Hey, you again!? [Alastair, Inanna]

Why was this always happening? What made her always get into this situation? Inanna could only wonder while she made her way around the City of Lights. It was so busy and there were so many people, which way was back home? Ack! This wasn't fun, she hated being lost but everytime someone approached her and asked the little girl if she was lost the pride demanded that she tell them that she wasn't and they were mistaken and that she knew exactly where she was.

Finishing the pastry which was her target and reason for being out here, the inquisiitve Inanna flicked her head about a couple more times. Nothing looked familiar and everything was different or the same, why did cities always look the same anyway?

"Damn it."

She muttered to herself frustratedly with icing still around her mouth, her ears twitching to show just how annoyed she was. No way was she going to call her mother and ask her to come find her. That'd be so embarrassing, instead she just became even more dogmatic.

I'm not lost. I know exactly where I am. I'm in the City of Lights.

Why was this happening? What made him get into this situation? Alastair could not help but wonder as he raced across the City of Lights with a dining apron still wrapped around his body and his hair pulled up into a neat ponytail. He had been in such a rush that he had forgotten those ingredients and then, in his rush to get them before Reida came over, he had left his flat in such an unsightly dress.

Thankfully, no one had really paid him any mind for the majority of the journey across to the market and had his luck had held out for most of the return trip. It was only then, just when he dared to think that he might make it unaccosted, that he spotted an all too familiar figure. Distinctive not by height but certainly by appearance and general disposition, Inanna was someone that stood out in a crowd.

For a moment, he considered giving her a wide berth and trying to slip past but that was quickly dismissed. He was not the type of man to leave a child unattended in the bustling city, and so he charged through the masses until she was before him.

"Are you alright, Miss? Is someone looking after you?"

"I'm fine- Eh... Uwah! It's you!"

How quickly everything went, she had thought it was another passerby trying to ask her if she was lost but she was wrong. It was the pigheaded demon! The monster that had no brains and was so dumb when she last saw him but at the same time.. He did get her lots of candy after she coaxed him into it. Ehehe.

That did make her snicker a bit.

"You look dumb, why are you running around like that? Pfft. Are you trying to cook or something, I bet I'm wayyyyy better cook than you."

She hid her own insecurity about being lost under the thinly veiled bullying of Alastair after he was so much of a pain in the butt to deal with last time. Mr. Bigshot and all that.

"You look a little lost is all. Is Ms. Kishar around?"

Stretching out his limbs, Alastair tried his best to peer over the civilians that were rushing around them in an attempt to spot Ninsianna. The newly appointed Director had certainly become even more distinct of late, so it would be hard to miss her and yet she was nowhere to be found. Surely this cursed child had not run off by herself again? Even in a place as secure as the City of Lights it was hardly a fitting place for a young child to run around unsupervised.

Dropping down to her level, he squatted a little so that perhaps they might see a little eye-to-eye.

"I was just trying to cook something and realised I needed a few more ingredients, but I am sure you are a gifted chef. But your mother will be worried sick if you have disappeared without warning, so let us try to track her down together? How about that?."

"Nuh uh. Mum's busy and probably working, maybe... maybe I'm out here because I'm exploring! A girl should know her way around, that's why I look lost but I'm definitely not, 'kay? I'm just looking around."

Indignant that she was not at all lost, Inanna crossed her arms over her chest. This dummy redhead really thought someone as clever and brilliant as her could be lost ahahaha. He was right.

"Anyway Mister. I am a gifted chef I'll have you know, I help out all the time with the cooking at the cafe. Let me show you how it's done."

Yeah, nothing could go wrong with this. Irregardless of how he felt about it, Inanna looked ready to follow him around like a bad smell now. Mum clearly trusted this guy so she could trust him to not be a weirdo, right? Yeah and then she could sneakily figure out where she was and make herself unlost and he'd be none the wiser.

Teehee. It was brilliant. She puffed her chest out a bit with a smug grin at her little thought there, it probably didn't make much sense to him why she had done it though. Maybe she was just that proud of her cooking.

It hardly took a master of insight to understand Inanna's childish ways, even Alastair had managed to deduce that she was stretching the truth a little thin. But he smiled down at her anyway, a comforting smile as much as the dour redhead could muster at a moment's notice. It was one that could hardly be called inspiring, but he meant well anyway.

"Very well, I think I have just the ingredients in mind for you. But if you are coming with me then I will not lose you in the crowd."

He saw her puffing out her chest in triumph and could tell that his action would almost certainly deflate her spirits, but he offered out a hand for Inanna to hold. The last thing he was going to do was let her run off again, else Ninsianna would have his guts for garters if she found out that Alastair had let her slip through his fingers. The plan was simple, really, but he did probably have the bait the line just a little.

"Do you like baking cakes, or is there another sweet or savoury snack that you have in mind?"

Guh! This man actually thought that she'd hold his hand? No way! She didn't want to hold a boy's hand, people might think that they were a couple or even worse! They'd think he could be her dad and that was not the case, no way. Inanna just pouted and puffed her chest out before a smug grin grew as she came up with her idea.

"Nuh uh. I want a ride on your back no no, shoulders and then I can see better."

Yeah, she was a master of negotiation.

"I wanna make cookies. With lots of chocolate."

"I suppose that could be arranged, but we will have to stop by the candy store to pick up some chocolate."

That was a similar path to the same result, was it not? If she was on his shoulders then it would be even harder for her to give him the slip than simply holding his hand. Turning to offer his back to her, he hooked his hands behind him to be ready to assist in keeping her in place upon his shoulders. It was not all that long of a walk to his apartment anyway, so at least she might enjoy the elevated view.

"Just hold on tight now."

"That sounds good, mister."

Inanna spouted while climbing up to sit on his shoulders and enjoy the sights from up high. Red eyes scanning over the crowd from this new perspective, it was great being high up and being able to view the world from up here. It sucked being small and everyone towering over her. It'd be cool to be a giant, huh? Just wander around and not have a care in the world plus it'd be so easy for her to get around and stop crime if she was a giant. They'd zap her and she'd just shrug it off and then go thwack!

"Eh? Okie dokie."

Hold on tight, pfft. Inanna didn't last long of holding on before her hands left the security of his shoulders and stretch out her arms to mimic wings and imagine that she was just flying through the streets, Hehe, this was fun.

It was strange, carrying someone on his shoulders like this. He did not remember it happening to himself as a child, though it was certainly a thing that many parents did with their children. Perhaps that was most indicative of the odd nature of his upbringing, so single-mindedly dedicated to his training that there had never been time for normal family matters. That could have contributed to why he was even here now, rather than at home living with them, though that felt like quite the dramatic leap. He could feel her moving around up there, trying to find a comfortable spot whilst waving her hands around.

"Having fun up there?"

Holding onto the bottom of her legs, lest she tumbles backwards or something terrible, Alastair weaved his way through the crowded streets lazily. He was not in a rush to get where he was going anymore, the candy store was only a block away and no doubt this little terror would try to clean him out just like last time.

"So what kind of cookies do you want to make? Milk, white, dark? All three?"