The Bird and the Flame -- Poe Dameron

III

Tatoni was scheduled to leave on mission a week after she had spoken to Leia. Naturally, her mom shot down the idea before coming around the next day. Paige was slightly upset Tallie and Tatoni were going on a mission without her but Tallie assured her they would be back and take her to the canteen to get some drinks.

Rusk was worried that without Tatoni there he wouldn't be able to work because no one other than Tatoni wanted him to work. Rose was slightly disappointed she would be stuck with only Paige badgering her but handed Tatoni a bar of fruit as she packed her things.

"Everyone is acting like I'm not coming back," Tatoni said as she lifted up her tools onto the ship.

"It's not that, I know you'll come back," Rose said as she fiddled with Tatoni's small bag of clothes, "It's that you won't be around... You've never gone on a mission before."

"I know.." Tatoni took the bag from Rose and placed it on the ground of the ship. "I'll bring you something back, okay?"

Rose smiled and nodded her head before hugging Tatoni. "I've got to get back to work, bye Tat!" and with a quick hug, Rose was off and Tallie was walking up to the ship with dark circles under her eyes, Paige behind her, carrying Tallies bag.

"Hey Tat," Paige said as she set the bag on the floor of the ship, Tallie already at the table, seated.

"She make you carry all of her stuff?" Tatoni asked as she looked at Tallie who's head was hanging back with her eyes shut.

"No. I offered because she looked like she would fall asleep that second."

"It's not even that early."

"Mph, yes it isssss," Tallie hissed and Paige laughed.

"Anyways, I wanted to say bye." Paige mused and pulled Tatoni into a tight hug. "I just realized your not all dirty." Paige let go of Tatoni with a bright smile as Tatoni frowned.

"I'm only dirty because I work with machines that spew oil at me!"

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" a voice piped in from behind the two. Tatoni turned around with a frown and saw Poe Dameron walking up the ramp inside the ship with a bag slung over his shoulder and a classic smirk on his face.

"I take showers every day!" Tatoni said as she looked Poe up and down. He had the biggest, snootiest look on his face as he walked past her, dropping his bag next to all the others. He simply nodded his head and held out his hand to her with a smirk.

"I'm Poe Dameron."

"I know who you are." Tatoni snorted and looked at his extended hand and back into his eyes with a slight glare.

After a beat, Poe dropped his hand to his side and smiled at Paige. "I didn't know you'd be on this mission."

"I'm just saying bye to my friends," Paige said before turning to Tallie. "Make sure you take care of Tat."

Tallie nodded her head before opening her eyes lazily.

"I can take care of myself," Tatoni mumbled as she hoisted her bag over her shoulder before walking deeper into the ship and into the sleeping section.

The ship wasn't the biggest, so they didn't get individual rooms and instead had to sleep in the bunks in the wall. There was really only a small resting room that connected to the cockpit, a sleeping area, and then the gun below the ship.

Tatoni put her bag on her bed and went back to the entrance to see Poe sitting in the cockpit with Tallie seated next to him as another man stepping aboard. He was short with a scrubby beard and simply nodded to Tatoni as he walked past her. She assumed it was Riley, the other crewmate.

"We ready?" she called out to the cockpit.

"Yup!" Poe called out and Tatoni pulled the hatch to lift up the ramp, it hissed as the door shut. She made her way to the cockpit to look out the window as the big doors leading outside lifted open, the resistance workers jogging out of the way and some waved goodbye as Poe began to click buttons, starting the ship.

That was Tatoni's cue to leave. She settled in the back of the ship and began fixing small things around her, ignoring the fact that the ship was now in the air, flying away from her home.

____

She sat there, nose in a book. She must have finished her check-ups around the ship already. Poe sat down at the small table near her and looked at her. She had long luxurious black curls and soft eyes that could look into him. That is if she had bothered to look at him.

Oh how he wished she'd look at him... But why did he want her eyes on him? He barely knew the girl, only seeing her working on other ships or directing other mechanics to their jobs. Other pilots talked of her, saying she was the best engineer to ever set foot in the resistance, yet he'd never gotten to see her handiwork and test it out for himself.

"What are you staring at?" Tatoni asked looking up from her book.

"I'd think it would be obvious that I was looking at you."

"Well... Why are you looking at me?"

He sat there for a moment as she looked at him with an annoyed face.

"You clearly don't like being interrupted," Poe said as he sat back in his seat.

"I don't," she said and looked back down at her book.

He thought to himself for a moment, looking at the table. Why didn't she want to talk to him? Why did she seem so annoyed with him? And why did he so badly want her to talk to him?

He opened his mouth like a fish out of the water before Tallie called out from the cockpit. "We're approaching landing."

He got up from the seat and walked towards the cockpit, looking beyond the windows at the big sandy planet. They were landing next to a large town full of all sorts of aliens, this is where the group would split up into partners and round back together at night with a hopefully successful mission.

Quickly taking his seat, they were landing on the ground within seconds. He clicked away at the buttons before the engine slowly turned off. He looked over to Tallie who was looking out the window at the town's entrance, Tatoni came up behind her and leaned over to get a better view of what was around.

"Sand..." she mumbled.

"Got a problem with sand, curly?" Poe said looking at her with a smirk.

She looked down at him momentarily before looking back out the window. "I don't like sand... and don't call me curly."

"Alright..." he looked around at her attire, he had to call her something, when his eyes landed on the dotted handkerchief hanging out of her pocket. "Alright dots."

She rolled her eyes and backed up from the cockpit. "We better get ready." and walked away.