[D9, ME] Closed and... (Closed)

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Bayushi Senshuken cuts the engine of her bike a hundred meters before the governor’s estate and lets it glide through the night like a sleek, silent predator. Lights off. Helmet visor up. Grin absolutely illegal. The guards see nothing. Mostly because they’ve been politely instructed to find the stars very interesting when Senshuken arrives.

She slips across the grounds, moving from shadow to shadow with that trademark Scorpion blend of skill, confidence, and 'yes I practiced this in a mirror.' Darkness hugs her tight black outfit, but the quiet bounce of the black cat tail clipped to her belt is doing its own acrobatics behind her.

Inside Ayame’s empty bedroom, she sprawls across the bed, immediately claiming it like she’s paid property tax on it. She places her backpack beside her, zipper deliberately open to reveal burglar tools, climbing gear, and… well… other apparatus of nature that is beyond the scope of this description.

The cat ears go on perfectly. Fluffy, glossy, undeniably mischievous. Then she fires off a text. "Governor sama. You might want to check your bed. Random whim, nothing suspicious.” And she waits.

Once the door opens, Senshuken gasps like she’s starring in an overfunded holo drama.
“Oh no!” She declares, dramatically pointing at her cat ears. “This is not what it looks like! I’m not a cat.” She points at the open backpack and its contents. "And I am absolutely not a burglar.”

She stretches across the sheets, one leg bending in a way that’s definitely a war crime, cat tail flicking behind her as if it has its own opinions." Honestly!” She purrs while tilting her head. Her gaze is warm and wicked at the same time and her ears perk.

[Yasuki Ayame]

What's this? Some sort of home invasion at her estate? That's a little strange, but highly coincidental that all of the guards would look away to let someone through. Oh, no, because otherwise the garrison guards would converge on her estate at a moment's notice. Then the magistrates would have to be involved in this breaking of the law, and she might even see Kuni Junpei again.

Well, maybe the last part was far less amusing to her than everything before it. Scratch that.

Ayame was home, dressed in her athletic best in black and greys like she could consider breaking into some place of her own, if only her looks were used to do the breaking. She would give Senshuken a befuddled blink as Senshuken started the scene far stronger than Ayame imagined.

Doing her best to withhold her laughter, she did her best to maintain her shocked expression and speak in a deeper voice to give some authority. "...What are you doing in my home?! And this place is specifically a no cat zone. They're totally going to eat my collateral deposit for this."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken snaps into a sitting position like someone pulled an invisible string. Her cat ears stand at full alert while her expression shifts into the most dramatically offended how dare you face in the history of acting.

“Samurai sama!” She declares while pressing a hand to her chest as if wounded. “I must object to these baseless accusations. I do not even have cat ears. Or a tail.” Both the ears and the tail perk up like they’re trying to wave at Ayame. “There are clearly a trick of the light. Optical illusion. Atmospheric conditions. I am absolutely not a cat.” She pushes out her lower lip in an exaggerated, heartbreakingly fake pout. A pout that would have diplomats surrendering provinces just to make her stop looking so tragically adorable.

“And it’s definitely not a home invasion!” She continues. “I mean... me? Invading? I don’t even have the vibes for it.”
The burglar tools in the bag glint in perfect disagreement. Senshuken points at them flustered. “These are props! Stage props! For, uh… my… independent theater career. Very avant garde. Very niche. You’ve probably never heard of it.”

“And! I only ended up here because my own house, my cat house... Errr my house-house!” She corrects herself loudly. “It looks exactly like this one. It’s practically uncanny. Anyone could make that mistake. Anyone with... night vision goggles sneaking in the garden.”

She shifts closer on the bed. Her shoulders round forward while her eyes glint with innocent mischief. “If you’d like, I am prepared to undergo any cat test you invent. I will prove my absolute, unwavering, not even a little bit feline nature.”

Then she lifts her pinky, extending it like a solemn oath. “And just to show I’m serious… I’m willing to pinky swear that I am here with nothing but pure, wholesome, absolutely legal intentions. Totally wholesome!” She repeats while her tail curls into a suspiciously pleased question mark behind her. This equipment really worths every koku she spent on it!

[Yasuki Ayame]

Ayame would close the door and step closer to the bed, as if to corner this potential home intruder. It was her intention to look either judgmental or skeptical at the situation, but her face tried not to corpse at the absurdity of the situation. Maybe she could have used some 'helpful' substances between stepping into the scene.

She crossed her arms, showing that she wasn't angry, just disappointed. "...So which one is it? You're a not-cat, with a surprise performance, and you mistook this place as your house. All of the above? You're talking for one, I don't know, I've ever known a talking cat before, but you could be the first..."

Her hand would seemingly reach for her pinky to reciprocate the gesture, but her gesture veers off. Ayame suddenly seemed more interested in grasping that rather ephemeral and active moving tail. She moved to sit at the edge of the bed. "But you do look so very cat-like! Almost like I could pet you...or put a collar on you!"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken freezes mid ear twitch like someone hit pause on a very flustered holodrama. For a full moment she just sits there in silence while her brain executes an emergency shutdown/restart routine.

Top Scorpion instincts.
Abort. Retreat. Lose the tail. Hide the ears. Bite the evidence. Should have stuck to fake abduction scenario.

Secondary instincts.
Collar??? Danger. Danger. Unexpected kink flavored battlefield. Am I prepared for this?

And then there’s another concern, both personal and professional. Ayame’s sister. If Umiko barges in at any point and sees Senshuken in full cat gear, on Ayame’s bed, tail swishing with treasonous cheer, Senshuken would never pull a proper blackmail out of her.

She vaguely remembers a lesson from Scorpion school. 'You cannot effectively extort someone who has seen you wearing a collar.' Or maybe it was slightly different. 'Never negotiate in a costume you can’t explain within three seconds.'

She inhales slowly, centering herself as if a disappointed sensei is in the room watching. Then she smooths her hair, pushes her shoulders back and summons every molecule of Bayushi cool she owns. Her smirk is elegant, dangerous and barely shaking under the strain of maintaining dignity while having a tail. “Okay,” she says with the kind of calm that only appears when panic has reached its maximum and transformed into acceptance. “Cut. Break.” She lifts one hand in a time out gesture. “A drink and we change the game, maybe?” The smirk grows equally sexy and exasperated. “This got out of hand really fast. It wasn't my initial idea. I shouldn't have gone for comedy and absurdity." Her tail gives an embarrassed little flop behind her as if agreeing wholeheartedly. "Stop it!" She exclaims and grasps it for a moment before taking the cat ears and the sensors off.

[Yasuki Ayame]

Ayame looked a bit amused, although there was a tinge of concern in her eyes despite her wanting to play it off casually. Well, at the very least, she wasn't really in costume herself, just wearing her favourite athletic wear. Last time, hanging out in those heels as the Queen wasn't exactly all that comfortable. She nodded once at the proposed break and shifted slightly away from where Senshuken was sitting on the bed to give her more space.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go for the jugular, if that was the case," she chuckled after a sigh, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her knees. "You said cat tests and I thought that any good cat should at least have a collar so that everyone knows their name, and potentially belongs to someone. Some comedy isn't that bad, especially..."

She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulder, thinking she could point to a number of things, like the passing of her immediate cousin or the supposed plot that the murderer had to go after the governing family, according to their hit-list board. Senshuken would probably know after her admission here, that would have been very difficult for anyone to do if they wanted to kidnap the governor without catching her completely awares. That encounter on the Harbourfront in the rain was a close call, though...

"A drink!" She reminded herself with a small smile on her lips as she got up. Her side of the estate was chaotic, to say the least. Her belongings seemed like a sort of ordered chaos, where some things put together made vague sense to her. "I have a few whisky bottles here, could fix a highball. There's some beer. Wine. Do you have a preference?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken loosens her shoulders, lets the last fragments of catpanic drain out of her system and her smirk returns. This time it is more human, warm, but still wicked. “A highball sounds perfect." She slides off the bed with an easy, feline stretch that she immediately regrets for how on theme it looks. “Soda and lime, please. And I can help if you want." She doesn’t wait for an answer. Of course she doesn’t. She’s already following Ayame toward the semi chaotic living area while glancing around with a small, approving grin.

“I like this.” She says and motions vaguely at the organized chaos of Ayame’s belongings. “A creative mess. It reveals high intelligence. Really. You can tell a lot about someone by how artistically they scatter their life around.” Her tone is teasing but the compliment lands with honesty.

She steps closer and lowers her voice as if they’re co conspirators sneaking out of a lecture hall together. "And I’ve got a lot in my head these days." She admits. “It’s been a weird day. Really weird. Like ‘tail nearly grabbed by a governor’ level weird.” A pause. “We can save the cat play for another time. Another place. Preferably one where we’re absolutely and unquestionably alone.” She wiggles her eyebrows while picturing an entire future episode she refuses to describe out loud.

“But tonight,” she continues and her eyrs brighten suddenly with that chaotic spark of hers, “we could try something else. Something fun. Something dramatic.” She leans in. "Enemies to lovers? Or or hear me out, arc villain and her noble nemesis. They begrudgingly sleep together after every fight because the tension is just unbearable."

She lifts her shoulders in a small shrug as if this is the most reasonable suggestion she has ever made. "I mean… it’s a classic for a very good reason.”

[Yasuki Ayame]

"Great!" Ayame said happily when Senshuken was in agreement to the highball idea, doing a small twirl in her steps in her steps so that she would flash a grin at her before continuing her saunter to the vague 'bar' area she had set up in her living space. It was perhaps a bar that suffered a housing crisis, where the bottle either couldn't fit in or just refused to stay in either the cabinet or fridge. She would pick up a few and give them a curious shake as she tried to find the right one, or at least one that was weighty enough that there could be alcohol for two people...and several drinks.

Ayame was happy to do this herself, yanking the cork off from a bottle of whiskey from Kinsenka Breweries with her teeth when she found the right bottle. She gave a gingerly measured pour for a single...then added a little more...then a few more drops to even it out to her liking. Some soda and lime would be added, as per her guests' requests. Some ice, thankfully, she actually had ice around, a stir, and she was mostly done.

"Thanks," she smirked as she handed Senshuken her glass. "I wouldn't mind it if you said it more often and louder so that potentially my sister could hear. Ahem, you know, high intelligence over here. Totally not a dump stat!"

"What if I'm into not being alone? What if I'm not afraid of a little noise getting out?" she would retort conspiratorily with a waggle of her brows, allowing silence to sink in for Senshuken to either make an opinion or potentially go along with it. That would only last so long until she couldn't maintain on her already not serious face. "Well, maybe not around Umiko-chan. Anyone, but her."

"Oooh?" she let out a sound of interest as she took a daring step toward her. "Why are they enemies? Why are they sleeping with each other? Is it because they're just too hot for each other? Or at means of getting one person to submit?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken watches Ayame work the bar with the kind of admiration usually reserved for martial arts demonstrations or master level cons. The cork-coming-off-with-teeth move gets a whistle out of her and she grins. “Very feral of you." She says warmly and amused. “Ten points to House Governor.” She grins. "AND 4 DOTS IN INTELLIGENCE SINCE BIRTH!" She adds loudly and laughs.

When Ayame finally turns with the finished glass, Senshuken leans forward, but instead of reaching for her drink immediately, she chuckles and lifts a hand in mock caution. “Easy,” she says lightly, still withholding herself from grabbing the drink. “I’ve gotta go slow. I have an appointment later and if my sources are right, showing up tipsy is not going to be appreciated.” She angles her head and gives Ayame a playful wink before reaching for her drink and taking a sip. "Tragic, honestly. Because drunk me? Absolutely charming.”

Ayame’s comment about noise makes Senshuken pause mid smirk and match the eyebrow waggle with one of her own. She steps closer without the assistance of cat ears or tail now. She’s just as dangerous without them though. Sleek, confident and impossible to ignore. “Oh, I don’t mind noise.” She murmurs, getting close enough that the words are warm against the air between them. “Not at all. Noise has… personality and its flavor is so spicy."

A beat. Then she leans back slightly, mischief glittering in her eyes. “But! Big truth time.” She lifts a finger dramatically like she’s about to reveal a state secret. “Before we met?” A tiny wince. “I kinda asked your sister out.” She huffs a laugh at herself and shakes her head. "But I cancelled. To meet a ronin sniper at a parking lot. Bullets fly, schedules changes, choices are made. You know how it goes." She gives a guilty grin. “Still. Could be… awkward, you know?”

Then Ayame steps toward her with that spark of interest. Why enemies sleep together, what pulls them together, who submits to whom. Senshuken can’t help it. The game is too good.

She steps closer. Close enough to brush shoulders. Close enough to spark. "Enemies who sleep together because they’re too hot not to." She answers with teasing confidence. “Because they fight like wildfire and collide because of undeniable pull. ” She lets the tension stretch and then snaps it with a wicked grin.

“Or…” She purrs and tilts her head. “Maybe they’re counting points.” She taps her glasd lightly against Ayame’s. “Big O points.” She clarifies with an outrageous little smirk. “To prove once and for all who’s the best player.”

[Yasuki Ayame]

Ayame blinked and gave Senshuken a pout when she dared to mention such things as responsibilities at this hour. And here she thought she was going to be able to do her darnedest to give her the best workout ever as her "personal trainer" tonight. She would let out a disappointed sigh at that and a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Okay, that'll just mean I'll have to drink your portion too at some point. That's not going to stop me from imagining you walking into your appointment dressed as that."

She narrowed her eyes as she wondered if she had another date or such with someone else after this, busy-busy girl...

"Hah? Really?" Ayame said at first, before letting out a chortle at the silliness on a few levels. "That would be very awkward. Probably another personal limit I would have, I really would rather not have a partner bouncing between my sister and I. That's something I would feel very much icky about. Very creepy. That said, did she know it was a date? Because I get the feeling that she didn't know that it was a date..."

Ayame would take a gulp from her drink, and smirked after a lick of her lips. She would step near Shusenken to give her a tap with her elbow. "Oooh, I like the sound of that. I very much like the competition is going on just to see who might submit or tap out first. Maybe some sexy gadgets are involved."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken leans back against the counter with the confidence of someone who knows exactly how much she’s getting under people’s skin and enjoys every second of it. Her lips curl into a teasing little smile as she watches the pout, the eye roll, the whole performance.

“Ah, not a maybe," she says. “A must." She lifts her glass, swirls the liquid and gives a tiny shrug that is anything but modest. “And you know, if time is such a terrible obstacle to fairness… well.” Her smile becomes a smirk. “Since I can win in under an hour. Easily. I could be persuaded to cancel my appointment. Purely for balance, of course.” Her voice drops into a low, mockingly serious whisper. “And because I promised proper courting. And I might have a little bit of that saved for the morning.”

She pauses, then chuckles. “Honestly, Kami, why wouldn’t your sister know it was a date?” She lifts her brows as if this is the most obvious logic in the Empire. “We planned to end up at my hotel room to watch movies. Mo-vies. Everyone knows what ‘watching movies’ really means.” She taps her temple with one finger, amused. “But yes. I had to choose. And I like the choice I made.”

Then Senshuken lifts her drink, takes a slow gulp and points the rim playfully at Ayame. “But if you want my drink?” She grins. “You’ll have to fight me for it.”

[Yasuki Ayame]

"You can keep your appointment if you want. I'm not going to hold it against you," she smirked playfully and posed a little in her current outfit of choice. Maybe there's a certain bend or lean she would do to make herself even more enticing in that particular crop top and her flattering tights. "It's not like I'm a stranger to a quick workout either. But, would be an amusing thought if you had to at least apologize a little for your lateness..."

Ayame narrowed her eyes to give this some long thought and shook her head in disagreement. "Nope...Nah, I don't see it. I don't see her agreeing on that. She had years of Aoi48 idol indoctrination to do something so brash. But hey, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the power of Senshuken mystique. Maybe you did a little song and dance that was a bit too irresistible to brush off."

There was the idea of pretending to be an idol for sexy role-playing that crossed her thoughts but...no, she hit brick wall on that idea instantly. That can stay her sister's territory.

"...What if I drink you for it instead?" Ayame offered as an alternative, as she would tilt her own glass back to drink. A drinking contest for a drink? Okay, more silly things had to have been proposed in the past.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken lets her eyes travel, unhurried, over the way Ayame poses. Her head is tilted, her lashes low and there's a hint of a laugh behind her smile. There’s appreciation there, open to be seen.

She clicks her tongue softly. "Hmm. I have a feeling, call it Scorpion instinct, that you underestimate your sister. What she would and wouldn’t do.” Her smile shifts into something sly, amused, almost philosophical. “People with years of teen idol indoctrination can be the most dangerous wildcards.”

Then, without breaking eye contact, Senshuken lifts her glass and drains it in one clean and elegant swallow. A smirk follows. “If we go down that road. The drinking competition. Just be warned.” She taps her fingertip against the empty glass. “You’ll be obligated to check whether you can actually sleep next to me later on. There is always the terrible, dreadful danger of spending a sleepless night thinking about how irresistible I am.” A beat. “It has happened before.”

She leans in just enough for the words to feel like a private confession. “Also. Tiny truth moment? I’ve had a few legal entanglements involving drinking and driving.” She gestures vaguely with her wrist as though such minor issues with the law can simply happen around people like weather. “And I cannot afford another one if I want my plan to succeed.”

She says the next line lightly. Casually.
Too casually. “The plan to marry you.” The words settle between them with the weight of a falling silk curtain. Soft and inevitable. Senshuken’s expression stays perfectly composed. Only the faintest upward curl at the corner of her mouth might betray that she knows exactly what she just did. Then she offers the empty glass back to Ayame with a measured and polite nod. “Your move.”

[Yasuki Ayame]

Ayame let out a low chuckle when Senshuken finished her highball glass, that was a vaguely double-triple. However, with her appointment and his history, she had no intent to fix her guest another drink as she took Senshuken's glass again. While Ayame could be mischievous, enjoy arousing thrills, she wasn't exactly evil to put her companion or anyone's life in danger.

"Heh" She smirked at her when she turned around and went back to the chaos of bottles and drinks that she called a 'bar', beginning to fix herself another drink. There was a moment where she seemed content about doing this until she dropped a cube of ice into her glass.

Clank!

"Wait," Ayame said as she spun around as she made the delayed revelation that this wasn't some long-play role-play... "You're serious!"

She would stride over in quick order, completely forgetting about the drinks, putting her hands on her hips as she pressed for answers. "I thought you were playing coy before...Suddenly interested in staying on the island permanently now? "

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken’s laugh comes out warm and low. Amusement wrapped in silk and confidence. “I don’t mind in which of your islands we live on. That part is entirely your decision.” Her gaze stays steady on the other woman. “ And I’m not a coy person. Never have been.” She says and tilts her head just a fraction. “Coyness is always a costume. I only wear costumes when I play.”

There’s another chuckle. This one with a faint, rare tremor of nerves underneath it as she rubs her thumb along her wrist.
“A drink would help, but alright. I’ve got this.” She walks toward the bed without looking behind her and then sits down, leaning back on her palms. Her legs stretch out just a little in a posture that’s relaxed, open and undeniably inviting.

“It’s a good political decision.” She begins. “You get someone who understands exactly what it means to be part of a governor’s close family. Someone who learnt how to navigate that world before she learnt how to tie her own laces.” A faint smirk. “You gain an ‘alliance’ with a significant family in the World of Dreams. And you get a courtier who can either work very hard for you or stay quietly in her corner and play with her toys." She shrugs. "Entirely your choice. Though honestly you definitely need a good courtier around with my kind of expertise.”

Her voice softens. “And on a personal level? I think we have a very functional understanding of each other’s dos and don’ts. And a generously expanded list of mutual dos. I like that. And there is chemistry, no?”

She stops herself, inhales softly as if bracing for impact, then throws the gauntlet. “The problem is...” A beat. Her eyes glint with faith, with the sense that she’s dangling something irresistible right in front of Ayame. A challenge. "I don’t know how to persuade my mother. I used my best arguments and she wants more.”

[Yasuki Ayame]

Ayame wouldn't fix herself another drink, certainly wanting to be serious and sober about this. She would walk over to the bed and take a seat. Her posture wasn't languid or relaxed as she usually was when it came to her weakness for a comfortable bed. She crossed her arms and gave this some serious consideration, as serious as she could after a triple shot and her grasp of the political.

"I could see some of those things...but shouldn't we take this up with a nakada? That said, what about the particular lifestyle that I mentioned earlier? I don't imagine that will turn off immediately. To be honest, I'm not one of those super traditional spouses who is merely hiding in whatever full and shapely package you see right here." She smirked as she brushed some hair behind her ear. "And what does your mother even want?"

"You know, you could just consider petitioning for a longer stay with your lord if you're going to play the long game, a campaign, even," she said with a lift of her brows.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken shifts into a lotus position across from Ayame with fluid ease. Her back stays straight, her shoulders relaxed and her eyes half lidded in a way that suggests both calm and dangerous flirting at the same time. "I don’t play long games." She says with a soft grin. “Long games are for patient people with quiet hobbies. I play quick ones. Efficient ones. Loud and fun ones.”

She lifts a hand, casually brushing an imaginary thread from her knee." I was going to talk to your sister about opening formal negotiations but…” A pause. A blink. A tiny, traitorous twitch at the corner of her mouth. “…I realized that would involve explaining why I was already halfway planning a wedding without asking the bride first. Even by my standards that’s bold.”

She exhales softly. "My mother wants a truth, a half truth, and a lie.” Her fingers tap her knee lightly thrice marking the three categories. “Political connections. Dowry. Feelings. I just haven’t decided yet which one gets which label. All three sound suspicious if you put them in the wrong order.”

Senshuken’s eyes rise to meet Ayame’s and she shrugs. "And I wanted you to know. To be in the loop. I’m not asking you to turn off the Ayameness. The chaos, the confidence, the 'I-fuck-around-and-it's-no-one's-fucking-business.’ I’m not turning off any of the three either.”

She leans in slightly, the space between them charged, her voice dropping into a sly, intimate warmth. “It’s who we are. We could embrace it and be ridiculously awesome together. Let people talk. Let them whisper. Their gossip is already worse than that."

A smirk. Then a wink. “Honestly? Us getting married would be one of the saner things the island has ever seen.” She tilts her head, studying Ayame’s reaction with that cool, clever calm only Scorpions can weaponize. “So. Governor. I want your hand. Can I have it? I'll take care of the nakodo." She asks and offers her own hand in an open invitation.

[Yasuki Ayame]

Okay, suddenly her bed was getting a bit too comfortable now and despite her best efforts to stay serious, put a lot of consideration on the matter. Ayame let out a long sigh and slowly leaned back before she flopped on the bed unceremoniously with her hands resting on her stomach.

"Oh, Kami...this is too much to think about at this late hour, Senshuken-chan," she said softly. "I do like you a lot, and we have a lot of fun together with these games we play, well...when they happen without a hitch. Obviously, you know what buttons to push when we're in bed. Physical buttons. You seem to vibe with me when it comes to my relationships, which is wonderful, but still...This is a lot to think about! Hope I don't have to get my parent involved. Well, father is retired, so I guess it could be up to us? Umiko-chan and I, mean? Not sure."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken shifts closer on the bed, slow enough to telegraph intent, confident enough that she doesn’t need to rush. One hand slides lightly along the edge of the mattress near Ayame’s hip. Not touching her yet. Just announcing the possibility.

“I’ll tell you what,” she murmurs and leans in, close enough for Ayame to feel the whisper of her breath along her leg. “How about.... ” Her fingertips trace a slow, teasing line along the seam of Ayame’s athletic tights. Not indecent, just intimate enough to send a spark. “I talk with your sister.” She says and her lips brush close but don't touch. “And you," she lifts her leg gently to continue the exploration behind her knee. "Just sit tight." A small kiss there. "And wait to be claimed." Her eyes, half hidden behind Ayame's leg, seek for her eyes. "Like the good girl I know you can be.” She bites." Yes?"

[Yasuki Ayame]

Ayame found herself getting comfortable with the proximity of intimacy that Senshuken was promising with her touches, however, the words didn't have quite the same effect as her tease. She shifted slightly in her bed and found the reason to sit up once more, when she previously was ready to surrender to bed and whatever could be fed her way. She let out a sigh with a crossing of her arms, a bit defensively. "I think in any other role and we were playing, I would be willing to just sit back and be claimed...but it kind of rings differently when it's edging on my livelihood here. The spot was supposed to go to Umiko-chan originally. I'm sure she would appreciate it if I took it a little more seriously than usual."