The day for Teddy Green went rather quietly and calmly. While he knew of the battle, from what he'd seen in the newspaper, he hadn't seen anything that would warrant official investigation of the Moon Lake Police Department. That was good news in a way, but not something that he could really look into when he and Marci left their hotel room, or at least he had no plan on getting into that. In fact as Teddy raised his arms back and stretched to greet the morning air, his plans were mostly in relation to taking in Moon Lake.
It was a town that was clearly unlike any other town in America, and the fact that most of its population were were-beasts of some kind didn't play into it. Most of it was in that wagon wheel layout that essentially allowed for wild forests to grow between each row of houses on the straight streets. It benefited Moon Lake's weres, as he and Marci had found out the previous night as it allowed for them to explore the area at night and in their were forms. That was something that Teddy found quite attractive, as while he and Marci did occasionally go jogging together, their choices were to jog through suburban neighborhoods that had little to no connection to nature or to go to a gym that was almost entirely mechanical in nature. That helped for exercise, but it also reflected a lot of the sorts of things that Teddy and Marci went through in their day to day lives on the east coast. Teddy didn't know if it was because he was now a were and could finally be with Marci in every way or something else, but he did seem like that sort of connection with nature that Moon Lake seemed to have.
For the moment, Teddy and Marci planned to get a look at the rest of the town and see how nature and civilization interacted in Moon Lake. From what they'd seen at night, it was pretty clear that Moon Lake's weres took advantage of having forested wilderness behind their homes fairly easily. Teddy even guessed that predatory weres saw that as an opportunity for hunting that wasn't possible otherwise, though given the area, a lot of it would also have to depend on no one looking for weres, but that was something that wouldn't be presently known and even if he did know the system, he wasn't involved with the enforcement of America's various poaching and hunting laws and thus couldn't speculate on how all that would work. The plan that he and Marci had was more with the rest of the town. After all, if he and Marci were to move here when it was "time" to "retire," it'd be a good idea to have a good look at the town in all things.
"Do you mind walking, dear?" Teddy asked to Marci as he looked over to her as she shut the door to their hotel room.
"I don't mind," Marci answered, "in a way... it'd allow to get a nice scent of the trees... It's nice, actually."
"That it is," Teddy nodded, thinking on some of the things he noted the night before. The scent of the sap and branches of the various trees was quite nice. He didn't instinctively know them, but he could tell enough that they smelled nice and that they contrasted with what he was used to. There were many parts of Washington DC that were very nice, particularly in relation to the parks that were built and established for the nation's capital, but at the same time there were the scents of exhaust and other things that often overpowered other things. Even the apartment building that he and Marci lived in, which was in a good neighborhood, wasn't free of many of the mechanical things that came with living in a bigger city.
But for the moment, they were in a new place and potentially a place that they might consider moving to in the future and the two were more than happy to tour and enjoy the new surroundings. Even if it was for a little while. A small gurgle from his stomach, however, soon alerted Teddy to what would be their first order of business, breakfast.
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The started with a quick breakfast at a small restaurant called "the Local Diner." It was quaint and the food was very good, and in many ways for Teddy it struck him sorta like the sorts of small town diners that one commonly saw either in the fifties, either in photographs or television shows that took place in that timeframe. Some of the internal décor looked newer and the colors for the diner weren't outlandish. It created an atmosphere that served like that in many a family restaurant elsewhere in the country in many ways.
The thing that got Teddy, however, was the name. While it did have a name, it was different from what he would have expected. Most time's a restaurant would be named either for a location or for a person. If it was a location, it'd be either the name of a geologic formation that was nearby, or maybe a national monument, or it would be named for the town. In that case, one would expect it to be called "the Moon Lake Diner," which would fit as neither Teddy nor Marci could find any other diner like it on the guide that they had while they were in Moon Lake. The name "the Local Diner" just didn't seem right with Teddy, and he seriously doubted there was anyone named "Local." It only served to make him curious as to why the diner had that name.
As the waiter took their order, Teddy's curiosity couldn't be contained any longer.
"Okay, that be one order of Belgian Waffles with Maple Syrup and Whipped Cream with Sausage and Hash Browns and one Pacific Mountain Omelet made with local produce," the waiter spoke, "and two mugs of coffee, one black and one with cream and sugar."
Teddy and Marci both nodded.
"Will there be anything else, sir, madam?" the waiter asked.
"Yes," Teddy spoke as he sat forward in his chair and looked up to the waiter who carried the scent of raccoon on him, but Teddy guessed that the waiter was a were. "The diner... do you know why it's named the way it is?"
"Huh?" the waiter wondered.
"Why is the diner called: "the Local Diner?" is what I'm asking," Teddy asked again.
The waiter glanced between the two and actually gave a few questioning sniffs and looked around the dining area before he answered, "but you're both weres... shouldn't you..."
"We presently live in Washington DC," Marci answered.
"And we came here so that I could become a were," Teddy answered, "was there a reason the diner is named "the Local Diner" or...?"
"Ah..." the waiter said as he slowly processed the information that Marci and Teddy were from out of town. "Well... from what I understand, the diner was originally named the Derriantorrio Diner, Café, and Bistro when it was first founded... after the first owner, but it became a mouthful to say and eventually wasn't needed as no one else wanted to build a restaurant like it in Moon Lake. After all, we're a small town without the local population for more restaurants and we're close enough to Seattle that for the most part tourists going to Seattle only rarely stop here on the way in... and usually because they needed to stop for gas as well... And for that reason the big chains like Applebee's, Perkins, and so on never decided to build here. Most other shops are either for the local population That sort of left us on our own."
"But surely the name wouldn't change...?" Marci wondered.
"For a while it didn't," the waiter nodded, "but the name was still a mouthful and by 1950 the owner died. And since most of the costumers were usually local and the diner was the only restaurant of its kind... people soon started calling it the local diner, as everyone would know they were referring to here. And that went on for a few years... by 1955, it'd become so prominent that the name was officially changed to "the Local Diner" because that was how we were referring to it."
Teddy could only blink and then shrugged at it. In a way the answer made sense. It might not be the best answer, but he had to admit that it made some sense. The drive from Seattle to Moon Lake didn't take them long, so it'd be understandable that the bigger chains might not see the need to build in Moon Lake.
"But while our name may not be flashy, I assure you, our food is top notch," the waiter promised.
"I see... and thank you for the explanation," Teddy replied.
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The breakfast was quite good and Teddy made sure to thank the waiter for the fine meal before he and Marci left. From there, they took to strolling through the town and taking in all the sights to see. The more they saw, the more there was to like and the more that they felt comfortable with the idea of moving to Moon Lake when it was time to "retire" in a few years. Many of the buildings carried a look that was interesting, as designs from the late 1800s to mid 1900s stood out with only what alterations would be needed to let them work with modern technology, and they coexisted with more modern designs. Some of it came rather "random" changes, but it provided enough to be rather quaint, and quaint wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
The two also found enough things that could hold some measure of interest. There was one large museum that was identified as sort of a natural history, though it was also identified as a regional history museum as well. They also passed an old school house that was marked as the first school built in Moon Lake. It was something of a curiosity, particularly for Marci as she was looking forward to having children with Ted, now that he was a were, but their walk was enough keep them looking around.
"It may be a small town," Marci commented, "but they've definitely done a lot with regard to having things set up for nature..."
"I think we knew that last night," Teddy commented, "with that the streets are like the spokes on a bike or a wagon with forest between them..."
"Yes," Marci agreed, "but by walking along the streets... we can see that they've even done it with every lawn. Even the apartment buildings they have have a lawn and a tree. We don't have anything like that..."
Teddy nodded as they walked along. He noted that the forests and trees in Moon Lake were all more native to other parts of the country, and he thought he saw a few trees that might even be native to locations in Europe and weren't the local coniferous trees that made up the forests that surrounded Moon Lake and made up much of the Pacific Northwest. It was very different from what he new, but it wasn't a bad thing. And at the same time things like the natural history museum and the museum for Moon Lake's first school house, and supposedly the college they were walking towards had a museum of its own on its campus. In that sense it wasn't like Moon Lake let its small size prevent it from finding attractions that it wanted to share and document.
"You're right there," Teddy nodded, "they've certainly done a lot to make things look interesting... different from what we know, but interesting.... And it isn't too terribly far from Seattle in case one needs to travel or wants something a bit more... upscale from what is here."
"So... what do you think?" Marci asked.
"The more I see of this town... the more I agree with the idea of moving here after we retire," Teddy answered, "it may take some time... but from everything I've seen... the town would be worth it... It's odd... in that I've never fallen in love with a town before."
"Maybe it's because you're a were now," Marci smiled and snuggled up next to her husband, "and you're seeing things from a new point of view... I've never been here before... but once I was sure that weres were here... I instinctively felt safe."
Teddy shrugged and wrapped one arm around his wife. As his hand touched her shoulder, he was greeted by her actually starting to purr, even in her human form. He'd heard her do that before, usually after rubbing her back or when she'd just wanted to be friendly. But now in a strange way, there was a strong feeling of contentment and togetherness that went along with hearing that. It was if the tiger in him was pleased to hear his wife's contentment.
"So... we have about the rest of this week before we'll be expected back," Teddy spoke, "what would you like to do?"
"Right now... since we're headed toward the college, lets actually go in their museum," Marci answered, "and I would like to look into the others before we have to go... outside of that... would you blame me for simply wanting to be with you?"
"No... I wouldn't blame you," Teddy assured her, "after all... we've had to wait so long to BE together. In many ways... I'd love nothing more than to show you how much I love you."
Marci smiled, "that can wait for later."
And the two walked along, enjoying all the sights there were to see.