"Well, I'm sure Seattle can handle things, and from what Ben's told me, Moon Lake is well prepared for a situation like this. So what's for dinner?" asked Nate Anderson, while looking at his parents.
Martha and William Anderson just stared at each other in disbelief. They, and other concerned people across town, had been worrying about the Lionel Ulysses situation since things first started happening in Seattle, but there was their oldest son, shrugging it off like water off a duck's back.
"Yeah. I had a good lunch with Julie, but I'm starting to get hungry again too," said their youngest son Eric, who just became a were-merman a couple of days ago.
"You're body will be like that for a while, until it gets used to burning the extra calories between changing forms back and forth," said Doctor Frances Twist. "Once it stabilizes, you'll be fine."
"Good to know," said Eric.
Martha looked at William, while the werefox looked at his werecat mate. Although everyone was still in their human forms at the moment, they simply stared at each other. Were we worried for nothing? they wanted to ask, but couldn't bring themselves to voice the question.
"Say Eric. Your mother says you and Julie..." began Frances, not sure how to finish the question.
"Yes. We love each other VERY much and it was wonderful," replied the youngest Anderson, as he held his hands up briefly and shifted to his Stage 1 form, with just the webbing appearing between his fingers and toes.
"Congratulations," said Frances with a smile.
"Thanks, although it's a bit uncomfortable having webbed feet while wearing shoes and socks," he replied, before Eric willed himself back to his normal form. "The complete tail only works best in water, although I'm not sure how my shoes and socks would react to suddenly find themselves trying to hold flippers before that," he added, not mentioning the three different stages of were-mer transformation to help his new species keep its secrets.
"Are you, Ben, and Samantha staying for dinner?" wondered Nate.
"I don't know. Ben's out with his girlfriend Kenya. Samantha's taking care of some business right now. Hopefully she'll be back in time, but I haven't been asked yet and don't want to impose," replied Frances.
"Can they mom?" asked Nate.
"What? Oh. Yes, of course," replied Martha.
"Does that mean we'll have time for another game of chess later?" asked Eric.
"We'll have to see how the evening goes," answered Frances.
"Okay, but right now I have to unpack from my weekend. Can I be excused?" Eric asked.
"Me too," added Nate, holding up his duffle bag.
"What? Oh yes. We'll call you when dinner's ready," promised their father.
"Thanks," said their sons, before Nate and Eric went upstairs.
"What just happened?" Martha asked Frances, once they were alone in the living room once more.
"The resiliency of youth," replied their friend and next door neighbor. "I understand your concerns, and many of them are valid, but like Nate said Ben told him, Moon Lake is prepared for such emergencies. Granted, no one wants weres exposed until the time is right, provided that ever happens. But in hindsight within the cosmic scheme of things, this is a pretty isolated incident. The media hype is already starting to die down with people believing Ulysses' tail was just a costumed fake. This will all blow over within a day or two." I hope, thought Frances, wanting to calm her friends down.
"Now then, do you need some help fixing dinner, or should I call Eric back down for that chess game?" Frances asked cheerfully.
________________________________________________________________________________
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
The Moon Lake, Tad thread where the Lionel Ulysses situation started is running ahead of events here. It is now Tuesday morning in Seattle, and except for one nosy reporter and the Seattle Police Department who is trying to solve the murder of Ulysses while he was in their custody, the furor over a human with a "tail" has died.
How the reporter's and the police's respective investigations proceed, let alone whether or not they will actually have any effect upon Moon Lake, remains to be seen.
But for now....
(options below)