Hope is like the Sun

The Mess Hall

You weren't looking for anyone in particular, or at least that's what you told yourself as you scanned the mess hall, food in hand. There was Snap, sitting incredibly close to Karè. Their heads were bent close together, and they were smiling. A group of Blue Squadron pilots in the corner laughed loudly, drawing your eyes further that way. Still not satisfied, you moved on, spotting Paige and her little sister Rose chatting with Jess.

You glanced over the rest of the room and involuntarily sighed. Threecee looked up at you questioningly. There were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, but one face in particular was missing. You felt a pang of disappointment but shoved it aside.

"Should we go see what Jess and Paige are up to? It's been a while since we've seen Rose, too," you said to your little droid, forcing your feet to move in their direction instead of lingering near the wall any longer.

The three women smiled up at you in greeting as you sat down in the empty seat next to Rose. You didn't seem to be interrupting any conversation, and their smiles assured you that you were welcome in their group.

You'd made the mistake of sitting down where you weren't welcome before, so now you were always a bit wary. One place you knew you were always welcome to sit was by Poe. 'But Poe isn't here,' you had to remind yourself. And you hadn't been looking for anyone in particular anyway.

"Eila! How's it going?" asked Jess as you sat down. "Your mission to Felucia go alright?"

"Honestly? It was a little boring," you replied. "In and out. No trouble."

"Why am I not surprised that you'd call that boring?" Paige laughed. "You and Jess seem to prefer a little trouble."

"Taking out TIEs is never a bad pastime!" you replied. Then you turned to Jess. "Make any new modifications on your X-Wing lately?"

"Just tinkering on that new booster I showed you," she replied. "But Rose has been working on some pretty exciting stuff!"

Rose smiled and turned to you. "Yeah! I wanted to make the targeting system more efficient in our bomber, so I tweaked a few things and..." She went on to explain what she did and how it was all working out. Jess leaned in and began asking technical questions that you smiled and nodded about but didn't quite understand. Your attention began to wander and you gazed around at all the faces once again.

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Poe wasn't looking for anyone in particular, or at least that's what he told himself as he scanned the mess hall, food in hand. There were Snap and Karè, sitting closer together than usual. He kept scanning the crowd. True, he did have to talk to Snap, but he wanted to see who else was here first. Not because he was looking for anyone specifically or anything.

There were some of Blue Squadron, just back from what looked like a successful mission. He nodded as some of them made eye contact. Poe kept scanning. He didn't linger too long on any one person. He'd be able to tell, even if it was just the back of the person's head.

BB-8 chirped a question.

"No, I'm not looking for anyone. Just... curious who's all here."

"If you're looking for Eila, she's over by Jess and Paige and Rose."

"I told you I wasn't looking for anyone," Poe tried to insist as he swept his eyes over the mess hall once more, this time with more purpose.

Poe quickly spotted you, a small smile of satisfaction coming across his lips involuntarily. You looked like you were deep in conversation with the other women. You let out a laugh, making Poe's smile grow.

BB-8 looked up at Poe, over at you, and then back at Poe, whirring something to himself that Poe didn't quite catch. Then, louder, Beebee-ate asked, "Can Threecee and I go to the charging stations?"

"If Eila says it's okay."

The little droid whirled off with a quick beep of "Okay!"

Unfortunately, Poe couldn't follow his droid just yet. He did have to talk to Snap. He made his way over to stand by Snap, still sneaking glances at you.

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You still weren't satisfied with your scan of the mess hall. Threecee watched your face intently. Karè laughed loudly, and you looked back her way.

There. You'd recognize those dark curls anywhere, even if it was just the back of his head. Poe laughed along with Karè and Snap and turned just enough so you could see the side of his face. You smiled upon seeing his smile.

Threecee beeped up at you quietly, "Find someone?"

"I think Poe just got here," you replied, nonchalant. After all, you hadn't been looking for anyone in particular.

Threecee looked like she was getting ready for another quip, but an orange-and-white little droid rapidly approached, letting out an excited string of beeps. Threecee responded to BB-8's hurried message with a rapid-fire response. You couldn't catch much of it because it was so quick. Your binary skills were improving but not good enough to untangle that whole string so fast. You caught "looking for her," "smiled when," and "her, too!"

Then, Threecee looked back up at you. "Can BB-8 and I go to the charging stations?"

"Yeah, if Poe says it's okay."

"He did!" Beebee-ate assured you as the pair whirred off.

You shook your head, watching them go. What was that all about? And then someone was scooting into the seat next to you.

"This seat taken?" an all too familiar voice asked.

You smiled up into brown eyes. "Oh, I was saving that, actually."

Poe quickly moved to get up. "Alright, sorry! I'll go sit by— "

"I was saving it for this dark-haired flyboy who calls himself the best pilot in the Resistance..." you added, eyes sparkling with mischief. "You haven't seen him, have you?"

Poe let out a breath of a laugh as he sat back down. "You know I don't call myself that."

The conversation at your table had gone strangely silent. Jess, Paige, and Rose smiled at you a bit strangely. You raised your eyebrow at them, and the conversation immediately starts back up.

Poe turned back to you. "So, how was your mission to Felucia?"

"Eh, not the most exciting."

"No run-in with the First Order?" he asked knowingly. Boring missions were safe missions, but they weren't always the most fun. Some people craved boring missions, but the two of you were wired a bit different.

"Nope. But!" you said, just remembering. "There was this weird creature I wanted to tell you about!"

From off in a corner of the mess hall in two adjacent charging stations, Threecee and Beebee-ate watched you animatedly telling Poe your stories. He was fully invested in whatever you were telling him, animatedly adding his own comments from time to time. The two droids just beeped knowingly to each other.