ic Spring Thaw

[April]

"Sounds like cheating to me," Min agreed.  "Later I am going to put those tree climbings skills to the test; I only want the very best to teach Eden when she's old enough.  And that's going to be your job, Yoyo."  With a free hand the amber-eyed woman fished a water bottle from her pack, handing it to Yolanda.  "Could you give that to Erik, please?  Then come back for yours." Min asked.

 

The dryad felt a small measure of guilt at sitting down (even if she was attending to Eden) while Erik was busy working, mostly because she could just push the pegs into the ground by hand.  But this was supposed to be a 'back to basics' sort of camping trip (even if they did cheat with a few things here and there), so the guilty feeling passed quickly.

 

Besides, she was enjoying the show.

[Gizmo]

Yolanda accepted the bottle of water and gave the infant in Min's arms a serious, appraising look before nodding gravely. "I will teach her everything I know." With that she skipped off back toward the center of the clearing and presented Erik with the bottle as he finished hammering in the last tent peg of the second tent.

"Thanks, kiddo," he told her with a lopsided smile, pausing his work long enough to open the bottle and take a drink. Stretching a bit as he stood up, the fencer paused in the middle of flexing an arm to one side to give Min a look with a suggestively raised eyebrow before breaking down into a broad grin and going to retrieve the next piece of tent he needed. "How're you liking camping, Yoyo?"

Stopping to consider for a moment, the girl decided, "I think I need more time to tell for sure, but I like spending time as a family."

[Gizmo]

Ellie gave a short laugh, tilting her head as she turned back around to face Mara. "Smoothie. You can only use that 'research' excuse so many time before I start suspecting an ulterior motive, you know." Setting down her armful of branches neatly, she beckoned the engineer closer. "C'mere." Part of her worried she'd been a little clingy since returning to Earth but she'd missed Mara so, so much while she'd been stranded and being in the woods away from everything was starting to get to her a little more than she'd realized at first.

[Fox]

"Ulterior motive?" Mara questioned, doing her level best to sound offended and look hurt. She only mostly succeeded. "Research is for science," she insisted, carefully putting her own sticks down and dusting off her hands. "Never need ulterior motives for science."

She stepped into the arms of her girlfriend, the young engineer wrapping her arms around the medic's waist as she tilted her head up for a kiss. "Seriously, though: your butt is nice. Can't focus on it too much; won't make it back with firewood in time."

[Gizmo]

Ellie didn't laugh immediately at the frankness and Mara could feel the taller girl's breathing catch for a moment as they kissed. Returning the embrace, she held her girlfriend tightly for a few moments before taking a deep breath and ruefully wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "If I blame that on allergies, do you think you could pretend to believe it?" she asked with a chuckle, stooping to pick her bundle of gathered firewood back up. "You're right, we better head back. Raincheck on complimenting my derrière?"

[April]

The campsite was in order when the two young women returned to the clearing; the tents were erected a suitable distance from the fire pit while Ellie and Mara's packs were sitting next to their tent along with Yolanda's.  Rising up in a ring around the fire pit, which had a small fire going that was merely waiting for the addition of more wood, where several chairs that had grown in place--Min's doing of course.

 

The dryad emerged from the tent, still holding on to her daughter, to welcome the two back to camp.

 

"Ah, good," the amber-eyed woman said with a smile, "Just in time.  Erik can get started on dinner soon, why don't you two get a drink?"

[Fox]

"Mmh - chairs. Useful," Mara complimented, setting her collection of wood down not too far from the pit. She stretched, rubbing her arm where a branch had dug into it a little, and looked around at the tents. "Water - yes, please. Been busy, apparently. Yolanda helped out?"

Not that she had any doubt the young girl was every inch as helpful as she could be - and that lack of doubt came through in her voice - but it never hurt to find an opportunity to remind the refugee adoptee that she was pretty great.

[Gizmo]

"I did help," Yolanda confirmed, scampering across the clearing to gather up a pair of water bottles before the returning girls could get them for themselves, evidently having decided that liquid distribution had become one of her growing list of solemn duties. Running over to the engineer, she presented one of the bottles. "I have to set a good example for Eden," she explained before adding in a softer voice, "but I like helping anyway, so I would do it anyway."

"I hope you've all worked up an appetite for beans!" Erik called from the far side of the campsite where he was unpacking and organizing the components of dinner. He gave his sister's face a considering look, hiding concern behind joviality. Even so, the look her shot Mara as though awaiting a prognosis had all the subtlety of a camper van.

Ellie raised both hands with a small smile, reassuring her brother that she wasn't about to have a breakdown or suffer from traumatizing flashbacks. It helped to focus on the present anyway as she took the second bottle from Yolanda and lightly ruffled the girl's hair. "Well you did a great job," she congratulated.

[Fox]

"Good job," Mara agreed, briefly resting a hand on Yolanda's shoulder, and offering her an increasingly less rare combination of a smile and a voice with genuine - if characteristically muted - pride. "Good attitude. Just remember that you're allowed to be happy and do things for you, too."

To Erik she shot a quick thumbs-up, though for the sake of the charade of subtlety she waited until Ellie was looking away. "Beans, yes. Authentic camping food, I think? Also other foods. ....hoping you packed more than beans."

[April]

Min found a nice spot in the grassy clearing a small but safe distance away from the fire to set Eden down before adding more wood to the fire and placing the cooking grate across the flame. The dryad kept quiet watching the wordless exchange between Erik and Mara, for all the subtlety that exchange possessed.

And despite the assurances Erik, Ellie and Mara were giving each other, Min knew that it would take them a bit longer to fall back into what her new family called normal. The amber eyed guardian was all too familiar with the past attacking the present through memory; she still had occasional flashbacks to her defeat and subjugation to Gods of man that left her clinging to Erik in the middle of the night. But she also knew that the Espadas were made of sterner stuff, and they'd be OK in the end.

"I hope there is more than beans," Min said with a smile, glancing over at Erik. "That'd be boring, and you're never boring, love."

[Gizmo]

Erik was crestfallen as he raised a can reverently. "But... beans!" he protested, giving each of the women a wounded look in turn before finally loosing his deadpan as he met Yolanda's frank look of askance. "Kidding! I'm kidding. Yes, I brought more than just beans. I've got everything I need to make chili plus a load of hot dogs and things in the bigger cooler. Give me some credit."

"Well, I'm sure you remembered everything for the s'mores, then," Ellie cut in while simultaneously giving Mara a wry look as she mimicked the inventor's thumbs up gesture. The feigned expression dissolved even faster than her brother's had and the taller girl knocked her hip gently into her girlfriend on the way over to the bags.

The elder Espadas raised a finger in the air and opened his mouth before pausing. "...er." He looked down at the can in his hand then back up. "Beans?"

His sister lifted her backpack off of the ground and produced a bag of marshmallows from within it. "Got you covered, hermano. As always."

[Fox]

Quickly hiding her hands behind her back, Mara was the very picture of thumbs-up-less innocence as she watched Ellie pull out the marshmallows. "S'mores! Yes. Essential, or so I read. Probably need to save them for after other food, but...hm. Need sticks? Think sticks are traditional. Sharpened."

She pulled her odd, custom-built multi-tool off her belt, absently flicking it open with practiced fingers and pulling out its small but serviceable knife blade. "If you can find us straight, strong sticks nearby or from the stuff Ellie and I gathered, Yolanda, I can start getting them ready for later. One for everyone, unless Erik wants to eat off a sword. Which he might - seems like him."

[Gizmo]

"It's like you really understand the inner-me," Erik agreed with an exaggeratedly dreamy sigh before giving Mara a flash of a grin and turning back to unpacking the cooking equipment. Yolanda meanwhile gave the engineer a curt nod and scampered over to the collection of branches and sticks to look over them with an adjudicating eye.

Once the chili was simmering over the campfire, Erik straightened from his work and dusted off the knees of his pants. Walking over to where his sister was unpacking sleeping bags, he asked, "Hey, hermanita, you mind keeping an eye on Eden for a few minutes? There's something I want to ask Min about." His tone was as light and casual as ever but a faint clearing of his throat and a careful neutrality were easy to spot for his sibling.

Raising one eyebrow, Ellie glanced over to the dryad then back to her brother. "Sure, of course. Anything I should know about?"

"Kinda depends. I'll let you know, yeah?" With a small smile, he rubbed the back of his neck and sauntered across the campsite. "How about showing off some of that forest you're always telling me about, florecita?"

[April]

Min glanced up at Erik's approach, favoring him with a smile, her expression turning thoughtful though somewhat puzzled at his words, for where they not already in the forest? The dryad's puzzled expression shifted again, her grin impish as a curious mixture of humor and something a little more primal danced in her golden eyes, "Do you seek to recreate our first meeting?" she half-joked, half-purred as she stood and joined the swordsman.

The ancient guardian considered her daughter a moment before looking over at Ellie and Mara, her expression one of gratitude as she mouthed her thanks. Then, wrapping her arm around Erik's waist, and resting her head upon his shoulder, she guided him out of the clearing.

[Gizmo]

Ellie shook her head with an amused sigh as Erik and Min left the campsite, picking up a gurgling Eden. "Your Auntie Ellie is pretty much the best sister ever, squirt, just so you know." The infant made a happy noise at the attention and with a grin Ellie carried her over toward Mara. "How are those roasting sticks coming?"

Meanwhile, Erik was clearing his throat with a hint of chuckle, putting in own arm around Min's waist as she led the way into the woods. "I could definitely be persuaded to add that to the do-to list," he agreed in a low voice, tilting his chin to brush a kiss atop one delicately pointed ear. "Had an idea I wanted to run by you first, though."

Once they were well out of view and earshot of the camp, he slipped from the dryad's one-armed embrace to turn about and face her, taking her hand in his own as he went. "We kinda did some things out of order when you showed up in the brownstone's backyard, huh?" he laughed, a lopsided smile turning up one corner of his mouth. "Covered most of the bases eventually, though. And I was thinking, now that the League set you up with a fancy new legal identity and everything and tax season is coming up and you know how much I hate filling out forms..." Forcing himself to stop rambling, he looked deeply into warm, golden eyes and took a deep breath.

"Want to get married?"

[April]

Min laughed.

It was a light, faintly melodic sound, and her impish smile returned. Pulling the handsome Swordmaster to her, effectively pinning herself between Erik and a tree, she kissed him fiercely. "Wait, what order?," she asked, breaking contact. Then what Erik said registered and a worried look crossed the dryad's face.

"Taxes?" she asked as she ducked away from Erik and the tree, wringing her hands, "Did I do something wrong? What do I do?" There was a trace of fear, as well as some confusion, in the ancient guardian's eyes as she tried to figure out what she had done wrong.

[Gizmo]

"What?" Erik blinked once, distracted by the kiss as he processed through a haze of adrenaline and nerves. "Wait, no, see, there are these forms you fill out each year to figure out what you owe in taxes and married people can fill out just the one set instead of doing them separately so I was making a--- Okay, rewind." Raising his hands in front of him, the fencer's face scrunched up as he squeezed his eye shut and reordered his thoughts. "Let me try this again."

Reaching out and taking one of her hands he did his best to explain himself, uncharacteristically careful with his words. "Min, I'm not a perfect guy. Like, at all, obviously. But you get me, you get how I can love and hate fighting at the same time and why there are things I feel responsible for, the things that are important to me. We've sorta got compatible baggage, right?"

Grinning in spite of himself, he ran his free hand through his closely cropped, dusty brown hair. "I'm happier when you're around and less when you're not. Plus we're raising a beautiful, wonderful kid together and you mean a lot more to me that just being some woman I got pregnant. Y'know? I guess that's kind of old fashioned but I'm not that guy. I'm not like my old man and I'm not going anywhere." He squeezed her hand a little, his expression turning more serious once again. "I am stupid in love with you. So."

Still holding her hand, Erik crouched down on one knee against the forest floor. "Minerva Salix, Guardian Willow, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

[April]

The worried expression on Min's face shifted to one of amusement, the dryad having some small fun with Erik by playing the part of the ignorant, time-displaced savage, but as Erik spoke the amusement transformed itself into a look of absolute adoration. The amber eyed woman's cheeks flushed, feeling both foolish at her ill-timed amusement and immeasurably warm and happy.

"I...," she began then hesitated, furrowing her brow as if she were mulling something over. Looking as though she reached a decision, she sank to the ground in front of Erik and kissed him tenderly, removing her hand from his own to wrap her arms around him. Pulling back from the kiss, the dryad nipped at the swordsman's jaw, and whispered, "You are my joy. You are my heart. I will only and always be yours. Nothing would please me more than if we were wed."

[Gizmo]

"Yeah?" Returning the kiss through his smile, Erik shifted his kneeling stance to accommodate the embrace. "Awesome." Looking like he was on the verge of breaking out into laughter, the fencer slipped a hand around Min's waist to rest on the small of her back and brought the other up to twine into the white hair over her ear. Pulling her in for another kiss, he leaned backward until his back lay on the uneven forest floor. "So... Mrs. Minerva Espadas? Has a ring." Abruptly smacking himself on the forehead he groaned in realization. "A ring!"

[April]

Min allowed herself to be pulled down with Erik, making a small contented sound in approval of the fencer's initiative. Sitting astride Erik when their lips parted--probably to allow him a moment to breath--the dryad laughed at her beloved's minor distress at a lack of ring. "We have done everything else out of order, my heart," Min amusedly said, "Why start now? The ring will keep."

"Speaking of keep," she continued, her voice picking up a somewhat huskier tone, "We are leaving winter for spring, love, and present circumstances are rapidly eroding my control. We have to return to camp, now, or we will not return until the morning." Then in an almost plaintive sound, she whispered, "Please choose morning."

[Gizmo]

With a deep rumbling sound, Erik craned forward to press his nose against Min's neck and kiss her throat. "Rrr, spring is a good season," he agreed, hand sliding across her waist until he forced himself to take a steadying breath. "Heh. Probably shouldn't leave the girls to look after the kids on their own all night, though, you're right. Still have to finish dinner." Despite his words he made no immediate move to extricate himself from underneath the amorous dryad. "...they're probably fine for a little while."

[Fox]

"They're coming," Mara provided, looking up from her task. A couple sticks were already sharpened and resting up against a seat, the third in the inventor's hand and half-done. "Yolanda picked good sticks, because she is excellent. Haven't worked with wood much - not difficult to sharpen a stick, but kind of nice to work with simple materials. Kind of makes me want to build something with it, but not sure what; wood has odd material properties."

There was a pause as she just frowned down at the stick for a moment, turning it in her hand for barely a second as her brain spun through half a dozen possible applications. She eventually shrugged, resting the incomplete primitive tool across her legs as she flicked her more complex metal one closed. "You're very good with her," she noted, tilting her head. "The baby, I mean. Babies in general, probably. Kind of envious. I...do better with them once they can talk."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, but Edie luuurves her Auntie Marbar," Ellie laughed, sitting down next to Mara and shifting arms so that she was holding the one year old on the same side as the inventor. Eden responded by reaching up and pressing a tiny palm against the pre-med student's nose and gurgling in amusement. "Honestly, she's just really well-behaved and happy. I've helped out with some babies at the hospital who are just impossible."

Ellie had to stop speaking for a moment to make appropriate sound effects as the infant continued to prod at her face curiously. Before too long Eden seems satisfied with her exploration and settled back down with a yawn. "If mi mama is to be believed, she'll be a terror in about a year so I'm enjoying this while I can." Looking down at Eden, her expression turned thoughtful. "Besides, you are such a mom with Yolanda, you know that, right? She totally idolizes you."

[Fox]

"Do better with them once they can talk," Mara repeated, though the amusement in her voice died out a little at the end.

She caught her own bad habit before she'd managed to hunch in on herself too much, frowning and straightening back out. "She...could probably pick a better idol," she admitted, frowning. "Kind of a grumpy sarcastic crazy person sometimes. Hoping she doesn't pick that up. But she's a good kid - deserves good things. Will always do what I can to make sure she's okay. Kind of know what it's like to....mmh. It's the least I can do."

[Gizmo]

Eden made a sound of concerned inquiry at the change in Mara's tone, rousing from her brief restfulness to reach insistently with both arms in the engineer's direction. The infant grew increasingly distressed until Ellie sidled them close enough that she could pat her little hands against Mara's arm.

"She really couldn't," Ellie promised softly, rocking Eden gently in her arms until the baby settled down again. Leaning so that her shoulder knocked lightly into her girlfriend she smiled. "I'd be pretty darn proud if she turned out just like you."