Pursuit of Diligence: Chapter 4 - coffee!

Pursuit of Diligence: Chapter 4

It had been a few weeks now ever since Wicke had agreed to helping Primrose and the other Cherubuns in their gardening project. So far, the weeks had been filled with hard work, laughs and mostly adorable Dove’s little voice gently guiding the Succubun through all of the steps of planting the little seeds and taking care of them as well as Primrose’s occasional nag when everything was not 100% perfect. Still, spending time with the newcomers of Burrowgatory slowly made the Greed Bun realize that her and the Cherubuns were not so different after all. They just needed a few guiding words and someone to hold their hand in this new, exciting chapter of their lives. On the other hand, Wicke was enjoying to put in an extra work hour or two. If this newfound motivation would stick, however.. probably not. But for now it was a nice change of pace for her.

In the early morning hours, Wicke stepped inside the Garden of Virtues - as she had done the weeks before on a daily basis - and started putting on the little gloves made for Buns to dig in the soil and take care of her 

The Ambrosia flowers had started to sprout and were growing healthily, just as Wicke had hoped.

“Well,”, began the stern, prissy voice, “as we have been making good progress, I shall be taking over the watering for today. However, I would request you to help out the Garden of Virtues in another way. I would like you to make a delivery to our dear fellow Cherubun, Beanny. She requested this be done immediately.” Primrose huffed silently before pointing at a corner of the Garden of Virtues.

…

What.

Wicke blinked twice. Two huge hempen sacks were sitting in that corner, way too big for a lonesome Succubun to carry them! She gasped for a second.
“Prim! How am I supposed to get this to their Café?!”, Wicke blurted out, gesturing towards the coffee sacks hectically. 

“First off, I told you - my name is Primrose. And secondly, we have a wheelbarrow that is the perfect size for both Succubuns and Cherubuns. Also - could you please get your imp off my watering can?!” Primrose huffed with his usual, slightly sour expression. Just as he requested that Wicke get them off, little Spooks fell tried jumping on the handle of the watering can and

CRASH

the little Phantomile, along with the can and all its contents landed on the ground. Wicke rushed over to scoop up her little imp buddy and placed them on her shoulder but not before giving them a little nudge and a silent “tsk tsk!”.

The Cherubun took a deep breath, then straightened his back again before clearing his throat. “Anyways, I’ll help you load the sacks on the wheelbarrow. Beanny will let me know once you’ve finished this task, you can go home afterwards.”, the blonde Cherubun stated, while straining himself along with Wicke as they lifted the coffee bags onto the wheelbarrow. With a satisfying “ssssssk”, the bags slid into the tray, now ready to be transported. 

“Alright! Talk to you later, Prim!”, beamed Wicke, using her little hooves to hold the handles of the wheelbarrow steadily.

Primrose opened the door to the Garden of Virtues, then motioned for Wicke to leave. “Don’t dilly-dally around too much! And my name is-”, he warned, as Wicke sprinted outside, pushing the heavy cart quickly along the streets.

‘Time to go!’, Wicke thought once Primrose was out of earshot and started putting in even more effort. Delivering this shouldn’t take too long and the sooner she got it done, the sooner Wicke was free for the day. Beanny’s Paradise Café was also famous for its extravagant concoctions so maybe.. just maybe, Wicke could get a cup or two for free. She giggled to herself, excitedly. This was a great day! Easy work and possibly a great reward at the end of it.

What Wicke didn’t think of, however, was the sudden rainfall that started after about three quarters of the way towards Paradise Café, crashing down on the White Succubun mercilessly. One second it was beautiful early autumn weather, a light breeze and some warm rays soaking her fur in gentle warmth and the next second, she had gotten soaked from horns to tailtip. The Weatherbun didn’t mention this at all! Not that Wicke ever watched news or anything..

Usually, this rain would have been no problem, as Wicke’s volunteer work in the Garden of Virtues had a roof to protect her from the elements but now? Now was the worst possible time for frickin’ rainfall. A little bummed, she slowed down her pace and tried finding shelter to endure the worst of the downpour before continuing her journey and finishing up her tour.

It didn’t take her long to find a small bus stop with a stall to stand under and wait out the weather. With a huffy expression Wicke pushed the wheelbarrow with her precious cargo towards the stall, claiming one of on the Bun-sized seats as her own to rest her weary little legs for a bit. Wicke stared at the road ahead, while the rain continued its steady, rhythmic pitter-patter. In a way, this was almost comforting to Wicke. Rain had always been her favourite weather. A small smile crept upon her lips, while she inhaled the scent of petrichor.

She closed her eyes for a second, enjoying the last few moments of the sky drying up as the rain slowly faded from existence, leaving behind puddles on the streets. The Succubun blinked a few times. How much time had passed since Wicke had sat down? She pulled out her BunPhone™, checking the time before the rest of any hint of colour left the already pale-furred Bun. 

An entire hour?! This trip was supposed to take a maximum of thirty minutes! Several missed calls from Primrose tipped Wicke off that he had, in fact, noticed her not arriving in time. With newfound enthusiasm (read: panic as Wicke didn’t want another lecture from Primrose), the Greed Bun jumped off her seat and grabbed onto her wheelbarrow once more, making the last of the way in less than half the time. With the last of her strength and completely out of breath, Wicke stopped in front of the quaint doors of the Paradise Café which had its doors wide open, already receiving customers for the day. Just now Wicke noticed how sopping wet the bags were. This was awful. Not only did she take more than double the time to deliver the coffee beans, no, these darn things were probably ruined by the rain too!

Sheepishly, Wicke made her way inside the tiny café, wheeling the sacks full of coffee beans in front of the counter. No Bun in sight, Succubun or Cherubun alike. How strange, Wicke thought, then cleared her throat to draw attention to her.

“Uhm, excuse me? Beanny?”, the Succubun asked hesitantly, as the counter was still vacant, no Cherubun to be seen far or wide.

“One moment, please!”, a voice rang from a small room in the back of the café, before a huge billow of smoke crept outside the backdoor, along with a beautiful, white with a hint of lavender-furred Cherubun who coughed twice before clearing their throat.

“Ah, a customer? I’m so sorry, we are currently out of bea-”, she began, then laid her eyes upon the soaked hempen sacks filled with coffee beans. “Oh, perfect, you brought them! Thank you! I was wondering if you had run off with them!”, she squealed, then made their way in front of the counter, quickly grabbing and untying them, not even bothering to lift them out of the wheelbarrow. “Perfect!”, they beamed towards Wicke.

“A-are you not mad that they’re wet?”, Wicke hesitantly asked, nervously twiddling with her hooves.

“Pah! Did you think genius Beanny the best barista of Burrowgatory AND the Heaveny Meadows did not take the necessary precautions? These hempen sacks are isolated against the weather and elements so these little babies stay dry and fresh even longer! A little rain won’t do them any harm.”, the Cherubun winked, before wheeling off the spoils of the day without saying another word, leaving behind Wicke with a bewildered expression. Were all Cherbuns bar Dove this.. eccentric?

Wicke shrugged the thought off before turning around, wanting to head outside before she heard someone clear their throat. “AHEM!”, the voice demanded.

Beanny pointed to one of the empty seats with both their hooves, nodding towards it as well.

“You did all this work, are completely soaked from top to bottom and now you just leave without me treating you to one of the most exquisite tastes that the Garden of Virtues has to offer? By Melangel, I cannot accept this! A hot cuppa joe and a cake it is, on my dime of course and you will not leave a second earlier!” Beanny huffed with an offended, yet playful undertone, disappearing into the strange backroom once more. Wicke followed Beanny’s demand and sat down on the padded café chairs, stretching thoroughly and realized just now how exhausting all this sprinting has been.

Maybe these Cherubuns were a pretty nice addition to Burrowgatory after all.