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RESPITE STREETS - VASILI CAFE - MORNING
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Cavro settled into his favorite spot an hour ago, slowly munching through one of his usual orders and sipping at a nice warm tea, all while shrouded under a slightly faded grey cloak. It's been months, and the badger has become possibly too accustomed to this routine, remaining at the café or areas near it for a couple hours to watch the goings-on at the Oldhammer smithy a few buildings down from the café. Thankfully he's had enough maintenance work at the armory most days to be able to keep up this routine. He hasn't been to the armory in a couple days, though, as something has changed, and a bit of concern has crept back into the badger's life.
Elizabeth walks into the cafe, the skunk looking both older and more bruised in her movements. She is mostly a picture of dignity and class in one of her long flowing dresses, although the sizable slash across her forehead from one of Melia's branches can not really be hidden. She sits down at a table near Cavro, also choosing a spot to keep an eye at the Forge for some reason...
Cavro glances at Elizabeth as she walks by him, and again when she chooses her seat, though he doesn't immediately speak up to her. His focus moves back to the smithy as he sips at his tea with a light lip smack. A shadow moving across the gap in the large doors causes him to perk up a bit, though nothing notable about the figure can be seen in that brief moment. He casts another glance towards Elizabeth after a few moments, eyes hanging on the injury on her forehead.
Elizabeth does not pay attention to Cavro all that much, her focus on the brief glimpses of the elemental in the forge. She reaches out with a sliver of her magic and pauses at the result. "So much power..." She mutters to no one in particular.
Cavro looks toward Elizabeth at her muttering, tilting his head slightly. "Sorry, did did did you say something, miss?"
Elizabeth blinks from her magic reverie and looks up with a polite smile: "My apologies. Nothing, really, just thinking out loud."
Cavro hums, tilting his head a little. "Ah. Is is is it the head injury? I know I I I found myself muttering a a a bit after a ham ham hammer fell from the shelves." He pauses, turning toward the smithy. "Stut stut stutter started long before that. Before you you you ask."
Elizabeth blinks, then shakes her head, still with that polite smile: "Oh, it's not like that. Just an unfortunate encounter with a strong tree branch." She taps the side of her head: "Still as sharp as ever, up here."
Cavro ahhs, blushing a little at his assumption and glad she took it well enough. "Sorry to to to assume. You seem well well well dressed though... Suppose I I I wouldn't assume you were so so so adventurous."
Elizabeth chuckles softly: "I have been adventurous enough in my life..."
Cavro smiles, shaking his head a little. "Well then I I I am drinking the the the wrong tea to make assumptions." He chuckles quietly, turning his scarred snout back toward the smithy.
Elizabeth nods at Cavro with a smile then also turns back to look towards the smithy. After a moment of quiet, she gives Cavro a glance: "If I may ask... what is your interest in the smithy over there?"
Cavro blinks, turning back to Elizabeth. He feels like he vaguely recognizes the skunk from around town, but is certain after a few moments that he doesn't know her, and makes another assumption that she doesn't know him either. "Hm? Ah... I I I admire the work. The smith running it is is is very skilled and ah... Intriguing. I've just not got the the the guts to approach them."
Elizabeth hums, nodding slowly: "It can be tricky to approach new people and places, yes. There is something curious about that smithy now that you mention it."
Cavro tilts his head a little. "Oh? How how how do you mean, curious?"
Elizabeth weaves her magic slightly in her paws without even thinking about it: "There's a sense of... uneasy magic, over there. I can not place it." She can in fact place it, all too well after the close encounter with the other elemental.
Cavro notices Elizabeth weaving some magic, giving pause as he considers what he's just told her. He looks about the café before leaning toward her table, lowering his voice. "Are you... Are you a a a mage? What is your ah... In in interest in the magic you you you sense at the smithy?"
Elizabeth pauses, silently cursing for saying too much already: "Ah, just... magic interests me, is all. Not all that much of it in Respite..."
Cavro shakes his head a little. "But I I I... There wasn't any magic in the smithy. Not always, anyhow."
Elizabeth perks up slightly at this, focusing on Cavro now: "There wasn't? Interesting... when did this change?"
Cavro takes his turn at realizing he may be saying too much, but at this point, he's begun to desire a return to the smithy. To his normal life. "Ah... Some months ago. I I I am not exactly sure, I was not in town on on on the day things changed." Technically true.
Elizabeth nods, humming to herself as things add up all too well: "That... that yes, would make sense." She pauses: "Magic does not manifest on its' own, after all." It does, plenty in fact, but that's not important to her narrative right now.
Cavro blinks, scratching at his chin for a moment. "How... How do you you you mean, again? I ah... Feel like like like you know a a a lot more than you're let let letting on."
Elizabeth blinks: "Ah, just musing on the nature of magic, how it behaves and all that. I am something of a scholar on the topic."
Cavro hums, looking toward the smithy again. "And you want to to to study whatever is there now? Do ah... Do do do you think you'd want to take it away? To study better?"
Elizabeth gives Cavro a look, then slowly shakes her head: "I do not think I could... though I can try?"
Cavro sighs quietly, nodding a bit. "I I I see. If you can't, then then then you can't. Suppose I I I will have to... Think of something." He sips his tea, not really focused on anything in particular.
Elizabeth considers Cavro, humming softly: "If... if I could, would you want me to, then?"
Cavro chuckles dryly, looking tired as he turns to Elizabeth again. "It would make make make things very easy for me, yes. I... I'm the smith. The the the proper one. The one that oth oth other smith has ah... Taken over for."
Elizabeth blinks at this knowledge, staring for a brief second: "Oh. Ah. That... in that case, I definitely understand. That... elemental in there is causing you trouble. After I find out more, perhaps I can be rid of it as well? Usually elementals are summoned for a short time only..."
Cavro chuckles, nodding. "I I I visited the library... Tried to figure it out. Read some about elementals, but was sure it could could couldn't be one. They they they usually don't just do what what whatever they want to, right? Isn't there supposed to to to be a summoner somewhere, in in in control of them? To dispel them if if if they start having a ah... Will of of of their own?" He looks toward the smithy again. "Not that I I I know magic from a hole in the the the ground..."
Elizabeth nods slowly: "You are more or less correct. If an elemental is permanent - and I am correct in that being there being an elemental in the first place - someone summoned it and left it, for whatever reason."
Cavro shakes his head a little, sighing. "What idiot... If you you you can figure out who, I I I hope we can get a a a suitable punishment for them. Seems very reckless to to to do something like that, no?"
Elizabeth pauses for the smallest of moments, then nods: "Yes... that would be for the best."
Cavro turns to Elizabeth with a grateful smile. "No matter what happens, thank thank thank you for even caring enough to help, miss... Oh! I never in in introduced myself properly! My my my name is Cavro Honeydew."
Elizabeth smiles warmly: "You may call me Catherine. Happy to help, as well. If I have magic, might as well use it for good, yes?"
Cavro chuckles, nodding. "If at at at all possible, yes."
Elizabeth nods with another smile, then starts getting up: "I best head to study this... phenomenon more, yes? I hope this all will turn out well for everyone involved."
Cavro watches Elizabeth getting up, nodding. "Alright miss Catherine. I I I ah... I will stay here, I think. But I'll keep an eye out and call the the the guard if something seems wrong, okay?"
Elizabeth pauses, but then nods with a smile: "Yes, that sounds like a good idea." She makes a mental note to hopefully not attract any Guard when she goes in.
Cavro nods again, smiling back at her. "I wish you the the the best luck in your your your research." His eyes are drawn back to the smithy as the tail end of a figure enters the big doors again, just missing seeing them in the sunlight. "Tsk."
Elizabeth gives Cavro another small smile before turning away, her big tail swaying as she goes. "Interesting indeed..." she mutters to herself once she's out of earshot. "So the smith wants me to do what I already desire? This makes it so much easier..." She walks away, plans forming in her mind.