Karen was quiet as she watched Tara Strange approach with the woman she didn't know. Tara was easily recognize in her blue uniform, not too unlike the one that Daniel wore. However, Tara had less equipment on her belt than Karen remembered seeing on Daniel's, which she figured was something that made their jobs a bit different. Daniel was a standard patrol officer, though in a town as small as Moon Lake he could also end up doing a fair amount of specialty tasks as well, simply because there wouldn't be that many officers available. Tara, however, was assigned as Moon Lake's technical officer and thus wouldn't normally have too much field work. Karen guessed that Tara had this assignment because it was at her cabin.
The woman that was with Tara was a bit taller than her and had he obvious muscular and female wrestler's build combined with wide hips and a prominent bosom. She wore a more casual attire with a pair of blue jeans, a white tee-shirt, and over the shirt an old Seattle Super Sonic's jersey. Karen gave a nervous cringe as she looked to the other woman from the doorway, as she could see a very focused look on the woman with narrowed eyes and a deep frown. In this Karen got the sense that the woman did not approve of being called into the meeting with a prospective initiate to learn that meeting served no practical purpose as that initiate had already done something that changed the situation, but still wanted the meeting to happen anyway. Karen did her best to stand her ground in the doorway as the two came up.
"Okay, here you go, Karen," Tara initiated the conversation while digging out a plastic pill case. Karen took it to read the label, which read: WT1000 Birth Control Pill, Take Once Daily, Provided by Dr. Yasmin Ryt - Moon Lake Hospital. As she looked at the pill label, Tara continued with the introduction, "your werelion representative, Abbigail Tyeree."
"I'm sorry to put you through all this," Karen said weakly with something of a forced smile as she stuffed the pills into her pocket.
"Well... at least she has the ability to apologize for wasting my time," Abbigail answered with her frown still present, "so... not totally irredeemable. But still not highly ranked or respectable."
"Hey..." Karen began.
"You have NO room to complain," Abbigail gave a low snarl, which was threatening even while in her human form, "Some teenage weredog pesters the King for a friend on the prospect of this friend wanting to be a werelion. Annoying and irritating... but representing something of loyalty that weredogs show their friends and their pack. And the King eventually relented and asked around to find an available lioness. And I was more than happy to explain to someone wanting to be a were on the advantages or disadvantages of being a werelion. All of this happens from time to time, as not everyone gets to know or meet every were group on their own. And then little do I learn, that the person I'm supposed to meet with is a weretiger cub and that this whole meeting is a farce to avoid getting in trouble with your parents for sneaking out, without their permission, and getting yourself into some mischief."
"Could you keep it down, please," Karen urged, "my parents are upstairs... And I don't know for sure if anything I did lead to anything..."
"It did," Abbigail answered, ignoring Tara as she tried to wave her hands up and down in a way to urge Abbigail to lower her voice, "all weres have a scent that we can easily detect. It helps us see who is a were and who is not. And we can identify the specific were-species one is by that scent. It's often a mixture of the human and animal... the full representation of what a were is. The animal half of the scent is weaker in young ones before their first transformation, but it is still there. Despite being older than when most born weres have their first transformation, you are a weretiger cub. There is NOTHING I can say that will change what WILL happen to you. I am only here because you do not wish to get in trouble with your parents... Most irresponsible and as bad as the werefoxes and their love of pranks and tricks."
"She understands what she's done wrong," Tara said slowly.
"And I am sorry," Karen offered.
"I would hope so," Abbigail spoke, "now... if you would be so kind... call your parents down."
"What?!" Karen gasped, "they'll ground me!"
"I agreed to your farce," Abbigail answered, "but if I'm to talk to anyone about being a werelion... I'll share it with you and with someone who may actually make a choice to be a werelion while they can still make a choice."
"Okay," Karen said weakly and backed away from the door and let Tara lead Abbigail in and two the couch. As she did so, Karen then headed for the stairs and made her way up them. Things were modestly quiet as she made her way upstairs and she made her way to what was the master bedroom. She could heard some soft conversation coming from within, but there was no sound of the bedsprings squeaking, giving Karen some sense that her parents hadn't decided to spend the day making love as they'd done the previous day. Karen slowly sighed and then reached out to knock on the door, which slid open as she knocked.
"Yes, dear?" came her mother's voice as she came to the doorway fully dressed and looking to her daughter.
"Officer Strange is here with the werelion representative," Karen answered as she soon heard more footsteps, indicating that her father was approaching, "the werelion representative wishes to speak with you two as well."
Nichole glanced to Moe for a moment and shrugged. There had been some interest in being at the meeting, but had backed down when Karen had voiced resistance to that.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"There was no need to go after her," Tara said to Abbigail quietly when Karen went upstairs, "The Charlestons have had enough on their plate to worry about than an angry were..."
"They may have had all sorts of trouble... but the request was still to provide information for someone looking to make her decision," Abbigail answered, "not talk to someone who's apparently already made her decision and likely disobeyed her parents in making the decision..."
"I don't disagree that what was done was wrong... but," Tara spoke slowly.
"Would your parents have let you get away with breaking their rules if they found out?" Abbigail asked as she turned to Tara.
"No..." Tara admitted.
"And that is the end point..." Abbigail answered, "Moon Lake tends to look the other way when it comes to youngsters together... perhaps sometimes a bit more than we should... but we do tend to expect children to respect the wishes of their parents... and at least talk with their parents if there is a disagreement. I'd wager that her parents didn't want her going out at night any more than you did. And yet she did. That's quite irresponsible behavior and something that cannot and should not be ignored. I will play along with this farce... but I will not hide that what has been done was not right and could have been far worse..."
"At least try to be cheerful, as we don't want any reaction that would jeopardize the completion of Karen's transformation after the sun goes down," Tara urged.
Abbigail nodded as she heard footsteps coming back toward them. They turned to see the Charlestons come down as a family with Karen in front. The paused and let the Charlestons move to sit on the couch opposite Abbigail while Tara moved to sit in one chair that was to the right of the couch. As the Charlestons sat down, Abbigail moved to get into her relaying of information. Though, Tara did offer an introduction first.
"Charlestons," Tara spoke with a wave to Abbigail, "Abbigail Tyeree."
"Now... I will start with what has given you an interest in werelions?" Abbigail asked with her eyes focused on Karen.
"Well... a lot of my interest has mostly related to being the family were," Karen answered, "and it mostly looked to various feline weres... and largely those based on those in comics... Like Tigra, for instance. But a lot of that was only a starting point, from there the plan was to talk with those feline weres that wouldn't require me to change my sexuality, as becoming a werecat would, and wouldn't be mono-gendered and thus requiring girl on girl action for the transformation, which eliminated the werecheetahs. I've gotten to speak with a weretigress, a weremountainlion, and a pair of wereleopards... Werelions were simply the last group on my list."
Abbigail's eyes drifted up to Moe and Nichole, who caught on and eventually shrug.
"We really haven't made a decision on which..." Nichole said weakly, wondering if Karen had shared her and Moe's decision with anyone, "I was rather... against the whole idea at first... but as time has gone on... I've been finding myself more and more enamored with the idea. I really can't explain it."
"So... for the most part, we'd mostly be wanting to see what the pluses and minuses would be," Moe added, "at least with regard to specific were-species."
"A lot of that will be up to personal choice... but if you've read the guidebook, it should be good to remember that once you go were... you can't go back," Abbigail warned, "No take backs."
They nodded and let Abbigail move on toward the next point of things.
"Now... I trust you know what a werelion would look like, if only from the guidebook?" Abbigail asked carefully. Again she received nods from the Charlestons. After they nodded, Abbigail moved on. "Well... that's good. Now, I'll admit that werelions won't have the flashy and garish stripes or spots that weretigers and wereleopards have, but we are every bit as strong as a weretiger and unlike all others... we represent the King of Beasts... And unlike other were groups, werelions are just as social as mundane lions. Werelionesses will work together to hunt and feed the pride."
"Actual hunting?" Nichole said slowly.
"Yes, all predatory weres will enjoy the thrill of the hunt," Abbigail gave a confident smile, "and for werelions... that thrill is the female's. The male's job is to protect the Pride and its children. It's something that's been worked together among all werelion prides. The males work in a working coalition to protect the pride and its children from any rogue were or potential outsiders. It'd mean working with the police and city government... but still serves the focus everything together."
"But don't all weres come together?" Karen asked.
"True... but most of those that really come together with major organization was with various canine weres... werewolves, weredogs, werecoyotes, and werefoxes," Abbigail answered, "among feline weres, that sort of cooperation isn't really there. For weretigers, wereleopards, and others... their "pride" is really limited to the individual, or the husband and wife. Which means if they run into a bigger problem... they don't have anyone they can easily turn to."
"But... with the pictures..." Nichole commented slowly, "most weres look rather powerful. Would they really need "help" for anything?"
"All weres are strong," Abbigail nodded, "Even wererats and weremers would be physically stronger than average humans... but that doesn't make weres invincible. Should there be enough damage a were could succumb to wounds... and on rare occasions when a were goes rogue, having friends is always a good thing. Something that werelions have."
"Well... that would certainly sound like a big plus," Karen said slowly.
"Are there any real minuses?" Moe wondered.
"How would werelions have their pride organized?" Nichole asked.
"Technically it'd be prides," Abbigail answered the second question first, "we do have a group organization... but unlike the werefoxes, we aren't so hyper organized that there is a true chain of command. All the prides in Moon Lake are united under Leon Talbot, the Lion King. Under him and sitting at the head of the six prides within Moon Lake. They'll all handle a lot of the respective business with regard to a specific pride's rules and settle disputes between members. If there are any disagreements between two different prides, it would then go to Leon for the final decision... But for the most part, he's largely fairly hand's off. Noah's pride does some things that Tau's pride doesn't."
"Noah... Tau?" Karen asked.
"Two of Leon's brother's," Abbigail answered, "Leon would only be involved if there were arguments between the two prides... It's largely a system to try and avoid the problem of fights between prides."
"Prides have fought each other?" Karen asked.
"My parents say that before Leon and his brothers took over... the prides could and did have issues on occasion," Abbigail admitted, "someone would get to prideful on something and then when two sides couldn't or wouldn't back down... be they two males fighting over a female or even two females fighting over babysitting rights/responsibilities... there could be... or at least was the potential for fights. But that could be something that any were group has had from time to time. And since Leon took over as King, werelions haven't had that problem."
"So... the biggest potential weakness for werelions would be their sense of pride?" Karen asked.
"If left uncontrolled, yes, it is a weakness," Abbigail admitted, "but with control, it'd be a great virtue... Something that would relate to all weres. But pride wouldn't be a werelion's biggest potential weakness... Though this really varies with the person..."
"And that is...?" Nichole wondered.
"The fact that werelion prides will operate in much the same way a mundane lion pride does," Abbigail said slowly, "Open marriages are pretty much a fact of life. Leon and Regina Talbot are happily married and Regina will not have anyone's children but Leon's... but both are not above having fun with others from time to time or inducting new werelions, should someone wish to be brought into werelion society by the King or Queen."
"No one forces themselves on each other, do they?" Moe asked.
"No... anything must be consensual," Abbigail spoke, "no werelion may force himself on a female who does not want his attention, be they human or were. And no female can try to trick a married male into a situation where he may sire children with her. That will only be tolerated if the male's wife agrees to it and the male is informed of the female's desire."