Between his and Jacen’s Force abilities and Hope’s magic, it hadn’t been hard at all to conceal Anakin from the others as they all boarded the transport. They could have dropped the ruse at any point after takeoff, really, but for good measure, Anakin keep himself cloaked by the Force until he was positive there was no one else around. It just so happened that at that particular moment, it was just him and Hope and he offered her a conspiratorial grin as he let the illusion drop.
Somehow, it was even more exciting to have pulled off the sneaking him on board. He strongly suspected that Rey had sensed something - he could shield himself from sight, but hadn’t learned to fully hide himself in the Force, yet, and she was at least as strong in it as he and Jacen were - but by and large, they seemed to have gotten away with it. It was the closest thing to an adventure he’d had in months. “I’m glad you decided to bring me along this time,” he half teased his friend.
There were moments Hope wondered if this was actually a good idea, but she also thought having both Jacen and Anakin around for the mission would probably be a good idea, besides, she missed having him around the last time, not that she’d say that. Hope wasn’t completely sure what to expect but she figured whatever happened, happened. Besides, it was good to be doing something.
“Who said I’m not going to lock you in with a barrier spell when we get there?” Hope responded with a smirk followed by a shrug. “I guess it seemed like the right time to bring you along.”
“You wouldn’t...” Anakin said a little uncertainty before grinning at her. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t really leave him behind after she and Jacen had gone to the trouble to sneak him on the ship.
“I don’t know,” she played as if she was seriously considering it. “It’s a lot of rules to be breaking.” Hope did her best to keep a serious face but the corners of her lips were starting to turn upwards, just a little bit.
Anakin laughed outright at that. “Well, I know what a rule-abiding citizen of the world you are,” he teased her.
“I resent that,” Hope teased. “I follow the rules,” she paused her attempt at a serious face completely breaking. “The rules that actually make sense, the others, well, rules were made to be broken.”
Anakin laughed. “That means most rules were made to be broken, I think,” he pointed out. There weren’t a lot that made sense to him, especially here. The one that had said he couldn’t come on this mission was one of those, which he hoped to prove by, you know, coming along anyway.
“We’re going to have to face everyone else sooner or later, how long do you want to stay hidden?” Hope asked thinking about what could happen, but she wasn’t worried that anyone would be able to do too much.
“Just long enough that they can’t really send me home.” He doubted the person from investigations who was in charge of this would be happy about the stowaway, but once they were close enough to their destination, there wasn’t going to be much they could do about it.
Hope smiled softly. “If they threaten to, we’ll just have to change their minds.” She had no doubt that they could figure it out, she almost offered that if was forced to go home they all would but she didn’t want to think about what that would mean for her mom.
It was weird, referring to New York and the apartment he and Jacen shared in the complex as home, but he supposed that’s what it was now, just like Silvens had been for them before, whether it had been in Hogsmeade or New Zealand before that. It honestly felt like a while, kind of, since he had been home - his real home - at all. “I hear you can be really persuasive,” he commented, teasing a little. Anakin didn’t doubt that between the two of them and Jacen, they could talk their way out of trouble once his presence was discovered.
Smiling she laughed. “Yeah, well, I guess I have my moments,” she did think between the three of them they would be perfectly fine. “So, come on, are you going to stay hidden in here forever or are we going to go look around?”
Anakin answered her with a grin. “Let’s explore,” he decided easily. That sounded a lot more fun than hiding out.
MISSION :: IN THE CLUB :: CERES
They’d been lucky, none of them had gotten into too much trouble with Anakin joining them, Hope argued it would actually make things a little easier to have him around, especially for the goal of the mission.
Anakin and Hope were back to back on the dance floor using the chance to look around. Hope was eyeing a couple that looked deep in conversation, she picked up a few words but it was mostly about who hadn’t cleaned something. Feeling a hand on her arm she spun around finding herself a little too close to Anakin.
“Sorry,” she started stepping back a little bit. “Should we get a drink?”
Anakin smiled a little sheepishly. He knew he probably should have made some noise or something before touching her arm, but he hadn’t been thinking. “Yeah, maybe we’ll even overhear something by that bar,” he agreed.
Hope nodded looking down mostly to hide her expression. “I have heard rumors about people spilling their guts at bars,” she didn’t at that she was pretty sure the person who told her that meant literally and figuratively.
“Sometimes they do,” Anakin agreed, as if he’d actually had a lot of experiences in these kinds of places. He’d been in a few, but not often. Still, the logic sounded accurate and he was pretty sure his dad had once given him some similar advice.
Hope avoided getting run over by a rather drunk looking guy on the way to the bar, glancing back at Anakin she raised an eyebrow, apparently these places could be dangerous too. “What are you going to get?” She asked him as they waited their turn to order.
Anakin considered it a moment before settling on one of the ales. “What about you?” he asked Hope. Drinking wasn’t why they were here, but it would help them to blend in with the others while they kept their ears open and they both knew their limits.
Hope thought about it for a moment and looked around the bar, she ended up with a sparkling wine with some sort of other flavors in it, it seemed to be a popular drink, she figured it was best for blending in and possibly be a conversation starter. “Have you been to a lot of clubs?” She asked after they both ordered.
“A few, but not a lot,” Anakin admitted. He reached out with his mind into the Force, trying to get a read on the emotions of those near them and get some sense of where they should start. With any luck, they would only need to stand close to the right people to hear something they could use.
Taking her drink in hand she watched a couple, or what appeared to be a couple at the end of the bar. “Put your arm around me,” she said looking up to Anakin. “And act a little drunk.”
Anakin has felt something from that direction and didn’t hesitate before doing what she’d suggested. He slipped an arm around Hope, pulling her closer to him and affected an unsteady posture, purposefully slurring his words a little. “This is a really good song,” he said a little too loudly, but it was part of his act. Bending his head closer to her ear, he whispered, “can you hear them from here or should we move closer.”
Giggling Hope grabbed his shirt dragging him a little closer to the couple talking. “It’s not our song though is it?” She challenged playfully. “Or is it?” She played dumb. As they got closer she could tell they both could hear all the words, the couple, or pretend couple as Hope suspected didn’t pay any attention to them at all. It sounded a little broken given the couples intent on not sounding like they were talking about what they were actually talking about but Hope could swear it had to do with something coming on Mars.
Anakin could feel that sense of deceit in the Force, which just reinforced what his eyes told him about the “couple” they’d drifted closer to. “It could be,” he answered in a touch that echoed hers. “What do you think, baby, do you like it?”
He caught a few words of the conversation they’d been trying to get close enough to listen to. They seemed to be trying to talk in a kind of code that wasn’t so obvious, but between their words and his Force sense, it wasn’t hard for Anakin to grasp the meaning. He was positive they were Rova Sim and it was clear they were talking about a relocation of some kind.
Hope was about to say something to him when she felt eyes on them. She needs to make them seem like any other young drunken couple. She pulled Anakin closer kissing him without outward hesitation as if it were normal. Inwardly, well she was freaking out. She focused on the mission.
Anakin would have been lying if he tried to say that he had never thought about kissing Hope, but this definitely wasn’t how he had pictured it happening. Sure, okay, kissing girls in kind of life or death circumstances was par for the course if you counted the only other first kiss he’d had. At least that time had been real and not part of a ruse. Outwardly, he didn’t show any of that regret or hesitation, kissing Hope back to make it look real, even though his pulse was racing and he was definitely very aware of the closeness between them and the softness of her lips. Fortunately, he had the mental discipline to put that out of his mind and focus on the reason they were here.
What she wanted and what she had to do were two very different things. She slowly and naturally pulled back giggling leaning forward to place her head on his chest to catch her breath for a moment. Giggling again she forced a playful smile she added. “You need to buy me whatever she’s halving if you want more!” Her words slurred on purpose and the world halving instead of having a hint to Anakin that something was serious in what they were overhearing.
“If I do, maybe we can relocate back to my place,” Anakin said without missing a beat, slurring his own words to keep up their faux drunk act. He kept up the ruse, holding her close and pretty damn convincingly (he thought), acting like a drunk teenager out with his girlfriend. Leaning in, he pretended to kiss the side of her neck as he whispered, “I think we have what we need.”
Biting her lower lip she looked between the drink she’d pointed out and back up to Anakin as if she were really thinking about what she wanted, she’d heard his whisper, she was just keeping up with the part.
“I guess if you have something to drink at your place I could take a rain check on the special drink, for,” she looked him up and down and giggled. She broke away from him a little taking his hand and pulling him towards the door, making sure her steps were a little bit uneven. She heard a few people at the bar snicker as they moved away.