Drinks After Work [Murasaki/Alastor]

"Anything, huh? Got you."

He nodded. Looking around while he scoped out the area he kept his mind, yeah that. That'd work. He pulled her towards a stall, selling all kinds of things. The soul seemed like they weren't from around these parts but he was killing it with the delicacies he was bringing in from the modern world. Portable as well.

She'd love it and naturally he let her go first.

"Oooh, I haven't come by here before. Is this new?"

Perusing everything the stall had with a clearly excited gaze, Murasaki's eyes lit up rather obviously as she spotted one particular set of dishes, countless small steamed dumplings neatly packed together.

"They have buuz! I love those, oh my gosh! I'll take six!"

Murasaki excitedly gave her order to the man perating the stall, seeming to be inordinately excited over a small meal.

"Uh... Maybe. I think so."

He nodded, he thought they were new. Especially since people were crazy for all these things, so they were probably new up until the hype all died down. Something like that, this place still felt super weird for him. He was just a substitute after all, Europe was kind of nuts to grow up in. A completely different ballpark really.

"Yeah. Those look pretty good. I'll take the same."

Alastor wasn't hungry. He had eaten earlier today while working but he didn't want her to feel alone in eating so he decided he had to look like he needed to attack some as well.

Digging into her dumplings with no small amount of excitement, Murasaki could easily have been mistaken for any normal young woman. Well, other than her height, anyway. There was no indication of her position in the Gotei, no attempt to be anything other than just herself.

"You've never had 'em before? They're so good! I used to get 'em all the time whenever I was in Mongolia, and that was pretty often, you know."

She obviously enjoyed talking about her life before the Gotei, even despite her dedication to the organization itself. There was just something about those simpler days that still resonated with Murasaki, even now.

"Oh, really?"

He settled into walking along and ate beside her on the way. Just thinking about things really while she explained. Now that he thought about it, he had never really asked her to explain to him why she liked Mongolia despite the fact she spoke fondly of it a lot.. and she dragged them out there all the time.

"Hey. Why do you like Mongolia anyway? You're not from there, since people talked about how you're from there. Did you spend lots of time there as a kid or something?"

"Huh? Oh. Well... I dunno, really. I mean, I just think it's a really beautiful place, I guess. The plains, the open sky, it's all just so pretty. And there's something about the whole culture I've always sort of really jived with, you know? They've held onto that nomad lifestyle for a pretty long time."

Popping another dumpling into her mouth, Murasaki gave a little bit of a girlish squeal in delight at just how good it was, clearly quite excited to be having a treat like this again. Nobody really cooked like this up here!

"I guess that's kinda what it all boils down to, really. It's somewhere I can just...you know, ride across the plains without a care in the world. Nothing too complicated. I like that."

"Yeah. That's fair, but if you like being free why'd you wanna be a Captain? You're really good at it, don't get me wrong. The best probably but it doesn't seem your style at a peek since you like getting around a lot."

It was a little confusion. He assumed she just liked the people, it probably got really boring when you were always on the road and by yourself. He wondered if his sister felt like that, she seemed to idolise the nomadic lifestyle and not want to be stuck around their family but she got lonely, right?

"That does sound pretty nice. Just riding along and hanging out."

"Ah, well... I guess I just felt like I needed to help, you know? I kinda left Soul Society when I was really young, pretty much as soon as I got out of the Academy. With how everything was going, I just kinda...felt like I needed to come back."

Shrugging after a moment, Murasaki popped another dumpling into her mouth, almost disappointed as she realized she only had one left. Well, they'd been pretty good, and they were definitely filling. Maybe a couple more might've been good, but she wasn't trying to be a glutton here.

"Yeah, it was nice. Before I came back to the Gotei I'd kinda go around the world, find a home in one town or another, live there for a few years. But...ya know, I just sort of had to go after a while."

"Mhm. Mhm. Well, I get that. I'm kind of in this situation since I couldn't keep my nose out of trouble for others so you know. It's alright though. Life's more fun when it's really wild and full of stuff."

She was just about done but he didn't miss the disappointment. Most of the time his eyes were on her so it wasn't like much got past him and of course he wasn't that hungry anyway. So he handed her his bag after only eating a few dumplings. She enjoyed them way more anyway. Better than wasting them on himself.

"That's cool. I never really got to travel until I got this gig. It's pretty nice to get around."

"Oh, for sure! For sure for sure. I couldn't really ever see myself living a boring life, you know? There's just something way more exciting about never really knowing what the next day'll bring. But like...well, I dunno. Maybe I've been holding onto that for way too long. Might be a little old to still hold onto that."

Any sheepish embarrassment about both her age and her possible immaturity was mitigated tremendously by the introduction of more dumplings to the mix, a gift which was met with a very large smile and an even larger hug.

"Oh, lookit you! You're such a sweetheart!"