pineslog | I'll follow behind you on rainbow road

Entry tags:

I'll follow behind you on rainbow road

Who: CAPTAIN AMERICA WANTS YOU
Where: The Baromanogerneson Residence (i.e., 5031)
When: May 9th
What: Mario Kart and subversion, two great tastes that taste great together.
Warnings: Please warn in subjects as needed!
[Open]

The thought had formed pretty much as soon as he'd opened the box that was left on the front porch. The people here need a way to talk. There are two rooms in the house where they would be free to do so. He'd come home one day — not long after the body had disappeared from the upstairs bathroom and all the cameras he'd ripped from their wiring between there and the garage had been put back in place in their absence with a friendly maintenance note left behind that all fixtures in need of repair had been seen to, along with a bill for the expenses — to find Natasha sitting on the bed, writing a note in Sharpie. He'd leaned against the door frame and watched her hold it up to the cameras and make a deal: Steve wouldn't break any more cameras, if they give them the privacy of their bedrooms. As there had only been the three of them at the time (despite the insistence in his head that the house has always been filled by his teammates, just as he remembers of the last few years before Wayward Pines), that had meant the master bedroom downstairs, and Bucky's upstairs.

It had actually worked, though Steve wouldn't have trusted the word of whoever's behind the cameras himself if it weren't for Natasha's daily inspections, and so far the deal's held.

But it's not — can't be — a luxury only afforded to them, for their own sakes. He's told others here and there, and he knows his friends have, too. It's not enough, but nor does he have a way to get people over without arousing suspicion. But then there's the Nintendo system. A little unorthodox, as far as his own methods go, but he'll work with anything he has.

He doesn't put it down anywhere in writing, letting news of the party travel by word of mouth and hoping that's enough to keep it out of the wrong ears. At least for now. There's a chance — a good chance — that it will eventually get the Sheriff's attention, but by then it will have had the effect it's supposed to and given the people here the chance to speak to each other truthfully. And if that comes down on anyone, it's gonna be the people prepared to deal with it.

The day of the ninth is a rainy one, a good day to stay inside and play games with friends. It also provides a good excuse to use the master bedroom just off the end of the foyer as a temporary coat room. Straight ahead in the living room, Mario Kart is all ready to go, and in the kitchen next to that, snack food and drinks are available.

((ooc: THIS IS A MINGLE POST. While I will be tagging around with Steve a bit, this is mostly to give people a chance to chat with each other without the cameras watching. Per Natasha's deal with the powers that be, the cameras in the master bedroom and Bucky's room upstairs have been removed. Natasha will be greeting people at the door and taking them on a "tour" (i.e., to the master bedroom to explain the camera situation, why the party's really happening, and that they are not to discuss the lack of cameras while elsewhere in the house). Feel free to wander in there any time for a chat, or simply enjoy some Mario Kart and refreshments! Commenting around is encouraged, and please note in your top-levels whether they're open or closed. If you have any questions for me I can be found on plurk (

jeeps) or discord (jeeps#9644).))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Poe exhales quietly, a little tic he carries from the moments before he makes a particularly difficult turn or blasts a tricky target out of the sky. ]

No, wait. [ Another deep breath, then he nods. This is important, clearly, or Caroline wouldn't ask him to do something like that. She knows him--

(No she doesn't, he reminds himself, but maybe she'll understand what it means for him to say this anyway.) ] She'll understand. I promise. No one, and not outside of this room.

[ A part of her wants to explain to him why, why she's asking him to do this, to keep this secret. But she can't. For one, it could put the others at risk and two, perhaps more selfishly, her heart can't handle the rejection he'd give her if she told him what she was.

So it surprises her that he relents, she looks at him with an expression that says Are you sure but there's no question she also looks relieved. ] I know... it's a lot to ask. [ At least, she figures as much given what he's said before. ] I promise, you won't have to keep it from her forever. I just need time. [ She faces him now, holding out her hands to him.]

Take my hands.

[ Already, this makes him think of the Force. Already, he's on edge, remembering his last encounter with that kind of power.

Either he's going to trust her or he's not. Poe's takes her hands lightly, refusing to let fear get the better of him. He hasn't let it yet. He's not about to start now. ]

[ She takes his hands and steps closer, clasping them gently in her own.] Relax, [ she says it softly, unaware of his fear or apprehension beyond the tension she can feel in him. She doesn't know close what she's about to do is to the torture he'd been through. Except hers is painless.

She looks at him.]

Close your eyes. Try to clear your mind except to focus on a safe place, a place that you love, a place that will make you happy. It can be here or back home, just somewhere where you'll feel comfortable.

[ He closes his eyes, breathes slowly, tries to focus on where their hands meet and not on his pounding heart or the tingle of pain he can feel in his extremities.

He's in a house full of people. He's fine. ]

A place I love, huh? [ Said under his breath, while he sorts through his limited memory for choices.

He settles on the ranch, its residential pavilions, the distant barns and animal enclosures, filled with creatures both like and wildly different from their Earth counterparts. The orchards and melon patches spreading away from the house on the opposite end, open ground giving way to jungle, then mountains, then blue. The gas giant Yavin taking up half the sky like a rust-red ghost at one end, the sun rising at the other. He can hear the jungle sounds echoing over cleared ground, smell the sweetness of ripening koyo.

Poe relaxes, imagining his mother's A-wing sitting by the house where it always has, still clean and in good repair. He makes sure of that every time he visits. There, the force-tree glowing so gently that the light is almost invisible.

Somewhere that makes him happy. ]

Edited 2017-05-11 00:35 (UTC)

[ Caroline shifts on her feet as she feels him relax in front of her, her eyes closing as she clears her mind. It takes a bit longer, if only because she has way less experience and it's a lot more difficult to do this on someone who is awake/full conscious.

For a long moment, she is quiet and there is only darkness behind her eyelids but then, slowly but surely, she sees it. Like the start of a movie, everything slow fades into view and everything has a slight blur to it. It's a world she's never seen before, in a world she could only imagine. It's then he should be able to see her, standing by the A-wing because that's where his focus is.

She smiles at him, softly, moving slowly towards him, careful not to freak him out.]

This is what I wanted to show you. [ She glances around before looking at him.] Where are we? This is... where you're from-- [ The big planet catches her attention and she gasps.] Wait... is that a...moon?

Edited 2017-05-11 00:42 (UTC)

That's Yavin. We're on one of its moons. [ A tiny smile. ] Yavin 4.

[ He walks over to her, also moving slowly, not quite believing what he's seeing. Caroline, standing outside of his dad's house. ] But we aren't, are we.

[ Stay relaxed, Dameron. ] You're in my head.

We're on a moon? [ She asks with wonder, looking past him and around him until she feels him in front of her. Her eyes meet with his and she gives him a sort of sheepish smile.]

Yeah, we're in your head. It's not... It's like a memory, except not. [ She shifts on her feet, still looking at him.] I can't access your thoughts or anything, not exactly. If you were sleeping, I might be able to direct your dreams but I'm still kind of new at this. [ She makes a face.] I can only really see what you let me see. And if you let go of my hands, the connection would break.

[ And there's your escape hatch, Poe.]

All right. Okay. I can deal with that.

[ He walks past Caroline, touching her wrist lightly invitation to follow. In his head or not, he has a ritual to complete. He checks the A-wing over, looking for environmental damage, thinning sealant patches, traces of rust. As frustrated as he gets with general minutiae, Poe always has time for a ship. ]

This is where I grew up. This A-wing--this is my mom's. She flew for the Alliance in this thing, helped destroy the Death Star right here, right above this moon, when it was still a rebel base.

[ He kneels to inspect the underside of the ship.] I learned to fly in this baby. First thing I remember is the stars through the cockpit canopy.

[ The whole process calms him down, enough that when he gets up and dusts off he can meet Caroline's eyes. ] I need you to promise me something, now.

[ Following him, she lets him revel in the memory of his home, she listens to his voice and smiles when he talks about his moment, looking suitably impressed when he infers she was a pilot of this plane? Space ship? She does't know what the rest means, there's a blank space where her Star Wars knowledge should be.

Still, she feels a strange sense of pride, thinking of him flying a ship, one she is quite sure she's not allowed to feel.

When he kneels, she reaches out to touch the A-wing, her hand laying on the hard metal but she can barely feel it beneath her palm. Her connection isn't strong, if only because she doesn't have the most experience with this. But she pulls her hand away when he moves to stand and face her.]

What is it?

Don't do this when I'm asleep.

[ He swallows, hanging on for all he's worth to the memories of Yavin 4, refusing to let the Finalizer usurp the landscape.

Putting a hand against the hull of his mother's ship steadies him. ] Showing you this place, others, I don't mind that. But let it be my choice.

[ She blinks at his request, it feels like a punch to the stomach but that's only because she gets it, she understands. Before she'd been turned, she'd had her own choices taken away from her, she'd lost her agency when Damon compelled her not to be afraid of him, when he did unspeakable things to her, fed from her, when he almost killed her.

She nods, immediately, looking at him earnestly.] I would never... I promise. I would never do that without your permission. [ Her gaze is steady and sure.] I promise. [ She glances at the ship before looking back to him, hoping he believes her.]

Besides, it would require us to sleep together. [ Pause. 3...2...1... She rolls her eyes at herself and--] Not that way but... for you to be asleep in the same room as me. It works by touch.

[ Poe laughs, his tension dissipating both at her slip and the promise. It's also starting to occur to him how great this is, that they can actually talk here, that they don't have to sidestep and use doublespeak.

Besides, he wants to show her his home. He wants to show her the museum-cum-pilgrimage site at the Great Temple of Massassi. The pod racing field, the rest of the colony. It's so good to see this place, to be somewhere so normal after a week of being anywhere but. ]

Come on.

[ Poe grabs Caroline's hand, heading for one of the outbuildings and the old four-person speeder inside. ] You want a real view of Yavin, you either need to be in the air or on Skygazer Hill.

[ He tows her towards some shed like buildings and talks about sight-seeing. She laughs a little before she squeezes his hand, her eyes on the back of his head as he guides them forward.]

You do know that we don't have to walk, you could just... picture the place and we'd be there. [ It would look exactly how he remembered it, not necessarily how it actually looks. She already knows this is going to exhaust her. She's too inexperienced to keep this going for too long, especially since he's awake and she's manipulating his mind while he's conscious.

And yet, she doesn't want to let go of his hands, however. Not when he looks as pleased as he does.]

...Right. Right, that makes sense.

[ With a wistful glance at the shed (gotta go fast), he takes both her hands again, closes his eyes, and thinks of the Hill. It's one of the highest points in the colony's hemisphere, reaching above the tree canopy, its crest nothing but a broad expanse of rocks and thick grass. He imagines the evening, the sky going purple, stars--familiar stars--thicker in the sky above Yavin 4 than they would be anywhere on Earth. Yavin itself is setting, the gas giant now a red dome against the treetops that spread almost to the horizon.

Poe opens his eyes in time for a light breeze to cut across the hilltop, stirring the grass and teasing glowing insects into the air.] This is one of my favorite places outside of the ranch. You could almost be flying, from up here.

[ Maybe in your dreams, Poe. For now, she's grateful when he takes her hands and suddenly they're back in the room again, her eyes flutter open to see his still closed. And after a moment or two, she's pulled back into his mind and towards a place that's absolutely breath-taking.

Blinking, she looks around as he explains where they are. A smile curves her lips as she lets go of one of his hands, turning to get a better view.]

I can see why... The stars are so... There's so many of them.

[ He inhales deeply, scent memory filling his head with green things, the honeyed smell of flowers, the clarity of empty air. Poe tilts his head back, tone wistful. ]

You should see them from the other side of the sky.

[ He's been grounded in Wayward Pines for longer than he's been grounded in recent memory, patchy though it is. No amount of improvements to his motorcycle's engine will match the feel of real flight. ]

Maybe you can take me up in your mom's ship, sometime. [ Not now. But in his dreams. She watches him for a moment before she gives his hand a squeeze and grins at him.]

Happy?

Yeah.

[ He looks back at her, and for a moment he has the painful, acute desire to kiss her. It's the perfect place to do it, the perfect time.

Instead, he hugs her, fiercely. ] Thanks. I needed this. I really needed this.

I'm glad I could do it. [ She lets him draw her in for the hug, moving to wrap her arms around him for a moment, savoring his happiness and feeling relieved that he hasn't freaked out about this whole thing. In fact, he's taking it in stride, without questioning it much, which makes her think that this sort of thing might not be that out there for where he's from.

Hugging him for a moment longer than she probably should, she feels the world start to flicker and blur a little more around them and she lets out a breath.]

Poe, I-- [ She pulls back just enough to look at him.] I wanted to show this so you know this is another way we can talk without worrying. It'll just look like we're meditating or sleeping.

Edited 2017-05-11 05:53 (UTC)

That's... [ He lights up, the same way he did when she said welcome to the resistance. ] That's fantastic. I hadn't even-- That's amazing, Caroline. Wait, how many people can you do this with? Is it one at a time?

I've only ever tried it with one. [ Damon and Stefan could probably do it with multiple people but they had more experience with it, years. She'd only known she could do it for about a month but she couldn't say any of that. She need to stock up on more blood before she did it with more than one person.]

It would be easier if everyone was sleeping... less taxing. I'm barely holding on right now.

Edited 2017-05-11 06:01 (UTC)

[ At that, he lets go of her hands. They're back in Steve and Natasha's room, and Poe shifts to grip her arms gently, more to hold her steady than to hold her up.

If she starts to go down, though, he's ready. ] I'm sorry. I didn't think.

No--- [ she breathes out when he lets go of her hands and suddenly they're yanked back into the bedroom. She blinks against the change of scenery.] It's okay. I'm okay. I'm still learning and-- [ Well, she hasn't fed in two days.] I've only ever tried that with someone being awake one other time. It's just easier when the other person is asleep because their mind isn't fighting me and you're not affected or distracted by what's happening outside your head.

Got it.

[ He's still nervous about the idea of letting her do it while he's genuinely dreaming. More than nervous. He can't get himself to say it's all right for them to do it that way next time. He can't even think about it without losing the sense of peace he got from that impromptu trip. ]

So--how d'you do it? There's something... [ He falters, puts on a smile. ] Where I'm from, there's something that's like that, a little, but I've never heard of it used like this.

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