Blossoming Beaus

## Premise

The last few days have been a little bit of a lot. In so many ways, things have returned to normal. Lina has returned to Wellspring City with minimal risk to life and limb. Nikola has gone 24 hours without another upsetting revelation. Now, it's time to do some much-needed gardening. Let's keep that winning streak going, shall we?

## Cast

* Nikola N. Change (Authorticity)
* Carolina "Lina" Noticia (kt)

## Notable NPCs

* Lola (Laura Olivia Laina Abigail aka L.O.L.A.) (Another volunteer who gave Nikola advice about Lina in the kitchen)
* Roxanne (Another volunteer and Lola's wife)

## Plot Summary

Since We Need to Talk, Nikola spent the rest of the week trying to stay on top of their schoolwork and sleeping. They've also been folding paper flowers whenever they think of Lina and putting them in her locker. Saturday morning, Lina goes over to Nikola's apartment to pick him up for the date they planned in Ask-a-lotl. Nik's grandparents are not-so-stealthily watching Lina as she comes in, but Nikola talked to them about not harassing Lina, so they don't approach her. Nikola says goodbye to Sentry and comes out into the hall, but doesn't initially see Lina until Lina greets him.

The two start walking over to the retirement home, holding hands as they go, and Lina tells Nikola that her parents want to meet him sometime. Nikola starts walking the wrong direction, but Lina guides him the correct way. Nikola goes to speak to Lina telepathically, but stops themselves in case it freaks Lina out, and Lina doesn't notice. As they get into crowded parts of the city, Lina notices Nikola leaning away from certain people they pass, and Lina offers for Nikola to try focusing on her thoughts to help drown out everyone else. Nikola is delighted by this, and gets much happier as they walk, even twirling Lina.

They arrive at the retirement community, and Lina checks in with another volunteer and then leads Nikola to the garden they'll be working on, which is in front of the main entrance to the main building. Lina gives Nikola a list of the plants they have to work with, which are all native, and the two start excitedly discussing plants and working on the garden. Lina thinks about some of the plants in Endsville, and Nikola starts telepathically telling her to tell him about them later, and the two come up with a sign for Nikola to let Lina know he wants to talk telepathically, Nikola drumming his fingers against his leg. Lina can tell that Nikola really needed some time working with plants, and they're noticeably happier as they do.

Lina excitedly yells in her head about how well the date is going, and Nikola startles, then apologizes for listening into Lina's thoughts. Telepathically, Nikola laments that they feel bad about invading the privacy of people's minds, and Lina reassures him that if anyone were to have that power, she's glad it's Nikola, who's courteous about it. Nikola apologizes for not being able to give Lina time to heal from Penumbra's onslaught in Media Blackout, and Lina says it's probably better for her to get used to it. Nikola tells Lina her thoughts are pretty, like music, and Lina wishes she could hear Nikola's thoughts too because they're probably nice.

The two telepathically bemoan the lack of plants and green spaces in Wellspring City, and Nikola compares it to a model of a city. Nikola tells Lina about a rhododendron trimmed into a perfect square he saw, and remarks that a gardener should work with the plant instead of forcing it into a mold, then says it's a metaphor for a lot in Wellspring City. Lina says it's nice to be able to complain without worrying about being reported to the city police, Nikola says he doesn't let it stop him, and Lina warns him he should be more careful. Nikola confides to Lina that he'd like to one day hold some sort of public office where he can revitalize the ecosystem and green spaces in both Wellspring City and Endsville. Lina thinks that she wants to be mayor, and Nikola encourages her, both of them happy stimming. Lina starts excitedly thinking about what she'd do as mayor, overwhelming Nikola, who asks her to think about something else for a moment. Lina starts mentally singing a song instead, and as Nikola recovers, he says she's worse that Tailwind, then amends that the two give different flavors of headaches.

Lina asks if flooding her thoughts like that is effective defense against mind-readers, and Nikola says he could probably still use his other powers, but it is painful to listen to. Lina asks if Nikola would help her practice defending herself against a mind reader, in case she has to face Penumbra again, though she doesn't want to hurt Nikola. Nikola says they can work on it another time, and maybe have a movie night after, and Lina says his powers are similar to Penumbra's and it would probably be good for everyone to practice against him in case they have to fight Penumbra again. Nikola says he hopes Lina is never in a situation like that again, but he and other people who care about Lina will all help her prepare in case. Lina starts crying, and Nikola gives her a hug. Lina curls up in Nikola's arms, holding onto one of their arms and then gently biting it. Nikola puts a piece of hay in their mouth and sits back to chill with Lina for a bit, and after a few minutes Lina goes back to gardening, her tail wagging. Lina wipes her tears away, and Nikola offers her a handkerchief, which she waves off.

Nikola can see Lina having some small flashbacks of Media Blackout from her perspective (instead of Brittney's perspective that he'd already seen), and how unpleasant and invasive it was for Lina. She is especially upset at being restrained and having Penumbra burrow forcibly through her mind. Nikola excuses himself to go get some water, and heads inside to the bathroom. He checks that the bathroom is empty, then takes his mutant form and unleashes his frustration about the situation and what happened to Lina as a Cause Fear, which doesn't actually affect anyone since no one is in range, though some of the other volunteers get an eerie feeling. Nikola takes a moment to put himself back together, then returns to their normal form and heads to the kitchen to get some drinks for himself and Lina.

In the kitchen, there are a variety of snacks and drinks, and Nikola runs into one of the volunteer organizers, who advises him on how Lina likes her sandwiches. Nikola follows the woman's advice and also adds some marshmallow fluff. Nikola introduces himself, and the woman recognizes his last name and confirms he's related to his grandparents ("the greater Wellspring polycule"), then introduces herself as Lola. Nikola brings Lina the marmalade and marshmallow sandwich he made, and Lina eats it immediately. The two then drink some juice Nikola brought out, orange for Lina and apple for Nikola. Nikola notes that the apple juice isn't as good as the apple juice their family makes, and Lina asks for a sip of the juice to try, then says she wants to try the juice from Nikola's farm. Nikola says they'd like that, and Lina offers them a sip of her orange juice, which Nikola notes is very sweet. Lina admits she put sugar into the juice, and Nikola says she'd love sweet tea, which Lina gets really excited about. Nikola offers her their arm to bite on again, but Lina declines, and pulls out more orange juice from her hammerspace to drink instead.

Lina asks how Nikola knew how she liked her sandwich, and Nikola says Lola told him, which Lina playfully grumbles about. Nikola offers to distract Lina, and uses Speak with Animals to call an orange butterfly over. Lina mentally asks if that's one of Nikola's mutant powers, and Nikola confirms, then sends the butterfly over to perch on Lina's nose. Nikola tries to talk to Lina a little more about the butterfly, but Lina is entirely distracted, which Nikola tests by telling her that aliens are invading and that he has an ancient bronze dragon grandparent, which Lina has little/no reaction to. Nikola tries to snap Lina out of it, then says he's going back to planting, and Lina finally looks over and the butterfly flies off. The two get back to gardening, and Nikola telepathically brings up that Lina mentioned his mom Quartz during the moped ride at the end of We Need to Talk and asks if Lina knows her, and Lina says she doesn't really know Quartz, but knows someone who does, and asks to talk about it later. Nikola agrees, and Lina goes back to singing to make sure she doesn't think about it. Nikola changes the subject by asking how Lina met Lola, and Lina talks about her experience volunteering in the city. Nikola says that he looks forward to Lina visiting his family farm sometime, and some of the volunteering she's done reminds him of his ma, and Lina thinks about how she'd really like to get out of the city.

The two finish up the garden bed they were working on, and go around helping some of the other volunteers, who compliment them on their work. All the volunteers seem to genuinely care about the welfare of the city, which is refreshing for Nikola. Nikola goes to find Lola and ask to volunteer again in the future, and signs up to be called when volunteer events like this happen again in the future. Nikola asks if there's an age cap for the group, and Lola's partner Roxanne cuts in, introduces herself and asks for a warning ahead of time if Nikola brings their grandparents to volunteer so they can do damage control. She also says Lina mentioned that she was bringing Nikola, and offers Nikola some advice, telling her Lina loves anything sugary, orange-flavored, or sparkly. The volunteer group gets some pizza delivered, and all the volunteers hang out and eat and talk. Nikola says they should do this again sometime, and Lina goes to schedule it in her planner, but then puts it away. Nikola asks when Lina wants him to come along, and Lina thinks that she always wants him to come along. Nikola, flustered, goes to get Lina some pizza and marmalade, and eats their own pizza while Lina eats her food crime pizza. Nikola says her grandparents are going to want Lina to come over for dinner at some point, and Lina offers to come over that night, not wanting to end the date yet. Nikola says that night is probably too short notice, but they can go for a walk together and maybe visit the library.

Later that night, Nikola drops Lina off at her building again, and the doorman gives Nikola a protectively suspicious look, but softens up as he talks to Lina. Later that night, Lina and Nikola text each other some memes.

## Notes

Lina has a top locker at the high school

Nikola wears the sunhat they got shopping with Brittney in Retail Therapy

Lina helps distract Nikola by mentally singing a song similar to "Party In the USA"

Wellspring City is agricultural zone 5 or 6; there is a noticeable but not extreme winter

Because of his Yupyean nature, Nikola can shake dirt out of his linework without needing to wash it off

Lina is fairly strong, but due to her little arms she sometimes needs to carry things on/over her head instead of holding them normally. Nikola finds this very cute

Nikola has five fingers in their normal form. Did they use to have five fingers before being mutated? If not, they haven't noticed yet

Lina likes marmalade sandwiches on toasted, buttered bread

The pizza that Lina eats is Hawaiian pizza with mushrooms, with habanero jelly and marmalade on top