Pursuit of diligence: path of least resistance

Olympia has never been one to garden, or even think about doing so; let alone volunteering at will to do manual labor, on the ground, in the dirt… but when she agreed to do so after her friend dove asked, well, she couldn’t just let that adorable smile down, could she? So, instead of laying in bed all day scrolling demontok in her bun form, she got out of bed, shifted into her doll, and put on… overalls.

Melodie would have to pay for this later. It may not be her fault, but she would.

Olympia checked herself over in the glass walls of the cherubuns greenhouse, the glass always clean and clear enough to be able to see one’s reflection; and my, isn’t Olympia still a beauty, even with… overalls. “Oly!” She turned at the sound of her nickname, watching the cherubun dove run over, hand up and waving to her. 

“I’m so glad you could make it!” They said, stopping short of running into the plump doll, “I know this isn’t really your scene…” they rubbed their neck, bashful at the idea that Olympia may be uncomfortable. “On the contrary,” Olympia spoke, crossing her arms over her chest and looking around, “we may be preparing to play in the dirt all day, but this place is…” she looked at the beautiful plants, she never would have been able to see such beautiful things in burrowgatory unless for the cherubuns who brought them here. The greenhouse almost resembled the picturesque meadows that she had come to know only through doves stories of them. The small pollinators floating around, busy butterflies and bumble bees there to keep every flower healthy, only adding to the serene beauty of this place, “…truly a sight to behold.” She smiled down at her friend.

“Now!” She clapped, digging around in her tote bag for her gloves, “where are we starting?” Dove squealed, taking Olympia’s hand and tugging their friend over to a small plot of disturbed dirt. “Well!” They grabbed a set of knee pads and laid them down, two feet apart, “we’re gonna start with picking our seeds!” They pulled over a wicker basket that sat on a small round trolley, “I took the liberty of picking some out for you to choose from! I thought you may prefer the ease of having to choose from only five or ten instead of the many we have here.” They slid the basket-on-wheels to their guest, pulling out small bags with already propagated seeds, most with only roots but some with even small sprigs of growth bursting from the tiny packages of their seed. “This one is a Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum, also known as a peace lily.” They held up a picture with the seed, a picture of a large green plant with these single white blooms, “They are used frequently as gifts in times of-“ ”ok, that’s fine” Olympia cut them off, gently taking the small propagation from them and looking down at the dirt, “what’s next? a hole, right?” 

Dove blinked, “u-uhm, are you sure that’s the one you want? There are so many others to choose from, like!” They picked up another, this one had a picture of another deep green plant, but this one had no flowers and instead had large, round, striped leaves and long stems, “this one is a Maranta leuconeura, otherwise known as a praying plant! It has a long-“ they looked over at Olympia, who was dozing off a bit, “a-are you listening?” 

Olympias' head perked up, “huh?” She looked over at her friend, “oh, sorry, are we going to start?” Dove pressed their lips into a tight line, “y-yes, we can.” They looked down at the plot, “w-well, we can dig a small hole here…” Oly nodded, grabbing a near by spade and jamming it as deep into the ground as possible, close to where another plant was growing. 

“wait!!” Dove grabbed the spade, quickly taking it out of the ground, “you need to be careful! You can’t just jam it in- you need to space out the plants!” They huffed and turned to the sloth bun, who groaned at the angered look of her friend, “come on, they would be close together in the wild wouldn’t they? What’s the difference!” Dove puffed up their cheeks, taking the spade and moving it to their side, “even in the wild, plants keep at least SOME distance! Unless they’re trying to snuff each other out- and that’s a rare occurrence!” They began to dig a small hole a foot away from any of the other plants, “There’s actually a behavior witnessed by plants and trees called ‘crown shyness’, and it’s when- are you listening?” They looked back at the pink succubun, who was so asleep they had a small snot bubble. 

“Olympia!!” They shouted, causing Olympia to jump and have to catch themselves on their hand, “jeez, I nearly crushed the plant!” She winced at her hand, taking the spade from dove and digging a small hole in front of her, taking into account the other plants around it this time, “you need to be careful.” The crystal wearing bun gently took the small sprout out of the bag, shaking it free from the wet paper used to make it grow.

dove huffed, taking their own sproutling and placing it in their small pit, “…Olympia?” They slumped where they were kneeled, “if you didn't want to do this, why did you agree?” The cherubun looked over at their friend, who looked at them questioningly, “what are you talking about?” She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow, “of course I want to be here.” 

Dove blushed, “b-but! You haven’t been interested in anything I’m saying, and you’re rushing through this and not being careful…” they started to cover their plant, making sure to leave the tiny sprout outside of the small mound, “you’re acting completely disinterested in this whole thing…!” They looked up at the slightly taller bun.

“Uh, yea, I don’t do outdoors.” She mimicked the process dove had just done before sitting back on their heels, “I actually hate it. Its dirty, and sweaty, and gross,” she stuck out her tongue, making a face at the dirt on their gloves, “but,” she looked over at the white bun, “I like spending time with you.” 

Dove looked shocked before falling into a small smile, “you big softy!” They threw their arms around olympias neck, giving her a big, tight hug. “You liiiiiiike me!” Olympia laughed, “no duh, you don’t just spend time with you and not end up with a soft spot.” She pressed her fist into doves head, giving them a noogie, “are we done here? I would love some tea… and to wash my hands.” 

The two buns looked at each other before devolving into a giggle-fit. “Yea, okay.” Dove stood, offering a hand to their friend, “let’s go, do you want black tea or jasmine?” Olympia took the outstretched hand, humming as she stood, “oooh, jasmine sounds good right now.”  The two buns chatted as they put everything up, placing the knee pads in a basket by the double doors on their way out of the greenhouse.