Ben was fairly quiet as he got out of his car and prepared to walk up the driveway toward the front door to the Twist house. He gave a small and nervous smile to Nate and Alex as they got out of the backseat and made their way across the grass to where he could see William Anderson getting of his car at that time. The two were close, and Ben was fairly happy for them to have gotten along so well. Ben and Alex had been friends for years and in many ways, Alex had often felt fairly comfortable talking with Ben on certain issues, and it was Ben that Alex had told first that he was gay. Ben could reflect well on that, though he also knew Moon Lake was very different from other parts of the country in that it was probably the first city to legalize gay marriage in America, which had made things good for his moms.
After meeting Nate, Ben was fairly pleased that the older Anderson son was as pro-were as he was, and he did admit that some of his werewolf movies weren't necessarily THAT bad. They weren't accurate on were society and how it operated, but then there were many stories and movies out there that were often inaccurate with regard to real life and historical events. However, there were times where Nate had given off some subtle or unnoticed hints that he, himself, was gay which would make Alex the only member of Austin Perry's pack that Nate would probably have interest in. Nate then later confirmed that and as Nate and Alex began dating, Ben felt pleased to have made a new friend in Nate and seeing an old friend in Alex also find someone that would be more than a one night stand or something like that. He liked talking with them and found them both good to hang out with. And he'd honestly looked forward to the Thanksgiving Football game as another opportunity to hang out with good friends.
However as he reached the front door and opened it, he was soon reminded on what had been troubling over the past couple of days now as he could overhear his mothers in the kitchen. He could smell that they were working on dinner, and it did smell good, but it was what he overheard that was the reminder of the present issue that was there to be hurdled.
"You'll at least agree with me on this, right?" came Frances voice from the kitchen.
"I'll agree to keep it at a point where he'll have to persuade you," Samantha spoke, "but... I'm not going to say I agree with not letting him play. And you know he will try."
Ben heard a heavy sigh in response to that, and figured they'd already been discussing the present issue, the Thanksgiving Football game. Because so many weres were on average stronger than normal humans, with only top level Olympic and Professional Athletes ever performing feats that would be on par with what most weres could do without such a training regimen, Moon Lake didn't have any sports clubs or teams. There would be too much of exposure for weres to be involved in them, as even if the weres could maintain the self discipline needed to avoid transforming in public if surprised, the athletic abilities that weres had would draw a lot of attention. They may not necessarily say "were," but with Moon Lake's weres being to set records that would take others years of training and effort so easily, there would be a lot of attention to the town. Much of it would then be to see what training program those in Moon Lake went through, and while the were secret remained a secret, such attention could cause problems. Thus the public schools and the college both agreed not to participate in Washington State's sports leagues for middle school and high school level and college didn't offer sports that would draw them into the NCAA or related college leagues.
Though that didn't mean that weres didn't enjoy athletics or some measure of competition. However to keep the were secret, this was often done within the school district. They'd play one football game a year, on Thanksgiving, and would have students from Moon Lake High test each other on the "gridiron" as it were. They'd have their own version of "March Madness" as the various grades played each other in a basketball tournament. The college often hosed the wrestling tournament between the werelions and weretigers. Moon Lake's humans often could and did compete in some of these, but this often included rules for permission and that all normal humans would recognize the possibility that "accidents" could occur. Permission slips also went out for all weres so that they would understand the risk of injury and that it was the heart of the problem for Ben. While one of his moms was okay with him playing, Frances wasn't, and that had left him with wrestling on how to accomplish the feat of persuading her to grant him permission. With things in the kitchen falling into a brief silence, he swallowed and decided to make his way in and get it over with.
"I'm home," Ben called, knowing full well that his werecat mothers probably heard him open the door just as he heard them talking.
He soon came into kitchen and sat down at the table with his back to the window that gave them a look out into the backyard if they were to look out it. However, with his back to that window, Ben was able to see his parents at work with something for dinner. Frances was chopping something on a cutting board on one counter while to the left of her was Samantha who was stirring something on the stove. From what Ben could smell, it did smell good.
"What's for dinner?" Ben asked.
"Just some stew," Samantha answered, "it will be a little while before it's ready though."
"And you were talking about me..." Ben said slowly, building things into the discussion that he knew was coming and that he'd need to have if he was to get permission from Frances to play. As he needed the permission slip signed before the end of the school day tomorrow. He could find a way to hand the slip into the teachers that doubled as the football coaches for the Thanksgiving Game during the day, but unless something came up that would have him meeting his moms during the day, which was highly unlikely, he wouldn't be able to get the note signed. That meant he had to convince Frances tonight if he was to have a shot at doing it at all.
"Well... yes," Frances said slowly, also knowing that the discussion was coming. They had let Ben play in previous years, but with more and more reporting on some of the brain injuries that NFL players had suffered over the years with no warnings of what may happen and that leading to them having psychological traumas as a result, it was something that Frances couldn't just keep letting Ben play. He was too precious to her and she didn't want to see him hurt. She and Samantha had only gotten to adopt Ben because his biological parents were killed in a car wreck, proving how despite all the abilities weres had, they weren't immortal and that they could be killed.
Some of it might relate to the fact that she and Samantha both knew that Ben was growing up. He was a Junior in High School now, and while it was likely that he'd go to Moon Lake College as most weres did and might well still live at home with them, it wouldn't be too long before he'd be grown up, independent. That then combined with the knowledge on were mortality and her own proverbial biological clock ticking, there was the desire to see that Ben made it to independence safely, and get the happy life that his biological parents, personal friends of Samantha and Frances going back to when they attended Moon Lake College and before Frances went on to med school with specific training in psychology, were denied. Even to protect him for Kendra, who'd taken some interest in Ben and seemed fairly nice.
"But what I do... I do for you, to keep you safe and safe from injury," Frances then looked up to Ben, who was seated at the table with his backpack in his lap at the moment.
"But it's flag football this year," Ben protested, "it's pretty hard to get hurt in flag football. As tackling isn't permitted and even they've worked rules for pulling the flag to qualify for making blocks as well... I could understand some of this if we were still doing tackle football... though even there... you let me play last year in a match that was tackle football..."
"And look what happened last year," Frances countered, "one Normal caught a weretiger by surprise and not expecting to be caught from the side, he transformed and ended up accidentally scratching the boy. And while the boy was wanting to become a were... both of them were straight and I had both of them in for sessions with the result of the fact that they had to engage on male on male sex to complete the normal's transformation."
"But how many times has that actually happened?" Ben argued, "if it were really that much of a risk... we'd be having lots of people being accidentally scratched during the games..."
"City records indicate that what happened last year has only happened once, in 1940," Samantha spoke up, "though it also turned out in that case the two had actually been dating for a while and the scratch at the end of that game was done as a romantic gift... I think the two are still together."
Frances glanced over to Samantha at that who returned a knowing look while the two then returned to their cooking duties.
"That still shows that what happened last year isn't something that's going to happen frequently," Ben spoke, "and that most of the players will have the self-discipline to not be so easily surprised. And in the end, this year is not last year. It's flag football."
"You could still get hurt," Frances reminded him, "even if they've taken steps to remove things like blocking and tackling... that doesn't mean an accident can't occur. Some one could slip or trip and slide into you."
"I know you're worried about me, mom," Ben admitted and retrieved the lone homework assignment he had and privately thankful that he didn't have much in the way of homework tonight, "and it is touching... but wouldn't you think this is... overboard? I mean, yes, something could happen. It is theoretically possible that a drunken lunatic could drive into town, totally lost, and nail all of us with his pickup truck in the morning while going out for work or school... but the probability of that specific scenario is low. Just as someone slipping and falling at a flag football game... and the odds of that resulting injury being something that even a were can't easily recover from would be low. Someone would need to be pretty deliberate in their actions just to assure that... and isn't likely."
There was a silence for a few moments while Frances continued chopping the vegetables that would be put into the stew for a few moments. The only sound was a rhythmic "tok, tok, tok" as the knife Frances was using hit the cutting board and the vegetable fell to the side.
"And all of us know that I've never really accumulated any enemies," Ben pointed out, "more often than not at school... I've actually helped solve some of those sorts of problems. And while all the mess with Yvette Smith was still going around, Nate and I were able to keep the school on some measure of alert to be on the look out for any threat to Eric."
"True... but that doesn't change the possibility of accidents happening and they do happen," Frances answered, "and you are the most precious thing in the world to Samantha and me. It was bad enough an accident claimed your parents... but to see something happen... What do we say to Kendra? What do we do?"
"So... you're just going to say I can't do anything that might result in me getting hurt, regardless of how low the risk is?" Ben asked.
"That's not what I'm arguing for," Frances insisted.
"In a way... YES, you are, mom," Ben argued, "I know you care... and believe me, I'm glad you care. But there will always be risks in the things we do. And that would include various were related activities as well. Some times the Pack will go hunting, and it is something that the Pack will have interest in from time to time. And there the rule is to try and follow the hunting regulations as much as possible... that only male deer are to be hunted. Now... as you both know there are some legal loopholes that Moon Lake has with several of the farmers and ranchers around Moon Lake that raise deer as stock and thus the hunting of deer by Moon Lake's weres would amount to the same sort of work that cattle ranchers would do with regard to their cattle..."
"And that sort of thing might be the only thing that saves Moon Lake from a lot of poaching charges should the secret come out or someone from the state comes across a deer kill in our city limits or the areas with which Moon Lake has some measure of at least indirect control," Samantha said slowly as Frances handed her the cut up vegetables that were then poured into the pot and stirred into the stew.
"But your pack's hunting will be different," Frances answered, "you wouldn't be alone in doing so. The deer may fight harder to live... but it can't do much when several werewolves are hunting it."
"But the chance is always there that the deer might get "lucky" and drive an antler through me before the others arrive," Ben pointed out, "the odds of that aren't super high... but in pure theory it COULD happen. Pack activity or not. The urge to hunt is always there. Even you and Samantha have it."
"I beg your pardon?" Frances asked, "Neither Samantha nor I have EVER gone hunting deer. And if we were to ever come across a bear while out wandering, we'd know to climb a tree."
Ben gave a small chuckle, "You may not be driven to hunt deer... but house cats are predators just as much as wolves are. It's jus the things you're driven to hunt are different. Nearly all of Moon Lake's exterminators are either werecats or werefoxes, with the hope of being able to get a rat or mouse to snack on. And need I remind you of the great bird stare off last spring."
"That was different..." Frances urged, "it just sat there on the windowsill... looking plump and delicious... ruffling up its feathers... but it was outside and during the daytime."
"But it does show that you and Samantha can be interested in hunting just as much as a werewolf like me would be," Ben pointed out, "the only real difference is what you hunt... or would want to."
There was a bit of a silence for a few moments. Frances looked down for a moment, as Ben did have a point. About the only mundane Animals that weres got along with were various domesticated animals, like cats, dogs, cattle, horses, pet birds, mice, and rabbits, and much of this was figured to be the result of long familiarity between the animal and the were, resulting in trust and support. With wild animals, however, there seemed to be much less trust. Deer, even those raised on the ranches and farms surrounding Moon Lake by some of the werehorses and werecattle, were known to fight hard to try and escape. And Samantha had commented that city records often did indicate that weres, and particularly new weres that weren't as experienced at hunting often found themselves gored to a point where they needed serious medical attention because they'd gotten their attack wrong. There were also the occasional reports of predators being more interested in attacking weres, even when they have alternatives. And Ben was right that the only real difference with regard to predation between a werewolf and a werecat was what they hunted.
"Which means there will always be dangers and always be risks," Ben commented, "not taking them can't be the answer... and I don't think you'd entirely want me becoming someone who won't go outside for fear of something being "dangerous." Would you?"
"No," Frances said slowly.
"And then there is Nate and Alex," Ben said slowly.
"What about them?" Samantha wondered.
"Well... Nate's said that he's never been on an organized sports team," Ben said slowly, "though he's doing rather well given the number of practices we've had. And Alex and I have been there to help him as much as w can... though, I'd wager that Alex is the one who talked Nate into it... and well... they are friends, and I'm glad for it..."
"So you want to play just to keep your friends?" Frances asked, "that's not how real friendship works. If they truly are your friends they'll be friendly regardless of whether or not you play."
"And I'm sure they would," Ben nodded, "but it's more a case of simply being with friends. Not simply doing the same thing to win them over... Shoot, on that part, I probably won Nate's friendship just by being a werewolf. Still they are friends. We're all in the same pack. So... why not play with friends? Many of the others on the team have been friends too... and the risk of injury in flag football isn't that high."
Frances sighed and nodded. She guessed that Nate and Alex had probably helped him. A part of her even wondered if Ben had talked to Eric about it during the day, as Eric had made some mention of it during his session. But she couldn't ask on that for fear of revealing things that related to Eric that she shouldn't. Regardless... she was left with a big decision.