Welcome to Gaia! ::

As she kissed his shoulder, he grasped her in a tight hug. "You're not stupid, love. Sometimes we all get so focused on something that we fail to see the bigger picture..."
Damian looked down at her and gave a reassuring grin, just to show that this was all fixable, and could be dealt with, without much fuss.
"But now we know, and we'll solve it, right?"


"Alright..." Lorey smiled a small smile, because she was still unsure about what he was doing. And then, she had a small idea that might help with his decision.
"We could keep it in my mother's jewelry box... I keep her ring and ID in there. This way your ring has a safe place, and you can always know where to find it..."

"You would pursue your dreams at an art school." It was so discouraging to hear her talk like that. He almost wanted to shake her until she understood her own talent. "You would do as you please, and learn what you wanted. And I don't think you should get rid of your guitar."
It was so obvious that she loved it, so how could she part with it? Damian reached out a gentle hand to stroke the guitar. It seemed hollow, but Raquel could bring the soul out from it. She could make it sing as it was meant to, not some collector who would love to stare at its silence.

The ring was heavy in her hand, like a responsibility, but she could carry it.
"Then let's put it there where it should be..." She hopped of the counter, stumbled a bit, and laughed at herself for it. "Come on..."

She led them back to her room where a small square music box rested upon her night stand. Lorey went over to it and picked it up with such care, as if it were a fallen bird.
"Momma never had a lot of nice things, but what she did have, she kept in here..."
Lorey brought the worn box over to Richard, and with her free hand, gave him back the ring. "You should put it in, since it's yours." And slowly, she opened the cover to reveal a few velvet lined compartments. Her mother's bent ring rested in a smaller one. The largest held her mother's ID card. Unlike Lorey, her mother had dark eyes, but white hair. The blue had come from her father. There were other things, like a small worn chain bracelet or a single earring, but the most distinguishing thing was the soft, melancholy tune that played upon the box's opening.

((see the first song on my profile playlist, from inuyasha))

"It's your dream, love..." he said before letting his voice trail off with her song. It was beautiful and gentle, just like her. He wanted to say just like her sadness, but he had seen her burn with a fury before, and knew that wasn't entirely true.


"Of course you can," she said, still holding it open with the song still playing. "This will be both our memory box... though your rose doesn't fit in it. I keep that on the dresser next to the box instead." Lorey nodded over to where she had picked it up, seeing the small fake rose he'd given her on the day he said he loved her.

"Passionate about?" He echoed the question in the hopes an answer would come to him easier, but it didn't. "I... was passionate about the piano, but I lost that once money overtook everything. Now the businesses are my passion... but it's such an empty one."



Lorey looked at the picture of Rose, and knew that under that picture was one of horrific detail. She knew, she'd seen it, and never wanted to see it again.
For the third time that day, Lorey's eyes watered and spilled over with emotions felt at the life they both led.

"I'm so sorry, Richard," she said, turning away from him to put the box down on the bed. Still keeping it open, she wound the key a bit more to keep the tune playing sweetly. "A man like you didn't deserve to lose someone the way you did. We both shouldn't have to tuck someone away in a box." A few more tear spilled over before she turned back to him again with outstretched arms. She wanted to dance quietly and slowly to the music, like no one was watching.

Damian knew that making her happy was one of his passions. If there was a way to bring a smile to her face, then he knew he would do it, but could he dedicate his entire being to the happiness of another? Something else had to be there, to sustain him.
"A dull life has no passion," he murmured as he leaned up for a sweeter kiss. "This is what I've become, Raquel. Someone who is desperately trying to make up for something, and I'm not sure what."


When the music stopped, Lorey tilted her chin up so she could kiss him. Just like the song, it was sweet and gentle, and they remained close for a few moments more.
"I love you," were the only words that seemed appropriate then, in the slight gloom of her room at night.

Damian nodded, and slowly took her hands in his to place them on the sides of his head.
"You are part Amaranthine, aren't you?" he said, closing his eyes. "Read me. Anything you want to know, just... look for it. Or I will show you a few things that I want you to see."
Really, he was very frightened that Raquel might erase his mind or something, but he knew that if she wasn't so sure about something, she probably wouldn't do it.
Probably. Hopefully. But there was only one way to find out.


Richard's tear fell softly on Lorey's hair, and was lost in white. She had no more tears for that day, after they'd had their great outpouring. It seemed that with all they'd been through, they were so accustomed to holding in their hurt that it needed to come out every now and then. Moments like this, though, were gentle enough to release pain without the great show.

Damian nodded. Her eyes changing always freaked him out, but he knew Raquel was still in there. Somewhere...
His mind pushed forward the image of her on the carousel horse first. Hair flying behind her gently, eyes closed and smiling so beautifully.
And then his body went limp.
Soon everything was being forced to the front. Raquel playing her guitar upon the bed surrounded by books, their intimate moments together, her laugh, her smile, and then the darker memories from Altru. Her body, nearly bare, cold and shivering in his arms as they sat by the fire. Their fights, the way her eyes flashed when she was mad. And then it went further back, to when she was wearing the green dress, and how he thought it was lovely enough to be seen at the Ball Room, but how she would need jewelry because surely someone as disgraceful as her wouldn't have the means to look proper...

There was regret. Vicious pangs of regret, hatred for himself at how he had beheld her and thought of her in their early days. But everything came reeling back to the present, because that;s where she told him to go. The present, where she had her books and wore his shirts, kissed him sweetly and where he felt her warmth at night. He loved her so desperately within his own mind, in such a way that rarely truly showed. But it was all there then, all there for her to see and feel.

--

"You're the same," she whispered. "Whenever I have a little rough moment, I think of how I have you waiting for me at home. My Richard."
Lorey took his experiences and her own of losing someone, and knew that saying such heartfelt things should have felt corny or slightly stupid, but when time is never guaranteed, there's no point in holding back until it's too late.

Damian was breathing heavily, too, just from the energy it took both of them to see and be seen. He was fine, but very tired, like he'd just run a great distance.
"I'm fine," he breathed. "How much of that did you catch?"
He smoothed his hair back a few times, just trying to recover from all he'd communicated. As much as he hated being sent back in time, it had to be faced one way or another.


"Of course! I was planning on that anyhow. Leaving you a video message or something, you know." With their technology, she could send him a hologram, but she was partial to a video message filled with smiles and awkward sentences strung together at the last minute.