Lapis smiled at Sero's willingness to teach her about the stars, her grin widening as he ordered what was by far the best flavour of ice-cream, the ultramarine crystal mare chipping in with her order a moment later, an eager grin on her face.

"And I'll have Two scoops of mint-chip, in a waffle cone, thanks." The blue mare requested, smiling eagerly, as she hoofed over the bits for their dessert, the stallion who ran the ice-cream stand accepting them eagerly, and, within seconds he had set out their orders, with a complimentary hint of dark-chocolate sprinkles on Lapis', just the way she liked.

Taking the two ice-creams in her hooves, Lapis smiled, and passed Sero's over to him, turning to lead the way towards her normal spot by the edge of the river, with a beckoning gesture of her tail, and an eager smile.

Lapis chuckled a little as Sero was roused from his inner thoughts, the blue mare giving him a brief smirk in response to his joke, before turning to face forward again, her ear pricked up in the pale stallion's direction as he continued to speak, asking her about the joys of travelling the Equestrian countryside beneath the stars.

"Have I enjoyed what? Spending time out under the stars, or travelling around with a heavy payload of gemstones harnessed to me? Because both have actually been pretty great, if I'm honest. It's good exercise, and the stars give you something to look at, although I haven't the foggiest about constellations and star-charts." Lapis replied, smiling a little, her crystal coat glowing faintly in the moonlight, and pace quickening just a tad at the sight of the ice-cream stand they sought, which came into view as they rounded a corner, and began to approach the river.

Although it was a niche market, there were actually a couple of icecream stalls around Canterlot that remained open even late into the night, and luckily, one with a reasonable array of choices, and decent quality, was based near a grand stone hoofbridge over the river that flowed through the grand city, and was also only a short trot from Lapis' stall.

As a mare with an appreciation for ice-cream, Lapis knew the place well enough, as well as the best spot to enjoy the frozen treats, and so it was with a confident stride that she lead the way through Canterlot's darkened streets and alleys, dull golden eyes (and hexagonal pupils) fixed ahead of them, an eager grin set upon the ultramarine crystal mare's lightly-scarred face.

Much as she would have liked to figure out what was going on with the Durilli, and the ruby's reaction with it, Lapis' smile slowly grew as Sero began to pack it away, culminating in a rather wide grin when he mentioned their prior plans to go out for ice cream, the crystal mare responding by replacing the ruby in its case, and heading to the doorway, snatching up her coat and pulling it on as she did so.

From her new position in the doorway, with her warm coat done up tightly around her toned body, Lapis grinned, and beckoned Sero with a flick of her long, brown-grey tail, her grin turning into a faint smirk.
"Cmon then, Sero. It's not polite to keep a mare waiting for her ice cream, especially if there's mint-chip flavour." She spoke up, voice friendly, her golden eyes carrying a twinkle of humour, as she waited for him to accompany her, clearly eager to go despite how late it was getting.

Could be something interesting to involve Sharp in to start her character development, if she gets approved.

"I doubt it. I might be able to help out in very specific, gem or geology related areas, but other than that, don't expect much on the mistake-prevention front, Sero." Lapis responded, voice and smile easy, as she finally finished cutting down the gemstone, and with a satisfied smile, placed her tools aside and hefted it up to the light, marvelling in the way it bathed the room in its flamelike light.

"There we go, good to go." The crystal mare commented, simply, as she turned to Sero with an eager smile, moving towards him with the gem in hoof, ready to place it within the Durilli itself.

"Believe you me, Mister Sero, it was Plenty dangerous in there. I almost Did take a dip in the magma, a couple of times at least. Almost dropped Splitter a few times, too." Lapis replied, a little defensively, although there was clear humour in her eyes, and her last words made it clear that she found falling into lava just as abhorrent as losing her favourite pickaxe.

The fire-ruby now nearing its completion, Lapis continued to work in silence, her tongue poking out a little in concentration, as she continued to ply her craft, and reshape the brilliant gemstone.

His question caused her to pause for an instant, an eyebrow raising as she resumed, although a little more slowly, as if listening, and considering something.

"Never said I didn't enjoy hearing you talk, Sero." The ultramarine crystal mare commented, voice as blunt as ever, before she turned her head to give him a small smile. "Although.. I guess I could tell you a little about my work, yeah."

"As I said, I dug the thing out from deep inside a volcano. Real huge one, too. Was supposed to be completely dormant, but it didn't seem all that calm to me, what with the lava flows, ash clouds and cave-ins I went through trying to find something to make the long trip worthwhile." Lapis spoke up, cheerfully glossing over the exciting details that the stallion nearby doubtless had been interested in, keeping her response as blunt as her personality, overall giving the impression that something like this escapade was nothing particularly unique for her line of work, although the teasing glint in her golden eyes made it hard to tell whether or not she was being serious with him.