Jan was upset.

On her knees in the dirt she pulled yet another plant[tomato] up by it's roots, staring at the destroyed roots. This was the 27th plant she'd found this week, and the usually calm girl's expression was dark. Nobody ******** with Sjajan's plants. And something definitely was. Ever since she was a baby, the potato Sin'aeis had known exactly what her plants needed, how to care for them, when to transplant, when something was wrong. This wasn't a disease. This was delibrate. Something, or someone had been tampering/eating/preying upon her plants, and Jan didn't like it.

Holding the dead plant in one hand, she headed over to the trough by the side of the laundromat and turned on the water. Tensing and feeling uncomfortable for a moment, she turned her head slightly, to meet the eyes of a man slowly walking past the laundromat/apartment combo. He had been staring at her, and now looked away, his gaze running over her garden as he turned the block. Odd.

After putting the plant into her green compost and washing her hands, Jan went inside to do some research, both in her plant books and on the web. It turned up nothing, as she knew it would. It never hurt to double-check though.

-----------

"Jan," The blonde shot her older sister an angry look from where she lay, stretched out on her couch/bed. She'd been dwelling on the mystery of her various plants and didn't appreciate the interruption. Neme raised an eyebrow and jerked a thumb toward the front door. "S'a man ou'fron' fer ye. Shark."

Being one herself, Neme could recognize a salesman when she saw one. Of course, she was on a higher level than a door-to-door man. Swinging her legs over the edge of the 'bed' she got to her feet and moved to the door, which was still closed. "Fer me?"

Neme nodded, shrugging with a scowl. "Wan'ed th' gar'ner o' th' ouse." Opening the door, Jan's brown eyes instantly narrowed.

That man. The one she'd seen by the garden yesterday. She didn't even have to say hello. The 5'7", twenty-something-year-old gave her a gigantic smile, thrusting out his hand to shake as he began his sale. "Hello there... Miss?" He got over his uncertainty when she just looked at him. "My name is Matthew J. Zimmerman and I've noticed there's a problem in the region! Luckily, I'm here with a solution. Our product, MEANGREEN will instantly beef up and heal your plants, combating anything that might hurt their delicate roots!"

How nice. He had indeed shown up just when she started having a problem. Unfortunately for Mr. Zimmerman, Jan had checked around the day before, and there was no neighborhood problem with the plants. Just hers. And a few other people that had purchased a miracle product that had helped their plants. What had that product been called... Ah, that's right. MeanGreen.

Jan took his offered hand, and yanked him inside, kicking the door behind him in one quick movement. The 6'1" teen slammed him against the wall with both hands, holding him off the ground. He looked very startled. And scared. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, serious, angry. Her accent was still there, but her words were so sharply enunciated that they were clear, for once.

"What. Did you do. To My Plants."

He began to sweat, and tried to squirm only... Well, Jan's not exactly a little flower. "W-what...? DO? I didn't..." The blonde slammed his back against the wall again, causing him to wince. It HURT. She didn't repeat her question. Only stared.

"I... N-nothing permanent! I just... tore them up... with a knife... and tore your sprouts out before they could grow." He shook his head. "The product... does nothing... I just leave the plants alone, and they grow back..."

Jan dropped the man, and stepped back. Well, then. They would be alright. "Please don't report me." She looked at him again, shook her head. "I won't." He looked relieved and started to leave when Jan placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look back in time to see her fist coming at his face.

Staring down at his unconcious body, she raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Th' neighbors migh', though."

[FIN]