Since finding the portal to Rhy'Din (and in all truth, even before that), Harold and Scotty had to figure out how to react to a whole lot of unexpected things. Sometimes bad things, but more often good things. Dragons. Fairies. Elves. Different aliens. Various shockingly kind strangers who, perhaps, bordered even too kind on occasion.
But how, exactly, does one react to a house?
It had taken them awhile to follow the glowing stars, not because they forgot exactly, but because they'd ended up getting wrapped up in each other. More'n once. It had taken forever just to get through their Christmas presents to each other (most of them, anyway) because they kept getting distracted. But eventually, they were able to drag themselves out of that 'them' haze and go out into the winter world.
Which, of course, lead to the house.
The horses were standing placidly, completely unaware of how utterly jaw-dropped their owners were. The owners were standing in shock, just trying to grasp the enormity of being given a cottage. A very cute cottage; rustic and warm-looking, the kind of place that people dream of whenever they dream of some quiet place away from the city.
"...holy..." Harold said, taking a breath and letting it out in steam, not closing his mouth.
"...aye," Scotty agreed, in just about the same shocked tone.
They hadn't planned on moving out of the Red Dragon anytime soon. Mostly because it was exceedingly convenient to where they worked, and likewise because Scotty liked to tend there. When he wasn't wrapped up in Harold, anyway. Scotty had some vague idea of some future time where he would have liked to have built a house with his by-then husband, but it was one of those distant notions held by young men when they weren't quite ready to give up being young men.
Regardless, there was such a sweet, kind charm to this place that it was almost impossible not to think of roaming around it in socks and boxers and a t-shirt, in the morning light, with a cup of coffee. It was that sort of place; the kind of place where you could ride away from the troubles of the city and close the door on anything but a comfortable, easy-going warmth.
They hadn't planned on moving out of the Red Dragon, but it was impossible to fathom thumbing their noses at a gift of this magnitude. It had to have been a ton of work.
How do you even thank someone for that? Words seemed entirely inadequate, frankly. And neither of them were very good at accepting presents without feeling awkward about it, unworthy somehow of it, which meant a good deal of stammering and blushing. And this... was one Hell of a present.
"It's really pretty," Scotty chanced saying, kind of taken by the charm of the construction, nevermind the magnitude of someone actually giving them something like that. Still unable to quite get his head together from that brick-of-realization that had hit when they pieced together what it all meant.
"Man." Harold shook his head, though not in any kind of denial. "How... how do you even thank someone for a house?!"
"I dinna ken." Scotty swallowed, going through his mental lexicon. But he'd never been any master of words. And if Harold couldn't come up with them, he sure likely couldn't. So, he just repeated, "I dinna ken."
"Wow." Harold actually bent at the waist, resting his hands on his knees with a laugh. "Not-Dude... built us a house? A house. Holy shit."
"Aye, he did." Scotty nodded, with a little huff of a laugh. "Oobie asked if I'd build him one, but I've only got plans yet. Looks like he sort o' beat me t' th' idea, aye?"
"Man, I don't even know what to say." Harold pushed himself back up, a warring mix of abashed, grateful, shocked and touched all warring on his face in uncertainty. "A house. A house? A house."
There was something absurdly cute about that little repetition, and it was enough that Scotty could break his own shock enough to grin. "Aye. A house. Cottage more..."
"What are we gonna do with a cottage?!" It wasn't an angry tone, not in the least. Just yet more shock, blown away.
"Vacation here?" Scotty asked back, eyebrows up in a sort of facial shrug. "It's adorable; I dinna wanna leave th' city fer a primary address, but I wouldna mind spendin' weekends an' that here."
"How do we even accept a cottage?" Harold's voice trailed off to something between awe and (yep, you guessed it) still shock.
It took Scotty a long moment to reply, as he surveyed this entirely large, entirely lovely, wholly shocking, very charming and exceedingly touching gift. But he only really had one word, "Gracefully."
And so, they did.
--
The message was sent to Renne's PADD to ping and recite for him:
Dear Renne,
Thank you. It was huge. Shocking. Touching. Wow. Thank you.
-Dude and Dude Two
But how, exactly, does one react to a house?
It had taken them awhile to follow the glowing stars, not because they forgot exactly, but because they'd ended up getting wrapped up in each other. More'n once. It had taken forever just to get through their Christmas presents to each other (most of them, anyway) because they kept getting distracted. But eventually, they were able to drag themselves out of that 'them' haze and go out into the winter world.
Which, of course, lead to the house.
The horses were standing placidly, completely unaware of how utterly jaw-dropped their owners were. The owners were standing in shock, just trying to grasp the enormity of being given a cottage. A very cute cottage; rustic and warm-looking, the kind of place that people dream of whenever they dream of some quiet place away from the city.
"...holy..." Harold said, taking a breath and letting it out in steam, not closing his mouth.
"...aye," Scotty agreed, in just about the same shocked tone.
They hadn't planned on moving out of the Red Dragon anytime soon. Mostly because it was exceedingly convenient to where they worked, and likewise because Scotty liked to tend there. When he wasn't wrapped up in Harold, anyway. Scotty had some vague idea of some future time where he would have liked to have built a house with his by-then husband, but it was one of those distant notions held by young men when they weren't quite ready to give up being young men.
Regardless, there was such a sweet, kind charm to this place that it was almost impossible not to think of roaming around it in socks and boxers and a t-shirt, in the morning light, with a cup of coffee. It was that sort of place; the kind of place where you could ride away from the troubles of the city and close the door on anything but a comfortable, easy-going warmth.
They hadn't planned on moving out of the Red Dragon, but it was impossible to fathom thumbing their noses at a gift of this magnitude. It had to have been a ton of work.
How do you even thank someone for that? Words seemed entirely inadequate, frankly. And neither of them were very good at accepting presents without feeling awkward about it, unworthy somehow of it, which meant a good deal of stammering and blushing. And this... was one Hell of a present.
"It's really pretty," Scotty chanced saying, kind of taken by the charm of the construction, nevermind the magnitude of someone actually giving them something like that. Still unable to quite get his head together from that brick-of-realization that had hit when they pieced together what it all meant.
"Man." Harold shook his head, though not in any kind of denial. "How... how do you even thank someone for a house?!"
"I dinna ken." Scotty swallowed, going through his mental lexicon. But he'd never been any master of words. And if Harold couldn't come up with them, he sure likely couldn't. So, he just repeated, "I dinna ken."
"Wow." Harold actually bent at the waist, resting his hands on his knees with a laugh. "Not-Dude... built us a house? A house. Holy shit."
"Aye, he did." Scotty nodded, with a little huff of a laugh. "Oobie asked if I'd build him one, but I've only got plans yet. Looks like he sort o' beat me t' th' idea, aye?"
"Man, I don't even know what to say." Harold pushed himself back up, a warring mix of abashed, grateful, shocked and touched all warring on his face in uncertainty. "A house. A house? A house."
There was something absurdly cute about that little repetition, and it was enough that Scotty could break his own shock enough to grin. "Aye. A house. Cottage more..."
"What are we gonna do with a cottage?!" It wasn't an angry tone, not in the least. Just yet more shock, blown away.
"Vacation here?" Scotty asked back, eyebrows up in a sort of facial shrug. "It's adorable; I dinna wanna leave th' city fer a primary address, but I wouldna mind spendin' weekends an' that here."
"How do we even accept a cottage?" Harold's voice trailed off to something between awe and (yep, you guessed it) still shock.
It took Scotty a long moment to reply, as he surveyed this entirely large, entirely lovely, wholly shocking, very charming and exceedingly touching gift. But he only really had one word, "Gracefully."
And so, they did.
--
The message was sent to Renne's PADD to ping and recite for him:
Dear Renne,
Thank you. It was huge. Shocking. Touching. Wow. Thank you.
-Dude and Dude Two