Drinks After Work [Murasaki/Alastor]

That's true, a boring life would suck. Even if he was still a small guy in a big world. Alastor himself liked to get around it despite the whole issue of power at least he had kept up the regular training expected in the whole year he'd been here. Elyss sure was ruthless, it was a good thing he tried to dodge her wherever possible in the training situations. That gorilla was brutal.

"I guess I am?"

She just took over the lead, huh? He had to consciously avoid just resting his hands on her butt with this size difference. He was honestly used to the girls being smaller than him. It wasn't that it was bad though, he rather liked it. Enough to forget to ease up on the hold and let her just stay there.

"Hey. No worries Murasaki."

"You totally are."

Honestly, Murasaki was probably holding him a little longer than she normally would have, but there was just sorta something about the moment that made her not want to let go of him. She knew it might've looked bad, especially since they weren't exactly anywhere private just yet, but like...she liked it, ya know?

"I really mean it, ya know? Like...yeah."

It was clear Murasaki'd wanted to say more, but she bit her tongue for now as she released Alastor, quickly tossing another dumpling into her mouth to cover up any nervousness on her end. Only after she'd finished it did she once more get to talking, her voice definitely seeming a bit more...well, passive.

"Mm...sorry, if I'm a little pushy."

Yeah. Something like that, he was particular to let go when she did and put a hand behind his head thoughtlessly and think about it and let her eat. A couple of thoughts flew through before he was caught off guard by the talk of being a little too pushy.

"Huh? No. Why would you be pushy, I mean. Are you being pushy?"

He blurted it out but it did make him think, was she doing it intentionally? He had didn't really think too hard about the implications of the question.

"Well, I mean like... I dunno. I'm not trying to be or anything. It's just been a while since I've like..."

Ah, Murasaki was really getting to be honest now, even if it was a little embarrassing. Still, she just sort of continued on their walk for now, trying not to hold things up even as she toyed with her fingers and did her best to come up with a good way to word this. She hadn't done this in a while, okay??

"We've kinda been going out for a while now, you know? I dunno. I kinda...are we goin' somewhere with all this?"

He had to think about that. It had come to his mind but he didn't know where he kind of sat with it, on one hand he wondered if they had the compatibility for it. It seemed good. Then he considered her reputation, it wasn't like Murasaki was just some girl. She was super famous and important, would it blow up? Get in her way? That wasn't what he was about. Things being simple were nice and maybe it was a bit selfish of him to wonder whether he had it in him to accept that too.

"Hmm. Good question."

He nodded along for a bit while thinking still.

"I mean, yeah. I think it's going places. I like you, it's fun hanging out like this whenever you're free and stuff. I just don't want to complicate your life you know. You got so much going on as the captain and all that. Frankly, I just haven't asked you since I don't want it to fuck you over is all."

It was pretty honest. He could dance around and even lie about it but that was messed up. At the end of the day it really did boil down to not wanting to fuck anything nice and good they had going on together here.

Well, Murasaki definitely appreciated honesty, and Alastor had sure been honest with her. Which was good, it was one of those things she really liked about him. She idly ran a hand down her own arm in thought, trying to think of how best to respond to all that.

"Well... Yeah. I guess that's true, I do have a lot going on. It's busy, you know that, so you're totally not wrong about how things've been for me. But like... I think I'm doing alright these days."

She spoke assuredly in that last sentence, a good bit of her nerves fading away as she reminded herself how life was going right now. Yeah, there was a lot happening, but she was doing okay, the division was doing well. Even if things on Earth were a little unstable, nobody was just keeling over and the whole realm wasn't exploding. More than that, though, Murasaki had her own life pretty well-handled for once. She was...well, she was happy.

"So, ya know, if you...if you wanted to ask, that'd be okay."

There it was. He didn't need to take a peek around to know they had left the busier area of the district and were getting closer to their destination. Sure was amazing how much distance they had covered but he did try and make it a bit more on the closer side. It'd be super awkward if an emergency happened and she was needed back asap, only to be many districts away.

It was nice hearing her feel confident and chill about it though. It did wonders to ease how uncertain he felt about it. The fact she just said it'd be okay if he wanted to ask really threw him for a loop as well. That wasn't what he was expecting to hear. That was pretty direct with what she wanted, well.. it would be a pretty cop out move of him if he pulled back now.

Just bite the bullet.

"Well, you wanna go out sometime?"

A stupid way to put it. They were already out with each other but he thought she'd appreciate something cheesy like that. It seemed like a her kind of thing.

It had been quite a few years now since anyone just asked Murasaki out, and a few more years since it had been someone she was really interested in. Maybe that was kinda childish of her, especially given her age-- Ah, her age! She'd barely even thought of that, was she a cradle-robber?? Go figure, getting all self-conscious about stuff now that they were here!

But still, the way he'd asked made her feel so very self-assured. Stuff like that wasn't a big deal, and she knew that. He'd asked a simple question, so it deserved a simple answer. No reason to complicate things. With a voice that was remarkably even for all the thought she'd put into this, Murasaki responded with no small amount of eagerness in her tone. She could have kept it from showing, but like...why do that?

"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm free any time you ask."

It was an equally stupid answer, one that just seemed right.

Yeah, this was easy. It was a little awkward waiting for her response though. Little tense really, fuck it did nothing for his nerves until she replied quite eagerly in response. That was a pretty nice feeling, for her to respond like that. Kinda nice.

"Oh yeah, how about now? I guess since we're already out, might as well. Right?"

Damn, that was pretty slick. He thought so anyway.

"That makes sense to me."

Smiling bashfully at Alastor's confidence, Murasaki sidled up close to him, intertwining her fingers with his gently. She'd worried about a lot of things when it came to this, but hey, they were past that part now. Well...for a little bit, anyway. Wasn't realistic to just expect it'd all be smooth sailing forever.

"So, let's keep going, huh?"