Tea For All!

It wasn’t like Kane at all to follow the requests of others, much less when they came from demanding buns like Primrose. But after spending so much time in the greenhouse with the cherubun, Kane ended up getting used to his way of speaking. It certainly rubbed him the wrong way at first but it was clear to Kane that Primrose cared deeply about his job and fellow cherubuns.

…Which was exactly why Kane was going out of his way to complete this little… errand that Primrose “asked” him to do. Really and truly, the way to Jackal’s house wasn’t all that far out of Kane’s way but he could be doing something else other than delivering tea leaves to the cherubun that lives with her, Dove. Ah, well! A little walk never hurt anybody, right?

Kane looked down at the baggy he was holding and then over to his phone which displayed the GPS app. He hadn’t been by Jackal’s place often enough to know the way by heart, not that that would have helped his “terrible sense of direction” as Soleil liked to call it. 

The screen showed that he was only a few minutes away thankfully so he picked up the pace a bit. His bonezo, Cujo, followed closely behind him, making sure to speed up as well in order to keep by Kane’s side. The little imp often accompanied Kane to the greenhouse… well to be more precise, Cujo pretty much accompanied Kane everywhere that an imp was allowed to go. The two had been stuck to each other ever since Kane had first been to the Imporium.

Primrose had not been very happy to have the rowdy imp inside the gardens at first but his protests quickly lessened the more Kane came by and helped around. Cujo had never been destructive in the gardens so Kane assumed that Primrose had eventually begun to like having the imp there, as it would run around and dig holes for new seeds and plants.

Kane wondered if the tea leaves he was holding could have been grown by him and Cujo. Maybe he would ask Primrose the next time he was at the embassy. Those thoughts of “next time” ground to a halt as Kane almost walked right past the walkway to Jackal’s front door but thankfully his phone chimed in with a “you have reached your destination on the left.”

“Oop, almost missed it,” Kane muttered to himself, and to Cujo if he was being honest. He pocketed his phone into his hoodie and made his way up to the front door of Jackal’s home. Soleil had been here once or twice before Dove had moved in as they and Jackal had, sort of, befriended each other due to their similar senses of style and having mutual things that they were into but Kane himself had never come with them or been here on his own. 

Soleil had never had a bad thing to say about Jackal but even so Kane was a bit nervous. He’d never been to her house before and now he was showing up out of the blue? Terrifying. He hesitated at the door, almost wanting to leave the baggy on the door knob, knock, and run but he thought better of it.

He gathered up his courage and knocked politely on the door. Though as he began to wait for someone to greet him, Kane got lost in thought about how one “knocks politely” on a door. Surely banging on it is not polite but a simple knock could hide malicious intent right? Would Jackal or Dove even open the door for him? He’s never met either of them. Maybe they’d be put off by a succubun they’ve never met just standing on their doorstep with seemingly no reason to actually be there.

Or maybe he overthinks too much as the door opened a few seconds after his hand returned down at his side to reveal a light-haired cherubun. That must be Dove.

A few seconds passed as the two stared at each other before Dove softly piped up, “Uh, hello?”

Good going, Kane, now you look like a creep, he thought to himself as he quickly replied, “Ah, sorry… Hi, I’m Kane… Uh, Primrose asked me to drop off these tea leaves for you.” He lifted up his hand to show the light yellow-colored baggy that he had been carrying ever since he left the embassy. His other hand went to the back of his neck to scratch at it awkwardly. “Sorry about that, I get lost in my thoughts pretty easily.”

“Oh, well that’s quite alright!” Dove said cheerily. “There’s no need to apologize. I really appreciate the delivery from Primrose, and you for delivering it!” They reached up a hand to grab the bag from Kane but just as they did, Cujo stepped over the threshold of the door and managed to sneak past Dove’s feet.

Kane quickly noticed however. “Oh, Hell, I’m so sorry about my imp… Cujo is usually way more behaved than this!” He leaned to the side a bit, trying to see if it was trying to get into things that it wasn’t supposed to.

Dove turned to look as well, only to see Cujo sitting very politely in the middle of the entryway, wagging its boney tail at the two of them, as if it was completely normal to be inside Jackal’s home. “Well, someone looks rather content to be here.” Dove gently laughed, glancing back at Kane who was still fretting over Cujo entering uninvited. “Why don’t you come in?” they asked, finally grabbing the bag out of Kane’s hand which snapped his attention back to them.

“Oh… Really? I wouldn’t want to impose… more than my imp already is,” Kane smiled wearily at Dove. “Really… I’ve trained it better, I promise.” 

Dove laughed again, shaking their head. “It’s fine, Kane. Come on in! I can make us both a cup of tea with these leaves you’ve brought me. How does that sound?” They took a few steps back into Jackal’s home to allow Kane in as well.

He nodded back, almost too soft for Dove to see. “Uh, yeah. Sure! I’d… really like that actually.” And as he ended up following Dove inside, he didn’t really have the heart to tell them that he’s not a big tea drinker.