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Prompt 10: Poinsettias are common during the winter seasons, so it isn't unusual to see them decorating windowsills and local establishments. What is unusual are the unique Winter Star Poinsettias that seem to have accidentally mixed into the bunch. They look like ordinary Poinsettias reflecting a bit of glow from nearby lights--only, the leaves themselves are emitting a soft, silvery glow. They look like they are covered with a fine morning dew, only with fine silver glitter peppered in to give it a unique sparkle. They seem to have gone unnoticed by most of Destiny City and the landscapers, and it's not clear how these plants were selected, but anyone with a keen eye might recognize them as the catastrophe of Destiny City Botanical Garden's 2016 Winter Extravaganza. Thankfully, these variants are far less dangerous than their counterparts, however, these plants have a strange pollen that acts like an allergen and can cause agitation, oversensitivity, and sneezing to anything with much of a strong smell. Anyone who comes into contact with these plants may also find themselves suffering from flu-like symptoms such as fever, coughing, fatigue, and nausea and no medicine will relieve it, but the symptoms gradually fade. The leaves of the poinsettia are sharp and can sting like a papercut, so be careful! ...If you're worried about an all-out attack again, it might be a good idea to destroy these poinsettias--if you can manage to do so without getting caught.
More than one person had wandered passed him as of late exhibiting odd symptoms, in fact even Namielle had returned from one of her little adventures with the same flu like symptoms and despite her best attempts she hadn't been able to rid herself of it. Regula had been concerned by this, painkillers were normally the only way to treat flu in general, but given it had appeared and then disappeared within less than a day, he had begun to wonder what was going on. Up until now there had been little sign that anything nefarious would happen this Christmas, the city was 'behaving' itself and despite the occasional 'Big Foot' sighting, very little had given cause for concern.
He had eventually managed to trace the symptoms. He hadn't used any secret methods by any means, he'd simply asked where each of those he knew had been and within a day or two he had managed to work out that they all had one common demoninator. It involved flowers, or one specific flower, and they were dotted about the city in window boxes and little pots for the festive season. He was no gardener and he definitely wasn't a herbalist, and as a consequence he had very limited options in how to deal with this particular challenge.
His solution ended up being slightly more caveman than he would have liked.
It was 5am again, he was supposed to be jogging as was his routine, but he was instead committing mild arson around the area that he lived in. He hadn't yet determined that he would intervene throughout the rest of the city but given that there were a sufficient number of the pots and window boxes in his neighbourhood, he could at least get rid of those. It would lead to disappointment of course, there would be controversy and gossip, but in the grand scheme of things he would prefer that over the possibility of anyone becoming unwell during the festive period if it could be avoided.
Thus, there were several window boxes that had already been removed from the window sills and promptly set on fire at the side of the street. Melted snow encircled them and slowly but surely his street and those several over, were rid of the 'nefarious' flowers and their innocent counterparts. Granted the vast majority of said flowers were likely to be guilty of anything but when he had no possible way to determine which was which it was safer to cull the entire field than to let one of the problematic ones remain.
Unfortunately while his intentions were good, Karma did often find a way to punish those who stepped out of line and he may have managed to remove the guilty plant from his own part of the suburbs, but that didn't mean he had escaped the plant's effects himself. Continued exposure to some of the more dangerous flowers had resulted in him receiving a visit from the unwanted pollen and as he set down the last of the now burnt out plant pots he felt a wave of nausea hit him.
Now he knew how the poor Mauvian had felt. He didn't often get flu, in fact he couldn't remember the last time he had it, but he recognised those symptoms. With this in mind he didn't have much else that he could do other than to head back home to sleep it off (if he even could). By the time the rest of the town woke up the streets would have already been swept clean by the sweepers and the roads would have been cleared, wiping away the vast majority of the footprints he had left behind in his wake.
He'd get away with it this time.
...But if he aimed to hit the entire city then he'd need to find a more creative way to achieve it, even if he intended to burn them, he'd still look exceedingly suspicious in a hazmat suit. Food for thought once the haze cleared and his brain could function properly again, for now he could do nothing more than make his way home and wait for the not-so-enjoyable side effects to wear off.
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