She pulls out the appropriate poison and appropriate safety gear, then gets to work, continuing to absentmindedly talk about insects and various methods of defeating them. Occasionally she references her second job at the city museum of science, which mostly has nothing to do with insects, but because she's there all the time, she has read all the information in the insect section several times. Also all the information in every other section. 

He listens with interest, but comments only occasionally. When she mentions reading the exhibits at the science museum, he actually smiles.

What a good smile. Maybe not an obviously pretty smile, but a good one.

She announces that the planter has been sufficiently poisoned, puts a sticker on it warning people not to touch it, and returns to his apartment to wash her hands.

His apartment is available for this purpose! He seems a little more comfortable in her presence now, and even smiles when he apologizes again for the condition of his living room.

She smiles back as she assures him that it's fine. And then she washes her hands, like a responsible poison user who does not want to poison everything she touches. She nods at some of the clockwork in the other room.

"So, do you make stuff, too?"

"Yes," he says. "Clocks and things. I have something of a talent for it. My latest project is a reconstruction of a mechanical computer from before the days of electricity."

"Woah," she says, in a tone of voice that suggests that this is genuinely the coolest thing she's heard today. "That's so cool!"

She spends a second trying to think of a way to expand on this thought, but she's not really sure how to do that without geeking out about historical technologies in the middle of her work shift, and that seems like it might be both kind of weird and also not what she's being paid for. Instead, she spins around and sets up her ladder again. 

—he smiles. "Well, I thought so, at least. It's fascinating to begin to grasp the true breadth of what can be accomplished by a lot of small oddly-shaped pieces of metal all working together."

"Yeah!" she agrees, although she's pretty sure she has not actually begun to grasp this. She's looking at the ceiling, not at him; she figures maybe she can get away with a little geeking out if she's also doing the thing she's being paid for. "I'm not like an expert or anything, but I like to read about old technologies sometimes. It's really cool to see how much people can still do when they're missing certain ideas. And it's cool to see which things hold them back, too."

"The main thing holding back Korel be-Baj was insufficiently precise manufacturing processes. Well, and not having invented electrical circuits all on her lonesome, I suppose. It's been a real challenge to construct everything to the specified tolerances."

She is not super sure how to encourage him to tell her more about this, but she tries to say vaguely encouraging things while she seals the crack in the ceiling. 

He is happy to linger in the kitchen and talk. After another minute or so, he puts on the kettle and opens a somewhat overpopulated tea cupboard. "—oh, I feel terribly rude not offering you a cup—do you want one? Most of this is experimental, but I have all the normal varieties as well."

She has had tea, like, twice in her life. One of the cups was medicinal and awful, and she's pretty sure she screwed the other one up somehow, such that it was also awful. It's also possible that tea is just awful in general, in which case she would definitely have to drink an entire cup of awful, because there's no way she'd be able to discreetly pour it out or summon the confidence to say that she disliked it. This is actually a rather significant risk, she should maybe not accept.

On the other hand, she is ahead of schedule.

"Sure, I'll have some! That's so thoughtful of you!"

He smiles slightly. "Do you have a preference for what kind, or should I just guess?"

Oh man, what are words for kinds of tea. She must have heard these at some point. Uh.

"I'm curious about the experimental ones, actually."

"Experimental tea it is, then."

She finishes fixing the ceiling as she waits for tea.

The tea is done before she is. He decides to go with something sweet and subtle for her cup, so as not to be overwhelming if she isn't much of a tea person, as he suspects she is not.

She drinks tea. She isn't sure she likes it, but it's distinctly non-awful.

"Hmm," she says, thoughtfully. "Well, I'm not an expert, but I think this may be one of the best cups of tea I've ever had."

...he smiles. "I'm glad to hear it."

"Thanks for sharing it with me! I'm glad I got the chance to try it."

She glances at a clock on the wall. She should probably get going pretty soon, you can't just hang out in random people's houses forever. 

"OK! So, it'll take a few days for the ants to die off, but if they're still here in a week, you should call us and I'll haul away the planter. That'll fix it for sure, though hopefully we already fixed it. Was there anything else?"

He shakes his head. "No, that's all. Thank you."

"Thank you. Payment will be handled automatically, and if we didn't get the ants this time, the second visit will carry no additional cost, 'cause that's on me."

She grabs her bag and starts looking through it, checking that she has everything she brought with her. She's pretty sure she does. 

"OK! Looks like that's everything. I'd ask to see the mechanical computer, 'cause it sounds super cool, but I should probably get going if I want to make it to my next job on time."

Slight smile. "I wouldn't want to make you late to work. Take care."

She smiles back. "Thanks! You too!"

And she's off to go clean things.