Pursuit of Diligence: Ch 5 [Ari]

Ari turned off the stream of hot water and opened the shower curtain, immediately hissing as the cooler air hit his damp body. He quickly toweled himself off and got dressed, swearing softly as he checked the time on his phone. 

He and Kyril had gone to the beach this morning, and had left a little later than Ari had meant to. You would’ve left on time if you didn’t insist on trying every strawberry-flavoured drink and dessert that was being sold on the boardwalk, a voice in his head pointed out. Shut up, he told it. Regardless of why he was running late, that didn’t change the fact that now he had to hurry in order to get to the Heavenly Embassy on time for the plans he’d made with Primrose yesterday. 

Ari left the bathroom, sending a quick text to the Cherubun - ‘traffic is crazy, I’ll be a bit late’ - as he did. Then the pink and Gilded Lust threw on a pair of shoes, grabbed the plastic bucket he’d left sitting by the front door, and headed on his way. 

~~~

Ari arrived at the greenhouse about fifteen minutes later than the time Primrose had originally suggested; before Primrose could say anything that matched the annoyed look on his face, Ari held out the bucket. “I brought you something ~” 

“I-” The Cherubun was clearly caught off-guard. “What’s in there?” 

“Sea glass, mostly. I figured you’re not going to the beach anytime soon, so-” Ari stopped short as Primrose peered into the bucket and all but lept back in fear. Ari looked down to see that his Ryudra had snuck in there at some point. Miira raised her head above the rim of the bucket and hissed at Primrose. “Hey now, that’s not ladylike,” Ari scolded.

“Those are a gift for Primrose; you can pick one to keep, then you can come to the beach and get more next time, okay?” 

The Ryudra seemed to scowl up at Ari for a moment but relented, rooting through the various shells and other Forneus finds until she found a piece of sea glass that looked like translucent gold. She then crawled up Ari's arm, prize held firmly in her jaws, and draped herself over the back of his neck. 

Ari chuckled softly and made a show of looking closely into the bucket to make sure there were no more impish stragglers before holding the bucket back out towards Primrose. “Anyways, I thought that you could use these to decorate the flower beds, or maybe hand them out to Cherubuns? I’m sure you’re not the only one who would get all weird seeing Succubuns in their skimpy swimsuits; this way, they can still get a taste of what the Forneus sea has to offer. 

Primrose took the bucket cautiously, still taken aback by the gift. “Thank you Rev-Ari.” Primrose blushed as Ari smiled at his correction, tail curling happily. He gestured at Miira with his free hand, obviously wanting to shift Ari’s attention away. “How many different imps do you have?” 

Ari thought back to the imps he’d brought to the Heavenly Embassy on previous trips. His Impup, two Sweetinea, and now Miira the Ryudra. After a quick calculation, he answered. “I have eight imps, as well as two of those ‘Virtues’ that started showing up as more Cherubuns came down from the Heavenly Meadow.”  

“Ten?” Primrose looked surprised. “Is that normal?”

“To have multiple imps? Yeah. They’re going to be all over Burrowgatory regardless, we might as well make companions out of them, no?” Ari reached up to pet Miira’s head gently; she seemed to have forgotten her earlier annoyance, a purr rumbling against the back of Ari’s neck. “Also, every type had their own personalities. You could probably find a few that could help you in the greenhouse if you really wanted to.”

“Is that so?” Primrose looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head to clear it. “We’ve been chatting for long enough, let’s get to work.” 

Ari chuckled again at the sudden subject change but followed Primrose towards a table, under which the Cherubun placed the bucket of shells. The table had several plastic containers set out on top of it, and a large bowl of damp pieces of cloth. 

“I called you here today to help with harvesting the ambrosia plants; this will be a very delicate and time-consuming process, so I’ve asked some others to come as well.” Primrose handed over one of the containers after he lined the bottom with a cloth. “Do your best to pull up the entire plant; dig into the dirt if you have to, but be careful not to damage the roots of surrounding plants as you do so. Every part of the ambrosia plant is important to us for making medicines and other consumables.” He gestured at a small pile of gardening gloves off to the side. “I presume dirt isn’t good for… your tattoos…?” 

“My…” Ari followed Primrose’s gaze down to his hands. “Oh, my Gilding. It’s not going to scratch off or anything, if that’s what you’re asking.” He reached for the gloves regardless, pulling them on to avoid the sensation of dirt beneath his fingernails. “So, dig up the ambrosia plants - carefully - and put them in this container?”

“Yes; once you’ve harvested enough to cover the bottom, come back for another damp cloth and repeat until the container is full.”

“And do that…” Ari looked around the greenhouse, at the rows and rows of full flower beds. “Like twenty times each.” 

“I did say it would be time-consuming…” 

“Well,” Ari picked up his empty container again. “It’s not going to get done if we don’t start.” 

~~~

He forgot to say this would be tedious work. 

… 

It’s kind of calming, actually. I have plenty of practice handling delicate things after all; it's not like I have to focus too hard. In fact - 

“Hi!” 

Ari was shocked out of his thoughts by the sudden cheery greeting, narrowly avoiding dropping the ambrosia plant he was holding onto the ground. His head whirled around to glare at the source of the interruption.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you! I’m here to help.” This new stranger was a Cherubun with a halo similar to Beanny’s, and one perky ear. He was in his bun form, fluffy tail wiggling as he looked up at Ari with a big smile on his face. “I like your Gilding!” 

Ari noticed the metallic shine of the Cherubun’s halo. Or… Halos, plural? He seems to have one around each ear… must be some sort of special Cherubun trait. “Yours too.”

“Thanks! I’m Dolce.” He dug around in the bag he was holding and held out a much smaller paper bag that smelled like it held some sort of fruit pastry. “Here, I brought snacks!” 

Ari smiled as he stripped off his gardening gloves and took the pastry from the Cherubun, tail flicking happily as he noticed that it had a strawberry and cream filling. “Thank you Dolce. You can call me Reverie.”

“It's nice to meet you! I'll go hand these out to some other buns, then I'll circle back, ‘kay?” 

Dolce didn't wait for a response, trotting off to offer pastries to other buns that Ari hadn’t noticed join the ‘harvesting party’. He shrugged to himself, murmuring a soft apology as Miira grumbled in his ear, and took a bite out of the pastry.  He looked down at the container at his feet and realized he’d practically filled the entire thing already. 

Huh. I guess you do deserve to take a break. 

And so Ari did, enjoying his pastry and looking around the greenhouse. Cherubuns worked alongside Succubuns of all horn types in harvesting the ambrosia. It surprised him a bit, but Ari supposed that the way he and Primrose spoke with each other had changed drastically since he started on these little ‘missions’, so there was no reason Cherubuns and Succubuns had to stay separated… Right? 

Taking the last bite of his pastry and tucking the empty bag into his back pocket, Ari picked up his container full of ambrosia plants and carried it over to the table where a few empty ones remained. 

Primrose was there and looked up as Ari approached. “Excellent.” He reached out and took the container from Ari, setting it gently in a row beside a few others. “Are you okay to keep going?” 

“Yeah. I got an energy boost from Dolce.” Ari pulled the paper bag from his pocket and looked around for a garbage can. 

Primrose just sighed and took it from him. “I see.” Primrose glanced over to where Dolce was chatting with a pair of Succubuns, happily sharing his treats. “The bun is more useful for keeping up morale than he is for actually doing what he’s been asked to do… Well, as long as he doesn’t become too much of a distraction, he can stay for now.” Primrose shook his head, his exasperation tinted with affection for his fellow Cherubun. Turning his attention back to Ari, Primrose lined one of the empty plastic bins with a damp cloth and pushed it over to Ari. “Thank you again for your help today.” 

Ari nodded and took the new bin, carrying it over to the next flower bed that needed harvesting. He slipped his gloves back on, gently dug under one of the plants and pulled it up, carefully removing excess dirt from the roots. It wasn’t until he was laying the plant down in the bin that he realized this felt far more familiar than it should… 

Oh. It’s like Breeding Season, when the Church was looking for volunteers to help in the Bunnery… This also has the community coming together to do something important to the continuation of Burrowgatory - ah, or the Embassy in this case. 

Suddenly struck by the importance of these tasks Primrose had set out for him, Ari smiled softly to himself and went back to harvesting with a new perspective.