Pursuit of Diligence: Chapter 6 | An End and A Beginning

Huh, so… this was a rather unexpected turn of events.

That is…

After so many days, weeks, of coming and going to the embassy to help out with the growing of ambrosia flowers, as well as other chores that Primrose had seen fit to give the sloth bun in his time there, one would think that said sloth bun would have gathered the courage to ask their one, big question, right? Right?

You’d think that… And you would have thought wrong.

Maybe it was due to his focus having been on so many other things, like keeping calm, not putting his foot in his mouth when he spoke, whether or not he brought other fellow succubun with him on a certain day and making sure that went okay, but Mynte… 

Mynte had never actually gotten around to asking Primrose if, after they were done growing ambrosia flowers, if the cherubun would be okay with showing them how they went about creating said ambrosia. After all, that was part of the hermit’s reason for coming all the way here on a regular basis and helping out. Not just the gardening part.

Oh sure, he’d had plenty of fun with the flower growing process. Hell, if anything that whole process had gone… so much better than he thought it would have gone. Sure his imps had helped a lot in making sure he wasn’t a complete social mess a lot of the time. As well as Mynte’s natural intense interest in anything to do with plants, gardening and the likes helping keep the hermit motivated and determined to keep coming back, despite any mishaps that might have occurred the previous days, but… Over time the hermit had gone from mildly dreading the trip to the embassy and needing to hype himself up to do so, to… potentially, maybe, thinking that… maybe? He’d be able to come up here all by himself. No support imps needed.

…though maybe he was also getting a little ahead of himself there.

Potential character growth aside, Mynte probably would’ve been okay with letting the ambrosia creating part go for the time being, but much to the sloth bun’s surprise it was Primrose himself that asked them if they were interested in learning some of that process. Just before parting ways after having been done with harvesting all of the flowers that day.

“It’d be a shame to not see all of your hard work come to full fruition, don’t you think?” The cherubun explained further, though admittedly Mynte had stopped listening somewhere at being asked if they wanted to help with that.

Eventually though, or more specifically after Beebee saw fit to bump against Mynte’s head to snap them out of it, the hermit remembered that, oh, hey, wait, yeah… They should say something instead of just gawking. “Y… yes! Y-yes, please!” They eventually replied with… maybe a little too much enthusiasm, which they winced a bit about upon realization, but Primrose simply chuckled a little to himself.

“Very well then. I’ll see you again next week.”

‘Next week’ could not come soon enough.

And yet somehow it very much did.

Just like that a week had passed, and just like that the hermit once again found himself at the embassy… Though with a bit of a surprise of their own. 

Later, though. Later.

For now Mynte simply did their best to locate Primrose and, upon finding said cherubun, greeted them… And followed him to be shown how this ambrosia was made.

Mynte couldn’t help but stare around the room in a sort of wide eyed wonder. It very much looked a bit like that one specific corner in his own shack… but much larger. Much cleaner, though Mynte wasn’t a slob by any means.

Primrose seemed to wait for the curious sloth bun to look around for a bit before eventually clearing his throat to get their attention. “Yes, so then… Shall we get started, Mynte?” Though he hadn’t meant to startle the sloth bun, startle Mynte still seemed to do, followed by a soft apology and determined nod. “Swell. You may put your bag over in that corner there, and while you’re at it could you bring me those flowers over there, too?”

Ever eager to please, and learn, the hermit did as they were told. Thyme took this moment to basically stand guard over the hermit’s bag, while Beebee curiously buzzed near Mynte’s head as they made their way towards Primrose with hands full of ambrosia flowers. Seemingly equally curious as the sloth bun to see the process of things.

While Mynte wasn’t a stranger to breaking up flowers for their various parts, they still took the time to listen and watch Primrose do so first before repeating his actions with practised, careful ease. Something which the cherubun took note of… And actually? Had been taking note of the whole time Mynte had been helping out at the embassy.

“You really are quite skilled at all of this already, aren’t you?” Primrose spoke all of a sudden, breaking the previous silence… and somehow still startling the green bun. This one really did startle over every little thing, didn’t they?

Still, startled or not, Mynte managed not to crush the petals they’d been harvesting from the flower in their hold. Taking a moment to figure out how to answer that question… before nodding sheepishly. Not entirely sure what else to say to that.

Thankfully though, Primrose had more to say. “I’ve noticed it in the gardens, too. Since coming here I’ve had the… pleasure. To show many a succubun how planting, watering and harvesting ambrosia flowers goes. With… varying degrees of success.” Primrose explained, unable to hide a bit of a grimace at the end there. 

Mynte… didn’t have to imagine how much of an ‘interesting’ experience teaching others how to garden could be. He’d been there at least a couple of times to witness some of the shenanigans fellow succubun put Primrose through. Something which, thinking about it a little, Mynte actually could relate to just the tiniest bit.

Those poor, unintentional early harvests…

Bringing Mynte back to the present, Primrose continued to speak. “It is, however, quite the breath of fresh air when someone comes along that seems to know what they’re doing, though. I take it you have experience with gardening yourself?” The cherubun questioned curiously.

…wild how, in all these past weeks, that topic never seemed to have come up until now, but still.

Mynte nodded slightly in response. “Y-yes… I… have a garden… b-back at home.” They explained while carefully continuing to harvest the flower’s petals.

“Hmm, that does explain things. I also take it you’re experienced in making various things with what you grow, too?” Primrose continued to question, though despite the conversation currently going on the cherubun did not remain idle. Pulling out various things that would be needed to properly make the ambrosia once things got that far.

The back and forth conversing continued for a little bit, with Mynte softly explaining the various things they had experience making. Jams, juices, pickled vegetables… The fact that they also dabbled in making various kinds of medicines, salves, soaps… And the slightly more recent venture into making potpourri.

“That’s quite the extensive skill set you have there, Mynte.” Primrose complimented with a chuckle.

“It… it’s not… I-It’s not… that big of a deal.” Mynte quickly deflected with a mutter, paused, fidgeted… Before looking away slightly and muttering an event softer, “T… thank you, though…”

For a moment, before Mynte had said anything more, it seemed like Primrose had been about to say something, but… Their gaze softened slightly as they looked over the shy sloth bun. “You’re welcome.” There was a short pause before spoke up again, “Carrying on, though…”

After a sufficient amount of petals had been gathered, Primrose showed Mynte how to properly mash said petals into a pulp for the next step in making ambrosia, though wasn’t particularly surprised when Mynte caught on pretty much immediately how things went. A few other steps had been shown, like the boiling of the sap and the pulverizing of dried leaves, but there was a very specific type of ambrosia that the cherubun had wanted to show Mynte how to make… For the most part.

While there probably was nothing to worry about, it wasn’t like he could go around giving out his secret ambrosia making techniques to just about anybun now could he? 

Something which Mynte did catch onto mind you, what with how thorough Primrose usually was with his instructions. When things got a little more vague to the point where the cherubun took over at the end? That… honestly ended up making the sloth bun that much more curious about what Primrose wasn’t telling them, but… They also weren’t going to push it.

It really was a shame that ambrosia wasn’t safe for succubun consumption, though.

Primrose had given Mynte the honour to sprinkle in the last bit of flavourings and just like that… They were done.

“And that’s how you make ambrosia.” Primrose said while looking over at Mynte. Fascination written all over their face as they looked at the little vial of floral ambrosia in their hands. 

Of course the hermit couldn’t keep the drink, but… Huh.

And this type of ambrosia had transformative effects, much like some of the alcohol back in the city? That was…

“...kind of cool…” The sloth bun muttered, which earned a bit of a chuckle from the cherubun and a startle from the succubun.

“Thank you for all of your hard work these last few weeks. I hope it was an informative experience for you despite already having had a fair bit of knowledge of your own.” Primrose… actually smiled at Mynte. Not like Mynte hadn’t seen Primrose smile at them before, just…

For a moment it seemed like Mynte was going to say something in return, but then they remembered something. Careful to first put the floral ambrosia they’d been holding down, the sloth bun turned around and went to seemingly grab something out of the bag they’d been told to leave in the corner. The bag that Thyme had oh-so dutifully been guarding all this time.

Much to Primrose’s surprise, the sloth bun procured a whole bouquet of flowers from said bag… And was even more surprised when said sloth bun seemed to be giving said bouquet… to him? Wha…

“T… t-thank you… F-for taking the time. To teach me. Everything… F-from how to grow the flowers… to how to make ambrosia.” Was Mynte a bit of a nervous wreck as they offered the colourful bouquet of meaningful flowers to the cherubun? Oh, absolutely. But… they weren’t going to not give anything to him for all of the hard work he had put into teaching him everything the sloth bun now knew about this part of cherubun culture.

…this stunned silence was a little suffocating though. The longer the silence continued, the more nervous the sloth bun got. Was this too much? Had they overstepped? Had he broken some cherubun rule he hadn’t been aware of? Had he–

Thankfully, after far, far, far too long of a silence, the nervous succubun felt the bouquet being taken out of their hold and into Primrose’s. An action which caused their head to shoot up from the ground they’d nervously been looking at the whole time.

There with a bit of a pink hue on the cherubun’s face… And while there seemed to be a hint of embarrassment in Primrose’s face, there also seemed to be a hint of fondness in their eyes as they looked over the bouquet. “I can’t say I was expecting this, and you certainly didn’t have to… I take it you grew these yourself?” The cherubun asked; gaze shifting from the flowers to the sloth bun.

“Y… yes?” Mynte answered with uncertainty.

“Hmm… Well… Thank you for the flowers as well, Mynte. They’re… very thoughtful of you.”

And with those words, Mynte’s earlier worries melted away with a relieved sigh. For the most part. Nervous bun was always gonna be at least a little nervous. 

“A-and… is it okay… if I keep coming back? T-to help?” A pause, before a slightly panicked, “N-n-not t-that I’m trying to b-bribe you o-or anything w-with the flowers or anything! J-just– I-I thought… Y-y-you also deserve nice things f-for all of your h-hard work in t-the embassy, t-too, s-so I–” Mynte’s nervous rambling was cut off by a surprisingly loud laugh from none other than the Primrose himself.

After a couple of moments of the cherubun attempting to regain their composure, he spoke up again, though unable to keep the smile off of their face. “Apologies for my behaviour, but what I meant to say was… Of course. You’re always welcome to the Heavenly Embassy, Mynte.”

So… while Mynte wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that laugh earlier, and they were still a little embarrassed about… whatever it was that they had done to cause that, because Mynte had just genuinely wanted to give the cherubun some thank you flowers for all that he had taught them… 

In hindsight it probably was kind of silly for Mynte to worry about whether or not he could keep coming back to the embassy to help out… And the timing had been a little off with their asking immediately after gifting the cherubun his flowers, but…

The confirmation they had gotten from Primrose? Yeah…

That definitely made the sloth bun feel better.

Mynte couldn’t wait to keep coming back… and see what else they’d be able to learn along the way.