Dinner had gone reasonably well at the Anderson home with William and Martha providing updates on Martha's studies to reactivate her teaching certification in Washington state. It was fairly simple and straightforward and there were a few pauses in there that might have indicated that studying was not the only thing that William and Martha had been up to. That wasn't too surprising to Eric and he had no complaints on that. It was something that had reflected the healing in their marriage and that was something that was quite welcome and reinforced a growing thought in Eric's mind that coming to Moon Lake and becoming weres was the best thing that the family had done.
However, as Eric made his way up to his bedroom after dinner, his thoughts were focused more on what happened on his way home from the Stovalls. Moon Lake's wagon wheel layout meant that the only place where there were intersections was really toward the center of town. There was a street than ran from Wood Street to the next "spoke" in the roads that radiated out from the center of the town, but that was a rare exception in Moon Lake and that was also because of the presence of the college that straddled the two spokes that were Wood Street and the next one to the east of it. But the Stovalls weren't on that street that ran in front of the college and neither were their home or the Andersons' home close to the center of town. In this they were on the long straightaway that ran toward the center of town.
That fact made Eric worry that Julie might have heard the fight. He hadn't gotten that terribly far from the Stovall house and the two weres that had been fighting each other were more than loud enough that even a weremer's weaker hearing out of the water might have been able to hear it. That was something that Eric had concern on as he didn't want Julie to worry about him. He didn't join in the fight and Nate and the parents of the two fighters had arrived in time to prevent him from being involved. And those thoughts drifted all through his mind as he turned on his personal computer and moved to shut the door to his room and began to disrobe for the night.
He'd just gotten into his pajama bottoms when he heard his Skype system chime to indicate an incoming call, and one he expected. He swallowed the small lump in his throat and walked over to answer it. He slid the mouse and clicked on the answer button while his mind still raced on possible things to say should Julie or one of the other Stovalls had noticed the fight. After clicking on it the Skype box popped up and widened to reveal blonde teen wearing sea green bathrobe and seeing Julie's smile made Eric smile, despite all his worries over what had happened since living her home.
"Hey, Julie," Eric smiled as he sat down in his chair. The back of it itched at his bare skin a little, but it wasn't too bad.
"Hey," Julie smiled back, "going shirtless, I see."
Eric looked down with a small blush. Even after becoming a weremerman, he didn't have that much muscle in the way that Nate had and from some of the occasions where he'd seen Martin Stovall transformed in his weremer form, Eric had the sense that as a weremer he'd never develop much, if any, body hair. Yet, Julie had noticed that he hadn't had the time to put his pajama shirt on and allowing him to display the toned swimmer's build that he'd developed after becoming a weremer. That made him blush a little.
"I was just getting ready for bed before you called," Eric commented as he smiled to her, "I just hadn't gotten to the shirt, yet."
"You look good, and I don't mind," Julie complimented him.
Eric smiled at that, joyous to be able to talk with her.
"How was dinner?" Julie asked, "were your folks on edge? You know... over things?"
"No, my folks seemed reasonably okay... and spent much of their day doing other things," Eric managed weakly, "if they were concerned with me... they just wanted to make sure I wasn't late for dinner."
He managed a weak smile, which Julie noted and frowned at as he gave it. As the corners of her lips pulled down, Eric knew that she had to suspect something and knew that things would soon move on toward the fight that he'd nearly been pulled into. A part of Eric suspected that Julie might have already known, but since she didn't mention it specifically at the start, he'd at least hoped that things would move on quietly before the pair of them would have to go to bed.
"Something happened," Julie said slowly, "you don't sound confident or fine... and that smile looks forced."
"Well something did... but not with my folks," Eric spoke softly, knowing that if he spoke loudly, his parents could overhear, "It was something that happened after I left your home. I ran into this weredog and wereraccoon who were arguing over the reveal... and it escalated into a fight."
"A fight!?!" Julie gasped.
"Not so loud!" Eric spoke back as he raised his hands up and down to quiet her, "Yes... and over this reveal idea. They even knew about us and one figured I'd know on some way how to stop the reveal from happening..."
"Ung," Julie gave a dissatisfied grunt before speaking in a softer tone, "I'm sorry on all that... that people would think that because they would associate what knowledge I have with intimate knowledge on what the city can do or will do... it's... it's dumb, and I'm sorry to have gotten you into it."
"It's not your fault," Eric insisted, "the two were already arguing... and I probably could have done more to stay out of their way."
"I'm glad you weren't hurt," Julie said to him, calming down a bit.
"Mostly because Nate arrived," Eric answered, "he and the parents of the two that were fighting managed to pull them apart... from there, Nate and I came home, because I was late for dinner and tomorrow is a school day. From there, I had dinner with no problems."
"That's good," Julie responded and then thinking for a moment while looking down.
This big reveal plan had already wrecked much of the weekend as her father spent much of it on the phone talking with people that were either supporters in Moon Lake or knew him and lived outside Moon Lake. It had been frustrating for everyone, because it also got in the way of many sorts of "family plans" that had been there, and were intended to include Eric in as he was Julie's fiancé as far as weremers were concerned. She and Eric had still had a good time together as a couple with chess lessons and even comparing how science fiction, science fantasy, and the fantasy genre's compared, but that didn't mean that bigger issues didn't have their impact.
"Yeah..." Eric agreed, "but something tells me that this debate issue isn't going to be over soon. And even if the city gets a plan quickly... something tells me people won't fully accept it or reject it until after humanity reacts."
"If people are going to fight in the streets... I agree," Julie gave a sigh, "Just promise me you won't be engaging in it. In pure theory we are still stronger than a normal human as weremers... we're still not as durable as other weres... particularly on land."
"I'm not really the fighter type," Eric promised, "If I could talk someone down... that's one thing... and if pushed to defend you... I might make an exception. But I'm not going to go looking for a fight."
"Stay that way, my love," Julie looked to him with a small twinkle in her eye, "it's what makes you... you. And while this may be a rather big problem... I'd imagine that things like this have happened before and that the right decision, whichever one it may be will be figured out... Whichever way it goes."
"Hopefully," Eric agreed, though he also had to admit that he couldn't be sure on where things with the reveal were headed. Even if the "right decision" was reached or if Moon Lake figured out a way to carry out the reveal and assure Moon Lake's protection, Eric was still fairly certain that if people were already willing to fight over the issue, things wouldn't get any better... at least not in the near future.