starshower | 🌠 escordvi inbox.

Really?

[She doesn't mean to sound so surprised or interested in that, and realizing just how much she had, she draws it back, a hand fidgeting with a lock of hair.]

I don't know... With the bar and making sure the whole crew stays out of trouble, I'm not sure I would even have the time for something like that. I'm sure you know what that can be like sometimes, running an inn. When life keeps you busy...

[ Well, that does strike a chord with Sumina, remembering all too well how she'd always written the possibility of something like a relationship off when it felt like she was simply too busy to even think about it, when being an innkeeper was all she could think to be, on top of being a daughter, a sister, a friend. She couldn't fathom being someone's lover, as well, until her stay at the hotel had decisively taken her away from her role. It was only then that she was able to begin learning who she was outside of her work...

So she levels a look most understanding and sympathetic at Tifa, her expression softening. ]

I understand the feeling, truly. There's already so much to do, you can't fathom how someone special might slot into your life. Honestly, if not for the fact that I'd stepped away to stay at the hotel, I... Ahaha, I truly might have ended up an old maid.

Of course, I don't find myself quite as busy as you are, these days, but what I do believe is that... When the right person comes along, it won't so much feel like having to make space or time for them. It feels like... they fit right into your days, into your life, like they were always meant to be there.

[ ... She looks back down to her glass of wine. She's so embarrassed... ]

[There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Tifa thinks the sentiment is sweet, and she listens so very carefully to what Sumina has to say, as if she is telling her one of the world's greatest secrets or solving its mysteries. She always did feel a bit silly, even bothering to think about it, always so tied to her responsibilities that she would scold herself for getting so distracted by mere thoughts and daydreams, but maybe she's right.

Maybe... the right person will just fit...]

... Is that how you felt with Gojo when he came in?

[She's really not trying to embarrass Sumina, but... she might be trying to figure out her own feelings at the moment. Complicated, messy ones.

That, and she's a quiet, secret sucker for romance.]

[ She can tell that Tifa's questioning comes from a place of sincerity, of curiosity that may be driven by a wish for some kind of clarity about oneself, and... Well, she can't be upset about that, and for her own part she would... really like to move away from her old tendencies to never speak much of her own life. She'd like to make friends. To be a friend - and that starts by sharing, being a little vulnerable at times.

...Though she does have to chuckle, at first. ]

Goodness... no! If anything, he felt quite unnatural, at first. Always butting into my life every chance he would get, but you know... At the time, it's what I needed. I needed to be disrupted like that, to grow out of the comfort I'd found in loneliness. And now...

[ A fond smile peeks through even her bashfulness. ]

Now, it feels like he was missing, when I look back on what my life was like before...

That sounds really nice...

[Her voice takes on a more whimsical note to it, and for a moment, it looks as if her eyes drift off elsewhere with her thoughts once Sumina is finished.]

I guess... you won't really know until you try, huh? Harder to realize what you're missing when you don't know what that is...

[There's a brief, pensive pause as Tifa smiles to herself.]

You should bring him by Seventh Heaven sometime. I'd love to meet the guy who managed to woo you.

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