twelve_not_fourteen | Walking the earth with eyes turned skywards ...

He's not wrong to be wary of the Kree. If they did ever become interested in this corner of the galaxy it could turn rather nasty for the citizens. Everyone she'd encountered in this quadrant already seemed to have a boatload of problems already. And she's wired the same, for what it's worth. She's seen too many hostile aliens to think any other way.

"At times. Not at the moment - we're having a Chitauri problem right now - but they've been a problem before." And knowing the Kree, they would be again even though their numbers had dwindled significantly in the past decade.

"What'd you say is the biggest problem around here?" Part of her mission is to assess the players in this quadrant. It was always best to ask the locals.

He manages not to stare dumbly at her, but he certainly feels that way right now. She just name dropped another entire race of alien's he's heard nothing about. It probably shouldn't bother him. She's from a place very far from here ...

Just because you don't know about something doesn't mean it can't hurt you, though. He shakes away an anxious feeling that wants to settle in the pit of his stomach and instead, focuses on her question.

"Politics." Han says. "It's a bit of a long story, I guess, but we ended up under control of one guy. The Emperor does have a way about keeping things organized, but a lot of people aren't fond of his methods."

In his defense, there would probably be a lot of alien species he knows about that she doesn't.

Carol frowns at his answer as they take a right in the direction of the hanger where her ship is parked. "Hmmm. I've seen that happen in other places and I have to tell you that it doesn't ever seem to have a happy ending." Plenty of riots, rebellions, and bloodshed. They were going to have to keep tabs on the goings on around here.

Finally she stops them in front of a large hanger and gets them inside. Her ship, just a bit larger than the Falcon, sits there powered down. After what happened on the way there she's just glad to see it.

It's a particular quirk of Han Solo's. This want, of his, to be the guy that has been around and know everything there is to know. He just isn't old enough to realize that it's a bit of a fool's errand.

Talk about the Emperor makes Han shrug. He doesn't really know what to say about galactic wide politics, to tell the truth. He was only a couple of years old when the republic fell and being under the thumb of Shiv Palpatine is all he can remember. The time spent in the Imperial Navy was nothing like what he expected - but he was able to see exactly how powerful the Emperor's military is.

"I'll be happy if I can just keep flying under the radar."

All thoughts of civil current events are gone from his head when there's a ship to look over. It's a pretty big ship, bigger than his, and it has that clean look that newer vehicles seem to have. He takes a slow walk around the vessel before he says anything and when he does ... it's about the answer you'd expect.

"Looks pretty nice from the outside." He admits. "How long have you had her?"

"You seem to be doing all right so far." Even with the attack earlier in the alley Carol can tell that the man can handle himself and knows what he needs to do to get what he wants.

But then they move to ship talk and Carol happy to show her off. While Han circles the ship she just stands near the entrance with the smile of a proud parent on her lips. The ship isn't technically hers, it belongs to Alpha Flight, but she's been the only one flying and she had a say in the design.

"Just a couple of months. She's pretty new." Carol gestures towards the entrance before heading over to open it up. "Inside is even nicer."

"Full of surprises when you get to know her? ... like her pilot?"

It's very complimentary when he says it and the tone of his voice is almost a purr. It's the kind of playful sensuality that could only come from a guy that's got full confidence in the way that he talks to women. Not to say that he's always successful at charming people, but ... he's almost always putting his best foot forward.

"I can't wait to see more."

And hey, if she has her back to him, he's gonna take a second to appreciate the view in front of him. He's not a monk or anything.

Carol's pretty good at pushing away that kind of playful flirting when she doesn't want it, but she's definitely into it today. She's been all work for weeks now and a little fun would be a lovely break. And when the fun looks like Han does, well, might as well lean in.

"Something like that," she replies with a grin, glancing back at him over her shoulder. The ramp whirs to life, unlocks, and lowers from the hull providing them an easy step into the ship. With another glance she heads up the ramp and onto the ship. Now which part to show off first?

She probably catches him looking. Not for very long, a heartbeat or two, but doesn't see much point in hiding the fact that he thinks she's attractive. They were both adults. They were going back to her 'place' with a bottle. A certain amount of writing was already on the wall.

Han looks more or less the same way he always does. Handsome and a little bit rugged in the modest cargo jacket that plenty of pilots favor in his galaxy. A ghost of a smile on his lips is the most of an apology she'll get for the once over he was giving to her. He follows her up the ramp and onto the ship without hesitation.

"I gotta think for a ship this big you aren't often traveling alone."

She did catch him looking and it simply made her grin a little wider. Had he gone up the ramp first she would've probably done the same thing.

Once they're up there she reaches over to close the ramp. After being jumped in the alley she isn't taking chances. "For safety," she explains. "But don't feel like I'm keeping you. If you want to leave, press and hold this yellow button." She points it out and then shifts the bottle to her other arm.

She gives him a shrug as she leads them towards the galley. Carol assumes that he's anxious to see the controls or the guts, but she's thinking about glasses first. "Sometimes I have a small crew. Sometimes I pick up refugees. Sometimes even my cat comes along. But right now it's only me. Hope you don't mind." As if he would.

"Turns out I'm not particularly claustrophobic."

He says as she reaches to close the ramp. Carols rationale for wanting to keep the ship is a good one and if there's any ulterior motive - such as making sure they don't get disturbed while they're up here - that doesn't bother him at all. It was thoughtful of her to let him know how to get out, though.

Also, for the record, he doesn't seem to be disappointed with her choice of the galley first. Han is taking the opportunity to look around, however, while she's going for the glasses.

"I don't mind at all." He says as his eyes flick over toward hers. "In fact, the quiet seems like a nice idea."

She didn't even realize it as an ulterior motive then, though she is thinking about it now. Despite the confidence she's portraying, Carol doesn't usually go around picking up handsome smugglers in bars. Work keeps her busy and if she thinks too hard about flirting she usually ends up saying something ridiculous.

Which is why she's side stepping a lot of small talk and pulling glasses from the galley. They're plastic, which is not fancy, but that keeps them from breaking when you have to do a barrel roll to avoid enemy fire.

She gives him a smile when their eyes meet and she passes the bottle over to him. "A great idea. You want to pour?" Mostly because she's not sure how much of the stuff he should drink right away.

She won't have to ask Han twice. He'll confidently assume the role of bartender for this evening; taking up the bottle into his hand, he pours two glasses for them. Hers is nearly filled up to the top. His has perhaps an ounce in it. The drinks are then doled out appropriately.

"We'll see how we do like this."

"Works for me." Carol picks up the glass carefully, doing her best not to spill any of the liquid. If he's only drinking that small amount it must pack a hell of a punch.

"Should we drink to that ship of yours? The one you'll have one day?"

There's a flicker of some kind of emotion in his face that doesn't quite match up with the slightly aloof, unflappable persona. Hard to say what it is because it's not around long enough to scrutinize with great detail. Only thing Carol that can be certain of is that he felt something when she mentioned the other ship.

... desperation, longing, worry, forlornness ...

Anyway, he has to go back a ways in his memory to get to the last time he drank to something. The fact that he could was all the reason this young scoundrel needed.

"Can we do two? To your successful mission and the Millenium Falcon?"

She does notice the flicker of something pass over his features, but it's so quick that she can't get a reading on it. Either way, it seems like he could definitely use a drink.

"Two works for me. To my mission and the Millennium Falcon." Carol carefully raises the glass in his direction before taking a sip of the liquid. She starts off with a small one since it's something brand new and she's not sure what to expect from it.

Garrmorl Is a fairly mild alcoholic drink ... when you're a Wookiee. That's why Han didn't poor himself a lot and he is taking a very shallow sip from his glass to start with. A true warriors drink - Chewbacca once explained - because some of the brewing process required the bones left behind after a feast. Its effects tend to work very hard on Han and very quickly, who is not exactly a slouch when it comes to his drinking.

How well it will work on a lady with abilities and hybrid DNA? He hasn't a clue. He's keeping a very close eye on her, though. Just in case.

Carol feels the alcohol hit her harder than most, but nothing more than the excitement you get after half a glass of beer. But knowing that it could hit her all at once later, she only takes another small sip out of the glass. It's just enough where she feels comfortable walking around with it and knowing she won't spill.

"Would you like a tour?" Based on their conversation in the bar it's a silly question, but she figures she better ask.

Edited 2017-09-12 23:44 (UTC)

As long as she's doing okay, it doesn't especially matter to Han how much she's drinking or how quick. He hasn't put together for certain that most earth alcohol doesn't have much of an effect for her, but when he does ... he hopes she'll get relaxation from the spirit he picked.

"I hoped to take a look around." Han admits. "Not saying we have to, but it was part of the allure."

Carol's pretty sure that it will, at some point. She's feeling it more already than she ever does for any comparable portion of Earth alcohol. As for Earth alcohol, it can have an effect on her, but she really does have to drink a lot of it.

She takes another sip and gives him a grin. "It'd be pretty cold of me to talk up my ship and not show her off. You want to see the living spaces first or the engines?" Regardless of what he picks, she's saving the cockpit for the last stop. Maybe it'd be smoother to pick her quarters, but she's thinking like a pilot right now.

He likes seeing Carol smile. It's funny how being around her reminds him of how little the people he's surrounded with do. Or how unnatural it feels for him to smile back at someone in a way that's genuine. The sarcastic smile comes easily enough. At any rate, his eyes look different then they did in the bar ... more relaxed, pleased even.

"Putting it on me to make the choice, huh?" His lips upturn just a little, but to call it a smile would probably be overstating it. "Show me the workings, the controls, all that. That'll be the foreplay."

Depending on whatever current catastrophe is happening on or around Earth, Carol doesn't get a lot of chances to smile while on duty. But she's had to learn to take them when she could. It feels good to smile because there's a man interested in your and your ship. Almost feels normal.

"I thought you might pick that." And while she doesn't respond to the foreplay comment, you can damn well bet she heard it. Her grin stretched just a little wider. With a tip of her head towards the door, she leads them out of the galley and on the way to the cockpit. So much for her plan of finishing here, but hey, she's flexible.

It's not often that he meets someone who has traveled to places he's never even heard of, can have a lively discussion about starships and packs the strength of a rancor in smaller, curvier frame. Is there anything that's not interesting about Carol?

She seems to let a lot of his more rambunctious or familiar comments slide. Which is enough of a passive form of acceptance that he'll keep on talking that way.

"I'm that easy to read?" He murmurs, hanging back just long enough to grab their bottle before following in her wake. "I guess I'll have to come up with some ways to surprise you."

He should definitely continue those kinds of comments and she will eventually figure out how to respond to them. Being kind of bad at flirting is super real. But hopefully the smiles and the tour show that she's very much interested.

"Please do," she said as they started down the short hallway to the cockpit. "I'm confident I can handle anything you throw at me."

Before she could decide if that was good enough flirting she lead them into the cockpit. The place was decked out in shiny chrome and brand new displays and instruments. It was high tech for Earth and felt even higher of tech for this section of the universe. There were two spaces for additional crew but the main seat and console was clearly hers and designed to be fine with just one person flying.

She let him take it all in as she took another sip of her drink.

A couple of different replies come to mind when she mentions being able to 'handle him'. He's trying to decide on exactly which one he might unleash on her when they get to the cockpit. At that point, he seems a little bit too distracted to be smarmy ...

His eyes drift over the control panel. The controls are a little unfamilar, but he thinks he could fly this ship if he needed to. There's lots of different tech from lots of different worlds where he hails from. Any pilot worth their salt in a Galaxy Far Far Away needs to be adaptable.

Han, unceremoniously, plops himself into the Captain's chair. Leans back and swivels a little bit in the seat with a smirk on his face. "So where do you sit?"

She's not entirely pleased when he goes and plops into her chair like he owns the place, but she takes another drink and admits that the move is not entirely unexpected.

"You know damn well that is where I sit," she replies with a laugh. "Where else would I sit on my ship?" Thank goodness he doesn't look in love with it otherwise she'd be concerned that he'd try to charm her out of it.

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I'll be honest, I forgot which Wookiee booze I referred to earlier ...

I'll be honest, you could've made up something completely new and I wouldn't have known.

Fair enough.

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