Martha quietly climbed into the back seat of Frances and Samantha's car while the other two werecats moved to sit down in front of her. Night was already settling down onto Moon Lake, and as Samantha began to drive toward Founders Park, Martha could even see the stars beginning to truly twinkle in the night sky. It was quite beautiful in its own way, and Martha did look forward to actually meeting the other members of her pride. Though that wasn't the only thing on her mind, which Samantha soon drew her attention back to.
"You said on the phone that things are progressing swiftly between Eric and Julie," Samantha commented, "are you okay, hun?"
"Yeah... I'm okay... and to a great extent... I think Eric will be okay too," Martha answered, "It's just that everything for him is happening so fast... He's growing up so fast... I don't know whether to be insanely proud of him or completely out of my mind with worry for both him and Julie..."
There was a silence for a moment before Martha continued.
"I mean... from what Melissa told me... they're approaching a point where neither of them will be able to fight the urge... the need... to be together, and when that point arrives is a complete unknown," Martha continued, "tomorrow... next week... she said definitely before January 1, 2016. That's part of what makes me worry for both of them..."
"But they do love each other, right?" Frances asked.
"Fiercely," Martha answered, "and that's what's triggered this... and I am proud and happy for Eric for that... but I can't help but worry about the timing."
"I'm sure... but Julie Stovall has always struck me as a kind and thoughtful girl," Samantha commented, "even with love and the ins and outs of mer-courtship... she wouldn't force Eric into a situation where he wouldn't be ready or willing..."
"And in many ways, the two of them complete each other," Frances commented, "Both are intelligent but bring slightly different but still compatible mindsets. It is fast, but it is for true love, and I'm sure that both Eric and Julie will work something out to try make everyone happy. Your sons are both good "kids." Everything will be fine."
Martha nodded as they pulled into a small parking lot near a small city park. After coming to a complete stop Martha climbed out of the backseat and looked to a wooden sign that read "Founders Park." It was a quaint park with a wooden playground with lots of trees strategically placed to provide shade in the summer. There was also a small Lions Club open air shelter was close by with sets of picnic tables. Martha also found herself listening to the sound of crickets chirping in the grass, and the cat in her wanted to go and pounce on them and play with the crickets. It was very much a peaceful set up, which in its own way put Martha at peace.
"Enjoying the sound of the crickets, hun?" came Frances voice from behind her.
Martha turned to see Frances standing behind her with a friendly smile as her ears moved to the top of her head and became pointed. Auburn/reddish orange fur was growing over her body, and Frances' eyes had already gained the distinctive slit shaped pupil that was common to many members of the cat family. Samantha was on the other side of the car on the phone with someone, and Martha could see her sister werecat's tail emerge through the specialized slit in the back of her pants.
"Yeah," Martha gave a bit of a smile, "it makes me feel at peace in a way... to just hear... such natural sounds. I liked it a bit in Minnesota... but toward the end... with William's antics, Eric hiding within himself, legal fees, and all that other mess..."
"It lacked enjoyment," Frances finished as her face pushed forward into a feline muzzle complete with a cat's fangs and rough tongue.
"But now..." Martha smiled and began to transform into her were form, feeling the warm and comfort of brown fur growing out from her skin, "With everything... William and I are doing better than we were when we were first dating... I'm completely comfortable with my sexuality now... it's like Moon Lake has healed all of my family's problems."
Martha raised one hand and marveled as her fingernails lengthened into modest recurved claws and then retracted underneath her brown fur.It was one of the more amazing things that she'd come to love about being a were, the warmth of her fur coat, the inherent strength in her toned muscles and her claws. She might have been resistant to staying in Moon Lake once, but that might as well have been a century ago, as Martha loved what she had become and would NEVER leave her new home. Martha carefully kicked off her shoes and stood barefoot and felt herself rise up onto digitigrade feet. As her own face pushed forward into a feline muzzle, complete with whiskers and as her tail grew out behind her, Martha couldn't help but smile. As her transformation completed, Martha bent down and picked up her shoes before approaching Frances and giving the other werecat a hug, purring as she did so.
"And as an added bonus... it's given me such great friends in you and Samantha," Martha smiled, "hopefully, I'll get along with everyone else in the pride."
"I'm sure you will," Frances smiled back, "Come on. We got a few things to set up for everyone before the rest of the pride arrives. We're a bit on the early side, but the others should be here soon."
Martha nodded. She tossed her shoes onto the floor of the backseat of the Twist's car and then joined Frances in getting things ready. They carried out picnic boxes, which smelled of sandwiches, chips, and the condiments that went in the sandwiches including mustard and mayonnaise. They carried the ice chest filled with ice and sodas, as well as selections of paper plates and even napkins in either plastic wrappings or held together with a specialized clamp. Once they got them to the picnic tables under the Lions Club made shelter they began putting together a seating arrangement at the picnic tables.
"Okay..." Frances commented, "We'll put you and Jen here. Samantha and I will sit opposite the both of you."
Martha nodded as Frances pointed to one picnic table and began to set places. While doing so, Samantha finished her phone call and came to join them.
"Well, Jen should be on her way," Samantha announced, "and the rest of the pride should be..."
While Martha moved to set places on picnic table next to the one where Frances said that she and Jen Decker would be seated at two cars began to pull up. They came and parked next to the Twists car. Martha finished setting things up and watched as two men got out of one car while two more got out of the other. One car was flashy with an orange base with metallic red flames painted on its sides while the other was a dull black color. These four men had to be the rest of the small pride that Samantha and Frances had and that Martha had joined, as Martha remembered commentary that the pride was small and that the rest of the pride were all men with interests in other men. All of them were wearing flip flop sandals as they got out of their vehicles and began to approach the picnic area.
"Hello, Sam, w'ere not late are we?" one man, with brown hair and brown eyes and taking the arm of his partner, a man with black hair. He seemed to move his eyes to look between the three werecats already present.
"No, Simon, you and Greg aren't late," Samantha said with a smile and motioned for Martha to come forward, "Martha lives next door to us and we offered her a ride."
By this point, Martha had arrived to stand before the man. She offered him her paw. He took it, and Samantha introduced them.
"Martha Anderson, meet Simon Trask and his husband Greg," Samantha spoke.
"A pleasure to meet you, sirs," Martha spoke as both men assumed their "werecat" forms.
Neither Simon nor Greg were true werecats in the way that Samantha, Frances, or Martha were, as they were of course male, but since male "werecats" were gay, or at least bisexual the way werecats were at least bisexual the way Martha was or lesbians the way the Twists were, Samantha had said they'd been grouped together loosely. From what Samantha had told her, male werecats turned into various wildcats that were comparable in size with the Domestic House Cat, which were from the subfamily Felinae but excluded the Domestic House Cat (Felis Catus), the genus Acinonyx (which included the Cheetah, another all female were-species), and the genus Puma (Mountain Lions, Jaguarundi). Simon's transformation was much like Samantha's as his form was based on the European Wildcat. His fur was covered in a rather tabby like design, similar to Samantha's, but his fur was largely a grizzled grayish-brown with dark brown to black stripes. Simon's fur also looked thicker than Samantha's and he looked a bit more toned than Samantha, almost as toned as William was now as a werefox, but not quite.
"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Simon said politely, "Our pride has been far too small and it was good you've decided to join us."
Simon then gestured to his husband, Greg, who came forward, transforming as he went. Unlike Simon, Greg's form was based on the Bobcat. His fur was largely the same color as Simon's with a grizzled grayish-brown, but he had tufts of fur that grew from the tops of his ears, the fur on his cheeks was a bit longer, and Greg eventually turned around to flash a short tail with a white tip. Martha also noted the spots on Greg's forearms.
"It is good to meet you in purpose, Mrs. Anderson," Greg said politely, "I trust things have been settling down for you and your family?"
"They have," Martha nodded with a smile, "and I've loved becoming a werecat. I'd never go back even if I could."
"That's great," Greg gave a smile, "if you ever need your hair done for anything... give me a call. I'm Moon Lake's best stylist..."
"Not a barber?" Martha wondered.
"Well, I can just cut hair if that's what you want," Greg answered, "but why stop there when you can have some style as well..."
Greg and Simon then moved to a side the next to men came forward. One had raven black hair while the other had reddish hair. The man with raven black hair came forward first. He had fairly well tanned skin and shook Martha's paw as he transformed. His form was based on the Canada Lynx with is largely gray fur, wide cheek fur, and longer ear tufts than Greg's.
"My name is Jose Melto," the Canada Lynx based male "werecat" spoke with a polite smile.
"It is good to meet you," Martha said politely, "hopefully we'll all be good friends."
"Oh, I'm sure we'll be friends," Jose smiled again, "I've never known Samantha to have bad taste."
"You've tasted her, Jose?!" the red haired man joked, "How could you!?"
"Spencer..." Jose gave a groan, "You know my eyes are only for you. We're meeting a new pride mate. Now is not the time to make a joke of everything."
The red haired man, Spencer only laughed and hugged Jose, "but that's why you love me."
Martha found herself giggling at the antics between the two. As hard as Jose tried to look annoyed at his husband's antics, it was clear to all that he was amused by his husband's antics just as much as his husband was pleased with the fun he instigated. Martha also watched as Spencer transformed into a his were form, based on the Ocelot. With a mostly reddish-brown body with large rosette spots on his shoulders, back, and sides, though that was largely hidden by his clothing. The spots that Martha could see on his head, arms, and tail were all likely smaller than the spots she couldn't see thanks to his clothing. Unlike the others, Spencer's ears were actually more rounded than pointed. Eventually Spencer came up to Martha with a friendly smile and bowed politely.
"Spencer Melto," the man spoke politely, "I bring the humor to the pride."
"And you seem to have a fair amount of fun doing so," Martha quipped with a smile.