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

[ young han can thank his older self for being really good at holding her attention. especially her irritated attention. ]

On a ship that barely flies half the time! [ when in doubt, insult the falcon. ] You were doing a great job of not getting us shot, flyboy.

[ the sarcasm is strong with this one. ]

[ han scowls, makes a noise in the back of his throat that sounds oddly like a 'harrumph,' and starts to crowd her into the lift. much as he loves getting insulted, they really ought to keep moving. ]

You know, you're real great at insulting her when she's not around.

[ the younger han has to give up his spot next to the controls, much to his dismay, but maybe they'll stop calling him a mess now that they've moved on to some ship. ]

[ leia snorts, sliding into the lift, sandwiched between the two hans. she crosses her arms over her chest. ]

I'd say I'm pretty good at, even when she is.

Maybe that's why she doesn't like you. [ as he punches the lift operational button and they start moving upward.

someone, at some point in time, needs to remind him that his ship does not have actual feelings. it won't do anything to change his thought process, but arguing about that for a while would be a nice respite from the insanity he's currently neck deep in.

behind them all, only partially boxed into the corner, bria is doing her best to not scream. because this is insane, and they are insane, and all she wants to do is stay and run and ask them why it's not her all at the same time. her han, still somewhat lovesick and protective, eases her out enough to put an arm around her shoulders. (as much a thing to comfort her as it is to comfort himself -- this other woman that's good at shouting and waving an ancient weapon is not who he loves in this moment, not who he trusts, and reminding himself that bria is there (for however long) helps stop him from saying something to make this worse.) ]

[ leia punches his arm. like her earlier shove, it's without momentum, light and almost childish. as if she has a habit of knocking him around. (she does.) ]

She likes me just fine. You know, one of these days, you're going to have accept the fact that your ship doesn't actually have feelings. She's a ship. Just a ship, even if you did hotwire it with those droid brains Threepio is constantly arguing with.

[ if not for the rest of what's going on in this lift (his eyes keep darting over to bria when he thinks she isn't looking at him, which isn't often but still often enough) and in their lives in general.

he almost argues with her about when was the last time she didn't give you any trouble before he realizes when was the last time she didn't give him any trouble? ]

Yeah, I'm probably gonna have to fix that if we ever get back and I still exist.

[ "trouble" was that ship's middle name. and although she was reluctant to admit it (and wouldn't in front of the other han and bria), she missed it. the twilight just wasn't the same, and now they didn't even have that bucket of bolts her father gave them to cruise around in. they would have to commandeer something from someone and get to work on scrambling the identification codes all over again.

she wasn't looking forward to that.

she wasn't looking forward to any of this.

leia reaches for her han's hand, threading her fingers between his. ] You will. As much as I'd like to, I promise to refrain from shoving the younger you off anything too high.

[ just as her han squeezes her hand, bria pipes up from the back of the lift. ]

Would you just stop? You need us and you keep... You keep saying these things! [ she's not hysterical, but she is animated and swiftly making her way to being distraught, and her han looks at her with concern. ] If you're him, if you're really Han then you know we've been through enough, so why don't you just go another way and leave us alone!

[ the older han looks at her, eyes narrow and mouth set into a deep frown of annoyance and, somewhere in there, far down and cold, pity.

the younger han just looks like he's been hit, because this is making things worse and he doesn't know yet how to make them not worse. ]

[ wound so tightly around her han as she is, whatever he's feeling towards bria in response to her words isn't helping leia to not bristle in response. her nails dig into the back of his hand and she takes a dangerous step forward. ]

And you have no idea what we've been through.

[ mostly what han's feeling right now is a deep desire to not be here right now. not in this time, not in this lift, not with bria looking at him like the wounded animal she was back when he was too young and stupid to even know what the right thing really might have been. ]

Give me one of the navs.

[ the reasoning is then, they won't have to stick together and can split up without worrying. but han amends that: ] And don't make any withdrawals. The account is flagged.

[ the younger han just looks confused, but the older is still frowning. he wasn't able to go back and change anything with shrike, but maybe this time around he can at least keep himself from getting some bank manager killed. ]

[ and leia looks — well, livid for a bright flash of a second, then something akin to hurt. the worst she can do to her han is go silent, and that's exactly what she does. hand reclaimed, leia moves to stand away from the three of them, back to the doors.

all of a sudden, she feels like the odd man out. ]

[ it is the worst thing, because han is already ashamed of this. these are things that never came up in their talk about his past. these are the idiot mistakes he made that he can't blame on shrike's control. they're his own, and she's looking into his foolishness now and pulling away and it makes this that much more gut-twisting.

he glances back at leia for a moment, his hand still out as if she'll take it (he hopes she'll take it, he needs her to take it).

the younger han just shoves a nav into his older self's hand with all the anger he can muster when he's afraid bria is going to start crying. ] Thanks for the tip, old man. [ then the lift comes to an abrupt halt. ] Now get the hell out of our way.

[ he is leaving, he is going another direction and he is not going to get any bank managers killed this time, but there's still a world of possibilities for him to screw up. ]

[ if leia weren't so intent on remaining quite as a way of emphasizing her anger, she would've had a string of things to say in response to being told to get the hell out of some young corellian upstart's way. but she's too hurt by her hand to fling verbal mud at the younger, and steps aside — and away from the older han's hand — without so much as a word. ]

[ the older han moves out of the way, too, opposite leia and painfully aware of the space between them as his younger self walks away with his hand on bria's back as they move as quickly as they can away from the madness of time travel.

which leaves han looking at leia, wounded and unsure. ]

What's wrong? Did you... [ he makes a vague gesture he uses to indicate force-related feelings. he'd rather pretend he thinks she felt something through the force than face that she's probably upset with him for fun new reasons. ]

No! [ she snaps, finding her footing with her words and icy, rage-filled tone seeping into voice. ] And if I had, would it matter?

[ unhooking her lightsaber from her belt, she throws it at him. ]

Of course it would-- [ is as far as he gets before the pummel smacks him in the shoulder and then bounces perilously close to an empty lift shaft as han dives over to catch it. ]

What are you doing?

Does it matter what I'm doing, or would you like to trail after yourself and the redhead on his arm?

[ jealous, and a little worked up over realizing there's some pretty heavy things in his past that she's unaware of. maybe she doesn't exactly have the right to feel like she ought to know about them already, but seeing things pass between those three that she was left out of wasn't a good feeling.

outside of chewbacca — who they haven't been around in quite some time — she's always been the one who knew han best. in that moment, she wasn't. she was far from it. and that hurt somehow. ]

[ that one hurt, a low blow dead center. han walks over to her and puts her lightsaber in her hand. ]

I'd rather be in carbonite than go after her. Ever.

[ there is so much more to this story, things he couldn't say in front of himself and things he doesn't like thinking about. he'd love to explain everything once they're not still on the run from people trying to shoot them. ]

[ time was such a confusing, fragile, infuriating thing. the past was the past, but it was hard to let bygones be bygones and not worry about the things that came before when they were currently mingling with them. it was absurd to feel threatened by the presence of a girl who was, at this point in time, a good fifteen or so years younger than her han, but she's never been in the position where there was anyone to compete with in any sense of the word. han's always had eyes for her, always looked at her like she was the only girl in the galaxy.

meeting bria is a harsh reminder that it wasn't always that way. that there were girls before her, girls he was far more involved with than leia ever was with any of her past boyfriends. ]

But there was a time in your life when you would have dropped everything to go do just that. I could sense it from him. You. The other you.

[ she snatches the lightsaber back, half tempted to wave it around angrily in his face. ]

[ for once, han wishes bria wasn't the one to ruin something. he'd prefer a run in with jabba, or shrike. even boba fett. he stays close to her and almost laughs. the noise he makes instead is all bitterness and disgust. ]

Yeah. The first time I did, she left me a letter and some credits and ran the other way. The second time I did, she got people killed and ran the other way with all my money.

[ that isn't exactly a very forgiving version of events, but han isn't feeling particularly forgiving at the moment. ]

[ lightsaber back in place at her hip, leia's hands land on his chest. her hands twist in the fabric of his overcoat, the billowing sleeves of her jedi robes slipping down to her elbows. ]

Don't. I don't want to hear it.

Which part?

[ he covers her hands with his own, and he's not actually confused at all. he can tell why she doesn't want to hear about bria, but he's not sure they have much choice considering the situation. ]

[ it's unavoidable, but oh how she wishes they could just sweep it under the rug and be done with it. she doesn't want to deal with this now, doesn't want to have to carry this information with her as they find their way to relative safety. but it would be in her best interest to know, and she hates this cruel twist of fate and time for leading her to a place where she has to find out about this girl he was once mad for like this. ]

Where are they going?

They've got a room somewhere, or they'll get one. I'm not sure.

[ the details with time travel make things fuzzier, and han doesn't exactly remember this small chapter by rote. not after how hard he tried to forget it. ]

Just came in from Corellia. Her folks called CorSec on me when they found out what I'd done with Shrike.

[ leia snorts, holding faster and tighter to his coat beneath the weight of his hands on hers. ]

Of course they did. Of course you fall for girls with difficult parents.

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

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