Things at the Jenkins house had been calm and quiet through the evening hours. John returned from his visit to the O'Tooles with a small smile, and Jenny had managed a discreet sniff and found that he was still a normal human being. She was glad that John had found a friend to talk to, and one that had willing to come to him, despite all the likely risks that John's heritage probably presented. About one of the only reasons that people hadn't really turned on her over James Harper Senior's actions was the fact that Yvette had clawed her before Halloween, leading to Jenny becoming a werefox. John Harper, however, didn't have that consideration and there likely bound to be some that associated him with his father after all the trouble that James Harper Senior and Dieter Wilhelm had caused before Jenny and Harry married. That was something that made John's friendship with Ginger a positive thing.
Though, John was also still wrestling with the issues that James Harper Senior had forced on him. There father had been fiercely supportive of "being a man" and "real men only like women," and all that related issues. That was bad enough, but as Jenny healed from her unplanned entry into were-society, she'd gotten the sense that John might be at least bisexual, if not homosexual. That would only add to the damage that their father had done. Jenny was glad to have saved John from that oppression, but healing the damage from it might be a different issue. The best that Jenny could hope for was that as things were sorted out, John could make friends that would help him move forward, and possibly talk with Frances Twist as well.
The big thing for the moment was the Harper-Jenkins family was able to sit down and enjoy a dinner in relative peace and quiet. Janice asked a few questions on what pictures John painted with Henry that day, which earned a few chuckles with the explanation that it wasn't that kind of painting.
"And how was Ginger?" Janice asked with a small smile, which did turn some heads for the moment. As with John wrestling with things related to "who" he was, teasing about a possible girlfriend was the last thing John needed, even if Janice meant no actual harm. "Did she understand that you had a job to do today?"
"Yeah," John said slowly as he looked over to Janice. His sister was still smiling, but wasn't super exuberant about it and the tone of her voice wasn't too teasing at the moment. "Her dad was a bit protective... but I suppose he has the right to, considering everything..."
"No he doesn't," Janice insisted quickly, "you aren't like dad."
Jenny nodded at that. About the only one in the Harper family that had been "close" to being "like" of their father had been James Harper Junior, but Jr. never took things to the extremes that their father did and just as with Jenny, as he met people at school and then went on to college, he'd realized that much of the things that James Harper Senior did was wrong. Junior tried to reform James Senior and often took many of the beatings to spare his younger siblings. It was something that Jenny actually respected in her older brother, and learning that he was engaged to someone he'd met in college. That all largely showed on even how different James Harper Junior was from his father.
"I know," John said before Jenny could say anything, "but I'd imagine that a lot of people know dad's name and his actions in relation to what went on before the wedding."
"Well... I'm sure you can show people you aren't like your father," Henry Jenkins insisted, "May not be easy... but as people get to know you, they'll see where you are different from your father."
The others nodded to that, and Jenny was relieved to even see John nod to that and then move to take a bite of his dinner. She was about to say something when the doorbell rang and rang incessantly. The tone wasn't harsh, but it wasn't exactly something that was desired during dinner. Being the closest to the door, Harry and Jenny slowly got up and moved to answer the door. The reached it and opened it to find a couple of students that they'd seen around the college from time to time. Jenny thought she saw this other student, a wererabbit by her scent, in one of her other classes, but at the moment she wasn't quite sure.
"Hello, Rachel," Harry spoke, recognizing the other college student, actually a college sophomore that he shared a math class with, "what's up?"
"I told you something was up with this meeting!" Rachel stated pointing a finger at Harry, "You werefoxes and your tricks and games! I told you something was up with this meeting... that something bad was coming... and both of you were like "no... nothing could be bad. It's all stuff that's happened before, it'll be minor!" And then a fucking werefox tells the City Council that the whole were secret needs to end. Expose us to the world. They'll all find Moon Lake and we'll all be put in a zoo... or worse!"
Jenny and Harry both gasped at this as they didn't honestly expect something like that to happen. Jenny also heard some gasps coming from the dining room, which meant that Rachel's volume was loud enough that the rest of the family could hear the rant targeted at the two werefoxes.
"Neither of us had anything to do with calling this meeting," Harry answered.
"Doesn't change the fact that a werefox wants to expose ALL of us," Rachel answered, "we've hidden successfully for years... and this werefox decides we need to expose ourselves."
"Did he give a reason as to why?" Jenny asked, feeling a bit nervous, partially with the thought that if the were secret ended, her parents might try to back out of the documents signed and she'd lose her chance to save her younger siblings. James Junior, John, and Janice had all seemed fine with her being a werefox, but she was sure her father would see her as some kind of "devil worshiper" as a werefox and she really couldn't be sure as to how her mother would react. Before the other Harpers returned to Alabama, her mother had shown some surprising signs of independence, even challenging James Senior in a way that she'd never seen her mother do before, but there was still a lot of baggage that Jenny couldn't be sure on how her mother would react.
"Some BS about technology practically revealing us already, but no one found out with that rat Ulysses or with the firefight with Dymixious Drake," Rachel answered, "so... if technology is improving, why hasn't it done so already?"
"Maybe it hasn't been good enough," Harry offered, "but is getting better. To be honest... I'm surprised the Lionel Ulysses case DIDN'T lead to weres being exposed then and there. So maybe this guy did have a point."
Rachel only scowled back with a deep frown. Clearly she was upset either over the meeting or over the fact that many in Moon Lake had written off the worst rumors as panic driven gossip.
"Look," Jenny said slowly, "both Harry and I would agree that right now isn't perhaps the best time... there is too much going on right now to know if weres will be openly accepted for who we are and so on... and there will be plenty of people that will push old agendas on weres. All of that is something to fear, and perhaps I wouldn't try it right now..."
"At least you have some common sense!" Rachel declared, "unlike that fox that wanted to expose us and somehow got the City Council to agree!"
"And was this an immediate reveal?" Henry spoke from behind Harry and Jenny as he and Lisa slowly approached the entryway to their home with John and Janice tailing after them. He could understand weres being frightened over exposure, but that didn't mean he was about to let one just yell at his son and daughter-in-law over someone else's actions.
"Well know... right now I think they'll be discussing it!" Rachel spoke, "but the werefox was still pushing for it, the City Council only accepted it if they could set the timetable or something like that..."
"Then let's assume that the discussion will be well thought out," Henry spoke, "make sure things aren't rushed. Because the City Council is a democratic body. If they voted to accept the proposal, regardless of how narrow the margin, we must assume they had some reason for it. And if they're the ones determining the timetable and so on... that this won't be immediate."
"It's still the beginning of the end! All of us weres will end up in a zoo!" Rachel declared and then stamped off.
Harry sighed and shut the door. He and Jenny turned to see John peak around Henry's side.
"What does this mean?" John asked.
"The world is changing," Jenny said slowly, unsure on what else she could say.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Martin Stovall was largely quiet as he drove home. He had stayed quiet and drew little attention to himself during the meeting at City Hall. In some ways he could respect Tom's arguments and there was a good many points that he couldn't easily counter, if he could at all. He knew that Melissa had kept herself up to date on technology and he knew that while Moon Lake might have been initially suspicious of things like the internet when Melissa brought it to them, it had become a fairly big thing. All of it represented how much the world was changing and that even Moon Lake was changing. In this it was rather lucky that things like Lionel Ulysses arrest and later murder and the gun battle in Moon Lake with Dymixious Drake had not lead to bigger troubles then.
But as a city official, and one who was fairly familiar with some of the inner workings and difficulties of politics, regardless of what level it was at, he was also rather aware of the worries and troubles that such a reveal would present. Even if humanity ultimately accepted weres, there would be those in were society that would resist the exposure and even Tom couldn't say on how long or how hard it might be to earn acceptance. Where there ways to do it, Martin was privately sure of that, but there were a great many factors that couldn't just be ignored, and the one weretiger who had spoken up left a lasting impression on Martin's thoughts...
"Yet I'm concerned about revealing our existence, not only for all the reasons you folks have already stated, but the fact that while I trust President Obama, he's having a hard time with that Republican majority in Congress as it is," ran endlessly through his mind. The past eight years had largely been dominated by extreme amounts of partisanship launched primarily by Republicans as part of power grabs against the President. Now, they may be right, they may be wrong, but the fact that they'd pushed so many political buttons hard to gain power and effectively force the President to govern as though he were at least a liberal Republican, represented the biggest real fear to Martin. If weres came out into the open, because of the present media climate around weres painting them as the bad guys in movies, and the nature by which national politics functioned, it would likely take years for full equal rights and who knew how many lives lost in the immediate hysteria that would also surely follow. And those thoughts and worries didn't leave his head, even as he pulled onto the driveway.
The house was dark and quiet as he came in, and he'd guessed that Eric and Julie had either gone to the pool or the cabana, though more likely the former as it wasn't that late. It was they that deserved a happy future, as they were young and in love, but they might have to go through some very rough times as a potential new civil rights fight began over were's rights after this reveal took place, and the father in him didn't want to see that happen for Julie and her one true love. He didn't want to see it for the unborn baby developing inside his wife Melissa, and as he slowly made his way up the stairs, he wasn't fully sure on how he would explain things to Melissa at least.
"Martin? Is that you?" came Melissa's voice from the master bedroom as Martin reached the top of the stairs and looked out to see that there was some soft light coming from within.
Martin made his way to the bedroom to find Melissa coming forward to the door, clearly done with the bath she'd said she wanted to take while Martin had been at the meeting. He remembered some hints that she might have wanted him to join her, but the meeting was important, based on the summary of the request for a special meeting that Katherine Chambers had briefed him on, and some of the post debate discussion had enough back and forth that he couldn't leave quickly. Even with the worries though, he couldn't help but smile as Melissa came forward, an aura of light around her, reminding Martin that Melissa was HIS one true love. And with her coral colored nightie on at present, with its low V-neck and the skirt portion that only just reached Melissa's thighs there was enough that briefly aroused some other sensations.
"Sorry I was late," Martin said to her as they embraced and he ran his fingers through Melissa's hair, "your bath went well?"
"It did," Melissa answered, "if a bit lonely without you."
Martin felt himself pulled into a small smile.
"How did the meeting go?" Melissa asked.
"It was peaceful... though, as suspected, it was on revealing the were secret to the world," Martin answered as he held Melissa to him, "the presenter... a male werefox had some good points, largely in relation issues related to technology that could well mean that we may be past the point where weres can keep hiding in plain sight."
Melissa slowly nodded. She knew quite well that technology was continually improving, and around the world, not just in the US. It was that sort of thing that made the lake of a reveal of were society over what the police caught on their body cams in the arrest of Lionel Ulysses being a minor miracle. The rational part of her mind recognized that as technology grew better, the ability to hide would get lower. Moon Lake itself might be fine, but that didn't mean a were outside Moon Lake couldn't make a mistake and just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That could very well be reason to come out while things were peaceful enough that they could control the reveal before something worse happened.
"I take it you have other worries?" Melissa asked as she looked to her husband and hearing the falling off of his voice as he finished the comment.
"Mostly the fear of what it may cost to protect weres in the short term... what it may due to Julie and Eric... or to you," Martin said slowly, "Especially with you being... pregnant."
Melissa was quiet for a moment, "I'd probably be nervous to... as Julie's been so happy with Eric. She's gotten to have the happy courtship that I denied you... if things go wrong... she could lose all of that."
Martin nodded, though he noted that Melissa still had a nervous look about her.
"But in many ways... if this presenter made references to technological developments... he could well be right with regard to us being a point where we can't just hide anymore," Melissa said slowly, "that we may have to come out regardless. That's the thing that may scare me the most... particularly with regard to Julie and her future sibling... that we'd be in a powerless position. That no matter what we do, we'd be facing it."
Martin held her close, "well for the moment, it's likely going to be in discussion on scheduling, the wording, and perhaps even the nature of how the reveal would work and then go from there. And it could be possible that many of us are worrying about nothing."
"How fast will this spread?" Melissa wondered.
"Hard to say," Martin said slowly, "some may be in shock by the fact that the proposal passed, though narrowly, and thus it won't spread too fast... but then because it is a big change, it may be reported... particularly to anyone who was skeptical on the rumors... Though it will probably make it to the college radio news, Moon Lake's local cable channel, and our town paper. So anyone who doesn't know of it now will find out by tomorrow morning."