A few houses away from the Van Direstag home, Rob sat quietly with the fellow freshmen that he'd met at Moon Lake High, Amy Nettles. Many of his doubts and suspicions over whether or not weres were real were put to bed when Amy had escorted him to her home and introduced him to her mother, Abigail. The thing that proved it was when both of them turned into wereskunks, with Abigail's were form based off of the Hooded Skunk while Amy's was based off of the Striped Skunk. As he watched their transformations, he couldn't deny that were-beasts were real. And based on the guidebook, the teenager in Rob was quite interested in the sense that female weres were quite well built... and apparently even as teenagers.
"Does it hurt?" Rob wondered to Amy as he set about getting his homework out of his backpack.
He looked back to see that Amy hadn't changed back. She stayed in her spot on the couch next to him, to fairly forward to give her tail room to comfortably wrap around her, so that he could see the black and white part of the dorsal side lay across her lap and with the tip pointed toward his knees. She also was quietly selecting her own homework to work on, though she also seemed to focus on him, in a way.
"Transforming?" Amy responded, "well, the first transformation can hurt... even for those of us that were born weres, like me... but a lot of that is that one's body isn't ready for the transformation. Which is often why when a normal human becomes a were, sex is the preferred method of transforming a human. That way any pain that is part of the first transformation is negated by the pleasure that comes from sex... but once the first transformation is completed... be it for a born were or for a human becoming a were, transformation becomes quite pleasing in and of itself."
"And you're not going to..." Rob began, his voice falling off at the end.
"Force you?" Amy answered, her tone rising a bit, "NO! I'd only turn you into a wereskunk if you really wanted it. It's like I said on the walk here... What I'm looking for is real love... something that could last four centuries and be happy for all of them."
"Four centuries," Rob breathed his eyes widening as he recognized just how long that could be. I'd mean that weres that were born in 1700 could still be alive in the present day, though they'd be over 300 years old and might be aging by that time.
"Yes," Amy giggled, "Provided a were doesn't tax its system with disease, parasites, major injuries, or get killed through one of those ways... a were can live up to four hundred years in age. Even humans that become weres, assuming they become weres before they become too old to survive the transformation."
Rob could only both the word "wow" at that, which eared a bit of a giggle from Amy at that. He might have seen something of that in the guidebook, or Rachel or one of the others might have said something about someone they'd talked to telling them that, but regardless, four hundred years was still an impressive lifespan.
"But still... no," Amy spoke, "I wouldn't force you. While I might wish you'd choose to be a wereskunk... I wouldn't force you. Even if you wished to be with me as a couple, but as a different were-species... that would all be up to you."
"But this were-law my dad said..." Rob said slowly.
"That's really only for Moon Lake's protection," Amy sighed, "If someone else from your family WANTS to be a were, then the law is met and anyone outside of that one... doesn't have to become a were."
Rob didn't know how to answer that fully. Partially from what he'd heard from his father, it sounding like he really wasn't keen on it. Rachel might be willing, he guessed, given that apparently her best friend, Melissa Jenkins had already moved to Moon Lake and already become a were, and because of his own disbelief he couldn't really say on where his eldest sibling, Frank was on the subject. But because his father wasn't for it, there could be the potential for trouble there, particularly if his father decided to push on any opposition he had. He sat quietly for a few moments and worked on his homework and that lead to a bit of an awkward silence as Amy wasn't quite sure on how to continue. After a few moments, Rob did manage an answer.
"Well... what you've told me is quite helpful," Rob said weakly, "and in a way assuring... given that I'm new and thought that everyone might be pranking me on the whole were thing."
"Yeah... you got lucky on the pranking thing," Amy gave his shoulder a playful push with one harm. And since it was gentle and her claws weren't that sharp, his cotton tee-shirt was more than capable of making sure her claws didn't break any skin, "If you didn't get here till after Halloween you missed all the pranks the werefoxes played for Halloween."
"They're big on that?" Rob wondered.
"Yeah," Amy nodded with a small smile, "while they can be fun... Halloween and April Fools are BIG times of the year for werefoxes when they look at all the appropriate pranks to make people laugh. That included flipping stuff around this year."
"Thankfully it was stuff that could be moved and didn't do any damage," a male voice said from the doorway that got both of them to sit in a more alert posture, and Rob noted that even with the surprise of the interruption, Amy was able to keep control of herself and didn't spray, as the telltale sign of a skunk, the scent of its spray, wasn't picked up.
Amy looked up to see what was a familiar face to her, a male of modest height, though was well built for his height and wearing polo shirt with the word "Conoco" written on the upper left part of the chest with a pouch-like pocket underneath it. He wasn't super muscular the way many male weres were, particularly the larger weres, regardless of whether or not he was in his human form or his were form, which was based off of the Western Spotted Skunk. For the moment, he was still in his human form.
"Daddy!" Amy said with a smile and got up and hugged the man, whom Rob assumed was Amy's father.
"Hello, princess," the man hugged Amy back, "have a good day?"
"Of course," Amy answered.
"And who is your friend here, he behaving?" the man asked, "he didn't try to feel up your fur, did he?"
"I DIDN'T, I SWEAR!" Rob practically yelled while jumping into the air.
The action sent his school book, notebook, and pencil flying to the floor and landing hard on his feet. It drew both Amy's attention and her father's, which made Rob flush read with embarrassment as he then looked down. Partially because the second part of Amy's father's question came to Rob as something like the criticism that his own parents had given him in Michigan when they'd caught him being a bit more forward with regard dealing with girls. It was something where his parents wanted him to be respectful of women and "not be a pervert," regardless of the fact Rob was still a teenager.
"Easy, there, son," the man spoke, "I was mostly joking... for while I may personally wish my daughter would have avoided some of those things... given a were's high libido, once her first transformation began last spring, trying to control or curtail that sort of thing would be near impossible."
"I'm sorry... I just... I," Rob stammered out, making little sense. Eventually Amy came to his rescue.
"Dad, this is Rob Van Direstag, he's new to Moon Lake," Amy introduced them, "Rob, this is my father, Nelson Nettles, and while like my mom and me, he is a wereskunk... I would hope that some of the mistaken beliefs on skunks are better understood."
"Sorry," Rob answered, "I didn't want to come off as impolite or perverted..."
"That would be whoever created the were-virus... were-curse... were-gift," Nelson said with a knowing smile and that it carried into the house a bit and would hear a "I heard that" come from his wife Abigail answer him in return. He then turned back to Amy, "and I take it you've been helping him with homework and things like the Mandatory Were Law?"
"Mostly just some discussion on weres in general while working on our homework," Amy answered, "nothing super specific..."
"Though she has been quite helpful with the questions I've had," Rob answered.
"Good to hear," Nelson gave a friendly smile, "well... I'll let you two get back to your homework. Though the sun is going down... so Rob, if the sun has gone down before you go home... note that many weres may be out and transformed after dark. If you stay on the sidewalk, you shouldn't have a problem."
"No one would attack me... right?" Rob asked nervously as he collected his books and things.
"No one should... but the streets have minimal lighting and the woods between streets on the outer edges are think enough that without light, you could easily fall and hurt yourself or stumble onto something you might not want to," Nelson explained.
"I see... thank you," Rob managed as he sat back down and Amy sat down beside him.
"I can even walk you home, if you want it," Amy promised him, "but let's finish our homework, first."
Rob nodded at that.