pod, chapter 1: old friend

Elijah's leather glove scrunched from his fist forming, staring up at the large greenhouse before him. He hated this place, the Heavenly Embassy, it was far too bright and obnoxious, but Seth insisted he bring him here. Elijah stood out remarkably from the brightness around him, being a figure of darkness.

"...Is this what it was like? Your...your home?" Seth tapped his index fingers together in nervousness, he didn't like to pry in Elijah's business like this, but his curiosity had to be satiated, he wanted to know what Cherubun's lives were like in the Heavenly Meadow. Ever since he met Elijah he had been curious as to what the Heavenly Meadow was like, and what lives they led there. Elijah just grumbled, ignoring his question, "I don't know why you insisted on me bringing you here to do this, you know I don't like this place, you know I don't like ambrosia, and yet-"

"...You still brought me here." Seth interjected. Checkmate. Elijah just stared at him, then growled, "Let's get this over with."

They went inside the large greenhouse, and within it was bustling with succubuns and cherubuns alike. Cherubuns were teaching classes on how ambrosia was made, and Succubuns were getting hands on training on how to start the ambrosia growing process.

Elijah stomped his way down the path past some cherubuns, and they tried to say hi to their old friend, but he straight up ignored them. Seth quickly apologized, but had to continue on as Elijah kept stomping.

Eventually, they found who they were looking for: Primrose. His eyes widened upon seeing Elijah, to which he stammered, "E-Elijah, is that you?"

"..." Elijah remained silent, just waiting for Seth to speak up, but Primrose spoke first, "I c-can't believe it, I knew you had fallen, too, but not this far..."

"Shut the fuck up, I'm not here to be reprimanded by that asshole's pet. Seth, get on with it." Elijah ground his teeth together as Primrose gasped as his brows furrowed, "A-Ah?! 'Pet'?! What has gotten into you, Elijah?!"

" I don't know the exact details, but it's a long story, okay? N-Now I came here to see how you all cultivate ambrosia..." Seth laughed nervously as he spoke up, but Elijah scoffed at Primrose's remark, "'Gotten into me'?? How about every Cherubun who still believes in that-"

"Elijah, stop, and I'm being serious, dude. You're making things extremely bad." Seth's eye darted around at the buns starting to notice the confrontation, even as he was finally standing his ground. Elijah clenched his teeth in a rage, then stormed off.

Seth and some other buns watched him go, and he held his head in embarrassment, "Ugh, I'm sorry about him, I know I should've come alone..." Seth sighed and shook his head. Primrose gazed upon Seth with a hard look, then his gaze softened, "...I. I'm sorry I shouldn't have insinuated him falling to sin, I just..." Primrose sighed, "It's a long story, but I'll shorten it. Care to listen over a cup of tea?"

"U-Uh, sure, I'd be up for that." Seth blushed a little, then followed him to a patio area where many Cherubun and Succubun were hanging out. They sat across from each other, Primrose pouring him a cup of tea, "If you'd like to know, Elijah was one of the most respected Cherubuns in the Meadow, not only for his grace, poise, and learning ability, but for his singing. He had the voice of an angel, and I'm sure this stays true to this day,"

"Yeah, that's a fact, he even has a band now, though he sings about some...pretty dark stuff." Seth nodded, then Primrose sighed, "I guess I should've expected that, he trusted Melangel with his life. He believed every word that they had said, and so did I.”
“...Guess you all really liked this Melangel guy, huh?” Seth rubbed the back of his neck, to which Primrose nodded. He finished his tea and stood, “I suppose I should let you get back to what you were doing, yes? Here, have some ambrosia seeds. I’m sure once you find Elijah that he can show you what to do with them. They’re sacred to us, so I’m sure he wouldn’t let harm come to them.”
Primrose took a small satchel out of his pocket, handing it to Seth. He gazed at the seeds within the translucent bag, admiring their slight glow, “Th-Thank you for trusting me, you aren’t as bad as Elijah says, y’know?”
“Wh…what has he said…? You know what…nevermind.” Primrose sighed and shook his head as Seth got up and went on to find Elijah within the greenhouse.

Elijah sat in the quiet corner of the greenhouse near a plot of unbothered soil, crossing his arms and grumbling. He hated being here, but he didn’t want to just leave without Seth…
Seth came bounding up to him, breathing heavily, “Man, this place is huge…I never thought I’d find you…Ugh. I’m so out of shape, man.”
“...” Elijah was silent for a moment, then shook his head, “I’m sorry for making a scene earlier, I just…This place brings up bad memories.”
“It’s fine…I don’t..hah…blame you. Then…hah…shall we get on with what we were doing?” Seth tried catching his breath for a moment, then held up the bag of seeds, to which Elijah’s eyes widened, “How did you get those? Did Primrose really entrust you with them? Surprising…”
“Yeah, he seemed kind of eager to give them to me, probably cuz I know you.” Seth laughed, then Elijah stood and took the seeds from him gently. He rubbed his thumb on the bag, closing his eyes. Memories began to flood his head from his time in the Heavenly Meadow, all those good times he had…now gone. Elijah sighed, shaking his head quickly to shake the memories away, “Well...first you make a hole in the ground for each seed, there seems to be about five seeds, so let’s do that.”

Seth kneeled down to the plot of dirt, poking a hole in the ground for each of the seeds. Elijah shook his head, “No, deeper.”
Elijah took Seth’s hand with his own, making him form a finger, making deeper holes in the ground. Seth’s face erupted into a blushing mess, looking around, confused, “A-Ah? Um…l-like this??”
Elijah nodded, ignoring him blushing, then opened the bag of seeds and put them in Seth’s hand, “Then put a seed in each hole and cover them back up with dirt. I’ll see if I can find a can to water them with.”
Seth did as told as Elijah went off to find a watering can, putting a seed in each of the holes that were made, then covered them back up with dirt. The soil here was so soft and earthy, quite different from the soil below. No wonder the soil down below couldn't grow this stuff.

Elijah returned with the watering can, putting it within Seth’s grasp, “Now, water them.”
Seth gazed at the can, admiring the neat engravings on it, then did as told and watered the spots he planted the seeds in. Elijah crossed his arms as he watched. Hopefully this would satiate Seth’s desire to know more about Cherubuns, he really did not want to return here…
Seth finished up watering the seeds, putting the can down and brushing his hands off, “Heh, I think we did a pretty good job, don’t you think? I can’t wait to see what they turn into.”
“Ohhh no. Hell no. I’m not coming back here. You can come by yourself next time.” Elijah shook his head, to which Seth turned and pleaded with him, “C’mon man, you don’t want to see the fruits of our effort??”
“No, not really.”
“Ugh…you’re such a buzzkill.” Seth crossed his arms, and Elijah became defensive, “N-No I’m not! I just don’t like being here, you know that…”
“Yeah, right…” Seth wasn’t so convinced that Elijah hated being here, this was reminiscent of his home, after all. Or what Seth thought his home looked like…He was sure he’d bring him back here to see what their efforts would bring.
“A-Anyway, can we get out of here now that we’ve planted the damn things? My eyes are starting to burn.” Elijah rubbed his eyes, and Seth laughed, “Yeah, we can.”

Seth was sure Elijah would return here with him, after all, their diligence had to be rewarded somehow, right?