The ride in Spencer's Bronco was a bit bumpy, likely due to the age of the vehicle and that its shock absorbers had seen plenty of use over the years, but it wasn't bad. Julie was a bit jealous that she was essentially stuffed into the backseat with everyone's backpacks while Spencer drove and Eric in the front passenger seat as well, but it wasn't a long drive and ultimately wasn't worth arguing over. Eric, meanwhile, was observing the neighborhood and the trees that made up the forest behind the houses and into the mountains beyond them. Much of it found very interesting and even amusing in how many of the trees planted in and around Moon Lake were not native to Washington State and while he wasn't exactly skilled on ecology, he was fairly certain that many of the trees also did better in climates that weren't quite as moist as Washington State was known for. Yet, this forest seemed to do rather well and as one left Moon Lake, in any direction, the more it easily transitioned into the more natural forest environments of Washington State. That was rather fascinating.
"You look as though you've never seen trees before," Spencer joked to Eric as she noted him looking out the side window toward the trees beyond the houses.
"I've seen plenty of trees," Eric answered, "it's just the great variety of trees that are here in Moon Lake as part of the woods... It's not something that would be natural. I mean I think there are some fruit trees, oaks, aspen, birch, cottonwood, along with various pines and spruces, none of which are native to this area."
"My dad says that when weres first moved here they brought those seeds with them and essentially planted the trees... likely after cutting down much of the original forest to build the first homes and buildings in Moon Lake," Spencer said off hand.
"I think the college has some of the records on that in their library," Julie commented from the backseat as they moved along, though it wasn't something that she had the most interest in. The ecological alterations that had been made to the region were interesting in a way, but as a weremer, much of her interests were more in relation to oceanography. The forests around Moon Lake were really something that was attractive to Moon Lake's werewolves, wereleopards, weretigers, werebears and to a lesser degree werelions, as these weres were all based off of predators known for living in the woods.
"But that's not why we're here," Spencer spoke as she turned into a driveway and put her Bronco in park.
Julie and Eric slowly climbed out to see that they had reached the end of one of the spokes that made up most of the roads in Moon Lake's wagon wheel layout. They looked up to a modest sized home with a black roof, white siding, and navy blue trim for things like the garage and the front door. The two weremers looked to each other shrugged and guessed that this was the Barr home that Spencer had mentioned when they left the school. Spencer had said something about Morgan Barr being sheltered and alone outside of maybe some pack meetings due to his parents not wanting to vaccinate him, and had put together a plan help him out by introducing Morgan to the "friends" she'd made in Moon Lake, Eric and Julie.
"So this is where the Barrs live?" Eric asked as he looked up to the home as Spencer dug her backpack out and began to lead Eric and Julie up the sidewalk toward it.
"Yes," Spencer nodded, "or at least that's what he told me last night. And this will give him the chance to make some friends that go beyond casual acquittances at pack meetings or during the summer."
"Okay..." Julie said slowly as she took Eric's arm as they followed Spencer, "though... you can't really force friendship on people. He may want friends... but that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to want to be friends with weremers like Eric and I."
"I do," Spencer answered and thought, "and more."
"But that's how it happened to develop," Eric offered, "Julie's just saying that things might not go that way with Morgan. We're willing to help... but if he doesn't want to be friends with us, we can't and shouldn't force him."
"Well, I'm sure you won't have a problem," Spencer answered and then made their way up to the door.
Spencer then reached forward and pressed the doorbell. It was a small white plastic button with a brass plate that surrounded it and had to artistic images of wolves on either side. The bell made a short "bing" while the three then waited for an answer. It took few moments before the door opened to reveal a woman standing there. She was well dressed and by her scent Spencer, Eric, and Julie could tell that she was a werewolf. The woman gave a small smile which then changed to an obvious look of puzzlement as she looked to Spencer.
"You must be Spencer... Morgan's had a lot to say about you today," the woman commented with her eyes focused on Spencer and for the moment ignoring the two weremers behind Spencer, though the male wasn't wearing any cologne, which left a fairly fishy scent filling her nostrils. It wasn't necessarily something that would make her sick, but it wasn't a great scent either. The mixed were scent that Spencer carried, however, was very different and that drew her own curiosity.
"Yes, I'm Spencer Lawson, these are my friends Eric Anderson and his girlfriend Julie," Spencer introduced them, "We've come to see Morgan... work on homework and typical friend-type stuff."
"I see," Mrs. Barr said slowly, "well... Morgan should be done with his "school work" by now, but I'm sure he'd welcome the company... Though... your scent... my husband said something... Morgan had a lot to say... but..."
"It's different from other weres, yes," Spencer gave a chuckle, "I suppose it is because I am different from other weres in many ways."
"In what ways?" Eric inadvertently asked. It had been a question in the back of his mind and with Mrs. Barr talking on it he couldn't help but ask.
"Well... for one, I'm a hybrid were," Spencer answered.
"A hybrid?" Mrs. Barr raised a hand to her mouth, "how... that... that's not possible."
"It's rare, but it does happen," Spencer answered, "I'm part werewolf, part werecat, part werepanther. My mom says it's not something that typically happens with weres, as that often while there are mixed marriages, the children will often take after one of their parents depending on the gender. So if a werefox and a werecat get married and have a baby, if a boy it will be a werefox and if a girl it will be a werecat. But since weres are all human, there is a chance that all the component parts will merge and hybridize, and it doesn't matter as to whether or not animals that were is based off of could breed together normally. Though... my mom says its like a one in a million chance that that sort of thing happens. It may be more frequent with family lines that have hybrid weres in that family line but that's still pretty rare with regard to weres as a whole."
"I've never..." Mrs. Barr commented, "but then my husband and I are both werewolves... so... I suppose we've never been in a position where that would be an issue. Come on in. Morgan should be in the living room. You can work on your homework there. And it is nice to have people come to visit."
With that Mrs. Barr stepped back and allowed the three to come in. Julie and Eric respectfully nodded to Mrs. Barr and followed along. Spencer's answer answered some questions that they had in trying to tell what kind of were Spencer was as well. Eric had never heard of hybrids in weres before, though admittedly, he really never had an interest in weres of any kind before he met Julie. In Minnesota, they were just something that Nate enjoyed being a fan of, which his parents had let him indulge in, just as much as they let Eric enjoy things like Star Trek and Star Wars. And while the special effects in the movies Nate liked were good, many of those movies were designed to get a scare out of people, and now after being in Moon Lake, seeing his brother become a werewolf, his mother a werecat, and his father a werefox, he could tell just how inaccurate many of Nate's favorite movies were with regard to were transformations. After Moon Lake, Eric's interest in weres had grown, but only with one in particular, and she had bright blue eyes, blond hair that was and styled in a way that he could help but find cute and every time he looked to her he could see her radiant glow, as the sign of true love to weremers.
They followed Spencer into a larger living room where they found a young man about their age nervously standing and straightening his hair as they entered the living room. It had a somewhat rustic décor to it, a set of dark red fabric couches, one facing a wooden entertainment set with shelves for the television, VHS tapes, DVDs and other things, and the other couch faced out toward the front windows. The young man was standing in front of that couch and he looked between Spencer and Julie and then to Eric. Eric thought the guy looked a bit puzzled, but figured that if he didn't get much in the way of company outside of the summer months, he might not have expected to even see Spencer again, let alone him and Julie. There was also the nervous straightening of his hair, which Eric guessed that Morgan was more than a "friend" for Spencer, which in a sense put him a bit at ease, as he wouldn't have to worry about there being issues created by a love triangle between him, Julie, and Spencer.
"Hey, Spencer," Morgan spoke politely trying not to sound too eager. He did remember Spencer saying something about introducing him to some people, though to a great extent a part of him was more interested in Spencer. As he was a bit awkward at times with many social events and pack meetings could be difficult. Werewolves had tended to meet every full moon as part of their regular meetings, group hunting, or orgies. Those could be awkward, as his parents were devoted to each other and the last thing Morgan wanted to do was watch his parents have sex, and many of the others in the pack often had their own partners and he was often too nervous or shy to even introduce himself in a way that wouldn't come off as awkward. But the night before with Spencer was fun, and she was definitely exotic, even for Moon Lake. It was that sort of thing that he was hoping for.
"Hey," Spencer answered, "As I said, I've brought some friends over. This is Eric Anderson and Julie..."
"Stovall," Julie answered.
"And I'd figured we could hang out... talk about the day while we do our homework, and you can tell us about yours," Spencer commented, "Help you make friends and all that."
"Yeah..." Morgan nodded and slowly shook hands with Eric and then Julie and then offered them a seat on the couch facing the television. He looked up to see his mother standing near the entryway to the house and the living room with a small smile before she disappeared back down a hallway. He thought he saw her smiling. "I'll go get you guys some pencils and something you can put on top of the coffee table... It's been finished, but in a way that you can still feel some of the bumps in the wood. Something my dad thinks is great for a rustic look."
"We have pencils," Spencer told him, "so all we'd need is a magazine or something."
Morgan shrugged and nodded as his guests sat down and then went off to get some of the clip boards that his mother typically used for his home schooling, as they'd work better than a magazine. From what he could overhear with regard to the conversation that Spencer and her friends had had with his mother, he guessed that Eric and Julie were okay. And if it meant that Spencer would like him, he'd do well to try and make a good impression.
"See, that was a good start," Spencer whispered Eric and Julie as Morgan left the room and they sat down.
Eric and Julie slowly nodded, but said nothing. It was a good start, but starts weren't everything.