Welcome to Gaia! ::

The journey to Druis had taken a few days, but Lorey's reaction to the green planet was well worth it. From the skies, she believed they were there for a surprise vacation to get away from the city they both loathed. She'd no idea just what was waiting upon the ground below all those tree tops.

Once they were actually on the ground, her wonder increased. The air, she immediately realized, was filled with the smells of cut grass, wildflowers, and the air was so fresh that it made her feel giddy and tired all at once. The world was clean, unlike Veratia.

Even the vehicle they were driving in was made to be a clean-running machine, emitting no fumes. It enthralled Lorey to no end, who kept gasping and pointing to things like an excited child. She still had no idea where they were going or what Richard had planned, but Lorey's heart was taken by the world, and that was enough of an extreme treat.

"So what are we here for?" she asked as green pastures flew by their window, girdled by forests under a sky so blue, dotted with white puffy clouds.

Lorey put the blindfold on as best she could with slightly shakig hands. So, the surprise required her to not be able to see? She wondered what it could possibly be.

Stumbling a bit out of the car, Lorey laughed.
"Richard, I dunno what you're planning but make sure I don't trip on something!" The blindfold was secure, so she knew that it wouldn't fall off even if she did trip...

Lorey screamed with laughter as they sped off towards the house. She was frightened of being up so high on Richard's shoulder, and blindfolded, but since they trusted each other so much it was only frightening for a moment. Soon she found herself placed gently on the ground with Richard's hands steadying her.

Her fingers found the knot she tied at the back of the blindfold, pulled, and let it fall. The house, she immediately saw, was beautiful. However, she had no idea that it was theirs.
"It's gorgeous! Are we staying here?" Lorey asked, smiling at the trees, the porch out front, the stone walls and overall beauty of the landscape.

Lorey's eyes stayed upon the entire property, changing from the gaiety they held before, to amazement, and then to complete disbelief.
"Ours?" she whispered. Ours. It was theirs, the house belonged to them? "How?"

The flurry of emotions within her went from ecstatically happy to overwhelmed as her hand went to her mouth to stifle a sob. It was all out of her positive, but overpowering, feelings at their dream coming true before her very eyes. A dream, she had always thought very deep down, that could never truly happen. At least not entirely like they had planned.

And yet, there was the house, surrounded by trees in a beautiful world. Lorey started crying, and her knees gave out a bit so that she had to lean against richard just to keep from turning to complete jelly.
"R-Richard, this is our home?"

Lorey began laughing and crying all at once at their incredible luck. "How can we ever repay them?" her choked voice said as she gestured to the home.
"Our home. Richard, let's go inside... I-I have to sit down, I'm all jelly."

Lorey tried taking a few steps on her own, but found she was still a bundle of nerves and had to get Richard's arm for support. Her eyes looked to him with such incredible happiness that it was a wonder she didn't explode from it all.

It didn't matter that the place was dusty, and needing some serious love. It was their house, and underneath all that dirt and wear and tear, it was a beautiful place that they could make shine once more.

"Richard..." Lorey said, looking all around at the rooms, the kitchen, the stairs leading to even more rooms on the second floor.
"Oh, we're going to fix this up and make it beautiful. Look at it. Wooden molding on the ceiling, a stained glass window in the kitchen... it's beautiful. Beautiful."

On the last word, she started crying from joy again and had to collect herself before outright sobbing more.

Lorey kissed away the tears that slipped away. This was truly a dream come true. Besides Richard, those things just simply didn't happen to her, which she said herself through her happy tears.
"I was never going to ask for anything more than you. You were the biggest dream come true for me, but this just makes my heart soar. Richard, you brought us home, and I thought we were on vacation or something."