RP:A Glorious Getaway: Part Two

From HollowWiki

Summary: The second half of the Cal and Meri getaway trip!

Somewhere in the Enchantment, Sage Forest

Callum || Day one was finished and it had went… strangely. But it wasn’t bad! Callum woke up the next morning to what smelled like various sorts of breakfast foods and he’d been right. Still piping hot waffles, eggs, bacon, and toast with all the fixings were on the kitchen table, having just been brought in by the waitstaff. Callum was still hella sore from the massage the night before and getting out of bed was tough. He rolled over, sitting up on the bed as he reached over and nudged Meri ever so carefully, “Hey, she-devil. Smells like breakfast is ready.” If she wasn’t going to get up right away, well… he wasn’t gonna poke the bear anymore than need be to get the point across. Whenever she did get up, he’d just put in a new order for more food! For now though, Callum decided to forgo putting on clothing entirely for the moment and headed into the kitchen in just his underwear. He might be a skinny dude on the outside, but the wolf inside was massive--and the wolf was ravenous. His share of the food was gone in minutes and nothing was spared. A glass of orange juice and a mug of coffee had also been thrown down into the pit of his stomach, helping to reinvigorate him just a little.


Meri did not awaken to the scent of food like Cal did, no. She awoke to his nudging, which then made her aware that there was food present. Meri was not keen on rolling out of bed quite as quickly as Cal was though, his attempts to stir her only prompt the blonde to burrito herself up in the blanket. There is some grumbling about being hungover, which is entirely her fault. She was drinking wine for a good portion of the day yesterday. Cal was about half-way finished with his portion of the meal before Meri decided to peel herself out of bed, more for the promise of coffee than food. The she-devil might have found the energy to zombie out of bed, but she is taking half of it with her. That is to say, when she joins Cal she is still wrapped up in the blanket. The blonde plops down into the chair, blanket and all, only loosening it so that she can make herself a cup of coffee. "So I think on today's agenda we're starting off with like...a boat ride?" She manages to say, only after her first sip of coffee. "Didn't see anything about wine today. Thankfully." It won't be until after she has drank her first cup that Meri will develop an interest in actually eating breakfast. If Cal was still hungry, there would be plenty left over for seconds. No ordering more food needed, for it seems Meri was content to only nibble on a couple of items, like toast and a couple of strips of bacon, before she decides to change from PJs to her outfit for the day. It would not be long before they are summoned for that brief carriage ride to their boating activity.


Cal would finished off as much as he can, but stopped short somewhere along the way to respond to Meri,” A boat?! Ugh. Lanara’s lucky I don’t get seasick. That could really wreck someone after eating this huge breakfast. What in the seven hells was she thinking?” Lanara likely knew little about boats and the problems they bring, so Callum couldn’t entirely fault her. If Cal and Meri were anyone else, it’d likely spell disaster. Thankfully, they were well accustomed to the likes of the sea. The Catalian would finish up, change into his own outfit that definitely wasn’t his fancier stuff--though he made it look that way regardless--and then they were off. The boat ride itself was fine, but the story that the guide told was cheesy as hell. Two people met on this exact boat! And then they fell in love! In a similar fashion to Pokemon, a Catalian was weak to cheesy love stories. It made Cal feel a little itchy. Brand would understand; he gets hives when things get too romantic. Smirking, Callum side-eyed Meri as he half-listened to the tale. “What do you wanna bet that Lanara wrote that story?”


Meri :: What was Lanara thinking? Meri smirks at this question, if only because she is amused with the response that she is going to give Callum. It involves a lot of flexing in this position and then that position for Meri is trying to dramatically show off her full-sleeved tattoos. One of them being the naked mermaid sunbathing on the rock, the other being the kraken dragging a ship down to the depths. "Now. I know that Hanz and Franz can probably do all this flexing action much better than I can, and they're probably way hotter doing it...! But yeah. I have absolutely no idea why Lanara thought it might be a good idea." Meri sticks her tongue out at Cal just to be a little cheeky before finally getting up and getting dressed. As this was meant to be a date, Meri should probably opt to dress up. Most girls do when they are out on dates, but Meri goes for casual. Surprise, surprise. In this instance, it might be justified. They were going on a boat, and one party has clearly un-hype about this portion of the date. Casual seemed best. It seems that Meri's decision is smart for after the boat ride comes to a halt, they have a hike to go on. "Maybe," Meri says as she climbs out of the boat. Why, she would even be nice enough to extend a hand to Callum to help him out of the boat. Maybe she was doing this out of sincerity, maybe she was doing it to make Cal itch just a bit more due to his romance allergies. Whatever the reason, his hand is released once he is out of the boat and he is not subject to copious amounts of hand holding during the hike. "But I can promise that she did not illustrate any of it. Trust me on that one." Meri has seen Lanara's dark hallway material.


Callum frowned a little at the mention of the masseuses, a twinge of red surfacing a little amidst the olive tint of those Catalian features. “I’d say I’d blame the wine but the whole thing was just… entirely unexpected and awkward. Sure they were attractive but… I’m sure their personalities were like potatoes.” He wasn’t apologizing for finding them attractive, like some men people would scramble to do, but likewise, he was attempting to be vocal about the situation. Briefly, anyway. Hives be damned, Cal did smirk at Meri’s attempts to flex, giving her much ooh’s and ahh’s, and even a bit of swooning. Yes, Meri. You’re hotter than Hanz and Franz. He’s not going to say it unless he really needed to--there were people around after all and they were hella private about their love life. He had been sorely tempted to just grab her and kiss her all romantic-like (complete with dipping!) in an effort to embarrass her in return, but Cal’s also a chicken. He’d let her help him out of the boat when it was time (cue more swooning at her hella big muscles). “Well, that’s good to know, at least. It sounds like something she’d found in one of those books… like the ones Hudson’s mom writes. You know what I’m talking about.” Meri knew--her sister writes fanfics after all. They literally ‘take a hike’ away from the ship and soon find themselves face to face with a glittery cavern filled obviously filled with veins of ore and gems. There’s a small table with two glasses and a pitcher filled with water that was obviously there to keep them from getting dehydrated. Cal, being the cautious person that he is however, picked up the pitcher, dumped it out, and filled it up with water from his own magic. Can never be too careful.


Meri :: If Meri could read Cal's thoughts, she'd be in agreement on the no-dip kissing sentiments. It probably would not be either of their suavest moments. Cal ran the risk of dropping Meri, Meri ran the risk of accidentally clobbering Cal. Obviously neither of them would mean for such abuse to occur, but this is what happens when neither are particularly romantic. Thankfully this is not what happens. What does happen! Is Cal shows off some of his fancy skills while simultaneously reminding Meri how paranoid he could be at times. "Me? Read?" Meri pokes fun at herself, while also trying to pretend she has no idea about these fanfics that Khitti writes. It's one of her sister's more perplexing hobbies, but that okay. She loves Khitti all the same. As for Hudson's mom...? "I can't say I know anything about what Hudson's mom writes. On purpose." Meri flashes Callum a smirk, because she is sure that he could relate in her disinterest in those novels. "Well," Meri begins as she considers the two pickaxes that are positioned quite near to the water. "I suppose there is the easy way," and on cue both of the pickaxes begin to levitate, ready and willing to do Meri's bidding. "Or there is the hard way." Which would obviously require them taking the axes and utilizing their muscles. Meri looks to Callum to see what his preference on this matter is.


Callum || Look, Meri. You and Callum are sneaky people that associates with other sneaky people and sometimes, even with the rules of the Rogue’s Guild, you can’t trust those frakkers as far as you can throw ‘em. “I only know about what Hudson’s mom writes because of that damned business of mine. Little old ladies with thousands of cats just -love- to go on about their favorite books with the “handsome” centaur, wishing he’d sweep them off their arthritic feet, and gallop away into the sunset. Meanwhile, I’m usually standing there screaming on the inside, while on the outside I’m sneezing up a storm and my eyes are gooping up from those damn cat allergies of mine,” Cal said with a smirk. The things he did for money sometimes. Meri would give him that choice of doing it the hard way or the easy way, and well… it was an easy pick for him. “The easy way, if you’d be so kind. You know me and physical labor. Plus, it takes harder work to keep these hands looking so nice!” Manicures, sans the nail polish, still cost a lot, after all. While Meri did her thing with the psionics and the mining picks, Cal would carefully pick up what looked like ore and crystals along the way, until finally a curious-looking geode popped on out of the mines’ wall.


Meri stares at Callum as he goes on about the manner of stories that Hudson's mom writes. She makes no effort to hide the fact that he is currently behaving like one of those old women that he is rambling on about, while Meri is screaming on the inside. There is no shame to her expressions of disgust. "Gross. Now I am not even sure I want to send Fleur to school so that she can learn how to read that trash. I'd stop before I finalize these irrationally rational decisions about our daughter's education." By offering the easy road to Callum, Meri was also doing the same for herself. Sure, flexing her mental mind muscles could sometimes take great effort, but this was not one of those situations. It was easier than flexing her actual muscles. Meri finds herself a seat so that she can put those pick axes to work, letting Cal go around and find any more interesting crystals or ores along the way. She does not stop until he approaches her with that odd looking geode. The woman blinks before she finally declares, "It looks like a heart." The woman pauses, mulling over the strangeness of this find. "Maybe we're supposed to break it open. Maybe there is something fancy inside." Another pause. "Or maybe we're not supposed to break it. Because it's a heart." Oh no, she's confused. This happens to non-romantics when placed in a more romantic setting.


Callum’s a talker, Meri, and you chose this. You chose this -forever-. Ignore the fact that there’s the option to break up with him, or once you two are finally married, there’s also divorce. Ignore all of that. Meri would do her thing and Callum would find that rock and show it to his woman that loved him very very much despite all the talking he does sometimes. “What? No. We gotta break it open. What if there’s some sort of super rare crystal inside of it?” Well, Cal would find himself a much smaller pick, as opposed to the pickaxe, and ever so carefully chiseled around the outside of it. He was actually thoughtful about it too and broke it open so it’s still in the shape of a heart! So, at the very least, they could put it on a nice shelf somewhere in the house to collect dust, as most knickknacks often did. Finally cracking it open, he found… ? The geode was nothing but opal inside, the milky rainbow of the crystal shimmering in the light. But, that’s not all. There was a piece of paper inside? Cal snatched it up out of geode and read it aloud. “ ‘Love, because it is the only true adventure.’ “ He stared at it. He stared at it some more. Then he stared at Meri with a look that said ‘what the frakkin’ hell’. “It’s a goddamned fortune cookie. Except without the cookie.”


Meri is usually okay with Cal being a talker, sometimes what he has to say is more smooth than others. However, in this exact moment his silver tongue is failing him miserably. On the upside, at least he is keenly aware that his woman has no interest in having sex with a centaur? Meri smirks as she watches Callum chisel away with the intention of trying to uncover something precious inside. Since they're on a roll with being the oh-so-romantic couple on this date, the blonde decides to poke fun at her partner...in a way that only couples who really love each other can do. "Wooooow, I think this is the most physical labor I have seen you do...like....Ever." Meri teases. The she-devil lifts a brow as Cal reads the note out loud, and her teasing continues. "You sound really disappointed with your fortune, babe. I feel like I should be particularly offended or something." She wasn't though, she's just being a pain in the rear right now. On purpose. "What are you trying to say right now, Callum? Loving me is not an adventure?" The blonde rolls her eyes as she rises up out of the chair she has claimed for herself and makes for the exit of the cavern. When she gets back outside, they are greeted by two horses. And thanks to Callum tramatizing her with talk of horse-sex-books, Meri is not sure how she feels about this part of the date right about now. "Uh...Pass." That's right. The woman who loves horses and probably does not even need a lesson on how to properly ride one is currently passing on this leg of the date. It's all Callum's fault too. Stupid Centaurs.


Callum smirked at Meri’s teasing. “Doing anything with a she-devil like you is -definitely- an adventure,” he said, teasing her right back. He’d gather up the loot they found, including that heart-shaped geode, and follow her outside. Cal was also not in the mood for horseback riding; he might’ve been the one telling the tale of those old ladies, but it grossed him out just as much as it did Meri. “We should just walk. Dinner is at that crystal cavern the ball was held in. I saw it on the way up the river, so it’s not far.” If she were willing to walk, he’d lead the way, and once they got there? A romantic candle lit dinner would be waiting for them inside the glittery cave.


Meri was definitely not opposed to walking, it is not like Enchantment was an overly large space. They would be able to make their way from the caverns to dinner in a reasonable amount of time. While the idea may have been for this to be a fancy dinner, Meri seems content enough to keep her current outfit on. She's never been one to fuss too dreadful much over her appearance anyway, just every blue moon...and they have already had that blue moon experience quite recently or else they would not be setting here being served by Chef Gordyn Whamsey. Dinner is indeed a time where things are discussed, but this couple has already made numerous decisions about their life given that they're engaged. That does not mean that Meri does not have more thoughts for their future to share, "I've been thinking." Oh no, Cal. Watch out. It's usually not a good thing when Meri starts conversations off this way. "That I rather miss Rynvale. I would kind of like to invest in a second house out there. Maybe a vacation house. Or like. A winter house." So that Meri can escape the snowy months entirely, Callum, yes. "Maybe once we're able to get a handle on this ghost situation of yours, we could shop for a second house out in Rynvale?" This would be their over dinner discussion.


Callum was too hungry to care about changing his clothes right now. Not-Hungry Cal would be appalled by this but that Cal wasn’t here right now. He’d eat his dinner in a manner that spoke of his hunger, but not quite in a caveman-esque fashion. He even let the meal drag on a little bit, so he didn’t finish it in seconds like he very well could have! “I swear that wolf side is never not hungry, he said, taking a drink. Meri would offer up her idea about a house in Rynvale and the Catalian would nod in agreeance. “I think that’s a good idea. Since it’s so far away from Larket and where the witch hunters have been, we might even be able to tell people where we live and it not matter as much. I feel a little bad that we’ve had to have your sister, and Lanara and Talyara, sneak around more or less when it comes to coming to our house in Sage. But, obviously, they all know there’s a good reason for it, so I’ve never thought to change it. I think we’d be a little more protected in Rynvale, than we are here.”


Meri nods in empathetic understanding. The struggle to not wolf-down one's food was real, Meri understood it completely. It should be no wonder that, even with both of them making efforts to actually let dinner drag on a bit, that they finish their meal so quickly. "Definitely things to consider should we actually go through with investing in a second house, but obviously the rules for the Sage house will remain the same." They have to. They are a family of not just witches but also werewolves, there is no telling what sort of problems they might encounter over the years. "But one thing at a time. This ghost is a priority." Especially now that it has shown some aggressive tendencies. While dinner might be finding an end, there is not a lull in the conversation. "Do you think that we'll be able to deal with this ghost situation now that Lanara is not around to help? I mean, I am sure Talyara will do her best...but I liked our odds with both of their support better." Meri frowns. This topic of conversation was perhaps not the most fitting for the lovely under-the-stars setting they were currently in, but it was what it was. Couples need to talk about things, not every couple needed to deal with ghost issues, but evidently it was a problem for this couple.


Callum nodded again at the mention of the rules needing to stay the same. He knew this, even if it meant keeping secrets from people they were “supposed” to trust. “I think it’ll be easier to take care of when Talyara teaches me more about witchcraft, if she’s still up for it. We won’t have Lanara’s power, but we’d have mine instead to rely on, once I properly know what the hell I’m doing. I’m sure the lessons won’t be as bad as what I’m thinking it might be. I already -know- magic, more or less. I know about botany and alchemy, and the whole concept of the crystals aren’t that much different from botany. I think the biggest problem I’m going to have… is feeling some sort of connection to their Goddess. While it’s obvious that there’s likely -something- out there, what with all the things your sister’s done, it’s just still kind of a hard thing for me to get used to. I barely trust people, so how the frak am I supposed to trust something I can’t even see?”


Meri did not for a second doubt Cal's abilities. She was fully confident that once he was actually given a proper couple of lessons, he would be a fast learner. However, this did little to ease Meri's concern about this ghost's fixation with Callum. Those 'what if' scenarios were harder to push to the back of the mind when they involved people that Meri actually cared about, and there were not dreadful many on that shrinking list of people. Most of what they are talking about goes unanswered at this point, if only because Meri is struggling to keep a knot out of her throat and stomach at this exact moment. Cal goes on to talk about how it is hard to trust something that he can't even see. While Meri might be connected to Khitti, faith of that manner was something that the blonde has always been sorely lacking in. There has never been a call, or draw, or pull of any sort for Meri. And so the blonde heaves a heavy sigh and flops onto her back, fixing her cause on the stars, and answering Cal with a frustrated by honest, "I don't know..."


Callum || “I don’t know either,” Cal said with a sigh of his own. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out, sooner or later. I suppose, if it’s really necessary, we could ask Eleanor for help. She might not be a witch, but she seems to have some sort of affinity for crystals.” He eventually finished his dinner and pushed the plate to the side. “It might take a little while to figure out, but at least we won’t be figuring it out on our own anymore. And now we have even more of a reason to get things done, so that we can get this maybe-house of ours in Rynvale. Not that there wasn’t enough of a reason before, but…” Callum shrugged, then looked towards the entrance of the cavern. Once Meri had finished with her food, he’d ask, “Want to go home? I think I’d like to sleep in our own bed tonight.”


Meri presses her lips together tightly at the thought of asking Eleanor for help. Now it was Meri's paranoia that was starting to show. Yes, there are many things that Meri would absolutely trust Eleanor with, but all of those things involve a shared motivation for greed. Important life matters? Well Eleanor was a rogue, and one does not ever know when a vulnerability might be used as leverage down the line. Meri does not say 'no' but if Cal knows his woman than he should know this is not a course of action that she is eager to take. It would be made out of sheer desperation. She would sooner Eleanor than one of those creepy necromancer's though. At the mention of going home, Meri rises and offers Callum her hand so that she can help him up onto his feet. "Sure." Their own bed sounded nice, but it was hard to sound enthusiastic given where they are leaving this discussion. Off to their own home they would go.