The tour around Moon Lake went well and Ben actually felt quite relaxed just driving with Kenya around the town. It was nice and it was personal in a way. All weres had high libidos that made them more open to having sex and certainly less prudish with regard to how they thought on the subject. The pack's orgies was just one of those things that the pack encouraged when welcoming new members and even to a degree give the pack some sense of unity. But, since his first transformation, Ben had also noticed somethings. Werewolves that were already married or involved in serious relationships didn't always participate. More often than not, Austin and his wife left to check on their younger children. They might have sex themselves later, but not to be part of the orgy, and at times Ben even figured that they didn't, simply so as not to disturb their younger children. He'd noticed Alex's parents on the periphery at Tad's welcome to the pack, but as AJ announced the start of the night's events, Ben noticed that they calmly walked back toward their home, hand in hand through the trees.
Over time observing these things, Ben had figured that the orgy was something to let the younger and unmarried wolves burn off excess sexual energy and potentially even date... see if there was anyone they loved. But once a life long partner was found, those orgies seemed to lose a lot of the interest. He'd seen it with the adult members of the pack, with Austin and his wife, with Alex's parents, and now he even felt it within himself as he glanced over to Kenya who sat beside him in the car. She had enjoyed the tour and had been quite polite to him as they rode along, and in the course of all of his interactions with her, she had been friendly and honest, and things hadn't revolved around sex. Seeing her enjoy the tour made him feel good.
"So what do you think?" Ben asked after a moment or two as they made their way back toward where Kenya lived, based on the directions she had given him.
"About the town?" Kenya replied, "It is nice... and the land that the town has bought... or owns does give a room for a lot of freedom to it. That is good, though, I'm sure naturalists are concerned about so many non native trees being planted and even growing wild here..."
"Many more are are probably amazed many of them have done so well since the soil here isn't necessarily the best for all of them," Ben commented, "but I suppose with enough rain... ANYTHING will grow."
Kenya gave a brief chuckle at the joke and nodded.
"The best part though, was simply learning a bit more about you," Kenya commented, "and the things that are important to you. There will be plenty of time for sex... and hopefully you can keep up with me..."
Ben gulped at where this was going.
"... but if all a relationship has is sex... it isn't much of a relationship," Kenya finished as Ben began to pull in front of her Aunt and Uncle's home. As Ben slowed the car down, she added the instruction, "You can pull into the driveway."
Ben nodded and obliged, pulling in and parking on the driveway. As he shifted the car into park, Kenya turned in her seat and said to him, "Care to walk me in?"
"Sure... your Aunt and Uncle won't chew me up... right?" Ben asked.
"Why, whatever do you mean?" Kenya asked, "Don't tell me the big bad wolf is scared of my Aunt and Uncle..."
"Hey, you were nervous about how my moms would react to you," Ben teased back, "I'd think I'm entitled to be nervous about making a bad impression."
The two got out of the car and began to slowly walk up to the front door. Ben noticed some stone flower pots sitting near the garage door with flowers in them that looked very good, likely from the floral business that Kenya had said either her Aunt or Uncle worked at, Ben couldn't remember which at the moment.
"I suppose," Kenya laughed after a moment, "but it's okay. My Aunt is friendly and by Uncle is probably the nicest guy you'd ever meet..."
They made their way up to the front door and opened it casually. She held it open for Ben and ushered him in. He found himself in a relatively large living room with a couch, two soft chairs, and one recliner. The floor was hardwood and judging by the glisten on the floor from the lights that were on, it was well polished, though there were a few area rugs that went with the wood floor. There were a few pictures on the wall and a few more on a brass case in a corner. Many of them were of Kenya, but there were a lot of pictures of her family. Ben was nervous that he didn't want to damage to the floor that he ended up standing alone on the welcome mat as Kenya came in and stepped around him.
"Kenya... is that you?" came a woman's voice from elsewhere in the house.
"Yes, Aunt Tanya," Kenya answered, "and I've brought a guest for you and Uncle Barry to meet."
Ben heard footsteps and waited until a woman who looked like she was about the same age as his moms, though their exact age was an unknown. Once a were matured, they aged very slowly as they went through their lengthy lifespans. The woman had her hair tied back and wore a light sweater and a pair of khaki pants, and aside from maybe being an inch or two shorter than Kenya, was just as well built and muscled as Kenya was. The other was a slightly taller man in a pair of cargo shorts a polo shirt that was tucked in. Both were wearing flip flops at the moment for shoes. The man was also drying what looked like a plate with a towel, but looked like he could be a good NFL linebacker.
"Aunt Tanya, Uncle Barry, this is Ben Twist; the werewolf that I met," Kenya introduced Ben to them.
Both of them smelled of leopard, which made sense. Kenya had told him a few times that panthers were nothing more than leopards with a double recessive gene, not a separate species regardless of how they looked. They approached him slowly and Ben thought that Barry looked at him rather suspiciously.
"He's a bit shorter than I expected," Barry said after a moment.
"Barry," Tanya said slowly.
"Nothing wrong with it dear," Barry said to his wife, "It's just that from the way Kenya described him... I'd just thought he'd be taller."
"Well... I am only sixteen, sir," Ben said slowly and nervously, "I'm sure there's a growth spurt yet to have..."
Barry smiled and gave a laugh, "Well... that's great!"
"Ignore him," Tanya answered, "my husband has a habit of being a bit eccentric at times."
"It's okay," Ben said slowly, "I was actually a bit nervous that... you wouldn't approve of me dating your niece."
Tanya placed a hand on Ben's shoulder and spoke, "well... I won't lie and say we have no problem with how young you are, but from Kenya's told us, you are quite polite haven't been some sort of typical teenager..."
"Typical teenager?" Ben wondered.
Tanya gave a playful look back to Barry and than said, "Typical boy behavior... typical teenage boy behavior..."
"Don't believe her!" Barry said quickly.
"This guy got infatuated with me when we were in high school," Tanya answered, "his solution was to sneak into the girl's locker room to deliver a valentine in person. Why he couldn't wait until I'd finished showering to hand it to me... I'll never know."
"You were beautiful and smart," Barry pulled Tanya into a hug, "Lots of boys had to know how gorgeous you were and were asking you. I had do something to stand out."
"You certainly did that," Tanya commented, while Ben heard her and Kenya both chuckle.
"Well... Moon Lake High doesn't have an open campus, and even if it did... I don't have enough free periods to sneak to the college and do the same," Ben said weakly, "and my moms have both taught me to be respectful."
"And from what Kenya's told us, they've done a good job of that," Tanya said with a smile, "along with some surprises... that you've done some gardening."
Thinking of the roses he'd planted and cared for, Ben nodded, "Yeah. I don't all the names of flowers... but I figured it was something that'd make the Twist house look good and so on..."
"And that is good," Barry smiled to him and reached out with a free hand while the plate he was drying as well as the cloth he was using to dry the plate.
Ben carefully took Barry's hand and the two exchanged a firm handshake.
"We've heard a lot of good about you from Kenya," Barry said to him, "the only question I really have for you with regard to the "protective father role" is, how do you stand on Kenya's freedom?"
"Freedom? To do what?" Ben wondered.
"To make her choices for her grouping and so on," Barry explained, "unlike werefoxes with their Skulk and the massive amounts of organization and formality they go through for some of the more mundane things in life... or werelions with their larger prides and at times argumentative political atmosphere over who the head lion is... we wereleopards... or werepanthers, whichever name you want to use, are more free spirited. Our prides are our nuclear families, and once the kids grow up... they gain the freedom to start their own pride and set their own rules. Where do you stand on that?"
"I wouldn't force her into a lot of werewolf pack activities if that is what you mean, sir," Ben answered, "and I'm not about to tell Kenya what her choices in life or as a were should be. I may ask that she be accepting of when I have pack business to attend to, but I'd never force her to join in... and I will be upfront and honest when something does come up."
"Good," Barry smiled and continued to shake Ben's hand, "now... I trust you've had dinner already, so I won't ask about tonight... but maybe in time, you could come over for dinner. I'll even get the Skype set up and you can talk to Kenya's parents."
"That'd be great," Ben gave a small smile, as the meeting had gone well.