"That must help you avoid trouble." Not likely if he was anything like his later self.

But it was clear he felt he was as skilled as anyone could be, he had so much to learn about himself. In later years he would find himself face to face with his own limitations.

Leia took his hand and offered a firm shake, her own skin soft and warm with the heat from the fire place. His older self had none of the ideas that this version of Han seemed to have over what might be appropriate treatment for royalty. Was this how they might have interacted later had things been different?

"And it doesn't convey your charm adequately." She inclined her head with a smile to match his own. "Buy me a drink and we can call it even." She wasn't flirting, it was just conversation lubricant.

Leia raised a brow at the order but didn't interrupt our correct him with some other order. Honestly she hadn't thought she'd be drinking this early in her day but there wasn't anything in this meeting the would qualify as typical.

It was odd the bits of his later self, selves she could see in him now. How he had gained back some of this comfort with himself in his older years and how his subtle but unmistakable to someone who knew him, nervous ticks were part of the Han she knew.

"Fair is fair." She nodded and rested her hands, clasped together on the table. "Alderaan was beautiful, rolling hills and high snow peaked mountains. Lush plains and large lakes, oceans that covered masses of the planet." Not what he'd asked exactly and her one slip was not noticed as she spoke. "Growing up there? Best place in the galaxy if you ask me. We used to take summers by the lake, racing each other to the water or riding thrantas and skimming the surface. I remember one natural pool where the water was the most beautiful blue you've ever seen and it was warm and had this natural chemical component that made you feel like you were floating on air."

She hadn't thought of the Organa family outings in some time, she'd forgotten how much she missed them. Picnics, laughing children playing tag, days that stretched on forever.

Her reverie ended with her retelling and she regarded him. He never cut her off, he only listened and let her speak. That alone was almost a first for them. Well...the other them. He was content to listen and genuinely seemed to be hearing her.

"Very." She agreed. "Not as much as I'd like to, it's mostly memories now. Life has ways of keeping us occupied." Understatement of the century there. "Some might find it boring, but years ago Alderaan eschewed war and violence to concentrate on art and learning. It became a planet of peace and beauty." Her father had seen to that continuing even with their involvement in the growing resistance movement. Nothing was traced back to Alderaan, the pacifist society was both perfect cover and a brilliant way to foster alliances. If the most peace loving world in all the systems was pushing for a rebellion, who else could say no?

"And then of course there is the fact that I spent a good deal of time grounded. I seemed to have a hard time accepting restrictions." That was putting it mildly, she'd been a royal terror before she'd matured.

She quirked a brow at that but smiled and laughed. "I'm afraid so."

In his time there wasn't much to speak of in the way of defiance, the Imperial military complex was rolling over everything in it'd wake. Collecting and conscripting as they went. But for that time being it was still cloaked in a shadow of government authority. The true darkness behind the throne would surface in the coming years when things grew more and more dire for anyone who offered resistance.

"Is that so?" That was absolutely intriguing, and she was struck with a pang of guilt for not having told him why she'd seemed to keen to meet him. But things were going so well that she hated to ruin it.

Before she had a chance to gracefully broach a subject, the drinks arrived and he poured a full measure, very generously, for them both. "I suppose a toast is in order?" She raised her glass and looked at him in a way she hadn't seen either of the other versions of him. "To new friends and old acquaintances?" At least she'd set the table to be honest with him.

"I've never been known for being forgettable." She conceded. "I didn't know when I initially responded, then I thought perhaps it was a coincidence, but I have met you." She rolled the glass between her palms. "In a manner of speaking. You are not the only Han Solo here." She wasn't sure how much he was aware of the nature of this place, she was still figuring that out herself.

She looked puzzled. "Why?"

She leaned in and spoke with utter honesty. "As near as I can tell none of you are a like. One of you loaths me. One seems to have come to terms with my presence over the course of many years. But you... you're different." It was something hard to put her finger on exactly.

He had some of the same charm of his much older counter part, the wit of the Han she knew, but something wholly his own as well. "If you hadn't said who you were I would never have really connected you." Although... "Not entirely true, you are all handsome in a similar way."

"I think he was ten years older the first time I met Solo. It... hasn't gone as well as one could hope." The fact that she was a whirlwind of a 19 year old surely didn't help matters but that was beside the point. "I'm not sure about the other, he's old enough to be my father." She shrugged, he might have been older still but he had a vitality to him.

"Talking to me tends to come with some complications, even if you weren't who you are." She was trying for soothing with her tone as he continued. "I don't know how much you want to know at this point." There was quite a lot to tell, and..well... "The flirting wasn't bad."

Oh now that was just endearing, and she found herself not just smiling but having a small amused chuckle.

Now however he would need to allow her a moment, as his example was a true case here but, there was another issue. Leia took a deep pull of her drink and lowered her glass. "Well, for one, my name is Leia Organa, of the House of Organa. Princess of Alderaan." Cards were on the table now, as was a quickly emptied glass which she'd finished after making that quite possibly shocking statement.

That went far better than she had expected. "Just that? No nicknames? No pestering?" Had she managed to run into him at the one point in his life where he would gladly find any thing to needle her about? She looked at him for a long moment with a sort of astonishment that eventually melted away into a sincere smile with his joke.

"I think I prefer just Han, it suits you." She raised her glass again and smiled. "To being whatever it is you want to be." Here in the Nexus that seemed like a true possibility.

As far as lines go, that was close to a new one. "A boy said that to me before, he made a point to call my friend by my name because she had all the courtly manner and I was a troublemaker."

Now that the truth was out and he wasn't running or mocking her she could relax. "Oh, which brings me back to my original comment. You'd asked for a story. I think another glass and I could be persuaded to tell the whole infamous tale."

"I'm not at court, I'm not trying to be a diplomat, I'm just relaxing and enjoying a drink with a handsome pilot. Under other circumstances I can be more forceful." Escaping the death star for instance, she'd been determined to get out and the barely a plan that Han and Luke had made wasn't going to do that. So she did what was natural and took charge. Did that make her and older Han's conflicts partly her fault then? An idea best left to another time to explore.

Another hearty swig of the potent drink and Leia exhaled with a rush. It was not a delicate dinner wine and her cheeks were taking a slight pink from it. "I was sixteen and had a mad idea that I was in love with a boy. I'd been disruptive and it had gotten me grounded but that wasn't about to stop me." Oh headstrong Leia, even at that age. She grinned with the memory, perhaps a touch self consciously. "He'd invited me out you see, to swim under the moon. Water so warm it felt like a bath. I knew the place and I knew a dozen ways to sneak out of the palace." She paused there, he might have questions or perhaps she wanted to compose her tale a bit more before going on. Except for the hook. "The invitation was very specific about what was not going to be worn."

"No need, true love was not so true as I thought." Nothing much had happened between them, though it had been at the age where it seemed like it should. Too many hormones and not enough rational thought. "I know, very unprincesslike of me." Something sounded a bit like pride in that though.

"We were caught, well he was anyway. I wound up having to hide in the water for hours until I could sneak back and find my clothes. Fortunately a friend who I had said staying with me had explained I was angry and my parents left it at that. They hadn't pressed to see me thinking I would cool down in my own time." Winter had always been a brilliant strategist even back then. "I was able to get back inside, and we stayed up for hours talking about how he kissed and how exciting it all was." And then, within days after that she wouldn't see him again, she might not have been caught out but there were certainly suspicions.

well that was asking quite a lot. "I don't know where to begin really. Han has a ship he loves more than anything, I don't know when exactly he got it but it is definitely love. He understands Shyriiwook." She hadn't seen nor heard mention of Chewbacca yet so she wasn't sure if he'd joined on. Leia looked off to the side, trying to think what might be helpful.

"Smuggler by trade, he doesn't talk about his past much. Actually we don't talk much at all." It was more bickering most of the time. "The older Han was very different, but I don't think he is from the same sort of time or place I am. It's just different. He was charming, a good dancer, apparently happy and settled in his life."