"Well, for me it always begins with the, ah I guess you'd call them the officiant. Reading a passage that opens the box for me. But I recall that the kissing was sort of a - well, to put it grimly a farewell. I imagine they always thought I'd like, slowly suck your soul out or something. Silly presumptions, honestly. Maybe that was why all the hedonistic partying? But if that was the case -"
Tvaldis stopped his rambling when Mira turned around and faced him again with the dress properly on. He didn't have blood to blush, but he could fake it well enough. And he did, involuntarily, the color in his cheeks darkening just so. "Ridiculous as it is, you do look lovely in it."
Holding out his hand to her, Tvaldis distracted himself with the process they would go through.
"You could always have your circus friends hug and pat your shoulders for that part if you aren't keen on kissing any of them. I completely understand why, some of them are a bit rough to look at," he joked, grinning as he did.
"You'll be led into the center of the ritual, where the officiant will open the box and let me out. I usually make a big show of that, since it makes it more likely that someone will, you know, keep the ritual around and do it again in the future." Rather than let him just go back into the box and stay there forever. Tvaldis practically shuddered at the unspoken thought.
"The candles go out and then re-light one by one as the ritual continues. Blah blah blah, the officiant talks for a while. You're given the necklace and I'm given the ring. We hold the bouquet together and our faces are painted with the ink. And then-"
Tvaldis paused, opening and closing his mouth a bit and then pursing his lips as he considered how he wanted to continue. "Well, we're supposed to kiss as well, but I think a hug would suffice for these purposes. It's a show, you know? We'll skip the burying alive part as well. That's never pleasant for anyone."
Tvaldis gave a small pause, waiting for what he assumed would be a horrified reaction from Mira. "I'm joking. Joking. You weren't buried alive. I made sure they struck that from the ritual after the first time they did it. Crazy bastards."