DILIGENCE 06

The hinges of the heavy door to the Heavenly Embassy creaked as Coronis pressed it open with his shoulder, hands busy clutching a bundle of white ambrosia flowers. He leaned to the side to hold it open for his companion, allowing Philos to slip in past him before the door closed with a heavy thud behind the two of them.

"Don't see blondie around, do you?"

The question barely escaped Coro's lips before the two heard the sound of footsteps and saw a familiar head of blonde hair emerge from around a corner with a huff.

"I'll thank you to use my actual name, Coronis. Hello, Philos." Primrose stepped out to greet (begrudgingly, perhaps, in one case) the pair, white clothes covered with an apron he'd no doubt borrowed from Beanny. He eyed the bundle in Coro's arms, the flower's petals peeking out from the paper they'd been wrapped in.

"From yesterday, I presume. You know, if you two had come right here then, we could've gotten this done already." The cherubun lets out a put-upon sigh, taking the flowers and leading the other two into the room he'd appeared from. They shared a look as he turned around, Coronis rolling his eyes and causing Philos's apologetic smile to grow ever so slightly wider.

"We'll need to pick the petals off these first." Prim led the two into a large, open scullery and set the bundle on the island in the middle of the room, unrolling the flowers as he did. He motioned to a large bowl sitting on the counter. "Put them in there, and leave the stems on the parchment. We don't want to waste the sap, and we certainly don't need it all over the counters." Coronis raised an eyebrow, quietly mouthing 'the petals..?' to himself before Philos spoke up, placing a gentle hand on his elbow to pull his attention.

"Thou art familiar with how Cherubuns cannot partake in alcohol - but one may still wish to enjoy a special beverage for a holiday gathering or party." Their succubun companion nodded, and Philos continued. "While we useth ambrosia for transformative or medicinal purposes, many also enjoy sweet ambrosia on such occasions." They directed his attention to a number of ingredients Primrose was placing on the counter - sweet syrups and juices, extracts and herbs.

"S'pose you'd have to have somethin' to drink at those sort of things," Coronis responded, picking up one of the little sweet smelling bottles and peering into it - until Prim snatched it back, at least. "Good to know. Wouldn't want you goin' thirsty if you came to somethin' downtown, Phi." He gave his companion a lop-sided smile, before turning his attention back to the other cherubun. "Or you, of course."

"How thoughtful. Now, if you're quite finished -" Primrose rolled his eyes and turned back to the task at hand, motioning them both over to better see what he was doing. He plucked a handful of petals from the flowers and placed them in a small mortar. "You want to grind them until they turn into a pulp or paste, then put it in a separate bowl so we can use it for the drinks." He picked up the bottle Coronis had grabbed earlier, wiggling it as if to draw attention. “We’ll mix them together afterward.”

"I am familiar with the process - dost thou feel confident in thine task?" Philos tilted their head upward to address Coro, the taller doll standing behind the two cherubuns to peer over their shoulders.

“Petals, pulp, put ‘em in drinks. Seems simple enough.” He gave the cherubuns a lazy grin before seeming to remember something. “Ah - hold on, though.” Coronis fiddled with something in his hair for a moment before letting his hair out of it’s hair tie, handing it over to a questioning Philos.

“Yours is a lot longer than mine - wouldn’t want stuff gettin’ in it.”
"Oh! Thank you, Coronis."

His gaze lingered for a moment on the cherubun carefully gathering their hair out of the way, before Coro turned to Primrose, head tilted like he was considering something.

"What."
"Y'know, you've got enough you could do a tiny lil ponytail in the back." Prim's narrowed eyes made him stifle a laugh. "It'd match your tail."

Primrose let out an audible 'ugh' as he forcefully shoved a handful of ambrosia flowers into the smirking succubun’s hands.

“Just get to work.”

Coronis gave him a quick little faux salute as Primrose rounded the corner of the counter, Philos carefully taking a few of the flowers from his hands as he turned back.

“Allow me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of stoppin’ you.”

They’d brought in a lot of flowers – all thanks to Philos, in Coro’s opinion (he hadn’t exactly spent much time gardening before they’d met). But six hands made quicker work, and gradually the large bowl was filled with petals, stems set aside for some later date and careful plucking traded for mortars and pestles. The light filtering in through the window behind them had only just begin to fade as Coronis carefully nudged his way past Prim to add the last of the paste to the pile, fragrant scent rising from the contents. Primrose lifted the bowl, bringing it over to the spot on the countertop where he had left the other ingredients, the other two soon following after him and helping to fetch the little measuring cups needed for putting it all together. Ambrosia, sugar and water were all poured into a pot and mixed together, heat helping to meld all the ingredients together - all but one.

Coronis grabbed one of the ornate little bottles off the counter top - empty, meant to contain the finished drinks they made today. Primrose grumbled and started to reach for it back, but stopped short when Coro pointed toward the different flavourings lined up with his other hand.

"What're you thinkin'?"
Prim raised an eyebrow at the doll looming over his shoulder, before turning to see Philos giving him a similar curious look on his other side.
"It would be best to make a kind thou wouldst also enjoy, yes?"

The pair watched the cherubun between them pause as if taken off-guard for a moment, before collecting himself quickly enough that someone might wonder if he'd ever faltered in the first place. "That's... we'll do something simple. Many more cherubuns than me will be looking for ambrosia." It was muttered with a derisive huff, but neither Philos nor Coronis missed how quickly his hand reached for that same little bottle he'd snatched back earlier.

As Primrose handed him the bottle to add to the ambrosia, Coronis looked to Philos with a mouthed 'angel?', lazy grin returning when the other nodded back.

"Works for me, then."