Leon wasn't really a music fan. Of course he wasn't really a fan of anything. He had been alone on the streets for a good portion of his life which felt much longer then it probably was. It really didn't leave any way to pursue interests, and his appearance and poisonous nature only served to further his isolation. Despite this, he apparently still was prone to ordinary annoyances. He had a song stuck in his head. 

It hadn't been a particularly long song, he had heard it from someones radio, or computer, or whatever they had used, but the song had managed to worm itself into his mind on a constant replay. Mad World. In all honesty it shouldn't, however the lyrics related to him somewhat, and his habit of fixating on the things that entered his mind made this instance hard to ignore. This didn't happen all that often, leaving with him struggling to figure out how to get rid of it, since he found himself humming it, which tended to draw attention to himself when he would rather just blend into the background and avoid people. 

Finally he figured he may be able to get rid of it simply by singing it and getting it out of his system, so he sought out a private place he could do so. His room wouldn't work with everyone else able to hear it. Technically he supposed it didn't matter where he did it, but despite this he felt some degree of shame and embarrassment. He was already self conscious of his appearance and his poisonous spines. He didn't want to add bad singing to the list. Only problem was finding a place where people didn't go, and in spite of the size of the institute, people tended to find him regardless of where he went, which he had discovered went going to the remotest place on the mansion grounds behind the tool shed. As such, he had to look for someplace not only remote, but hard to get to. Due to the open nature of the mansions layout there were not many.

Finally he had wondered into the hedge maze, and wound his way deep enough to where he thought it would be difficult enough to where he could not be discovered. Of course with his luck so far... but it was the best he could do. There was a bench at a dead end where he could likely see anyone who did manage to walk in on him, but he could rest there while doing this. 

"All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces..." he began, just letting the words out. He didn't sing often, at all in fact since he became a monster. He had no reason to, and hadn't really sung all that much beforehand either. If he had, maybe he would have realized that his voice wasn't as terrible as he imagined it was. He assumed that with his monstrous features that anything else about him was equally monstrous, however, when he sang, his voice was perfectly in tune and unwavering, harmonious, a fact completely lost on him. The sad lyrics were only enhanced by his personal tragedies, adding into the mix sincere emotions of pain and loss. 

She was taking a break from the work that had her worn out. Teaching was rewarding, but exhausting. The hedge maze was a favorite spot of hers... Didn't matter that she could simply manipulate the hedges to let her through should she find herself lost... If she wanted to. But no... Xavia was content to meander, her fingers brushing along the plants lovingly as she walked along.

The sound of one of her favorite songs reached her ears. She listened, moving along until she was on the other side of the wall from where the voice came. She decided to get in on the action... He would soon hear the sultry voice from across the hedge, alto, and pitch perfect... "I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad... The dreams in which I'm dying are t'e best I've ever had..."

It was lovely, and it moved around him as she moved around... It faded away after a moment. He might also take note of the scent of roses on the air, only for it to drift away as she did.

Now the song was going to be stuck in her head all day as well. Goodness, you had to pay to play, she thought as she found the exit to the maze, moving to sit down in the grass... If he decided to try and find the source of the voice, Xavia moved slowly enough to have been followed. A slender figure she was, dark red locks swaying in the slight breeze and with her movements. But she did not sit for very long, she stood and started off toward the greenhouse, the white fabric of her dress swirling around her legs. "It's a very very.... Mad world..." She belted out as she disappeared inside.

Amber hadn't been back at the Mansion for long.  Or the human world, for that matter.  It was hard coming back and re-learning what it was to be human.  Relearning, as well, all the many human social rules that often seemed so incredibly baffling.  Once, before she'd left, they had made sense.  She remembered them making sense and this time around she knew her memory wasn't compromised.  No, those memories were definitely real but that hardly helped her situation now.

Some things were easier than others.  Clothing, for example, she'd never really forgotten about.  For humans, it was warmth as much as modesty, for her not so much.  She was something half dead and, as it turned out, the dead didn't feel the cold nearly so much as the living.  During the daylight, clothing protected her from the harmful rays of the sun and during moonlight, she was content enough following the status quo.

Other things were more difficult.  Remembering how to carry on a conversation about nothing.  Why and how did so many always seem to be talking?  Forming connections with non-pack because she no longer had her pack since they abandoned her.  Ghost had suggested she pursue friendship, but how did she even start when she barely understood how to interact with another person, let alone how to form a friendship bond with them?  These problems were stressful, so much more stressful than her little den int he woods had been.

More unexpected was how difficult it was to sleep and live inside, with walls all around her and a roof over her head.  Apparently, during her self-imposed exile, she had developed a bit of claustrophobia.  It was for that reason she found herself a compsognathus inside the hedge maze.  Not much larger than a chicken, small forms had their advantages when it came to remaining hidden.  She'd been there for the last couple of hours, enjoying the silence and the solitude, when out of nowhere she heard music.  Who was disturbing her sanctuary?  Not that they probably knew she was there, but still.

Following the sound of the singing, she came across a very large, red mutant.  She also spotted a slender woman walking towards the exist of the maze, vaguely remembered from a distantly past time.  Maybe if she waited they'd just go away on their own?  Or should she be trying to engage them as part of her reintegration?   Evening was coming which meant she'd probably be ok resuming her human form without too much worry of burning.  Indecision reined and she stood there, a tiny dinosaur in the middle of the road.  

Eventually Leon got to the end of his song. He remained silent after, examining his thoughts to see if this had gotten it out of his system. Thankfully the rephrases seemed to have left his mind, finally letting him think undistracted by lyrics. He was glad he seemed to have managed to get through it without someone walking in on him. It seemed to him that people had a habit of rooting him out at the worst possible moments. For once he seemed to be utterly alone, perhaps getting lost in a maze wasn't an attractive idea to the students.

He took the opportunity to adjust his bandages. A few spines were sticking through the material, so he carefully pulled the bandages off and smoothed the spines back down before covering them again. He didn't want to accidentally break them off if he could help it, since they were dangerous to have lying around.

As he did so, motion caught the corner of his eye. It quickly drew his attention due to his paranoia about others. However what greeted his eyes was not a person so much as a... lizard? Not quite, he hadn't seen any lizard like that, in fact if he hadn't known any better he would say it was a dinosaur... But then he couldn't say it wasn't, he already knew a dragon, he couldn't well say that dinosaurs were not in the realm of possibility at this school. But it was so small... was it someones pet? He didn't know but he watched it, a bit curiously, how often did you see a dinosaur after all?

The big red mutant noticed her and by that point it was too late to decide to run and hide.  From her present vantage point, it was hard to tell exactly how large he was.  When one was scarcely 2 feet all themselves, pretty much everyone looked tall.  She did, however, notice a very impressive set of teeth and an equally impressive set of claws, not to mention what looked like a powerful tail.  For a moment she wished she were in her larger, deinonychus form, but the thought was fleeting.  The Mansion rarely took on mutants who were likely to attack random strangers and even if he was in an attacking mood, one of the advantages of being so small was that she was very dexterous and difficult to catch.  Besides, he looked more curious than hostile.  

Staring up at the mutant, she chirped and bowed her long neck.  How did one indicate that one was actually a mutant girl rather than an actual dragon when one couldn't actually speak?  That was always one of the challenges of shapeshifting and meeting strangers.  If the ground had been made of dirt she might have scratched her name into the earth but that wasn't really an option here.  Instead, she offered another trilling chirp and a toothy grin.  Distant relative of birds she might be, but if only she had to vocal chords of a raven she might be able to actually speak basic words.  Now, maybe that was a possibility to consider trying to learn!

The second voice she had heard in the distance seemed to have wandered off.  Perhaps her unnatural bird-like chirps might bring her back, or perhaps not.  Although the sounds she made were similar to modern birds, they were also distinctly different than any species native to the area or to the time period.

Leon was not sure what to make of the situation. There was a miniture dinosaur right in front of him making chirping noises. Of course he didn't understand what it wanted, "Um... okay..." he said, speaking more to himself then anyone else, "What do you want?" he said, though he wasn't actually expecting an answer, "I don't have any food." he said then thought some more, "If your carnivourous, I don't think you'd like the tast of me, and I'm probably poisonous to you." He didn't know enough about dinosaurs to tell if it ate meat or not, but with his luck that would be the case, just as it was probably likely he was poisonous to anything that tried to take a bite out of him. He hadn't tested that theory, nor did he want to. Especially if it mean that *he* made dinosaurs extinct *again*. Leon made sure this jacket was on tight, and moved his tail away in case the little creature decided to try take a bite.

She realized she had dropped her watch on her way out of the maze. Sighing, the teacher retraced her steps. It took her several minutes since she wasn't using her power to cut through the bushes. By the time she found the watch, shed heard an odd sound.

Xavia followed the sound, parting the bushes for that reason and cutting over a few rows. She stepped out somewhere behind the reptile. Eh? Was that... A... Dinosaur?? She looked with some confusion, before she caught sight of the red fellow. For a minute, her heart was in her throat... "Jupiter?!" She whispered, then she looked at his face and her own expression seemed to crumple. No... That wasn't her missing red man... That was someone else.

"Sorry!" She choked out and started to back away.

The large, red mutant seemed to think her cute, so that was something.  She was, in fact, a carnivore in that form but not especially inclined towards eating humans or mutants.  To her knowledge, that had only happened once and that was a deeply regrettable situation during which time she wasn't properly in control of her faculties or memories.

Clearly, her methods of communication weren't exactly getting her very far, which was not exactly surprising.  It might be interesting to find out if a mutant who could communicate with birds might also be able to communicate with certain types of dinosaurs, given the evolutionary similarity.  A question for another time.  The question relevant now was whether or not to return to her human form and initiate proper communication.  It was still light out, which was a problem, but since her return she'd taken to bringing a black shade umbrella with her wherever she went.  It extended the time she could be outside without burning by a good hour and made it possible for short trips during the daylight.  They were still on Mansion property, so it wasn't as if she had any risk of accidentally losing track and time and getting stranded.

Just as she was preparing to go find her pile of robes, the woman with the second voice returned.  Her ears perked up at the mention of Jupiter, one of her missing uncles.  She chirped at the woman.  If she knew where Jupiter was, maybe she knew where Abyss and Aura were too!

Leon's complete ignorance of what to do in situations involving dinosaurs was quickly cut short by the appearance of someone else. Luckily it wasn't another dinosaur to further add to the confusion. Unluckily it was another person. As soon as he became aware of her, Leon's body stiffened on reflex. He had to consciously fight the reaction to prevent his quills from rising from stress and sticking through his clothes again.

"Jupiter?!"

"Um.... no," he said unsure of wither she was talking about someone else. Jupiter wasn't a usual name, unless maybe it was a mutant name. Either way he just knew it wasn't him she was looking for. Nobody looked for him, at least nobody smart enough not to go looking for monsters. "Y-you should keep your distance," he said nervously, "I'm poisonous." He wanted her to know well in advance in case she, like many of the other mutants here, insisted on getting close to him. It was only after this that he noticed she was drop dead gorgeous, and felt an additional burn of shame knowing how hideous he was. He could only imagine how disgusting he must seem to others.

"No.. You are red like him," she sighed and shook her head. "Sorry... I... Have not seen who I t'ought you were in a long time." And then he said something about being poisonous and she shrugged, "I can be as well. I am immune to most toxins." Xavia sighed and rubbed her forehead, feeling particularly foolish about now. Her heart kind of hurt that she actually thought this man was her former lover.

Another thing about her is she did not care about appearances. Abyss and his clones looked quite similar to this one, sans the mane and lion like facial features. Jupiter was equally as red and massive, however.

She looked down toward the reptile with curiosity. She was pretty certain she was peering down at another mutant, but not sure which one. If she had met Amber at all, it was a long time ago.

Sometimes it was fun to see how people reacted to living dinosaurs.  Just because she was a half dead zombiesaur, didn't mean that she didn't have a sense of humour.  Sure, it tended to towards more dark and morbid paths sometimes, but it wasn't like she as hurting anyone by it.  Sometimes, however, being a dinosaur had its disadvantages, most prominent among them the fact that she couldn't exactly speak.  Clicks, trills and chirps were all well and good, but they didn't exactly impart a lot of information.  That was frustrating.  Luckily, there was a simple way to fix that problem.

Looking back and forth between the two, a few more chirps tried to get across the message that she was leaving for a minute and would be back shortly.  She further lifted a clawed hand with 1 finger pointed up to try and suggest that she would only be gone a moment.  Having done the best she could with the tools at her disposal, she ran behind a nearby tree where her robes and umbrella were stashed.  With a thought, bones morphed and shifted, scales disappeared into flesh, limbs grew and her human body stood where once there was a tiny dinosaur.  Working as quickly as she could to put her robes back on before the damaging sun would burn her, she opened her umbrella for shade and walked back to the others.

"Hello to you both."  She found them both talking.  "Um, I'm the dinosaur.  Its easier to talk in my human body."  She smiled at them both, although she was well aware that these days her smile appeared more ghastly than friendly.

This was the first time that Leon had met another mutant who had any form of immunity to toxins, leaving him unprepared as to how to feel about this. He was never one to really look on the bright side of things, and so supposed 'good news' left his skeptical at best. Just because this girl was immune to 'most toxins' as she put it did not necessarily mean 'his toxins', and with his luck, it would turn out that she wasn't immune and he would be the one toxin that could kill her. "All the same," he said, putting his hands up in a gesture to keep her distance "I'd rather not test it out." She seemed... he didn't really know, he wasn't very good at reading people... annoyed? Frustrated? He supposed thinking he was someone she was looking for, someone red apparently, and finding some sort of monster instead was disappointing. "Sorry..." he said, wondering if he should leave since he caused her discomfort.

The little dinosaur made some strange gesture before running off. Perhaps it too was unnerved by his presence. Soon after another woman walked up, covered in robes in with an umbrella.

"Um, I'm the dinosaur. Its easier to talk in my human body."

Leon was... a little surprised, though really it shouldn't be all that surprising given they were at a mutant school where anything was possible as far as mutant powers were concerned. Moreover it put him back on edge, now there were two people here to worry about. It expression of anxiety on his face may have been unreadable due to it's animalistic features, making it slightly difficult to tell how stressed he really was.

"Fair enough," she said and then looked to Amber, who appeared now in human form... She wasn't surprised at all. And nor was she annoyed like Leon thought. She was simply sad feeling. She looked down at the watch she had dropped and paid more attention to it than the others. "I just came back to pick up my watch. You have a nice singing voice..." And then she looked at Amber, who did not jog her memory.

Then again, quite a bit had happened in life since she had last seen Jupiter. The night they conceived Delilah was the last time she saw him... And then things happened... Her dad passed away, she got saddled with a business and several other things that had her away from New York... He did not even know about Delilah and it killed her. And to see someone who looked like him a little, it brought the guilt back to the surface.

"I can go."

Amber was used to surprised reactions when it came to discovering that she was both woman and dinosaur.  Of course, the red mutant wasn't exactly easy to read and she wasn't the best at reading people in general.  When it came to interpreting the actions of animals in the wild, that she was good at.  Surviving as she had for years as a dinosaur outside the city and able tap into the basic instincts of her different forms, reading such ques in nature was almost second nature.  Similarly, reading similar ques in ferals was also something she was uniquely in tune with.  Any other emotional reaction was only one step above that of a guessing game.

"Um, you don't need to go," she looked nervously back and forth between the red mutant and the woman.  "At least, not on my behalf."  Of course, she couldn't speak on behalf of anyone but herself.  "You knew Jupiter?  Did you know Abyss as well?"  She couldn't disguise the hope in her voice.  She missed him so much.

Leon was really unsure of where to proceed. It seemed both women were more interested in this Jupiter person, and now Abyss? Obviously it must be other mutants they knew. He was surprised when, the flowery smelling girl said he had a nice singing voice. He couldn't help but feel she was just humoring him. He was poisonous and ugly, so he couldn't see any compliment directed towards him as truly sincere. She had obviously overheard him, but she was probably just trying to be nice in spite of how bad it must have been. It seemed most of the people here were like this. Everyone was a mutant so they seemed unfazed by anything that they saw. so in spite of his appearance acting like an early warning system to the danger that he presented. Everyone seemed intent on treating him like he wasn't a monster, like he was just normal. It was maddening when his paranoia about accidentally poisoning someone was exacerbated by people who needed a verbal warning to even realize the danger they were in by being around him.

It seemed that the flower girl was uncomfortable about something, so naturally he assumed it was him, and scooted away a little while the dinosaur girl talked to her, unconsciously trying to put distance between them. Maybe he should leave so these two could talk about their friends without something like him getting in the way.