Roses from the Gardening Club
When Legosi finally arrived at the theater, the members of the Art Department were already hard at work on the various costumes needed for the play. Kai was still mulling over the fact that he was transferred from the actor's team, lamenting about the deer's arrogance.
"I know you're not in the best of moods right now, but you're doing a great job at sewing." Dom tried to boost the mongoose's spirits.
"Huh? R-really?" Kai asked, unsure of himself.
"You sure are!" The peacock reassured with a smile. "Oh, thank you." Kai smiled. Legosi was busy sewing another costume himself, only listening in the background. His mind was still thinking about Juno. How was she doing? Was she fitting in? Were they being kind to her? What role was she even doing?
Legosi suddenly was pulled back to reality. The costume he held in his hands had a name already stitched on it. It was a name that was associated with sadness in the current times.
"Does anyone know what we should do with Tem's?" The group turned towards Legosi. The costume looked even smaller than it already was in the wolf's hands.
"We should probably bring it to his memorial," suggested Dom. The memorial in front of one of the projector rooms was like a grave. A room that was once a place of learning had turned into a sad and horrible memory.
"That reminds me, if you would be willing to bring it there, could you stop by the Gardening Club?" the peafowl asked? "We were thinking about getting some roses for decorations during the play. It also wouldn't hurt to get some for Tem." Legosi looked up from the costume belonging to his dead friend.
"You mean the club run by herbivores? Should I really be the one to go?" The wolf asked.
"Well, you could probably use some improvement in your talking skills. Especially with other herbivores," explained Kibi.
"Well, if that's the case, would it be alright if one of you guys could come with me? I mean, a wolf just showing up alone and demanding flowers might scare someone."
The group looked at each other and decided on a coin toss to decide who would go with Legosi. In the end, it was Kibi who would accompany Legosi. With an extra amount of complaining from the anteater, the two went on their way.
After leaving Tem's costume by his memorial, surrounded by flowers left by friends and family, Legosi felt a weight fall off his shoulders. He just put a part of his friend to rest. Not even Kibi's complaining annoyed him anymore as they made their way up the stairs to the Gardening Club, which was situated on the roof of one of the school buildings. When they finally reached the garden, Legosi noticed that the sign at the door was dirty and crooked. Either no one cared about it anymore, or the members of the club were simply too small to fix it.
Opening the door enveloped both of the animals in bright sunlight. They stepped outside onto the cement floor. The plethora of flowers bombarded their noses with various smells, each one better than the last.
"Man, these flowers smell good..." Said Legosi's anteater companion. "Oh, Hello," said a voice in the middle of the garden. It was a small white dwarf rabbit. Kibi stiffened up for a moment. "Eeeeh... I have forgotten an important errand. I'm so sorry Legosi, I have to go! " Before Legosi could object, Kibi had already disappeared through the door.
"Huh?" was the only thing that Legosi could say. "What has gotten into him?" the wolf muttered to himself, turning his attention back to the rabbit who seemed quite unbothered by Kibi's sudden retreat.
"Ehm... I'm from the Drama Club. I was sent here to get some roses for decorating the theater with." Legosi explained himself.
"I figured, let me check," the rabbit said, walking towards the storage shack. The smell was heavenly. He couldn't help but be reminded of Juno. He couldn't put his finger on it, but every time he thought of her, his world seemed a little better.
"We have all kinds of roses here. You can choose whichever ones you want." The rabbit said, returning with a clipboard and pen.
"Oh, okay." Legosi couldn't help but notice how small she was. He couldn't think of a time when he had spoken to someone so much smaller than himself. He began looking at the large selection of flowers surrounding him. "I'd like some of those over there." He pointed towards some cherry red roses. The scent was reminiscent of Juno's. The rabbit looked to where Legosi was pointing.
"Yeah, those are extra beautiful this time of year," the small herbivore remarked. She turned towards him. "But before you take those, I need you to help me with something." She pointed towards some pots standing beside the door. "I can't just give you my best-looking flowers for free you know? Can you help carry those pots over there?" She now pointed to a more sunny place on the other side of the garden.
"Eh...Sure," said Legosi. As he walked over to the pots, he felt hands touching his tail. He instinctually turned around and bared his fangs. The rabbit stumbled backward, her expression being that of absolute shock and terror. Legosi grasped at his snout, closing it shut.
"I-I'm Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Legosi tried to explain. The rabbit looked at him, still in full shock. "I didn't mean to scare you..." His arms sunk to his side and his head drooped. The rabbit, who finally seemed to calm down, shivered. "I don't know what I expected to be honest. That was my mistake," she said, her voice still trembling. Her instincts telling her to run away from the carnivore were beginning to fade. "Could you just, tug in your tail for me? I don't want you to knock over any pots or plants with that thing," asked the Hare weakly. Legosi, who now wanted nothing but to leave as fast as possible, did so without complaining.
After carrying the plants for her, the Hare collected a batch of roses and handed them to the wolf. "Follow me, I should have a bag in the storage shack." said the rabbit. Legosi was trying to be careful not to trigger any other instinct-based reactions whilst inside the storage shed with her. There was an average-sized bed in the corner of the shed, a few bags of fertilizer and gardening tools, and on the other side of the room a simple desk. Legosi picked up a familiar smell. It was a very subtle smell of the expensive perfume he knew only Louis used. To think it was the rabbit's was out of the picture. She didn't seem like a popular rich student by any means. But what was Louis' perfume doing up here, and why could he smell it on this girl? Was he here to pick up flowers too, or was it something else?
"Here you go!" said the rabbit, now energetically smiling at him. The wolf lowered his arms, allowing the red flowers to drop into the bag.
"I'm really sorry about what I did just there. I should have controlled myself better," apologized Legosi.
"It's ok... really. I should have thought more about what I was doing..." The rabbit sighed, the sound of repressed sadness present.
"Hey, I just have one other question if you don't mind," Legosi asked nervously.
"Fire away."
"What was... Louis doing here," Legosi asked innocently. Haru just stared at him.
"H-He..." the rabbit cleared her throat. "He just likes to take a stroll through the garden every once in a while." She suddenly seemed very nervous and panicked.
"Hey, I was just curious. No need to worry or anything," Legosi explained quickly. The wolf quietly took another sniff. He could smell her stress. He took a moment to think about when Kibi had run off in a panicked hurry the moment he saw her. What could one fear about a rabbit? He grabbed the bag and swung it over his shoulder. "I should probably go back to the theater now." Legosi walked towards the door.
"I-...okay, bye."
"See ya."
Back at the theater, the Art Department had most of their work done already. "Hey, look! Legosi's back," shouted Dom. "How many did you bring us?" The peafowl looked into the bag. "What a pretty color... thanks Legosi! Owe you one."
"Yeah, thanks Legosi," said Kibi.
"What the heck was that back there?! Why did you have to leave me alone like that?" Legosi confronted the anteater. Kibi looked quite nervous. The firm tone coming from the normally shy, quiet wolf scared him to a certain degree.
"C'mon Legosi, you have to understand. I just really don't want to be there with... you know... her."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"Haven't you heard? It's quite well known that she sleeps with everyone she can get her hands on," Kibi explained. "So, I left because I didn't want people getting the wrong idea." Legosi honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could someone as seemingly harmless and innocent as that Hare be capable of such a thing? She seemed like any other rabbit to him.
"She really didn't seem like one of those types of girls," muttered the wolf.
"But it's true! I have friends who can back me up," Kibi spoke confidently.
Legosi growled quietly, "Well, I'm sure that these rumors are just what they are, rumors!" While shouting, Legosi had subconsciously drifted closer, now almost being in the anteater's face. Realizing what he had done, he scooted backward, keeping his composure. He wanted to believe that she really was harmless, but still... was that the reason why he smelled Louis' perfume on her? Legosi shook his head, rejecting the idea. How could she, and Louis for that matter, do such a thing. There's just no way. He refused to think of her as a slut.
After finishing the decorations, the Art department seated themselves in the first row of the theater, watching the Actors team perform their last practice act for today. Legosi watched Louis perform his part as the grim reaper near perfectly, albeit a bit slower than usual. He suspected Louis' leg him hurt more than he was letting on. That's when he saw Juno again. The brown wolf had taken up the role of one of the background dancers, passionately dancing in synchronicity with the others. Every time he saw her, his world became a bit brighter. He knew he wanted to talk to her again. His eyes caught hers for a moment, but they both quickly broke eye contact.
Once the performance was over, Juno once again looked over to Legosi, the two wolves held eye contact for a second before looking away. Legosi had become so engrossed in her performance that he loudly clapped when it ended. Legosi didn't quite know it yet, but he was head over heels in love...
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