Or just regular reading. I won’t presume you’ll find it pleasurable. You might, though, so let's have it:
The child of a wealthy but rather eccentric couple, Lemon (born Martha Lied) is the test tube result of mixing human and hyena. This presented their sweet newborn with a bit of trouble, however. First, her body was not at all stable. In attempt to save her from a slow decay, her parents fed her a cocktail of hormones to encourage growth. Testing different combinations of drugs eventually saved her life, but left her with another biological conundrum. The result was a body that changed in an infinite loop – deforming itself from the female to male sex and back again. Woefully, this development is not an overnight process but one that moves at a slow crawl over a period of eight to twelve years. The only possible plus was that Lemon seems to remain consistently young-looking – unfortunately she also seems to be forever young-thinking. Second, and even more distressing, an accidental tainting of some of Lemon’s unconventional mix of baby food left the child with a bizarre appetite. How the human meat got mixed up with the wild boar meat would be a debate that lived on in the Lied household forever – though regardless the consequence remains the same – charming little Martha was soon craving a meal made of her fellow man. Despite these qualities giving her a slightly different childhood experience than most, she managed to grow into an emotionally stable young…man. Having been raised as a girl and having many stereotypical ‘feminine’ interests, being suddenly treated as a male and feeling like a male was a bit of a shock. As he grew she learned to survive with his ‘disabilities’, developing powerful people skills – he is persuasive and manipulative and a wonderful actor. However, he is also a genuinely friendly and affectionate person who is far too open to trust. He went off to college but dropped out after being offered a modeling contract – his dream! – but city life soon proved difficult for him. He managed to avoid police by sticking to a strict plan; put off his hunger as long as possible, stick to stealing from morgues as much as possible, ensure that any living victim is a person that wouldn’t be missed. Then, just as she was beginning to acclimate to city life, came Benjamin Buckley. Benjie was loud-mouthed and rude, but well-styled and charismatic. Lemon met him at an after party one night – one of those super classy/a little bit shady deals with models and rich kids. Benjie was charming in a degrading sort of way and loved to tell anyone who would listen that his family had been in a secret society of cannibals for hundreds of years and one day he himself would become a member. Lemon fell for him immediately, her hopeless romantic brain telling her she could love him into being a better man, as well as naively hoping his story of the secret club was true. The two dated and became close, close enough that Lemon refused to see his negative qualities and felt he was a safe person to tell all her secrets too. Benjie was fascinated by her and seemed to find renewed affections for her, curious about her life and even making light jokes of her tabooed diet. Unfortunately a big problem with Benjie was that his jokes were never really jokes but statements made to sound harmless. Lemon realized this one night when she returned to her apartment to find her roommate and good friend murdered, haplessly chopped to bits and being prepared for consumption by Benjie. Lemon promptly passed out, police were called by neighbors, and she found herself facing murder charges. In a surprising turn of events, Benjie’s family really was part of a cannibalism club, the leader of which came to meet with Lemon. Calling herself Billie Jean, the leader told Lemon that the most important rule of the club was secrecy. Benjie’s parents, facing expulsion from the club because of the lackadaisical attitude of their son – were allowing the boy to stand trial without help from this club – the Society of Swans (name pending). But, as this mysterious club leader somehow already knew, Lemon was no more than Benjie’s victim. This being the case, Billie Jean offered a choice; membership to the club which could shield her from the law, or to take her chances in court. Still in shock, Lemon said yes, and the connections of the Society allowed her to escape to a ‘safe house’. It was here where she convalesced for over a year, speaking to no one, not being fully accepted by the other society members dwelling there. It was not until she stumbled upon the greenhouse and its caretaker that she found a friend. There her rehabilitation truly began, and as he taught her to care for the plants she began to heal. It was when she was able to bear the first palatable fruit of the infant lemon tree that she received the nickname Lemon. Ever since then she has kept the name, a symbol of her healing process. She came to Tybalt’s building on recommendation of her gardener friend and has resided there while she attempts to finish college online (studying fashion design and merchandising) and working retail jobs.
And there you have it, kids. Lemon’s whole really bizarre life. One day I kind of want to make a pixel adventure game out of her story – wouldn’t that be fun??
Actually now that I mention it, here’s a fun fact: Lemon’s whole story comes from an off-shoot of a game I was developing once. Ha! Isn’t it funny where these stories come from? I feel like 50% of my dolls are random side characters that actually have little to do with the main story I’m working on…
