nothing on this planet - not his x-wing, not his D R O I D. even thinking about bb8 alone on some other planet causes a tightness in poe’s chest, and he spends a lot of his time trying to push it away. no one would believe it, but he worries more about HER than he does about THE FIRST ORDER.

suffice it to say that poe is under an incredible amount of stress, which some might think would explain his behavior towards the strange property owner, but in fact he would have acted just the same had it happened in more familiar territory.

poe is in the middle of calling the man, who is almost certainly ready to throw punches - a “ NERF HERDING - ” when they are interrupted by another unfamiliar human. she is tall, beautiful, and red-haired, a combination that feels old and new all at once to POE DAMERON, and despite the fact that he ordinarily would do no such thing, he goes along with her. his mouth is agape and his eyebrows are lifted in surprise, both at her actions and his complacency to them.

“yeah, probably but-” poe starts, and then shakes his head, stopping in his tracks. “hang on, who are you? do we know each-” and it’s when he says this that something processes. something UNLIKELY. something ABSURD. something so outstandingly IMPOSSIBLE that he can’t even think the words to himself. instead, he stares at her, his mouth open slightly, his eyes wide. “there’s no way.”

clara needed her tardis back, needed the only thing that was her stability now, the only thing that she had that made her not alone in this universe. that tardis, her tardis was what kept her time with the doctor alive, kept her memories strong of every second that passes. ashildr had forgotten her lives but clara was managing to keep them, the tardis was helping her with that. being here without it wasn’t right, didn’t make her feel comforted. normally if her tardis got lost or stuck when she was out doing her thing, she knew it would come back to her. a tardis was a loyal thing and hers was no different. 

that smile isn’t convincing. it starts to make the woman question how long people have been trapped, how long have they been waiting on people, on getting back to them. maybe this would be the woman clara worked with to get answers, figure out why they were here and what was going to be happening when people got those answers.

“do you have any idea what year we’re in?” clara wouldn’t know what year she was in. the last time she had been on earth she’d travelled back to 1863 for no other reason than the fact that’s where her tardis took her.

THE YEAR, of course. dana had never considered that she might be in a different year. the thought makes the hair on her arms stand up and she thinks that was the sort of thing mulder might have asked, were he here. scully frowns and raises an eyebrow, wondering whether or not she wants to believe it was possible to have traveled through time. aliens, yes, she often had to accept that one. poltergeists and witches, sure, those had come up every now and again.  LOST TIME, even. but time travel - that is new.

her understanding of the world has been challenged and pushed to the point of no return. but the thought of time travel was... well, SPOOKY.

it only took three seconds outside for jason to realize he wasn’t in gotham anymore. the new setting lacked the grim and dirty of the streets that had raised him, and it brought a certain apprehension to the young man. he needed to figure out where he was and how to get back home ━━ and he needed to do it pronto. “okay, dorothy, time to figure out just where the hell did we end up this time around,” he mused to himself, eyes darting around. time to prove he was a detective too. 

she’s a curious little thing, mary foxe, always listening in to conversations not meant for her. perhaps it was a result - a lingering habit - from the BEFORE, when the best she could do, the best she was offered, was standing on the outside and looking in. STILL, when she hears the man’s comment ( directed at himself, she presumes ), she stops in her tracks. “ pardon? ” she asks, unable to stop herself. “ did you say this time around? this has happened to you before? ”

      “your droid?” michael repeated, clearly confused as he glanced around with a nervous laugh. “is that like a new term for your junk or? because if it is.. it’s lame.” if anything it reminded him of something josh or chris would say and he felt his heart break ever so slightly as he thought about the two boys. “you aren’t afraid of him? dude.. are you constantly around wolves or something?” he finally asked, keeping a watchful eye on the animal.

at first poe doesn’t know what the man is talking about - his confusion at the very word ‘droid’ added another thing on the list of endless things about this planet that didn’t make sense to him. “wait, what?” poe asks. “my... my junk? BB8 is not -- ” the real meaning of michael’s words dawned on him a little too late and he made a face of disgust. “a droid is... they’re like... they’re DROIDS, how have you never heard of a droid? even people on tattooine have droids.” 

it was NEVER supposed to be this way.

when they were boys it was simple. they were friends, they were brothers, they stuck together and got into trouble together, both pig headed, both a little reckless. they were SUPPOSED to be together in all this.

in the beginning poe dameron thought he understood. SNOKE had gotten his greasy ugly hands on a boy with potential and poisoned him. he held on to what little hope he had left, listened to leia’s assurances that they could get ben back... and the longer he waited the harder it got to keep on hoping. HOPE was a skill he would one day master, but not then.

and then there was JAKKU. the first time they’d seen each other since everything fell apart and it was like coming across a stranger. the mask couldn’t hide what poe knew was underneath - only a boy from the past - and he knew better than to believe his face could bring ben back, but that didn’t stop the hurt and betrayal when it happened. 

poe hoped he wouldn’t see kylo ren on this planet. he hoped he wouldn’t have to come face to face with him again and be reminded of BEN SOLO and what they should’ve been. but it was never that SIMPLE. it was never that EASY. he isn’t surprised at all when he finds kylo - ben - standing just twenty feet away. as always, poe puts up his defenses. he doesn’t even have his blaster.

“so i talk first?”

“there’s no chance you could tell me where i am, is there? because i woke up without anything i normally have and i need to get back to them.”

and to think that when dana scully first woke up she thought she was the ONLY one ( in fairness to scully, the last time she was alone as well, or so she thought ) and now, every time she came across another person, they were asking the same question she’d asked upon waking. still, where it had been a momentary COMFORT before, it didn’t do much now. she was still ALONE.

i need to get back to them, the woman says, and dana smiles. it’s a SAD smile, one of consequence, one that says she’s lost something very dear, one that says she’s not sure if she can ever get back to it. i need to get back to him, she thinks.

     “wolfie!!” mike hollered, raising an eyebrow as he looked around for the large wolf, his eyes widening once he noticed him bounding up to someone. he wasn’t afraid for what wolfie would do to the person but rather, how they’d react to seeing the huge animal in front of them. “hey.. hey buddy.” he called out once he reached the animal, reaching down to pet him as he let out a breath. “i’m sorry if he scared you or anything..” mike said as he glanced down at the person. “and he may look scary but he’s sweet as hell.. like i said – sorry.”

for a man who’s spent his entire life exploring the GALAXY, there is a LOT about this place that poe dameron doesn’t know. he hasn’t the slightest clue what kind of creature is bounding up to him and his first instinct is concern; it is NO small thing - on its hind legs it’s probably as tall as him, and its teeth, which are just visible around his lolling tongue, are long and sharp. but at the very least, poe considers himself a decent judge of character, and its behavior is playful rather than predatory. so by the time it reaches him, poe is smiling and getting onto one knee, holding out his hands as a sort of peace offering before touching its fur. “hey buddy,” he says, laughing, when he hears someone call out. the human is unfamiliar but comfortable in this place, and poe wonders if he is amongst people who did not wake up like he did. “he’s not so scary,” poe responds. “he kinda reminds me of my droid.”

he’s already furiously scribbling away on a pad of paper. he’s not sure how he ended up her, but if jughead did know one thing, he knew it was a MYSTERY. perhaps his novel could become a series of novels. he knows he needs to get first hand accounts and maybe that’s why he practically ambushes the first person he sees. “excuse me, can i ask you some QUESTIONS?”

it is his approach that surprises mary foxe into laughing, rather than his words. he is confident in his question and the direction he’s aimed it, and mary wonders if he spent any time at all today in the CURIOUS or FRANTIC state so many others have been in. she considers saying no - the thought of being written about is all too familiar and unsettling - but even she can’t resist a personality like that in a situation like this.

▲ ❝ where am i? ❞ such a vague question is very rarely met with such intensity, but confusion, like so many other states of being, often led to frustration for kylo – and frustration, furthermore, is often times a one-way ticket to a total meltdown. and the person – an orderly for whatever organization that had managed to abduct him, he assumed – harmlessly strolling down the hall was going to see the brunt of it. here he was, having just exited the unfamiliar room he’d awoken in, in a place that smelled vaguely of salt and city smog, on a planet he’d somehow never been to, and he wanted answers. ❝ TELL ME where i am! ❞ his hand, acting mostly on impulse, moved up to bring the person into a grueling force choke, but for reasons unknown to him, the all-knowing energy he was so used to harnessing backfired and sent him stumbling backwards a few steps. his jaw set and he straightened himself, searching unsuccessfully for his lightsaber. ❝ what is this place? ❞

NOTHING should have come as a surprise to DANA SCULLY. not anymore, anyway. she has examined an invisible body, been abducted and chipped by aliens, was nearly killed by a living computer, and had a son when it was medically impossible. this isn’t even the first time she’s woken up somewhere unfamiliar with no idea why, but something feels different this time - something feels DARKER. it takes her time to put her finger on exactly what it is, and when she realizes, the darkness tightens in her chest. 

MULDER isn’t here. 

she glances out her window only briefly - just enough time to see a bright blue sky and palm trees and the ocean. her first thought is california, but she doesn’t linger on it. instead, she puts her hand on the door handle and leaves it there for a moment, and another and another after that, wondering if she WANTS to see what’s out there, wondering if she DARE believe that mulder might be doing the same thing just on the other side.

she finally swings the door open and takes two steps into the hall. her foot is still in the air when she hears a VOICE and looks up to see a stranger. his hand is lifted and for a HORRIFYING moment she feels a painful tightening around her neck that cuts of her ability to breathe, and she wonders, is this what it was before?

but it is just a MOMENT and immediately after, the man who appeared to be responsible stumbles backwards, as if pushed. she imagines that it would take a lot of strength to make a MAN of his BUILD stumble. maybe he just lost his balance. she tightens her fists and wishes for her gun.

and then he asks something curious. what is this place? “SO it’s not just me,” scully says, mostly to herself. she’s wary of him - wary of the anger that seemed to be seeping from every part of him - but she’s relieved to hear that there are OTHERS. “i don’t know yet,” she admits. “maybe california.”