Along Came a Spider ...
Mar. 30th, 2016 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Were Han another kind of man, he might be concerned that "the plaza" is not all that specific of a meet up point. The thing is, he has all types of rendezvous with people where he comes from that are planned only in light details. Sometimes on even less than what he and Nat agreed upon yesterday. At least he got a time in this case.
One of the few instances where the Captain puts faith in something beyond himself ... when two people are meant to find each other, they do. And when they aren't meant to, they won't. A lot of bitter pills of all kinds were swallowed in learning that particular lesson, but it's one he knows to be true.
She said she would be there. With the strange qualifier that she might be busy needing to 'save the world'. Something he didn't really know how to interpret truth be told - a joke maybe? Hard to tell when nearly all the things she says comes in that difficult to discern tone. Even then, she said she would find him later.
That makes him generally more optimistic that he'll see her here, then not.
Han is trying to look casual, while leaning on the outside of one of the shops in the plaza. His eyes weaving though the crowd looking for that person he found drifting in and out of his thoughts ... like wisps of smoke since he met her.
One of the few instances where the Captain puts faith in something beyond himself ... when two people are meant to find each other, they do. And when they aren't meant to, they won't. A lot of bitter pills of all kinds were swallowed in learning that particular lesson, but it's one he knows to be true.
She said she would be there. With the strange qualifier that she might be busy needing to 'save the world'. Something he didn't really know how to interpret truth be told - a joke maybe? Hard to tell when nearly all the things she says comes in that difficult to discern tone. Even then, she said she would find him later.
That makes him generally more optimistic that he'll see her here, then not.
Han is trying to look casual, while leaning on the outside of one of the shops in the plaza. His eyes weaving though the crowd looking for that person he found drifting in and out of his thoughts ... like wisps of smoke since he met her.
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Date: 2016-04-10 09:09 pm (UTC)It's because of Banner that Natasha is housing Chris. Is protecting him. And it's because of him that she doesn't write off Han Solo just because she doesn't see a fighter in him. Rather, that she doesn't and he doesn't seem to be afraid of her despite that makes her want to tease him all the more.
There isn't enough history between them for her to think much more about it than that as of yet. But she is thinking about it, whether Han realizes it or not.
"My earth bullets?" Natasha quirks the corner of her mouth up. "Honey, you haven't seen my Earth bullets. Nothing stands in their way." He doesn't mean it like that, and she knows it. "You want to hit up the shooting range when we're done here? Have a friendly competition?" She may not be Hawkeye but she's trained with him for years.
What she doesn't tease him about is his choice of phones. She could--lord knows she could think of a million snarky comments about it. But she remembers seeing the design of the Falcon and its interior. Knows how his tech looks. Why wouldn't he want a phone that is somewhat familiar to the way he thinks?
"That one's good too." She sets the smooth touchscreen phone down that she was holding and moves over to inspect it. "Gotta be careful with it. More buttons means more things that can break. Still, it seems pretty...you. I can still teach you how to use that."
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Date: 2016-04-10 11:47 pm (UTC)As for the phone choice, he likes to have things to push, okay? Have you seen how many triggers, levers and switches there are in his ship? And that's ignoring the way he pushes people.
At least he didn't go for the Razar."They all seem alright as far as I can tell. I'm willing to put my cellular future in your hands though, Nat."
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Date: 2016-04-11 12:19 am (UTC)She doesn't explain right away, plucking the Blackberry out of his fingers and sashaying over to the cashier to pay for the phone like she had with their breakfast earlier.
"They all get the job done, one way or another. I think you'll like this, and once you're used to it I'll help you find an upgrade when you need one." She tucks her hair behind her ear as she looks back over her shoulder at him before handing over the box his actual phone comes in. The demo isn't really for buying after all.
"You have your piece on you? If not I can lend you one of mine. Lord knows I have enough." She heads for the door, holding it open for Han to follow after her. "But first, I should show you how to use this."
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Date: 2016-04-11 01:08 am (UTC)And with all the paying for stuff she's been doing for him today, he figures he should do something nice for her. Probably he'll try when she's not expecting it. She might even let him get away with it if she doesn't see it coming.
The box is accepted, but before he can thank her, she gets to asking him if he's packing. Which will get her an 'are you serious' look. Yes, he's wearing his DL-44. It's on his thigh. He's always got it on him unless he knows he's going somewhere that weapons aren't permitted.
In which case, he brings a less favored blaster and usually something he's tried to conceal. Depends on the situation.
"Sure," he says as he follows her out the door, "I suppose we should probably go somewhere quiet where you can teach and I wont be as distracted."
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Date: 2016-04-11 01:57 am (UTC)"Or is this another 'subtle' attempt to invite me back to your ship, Captain Solo?"
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Date: 2016-04-11 02:21 am (UTC)He's not sure how else to describe her outfit and the concept of superhero still hasn't been especially well explained to him. He's not even sure that Natasha qualifies. Does she have powers? Are powers needed? It's all a little grey for him.
"If I'm being perfectly honest, it's hard for me to imagine anything between us happening that's not completely on your terms." For better or for worse. "If I thought dragging you to my cave and clubbing your inhibitions away with booze was actually going to work, I'd say 'yes'."
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Date: 2016-04-11 12:51 pm (UTC)If she wanted to go truly unnoticed she'd do so in a different outfit.
"...And clever. I like that." She nods along with Han's observations. "And that doesn't bother you any?" Natasha is genuinely curious on that front, but she still arches her eyebrow as though she may be teasing.
It won't take very long at all to find an empty couch in the Plaza where Natasha can take a seat and begin unpackaging the phone and it's various booklets.
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Date: 2016-04-11 01:23 pm (UTC)"Does it bother me?" He says out loud. You can practically see the thoughts tumbling around in his head while he thinks about the question. Funny that someone who is a stone face at the card table can be so expressive otherwise.
"I think on some level if you're a decent guy, it's always that way." He says after a moment. "We can flirt and suggest all we want, but ..." His voice trails off. The rest doesn't need to be said. Trying to force yourself on anyone is just wrong.
And possibly suicidal if you try it on someone like Ms. Romanov.
Anyway Solo takes a second to decide in his mind what is socially appropriate distance to sit from Nat on the couch given how long they've know each other. And then sits a little bit closer than that. Because Scoundrel.
"I admire your strength."
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Date: 2016-04-11 01:44 pm (UTC)"And I..." She draws the word out, giving the captain a once over from head to toe at his distance apart from her when she has everything removed from its packaging, "admire your guts. Here's the phone. Are you going to bother reading any of the manuals if I give them to you?"
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Date: 2016-04-11 02:05 pm (UTC)His ace in the hole is Chris. It's possible that if he feels like he needs to know something important about her, he could find out from him, but that's an option he's very cautious about using. He could stand to make people he cares about hurt or angry at him if he missteps there.
"Not anytime soon." He admits. "I actually do tend to read manuals for things on long trips, but since I'm not likely to go on one of those anytime soon ... I figure I'll mostly have this phone thing sorted before that point."
Not to mention plenty of people around him who are experts to call upon for guidance.
"Tell me something." He says as his eyes narrow in thought. "But be as sparse in detail as possible. Are you impressed with my guts because of what's going on right now or because of something that I might do someday?"
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Date: 2016-04-11 04:53 pm (UTC)The question he poses next makes Natasha pause. She gives him a long, scrutinizing look, before shaking her head.
"There would be no point in admiring your guts for something you've never done. This You may never do the things people have heard in stories. You should only be judged by what you choose to do in the here and now, not what some version of you may or may not have done."
It's something she's given a lot of thought since meeting an alternate version of her most trusted friend and learning how different he is. She can't assume Han will ever make his fateful trip across the galaxy, helping drive back the Empire. Not if he's here.
Even if he wasn't. Alternate realities are a bitch.
"I admire your guts for not being afraid of me." She clarifies slowly, her eyes narrowed in kind.
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Date: 2016-04-11 06:04 pm (UTC)That said, people are doing it anyway. And he knows it because people who have never been to his galaxy recognize his ship and look at it with awe. Or they come up with a certain respect that he doesn't get at home where he actually deserves the recognition.
Those are just the subtle ways. That doesn't include when people smack into his fourth wall entirely.
"I'm wary of you." He says after shaking multiverse concerns out of his head. And he's sure that it's a matter of time before he goes too far and he will end up with bruises to show for it, but ...
"I'm not afraid though."
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Date: 2016-04-11 07:48 pm (UTC)She shakes her head. It's frustrating, but the confusion offers her a different kind of concealment if she tries hard enough to work the angles.
"You should be. Widows bite, after all." He has no idea. "That's why I like your guts. Not many people say that about me."
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Date: 2016-04-11 08:09 pm (UTC)"And even if you do." He says with a slight wave of his hand. "I know you're hoping I'm not like other men."
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Date: 2016-04-11 10:08 pm (UTC)She's been on the receiving end. She's not a fan.
"I'm hoping you're as interesting as you make yourself out to be."
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Date: 2016-04-11 10:46 pm (UTC)Maybe he got a little to assertive there, but he doesn't take back anything he says. He's pretty sure that she doesn't want everyone to be afraid of her. Who in their right mind would? And he's pretty sure he's not like most men. In an interesting way.
So far she doesn't seem especially bored with him. So far, they've been making excuses to spend more time together than not over the last two days. He should be somewhat confident.
Don't back down, Solo, but ... it's probably time to be careful how much you push.
He picks himself up from the couch and adjusts himself so that he can lean in - elbows to the knees - to see what he might learn about this phone, without completely being in her personal space. Just ... a little bit. He glances over into the box she's still got.
"So it looks like there's a battery that goes in there and a charger." He might have to set himself with a small generator so he has something to plug those two and three pronged devices into, but he can figure that out without her.
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Date: 2016-04-11 11:06 pm (UTC)Her smile isn't as genuine as it had been for that brief moment in the diner, but it's still there. Persistent and amused.
"Yeah. Don't mess with the battery if you can help it, just leave it in there. Opening the case is just inviting crud to get in. This cord has an adapter on one end that plugs into a wall socket, or into a computer or charge station by pulling out the USB plug from the adapter."
She points to each object as it gets named, so that Han can follow along with her explanation easier.
"Depending on the model, it takes a few hours to charge fully. It's pretty common for people to just plug their phones in when they go to sleep at night."
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Date: 2016-04-12 02:01 am (UTC)Secondly, for a number of different reasons, his sexual conquests rarely happen in the Falcon. Generally, the woman in question would need to be awfully special to him to make the exception.
Thirdly, he ain't playing a game with her. His actions might have him falling on his face with her, but they're real to him. He'd love to get through that tough shell of hers, so he could be a little more of himself around her too.
As it is, he doesn't know her reactions have that ... hollowness to them, because she's better at lying with her actions than he is at seeing through them. Something tells him he mistepped somewhere, though. He can feel it. But he can't read her thoughts and he can't control her actions either.
Jesus Nat, this guy with a computer?! Not anytime soon"That seems straight forward enough." He says pursing his lips in thought. "Is it charged enough for us to turn it on now?"
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Date: 2016-04-12 02:09 am (UTC)But it also means she doesn't realize it's not a game. Perhaps it's Natasha who missteps. When he doesn't call her out or step up his game, Natasha watches him for several long seconds before she nods and returns to the task at hand.
"Yeah. This button here is the master power button. You don't generally need to turn it on and off, they'll go into a standby mode automatically if left alone for a specified period of time. But if it dies or locks up and you need to reboot, here's where you do it."
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Date: 2016-04-12 02:27 am (UTC)You can't just meet another girl like this one at a bar somewhere. She's a pure sabacc.
"Turn it off and turn it on." He says with a nod. "That's easy to remember, it's usually where you need to start to try and fix anything."
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Date: 2016-04-12 01:17 pm (UTC)Natasha shrugs and gives the phone to Han to allow him to start getting a feel for the device. Walking him through the various menus is pretty self explanatory. Most importantly the contacts, where she puts her own number in for him.
The names make the phone pretty user friendly in terms of 'what is this, what does it do', though she takes care to explain things like wifi to Han as succinctly as possible.
"...Any questions?"
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Date: 2016-04-12 01:41 pm (UTC)Whoops.
Anyway, Han is a patient listener and generally he picks up things very well if he has even a little bit of aptitude in the matter at hand. He's not ever going to be a gadget expert, but he understands a lot of tech, so ... the phone isn't so bad. Wifi and the idea of the internet is a little bit confusing. That he'll probably need to go over a few times, either with her or one of his 'little brothers', but those concepts are into more ancillary uses of the phone anyhow.
"No." He says, shaking his head. Solo wasn't shy about stopping her to ask for clarification when he needed to either. "I think I've got most of it."
Han goes into the contact list. Not a lot of scrolling to do because so far, it's just the one, and starts trying to text for the first time.
[Do you still want to shoot some stuff?]
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Date: 2016-04-12 07:54 pm (UTC)Especially Chris. Who has never not had his phone on him since the day he got it. Not once.
Natasha pulls out her own phone, a sleek black rectangle with a small red line accenting it and taps at the screen. Smiles. And then laughs.
"Sure, tiger. Follow me." This time Natasha doesn't just up and walk away, expecting Han to follow after. She waits and falls into step beside him, guiding the pilot out of the populated places in the Nexus. Through one of the trails in the parks on the edge of the Wilds and finally to an isolated spot with a small wooden shelter erected at one end of a clearing. On the other side several targets pockmarked with bullet holes and burns from other firearms stand. There's a little shelf with rolls of paper targets that can be placed overtop if people really want to compete over who's the better shot.
"I'm down here at least once a week with the kid." Natasha comments with a fond smile. She loves this place. The smell of it, the look.
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Date: 2016-04-12 08:35 pm (UTC)Regardless, he likes the fact they're getting out to somewhere more private. He knows he's not likely to ever open up too much to someone while he's in a public place and he suspects she's the same way.
"This looks like something you've set up yourself." Han says, regarding the set-up. Which probably makes it somewhat personal to her. The smile confirms a fondness even if she didn't take the time to construct it.
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Date: 2016-04-12 11:36 pm (UTC)She likes being here when no one else is.
For one, she doesn't have to worry about all that precaution and safety crap. It's important for a civilian but it really gets in her way. Nothing about a gun is safe. It's lethal. Dangerous. No matter how it tries to fit in to polite society.
Natasha understands the gun.
"These far enough back for you?!" She calls from down range, waving Han's way.
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