William arrived home a bit disheveled and borderline tired, not something he'd expected to be as he came through the front door. Since becoming a werefox, he'd found that many things had drastically improved in relation to his health. He hadn't gained the muscle mass that his eldest son, Nate, had, but he had found himself able to recover more energy quicker and easier than before and a good part of him even looked forward to walking at times. It was like the fox in him liked the activity and he could handle it, and if it weren't for avoiding fights and memories of the riot at lunch, he'd probably look a lot better.
But his walk home had brought him close to a group of weres that were debating the reveal and debating it intensely It was something that William had his own mixed worries on. A part of him was for it, as it would let him and Martha be who they truly were all the time. They wouldn't have to hide during the day and when outside their homes. A rational part of his mind recognized the potential for trouble of keeping things secret, for as technology grew and a were was caught on camera in a way that couldn't be explained away by a costume, mundane animal, or something else, weres would find themselves caught in the very situation that those against the reveal feared and with no ability to control the narrative. However the father in him feared for Nate and Eric.
If things went bad, Nate and Eric would be at risk. Nate because he was gay and that the people that would most likely be the most hostile to weres would also tend to be the sort that would be homophobic as well. Eric because as a weremer, he wouldn't have as many options for his own safety outside of going out to sea. He might be safe with the Stovalls, but it left the worry in William's mind that he and Martha would lose their youngest if things went bad. Talks with the Twists had eased some of his and Martha's worries in that regard, but that didn't mean that others in Moon Lake weren't having the same worries and taking a more "active" solution to their fears.
"You okay, dad?" William heard Nate say from the couch, where he and Eric were seated and their homework in their laps. Nate continued, "You look a bit off..."
William looked down at himself as Martha came to the doorway to the kitchen from the living room. His suit and pants didn't look bad, he didn't think he'd snagged his pants on anything, but his shirt was a bit untucked, and had likely pulled out a bit when he double backed to avoid getting caught up in the fight that looked like it might break out over the argument. The worst of it was his shoes. The ground hadn't been muddy where he'd been, but because of some of the haste that William ended up taking, they were a bit scuffed and lost what they were supposed to look like.
"Personally... I'm fine," William managed, "but things were otherwise rough today."
He slipped out of his shoes and set them by the stairs, knowing that he'd need to clean them up a bit before going to bed and then made his way into the living room. Glad to see that Eric and Nate both looked well. Though he did notice some looks of worry and concern as he passed them to approach Martha. She managed a small smile as he approached and they managed a small hug, and was fully relieved that William seemed fine as well. She had no reason to suspect that he'd fallen back on old habits, as since becoming a werefox, he'd proven that his bond was to her, but the disheveled look was a bit concerning.
"What happened, Will?" Martha asked him as she held him to her for a moment.
"To be brief... people are still tense about this reveal and don't want to give the city time to fully debate it, create the plan, or actually figure out why the vote went the way it did," William answered, and soon heard three sighs come in response, which told him that the college wasn't the only place where some of these issues were boiling over. "I can say more... but I would like to get out of what I'm in now...and be a little more comfortable."
"Okay..." Martha said slowly as she released him, "Dinner isn't too far away though... so be quick."
William nodded and he made his way back to the stairs, bending down to pick up his shoes again as he passed them. He quickly made his way up to the master bedroom and changed clothes, leaving his suit jacket and tie on a hanger, and was pleased to see that nothing had been torn. His shirt, though would need washing and that went straight into the laundry chute. His pants were hung on a separate hanger and William redressed himself in what he was more comfortable around the house in. As he changed clothes, the concerns over what he had observed remained on his mind and were added to by the sighs he'd overheard. It left him wondering what else could have happened and whether or not anything close to what he'd seen might have happened elsewhere.
He briefly heard additional footsteps come up the stairs and then being followed by the water running in the bathroom that Nate and Eric shared. When the water went off, the footsteps returned back down the stairs again and William moved to wash his hands before heading downstairs again. He sincerely hoped that things for Martha and the boys hadn't been as violent as the riot he'd seen at lunch or the fight that had the potential to break out on his way home. Things might be stressful, and he could understand that, but so long things weren't violent there would be no additional trouble to worry about, and that was the hope that William held onto as he came back downstairs. He found Nate and Eric straightening their chairs as he reached the bottom of the stairs and Martha was delivering warm plates of food to the table.
"It smells good," William announced as he entered the dinning room just as Martha returned with the last set of plates from the kitchen, "do you need any help, dear?"
"No... all that's left is to get some water," Martha answered, "I'll be right back."
With that Martha turned back into the kitchen and William moved to sit down at his spot at the table with Nate seated to his left and Eric across the table from him. The extra chairs that they would use when they had guests were placed in other corners of the room so that they were out of the way. Eventually Martha did return with glasses of water, which she passed to Nate, Eric, William, and then to her place at the table to William's right.
"So what was all this that went on with the school with the reveal?" Martha asked as she sat down, "there wasn't a fight was there?"
"If only it was limited to a fight," William gave a heavy sigh and noted a few eyes widen as he answered, "for a good part of the day, it was largely a lot of discussion... and I had all I could do to keep classes focused on Shakespeare and Freshman English Literature... the courses I have on my schedule Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."
"Discussion isn't too bad," Eric commented, "there was an actual fight on the way into school this morning... Nate and I were all far enough away not to be involved, but one kid got knocked to the ground before the staff came out to stop the fight. I heard later in the day that one of them lost a tooth."
"The school cancelled all after school activities for today, at least, as a result," Nate added, "likely to get everything organized or figure out how to adapt existing rules for this..."
"The school SHOULD have policies in place for fighting already in place," William said slowly, "but between the secrecy that Moon Lake has covered itself in and the fact that this reveal will potentially throw that secrecy away... with weres in general, if not Moon Lake... things may be running hotter than expected."
"That's sorta what Ben and Julie agreed on," Nate commented, "but what's this about a fight at the college?"
"It was at lunch," William answered, "I had flagged down the dean to try and get something that I could give students coming in some comfort, as all of this plays into the social sciences, things I'm not as proficient at. And while we were talking... outside the commons building a group of students got into an argument... and from there it grew worse. It became a whole riot, campus security had to be called, and one woman was hit in the head with a rock."
"Were against were," Martha said, her skin going pale, "was she okay?"
"She survived..." William answered, "but unless something happens... I'm not sure this is going to get any easier."
There were a few moments of silence as they took a few bites of their food, and the revelation that this tension wasn't limited to any one place and was rising to levels where weres would openly fight each other over the issue hung over all of them. Eventually William managed something, if only because things seemed so uneasy at the moment.
"The one good thing is that with some of the conversations that went on before I could get my classes going... some of those did seem to be fairly even headed on the whole issue," William spoke, "one group even voiced something that everyone could hope for... that this plan will be well thought out and executed in a way that things are balanced. It may not be much... but it helps. Though... it doesn't make up for the fact that some have seemed all too willing to fight just to have their way. That's partially why I was late coming home. There was a group of adults down the street... near where the college meets Wood Street... and they sounded like they were about to get into it. I ended up back tracking through the woods and some back yards just to get home without stumbling onto them."
"It's good you made it back," Martha said to him, "and hopefully whatever was said by your students that promised peace is what comes true..."