Giving up the pretense of silence he allowed his boots to fall heavily on the metal as he rushed for the door and threw back the tarp not sure what to prepare himself for. As likely as it was Eris could've been neutralized, he honestly thought she was too proud for such things. His next thought was her friend having returned and while sleeping Eris decided to kill him after all and this was her drawing him out – even then, given her quiet difficult admittance of why she was doing all this for one person, he didn't think that was the case either.

What Poe saw in the dim moonlight was Eris holding her blaster level with a rather small foe standing no taller than Poe's waist. Squinting he caught the gleam of pink skin, a short snout, and what he thought might've been very small eyes. A grin curled half his mouth at their luck; a Blarina. Help at last. "Everything alright?" he asked still holding his gun at his side not seeing a threat anywhere but Eris.

"No, I came only looking to rest my head and this one," the Blarina said jabbing an accusatory finger at Eris who'd still yet to lower her gun, "attacks me and now look at her."

"He came to see what could be looted," Eris said, her tone low and severe.

The Blarina scoffed as though in outrage at such an accusation. Poe quickly stepped to her side and forced her arm down. "You don't know that," he said though he thought she was probably right. However help wouldn't be easy to come by if they angered their new comrade, something Eris wasn't happily coming to terms with.

She felt his hand encircling her wrist holding her blaster at her hip realizing he was gonna try to bargain with this creature. "He's a scavenger," she said turning hard eyes to Poe.

"D'you know him?" he asked motioning to the Blarina that turned his gaze from their almost joined hands to their very similarly disgruntled faces.

Raising a hand to point behind the alien she watched Poe turn and squint in the darkness, not able to see in the dark as she was. "His speeder's designed with a longer bed to hold parts he scavenged. Which is why he parked it over there, cause he didn't know if the Walker was occupied. Well guess what," she said turning back to their 'new comrade' with her teeth bared causing him to bare his own, only they were much sharper than hers, "it is. So feel free to- mmhm," she mumbled when a hand clamped over her mouth from behind.

Poe wrapped an arm around her middle, making sure her arms were trapped so she couldn't lash out, and lifted her feet off the ground. "Just a moment," he told the Blarina before walking with a now kicking Eris back into the fallen AT-AT. "Kick me again," he growled in her ear making her still. When he'd gotten her back to the hammock he set her down and pushed her to sit. "Stay here," he tried to tell her, but she of course spoke over him.

"The hell are you thinking?" she demanded trying to stand only for his hand to push her back down.

"What the hell am I thinking?" he repeated. "We need off the planet and he's our only option, that's what the hell I'm thinking. Considering your people skills are greatly lacking the only thing we got going for us is me. You're gonna – shut up," he hissed watching her lean back as though he'd struck her, but really she was rather impressed by his taking command. "I didn't mean that," he was quick to say in apology, "but seriously shut up. You're gonna stay here, it's my turn to help you." He waited for her to object, could see on her darkly lit face she wasn't happy with him going out there alone, but she stayed quiet.
He walked back out of the ship, stopped at the threshold to see she was still sitting where he put her, and turned back to find the place the alien had been was now empty. Letting the tarp fall over him he quickly scanning the area and found him kneeling beside a part from the AT-AT half buried in the sand. "Hey," he said in a hushed voice rushing forward, looking quickly over his shoulder to make sure Eris hadn't come out to see what he was doing, "I'm trying to keep her from killing you, you could at least try to make it easy."

The Blarina stood and gave a small kick to the rusted metal. "Ah, it's worth nothing anyhow," he said also turning to the Walker to see if the purple woman had come for the man she was very clearly invested in. "Your friend is very pretty."

Poe gave a short laugh and nodded. "She's something alright," he muttered more to himself as he turned back to their guest. "So who are you then?"

Squinting up at the taller man he answered, "Naka Iit."

"Poe Dameron," he greeted shaking Naka's small hand. "Nice to meet ya Naka Iit."

In the eerie silence of the bare desert with nothing but the wind singing gently against the side of the Walker Eris heard every word. But still she silently crept toward the door, snaking across the light and back into darkness, and stood hidden in the doorway watching Poe shake the alien's hand. The last time she'd traveled with someone who used words as a weapon it didn't go well, mostly because his words had been empty and in his long life he spoke too often and there was no one left to be fooled by an old man's lies.

The pilot on the other hand had the advantage of being sincere, a sincerity Eris hadn't realized still existed. He admitted to this alien his having escaped from The Order, stealing and crashing a TIE fighter in the process, was saved by Eris, and now needed to get back to the Resistance. Only he'd said, we. We need to get back to the Resistance. He made it sound as though she were with him, an ally, someone he didn't mind walking beside. He included her as thoughtless as Rey had. And it had Eris sighing at having found another one.

Poe could understand how the Blarina wouldn't believe him, no one escaped The Order, but he wasn't sure if Eris would care. He didn't think she'd take as well to being called a madman, not when the person calling her names was requesting a place to sleep. The sound of his hesitation could almost be heard in the dull thunks of his footsteps as he stepped onto the fallen door and walked to the doorway, his shoes scuffing, his brows drawn together showing he was deep in thought – thinking of how to phrase it to make her more inclined to agree.
Only when he stepped inside the AT-AT he didn't find her still sitting on the hammock, not that he really expected her to be. Without turning he asked, "take it you heard everything?"

Eris stepped forward and walked around his back to stand at his side, waiting for him to turn his head to look at her. "I don't like your plan," she told him simply. In truth it was the best plan they had, however she wasn't warming to the idea of spending the rest of the night with this Naka Iit let alone him knowing where Rey lived.

Poe shrugged. "Well then I guess it's good I didn't ask," he said before thinking it all the way through. He sighed as her already hard eyes steeled even more. "I know you figured out he's our best option, stop being difficult."

"Not possible my mad friend."

Both Eris and Poe turned to look down at Naka, who'd quietly joined them and listened to their arguing. "She can be decent when she wants to," Poe said thinking she was being bull-headed for the sake of it since Poe hadn't consulted her before making the decision.

But Naka Iit looked at Eris' cold face with her grit teeth and her curled hands, the stance she'd taken at hearing he was there. "She will not want to with me near," Naka told him.

Those words had Poe looking to Eris to see her stony face not denying it. And then he noticed her stance, her left foot planted between his, her arm held at her side ready to throw him back – she was still protecting him. "Maybe not," he agreed quietly, realizing he again had her pegged wrong.

Turning to look at him over her shoulder she jerked her head behind them. "Lay down," she ordered, not unkindly, and looked back to the Blarina. "You're there," she said pointing to the place Poe had been sleeping only a few minutes before.

Naka Iit grinned at her lacking hospitality as she leaned more toward hostility. "Tell me, Poe Dameron's fair companion, do you claim loyalty to the Resistance?" he asked standing no taller than her waist but still proud as he stared up at her unyielding expression.

Having stretched out on the hammock as Eris had requested Poe said, "I'm workin on it."

Naka Iit kept his yellow stare trained on the woman to see her eyes roll up in irritation though she didn't give voice to it. She didn't mean it, Naka realized, it was a show to hide that she actually quite liked this irritating man. "How am I to be sure you," he stressed the word as he stared up at her, knowing the man would do nothing, "will not scavenge me?" he asked thinking it was more likely than the latter. Considering he was now more curious of the two than before he was most certainly taking them with him, if not for the entertainment of watching them butt heads.

With the curling of one corner of her mouth Eris gave a rude smirk as she looked down her nose at the small alien. "Considering I'll kill you first I'd say you'll never know."

Rolling his own eyes Poe sat up prepared to demand she apologize but the Blarina beat him to it with a dry cackle of a laugh. "A mad man's fearsome woman," Naka Iit pointing a short thin finger at her, "you are something." After a long look he watched her move to the bed strung from the wall and narrowed his beady eyes to watch the way the man looked up as she sat with her legs curled beside his feet. The man trusted her but he didn't know her and he didn't know what to expect – they were a strange pair. Naka Iit chuckled quietly to himself as he laid his head on the makeshift pillow he knew the man had been using before. A strange pair indeed.

She wouldn't sleep easily if she slept at all, of that Poe was certain. He'd at least had moments of unconsciousness the night before, granted he was bruised and aching, but she was now on her second day without sleep and that wasn't the counting two nights before when he hadn't been with her to know if she'd slept. Poe could see she was exhausted, the dark creases under her eyes, the heavy way she leaned against the hammock. She'd stay awake for nothing more than to make sure he was still breathing when the sun rose. She was baffling.

"You're staring," she commented softly feeling the weight of his eyes on her face.

"I'm just surprised," he said earning her curious gaze, "I figured you'd at least ask me out before you got me in bed."

While he gave a wide, handsome, grin she let out a rush of air that could just barely be passed for a laugh. "Goodnight Poe," she said not bothering to respond, though her amusement was heard in her softened voice.

He took what little she gave, it being more than he'd gotten all day, and settled on his back feeling her uncurl her legs. Sleep, he found, came easier with her feet against his arm, his own feet against her warm hips – no longer cold or alone he dreamt lighter. Her constant almost overwhelming presence gave a sense of comfort if not safety. He slept the remainder of the night without dark thoughts.

Poe felt rested upon waking, still sore and reluctant to leave the warmth of the too small bed, but rested regardless. Stretching the muscles in his overused legs he found his feet unable to move, and when he lowered his chin to look at where Eris had once been watching over him he saw her fast asleep. She was turned on her side toward him with her arms crossed, one of which was over his boots anchoring them, and her legs spread down the length of his body as she lay pressed against him. It was no wonder he'd slept so well. With a small smile he rested a hand on her leg almost affectionately – would have been affectionately if she was someone he could imagine being affectionate toward.

At some point in the night she'd decided Naka Iit's surprisingly loud snores were good enough evidence he wouldn't try anything. And she really had been tired. "Stop touching me," she mumbled between lips that barely moved, but from his stilled hand she knew he heard. Listening was another matter. She had no plans of moving, at least not yet, she was warm and comfortable, and if he kept still she could've fallen back asleep.

Poe might've thought something similar, at least to sleeping because he already wasn't moving, if he hadn't been woken by their guest. Eris, however, was taken by surprise when she next inhaled to discover a faint hint of something that smelled like meat. In the time it took for Poe's eyes to close and reopen she went from laying down to sitting up with a leg slung off the bed as she looked to the wall for the alien. Not having much to grab, because her clothes wrapped around her like a second skin, he instead wrapped a hand around the inside of her thigh as she stood. "He's making breakfast," Poe said hoping to calm her but from her tense muscles he knew she wouldn't be calm.

"With whose food?" she demanded through clenched teeth. She stalked toward the back wall where the small burner was stationed on a counter, one Rey had used several times when Eris had been chained with her. Only Eris found her feet once more swept off the ground as Poe wrapped an arm around her waist and carried her outside.

"You are….the most….stubborn…person I have ever…you want me to drop you in the sand?" All the while she'd pulled at his arm, thrown her heels back managing to strike at his shins his knees, a little too close to his groin – that last one drew the line.

She stopped fighting, her legs were curled up toward her chest, her hands holding tight to his arm. "Let go," she told him sternly, feeling a headache coming on from how close her brows came to being joined. She threw herself out of his arms when he'd set her down and she ran her hands down the front of her as though to wipe him off. "Pick me up again and I just might break your arm," she warned honestly considering it. Though she didn't consider it for as long as she would've if she really meant it; what she wanted to say was I don't appreciate being manhandled because I am in no way the girl you save. But what came out of her mouth was a threat.

One Poe knew was idle and because she made it so easy he decided to test her patience. Without warning he stepped forward bending at the waist and jammed his shoulder into her hips throwing her over his back. He stood wrapping both arms around her now thrashing legs feeling her hands hitting him.

"Put me down," she yelled putting her elbows into it as she dug their sharp corners into his shoulder blades.

And even then, with her rightfully attacking him, he knew she was holding back because none of her strikes had fallen with the intention to cause pain. "Go on," he egged, "break my arm then."

She let out a cracking groan, her stomach pinned to his shoulder. "You think you're so funny," she ground out staring at his shoes in the sand and every so often the end of her hair as it swung to and fro.

"As a matter of fact," he said with a laugh as he turned to the doorway to see Naka Iit standing with two plates observing the two. "We're good," he told the curious Blarina, "she's just a little cranky."

Her body jolted as he repositioned her with a shrug of his shoulders, his arm catching the back of her knees leaving her dangling down his back so that her hands were now closer to his ankles. He made the mistake of stepping toward the AT-AT, taking one foot off the ground to move it forward. When he had only one foot on the ground she grabbed his standing leg and pulled sharply backward. He fell forward letting her go so he could catch himself before his face hit the sand. And he wasn't wholly sure what exactly happened next only that it ended with him on his back and her with a knee on either side of him pinning his arms to the ground.

"Not so funny now, is it?" she asked settling herself on his chest almost gloating. Twice in one day she'd gotten him in this position.

He stared up at her, her face illuminated in the early morning light – her eyes glinted with what he thought might've been a smile though her mouth was still a straight line. "It's a little funny," he said watching what little mirth that'd been shining in her eyes softening her face slowly melt away until there was nothing but stone left in its place. All at once he knew she hadn't always been this way.

She climbed off him returning once more to the sullen-faced woman she'd become, and extended a hand to him.

That was the last she spoke to him that morning. Naka Iit had filled her place and asked Poe more about his supposed 'escape' still not believing it. Eris' only response to anything was she wasn't there, which meant his tale went without validation. She silently listened to the story about the turncoat stormtrooper, the one he'd given the name Finn – figuring that was the dark skinned individual she'd seen yesterday. It was in fact a hard story to believe, nevertheless it had Naka Iit curious enough he agreed to take them to Blowback town where a second Blarina named Ohn Gos might have the heart to help the two.

A few hours later and they were all piled in Naka's speeder, him at the forefront where neither human would fit, and the two of them sitting bent around each other in the bed. While it was long enough for Poe to sit with his legs stretched out it wasn't by any means wide enough for him, and Eris was left sitting perpendicular with her back held at one side of the bed and her feet flat on the other with her knees bent almost to her chest where his legs ran beneath them. It was far from comfortable but they both could agree it was better than walking.

And after so long of not speaking to her, her face now much less severe, he couldn't help himself. "Do you like your job?" he asked watching her loose hair blow gently across her neck in the wind.

Her mind now free of the memories she'd spent years locking away she was able to shrug. "It pays," she answered shortly.

He waited for more without really knowing why – he didn't know much about her, and how difficult it was to get her to elaborate was the sole reason why. "Yeah but does it make you wake up happy to do it all again?" he asked wondering if there was a way to get her on his side. Even if she didn't believe in the Resistance she could still be an ally, especially now The Order thought she was an enemy.

With heavily creased brows she turned to him wondering what the hell he was going on about. "What part of my face gives you the impression I ever wake up happy?" she asked hearing Naka Iit snort from where he sat in front of them.

Poe fell silent as he turned that over in his head, as he looked at her incredibly uninviting face and saw how true it was. "Sounds like a hard life," he said wondering how it was possible to live everyday without the will to.

Her shoulders dropped with how heavily she sighed, hearing in his voice and seeing it etched into his now displeased face that he genuinely seemed to be sorry about that. "I once broke into a slave facility and set every slave free," she said watching him turn to her with eyes narrowed in curious wondering – not sure if he should believe her. "There were four of us; a smuggler and his pet, me, and a," she sat gently pulling on a fold in his pants as she thought of what to call them, "friend. He'd been brought up there. Had a lot of fun gettin a slave collar on the leader."

Poe stared at the side of her face as she sat squinting to see past the horizon, her mind light years away. "He was a good man, this friend of yours?" he asked wishing so much to see her thoughts.

Her voice was light, vulnerable, as she next spoke. "He used to joke about how he'd started a war, and the battles were doing one good act a day."

She didn't have to say it Poe knew he was dead, had probably been for some time given the fact that her face was as hard as before she'd began. But he could feel in the increasingly rough way her fingers pulled at a seam in his pants something in her was still sad, whether or not she'd willingly show it.

"So far," she continued, "three of my good acts have been you." She looked down at her hand to see she was fidgeting, something she rarely allowed herself, and she released the fabric she'd been absentmindedly playing with and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Well, one I guess was saving your droid you were kinda lumped in with that one."

Poe gave a small laugh to that but he stuck on what she meant; whoever that man had been he'd meant enough to her that she thought of him everyday. Whether he acted on it Poe knew loss, and he knew what it looked like when a person hadn't learned how to cope and Eris looked an awful like he had when his mother died. "So it's exciting," he said letting everything else go in favor of something she'd find easier to answer.

"It can be," she answered not knowing why she'd told him any of that – she couldn't even claim it was to make him like her because she hadn't been thinking of needing him to defend her at all. "I was a hired mercenary for that one. Other times I simply do a job, and when I decide to not kill someone I'm repaid by him shooting me down on a barren desert planet," she said letting her head fall to the side to give him a long look before she turned back to the desert they drove on.

Poe laughed briefly seeing her point, though in his defense he hadn't known at the time she'd spared him. "Killing me shouldn't have been a factor in the first place," he responded seeing her mouth twitch. "You like credits and a good time, what else?" he asked trying to know more about her. "At the end of the day before you go to sleep, what do you want?"

She was quiet a short moment as she gave it a good proper consideration, long enough he started to think she might not answer but not long enough for him to lose hope. "A small corner of the universe," she answered falling back to what she'd always wanted. "It's quiet, peaceful. Safe."

He nodded thinking it sounded about right, he'd already figured she liked solitude – and maybe one other person, if the length she was going to find this girl was anything to go by. "Anyone in particular you wanna share it with?" he asked anyway, wanting to hear her answer for himself.

Behind him he heard dry laughter. "I see the Resistance doesn't teach the fine art of subtly," Naka Iik said more to himself as he listened to their conversation. The more he heard from the woman the less of a threat she seemed. Whether or not he liked her was an entirely different matter.

Eris hadn't heard the Blarina, she'd been too busy staring with narrowed eyes at the blurred sand they drove past. Poe had posed his question innocently enough, his tone nothing but polite, but she knew the intention behind it – the probing, the interest. "That'd ruin the peace," she told him. Before he could respond with more than a knowing grin she asked, "what about you, what d'you want?"

"Besides taking out The First Order," he said which would have to be his first, "I wouldn't mind my own ship. Fly it wherever I wanted, wouldn't need to bother with settling down it's home enough." He sat with a funny smile stuck on his face as he imagined it; he could keep a small crew if not only one other person to be his copilot, BB-8 could look after things. But that dream was still a far way off, more likely than not a dream to be fulfilled by some other pilot. So his mind returned to Jakku and looked back at Eris to find her already looking at him. "I wouldn't mind a corner to park it."

Her face smoothed to granite and she told him levelly, "you're not invited."

Just as seriously Poe replied, "but now I know where to find you." He watched her almost transform as a smile seemed to split her face, tugging on her round cheeks, wrinkling the skin at the corner of her eyes. "So she does smile," he said working past the initial daze at her very white teeth.

Though he watched her face slowly wilt as her mouth returned to its normal frown, her brows drew together, and her eyes distractedly fell to his chest. "What is it?" he asked expecting an answer even though he knew she wouldn't give one. Instead she turned and leaned over him hitting Naka Iit in the arm.

"We haven't much farther now if you can find the patience to wait."

Poe leaned back craning his neck to one side feeling her chest against his cheek, not to mention her legs which were flush against his chest. "Anytime you wanna remember I'm here," he said not knowing why he'd ever think she'd notice. "I mean I'm perfectly content," he continued unheard as he brought a hand up to her hip, thinking maybe the contact might get her attention. "If you wanted to sit like this for the rest of the trip you could a just said so. I'm aware of the little thing we've got goin, from the moment I started shootin your ship I felt like you were into me. S'alright, a lot women…"

"Shut up Poe," she growled losing her patience with both men. "Turn the damn speeder off."

Poe had thrown a hand up in surrender, though with the shake of his head and grinding of his jaw it was clear he was quickly bordering frustration. But as the speeder slowed down Eris quickly jumped over the side and Poe was sitting up in alarm with the understanding that she wasn't just being uncooperative. He watched her run a short distance from where Naka Iit stopped, who cursed the infuriating woman, and drop to her knees.

"What's that woman of yours doing?" Naka Iit demanded nudging Poe's shoulder.

As Eris bent her head to the sand, placing her palms flat on the grains, the worry in Poe grew. Shifting his weight Poe got himself onto his knees and into position pulling the blaster from his belt. "Someone's coming."

On hands and knees Eris crawled over the sand to the small hill they'd just come down over. The closer she got to the top the further she pressed her belly to the sand hoping to go unseen should she be right in having heard something. As much as she liked to be right, and she often fought to prove she was, she didn't wanna be then – but she felt the violent tremors in the sand, she knew she was. Before she'd even reached the top of the hill to see their stalkers Eris knew what she'd find: stormtroopers.