Pursuit of Diligence, Chapter 6

Once again, it was morning in Burrowgatory, and Miguel was arriving at the Heavenly Embassy. The light shining down on the clouds from above seemed extra bright today, perhaps even straining Miguel's eyes very slightly. How fitting, as he was not eager to visit the Embassy today. Yes, it was finally time to take all of the celestial flowers and herbs he had grown together with Dove and convert them into Ambrosia. That part was exciting. The part that he wasn't excited about was the fact that Dove wasn't helping him today, and he had to do so alongside...

"Imagine that, you're actually right on time, Miguel."

Primrose. Miguel was by no means fond of Primrose; even his four imps had retreated to hide behind him at the sight of the bun in question. Miguel forced a smile, while trying to resist the urge to thump the ground with his hoof at the mere sight of the uppity Cherubun. "Good morning, Primrose..." he said through slightly gritted teeth.

Primrose, his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised, looked at Miguel with all the disdain of someone looking at pure filth. "Good morning to you, too," he said, making no effort to hide the sarcasm in his tone. "And I see you brought your beasts with you once again."

"They're called imps, Primrose," Miguel replied, staring at the Cherubun. "Could you try not having a stick up your ass for like, ten seconds?"

Primrose balked at Miguel's use of profanity. "Ugh! Perhaps you could try not using such crude language."

"Who do you think you are? You're not Murmur, you can't tell me how I can and cannot talk."

"I do NOT want you comparing me to the filthy demon that raised you."

Miguel pinched the bridge of his nose. "Listen, do you want me to help you make your stupid ambrosias or not? We're not getting anything done just standing here yelling at each other."

Shaking his head, Primrose heaved an exasperated sigh. "Of course, of course. Might as well get this over with. The sooner this is done, the better." Primrose turned and clapped his hands. "Come along. This way. And be sure to keep an eye on your... pets."

Miguel inhaled, exhaled, thumped the ground with his hoof, and followed after Primrose, petting his imps to help keep them calm.

---

Miguel followed Primrose into a large room, a kitchen of some kind. The bountiful harvest of flowers and herbs he had grown together with Dove sat in numerous wicker baskets, perfuming the air with their mere presence. "Now", Primrose began. "Some types of medicinal ambrosia are created by boiling the sap of the celestial plants, after extracting it from the stems. I think we should begin with this. Are you ready, Miguel?"

Miguel placed Sueño, who he had been holding in his arms, down on the floor. The Stellaram made a sort of high-pitched bleat in protest, but the Succubun only glanced at him to wordlessly reassure him he'd be fine. As Sueño turned away and started gently playing with Calabaza and Ratón, Miguel cracked his knuckles. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Primrose raised an eyebrow at Miguel's knuckle cracking, but chose not to comment on it. He lifted up a basket full of flower stems that he had separated out from their blooms. "Alright, let's begin."

The next several minutes consisted of meticulously inserting minuscule pipettes into the ends of the plant stems, pulling out the juices, and depositing them into a large pot. It was tedious, time consuming work - the plant stems were so small, and only contained so much sap in a single stem. Miguel knew it would probably take a couple hours at least to collect all of the sap, much less finally begin boiling it down. The process was a bit annoying at first, especially having to work beside someone he disliked as much as Primrose... but after a while, he had a good rhythm going. As his focus intensified, the minutes began to pass a lot quicker...

---

Before he knew it, working together with Primrose, Miguel had collected as much flower sap as he could and placed it in the pot, which was now being heated to a gentle boil. The smell of the boiling sap was quite strong and perfumed, but not enough to really irritate Miguel's nose. "That takes care of that," Primrose announced, before bringing up a basket full of dried leaves. "Next, some medical ambrosia is made by drying the leaves of the plants, grinding them into a powder, and brewing that powder into a tea."

"Like matcha?" Miguel asked, gently pushing a curious Alegría away from the pot of boiling sap (not that the imp looked particularly interested in eating it, but one can't be too careful).

"Yes, you could say that," Primrose replied. "Now, come on. We can't waste time."

Soon, the Succubun and Cherubun were working fast, placing dry leaves into mortars and crushing them to dust with the pestle. Miguel was eager - perhaps too eager - to work as hard as he could, and initially ground the leaves a bit too roughly, sending small bits of powder scattering out of the mortar.

"Patience, Miguel!" Primrose scolded. "These leaves are precious! Take care not to waste any of them!"

Miguel stopped, prepared to snark back at Primrose, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. Perhaps he was beginning to have fun making the ambrosia? He playfully stuck his tongue out at Primrose, snickering as the Cherubun frowned at his impertinence, before returning to his task, making sure to grind the leaves more carefully.

---

Miguel and Primrose worked well into the afternoon before they made it to the last task. "Finally," Primrose said, actually smiling genuinely. "It's time to make some ambrosia for casual consumption. The petals of various flowers can be mashed together with water, sugar, and flavorings to make delightful beverages that are delicious, and free from the pollution of alcohol!"

"Sounds fun," Miguel added with a smirk, choosing for once not to pop Primrose's balloon by mocking his repugnance towards alcohol.

"There are also recipes using the nectar of the flowers..." Primrose continued. "These can be used to create a very special ambrosia, a type that can cause a Cherubun to change form." Primrose glanced sideways at Miguel, his expression neutral, and not at all hostile. "Can I trust you with the knowledge of how to concoct them?"

Miguel was shocked. Me? This guy who thinks everything is foul and degenerate is going to trust me with this knowledge? "Wait, you actually want to teach me?"

Primrose smiled momentarily, before shaking his head and clearing his throat. "You've been doing quite well, Miguel. Perhaps I have misjudged you. Not to say I approve of other things you do, however..."

"Hey, no hard feelings, I guess? And, uh... I'm sorry if I was rude to you earlier." Miguel tentatively reached his hand out towards Primrose. "Shake on it?"

Primrose nodded gently, shaking Miguel's hand. "Now. Let's finish what we started."

---

Eventually, it was late afternoon, and Miguel was surveying his hard work. Every last leaf, petal, and stem had been converted into ambrosia. As beautiful as it looked, Miguel had no desire to taste the fruits of his labor - he had a strong feeling it would make him sick at least, and figured he'd trust his gut and leave it alone. Besides, there was no need to put his own health at risk when there was a Cherubun present to check everything for him.

Primrose inspected every container, deftly bottling each type of ambrosia into the correct flask after ensuring it was fit to sell in his shop. "You did very well, Miguel. You even did remarkably diluting the nectar to make Divine Ambrosia! I'm impressed."

"And I'll admit, I actually... kind of enjoyed myself. Even extracting the sap from those stems, as tedious as it was."

Primrose chuckled. "It is a time consuming process, but putting the utmost care into something and taking hours to finish is better than finishing in minutes with subpar results."

As Miguel started preparing to leave, he turned to face Primrose. "Primrose?"

"Yes?"

"I apologize if I was rude to you earlier. Sure, we haven't exactly gotten along, but I actually enjoyed working with you today, and... do you think maybe we could make an effort to... be friends?"

Primrose tensed slightly, and was quiet for several long seconds... but then, he relaxed. "You know... why not?" He sighed. "I'm stuck here in Burrowgatory for the rest of eternity and can't go back to the Heavenly Meadow. I may as well try to make the best of it."

Miguel's imps all tentatively approached Primrose, looking up at him curiously. Primrose scrunched up his nose at the sight of them at first, before sighing and hesitantly reaching down to pet them. "And fine, I admit it... your beasts... I mean, imps... are kind of cute."

Miguel called his imps back to him, and smiled. "Thanks. See you another time, Primrose? You're welcome to attend one of my Mamoo-fighting shows if you'd like."

"We'll see, Miguel. See you another day."

Miguel sighed with relief, feeling satisfied that his adventures in celestial gardening had all turned out right, and that maybe the vitriol between him and Primrose could finally improve.

As the Succubun departed the Heavenly Embassy, he didn't notice a small blue glow in the bushes. A mysterious little creature made of blue light watched him walk away, before it disappeared back into the bushes, evading detection from anyone nearby.