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ERIKA'S GARDEN - MID-AFTERNOON
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Cavro huffs a bit as he makes his way back toward the South Gate, wondering to himself why the clinic had to be built so far away from where he wanted to be. The badger was in a great mood despite the long walk, though, pleased with May's reaction to the metal he'd managed to work out. Nearing the gates, Cavro takes a detour down the street and reaches Erika's home within a few minutes. He forsakes knocking, opting to go straight down the alley and poking his head through the plants at the end of it.
Erika is, predictably, humming and working the garden. One wonders if she uses her home for much more than sleeping and tool storage. She's currently kneeling into one of the nigh-impenetrable vine bunches, occasionally writing something on a notepad and then peering back into the bush.
Cavro spots Erika, grinning. He attempts to sneak through the underbrush, carefully avoiding as much of the plants as he can as he approaches Erika from behind. He starts to step out of the brush, about to spook her when a branch snags the backpack and pulls him backward onto his rear; "Bo-WAH-OOF!"
Erika yelps at the sound, turning around and only by experience dodging hitting her own head to a branch: "What - uh - oh! Cavro! Are you okay?"
Cavro sucks a bit of air through his teeth at the stinging pain from the fall, but after a moment he begins giggling. "Yeah - snrk- I I I'm okay!"
Erika steps next to Cavro and kneels next to him, smiling at the sound of his laugh: "The only thing hurt in the fall was your dignity, then?"
Cavro nods, blushing a bit at her closeness as he looks up at Erika's face. "Mhm, nothing important~" Cavro pushes up off the ground, dusting his pants off. "I brought a bit of lunch, if if if you're hungry."
Erika is still kneeling, reaching up to kiss Cavro on the lips, grinning: "Good. Wouldn't want you to get more hurt than you do at work~. Also I think I am hungry too."
Cavro returns the kiss, blushing warmly. He purrs a bit to himself as he slips the backpack off, "I'm glad, though I I I took a bit of a detour all the way to the clinic, didn't mean to to come by this late." Cavro pulls a pair of baskets out of the backpack and sets them down, rummaging for a blanket that'd been packed in the bottom. "What have you been up to this this morning?"
Erika smiles at Cavro demurely for a moment, before his words actually register. She blinks and glances at the vine bush she was neck-deep in just a moment ago: "Oh, just noting at the budding progress for my plants." She idly picks up a branch from her hair, looking at it: "Some of them are pretty sturdy things, budding despite the bit of a dry spell we've had." She blinks at the sound of lightning that pretty much everyone's gotten used to by now: "...well, mostly dry."
Cavro nods, looking around them at all the plants. "You're right, it it it's been oddly dry this season. We usually get at at least one good storm over the mountains by now." Cavro pulls the blanket out of the pack, his new ingot thumping into the dirt as it goes.
Erika nods, then looks at the ingot. Curious, she picks it up: "What's this? Some new project?"
Cavro flips the blanket out, looking at the rough looking, smooth feeling metal in Erika's hands. "Ah, yes, that is is is why I went to the clinic. May needs a good conductor for the generator, and that's what I came up with." He sets the baskets on the blanket, sitting down next to them. "It's one of the combination's Smitty taught me, actually."
Erika smiles, shifting to sit on the edge of the blanket: "For the generator? Building a new one?"
Cavro grins, nodding enthusiastically. "Yep! Well, a temporary one that that that doesn't call lightning down from the sky, for now. Miss May asked me to to make as many of the parts as I can. Should be a fun challenge." He opens one basket as he talks, pulling out freshly baked sweetbread from inside a cloth, still a little warm.
Erika looks over the food basket: "Well, I think my knowledge isn't of much use there." She gives the ingot back to the badger, picking up a piece of bread instead: "Don't think any generator runs on herbs. Probably. Maybe?"
Cavro chuckles with a snort, smiling at Erika. "The only kind I I I know of is a wood burner, and your plants are too nice for for for that sort of fate." He offers Erika a bottle of tart spread for the sweetbread, hoping she'll like his experiments in cooking more than stew with the forge.
Erika certainly approves of the food experiment in question, that much is obvious from her expression as she eats. "Mm!"
Cavro blushes a bit as he watches her try the food. "I'm glad you like it! I I I may have burned more than came out good this morning." He starts in on his own piece, trying not to eat too quickly despite how hungry his little trek left him.
Erika munches happily, closing her eyes briefly. When she opens them, she's all smiles at Cavro: "Delish! Ious!" She leans in to give a bit of a blushing peck on his cheek: "Thank you."
Cavro blushes at the kiss, grinning. "Anything for you~"
Erika scoots closer to sit next to the badger: "Mmm~."
Cavro leans against Erika and purrs quietly while they go through the rest of the light meal.
Erika holds Cavro close for as long as she can detain him, which turns out to be a fairly long time. It's as though they both fail to resist the idea of parting.