The two then slowly left the guest room that Jane had had prepared for Marie's arrival. Jane felt a great deal of relief that her old friend proved to be so accepting in that there was no colossal freak out or anything that would mean that she'd have to take certain matters into her own hands. As, while Moon Lake did have laws that forbade forcing the transformation on normals, those statutes could and at times DID conflict with the laws that Moon Lake had passed with regards to preserving Moon Lake's secret. Thankfully from what Jane had learned, instances in which Moon Lake had to force the transformation on someone who didn't want to become a were were few and far between. In fact she'd never even heard of the city having to do that during the time that she'd been in Moon Lake.
Of course, in most cases, with college students and those who lived outside of Moon Lake but commuted into town to work, they would only need to sign a waiver that meant they wouldn't reveal anything and were kept in situations where truly discovering the town's secret would be difficult. Jane had signed one of those waivers when she came to Moon Lake for college, but as she fell in love with the town while there, she eventually joined were society and in some ways felt many of the same insecurities every other were had with regard to the were secret. In fact, that while she had Marie under her house, Marie would technically qualify as part of Jane's family, and thus might only be required to sign a wavier, had Marie not been so suspicious of her cryptic answers earlier, Jane might have just kept the secret and did her best to make sure Marie never saw her in her were form.
But Marie had been suspicious of those cryptic answers and did push hard on trying to find out what Jane had been hiding. With that, Jane had the sense to realize that being honest was about the only way things were going end well and that she'd have to put faith that her friendship with Marie would be enough to prevent any sort of freak out or negative situation. The fact that Marie took news of the secret that Moon Lake was a sort of were-beast sanctuary and that Jane had been one of them for years so well was a great relief to Jane. She couldn't be sure on what kind of were Marie would choose to be if she decided to join, but she would know that at least Marie would be safe in Moon Lake, safe from the proverbial bullies like he parents who seemed to think that things like sexuality was something worth judging people over. And even if Marie didn't become a were, Jane hoped that their friendship would remain strong.
"So, what would you like for dinner?" Jane asked as they moved out into the hall from the guest room and soon began to make their way toward the kitchen, "I'm afraid I'm not the greatest chef... so I can't offer you anything fancy."
"I'm not too picky," Marie answered, more focused on the swishing of Jane's tail as she walked, "I'll settle for whatever you have."
Marie only followed quietly. Moon Lake's secret was definitely "different," but she'd been close enough to Jane when they'd been growing up to be able to trust her on just about anything. And even Moon Lake's secret on were-beasts qualified for that. As she had had this sense in growing up with Jane that the two could be honest with just about anything and everything they'd come across, mostly. Marie had shared with Jane that she was a lesbian first, but had hid one small thing, mostly out of fear that it might hurt their friendship. That was that while Marie had had some girlfriends off and on, often in secret from her parents, the only one she'd ever truly seemed to get along with... was Jane.
They'd often done so many things together. They'd had sleepovers, did homework, gossiped on the things they were into, and their respective dating scenes. Jane had often insisted on being straight, and Marie knew that Jane HAD had a few boyfriends here and there, with one that Jane had had sex with before they graduated high school. In that, Marie didn't want to hurt their friendship in voicing that she'd had a crush on her best friend, though there were some moments where some of Jane's answers on those sorts of questions seemed conflicted, but Jane chalked that up to the relationship not going well.
But the revelation that Jane was a were and specifically a were that was female only had reignited some of Marie's crush on Jane. Jane had said that werecheetahs were all female and that Jane had had a "lesbian experience" when she became a werecheetah. Jane had described is being "straight but bi willing." In that, Marie had some hope that maybe Jane had been wrong and was possibly bisexual. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had ever repressed who they were over the beliefs that others had. Things related to same sex couples were generally getting better, but it really wasn't at a point where it was openly accepted everywhere. Jane had said that Marie would be welcome in Moon Lake, but that didn't mean that if Jane had been repressing part of who she was that some of that might have held on. If that was the case, Marie might be able to get the chance to confess the crush she'd had on Jane since they were in high school together.
"I've got some boxed chicken tenders that shouldn't take too long to cook and some left over noodles that I can microwave," Jane spoke as they made it into the kitchen, "You okay with that?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Marie answered.
Marie then moved to sit at a small round table next to a window that looked out toward the backyard, but with no other lights on, Marie couldn't see out. She sat in a simple wooden chair as Jane walked over to a modest white refrigerator and began collecting the items that they would need for dinner. As Marie looked around she noticed that the kitchen was relatively small. It wasn't cramped, but neither did it have the room for a big part or that sort of thing, which made some sense. If Jane had been here alone, it wasn't like she would need more kitchen space.
"So... is there anything else you want to hear about?" Jane asked she moved to place a plastic bowl of noodles in a small black microwave on the far counter.
"You'll have to forgive me for being curious... but I'd... I'd kinda like to hear about what you've been up to since becoming a werecheetah," Marie asked, "I mean... you've called and talked about this job you've had at the local bank... but that can't be ALL that you've done. Haven't you found a boyfriend or something to spend your time with?"
Jane tried to hide a bit of a cringe at that. Werecheetahs were all females, and thus her pride meetings were all female. She had tried dating and gone about looking for a good man. And while male weres were very attractive, she privately had to admit, at least to herself, that there was a part of her that liked getting her dose of werecheetah. At first she had figured she'd liked it simply because sex was physically pleasing, regardless of who was involved, but in time, at times things reminded her of her welcome to were society and she couldn't shake it. As that began, she began to think she might have been wrong about herself over the years, but then when she ran her own private "test" on the matter, she found male weres to STILL be attractive and desirable. She even talked with her former roommate from college on whether or not she'd ever had similar feelings. Her roommate voiced that in general, she WASN'T interested in girl on girl action. She could accept it, as since werecheetahs were a female only were, some of that would be required for the transformation, but outside of transforming a new were, like Jane, she wasn't into that. It was from that that Jane got the idea of "straight but bi willing."
And Jane had tried to stick to that, but sometimes it simply lead to some frustrations in that male weres picked up on her confusion and called it off. It made her relations a bit difficult to keep stable, but Jane stuck to her conclusion of "straight but bi willing." After all, there were the times when she'd found a male were that was single and more than willing, and that was fun, even if it was only briefly. So she couldn't be wrong about that, could she?
"Are you okay?" Marie asked nervously when Jane didn't answer right away.
"Oh... I'm fine," Jane answered, "just a bit surprised that I've told you about all the surprises that Moon Lake has... and the thing you're curious about is little ol' me."
"We've been best friends since high school," Marie answered, "Of course I'm going to be interested in what you've been up to."
Jane managed a small smile and commented, "Well... there isn't that much to say. I've been working as a teller here at the local bank. It's helped make ends meet and in some way has allowed for me to make some friends beyond the pride that I'm in."
"Surely there's more to it than that," Marie raised and eyebrow, "In high school you were quite open about guys you had interest in... and you've obviously gained the figure that most women would kill for here. So... surely you've met someone nice."
"I've met plenty of nice guys since I decided to stay in Moon Lake and became werecheetah, but I haven't found anyone that's going to qualify as "the one" yet," Jane answered, as that was true, but didn't give the whole reason why she hadn't found the "one."
"So I guess both of us haven't that much luck," Marie said slowly, "I've had some girlfriends... but... well... we were never able to really connect for much more than a few dates... Not even like what you and I had growing up as friends. And then when I thought I was safe enough to tell my folks..."
"It's okay," Jane answered, "Moon Lake is VERY accepting with regard to same sex couples. Some weres are all mono-gendered, and werecats... and male werecats, some call them werewildcats, are ALL at least bisexual if not homosexual. No one is going to hate you here."
"Well... that will be good," Marie replied with a small chuckle, "though I'll stick to doing some research for the moment... se what kinds of weres are out there before I make that decision..."
Though privately, Marie held that she could get some minor miracle and find that Jane was at least bisexual, she might get the courage to tell Jane that she had a crush on her friend since high school.
"What about things like college reunions? Have you had any of those?" Marie asked to Jane as she watched Jane readying a metal pan with aluminum foil to bake the chicken tenders that Jane had said she had.
"I haven't had one of them," Jane answered, "though... for weres... those sorts of things can be risky. Their high school will hold reunions, but then Moon Lake Normals have grown up around weres and thus don't have the same fears and prejudices that weres have. They know that weres are different, but not the monsters they're depicted as. The college doesn't do much of that, but then... the college will also have students from OUTSIDE Moon Lake, which raises the potential that if they hold a fifty year reunion... and an outside Moon Lake student comes to said reunions... they may find their classmates looking far younger than they "should" be."
"Younger than they should be?" Marie wondered.
"Weres have the potential for a very long time," Jane answered, "assuming the were can avoid being killed, parasites, and/or repeated serious injuries, a were can live up to four hundred years."
Marie felt her eyes bulge in surprise at that. That was an incredible amount of time, and while medical technology was advancing that some people could potentially reach one hundred years, that lifespan that Jane mentioned was enough to be four times that. It'd mean that if she stayed with Jane and didn't become a were, she would grow old and die of old age well before Jane even began to age. It was something that added to some curiosity about what being a were would be like. But for the moment, her focus in that regard would be to study and see what choices she had.
"That's... that's quite a long time," Marie said with some surprise.
"That is an understatement," Jane gave a chuckle, "It'll mean working longer... but it also means an opportunity to see what the future holds and all the mysteries of that."
"And you could still behaving children when your great-grandchildren start having children," Marie teased.
"Let's not go that far," Jane managed, "I'd need to find the "one" and have children before I start worrying about great-grandchildren."
Marie only shrugged at that, "I'm sure you'll find someone that loves you and you'll be with that person for a long time."
"Thanks, Marie," Jane smiled as she continued to prepare the dinner for the two of them.