Karen was fairly calm as she returned to the Charleston home. He ultimately found the house quiet, but the lights where on and his parents were seated together on the couch in the living room. There were some various papers on the small coffee table in front of the couch, which Karen assumed was banking information that would be in relation to getting Moe's Pizza up and running. In this, Karen also guessed that Moe had spent part of his morning looking for a spot where he could potentially establish a new Moe's Pizza and had gotten lucky in finding a potential place. However, the biggest thing was that Nichole was presently pressed against Moe, Karen had guessed that her parents had had something of an emotional moment while she'd been out.
"Doing okay?" Karen asked calmly.
"Yes... your father and I... were just talking," Nichole spoke, hoping to try and avoid looking off or too frustrated. She privately thought, "I've probably done too much of THAT already."
"No doubt on all the interesting things about the town we've found ourselves in," Karen commented with a semi forced smile.
Her attempt at humor was not rewarded as neither of her parents laughed at it. Some of it was to be expected, as she thought that her father might be willing to go through with being the family were, if it meant protecting her, as having to run from the Gambonis had been rough and Karen figured that her father was reaching a point where he'd do anything if it meant keeping the Gambonis at bay. Learning more about Moon Lake and its weres might be something that was important, but Karen also knew the stress that constantly running and how many police departments had often proved unable to keep the Gambonis away from them. However, she'd also seen on how much her mother had been opposed and frustrated by things in relation to Moon Lake's mandatory were law. That part was where she might have been able to guess on where the lack of laughter was to be expected.
"Sorry," Karen said weakly after a moment and then kicked one foot along the carpet.
"So... how did you and Peter get along?" Moe asked while letting Nichole sit up, "did you find everything you needed to know?"
"With regard to weretigers... I think so," Karen answered.
She figured not to mention the thing about becoming a were requiring sex. It was something that would cause some unease with that, her primary concerns were more with wanting to make sure that this wasn't something that would be taken advantage of, which so far she hadn't seen any evidence of that that was the case. In that she might wish to talk with Peter more when he had the time, to make sure that it wouldn't be something that a were wouldn't just be rapid or rough with it to get through the transformation, or that that the act of sex to complete the transformation wasn't something that would remove her choices of who she wanted to be with. She'd gotten some sense that weres had rather high libidos and were quite happy with that, given on how Francine and Daniel Brooks looked together and what Francine had explained earlier in the day. However, at the time there was the impression that the sex that went on was fully consensual and between loving partners, which she was fairly certain that Francine and Daniel Brooks were. After all, they were MARRIED to each other.
But she didn't know on how that would apply with her and some random were she might not know. Some of it might just be that she was new to Moon Lake and getting used to things. Some of it might also be the fact that the Gambonis were chasing her around the country so Marcus could claim the girlfriend he wanted, even when she'd said "no" to him. She didn't want that repeated, and she wanted to make sure that if she went ahead with it and became the Charleston family were that whoever turned her wouldn't get some automatic claim over her and that she'd "have" to be with that were in particular for the rest of her life. But that would require talking with Peter more, later. Right now she wasn't going to mention it.
"Peter knows a weretiger?" Moe wondered for a moment.
"Yeah, dad," Karen answered, "Peter and his family might have all become weredogs, but I'd guess that just about everyone in Moon Lake has met a were of all the other were groups in Moon Lake, particularly with regard to school activities and so on."
She watched as Moe nodded and thought for a moment. Eventually he did answer with a small chuckle. Moe even shook his head, like h was trying to admit he'd messed up as he did so.
"Yeah... that's pretty obvious," Moe eventually spoke, "Sorry. So... what did you find out?"
"Well... weretigers don't look like Tigra in their wereform," Karen spoke, "Think like you've taken an actual tiger, give it the ability to stand on either all fours or on its hind legs. It isn't strictly bipedal or quadrupedal. It can be either at will, and it will be completely covered in fur. Nothing like it's only half fur and flesh and made to look like a frightening cross between man and animal... In a way... if I were a weretiger, it'd actually be a rather beautiful mix of man and tiger."
"Okay," Nichole said slowly. She'd never fully understood Karen's taste in comics. While she supposed it made sense to admire people that would fight crime and that the good guys always won in the end. Her greatest issue was that particularly with female superheroes was that they were made to look like they were physically built to attract unwanted sexual attention and fought crime in clothing that wouldn't protect them from a pin, let alone bullets, laser swords, or whatever super weapon that some power up crook would have. A lot of it was totally unbelievable. Though, in the face of the revelation that were-beasts were real, Nichole wasn't fully sure as to how well complaining about Karen's interests in fiction would matter.
"They're also fully in control while in their were form," Karen explained, "Peter actually introduced me to the mother of a friend of his... She is a weretiger and was in her were form. She was calm, collected, and could talk while transformed. Nothing to be afraid of."
"Well... that is good to know," Moe answered, "now... are you?"
"I'm still human, dad," Karen gave a groan, "Just as you asked me to be."
Moe slowly nodded and looked to Nichole who was quiet for the moment. Eventually Moe did return to his question.
"I was actually asking as to whether or not you'd want to BE a weretiger, still?" Moe asked.
"Well... actually, I'm fine with it," Karen answered, "but I'd want to meet with a werelion or wereleopard/werepanther and learn about them more in depth before making any final decision. Because they would be about the only other specific weres that I'd want to be."
Moe nodded and listened as Karen turned to head toward her bedroom. As she reached the entryway to the hallway that would take her toward her bedroom she looked back to her parents who were still looking to her.
"But we didn't have the time to go visit any werelions or wereleopards/werepanthers and Peter wanted to make sure I got home in time for the curfew you set for me," Karen finished, "being quite the gentleman. He's like... a thousand times the man Marcus could ever hope to be."
As Karen then made her way to her room, she left Moe and Nichole both watching quietly. To some extent they had some knowledge/recognition that Karen did want a more "normal" life than running from the Gambonis. Moe also knew that Daniel was an old friend, and even with all the changes that Daniel and Francine had gone through since they'd last saw each other, he felt he could trust Daniel to be a friend. Though from the way Karen referred to Peter, it almost sounded like Karen had a crush on Peter, not something he expected.