Meeting Jenna Freeborn at Moon Lake's Safeway, even if both her and Martha had been in their human forms, had been a pleasant surprise, and Martha would have wanted to provide an offering for something more. But the general situation wasn't quite good for that. Some of her worries with Eric had distracted her from arranging for an evening of girl on girl fun... maybe including William if Jenna was bi, though Martha wasn't fully sure at the moment... and now with everything that had gone on with the present reveal issue had both her and Jenna nervous over some of the details. Though, things seemed well enough that some of those other things could be moved to once things quieted down a bit, and Martha took that in stride as she loaded the groceries that she'd bought into the Anderson family's SUV and returned home.
She returned to find no lights on inside the Anderson home as she returned. Granted, she'd found that even in human form she could see quite well in low light situations and thus she didn't need to turn on lights, even on a November afternoon. She also knew that William and Nate had gained similar abilities. She couldn't be fully sure on Eric, as a couple of glances through Moon Lake's guidebook after Eric's feelings toward Julie Stovall became clear revealed that many weremer abilities were often refined for being in water. That was where Martha knew she wasn't enough of a scientist to hazard a guess on how well Eric could now hear or see in those conditions.
As while it could be very dark under water, there were often factors there that could be the reason for it. In the ocean it could relate to the depth of the water. In lakes and rivers it could relate to the sediment that was in the water. There could also bee things like large numbers of plankton or algae in the water that obscure any ability to see through... to say nothing of things like oil. At the same time, things like water could impede a normal person's ears, and Martha remembered that from times swimming in pools and lakes with friends growing up in Minnesota, and she figured that weremers had to have some aspect of their ear that would protect the inner ear from becoming waterlogged when under water.
However, all of that didn't change that she'd half expected there to be some light on if someone was home. Not because anyone in the Anderson family actually needed it, now that all of them were weres, but because it was so normal to do so. Becoming weres wouldn't necessarily change a life time of certain behaviors. Martha simply counted herself as lucky to have gotten her errands done before the boys got home and went about bringing the SUV into the garage and then putting the groceries away.
"Of course... Nate should have football practice after school, so he might not be home until closer to five," Martha thought to herself, "and if Eric had worked out a plan with Julie that would get him more involved at school with others besides Julie... he might be a bit late too..."
Of course... Martha wasn't aware on what had happened at the school that had changed things and didn't fully recognize how lucky she was to get home and without any trouble...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nate and Alex arrived calmly and quietly to find Ben waiting for them at his car and with Eric and Julie with him as they arrived.
"Everyone's onboard the Twist Shuttle, I see," Alex commented as they arrived.
"Everyone that can fit," Ben answered as he opened the driver's side door, "anything wrong? Eric and Julie got her before you two did..."
"We kinda ran into Stanly in the entry area to the school," Alex answered, "sorta stewing over the after school activities being cancelled."
"The Thanksgiving game is his favorite part of the year," Ben sighed thinking on the Senior werehorse, "he didn't pick a fight, did he?"
"No... more just frustrated that the school is likely having to put in place some specialized policies to deal potential disagreements," Nate answered, "and to a degree... I'd agree with the general concept. As plenty of schools have had to deal with things that might drive students to argue and even fight... but I'd suppose the reveal might be something that supersedes that..."
"More that it would be something where the school's staff might also be divided," Julie commented, "and dealing with a hot button issue that may require some agreement worked out to either reinforce or determine how existing school policies..."
Ben nodded in agreement with Julie as Eric and Julie began to climb into the backseat and he got into the front seat behind the steering wheel. Moon Lake did have a fair number of existing policies for dealing with fighting students, but given the high libido levels that weres had, and teenage weres especially as they grew up and began "experimenting," most of the policies and expectations were more toward potential conflicts between weres over a date or more seriously conflicts between a Moon Lake normal and other weres over a mutual were love interest between the two groups. This reveal would be far more "political" in nature and it was likely that aspect that the school was the most concerned over, though Ben figured the ultimate decision would likely work around the policies in place to be able to apply them to the new situation.
As Ben got in, Alex and Nate looked in and noted that the center console between the front passenger seat and the front driver's seat was enough to make it unlikely that Nate and Alex couldn't both sit up front. One of them would have to sit in the back seat with Eric and Julie, and while it might make sense for Nate to sit with them and drop Alex off first, that didn't change the desire to sit up front for either werewolf. The two nodded and turned to a quick game of rock, paper, scissors to see who would get the front seat. The pair shook their hands up and down three times and then on the third down swing made their choices. Nate unfurled his hand so that it lay flat and then cringed as Alex extended two fingers in an open position.
"Scissors cuts paper, I win," Alex answered.
"You got lucky," Nate answered as he climbed into the back seat and sat down beside Eric.
Alex smirked and sat down in the front passenger seat and said to Nate, "I'll get lucky when all this quiets down and you and I can find a quiet place in the woods to howl at the moon... among OTHER things."
There was enough intonation in that that everyone knew what Alex meant as he shut the door. Once that was done, Ben started the engine and they were soon on their way "home." The route was ultimately the one that was expected though. It wasn't a direct route home, but since Ben, Nate and Eric, Alex, and Julie all lived in different houses and Alex was on a different street from the other four people in the car, the round about route home made sense. They dropped Alex off at his home before coming up and around that they came onto Wood Street. From there, Ben simply drove down to the Twist home and pulled onto the driveway so that his car wouldn't block Samantha or Frances, whichever of his moms had the other car, from being able to get onto the driveway.
"I wish we didn't have to go directly home," Eric said to Julie as the two climbed out, thankful that Ben had opened the door for them and folded the driver's seat forward.
"Me too... but if there were fights on the street last nigh... it could well be possible that the city's also trying to get some control over things," Julie answered, "and they don't want people fighting each other..."
Eric couldn't argue with that as Ben went around and opened the other door so that Nate could get out. The two weremers hugged warmly before Julie pulled away and said Eric, "hopefully things will calm down and people will have more of an answer as to how to handle things tomorrow..." Eric nodded and waved to Julie as Nate came around the back of Ben's car while Ben made sure all his doors were shut before heading toward the front door of the Twist residence.
"And they probably will," Ben added, "While rogue weres... at least the kind that would violently attack someone are extremely rare, the police do try to stay vigilant against that sort of thing. I'd imagine that this reveal will get the same sort of attention, especially if they think people will take any sort of protest beyond what is tolerable... but once they feel ready, things will move a bit back to normal, even if the debate remains."
"Hopefully," Nate agreed, "as I kinda have enjoyed the football practices..."
"And you're getting better," Ben smiled, "See you guys tomorrow."
With that, Ben walked into his home while Nate and Eric cut across the Twists and then the Anderson's front lawn to enter the Anderson home from the front...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Martha had gotten about half of the groceries into the kitchen from the garage when the front door opened. She turned her head from the living room to see both Nate and Eric come in one after the other. It made her blink in surprise and she looked back to the clock that was on the DVD player underneath the television. That only made her blink again, as the time was way too early for Nate to have been done with football, and even if Eric and Julie's plan for their own after school club was only to be organized, it was still early to have had that meeting.
"Hey mom," Nate commented as he came in, dropping his backpack on the couch, "you went shopping today?"
"Just some groceries," Martha answered slowly, "you're both home early..."
"Today was rather eventful," Eric said weakly as he and Nate trailed after Martha into the kitchen.
She set the two paper bags down on a small table on the west side of the kitchen area, where they joined three other bags. From what Eric could see they weren't packed full, but there was enough of an outline that they did indicate that their mother had done some grocery shopping to keep up with the greatly enhanced metabolisms that all of them had gained after becoming weres. Nate had been a bit on the pudgy side, not fat, but not trim either, but after he became a werewolf, he actually looked more like well muscled athlete. His parents were never truly out of shape, but they both looked like they were in their twenties again and both had excellent muscle tone as well. It wasn't as much as what Nate gained, but it did provide a degree of sleekness to both of them. His father looked like he was toned enough to be a male model, while if one ignored his mother's wider hips and larger bust and rear, one would think her a high level gymnast. To a degree, Eric had even noticed some of those changes in himself to. His muscles as a weremer weren't bulky, as that might impede his ability to swim in the water, but they were trim and rather wiry. In this, he guessed they were probably stronger than they looked. Like he'd gained the build that could develop into an Olympic swimmer...
However, as Martha set the bags down, she turned back to Eric, "what happened?"
"Mostly just stress over the reveal," Nate spoke, "though... not small..."
"One guy knocked another down on the front steps the school at about the same time as we arrived," Eric added, "we weren't close buy... but we could see one go down. And supposedly the guy who got punched lost a tooth..."
"You two weren't in this fight?" Martha asked.
"No... but I think it did frighten the school as they cancelled all after school activities, at least for today so they could sort out what to do about the potential for differences among weres over the reveal," Nate answered, "nothing easy... and thus why we're home early."
Martha could only sigh at that, "It would appear that a great many people have their fears in this... I ran into a women I met on Halloween... She was nervous because her younger brothers are normals, but she and her parents are all weres... And all of this has so many on edge. And while it may ease out in the end... I don't think it'll be easy."
"Nothing ever is, mom," Eric commented.
Martha could only nod at that, though her mind worried on what would happen.