[ The kiss that she returns is just as heated on her part. She wonders, in that moment, if they’re going to end up having dinner at all— and she finds herself deciding that she wouldn’t mind if they skipped it entirely.

She’s been without them for eight months.

When he breaks the kiss, her hands move to frame his face. Behind the spring green of his eyes that she missed so much she finds a longing and want that are surely mirrored in her own eyes as she looks up at him with a smile. ]

I’m looking forward to celebrating. [ “Celebrating.” ] Let’s hope he can be convinced to leave work early just this once… I’ll be back soon!

[ She pulls away completely, then, taking a step back before twirling on her ball of her heel, the soft pink fabrics of her dress twirling in tandem before she makes her way over to the door of their home. As she opens it, though, another thought occurs to her and she looks back over her shoulder at Thoma with another teasing smile. ]

Be a good boy and wait patiently while I go get him, okay?

[ And with that, she departs. Surely Thoma and Diluc will see the full force of Ori’s newfound confidence brought to bear this evening, and it will be beautiful, but above all else she simply wishes to show them how much she truly missed them, and how much she loves them all the more for the time she’s now spent apart from them. Now, with her worries and fears from home to rest, she is irrevocably and wholly theirs, now and forevermore. ]