garbageship | That's no moon... Wait, no, it's a moon.

If it makes him feel any better (it won't) it isn't necessarily going faster. Just not slower. The truth is she always makes better decisions in a crisis than during peaceful times. Maybe because she has more experience with the former.

She fires a few more times and pauses to stretch her arms. They're getting fatigued from all the kickback.

It probably wouldn't help matters, no.

"Don't wear yourself out," he says quietly, still a bit mired in memories.

"Worried about trouble?" She doesn't necessarily mind wearing herself out for a workout especially when they don't have this opportunity regularly. But it would be bad if they were attacked in that state.

"You never know."

Maybe he ought to encourage her to wear herself out, would it keep her out of trouble? (Probably not.)

"This place is pretty out of the way, but that means there's nowhere to hide."

"I can take a break." See, she listens to some of what you say! She returns the blaster and continues to stretch. "It's nice just being on the ground for awhile. Probably not as much your thing though?"

"I don't mind staying in one place."

For a while he'd had a home to go back to, which means he's able to miss it, now. The Falcon is just the best substitute there is. (Funny that he'd never expected having the ship would have anything to do with having his son. It was easier to think of Ben as gone forever, so he could move on. Move backward instead of forward.)

"There's just not much work that way."

For a scoundrel like Han Solo, anyway. General Solo had done all right for a while.

"No, I guess not." Not smuggling work anyway. She imagines there are other kinds of work, but it's what he knows outside of being a General. And in their current situation staying on the run is probably wise. Even if they found somewhere relatively safe to settle down it would be too easy to relax there. They could be attacked while separated and unprepared. No, she understands why they're doing what they're doing now.

"You know, it would take a lot of training on this before it's the thing he reaches for in a fight."

Smuggling is better money than freight, though he's not picky. Lately he only makes an effort not to hassle the Republic more than he needs to. It's not like the old attempt to stay under the Imperial radar; it's that for all his failings Han isn't a traitor, just a criminal.

"That's not the point." If you've got choices in a fight you're doing pretty well for yourself. Ben needs to be ready for situations where he doesn't have another option, needs to wear a blaster like it's his oldest friend, because if he doesn't, someone's going to question it. It's for show, but it can't just be for show.

"We're gonna make a lot of friends fast if he goes into some town with a lightsaber on his belt."

There's a sigh. "I really did land myself in the sci-fi version of the wild west." Sorry, Han. Sometimes she just needs to say these things even if the won't make sense to anyone but her.

"I do get that. I just meant if someone does attack us I would think he'd still reach for the force first. I know I'd have a hard time not phasing." Which is going to draw attention too even if it's not as direct to this group necessarily.

Even when you're speaking Basic, Kitty, sometimes the things you say are incomprehensible. (Well, the Western Reaches are a pretty wild place, right?)

"I know. The trick is faking it well enough that no one does."

No walking through walls, no Force-choking, just get in and out. Make whatever purchases they need, find someone who has cargo to move.

Things never go that well.

"Right, well, hopefully no fighting at all." Because that could be a mess really fast. She just knows she's seen people attack each other over basically nothing at the various outposts she found herself on before she threw in with Han and Chewie.

"That's the idea."

A lot of that nothing was probably something, in fairness. A lot of it was also nothing. People in places like that get drunk, get bored; get ideas about other people based entirely on whims. The trick is to have a reputation, or to build one. That doesn't stop people from coming after you, but it narrows down the field of who's willing.

Ben can manage looking intimidating, he's got to learn to tone down the imperiousness of it or he'll look like a First Order deserter stuffed in smuggler's clothes. Hiding in plain sight.

(They're probably in trouble, yeah.)

She picks up another blaster just to check out the design. Still giving herself a rest.

"It'll work out." How much of that is believing it and how much is just thinking they might as well believe it because she'd rather not go around paranoid and scared is anyone's guess.

"It'll have to."

Otherwise they'll all end up dead or worse, so it seems worth focusing on optimism.

"Exactly. So no problems." She gives him a smile. "So, show me what you've got. I don't usually just sit around watching when you've got your blaster out."

He raises an eyebrow.

"You see how it ends, isn't that the important part?"

Come on, he's just an old man sitting on a rock, what do you expect? There's no particular tell, not much movement, but soon there's another smoking patch of rock, right on top of one of her shots because he needed something to aim at and his blaster's in his hand.

She thought she was going to have to talk him into it after what he said. Apparently not. It gets a slow smile. "Not bad."

"I get by."

To say the least. Han has the same difficulties as anyone-- shooting moving targets when moving yourself, for example-- but he's got years and years of experience guiding his hand, and this is one area in which he's capable of remarkable subtlety.

"Yeah, seems like you've done a pretty solid job of that." Even if she got a couple of saves in there too. He also saved her from that bot that got a shot in. Saved her from just being out there alone. Whatever happens from here she's grateful for that.

"Thanks, Han. For taking me in." She doesn't like the thought that he could be regretting it now. Not that he's been making her feel that way.

Regret isn't the right word for it. He's been glad to have her, and he wouldn't turn her away, even now; it's just that he's worried about what this is going to do to all of them.

"You earned it." But that's not the point, and even if she did, he could still have left her. But that's not who Han is.

Is it totally crazy to think it could just be nice? Good for them even? It probably is. Girls from post-apocalyptic war-torn wastelands really shouldn't be able to still feel this kind of hope and optimism, but here she is hoping.

"Somehow I don't think it would have mattered that much if I didn't."

If things were different, it'd be different. If they were talking about Ben Solo, proud son of the Resistance, the boy Han raised, who studied the Jedi way with his uncle, who mastered himself and his abilities, who knew the difference between wanting and needing and could make choices based on anything bigger than himself--

"Don't go around telling people I got soft."

His tone is pretty damn soft, though.

But they all have to deal with the Ben that is and could still be and not the Ben that could have been.

"Not a soul." She smiles at the big softy. "Besides, I hear that Han Solo guy is totally wanted by the First Order so I probably won't do a lot of name dropping."

And the Ben that is doesn't have a lot of experience with anything but the hottest currents of the human soul. Which is why he worries. A lot.

"Probably for the best."

It's a very understandable, well grounded, applicable worry that someone should be having. A pity it isn't happening more from someone inside the relationship. If it's a relationship... That feels too defined right now.

"I think I'd be good with a little more. Anything you could show me would be good."

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