Leo is a 19 year old student attending University in Phoenix Florida currently living with his aunt. He has blonde hair, and slightly toned build thanks to his ‘condition’. During the weekend, Leo would hang out with his friends at the university like watching movies at the theater, or conversing at the cafe, but unfortunately for him, the full moon would be out in a couple hours so going out wasn’t an option. He could already feel his ears twitching in anticipation for the changes.
“Leo, could you help me with my camera gear? I promise it won’t be much.” Leo heard his Aunt calling out from downstairs. “You know it’s a full moon tonight right?” Leo shouted from the guest room he was staying in during his university stay. “You still have time unlike me. I gotta be at the shoot in 15 minutes. I could really use the muscle.” Leo heard and sighed. “Alright. I’m coming.” He shouted and started his trip downstairs.
Leo’s aunt Ruby is the only person to know he’s a werebeast. Not even his parents know. But his aunt during dinner one night saw him running back to the guest room only to chase him down in concern. After a conversation in between a blocked door, Leo finally gave in and told her what all the grunts of pain and growling were about, and revealed himself as a muscular kangaroo man. It took the entire night for her to cope, but eventually she came to the conclusion that this was indeed her nephew. Leo knew that once a werebeast was revealed, the usual response was to turn the human who found out, but Leo wasn’t about to make a life changing decision for someone else, especially his own family. After informing his Aunt about the dangers of other werebeasts, she promised to keep his secret, even from his closest family.
Leo walked through the hallway to the front door where aunt Ruby was calling him. Opening it, he saw the garage door open with a pile of camera equipment in the middle. Leo gave a yawn at the sight revealing his sharp fangs. “Be careful who you show those to. People might start asking questions.” Aunt Ruby said passing by with a couple lights. “Whatever. Do you really need all this stuff for a simple shoot?” Leo grabbed some rolled up background screens. “Did I mention I’m going to a wedding shoot? Quality is everything on the most important day of your life.” She said packing the lights in the trunk of her van. “Most important day of your life, huh? How come your not married then?” Leo asked packing the screens in van. “Correction, I’m not married *yet*. Anyway, you’ll understand when your wedding day comes.” Aunt Ruby replied picking up more lights. “If that ever comes. Who’d be crazy enough to marry an animal like me? Besides a kangaroo girl.” Leo said grabbing a camera stand. “Don’t start that. What about that girl you invite over often… what was her name.” Ruby asked. “Mila. But we’re not a thing right now. I don’t think we will ever be because-“ Ruby cut Leo off before he could explain. “Stop! Look Leo, your not a monster. And you really like this girl. If she feels the same way you do, I’m sure she won’t care what you are.” Leo put the stand in the back as Ruby closed the trunk.
“Are you saying I should confess to her? I’m already putting you at risk here. And I don’t want to have to turn anybody.” Leo crossed his arms. “I realize it’s complicated. But your a smart kid. I’m sure you two could work something out. Anyway I got to get going.” Ruby got in her van and started her car. “Lock the house if your going out tonight.” She yelled as she drove off. Leo was about to head back inside until he heard a familiar voice call him from behind. “Hey Leo!” The voice of Mila shouted from behind. Leo turned around to see the black haired girl tan girl jogging towards him. “I’m glad I caught you. The New Planet is premiering at the theater tonight. Wanna come with me?” Mila asked. Leo was always happy to see Mila in high spirits but with the full moon out tonight wouldn’t make the ‘date’ possible. Also the fact that a space movie might have a view of the full moon and it might not cope well in his werebeast form. “Sorry, I’m flat broke right now. Otherwise I would come.” Leo lied. “I can cover for it! It’s alright.” Mila offered. “I… I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Leo scratched the back his head almost as if his fur was sprouting from the back of his neck. “And… I… I got to study for my programming exam.” Leo said with a slight voice crack. “It’s a Friday though. It’s not like you need to study for three nights straight.” She said giving a concerned look. “Just wanna be prepared is all. Maybe some other time alright.” Leo looked up in the sky. No moon yet, bit it was starting to get dark. “Gotta go.” Before Mila could protest, Leo ran straight through the front door leaving Mila alone on the sidewalk.
“See, he’s hiding something. He totally bought that fake movie trick.” A voice behind Mila was talking. Marcus, a brown haired man with brow line glasses came behind Mila and patted her shoulder. “Do you really think so? What would he hide from us?” Mila started to shiver a bit. “Well he hangs around with us after school apart from certain days… full moons.” Mila gave Marcus a cold look. “Okay, now your speaking nonsense! Leo is not a werewolf!” She snapped. Marcus stood back a few steps. “You thought I was going to that? No. I was thinking he holds some sort of cult meeting and that he’s trying to convert us or something like that. I’m just saying the full moon seems to be the key factor here.” Mila wanted to hear no part of Marcus’s crazy theories anymore and started walking away. “Mila, I know something is going on alright. If he had nothing to hide he wouldn’t have fell for the movie shtick. And there’s probably not gonna be another opportunity to find out.” Mila stopped in her tracks. “Fine… but just to prove a point.”
Leo went back to the guest room and slumped right into his bed. He felt bad for turning down a movie night with Mila, even if he’s never heard of a movie called ‘The New Planet’. “Maybe I can make up for it with some ice cream… Nah… than she’d catch my broke lie… Why tonight of all nights?” Leo looked out the window to see the moon halfway through the sky. “Well, worry about that later. It’s almost time.” He got out his bed and removed all his clothing except his boxers. He looked into the mirror to see his hazel eyes changed to a glowing gold color. Leo remembered when he first saw those eyes and reminded back to the night he changed…
Marcus and Mila climbed up the tree right near the guest room window. “What if he sees us?” Mila asked worried. Don’t worry. Is so dark he’ll think we’re just owls. Start hooting if he turns this way.” Marcus looked from the top branch to see Leo in nothing but boxers. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that… is he a nudist?” Mila heard Marcus and gave him a weird look. “What the hell are you talking about?” Mila reached the top branch. “Look. He took his clothes off… damn! I didn’t think he was so ripped!” Marcus said in reference to Leo’s slight muscular build. “Wait, he’s not studying like that is he?” Mila asked. All the sudden, Leo started to stagger on his knees and fell out of view from the window. “Oh my god! Le-“ Marcus put his hand over Mila’s mouth. “Shut up! You said you didn’t want to get caught right?” Marcus let go and looked back at the window to see some sort of clawed hand reach over the window sill followed by animalistic grunting. “Uh… what is that?” Marcus was starting to freak out at the sight that the branch started to wobble under them. “Marcus…” Mila tried to tell him that the branch was close to collapsing but not before looking up to see some sort of creature stare right back at them with golden eyes staring back at them. “We…Were… WERE-“ *SNAP* The two friends felt the branch snap from under them as they started falling from a 12 foot tree. Marcus landed into a bush head first knocking him out instantly as well as completely concealing him out of sight. Mila fell to her side on the grass. “AHH!” She screamed in pain from the impact with tears running down her face not just due to the pain, but to find out her best friend was a monster that was gonna potentially eat her. She heard the thump of the creature landing on the ground right next to her on its hind legs. “So… this is what I get… For spying on you… I guess I deserve this…” Her eyes were clouded by the tears in her eyes that all she could see was the glow of the creatures golden eyes. “I’m sorry… I… I hope I taste good for you…” She says as she blacks out completely.
Feeling groggy, Mila struggled to open her eyes as her vision was still blurry from the events before she blacked out. “Was… was it a dream?” She tried getting up but her left side ached badly. “Ow! That hurts…” She looked to see her vision return with every blink to notice she’s not in her room. It was dark, but she recognized it was Leo’s room from when she last visited. “It… it wasn’t a dream… but that means-“ The door suddenly opened and the silhouette of the creature she saw came from the hallway. With a couple of blinks, Mila’s vision could make out the creature wasn’t a wolf as she first thought, but more like a kangaroo with the longer ears and thicker tail giving it away. “Mi…” The creature froze as it started to make a noise. “Mila…” it said in a deep voice, but definitely recognizable. “Leo…” Tears started to well up in her eyes as she looked at the creature that said her. “Is it… still you?” She stuttered trying to make sense of the situation. The creature came closer with tears in its eyes as well. It bent down and put its hand paw on her arm. “It is… I’m… I’m sorry…”
The creature who was now confirmed to be Leo let go of her shoulder and held out his other hand that was carrying water. “Here… this will fix you right up. I don’t use it much anymore.” He handed Mila the glass and a couple of pills that she recognized as effective painkillers. “Oh, I… I couldn’t take this… this medicine is expensive-“ Leo cut her off. “Please. In insist. It’s the least I can do for scaring you like that.” Despite the sense of guilt Mila had not only for taking a valuable medication, but spying on Leo in the first place, she popped the pills in her mouth and took a gulp of water to make them easier to swallow. “Thanks… but really, you shouldn’t apologize. I should. I didn’t trust you and I saw something I probably shouldn’t have…” Mila wiped the tears from her eyes. “If I knew it was this big… I would’ve have-“ Leo put his paw on her shoulder again to stop her. “I know. It’s okay… actually… I’m kinda glad I don’t have to hide it anymore. At least not from you.” Leo smiled from his snout which made Mila giggle a bit. “So… what are you anyway? You don’t really look like a wolf.” Leo chuckled at her comment referring to werewolves. “I mean, kinda the same thing. I’m a werebeast. A kangaroo werebeast at that.”
After a bit of an explanation what werebeasts were, Mila was hooked on the lore. “So any creature? Even dinosaurs?” Leo noded. “Yep. Although I never met one, they said they do exist.” Leo explained. “And every beast gets fangs? Deer? Rabbits?… Kangaroos?” Leo showed his large fangs with a toothy smile in response. “It Uh… it helps with the… turning process…” Mila raised an eyebrow. “Turning? As in, if you bit me…”Leo shook his head in frustration. “Okay okay… let’s not talk about this too much. I don’t want to put you in danger like this.” Leo sat on the bed next to Mila and buried his head into his hands. Mila, feeling surprisingly better after taking the medication, put her hand on his furry shoulder. “It’s okay. We can take this slow.” She said giving his shoulder a little pet. Leo didn’t like to admit, but he loved the feeling of human hands on his fur. “Thanks Mila…” Leo was feeling cozy with some company other than his aunt. He started to lie down next to Mila and cuddle with her to her surprise. “Woah! Warn me next time big guy.” She said as she started to rub her head against Leo’s smooth fur.
A few minutes of cuddling passed and Leo stood up once again. “So, sorry for making you miss the movie-“ Mila stood up to respond. “I didn’t… Uh… Well…” She stuttered to tell Leo it was a fake. “It’s time for me to be honest with you. There is no movie called ‘The New Planet’. It was Marcus’s idea-“ Mila froze at the statement. “Oh shit! I forgot about Marcus! He’s gonna tell-“ “Calm down Mila. Marcus is in the living room. I’m surprised he’s still unconscious. You took a harder fall than he did.” Leo and Mila laughed. “But honestly, if your feeling better, you can head back home if you want.” Mila looked at Leo funny. “I mean, I don’t have to go… but if you need-“ Leo cut her off once more. “Woah… if you don’t have to your more than welcome to stay. My Aunt is staying at a hotel for a wedding so…” Leo sat back down lifting his tail on the bed alongside Mila. Mila stroked it in response. “Did you really think I was going to eat you? By the way?” Leo chuckled.