RP:Home Sweet Home

Summary: Meri and Cal's day starts off at their home in Larket, but two end up making their way to another property that Cal owns.

A Luxurious Townhouse, Larket

It was morning at the Rochester-Boyce household...Okay yes, it was probably more like the Rochester household because if they ever broke up, Meri would obviously get the boot. Either way, it was morning in the household but it is hardly an early morning, at least not for Meri. Someone has decided to be a lazy bum and is sleeping in until almost eleven in the morning on this morning. It's not an every day thing for Meri, but on this day? It is happening. She may have honestly been content to snooze a little longer except she rolls over to discover that....someone is not there. Which prompts her to finally get up and start her own day by trudging down the stairs to go find a couple of her favorites. They both have names that start with C. Cal and Coffee.

Is Cal in the kitchen where the coffee is at? No. Is the coffee made? Well if Cal has not made coffee this morning, or it is cold, Meri is going to sleepily bump her way around the kitchen to make said coffee. It is only once Meri has a mug of coffee secure in her hand that she will brave heading out the back and trudge barefoot through the backyard to Cal's greenhouse in search of her beau. Her outfit is nothing scandalous, mind you, she's a shorts and a t-shirt sort of gal for bedtime. The door to the green house is opened far enough for Meri to poke her head in, calling out with a still somewhat groggy, "Cal?"

Cal had made coffee, yes, but it was definitely cold now. This is what happens when you sleep in. He’d have made her breakfast too, but she definitely seemed like she needed to sleep in. The Catalian was definitely up to something, but not the sort of suspicious somethings that most guys (read: Hudson and Sarge-types) get up to (you know, like cheating on their wives/girlfriends). Cal was hunched over one of the many tables of flower pots of all shapes and sizes; the ones he was specifically hovering over, however, were three different types of niphredil. A red, a yellow, and a blue were all planted into one pot, the mage using a bit of air magic to cross-pollinate the three. He was sooo entranced by his work that he barely registered Meri calling him. And then he did. “Meri?!” Craaaaap. This was supposed to be a surprise, woman!! He cleared his throat, “Uh. I mean. Hi. Did you find the coffee? It should still be hot.” Nope, Cal. It’s like been several hours since you woke up. Quick! Hide the flowers. Behind what?! Uhhhh. With lots of indecision, he just stands up and blocks it with his own body. Yep. Perfect plan. Good job, bro.

And there Cal was, looking all suspicious and jumping in front of....? Trying to block it from view. Needless to say Meri is officially curious, Cal. You've gone and done it, made the she-devil start wondering what the heck. A slow and sly smile pulls at her lips, normally red from lipstick but it's early and Meri's not dressed yet, and the woman approaches. Her cup of coffee is abandoned in this approach, temporarily, on one of the tables within the greenhouse so that both arms are free...so that she can attempt to be a sneak, cutely. "Oh yeah. I found the coffee. It was cold though...Did a little reheating." As this is said she is going to try and wrap her arms around Cal's shoulders, give him a smooch to the cheek, and she is definitely not going to try and look over his shoulder while doing any of this. No, not at all. Presumably her obvious endeavor is going to be a fail and she's not going to fight with him on it too much. Her antics are meant to be all in good fun for the both of him. "You're looking a little guilty there, Cloud." Like in a totally innocent way, obviously, for he is not a dudebro. "Like I caught you by surprise. What are you up to, Maaaaal?" Naw, never. He's never going to live that one down.

Cal hugged Meri in such a way that she could not entirely stare over his shoulder. She’d get a peek at maybe a bit of blue or yellow or red petals and that’s about it, “Oi! Quit it, you.” With a sigh, he’d side-step away from the table to show off what he’s been doing; there was the plants, sitting there in their designated pot, the colors of each niphredil suspiciously looked like those ones they’d discussed in Venturil--you know the ones. “I’m cross-pollinating them to see what would come of it. Trying to find a species of flower with all of these colors is a tad difficult, heh. I was trying not to magically alter them, at least from the start, but if this doesn’t turn out, I might end up doing that regardless.” He paused, eyeing her for a moment before looking down at the flower pot, “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

If it were not for Cal's explanation, Meri would have probably assumed he was doing his usual routine with his plants. Maybe even talking to them a bit. His explanation of cross-pollination gives causes her to lift a brow, staring at the flowers with a bit of wonder. Right now it was three flowers, it was interesting to speculate what would happen if they made little flowers babies. "Are you making us a flower?" Forget those boyfriends that have to go to the store and buy their flowers, Cal's just going to show them all up by trying to design one as a surprise. "I wasn't trying to ruin your surprise, I didn't realize that the greenhouse had become off-limits." Because putting the greenhouse off-limits wouldn't be suspicious at all. A grin is apparent on Meri's lips, the woman finally releasing Cal so that she can reclaim her coffee, taking a long sip from it. "There is still a fair amount of surprise to it though. I mean, I don't know what the finished flower looks like yet..." Blue eyes transfer from Cal to the flowers in their pots, where they remain. "You remember that one morning I accosted you outside of work with Kadence? We got to talking about this and that and I made the statement that I thought plants were boring?"

Dark brows furrowed, Cal’s nose scrunched up a little, and a frown made itself known as Meri went on, despite the blonde’s grin. “Yeah, I am,” he said somewhat in defeat. “And yes, I do remember. It’s not necessarily off-limits; I just didn’t realize how much time had passed. Last I knew, the sun had just come up. I guess it’s certainly well past that time now.” As she sipped her coffee, Cal turned away, leaving the pot to finish its pollination on its own, a tiny raincloud summoned over top of it to give it its daily allowance of water.

A frown and a scrunched up nose is not exactly what Meri had anticipated for a reaction. The realization that Meri has annoyed, caused offense, or both settles in and that grin that was there is now gone. Cal turns away and Meri joins him in frowning, blue eyes transferring from the Catalian to her coffee. "I mean I don't bring that up because I am trying to say that your surprise is boring? I think it is going to be amazing. And I can't wait to see what it looks like once you feel like you've gotten it right. Honestly. I am bringing it up that moment because, I mean, I have been thinking that maybe it wouldn't be too bad of an idea for my numbskulled self to actually try and learn something about these plants you love so much. I am sure I will never be the plant genius that you are but really, some basic knowledge of this stuff wouldn't be too bad for a girl like me...Of course that means I'm probably looking at you to teach me, which means I'm probably going to try and hang out here with you more...I was also thinking that could mean that maybe if I am not too shabby at this plant stuff, I could lend a hand from time to time. I know I won't be as helpful as a full-time, or even part-time, assistant but you help me so much around the studio..." Meri shrugs and sighs. "So basically I was bringing that up because what I am ultimately getting at here is, y'know. I was wrong, plants aren't so boring and yeah...."

There was a bit of confusion when Meri started up again, and soon that ocean-blue line of sight of his would find its way to her again. Callum just kind of stared at her, somewhat in awe. She… wanted to learn plant stuff? There’s almost no hesitation and barely any time in between when she finished speaking and when Cal closes the gap between them. One arm snakes around her back as the opposite hand finds its way to her chin and pulls her in for a kiss. He might’ve done more in the kissing department if she hadn’t that coffee in her hands. Cal somehow managed to forget to breathe for a few seconds there too, but he finally did and took a step back, eyeing her with a bit of adoration. “Why the sudden change of heart though? I mean, I wouldn’t mind it if we were each other’s assistants. Seems Valrae’s gone off again possibly, because I’ve not heard from her yet on that job offer I made her. Even if she did, it’s not like I couldn’t still give her a job anyway.” The Catalian shrugged, leaning against the side of the nearest table.

The coffee that Meri holds within her hands is set aside, and not because she is overly eager to get back to that kissing thing, but because she wants to take hold of Callum's hands. Both of them. It's hard to do that when she is holding a cup of coffee in her grasp. "A lot of reasons. The biggest reason being that it's something that you are passionate about, and I adore you. Enough that I would like to know everything about you, which means participating in your hobbies..." Meri's lips twitch up into a light smile. "Like you do mine. I mean granted this is way more than just a hobby to you. Plants are your world, practically." Or if he ever gets bogged down with work - not that he does not enjoy his work - she could help him and spend time with him, rather than just being a distraction (her sentiments, not Cal's -- he's never labeled her as such). Just another reason, that one voiced prior. Her hold on Callum's hand is not a still one, she let's her thumb run along his in a sweet an affectionate sort of way. "I guess the more time I spend around you and your babies, the more I come to the understanding that there is a lot of interesting and useful things about plants. It'd be good for me to know, for my own self and you know...You spend all this time doing what you can to take care of me? One day if you get yourself a gold, I'd like to have some clue how to try and make you feel better...without having to take hints from you." Frankly the list could go on, she has been paralyzed temporarily due to the use of herbs upon weapons in a battle before, for example. The number one reason was clear though: Cal. She wanted to learn because Cal has influenced this want and successfully managed to convince Meri that plants are in fact not boring. "I've not even seen the gardens you keep at your other house yet. Heck, I don't even know where that house is exactly, short of somewhere in Kelay-Sage."

Cal watched her quietly as she spoke and took his hands in hers. Right then and there, as she went on, he realized he was probably going to marry this woman. Or at the very least, stay with her for a very long time. How did this even happen? That initial meeting had been purely by chance and now? Now, he was entirely certain that he didn’t think he could ever part from her. She actually wanted to learn things from him? About plants? Do soulmates actually exist? Or something close to it? Cal was nearly overcome with emotion. There might be tears in his eyes. But, when Meri finished speaking, there’d be no crying at all. Instead, the storm mage just kissed her. A lot. It was the kind of kissing where he’d hold her face in his hands and almost didn’t seem like he’d want to let her go. He probably wouldn’t for awhile if it wasn’t for the fact that he, you know, actually needed to respond to her. “I love you and you’re beautiful and amazing and wonderful and--” There’d be other positive things to describe her, like her intelligence and kindness and whatnot. “We can go see it if you’d like and I can show you things. It’s a lot more organized there than it is here. Today, even. But first, um…” It was not often that he got that urge to do -things-. You know, that big S-word that he can’t always manage to say because he’s never really talked about it with anyone else before. “...you’re going into the house with me. I-If you want to.” There’s blushing, lots of it--and even without him saying it, she’d probably know what’s up. If she said yes, he’d lead her off to the house, but honestly, they wouldn’t even make it upstairs. Why go upstairs when there’s a perfectly good sitting room? It’s not like they get visitors much anyway. Regardless of whether or not that sex stuff actually happens, they’d be off, after getting Meri some much needed breakfast, on either their horses or just by way of walking. Even if they stayed after dark, they could very well just spend the night there too. The house itself was just near the Enchantment, just a little to the northwest. Out front, it was obvious that the entire house was fenced in--and for good reason because forest creatures are not kind to plants. The house was small-ish overall despite having a basement and a second floor--bachelors don’t really need a large house, you know. Surrounding the entire thing was that garden he’d always spoken of. All sorts of types were scattered about, each categorized by their use, herbs and flowers mingled in together, small stone paths circling around each section.

Meri was a smiling fool right about now, staring at Cal with a most dreamy look in her eyes. Those kisses are returned and his sentimental words are reciprocated with mush of her own. She definitely love him too, for example. How amazing he is. She might have stolen his book but he managed to go stealing her heart. The request to go inside is met with an easy-going nod but she does not think much of it at first, this is Cal we are talking about. When he turns into a blushing fool is about when she figures out what he is implying and a soft grin forms across her lips. That's a yes, frankly there are only a handful of situations in which Meri would turn Cal down in these rare moods. And who really wants to climb up three flights of stairs? Not Meri. Meri would wait to do that until it was time to shower, which she would do before eating. The horses were a must in Meri's view, even if the two of them could manage to make there by foot, it would be nice to let their equine companions stretch their legs and enjoy the scenery as well. Both horses would agree with Meri's sentiments too, for the record. They only served to make the trip to the house shorter, not that Meri was in a rush. If they felt inclined to stay the night, that would be more than okay by Meri. Conversation for the trip over would not be lacking, Cal was one of the few people she really enjoyed speaking with. It'd be odd if she was not chattering away at him. Today the subject is related to all things plant, though, most surrounding where she'd like her to start with schooling her. They probably don't get too indepth with this conversation, for they arrive at Cal's first home and have to deal with securing their horses, and then Meri of course wants to take the tour of the place. She starts with the inside of the house, peering into his old bedroom and even peeking down into the basement. This tour ends in the gardens that he often speaks about, leaving what she figures to be Cal's favorite place for last. "You know this is really a cute little place. What are you doing to do with it though? It's just sitting out here...Obviously you come out here enough to keep your gardens in good shape."

The tour would be given and when they got outside and Meri asked her question, Cal would just sort of shrug at her, “I don’t know. I put a lot of work into this place. I didn’t really have the heart to just abandon it entirely. Josleen didn’t really give me any choice in the matter. It was definitely a ‘you move here or you don’t have a job’ sort of feel.” Cal sighed, leaning down to pluck some weeds that had sprouted since he was last here. “What do -you- think I should do with it? Keep it? Or sell it off? I mean, it’d be more money for us and I wouldn’t have to make so many trips out here. Not that I hate coming out here; if I had a choice, this where we’d be living now and not in Witch Hater Central."

A tattooed hand is lifted so that Meri can rub the side of her tattooed neck. While both sides of her neck are tattooed at present, the woman always favors the side with the dagger -- not the wolf. "Well, babe. I guess even if we're coupled up, I wouldn't presume to go telling you to sell off your property. I suppose I don't see the harm of keeping it? What if we one day decide we want to ditch Larket? Or what if we just want to get away for awhile?" During the start of her talking, Cal is pulling weeds and she is just observing but after a very brief moment, Meri is inclined to do a little more than just stand around. The woman approaches what she presumes to be a weed and points at it questioningly, inquiring if that is one that should be pulled. Sadly, it's not a weed...but at least she is not trampling all over the plants! "I think I would say that if we keep it, it does seem a waste to leave it sitting out here. I mean, we could do -something- with it. You could...try and rent it out to someone and get some extra income flowing that way? Or you know, we have had discussions with Eleanor. And discussions with Hudson. We could put it to use in that respect, this is a nice central location. And if we did that, it could still be our nice secluded little secret..." Perhaps another individual or two but...Typically the less people in the know about storehouses, the better.

“-You’ve- had discussions with Hudson. Your boss doesn’t exactly like me. -No one- likes me because I work for frakking Queen of Crazy. Sometimes I wonder if it was more of a curse than blessing. Take the gold, I thought. What’ll go wrong. Then it turns out my girlfriend is friends with witches and the monarchy is a lot more batty than I thought.” Cal paused, thinking over what he said, “Not that witches are a bad thing. I just wasn’t expecting it is all.” He shrugged, then shook his head at the the herbs that Meri was trying to pluck out of the ground, “No, no. Not that one. That’s red clover. It helps attract bees.” He pointed out the little bits of grass that was starting to poke out in between some of the other plants. “The grass is mainly what I want to get rid of. It steals nutrients from the more important things. Not that grass isn’t important either, just not in my garden, heh.” Plucking up the few blades of grass, he righted himself again and stretched, “And, yeah. We could do that. Still maybe need to get a feel for Eleanor before she’s brought here, but you know her better than I do. You know how I am with my secrets.”

A faint frown is given to Cal as he offers up his correction, followed by his thoughts. This is not an 'I'm mad' sort of expression but rather the woman felt bad that their interaction with Hudson had gone poorly. The frown fades and her thoughts focus instead on the instruction that Cal provides. A red clover, good for bees. Interesting. It would be quite easy for Meri to differentiate between the red covers (as well as quite a few other plants present) and grass, this lesson would be quite easily learned. It would be those sparse leaves of grass that have snuck into Cal's garden would soon be gone between the both of their work. "Yeah. You are right, -one- discussion that went rather awkwardly. I am not even sure..." Meri heaves a bit of a sigh. The woman definitely is not overthinking the witch comments, besides there was a lot about their relationship that neither of them were likely anticipating. "I know how you are with your secrets, they our basically our secrets at this point." Cal knew as much of Meri's as she did of his. "So yeah, we don't have to bring anyone here we don't want to. I am just throwing out potential gold-making endeavors. None of which we have to do ever, if we don't want to. If this is our escape from insanity then..." Meri smiles towards Cal admits pulling up bits of grass. "You are my world and you're going to come before them." Them being Eleanor and Hudson, their gold making endeavors. Meri jokes with a grin, "I mean I've got to live with you so I definitely need to make sure you are happy." They both knew she was choosing to live with Cal and wanted to try and keep him a happy Catalian.

Cal gingerly grabbed hold of Meri’s arm, smirking at her little joke as he pulled her close, his other arm sliding around her waist. “ ‘You’ve got to live with me,’ ” he mocked, “When we get back, you’ll be sleeping with the horses, woman.” Of course, she wasn’t and she knew that; Cal liked his nightly snuggling with her way too much to let that happen. “Yeah, we can use this place for secret stuff. Once we get a feel for some people besides Eleanor, might be a good idea for someone to lodge here, whether we rotate through them or stick with one person. Make it look like someone’s really living here. Otherwise, people might get suspicious. Whether we tell her together, or one of us one-on-one with her, we’ll tell her eventually about it. Might be the incentive she needs to actually go ahead with it, knowing she’s got a safe place for her stuff. Can’t believe she was frakking going to get that Zed guy to help her.” He shook his head, the hand that was not around her waist moving up to rest against her cheek, “You’re my world too, you know. You come before gold, and plants, and certainly before anyone else. Before anything.”

Meri can't help the grin that forms when Cal pulls her closer, which does not fade at the threat of having to sleep with the horses. "If I did end up sleeping with the horses, you'd just end up sneaking out there in the middle of the night anyway." It's no secret to her that Cal liked those snuggles, as did Meri. They stay cheek to cheek for a moment before Meri claims Cal's hands and leads him out of the garden, or at least a spot that is more suitable for sitting. "Sit with me," she instructs, and when she does she'll sit immediately across from him, cross-legged. She aiming for a knee to knee, hand in hand sort of thing right now. "I am not going to tell her anything about this place without you right next to me, willing to share this information." Or of course Cal could inform Eleanor one-on-one, Meri's major point was that -she- would not be telling Eleanor alone. "That Zed is a salesmen, at least from what I gathered during my one encounter with him." Meri had been playing clueless during that meeting, she wanted to know what Eleanor would say. "I am sure he has his talents, I can see him having a knack for moving items once they are acquired. Still wouldn't trust him half as far as I could throw him...He strikes me a snitch." A beat. "By helping Eleanor we would also be helping Hudson. He was the creator of the dust she is hopping to smuggle...and once we take out Don Santiago there will be even more of a market. We will obviously have to explore this with her more but....the way I see it is that if she has limited vision on this, we could expand on the assortment of goods that pass through here. Plenty of shops with plenty of interesting items...Keep them here until they're not too hot to sell? And if she does not find herself in need of any low-key storage space because she and Hudson and can rent some warehouse within city limits? I mean, whatever. Their deal. We at least tried to work with them. And depending on how things go with our talk with those fiery Catalians? We may want to bribe Brand with the use of his ship...However, because -you- are my world, if you think this is going to be more trouble than it is worth...then to hell with it, we do have our hands full all things Larket..."

“That Zed is a moron. Couldn’t even handle doing a little research at the docks. I gave him all the info and he was still sweating to death thinking about what might happen if Josleen didn’t get her precious fern,” Cal said as he said down in front of her. He’d nod, listening as she went more in depth about Hudson and his dust, and Eleanor’s reach with the whole business. “Yeah, I’m sure all of that will work. And Brand? I mean, you’re pretty good friends with him, it seems. Might not even need to bribe him much. Just make sure him and his are paid; maybe give him a little more gold than what you’d give most smugglers -because- you know him. Like, a friendship bonus sort of thing. It’ll entice him to keep it going for as long as we need him. He’s not just gonna turn away gold when he’s got all of those mouths to feed.” Those mouths, of course, were his crew.

"Well, look at us, making all these plans together....from my learning a thing or twenty about your plants to us plotting the uses for your spare house out here..." Meri releases her hold on Callum's hands and presses the palms of her hands to her own knees. "Still a lot of decisions to be made, like who we are going to include or not include. Of course if I get anything to say in pay cuts, Brand will be getting a decent chunk." Meri would not take advantage and try and drive hard bargains for that guy. "But before we can get that far, we need to decide what we think about Eleanor." a very small beat, "But Eleanor isn't here right now. It's just you and me, Cal-baby." Meri winks but is quick to continue on with her point. "So I think that, unless there are more patches of weeds or grass that needs to be pulled? Or things you need to water? We can probably be a couple of lazy bums now. I think the only decision we have left to make it...Do we want to crash under this roof tonight? Or make our way back to Larket? Do you still have anything in the cupboards we can make for dinner if we do decide to stay the night here?" They -have- only had breakfast.

The botanist smirked at the word ‘Cal-baby’. He was doing better about not blushing so much when she said it, buuuut… sometimes he still fails and that reddening of his skin becomes apparent. “Of course you’d have a say in it. It’s your business. And no. Cleared out all the food awhile back. There -is- that restaurant in town. We could go there, come back, and in the morning I could show you some plant stuff before we head back home. I’m certain you’d have a better time learning stuff here than at home. Still growing a lot of things in pots first before it gets transplanted into the garden, so everything’s all out of order.

There would be a shrug, would she have a say and would it be viewed as her business? Hm. That blush is met with slight smirk, frankly it is why she kept up with the nickname. It was kind of adorable how embarrassed Callum could get sometimes. "That all sounds like a fine plan to me." And at some point during the day, once the hunger got the better of them, they would venture out to do just that. During the morning of the following day, there would be a lesson in plant stuff.