Posts by LEMON!

Was he a gardener? No, not at first glance. Or second glance, really. For a healer, he wasn't that great with plants. His mother was the main reason he was even slightly interested in them and 'interested' was being used loosely. Still, he had found some of Kamali's pots and had filled them with forget-me-nots which had lived peacefully on his front porch for a good number of months until, of course, the snow had started to fall. Not knowing what else he was meant to do, he had dragged all the pots inside his cottage - along with the pots of weed he was growing in the back which were equally as precious to him. Despite being out of the winter's icy grip, his plants were still consistently wilting no matter what he tried. More water, less water, several different positions by his windows. Finally, Lemon gave up and simply started dragging them all back out onto his sunlit porch, sliding them across the layer of ice that remained even after he'd cleared off the snow. This was stupid. He should just let them all die and be done with it. Why was he putting so much effort into this shit? Well, the marijuana made some sense to him, but his mom's pots were just.. Pots. He could just get rid of the plants inside and it would change nothing. Except for some reason he felt like they needed to be filled with flowers and herbs and anything that would make them seem less empty. Like maybe that was what she would have wanted.. or maybe it was what he wanted? Or maybe he just didn't know what he wanted or what anyone else wanted and this was simply something to fill his paws and his time.

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So, blizzards sucked ass and so did being sick. That was something he would tuck away for the future when he was thinking about getting sick again. Maybe next winter he would learn from his mistakes and fix his immune system of whatever the fuck he needed to do. Scowling, the leopard would cough heavily into the scarf wrapped over his snout, plodding his way through the snow towards the center of camp. This season was the worst. "Weekly tasks, finally! Come do something productive." He grumbled out, waiting for his clanmates to approach. He should really get more organized.

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He acknowledged her with an unamused glare, tail flicking in minor irritation at her ever-pestering tone. He doesn't have that much of a problem with S, but he's sick and cold and these heavy pots have put him in a bad enough mood without her twisted words confusing and aggravating him. "Yeah, well, what d'ya want? They're livelier than the rest of the world." He grumbles, gesturing at the mostly abandoned stretch of snow, blanketing an empty world. "Livelier than you'll be, too, if ya keep this up." He huffs, matching her dry tone without much effort. Sometimes, the absurdity of her comments almost makes him laugh if such a thing was possible. Today was quite clearly not one of those days as his head is full of far too many other things to try and wrap it around her snide remarks.

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Well, it seemed karma wasn't real after all. Or maybe he'd just built up so much bad karma over his lifetime that this single attempt at a good deed didn't warrant any relief from the pests in this clan. Cherrykit appears first, with her characteristic insults. What a lovely start to this endeavor. "I might as well have if I'm meant to deal with you all afternoon. But anyway here, have.. uh, this.." He rummages through the bag for a moment, pushing aside alcohol and stuff he really should have thrown away ages ago before finally pulling out a santa hat that he must have kept from the Christmas a year prior. "Yeah, there we go. Perfect for you and your cheery holiday attitude." He tosses the hat towards Cherry regardless of if she wanted it or not. He doubted she did, but he really just wanted to throw something at her and this seemed like the most socially acceptable way. S following after the snarky kitten continued to make this whole thing seem like the best idea he could have come up with. At the very least, she seemed to be partly humoring him and partly mocking, which was a small step up from Cherrykit's complete scorn of his festive attempts. "I mean, there's no real secret here. I'm not creative." He shrugs in response to her question, shoving a paw in the bag and returning with what anyone could have predicted. He holds the fang out to her without hesitation, as it meant absolutely nothing to him and probably didn't even mean that much to her but maybe she could find some use for it in her teeth arts and crafts or whatever it is that she does. "It used to be mine, but I guess I don't need it anymore." It was long and thin, a sharp serval fang still bloodstained from the mouth it had come from. The mouth of his body that had been chewed up and spit back out by that crazy witch and her pet. Did it feel weird giving her his old body's tooth? Yeah, but it probably would have felt weird giving her anybody's tooth.

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It had been awhile since he'd seen the young healer. He'd wondered vaguely where Com had been the night the Ruiners had showed up to steal their herbs, but hadn't questioned it much since then. If the kid wanted to go off and find himself or whatever, Lemon wasn't going to stop him. Hell, he'd even done that some himself as a youth, albiet there were more drugs involved.

The leopard trudges through the snow towards Communionpaw, yellow eyes glinting in the pale light. "It's been awhile." He states bluntly, never having been one for words. "What've you been up to?"

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" cody , how about you get some people together and start clearing all this snow from camp? Or, at least enough that we can actually walk around." The blizzard had left a pretty big mess and Lemon was tired of having to drag himself through a foot of snow just to get anywhere then endi g up with frozen paws afterwards. Clearing out some pathways seemed like it'd be helpful.

He swings around at Nin's comment, snorting softly as his hypocrisy was finally pointed out. "It's way easier to tell people how to get better than it is to actually do it, huh?" He was more agitated by the simple fact that he found Nin's worrying more endearing than irritating. He wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to be giving out tasks and doing his own damn job, but apparently his brain just shuts down whenever Ninja shows up. "Okay, right.. You.. Hm.." Why was this so hard to think of? " Prince Merry-Go-Round you wanna do a New Year's Party? Nothing huge, just like.. Some alcohol and counting down from ten and all that fun shit.. Actually, I might have some old fireworks stashed away somewhere. You can have 'em if ya want." He looks over as Juba and Eri arrive, ignoring the pressing idea that he's become soft. " JUBA find a pond or somethin' and try ice fishing." It didn't seem like the easiest thing to do, but after the blizzard there wasn't a whole lot of prey wandering around above the snow and with medicine already low, they didn't need to starve as well. Ice fishing seemed like an alright solution, so long as Juba was able to actually get past the ice. Lemon didn't know much about ice in general, so he wasn't sure if this would work but there was no harm in trying.

" eridanus r.r.b.x. go make some snowmen. If that's not enough fun for ya, then practice on 'em with your dagger or somethin'. I don't care, just be careful."

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As Juba appears, Lemon doesn't bother hiding his smirk as he draws from his bag a tall object wrapped in leaves and offers it to the maned wolf. "Just in case ya break your leg again or somethin'. Since ya don't like poppy seeds." He shrugs, then looks away because he doesn't want anyone getting the idea that he actually cares. Inside the wrapping would be the same partially empty, dust covered bottle of whiskey that Lemon had offered Juba months ago in the Infirmary. Not that he was going to actively acknowledge the clear sentimental value of this gift. In fact, he was going to just ignore the whole thing completely, vaguely regretting his idea of giving out gifts and enforcing the idea that he might actually have a heart. "Eri, here. I found an old sheath for a knife, see if it'll fit your dagger." He moves on quickly, pushing away the pestering thoughts and shoving her gift towards her. Beneath the sheath, were two flat rocks he'd found near the mountain. "Oh, and you can use these to sharpen the blade. I can show ya how the first time so ya keep all your toes."

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He squints down at the two kids as they wander over, idly nudging one of the plant pots. "Yeah, Grass-head. Whatever. Go grab that small pot and bring it over here, will ya?" He mutters, gesturing to the plant still seated right inside the cottage door. He lists his head back to Eri with a snort, "Not much to fight 'round here. It's mostly just snow." He moves to flick her ear with his black-tipped tail, his maw curling into a slight, half-smile. "Besides, these were your Grandma's pots... I think... Either way, gotta take good care of them."

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Shit, this job was hard. Had it been this bad last time he'd done this? He didn't think so but he'd also been essentially a kid and really hadn't put this much effort into it. Plus he hadn't been left with such big shoes to fill. He hated admitting it - and he would never say it aloud - but Cass had been way better at this. It would be okay, though. This time he had Ninja. "Wind Haven! Get your asses over here, it's time for that meeting that's like a month late." His sore throat doesn't take well to his shouting and he's thrown into a fit of coughing that makes his ribs ache as he drags himself atop The Shepherd's Stone. He takes a moment to compose himself as clanmates gather and then he loses his patience and jump right in. "Ok, so, first off a very delayed welcome to Kuruk , linkle and CODY W . We're glad to have you 'n all that." He's pretty sure that's all of the newcomers but if he forgot anyone, oh well. "In other news, activity has been pretty low all around, myself included so I'm sorry for that. No demotions or promotions this week, but if you're a high position I wanna see more of you before the next meeting." Ok, well that was done. What else did he need to talk about?

We're doing a Night of Remembrance so bring some food and head to the cemetery. Volary Flights also invited us to a party or something so.. go to that I guess. I think I'm done now, so stick around in case Nin has something to say. Or leave, I don't really care." He shrugs, already starting to slide down off the rock.

/ Also remember there's a mass adopts! Sign up your litters here!

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He was there, of course. It had been his initial idea, after all. Though he hadn't had any interest in putting something like this together himself. It seemed that Leigh liked throwing parties anyway, so maybe this was fun for him or something? His best friend had certainly put way more effort into this than Lemar ever could, though he supposes it's nice to be hanging with him, even if there's a bunch of other people there too. Besides, setting stuff on fire and watching it explode was enough fun in itself to warrant coming all the way out here.

The first thing the man does is find the booze. Once the champagne is secured, Lem starts out towards the street to find Leigh. He meets Salem on the way and has to stop himself from nodding or waving a greeting. "Hey there. Leigh's outside about to blow off his fingers with a firework, I'm heading over to watch if you're interested." Should he be concerned about Leigh messing with fire and explosives unsupervised? Probably. Had it been a good idea to entrust the man with these fireworks? Only time would tell.

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What did he think he was doing? Yellow eyes glint in the fading light as he stares down at his paws and the potted flower between them. It represented too many things that he'd rather not acknowledge at all. This stupid pot was full of so many stupid emotions that he was on the brink of lifting it up and flinging it against the far wall. He almost had a few times. But it was Midori's pot and so he couldn't. So instead he just sat there and stared at it and thought all these stupid thoughts that he didn't want to have. Was it supposed to be like this? Was it supposed to hurt this much?

He carefully picks the flowerpot up into his jaws and hesitantly makes his way outside into the snow. He suppresses a sneeze that would likely make him drop the whole thing and continues trudging through the snow down this familiar path. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Was it weak or strong of him to arrive at Ninja's doorstep and confess everything? Maybe he should push it down like he was used to doing, refuse to admit the connection he felt in order to protect Nin. Was that what it was? No.. No he was protecting himself. He had to at the very least acknowledge that. But maybe that was the weak thing to do? The easy way out. Because this felt so, so much harder to do. The words were getting caught up in his throat and he hadn't even tried to speak yet. What was he going to say? What was he doing? He sets the flowerpot down in front of the door and suddenly feels a weight lifted off him. He finds himself involuntarily stepping backwards, as if he can run away now and never return. His foot hits the ground and he freezes, yellow eyes widening like a cornered animal. He can see Ninja now, beaten and battered after returning from the Brigade. He can see Ninja in the light of the sunrise they had watched together. Through a drug induced haze when they had kisses and Lemon had seen the stars in his eyes and felt things that hadn't been the drugs. It wasn't fair. He wasn't supposed to feel like this. He wasn't supposed to care.

"Nin? Uh.. ya in there? C-Can we talk real quick?" He is unable to flee. No, he must face this head on because he cannot have anything else happen to that dumb unicorn boy without him knowing exactly how much he means to him.

/ Prince Merry-Go-Round

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He arrives beside Nin, golden eyes trailing over each clanmate in turn before finally settling down with a huff, "Nothin' like fetus talk to build your appetite."

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It was hard to forget that face with the missing pieces hidden by a mask of bone. The rest of him has changed drastically, he's older, more mature. But the face is still the same and Lemon - to his own dismay - feels a sense of comfort in the realization that Loey isn't dead, isn't even missing anymore. He's right there, not exactly the same Loey that had disappeared all those months ago, but still Loey. Lemon had a fairly strange relationship with the no-longer-young wolf, and really wasn't all that sure where he stood with him. Still, when it came down to it, the leopard was just glad to have him back. "Hey, Loey. You're back." He states the obvious because he doesn't really know what else to say. Is there anything else he's meant to say? Perhaps he could have been more welcoming but no one was really expecting that from him. "Where've ya been?"

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It feels weird to be here. Even though he's showed up unannounced at Nin's door so many times in the past, he nearly stumbles as he steps forward, crossing the barrier into what feels like an alien world. This whole situation feels foreign as he slowly pushes forward into the cottage. His paws don't feel right on the carpet, he feels like a stranger, like he doesn't belong in the warmth of this home. Maybe he doesn't. But he so desperately wants to. For some reason, the thought of leaving this place is horrible. He can't help himself from wanting to stay here forever, never needing anything else. Except, he can't do that yet. First is the hard part. The right words impossible to find and even if he could, he wasn't sure that he would be able to get them out without his throat complete restricting and cutting off his air.

But it won't get any easier. The longer he stays here, the harder it will be to say what he came to say. He needs to just start talking and figure it out as he goes. One would think he'd have planned this all out before he came here so he'd know what he's supposed to say. One would have far too high expectations for Lemon. "So, there's this.. I need-" He stops, distracted by the twisting of his gut and the rapid beating in his chest. Wasn't he supposed to be cool and aloof about this stuff? Or maybe his thing was just repressing stuff like this so nobody would realize how completely shit he was with it. But he needed to get it all out so it would stop plaguing him constantly.

Whatever happens, it'll be over. He tells himself, blinking slowly before finally angling his head up so he can meet Nin's gaze. Just spit it out and be done with it. Stop being such a dumbass. "I think.. you.. are pretty cool. Uh, so.. So, what I'm trying to say is.. I like you.. P-Probably a lot more than I should.. Because you shouldn't have to deal with my dumb ass, but.. But maybe if you wanted to.. then we could both deal with each other and.. and it wouldn't be so bad?" What the hell was he talking about? Maybe he should have smoked before he came here because he made way more sense when he was high. "Fuck it, man.. I just wanna do stupid shit with you, okay? But like.. as more than friends. Or-.. Or not. If you don't.. Think that's a good idea. We can-.. Y'know, it's just.. It's whatever." It was not whatever, but his words were getting jumbled up and he needed to stop talking before he started getting frustrated with himself and it accidentally came out as anger like it always seemed to do. Had he even gotten his point across? Had anything he'd said made sense? It didn't feel like it, but he falls silent all the same, yellow eyes lowering back to the floor where they stay, worried that if he looked at Ninja any longer he'd go into cardiac arrest.

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This was that Volarian.. The jumpy kid with the funny name. He could remember her vaguely from the last time she'd been here, and the scent she carries along with her own introduction confirm his thoughts. Sleepingsunrise, that was it. He slowly inclines his head in greeting as he lumbers close. Juba has already given the go ahead to hear the request and Lemon doesn't feel the need to offer up his name - in fact, she might already know it he can't keep track of who he's introduced himself to. The leopard is silent, tail flicking slowly behind him as he awaits the girl's response.

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He didn't like being told he was doing things wrong but fuck it all if he didn't think this guy had a point. Maybe somewhere between the lines of trying to follow in Cassiopeia's footsteps and trying to hold up the peaceful, stay-the-fuck-out-of-trouble-at-all-costs ideals that he could still remember his own mother pushing on them, Lemon had forgotten the fire that used to engulf him. How easily he had been pushed into a burning rage when anyone dared offend his home. He hadn't forgiven the Exiles for killing Zeldalia and her children nearly a year ago. He'd gone after her killer in search of vengeance and found a child with blood on her paws. In the end, it hadn't been satisfying. How could he despise a killer of children then turn around and do the same? Still, it felt more like ratting the kid out to her parents than actual justice. The point was he had actually done something. Not that it really mattered now. Now he was soft. Softer than he had been, at least. He was content to keep his clan sheltered and stay out of the way so long as their involvement was limited to the occasional border skirmish that lead nowhere. So long as his own were kept safe.

But maybe this new guy had a point. Allies were allies for a reason. He still wasn't a fan of Breakout's communication going through Cody, but he'd make due with it for now. "Helping 'n shit is what we do, but keep in mind we got our own problems to deal with too. We'll talk to Breakout, we'll do what we can for him and any others, but I can't make definite promises here and now." The leopard rolls his shoulders slowly, sending a quick glance around. "The hell is Ninja? If we gotta get all the way to the Cartel, I wanna leave soon." He was still sick and not getting healthier any time soon, plus the Cartel was far and he didn't want to waste any more time. The Ruins were getting out of hand and they had long since left behind the era of peace thinly assured by Billie's presence here. He could see how easy it'd be for the Ruiner's pride to escalate, he doubted they'd settle again for heated arguments and demands for herbs rather than charging in teeth first. Maybe it was time to prove they weren't to be walked on. Maybe his own itch for conflict and battle was clouding his judgment and he was jumping on board with this too quickly. They didn't have the numbers to join a war. Still, Cody was right, they could help in ways that kept their softer members out of harm's way and a simple discussion between leaders was reasonable. Hopefully Ninja would see it that way too.

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