Jenny's day went reasonably well after lunch. The alert that things weren't quite so well with her father and the likely stress that was probably putting on her older brother in a bit of a pickle was troubling, but at least things had been started in assuring that her younger siblings John and Janice would be able to stay with her and Harry and the Jenkins full time and that they could grow up in safety with the freedom to choose who they wanted to be. That was a good thing, and while in the short term, it might mean more issues for her older brother and her mother, what had happened might be enough that would convince her parents' health insurance company to help out with the procedures Dr. Tachibana had said he needed before they left Moon Lake.
"Did your brother call?" Harry asked her as they greeted each other on the sidewalk near one of the college's parking lots before getting ready to head home.
"Not since the initial update at lunch," Jenny sighed.
"That's probably good news then," Harry answered and softly reached out to hold her to him, rubbing his free hand on her shoulder and down her arm to the elbow before going back up to her shoulder again, "If he didn't make it... your brother would have called by now."
Jenny shrugged and nodded as they walked across the pavement, waiving to a couple of others as they either came in for late afternoon or evening classes or those who were also leaving for either home or the dorms. It was a tight predicament in that while she had found her father oppressive, especially when compared to any of their neighbors and friends that she had made at school in Alabama growing up, but Jenny wasn't the sort to wish people dead. In fact her own initial idea with Moon Lake was that once she got close to graduation, she'd apply for a job in the local area and one that would require her to at least stay in the region. In a sense it would amount to running away, but it was something to get away from that abuse. But that didn't mean she wished her father ill.
And at the moment that was especially important, as it would relate to helping both save her younger siblings and her mother. Her parents did have their tender moments at times, from what Jenny remembered, but it wasn't often, and it was far more likely that her mother would simply go along with whatever her father had put together. Her mother did seem to regain some sense of independence before she left Moon Lake with her older brother, and did accept turning Janice and John over to Jenny, but that sudden realization and change wasn't truly enough to fully convince her of too much. Especially considering that her mother did say that she loved her father, which Jenny didn't want to battle on. But with that and her mother's years of practical servitude to James Harper Senior, Jenny also knew that if her father died, there would be the real potential that her mother would be completely on her own with little more than what she could carry.
Her older brother might be able to help, but she knew he was in college too and his job was only part time and thus wouldn't cover everything. That would mean that unless her family's church didn't accept what James Harper Senior left them, the only place that Jenny or James Harper Junior could really afford to "keep" their mother would be in Moon Lake, with the Jenkins, and that would have the chance for its own problems. The fact that first, were-beasts were real, second, Moon Lake was a sanctuary for weres, and third, Jenny had become a were, herself. Given things, Jenny doubted Moon Lake would just let her mother live in town without any consequences. Her father's reputation would kill that, which would mean that her mother would probably have to become a were of some kind, just to make sure the town stayed a secret. Jenny was sure that wouldn't go well.
"I hope you're right," Jenny then said to Harry as they reached his car and were soon on the road and headed for the Jenkins home, "because if the worst happens... it'd complicate things, likely for James and for us... and especially for John and Janice. I'm not even sure how to tell them..."
"For the moment," Harry said slowly as he drove north out of the college and up one of Moon Lake's streets, "I'd think it best to be silent on that. Let them know that the whole transfer of custody is going through and leave the rest out for the moment. If the worst comes... we'll go from there."
"With you with me?" Jenny asked as she looked to the man she'd fallen in love with and bonded with after she became a werefox.
"Of course," Harry smiled back as they drove along.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, John Harper was slowly getting the hang of playing chess as Ginger sat beside him as they played on the small travel chess set that she'd bought. Moving the magnetic pieces was fairly easy, as the magnets weren't actually that strong, and the base rules of the game weren't too hard, though for the moment, that's really all the two of them were going through. Ginger showed him how each of the pieces moved and often pointed that out with a free hand.
"They could have made the pieces bigger," John grumbled, "I can barely make out the difference between the king and the queen."
Ginger chuckled down to the pieces, which were a plastic cap set over a small magnet. On the top of the piece there was a raised art decal that resemble the actual chess piece. A castle tower for the rook and so on. The king's piece was represented by a taller piece that would have a crown with a cross on its top. The queen's piece was about the same height and also had a similar crown, but the real difference was that the queen's piece didn't have a crown.
"Just remember that the queen doesn't have a cross and the king does," Ginger explained.
Their eyes met as they looked to each other for a moment and Ginger flashed a happy smile for a moment. They were about to go further when another familiar voice called out to her from the sidewalk.
"Hey, Ginger, mom said it's time to come home," came her brother's voice.
Ginger looked up to see her brother on the sidewalk in front of the Jenkins home as a lone car drove by and pulled into the driveway, though Ginger paid it no mind. She nodded to Fred, remembering some things from the morning and the expectations that were likely to be had between her and her parents.
"I gotta go," Ginger said slowly, "I'll be by for the library book before school starts tomorrow."
"That's before eight, right?" John asked, his voice actually sounding hopeful.
Ginger nodded with a smile and ran off, waiving to John as she went. John's eyes followed her as she moved of and returned her wave. His focus remained on her so much that he didn't notice Jenny coming up to him. His mind dwelling over the conversation he'd had that morning with Martha Anderson and Samantha Twist, that figuring out who he was was up to him. It was something that made sense, but he really didn't know for sure. Some of his thoughts on Ginger made him think favorably of her. But some memories seemed to also pull in the other way, but John could never really figure out if that was real or just the nature growing up under a tyrant for a father.
"So who was that?" John jumped when he heard a voice speak from beside him, he then turned to see that Jenny had come home and was standing before him. "Is she a friend?"
"Yeah, Ginger O'Toole," John said to Jenny, "Janice and I met her the other day while we were out for a walk."
Jenny watched as John pointed down the street in a southeast direction and the tail of Ginger following another red haired boy down the street. They eventually turned into another house on the other side of the street.
"She's been very nice to me," John said softly as he followed Ginger with his and then closed up the travel chess set and collected his things.
"Well, that is a good thing," Jenny said and softly rubbed his head, "Why don't we go in. I can put my things down and you can tell me about your day."
"My day?" John asked back as Jenny opened the front door and he followed her in.
They walked in and Jenny made her way toward the small room she shared with Harry. John followed in and watched as Jenny sat down on the bed, sinking a bit into the blankets and the softness of the mattress but not much more than that. He also found that the room was a bit smaller than what he would expect from a married couple's room. The bed was larger than a twin bed, but it wasn't as large as a queen sized bed. There was a small closet on its west wall with a small desk that was there, though there was no chair as it seemed the bed was close enough to sit on it and use the desk properly. There was a modest bookshelf on the far wall and a dresser on the wall that separated Jenny and Harry's room from the hallway.
"Yes, your day," Jenny answered as she patted her hand on the top of the bedspread beside her to invite her younger brother in, "You said something this morning about helping Henry with a job. How did that go?"
"It went fine, I guess," John answered, "We replaced a window for the one lady that we met at the hospital after your wedding, a Mrs. Twist, I think."
"Frances or Samantha?" Jenny wondered.
"Samantha, I think," John answered, "though I did get to meet another werecat while I was there. She said her name was Martha."
"Anderson?" Jenny wondered, remembering meeting Martha at Awareness and at the Skulk meeting where their dens were assigned.
"I think that's her last name," John answered.
"Well... she is nice," Jenny commented off hand, "she's the wife of one of my professors, and they, much like Henry and Lisa, have offered to take on a parental role for me should it be needed... So what did you two have to talk about?"
John looked down for a moment and saw the travel chess set in his lap. The pieces clinked a little inside it has he moved from the outside to the inside with Jenny, but the big thing that it reminded him of was Ginger. The weretigress who had so openly and willingly wanted to be his friend and had offered him so much. And in a way, he did like that and he did like her. In a way she was beautiful in her weretiger form, and a part of his mind could see her from the other night with the electric lights revealing her soft orange fur with black stripes with a white underbelly and white markings on the head. He remembered that just being near her left him aroused, much to his surprise.
It, however, also left him confused as to who he was, as whether or not he was gay, straight, or bi, particularly as the thing that came close to "romance" that he'd had in Alabama had been with another boy that had come onto him because he was gay. But then, by that time a good many families were well aware of James Harper Senior's actions. This had meant that while he made some friends at school, it was pretty professional. There wasn't that much in the way of hanging out, especially as most other kids didn't want lectures on politics or religion, even if they came from families that technically agreed with many of the things James Harper Senior believed it. In this, John really couldn't know if feeling good about what the other boy in Alabama said was because true attraction or simply the desire for a friend.
"We mostly talked about some things that were bothering me," John admitted as he looked up to Jenny, "particularly as Martha said she'd gone through some rough spots in the past regarding her sexuality. Apparently she repressed being bisexual because of opinions her parents had... or something like that."
"And you asked her on that?" Jenny wondered raising an eyebrow, though this was part of why she'd wanted to get custody over her younger siblings, as her father would surely beat John if he found out that John was or might be at least bisexual. Of course that was due to some her own otherworldly experiences as she waited for her transformation to be completed and as her mind healed from being incomplete for as long as it had, but she didn't want to startle John on that issue.
"Not that I asked her... it just sort of came up," John said slowly as he looked down to his feet and then sighed, figuring that it might be best to come clean. After all, for all he knew weres had built in lie detectors. "And well... I've kinda had questions on that whole sort of thing for a while. You know with dad and his whole "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" routine."
Jenny nodded, but said nothing for the moment, figuring it best to let John get it out at the moment. She did wrap one arm over his shoulders, not too terribly different from how Harry had held her a few moments previously. It was a way that something told Jenny would be comforting to John and she went with it.
"It goes back to before your wedding... even before you came up here for college," John explained, "you know having real close friends was with how dad ran things. Janice and you never got a sleepover, and most friends from school wouldn't stay over for more than one visit to do homework or watch television or stuff like that."
Jenny again nodded. She sat there quietly and let John continue. Though some of this went back to before John would have likely really started to hit puberty, as typically with normal humans, girls normally began to mature first around ages eleven to twelve, boys wouldn't begin to see puberty start with them until closer to fourteen to fifteen. Jenny wasn't sure on how that applied for weres, but guessed that this still would have been before puberty started for John and a point where there was bound to be confusion based on how their father raised the Harper children.
"So... until Ginger... I really never had any girls at school take real interest in me," John said slowly, "but one boy did seem willing to say hello..."
"And hinted at more than being just friends?" Jenny asked.
"Maybe... he said he was gay... but..." John said slowly, "I really don't know. Am I gay? As it did feel nice to have a friend... or someone interested in me. Does that make me gay? Or am I bi or straight... as... well... a part of me has found Ginger rather pretty, especially with how friendly she's been."
"I'd think that for the most part what you're looking for is a friend," Jenny commented, "who you like and are attracted to... that is up to you to figure out. I can't... and I WON'T tell you who you should love."
"But how did you know that you liked boys?" John asked, "it can't have been dad, was it?"
"It wasn't dad," Jenny answered, "and I can't really say... I just sort of knew. One day I was hanging out with some friends and we just sort of agreed that a rock singer that was on TV was kinda cute... but I was pretty certain on that on my own... And I'd imagine that dad didn't really help you, either."
"No," John admitted.
Jenny held John to her, "and in the long run... don't worry. You'll be safe here. Mom and dad have agreed that Harry and I will hold custody over you and Janice and we'll just have a few legal hoops to go through before you will be free to enroll at Moon Lake High, where you'll get to see more of Ginger and meet others that would help you with regard to the answers you seek. I could make a call or two... see if Frances has the time to meet with you, if you'd wish to talk with someone trained more in these matters... but the real decision is ultimately with you in terms of knowing who you are. But you will be safe here in Moon Lake."
"But what if I say something that hurts Ginger?" John asked, "I don't want to lose her as a friend?"
"Be honest and kind, and if she's truly a friend... I don't think you have much to worry about," Jenny assured her younger brother and hugged him to her.