Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been easy to fall back into socialization once each new guest became comfortable with the group. It was easier with some, of course, because members of the FBPI staff could just find their coworkers and start to blend in, plus his clan was very welcoming of the people one of their own considered his family outside. By this point, though, Lori was fairly certain that anyone who planned to be there for the ceremony had already arrived. It had been three days, and the actual wedding was tomorrow. It was a little disappointing that his parents hadn't come but it wasn't totally a surprise. They hadn't even been big fans of the physical changes in his body, let alone his coming-out as a gay man. The rest of his family was here, even his biological grandparents, and if they could at least pretend to accept him then that was okay.

At least, that was the thought until a clan member appeared from the treeline, chatting with none other than Lori's parents. The couple seemed happy and familiar, but somewhat nervous underneath it all. Lori's knee-jerk reaction was apparently to stand, drink in hand. He just watched them a moment, and they watched him back. The clan member they had been chatting with paused herself.

Lori slowly smiled.

His parents began to approach.

Lori tapped Luca on the shoulder.

Honestly, Lori's father might have looked much younger than his son were it not for the age in his eyes. They came from a magical lineage, so bulk and facial hair weren't considered the norm, and Lori's father was only a little bit stubbly as opposed to Lori's concealment of the gentleness of his fae features. Lori's mother was thin and graceful, but that was to be expected.

As for Luca's question, Lori just shrugged. He didn't really know what to say himself. He and his parents weren't especially close, at least not any more.

"Hey!" Lori called, and he decided to break the ice with a hug. He hugged his mother first, then his father. Both smiled as if relieved by the gesture. "Mom, Dad, this is Luca." He gestured to his red-headed fiancee and hoped that things didn't suddenly start going south.

Lori smirked. Luca was taking a page out of his own book. The difference was that Luca had never lived here and his parents had.

"No, thank you," his father said, and then turned to Lori. "It's good to see you again."

"You too," Lori said, and then admitted: "I didn't think you were coming."

"You're our son," his mother said, "of course we'd come." She padded over to Luca then and offered her hand. "Luca. It's nice to meet you. I'm Elia." She was trying very hard and it might be obvious, but Lori was proud.

"and this is my father, Althoran," Lori added. His father reached out to shake Luca's hand once his wife's had left it.

"Al is fine."

Both parents politely bowed their heads, almost in perfect unison. At least they were trying.

Lori sensed a silence coming and so jumped on it before it could emerge. "Hey, come on. Why don't you meet some of our friends before it gets too late? I don't want you to sit there not knowing anybody."

"Well this is our clan too," Al replied.

"...yes. But everyone else. Come on." Lori held an arm out to guide them and, as they started walking, nodded for Luca to follow. This might be awkward, but at least they'd come, right?

Dari smiled and shook his head, then reached out and pulled Luca's tense arms down. He straightened the man's tie and tilted his head to look it over.

"Yes. it looks fine. If you keep rubbing it with your arms it's going to get loose, though," he said. "Breathe. Everything's going to be fine. In a few minutes you'll walk out there and get married, and it'll be like none of this nervousness ever happened. Here." He stood in front of Luca and adjusted his suit for him.

"Now you get to be surprised when you see him at the altar," Dari offered, trying to give another silver lining in the face of being nervous. Of course Luca might fall over from the stress right there, but that wasn't very likely.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else." This was only his third wedding ever, and his second this year. It was a heck of a time to be alive! "Just take a deep breath."

A bell rang then, their cue to head out. Had the couple been together they could have decided themselves, but Luca's concern about luck meant they had to be summoned some other way. Toby had offered to do the running back and forth, but in the end a bell was probably better. It wasn't as if this wedding was particularly traditional in either a human, fae, or elven sense as it was!

Lori wasn't really one for being the center of attention anyway. He'd rather pull out his own hair out than step-stop his way down the aisle. He exited his own tent at a far calmer pace than Luca, though, to the point where he chuckled when he caught sight of the redhead. Lori was a bit nervous, sure, but he was outwardly calm. When they did finally meet before the altar (and it was a real altar, none of that human crap) he reached out and took both of Luca's hands. The poor thing looked terrified. It made Lori feel all that much better about his own nerves.

Luca had calmed down once the ceremony had ended. He'd taken Lori's hand and helped pass out cake to their guests. "Dari was right," he said, and smiled at Lori. It really was like all those nerves hadn't existed.

Maia was carrying two slices of cake, one fae, one traditional; and seemed to have had a goal in mind even before she spotted Michael. She headed over to him as soon as she'd seen him, smiling. "You look lonesome," she said, and gestured to the cake slices. "Help me with these," she said. She'd wanted to share cake with Michael since she'd heard he'd decided to come.

"After, would you like to dance?" She wanted Michael to have a good time. "The lights are beautiful, maybe we can convince Toby to dance, too." Michael had done so much for them, saving Toby most of all. "What kind of music is your favorite?"