Pursuit of Diligence: Chapter 4 | Second Delivery??

Aah, another day, another–

Wait, delivery? Seriously? Again?

That… was not something Mynte was expecting when he walked into the embassy gardens once again. This time not just with his faithful bimble and freign in tow, but also his erose, Bloom, and his friend, Poppy. After all, he had basically promised to ask Primrose if it’d be okay to bring a friend along with him and, much to the sloth bun’s surprise, the cherubun did actually okay it!

You know… as long as said friend(s) remained respectful and didn’t cause any problems for the other cherubuns in the embassy, as well as within the gardens themselves. Enough time had passed that Primrose did seem to trust Mynte to a certain degree… Though the sloth bun’s taste in ‘friends’ was a different matter, as the cherubun may or may not eventually come to find out. Either way…

What started as Mynte feeling at least a little excited at the idea of being able to share a part of  the whole ambrosia flower growing experience with a friend of his quickly turned into… a wee bit of disappointment at the abrupt change of plans. Not that it was overly obvious on the succubun’s face, though if a bimble could pout… Beebee would be pouting up a storm. As would Bloom, to be honest.

Mynte didn’t want to anger and/or disappoint Primrose… But in return, it did mean that he’d, potentially, be disappointing Popuri in return, which… Kind of the lesser of two evils unfortunately, but still made the sloth bun feel kind of bad.

She had specifically made time for this in her schedule to do this with him today…

A quick exchange of information later, because it would be kind of hard to deliver something to an unknown address, as well as a quick introduction between Popuri and Primrose later, Mynte watched Primrose off… Before pouting wholeheartedly once the cherubun was out of sight proper.

Man…

Said pout quickly turned into a squeak of surprise when he felt a light punch-tap against his shoulder.

“Hey, chin up, Mynte!” The shorter bun grinned encouragingly up at the taller bun once he turned to look at her. “I know delivering tea leaves to Dove took a bit, but look at the bright side! By the sound of things Paradise Café is located on Heavenly Embassy grounds, so it shouldn’t take that long to deliver the beans, y’know… Compared to having to go down into the city to find Dove’s apartment and all that. Right?”

She… had a point, yeah. Though thinking about it… it probably would have been a lot more useful to have had Poppy along for that particular delivery. Considering the greed bun had a car and all that. Would’ve saved Mynte some huffing, puffing… and getting lost, hah. Still, it didn’t change that fact that at least this time around? The sloth bun had some kind of company while he carried the bag of coffee beans around. Not that his imps weren’t perfectly good company, too, just…

It was… nice. Being around another person that could actually talk and all that. Share their thoughts, opinions… Point out certain sights he might’ve missed despite having been up here several times these past few weeks. Poppy did also offer to help carry the bag of beans every now and then, but… Mynte politely declined each time. He was fine, really. She was doing more than enough simply… keeping him company. And helping fill the silence with chatter… and the occasional pause to take a picture.

Good times.

Before Mynte knew it, the two succubun found themselves before the café; the Paradise Café.

Seeing as her hands were free, Poppy saw fit to open the door for her taller friend, who accepted the help gratefully. At least, it saved him finagling on how he’d get the door open while his hands were full… And his imps were too small to help. Honestly, another plus in having her tag along.

Once inside, both buns only got a couple of seconds to take in their surroundings before a voice rang out from… somewhere?

“‘s someone there? Gimme a sec–” There was some shuffling to be heard, but soon enough a cherubun popped up from behind a closed door in the back. Huh… The succubun gave each other a curious look, before turning their attention back to the cherubun now behind the counter. 

“Ahah! You’re here to deliver me my beans, huh?” The cherubun asked as they clapped their hands together. “Great! Fantastic! I was starting to run low after that last batch went…” They continued before starting to trail off a little; slowly turning their head to face the closed door they had just walked out of in thought. They were pretty quick to snap out of their thoughts though, and turned their attention back to their two guests. “The name’s Beanny, but I bet you already knew that. Well, don’t just stand there; come in, come in!” She continued, ushering the two buns further inward.

The succubun didn’t need to be told twice, though Poppy did take note that Mynte seemed to be getting… a little shy as Beanny spoke? And it wasn’t like she didn’t believe her friend could snap out of it on his own, or that his imps wouldn’t help him, but… She did give the taller bun a bit of an encouraging push forward. After all, as much as she wanted to jump in and talk to this interesting cherubun barista, this was still Mynte’s delivery to make first and foremost.

The push did help a bit, as Mynte started to make his way from the entrance up to the counter… And hesitating. Was it okay for him to just put the bag there? Was there somewhere specific Beanny would’ve liked him to put this? Was–

“Quite the shy overthinker, ain’tcha?” Beanny suddenly spoke, abruptly breaking Mynte’s train of thought. There was a bit of a panicked look on Mynte’s face, but the cherubun simply laughed before patting the counter. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Y’can leave the beans here and I’ll take care of the rest in a bit.”

With clear instructions having been given, Mynte did just that; placing the bag of beans on the counter. Carefully. With that out of the way, and his hands now free, the sloth bun’s hands went and found their way up to his braid. Fidgeting slightly as he… wasn’t entirely sure where to go from here. Dove had been kind enough to offer him some tea before seeing him off… Should… should he just leave now, or…?

A soft ‘pfft’ once again snapped Mynte out of his thoughts; the noise coming from none other than an amused looking Beanny. “You really are a shy one, huh?” Mynte… wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that, honestly. How did one ever respond to something like that? “Of course you’re not obligated to, but while you’re here can I interest you in anything before you head out?”

…did Mynte want anything from here? He was already here, after all… And it couldn’t hurt to take a literal coffee break before heading back to the gardens, right? Hmm…

“Can I have an Angora Au Lait?” Poppy suddenly piped up; Mynte train of thoughts, once again, broken. “To-go.”

“Aha, so an Angora Au Lait for…?”

“Popuri, or Poppy, but if you’re doing that thing where you write names on the cup, you can put down… Poptart.” She replied with a nod; shifting her gaze from the menu to the barista.

“Sweet. An Angora Au Lait for Poptart.” Beanny nodded while writing the order down before, once again, looking towards the sloth bun. Curious.

Mynte… continued to hesitate; especially now that he seemed to be put on the spot. It was only when Poppy lightly bumped into him, telling him she’d pay for the both of them, him nervously declining, and then Beanny telling them that the coffee would be free this time… In thanks for the delivery? That Mynte took a moment to actually look at the menu before quietly, shyly, asking for a, “D…decaf Loptte… m-maybe?”

“Also to-go, I take it?”

Mynte simply nodded in response.

“Name?”

“M…Mynte.”

“Okay, got it. So that’s one Angora Au Lait for Poptart, and one Decaf Loptte for Mynte. To-go.” Beanny repeated and, upon receiving confirmation that that was, in fact, their order… “Be done in a jiffy. In the meantime, feel free to make yourselves comfortable. Plenty of room to sit, haha.”

The buns didn’t need to be told that twice… Though Mynte was the first to sit down at a table near the counter. Beebee and Thyme both keeping him a bit of company. Poppy, on the other hand, took a moment to take a couple of pictures of the interior of the café… As well as a selfie or two together with the working Beanny. There was some fairly lighthearted chatting between the greed bun and the cherubun, which Mynte was more than okay simply listening to rather than being an active participant.

Many questions and phone photos later, Beanny handed two steaming cups of coffee to the greed bun… Who just had to take a picture of the barista holding said drinks before taking them over to the table Mynte was seated at. Before leaving though, another picture had to be made; this time with her, Mynte, and Mynte’s imps. Beebee, who could fly, and Bloom, who had been sitting atop Poppy’s head this whole time, were pretty easy to get in frame. Thyme… needed a bit of help, though. Help in the form of Mynte lifting the freign up so he could be in the shot.

“Say coffee!” Poppy cheered before taking a quick snap of all of them… Before running over to the counter and asking Beanny if they could take a picture of all of them, that wasn’t a selfie. A request which the cherubun laughed at, but ultimately obliged to. 

It was only after that final picture had been taken that the two succubun finally bid Beanny goodbye… But not before Beanny asked them to, “Say hi to Primrose for me, will ya?”

Once outside of the café, Poppy took in the time before looking up at Mynte. “What do you think? Think we still got time to check out the gardens before I drop you off at home?” The greed bun asked.

They… probably did, yeah. Hopefully? Ultimately that was kind of for Primrose to decide a bit, but the delivery hadn’t taken that long, and there still seemed to be plenty of time left in the day, so…

“We… we can… try?” Mynte replied quietly.

“Alright, sounds like a plan. Let’s go!” Poppy replied, excitedly pumping the hand holding her coffee up in the air. “To the gardens!”

And to the gardens they went indeed; both sipping on some… pretty darn tasty coffee, actually. Maybe Mynte should stop and visit the café more often…

Beanny would probably make some great coffee with the beans Mynte had delivered today.