A Nice Idea
Wedding Xania: I'm going to do whatever is necessary to be the best bride I can be!
Cleo: Wearing that dress again, are you?
Wedding Xania: Of course. If I don't wear this dress, I'll just be regular old me.
Cleo: What's wrong with regular old you?
Wedding Xania: When I wear this dress, it makes me feel as if I can aim higher and fly farther. It's like I can do anything!
Cleo: *sigh* But for what PURPOSE are you doing all of this high aiming and flying and...so forth?
Wedding Xania: So I can be the perfect bride, of course!
Wedding Xania: When my sister-in-law, Mei, got engaged, she focused on improving herself so she would be the best bride possible.
Cleo: Well, I suppose there is nothing wrong with striving to better oneself.
Wedding Xania: Nope! There isn't. And that's why I'm going to learn to cook with MAGIC!
Wedding Xania: Abracadabra!
Wedding Xania: ...And there we have it! Well, Cleo? Thoughts?
Cleo: Hmm... Well, as a complete meal, I would have to say it's rather ordinary.
Wedding Xania: Er, that's the GOOD kind of ordinary, right?
Cleo: The way you put it together was adroit, but the actual menu itself lacks anything particularly noteworthy.
Cleo: It feels as if you simply threw food together without thinking about it.
Wedding Xania: But I was trying to make a home-cooked meal full of nutritious love!
Wedding Xania: Was it the ingredients that were lacking? Perhaps the number of dishes?
Cleo: I think what it lacks is passion—and the way to solve that is to have someone else join you at the table.
Wedding Xania: I don't understand.
Cleo: A bride—or any chef—is best able to create delicious meals when they're doing it for someone special.
Cleo: Without that person, the meal becomes little more than sustenance.
Wedding Xania: So I was lacking someone special...
Wedding Xania: Ah, well. I'll have to worry about this later. Right now, I need to get ready for my first meet-and-greet with the groom!
Wedding Xania: ...Actually, I wonder if that might help my current problem. Even if he isn't my actual lover, perhaps meeting him would help to better my bridal ways.
Cleo: That's not a bad thought.
Wedding Xania: In that case, I'm going to get ready!
Several days later...
Groom: You must be Emily. Ah, it's good to see my judgment wasn't mistaken when it came to picking out the dress—it looks absolutely stunning on you!
Wedding Xania: Er, um...th-thank you?
Wedding Xania: (I may be a false bride, but I still have to imagine that I'm doing my best for the sake of the man I love.)
Wedding Xania: (Imagine, Xania! Imagine as you have never imagined before!)
Groom: Er, Emily? ...Hello?
Wedding Xania: Ah! Yes! Hello, my...um...sweet.
Groom: You were staring off into space. Does your time with me bore you so?
Wedding Xania: Not at all, my...daaaarling?
Wedding Xania: (Blast. My imagination is failing me!)
Wedding Xania: (I'd hoped to feel much more effervescent upon our first meeting.)
Wedding Xania: ...Well, I'm home. And so very tired! It appears I've a long way to go on my path to becoming the perfect bride.
Mym: Well, well. If it isn't Xania. What's with the stylish getup?
Wedding Xania: Hello, Mym. Er, it's a rather long story, but basically I've been entrusted with the role of being a bride.
Mym: Ooo, that sounds simply DELIGHTFUL! But then, why do you look so dour?
Wedding Xania: Well, I've some worries about—
Wedding Xania: EEEK! Was that an explosion?!
Mym: Where there are booms, there's Sinoa. *sigh* Let's go help the daft thing out before we get to hearing your woes.
Mym: Sinoa? Are you alive? That was quite the explosion, even by your standards.
Sinoa: S-sorry! ...Oh, and I'm alive, if that wasn't obvious from the speaking.
Intrepid Scholar Sinoa
Sinoa: Where did I go wrong? It should have been reproduced perfectly! Hmm...
Mym: What say we get this cleaned up first, then try to suss out the possible cause. Come now, it will go quickly if all three of us pitch in.
Sinoa: ...Whew! I think we're back to normal. Or as normal as I ever get, I suppose.
Mym: And it's mostly because of Xania's nifty cleaning magic—so perhaps you should stop woolgathering and THANK her.
Wedding Xania: Oh, it was nothing so impressive.
Sinoa: You're a true lifesaver, Xania. Thank you. Still, I refuse to give up! I will soldier on!
Sinoa: Someday, I WILL create a wormhole and travel to the past, no matter how many explosions it takes!
Wedding Xania: Amazing...
Sinoa: What, the explosions? Well, you see, when one attempts to warp space-time, the effects of both force and mass begin—
Wedding Xania: Er, no. I meant YOU. The fact you've dedicated yourself so completely to a single goal is truly laudable.
Wedding Xania: In the same way, I'm impressed by how Mym is able to dedicate herself so wholly to her love of the prince.
Mym: Is THAT what you were worried about? That you have nothing in your life which demands a similar passion?
Sinoa: But you DO have something like that! Didn't your father leave you a scroll or magical beans or something?
Wedding Xania: It was a book: "Better Living Through Spellcraft." And yes, it is incredibly important to me.
Wedding Xania: But that is different; it's something that was GIVEN to me. The two of you have passions that came about organically.
Wedding Xania: I want to be the best bride I can be, but unless I'm able to dedicate myself to it heart and soul, I don't think...
Sinoa: Why are you trying so hard to be a perfect bride in the first place, Xania?
Wedding Xania: Well, I suppose I find the idea to be rather...nice.
Sinoa: And THAT'S what you're beating yourself up about? An idea that's "nice"?
Wedding Xania: Um...yes?
Mym: Then you're never going to be able to feel the spark of inspiration you seek! Neither one of us chase our passions because we find them to be "nice."
Sinoa: Indeed. I give my all to my work because it burns inside me like the fire of a molten magma core!
Sinoa: So think about yourself for a moment. Find your REASON for trying so hard.
Wedding Xania: My reason... Hmm...
Wedding Xania: Nope. Nothing. All I can come up with is that it feels...nice.
Wedding Xania: So perhaps my problem isn't a lack of general household knowledge—or a loved one or partner to share it with. Perhaps I simply lack the WILL.
Mym: You don't lack will, Xania. You lack LOVE.
Mym: And since you're not in love, you can't possibly give something like this your all! That's why you only see it as "nice."
Wedding Xania: So without both the proper will and love, I'll never be a perfect bride...
Wedding Xania: Well, I promise you this: I AM going to find what I love someday!
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