Leon was left feeling numb all over from the outburst, save a dull ache in his chest. He wasn't used to letting out his emotions like that. Was this all he could do now, scare kids? He felt like a failure in so many ways, and instead of making him feel better, he had just made himself feel worse about himself.

His train of thought was broken when Kendra reached out and apparently pricked her finger on something. Out of habit, he recoiled, reaching for the spot before realizing it wasn't one of his quills. They weren't even growing up there yet, Doc had pulled them from his tail first and worked his way up, and the regrowth hadn't reached his upper body yet.

"You ok"?

"Yeah... just... I don't know..." he said, unsure about it. He was used to being a monster, but generally he had been alone where he didn't have to interact with people. That had been easier, but now he was surrounded by people. People with no fear of him and no sense of self preservation. He found himself having to talk to people and try and convince them of the dangers of being around him. And then there was all this new stuff to deal with.

Kendra's statement about not being bothered, that he was his friend were not something he believed. "You don't need to pretend for my sake," he said, "I know what I am." Kendra was either lying or just refusing to see that he was a monster. He knew he was ugly and monstrous, and friendship was a luxury he couldn't afford.

He looked up at the shift in the weather. Honestly he wouldn't mind the rain. It matched his mood.

Kendra felt another swell of anger. This time it wasn't directed at the kids that thought it would be fun to bully someone. This time her anger was directed at Leon. She hated to see him put himself down like that.  When he looked up in the sky to look at the storm clouds rolling in; Kendra reached up and grabbed his face. Her hand slid on the side of his face and cupped the warmth of his cheek. His fur was soft and warm. She didn't reach up aggressively but softly. She used her hand on his cheek to guid his face where she wanted it.

She guided his face so that he was staring into her eyes again.  Kendra wasn't a really good liar. When she was lying you could most certainly tell she was. Leon didn't know her long enough to know this perhaps, but anyone who cared to look could see the pure genuine nature of her words. Kendra's expression turned softer. Her eyebrows pushed together in concern and sadness, her pouty lips curled back and waivered a bit. Big brown eyes shrink wrapped in silver tears that rolled down one cheek as if it was the exclamation point at the end of her statement.

"You.  Are my friend."  She said clearly.  There was a slight crack to the pitch of her tone.  "Grow'n up as' little girl I used to feel like'a monster.  Ma'daddy always used to call me a little monster.  Said I killed my mama."  Kendra had looked away.  The pain of memories to hurtful she didn't want Leon to see her balling her eyes out.  She took a few steps, still under the big tree that protected them from the lightly falling rain all around them now.  "She died during child birth.  Ma'daddy called me all sorts'a thangs, monster, the devil, a cancer in his life.  When he found out I was a mutant he only hated me more." 

"I met'a girl.  Libby was her name....." Kendra had fast forwarded a bit in her history to give a more clear history.  "We was in love, or at least.... I was.  We were together for  a long time.  Until one day I felt safe'onough to tell her bout my secret.  Tell her I was a mutant.  She broke up with me and told me to leave."  Turning around to face Leon again she didn't even try to hide that she was crying now.  She wore the streams of tears rolling down both cheeks like badges of honor. Kendra moved back over to Leon.  "I've felt like a monster for along time for thangs I can't control.  We're not monsters."  She said  taking his much larger hnd into her much smaller one.  "We're just people.  Do you understand?"  She asked.  She looked at him with big brown watery eyes and a soft hint of a smile daring to pull at her face.  She didn't see Leon as a monster just a likewise suffering soul.

Leon felt Kendra guide his head down and look him directly in the eyes as she assured him that she was his friend. Even he couldn't deny the sincerity in her eyes. Even so, just because she believed herself to be his friend didn't make him any less dangerous to be around. Still, she went on, talking about her past, what were clearly painful memories for her, and Leon had to reconsider his view of her. She apparently had her own share of baggage to deal with, just a different type.

"When I first changed," he said, reciprocating Kendra's openness, "It was during a football game, I caught the ball and the team tackled me. Next thing I know everyone was screaming, the other team, my friends, everyone who had jumped in on the dog-pile. People passed out convulsing all around me and suddenly I was... this... thing...," he said, sitting down against the tree and looking at his red clawed hands. "Then everyone in the crowd was screaming, everyone was running out, parents crying over everyone I had poisoned. Everyone yelling at me "What did you do!?", "Monster!", and screaming at me. Then some tried grabbing me and even more people got poisoned. More screaming, more yelling. People ran from me... and I ran home, and my parents didn't recognize me."

It had been hard to convince them he was their son. Eventually his knowledge won out, but that didn't help at all when the protests began. "Even afterwards things never settled down. People threw things at the house, people stood outside chanting about how I had tried to kill everyone, how I needed to be locked up. I couldn't leave the house, and every night I heard mom and dad yelling, crying, trying to think of how they were going to survive this. Survive me. They couldn't even come near me out of fear I'd poison them too." He clutched at his face, feeling like his chest were tearing itself apart.

Kendra had know sorrow, but she at least looked normal, and turn invisible apparently, but Leon was a creature 24/7, his mutation hurt everyone he loved, and prevented any sort of physical comfort from those who, to his knowledge, had loved him. He had become a curse to his family, a poison to his town, and a monster in his own eyes.

Kendra's heart went out of Leon. Poor guy. No wonder he was so freaked out every time she tired to talk to him. Or get close to him for that matter. He must've been paranoid that something like that might happen again. Though, she hadn't really realized the risk of being close to him; she didn't really care either. Kendra allowed her hand to drop form his face as the light rain started to pick up.

Before they knew it, was a downpour. A dark foreboding example of the darkness left in the world.  The world almost seemed to react to the sadness of their shared experiences and the rain was there to cleanse away the sadness.  Kendra looked up at Leon and smiled a bit.  She didn't really have anything to smile about except for the fact that he had finally opened up to her and it was a big step for him.  She could tell that wasn't easy for him to share. 

Kendra wasn't going to give up on him.  She knew it would be dangerous.  Especially because she had a certain proclivity for being reckless and clumsy.  Not to mention the fact that she didn't always think things through before she did them.  She knew it was a risk just being around Leon.  A dangerous one, but she didn't care.  She wouldn't leave how out in the cold to be alone.  Not when she had her friendship to offer.  She had felt alone for most of her life and it was one of the worst feelings she could imagine.

Kendra took a step back and leaned against the tree.  She had her camera hanging from her neck.  Kendra turned on the camera with her thumb.  The screen lit up and came to life.  "Mind if we take a picture Leon?"  It was random and totally out of the blue, but she was photographer by trade and had a habit of taking pictures of people she liked.  Leon was no different.  He was a giant teddy bear covered in red fur and hidden beneath a layer of misplaced anger.  He did that to keep people safe.  What she realized was, that was an incredibly lonely road to walk down.

Kendra raised her camera a little.  Not quite up to her face.  She lifted the strap over her head and placed the camera in a notch hole in the tree she was leaning against.  Setting it to a timer she looked back at Leon to see if she had his permission.  She wanted a photo with him.   She had a habit of taking pictures of her friends and Leon was most certainly one of them.

Leon's eyes drifted away from Kendra's. So know she knew... basically everything there was to know about him. He couldn't meet her eyes, knowing he probably wouldn't like what he saw. He had seen it too many times before to trust the reaction would be any different. Fear. Disgust. Pity. Kendra's would probably be the latter. She could deny him being a monster, but it didn't feel true. His experience had told him this every day since then, and someone saying 'no your wrong' didn't undo years of being shown otherwise.

The rain feel over the tree, which blocked it for a time before it started dripping through falling on Leon's head. He couldn't feel it, too much fur insulated him against the cold. He was getting wet, but it couldn't saturate him fast enough to make a difference. He checked his tail again. More spine buds, and the older ones looked longer and sharper.

"Mind if we take a picture Leon?"

Leon was caught off guard again by the change in subject. "What? Why?" he said reactivity, not even knowing why. He hadn't ever been asked before, at least not since he changed, and had no basis on how he felt about it. Naturally his first assumption was the worst, that this was the only reason Kendra was hanging out to get a picture of herself with a dangerous creature, or had some other ulterior motive behind it. He still believed that Kendra was only hanging out with him for some reason other then wanting to be friends, despite sharing a moment. He had been conditioned to believe the worst before anything else, and it would take a lot to break through the wall he put between himself and others.

Kendra pressed the button on the camera and moved over to Leon. A few moment's later there wss a flash from the camera and they had taken a pictures. She wasn't afraid of Leon. She saw him as harmless at least to her. She knew tht he wouldn't actually hurt her on purpose, but she didn't know if his spines were still a problem or not.

Still he seemed like he didn't trust her. She didn't know how to break down his walls. They didn't seem to be getting weaker, but growing taller. She just wanted to be able to reach him. 'I'll get'cha a copy of this picture. So you can frame it and put it on ya desk." Kendra knew from being in his room that he didn't have an personal photos of friends or family. She knew tht he didn't have any connection to the world. It was something she wanted to chnge. Though she couldn't oiut right say 'hey I know you don't have pictures up in your room' fshe knew it all the same.

Kendra smiled at Leon and grabbed her camera off of the tree. The rain was already letting up.  A spring shower, a light rain just before the sun began to poke out again and warm the already bad day.  It wasn't so bad.  Kendra was stronger than that.  It would take more than a few kids trying to pick on them to really put her down, She looked carefully at Leon.  Her eyes met his.  Kendra wondered how much more digging she'd have to do to really get at the man behind the hurt monster.

 

Kendra jumped in close with Leon. a shudder ran through his body from the invation of his personal space. He really wasn't used to being close to anyone, and the resultng picture would show him with a look of confusion and mild panic from the abruptness of it all.

Kendra offered him a copy of the picture, and Leon didn't know how he should respond. "...er... thanks?" he managed, not knowing how he was supposed to get a frame for any type of picture. He still didn't know what it was Kendra wanted from him, and the way she looked at him left him more confused then anything else. The weather was letting up, leaving the grass smelling nice and fresh with a earthy wet dirt smell. He wondered how much time he had left before his spines got sharp enough to be dangerous. He pulled his tail around and took a look prodding the tip of the biggest spine. It was still about as sharp as a dull needle, but was looking more and more similar to his spines before they were plucked. Maybe he should re-wrap them before they got to that point, at the very least it would extend the time he could stay out before the growth got to his back. He pulled the length of bandage from his pocket and began wrapping his tail. Usually such tasks were difficult, but Leon had enough practce with this task to be very effective at doing so.