It was Valentine's Day in Greenville. A six-inch layer of snow graced the lawn, with more daintily cascading from the sky. In short, it was a beautiful sight…
Except the presence of zombies making their way across the lawn sort of ruined it.
The plants each wore a scarf, either purchased, brought, or loaned from Alice. The zombies generally had no protection from the cold to speak of, so they went down faster than usual that day. However, a zombie made it to the end of the lawn, but the lawnmower took care of it. April was guarding that particular mower, but the zombie startled her, faltering her line of fire and allowing the zombie to pass through. Most of the plants were just grateful that the lawnmower stopped it, but Pete was still angry.
"Ya idiot! What kind of Pea gets startled by a zombie? It wasn't even a conehead!" Pete scolded. "It was too close!" April defended. "Even if I had continued shooting it still would have gotten through!" "Yeah…" Pete said, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say, Ape-ril!" April froze and gave Pete a death glare. " What. Did. You. Call. Me." She growled. It was more of a command than a question. "What? Don't be so sour, Ape. You need to chill out!" Pete cracked. As he fell to the ground laughing, he failed to notice April taking aim at him… until he was hit by a barrage of frozen peas. Key word: frozen, on a cold, snowy day.
Alice slowly read the temperature on the thermometer. 101.7 degrees. "Well Pete, I don't know how you got April mad enough to shoot frozen peas at you in this cold, but I do know a fever when I see one. You're staying indoors until you get better!" Alice said.
"Whadja talkin' aboud? I can fight for ya! I'm perfectly capabl..ah..CHOO!" Despite Pete's protests to continue working, he did feel miserable. He was burning hot all over, not unlike April when she had heatstroke. His head hurt as if it had been held in a vice, and he was so badly congested that he couldn't shoot any peas. Just looking up at Alice's mirror from his spot made his eyes hurt, for it was too bright. In short, Pete was very ill. Frost Flu, to be exact. Alice had looked it up.
Naturally, Pete was not pleased at having to stay indoors. How was he going to show how tough he was to Alice now? Then an idea popped into his aching head.
"Alright Pete, stay in here and rest up. I've got to go see a friend today." Pete was surprised at this announcement. Alice had good friends from the Gardener's Union, and they were in a band together. He knew that they rehearsed often. His guess was confirmed when he saw her pick up a pair of drumsticks as she headed out. When he was sure that Alice was gone, he picked up a nearby notebook with one leaf and a pen with the other.
When I'm finished with this, she'll love me for sure…
"Iona! You awake?" April called out. The sun was setting, and this was when the Mushrooms began to get up. Iona herself batted violet eyes and gave a soft yawn. She rose from her rooftop flower pot and stretched. While doing so, she noticed the sunset. It reminded her of how drastically different Mushrooms and regular plants were in terms of time and activity. To her, their day was her night and vice versa.
"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" April's call snapped Iona out of her thoughts. She sounded cheerful. "Da, April? Ce vrou, doamna?" Iona responded, still groggy from her slumber. "I've decided to go to my all-time favorite restaurant, Grand Americatown Buffet, but I waited till tonight so you could come. Interested?" You could learn something and taste new foods." April offered. Iona, ever eager to try new things, agreed wholeheartedly and they set off.
They eventually arrived at a refurbished Zen Garden and went inside. There, an Umbrella Leaf, presumably a worker at the buffet directed the two plants to a table and proceeded to inform that the establishment provided multiple brands of fertilizers to choose from, as long as they had the money. April showed Iona the various dishes at the buffet and included her opinions on each. "Way too spicy…" "Tastes AWESOME! I totally recommend this!" Tastes sweet at first, but has a HORRIBLE aftertaste. Your decision." April chose the soup of the day, while Iona decided to try a fertilizer curry. After enjoying their meals, they decided to head back home.
Pete set down the pen and sighed. He was finally done. He had finished the masterpiece that would surely win Alice's affection. Suddenly, he heard the door click, and he quickly set the paper and pen on top of the side table, put his now melted ice pack under his head like a pillow and pretended to be in a deep sleep. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep for real though.
April and Iona continued down the dimly lit sidewalk on their way back. April had begun to tell Iona about the incident with Pete earlier that day. It was quite a lengthy explanation that went into a lot of unnecessary detail. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Iona wasn't paying attention. It wasn't out of boredom, however. She was beginning to feel very dizzy and overheated. Her breaths were shallow, and she was beginning to slow down. In the corner of her mind, Iona fuzzily realized in horror what was happening to her. She had seen a sign next to where she got the curry written in English, but since she could not read English well she paid no attention to it. Now, she concluded that the sign must have been an allergy warning regarding Rua Spice, a popular and hot spice among plants that she had a severe allergy to. "Doaamnaaa…!" Iona hoarsely tried calling for April, but said Snow Pea unknowingly went on ahead after Iona's pace slowed. As her vision swam, Iona collapsed to the sidewalk…
Behind some shrubbery, the blue capped Scaredy-shroom watched as Iona fell over, panting and unconscious. He made his way out of the shadows to the fallen Mushroom, his blue cap giving off a slight shine in the streetlight. His name was Koniro, and he was raised by the Sunflowers to perform medical work. Therefore, upon coming across Iona, Koniro was immediately able to assess her condition. He called for some members of the Sunflower squadron to pick them up, though it would take some time for them to get there. They would treat the patient and return her home the following day. While he was waiting, Koniro's gaze shifted to Iona's unconscious form. To him, her beauty outclassed even the exotic, six-foot-tall Titan Arum blossom, and she smelled worlds better. He felt his face heat up as he kept watching, but he didn't care. Nobody was watching… Right? Koniro stiffened in horror and embarrassment upon the realization that this street had security cameras that watched everything. He did what any other member of his species would have done at that time: he hid in the ground.
Alice quietly stepped in through the door. As she made her way to check on Pete, a paper caught her eye. As she read over it, she mainly felt confused as who could have sent it. Looking at the bottom of the page, Alice read aloud: "Do you like me? Yes or No". Sighing out of exhaustion, she checked one of the boxes and went upstairs to bed.