Guess Who! ♡ [Alastair, Inanna]

Normally, a little girl like this wouldn't be by herself in a busy street of the city but that she knew something the crowd didn't, she was actually a superhero vigilante that saved people with the power of love and friendship and twinkles! A lot of sparkles and glitter but right now she was just Inanna and she was looking for her bestie and partner in crimefighting.

She was tall with long red hair and great at giving piggybacks, in her time here since she ran away from home as well Inanna had decided that there were only two people with red hair in all of Africa: Kimitsuki and Vegas. Which made her confident in assuming that anyone who was tall and with long red hair were one of the two of them -- preferrably Vegas.

Jumping at the tall silhouette and landing squarely on their back, the bubbly little girl who knew not restraint put her teeny hands over Alastair's eyes and covered them real tight.

"Guess who it is, Vegas! H-hey, did you grow taller. I had to really jump and also your hair is way more messy-"

Then she peeked her head over the individual's shoulder and gasped in shock.

"They're gone! Your boobs, Vegas! Your boobs are gone!"

Oh wait, this wasn't Vegas. Oopsie daisy.

Vastime was not a country that Alastair had expected to visit any time soon, but somehow he was here and trying to look inconspicuous. A feat that was perhaps made challenging by the large mop of red hair that covered the top of his head. He had thought about covering it up, but that would have only made him more of a target.

He was walking down the street when the strange patter of feet began to approach him from behind, they were too light to be anything but a child's so he assumed it was nothing to do with him and paid it no heed. It was only when he felt the weight of something leap on his back and throw her hands over his eyes that he realised something was up. Did Vastime have child soldiers? Had he been exposed and this was a hit?

Instinctively, he began to reach up to throw the person off him, but her words caused him to stop. It was a case of mistaken identity or something like that, but how was he supposed to react?

"Apologies, Miss, but I believe you have the wrong person."

Craning his neck backwards, he hesitantly tried to remove one of her hands so that he could get a better look at her. Alastair was amazed to see a little girl staring back at him, and tried to throw her a comforting smile.

"Now, where are your mother or father?"

"Oops. You're not Vegas. I guess you're right."

She said with a cheesy grin at the way she had just tackled this random stranger in the streets and yelled really loud. People were looking now but that was fine, she was a kid. Naive and ignorant of what this might look like or the consequences of her actions. It was the best really.

"Hey! Why are you asking about my Mum and Dad before even asking my name, or introducing yourself. That's rude, don't you know? Hmmphf."

Her ears twitched on top of her head in frustration but she didn't give him a chance to profusely apologise like he ought to.

"I'm Inanna, and what do you mean? I ran away from home. I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, mister. I live with my friend Vegas now. I don't know Dad but I'm sure he's really cool and Mum is always working and I got tired of not having anyone to play with so I decided to explore the world. Now, where's your parents?"

Alastair's eyes immediately went to the onlookers, who were now beginning to turn their attention their way, and a little bit of panic began to set in. His face did not betray it, but part of him wanted to bolt on the spot. Then he was fleeing from a child in a public place, though, and that was the kind of thing that would only get him in more trouble. What was most unexpected was the outburst from Inanna herself, and his gaze turned back to her with wonderment in his eyes.

"I ask because little children should be careful approaching strangers, this is a dangerous place and it is the duty of your parents to protect you."

He turned to face her, dropping down to one knee, before his smile was dashed by a look of concern. The child had run away from home to stay with her friend? And she ran away because her mother was busy? Hopefully they were not too far from home that he might be able to escort her there without turning too many heads.

"I am Alastair. It is a pleasure to meet you, Inanna, but perhaps we should explore in the direction of your home. Maybe we can find Vegas together and make sure you are safe."

Continuing to scan the crowd, he quietly hoped that this mysterious Vegas figure would materialise from among them and save him from this impending disaster.

"Well I don't need 'em to take care of me. I'm able to take care of myself don't you know. Why does everything think that I can't take care of myself, tch."

She crossed her arms in frustration while pouting at him. She didn't want to go home either, this guy was being such a partypooper. First, he wasn't even Vegas and wouldn't stop talking about her Mum - if he liked her so much then he could just marry her - then he was trying to coerce her into doing something and the danava of freedom didn't take too kindly to this mature adults oppressive ways of doing anything.

"No, she's fine. I'm fine and everything's fine. You're so boring, mister. You're just like Mum, don't do that it's dangerous. Don't do that you'll get in trouble. Don't do that, *sigh* you get the point."

For her entire impression she had held her hand up like she was adjusting glasses over her eyes while she distorted her voice to sound nothing like her mother.

Who was this kid?

Were other children in Vastime like this or maybe there was something else going on? He continued to kneel before her, that same smile forced onto his lips and remaining despite himself.

"Did you ever consider that your mother might just be worried about you, and running away could make her really scared?"

Alastair was woefully unequipped to deal with Inanna, to be honest. His had hardly been a model childhood compared to the masses, who lacked that iron discipline, so what was he to do now? Were she his child then this level of disobedience would have been very troublesome, but he was also not about to tell someone else how to raise their own children like he was an expert.

"Look, alright, if you do not want to head home then let us head to a safe place and see if we can sort you out?"

"Pfft. I send letters and uhm, I try and do phone calls too but it's a pain in the butt to do that. It's easier just to write to her every now and again and tell her all my stories of... nothing in particular."

She couldn't reveal her secret of being a magical girl. Ah, if he knew that she was the amazing Twinkle Vanilla then he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut and then all the bad guys would know where she and Vegas went to school and they could take Vegas' family hostage like real villains! She had to keep this a secret like the real heroine she was.

"Either way, Mum doesn't have time for me so it doesn't matter. I'll just do what I want and live with my friend. Stop saying safe place too, we're going to the candy shop and you have to get me sweets because you are being so lame."

Just like that he was now roped into forking out money for the sake of her ever growing sweet collection, she had her stash in Vegas' closet which she was building up with all the money that her mum sent her. It was probably for something else but giving it directly to Inanna only meant that it was siphoned into big wastes of money as soon as she got it.

What was the concept of money even anyway?

"Fine. We can stop by a sweet store but then we are calling your parents or your guardian and making sure they know where you are."

Alastair stood, unclear if his request would be met with further defiance or if it could even be fulfilled at all. For all he knew, she might be living on the streets and had no one to look after her. Kids did have the wildest of imaginations, but he did reason that she looked rather too well dressed to be homeless or anything so drastic.

"Now, where is this candy store that you want to go to?"

He turned and held out a hand for her to take, expecting the girl to do so if they were going to go anywhere.

What had all that been about telling her mother strange stories though? It did seem like the child had some secrets, and perhaps there was something more to them than an innocent little lie, but it did still leave him wondering exactly what was going on.

"Mum knows where I am, ugh. Why are you so persistent about it? Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm not able to take care of myself! Either way, I don't have a phone anyway so too bad."

Technically, her mother had given her the money to buy things that she needed but consider for a moment the amount of candy and chocolate you could purchase with the quantity that you'd spend on a phone. Inanna was all about those confectionary economics, you know.

"It's this way. Next street down and on the corner. C'mon."

He was going to spend money on something that she could eat, so for the moment he was her friend. Really lame but a friend nonetheless right? Temporary as long as he kept giving her things and stopped annoying her.

"What's your favourite candy, mister?"

"I know you are capable of taking care of yourself, but I just want to make sure you are not out here by yourself with nobody to look out for you. And fortunately, I do have my phone with me."

Alastair began to lead the way toward the shop, at least by following Inanna's simple direction as directly as he could. If he was lucky, the shopkeeper might know who she was and be able to shed some light on the current situation. Elsewise, he could perhaps placate her and try to get some useful information out of her. How did this mission become unpaid daycare? He did not know, but there was no use in lamenting the fact. Now he was duty-bound to look after her until he was able to find out who to offload her on.

"Back where I am from, there was a candy shop near my house that made such wonderful Licorice. But I am also a fan of traditional gummies too. What about you, miss? Or do you like them all?"

It was better to keep her distracted on such inane topics as this, the last thing he needed was for her to go running off. Then he would be obligated to chase and that might cause even more issues. Under his breath, he prayed that they got to the store safely and that was the end of this little escapade.