Walking the earth with eyes turned skywards ...

[twelve_not_fourteen]

A shame that he isn't moving all that slow and that he can't read her thoughts. If he was to know she was in a hurry - he'd have a lazy smile on his lips and Han would have to make some mention of her wanting to rush into getting him alone.

Instead, she's treated to what it's like to walk through a dingy alley with Han Solo. If she were to look carefully at his face, it would be a bit hard to read. He has a look on it that seems to be looking at everything at once or possibly nothing at all.

He, also, might be a tad more quiet now than he was inside the cantina. Not to the point of being unfriendly or in a way that suggests he doesn't want to talk anymore, but ... he does seem slightly different now.

"My ship is still half taken apart." He reminds her with a half hearted shrug. "I can't go anywhere in a hurry."

Comments

[twelve_not_fourteen]

If he looks awkward, it’s because he’s not a guest of someone else’s very often. At least he’s trying to be considerate. That has to count for something ...

He follows her instructions. Scraping leftover bits into her incinerator and setting the plate by the sink. Captain Solo is satisfyied that he doesn’t appear to be waiting around for her to clean up after him, although, she’ll definitely see that he’s not all that fussy about keeping things neat on his own ship. He’s kinda hoping she’ll give him a pass on tidiness for now, considering there are major repairs going on.

“Thanks for the food.”

Although, she might have noticed that he didn’t seem to have much of an appetite at breakfast time. They’d certainly burned enough calories though the evening together.

[cheeseburgermarvel]

If he looks awkward she doesn't notice because she's thinking about how potentially awkward she may be looking. It's not often that she...entertains men like this. Especially not where they're eating in her galley after multiple rounds at night and in the morning.

Carol does like to keep things somewhat tidy, but she'll admit that sometimes she lets the dishes stack up. There's just a lot more important things to do than washing crumbs off plates.

"You're welcome. You ready to head out?"

She did notice he didn't eat a lot, but she's not dwelling on it. For starters, she almost always eats more than other humanoids around her. And second, there are so many reasons that a person may not be eating and she doesn't know Han well enough to pry. Either it will come up at some point...or it won't.

Regardless, she's excited to see his ship.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He finds himself wondering where they should be at in terms affection, while they walk through and off of Harrison.

He likes Carol a whole heck of a lot. Han wouldn't be going through the trouble of showing off his modest ship and sharing astrogation data with her if he didn't, but he doesn't normally leap into bed with the people he's fond of. If it hadn't been so damn good, he'd have almost wished he hadn't. It would have made little things like deciding to hold her hand or not a lot less complicated.

He settles on walking close to her. Intimately close, but not going for the hand. She doesn't strike him as the type that would want that, necessarily, when they were walking through a spaceport.

And yes ... he knows that he's probably over-thinking this. He's still relatively young, though. He can't help it.

"So the Bria is just barely big enough to be considered a medium class freighter." He says, breaking the silence. "I find that most of the time the things I'm really trying to move are small. Hidden in the floors and the walls of the ship, while the cargo bay itself is full of ... whatever."

[cheeseburgermarvel]

It's not that Carol is completely against public displays of affection, it's more like she's not used to it. It doesn't even cross her mind that maybe they should hold hands, and even if it did, she would consider that a bit much for someone she so recently met.

Sleep with him? Sure. Hold hands? Maybe not. May not be the most logical thought, but it was hers.

So him settling on a general closeness as they walked was pretty much the best choice he could've made. Carol liked Han quite a bit, but she was messy with relationships. Especially long distance ones that started with probably every intention of just being a one night thing.

Carol nods as he gives the details about the Bria. "That makes sense. Smart, too. Remind me how long you've been smuggling?" It's very possible he told her last night but a lot of details like that got lost after the three orgasms last night.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He struggles to keep a frown off his face. It was one thing for him to try to sell himself off as a great smuggler to a potential client - you have to do that - but it was another thing to try to talk about it with a person you were trying to impress.

It was his own fault, though. He brought it up trying to talk about the ship.

"Uh." He says, feigning like he had to think it over. "Little more than a year."

[cheeseburgermarvel]

The thing is, he doesn't have to impress her. At least not like that. Carol is way more interested in how he talks about ships and his relationship with Chewie over his skills as a smuggler. He must be decent if he hasn't gotten caught yet. She's asking because she wants to know more about him as a person.

"And you like it? Or at least well enough?" She's got the sense that people kind of have to make their own way in this galaxy, and it was harder to do that than in her home galaxy.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Smuggling is not impressive to anyone. At best, if you’re good at what you do, you’ll impress other criminals. It’s not heroic work. It’s not honest and he still cares what other people think about him. Plus, he’d worked so damn hard to get into the military and try to make something out of himself, that the thought of washing out still stung pretty bad.

“Yeah.” He says, in a way that sounds hallow even to his own ears. So he scrambles to think of something to add to make his half-hearted reply seem a little more earnest.

“I get to fly. I get to come and go as I please. I see all kinds of things the average person who never leaves their homeworld doesn’t get to see. It’s ... good.”

[cheeseburgermarvel]

Carol can pick out the hollowness from the "yeah" and she feels bad for asking a question that he doesn't have an enthusiastic answer for.

"Anything that lets you fly," she agrees and racks her brain for anything to lead the conversation down a better path. "How long have you known Chewbacca? You two seem very close."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

“Not all that long.”

That was something he was beginning to realize about himself and Chewbacca, though. People assumed that had known each other for years when, in reality, it was only a couple weeks after he’d gotten into the smuggling. It was rough, too. At the beginning. He can remember wanting nothing to do with the Wookiee when he’d cornered him in that bar ...

“I knew Wookiees real well before I met him, though. Might be why we seem to make a good match for each other.”

Losing the career that he’d worked so hard for. The woman who’d taught him not just her culture, but also kindness and what it was like to lose her. There was so much to be bitter about that, a lot of times he found it extremely hard not to be.

[cheeseburgermarvel]

Good god, she was bad at small talk. Like, really bad at small talk. It had been much easier gushing over ships and planes. Carol wanted to know more about him but she just had a knack for not bringing up the best topics.

"Guess so. You two seem to be a good team." And that was all she felt like she could say on the subject. It seemed like most of the things she asked Han struck at a chord he wasn't ready to share yet, and that was okay. The last thing Carol wanted to do was make him uncomfortable.

So instead, she decided to stop asking questions until they got to his ship. That, at least, she should be able to talk about without making things any more awkward.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

If she had been ... well, virtually anyone else, he would have been suspicious or maybe annoyed by the choice of topics. That was because just about everyone Han had ever known was trying to squeeze something out of somebody else. And, of course, the better you knew someone, the easier it was to steal from them.

He was reasonably sure that Carol wasn’t trying to take something from him, though. She had perfectly good leverage to do so after helping him home from the bar yesterday, but she hadn’t asked for a single thing. Besides that, he couldn’t explain why he felt this way, but she just didn’t seem like the type that was going stab him in the back later on, either.

Now, he had an awful track record of putting his trust in the wrong people, but that didn’t seem like a good reason to be unfriendly. So ... he figures he should at least try to cover some of the awkward silence.

“Are you out here traveling by yourself? Harrison seems like an awfully big ship for one person.”

[cheeseburgermarvel]

And on the flip side, Carol belonged to a group of essentially altruistic people. People (or synthezoids) who had gifts and used them to make the world a better place. Sure, she would occasionally come up against a deluded crazy who wanted to take over the world, but in general she was surrounded by good people.

That, and the fact that she had really everything she needed. She was even going to get some local data that she hadn't been expecting to get but was happy to take. There would be no reason to stab him in the back especially since he had so kindly offered up information that she needed.

"I am. Dropped some people off on the way, but I'm out here scouting alone. Harrison is a little big for one person, but he's a good ship and I kind of insisted. Also the room for more fuel and supplies means I don't have to stop as often."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

“Makes sense.”

She didn’t seem to need anyone else to run the ship. She didn’t need anybody to protect her. There wasn’t a reason that she needed to have other people accompanying her. It probably says something about Carol that she was willing to travel through space that was unknown to her alone.

The pair of them round another corner and Han brings them to a halt in front of a massive security door. Captain Solo didn’t typically spring for the cost of having his ship fully enclosed when it was docked somewhere, but in this case he hadn’t had much of a choice. All the open spaces that were anywhere near the civilized parts of the planet were occupied and he knew that he was going to be stuck doing some repair work.

He starts thumbing an access code into the hanger style door. A green indicator light blinks and the door recedes into the floor slowly. A modest freighter comes into view. It’s not the kind of ship that you could use to take large shipments of ... well, anything on board. It was the color of various shades of silvery metals and not very sleak looking. The cresent shaped vessel was powered down at the moment, but the ramp was lowered in anticipation of visitors.

[cheeseburgermarvel]

It might say something about her. It probably says even more that she hasn't thought of it like that. It's more the fact that she can fly out into space on a great ship and just explore. It's about as much freedom as a person like her can get without starting to feel guilty that they aren't at home defending their planet.

Carol waits a respectable few steps away from Han as he keys in the code to the hanger. When the door comes down she spies a ship that, admittedly, as not as fine looking as Harrison, but you can tell has some character. And besides, it's his.

"I like the shape," is the first thing that comes to mind. Hopefully it doesn't come off as condescending. Truth is she's never flown something crescent-shaped so she's kind of intrigued by the design.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

The Bria is objectively not as fine as Harrison. You didn’t need to be deeply familiar with the tech from their different ends of the galaxy to see it. You didn’t even really need to be much of a ship person, either.

Han’s ship had the look of a ship that was nearing the end of a lifespan of usefulness, though not especially old. More like ... it had been pushed to its limits for about fifteen or twenty standard years and it was showing its wear. There was a lot of fresh carbon scoring from laserblasts where it hadn’t been cleaned. It’s Corellian made, like the young captain himself, who still smiles a little bit at the sight of seeing his own ship docked somewhere.

“...” her reaction makes him pause, briefly. Not because Han thinks she’s being disingenuous, but because people are typically writing off the Bria instantly based upon her looks alone. He has to take a second to think past his usual defenses of his vessel and come up with something to say.

“It’s great for tilts and rolls. Someone in their sights sees a fat looking target one second, but a little tug on the controls and they’re missing you left and right.” Then he adds, “you can fit into some tight places too, if you know how to handle her.”

A beat. The young flyboy then notices the double entendre and almost bashfully glances away, scratching at the waves of his hair.

[cheeseburgermarvel]

Sure, the ship has certainly seen better days, but Carol would've been much more surprised to see a pristine ship. It doesn't matter what corner of the galaxy you go to - smuggling will give your ship a beating.

Carol catches the double entendre and can't help the small smirk that appears on her lips. He's proven that he can handle a woman and he's welcome to that one. She glances over at Han before taking a step closer and making a path to look under the wings. "That makes sense. How does she handle?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

The smuggler’s hazel eyes seem to flick back just in time to catch her glance. She doesn’t seem uncomfortable by the inuendo and it looks to him like she might even be amused by it. That’s a good sign, right? The kind of reaction that says she’s comfortable by the idea of being with him.

His still pondering that for a couple of seconds when he moves with Carol toward underbelly of the ship. There’s a particularly large hose on the ground that they’ll need to step over. “She’s very responsive, but not as fast as I’d like.”

[cheeseburgermarvel]

Carol is definitely amused. Innuendo and jokes are things she's better at emotionally processing than, say, if they should hold hands or not. But yes, definitely a good sign. She's discovering that she likes his company even outside the bedroom.

The hose is no big deal and she steps over it as such. Her eyes are busy roaming over the underbelly of the ship and taking in the technical details. She really can't help herself around a ship, especially when it's one she's personally unfamiliar with. "Mmmm. From age? Wear? Or just the design of the ship?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

“The design.” Han murmurs. “She just wasn’t meant to outrun the latest military starfighters.”

Which is a problem for a smuggler. You always hope for a well planned route and no run-ins with imperials or pirates, but sometimes it happens. If you can escape, then you don’t have to drop cargo,

“Oh. I just remembered.” Solo scampers back over the hose and starts climbing up one of the ‘legs’ of the ship. It’s a little dicey when he has to cling to the belly of the ship, but Han is surprisingly good at climbing across the Bria. A brief grunt escapes his lips when he pulls himself up the side. “If you wanted to see the droid brains, you need to come up here ...”

[cheeseburgermarvel]

"What if you got her a better engine?" she muses as she keeps her eyes on the ship. It was a hypothetical question because she figures that if he could afford one, he'd have it already. But it was out of curiosity that she asked it, not to make him feel bad.

Thankfully he's bringing up the droid brains and that's something that she really wants to see. Maybe there'd be something to that technically that could help back home. Or maybe the AI that Tony wrote was already better. She didn't know. But the more data the better.

"I definitely want to see those. Gimme a sec." Since they're alone and he's already kinda seen her fly, Carol simply floats out from under the ship and up the side. Why climb when you can fly?

[twelve_not_fourteen]

“Might help.” Han said. “Kind of an undertaking to replace a sub-light engine, though. Most of the time you’re better off just getting a new ship.”

With unlimited time and unlimited resources, you could do something like that. Han doesn’t really have an abundance of time or resources, much less both. As she had guessed already, if Captain Solo could have done something like that, he would have.

Alone is ... not exactly true, but there’s a good chance that Chewbacca didn’t see her while he was inside of the Bria. Han, meanwhile, has a very clear view of her effortlessly ignoring the pull of gravity as she rises up to meet him. Maybe he’d be mad about it, if he didn’t think it was such a cool thing to see. Plus if Han could have just flown to the roof of the ship, he certainly would have.

“Show off.” He says with a smile, before gesturing with a tip of his head where he wants her to walk.

[cheeseburgermarvel]

Well, she figured that Chewie might still be out getting the data pads. And if he wasn't, well, she had the sense that she would be seeing Han often enough that the Wookie would find out soon enough.

Carol sets down next to him, acknowledges the jab with a smile, and then starts walking in the direction he indicated. "Yeah, that makes sense. Might as well just hold off for that ship you're going to get off your friend." She did happen to remember some of their conversation from last night.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han walks them over to a portion of the hull that is recessed by an inch or so. Getting onto his knees, he gets to work on some very heavy duty latching mechanisms and after a moment, rolls back the panel to reveal three rectangular pieces of hardware that are as lifeless as the rest of the ship. Or they seem to be, anyway ...

“Hey guys. Say hello to Carol, will ya?”

At Captain Solo’s prompting, the brains begin to wake up. Parts of the mechanisms begin to pulse and glow in response - one blue, one green, and one orange. These are the same brains that power many of the astromech droids that she’s seen on this planet, though, the distinctive bodies of the droids are nowhere to be found.

As they wake, they immediately begin trying to talk over each other. The voice of blue is a cheerful whistle, the voice of green a sort of chittering type noise and the voice of orange is almost a kind of hum.

[cheeseburgermarvel]

Carol gives Han room to work, but she has to admit that she's a little curious and can't help peeking over his shoulder.

And at the first sight of the brains...well, it's a little underwhelming. Perhaps she was expecting them to actually look like brains. Perhaps she was expecting colors. It seems like Tony always makes the circuit boards of his robots fun.

But then, they start to wake up and light up and talk and Carol can't help the grin on her face. How is it possible that three pieces of metal are so...cute?

"Hi guys," she says, feeling a little weird talking to a stack of brains instead of the bodies they usually inhabit. Then to Han, "So they help make your ship fly better?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

They are awfully cute for little pieces of technology and surprising how much personality something with no body, that’s interfaced into the interior of a starship can have. It only takes a few seconds to pick up on the fact that blue is the most pleasant, orange has a lot to say and green is more reserved than his two partners.

“One at a time.” Han grumps, frowning down at the ‘droids’ without a particularly good cause.

The voice of green replies by imitating the sound of a blowing a raspberry at Captain Solo the best that it can.

“I heard that.” He says, his lips almost settling into a frown before he gets distracted by a voice that he likes much better. “Yeah, they do. They’re good for interpreting data from the systems on the ship quickly and alterting you to what’s important ... most of the time. Sometimes these three distract each other, though.”