Tom continued to chat with Harold and Lucy now that he'd managed to explain some of what had gone on. He had expected resistance to his idea. Communities that had relied on secrecy generally weren't the sort to easily accept giving it up, and when push came to shove on it, they often fought back. That was usually because their secrets were often criminal, but as he'd experienced with Alice and bonding to her as her male werefox, he knew that Moon Lake's secret wasn't criminal. Because he knew that Alice wasn't criminal, and she was the most wonderful person he knew, and that bond seemed to tell him that she was the "one" for him in ways that he never really felt with any of the past women he'd been with. In this, her status as a werefox vixen shouldn't be something to hide but celebrate, and that drove his present mission.
But that would take time, and Tom understood that. Some of the issues that came from his presentation would be there, and namely this altercation he'd had with the two Luna Brotherhood members represented the potential worst case scenario with that, and Tom was a bit nervous with that. But for the moment, things would be safe. He and Alice were in Moon Lake for the moment, until he could be sure the secret agent type werewolves had either left or their fears proven wrong. Much of their work would have to be by commute, and Tom was fully prepared to take Alice back in so she could retrieve her car and do her work while moving on to his office at the paper and continue to get dates arranged for the interviews on his present assignment. After that, the two of them could commute and go about as much of their normal lives as they could until the over all situation settled down.
And for the moment, all Tom could do was simply prepare and wait, which included moving things like their travel bags to the room that Alice had once had while she was growing up. It wasn't a bad setting, and Tom could smell the scent of the trees drifting into the room through an opened window. It was different from Seattle, but homey in a way, and knowing that Alice would be safe here was a major relief to him.
"This will be rather cozy," Alice said with a smile as she looked to Tom as she set her bags down and then patted the bed down with one hand.
The bed was a bit smaller than the one they shared in Alice's apartment in Seattle, only a twin bed, and likely the one that she had while she was growing up. But that was about all that was really there. There was a small dresser and nightstand, but not much more than that. Tom had also checked the small closet and found that Alice's parents had some plastic boxes on a shelf in there with some other nick-knacks that were being saved for later or simply being stored there. A lot of that reflected a lot of the things Tom would expect from parents after their son or daughter grew up and moved out. His own had drastically altered things after he had moved out. His old room was either a library or sewing room, he really couldn't remember what his parents had turned it into. Harold and Lucy just seemed to have left their daughter's room as a guest room.
"I suppose..." Tom said slowly, "though with the size of the bed..."
"Will be fine," Alice gave a knowing smile, "we'll be close and that's all that matters at night."
Alice's smile and a small scent of arousal seemed to reflect that, but it soon passed as the two of them resumed making sure their bags were placed and a small clock radio was set up on the nightstand. While all this was going on, Tom was a bit focused on that that he didn't hear a knock at the front door. He looked down to his watch and then continued to move to set the time on the clock radio that they'd brought with them. Once he had it set he looked around to find that Alice had left the room. He raised an eyebrow in surprise but then heard a few voices coming back from the living room, and at least one of them was male and not Harold Stevens' voice. That drew him out.
He returned to find Harold and Lucy ushering two Japanese American men in dark suits around the living room couch with Alice slightly behind them. They noted Tom's presence as he came into the entryway that lead back toward where Stevens family's bedrooms were, and both turned to face them. Tom nervously looked to Lucy and Alice, those he knew had connections to Moon Lake's Skulk, seeking some sense of comfort that this wasn't another "shut up or else" altercation.
"Konichiwa, Herald, Tom," one spoke with a polite bow, "I am Tachibana no Ichiro and this is my cousin, Yoshiro."
"We represent the Moon Lake's Skulk and would like to discuss with you this incident with those that threatened you," the other one, Yoshi, spoke with a bow.
"You're not here to threaten me, are you?" Tom asked to both of them as he came forward, "Mister..."
"Tachibana would be our family name," Yoshiro spoke.
"Any relation to Akane no Tachibana?" Tom wondered.
"She is our grandmother," Ichiro nodded, "and is concerned that someone would threaten you."
"Has this ever happened before?" Tom asked.
"In Moon Lake?" Yoshiro answered slowly, "not to my knowledge without there being specialized circumstances... such as the were in question being rogue or that the were being threatened was rogue and causing trouble. Before that... there might only be old stories, but we are not old enough to have heard them first hand."
Tom slowly nodded. He figured that it was possible that if one went far enough back in time that there could have been conflicts between weres, not unlike the first outbreak of wars between human countries. Though he wasn't a historian and his purpose was more focused on the present, and the threat that Quintus Fives and Gustavus Amehr had made to him.
"So..." Tom said slowly, "Do you work for the police department or...?"
"We will at times work with the police to help protect Moon Lake and preserve its laws," Ichiro spoke, "but we work for the Skulk's own security services. We often protect private firms and businesses in Moon Lake and the surrounding area... in case there is someone wishing protection... on a contract basis, of course."
"We also serve to protect the Moon Lake Skulk," Yoshiro spoke, referring to all of Moon Lake's werefoxes.
"Harold and I contacted our Den Leaders," Lucy said slowly, sensing some of Tom's confusion, "they can help you with some of the legal work that will relate to making a statement with the police and things like that."
"And while it will probably take quite some time for you to convince Moon Lake's weres that the secret is worth giving up," Ichiro spoke, "from what we've been told, your reasons are not to hurt weres but help them... out of love for your bonded mate."
Tom nodded as he finally came around the couch to be greeted by Alice. The two of them hugged briefly and then moved to sit on the couch while Yoshiro and Ichiro moved to sit in the chairs by the front windows. Lucy and Harold moved to sit on the other side of Alice. It was a tight fit, but the four of them managed.
"And that's where making a blind threat is most discomforting," Yoshiro spoke, "and where more information on these men would be most helpful. Like where they from Moon Lake? What were their names? And so on..."
Tom nodded and slowly recounted what he'd already told Harold and Lucy when he and Alice had first arrived, though this time adding Quintus Fives and Gustavus Amehr, the names of the two weres that had threatened him, to the tale. The two Skulk agents sat quietly as Harold recounted the information. Eventually Tom did come to the end of the tale...
"And from there, I brought Alice here," Tom spoke, "I know my idea may not be popular, and I can understand the fear. But I would argue it is still something that I feel MUST be done if weres are to truly be safe in the long term. And I am willing to make my case to prove it... and help Moon Lake devise a plan that would make it workable... so long as my work schedule with the paper will allow. And I'm not afraid for myself... However, I wouldn't want them to strike at Alice to get at me. We can commute to work, as needed, but I don't think those two would be totally above attacking our apartment if it means removing me because they aren't fond of my proposal."
"And did you tell anyone in Seattle about this?" Ichiro asked.
"No," Tom answered, "I had agreed that I wouldn't release anything on the reveal until after the plan was made and approved. As such telling the truth on the threat would either break he promise made to your City Council here or paint me as having questionable mental stability to the Seattle Police and they would do nothing... aside from maybe commit me to an asylum."
Ichiro and Yoshiro both nodded slowly.