video;

[flightforfreedom]

[Hello, Network! It's your friendly neighbourhood Poe Dameron. You might know him from such adventures as: being that guy that you saw on that one terrible energy drink for months, or that guy that you saw break that other dude's heart on tv, or that guy that showed up on that other guy's dating show even though he was definitely not welcome there. That's right, it's that dude with the really nice hair who has way too much pornographic fanfaction of him available for browsing on the internet and approximately 200 different videos of him getting into and out of a sonic shower on a space station.

You are probably more familiar with his face than you'd like to be.

That said, today he's wearing a very crisp blue uniform that some of you may recognise as belonging to the US Air Force, and behind him stands a very majestic 2-seater training F-16. Beside him is a little weird orange and white ball with a head, that some of you may recognize as his trusty buddy, BB-8.]

Hey, imPorts!

So, turns out that a lot of you left some pretty damn good impressions on the brass in the US Military, which is good - because I've been trying to convince them since I got here that they need to hire more of you. And looks like they're starting to agree.

So, consider this an official recruitment video, I guess? Looking for a job a little more exciting then selling energy drinks? Hit me up.

Next week I'll be flying at the airshow in Heropa, so if any of you want to take a ride in this monster - [pointing back to the F-16] - that's your chance. I'll also be there to answer any questions that you don't get a chance to ask me here, and a recruitment officer will be on site, so. Make sure to--

[He's interrupted by BB-8 suddenly letting out a flurry of beeps and whistles, and the smile breaks into a worried frown for a few seconds before he pushes it to something impassive. When he speaks next, it's to the droid, not the camera.]

What, you're sure? Just now? [The droid replied with a sorrowful beep.]

... Yeah. Alright. Thanks for letting me know, buddy. Just uh... keep a search tracer on the network for if his commlink comes back online, alright? Thanks.

[He is not smiling when he looks back up at the camera, his train of thought broken. He visibly tries to shake it off, and for the most part manages it - but for those who know Poe well, something is definitely Not Good.]

Uh- yeah. Anyway. Come on out and learn how to blow things up, if you want.

[The video feed winks out.]

Comments

text

[h2no]

is that a napkin on your head

>private

[UH OH SPAGHETTIOOOO there's only one thing that can mean.]

who's commlink?

1/2 - not private

[flightforfreedom]

damn, you caught me already

2/2 private

[flightforfreedom]

[He know this doesn't need more than a one word answer, so one word it is.]

finn's

voice; private;

[kanyounot]

[ Kanan is not interested in military recruitment, so he wasn't planning to respond to this at all - but that last bit piques his concern. ]

Who is it, Poe?

voice; permaprivate

[flightforfreedom]

Finn.

[His voice sounds pretty impassive about it, though?]

She's gotta mess with all of us, right? It was his turn sooner or later.

[ Video ]

[ghoulking]

[ he is going to ignore all that military bs sorry poe and focus on something else - ]

Who are you searching for?

[video]

[flightforfreedom]

[Sorry kaneki, but he's slipped into full military 'totally fine' mode. So he gives a shrug.]

Don't think you know him, but there's no search. He's ported out.

Not the first. Been losing friends like flies, recently. You still doing okay? Married bliss holding out?

video »

[onlydoubts]

[ he already knew of Poe's military idea, but what really gets his attention is the conversation between him and BB-8. ]

Doesn't mean he's gone for good, Poe. Just keep a look out for him.

[ of course, recent experiences have him worried. and he'd liked Finn a lot, too... ]

Do you need anything?

video

[flightforfreedom]

Yeah, I know. I'll keep my eyes open. [Or, really, BB-8's eyes open. But Cassian still hasn't returned and Jyn didn't remember a thing about him when she did, so - despite the brave face - he isn't hopeful.]

I'm fine. Just gotta keep myself busy.

video; private

[bespin]

[ Lando responds in private, though half his message is suitable to be viewed by the public. ]

Looking good, Poe. Your folks would be proud.

[ And then, to the core of the matter. ]

Who's gone offline now?

video; permaprivate

[flightforfreedom]

Thanks, Lando. [And he does feel thankful. Even if the message means a little less, when he knows that they could show up - and never have.

He looks a little off camera at the question, but otherwise looks totally fine. Because that's what being fine is, right? Looking fine.]

Finn.

[video]

[ashla]

[There is a gasp, and she actually responds on video by mistake.]

What model of astromech is that?

[WAIT. No. That was NOT how she meant to speak up first. She wanted to know what the heck that was behind him and if anyone could get their hands on the stick to fly, because... yeah she's missing space a bit. But no, not the point...]

[When the droid chirped up, she frowned, head tilted. She knew how it was with people leaving and such, so she said nothing on that.]

It's pretty cute. I don't think I've seen one like it before.

[video]

[flightforfreedom]

[Okay, that's a species he hadn't expected to see? But hey, good to know there's a familiar face in the general sense if not the specific sense.

And he can't help the proud smile when asked about BB-8.]

You won't have, he's one of a kind. Even as far as BB units go, and they aren't exactly as widespread as R2 units - but he's in a class all his own.

Say hi, BB-8.

[BB-8 whistles a cheerful hello.]

text

[dreadinquisitor]

Yes, I'm sure they're just waiting upon my bow.

[Privately.]

Is it who I think....

text

[flightforfreedom]

hey, shooting straight with any weapon already puts you a head up

just gotta learn how to train that good aim onto something new

[Switching to private.]

yeah. probably. so don't expect him for dinner, i guess.

video;

[lempereur]

I have a question.

[ Yusuke, no. Don't. ]

Why on Earth would an imPort volunteer to join the military? The rest of the world is afraid we will become tools of war, and you are actively trying to prove them right.

[ He doesn't care for imPort gossip or reality television, but his impression is negative anyway. He doesn't trust the military, or the government, or the rich, or...you get it. ]

video;

[flightforfreedom]

Maybe because I don't like sitting around while other people are trying to kill us.

[He offers a sideways smirk and a shrug.]

The rest of the world could stop shooting at us if they're that worried about it. But I'm strictly on domestic defence, and I'm pretty sure that's all they're looking at for other imPorts, too.

[video, private]

[pop_of_color]

[Rosa doesn't opt for the video feature super often, but she feels comfortable enough with Poe to do it. She sees that some others have already addressed the missing person, and she has an idea of who it might be.

When her video starts, she's sitting in an otherwise dark room, her free hand casually flinging around a butterfly knife, flicking her wrist to open and close it the way some folks use fidget spinners. Her face is mostly neutral, but there is a slight tweak to her brow to show her concern.]

You still gonna take me for a ride in that thing?

[She tries to offer a Rosa Diaz kind of smirk, but it falls flat.]

The Porter fucking sucks, man. I know it's the reason we're here, and it's the reason you and I even get to be friends, but it still fucking sucks when it pulls shit like this. [She stops flicking the butterfly knife around for a second.] You, me, and a shit ton of whiskey before you go flying off in that thing. Come to the nine-nine house.

[video, private]

[flightforfreedom]

Yeah, of course.

[He also tries to smirk, but it falls pretty flat, too. Then he just kind of shrugs.]

Yeah, it sucks. Doesn't matter. No point fretting about it. [Yeah, he's fretting about it.]

Generally I prefer whiskey after flying, but if that offer is good for when I get off...

Yeah. I could use a drink. Or five.

Voice;

[stylistic_disloyalty]

The military? Really Mister Resistance? [She sounds vaguely disappointed. Luci was fond of this one, but all of this reeks of honor-duty-follow-orders nonsense.]

Hard pass. Even if I'd get to ride your cockpit.

Voice;

[flightforfreedom]

[There's a weird sort of way that his spine straightens when she turns up on the video, but then he also gives her a cocky fucking lopsided grin that doesn't quite reach his eyes, so, who even knows what weird mix of reaction that is.]

What, you think the Resistance was all about throwing flowers at people?

It's not like I'm signed up to the Imperial Navy.

And you don't have to join the military to go for a ride - those are open to everyone.

[Video]

[generalgrievous]

The military here is focused on blowing things up?

[Video]

[flightforfreedom]

That's right.

Blow up the stuff trying to blow us up. [He looks amused.]

video;

[snarkbot]

Who's your friend, sir?

video;

[flightforfreedom]

Oh, hey Skeets! That's right. You haven't had a chance to meet BeeBee-Ate yet.

[He turns the camera so the feed is just the droid.]

Beebee, this is Skeets - the droid I was telling you about earlier. Skeets, this is Beebee - my best friend and astromech who's saved my life more times than I can count.

[BB-8 whistles a cheerful greeting and tilts it's head.]

text; network ID is just a moon emoji 🌙︎

[dragony]

[ She knows the "someone I cared about deeply just exPorted and I'm not okay with it, but now's a bad time to get upset about it" look when she sees one, and boy does she know that feeling well, but she also doesn't know the first thing about this guy. He's probably getting the third degree from people he actually likes. (He certainly looks like the kind of guy people like.)

So, instead: ]

So, what does a ride in that "monster" entail, anyway? I imagine it must be very different than a passenger aircraft.

text, his ID is.... Well, his name.

[flightforfreedom]

Whatever you think your stomach can handle, basically

some people get up there and would rather just do a long pass over the airfield - even talking about doing any tricks makes them throw up a little

but i like to show off when I can, so

video;

[aviate]

[Raising an eyebrow.]

Calling the F-16 a monster is pushing it, don't you think? Reliable sure, but not that exciting.

[Being a former Air Force test pilot, his view on jets are going to be a little bit different to most people's.]

video;

[flightforfreedom]

You come for a flight with me, and you'll change your mind. [Just the smuggest grin, because he's a cocky ass, what do you want.]

Literally no machine on this planet could ever give my T-70 X-wing a run for her money, so there's always going to be a bit of hyperbole, but give me ten minutes and I think your song will change.

[It helps when your Porter given power means that you could fly the thing without even turning on the engine.]

video »

[perfectible]

You have a droid?

[flightforfreedom]

It's either that, or a droid has me. [He smiles, though, then looks down at BB-8.]

Hey, buddy, want to say hi to Betty?

[The droid whistles an affirmative, and then pops an arm out with an arc welder on the end. He doesn't shock anything, just waves it back and forth before tucking the arm back into its chassis.]

[Video]

[itcanwait]

Hey Poe! I didn't know there was going to be an airshow, sounds like it could be fun!

My job is okay, so I don't think I'll enlist. I don't think I even could if I wanted to, but it's pretty cool they're opening it up to more of us.

Everything okay?

[Video]

[flightforfreedom]

Hey, Tailgate.

Yeah, you should come on by. They're usually pretty fun - nothing serious, just a bunch of wing jockies showing off.

You probably could, to be honest, but they might not shove you in a cockpit. [He cracks a smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes.]

Yeah, yeah, of course. Don't worry. [He's a terrible liar.]

Voice

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

So they're starting to bring us into the regular armed forces? Hell of a step.

And I hope they come back. Whoever your mech just told you about.

[It's not hard to read between the lines.]

[flightforfreedom]

Yeah, tell me about it. They didn't even look at my application until after the skirmish up in space the first time - but I guess they're coming around.

[To the second half, he just wets his lips, looking as impassive as possible.]

Hope so. We'll see. Will of the Porter, and whatever.

[Aka: he's gonna get drank later.]

voice. private.

[functusofficio]

Someone else has departed as well?

I'm sorry, Poe. [ She's aware of how close he is to Leia. ]

voice. private.

[flightforfreedom]

Finn. And I assume you know about Leia.

[There's a long pause.]

Who knows. They'll probably be back before we know it. [He doesn't sound like he believes that, though.]

[Video | Private]

[faithfulson]

[ Yeah, he's not even going to comment on the recruitment ad right now; he's more concerned about how that ended. ]

Poe? Are you okay?

[Video | Private]

[flightforfreedom]

[By this point, he's heard about Han and Leia, too, so he mostly just looks Pissed.]

I'll be fine.

Han and Leia are gone.

[He doesn't really know if Luke knows anything about Finn, so he leaves that one out.]

private

[reexamined]

[Yeah, he's already done his own check of those from their galaxy who have been Ported Out, and he comes up with the same results BB-8 did.]

Hello, Poe.

private

[flightforfreedom]

[He doesn't even bother trying to look okay, with Kaytoo. His face is set in a heavy frown.]

Hey, Kay.

[He knows he's supposed to follow that up with something, but fuck if he knows what. His frown deepens and he looks at the ground and he can't help but think about how Cassian is still fucking gone.]

... You going to come for a flight, next week?

[Gently side stepping the elephant in the room. Or maybe not so gently.]