albinomilksnake | STAR WARS: possible spoiler warning

The-- the right, yeah, I got it! [It's a nightmare. It's taking a pop quiz on lightspeed physics when you've spent your whole life stacking scrap: every box has a fleet of tools every bit as menacing as their metal roommates, and from what Finn can make out, 'fusing pen' could describe at least ten different pieces of rusted out garbage that rattle under the push and pull of his fingertips.

So he takes them all.

Rushes back over, holding a fan of them between his fingertips as the best array of options he can manage: if he still gets it wrong after all this? Screw it, he'll take the risk of getting knocked across his own ear.] Here you go, General. Solo. Mister Solo.

Figured I'd get the jump on things. Give you some options.

[ what.

one, the kid call him 'solo'. again. two, he called him general, which is a title he has not heard in years. and three, what is this tool kit offering. one of those is a hydrospanner. han's eyes flick from the proffered fan up to finn's face and back down again. he pulls the fusing pen slowly out from the rest. ]

Thanks.

[ a few deliberate slices later, ] Okay. This'll get us the boost we need. Just need the hydrospanner.

--not a problem. [Said, of course, with a weighted pause that means he's either full of it, or too nervous to think straight. Maybe a bit of both, the way he keeps jumping at shadows. Attention always drifting from corner to corner, the way someone trained scans keenly (and thoughroughly) for potential threats.] Just uh, just gimme a second. I think I left it in the cockpit.

[And then he's gone, darting off against the slant of the ship as it dodges another glancing shot, one hand braced against the wall:] --Rey!!

[Waits, smartly, until he's out of earshot of General Solo to drop down behind Rey's shoulder where she's fighting with the controls, holding out the assembled collection of parts in his hands the way someone hefts up wreckage after a collision.] Rey, I need your help.

[Let it be known: the famous Millennium Falcon, the ship of legend that was instrumental in the destruction of the Death Star, that carried such heroes of legend into battle as Princess Leia Organa herseld, and which centered in the dreams of every landlocked pilot in the galaxy handles like a drunken luggabeast on a bad day.

Today is, officially, a bad one. She can feel the ship groaning under her maneuvering, sluggish to the controls like it wants to be put out of its misery. She's all but sweating from the focus it demands from her - correcting and changing course, accelerating and dropping back, turning up and over in an attempt to shake their tail. Just give her the all clear, she thinks. Just let her send the ship jumping into hyperdrive. Then--

Finn is behind her. She leans hard on the controls and barks out a wild--] What?! [while she propells the ship forward.] What could you possibly--? I'm busy!

[ from one of those heroes of legend, though he may contest the hero part on principle, now recently if briefly abandoned and in equally dire straits comes a dull crash coinciding with the acceleration forward…

and a shout as loud as it is indignant. ]

-- KID!

I GOT IT JUST SIT DOWN A SECOND AND STOP BREAKING STUFF BACK THERE!

[He doesn't, they don't: this entire scenario's one wobbling mechanical disaster and Fin accidentally nudges Rey's shoulder as his weight drops unexpectedly forward, nearly spilling half his haul right into her lap (it's a miracle he only loses his grip on a pair of bolt sealers, the two catching one another to keep them from falling to the floor over his own knuckles).]

I need a hydrospanner. I don't know what it looks like could you-- describe it for me or something? Han's going crazy back there, between you and me I think the guy might be senile but I'm just trying to keep us from dying right now.

[The nudge sends her hand on the control slide jerking forward, the Falcon dipping wildly. Rey squawks - corrects - and the ship rises abruptly to compensate.]

A hydrospanner? --HOLD ON! [She jams the controls. A rapid deceleration occurs. Shots fired at them fly wildly beyond the ship's bow. She slams them back to speed and can practically feel the ship rattling as it jumps forward. What an awful sound.]

It's a length of metal. A port on the back. Power cells in the middle and-- [She chances a look across her shoulder to the jumple of tools in his hands--] That one! It's right there in your hands!

[Come on, man.]

Oh. [Oh, shit.

For a moment Fin stays frozen in place, expression so crestfallen half of the ship might as well have just snapped off without warning, broken only by the next little jump in maneuverability the Falcon provides as it dodges artfully away from disaster under Rey's guidance. And then he's off like a shot, rushing back to Han with his heart hammering high in his chest, already dropping the other equipment for the sake of holding that hydrospanner as high as a marathon runner clutching his winning baton.

Somewhere off in the hall behind him there's the sound of metal fragments skittering across the floor.] I found it! I got it just like I said because the last one? Totally busted-- can you believe that?!

Just give it here! [ han snatches the hydrospanner out of finn's hands as if personally offended. the glare marking the action seems to second that assertion.

he resumes his task, promising under his breath, ] If we die, I'm going to haunt you.

[ with a twist, the panel begins to hum a pleasant note. han doesn't waste time, bellowing in the direction of the cockpit, ] It's done! Get us out of here!

[In the cockpit: there, a minute change in how the ship answers to the wild maneuvering not a full second before the call comes down. The navigation, stalled out on finding a safe course into hyperspace, finally, finally comes through. So hold on, because she's not wasting time with a response before before smashing the Falcon up into lightspeed.]

[He'd rather be alive than comfortable any day. That said, he'd also like a little warning when lightspeed is involved - mostly because this time it involves his balance pitching sharply up and forward. Over and over and...

He lands on something soft, at least. Realizes half a second later that it's leather under him, and half a second after that that it's Solo underneath that leather, and Finn huffs out an abrupt, almost horrified breath as he fumbles his way through trying to get off the old legend before it's too late.

It's probably already too late.] S-uh...sorry-- sorry.

[ if looks could kill… well, finn would have honestly died several times in the past six minutes. the one now, brows pulled together, jaw set in a straight line, is more reflective of his general state of 110% done at the universe and everything in it. whether it's his age or he's naturally that grouchy is hard to tell. ( it's both. ) ]

Nooo. [ he drags the word out in sarcastic emphasis. ] I'm glad I could help. Are you okay?

[ there is only one time he can recall where he ended up with someone sitting on him, and that was leia in a situation not unlike this one. but instead of a dainty girl, he gets something like an extra hundred pounds too many crashing into him in the jump to lightspeed. han feels distinctly flattened. bro he barely lifts anymore. ]

[He's up in record time under the weight of that ticking time bomb, breath held in his throat. Throws out his arm as an offer, expression still all scrunched up, hoping to smooth over-- well, everything at this point.]

I'm fine. Better than fine.

[Spits it out quick, smile too tight at the corner.] Hey, we made it - that's all that matters, right?

Yeah. [ he struggles to his feet, movements stiffer than he would have liked. ] Barely. Listen, kid —

[ han claps him on the shoulder, leans in. ]

If you want to pass yourself off for a pilot, you gotta know the basics.

[ he pats finn twice, tips his chin down with a wry expression and shuffles back to the panel they'd been fixing to survey it calmly for any lasting damage. ]

[Which leaves Finn standing there in his wake like collateral damage: shell-shocked, mouth open, eyes fixed. He'd thought he had his bases covered (he swears he had his bases covered??) and now that's...clearly off the table.

Finn follows after him, head cocked forward like a shistavanen at full attention.] 'Pass myself off'?

No, no no no. I never said anything about--

[Well...] Okay, one time I might've said something about it but come on. I'm not passing for anything that I'm not.

Good. [ han drags the word out a smidgen more than necessary. he rolls his eyes to the kid, facing him pointedly. ] You're not.

[ he jabs his thumb over his shoulder. ] Pick up everything that fell. If any of the tools fall into her parts, you're gonna have to fish 'em out.

[There's no further argument from Finn in spite of the stubborn, put-off expression Finn seems to be wearing just before he turns to dig up some of the closest tools, entirely overturned by the jump to hyperspace. He already knows he's been caught in a lie (how deep is the part that worries him) and the more he tries to dig himself out, the worse he might accidentally make it.]

You--

[He stops that thought at the start, straining to reach that stupid hydrospanner where it's skidded inbetween a couple of storage crates.] You're not gonna tell Rey about this, are you?

Not my business, kid. [ a promise hidden under the disinterest. ] I try not to get involved if I can help it. But —

[ he turns around, waits until finn is looking at him before continuing. ]

— that girl's not a fool. It'll be worse the longer you wait. Trust me. [ he's no longer just talking about finn and rey with the way his expression changes to one almost…chagrined? he gives the switches a cursory glance before shutting the door. ] It's a lot worse.

She wouldn't understand.

[It's grunted out, twisting awkwardly as his fingers come so close to catching metal-- and miss. Finn slouches against the floor for a half beat, then draws back out to pick up another rod: something small with a curved edge, and enough to make up for where his fingers end.

And hell, Han wouldn't understand if he told him - which is all part of the problem.]

Edited 2016-01-21 08:18 (UTC)

[ ahahaha yeah about that

han snorts. ] Haven't heard that one before. [ kids these days. in his day you had to climb a hill both ways in the snow in hoth with wampas on either side. and then you found vader eating your dinner.

despite his previous declaration of not getting involved, he follows up. so he's a hypocrite too; it's one of his more charming traits. ] Everyone's running away from something these days. You two aren't exactly the first.

Yeah, the First Order. [And just like that-- a-ha!-- he manages to land his catch, shimmying back out with both tools held fast in hand, rubbing at his hair with the other thanks to the collected dust and grit that's now adhered itself to him instead of the Falcon.] Nobody gets away from them.

[The fact that they somehow did-- twice on his end-- is practically the biggest miracle there is. Finn wipes his hands on his jacket, lets them fall into his lap while he catches his breath.] Which is even more of a reason not to go distracting her right now.

[ han would like to point out that they did get away — except he has a feeling he knows exactly what it is that finn can't explain. finding the falcon feels like less and less a stroke of luck and more like the universe getting even. ]

Lucky for us, we already made the jump to lightspeed. Nothing to do but sit tight from here to where we're going.

[ which he still hasn't mentioned to either finn or rey. way to go, han. approaching finn, he holds out a hand for the collected tools. ]

Plenty of time for you to fix the holes in your story.

[There's a clatter from the cockpit in the distance (probably Rey fixing something or trying to streamline whatever systems this outdated mess of machinery runs on) and Finn jumps at the noise like it might as well have come from right behind him, on full alert before he hisses, not-angrily:] --would you-- would you keep it down?

[The last thing he wants is for her to hear this because General Han Solo decided to give him a pep-talk in how to lie like a man who's hated by more than half the galaxy.] It's not a story, it's--

I just really don't want to make a big deal out of this when there's a thousand other things on the table right now.

[There's a thoughtful pause there, his attention slowly shifting.] But I guess that's kind of what you do, isn't it?

[ ~~excuse but his real son would kill for a pep talk. probably literally.~~

han snorts. he points a servodriver in finn's general direction. ]

Just because you know a story doesn't mean you know me.

STAR WARS: possible spoiler warning

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reaches out for a tag team cameo

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excellent steeples fingers

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