Eric quietly wondered if this was how Julie felt around him when he began to ask her questions about weremers after he learned that Julie was one. He and Julie had had some fun dancing together, though he couldn't say as to how well either of them did. All that had mattered was being close to her and seeing her smile and seeing the slight twinkle in her blue eyes that he'd always seen in them. However as they took a break and paused by one of the smaller side tables that was set up for those at the dance to be able to sit and eat, they were approached by another couple. They were clearly a year older than Julie and him, and were male and female.
One was a young woman, who was still a Normal but her date was a werebull who towered over both his date and Eric in his bovine form. When they shook hands, Eric also noted that his fingers were thicker and more muscular than even Nate's in his wolf form with his five fingers ending in a large thick nail that could function like a hoof. Much of his head and neck was covered in a greyish-brown fur with modest horns that curved slightly from the top of his head. He wore an oversized suit that looked sort of like it had been for a movie set, which seemed to match the girl's costume. Eric was pretty sure their costumes had come from an old movie, but he couldn't be sure which. But that wasn't really important as they approached and introduced themselves and struck up a friendly conversation.
In this, Eric learned that the girl was Melissa Jenkins, who was pretty much just as new a resident to Moon Lake as Eric was. She and her father had recently moved to Moon Lake and her father had become a weretiger and she had begun dating Trevor Tyson, the werebull that had escorted her. From what Eric could see by her smiles to Trevor and her staying close to him, he guessed that Melissa and Trevor were in the process of going through what he and Julie had gone through, finding their one true love. He'd also learned that Melissa and her father weren't related to Harry Jenkins, or at least the relation was distant if they were related. Eric also didn't know that Melissa's father was also named Harold. There was also some mention of an "Anna Bell," who was Trevor's sister, and Eric thought he'd heard that name once or twice in one of his classes, but he couldn't remember which at the moment.
The big thing was that Melissa Jenkins seemed to be exercising a great deal of curiosity about weremers, which Julie was all too happy to answer and explain. It amused Eric a bit, and he did want to help his love, but he really hadn't been a weremer, himself, all that long and thus didn't want to "step on Julie's toes" as it were.
"Well... again... it was nice meeting you both," Melissa Jenkins said with a small smile, "as I've never met a weremer before... I have some questions if you don't mind the curiosity..."
"We'd be more than happy to answer," Julie answered and wrapped an arm around Eric's, "So long as it isn't too personal..."
"I wouldn't think that it would be," Melissa gave a shrug, "I suppose the biggest thing... is if you're weremers... do you normally have..."
"A full tail?" Julie gave a happy chuckle, "Actually, yes, but weremers are actually fairly different from the other weres in Moon Lake. Nearly all weres are based off of some form of animal and when they transform they become an anthropomorphic version of that animal and obviously built to attract the opposite gender so as to produce lots of little weres. Weremers, however, aren't quite that singular. My dad says that it's possible that when the werevirus crossed through humans to various fish that it had a very DIFFERENT reaction to how it worked in other cases. Some of it may be because fish naturally don't have legs and humans do and some of it could be that when that mix occurred... it actually involved several different but similar fish species and that the mixing with the virus created a "different" response from how it works with other weres. Though, that is at best only a guess and I've heard from a couple of the other weremers in Moon Lake say that we're a bit more magical than other weres..."
"I've heard a few references to Moon Lake having magic," Melissa commented, "though mostly related to how fast and how well relationships work..."
Eric couldn't deny that particular point as he felt Julie squeeze his arm. Being with her had been magical and he never wanted to let her go. And at times, he did feel a strong pull to be with her and simply go off into the lake and "spawn" as Julie described. But, he knew that that wouldn't be responsible and that they couldn't just act on an emotional pull at present. He and Julie would have to wait until they "grew up" and could sustain themselves.
"There's actually been a fair amount of debate in were-society as to whether or not we're scientific or "magical," and it does go back and forth on various issues," Julie answered, "anyway... with weremers our difference has developed that we can transform in stage... Three to be specific... or four if you count the full human form."
"Though we can breathe and talk under water in all of them," Eric added.
Julie nodded and smiled, "Stage One is rather close to being human. Webbing begins to form on our fingers and toes, but things like our gills remain hidden and enclosed inside our lungs and no scales are apparent. Stage Two, which Eric and I are presently in, is when our scales do form on our legs and slightly on our hands. Our feet take on more of a flipper like shape... a sign of moving towards having our full tail, I suppose. And at this point, our gills do become visible on our backs, though we don't lose our lungs. Stage Three is the full tail. Our legs fuse together and form the tail with our feet forming the flukes. Our gills in this stage will also be bigger than in Stage Two."
"So it's like a progression... you can slowly change and stop at certain points," Melissa surmised.
"That's one way of putting it," Julie nodded.
"Which is different from other weres," Trevor commented, "Once I start to transform, I CANNOT stop until I'm fully changed."
"So... I suppose you'd both do well at swim meets," Melissa commented.
"So long as the water is clean and isn't chlorinated," Eric commented with Julie nodded.
"Though, even with that, unless the contest is with other more aquatic weres, those based off of say otters, beavers, seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, or sharks... we couldn't as it would present an unfair advantage that might expose that we are weremers," Julie added.
"Chlorinated... but doesn't that help keep pools clean?" Melissa wondered.
"In general yes, but it does so by KILLING bacteria," Julie explained, "Chlorine if ingested in any way can act like a poison, and in a gaseous form CAN kill people. One of the first poison gasses in WWI was actually Chlorine Gas. And because weremers can breathe under water in any form, including our human form, swimming in a chlorinated pool would be akin to you breathing in Chlorine Gas. It'd kill us... or at least would potentially kill us. So... we prefer clean pools... they can be freshwater or saltwater... but clean is the preference."
"It must take a lot of work to keep a pool clean that way..." Melissa commented.
"It does," Julie agreed and then smiled to Eric, "but it means that a loving pair of weremers will have a place to have their full tail and be together..."
"Like the werefox's bond?" Melissa wondered, thinking on some of the talks that she'd had with Megumi on that.
"In a way," Julie answered slowly and absentmindedly stroked the pearl on her necklace, "though for weremers, it is more truly love at first sight. We can truly see who is our destined soulmate. I saw Eric and I knew he was the man for me."
"I'm glad I was," Eric smiled back to Julie and looking to her, and seeing the aura of light around her that told him that she was HIS one true love.
"So... you can see that... can you see the matches for others?" Melissa wondered.
"No," Julie answered, "It only works for helping an individual weremer find THEIR one true love... and what also partially differs it from a werefox's bond is that weremers can find new loves if a partner dies, where as a bonded werefox will remain single and loyal to a deceased partner..."
"I see," Melissa said slowly. A part of her had wondered if that would work to sit as some further confirmation on whether or not Trevor was her "one true love." She'd had some things that hinted at that, but they weren't everything and a lot of it she was still trying to sort out.
"You aren't...?" Eric began to wonder.
"Oh no..." Melissa almost jumped as he interrupted her thoughts, "if and when my time comes... I'm actually more than happy to become a werecow and be with Trevor. It's just... maybe I'm a bit insecure on some things and not knowing on others... I want to know what I'm doing is right and not pushing him in any way..."
"Well... do you love him?" Julie asked.
Melissa looked up to Trevor, saw an assuring smile and his kind eyes looking down on her, and then nodded, "Yes... I love him. He's... he's been wonderful to me."
"And do you love her?" Julie then asked to Trevor.
Melissa stood their silently. The sound of the music and approaching footsteps didn't even factor in. She simply looked at Trevor and waited for his answer. She felt one arm wrap around her back. His target was likely the small of her back, but given their present differences in height with Trevor in his were-form, his hand was actually at her shoulders, but his touch was still soft and gentle, just the way he'd always been with her.
"Yes," Trevor answered and looked down to her, "I love her very much. It's fast, I know... but Mel... there is just something special about you. I'd love more than anything to have you become a werecow... and to have the honor of being the one to turn you and that we may live out our four centuries in happiness together... But I don't want to force you into anything or rush anything either."
A part of Trevor's mind then said softly to Trevor's subconscious, "There. I said it." It only resulted in a very happy smile forming on Melissa's lips and showing her teeth, which Trevor found to be perfect. With that, she leaped up into Trevor's arms. He caught her and held her up so that her head was close enough to his muzzle and they shared the best kiss that they could manage. Melissa, happy at the confirmation that Trevor loved her, and in many ways Trevor happy at the same confirmation.
Eric and Julie smiled and were about to share a kiss of their own when the clicking of claws on the hardwood became unavoidable and they turned to see Nate and Alex come up to them. Both were in their were-forms, though it looked like Nate had tried to comb his hair more like Alex's and Alex had tried to comb his like Nate's. Eric guessed that Nate just decided to go as a werewolf, which made sense, as that was sort of Nate's thing for Halloween in past years.
"Hey there little guy," Nate said to Eric and pulled him into a hug, spinning Eric around for a moment, "Having a good time?"
Eric didn't get a chance to answer while his brother held him at first, as a rather loud snort was soon heard, making Nate turn to see the werebull eyeing him. Nate was big enough in his were form that Trevor Tyson wasn't super intimidating, but he could see that the werebull was bigger than him, even though the girl he held looked to be a year younger than Nate.
"Don't..." Trevor began to warn Nate, concerned that this could be trouble.
"It's okay," Eric assured him, "this is my brother, Nate. He was actually supposed to be the family were before our dad got clawed and forced our mom to become a were to remain with him and before I realized I was head over heals in love with Julie."
"Hello," Nate spoke as he set Eric down and then gestured to Alex, "this is my boyfriend. Alex, he's the one who turned me... and well... we've been happy together."
"You didn't become the same kind of were as your brother or parents?" the girl beside the werebull asked.
"Werewolves were always my thing, they are awesome!" Nate declared with a raised fist , and actually heard a howl raise up out on the dance floor from somewhere. Trevor and Melissa looked to each other, as that sounding like something they'd heard before. Nate then continued, "And since our family moved too Moon Lake, we all had the option of being whatever kind of were we wanted to be. We didn't all have to become the same were."
"And you fell in love with the were that turned you?" the girl asked.
Nate nodded and moved over to lick Alex's nose, "Very much so. So much so that I decided to go as HIM for Halloween."
Eric paused to look over things. It was an interesting idea, though the only thing that showed it was the hair style as Nate's fur wasn't the exact same color and shade as Alex's. Though, things looked close enough to Eric that it didn't matter. He shrugged at it and then moved to introduce Nate and Alex to who he and Julie had been talking to.
"Anyway, guys, this is Trevor Tyson and Melissa Jenkins," Eric answered, "She had some questions on weremers that Julie was answering for her."
"You helped," Julie said to Eric and kissed his cheek.
"Jenkins..." Nate blinked and looked to Melissa, "You're not related to Harry are you?"
Melissa looked out and then pointed into the crowd where a pair of weretigers in improvised togas were dancing together and gave a small smirk.
"My dad, Harold Jenkins is right there with his fiancé, Virginia McCoy," Melissa gave a playful smirk, "If you're referring to the Jenkins family that had their wedding today... that's likely just a coincidence. If we're related... its extremely distant... like a cousin's cousin twice removed split off in the eighteen hundreds they never saw each other again. My dad and I are from Michigan."
"Your dad is also named Harry?" Alex blinked, "That IS a coincidence."
Melissa nodded, while Nate turned to Eric.
"Eric, have you seen Mom or Dad around?" Nate asked, "They have any instructions?"
"They dropped Julie and I off before going home to help with the trick or treating and likely whatever the Skulk came up with for pranks for Halloween," Eric answered, "They stayed just long enough to look around and make sure that we wouldn't starve or anything... Outside of that, I don't think they had any major instructions beyond the basics."
Nate nodded, and then looked over to Trevor and Melissa, "Well, it was nice meeting you... but we just came by to say hi to Eric and let him know we're here. So, have fun and we'll see everyone on the dance floor!"
And with that, Nate to Alex's paw and they moved out to join those that were presently dancing.