Tear always did love cute things.
Ever since she was a girl, and the beautiful (but not cute; the Major was just too cold to the core to be cute) Legretta haphazardly gave her a bright pink rappig doll that she couldn't understand why the major hated, she had simply found herself hooked, for she could find no other way to describe it. She, an intensely trained soldier of discipline, a warrior and master-in-the-works of both hand-to-hand combat and the illustrious Fonic Arts, had admitted to herself that if she were caught in the heat of battle and she suddenly noticed something along the lines of a defenseless baby Cheagle, crying out for its mother -- the thought alone makes her want to squeal! --, she would more likely than not stop everything around her to aid the poor little dear.
Not just objects, but people as well. Anise, Tear will admit, is quite an adorable little work. So spunky, so bright, and the way she speaks! Her voice carries a certain pitch, as if her words have hearts and stars floating about them; despite being a soldier and witnessing things a child like her should never have to be exposed to at all, her voice still holds the charm and joy and simply the utter passion for life one can only find in a young girl's heart. Deep down, if only once, Tear wishes she could just hug Anise, squeeze her almost fatally tight because she is just too cute.
But not like Natalia. No, Natalia is a different kind of cute, Tear thinks. There aren't just little bits and pieces of her that are cute, like Anise. Everything about Natalia is cute. From the way she walks, the way she speaks, the way her hair is styled just so, the adorable little frills and ruffles her clothing always sports, her sparkling green eyes, the way her lips pull into a small but completely and utterly meaningful smile... Tear couldn't possibly pick just one single cute thing about Natalia. When she does, all of the memories she stores fondly in her heart, secretly of coarse, come rushing back at her.
Simply the way she walks; Tear recalls a day where the ragtag group was walking to Belkend; some problem or other with the Albiore's engine forced them to make a quick journey into the nearest town to remedy the situation, but Tear didn't bother trying to remember the specifics for they were unimportant. What was important was that it was sunny, almost painfully so. Tear loves days like that; days where the sunlight is so bright, and the tiny, tiny birds are singing their soft, cheerful little songs. Sunlight seemed to flow through Natalia's golden tresses, because they gave off a shine on that day that was particularly beautiful, and Tear found it incredibly difficult to take her eyes off of the girl's back, or rather, her hips. She flushes slightly at the thought; Natalia's hips have a certain swivel to them when she walks. That bright day was no different; with her small, dainty and deliberate steps, her arms swaying to and fro in time with those hips, which also seemed to pendulum back and forth almost teasingly, obscured by her excessively frilly but stylishly so, yet all the same unflattering outfit.
She really is a princess, Tear thought. A real-live princess, right down to the way she walks. The vibrance of the green grass and the clear, cloudless blue sky alongside the midday sun -- things Tear normally found herself admiring on these tedious days -- suddenly went amiss to her. The way the other girl's body moved was just utterly mesmerizing. Tear did her best to look away, and it took an admonishing but peculiar and enigmatic nonetheless look from Jade to get her to forcefully stop, but all the same, she stole "casual" glances at the other girl. She was just too cute not to look at for too long, after all.
Tear also remembers the time, another moment suspended in her memories like many others, when Natalia actually touched her. Oh, the joy she felt at that instant! For Tear would never have even dreamed of being able to touch the fair maiden's hand, although it wasn't a direct touch, the gesture was still deliberate nonetheless. All it really took was another successful fight with a monster that really wasn't as strong as it looked though that did not change the fact it still took a bit of time to defeat the beast. The usual tradition of a haughty victory-pose was done by Luke, but like all other times, she paid no mind to it. Instead she turned her attention, caring only as a friend and utterly pletonic at heart Tear swears, to the hunched over Natalia, who seemed to be catching her breath.
The flaxen-haired princess merely smiled and said, in a voice commanding her usual grace and dignity only a "real-live" princess could, "I'm fine, really. But thank you, Tear."
The Melodist was still concerned and made it obvious through the fine details of her lips curving downward just barely, not enough to be noticeable, but muttered a somewhat unconvinced "All right. If you say so," before offering a gloved hand to the other girl upon realizing that the group was beginning to move on again. Not only did Natalia smile (what a sight in and of itself! Tear thinks it's the most adorable thing ever, the way her pretty lips curve upwards, lifting her cheeks and causing the most sensational glitter in her eyes-- much too cute for words!), but she uttered a soft, dainty, just as cute "Thank you", as if the words were meant to be heard by only the two of them, before despite her fatigue, lifting a graceful hand and accepting the gloved extremity before her.
Tear recalls feeling heat rise to her cheeks, but she remains unsure as to whether it had shown visibly or not. She figures it didn't, since Natalia didn't say anything about it as they walked towards their travelling companions, and she also recalls praying to Lorelei that no one picked up on the awkwardness building up inside her for she would be unable to live it down for some time if that were the case.
It doesn't matter what anyone else may think, Tear thinks to herself. She knows she is a soldier; a disciplined warrior devoted to serving the people of not only her country, but the world as a whole in the longrun. She is not unused to praise about her strength and skill with a blade and her grand talent with Fonic Artes and Hymns, and her cold-streak was undeniable for it was necessary for a soldier of her calibur to harden one's self. But at the core, above all else, she realizes that she is just a girl. Before she can be a soldier, before she can be a warrior bent on global salvation, she must be be a teenage girl. To her, that means honoring the fact she -- dare she say it? -- likes cute things, that her heart is capricious, that she has a tendency to think with her heart rather than her mind, and that she too dreams of one day finding a person who loves her for who she is, whom she can marry and live a wonderous life with. The daydreams, as scarce as they are, are cute in her eyes. And although the soldier within her finds such idealism to be silly, and also said that such a life is unlikely for her, she still finds the romantic waxings to be wonderously sweet and adorable.
And besides, Natalia doesn't think they are silly. Tear and Natalia are talking; the group decided, at Anise's request for Ion's sake, that they stop at Ketterburg for not only some time to rest, but for a bit of fun-time as well. Natalia has just settled into her room, and had only recently put her quiver and bow into a plush, tangerine chair as if the objects themselves wished to rest -- wouldn't it be adorable if she really did have that sort of consideration for the items, Tear thinks -- too, for they worked just as hard as the princess did. In that usual, princess doll-like manner, Natalia smiles at Tear, who is sitting next to her on her plush, cozy bed.
"I don't think it's silly at all to wish for such a future," the girl's voice is laced with a sweet understanding that makes Tear smile somewhat. She can't help it, there's just something about Natalia -- her face is so pretty, like Major Legretta-pretty but lacking the coldness, up close -- that makes her do that. It isn't enough to make her lose her composure, for that would make Tear just a bit uncomfortable, but it's enough to make her feel secure enough to bare the inner workings of her girlish side.
"I think it's, well... Very cute," Natalia adds once more, and Tear's smile is still soft though there is something about it that seems brighter, a tinge of happiness, she assumes. And suddenly, Tear felt an immense amount of warmth pool in her stomach, and something flutter and compress within her chest.
Like after watching a kitten yawn or hearing a Cheagle sneeze, Tear suddenly feels overcome with a resolve to protect and love the cute object of her desires, and at the same time a vulnerability for being weak for the life of another. Heat rises to her cheeks and she knows she's blushing but she doesn't care at this point, because the tight feeling in her lungs jars her into the realization that she is kissing Natalia (or is Natalia kissing her?); their lips are touching, their eyes are closed and she can feel Natalia's bare hand shaking almost tentatively next to her. Tear's mind does sommersaults; this is her first kiss, her first actual kiss.
As she pulls away, cursing the need to breathe, her aqua-green eyes quickly glance over at the other girl, who is obviously suppressing a large smile and her cheeks too are ablaze with an impassioned blush of her own.
"Y-You kissed me...?" Natalia's question is slow, the words spoken deliberately and enunciated properly in order to feign composure, though both girls clearly wanted to burst into fits emotion, the burden of being a young girl in love obviously not escaping even the grand princess of Kimlasca.
Tear merely nods in response, attention torn between forcing the terrible blush on her cheeks to ebb away and watching Natalia's pretty face. She was unsure as to who made the first move prior to this point, but judging by Natalia's reaction (Tear is relieved the girl isn't repulsed or afraid or anything of the sort), it must have been Tear herself. "Y-You just looked so..." she finds herself at a loss for words; despite being a capricious young girl, she still cannot admit that she finds wonder and adoration in all things considered "cute". Though, in this case it is not out of pride, but out of that same girlish insecurity that the blonde was most likely feeling as well.
Natalia looks down, focusing on Tear's lap before she lifts a hand to her lips, touching them as if she is disbelieving of whether or not she had really, finally, kissed someone. Tear watches her, swallowing hard in apprehension, and wonders briefly about Asch and Luke, if either of them had stolen kisses from the girl before her. The Melodist dimisses the idea for she can tell, something about the way Natalia's eyes glittered and her cheeks flared showed that yes, yes this was her very first kiss as well.
"Tear, I..." Natalia's eyes return upwards, staring into Tear's own aqua-blues, before concluding, "I think you're really cute too."
Despite the quietness of the statement, Tear smiles at the girl and feels another accursred blush rising to her face. Cuter than any Cheagle or kitten or puppy or stuffed Rappig was the way Natalia looked right now; an adoring expression crossed her dark green eyes, her cherry-blossom colored lips turned into a soft smile, all accentuated by the faint streak of red across the bridge of her pixy-like nose and even infiltrating her cheeks. At this very moment to Tear, Natalia looks her cutest.