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

[twelve_not_fourteen]

The words and turns of phrase unique to his universe are fun and the idea of culturemeshing certainly isn't new for him. They've got a nice exchange going on here.

"Back on top of the ship." He says without hesitation.

In particular, the ability to move about and change your view is nice, but it's pretty cold out and bound to get colder while the sun goes down - he does have the means to combat that somewhat, though.

"Though the cockpit is an option. It would be warmer."

[brave_heart_verity]

The exchange rate is equitable and there's always a demand for the supply. Their friendship has a sustainable economic model.

"I can brave the cold if you can. And we can come back in when we're tired of it." It's not like they've been sentenced to death by freezing. "I should have brought some cocoa mix. Next time for sure."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Hot coco will be interesting for Han. You might have to taper off that sweet with a little bit of spice or bitter, Ver. Sweet is very iffy for Captain Solo and it overwhelms him pretty fast.

"Oh, I'm game if you are, sweetheart." He says with a lopsided smile. "We'll get some blankets and heating elements and make a real experience out of it."

[brave_heart_verity]

Good cocoa has some bitter behind the sweet. And for spice, maybe Mexican hot chocolate? He might like that.

She grins up at him. "Sounds nice. Like winter camping, but less crazy. I'll get my coat, then I'll help you carry things up."

And then she'll do just that.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han nods. It sounds like a perfectly acceptable spur of the moment plan to him. He's certainly come up with a lot screwier. Will continue to come up with plans that are screwier. What we're saying is Han's schemes are a little absurd, but they tend to work surprisingly well.

Anyway, Han goes to one of the storage bays and grabs two golden yellow rods the size of his forearm as well as a pile of blankets for the pair of them. It's good that he wants to help because he's not going to be able to haul that up by himself and open the door in one trip. She'll find him at the bottom of the ladder to the access hatch they used earlier, getting on his coat again.

[brave_heart_verity]

Curse whoever designed the human body with only two hands. Three or four would be so much, well, handier.

While he puts on his coat she'll glance up at the hatch. She figures she could get it open, but he's got longer arms so it'd be easier for him to reach back for things. Then she looks down at the supplies he's gathered and points to the rods. "What're these?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Nothoiin heat lamps." The smuggler says. Though they probably don't look like lamps to her. If anything they work and act kind of like earth glow sticks, but they also generate warmth as well as light.

With his coat on, Han goes up to the hatch to open it and does reach back for her to hand him some stuff when he has it open.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Nothoiin heat lamps. Hmm." She remains curious. No, they don't look like lamps to her and she can't see any heating elements. It will have to remain a mystery a little longer. They get handed up first, then she tosses up the blankets (If he catches them, great; if not, she'll laugh and try again until it works.), then finally she follows him up the ladder.

Oh geez it's colder than she remembered. She can handle it, but, it'd be easier if she weren't scared to do magic around him.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

As long as he sees her throw it first and it's reasonably close to his hands, Han will catch what she's throwing to him. In this case, he maintains control of the blankets she's tossed to him.

With him being up on the roof first, he'll get to spreading out the first blanket and igniting the first of the 'lamps', by taking it into both hands and forcefully driving it against his bent knee like a kid breaking a dry stick. It bends, but doesn't crack and begins casting a yellow light that glows a bit brighter as he shakes the tube. He doesn't handle it long though, because it's already starting to get warm.

[brave_heart_verity]

She pops her head up just in time to see how he gets the heaters working. "Oooh. It's a chemical reaction. Neat." Science is yay.

Once she's up and out she takes a moment to tug her coat back into place. "Want me to close the hatch?" Either way, once it's dealt with, she's going to curl up on that blanket near the heater and wait for him to join her.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Science, ftw.

"Yeah, do that." He murmurs as he gets the other lamp going, the same way as he did before.

Once each are ignited he sets them to the left and to the right of their base blanket and they do a reasonably good job of sheltering them from the cold. When you add the other blankets together they probably won't even need magic on top of everything else.

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity's getting the feeling he's trying to spoil her or show off again. Or both. (Both is usually an option in her opinion.) She's not sure if she should be encouraging it if that's the case, or even accepting it. But it's so nice.

"Cozy. Thank you." She's been hugging one of the blankets to try and keep it from getting cold while he was setting up the lamps; once he sits down she leans over to wrap it around him. "You're right, this is a much better view."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Simple and sweet as the gesture is, Han finds himself trying to remember a point where someone covered him with a blanket and he literally can't remember a time when someone has. Perhaps Bria maybe, but, they really didn't ...

Anyway, it doesn't matter. It didn't happen very often for him, if ever, is the main point.

"Thanks." He says with a slight smile settling in. "It is. It's just high enough off the ground to get a nice look at the horizon out here."

[brave_heart_verity]

Kindness, she has learned, begets kindness. They both could use more of it in their lives, and it's not hard to get the cycle started. Once he's got the blanket in hand she backs off, drawing her legs up to her chest and draping her own blanket around them. Her knees make a convenient place to rest her chin.

"You're a man who's always looking for the horizon, I think." The remark is made quietly so he can pretend he didn't hear her. Not everyone likes being seen so clearly.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han adopts a cross legged position and decides to leave the ball in her court in terms of how close she wants to get to him. She is the one that seems to be a little more sensitive to touch than he is, after all. He is not trying to move away from her though and in fact, he watches her settle in quite closely.

"No." He says, shaking his head against her observation. "More often I'm looking for the stars."

Splitting hairs there, aren't you Solo? He is aware that both of their metaphors mean the same thing.

[brave_heart_verity]

"It's the same thing to me," she points out. "What are you looking for, in your stars?" His stars. His home. She knows where he belongs.

A tilt of her head lets her watch him out of the corner of her eye. She's not wary, but she's not quite relaxed enough around him to not want to keep track of where he is. Not for any particular reason, just, reasons. The way she's considering his posture may be because she's considering a cuddle to keep them both warm.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Well when I'm here, I'm looking for my stars."

She's absolutely right. He's looking for home. He knows what his sky is supposed look like and these stars are distorted and wrong.

"I guess when I'm at home, I'm just thinking about the next stop."

Han will stop looking at her then. He's getting the impression that it's making her self concious when all he was really trying to figure out what was the right boundaries to draw between them.

[brave_heart_verity]

The stars are wrong for her, too. Not that she saw much of them before, but, there's a deep-seated feeling of just plain wrongness when she looks at them.

But they're beautiful. There were no auroras back home.

She considers his answer for a moment and the way he's looked away. Then she shifts closer to him, tucking her feet to the side so they could cuddle if he wants to. "That's very practical." Her tone suggests the 'I'm sorry' she doesn't quite say.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Hah, you're so getting put under his wing if you get within arms reach, sweetheart. He doesn't even hesitate once he feels you get in close. It's open season.

He actually has only glanced occasionally the the nexus stars. Just long enough to decide they put him off because they aren't like his. Maybe tonight, now that he's passed the initial shock of it, he can appreciate them for what they are. But, they're not showing all that well, yet, because we still have a sunset to watch first.

"I don't get accused of that very often."

[brave_heart_verity]

That is exactly what she was hoping for, so hah right back. She burrows in under his blanket and wraps hers around him too. Much, much warmer this way. Her head might not quite reach his shoulder, but that's okay. One blanket can go behind her head and the other one can get tucked under her chin so she can still see the view.

"No? Well. I do have a pretty weird perspective."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Everybody knows body heat is the best way to stay warm when it's cold out. Though, you might wanna be careful about how close you let this scoundrel to you, Verity. He's admitted he likes you.

"No." He says with a little bit of a chuckle. "Not usually."

"But you're perspective has been pretty good to me so far, so I'm not gonna question it."

[brave_heart_verity]

Best and coziest, which makes it extra best. And yes, she should be careful. But this is perfectly within the bounds of friendship, as far as she knows. She's... well. Asgardians have different standards. If he ever saw her and Loki together...

She hums softly at that, pleased with the answer and its ramifications for their friendship. "I can live with that."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He's not Asgardian though. Not at all. Not even a little. This Correllian knows that there's something between them and becoming more than friends for now, but the more she does things like curl up to him and play with his hair ... the more he's gonna he's gonna think that maybe there isn't.

His takes a deep breath in and holds the cold air into his lungs for a moment. It feels good sometime to take in those big breaths once in a while and he has to admit the air around here is nice.

"What do you want, Ver?" He asks, curious to know what her answer will be with no context. Though he's asking with the thought life plans and general long term goals.

[brave_heart_verity]

Nobody promised being her friend would be easy.

Ver doesn't answer immediately. The question's been on her mind more than a little, but that doesn't mean she's any closer to knowing the answer. Well. An answer she's willing to say out loud; that's also a consideration. The careful social calculus of sorting out how much is too much information.

"To find someplace to belong again." That's reasonable, right? It doesn't make her sound too pathetic, it isn't too depressing. She hopes.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

No. Not to pathetic or depressing. Considering her position, he expect his own answer in her place, would be about the same. He might be giving her a little bit of an extra squeeze when he hears it, though.

"Makes sense."