In the Midst of Them [Rafaela, Inanna]

"Basil's my favorite. Do you think I need a costume? I think my outfit now is already pretty cool."

Basil was in fact not a spice, but there wasn't a chance a woman like Rafaela would know that much. If it went into a food, it was a spice, obviously. The matter of a costume didn't really bother her much, and in fact, she had a pretty firm suspicion that the girl would press the matter. But she'd always take an opportunity to talk herself up a bit.

"Well, I know a few tailors, but they're back in the Empire, so I don't think I could get their help on all this. There'll be somewhere around here that we can find something, right?"

"Is Basil a spice? Hmm, I'll have to ask mum. Until then you can be called Basil and once we get you looking cute and sparkly then we can give you an adjective, teehee."

This was a conundrum wasn't it? Where was she going to find someone that could make a costume for Rafaela? Couldn't she just like acquire a transformation like Vegas and her had? Maybe they should work on that instead but how? This was getting tough.

"Well, we can go looking. Do you think you could have a magical girl transformation though? What if you just focus your power and try to visualise yourself looking cute when you did it?"

Inanna asked, incredibly out of touch with how powers worked for humans and also making the assumption that she had power to begin with. If she was a magical girl then she would have superpowers, right? It made sense in her head.

"Of course Basil's a spice, it goes in food, doesn't it?"

That wasn't what defined a spice, but Rafaela definitely didn't know that either. She was a simple woman from a simple place, and as far as she was concerned, that was the only thing that defined a spice.

"I don't think I've got any transforming powers, but maybe I could work on those if you think they're important. It's an important part of being a magical girl, so I'll have to take that seriously."

Honestly, the idea of working on some sort of transformation in any capacity wasn't a terrible idea, as far as Rafaela was concerned. She knew she was definitely sort of trailing off in her training, and that was the exact opposite of what she should be doing right about now.

"That's not what a spice is."

She said with a small pout, weren't grownups meant to be really smart? Ugh, she'd get a second opinion on it. There were more important things after all, like her transformation in this really important encounter that would define the whole world. Friendship could overpower any evil and adversity, so those crooks better look out.

"You should, I'd show you mine since you're apart of the group now but there's too many people here.."

A magical girl had to be discreet, you know? She couldn't just pop her transformation in public and then everyone knew her secret identity.

"Sure it is, you flavor food with it."

But they were moving past that point in the conversation now, so Rafaela wasn't too attached to the idea of whether or not it was actually a spice. She wasn't here to argue with a little girl, anyway.

"Oh, good thinking. Well, I was hoping to take a look around the city anyway, so we can probably find somewhere secret where you can show me your transformation, right?"

In most cases, she would have felt like she should be more secretive about her motives here, but she wasn't really being secretive to begin with. She already had people on her tail more or less 24/7, so she'd rather get things done efficiently than secretly.

"Yeah, let's find somewhere secret."

Inanna agreed and took her new friend in no particular direction, looking for a spot that was secluded and out of the way. The danava's attention was focused, more than she normally demonstrated to find the ideal hiding spot. Hey, they should have a secret base shouldn't they? She'd need to bring that up to Vegas when she got back. A clubhouse by day and their secret base when they were magical girls.

Yeah.

So while she had looped her arm around Rafaela's to roam the city she tried to think about what to talk about.

"So what's your experience and what do you think about friendship?"

She had to give her a proper interview too.

"My experience? Well, I'm a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, so I spend my days protecting the peace, stopping crimes and bringing people to justice. Pretty cool huh?"

Rafaela's grin grew a good deal at that, her confidence once more at the forefront. Sure, she liked to talk herself up, but it would always do a child good to hear someone important was willing to help out, right? That was how she saw it, anyway.

"Friendship is pretty important, I think. I haven't had much time to make friends in a while, but hey, that's about what I'd expect having a job. Friends are what give you support when you need it, after all."

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Rafaela had gone a long way without really having much in the way of friends, but she'd made herself walk specifically so she could make friends in the first place. It still made sense in her head.

"Wow. So you're basically a magical girl already except for the cute outfit! That's so cool."

Inanna chirped excitedly about the woman's past experiences, and current lifestyle. That'd be pretty cool right? Well, she preferred the approach of being a magical girl more so she'd stick to that.

"Well, we're friends now. So that's good, and I'd protect you from evil irregardless of what came our way. That's a good view on it though, very thoughtout."

She said with a firm nod, apparently satisfied with what she was hearing from the little lady.

"Well I wouldn't be very good at my job if I let you protect me, would I? We can protect each other, that makes more sense to me."

Of course, as far as Rafaela knew, she would be the one doing all the protecting, but that was perfectly fine by her. She liked to protect people, after all, and this kid was plenty precious. She was willing to let her have a little moment here.

"So, Inanna, how long have you been a magical girl?"

"Right. Let's do that, we'll have each other's backs teehee."

She said with a poorly executed attempt at a wink which made her face scrunch up and not be as cool as she had intended. Unfortunately, Inanna couldn't wink. The next question was a pretty simple one though, Inanna pursed her lips and thought a bit about it.

"Hmm. A couple of years, I'm pretty famous you know. Me and my best friend are, we're Vastime's heroic magical girl duo that stops villains. Cool, right?"