{YOTB-3} … In For a Pound

Divide and conquer the Church… that’s the sort of mindset that Shibani went into this with after parting from Dagasho in an attempt to get some water blessed by at least one member of the clergy. Dagasho was dealing with Mercy—that’s a feat in itself, honestly—so Shibani was left to wander the main chapel in search of Oleander among the bustling amount of church buns that ran this way and that all around the place. This place was always so busy around this time of year… watching all these buns and pals run around the place made Shibani so sleepy for them. Aah, but wait — sleeping’s nice and all, but he PROMISED to get that water! Cross his tail and he’ll swallow a thousand and one sticky mochi if he doesn’t get this bottle of spring water blessed. One could never be too sure how bendable Mercy was… so the next best thing was going to the head priest himself.

After ducking under a couple buns on a ladder hanging up sparkly decorations, Shibani finally spotted Oleander amidst the crowd of folks pattering about the main chapel; as the head priest ducked into one of the back rooms, Shibani followed… Needless to say he was quite surprised when faced with an Oleander who had his head butted against a stone pillar.

“Ugh…”
“Father, is everything alright? Does your head hurt?”
“Oh, Shibani, love.” Oleander pressed fingers into his temple as he pulled himself away from the pillar. His neutral expression was tight, and in his other hand he held a spoon to one of his eyes.
“Spoon…?”
“Putting a cold spoon on one’s eyes reduces puffiness — Mercy told me. There’s been quite a lot of preparatory work for the Mochi Moon service in and out of the chapel, and I haven’t been able to get beauty sleep… or…” Or take care of… “other things” properly. Oh, woe is him. Oleander sighed as he switched the spoon to his other eye. “In any case, love, it’s odd to see you around the Church in any ‘early’ sense. Do you need anything? A confession?”
“Oh no, not today; you’ve already got a lot on your plate. Actually I was gonna ask you about a favor, but…”
“No no, love! Ask away; it’s our honor here at the Church to provide our services in any way that a bun could desire. Whatever could you need?”

“Well…” Shibani pulled out the bottle of spring water, “Dan’s making mochi for Allocer, and I wanted to help him out by getting some spring water blessed to use as an ingredient. I dunno how busy Mercy is, so I came to you, but you’re both probably super busy.”
“Ahh, I see! That’s certainly not unheard of, no! I do have to say that you’re right about how busy each one of us is around this time of year, though; I could get this blessed for you, it may just take a while…” Oleander tapped his chin with his free hand.
“A while?”
“A couple weeks give or take, depending on how many buns come in after new years for resolution confessionals.”
“Aaah that’s too long! The festival’s gonna be in just a couple days!”
“Well I’m duly sorry, but the schedule is tight, dear.” With downturned lips, Oleander shook his head. However… After looking at Shibani’s teary-eyed pout he instead put on a thoughtful look. “But I do see that this is quite an important rush job for you. If I can relax a bit, I can definitely squeeze in that blessing for you…”
“Oh really?!” Shibani’s eyes turned up as he stepped closer to Oleander. “Relax? I’m basically an expert at relaxing; I can help! Let me help! How do you like to relax? I like—”

Before Shibani had a chance to finish his overenthusiastic sentence, Oleander pressed a finger against his lips. There was a shuffling at the end of the hall; people were coming. In a swift motion, Oleander shoved the spoon into a pocket and looped that hand’s deft fingers underneath the rope around Shibani’s collar, pulling the both of them into a vacant nearby room.

“Oh… Oleander, sir…”
“Put that bottle down over there… how about we relax here, just the two of us?”
“S… sure…”

Now with their hands free, the two of them could get onto doing more… important things…

…

Or so Shibani thought.

Several hours later, Shibani awakened groggily with Oleander laid over his lap—still fully clothed—completely out like a light. Ahh right… Shibani remembered now; Oleander had only gotten through his ropes and was struggling to get Shibani’s shirt off when he was suddenly hit with a wave of post-stress drowsiness. So Shibani patted Oleander’s head as the head priest fell into a deep slumber… and well, looks like Shibani fell asleep somewhere in the middle too. Aah, it was really comfortable here… he didn’t want to get up, but there’s something important to do…

Oh no. The spring water. The time. What time was it?!

In a panic Shibani looked up… and a finger was pressed to his lips once more.

“Ssh. Hey, Shibani; stay quiet for now, alright? Here, I’ll lift Oleander… you slide out this way.” From out of nowhere—like always—Mercy appeared… and indeed, they managed to slide Oleander’s sleeping form off Shibani in a way that allowed for him to escape without waking Oleander up.
“Mercy… oh thank you. Um…”
“Dagasho left earlier while you and Oleander were sleeping; I came across the two of you napping and left you be. Oleander’s had it quite rough, helping out with the organizing and all; I have to thank you for giving him a quiet moment to rest in.” They smiled at Shibani, and he couldn’t help but blush a little.
“Haha, no problem. It’s what I’m really good at! Well… I guess I better head back to Dan’s place.”

As Shibani and Mercy tip-toed towards the door, Shibani dejectedly reached for the bottle of spring water he’d placed on an end table near the door. Guess he’s going home empty-handed… But much to his surprise, there was a bottle of holy water in its place.

“I’d assumed you came here for the same thing that Dagasho did… and since you did the Church a favor, I thought I’d do you a favor back. Don’t tell Oleander too much, okay? I wanted to let him take the spotlight for this one.” Mercy gave Shibani a little smile and a pat on the shoulder as the two wandered down the halls towards the front of the now-quiet church.
“Oooh… yeah, okay. I can do that.”
“Wonderful! Well, as always… The Church thanks you for your patronage. You’re always welcome in these hallowed halls! Have a wonderful Mochi Moon celebration, and I do hope that mochi-making goes well.”
“Thank you so much, Mercy! Have a good Mochi Moon!”

And with that, Shibani left to find his way back to Dan’s shop. It sure was late… hope that he didn’t keep Dagasho waiting for too long.

…

In the late evening hour, Shibani had wandered back to Dan’s shop and found Dagasho all splayed out on the floor in the front. After a couple of pokes, the old man was awake once more.

“Dagasho… hey, Dagasho…”
“WHUH—Shibani! Ouuugh, hey bud! You’re late… and you don’t have a shirt on.”
“Oh. Oops. I think I forgot it at the Church… but nevermind that, look! I got some holy water! That makes up for me being late, right?”
“Eyy, lookie there! I’ll say it does. Well I digress… now we have two bottles.”
“So we both got some? Well… guess that means there’ll be extra just in case, right?”
“Ayep. We can hand these off to Dan, then go take a nap… sounds good, right?”
“Sounds so good! High five!”

The two smacking their hands together signified yet another day full of success. Go team!