revivalproject | Undercover Vacation

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Undercover Vacation

WHO: Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren, Tommy Shepherd, OTA
WHERE: Risa
WHAT: Hiding, fighting for his life, maybe some vacation antics thrown in there.
WHEN: Risa Event
WARNINGS: Probably Violence. Will Update

This is not where Poe wants to be right now. Or rather, it would be, if he knew Ren wasn't out there. Poe goes from sleeping safely locked away in his ship bunk to awaking in a plush bed on Risa, and as much as he wants to appreciate the gesture he needs to find a new way to hide away himself and his droids from Ren.
He can't find the ships no matter how hard he tries, though more than a few Risans tell him where he might find them. He's stuck out in the open.

Which means some shopping is in order, looking first and foremost for something to help him blend into the crowd, and then see what he can do to make the droids less recognizable from a distance. And maybe something he can use as a weapon.

Besides sticking to the crowds, Poe's able to find some shelter in the nightclubs. The lighting is dim, and crowded enough that he can go more or less unnoticed if he tries, though it may be evident he doesn't seem to be having quite the relaxed time the other patrons are. Maybe a drink will loosen him up?

Of course, he can only keep hidden so long. Poe's not sure if Kylo's caught his trail yet, but either way, he keeps moving, looking to the subterranean glowing gardens next in hope that he'll be safe there. This vacation has been far from relaxing, and the stress of it starting to wear at him. He's not used to feeling so trapped in situations like this, forced to hide without any real means of taking the fight to Ren.

[OR feel free to throw a different starter at him.]

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The first time Jon takes note of the man is in one of the clubs. Jon isn't there for the music or the drinks, but it is a decent place to find a Risan, probably already drunk, and compel a gruesome tale from them. Taking home a ghoulish little souvenir in the shape of a new dream, so to speak. Jon is still listening to his victim tell their story, tape recorder running faithfully on the table between them, when Jon can't help but pick up on the fear radiated by another being. It's a little distracting from his current statement but he manages to only cast a quick glance at the stranger before forcing his attention back to the story he is being told.

He almost regrets already having chosen an unsuspecting soul to leave a dreadful nightmare to. But he will regret that later anyway. When the need is satiated and he can dwell on his own misdoings and lack of control again.

It's not until a couple of days later and some valid attempts to forget about the matter that the Archivist comes across that powerful sensation of dread again. He hasn't been searching for it, just allowed himself to wander and then- There it is. Strong and current. Different from a past terror and much more different from when it is himself who is the one terrified. And of course it does draw him in. But it's less hunger that has him follow, but that everlasting need to know. To see.

And so it comes that the Archivist finds the pilot in the glowing gardens, wordlessly approaching but oh so aware of the man's anxiety, his stress and his fear. Jon can't help but plain stare for a while, soaking it all up. And somehow he knows this isn't going to become another dream. This is just now. That very moment. And all he wants to do is just... Watch. Eyes unblinking and maybe just a little unnerving in the intensity of their gaze while he stands merely a few meters away from the man he doesn't even know.

The wordless approach all ready has Poe on edge, not that it takes much right now, and the unblinking stare does little to convince him Jon has anything approaching good intentions. His brow furrows, and he takes a half step back, meeting that stare with a frown.

The smaller of the droids shies back, but BB-8 rolls out to challenge Jon, looking as threatening as a ball can, giving a not happy series of beeps and brandishing his arc welder tool.

"...Can I help you with something?"

It's those beeps that quite effectively pull Jon out of his potentially voyeuristic trance and he blinks twice, then looks down at the very round robot and nearly jumps before taking a step back.

"Jesus Christ!"

Well, hopefully BB-8 is proud about having successfully defended his human. Because even if Jon has met one(1) droid already, that one not only looked different, but... He hasn't exactly gotten used to these small, mechanical beings and their very obvious own attitudes.

Jon's attention flicks from the round robot over to the human, back to the ball, over to the other robot and finally lands on Poe once more and from one moment to the next it's his very own dread he finds himself faced again.

"Oh, I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" He tries, raising his hands in a placating gesture. But deep down he knows his words are a lie - And that he is a terrible liar.

The attempt at a stuttered apology fades into a frustrated groan and Jon pauses, takes a moment to shake his head and tries again.

"I... Am sorry. I got carried away. You seemed-" and he vaguely gestures in Poe's direction "Anxious."

Poe might not recognize the turn of phrase, but he can recognize the tone well enough at least, and frankly, he doesn't feel too badly about having startled him just yet given the staring.

BB-8 gives a few more sparks of the arc welder before retracting it, and he emotes quite well for a being that can glare or shout, clearly not impressed with this stranger one bit.

"And that was the approach you decided to take?" he questions, arching a brow pointedly. He's more than a little bristled. After all, he's on edge, and he doesn't like being called out on it either.

Well, BB-8 can be a very threatening ball if he wants to be - At least to Jon. He can't be sure the droid won't simply explode, can he?

"I, ah..." His eyes are on the round droid again, not quite understanding but still observing. Just in case.

Looking back over to the human, Jon manages a small shrug, it's partially apologetic and at the same time not entirely sure "I guess so. I mean, I... I'm not sure how much of it was an actual decision and how much--" Was what? Instinct?

He takes a moment to take a deep breath, then exhales as a frown settles on his face "I can feel your fear - If that makes any sense to you. Even now..." That unease of having been found and seen. Not quite dread and muddied with anger. It's not Jon this man fears, but someone or something else.

He really can, though there's not so many in their world who might find the droid as intimidating at first glance as Jon seems to.

Unfortunately, that explanation only seems to spark further waves of fear, reminding him far too much of Ren and his ability to push unbidden inside his mind, and his eyes narrow cautiously. "...I'm not afraid."

Yes, that new fear is very much obvious. It just falls too much into the realm of the Watcher, leaving Jon rather uncomfortable with just how alright he finds himself to be with it.

"I won't force you to admit it." Which he probably could. "If you like, we can agree to disagree, but your fear is what made me find you." Then, with a small sigh, he adds "Just believe me that I don't mean you any harm."

And that, in its own way, is a lie. Part of him wants to. And then that very same part wants to just watch. Though that's something he refuses to acknowledge even to himself.

Poe's frown deepens, and he breathes in a slow breath, trying to will that fear back down for worry of luring his actual hunter. Ren could track his fear too, and it was loud enough to lure Jon than it must be screaming out to the Supreme Leader.

"Are you Force sensitive then?" he concludes, the only explanation that makes sense to him, not quite admitting it, but not bothering to keep denying.

The question brings the hint of a smile to Jon's face. Apparently knowledge about this Force seems to be fairly common. It's almost funny that he hasn't heard about it before meeting Cal.

"Unfortunately, no. I suppose it would make things easier if I were." Certainly easier to explain. And maybe less dreadful for him in general. "There seem to be a few similarities, however. Are you-?" It wouldn't be too surprising at this point.

Poe shakes his head before Jon can even get the question out. He's not. Much as Poe might wish sometimes that the Force would speak to him, he's never had any sway over it.

"It's pretty rare."

"Oh?" The surprise in his voice at that response is genuine "I thought it's fairly common. This Force as well as sentient little robots." He gestures down towards BB-8 at those words.

"May I ask if you were brought here by the Agrii as well? From Agra 10?" The droid, the knowledge of the Force... Those aren't traits he has encountered with any of the locals so far. So it feels a valid guess.

"Droids," Poe corrects automatically, but he frowns and shakes his head, "It's...not. Just seems to be here." And among some of Poe's closest friends and allies.

"I was. I haven't been around so much lately. There's a kind of bounty on my head, you might have heard. Trying to keep a low profile." Hence the hiding out in the dark.

"Droids, yes. I'm sorry." The apology comes in a similarly automatic way. And it's followed by a short shake of the head and a frown.

"To be honest, no. I haven't heard of any bounties during the two days I was actually in Temba rather than here. I haven't encountered many people there." A cautious pause. "Why the bounty?"

Should he be worried about this man?

It's not a literal bounty, to be fair, more of a blanket threat to turn him over, but Poe looks amused by the caution.

"I'm part of the resistance back home." And generally that means those whom they are resisting are eager to get rid of them. "He might describe it a little differently."

"So. Politics." Great. Politics. Just what everyone needs when kidnapped by aliens to rebuild their planet.

"I would very much prefer not to get involved in any sort of political dispute, to be honest. But putting a bounty on someone while stuck in a place entirely unrelated to the issue, that's..." He trails off, producing a short noise of disapproval.

"Have you tried talking, at least? Attempted to come to a temporary agreement of rather focusing on the more pressing matters? Like, you know. Being abducted by aliens?"

"War," Poe corrected. Politics wasn't wrong, but Poe didn't tend to think of it that way.

"And it wasn't so much a bounty as a mass threat to everyone that it would be in their best interests to hand over anyone with connections to the Resistance."

He shrugged a shoulder, "I told him killing me here wouldn't make any difference to what's happening back home, but he still seems pretty determined. Maybe he just thinks it will be cathartic."

"I assume such an announcement was received very well by the populace." He won't argue on the politics/war matter, but he remembers meeting a few people already that hardly appeared the types to accept open threats such as that.

"-and yet you are trying to hide from him because he is acting unreasonable. Which I don't see the be very likely to contribute anything to the cause of rebuilding an alien civilization." Wouldn't it be in the Agrii's interest to remove such obstacles? Maybe? Jon clearly has had too little time to get more of an idea of Temba before being relocated here. Because this seems ridiculous.

"Have you any allies to stick around aside from-" This sentence is completed with a single finger pointing down at BB8. Obviously not everyone will be intimidated by a beeping metal ball.

Ren was never particularly fond of planets like Canto Bight. Opulent, indulgent, crass and wasteful. This place struck him as similar, so he didn't like it much, either, but it had at least one thing going for it - it wasn't the city they'd been in before. Pulling up the Resistance's stakes and forcing them out into the open was one of the better favors he could've asked for, even if he doubted the Agrii had done it on purpose. It didn't matter, he knew exactly what to do with this windfall.

A disconcerting feeling shot up his arm as he gripped the hilt of his saber. He ignored the feeling and re-attached it to his belt. He would search this garish planet until he found every criminal and traitor from his own galaxy and cut them down. And he knew exactly who to start with....

...

Between the music and the people and the freely flowing alcohol, the nightclub was already bustling quite well enough that it was easy for Poe to hide himself, there. The unfortunate double-edge to that particular sword was that in a setting like that it was also particularly easy to get distracted. By, say, a sudden punch-up happening in the middle of the dance floor, two aliens dedicated to knocking each other's lights out, patrons trying to get out of the way or egg them on and security coming in to attempt to break it up. It was quite the brouhaha. It had been quite an easy thing for Ren to get the brawl started. He could've just passed them some money, he supposed. But a simple wave of his hand to stoke their anger was...more efficient. The important thing was that he just needed them to draw Poe Dameron's attention for a moment so he didn't notice the figure in black quietly stalking towards his table...

...and slamming a drink down on it.

"Go ahead." Kylo Ren glowered at Poe. He passed the drink to him. "It'll be your last. Enjoy."

Not poisoned, for the record. Ren just had a flair for the dramatic.

The sudden scuffle definitely drew Poe's attention, frowning as he tried to work out if it was time to move on or not when his attention was abruptly drawn back to the table at the slam of the drink.

He tensed, breathing caught in his chest for a moment, though he fought to keep that fear from reaching his face as he turned his gaze up to Ren. Beneath the table his fingers clenched round the rusted screwdriver he'd been carrying about makeshift defense, before silently gesturing to the droids to keep their distance.

"...How thoughtful," he allowed, lip curled into a familiar half smirk, and he reached for the drink, "You going to let me finish it?"

It had been some time since Hux arrived and had made his first trip outside of the hotel with Altair. This time he was on his own, haven grown restless in the hotel. He had hoped the walk would help take care of his restless energy and clear his mind a bit.

At least with the last shopping trip they managed to find some clothes, that Hux was comfortable in. He wore a dark pair of slacks, and a poloshirt with it's sleeves rolled up He wore a vest over the shirt as well. Granted the outfit was warm for this climate, but Hux didn't mind. He couldn't stand the idea of dressing down even more so. This was hard enough.

Using the cane to support him, he took his time poking around at the various bins in one of the shops. It had a lot of various herbs and teas and Hux was hoping to find his tea from his home world here. Granted, he highly doubted he would find it. He hoped there could be something similar to it.

Poe situated himself near enough that he could speak without obviously making it clear he was interacting with Hux, careful of watchful eyes despite the disguise he'd made for himself- a swathe of fabric colourful wrapped about his shoulders and tugged up to conceal his hair. He was faced away from Hux, examining a bin when he noted in a teasing voice-

"The cane's very dignified. Adds character. I think you should keep it."

[Hux raised an eyebrow at the getup, Poe was wearing. He didn't comment on it understanding why Poe was having to do so. He gave a wary sigh.]

If I keep it at all it's to whack people with it when they're too far out of reach to do so.

[Poe chuckled softly.]

Fair enough. Not sure I've ever pictured you in civvies. Still formal, you really can't shake that, can you?

It's hard enough being in civvies. Would you believe that this would be the first time I've worn regular clothing?

---If you want to talk in a safer atmosphere, I can have Altair escort us back to the hotel room and we can talk there with out having to worry.

Honestly, if you'd asked me this morning, I would have said you were probably born in that uniform.

[He flashed a teasing grin, and nodded.]

I wouldn't mind not having to look over my shoulder for a minute.

[The comment earned a smirk from Hux.]

Alright I'll inform him.

[As he spoke he contacted Altair asking him to come escort them back to the hotel and stay with them for the time being.]

[It took Altair no time at all to respond to the summons- replying that he was on his way. And it took barely any time at all for him to find the two of them, arriving in a blur of white, having used the Force to aid his movement, to help him run faster.

He came to a halt by the two of them, and smiled.] You called?

[His tone was somewhat jovial, though it was obvious he was prepared for any trouble that might pop up- dualsaber at his side and keeping a careful watch on the surroundings.]

[Hux gave a nod in greeting and there was a brief smile before it vanished behind a neutral expression.]

Thank you for arriving so quickly. I apologize for interrupting your own plans.

[The droids looked a little less sure of Altair, though Poe offered a small wave of greeting.]

I can't say this is a security detail I ever imagined having.

It's alright. My plans aren't so important that they can't be put on hold.

[Altair smiles at Hux, and really, he would happily put any plan on hold when there's something Hux needs. Altair still isn't quite sure what to make of Poe, but he offers him a smile as well, and a slight nod of the head.

He may be unsure, but he's still polite.] Unexpected or not, I'm taking this task seriously.

[He's not letting anyone get hurt.

And certainly not letting anyone get the drop on them, either.] Maybe I'm a bit too small to make anyone feel safe though.

[That was a joke.

Size doesn't matter when one is Force-sensitive, after all.]

[The joke earned a smirk from Hux. He knew not to take Altair's size as a weakness. The Chiss didn't become an Emperor for nothing.]

With the way things seems to be right now, I'm not willing to take such a risk. I trust Altair with my life. He's the only one I would willingly do so.

[Poe's seen enough Force users at work to be sure of Altair's skills even without seeing them first hand.]

Hux doesn't trust easy, if he trusts you that's good enough for me.

[The droids trail after the group, chattering among themselves, as the newly dubbed CC-9 recognizes their maker, eager to explain to BB-8.]

[Hux gave a nod, Poe's assessment was enough for him. He turned his attention to the new droid, pleased to see it interacting easily enough with BB-8 and RE-1. It was his first time watching the droid since he activated it.]

I hope your new droid has been good?

Mm [Poe nodded, and looked to them fondly.] They have, they take after you. Very serious. I named them CC-9.

[The droid in question paused hearing it's name.]

You're good, bud, don't worry.

[Hux chuckled at the comment.]

I didn't mean for them to take after me. I had activated them to make sure everything was in working order and let them run about for a few days. So I guess they took after me during that short amount of time.

I'm well aware of how much mischief your droid can cause.... CC-9 can be a nice counterbalance. I'm glad they're doing well.

[BB-8 gave a huff at the notion that he caused anything like mischief, muttering some not so nice things that made Poe's lips quirk.]

They are. BB's glad for the company. And so am I. It's been helpful while we've been...coped up.

[Hux gave a smirk, noting BB-8's annoyance, but pleased that CC-9 was ding well.]

Eventually....he'll be taught a lesson by the people here or the Agri themselves. I don't think you should keep hiding from him...be cautious yes.

I'm not hiding. [Poe defended with a frown, though it's more truth than he wanted to admit.] I've faced him before, I can do it again if I have to.

I'm quite aware you would.

[Hux stated as they entered the hotel and into the room he shared with Altair. Millicent greeted them happily, although there was some hesitance around Poe and the droids. She at least didn't hiss this time.]

Do you wish for a drink?

Thrawn has been avoiding the heat by exploring the gardens. Since his pace has been slowed to a leisurely stroll he has more than enough time to notice a slightly harried looking human.

"Greetings."

Poe tensed, shrinking back at first when he felt that gaze land on him, but quickly enough he recognized it. He'd met him during his time as a child, though he didn't know if he'd recognize him not that he was a full grown adult again, and no longer pestering him in the cold.

He offered a cautious nod. "...You're back," he noted. He'd been keeping his distance from Eli, but he knew well enough that his Admiral had disappeared for a time like so many of them lately.

A human with knowledge of the Rebellion was rare enough on its own for dark hair to be memorable. Thrawn had spoken to (adult) Poe before and there seemed to be no tension. Thrawn wasn't sure why Poe shrank back when he was addressed now.

"And you cringe from a simple greeting."

Thrawn was approaching the situation with rare bluntness. But he doubted that Poe would appreciate anything more circumspect.

"Why?"

"Nothing to do with you," he assured, though honestly, he did still half expect to be reprimanded over setting off Eli.

"I'm avoiding someone. Were you around when Kylo Ren arrived? I've haven't kept the best track of when everyone was coming and going."

Eli was an adult and capable of looking after himself. Thrawn was more interested in the name. He knew a great deal about the timelines that came after his. But to his consternation, very little about those that came after.

"I do not know this name but there is avoidance and there is fear. What is it you are afraid of?"

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Undercover Vacation

Subterranean Glowing Gardens

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Nightclub

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Shopping

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Subterranean glowing gardens (pretend I'm not super late)

(never too late)

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