Moon Lake's central park was relatively quiet as the two Luna Brotherhood members entered it. Getting into November, things were getting colder than they had been before Halloween and before so many things had seemed to hit that had kept Gustavus Amehr and Quintus Fives in Moon Lake, though neither were truly bothered by the cooler temperatures. Though it would also be noted that real freezing temperatures likely wouldn't hit until closer to the end of the month. Moon Lake was close enough to the coast that despite being in the mountains, warm air from the sea did effect its climate. Though with things beginning to move toward the coming winter, there was less activity in the park now that it was late afternoon and pushing toward the evening hours.
The two could hear some swings moving and some activity that someone was using the park and having fun, which made sense and was fine. After all, Moon Lake's were population probably wouldn't as affected by cold weather as normal humans would and thus it would make sense that there might be some who were out and about. There might also be those that were jogging to stay in shape or burn off some excess energy that they couldn't burn off while working earlier in the day, but that wasn't a concern for the pair of Luna Brotherhood agents. The concern was to meet with one who would essentially be the face of their efforts to obstruct and turn the people of Moon Lake against Tom Herald's reveal plan.
And the park was a good place for it. The Moon Lake PD might be involved in protecting Tom Herald and could potentially pull some stunt related to their direct efforts to silence Herald the day after Moon Lake's city council voted to go through with his plan, but both knew that the plan was entirely based around protecting the were secret, and so long as Tom Herald shut up and didn't expose weres, no one would have to die. But the man pushed forward, quite a surprise to the two Luna Brotherhood members and thus they had to arrange things that would at least give them the opportunity to see as to where Tom Herald was and where he could be killed without too much attention being drawn. The protests fit in with that plan, but getting permits for larger scale or longer lasting protests would mean working with the city government and the Moon Lake PD, which Gustavus and Quintus both agreed that they wouldn't likely be able get official permission.
However, the man they'd come to meet was a local resident and seemed supportive of the various protest plans that the two had. That would mean he would be able to work with the city authorities to allow for more formal protests, as the police wouldn't have the power to disperse a crowd with official permits to be there and as such, they would also have to defend the protestors if any fighting broke out. And the park's layout with high hedges around the north and south, and east and west roads that ran through the par and no video cameras, Gustavus and Quintus could meet with the man who would be their agent without worry of anyone listening in or really noticing their presence, unless they came close. And the park's more open internal spaces would allow for them to make sure no one was snooping on them. And they eventually found their man, a man who'd been a big part of their protest from the previous night by the name of Charles, sitting on a park bench sitting quietly and listening to what sounded like the Mamas and he Pappas on his iPhone or CD player, neither Gustavus nor Quintus could be sure. They saw the ear buds leading from his ears and down to a large side pocket on his tan brown cargo pants.
"Hello, Charles," Gustavus spoke as he and Quintus got closer and noted Charles turning and then moving one hand to his pocket to shut off the iPhone or CD player.
"Hey, Mr. Fives, Mr. Amehr... good to see you're doing okay," Charles spoke.
"We're always okay when we can protect weres," Gustavus spoke as he moved to sit down on the empty portion of the bench to the left of Charles while Quintus moved to sit down to Charles's right, "which is what we've always done and favored."
"You're not mad that the cops broke everything up last night?" Charles wondered.
"From what we've heard, no one was arrested... so no, we're not mad," Quintus spoke, "that kind of reaction would be pretty typical for such gatherings. There is no crime for showing up and protesting... but if you're causing a disruption, particularly on or near private property, that doesn't mean that the property owner can't ask for the dispersal of said crowd. The only thing that would have made us mad would have been if the police simply arrested people for practicing their first Amendment rights."
"It will make things more difficult though... if the Council Members don't quickly bend and give up Tom Herald for arrest or simply decide they don't like the protest," Charles commented.
"I'm sure you'll find some support, after all the vote was passed by a tie breaker vote," Quintus assured him, "In this... some of these small scale gatherings to raise awareness might actually work... particularly if we stumble onto the specific ward members that voted against it. That might gain us support."
"The real problem will be dealing with either public protests over the police's refusal to charge Tom Herald and the City Council for even entertaining his idea," Gustavus spoke and then looked out over the park, made sure no one was in the immediate vicinity and gave a sigh before he continued, "and that is where you will come in."
"Me?" Charles wondered, "I'd be happy to help..."
"We were thinking more of a public face and leader for the movement," Gustavus spoke, "You've been the most interested in this and have seemed fairly smart on these matters. As such, we need someone like you."
"I'm not really great at organizing protests and all that..." Charles said slowly, "and you two seem to have had more clear ideas on what to do and where to go with all of this."
"Yes, but we're not native to Moon Lake," Quintus admitted, "we weren't born here and neither have any members of our family ever been here in the past... and that's a big part of why we're so upset over this whole issue. We come in on a visit and some idiot reporter who's only just become a were thinks its a great idea to expose weres. It will hurt both Moon Lake and the were community scattered across the world."
Charles nodded in agreement on that. The two men made sense with a lot of that. After all, human society generally painted weres as the bad guys in cinema and folklore. It was pretty rare to have the werewolf as the hero and have the hero embrace being a werewolf. And with the firm dark eyes on both of the two werewolves that were with him, even if they were in their human forms, Charles could tell that they weren't going to let weres get exposed and all the missed assumptions created by Hollywood come back to haunt them. Charles was happy to follow their lead and help were he could. He never expected to be named "leader" though.
"However... with bigger protests and things that will interfere with the ability of the City Council to debate the issue... we will need official permits issued by the city in order to gather and mount the protest," Gustavus spoke, "and because Quintus and I are not from Moon Lake, your city government is not bound to grant us a permit and while Tom Herald has so much undue influence over them... it'd be likely that they'd have the police arrest us for not agreeing with them... or at least deny us the permits. But you as a local man... they can't deny you the permit. And it will be through that that we can deal with the city administration."
"I've never really lead anything though," Charles commented.
"We'll still be involved to help with ideas and slogans and the formalities needed to do things," Quintus assured Charles, "but if the movement is to succeed... we need to have it show that it's being orchestrated for the good of Moon Lake and the good of all weres everywhere. Which would look better with a local man in the lead. The people will know you and understand you better... whereas they might see Mr. Amehr and myself as outsiders."
"And you really think I'd be the best candidate?" Charles wondered.
"You've been the most involved," Quintus spoke, "in fact you called us, remember?"
"And that's what any movement needs," Gustavus commented, "energy and enthusiasm. Someone who is only "half" in will only give up when things get tough. You have that energy and that's what will be needed. We'll help where we can with things to say and the primary message. But you will get the credit for saving your home and those you care about."
"That doesn't sound bad," Charles said slowly, "though... I'm not sure we'll have the time to get permits for any of the city councils' sessions this week."
"Maybe... but that would be where we gather, voice our opposition and then leave peacefully when asked to disperse," Gustavus commented, "and we can use it as a test bed to see who responds positively to the protest and who does not. Once we get the schedule for the meetings and the permits, we can begin working on bigger things."
Charles slowly nodded, "Okay... and... thank you."