[As she feels with anyone else, Aerith can't help wanting to pry right into her dear friend. Tifa, for being so capable, sometimes seems as though she may not have much confidence in her abilities. It's so much easier to say one does than it is to show it and for that reason, among others, Aerith tries not to push. But as she watches current company the way she moves in what she can only perceive as something modest and abashed, she wears her own little smile.

It's not knowing. It's not patronising. It simply is, as so many things about Aerith simply are. How could anyone not be curious over those that they keep so close? Seems a crime to act in any other way.]

You're not just a good teacher, you know.

[Aerith can't help sidling right up to her, content to settle a chin to Tifa's shoulder, though it takes some effort on her part to even make that happen.]

A good person. A good caretaker. A good friend. I'm not sure I'd know what I'd be doing without you. It's not like I wasn't fine with just Mom and me.

[Aerith knows she would have made due. Just as she has for years now. She presses on, despite the things she's experienced, despite who and what she is. After all, it's not as though she can change the past or change things so directly about herself. It's not as though her past can be simplified down to a personality trait. Things are the way they are because that is how it has to be.]

Things are better with you, though. I think I could be happy just being in the same room as you, actually. I'm not very hard to please.