bottleneck | ▌│█║▌║▌║ open post ║▌║▌║█│▌

[ she's getting better at tracking him, having spent a night where he was dead asleep and she too restless for slumber mapping out the various aspects of his presence in the force and committing them to memory. but when she winds the corner within this seedy corellian dive, the han she finds is not the one she was looking for.

leia stands wide eyed, staring openly at the younger, ganglier smuggler standing with some redhead at his side and chewbacca nowhere in sight. she knew that han already existed in this time, but he was supposed to be nine not--

what the hell was going on? ]

Edited 2015-08-10 04:19 (UTC)

[ the man she sees, the boy, is definitely han. whatever she senses of him in the force is still him, only less beaten down and packed in. he and bria have just arrived, anxious but hopeful, going over their ambitious plans for the future.

bria notices leia first, and once it's pointed out to han that there's a woman staring at him he tenses. she doesn't look like a bounty hunter, or like someone that would take up with shrike, but that doesn't mean she isn't. maybe she's some undercover security or something...

from behind her, a wave of the other han, the squashed one, crashes into her and starts tugging her arm toward the door. ]

We're going, now. Hurry up.

[ this isn't the coruscant he woke up on this morning, which means there are heaps more complications than the last time this happened to them. one of which is staring at them like they've grown extra heads. ]

[ han's urgency spikes in the force, but she's having difficulty discerning which han in belongs to. was it the han currently tugging on her arm or the one subtly reaching for his blaster? reaching in a way that wouldn't be noticeable if leia wasn't familiar with every little nuance of han solo's character. ]

What is--?

[ she wrenches her arm out of his grasp and moves forward. han's dual presence is making feeling her way through the force like trying to wade through mud, and she doesn't seem to notice that the lightsaber hanging openly at her hip is drawing attention from some of the other bar crawlers. ]

[ the boy turns, hand firmly on the blaster at his side, ready to draw when he sees the lightsaber on her hip. which just adds to the confusion, because the man that's with her looks like him. a more striking resemblance than even the one he shared with thrackan, and he hates that he doesn't know what this means. beside him, bria takes his arm in both her hands as if she can keep him from doing something stupid.

still, he manages to take a few steps forward with the redhead trailing a step behind him. ]

Listen, lady, I don't want any trouble.

[ behind her, the man is still trying to pull leia out the door and then probably down a few levels. or up, depending on how many credits he has on him. anywhere that isn't right here in this moment, because this is bad and it's only going to get worse. to the growing group (that is getting more attention than he likes) he says: ] Good, we aren't looking for any. Right? We were just leaving. [ the last bit is pointed directly at leia.

beside the boy, the girl whispers "he sounds like you, too," as she stares at him. in turn, the patrons of the bar stare at all of them, though most are doing it over their drinks and for a lack of any better entertainment. ]

[ if there's such a thing as force-confusion, leia's found herself stuck in the thick of it. two hans, two mirrored presences too close in proximity for her comfort, two sets of strong feelings directed at... leia's gaze lands on bria, sharp and critical.

and then the younger han speaks and leia struggles to say something -- anything -- unsure of which han she needs to be yelling at for calling her "lady" of all things. which leaves her standing there somewhat dumbstruck, rooted to the spot as she, once again, refuses to obey the elder han's insistence that they leave. ]

And who the kest are you? [ the boy is pulling against the hands on his arm, but they hold fast. she's as aware as the man is that this isn't going well. ]

Nobody, kid. [ han turns to leia, changing tactics to put his arm around her shoulders and physically begin moving her toward the door. they need to be gone, now. ]

Leia.

[ it's a soft admission, even if the boy was likely asking the man for his and the princess for hers. not that she looks anything like a princess right now, having grown used to walking around looking like a jedi on a mission when needed be. people tended to leave her (them) alone once they saw that lightsaber on her hip, but the attention she's attracting seems to say that "jedi business" isn't an excuse that will work in... wherever it is they are.

or was it whenever? leia honestly didn't know anymore.

the only thing that stops her from stepping closer to the younger han and that woman was the arm around her shoulders. and although she looks back at the pair, han would've succeeded in getting her to the door if not for the man who drew a blaster on the bith he was arguing with.

leia steps out of han's grasp and has her lightsaber in hand before she has time to think about doing it, the green blade illuminating the otherwise dimly lit bar. people scatter -- some run, others merely step back -- but all eyes are now on the girl who just openly marked herself as jedi. ]

[ sith spit. behind them, the boy and the girl stare along with the rest of the bar. it's a jedi. he thought they'd all died in the clone wars, but this one must've...

the older han draws his own blaster and shoots, disarming the one pointing a pistol at the bith, and goes back to practically shoving leia out the doorway. ] Turn that off before you get us both killed!

[ a stun bolt whizzes past their heads, then. someone here wants the empire's bounty on any remaining jedi, dead or alive. it's followed by the sound of another blaster firing and the boy and girl are joining the effort to get out the door before the stormtroopers arrive, blasters drawn and held at their hips. ]

[ the heat of blaster fire draws leia back into herself, her senses directed elsewhere and not at the dual hans. she whips the lightsaber around, deflecting a bolt off the blade that was heading for the older han's head. ]

Do you want me to turn it off now? [ with a swing, she sends another bolt flying back at the aqualish that fired it. ] I turn it off and you'll probably wind up losing one of your heads!

[ from confused to livid in two-point-three seconds flat. ]

One of my--? [ no, there isn't time to figure out all those implications. too much is going on. the bar has erupted into chaos, with the younger han and bria (and the older version is still taken aback almost more by her than himself, this version before everything had been so terrible) firing back to cover them.

frustrated he turns to fire and then gets back to shoving her out the door. at least outside they can get lost in a crowd, or, you know. run. fast. and away. even the younger han is shouting for them to move, to get out.

so much for optimism. ]

[ battle instincts kick in and leia's soon ordering both hans and bria to follow her. she doesn't know where she's going, but there are people approaching from one direction and not the other. it's not until all four of them are safely behind the closed doors of storeroom does leia finally deactivate her lightsaber.

the hand that's not still gripping the pummel lands on the elder han's arm. ] I need a second. This is... The Force is hazy.

[ luke would understand what she meant, but luke isn't here-- and leia grips han's arm tight as she fights back against the urge to search for him, reigning herself in and focusing on battening down her mental hatches instead. ]

[ a lot more than the force is hazy right now, and han will take her cutting off circulation in his arm to any more blaster fire. his free hand cups her face, tilts it towards him. ]

Stay with me, Leia, okay? I need you here... [ not off in some force-induced haze. or another time, separate from him again. he's not sure he'd be able to handle that.

but they're backed into a corner, now, and the younger han is muttering to bria about what are they going to do to get out of this, and why does that guy look so much like him? they must be related, closely, but he has no idea how or why. if the other man knows it or is as confused as he is, and he seems a little preoccupied with his girl so it's not like he'll be forthcoming with answers yet. ]

I'm trying, [ she insists, but the truth of the matter is that she's still vastly untrained, a jedi novice that's been relying heavily on sheer instinct and following the leads of her brother, father, and obi-wan in lieu of all the training she's yet to receive. she only half knows what she's doing, and that's why she can't quite stop herself from reaching out and trying to find--

her eyes go wide, and she drops the hilt of her lightsaber in favor grabbing a handful of han's shirt. ]

He's not there. I can't find him. He's not there!

What, Luke?

[ the younger pair, confused and more than a little disturbed, turn to cover the door while whatever this is goes on behind them.

the older han drops his blaster (likely a bad idea) and cups leia's face in both his hands now. ] He wasn't around at first last time, remember? He'll catch up. Just breathe. Please, sweetheart, you've gotta stay with me so we can get out of this.

[ he's never seen her like this, and it pushes his own anxiety about the situation a little closer to panic. the closest was that night on endor, the way she had crumpled on that bridge when luke left. saying luke will be back, as if he's tagging along behind, is the only comfort he can think to give. ]

And what if he doesn't?

[ it's an old fear, one that she had comforted herself with the knowledge that it was her and her alone stuck in the mess she was before; a void that was filled by surprisingly steady presence of the father she never knew, a man she's hesitant to reach for in the here and now as her mind catches up to the signs around her.

leia breathes in, rough and deep, hands coming up to circle han's wrists. ]

Don't freak out. I'm going to try something.

[ he's not force-sensitive, so she doesn't know if this will work or not, but she's desperate to ground herself before she becomes lost in the haze of the force or sucked into the void the absence of luke's presence has left.

stretching out through the force, she finds that presence that's distinctly her han's, the one bright and full of love and concern for her (and not whoever that woman is with the younger one). she grabs hold of it, enveloping herself in the warmth of its security. it's unconventional, but the more leia wraps herself around han's presence in the force, the steadier her breathing grows -- the clearer her mind becomes. ]

Princess, that is the exact wrong thing to say at a time like this.

[ it makes him think something is going to explode, or fly around the room while she meditates or something. he's not entirely sure that's not what will be on the agenda until he feels that strange sensation, like a softer echo of the stunt luke pulled on bakura, quashing his jealousy like a cool hand against it.

still incredibly uncomfortable, but han trusts leia, and han trusts that she's not doing anything to him. just... with him? with something, that's for sure. so, he sits still and he watches her.

behind them, the younger han and bria watch. he had felt the brush of whatever this was like some stranger version of t'landa till exultation, and from the look on her face bria felt it too before leia pulled it back to focus on the man kneeling beside her. ]

[ nothing flies off the wall, explodes, or implodes -- there's only leia, easing herself into a state of calm where she's able to think clearly and doesn't feel like she's being pulled in different directions by the two hans. she can still feel the younger one on the edge of her consciousness, but at the forefront is the elder: her anchor.

she holds out a hand and her lightsaber rolls, jumping obediently into her palm. ]

I'm okay.

[ the relief is palpable, and the little twitch of his when she calls the lightsaber back to her isn't enough to sweep it away. ]

Great, you wanna explain what's going on then?

[ from the younger han, standing just slightly in front of bria as if to protect her from the two on the floor. as if he needs to, and maybe he's just jumpy because everything he'd planned is going wrong very, very quickly, or because the force has faded into being nothing but a fairy tale dewlanna had talked about when he was little. ]

[ had the elder han asked that question, leia would've jabbed him in the chest with the lethal end of the pummel of her lightsaber and yelled at him for demanding such a thing from her when he was clearly the one who was sinking fast into explanation debt. but the younger receives none of her famous ire, the princess putting on her best diplomatic face and turning calmly around to face him and-- a girl whose connection to the youthful version of her -- boyfriend? lover? -- is more than clear, from the way he's standing in front of her like that.

to her credit, she manages not to look as crestfallen as the sight makes her feel. ]

Time travel. [ succinct and to the point. she has no desire to hold any hands today, or whip up some clever cover story that would help her to blend into a period that she (and luke) apparently ceased to exist in -- or maybe there was something in place preventing her from sensing her own self, and luke by twin proxy. ] We're time travelers, more or less. Unfortunately, the traveling part of that doesn't come with much of a warning. We were taken by surprise in more ways than one

Edited 2015-08-19 03:59 (UTC)

[ no, but the older han notices the change in expression, the way she shuts down anger. (truth be told he still kind of hates that redhead in front of them, hates what she did, hates how he can still remember loving her and protecting her and how it was all for nothing. hates how he'd thought about her in comparison to leia at all, ever.) he assumes it's to do with luke's absence and doesn't question it, just puts a hand on her shoulder as he twists to face himself (and isn't that weird) while the younger version of himself steps forward, all anger and fear, and he wonders how he ever survived being like that. ]

Bantha dung. [ still, it rings true, but maybe that's some jedi trick. they weren't to be trusted, if the empire information was to be believed, but he and that other man look too alike, sound too alike, for him to dismiss it completely. behind him, bria is holding his elbow tightly to keep him from going further. probably wondering if this is some strange side-effect of withdrawal.

which is right when the older man sighs, head shaking just slightly. ]

One of these days, you'll learn to take her word for it. [ and he stands, holding a hand out to leia to help her up. not that he's mastered the art of taking leia's word for it, but he likes to think he's not such a hothead about it. ]

[ leia rises to her feet with assistance from her han, but keeps her eyes on the other.

skywalker. her name is skywalker. it's the name she was born with, the one she's readopted in the wake of falling back into the past and getting swept up in dealings she would rather not drag the organas (and alderaan) into. she's been using the name for weeks, yet when she speaks, he jealousy stirs and sparks, and what topples out of her mouth winds up being more of display of power and position than a gesture of good faith. ]

My name is Leia Organa, Crown Princess of Alderaan.

[ definitely not what her han would call 'keeping a low profile.' or even just 'sounding remotely sane.' the younger han seems to be in complete agreement to the last point, because he's looking at her like she's delusional. ]

Sorry, lady, but the last I saw, the Princess of Alderaan was some white-haired kid.

[ he doubts time would completely change a person's genetic makeup, though maybe it's a bad dye job. just to the side of leia's shoulder, her han is pinching the bridge of his nose.

bria, for her part, is more trusting. she had wanted something bigger, after all. a greater purpose in the cosmos. time travel seemed to be pretty great. so when she lifts her chin and says "prove it" the boy beside her just looks over to her face, worried and anxious.

the older han drops the hand from his face so that it rests as a fist against his hip. ]

How's Muuurgh?

[ leia does a pretty good impression of the pittin she aptly named "all-terrain attack-vehicle" as a child. were she really a small feline creature, her hair would be standing angrily on end instead of her merely bristling with barely contained anger. ]

Winter? [ she sounds almost betrayed when she speaks her foster sister's name. winter had been her constant companion throughout her childhood, her loyal and trusted confidant, and somehow the thought of winter thriving in aldera without her felt like a blaster bolt to the gut. leia was well aware of this possibility, with how unlikely it was that her biological father would ever fall to the dark side -- nevermind how she went out of her way not to involve the organas in anything she did, wanting desperately to keep alderaan off palpatine's radar -- but she didn't think it was something she would have to live through so soon. ]

Maybe she is in this version of history, but in another, that princess is me.

[ she might not be an organa by blood, but she was in all the other ways that mattered. for the first twenty-two years of her life, bail organa was the only father she ever knew, and right now, it feels like he's being taken away from her. unfairly, it hurts more to be confronted with evidence of her disconnect from him than it did to watch her homeworld obliterated right before her eyes.

even moreso that she has nothing to prove it by. even if she were standing in her proper time, she wouldn't have anything. alderaan was gone, and leia about the only thing leia "had" in the wake of that loss was a handful of alderaanian gunships that were probably still undergoing repairs after endor and-- ]

Muuurgh? [ she glances up at her han questioningly. ]

Edited 2015-08-23 05:43 (UTC)

Big Togorian. Almost killed me once, but we worked it out... [ it's a succicnt explanation, one that has the younger han frowning, but the older doesn't give a damn. leia doesn't look right... too distant, and too unattached to what's going on.

he doesn't like it, but he can guess the source. bail organa not being her father, if she existed in this timeline at all, can't be good. that had been her family, and they'd been destroyed but not completely severed from her life like this. no, it wasn't good at all.

by the door, bria looks wholly convinced on just those words alone, but the other han is more skeptical. ] All Togorians are big. That doesn't mean you and Miss Princess are telling the truth.

Can it, laserbrain. If and when I want you to chime in with your two credits on this, I'll ask.

[ snapping at the younger han is, at least, something familiar in a sea of unwanted unfamiliarity, an earlier (and alternate) version of her boyfriend or not. ]

PICK YOUR POISON
PIC PROMPTS / TFLN / RANDOM SCENARIO
HAN SOLO velocities	BETTY MCRAE bombsheller	RIVER TAM subsulcus	RIVER TAM (AU) comprehender
SIMON TAM vest	BRIA THAREN exulted	NADINE CROSS bridaled	GU JUN-PYO toddler
available on special request: veronica sawyer, benjamin linus, imani, maria deluca, mushu, poseidon, niccolò machiavelli, malik al-sayf, chloe

you know who i want and what this is

space trash powers activate

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

it's a musebox and i'll make shit up if i want to~ ♫

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject