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"Ripley, who went crazy," she added in quickly. "I remember him too from the mission." It had been a crash course in people important to Finn, she felt. Somehow, their little group had ended up Jack, Finn, Ripley, Chel -- and Hanna, the interloper. In many ways, it had been a wise choice. Of course if they were dating she would stick by his side. Happy coincidences. "I'd actually met Finn before. We sparred, basic stuff." He won, she finished in her head.

When it came to the people important to Hanna, the list was considerably shorter. "Most of the people I was once close with are MIA now, several dead, some assigned far off, never to be heard from. Cami Ryland is probably the closest, then Peyton Creedy. Both are good friends currently, came to me right when I strolled back out of the pod -- though they both have closer friends to them than I do to myself. I have no confusion about that. Scarlett Voliva, too. Though I think I am one of the only people who has interacted with her since her return to Deus. She's been stationed elsewhere for years." She picked up her coffee again. "I have loner tendencies," she added. "I have a habit of intentionally keeping people at a distance."

These details were shared matter-of-factly. Though Hanna could be a guarded person, she was pointed about the details she shared. She knew she would tell Jack these things so she said it with confidence. Her habit of becoming a wallflower in order to better observe others bred this kind of distance between friends, always had at Deus. Her lips may smile, but deep down, a part of her wished to share what Peyton and America did, or Cami and Otto. "Cami would be the hardest to fool, I suppose, but she believes in love and lust in equal measure. I could quite easily get her on board with a simple: 'He's a good lay.'" A smile crossed her lips. "She is awesome that way."

Hanna sat forward, her cup balanced on her knee. "I vote on the most public places. The training grounds are good for it. Sparring, then flirting. Coming by your place helps, I'm sure. I recently received a temporary detail assignment to assist in the Life labs two days a week. I don't know any particulars of it yet, just that my services are being loaned out. Any chance that you could swing it your way? Working together could help, not to mention, aside from this, I am more than a little curious about the famine studies you Life hunters seem to be privy to." That was an understatement.

"Are there any upcoming parties or events on your end we should make an appearance at?"

Just talking this out was making Hanna more comfortable. It was like a flag waving that it was suddenly okay to feel the way that she did. For whatever ******** up reason, Hanna was more comfortable with her feelings when she told herself it was part of a mission.

There was no way Hanna would ever go spar with someone outside of the barriers, but she nodded along anyway. Good to know more about Finn, in any case. The information about Peyton was far more attention-grabbing. "She did that?" Hanna said, surprise inching into her voice. "I had no idea." That much was obvious but the words hurtled out of her. Peyton and Hanna scratched the surface; they never went deep. Just what had gone on between Jack and her?

It wasn't Hanna's intention to make Peyton mad, but she knew the Sun was happy with Noah, last time they spoke. She hardly thought seeing Jack would cause any trouble. But the less details Hanna knew, the better. She wanted this weird thing with Jack, but didn't want to feel like she was betraying Peyton either. If she kept it simple, she could have both.

Hanna nodded along as Jack explained working out their schedules. It seemed simple enough. "Ah, I'm older than you. Barely. I turn 23 in March," she said. "A boy named Jack, born on Halloween, nice." She laughed lightly to herself. "Timeline seems ideal." They could be seen around together until that point, but her showing up for his birthday celebration definitely spelled G-I-R-L-F-R-I-E-N-D.

Clapping her hands together, Hanna continued down the line: "All right. Some basics we should know, beyond what we do. I think I've told you this, but... I'm from Maryland. I was in college at the University of Maryland before Deus pulled me out. I have two younger twin sisters, and my parents are still together. Very Polish. I was not particularly close with any of them when I disappeared, especially not my sisters. We have always been fundamentally different types of people." She leaned back. "I remember you told me you were in college too, played basketball, had a website. Any other basics?" She had no intention of failing a test of information on Jack, the kind of things two people involved semi-seriously would know.

Hanna remembered the Old Bay conversation, but feigned otherwise. She wasn't sure why. "Oh right," she said, peering to see what was being written down on the pad of paper and leaning into his personal space. "March 13th." Her lips quirked upward at the mental image of Jack as a traveling guitarist. It didn't necessarily seem any more farfetched than his life at Deus.

Mentally, Hanna recorded away the information Jack shared, writing nothing. She was too curious about him before all this to forget it, not to mention her memory was perhaps one of her best (and sometimes, worst) features. There was no doubt in her mind that she would think back to this multiple times in the coming days. "Green is my favorite too, though people may guess red. I wear a lot of red. Agree with you on noodles, but rice too, all pasta basically -- spice is okay, though I prefer a cool spice like green curry or wasabi. I would give an appendage to have access to steamed blue crabs cooked with Old Bay here at Deus regularly. I cannot express how much I miss that damn food and all the memories that go with it. My family and I had a falling out before Deus, but crab steams were one of the only things that still got us together." At least, until the twins decided it was too messy and ate sushi out of plastic containers off to the side of the table instead.

"I did a lot of running in high school, which I don't really talk about much. It was mostly cross country. Before that, I..." Hanna laughed and leaned back. "I was sort of a cheerleader? For a minute." Or several years -- but, you know, who was counting? "I thought I could be the normal kind of cheerleader, that assumptions about people having to fit these crazy specific roles were a lie, but it was unnerving for me when so many stereotypes proved true so... Stopped doing that." Bad experiences littered Hanna's history as a temporary member of what might have been described as the popular kids. When she looked at her sisters, she saw the shitty version of herself that could have been.

Instead, she flipped the other way, threw herself so hard against the ropes that she nearly broke. Slapped on tattoos, picked up cigarettes, drinking, vices everywhere -- as a teenager, she didn't know how the hell else to deal with the fact that she felt like she was seeing things, hearing things, and that her family and friends treated her like she was ******** crazy. It was far easier to be around people who were a little bizarre too, who didn't give a s**t about her theories, who actually liked to listen to them.

In the darkness of a club, everything looked the same. And that, for a time, was comforting. It kept Hanna as sane as she could be.

"I actually haven't told anyone that so, there's a slightly benign secret to solidify our closeness," Hanna added, curling one leg under herself and silencing herself with a sip of coffee.

"Some pretty twisted destiny to land us together here," Hanna said, gesturing idly to the room. "Though par for the course."

The Death trainee didn't touch the popular kid thing. She preferred looking at Jack as being different, but if she aligned him there, he became too typical for her. "I am due for leave," she said. "I got clearance for a day trip a month ago. I mostly used it to pick up things -- books, new clothes, snacks. I blew more money than I should have." It had been worth it though. The fact that she had reawakened to Deus when Death hunters were not allowed to go off-island had been a cruel joke.

Imagining herself eating crabs with Jack made her smirk. "Blue crabs are messy business," she said. "Getting your hands dirty is an understatement." It was such a filthy food. His airs of neatness made her skeptical he would enjoy it, but who knew.

Steering back toward business, Hanna added, "Yeah, I think I could catch it on the fly. Plus this is supposed to be a new relationship. Learning things on the go makes sense." More questions itched at her. When they first discussed this, it was in simple terms, but now Hanna wondered more. At the mission, Jack kissed her on the cheek, no issue. Part of her wanted to hash that out, but truth be told, Hanna knew herself -- she would commit to this role and do whatever felt right in the moment when people were looking.

Setting the mug down now that it was truly empty, Hanna sat up in the chair and adjusted, her knees tucking between Jack's, though not touching. She slapped her thighs once. "Well I can sell this, I promise you that much. I'll need to start mentioning it to friends. And then I think just spending more time together. Once your friends are convinced, we can do the break up thing and hopefully that will be enough to earn you several months of reprieve from meddling." Her smile warmed. "I think this is going to fun. I like the challenge of it." On a lot of levels.

As she regularly did, Hanna's brain ventured back to exactly what she was doing here. She did not have any expectations, not really, but her attraction to Jack was more than just wanting to help him as a friend. Even faking a relationship was more interesting than her perpetual state of just not having one. The part of her that hoped maybe it would be more was small; Hanna was a realist.

If this was all it ever was with Jack, she would survive. She had a history of doing so.

Hanna's eyes flashed down to his hand. This sounded like a challenge. Golden eyes peeked back up at him, initially blank but warming at the edges. A spark of something, not fire, but an eager anticipation, a wave pulling back from the sand to prepare for its crash. She slipped her hand into his gently, fingers light but steady, but kept it moving, sliding up the length of his forearm. Her hand stopped at his bicep, held it lightly, as her other hand pressed to his chest as she leaned into him. The bed shifted subtly under the movement.

Eyelashes brushed against the bridge of Jack's nose as she moved her face even with his, lips centimeters apart, breath warm. Then Hanna stopped. "I feel confident I can make them believe," she said, breaking out into a grin and then slowly starting to ease away from him.

Coworker, schmo-worker. She could turn it on and off if she needed to do so. Hanna just didn't want to give a part of herself away so easily. If she initiated contact behind closed doors, wouldn't that undermine her position as his accomplice?

Saying 'no' was probably going to be the toughest part of this for her.

Hanna laughed, a real one -- open and unexpected. She slipped back into her chair, letting her hands linger for a brief moment to enjoy the curl of his fingers before drawing them back to herself. She raked one hand through her hair, a habit. "In general, I like to be incredibly prepared for everything, but I'm actually thinking this might be better, more natural on the fly." It felt better to her, that moment when she leaned across, even if it wasn't in complete earnest. The brief contact sent her arms tingling, a warmth radiating outward.

"On a much more boring note, I do need to go finish up my paperwork, head out to the training fields, the regular sort of bullshit. Are you around tonight? I planned to go to the cafeteria before my night shift, if you wanted a public appearance."

Part of her wish Jack had pulled her back in too.

"Owain seems like a gentleman," Hanna said. "Meanwhile, Adelphe, classy thing that she is, is yelling at me for not throwing you on the bed because she is--" The Death trainee winced and wrinkled her nose as the siren let out a painful shriek in her mind. "Not... fond of my jokes. Which is what that clearly was. Because she would never say that. Obviously."

With a roll of her eyes, Hanna was on her feet and to the door. "Sounds good, until then," she said. A quick grin and she was gone before she had to decide whether or not a fake relationship merited a goodbye hug or kiss.

That was a mystery for another night.