Morning's light came up in much the same way that it always did with the sun coming over the eastern horizon. The morning was fairly cloudy, but the cloud cover was thin enough that sunlight could shine through. In the cabana next to the Stovall family pool, that layer of sunlight warmed Eric's face as he lay cuddled next to Julie. The two had had a rather low key evening and had enjoyed some swimming, but the things they talked about were mundane and comforting. Much of it helped serve to get over some of the pressures that they'd had to deal with over the past week and it did help. As the sunlight came in through the window, even filtered by the clouds, it warmed Eric's face and helped served to wake him up.
His eyes fluttered open to see blonde tresses that made up Julie's hair as she lay on her side next to him and facing in the same direction. He could see the soft glow about her, that ever since he became a weremer he could see. It reminded him of who his true love was and that made him smile before letting out a contented sigh. It rustled Julie's hair slightly, and it was that that actually woke her up. She stirred and rolled around to face Eric, who gazed back with a nervous smile on his face.
"Sorry if I woke you," Eric said softly.
"It's okay," Julie smiled back, "I'm just glad to have my one true love beside me."
"I can't argue with that," Eric returned the smile. He was glad to have her by his side, and he personally couldn't wait until they could legally marry, but until then just being close would be enough.
"Though we should get up," Julie spoke as she sat up and straightened her pajama top.
"A lot to do?" Eric wondered.
"Maybe," Julie gave a smile, "and a good breakfast is a start."
Eric dutifully nodded and the two quickly set about changing from their pajamas to some regular clothing for the day. It was nothing flashy or fancy, but then Eric had some idea that much of the day would probably be pretty low key. As by now, some of the drama that had surrounded the meeting the previous night would be over and there wouldn't be too much more that Eric or Julie could do with regards to the sort of after school clubs that he was looking toward. Once dressed, the two came inside expected a largely quiet and come morning, though as Julie slid the door open, she found her father sipping coffee from a mug while standing near the counter while waiting for a bagel to finish toasting.
What was the most surprising was that Martin Stovall was fully dressed, as though it were a normal work day. That meant something to Julie, as normally he wouldn't go in on Saturday or Sunday. It would take some serious business, like Yvette Smith's rampage leading to rogue were fears that would force him to head in.
"Good morning," Martin said politely, "I hope you slept well."
"We did, sir," Eric said politely.
"How did the meeting go?" Julie asked.
"It was peaceful... but it's potentially going to mean a great many changes," Martin said slowly, "for weres everywhere."
"Like changes to the mandatory were law?" Eric asked after a moment when Julie didn't answer and puzzled as to why Julie didn't answer.
"More that weres will ultimately come out into the open," Martin answered and looked to see Melissa coming into the room, "the man's argument was good enough to sway the council to begin at least preliminary planning for it... And he had good points for his argument."
"He'd expose Moon Lake?" Julie asked after a moment.
"Not Moon Lake, just weres in general," Melissa answered, "which will be something that will take time and might be unavoidable."
"How?" Eric wondered, reaching for Julie's hand while nervously looking between Martin and Melissa.
"Technology," Martin said slowly, "as technology improves much of a were's ability to hide, and hide in plain sight reduces. Cameras and related systems may be able to catch a were. Either here or somewhere else. And if it happens somewhere outside Moon Lake... like in say... Seattle... it could happen completely by accident. Which was why the were made the suggestion."
"But what if people don't react well?" Julie asked thinking of what Eric had told her about people bullying him for liking science as well as sports, "people might not like weres."
"That could happen, dear," Martin sighed as he looked to the two clearly nervous teens, "but the idea is that the reveal will be done in a way that explains things so that what we fear may be avoided. And we may not have a choice but to accept it given how much technology is improving."
Eric didn't answer, but he couldn't hep but feel nervous and feel that revealing weres NOW might be the wrong thing to do.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A little ways up Wood Street and on the opposite side of the street a pair of gold yes opened as Nat Anderson awakened as he lay in his werewolf form spalled out across his bed. The room was fairly quiet for the moment, or at least quieter than it was the previous night. He and Alex had been able to get away from the pressures of all the rumors that had been going around the high school and had even disrupted the football practice after school. They'd been able relieve some of the tension and had a good night. When Nate finally returned home, he'd found that not only had his parents returned home but they were also enjoying each other's company as well. From there, Nate and then gone to bed.
He gave a brief yawn as he got up onto his feet and stretched for a moment. As he did so, one ear soon pivoted as he heard a noise coming from downstairs. It was soft and faint, almost as though someone were whispering out in the hallway, though much of that was probably just how sharp his hearing was. He was drawn to it, though, and he made his way out of his room, curious as to what was going on. For the moment he stayed in his wolven form, figuring that things would be fine since he was indoors and there was no expected company at the moment. As he got to the stairway, he found that it was his parents talking.
"I think Nate can be mature enough to understand things," Martha commented, "surely you don't think he'll go nuts over this?"
"It's not that I think he'd "go nuts," Martha," William answered back, "but he might well still not take this well."
This intrigued Nate as he came down the stairs. It wasn't sure on what that meant. For while he and Eric had both known some of the strains the Anderson's marriage had ben under before coming to Moon Lake, he also knew that William and Martha had largely gotten past that and had been slowly rebuilding. Becoming weres had only accelerated that process, so it wasn't like he expected a sudden divorce or move or anything like that. And he'd been a big brother since Eric was born, so if Martha was pregnant he'd have no problem with that. So he tried to stay as quiet on his feet as he could, though as he got halfway down the stairs he could hear the wood groan softly under his weight.
"I mean... Moon Lake was sorta like his dream come true," William answered, "Something he probably would have dreamed about for years... and unlike in the movies we bought for him over the years... all of us are pretty much in control of ourselves. We're not mindlessly running about eating and biting things, and..."
It was when his father got to the word "and" that the wood in the stairway groaned under Nate's muscular weight. It was one of the few times where he might have some issues with his transformation. He'd gained a fair amount of height and muscle when he became a werewolf, and while the house could hold his weight fine, that didn't necessarily mean that he could be perfectly silent and after hearing part of the conversation, he wanted to figure out what was going on.
"Good morning, Nate," came Martha's voice in a slightly louder tone, but still soft and calm as Nate reached the bottom of the stairs and then came around the edge to enter the living room.
He found both Martha and William, also in their were forms, seated on the couch with their tails curled around so that they largely sat between them. Though he also noted William's triangular fox ears were pulled back slightly and both is parents looked a bit nervous about something, and that only drove Nate on to find out what was going on.
"What's going on guys?" Nate asked, "What won't I respond well to?"
William and Martha traded glances for a moment and then sighed, "the results of the meeting, last night."
"It was nothing, right? Like you thought it was?" Nate asked.
"It wasn't quite like some of the rumors that have been going around," Martha answered her son, "but... the meeting was largely about a werefox that wanted weres to come out into the world... let everyone know we exist."
Nate blinked in surprise as his jaw fell open. He never would have thought of anything like that being something that was on the agenda. A part of his mind thought the idea would be great. He and Alex could go anywhere and be who they truly were, not having to hide behind a human façade. Nate might have felt his human form looked better than it had before he became a werewolf, but he loved his were form more. However, he also knew that stories of werewolves being treated as the hero or in anyway close to what he'd become were practically non-existent. He still liked his movies, but every one of them had the werewolf either as the villain or that the protagonist had to fight the curse in order to prevent him or herself from being a monster. That likely wouldn't travel well if weres came into the open.
"It was voted down, though right?" Nate asked, "I mean... Moon Lake has proven that weres are safe here, right?"
"The vote narrowly passed to proceed in starting with a plan for that reveal," William answered, "though... no firm plan has been finalized yet. They're only just starting with the whole process."
"But... many people won't respond well!" Nate gasped, "you and mom didn't respond to it well when we learned of Moon Lake's secret... and Eric seemed borderline terrified of things until Julie was able to bond with him and he got more used to the idea of living here..."
"A good many people might," Martha agreed with her son, "but then... your father and I became weres... and we've loved it. As Eric's grown more comfortable with Julie... he became a were to be with her and he loves it... so their could be the case for proving our "humanity" and being accepted. It might take some time, but it could happen."
"That's still a big gamble," Nate pointed out.
His parents nodded. They'd been over this to some degree, and generally they leaned against it for right now for some of those reasons. But they'd also acknowledged the reasons given at the meeting. It may not be desirable, but man might find out about weres anyway. In this it was a push and pull sort of situation.
"Yes, dear... but with things like cellphones, drones, cameras, and the internet," Martha answered, "it may be unavoidable."
"So... what do we do, mom? Dad?" Nate asked, hoping for some idea of protest.
"The meeting has only begin some of the preliminary work," William spoke, "largely figuring out what to say and so on. The werefox that made the argument will have some regular meetings with the City Council that will be private coming up in the future and he had to promise not to do anything until after the City Council could review the plan and accept that. In this... we may need to pay attention to when some of the later meetings come about. For I think that a lot of this will probably cast a shadow for awhile. Right now, all we can do is wait."