A Sheathed Blade Still Cuts [Midori, Alastor]

"Most of the time, but not always. I've known some people who were just naturally obsessive. Like me and Murasaki, really. She always wanted to know more about swordplay, even before she ever left home."

Calling the nearest waiter over, Midori ordered a pot of tea and 3 sets of dango, making sure to set her kiseru to the side so that the young man didn't need to be near the smoke. A bit of basic courtesy.

"What really matters is being able to temper your obsession. There's a difference between Murasaki's passion and the obsession that some of your research captains have had, for example. Do you think you have it in you to get so obsessed and keep yourself on the straight and narrow?"

Another puff of smoke left her lips, taking a moment to watch the clouds. Was this what a date was supposed to be like? She'd never exactly gone on one with that husband of hers. Lazy jackass.

"Don't think I'm saying you should or anything, but you asked. I bet Murasaki would be more than a little upset if it went south."

"Worked so well thus far I guess."

He responded nonchalantly, watching her smoke drift away while he contemplated her words. He had been on the straight and narrow pretty well this far, and kept other people on it but keeping Elyss on the straight and narrow was like trying to tell a rampaging bull not to run at red.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

"Well, I guess I do. Don't know personally, never actually tried to get obsessed with anything."

Yeah, he was a pretty laid back guy he thought to himself while thinking back onto his past days. Just do what you need to and then go from there.

"There's nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't exactly say getting obsessive is something to strive for. If it happens, it happens."

As the teapot arrived with the dango, Midori put out her kiseru and put it away in her kimono, smiling as she poured two cups of the tea in question. She'd spent enough time hosting others that it just came naturally to her, really.

"So, why are you asking about all this? Are you trying to get stronger? Wanting to be able to beat up my good for nothing husband when he finally decides you're getting a little too cozy with Murasaki?"

In what could only have been called a moment of remarkable disconnect from her overall atmosphere, Midori playfully popped one of the dango off of its skewer and into her mouth, even giggling a touch as she did so. It was, really, remarkably similar to her daughter.

"I guess. Was just curious, why? Should I be concerned about him? I'll kick his ass if he wants to try."

Big talk and no real bite to back it up but that didn't matter. A guy's got to stand up regardless of whether he would get his ass beat. He didn't care that he was talking about his girlfriend's dad, or this woman's husband.

"..."

Wow that was weird. He kind of lost what he was thinking about at the eerie way that she acted when she handled the dango. Was this woman really just Murasaki but a milf? Weird. Was he looking at what he could expect to see Murasaki like in the future?

Whack.

"Will you? Now that's confidence. I see why Murasaki likes you so much. Good to hear it, he could use a beating."

Midori laughed quietly at the idea, pretty amused at the idea of this young man giving her husband a whipping. She loved him well enough, of course, but two centuries apart did give her a certain degree of awareness of the truth of their relationship. A great deal of the actual romance had certainly faded by now.

"I wouldn't say you need to be worried about him, necessarily, but he's pretty protective of her. There's a reason he's stuck around with her for two hundred years."

Another dango was popped into her mouth, and was accompanied by another cheerful giggle, before she topped off her teacup. She'd hardly emptied it, but it was just sort of in her nature to do so.

"Gotcha. Well, best to remain pepared regardless."

He said while thinking about it. Frankly, he'd never actually met Kagayaku but he wondered how long that'd last given that he was meeting her mum now. The old man sounded like a pain in the ass from what Midori was saying, overprotective dads were the worst. He had his fair share of those issues, you know.. before Murasaki but those weren't really serious. Maybe Kagayaku would be cooll about it.

"Wait a minute... her dad's a zanpakuto right, and he's hanging out inside of Murasaki right?"

Just how much was this old guy in the know? How much did he see? Wow that was weird and he never really thought about it. He was feeling really stupid right now for only considering these things. Crap.

"I don't think he spends much time in her inner world. He tends to laze around in the sword itself. Coming to see me is a bit too much of a headache if Murasaki needs his help, but I don't think he likes getting dragged into her personal life like that. He's protective, but not intrusive. At least, I hope not. Why, you wouldn't be doing anything untoward with my little girl, would you?"

Midori's smile grew quite impressively sly at that moment, her sideways glance making it quite clear that she found this more amusing than anything to actually be concerned about.

"Don't worry. Like I said, she's not far from how I was at her age. If he tries to start anything with you, just tell him she's like her mother. It won't stop him or anything, but he might get mad enough that you get a free hit in."

There was that girlish little giggle again.

"Oh. That's good..."

He heard her sly words and he felt like he cracked under the pressure, just staring at her for a small moment before wondering about how to respond and then he caught himself before he tried to shift blame, then again she was pretty straightforward with what she wanted but he wasn't going to talk about that with Midori of all people.

"Anyway, yeah. That's great. A good ol' throat punch after dazing him. Smart Murasaki's mum."

Alastor still couldn't get over that awfully youthful giggle that made it feel like she just shaved off centuries off her age.

"Oh, don't feel like you need to call me that. Just Midori is fine. Unless you're already close enough that you'd rather just jump right to Mom? I'd be fine with that too."

Yet another giggle, honestly just a sign that she was perfectly comfortable in this situation. Midori was enjoying this little outing, and she certainly wouldn't mind if Murasaki kept this young man around.

"I'd honestly like to see that. See if you can't make it happen when I'm around, I'd really like to see it, actually. Hopefully you don't mind more little visits like this, I like talking to you."

"Uh... let's stick with Midori for now. 'kay?"

Yeah, that felt a lot safer right now. She was way too eager now that he thought about it. Kind of weird but everything about this lady was weird. Not that he was complaining since it was a good kind of weird. There were probably worse mothers he could be dealing with.

"Sure. Why not. Probably good to keep in touch or something. You uh, visited Murasaki yet?"

He said while looking a little thoughtful, was it really his place to try and get his girlfriend and her mum some more time together? He couldn't tell right now. For the moment he just thought it was something nice to say, thoughtful? Girls' mums loved that kind of stuff even if his reputation seemed decent enough already with her.

Smooth.