Pursuit of Diligence part 4

The time for Primrose to spill the beans had come. This next very important task had Rubi curious. He knew it wasn’t more gardening as they had that all scheduled down until harvest time, and Primrose trusted him enough to leave a couple full cans to keep watering when he was busy with other tasks.

Rubicon had been waiting in the garden at the designated time Primrose set before him. Chasing a rather beautiful butterfly had captured his attention, and he was so close to sneaking up on it when a throat clearing spooked both him and the butterfly.

“I’m sorry to interrupt… whatever this is.” Primrose began.

“But I have your next task.”

Rubi immediately snapped to attention and looked serious, although Primrose wasn’t fully convinced. He pulled out a large burlap bag and handed it to the bun.

“These go to Beanny at the Paradise Cafe.” He said half heartedly.

“I’m not a fan of using the garden space for simple beans, but the cafe brings a lot of buns here as it’s quite popular.”

“This’ll be a cinch then. I’ve been there before. Too rich for my tastes.” Rubi remarks

“The prices or the brews?”

“Just the prices. I love a dark roast, but the casino has kept my pockets clean.”

“Why do you succubuns even go to that place? The fact that the owner is the richest bun in the burrow should tell you everything you need to know about your odds at winning.”

“Well that’s just the thing! The worse the odds the more satisfying the big payout will be!”

“So you’ve struck it rich before?”

“No.” Rubi said, head held low.

Seeing a wave of depression start to take Rubicon, Primrose felt awkward and started to make his exit with just a simple farewell. The unlucky succubun sadly began to kick a pebble down his path to the cafe. Thankfully the smell of coffee began to lift Rubi out of his funk.

“Now I remember what brought me here the first time.” Rubi thought.

Rubicon had zero interest in visiting a floating island of holy light until he heard of the cafe that lay within. Coffee with actual cream and not whatever the cafes in the city below were using. He would splurge on a big fancy drink and spend the day in the gardens riding out the caffeine rush. Perhaps that was why he kept getting sent to work rather than run around maniacally. His entrance to the building was interrupted by a crying bun with no tail running past him.

“It’ll grow back in a minute, hon!” Cried a voice behind the counter after the runaway bunny.

Beanny shrugged as it became clear the bun wasn’t coming back. They then spotted another small succubun poking his head inside in confusion.

“Another customer. Poifect!” She said, pulling out her notepad awaiting an order.

“What was their deal?” Rubi asks

“Some people can’t handle change. Hopefully you’ve got some. Anything I can getcha?”

“Probably not today unless you’ve got a discount running.” Rubi said as he walked in.

It was an odd hour long past lunch for the cafe, so the only other bun was an older gentlebun in the corner with a newspaper. Beanny was none too pleased by Rubi’s comment.

“Then what in the burrow are you here for? The water aint free either.”

Her tune changed as Rubi produced the bean bag, and she waltzed over to him.

“You should have led with that, hon. Gimme gimme.”

Rubi does his job and hands over the beans, which Beanny carefully weighs and counts.

“Three and two thirds percent heavier than last time. Primrose outdid himself.” They beam.

Rubi was close to turning back to report a job well done when Beanny called back.

“You know, if you want some coffee but don’t have the dough, you can help me with a little experiment.”

Rubi was intrigued, but the crying bun from earlier left him skeptical.

“Was that other bun a part of your experiment?”

“Yeah but you don’t strike me as a softie. I bet you can beat the heat.”

Now Rubi’s ego was on the line, and he really wanted to see what this is.

“Toss in a slice of coffee cake and I’m in.”

“Deal. After we’re done.” Beanny bargained, and Rubi accepted those terms.

He followed them into the back and saw rows of flasks, beakers, and other chemistry supplies. It looked more like the lab of a mad scientist than a kitchen. It made Rubi all the more pumped for whatever was to come next. He watched as Beanny put some beans in a vat and put the rest up on a high shelf. Past this was a large metal door with a ‘Keep Out’ sign and several complicated locks keeping it shut tight. Beanny then began brewing the experiment, explaining as she went.

“So some buns don’t even want to try some of my more powerful brews just because they’re afraid of buyer’s remorse. Losing a tail, perked up ears, kind of a big change for a bun, I get that. Costs a pretty penny to make, so I can't go lowering the prices. What am I, a charity?”

She took an eye dropper and took a precise amount of cream to add to the drink.

“This here is going to be a little shot that’ll give someone just a little chance to try out a new trait. See if they like it before taking the big swig. Hey, keep your flames away from there! This is science!”

She scolded as her drink scalded and Rubi backed away from any flasks in progress. Eventually the shot was complete, and they couldn’t help but add a little decoration to this mini earspresso.

Rubi took the shot in hand and downed it in one go, not even blowing on it to let it cool and he felt a strange tingling in the base of his ears. With a sudden whoosh his ears reached for the ceiling and Beanny cheered as the experiment seemed to work. Rubicon looked up in astonishment, although he wasn’t fully stoked about his flames pattern on his ear tips being upside down now.

This moment of the unfamiliar feature was short lived as his ears drooped back down but only halfway. Beanny looked confused as his ear tips flopped in on themselves while the base stood tall.

“Guess I need to adjust a few things.” She shrugged nonplussed by the bump in the road.

Rubi wasn’t too happy with the change, but being a part of the process of creating something new was satisfying on its own.

“How long are they supposed to stay like this?”

“Only a couple minutes, but if it lasts more than four hours I’d see a doctor about it.”

Rubi and Beanny both laughed and headed back towards the cafe where he got to claim his free piece of coffee cake.