In the Midst of Them [Rafaela, Inanna]

This was probably the first time in a long while that Rafaela had been able to get out of Helle's home, and she had to say that she welcomed the opportunity. There were other medical staff from the Empire there, of course, but she wanted to make sure that Helle herself was in decent enough condition that she wouldn't need to let His Majesty know.

So, instead, she could finally start her investigation back up, get to know the City of Lights decently well. There was supposed to be some construction going on that was tied to one of the Duvalier Group's stooges, and even if it didn't seem like it was tied to any of the Group's finances overall, it was pretty suspicious nonetheless. And then there were a few people here in the city she'd need to talk to... This would be a long stay, she suspected.

Well, for now she could just take in the sights, get a feel for the place. She fixed her hat, making sure the sun didn't get into her eyes. It was a pretty place, at least. Being so close to the sea reminded her a little bit of home.

Boringggg. Inanna was boredddddd, why couldn't her mother just not work and play more. She was trying to be good though right? She was free to spend her time however she wanted and so Inanna would let her do that. Though, she was also free to spend her time however she wanted and that was not there so she wandered back through the streets lost until she spotted another short silhouette in the crowd.

Another kid!

Zipping over towards Rafaela and popping up in front of her, Inanna gave a dumb grin at the woman that was her height and then no way! What did this girl eat? How'd she get her boobs that big? They were definitely bigger than Vegas and she was like half the height! She simply had to get to know this woman and find out her secret so that she could get a bit more smug towards the red head when she went home.

"Hi, I'm Inanna. What's your's?"

It caught Rafaela off guard at first to suddenly have a child in front of her, but she was fairly used to that. After all, she was something of a hero back at home, so she got this kind of attention pretty regularly. Not that she expected the same treatment here, and the girl asking her name definitely reflected that, but Rafaela nevertheless took on her usual cocky grin and put a hand on her hip as she replied.

"The name's Rafaela. What can I do for you, kiddo?"

She always kept that sort of demeanor up with children, and they generally seemed to like it. Being cool and distant already wasn't her style to begin with, and they definitely never took to it. Better to be active, forward, engage with them!

Plus, Rafaela just liked kids. They were sweet.

"I've got an important question."

Inanna seemed dead serious, her priorities were deadset on the wrong road here but that was okay, thinking about it while she kept staring at her it occurred to her... this girl was cute, cute with a bit of spunk- she was perfect. She needed to try and think of a spice real quick but what else? Ah, names were her partner's thing.

"Well two... Firstly, do you wanna be a.."

She peeked around a couple of times, just to make sure no one was listening.

"A magical girl?"

Rafaela was a bit surprised by that question, but she took it in stride. She always enjoyed playing along with the children's games, and as much as she knew she had work to do, most of it right now boiled down to getting a feel for the city. Well, she could do that by doing this, couldn't she? She made sure to speak in a bit more of a hushed tone, to match Inanna's own apparent concern for secrecy.

"A magical girl? I'm always willing to help fight for good, sure."

She didn't really expect this to be much more than a bit of playing pretend, but Rafaela had gotten used to doing that when children asked her to join in their games. There wasn't any harm in it, was there?

Alright, the team was coming together. Inanna leaned back and began to count off her fingers while she counted the archetypes that their team consisted of now. Leader, check. Sassy sidechick, that's her. Older woman, check. Mysterious one, this girl...? Brilliant. Right? Vegas would be so elated by this news and Inanna puffed out her chest in pride before the act reminded her of the second question.

"Great. Now the second one. How'd you get so..."

Big? That sounded a bit rude, ignoring the fact that she was trying to ask Rafaela about something awkward and inappropriate to a stranger but she was part of the team now, she wasn't a stranger and let's be real. An enigma of someone "her age" being so big was weird.

"You know. I wanna be bigger than my best friend."

In the stupidest way possible, Inanna tried to motion over her own chest with her hands to suggest what she was asking. It was a competition of which she only really cared about but being small was so boring. She wanted another foot of height!

Rafaela was actually unsure what Inanna was asking, at least until she gestured with her hands. If she'd been younger, she might have blushed embarrassedly, but instead she just blinked in surprise and laughed it off. Gotta just stay confident and all that.

"Well, I didn't quite get like this until I was about twenty or so, but I was a really small girl when I was younger. I drank a lot of milk and ate a lot of meat, made sure to stay active."

This wasn't really the sort of thing she liked talking about, but hey, she couldn't be afraid of it just because it was uncomfortable. Besides, it'd probably help this girl's confidence, right? And that was important.

"Like that?"

She appeared a bit disheartened, why couldn't it be instaneous? Just an immediate reward but that was so much work, there was a groan at the idea of work. Lots of milk and meat and exercise? Well she did one of those didn't she? She was very active and all that, how much meat did she eat and how much milk did she drink?

A couple of moments before she continued.

"Alright, well- wait a minute! Twenty!? You're not a kid like me?"

Small people did exist but something about this girl just seemed really youthful, maybe it was her face and her height. Inanna couldn't place it.

It hadn't actually crossed Rafaela's mind that Inanna would have even mistaken her for a kid, but that did clear things up a little bit, didn't it? Well, she wasn't embarrassed about her size or anything, it was just a part of life for her.

"Not at all, I'm sorry to say. I'm 28 years old, and I bet when I was your age I was a whole lot smaller than you are now."

Rafaela grinned confidently, always carrying herself with pride even when she was talking about her physical shortcomings. It was just something she'd overcome, and it didn't mean anything now. If anything, it just made her stand out all the more, and it was something other people could be inspired by.

"Hmm, we already have an adult in the team but I think you're small enough to not clash. Yeah! Hey, what's your favourite spice, Rafaela? We also need to get you a magical girl costume."

Quickly going back to the other important topic, the magical girl team. Rafaela needed to get a costume, didn't she? Where was she going to find the means to acquire one of those... Maybe her mum would know but she was probably busy.

"Know where we can get you a fancy outfit, with lots of frills!"

Frills would look really good on her, she would be so adorable.