Small wiggle! "Good. Wanna make you feel nice."

Pet pet. "You have."

She beams and leans into her Mistress's hand, making a contented noise.

...Before a small yawn slips past her, leaving her blinking.

"Ready for bed, apprentice?"

"Think so, ma'am."

"Can I stay the night?"

"It is late enough that you may as well."

Snuggle! "Thank you."

"Master Palpatine will ask where I was probably, but I can just say I lost track of time and fell asleep on accident..."

"Tell her I thought it better you stay rather than send you home in the middle of the night."

"I will. Tomorrow morning."

Snuggle. 

"Do you want to move to the bed, my dear?"

"Yes please."

Sidious will carry her to the bed, then.

Good and wonderful and delightful. Anakin is pretty sleepy, so will drift off not too long into cuddles. (She is very clingy when sleeping.)

It's cute.

This has gone just about as well as she had hoped. Now to see what happens over the next few weeks.

She gives her Mistress quite a few more kisses before leaving the next morning.

Which she tragically must.

Back to - being a Jedi, then. (Pretending to be a Jedi?)

Sangua - Anakin, she's Anakin here - doesn't regret swearing herself to her Mistress. Doesn't regret her path (not yet, something in her whispers).

But she's seeing a lot of the people Elesse plans to kill. Many of them she doesn't really know. Many of them are - young, incredibly so. (Surely children aren't set in their ways yet, and she can talk to Elesse about these...)

Some of them she knows.

Anakin makes it back to her suite before encountering any friends, at least. Stepping into the fresher gives her a chance to breathe. Changing into new robes gives her an anchor of routine.

She's going to have to spend an entire week not letting on that anything's changed. She can do that.

(Is she positive?)

Her teacher finds her not long after she gets resettled into the living room, stepping back into the suite from the hallway outside. "Anakin," she says, voice even, tinged very lightly with concern. "I noticed you didn't make it back last night."

(She would like to be positive.)

She rubs the back of her head a bit, awkwardly, trying to cover the small lurch of emotions in her gut, trying to dismiss them into the Force before her teacher can really get them. "Ah, yeah. I got to talking to Chancellor Elesse after the show, and - kinda just lost track of time? Fell asleep, then I was super groggy when she got me awake, so she offered me a bed rather than sending me home in the middle of the night..."

Anakin should probably have remembered that she's a terrible liar before making any plans requiring she lie to a temple full of empaths. That would've been a good thing to remember. Right now she can't stop feeling awkward and nervous, and the bubble of joy that's been floating through her mind after kissing Elesse is tripping over itself and joining the nerves, now.

Her teacher considers her as she sits down on the couch next to her.

"Anakin... Is everything alright?"

AAAAAAHHHHH. Nope no screaming only calmness and light embarrassment and vague curiosity, brain!

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"

...Nope she is not going to crack.

"Anakin..."

"I'm here for you, you know? Whatever you want to talk about. Whenever." She leans into Anakin a bit - not pushing touch if Anakin doesn't want it, but making it obvious she's available, and clearly telegraphing a reach for one of Anakin's closed hands.

"I'm fine, really." She doesn't pull away.

She takes Anakin's hand, squeezing it. "Okay."

"Do you want to go spar?"