Julie and Eric played through a few rounds on the computer on its easiest difficulty setting and the games went fairly well. She won a few games and didn't necessarily need Eric to warn her about moves the computer would make that were dangerous or anything like that. Though, Julie also did tend to pick up that the computer at the lowest difficulty setting often tended to either "forget" about where it placed pieces or bit into obvious traps to gain more important pieces. That let Julie get a bit more confident with the game and figure some things out without having to ask Eric too much for help. After a few rounds they were interrupted by the sound of Melissa Stovall calling them down to dinner.
"Thanks for being there," Julie commented to Eric as she set about turning the computer off and letting things power down.
"I don't think you needed me to deal with the computer... particularly at the lowest difficulty settings," Eric answered.
"Yeah... I'll admit that while I'm a bit new at this... it did seem like the computer seemed to be a bit more predictable than I would have thought," Julie commented and reached over to take Eric's hand, which he almost automatically offered as they made their way into the hallway, "But I was referring to just being there and being available... and not trying to rush moves or something like that."
"I'd think the phrase "no one likes a back seat driver" comes into play with that sort of situation," Eric managed a chuckle which Julie also returned.
They made their way down the stairs together and could note through front window that night was settling down on Moon Lake and that things would hopefully be settling down into what was a fairly normal routine. One that Eric had found himself getting more and more used to the longer he'd been in Moon Lake and now after becoming a weremer. Thinks like Nate turning into a werewolf and going out to hunt or be with Alex didn't bother him as much as it might have when his family first moved to Moon Lake and the inhuman physicality of his parents' and brother's fursonas were fast becoming just another fact of life for him. And as a weremer and deeply in love with Julie, about the only thing that held real importance for him was her.
He loved spending time with her, and even with all the other stuff that had been going on in the background at the moment, he enjoyed teaching her about chess and "helping" her win a few games against the computer. That was a pleasant distraction from everything else that was going on, that had seemed to reach the Stovall house over the course of the day. Both hoped that things would ease up on that front, especially while things seemed to be in the early phases. Eric had his concerns and worries about revealing the were secret, but he also knew that being the mayor's daughter's boyfriend did not give him any authority in the matter. At the same time, assuming Moon Lake's city government operated like most other cities around the world, there would likely be little that even Martin Stovall could do with regard to what the City Council had agreed on.
The two arrived in the dining room to find Melissa Stovall setting down two plates of backed chicken with instant mashed potatoes. It wasn't anything fancy, but then given some of the circumstances, quick and simple was probably easier. Each plate had a leg and a thigh on it, though Eric and Julie only came in a step or two and waited until Melissa acknowledged them by looking up from what she'd been working on. Melissa gave a small smile and looked past the two teens to see no one coming in after them and then looked over to two other plates of the same meal. One had two wings on it while the other had a lone chicken breast on it.
"Is your father coming, Julie?" Melissa asked, knowing that Martin had ben busy with calls from those that knew him a bit better with regard to city affairs for much of the day. She also knew that she'd have to go with a team to City Hall to check over the city's servers and memory storage, given reports that she'd heard. Despite nothing big on the official agenda for the day, she had the sense that the fall out from the meeting the previous night wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Though she did hope that people would calm down enough to give Martin the time to at least try to relax. It was supposed to be the weekend after all.
"I didn…" Julie began before Martin's voice cut her off from behind, making her turn to see Martin come around the corner.
"I'm here... tired, but here," Martin spoke as he came around the corner and made a motion with his hands with his palms out to urge Julie and Eric to move deeper into the room.
Eric and Julie slowly made their way in. They moved to the seats that were in front of the plates with chicken legs and thighs on them while Melissa went back to get some glasses of water from the kitchen. Eric pulled out the chair for Julie and watched as Martin moved to sit down, rubbing his temples as he went.
"Are you okay, sir?" Eric asked politely.
"I'm fine... just a little stressed by all that's going on," Martin said slowly, "particularly when some people who are predisposed to be against this are going to be more than willing to put a ton of pressure on me just to get me to try and stop it from going through... and a threat or two of even running against me because I'm not taking executive action to have this Tom Herald killed and his idea silenced."
"Someone would..." Eric began with surprise clearly evident in his voice. He had some fears that revealing the existence of weres would only lead a potential bullying type situation that he didn't want to relive, but that didn't necessarily mean he'd want someone killed for it.
"That has been one of the claims..." Martin said with a sigh, "And partially in relation to Moon Lake's laws in dealing with rogue weres. The actions of weres taking people's choices away or killing someone caused plenty of trouble for weres everywhere. Particularly when they're things that feed the things that have made normals fear weres."
There was a brief silence as Melissa came back into the dinning room and placed down some glasses of water. She passed one to Julie and then to Eric before setting the last two before Martin's place and then her own. When she sat down beside her husband.
"So... they think that this Tom Herald is like Yvette Smith was?" Eric asked.
"Or like any other rogue were was in Moon Lake's past or even in were history," Martin nodded, "which before Moon Lake was founded... that sort of thing would lead to weres killing rogue weres. Often to make sure the rogue didn't take their desire for power or lusts or whatever drove them to be rogues to the point where human society might suspect the presence of weres and thus initiate some kind of purge."
"But from what you told us... this Tom Herald's reasoning is more to protect weres, at least in the long term," Julie spoke as she looked to her father and then to her mother.
"That is what I gathered from his argument," Martin nodded and slowly lifted up a small bite of mashed potatoes onto his fork, "and that his intention is more positive... and technically by wanting to work WITH the city with regard to his plan, he technically would not fall into the rogue category as it would be Moon Lake that would make the decision."
Melissa noted the drop in her husband's tone of voice, and picked up the nervousness in it. She also noted the nervousness on the faces of her daughter and boyfriend, and by weremer standards, fiancé. In this the Stovall family matriarch, at least within Martin's pod as Martin the oldest male in the Stovall family living in Moon Lake at present, Melissa had the sense of the potential fallout that would come as a result of these things and as Mrs. Martin Stovall, also had the sense of the political strains it had on her husband. Being Mayor of Moon Lake did not give him authoritarian powers over the town, regardless of the historic concerns about what happened when a rogue went bad. It may not be common, but when it did happen it was bound to lead to trouble, and given some of what had happened in Moon Lake of late, that was bound to be on people's minds. Between Yvette Smith trying to secure a mate and going rogue as a result, Lionel Ulysses taking his jealousy and drug use across the country after a family of weres that had joined the US military, Dymixious Drake deciding to take policing rogue weres to the point of vigilantism taken to extremes, and then Alice Decrux taking her own private revenge to the point of drugging people at the high school dance with a powerful aphrodisiac that could have well led to a mass number of normals being inducted into were society by accident, there was bound to be many in Moon Lake that either saw the timing wrong or saw Herald's actions as just another string of rogue weres engaging in such actions. Such prejudice was bound to lead to attempts to try and put pressure on Martin to enforce old were laws and traditions, some of which weren't even official in Moon Lake when the town was founded.
"So...these people want you to respond as though we were still in the Middle Ages?" Melissa said slowly.
"Pretty much," Martin nodded, "the frustrating part is that some of them were people who supported my first campaign for mayor... some with similar "motives" as to now... that my predecessor, while "good natured" with regard to the were secret, had engaged in some schemes that might have lead to similar consequences when the State or Federal government ends up being called to bail us out."
"Sounds... rough," Eric said slowly.
"Moon Lake is small..." Martin admitted, "but with its secrets... there will be aspects that are on par with cities of a much larger size. Defending the were secret and things that go with it will ultimately be part of that."
"So people will try to vote you out because you aren't being a dictator in their favor?" Eric gasped, only getting some assurance when Julie's hand rested on his shoulder.
"Some may voice that opinion," Martin answered, "but much of that right now is because the City Council vote has so many on edge because it is a surprise to them. In time, most things will quiet down, likely when more information is able to be processed on how this will all work. Right now, people are simply two excited to make an informed decision, one way or the other. And if someone does wish to run against me next year on that point... then they'll have to register and follow the same procedures that one would have to follow to run for mayor in any city. Just because Moon Lake's were population may have some members that are old enough to have some memories that go back to the early 1600s, that doesn't give the city government the right to declare itself an autocracy."
"Do you think it'll happen, dad?" Julie asked.
"Right now... no," Martin assured her, "right now people are still processing things. Once that happens... things will calm down."
"In the meantime... it'd be best to eat, before things get cold," Melissa spoke and lifted her piece of chicken before biting into it.