Welcome to Gaia! ::

Damian sipped his concoction, not exactly trusting her at first, but coming to like what she'd made.
"It's good!"
The surprise in his voice was almost funny to even himself. With his shirt back on and in full behavior mode, Damian cuddled up next to Raquel, and made himself surrender to the entire idea of a movie night.

Damian was just as tired as Raquel. Once Richard walked through the door carrying Lorey (which he had no bloody clue how he'd gotten her through the door in that dress and sleeping), he merely gave a smile and a sleepy nod.

After Lorey had been dressed and tucked in bed, that was when she woke up. Maybe it was hearing Richard's voice that did it, or his soft kiss, but she was so disoriented once she woke up that she could have sworn it was all a dream. She didn't even have her dress on, but a night gown. And somewhere in her fuzzy train of thought, she knew he'd undressed her and redressed her, making her blush, but feel a strange trust that he hadn't done anything inappropriate.
Heck, even if he had, she obviously wouldn't have woken up.

"Mm... we're back?" were her first words. After feeling her nightgown on her, she smiled and added, "Apparently I could sleep through a hurricane and not be woken up..."

Thankfully, Damian was fast asleep, and couldn't hear the mumblings that would send a heart attack through his heart. He was too used to being a bachelor, so having a steady girlfriend/love was strange enough. But marriage? He certainly wasn't ready for that.


"I always love having you near," she mumbled as she wrapped some blanket about her. There was always something lovely about waking up in a lovely bed and knowing you could just fall right back asleep again. It seemed she would doze off again as son as she could, trusting Richard would come in his own time.

Lorey woke up once because of an upset stomach (she really knew she shouldn't have eaten so much rich food) but settled down just as fast as before next to Richard. Hours later she woke up on her own, realizing with a small jolt that it was practically noon. They'd slept half the day away, practically in each other's arms while the rest of Veratia bustled off to work. Thankfully her job didn't officially start until that Monday.

Damian was still asleep, though. Him and Raquel had crashed on the couch, practically entwined with one another as the movie went on and on without them. The past night had been full of laughter, tears, then more laughter after the horrendous movie began. That was what had made him exhausted, not the movie. Couldn't anything just go peacefully? It was enough to tempt him into begging for a relationship break.

Lorey stayed in bed for quite some time, just thinking. There was truly a great deal to mull over, the first being Terra. She was still out there, and unfortunately was being rivaled by the rest of the galaxy for hurting her.
The Amaranthines were in another world, she told herself. Terra was still in Veratia. She still was around, and yet Lorey, either for her own comfort or not, believed she had felt truly alone sometimes. Not watched, not preyed upon. Maybe Terra was gone?

Who knew? She didn't. There was that whole mess, and there was now being engaged to Richard. He was getting a job, she was getting one, and they had a place to stay and a huge connection in the world of Veratia in Damian Centurion. It was amazing how things seemed to always play out for the best or the worst. Right now, Lorey just wanted the best. She actually felt for once that she deserved it.

It's always in the habit of truly wonderful people that they neither feel that they deserve good or ever really ask for it; it just comes, and they are thankful.


Damian awoke, and unbeknownst to him, he was following the same path that Lorey was: thinking.
Raquel was a rollercoaster of emotions, and she deserved to be. Her life was something so fantastical that he would swear it all just wasn't true. But, he trusted her, because really, what had she to lie about? He deserved, in some way, the truth, for all he'd done and that alone served as a cushion.

Not that he still didn't have doubt. He knew that if things continued on the way the were, he just wouldn't be able to deal with it. With everything else going awry in his life, the one thing that gave him joy shouldn't, he felt, give him equal parts grief.
But, he loved her, even for the grief, because it constantly put him in perspective. He wasn't better than her. He wasn't better than the rest of the world, and he deserved nothing.

"Morning," she said, slightly startled by his waking up. "I was fine... the food bothered me a little, but I knew that would happen."
She turned over on her stomach, slinging her arm around his middle. If they could just stay like this, in this groggy little world wrapped in blankets, she could see herself being happy forever.


If she was aware of him being awake, it certainly didn't seem to deter her from saying what she wanted. Damian waited until she was done, then cracked open an eye to see if maybe she'd been talking in her sleep... but she looked quite awake and aware from what he could tell.
"Do we ever deserve anything?" he mumbled. He was stiff in some places, and wanted a stretch badly, but wouldn't move for fear of sending Raquel flying.

"I don't think I'd want to!" she laughed. "I like sitting at home and eating out of an instant meal every now and then. It's nice, you know? No stress, no having to get dressed up... just lie around in our PJs and think about life."
She wasn't sure if Richard wanted to do that or not, but she certainly did. Reading had opened up a lot of windows in her mind, letting her see at least what part of the world was or should have been like.


"Who knows..." he softly echoed. If he listened hard enough, he could hear a bird singing outside. He was still so full from the previous night that breakfast under the awning sounded slightly sickening, but going outside might be just as nice.
"What do you want to do today?" Damian asked, not really knowing what to do himself until the Gala.

Lorey squirmed a bit at his touch. "Of course! I'll become a better dancer every single time. And then we'll come home exhausted with all the jealous people trailing behind..."


"I have no better ideas, but I'll help you clean the living room. It is about time I get off my own lazy bum and did something for a change..."
As if he hadn't been doing enough lately, but he wouldn't have Raquel turn into his personal maid.