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."

"He wears it well, you will too." Both the age and the happiness. It had been good to see another version of him that had found some peace, perhaps this younger version might as well.

"I've learned it pays to have all sorts of friends. Generals, Jedi, smugglers... What names a person is given has never seemed to matter as much as what they do." She shrugged and sipped her drink, and again. She'd been doing a lot of talking hadn't she? The lubricant might be working too well. "That's the one, he calls it the Millennium Falcon and he'll tell anyone will to listen how wonderful she is."

“So there is a story behind it.” She nodded, of course there had been, nothing the man did was without some sort of tale of his dashing exploits. She saw a bit of that self-congratulatory satisfaction on the younger man but it fell more to the side of enthusiasm than arrogance. When had he changed? What had caused it?

“I was never good at that game, I tried it because it drove my aunts to distress.” She laughed lightly and emptied her glass, thinking it might be a good time to slow her pace with the drinks. “They hated anything that wasn’t proper, so one day I laid out a deck of cards and started playing. You would have thought I’d pulled a vibroaxe on them the way they scrambled and gasped.” And then she got grounded, again.

“This is a good drink, it must be. I haven’t told stories like this in a long time.” Or ever in the case of her skinny dipping escapades.

“Yes, but people aren’t always willing to tell it, are they?” She looked levelly at him. Everyone has some secrets, it’s human nature. And sometimes they lie, that’s self-preservation.

Something tapped her foot and she assumed he was needing to stretch his legs, something apparently tall people needed to do as she so often recalled seeing Han lounging out in the Falcon; all legs and arms and smug smile. This man was a muted version of that, he had confidence to be sure but-That foot was not moving. It was definitively not moving. Was that a flirtation? If it wasn’t why did her cheeks flush, the drinks? Of course, the drinks.

“Is that so? You could teach me to play cards?” Now she leaned in, by action of shorter legs it meant her shoe dragged against his slightly in the change of position. Her elbow propped to the table and her chin came to rest in her palm. “You’d be my man?” That was too far, entirely too far. It was a mistake as soon as the words left her lips and yet all she could do was smile a sly little smile. Her free hand extended a finger to tap her glass, acceptance of another drink.

She was a realist and she’d seen more in her short life than some three times her age. She’d seen war and famine, disease and slavery, death and destruction… but she’d also seen the unquestionable power of hope. Leia had watched her own world literally fall apart and yet seen a movement rise from its ashes. She had to believe that sometimes destruction leads to new life, and not all good ends have followed good means to get there.

“Chance? You seem to like chance and luck.” Leia looked deeper into his eyes, less shadowed and guarded than the man she knew. “How do you know I’m not a bad bet?” His older self would certainly tell him so.

She let him pour until the glass was nearly full and then she tapped the glass again with her finger. “I’d think people should decide when together, don’t you?”

The princess was probably going to hate herself in the morning, but for now the firelight, the warmth, the drinks and the company were conspiring against her better judgment.

There was a spark of Han in there, confidence in levels she wasn't sure even she could muster. A hunch, what was it, she wondered that gave him such an idea? Maybe meeting like this in more opportune times and settings had made all the difference.

She pulled the glass back with her free had and sipped, either she was feeling the effects or the drink had smoothed out since they'd been sitting there. She hardly felt the bite of it at all which made a second gulp go down all the smoother.

The foot rub got a grin out of her and she didn't pull away. "I think I ought to eat something, after this." She held up her glass which had somehow gotten half empty and blinked at it. "I might be a bit late on that now." Hadn't that been her intention to start with? Food and talk? She'd been so involved in their conversation that she'd allowed herself to let down her guard and now she had to recover some. She waved down a passing server and asked for the menu. "After eating though, I don't have any set plans at all."

Yes slowing down and having food was the smart and responsible step, she was glad he'd agreed. Leia ordered a some sort of fish and a water to help with her drinking to this point. After the server left she ease back in her chair, leaving her drink on the table for the moment, and looked at him.

"I like you." She wasn't aware she was going to say it until she did, but it was true. there were old sayings of truth spoken while imbibing and perhaps that was the case here, or just that she felt it was safe to tell him so. Rather than swell on it she pushed ahead. "What would you like to do after?" There were parks and museums she thought she remembered, an array of local sights to see, some games though she wasn't sure she understood bowling even after it had been explained to her.

He was not alone if that sudden and very unusual rush of attraction. He was not like anyone she'd met even the older versions of himself. He had their wit to be sure, but more edge that the elder Han and less prickly sided than the Solo she knew. He seemed to combine the things she found appealing and soften those things that had bothered her most.

"Do you?" It was hard to keep her tone from fishing a little on that. She was clearly pleased by the way she was trying hard not to appear as though she was. "I'd like that too, somewhere quiet maybe. I've heard there are some spectacular views to be had here." And watching a sunset with him sounded appealing.