[For all that Tifa says, she doesn't actually answer and Aerith can't bring herself to pry. Curious, yes. But when it comes to pressing peoples' buttons, Tifa is not someone she wants to do that with and she suspects that's likely the nature of their relationship. It's not that Aerith is afraid to. It's that she understands that not all approaches work the same on all people. Tifa is special.
Putting the nature of Tifa's personal life aside, there's more truth in her words, heavily weighted though they are. She sucks the levity right out of her flower girl companion. Aerith looses a sigh, once more feeling worn down by the reality of the situation. She's been carrying the weight of this for quite some time, even before ever coming to Camelot. Maybe she should try to be a little kinder to herself.
And to Balthier.]
...I'll... think about it.
[Which is Aerith's way of saying she will do it. Eventually. She doesn't know when, but it'll happen at some point, in some fashion, and probably happen in entirely the wrong way. But there's nothing about her relationship with Balthier that she hasn't handled wrong, so she expects she'll only continue to do it wrong.]
Sorry. I didn't mean to get you involved with any of this. I keep doing and saying selfish things. To Balthier. To you. Probably to others without even realising it. And all I do is apologise instead of taking responsibility for it. Or maybe I'm trying to take too much responsibility. I got here because I refused to ask for help. Everything happened the way it did because I didn't want to say anything.
[But when she sees Tifa the way she does, Aerith can't help thinking she's only made things worse. Much in the way that Balthier's reactions have only reinforced that the best Aerith is the one who's smiling on the outside, regardless of however she might truly be feeling. She doesn't know how to make it back to that convincingly.]
no subject
Putting the nature of Tifa's personal life aside, there's more truth in her words, heavily weighted though they are. She sucks the levity right out of her flower girl companion. Aerith looses a sigh, once more feeling worn down by the reality of the situation. She's been carrying the weight of this for quite some time, even before ever coming to Camelot. Maybe she should try to be a little kinder to herself.
And to Balthier.]
...I'll... think about it.
[Which is Aerith's way of saying she will do it. Eventually. She doesn't know when, but it'll happen at some point, in some fashion, and probably happen in entirely the wrong way. But there's nothing about her relationship with Balthier that she hasn't handled wrong, so she expects she'll only continue to do it wrong.]
Sorry. I didn't mean to get you involved with any of this. I keep doing and saying selfish things. To Balthier. To you. Probably to others without even realising it. And all I do is apologise instead of taking responsibility for it. Or maybe I'm trying to take too much responsibility. I got here because I refused to ask for help. Everything happened the way it did because I didn't want to say anything.
[But when she sees Tifa the way she does, Aerith can't help thinking she's only made things worse. Much in the way that Balthier's reactions have only reinforced that the best Aerith is the one who's smiling on the outside, regardless of however she might truly be feeling. She doesn't know how to make it back to that convincingly.]
Don't worry about it, okay? I'll handle it.