PROMPT - pursuit of diligence 03

PROMPT - PURSUIT OF DILIGENCE: CHAPTER 03

Succubun - MYO-4927, Aysel + mention of others owned by me
Cherubun - NPC, Primrose

This time, Aysel almost really hadn’t gone. And because of a real problem, mind you! No excuses! See, he liked having his emotional support roomie around one way or another... but today, Will was busy. Clients galore, would essentially be hopping around Burrowgatory all day. Couldn't even bring him over to the Heavenly Embassy this time because of it.

That alone was enough for Aysel's mildly attachment-issues-riddled brain to shut down hard on the task at hand. Today, they would only be watering the Embassy gardens anyway. Didn't sound super pressing—so did it really matter whether he'd be there or not?

But perhaps staying faithful to his tasks twice already (and enjoying them a lot in the end) may have actually done something for his perseverance here, for he had done something he never in his life would have thought he'd do: he'd called Felix, someone not-Will, and begged him for a ride. You know, so he would get there in spite of the setback.

.. Okay, yeah, he could've also gone by himself instead of hinging everything on Felix now. But this was already quite something for him—a whole leap outside of his comfort zone! Normally, he would've simply gone: "Aw, how unfortunate, oh no!" and happily headed right back to bed, and he wouldn’t have felt the slightest twinge of guilt about it!

Aysel waved after Felix and his funny little blue bicycle as he left him to it; the other sloth bun didn't look too comfortable being near the Heavenly Embassy. Shrugging, Aysel entered—and as he looked around the imposing building, he felt rather proud of himself for not turning away from the adversaries this morning. Ha, he sure did good! Was it too early for a shoulder pat?

With a soft hum, he searched for Primrose.

The blonde cherubun was pacing back and forth in the reception hall as though he meant to walk a line of fire right into the soft carpet, a little impatient. "Ah!" he exclaimed when he noticed Aysel fidgeting with the hem of his cardigan. "There you are! You are late."

"Umm, no I’m not," Aysel said, confused. "I even made sure I wouldn't be."

"Yes, you are in fact ten minutes late!"

"Huh... that counts as late here?" Well, the more you know.

Primrose waved it off with a hand. "Nevermind, I reckon ten minutes mean little to you."

For sure. That didn't even register as a jab.

"Come, we have much to do."

A jab it may not be… but Aysel definitely did feel an air of irritation wafting off of the other bun, and it put the slightest downer on his victorious mood. He furrowed his eyebrows with mild uncertainty as Primrose popped up behind him and began ushering him down the Embassy halls.

“First things first,” Primrose’s voice was hasty, as though he was barely breathing between words, “we will have to fetch water. Now, you would not know this, but the water we use is purer than anything you may find in Burrowgatory. One may even say it is… well, heavenly.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. It’s in the name of the building, right..?” Aysel tried not to trip over his own feet as he was led to… uh, it looked like some sort of water basin with all kinds of doohickeys attached to it, but he didn’t know enough to point out what was what. He supposed that for him, the most important attribute here was the enormous golden watering can perched on the edge of the basin.

“Don’t get smart with me. Alright, I want you to fill up that watering can and come with me.” Primrose nudged Aysel toward the basin. He crossed his arms. “Be very careful. We purify this water ourselves, and it is the only substance our delicate ambrosia flowers ought to be watered with. It takes a moment to extract this much of it. And, needless to say, the plants need it now.”

Still frowning, Aysel did as he was told, filling up the watering can with the necessary struggle. Man, Primrose sure was snippy today… And usually the succubun wouldn’t care too much, but—he was feeling some type of way about it.

Sure, he wasn’t the best individual out there. Maybe he did not, in fact, deserve that shoulder pat. But—but he was here, so… I've really been trying, he thought to himself, shoulders slumping.

Unfortunately, forsaking the strength in his arms meant losing grip on the watering can, and he spilled enough water on the smooth Embassy floor to cause Primrose’s ear fluff to poof up at the sight of it. Aysel stared at the floor for a moment, recovering his hold on the can. “Oops. Sorry..."

"Oh, no, it's quite alright. It's not like this water is rather special or anything. Or like I just told you it is in limited supply currently." Primrose pinched the bridge of his nose, seemingly trying to keep himself relatively reasonable despite his annoyance. "Well, no matter. Come on, chop chop, we will need to refill it."

Aysel's ears drooped guiltily as he did as he was told. Dangit, today was not his day. He should've known as soon as Will told him he wouldn't be bringing him over! "I'm sorry," he said again, just in case.

Why did this feel kind of bad?

In due time, the two buns made their way to the Embassy gardens, and Aysel got to work. It was still just as tiring as before, going around the planter to visit all the little seeds he had planted before, towing a heavy watering can along—but the seeds had sprouted, and it looked kind of cute. He had planted those, and now they were growing up.

Hehe… nice! “Aww, this one's got little baby buds already,” Aysel cooed, prodding and stroking one of the little sprouts like it was an imp.

“Do not harm the flowers, thank you.”

“O-oh. Sorry.” Wow, okay, so this truly was not his day. The icky feelings inside grew stronger, pushing aside the sense of accomplishment, and Aysel drooped further.

Perhaps this level of droopiness had upped the pressure between the two buns a little too high, because soon enough, Primrose sighed, deep and rather soundly. "No, no, it's... it really is quite alright,” he said, waving his hand around. “I suppose I should cut you some slack. Three times now, you have shown up to fulfill your duties whilst I truthfully thought I wouldn't see you again after the first time."

He raised his chin. “Of course, this is the bare minimum, but—no, this must be quite something for you. Well done.”

It was like an exceptionally hefty weighted blanket was lifted off of Aysel. “Um... it is, yeah," he mumbled, carefully pouring some water over the little ambrosia flower sprout he had just petted. In his mind, he apologized to it. "I know it's the bare minimum, but for me, it's like getting the better of myself every time. It's nice. Usually I don't really do tasks at all, or things that feel like tasks, or, uh, things, and now I've done three already, and I liked all of them."

Primrose smiled. Small as it may be, it still felt significant.

Aysel didn’t get another snippy comment for the rest of the day; Primrose simply walked him through watering all the ambrosia flowers appropriately, some needing different dosages than others. Although it was clear that maybe, the little sloth bun really should not praise himself so highly so soon, the cherubun now took explicit care to let him know that, much like these ambrosia plants, he may still be a sprout—but all of these would eventually grow into a flower. Who was to say the same wouldn’t go for him?