Sweet Tea With Extra Sweetness [Inanna, Reida]

"That's right."

She liked that this woman agreed with her, the sweet tea goddess really was full of wisdom. Sharing was caring and very important, Ms. Reida seemed really happy now. Inanna certainly was when she had Reida giving her headpats again.

"Hey, Ms. Reida. What do you think freedom is?"

Maybe the wise Reida would have some thoughts on freedom to share with her while Inanna leaned in a bit closer. She was really curious what she had to say.

"Freedom, huh?"

Reida continued giving the girl pats on the head for as long as she wanted them, hardly concerned that this was turning more into petting. She figured this was just a thing for people like this, and while she wasn't exactly gonna be doing it to everyone, she could do it for a little girl no problem.

"I think freedom's bein' able to live without other people gettin' in the way of your life. 'Course, that doesn't mean you get to just do whatever you want. You hurt other people, then that ain't freedom. You're just takin' it from other people."

She nodded once, as if to punctuate her statement. That made sense to her.

She wasn't exactly anticipating Ms. Reida drawing out her attention to her head and ears but Inanna certainly didn't dislike it. Quite the opposite really as she started to faintly purr which made her blush a little bit, she was pretty comfy though and so the embarrassment about it being someone who wasn't someone super close to her fell to the wayside.

Ms. Reida didn't seem like she was evil or anything. Inanna thought she was a nice friend, the big dumb redhead was lucky to have a friend like her.

"I think so too. If someone's smiling then they're happy, and if they're happy then they're free. Right? Why do people hurt other people, Ms. Reida?"

She asked and leaned a bit closer to the woman. Someone smart like her might know why people did those things right?

The purr definitely caught Reida off guard, but she thought it was pretty adorable. She liked cats, so that was fine by her. She hadn't been expecting Inanna's next question, but it made sense, given recent events.

"I guess there's a lotta reasons people hurt each other. Can't say any of 'em are good, though. Hurtin' people's a sin, so ain't nothin' good about that."

Reida kept the girl close, offering her a bit of a half-embrace to keep the conversation from being too much of a downer.

"I think I'm happy most of the time so I think I'm pretty free, I was really sad for a while since I felt like I was stuck here but now that I've got my best friend again I feel really happy again. I guess we're not supposed to be happy all the time since I think if I was happy all the time then I'd get really bored but I think people should still be able to be free..."

She rambled a little bit, just following along the train of thought she had and speaking her mind to Reida. It was a bit glum but she still had a small smile on her lips, even if it was a bit of a serious conversion she didn't like being treated like a kid.

Inanna could talk about stuff like this and not get sad!

"Are you happy, Ms. Reida?"

That was some deep thinking from such a smart kid, but the good book did say that kids spoke the truth a whole lot. Reida wouldn't disagree, and she continued her little headpats as she answered the question. She didn't want to lie to the girl, but she also didn't want to be quite as serious as she normally would be.

"That's a good question. I think right now I'm happier'n I've been in a long time. It's nice bein' here, makin' friends."

She felt like that was a good answer, and one that wasn't untrue. Was she genuinely happy in all respects? She couldn't say for sure. But she was leagues happier than she had been, and that meant a lot to her.

"That's good. You're friends with Alastair, he's a big dummy but he's really nice I think. Don't tell him though, I don't want it to go to his head."

She said with a small laugh when she heard Ms. Reida say that she was happy and that she liked making friends. That meant that they could be friends! Well, if she wanted to be. Inanna didn't mind bringing Alex over too and then they could all have sleepovers as well and do other fun stuff that friends did or something.

"Can we be friends?"

Reida couldn't help but laugh at Inanna's assessment of Alastair, finding it admittedly fairly true in its own way. He was a charmer, for sure, but she'd be a liar if she said she didn't think he got caught up with himself now and again.

"Sure thing, darlin'. I won't tell him ya said a word. And of course we can be friends, I wouldn't go sharin' all my tea secrets with just anyone."

She gave the girl a bit of an exaggerated wink, a gesture she had to put some extra oomph into to distinguish from simply blinking. That was something Reida had actually found was fairly awkward with only having one eye, apart from the more obvious issues.

"Okay, darlin'."

Inanna answered back with a cheeky giggle and a poor attempt at a wink which turned into a blink, she couldn't really get the accent down but she found some childish amusement in parotting her cute nickname.

Though she'd stop if Ms. Reida didn't want her to. She should probably share a secret to her new friend since she'd been given one with the secrets to Sun and Sweet Tea.

"I should tell you something about me, right? You told me a secret after all. I just told you about water. You can keep a secret, right?"

Inanna's own attempt at a wink put a wider smile on Reida's face, though she'd never admit she was grinning at the girl's expense. That'd be terrible of her, and besides, her using such a southern term did come off as awful cute.

"Sure can, I'm great at keepin' secrets. I'll never tell a soul."

She put a finger to her lips as if to further emphasize the point, really selling it now. She wanted to make sure Inanna trusted her, after all, or it'd really take away from their little back and forth here.