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[articulations]

[ The message comes out late at night that Leia doesn't expect anyone to be awake to answer. She's pulling a Han right now; the man has a terrible habit of sending these late night texts out. Looks like she's learned from the best of the best.

There's a catch, however, and it's that Leia's locked this from any immediate family and friends*. She doesn't need the extra worry. Doesn't want anyone camping out on her front step. She might have missed someone, going through the directory this late, though. ]

I've spent the last hour trying to go back through what's available. I've also tried browsing what's online. It hasn't worked out so well.

What I'm looking for are remedies. Something that works in helping someone fall asleep and stay asleep without waking every two hours.

When I say remedies, I mean the kind that come in the form of personal experience. If you've had trouble keeping a sleep schedule, please, share what works for you?


( *out of the cast, this post is locked from Luke, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padmé, Hux, Finn, Kanan, Poe, Kylo, Lando. Anyone else in the cast directory wasn't locked out and receives the message/can reply/can pass it on. )

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[articulations]

We were dressed better for this weather, back home. [ Here it was all about fashion over warmth and comfort, she was finding. Scarves, wool jackets, knee-high boots. Articles of clothing that made you look good. What a terrible place it was.

Leia catches the shiver this time. Was he really that cold? Maybe a caf was in order. Perhaps a hot chocolate, if sweets were such a good idea before trying to sleep. ]

Well, there's some hot chocolate. A French Vanilla could have some caf added to—

[ Yes. Yes, he would fire that back at her. Leia promptly coughs and turns away, ignoring the warmth in her cheeks that she feels burns so hot he might notice, and she can't have that. ]

I was in bed, [ she mutters, busying herself at the counter as she pulls two mugs off the hooks under the cupboard. ]

[carbonfrozen]

[He's not that cold, but—the carbonite's not something he wants to talk about, or even think about. It leads his mind down a particularly thorny kind of memory lane, involving torture and black-clad monsters, and so he wrenches his thoughts away from that particularly dark path. No, he's not going to think about that. He won't.]

Oh, good, let's try that. [He follows her into the kitchen, pulling cupboards open in search of hot chocolate and marshmallows.] You know, Lando introduced me to hot chocolate, way back in the day.

[And he'd gotten a little addicted to it, but shush.

He turns to look at her, as if to ask her what the hell was she doing in bed, staring up at the ceiling or something? But he sees the way her cheeks flame as she turns away, and understanding dawns on his face. Oh. Ohhhhhh.]

—well, that's one way to keep yourself up. [Aww, he's blushing too.]

[articulations]

[ That's one thing she could do when having trouble falling asleep, stare at the dark ceiling, count some lothcats. Count baby banthas. Han's response doesn't help how she's feeling, like she'd been caught, which she had been. Kind of.

The mugs are set down and Leia keeps moving around the kitchen, keeps her back to him, needing to move about and pretend like she's not on the spot. It sucks being so fair-skinned, her cheeks flush too easily. ]

It's not like I can just call someone over to help. With that. There's no one I can— trust. [ There's Poe, maybe, and then there's...the man currently standing in her kitchen... Crap. ] Look. I contacted the network for sleeping aid remedies. That's it. Some suggestions were... They were a little personal.

[carbonfrozen]

[Han just stands in the midst of Leia's kitchen, caught off-guard and with his figurative pants down for a moment. But he's an adaptable man who's good at rolling with the punches, so after a moment he gets back to moving around, grabbing a mug and looking for some sugar. Maybe a bag of marshmallows, though he doubts that he'll find one.

He may also be blushing too, a little bit, as he says:] I could help. With the more personal sleeping aids, I mean. [A shrug. He's still got his back to her, so if she reacts badly he'll deflect and call it a joking suggestion. He is not joking.] We could both help each other out, see if we can't get a full night's sleep.

[In the same bed. After certain activities.

...Han's way too rusty at this propositioning thing. Months in this place will do that.]

[articulations]

[ Going through the motions of getting hot chocolate prepared, it distracts her. To a point. He's offering her some relief, a way out. Leia should take it, god knows he was on her mind earlier while she'd had her hand doing—

A swallow. A hard swallow. How long has it been...? She's been so busy, back home. Who had time for that, in her position?

Leia glances back and sees he has his back to her. She can feel the sharp beat in her pulse going in more than one place all at once. ]

Are...you also having trouble sleeping?

[ Turning back to the mugs, she keeps her gaze down at them. Doesn't really see them. Suddenly: ]

Han...

[ Screw the question. Leia turns again to him, her steps quiet as they take her to him. Whether he turns at the soft call of his name, she's reaching to him, to his back, to his waist. ]