While Tom returned to his paper for the day and was resuming some of the standard parts of his present assignment for the paper and Tad found himself caught in the middle of some of the debates over the "big reveal" at the high school, the other players on that front were also active. Charles was a bit quiet as he entered City Hall to look into what would be needed to fit in with what his benefactors, Gustavus Amehr and Quintus Fives wanted. He accepted the two Luna Brotherhood agents for their ideas and the fact that they opposed this reveal scheme and that they seemed firm in opposing it was a good idea.
After all, he'd grown up on stories of the were hunts that went through Medieval Europe, including those that continued up into the Reformation period as well. That represented a lengthy period of time in which normal humans not only believed weres were real, but hunted them down in the name of God. Not being a were didn't always save people either, as the stories seemed to indicate that these hunters had no qualms with killing multiple normals if it meant killing one were. Revealing the existence of weres would therefore only restore all of that kind of fear and paranoia, and it would be the more likely reaction, and Charles couldn't let that happen.
A part of him was a bit puzzled as to why the two men would be on the outs with Moon Lake, after all the town had tried to present a welcoming attitude, particularly to weres that came into town. But he supposed that the protests that would be needed to silence Tom Herald had to be official, their point on being from out of town would make some sense and since many of the people that had material from their previous protest did get along with him, Charles was more than happy to help Gustavus and Quintus out. Though for the moment, he had to figure out where he would go with regard getting and filling out the appropriate paperwork for some of these protests.
He looked at some of the offices that were visible from that main door and Charles was a bit lost in this. He didn't often come to City Hall and the specific office that he would need to go to was an unknown to him. Bigger cities with greater responsibilities might have a specific office that would handle those sorts of things, a "public relations" office as it were, and while Moon Lake as a smaller town might have some of those sorts of offices combined, Charles figured that it would still have that specific office. After all the size of the town didn't change the need for the city government to work will with its citizens, and with the specific needs for Moon Lake's were population, the city government might take on certain responsibilities and policies that would be seen more often in a far larger city. That took him to one signboard that listed the room numbers for the various offices and planned to go from there.
"Public relations..." Charles mused to himself as he ran a finger down the sign board and going past some of the specific office names on it. This included the city treasury, human resources, mayor's office, deputy mayor's office, chancellor's office, council room, press room, and then found what he was looking for under "Press and Public Relations." A glance at the map also found that it was on the first floor to the building, which was a relief to Charles and he made his way there.
The room was only a small one with one or two people in it with one seated behind a desk that looked fairly neat while the second was moving between various sets of metal filing cabinets that were lined up along the back wall. The second person's motions seemed to be a bit hectic as he opened one drawer and placed a paper in a specific file and then went to another filing cabinet. He guessed he'd arrived on a sort of sorting day and they were shuffling forms around as it were, as while there were two computers in the room, he couldn't hear or see a printer in the room.
"Can I help you, sir?" the seated employee spoke with the second unaffected by the comment. It shook Charles's concentration for a moment as his gaze shifted to the female wererabbit seated behind the desk in her human form. "Can I help you?"
"Yes... I'm here to file for some permits..." Charles spoke, "specifically in relation to the proposed reveal."
"For or against?" the woman asked.
"Pardon?" Charles said stepping back.
"For or against?" the woman repeated, "are you for the reveal or against the reveal. We have one group from the college that wants to gather for the reveal during tonight's meeting... Are you with them?"
"You mean people actually favor exposing us?" Charles asked, "beyond this Herald and whoever he's seduced?"
"Potentially... and given how close the vote was in the original debate meeting, I'd say the numbers are pretty even," the woman answered, "meaning that no one can say that everyone is for or against. Thus my question, are you for or against?"
"The group I represent is most firmly against," Charles said firmly, "all this will bring is a bunch of angry and ignorant churchman on us... and they will kill us without thinking, because they can't comprehend that one can be both a were and a devout Christian at the same time. And for that reason Tom Herald and his campaign must be brought to an end and all Moon Lake made aware of that position... that fact."
The woman slowly nodded and swiveled in her chair and gestured toward one of the filing cabinets. "John, can you get me one of the public protest pages." The other worker nodded and moved to the filing cabinet that she'd pointed to while the woman turned back to Charles and looked to him. "Yes... now, if I may be curious... when and where are you wanting to have this protest and its exact nature. For keep in mind, since the reveal has not yet happened anything that might reveal weres would be restricted to the accepted areas and away from Moon Lake's main east-west and north-south roads."
The woman then handed the paper to Charles as he looked back. A part of him was disappointed, but he understood this was required and that was something he was wanting to fight to defend and prevent some mass of ignorant people descending on Moon Lake with murder in their minds. "The protest will be here. To remind the City Council that most of Moon Lake opposes any sort of reveal... not unless it's forced by something else. Everyone will be in human form in accordance with our rules to protect the were secret."
"I see..." the woman answered, "and I trust you can promise that no one from your group will pick a fight with anyone from the other group?"
"I'll make sure to inform everyone that they will be expected to be on their most civil behavior," Charles promised.
"Okay then," the woman then spoke clearly, "if you're wanting this demonstration approved for tonight, I'll need that filled out and turned in by noon and it will be reviewed and then turned over to the Mayor to approve. You should get an answer by three PM."
"Not before?" Charles wondered.
"You're asking for permission to have a public gathering to protest the reveal on the same day as the first reveal planning meeting," the woman answered, "meaning that the city will have be prepared to handle this to keep everyone safe. That will take time to decide and these things can't be rushed."
"Of course," Charles gave some sigh of frustration as he acknowledged the overall situation that he had to contend with and then looked around the small guest area and found one wooden chair there, "Can I fill it out here?"
"Of course," the woman answered and turned her chair to pick out a clipboard from a small end table just behind her and then handed it to Charles, "that would even help with when we can inform you on the decision and timing."
Charles nodded and took that as a good thing.