nexus_crossings | Destination: Tropical

Her life hadn’t been built around what she wanted, but rather about a life of service to her people. She hadn’t had to think in those terms, aside from childhood moments of being a brat, which ended by fourteen. Her education began and though she might not have always been the most poised or composed of princesses, she was still living a life to ensure others were taken care of.

To face the choice of an action in a moment that was separated out from her life back home was a chance to steal time. Here she could make those choices and take chances she might not otherwise. Apparently that had paid off.

Han took her in his grasp and kissed her and it was unlike any kiss she’d had. Hurried rushes of affection in the moonlight pools didn’t compare to this. She felt everything, the strong press of the hard line of his jaw, the slight edge of stubble from late in the day, his grip on her firm and grounding that this was indeed real. A sigh passed into the kiss and Leia dared to be a bit more brave, her hands cupping his face as she returned the kiss.

She faltered a little at first, the intensity of it was all new for her, but it was also so exciting. She tried to match him in kind, returning the kiss she got. It was definitely warm now.

Han’s biggest concern at fourteen, conversely, was probably kissing girls. He wouldn’t say he was good at it (or that Leia was bad), but he was clearly more comfortable in this kind of display than she was. The confidence that he had built up probably helped make it all the more thrilling for her, who at best, had stole mainly small kisses in the rare moments where she could be alone with someone.

He already felt familiar with her body — which was a strange feeling — but one he had attributed to the fact that she was so similar in stature to Qi’ra. Short, with curves that you didn’t normally see in a small frame. It was the kind of figure that would draw Han’s eye away from everyone else in a crowded room. His hands felt comfortable on her hips and he had no desire to withdraw them.

After a prolonged kiss, he finally releases her lips so that the princess can catch her breath. He doesn’t really move away from her though, instead he’s brushing his cheek and the bridge of his nose lightly against her.

When he broke the kiss she'd moved forward as if trying to prolong it. Once she realized she needed to breathe she understood the reprieve. Her breath, when it came, was shaky. As if all the butterflies in her stomach had moved to her lungs. She swallowed and leaned into that contact, letting her hands slide down to rest against his chest.

"They did not kiss like that in the palace." She whispered, her voice slightly thready. She couldn't recall any single act stirring her so much, well the assault on the Death Star had left her feeling elated and triumphant. Having Luke and Han return safe had been near intoxicating after the thought of losing them both to the fight.

Those experiences had not been romantic in nature and frankly Leia had thought she had little use for romance and would be satisfied if she made an advantageous political marriage. The fact that she could feel her body tingling just from a kiss made her want to rethinking her view on the merits of a passionate attraction.

She was studying it, all of it. His movements, the way his skin felt against hers. She liked how his hands felt holding her, like they knew where to rest and how to grip to show engagement without possession. He must have had plenty of girls and women over the years that he's kissed. While the thought didn't bother her, he was fully entitled to any life before or after he met her, She did feel that she was, in this arena, the novice.

“That’s probably a good thing, right?”

Han’s not sure what living in a palace is like, but there seemed to be a lot of work for her to have to do there, the way that she made it sound. Doesn’t seem like she’d get nearly as much done if there was this kind of kissing going on. He’s also proud of himself for being able to stun her like that with the affection, because for a while there, he felt like the worldly princess had the conversational upper hand on him.

“Guess I would have been a little less jealous if I had known you hadn’t had good kisses with those other guys.” She had only mentioned the one that got to go for a swim with her, but there had to have been others ...

Raal had been handsome, he'd been gallant and in their way he'd been exciting for royal children. But no, he'd never kissed like that, nor held her the way Han did.

"It's a new thing." That meant it took some processing. And she was nothing if not adaptable. It was what made her so good at what she did, and her natural leadership qualities.

"No, he never kissed like that." She laughed. "I guess you can be less jealous then." Admission of her lack of experience in that statement, at least a bit. She felt somewhat inadequate, but excited. Here was something she'd never imagined wanting much of, but everyone else knew that romantic and more interaction were this enjoyable. She felt like she'd spent a life time eating bland food only to now be given a taste of a world of spices. How could she not be nervous and hungry?

He picked up the slight correction in the words. He had never kissed her like that. By that she was implying that there hadn’t been several boys in her life daring enough to try to kiss her, just the one.

Han had a tendency to be jealous, so the fact that there wasn’t going to be a lengthy comparison of his skills to other princess suitors, did make him feel better. He liked his odds of coming off impressive when he was dealing with a pool of only one other boyfriend. And he knew that, while he was far from perfect, there weren’t many people that would work as hard as he would to make someone happy. Was that getting a head of himself? Probably. But that had been the theme for the entire evening.

Moving fast and yet, it still not feeling fast enough.

“Let me tell you, it’s not always that good for everybody.” He says, raising his eyebrows and adopting a saccharine tone. “We got a spark, you and me.”

She was coming down off the moment now, still pleasantly glowing with it but at least enough that she could take in the world around her and she eased back a bit. She watched him and his reactions. He seemed pleased about something, that slight smile those beautiful eyes, and that distracting scar, it was no wonder she'd been off balance.

She'd said more about her romantic life than intended and yet it was all true. If she boasted or bragged and was called out on it how would she looked then? No, far easier to just be honest about it, she could use deception when necessary but that was for far greater times of need and importance than her pride.

His words drew at first a surprised look from her and than a more canny one. "Do we? A spark. They tend to ignite things don't they?" As she spoke she traced the line of his scar again with a finger tip. "Sounds dangerous."

It was a strange way to flirt with someone, he supposed. He recognized that he was commenting about their own attraction like he was a spectator in it, likening it to something dangerous and trying to sell himself as someone worth fooling around with all at the same time; but then, he didn’t often flirt with a Princess who kinda already knew him, so how could anyone know exactly how to navigate that?

He doesn’t interrupt the hand that’s touching his face, but he does reach out to her hand that’s not touching him. If only because he finds himself wanting to touch her too, somehow.

“Sure it’s dangerous.” He says with a bright smile. A smile she never would have got from a more sullen version of himself. “Danger is fun.” He lets that observation speak for itself for a moment before he follows it up with another observation. “A spark can make a fire that will fight off the cold and the dark. Or it can make a torch to help you find your way.”

Edited 2020-01-15 12:49 (UTC)

It was strange, and she laughed at the strangeness of it. He reached for her hand and she let it be held, he had so much life in him, so much she supposed fire was a good word. He had spirit and she found that she liked that.

"You are nothing like anyone I've ever met." And that included the older versions of himself. There was just something in his irrepressible personality that drew her to him. Her free hand moved from that scar which she obviously found appealing to feather through his hair, letting herself be more at ease with the display of affection.

"This," She looked at their position with a seep glance,"this isn't how things are done for me. It's all formal banquets and proper etiquette. All very restrained and contained." Her voice denoted something of disappointment in that. "Touch was to be only at acceptable times and a kiss like that would have meant scandal."

The part of her that remembers all those rules wants to pull away now, and it's a new sort of conflict she hasn't had to face before. There was no one here to tell her not to, it was all in her own mind, she had duties but the way time worked here also made that something a lot more forgiving.

He was rattling her thinking and eroding years of training, conditioning and lived experience. Han Solo challenged her yet again, but in a way that excited her. "So," She breathed a nervous sort of half breath, "show me the way." She hoped her hand wasn't trembling as much as her insides were.

“Yeah?” Han says, flashing a somewhat contented smile at the Princess while her fingers explore his wavy hair. It’s definitely shaggier than what she would have been used to in high society, but it’s still a fashionable look among scoundrels. It’s a good look on him, besides. “I was kind of afraid of that.”

He was younger than the Han Solo she knew. It was probably a bit a stretch to assume the other guy was exactly like him, but older, but it might tell him something about the coming years. Rio, Val and Beckett had treated him like he was a short-sighted idealist and maybe that was because when you spent long enough as a smuggler it starts to change you. He could see how it might, having already run into the backstabbing and the lying that permeated the culture. ~~It seems like a lot even to a kid that had been brought up committing petty crimes.~~

“I’d be glad to.” He murmurs, pressing a quick kiss against her hand before pulling her into his lap. Han didn’t position her so that she was straddling him, but rather had her position across his lap. She would have to half twist to face him, otherwise it was actually her right check (and shoulder and neck) that was facing him.

“Welcome to your first public display of affection, your highness.”

He smooshes a playful kiss into her check to punctuate the thought.

Edited 2020-01-15 18:22 (UTC)

"What?" She had thought, even hoped maybe, he would kiss her again, she was unprepared to be moved into his lap. It was not a graceful transition and she had to throw an arm over his shoulder to keep herself from falling hard in his lap.

"Please, set me down." This was too much, she blushed and sought to find some excuse to remove herself before she embarrassed herself. "I'll hurt you!" It wasn't a threat, more a concern that her weight on his lap was troublesome. She was slight but it was the idea that she'd cause a scene for them was practically drilled into her from years of lectures.

Odd that she hadn't really moved to get away, merely raised the protest. Even that quieted the more she settled in. "This can't be, is this comfortable for you?" It wasn't exactly salacious, they were just sitting. She'd seen many people do the same before, but those people weren't the heir of a royal house. Her stiffness eased, the arm that clung to his shoulder relaxed some until he kissed her cheek, dark lashes dipped down and a blush rose.

Why it hit her more now than anything earlier she didn't know, perhaps the proximity or the last wave of drink setting in, but being this close and this intimate was a wonderful sort of terror. "You'll let me know if you need me to move, won't you?" She could be off his lap in an instant if that was the case.

Han quirked his brow at the slight woman while she ordered to be put down and then groped for a reason for this to be a bad idea. While it was true, someone could come by and complain that two young people were acting like young people, right now there weren’t a lot of people around. He supposed this must be what happens to you when your behavior is constantly scrutinized — you found as few reason

“I don’t know how delicate you think I am, Leia, but it’s gonna take a little more than you sitting on my legs to break me.”

He answered her question, largely, with an impish grin. He was eager to brush his lips along the length of his neck, not even to parlay it into a kiss necessarily, but just to make new points of touch with her. He wanted her to feel that even though he was rough and scarred that his lips were soft by comparison. That he could make her heart start racing with strategic touch.

“I promise I’ll tell you if I want you to stop anything.” He says, more seriously, but in a soft murmur against her ear. “Same goes for you telling me, alright?”

“I don’t think you’re delicate.” Leia sighed, defeatedly. She knew Han was strong, he’d just moved her after all and she’d seen the older Han in action. But those were excuses that had been trained into her. Han had his work cut out for him in trumping those teachings.

His grin suggested he wasn’t insulted by it, something sparkling in his eyes making her wonder just what he was thinking, and why the not knowing was so exciting to her.

“Good.” Leia said quietly when he set her fears to rest, but he doubled down on that with a continued statement at her ear. Warmth bathed her ear and part of her neck and made the words a bit hard to pay much attention to, she understood he was giving her an out should she chose it. But how could she even consider that when he’d given her goose-flesh just by talking? “And if I don’t?” Her voice was a whisper, heady sensations keeping that flush to her cheeks, her fingers curled in a tight grip on his shoulder. “Don’t want you to stop?”

“You won’t hear me complaining.”

Han wasn’t necessarily the guy who took things too far on a first night, but he wasn’t going to censure his actions if they were having fun. He’s thinking about the fact that the two of them can’t stay in the nexus forever, her especially, and who knew when they would see each other again.

Han dragged his cheek against hers. With her propped up on his lap he could see her without looking down at her and notice all kinds of things he hadn’t seen from across a dinner table. How even the color of her skin was. Where she had freckles. How soft that her hair was when it bumped into him. It had to have been really long when it wasn’t bound up the way that it was.

“What you you think about turning to face me?” He asks, the unspoken implication is without leaving his lap, of course.

"Turn?"Leia bent to look behind her and around, there didn't seem to be anyone they were bothering, no one to run off and tell her family.. right, that wasn't a problem anymore anyway. Sobering memory thinned her lips for just a moment, she was having a really pleasant time. Han was funny and clever and handsome and exciting in a way that was new to her and yet maybe hinted at before.

"I can do it, I think." She released his shoulder to grasp the back of the bench first in one had and then with both around him and moved in a way, well it was not entirely as agile as she might be later in her life in another situation, but still she slipped easily from sitting across his lap to astride it smoothly. Glad to have chosen pants over a dress for the day, she settled, her bottom resting on his knees and her own knees resting beside his hips.

Even with the extra height afforded her by his lap they were still only roughly at the same level. Leia shifted once to ensure her seat and relaxed. "Riding lessons." She said by way of explanation for the fluidity of what might otherwise have been an awkward adjustment. "My aunt use to say I spent more time on my thranta than on the ground."

And now that she faced him directly, and closer than ever she had, she could see other scars, tiny, hard to notice at all really. And the lopsided set of his lips was just the natural shape, it was what gave his smile that roguish charm. Most strike perhaps were his eyes, sunset had barely begun to creep red into the sky so she could still see clearly the colors in them. They were storms and seas, impossibly deep and warm where'd she'd thought them to be cold. She'd heard seeing things from a new point of view changed everything, she was beginning to see why.

Han sees the flicker of a look on her face. In a moment she seems, mournful or maybe sad, before he can even react to it, though, the feeling seemed to have passed. What he noticed when Leia had that look in her eyes — that far away sadness — was not about her, but about him. He had no context for what it was that could have bothered her, he only knew that he badly wanted to ease her troubles. He felt so much for her despite hardly knowing her at all, which was a bit concerning to him. He spent a moment wondering about what made her sad, until ...

Riding lessons? Han lips twisted into a bemused smirk. He knew it wasn’t an innuendo, in her case, but it would have been a pretty funny one if it had been. He purses his lips hard, so that he can ride out the impulse to laugh. “I hope to be just as accommodating if you end up riding me, Leia.”

Had that been too crass? Probably. She was used to people talking to her like she was a gift from the heavens or whatever. He only knew how to talk to someone the way he talked, though. If he was too much of a savage for her, might as well figure it out now.

“I can’t get over how pretty you are.” He says, flashing her an almost shy smile. “Does everybody say that when they meet you? So that they have something nice to say to the Princess when they start talking to you.”

Leia didn't take his meaning for a moment, when she did part of her mind immediately wanted to take offense but it seemed another part was sending the messages to her mouth. Her haughty surprise changed quickly into a sardonic smirk and "That would be different, I'm used to thoroughbreds." Where the jest came from she wasn't sure, but it somehow felt more right to volley it back rather than be affronted this time. What sort of effect was he having on her?

She found the moment to be something she enjoyed, he'd probably not expect an answer like that from her and it might set him back a pace. Served him right for that smirk that turned his lips into something that was beautiful and aggravating.

Then he ruined her superior moment with what seemed to be an utterly sincere compliment. He was defying all her attempts to put him neatly into a box she could understand. He was more of a mystery to her the more time she spent with him, and just became all the more intriguing to her.

"Most, yes. But it's expected, so it rarely feels like it means more than the breath used to speak it." But it seemed like he really meant it, it was a softer comment than she would have expected and after the previous remark it left her unsure of her footing conversationally. "You are so contradictory."

Edited 2020-01-17 16:58 (UTC)

If he’s being honest? He finds it very attractive when a girl gets haughty around him. It was only something he recently discovered, as his old girlfriend had kind of adopted a little bit of that attitude, when neither of them had as teenagers. Han is expecting to get Leia to sputter with his crude comment and have her turn her nose up at him. He’s barely able to keep the grin off his face when he looks like she’s going to play into expectation.

And then, she turned it around on him. Oh, he knew that she must have been well educated and just talking to her made him certain she was smart, but Leia was witty which was not the same thing. The wavy hair scoundrel pulled back like she had slapped him. He was the one wearing the stunned look. Though he quickly bounces back with a raise of his chin and a comeback of his own.

“You seem to be awfully taken with this wild animal.” He says. “All the thoroughbreds must be a little too domesticated for you.”

It seemed like a fair assessment from where he was sitting, after all. She’d met tons of people and even met someone like him before, and after all that, she’s straddling him.

“Why am I contradictory?”

She hadn’t been prepared for him to respond back in kind, but it spurred her on, her hands were still leaning on the bench back so it allowed her to lean a bit forward to fix him with a look from dark eyes now carrying a fierce sparkle. “Or maybe I’m debating the worth of the effort to tame a wild animal. Might be more trouble than it’s worth.” She allowed herself a slow blink and, for her, brazen once over of him. She hoped she had enough bravado to not let her nerves make her shake o r a blush color her cheeks. After all….how good could he possibly be at calling a bluff?

She was glad that the bench was there for her to grip, she was certain that her hands would be faltering, it wasn’t that she was a coward, far from it, but this wasn’t an arena she’s had enough experience in to have a good strategy and he was no easy to anticipate adversary.

Case in point that he questioned her comment, did he really not see it? Her brow furrowed with that. “Because I can’t figure you out. You’re kind and even sweet but then you’re arrogant and press me. Just when I think I’ve figured you out you do something completely surprising. There is no preparing for you, it’s like trying to catch starlight in your hands. It doesn’t work.”

“I don’t think you’d really know, if all your experiences were with thoroughbreds.”

He says, looking right back into her eyes. Teasing her a little harder might be fun, but you know what else is fun? Sitting on a park bench with a beautiful woman in your lap. It just seems like a good idea to try not to say anything that would make her rethink their positioning efforts and Han is definitely a fan of the way they’re tangled together.

In fact, if she’s deep enough in his lap, she’ll start to feel exactly how much he likes being straddled. It had been a while since he’d indulged in anything like this, having been dumped a few months ago and not really trying to replace the void that Qi’ra left behind. This was the closest thing to romance he’d in his life as he’d had since Savareen and she was a really lovely woman showing some genuine interest in him.

“Maybe I got a different type of humor than you’re used to.”

Edited 2020-01-18 23:37 (UTC)

Luckily for Leia her bottom is resting on his knees, which puts her well back of the danger zone. She remained blissfully unaware of just how much he was enjoying the situation, she was enjoying the witty back and forth herself and was more engaged with his eyes than any of his other parts.

"I think that's a given." Leia's humor had been cultivated over time and education at numerous schools and programs and the occasional attempt to aggravate her aunts. That would have had a little of lothkittens to see her now. Such impropriety on her part, and with a smuggler no less. It was enough to make her blush and clear her throat.

She leaned back, hands coming away from the bench back to rest on her thighs. She was very new and very awkward about what to do in such a setting and taking her cues from him was not likely. He had a habit of flipping her switch with a word or glance and she did not like how easily he could do it, that was definitely reminiscent of his older self.

Han’s humor, conversely, was low brow. It was certainly influenced spending about a decade around people who weren’t all that well educated and weren’t too concerned with impressing the people around them. Yet. Han himself was clever and just a little more observant than you’d expect. It made for an interesting sense of humor to match the persona it belonged to.

“Trying to get away from me already, huh?” It’s a light tease, but he can’t help himself. It’s becoming a bit a pattern he’s noticed in the way she behaves. “It’s okay, I still like you.”

If she’s not comfortable it was better to let her ease back, wasn’t it? He can’t help but feel a little disappointment, but he’s also questioning what his endgame was here — did any of the things he hoped might happen seem all that realistic.

"You don't scare me, Solo." Spoken with an air of she could take you if she had to. The truth of that was up for grabs but the point was the same. She hadn't eased back because she was trying to get away or afraid, she just needed clarity.

"Like I said though, things have been done differently where I'm from. There are dinners and chaperoned events and watchers before you are supposed to be allowed alone with someone. It's why Raal and I took the chance we did. That said it's easy to let yourself be overcome by desires." And he had stoked those pretty well in her, it was why she needed the space, to let her cool down and think clearly. He had an ability to scramble her circuits when she got close to him. It would be so easy to just agree to things and she wasn't sure if she'd regret them later, she was half afraid she wouldn't.

"I like you, maybe more than I should." And that was the problem, she had responsibilities. A princess had commitments and duties and he wasn't helping move any of that forward. But just being this close to him, feeling the effect he had on her, it was as intoxicating as their earlier drinks. She should probably leave, that would be the safe thing to do. Safe and boring. But was that what she wanted?

“Your troubles, whatever they are, are a long way away from here, your highness.”

He wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. He wasn’t trying to belittle her for feeling beholden to things he couldn’t understand, but at the same time, if there was ever a moment where she wanted a break from being the Princess ... this was likely the only place she would ever really have it. Pointing that out to her was no guarantee that she would embrace the fun of being with him, though, so he’s trying to steel his heart from the possibility of rejection.

“I feel like I like you the right amount.” He says with a shrug. “But. You’re accomplished and classy and smart. I can’t find anything to dislike yet.”

and that was supposed to relieve her of them? Just because they weren't here? She wished she had the same carefree manner he had to leave things behind and not be haunted by what lay ahead of her.

Or maybe he was offering her the out she couldn't take on her own, giving her the excuse to step back from the ties of her life outside this place and live for a change.

"There's plenty that seems to rub people the wrong way about me. I intimidate them, scare some of them outright.I'm always in command because I don't know any other way to be. I never feel like I can stop working, I fall asleep on stacks of flimsy more often than in my bed and there is still so much more to do. I'm too intense, too demanding. This outing was the first date I've had in," She had to stop and honestly think about it. "A number of years." A really long number of years for her age.

Destination: Tropical

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lol, apparently I just stopped mid-sentence in my last tag. It was early. Oops.

I figured as much, the idea was there.

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