Mimosa's Pursuit of Diligence: Chapter 3

Mimosa sighed and leaned back on the glass pane of the elevator.  It’s not that she didn’t want to help out the Cherubuns - she truly did feel bad about the hand they were dealt in life - but Primrose… Why did he have to be such a prick about everything?!  The last time Mimosa saw him, he lectured her for 10 minutes about the various ways she improperly planted seeds, even though that was well over a week ago.  She was more than happy to deliver a huge bag of tea leaves instead of staying there listening to him, despite hating most physical activities.  There are no further deliveries to be made this week, however, so it’s back to the garden with her ever-so-friendly instructor.  She let out a long droning moan and rubbed her sore arms as the elevator rose higher and higher towards The Heavenly Embassy.  At least if he’s a bun today, I can just kick him if he gets sassy, Mimosa thought to herself.

The elevator eventually reached its destination, and Mimosa begrudgingly dragged her hooves over to the entrance of the greenhouse.  She opened the door, and looked around for a blond Cherubun with a sour expression.  Surprisingly, there was no one else inside… except for another Cherubun with a much more welcoming aura.

“Dove!”  Mimosa exclaimed.  “What are you doing here?  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see you, but… doesn’t Primrose usually work here?”

Dove smiled in a way that could melt the iciest of hearts.  “Hi Mimosa!  Primrose had some other business at the embassy, so I thought I could visit and help out in the gardens today instead!”

“OH THANK HELL,” Mimosa said as she fell backwards onto the grass below in relief.  “Working with Primrose fucking suuuuuucks!!  How can you stand it?!”

With a nervous giggle, Dove replied, “Well, I guess because I’ve known him since we were kids!  Back in the meadow…” Their face seemed to fall in sadness as their words trailed off.

“OH uhh uhhh haha I gotcha!”  Mimosa quickly but clumsily rolled back up onto her hooves.  “Yeah yeah I’m sure he’s great once you get to know him… uhhh ANYWAY!  What are our tasks for today?”

Snapping back into focus, Dove reached into their dress pocket and pulled out a note.  “O-oh!  Of course, of course… Hmm, let’s see here… Ah, it looks like today we water the plants!”  

“Yes!  Watering plants!  I can’t possibly fuck that up!”  Mimosa looked around the greenhouse.  “So, uhh… What do we use?”

“Come with me!”  Dove cheered, grabbing Mimosa’s hand and leading her to a shed near the back corner of the garden.  Despite the rest of the greenhouse having rather elegant decor, the shed itself was a bit run-down - wooden boards were coming loose, most of the paint had long chipped away, and the door itself barely seemed to close all the way.  “Eheh, Jackal brought this up from an abandoned farm down in Burrowgatory, so we haven’t had time to fix it up yet…” said a flustered Dove.

“Bro, this thing is nicer than half the shit I own in my burrow,” Mimosa replied in both a reassuring and concerning tone.  “As long as it holds stuff, it doesn’t need to be fancy.  So is there a watering can in here somewhere?”

“Yeah!  Probably…”  Although the shed door appeared partially open, it was actually stuck, and it took a few good pulls from Dove before it burst open.  A few gardening tills and rakes fell out, revealing a pile of rusty tools stacked up within.  “Oh dear… when I asked Jackal to find any gardening tools that people weren’t using, I didn’t think she’d get THIS many!”

“Now this feels more like my burrow,” Mimosa quipped.  “Ugghhh… I gotta help you dig through this, don’t I?”

“I’m afraid so,” stated Dove as they reached and grabbed a gardening hoe.  “I guess for now, you can just sort these into piles while I look for some cans…”  Mimosa accepted her minor role, and sorted the tools by putting duplicates into their own piles.  After what seemed like an eternity to the lazy bun (it was actually only 15 minutes), Dove emerged from the shed holding a shoddy watering can in each hand.  “Look, look!  I got them!!”

“Yeahhh you’re great!”  Mimosa cheered.  Her expression dampened upon realizing that there were still piles of tools strewn about the grass.  “Err… uhh… can we put these back later?”

Dove puffed out their chest and put on a stern expression.  “Now now, Mimosa, that’s not very diligent of you!”  they commanded, clearly mimicking Primrose.  “You must do the task properly, or else you will not be virtuous!”  The ridiculousness of the impression made both buns burst out in laughter.  “Heehee…!  Sorry, Mimosa, I couldn’t resist!  I’ll help you put these away!”

Mimosa and Dove worked together on putting the tools back in a slightly more organized fashion than how they found them.  Thankfully (for Mimosa), it didn’t take nearly as long as organizing them did.  After filling up their watering cans at a nearby spout, they were finally ready to actually begin the task assigned to them.

“Okay Mimosa, now it’s important to give the seeds have plenty of water, but make sure it’s not TOO much!” Dove explained as they began pouring water evenly throughout the patch of dirt.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh, I got it…” replied a now-sleepy Mimosa, watering the seeds in front of her in a much less careful fashion.  “Hey, Dove, I know you told me all about virtues and vices before, but like… Why do we need both, again?”

“It’s all about balance!”  Dove pulled their watering can back to concentrate on their explanation.  “Your cute little nubby horns are related to Sloth, right?  Why, without Diligence, you would never get anything done ever, and you would just sleep all day every day!”

“That sounds like a dream…” Mimosa wistfully sighed, not noticing that her watering can is close to empty.  

A small frown appeared on Dove’s face.  “Nooo!  You have to do SOME things… Hmm, what about this - you’re going to go home and take a nap once you’re all done here, right?”

“Oh, almost certainly.  It’s gonna be AMAZING!”

“Right!” chirped Dove.  “You put in a lot of work, so now it will be extra satisfying to rest!  The harder you work, the better relaxing will feel!”

Mimosa’s eyes widened at the sudden realization.  “That… That makes sense!  I get it now!  I gotta do work so that I can REALLY enjoy sleeping!  Well, I promise to be more diligent from now on!” cheered Mimosa as she triumphantly lifted her watering can in the air.  Her newfound enthusiasm dwindled a bit as she looked up at the can, which felt much lighter than it should, and then back down at the plot of land, which was decidedly soggier than Dove’s.  “Oh… uh… is that bad?”

“Ummmm…” Dove nervously twiddled their fingers together.  “W-Well, I could’ve watered my part a little more, so it’ll balance out!  I think…”  

“Whew, good, I don’t need another lecture from Primrose.”  With a sly smirk, Mimosa looked down into her watering can.  “Hey, I still have some water left in here… just enough to do THIS!”  Before Dove could react, Mimosa twirled towards the cherubun and splashed them with the leftover water.

“EEEEEEEEE, my dress!!”  cried Dove.  “Why, you…!  I’ll get you!”  Before Mimosa could react, Dove drenched her in water from their own can.

“Ahhhh no fair, you have more water than I do!!”

“Heeheehee, there’s more where that came from, too!” said an almost-threatening-sounding Dove.  They started to chase Mimosa around the garden, splashing her with water as she stumbled about on her unsteady hooven feet.  After a few minutes, they both collapsed into the grass, sopping wet but giggling uncontrollably.  “Ohhh my goodness!  I can’t do THIS with Primrose!” Dove said as they sat up and squeezed excess water out of the bottom of their dress.

“Ohhh man, I’d probably get a lifetime ban from here if I tried to have a water-fight with him…” Mimosa said while she sat up and shook the water out of her hair.  “If I could always work with you, I’d almost be tempted to find a regular job!”

“Aww, you’re sweet!” said Dove with a smile.  “Come on, let’s go dry ourselves off as much as possible, and I’ll go down with you on my way to Jackal’s place!”

The pair of buns made their way to the restrooms to clean up, then to the tower back down to Burrowgatory, all while shooting the breeze.  As the elevator door shut behind them, Dove turned to look through the glass panes and at the sprawling Burrowgatory scenery below.  “And to think, I could’ve lived out a short little life, not even knowing about the whole world that exists down here… All these people, like Jackal, and you, Mimosa… Mimosa?”

Concerned at the silence, Dove turned around.  They were greeted with a bun-form Mimosa, who transformed and curled into the corner of the elevator to take a nap all while Dove was momentarily distracted.  Dove giggled quietly to themselves, gingerly picked up Mimosa, and cradled her in their arms.  “Okay, I guess I’ll walk you home, too…” they said, patting the sleeping bun’s head as she snored (and drooled a little) with a big smile on her face.  

Mimosa then dreamed about the importance of diligence all throughout the night… Well, she probably actually dreamt about endless fountains of wine, but the idea still stuck with her regardless.