[Comm] Marina's Diligence 1

Lost among the clouds, intersected by glimmering white and gold, the Heavenly Embassy stood above the streets of the burrow. A sanctuary for the cherubuns that felt from the grace of the meadow.

It wasn’t the sort of place to find a succubun and yet, there Marina was. A soft pink contrasting with the world around her with a distracted smile. She didn’t quite understand cherubuns, but she did think their architecture was beautiful.

It was only when a hand slipped into hers that she startled and turned to her left, blinking at the cherubun that tightly squeezed her palm.

“Marina, you really did come by,” Dove’s soft voice answered, delighted to see their friend, “I was worried you wouldn’t.”

Marina tilted her head curiously, “Huh? Why wouldn’t I?”

Dove glanced around them, as if searching for someone, “Some cherubuns are… difficult around succubuns. I didn’t want you to leave because someone was acting strange.”

Marina laughed brightly, “You mean the yellow one that keeps yelling at everyone?”

Dove grinned, trying to be subtle, “Yes that would be Primrose. Come on, let’s hurry before he catches us. We’ll never plant the seeds in time if he does.”

“Okay!” Marina happily followed after her friend, giggling together when they ducked behind pillars if they even heard a whisper of Primrose’s voice.

Marina didn’t think badly of Primrose, but she did want to start helping Dove with the gardens before it took too late. No cherubun would accept a random succubun staying here so late without a good reason.

When they finally reached the gardens, Dove sighed as they stepped onto the grass. “Much better.” They always did love the fresh scent of plants and dirt, yet here, they felt like they enjoyed the scent so much more than they did in the meadows. “Come on Marina, I set the bag of seeds over there.”

Marina let Dove lead her without question, instead she was more focused on the plants around her. There were so many of all different species, even older flowering bushes that she had no names for. Was this what cherubuns meant when they said the meadow was a lot different to the burrows? Everything here was so beautiful, in a way that she had never seen.

“How many do we have to plant?” She questioned, almost bumping into Dove when they stopped to grab the seeds.

Dove tapped their chin in thought. “I think just two or more flowerbeds worth, we cleared out some of them for new ambrosia flowers.”

Marina nodded, her tail wagging excitedly, “That doesn’t sound too hard, what should I do?”

Dove reached down again, letting go of Marina’s hand, to grab a trowel from the grass. “When I dig a hole, you drop a seed in.”

Marina instantly looked towards the flowerbed, “That’s it?”

“Well it is just planting seeds, I think this is probably the easiest part of ambrosia. Although don’t tell Primrose I said that, he might lecture me that there’s more to it.”

“I’ll never tell!”

The pair smiled secret smiles, before they approached the flowerbed together. Dove handed Marina the bag of seeds, before they crouched down to dig a small hole.

“Now, Marina.”

Marina slightly fumbled with the bag as she pulled out a single seed, dropping it gently into the hole before Dove covered it up. “Do they grow very fast?”

Dove paused, before slightly shrugging, “I’m not entirely sure, Primrose didn’t tell me the type of flowers we were planting. He just gave me a bag and told me he needed a few rows of these.”

Marina shook her head, “How does he remember what everything is if he doesn’t label it?”

“I told him that before, but he just started grumbling over how every cherubun should know what the different heavenly seeds look like.”

“I mean does every cherubun know that?”

Dove quickly disagreed, “I can’t imagine they do, I know quite a lot of cherubuns that have no interest in gardening. Just like how there’s succbuns that don’t dare.” They moved slightly, digging another hole and allowing Marina to drop in another seed.

“That makes sense, I don’t think I could tell the difference between seeds.” Although Marina was sure she could if she saw what they looked like first.

Dove waved their hand dismissively, “If you’re not a gardener, I really don’t think you need to. Just like how Primrose doesn’t know anything about motorcycles.” At least they thought so, that would be a twist if they learned the uptight cherubun did.

The pair once again giggled to themselves as they continued digging holes and planting seeds. They seemed to be going through the word fairly quickly, chatting when they worked together.

Marina piped up, “Do you want to get coffee after this? Or maybe tea? I thought there was a shop here at the embassy.”

Dove answered quickly, “There is, I think you would like it. It would be nice to drink things together since I can’t have alcohol and you can’t have ambrosia.” They dreaded the thought of their friend accidentally drinking any.

Marina cheered, “Perfect! I hope they have something sweet too, all this works makes me want sugar.”

“Sugar? I wonder why?”

“Sugar gives you energy obviously… or is that just because sugar rushes are a thing?”

Dove raised an eyebrow, “Have you really gotten one before? I wasn’t sure if they were real.”

Marina scoffed playfully, “What of course they’re real. Here’s let go wash our hands since we’re done planting and get as many desserts as we can!”

Dove didn’t know if that was such a good idea, but they liked their friend ambition, grabbing her hand again to pull her towards the nearest sink.

Cherubuns and succubuns might seem very different, but if anyone was watching, there didn’t seem to be a difference between the pair as they ran through the halls of the embassy. They had the same smile and the same grip on each other’s hands.

The same but different.