RP:Where Flowers Bloom So Does Hope

Summary: Cal finally meets his daughter Fleur.

The Rebel Room: Art Gallery, Cenril

Meri :: It would be an ordinary evening inside of the warehouse that Meri has claimed for both a gallery and residence. Well, as ordinary as it can be given that housed within are two werewolves and three dogs. That is to say that it is not a quiet evening at all. Cal would be able to hear some of the ruckus even before he enters the warehouse for those brick walls don't do anything to muffle Mountain's excited barking. And as he comes inside, he'll be able to hear what sounds like a child giggling in between barks. It also smells like Meri might actually have bothered to work one of those stove contraptions. Cal probably can't pinpoint exactly what Meri is cooking based on smell alone, that's more of a werewolf talent, but it definitely smells more on the edible side and less on the burnt side. All in all, while it does not sound like it is anywhere close to a quiet evening...it seems like all of the inhabitants inside are in good spirits.

Callum smirked somewhat as he entered the warehouse and heard those dogs. It’d only been a few months, but… Cal might’ve actually missed those troublemakers. He hadn’t thought he’d gotten used to them, amongst all the chaos they created, but it seemed he had and he was grateful to hear their excitement. Fleur’s giggles were noted as well, but they only served to further the twists and knots in his stomach. Cal had to have a long think to himself before he left the house. That milk of the poppy was calling his name like a siren song, but ultimately, he decided against taking even a little of it--Meri would likely smell it after all. Reaching Meri’s flat, the witch hesitated… but eventually knocked on the door to be let in--this wasn’t his home, after all.

Meri was only mildly surprised to hear someone knocking upon her front door. She was not expecting anyone tonight, and yet it is not unannounced visitors are common enough that Meri is not entirely perplexed by who might be knocking. She scoops her child up off the floor, taking her away from the dogs she was playing with so that they can go see who is at the front door. Meri has to be clever with how she kidnaps Fleur from her pupper friends. Young ones are prone to fit throwing, and who likes to be taken away from cute fuzzy things? It's a precarious moment but Fleur manages to keep her emotions in check -- not fits are thrown. Which is probably a relief to Callum, that would not be an ideal first meeting for him. Meri swings the door open to find out who is outside, her eyes widening when she sees that it is Callum. Fleur is less surprised to see Callum for the first time, as she was still in the dark as to the significance of this man in her life. "Hiiiii." Meri states, kind of awkwardly. She wants Callum to meet his daughter, yes, but that does not make her any wiser to the best approach for this meeting. "Come on in? And brace yourself, I bet the pups will be excited to see you." They would be. In fact Mountain would stop his "wrassling" with the dog Lanara gave to Meri as soon as he spots Callum so that he can try and "wrassle" with the Cal instead.

Callum || “Hey.” That’s all that’s offered at the moment as Cal looks from Meri, to Fleur, and peered over her shoulder at the dogs as they played around. “Are you sure? I can leave. I should’ve sent word ahead of time… but…” He shrugged; clearly things were still a little difficult for him too. Despite his protest, he’d follow Meri into the flat and was promptly tackled by Mountain. “Oh fra--!” Cal didn’t get to finish his exclamation unfortunately, and even more unfortunate was the fact that his cry of surprise was enough to allow Mountain to nearly get his tongue in Cal’s mouth as he slobbered all over his former master. “Ugh. Mountain! Your breath is horrific.” The Catalian pushed him off and sat there on the floor for a moment or two to catch his breath, eyeing the dog that hadn’t been a part of their household before. “Starting a collection?”

Meri :: "No, I am glad you came." And that was said with earnest honesty, despite any awkwardness that may come with this moment. Callum is tackled and Meri smirks, making no effort to save Callum from the mini-horse that is Mountain. Once Cal is settled on the floor and is mostly free from Mountain, Meri deposits a giggling Fleur into his lap. It was very funny, you see, this whole scene. From the way her horse-dog was behaving, to Callum being tackled to the floor. Children were cutely cruel like that, daddy's suffering in this moment is amusing to the kid. While Cal tries to process what Meri has just done to him by dropping Fleur into his lap, Meri pulls Mountain back and attempts to divert his attention back to Circinus. "Ah. Not intentionally. Talyara asked me to come see her not long ago, and she gave me Circinus here. He belonged to Lanara...who...is no longer of sound mind. Her mental breakdown was what prompted me to come creep around your property one night. I wanted to see how you were." And well, she ended up seeing Cal talking to that creepy tree.

Callum blinked down at the kid in his lap as she giggled at his misfortune. Oh boy. Now Cal was going to know what Brand’s going through--he’s just lucky that this kid ages a hell of a lot faster than Dominic. “You definitely take after your mother, I see,” he said finally with a smirk. He, of course, meant that she’d likely grow up to be a she-devil too. As Meri spoke of Circinus and Lanara, he frowned, but didn’t say anything just yet. Instead, he pulled his satchel up over his head and set it on the floor next to him, a hand reaching into it while the other held Fleur carefully. A doll was plucked out of the bag and offered over to Fleur; the stuffed toy was a little girl with a green dress and long black locks made from yarn, the entirety of it made of a soft material and stitched with care. “No one told me about it. I’ve not heard anything from anyone, besides you. Not that I was particularly close with any of the other witches but…” Cal almost sounded sad about it, but the emotion didn’t last long. “I guess that explains why I never heard from Lanara at least.”

Meri :: Fleur would definitely be aging faster than Dominic, as already evidenced by the fact that she was capable of crawling around on hands and knees. Soon she would be walking, sooner than Meri would like. Not that she wanted Fleur to be a baby forever, she's just not ready for her cupboards to be assaulted by a toddler. Or worse, her paints. "Please, like you're not a handful and a half yourself." It's like a Catalian requirement. "It's just as much your fault as it is mine." Meri shrugs with a smirk. "I think she'll get more of your good looks than mine." Already it was clear that Fleur was not a blonde. Meri settles herself on the floor with Callum and Fleur, shortly after the doll is pulled out. Fleur seems amused enough with the gift, though she has not fully figured out how to play doll quite yet. It's more like she's dangling the thing around by it's limbs, in ways that real babies are not meant to be carried. If there were a real baby, it would probably be receiving a case of shaken baby syndrome right now. Or a concussion, due to the fact that Fleur decides to try and whack Callum in the face with it. It's a good thing this is a doll. Their child's antics are not fitting for the somber topic the adults were having. "I am not sure Talyara told anyone outside of me before she decided to take some time to herself. I don't know if Valrae knows. But yeah...both Lanara and Talyara were kidnapped and tormented by those witch hunters....So there was definitely a reason in their case."

Callum || “The witches all seemed to go about their business like nothing ever happened, so I just hoped the witch hunters had gone away. Apparently, my hopes were not taken into consideration by those gods your sister loves so much,” Cal said with a sigh. That kid of theirs definitely succeeded in whacking him in the face and now he rubbed his nose, even going so far as to check whether or not he was actually bleeding. “No no. Like this.” Cal took the doll carefully from Fleur, so as not to prompt a crying fit, and made the doll’s arm move to wave at Fleur. “You’ve got to be gentle or you’ll break her.” He gingerly took his daughter’s hand then, teaching her to stroke the doll’s hair carefully, like someone teaching their kid the proper way to treat animals. “It’s got lavender in it. I didn’t make it, obviously, but it’s still my herbs. I wasn’t sure if she’s a pain to put to bed or not, but I figured it might help calm her down a little if that were the case.”

Meri shrugs at their witch-related conversation. As much as she would love to do something to stop these witch hunters, she has long not even been sure where to start. "Yes, well. I hold a more jaded view of the gods than she does. I can't say I am surprised." Not that Meri would not support any efforts put forth by the Devout's Guild, if only to support Khitti. Callum's attempts to try and teach Fleur the correct way to play with her doll without breaking it would in the end be futile. Today would not be the day she has an accident with the doll, but it will happen. "Mmm, I would think she could be worse on the whole...going to bed thing. But I will take all the help I can get. The lavender is welcome. Plus it just smells good..." Meri frowns for a moment. "I would like to think that you could learn though...if she is awful to be put to bed or not." Meri does not remain posted on the floor while making this point. There is a stew pot that needs to have the heat turned off before it burns. Perks of being a werewolf, these subtle changes in scent are apparent. The stew is to be Meri's dinner for the next few nights, Fleur is still too young for that. "What I mean is, most ideal for that kid in your lap would be to have you in her life..you know..kind of regularly. I'm sure she'd like to do the whole sleepover at daddy's house as part of those regular visits. You know. As soon as we figure out what to do about that tree..."

Callum’s dark brows knitted together as he eyed Meri, listening to what she had to say. He’d nod at length, once he let her speak and properly processed the fact that she’d be fine with him taking care of Fleur by himself. “The tree seems to have stopped growing for now. Maybe it’s done doing… whatever the hell it’s doing. I’m not sure how to get rid of it though. Beyond yelling and punching the thing every so often a while back, I never actually tried to cut into it. I really don’t want to have to move again so soon after last time, so I guess I have a reason to start looking into how to deal with it…” Cal did note that Fleur hadn’t paid a single ounce of attention to what he’d said. Or it didn’t register. Or she just didn’t care. He smirked at the thought, then shrugged, “Dominic didn’t seem to be too bad. When he wasn’t screaming for his chicken. And Fleur doesn’t seem to be producing snot bubbles and drooling either, so that’s a plus.” There’d been so much snot on his clothes… so much. Dominic’s boogers had to have been made of glue or something because there’d been days that Cal had to powerwash all of his nice clothes. “Beyond dealing with that… do you think it’s safe? Taking her home with me.”

Meri :: "No, Fleur does not produce snot bubbles. Not like Dominic. If she ever did, I would say that is probably a sign that she is sick. So we don't want snot bubbles." Now that dinner is off the heat, the blonde finds a spot on the floor near daughter and baby daddy again. There is a concerned expression when he gives her a status update on the tree. She was not sure that she liked that it had stopped growing, around the time that Kahran seemed to be growing quiet again. Was there a connection? Meri could not be sure. "I guess it is good that is has stopped doing...whatever it was doing...for now." Cal's observations were correct. Fleur did not seem to register or care about what he was saying. Well, she registered the words just not in the same way that the two adults did. She was likely puzzling over sounds and meanings. Give her another couple months and they'll be in the danger of having their words repeated like a proud parrot. "It's...as safe as we can hope that it will ever be in these lands or any lands that we might wander into. She's about as safe with you as she is with me. While Cenril seems to take pride in turning it's nose down on Larket for it's treatment of witches, there seems to be a rising fear for werewolves in the city. Not that I am sure that I can blame anyone..."

Callum frowned at the mention of a werewolf panic. “You’re literally the only one I’ve heard of getting bitten unwillingly. I haven’t been to Cenril since the thing with Eleanor, though. It’s not quite trickled its way out to Kelay yet. That could be intentional. Has Uma even done anything about it? What the hell good is she for if she can’t even manage to calm down the people in her city?” Cal knew quite well that Meri could take care of herself and protect Fleur and whomever else might need it, but that didn’t mean that the thought of this fear-mongering didn’t piss him off and put him a little on the overprotective side. He did his best to keep his emotions in check however; his words were sharp, but his tone was not. “You know if things get bad that you can stay in Kelay again… right?” His frown returned, ocean blue eyes shifting from Fleur to Meri, studying her.

8Meri was of the same mindset as Callum, but he probably already realized that without her having to say it. "Yeah. Well. We have to keep the unwilling part quiet from here on out. It was willing. That's what I told the courts and everything. I guess judges don't take kindly to being lied to...but still. You're right. I have not heard of anyone else either. And yet somehow Alvina was still somehow arrested on a tip that was not confirmed. I am hoping all of this nonsense will settle, so hopefully I don't end up having to come out to Kelay for such unpleasant circumstances. It'd be nicer if they were for more fun things, like holidays with our she-devil-sproutling." Meri points to the blue-eyed child in Callum's lap who was staring up at her father with a sleepy expression. It was getting close to the hour where babies might be put to bed, that lavender doll must be working it's charms already.

Callum || “Yeah, no. No more drawing attention to yourself than what’s already been done. Not that that was your fault but still,” Cal said. “And we can still do those things, if you want. Despite the panic, I’m sure there’s plenty of other werewolves in the city that’s going about things as usual.” He adjusted his hold on Fleur and handed her over to her mother, “Seems she’s had enough excitement for one day. And I should probably go, so you can finally eat your dinner. We can have a beach day or something, if you’d like. Or there’s plenty of other places to take her.” Cal was doing his best to try to offer up ideas, but since Meri left, he’d not really done much studying on how best to entertain children--he didn’t think he’d ever see Fleur, after all.

Meri :: It is not until that Fleur is successfully handed over to her that Meri tries to rise to her feet so that she can put the kid to bed. "Yeah. A beach day sounds great. Or something else. Or all of the above, ideally there will be plenty of time." Meri might have left, but she is also trying her best to make it clear that she wanted the guy to be apart of Fleur's life and thus her own life. She was trying to be a reasonable babymomma! "I am glad that you came out and hung out with the two of us for awhile. It means a lot to both of us." Not that Fleur could express it, nor does she likely fully understand. But that does not make it any less true. Most daughter's want to know their dads. "So I'll be sure to hold you too that beach day outing, yeah? You be safe until then...And you know, just remember we're you're family and if you need anything...?" Meri was hinting to if he had tree problems. "Well you get it. Thanks for coming out, Cal." Ultimately the Catalian would be left to show himself out so that Meri could put baby and her dolly to bed.

Callum nodded and smirked as Meri said she’d make sure he kept his promise, “Yes, yes. We will do these things.” His smirk faded into something more somber, yet not quite a frown as she said her goodbyes, for both her and the kid. “Yeah. You too, Meri.” He’d watch her walk away before snatching up his satchel and heading out the door. Once it’s closed behind him, he’d sigh heavily and then finally head off for home. Well, he managed to not screw this up. Good job, Cal.