Lila Carpenter was in a state of total surprise as she heard the radio's announcement on the City Council Meeting as she went about her morning routine. Normally her Saturdays could be rather quiet, particularly as a small town like Moon Lake generally didn't have too many financial emergencies that would require her to look into the city's books to see what they could afford and what they couldn't. More often than not, the things that cost the most usually related to either expanding the city or renovating the city so that more could live there without having to greatly expand the city's land area. Outside of that a lot of her work for Moon Lake was in making sure that the city didn't hire too many staff members for things like the police force that the city would have to pay directly.
However, while the radio report didn't contain any information that would directly relate to her job for the small town, it DID relate to her existence and safety in Moon Lake. The young weretiger had grown up with many of the same stories that just about every were in Moon Lake had heard, that normal humans were too easily swayed by things like Hollywood movies and old folklore, none of which really treated weres of any kind in a way that worked. Most old folklore treated werewolves as satanic monsters that got their powers from the devil. There were some old tales that ran counter to this, but they were few and far between, and thus often got overwhelmed by the more negative stories. And while there were some occasional modern stories that had the were as the "hero," it was rare that that were in question actually enjoyed the condition. Shows like "Being Human" did have werewolf protagonists, but they still acted like monsters in their transformed state. And most of Hollywood's take on werewolves generally treated them as mindless monsters.
And as such, that report had her nervous to the point where she was rushing to get dressed and head into work, even though her position didn't actually require her to work on Saturday. There were some people that did have to work, at least for a little while on Saturday, and she figured that would be the best way to get the answers to burning questions that went through her mind. In this, things flashed through at speeds that came off heavily as great worries about why that would even be an issue even came up? How would it be done? What would be done if the response wasn't positive? How would that affect Teddy and Marci? It didn't take her long to grab a pop tart from the toaster and then rush out while making a beeline for Moon Lake's City Hall, where she hopped to get those questions answered.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"What do you mean you don't know?!" Jade Drake hissed into her phone.
Samantha Twist had kept up her end of the bargain and the offer that had been made. In this, when she was released from the hospital, she was given a ride to the cottage that she had told Moon Lake's Town Chancellor that she preferred. At the same time the cottage had some modest furnishings. There was more that was needed for truly making the house a home for her and Hope, and she figured it would take some time handle that, but there wasn't any great worry on that on Jade's part. For the short term, Jade would be able to have some access to the accounts that Dymixious's father had set aside for when Jade married Dymixious to pay for things like furniture and so on. Once that was completely done she could then move on to not only recovering all of her clothes, as Dymixious had packed rather lightly when they first came to Moon Lake to avoid the FBI's attention, and from there she could look more into finding work to help weres.
And while Hope's sleep schedule was a bit different from hers, as newborns tended to be, Jade had done reasonably well in juggling the various feedings and getting other things in order. However, that morning after getting up to get ready for the assorted work that would be needed, Jade had heard the radio's news alert. That was surprising and seemed to conflict with everything that both Dymixious and his father had said about why they hunted rogue weres, in that these rogues would expose weres if caught and normal society would not respond well to that reveal. It left her a bit puzzled and totally against the idea. She wasn't stupid, and knew that there could always be the possibility of things going well, but then things might not. And she wasn't going to let Moon Lake take that risk with little Hope's life being the most important thing to Jade, thus why she called City Hall trying to get in touch with someone to try and figure what was going on through people's minds.
"Just as I said, ma'am," a male voice on the other end of the line answered, "I heard about the meeting yes, and I know that the City Council has voted in favor of looking into plans that will ultimately reveal weres to the world... but beyond that, I do not know. This could be a short term plan or it could be a long term plan. I really don't know."
"But you work for the city, don't you?" Jade asked.
"I do work for Moon Lake, yes, but a lot of my work relates to helping coordinating elections and so on," the male voice answered, "and the number you dialed is that for Moon Lake's City Hall... but it's with the front desk area where most of the public would have direct contact with the city government."
"Then surely there is a secretary I could talk to that knows more," Jade gave a huff.
"The secretaries are presently busy at the moment," the male voice answered, "probably with other callers similar to yours... and to a great extent they aren't going to know anything more about what was voted on than I do. The minutes from last night's meeting were recorded, but given the special nature of that meeting and that the decision will be a move toward major changes for Moon Lake... and perhaps the world... I am sure that this isn't something that will be made in haste or without a great deal of care."
"So they wouldn't just throw weres out to those that would fear them?" Jade asked.
"I wouldn't think so... if it continues to progress, we may have to face dealing with some of that related fear," the male voice assured her, "but I would imagine that it would be in a way that ultimately be productive... but beyond that, we really don't know at the moment. I'm sure that right now they're just in the planning stages and nothing beyond that."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lila arrived and entered into City Hall through one of its side entrances that was reserved for city employees. Only city employees even had keys to use that door. She found things sounded very busy for a Saturday morning. There were some staff members that had to work on Saturday talking with each other, there were the faint sounds of phones ringing, and Lila guessed that it all related to the decision to ultimately reveal the were secret. She remembered some of the rumors that had gone around before the yesterday's City Council Meeting happened, but many of those rumors seemed to either repeat the same thing or change to tell totally random things. In the end, Lila wrote it all off as "nonsense" and let it be. Of course, now, no one could "let it be."
She quickly made her way up the main flight of stairs and walked to the central hallway that separated the offices of the members of Moon Lake's executive branch of government. She eventually came to a door that was on the south side of the hallway with a sign that read: Town Chancellor: Samantha Twist. She opened the door and entered. The small entry area where Samantha's secretary normally sat was empty and the door to Samantha's office was open. Lila walked toward it, guessing that Samantha's secretary didn't need to come in on a Saturday.
She came in to find Samantha pacing her office looking over documents that were likely in her files. Lila watched it for a few moments quietly and Samantha seemed so focused on what she was looking into, that she didn't notice she had a visitor. When Lila did speak, Samantha practically jumped in the air.
"So, I take it you heard," Lila commented and then cringed when Samantha jumped.
Samantha was fully startled by Lila speaking. She'd been so focused that she didn't even hear Lila's footsteps. The result was that when she jumped, the papers she was holding flew everywhere and littered her office floor as they drifted back down to it. She gave a frustrated glare to Lila who cringed and then gave a weak smile.
"Sorry," Lila spoke.
"Yes, I heard," Samantha answered, "a hell of a way to wake up this morning... that the City Council voted to get into revealing the were secret. Officially removing it."
"I take it the meeting's minutes haven't been copied down to paper, yet," Lila commented, "there are just recordings?"
"Yes," Samantha nodded, "Which in a sense is good... it'll give the city time to figure out as to what to do and how to do it with this."
"Would you know exactly what was said?" Lila asked.
"Not beyond what the news report said," Samantha spoke, "though I will have a meeting later with Katherine... see if I can make heads or tails behind the reasoning for this."
Lila nodded at the mention of Moon Lake's Deputy Mayor, who had the responsibility to sit in on City Council meetings to cast a tie breaking vote if there was one. The fact that the vote was 4-3 indicated that she did have to give a tie breaking vote with this. She also moved to help Samantha pick up the papers that she'd thrown when Lila had first spoke.
"I'm sure there is a good reason for this and that Katherine can explain the reasoning behind the proposal and agreement to do so," Samantha stated, though it sounded like she was also trying to assure herself at the same time. "Particularly as much of my job relates to protecting the were secret and the laws Moon Lake has that relate to it."
"The whole mandatory were law thing," Lila said slowly.
"Yes..." Samantha nodded, "particularly as there are some families that have been resistant to going through with it and that if weres go public, they may sue Moon Lake on the constitutionality of the mandatory were law... and that's assuming weres are accepted. Especially if Moon Lake is revealed as a were sanctuary. And it's that legal aspect that may be the hardest to deal with... again assuming we are accepted... Though we'd probably need someone that practices Constitutional Law in order to make that case."
That jolted Lila's memory a bit. Particularly as it brought some things back to her thoughts about Teddy and Marci. While they'd been in Moon Lake and she'd been able to show them around the woods and other things in Moon Lake that there were to see, she'd learned a bit about them. And there, Marci did work as a lawyer in a firm that handled a lot of those sorts of issues, and while she might not practice in Washington State as part of the Washington State Bar, she might still be able to provide some unofficial advice, since she was a were.
"Mrs. Green could help," Lila spoke up.
"Marci Green?" Samantha blinked, remembering the FBI agent who had come to Moon Lake investigating Lionel Ulysses as a suspect in Jeff Decker's murder and then sat down with her and stated that he'd been married to a werecat for several years and had been having trouble finding a were that could turn him so that he could be with his wife. Their later visit to Moon Lake did confirm Theodore Green's story, and Marci even repeated some of it while Lila brought Theodore into were society.
"Yeah," Lila nodded, "Her firm does a lot of that sort of stuff in the DC area with regard to Constitutional Law. She could give some help with regard to what would be expected and what to argue on."
"We'd still need a Lawyer licensed in this state," Samantha reminded her.
"Perhaps, but she could at least give us a few pointers on what to expect in the process," Lila commented, "and if at least legal acceptance goes before the Supreme Court, her firm could potentially join in..."
"Assuming the firm she's a partner in sides with weres," Samantha said slowly, "she's said she works with Constitutional Law issues. She did not say she works the ACLU."
"It still couldn't hurt," Lila repeated, "at least to have a starting point..."
Samantha sighed and nodded as she picked up the last paper she could see. She stood up and began to look through the papers she had and realized they were out of order. She began resorting them while continuing to talk with Lila. It might help her with figuring out what to say with Katherine Chambers later.
"I suppose that might help with regard to accepting weres as being equal before the law," Samantha said slowly, "but how would that apply to the mandatory were law? Even with most, if not all, family weres embracing their status as weres fully, that doesn't mean that family members that don't become weres won't accept that."
"Maybe," Lila shrugged, "but... if weres are accepted and we can't be legally prosecuted for being weres... then in a sense, the mandatory were law wouldn't be needed anymore since its purpose was to protect the were secret. At such a lawsuit could do legally would see to it that the law be declared unconstitutional and that we can no longer enforce it..."
"The best case though would still be that the family members that DIDN'T become weres don't sue despite their resistance to the law," Samantha grumbled, "as defending it will cost money... and those that have been truly resistant might want restitution even if we then repeal the law after weres are revealed."
"When it all happens," Lila commented, "but then... since most, if not all, family weres have been quite fine with being weres after it's happened... maybe you can avoid trouble there."
"Maybe," Samantha said slowly, "though... you seem awfully interested in this... to a degree that would be beyond a were worried about what normals outside Moon Lake will do."
"Well... you could say I'm a bit more worried about someone else," Lila said slowly.
"Your brother and his family?" Samantha asked.
"No... they're here and Moon Lake where they should be safe," Lila said as a small blush crept into her cheeks, "I was thinking more about the Greens. Marci is beautiful and Theodore as a weretiger... he'd make you straight if you saw him now."
"I doubt that," Samantha answered, but guessed that Lila had reached into a sort of open marriage agreement.
It wasn't something that was formal in any way. More often than not it was in an agreement with some couples to share partners. It was usually with bisexual werecats and werewildcats, but it could apply to others and given that Moon Lake had been so open with regard to issues related to sexuality. And if that was the case, it was likely that Lila had made some arrangement with the Greens that when Theodore Green retired from the FBI, they'd move to Moon Lake. And the big thing would ultimately be that if weres were accepted, there might also be alterations to various things like Social Security and so on. That could well mean that Teddy would be kept in the FBI's service for much longer.
"And as for the rest that you're worried about... we may have little choice but to wait and see what develops," Samantha then finished.