Pursuit of Diligence: Chapter 2 | Delivery!

While Mynte was still nowhere near close to feeling like home within the Heavenly Embassy’s gardens, the sloth bun was also nowhere near as anxious as that first day they took the step to visit. They were still pretty damn anxious, but that was kind of a given, the sloth bun’s personality considered… Though it probably didn’t help a whole bunch that he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched whenever he decided to look around; see how the flowers he’d planted under Primrose’s watchful gaze were doing. Whether or not it was all in his head and he was just being paranoid about being watched was anyone’s guess, though.

Paranoia didn’t stop the hermit from keeping his regular visits up, though. He wanted to see these ambrosia flowers grow; bloom… And he wanted to be there for as much of the process as possible. It was fun for him! And relaxing… Though it’d probably be more relaxing if these flowers were growing in his own garden, which they couldn’t. 

Allegedly.

So suck it up and come here he did, though having Beebee and Thyme by his side always made things way more bearable.

Most days were relatively the same, however today…

Today seemed to have something else in mind, for Mynte barely managed to take a couple of steps into one of the embassy’s garden to see how the ambrosia flowers he’d planted were doing before getting called by Primrose. Mynte immediately thought he was in some kind of trouble, or maybe he was visiting too much, and was just about ready to apologize for his intrusion, but no…

An errand… to deliver tea leaves to Dove?

The hermit had noticed that more seemed to be grown within the embassy’s gardens than just ambrosia flowers. Things that he’d grown, or was even currently in the process of growing, himself. And while it had crossed his mind that just because there was overlap it didn’t mean that things grew the same… This little errand certainly did pique the shy sloth bun’s curiousity in just how much more different things like tea tasted.

Helping himself to tea wasn’t the errand, though.

A small part of him was at least a little bothered that he’d just gotten here and already had to leave to do this delivery, but what was he going to do? Say no to Primrose? Low self-esteem aside, Mynte thought… hoped? That Primrose seemed to… not dislike him as much as when they first met. And if delivering a batch of tea leaves kept him in the cherubun’s good graces, then he certainly wasn’t going to protest.

Beebee showed Primrose a little bit of ‘tude by giving the cherubun A Look, but… That was about all of the ‘protesting’ going on.

One address and - politely - declined offer to use a cart of some sort to carry the box of tea leaves to said address aside, Mynte was off!

…

Mynte kind of regretted declining to use a cart of sorts pretty damn fast.

It wasn’t that the box of tea leaves was heavy, per say. While there was a sort of delicacy to the sloth bun’s physique, they were definitely a lot hardier, and stronger, than they looked. They had to be, considering that they tended to a garden day in and day out. It was just that, not only was Mynte not super familiar with the layout of the city, but even if Mynte wasn’t struggling a bit with navigation? The sloth bun vastly underestimated just how long it would take him to locate Dove’s place of living.

And maybe, just maybe, they were being the slightest bit stubborn about asking other buns along the way for direction.

Stubborn shyness.

…

Stubborn shyness, with a whole heap of social anxiety thrown in.

If only imps could talk…

Still, after a good bit of walking, with the occasional short break here and there, and finding the courage to ask at least one bun for directions, the hermit finally, finally managed to reach his destination.

At least… Mynte sure hoped this was the right place. Only one way to find out, though!

Setting the box down, it actually took… a couple of attempts before Mynte found the courage to carefully knock on the door. When after a minute or give they still hadn’t heard anything, they tried again, just a little louder.

“Yeah, yeah, ‘m comin’ hold on.”

While Mynte had initially been as calm as an eternally anxious bun could be, hearing that kind of gruff voice from behind the door caused a near immediate panic spike. For a second he considered turning around and leaving, but before he could properly debate the pros and cons of that decision the door swung open and–

“Yeah, whadya want?” Was the somewhat disgruntled question from… Someone that decidedly did not look like a cherubun.

Last Mynte checked, cherubuns did not have horns. And those? Those were horns. Envy horns, to be more precise and… and…

And was this really the right place?

Internal panicking aside, Mynte couldn’t help but flinch a little in response; reaching for his braid as he shrunk a little before speaking up, “D… d… delivery?” he managed to stammer out nervously.

There was a bit of an awkward, confused pause between the two buns, before the envy bun felt something against her foot and looked down. The sight? Mynte’s freign, Thyme, pushing the box of tea leaves towards the door opening. After another second or two, realization crossed the envy bun’s face.

She let out an, “Oh!” before turning to look back inside and yelling, “Hey angel, think it’s for you!” And while Mynte couldn’t quite make it out himself, it did seem like the envy bun got some kind of response in return before turning back to face him. “They’ll be right with you.” She replied, notably in a better mood than when she’d opened the door in.

True to her words, a few mere moments later a cherubun popped into view. In that time the envy bun had opted to lean against the doorframe while she waited, while Mynte went ahead and picked the box of tea leaves up from off the floor. They were still nervous, but… At least he knew he really was at the right place. Thankfully.

“Yes?” The cherubun, who Mynte could only assume was Dove, asked curiously. Though the moment they laid eyes on the box in the sloth buns arms, they clapped their hands together in joy. “Oh, my tea leaves! Thank you so much!” They replied cheerfully; their gratitude evident in… pretty much the whole way they held themselves. 

“Ah, and by the look of things, it looks like you… carried them the whole way here?” They questioned, “Hmm… You must be tired. If you don’t mind, I could brew us all a nice cup as thanks for your hard work? And give you a bit of time to relax, hm?”

…tempting. Very tempting.

The only thing that made the offer less tempting was the, admittedly, kind of intimidating, to Mynte, envy bun leaning against the door frame. She seemed a little… less than excited about the Dove’s idea, which was more than enough for Mynte to decline the kind offer, but…

…they were curious about how tea made from tea leaves from the embassy differed from tea that was grown and cultivated in the burrows…

Mynte didn’t get very long to mull over his thoughts, as Beebee seemingly made the decision for him and started flying into the apartment, followed shortly by Thyme.

“H-Hey- W-wait- B-Beebee! Y-you can’t just–!” Mynte started to panic and stutter at the brazeness of their imps, but Dove simply laughed. Hell, even the envy bun seemingly let out an amused noise of their own.

“I guess that’s that, then.” Dove replied, “Come in, come in! It’ll only be a bit.” They continued as they started to make their way back into their shared apartment.

Eventually the envy bun, who Mynte eventually learned was named Jackal, took the box from them and went to put it away while Dove showed Mynte where he could take a seat while they got things ready. And while Mynte was already starting to learn that maybe Jackal wasn’t actually that intimidating, er… They did still appreciate that she seemed to stick by Dove’s side while he simply… Waited. For the tea to be brewed.

Hmm… Not exactly how he thought his day would go today, but… He couldn’t deny that he was excited to try some of that tea. And after? If it wasn’t too late, he’d still try to make his way back to the embassy like had been his original intent. If that ended up not being worth the journey anymore today? Well…

Tomorrow was always another day.