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

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.

Her ship is alright, but it's no Millenium Falcon.

The thing of it is, he's having fun with Carol. With only a fraction of awareness of all her power, he's not particularly intimidated (or wary) of her the way he would be if he had known exactly how strong she is from moment one. Plus she helped him out without him even needing to ask - that goes a long way toward earning his trust.

"Are you sure? I'm fitting in this chair pretty good ..." He says with a grin, leaning back a little more. He laces his fingers together and puts his hands behind his head, forming a makeshift 'pillow' and closing his eyes.

"Looks like a mix of automated and manual controls?"

She does know that he's just having fun. Again, it's just a thing she's not entirely used to. Nobody has ever had the balls to sit down in her captain's chair like they own the place. And more importantly, it was rare that someone without powers was so chill about hers after finding out about them. Carol really did appreciate that.

Carol gives him a very light shove for his cheekiness and points out some of the controls, though honestly she's not sure if he opened his eyes or not. "Yep. The thing can run on autopilot, but I only do that if I have a long way to go and need some sleep. Because it's not fun when you're not doing it yourself."

This is him being reserved. He half considered putting his boots up on the console.

At the shove, he hums thoughtfully to himself. A little bit low and a little bit deep. "So, I guess that answers my question of if you know your own strength." He says. His expectation was that she did ... but it's not as if he could say for sure.

Then his eyes peep half-open to see the indications she's giving to the control panel. "I've disabled a lot of the automatic features on mine."

Smart that he didn't. Carol wouldn't have hesitated to knock them off.

"Yeah, I know my own strength. You won't have to worry about me. I can be gentle." The if you want lingers in the air and she takes another sip of the alcohol. She's not feeling it deeply, but normally she may not have thrown in the part about being gentle.

"If I wasn't flying alone I'd probably do that. Safety and all that nonsense." She pauses and looks back at him. "What about the Falcon? Probably a manual girl, right?"

"I ain't soft or anything."

Han has never had to think of himself as fragile before. Even when he was facing someone bigger or stronger than him, his DL-44 went a long way toward equalizing things and he had a bit of a talent for improvising. Besides that ... he was as tough as the gristle on a bantha steak. For a human. Being knocked around was nothing new and he'd been busting his butt for one reason or another as long as he can remember ...

But compared to Carol, he was delicate. Which is a little bit unfamiliar for a guy who had always been so sure of himself.

"The YT-1300's have three droid brains in them when they're stock, but I'd never let a machine have too much control in my ship."

"Didn't mean to imply you were."

Most humans were more delicate when compared to her, but she never thought of them that way unless she was in the middle of a fight with some. And normally the people or alien races she fought had their own enhanced strength and could take the full strength of her punch.

"Droid brains, fascinating." She paced around considering that as she looked over the controls, mostly out of habit. "The ship has an AI OS. Talks back and everything. His name is Harrison but I'm letting him have the night off."

ooc: And omg, I'm now finally realizing why they named the ship's OS that. Bless those comic writing nerds.

When Han gets to know more about Earth and the kinds of people who are her ~~friends from work~~ coworkers, it might put certain things into perspective. The dynamics of power where she comes from are pretty unique. And complicated.

"What kind of a name is that?" He says with a bit of a perplexed look on his face. "Why would you name a program?"

The idea of an artifical intelligence is strange to Captain Solo if there's no 'body' for it to be put into. How's it supposed to do what you need from it? He shrugs it off as something that would probably make a little more sense to him if he was more familiar with her planet's tech.

In any case, Han decides he's gonna stand up from her chair now.

[ The two graphics novels I read so far were full of SW references. ]

He's not wrong about that. If she wasn't totally involved with said dynamics of power she'd barely get it. Best for him to enter into that territory slowly, if at all.

Carol smiles and then gives him a shrug. "I don't know. I didn't name it. I guess it's just an Earth thing. Makes them seem more human."

Despite their advances in AI, they haven't really created anything comparable to droids. They do have LMDs, but those aren't the same. They have robots, but they aren't really the same either. It's something that Tony needs to spend some time on. Carol would love an astromech.

"Ready to see something else?" she asks once he's standing.

[Carol's love of Star Wars is one of the best things ever. And thanks to Disney buying all the things they really just went for it, haha.]

Han makes a face at her that suggests giving a computer program a person's name is among the weirder things he's ever heard of. That said, he doesn't seem to feel the need to discuss it any further.

"Are the weapons systems controlled from here too?""

That's about the only other thing that he can think of that would warrant giving the cockpit a further look over. He'd estimate that, like on most ships, at least some of them have to be activated from here. Otherwise flying oneself wouldn't be very practical.

And with a single question she moves effortlessly back into pilot mode.

"Yeah, they are over here." Carol leans over to gesture to a cluster of controls. "Mostly phased beams, but also missile-like projectiles." She gestures to one of the other seats. "Weapons can also be controlled from there if I'm traveling with a larger crew. I can also set them on automatic if it's more important for me to get the hell out of there as soon as possible."

She won't share this right now, but when a firefight is more important, it's likely that she'll actually leave the ship, fly over, and punch in a hull.

Since she's been downplaying her abilities since the moment she met Han? He can't even fathom that she would be able to fly out into deep space, dodge laser blasts and punch holes into the sides of starships. Even the most outlandish stories he's heard of the (obviously made up) Jedi can't really compare.

"Impressive." He says with that ghost of a smile. He's not really looking at anything that she's gesturing at, though. Instead, he seems to be very focused on her. Han is sure to hold the gaze long enough for Carol to notice that he's looking at her and then ... for a beat or two longer

"I suppose what's pushing the ship around seems like the next likely stop."

Even with her terrible sense of flirting, Carol notices this. She's not quite a lost cause.

So she returns his gaze and maybe, just maybe, there the faintest of pink coming across her cheeks. The intensity of it sends the smallest shiver across her body and she's very aware of their closeness now.

"You know, maybe later? I think I've had enough foreplay." And with one quick move she sets down her cup and leans in for a kiss to start everything they've been dancing around since they met.

Han has the kind of gaze you don't forget. It's got a gravity you can't escape, the closest man could ever come to being like a black hole. Wrapped up in, let's be honest, a pretty good-looking package.

His kiss is slow and feels effortlessly good. A natural who seems to be content to sit in this closeness for a long, long time. No urgency toward trying to make the next move. The skin on his face his shaved, but the hard of his jaw and his cheekbones have a very masculine feel when pressed in close the way they are. The rest of him has the kind of solid that you get from doing years of manual work.

Han is pleasant to lean up on. Pretty tall for a human, edging over six feet. You could do a lot worse picking up a stranger at a bar.

Carol was expecting to go heated and quick, and while the kiss with Han is heated, there's no rush to it. So Carol shifts herself into slow goodness and sinks into his gravity. Not even a superpowered Human/Kree hybrid stands a chance.

The height difference between them is negligible as she comes in around 5'11", but the solidity of him makes her almost feel slight in comparison. Carol is all lean muscle, a product of her enhanced metabolism, military background, and constant heroics.

She's used to people of Han's solidity, but not in this contentment to be close. So Carol finds herself pressing closer and sliding an arm around his waist so her hand can explore up his back.

With her taking the opportunity to walk her hands along his back, it seems only fair that he should be able to set down his drink and his glass to touch her too.

And while a super-metabolism might have given her abs that show more than his do, it doesn't take the curve out of feminine hips. That's where Han's hands are initially drawn to. Breathing into the kiss he closes his eyes and takes his time to appreciate the all the sensation.

Despite a concentrated effort to suggest otherwise, it's been a while since Captain Solo has kissed anybody like this.

It's probably been even longer since Carol has kissed someone like this, but that is probably evident to Han based on the way she started the kiss. But gods, it's a damn good kiss. It's so focused and heavy that everything Carol has been concerned about over the past three days has been wrapped up in a box and tossed out of her mind. The only interesting thing right now is this kiss and where his hands are on her.

Her other hand starts a slow exploration of his back and she actually lets out the smallest of sighs as she shifts to do so.

Eh. He's also willing to believe she was just that excited to kiss him. He can be a bit conceited sometimes, but he manages to still be charming about it. It's his superpower.

He does give her lips a little bit of a break after he's taken his sweet time. They have to breathe. Just because he's not still in mid-kiss anymore doesn't mean he's pulled away, however. His face is still in close proximity with hers and it's very easy for him to lean in and graze his cheek against hers.

The hands, even in a relatively chaste position on her lips, have a way of feeling possessive. They are awfully course - perhaps even rough enough to feel abrasive against her clothes - and large.

Even if they aren't kissing he's very much succeeding at keeping it intimate. The break may have been for breathing but that's almost a challenge with his cheek against hers and his hands on her hips.

And the hands? Perfect. Carol always preferred a man who made and fought and did and those things were always reflected in the hands. And with the size she's already wondering how they're going to feel when tracing over other parts of her body.

Speaking of hands, hers move from his back to his arms, slowly moving toward his shoulders. "Much better than the engines. I can promise that."

"That's quite a promise from one gearhead to another. Though, I'll bet you can deliver on that."

His voice is softer than usual because they're so close, but it's more than just a volume thing. Some of the need to act a certain way in the cantina feels unnecessary now that they're alone. That and the fact that she's giving all the indications that she's into him - it makes feel like he doesn't have to keep his guard up so high.

The arms are covered by the sleeves of his blue cargo jacket and if she was expecting to feel arms like Thor's through them, she'll no doubt be disappointed. There's a bit of muscle, maybe a tad more than you'd expect from the average spacer, but nothing remarkable.

Her hands drifting upward the way they are make them closer, though. That he likes. His hands sink lower, more around her back, and do their own part in bringing them closer together.

"The cabins?"

Yeah, it's a very safe bet that she's into him - has been, since the cantina. But the Han that's slowly being revealed in her ship? She's into him even more.

She's also not expecting a Thor or a Steve under those clothes, which is more than fine. That definitely was not a deal breaker, especially since he was still so ruggedly handsome.

The hands pulling her closer to him help her nearly miss the question. "Oh, yeah." Though it's hard to convince her body to step away from him right now. But after a gentle squeeze of his arms, she does.

Carol takes a step towards the door then stops to circle back and pick up her glass. "Thankfully they're pretty close."

It would be surprising that the guy - who seems so unphased by anything and everything - actually does care an awful lot about other people and what they think.

The separation from him holds a tad of reluctance as well. The living spaces are far better suited to what he has in mind for the evening than the cockpit, however. He suspects that the other Captain thinks so too. Considering that she is agreeing to lead him that way ...

"Thankfully." He agrees, reaching for the bottle and downing the rest of his shallowly poured drink in one swig. "Got a private room for yourself or do you have communal space?"

"Private room," she replies before taking another drink from her half-full glass. Not that it really mattered when they were the only two on the ship, but Carol kind of felt like bragging a little about it.

Unsure if she should like, take his hand or something, she just starts out the room and heads down the hallway to the quarters. There is a communal space as well for when she has passengers or crew, but they skate by them for her private room.

It's not much to look at - just a queen bed, desk, closet and storage space, and armchair - but it will certainly do for the occasion.

It didn't, but he was curious about it all the same. He's assembling all the details that he can of her and the ship - in the hope that he can get some kind of idea of what her life is like. Something he normally feels like he's pretty good at, but Carol is a bit harder than most to figure.

"Shared living space on mine." He murmurs, making a slight nod of approval. "Seems like having a little place to yourself would be nice."

So, despite the fact that her room is a bit no-frills, the fact that she has one is enough to impress Han. The benefits of having a Wookiee best friend far outweighed the drawbacks, but sharing a living space with one is ... occasionally challenging. He sets his empty glass and the bottle on the desk to free up his hands for something more stimulating.

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Fighting spaceships with your bare hands probably burns a lot of calories ...

Eh, you know, just a couple...

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