Heaven's falling
Episode VII: Snowball fight
Poe leaned back into the snow and took a deep breath. So far, he had probably never been happy to see somebody from the First Order, but today he definitely was. Alex walked over to him, assisting him in moving the cadaver of the animal down into the snow, then she held out her hand to help him up. Poe took the outstretched hand without hesitation and got up. "Everything okay?"
The resistance pilot did not answer. He just pulled her over to him and hugged her. "Thank you," Poe whispered into her ear. Alex was so flabbergasted about him hugging her, she was unable to say anything or move. She tried to remember the last time anyone had hugged her outside a bed, but could not recall any similar situation no matter how far back she went. That did not really amaze her, because this type of physical closeness generally did not exist in the First Order. Even though she had to admit that it was a rather comfortable feeling. But it was unnecessary. If you ever thanked somebody, which alone was a strange and uncommon thing to do as you were just doing your job and no one had to thank you for that, you did so with words. Maybe you even got an extra morning off duty, but you never hugged someone as a gesture of gratitude. Even after all those years of training the resistance fighters and their strange manners still managed to confuse her. Especially his manners, because Poe seemed to be a strange human being. That made it even more difficult for her to assess him. Actually, Alex thought that she had figured him out by now, but the situation was a proof she had still not managed to and she blamed it on the face that some of his usual manners were just way too strange for her to figure out.
It took Poe about ten seconds to start asking himself what the hell he was just doing. As the resistance considered themselves to be some kind of big family, it was quite usual to do what he was doing. But it seemed like he had blended out for a moment where he was and who he was with. The fact she was standing on her spot like someone had shoved a stick up her arse and seemed to be just letting it wash over her, made him release her quickly. He stepped back to get more distance between them and looked at her. The confused face she was wearing told him enough, but he was unsure whether he was allowed to consider it funny. Because somehow it was. The First Order and their military and hierarchic structure probably did not even allow something as stupid as gratitude. Poe cleared his throat and smiled innocently. "Sorry." That got her back from the shock. „It's okay," she murmured.
The resistance pilot decided to move the conversation to safer grounds. "To get back at your question. I'm fine." Alex gestured to a torn spot on the upper arm of his orange flight suit. "Are you sure? You are bleeding." Poe looked down onto his arm and moved it, noticing quite fast that it was not broken or injured. "Just a scratch." She nodded contently. „I think I already got me a new blanket," she then said referencing to the animal in the snow. "What are you doing out here?" he inquired. "What am I supposed to be doing in nowhere land in heavy snowfall? I was searching for you. And as we both can see, you really needed to be found in time." Poe eyed her annoyed. "The only reason I am out here are you. Because instead of waking me up, you just leave without telling me," he complained. Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't you say yesterday that I was a big girl and able to watch out for myself? I don't think I need your permission to go outside," she snapped. Poe opened his mouth to reply something but she interrupted. "I know you love to imagine this protective instinct or whatever you call it to be nice, but it is not necessary and annoying as well. So far, I have been able to take care of myself perfectly." "Without the what you call is an unnecessary, annoying protection instinct, by now you would be nothing more than a frozen, partly eaten away corpse", he replied visibly annoyed. Alex snorted and she bent down to grab the dead animal. "I have not rescued your cute backside twice to watch you getting lost and freeze to death," he told her.
Alex let go of the cadaver, straightened up, turned and put her hands in her sides. "Me? Lost? Judging by how far you are off the way to the crash site, I'd say you are the one who got lost." "If you haven't noticed, it's snowing and the sight is rather bad", he tried to argue. He had never been that much of a navigator, but she did not have to know that. Unsurprisingly, Alex did not accept his excuse. "And? Compared to you, I at least know how to mark the way so I don't get lost." "In this heavy snow?" She shrugged. „I already told you to spare yourself the protectiveness", she said and grabbed the cadaver again, starting to pull it with her. That turned out to be more difficult than imagined, because the animal was far heavier than imagined and the ankle-high snow did not make it easier either. Poe shook his head and walked over to help her. "You should not take the "protection instinct" as you call it, incorrectly. I am not doing this because I like you, I am doing this for myself. You surely have noticed by now that I need you as much as you need me to get off this planet. Which inevitably brings me again to the question of what you are doing out here," he asked while both of them pulled the animal into the direction of the cave Alex had pointed out.
Alex glared at him from the side. "If you want to know. I have been outside to search for some firewood, while you were still sleeping so deep a star destroyer could have fired next to you without waking you up. When I returned you were gone. It was not difficult to guess that you thought I had gone to the crash site and followed me," she told him.
She really did not want to explain something she did not even understand herself. But Poe pressed further. "That does not explain why you searched for me." „I don't like being in other people's debt. And I knew you would never find the way." Poe grinned triumphantly. "So much about the protection instinct that is annoying, right? I am a big boy who can take care of himself," he said, trying to imitate her voice. "Well, as you can see, you can't. But you already stated correctly, that I do need you to get off this planet," she replied. "Maybe we should add something to our basic set of rules then," he suggested. "Starting now, we tell each other where we are going. Not because anyone of us needs protection, but because of our mutual interest in leaving this planet."
Thanks to a skilled marking made of sticks in the snow, which Alex retrieved on their way back to use them as firewood later, both of them reached the cave they temporarily called home rather easily. While Alex started to first dissect and then skin the animal thoroughly so the parts of flesh would not start to rot her blanket within days in the entrance area, Poe went inside to warm himself up at the fire.
He touched his wet hair. Even though his flight suit had proven to be more waterproof than imagined, he had slipped out of it so it could dry. Because of that, he was cold and desperately wished for a warm shower and a comfy bed. Actually, even a towel would do. He and Alex would have to work faster on leaving this planet or at least find civilisation. Otherwise they would surely start fighting just because they were a nervous wreck by then. Poe wrapped himself further into the fur, grumbling about the fact it started to smell rather badly after the days of use. And he was no exception to that. It had been days since he last had a shower and, despite the fact Alex stated the contrary, he was sure he smelled like a wampa by now. The pilot looked over to the entrance area where Alex seemed to be busy. If he could use one of here metal boxes to melt snow and get warm water, he would at least be able to wash himself, even though he did not have any soap.
The resistance pilot got up again and went outside to ask her for the metal box. Of course he could just have used it, but did not want them to start arguing again. He stopped a few meters behind her and watched her for a moment. He had to admit she looked rather skilled with her knife. It seemed it was not the first time she had to skin an animal. Strangely, in the resistance there was always a discussion about who would do it when it came to such things. Even though all of them had surely seen enough blood for a lifetime and it therefore should not be a problem for anyone. But not all of them were equally resistant to bad smell and able to manage the skinning without making it a big, bloody mess.
Alex hadn't noticed Poe's presence behind her and continued to work until she was hit by something cold and hard on her backside. Intuitively, she pulled out her blaster and turned quickly, searching for the source of the object. Much to her surprise, there was no creature wanting to kill her, only Poe. He was standing a few meters behind her with a snowball in his hand, laughing. "What the hell?" The resistance pilot hadn't been able to resist. She had been so focused on her work, she had been unalert. It had been a situation screaming for a thrown snowball. And he had made a perfect hit. The confused way she was looking at him was hilarious. He juggled the snowball in his hand and grinned. "Couldn't resist…" he told her grinning. Alex gave him a serious look. "Why are you throwing snow at me? she asked and put the blaster away. "Because I can? And because it's funny?" Alex raised an eyebrow. „What is funny about that?" she asked, not understanding at all. The resistance pilot did not answer and instead threw the snowball at her. She did not expect that and was hit again, this time on her thigh. „Stop it!",she ordered. Poe smiled. „And if I don't?" Alex looked at him, visibly annoyed. If he thought he could throw snow at her, she would get her revenge. So she knelt down, grabbed a handful of snow, formed a ball and threw it at him. But the pilot avoided her ball with a step to the side. "You need to aim better to hit me," he told her and took two steps into her direction to gather more snow. Alex followed the movement, having figured out his plan on instance. She grabbed more snow to throw at him. This time she hit him on his back, what made her laugh. The resistance pilot, now armed with three snowballs, went into attack, but this time she was able to avoid the hit.
For a third person it must have been a hilarious sight, because there were a pilot from the First Order and her Resistance counterpart on a lonely planet in heavy snowfall fighting each other, for the first time of their lives without weapons, with harmless snow, laughing like two children. At some point, Poe initiated part two of the fight and engaged in hand to hand combat. After a brief exchange of more snowballs, he pulled her to the ground with him, pinning her to the ground with his own weight, scattering some snow over her face. Alex, who had not been expecting that, started to cough as the snow had hit her full in the face. "Are you okay?" he asked. The other pilot did not answer, but hooked her leg with his to turn them around. While turning, she grabbed a handful of snow, but only managed to hit his face half. When she was leaning above him, she started to laugh because with snow in his face and hair he looked ridiculous. Poe couldn't help himself either and joined in. Still laughing, she let go of him and rolled over into the snow. "If someone had seen us…" she started a sentence. Poe grinned. „Why? Because you don't know the concept of a snowball fight?" "You do that regularly?" she asked, intrigued. "As a child of course. At least if you live on a planet that has snow." The first order pilot thought about it. She had never taken part in anything similar, but it was rather entertaining. "Maybe I should make an application to add it into our training schedule." He nodded. "Could be fun."
Eventually, he remembered why he had come out in the first place. "Actually, I just wanted to ask whether I can use one of your boxes to warm up some water in it." She raised an eyebrow. "Why are you even asking?" „I thought it would be nice. Who knows how important that box is to you. And I don't want you to be angry." She shook her head. „Well then…", he said and stood up, holding out his hand to help her up.
„How far are you with our dinner?" Poe then wanted to know. She made a gesture with her head towards the remains of the animal. "You can take the meat." „And the rest?" he inquired. „The thing with the fur is more complicated than I thought," she admitted. "How did you preserve it? Even if I manage to cut off all small bits of flesh, that thing will be starting to rot in two days. And even in these temperature there will be insects." He smiled at her. „Believe me, you don't want to know that." Alex put her hands in her sides. "Tell me." He laughed. „I peed on it," he told her amused. „You WHAT?" she asked, internally shivering at the thought of having used the furs he had given her. Poe shrugged. "During training in the republic's army they told us it's not the best solution, but better than nothing. You don't find any decent tanning agents around here. And don't worry, I washed and dried it afterwards." Alex shuddered. „If you want me to, I can take care of yours as well," he offered. But she shook her head insistently. "No way." He shrugged again. „Okay," he told her and took the food inside with him.
Alex followed his movements as he walked back into the cave and looked down on the fur when he had disappeared inside. He could not be serious. She shook her head, deciding to postpone the question of conservation and finish removing the bits of flesh on the fur.
When she entered the cave later on with her fur in tow, she stopped already a few steps inside, because Poe was standing with his back turned to her, naked as the day he was born, pouring water from her metal box down onto himself.