[ serpentine & apéritif ✧ ]

[danheng]

✧ "willingly?" the general blinked, taking a step closer to the cell shield. "elaborate." she prompted, without looking back at poe once. the pilot averted his gaze, looking down to his boots as they awkwardly scuffed the ground with an absent twitch of his foot.

[serpentine.]

xxxxxhis hands tightened and he took a few shaky breaths before he responded. “i fell in love.” he responded in a soft voice, ginger head bowed as he was unable to look her in the eye. “i fell in love and in the end it destroyed me until i was unable to let go.” he swallowed hard, gritting his teeth. he didn’t want to seem weak, and he didn’t want to break down in front of her which he was so close to doing. it was humiliating.

[danheng]

✧ "kriff, hux, don't do this..." poe muttered, one hand rubbing against the bridge of his nose. leia frowned at the general's words, and instantly her gaze snapped to the commander beside her.

"dameron?" the general said with a caution in her tone, as if she was testily trying not to push too hard on either of them. "mind explaining what that means?"

[serpentine.]

xxxxxhe pressed his face into his palms, cursing himself for putting him into into this situation. he kept his jaw locked, anger flaring up again at poe’s mutter. what did he expect him to say? he couldn’t lie, and he hadn’t even used his name. they would’ve found out anyway with the two of them on the same base and spending so much time in each other’s company, either that or poe would’ve ignored him completely and left armitage wondering why he had even come with him if he was to be ignored.

[danheng]

✧ "leia," poe looked up again to meet her gaze. "give- give me a second. with them." this was surely going to only raise more questions. "just a moment." it was quite unusual of a request, but he could hopefully just pass this off as wanting to get information from them alone as opposed to with them in a pair.

leia hesitated, frowning as if she wanted to ask something more. "as soon as we finish with them, they will stand trial, poe. you know that."

"do you think the new republic cares?" the commander lashed, quietly but with fire. "they don't. that's why we exist, isn't it?" he paused, looking to armitage before back at leia. "I can handle this. if you let me."

"fine, commander. don't let me down." and so the general turned away, leaving the interrogation in the pilot's hands.

[serpentine.]

xxxxxhe turned away from the pilot as the general turned away from them, curling against the wall with his arms wrapped around his torso. tilting his chin down to rest on his knees he took a few steady breaths, making sure he was composed enough to not start bawling until poe left. he usually wasn’t so unsteady, but pain mixed with anger and a feeling of betrayal unbalanced him completely so his emotions were unpredictable. it left him feeling weak and exhausted, and he hated it.

[danheng]

✧ the pilot watched the general disappear down the hall, listening to her boots hit the duracrete- until she was out of earshot.

he stepped toward the cell shield, slamming the activation pad next to it with his palm and waiting only a moment for the shield to flicker down before he stepped in, dropping to a kneel before armitage, but not reaching out, biting his lip as he tried to think of what he could possibly say. what the man before him was possibly thinking.

[serpentine.]

xxxxxhe didn’t turn when the pilot dropped to a kneel, instead burying his face away into his arms. every line of his body screamed broken and his breath came in little soft gasps. he prepared for a storm of yelling from the pilot for giving leia an idea of what had happened on the finalizer, and his name was on his lips, wanting just to let out a little cry of his name, wanting to feel poe’s arms wrap around him but at the same time, he didn’t.

xxxxxhe didn’t want him to touch him again. instead he spoke and his voice was soft and hoarse and scratchy from his throat. “what do you want, commander.” he wasn’t in the mood for even trying to act like everything was fine, because just him sitting here with his wrists tied tightly together was proof enough that it wasn’t.

[danheng]

✧ armitage didn't even look at him, only buried his face and let little shudders run through his body as he breathed. "let me see your hands," the pilot spoke gently, extending his hand but not advancing much further. "cuffs aren't fun. I know that much." there was a hint of lightheartedness in his voice, but the pilot was surely aware armitage was in no light mood.

[serpentine.]

xxxxxslolwy, he twisted his torso to show his small, pale hands, the cuffs biting into his wrists, the skin red and layered with little cuts that bled a little bit around the edges, wincing at the pain as he did. it hurt a lot and more than he’d ever admit. he frowned at the lightheartedness in his tone, and looked away so he wouldn’t have to meet his gaze. he wanted to whimper from the pain but he bit his tongue and held it back, the desire to not show any pain holding him back.