fulfilling a promised lesson on the fine art of blasting things ...

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Walking back to the Millennium Falcon through the Nexus has gotten a little bit easier each time.  The first time, it took him more than an hour to get back despite the fact that his ship has always been parked about a thousand yards away from a path that leads to the forum.  The shiftable nature of this place makes no walk to and from anywhere as straightforward as it seems, but you can get used to it.

 

For a while, he cleans up the areas that he thinks both he and Verity are likely to be in for a while - the cockpit and the lounge especially, but also near the entry ramp and the living quarters.

 

He did promise lessons on how to fly and in due course, he will get her into the sky with him ... but he's still doesn't have a ton of fuel yet and the priority was always teaching her how to use the blasters.  So he's pulled four weapons out of the storage lockers, completely disassembled them and cleaned them.  He also discharges all, but one, of the plasma magazines.

 

They get placed them on top of the holochess board, which, sadly, is among one of the biggest flat surfaces available to him on the YT-1300 and then, he takes a shower and slips into a light weight pair of pants.  It seems to take a long time for him to drift off in the small bunk that he's claimed for himself.  The sound of the winter wind skips across the surface of his ship and makes a low howling sort of sound.

 

This is one of the reasons it's always preferable to put your ship in a proper hanger, but, when you're Han Solo, you work with what you got.  After a few hours he wakes up, not knowing what time it is, until he opens the entry ramp and looks outside.

 

It seems too early for her to arrive.  The sun hasn't even reached the apex of it's path yet, so he decides to lay back down.  Leaving the ramp down for her to facilitate her letting herself in. 

Comments

[brave_heart_verity]

From what she's seen of people born in a 'good place' in life, she's pretty sure it sucks. The things they're insecure about and the things they go without might be different, but they're no happier.

Han's doing brilliantly with her so far. She's here, she's cooking for him, she's willing to hold his hand--she even felt safe enough to fall asleep. That's huge. The sort of thing to be celebrated, if it weren't likely to make them both embarrassed and uncomfortable to talk about it.

"Yeah," she admits with a little laugh, "everyone says so. It was just. That's all I knew for so long, sometimes I forget other people don't come from places with superpowers and things like that." But behind the laugh there's a little prick of pain. It isn't nice to speak ill of the dead.

"My point is, I'm not going to run away because someone else wants to label you as 'bad'."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

If she had pointed out that everyone she's ever known had died and maybe that wasn't the most sensitive of things to say, he probably would have felt a little bad.

As it is, he doesn't really know how to deal with reincarnated gods and people with magic powers, though. He just said the only thing he could think to say.

"When they inevitably want to shoot at me, it might be more of a concern."

[brave_heart_verity]

It's a tricky line to walk, wanting people to understand where she's fragile but not wanting to make them feel bad about it. Nobody's life prepares them for this sort of thing on such a scale.

"That's why you're going to teach me to shoot back, isn't it?" She gives his hand a gentle squeeze. It's hard to scare her away. It's very easy to scare her in general, but not into ditching a friend.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han's fingers squeeze back against hers. Not hard, just enough to let her know he noticed what she did and to return the gesture in kind.

"That's the idea." He says with a nod and a half smile. "It just seems like the kind of thing you wanna be up front with people about."

That's all he means by it. He certainly would be dissapointed if she were to change her mind, but, rather it be now than later if it was going to happen.

[brave_heart_verity]

"I appreciate that." She withdraws her hand after another squeeze so they can get back to the important business of their meal. "I'll be careful who I mention you around."

She knows those equations well, the ones people like them are always working through in their heads, trying to find the least painful path in life. The ones that say to push hard and fast against anyone trying to get close to weed out the unworthy. The ones that say it's easier if you never get attached.

"So what did you do?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Part of the problem is that he likes her. If he could bring himself not to care about her well being, there would be no dilemma at all. When the Falcon is ready to fly again, he already knows he's not going to want to leave her behind, but, he doesn't know if she'll be ready to go with him either.

Then what?

A question he'll figure out the answer to later, he supposes.

"What did I do when?" He's not exactly sure what she's asking him.

[brave_heart_verity]

A question they could figure out together, she hopes. He's not the only one who'll be wrestling with it.

"That lead to people saying these things about you." Carefully side-stepping any suggestion it's his own fault until she knows whether or not it is, in fact, his fault. "Did you say mean things about their mamas?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Ahh. The why do people want to shoot him question. It's a fair thing to ask.

"I think most of them are jealous of my charm and good looks, personally, but some of it is the work. You end up taking jobs for a lot of people who break laws and are easy to offend."

He starts opening the mac salad because it's still not giving him any answers and, because he thinks he should have some, even if his appetite started to leave him when his Trader's Luck days came up.

"Sometimes they expect the impossible."

[brave_heart_verity]

She hums thoughtfully and idly stirs her own cup of salad while he talks. "You'd think they'd have thicker skins, given the work they do. But I guess that's another thing that's multiversal. Jealousy and insecurity."

Yes, she'll totally buy that there are people who dislike him for being a bit of a smug bastard. Not everyone's going to find it as cute as she does.

"I'm glad they're lousy shots."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han was sort of kidding and sort of not about the charm and good looks. He does have a certain presence about him and it tends to draw people in more than it sets people off, but it's been known to do that too. It's kind of nice that it didn't seem to make her uncomfortable the way a lie would.

"That's something I'm glad for too." He says with a laugh. "If they all shot like me I'd be in trouble."

[brave_heart_verity]

She's been working on her sense of humor, and understanding the motives for the lie before reacting to it. Life is never going to be fair to her, but that doesn't mean she has to be a bitch to everybody all the time. People she likes get a pass.

"If they all shot like you, there'd be fewer of them to piss off in the first place, probably." And less of him to aim at, but she doesn't like to think about it.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Now that remark? Seems to catch him by surprise. She's not teasing, he doesn't think, just confident that he's as good as he says he is. Which takes him a little by surprise considering he hasn't had the chance to prove it yet.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you had confidence in me."

[brave_heart_verity]

Not teasing. He's learning, good.

"Then I guess you don't know better. You think I'd be here if I didn't have confidence in you?"

It's hard to tell, but the macaroni might be on her side in this one.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Macaroni you were supposed to be an independent party. Macaroni we trusted you.

At this point in his life? Han is very confident in his marksmanship and only semi-confident in piloting. A few more years of doing both will see that confidence grow even more, though, only for a while. Then he'll begin to notice that some people are just blessed in ways he can't keep up with, smooth as this Corellian gunslinger is.

It will teach him the value of fighting smarter and not harder, in time.

"I guess not, but all you have to go on is my word, Verity." Han pokes at his own traitorous macaroni salad with a fork. "By the way, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

[brave_heart_verity]

Macaroni don't care. It does what it wants!

The day we stop getting better is the day we start dying. Neither of them is ready for that just yet.

"I know it's true," she reminds him with a hint of a smile. She knows when he believes his own hype, and he doesn't seem the sort to fool himself about these things. "What is it?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han tucks his tongue against his teeth, while smiling somewhat ruefully. As if he was amused with himself for what he's about to ask.

"The pink isn't natural, is it?"

He figures it's not, but you know. Things were kinda weird where she comes from. He takes his first bite of the salad while he awaits her reply.

[brave_heart_verity]

She blinks, then she laughs and shakes her head. "No, no. It's an entirely unnecessary vanity, I know, but I like it."

But he's not all wrong. Mutants came in all sorts of colors, shapes, furs and feathers. She always thought they were beautiful.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Yeah, he figured as much when he saw that picture on her glowing rectangle. The one of her and the dark haired guy. She seemed to have a different color hair in that one, as he recalls. Though, that could have been the dye job. How would he know for sure?

"I can't imagine it different than this." He says, honestly. "The color suits you."

Hey, there are all kind of humanoids where he comes from with features far more peculiar (to someone unaccustomed) than pink hair.

[brave_heart_verity]

Such are the vague mysteries of woman: her plumage changes on a whim and without warning.

"Aw, thank you. I like it too." She changes it up sometimes, but she keeps going back to pink. It makes her happy. "Do people do silly things like this where you're from?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han takes a few more bite of the side salad before replacing the lid on it. It wasn't his favorite of the things she made so far, but it wasn't like he rejected it either. It still tastes better than a lot of what he comes up with when left to his own devices.

"Silly things?" He says. "You mean compliments? We give those to pretty women where I'm from too. I think that's fairly universal."

[brave_heart_verity]

They can't all be winners. And it still helps her learn about what he likes. There's fruit if he wants some, but she's going to finish her salad because she thinks it's yummy.

Is he teasing her now? She thinks he's teasing her now. He's getting a smirk for it. "I meant dyeing your hair silly colors. The compliments I could guess, since you're so good at it."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He will thank her someday, when he realizes that some women really do expect that the men they cook for will like everything they prepare. That she's okay with him not is pretty cool. Even if he doesn't realize it yet.

"Hair dying isn't in style in most places among humans." He says with a shrug. "Bored, rich people and the occasional person trying to set themselves apart. Where I'm from though, we have aliens that stand out far more than a person with bright hair."

[brave_heart_verity]

She'd only be upset if he asked for something then refused to eat it after she made it. Otherwise, it's a guessing game, and she knows the odds.

"I suppose that would make it more difficult to stand out in a purely aesthetic manner," she agrees thoughtfully. "The shifting standards of beauty must be interesting to navigate." Careful or she'll go all social archeologist trying to learn about his culture. She might be able to pull off the hat, but nobody wants to give her a whip except for other reasons.

Inddddddyyy. XD

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I'm hardly well versed on the latest trends."

He says as he reaches for an orange. He knows there's fruit in the middle, beyond the peel, because he's seen them be used for drink garnishes at the bars he been in.

Still, it's probably going to be amusing, watching him peel his first orange. Enjoy the show, Ver.

"I think what makes it difficult about keeping up where I'm from is the sheer number of planets. How's anyone supposed to keep up with all of that?"

It had to be done.

[brave_heart_verity]

She'll enjoy the show until he starts looking really frustrated. Or until she finishes her salad and picks up her own little orange to peel. She's got the nails for it.

"I have no idea. I had a hard enough time keeping track of what was acceptably trendy in the city I grew up in. But being trendy or not isn't so important really. Not unless it's what you choose to focus on. I just find what I like and wear a lot of it." Like stripes. She has a mad love for stripes.