Girls' Day Out [Alex, Nelliel]

One on one time was important, it'd be a little hypocritical for her to suggest that maybe Ninsianna was not spending enough time with her daughter while she didn't make time to spend time with Alex alone. She did want Alex to feel like she could speak her mind, her darling husband could be a little over-protective sometimes tehe.

"So sweetie, what do you wanna do? You're the one that's been here longer so I hope you've got somewhere in mind."

She cheerfully said while pulling the red-head closer. She was far too tall to be treated like a kid when they were almost flush and so the arrancar was happy to walk along side-by side in a hug.

There was no reason to be shy about her affections for her daughter but she probably looked more like her friend than her mum with their heights. It didn't help she'd dressed in shorts, a t-shirt that showed off her midrift and a hoodie on top that she didn't need.

Alex was, roughly speaking, overjoyed to be able to spend some time with her mom here in the City of Lights. She'd found all sorts of neat things to show her, after all! There was the candy shop, the beach with all the prettiest shells, and there was even a bridge over one of the lagoons where she'd met new fish! There was so much in her mind to pick from that it took a little bit for her to decide what she wanted to do first, and she was clearly thinking deeply about it as they walked, her tongue sticking out a bit as it tended to do when she focused intensely.

"Well I really wanna show you the fish, they're really pretty, but they're usually not there until later, they don't like all the noise during the day I don't think. Um...hm... Oh! One of the cafes started selling milkshakes again now that it's getting hot! They're really good!"

It wasn't as if Alex was an especially complex girl, and the things she enjoyed were just as simple as she was. But one could hardly say she was unhappy in life, and she walked alongside her mom with the biggest smile one could ever imagine.

"Well let's go get some milkshakes then!"

She cheered and pulled away to take her by the hand, waiting for Alex to lead the way. What kind of milkshake did she want? Probably something chocolatey if she thought about it but anything sweet would be good.

"Tell me all your fishy friends, Alex. Have you given them names yet?"

It was simple things like this which she would be content chatting about, a nice little respite from the burdens that came with life.

"Oh, I have! There's a lot of them, so it took a while to come up with names, but I think I've got a name for pretty much all of them by now. There's Gregory, Tiki, Marcia, Harry, Ernest, Linda..."

Alex continued listing off names more or less the entire time they walked, a number so large that it was quite immediately obvious she couldn't possibly actually be remembering every single fish and the name that had been ostensibly given to it. Even so, she went on cheerful as ever, wholly ignorant of the truth of the situation. Her list only stopped when they finally made it to the cafe, and a large smile came across her face.

"We're here! What're you gonna get, mom? They have a really good peach milkshake! I've heard they get the peaches all the way from Japan, that's pretty far, isn't it?"

It would be completely reasonable for her to stop her right there and question the validity of the quantity of names being presented. Alas, where was the fun in that? Instead Nel just clapped her hands together in delight at the list.

"My, my. That's delightful, dear. So many fishies too."

Then they were hear and she gave a small smile, a peach flavour milkshake? Well she would get something different and that way Alex could have some of her own treat for a bit of variety if she liked.

She'd certainly want to give the peach milkshakea taste.

"A long, long ways away! I wonder how they must get all these peaches from Japan."

Nel sang along while leading them inside and letting Alex take the lead if she wanted to order the food, she was a bigger girl now.

"Well, I bet they can fly them down on a plane, right? A boat would take too long though, I think the peaches would probably go bad if you tried to sail them in from far away."

The idea of long-range refridgeration technology wasn't one that crossed Alex's mind, and it likely wasn't going to, either. Her attention was squarely on the list of flavors, which was fairly extensive. She'd already decided on peach, but she wanted to help mom decide, too.

"Nanna likes the lychee one, the watermelon one, the banana one, the pineapple one... Oh, she really likes double chocolate! I like mangosteen, and peach, and guava... I thought passion fruit would be good, but it was too sour for me."

She made a face at that one, clearly having no fond memories of that particular milkshake.

"Yes, they must fly them down here from afar really fast."

It definitely was not that but Nelliel thought it was far more adorable to play along with it than correct her. The green haired arrancar putting her hand thoughtfully up to her chin like she was thinking really hard about it, so many choices right? How could she pick.

"Let's get the watermelon one, we can share them if you'd like."

Nelliel definitely wasn't going to get the passionfruit now that Alex had revealed her dislike for it but it wasn't a high flavour on her palette either. Giving their orders Nel paid with some loose change and lead Alex to sit down and wait. They could probably get the milkshakes and head off again but it was nice to sit down while they had their drinks prepared.

"So, how is Nanna anyway? Are you having fun here with her? Is Ninsianna taking good care of you?"

"Okay, that sounds good!"

Alex was obviously excited at the prospect of sharing, and she practically bounced to the table they sat down at. The questions mom had asked took a little bit for her to think about, though, and she did look away a little bit sheepishly as she answered.

"Nanna is good, mhm. Her mom is really really nice, and we've been having a lot of fun here. I, um... I haven't really talked to her about...you know, what we talked about..."

It wasn't necessarily that she sounded ashamed, but more that she was embarrassed to be talking about it in the first place. Alex knew it'd be good for her to just say it, but any time she felt like it might be a good time, something came up, or she just got too nervous.

"Of course, dear."

Nelliel leaned forward a bit to rest her elbows on the table and place her chin in her hands. A relaxed expression on her features but a little glad to hear her say that, she had hoped that she'd be hesitant to do share those feelings in light of Ninsianna's revelation about Inanna and that it might overwhelm the other girl if Alex had spoken about their talks.

"It's okay to be nervous about it but don't be embarrassed, it's completely natural to feel awkward when you're experiencing all these new things. She's grown a lot since I last saw her too."

She did wonder if Inanna's older appearance made it more difficult for her, she looked a lot more mature despite acting the same. She wasn't going to ask how she felt about her friend's maturity but Nelliel was smart enough to lead with subtle little suggestions by commenting on it.

"Yeah...she has..."

Alex's eyes darted away again, her hands fiddling about as her face turned a faint shade of pink. She certainly wasn't going to say anything on that particular topic, but all things considered, she really didn't have to, either. Instead, she simply thought about what her mom had said, trying to figure out how she wanted to word this.

"I just don't wanna say it wrong and make everything weird."