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[hearthwarming]

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[hearthwarming]

[ Not all too long ago when Ori had gone back to her waking world… Eight months had passed, but in the span of those months she had the pleasure of attending a close friend’s wedding as an honored guest of sorts. Back then, she and her friends had simply shown up from the far-flung reaches of their world they had spread out to over time and helped him and his village throw what Dae called “the most epic, romantic, fun, and buckwild wedding across all planes of existence, forever and ever.”

The customary wedding traditions of Cibark’s home are surely going to be quite different from what Tifa and Eustace may be planning for theirs, she imagines, and she doesn’t really know what bridesmaids do either, but she knows from the weight of this question alone that it’s no small thing for Tifa to ask of her.

The moment seems to stretch on as she simply stares at the other woman across the table, blinking in surprise. Ori’s cheeks flush in turn, a tinge of red deepening the lilac tone of her skin as Tifa goes on and her words make something warm bloom in Ori’s chest, flowers blooming in her hair once more.

For so long in her life, Ori felt that she couldn’t be important to anyone. She certainly couldn’t be important to her parents who disappeared, or to the villagers who forsake her and her sister, or to the mercenaries who belittled her at every turn. She would shrink herself down time and time again, hiding behind animal forms and never giving herself the love she always freely gave to others. Then she met people who truly saw her and built her up, made sure she knew just how much she meant to them. At home, these were her adventuring friends. But here, in this world of dreams, they’re her precious friends from realms that she and her friends in the Alchemighty could never even fathom. Thoma and Diluc and Eustace and Tifa and Beatrix and Trahearne and many more…

She may never get used to hearing those words. You’re important. But she will catch them in her heart and keep those precious words there, all the same.

Her eyes well up with tears, and she looks away for a moment to quickly wipe them away with the back of her hand. ]

S— Sorry, just give me a moment…

[ In time, she clears her throat and looks back at Tifa, her eyes still glossy but holding some newly-forged sense of determination and gratitude in equal measure. ]

I would love to be a bridesmaid. [ Whatever that means. Maybe she’ll ask Diluc later? ] I’m so… Happy that you would have me as one, Tifa. I’ll do my best. And… [ She smiles. ] You two are important to me, too. This place feels a lot more like home with you two in it.

[starshower]

[Seeing tears well up in Ori's eyes make some form in Tifa's, and the two girls are turning away at just the right times to wipe them away, because as Ori could never get used to hearing those words, Tifa may never get used to saying them. She's said them so much to many people, but that never meant that each one of those moments wasn't so surreal that they didn't overwhelm her with emotion.

And seeing Ori react that way makes this one feel that much more special.

Can't exactly imagine what things would be like without you here, too. She sniffles, and shrugs her shoulders in an attempt to appear more nonchalant about it than she actually is, like she's trying to pretend she didn't just tear up alongside her at the dinner table. I'm sure Eustace feels the same.

She knows the two of them are close, too.]

But... I'm glad. We can figure it out together...

[Tifa beams, and bows her head.]

It's going to be so much fun.