The meeting went relatively well, though Tom did note a bit of hesitancy as Harold Stevens approached him. The man's lips were pulled into a heavy frown.
"You do know that Alice will be heartbroken if this goes south and YOU, her bonded mate, pays the ultimate price," Harold warned him as they moved toward the door to the City Council's chambers.
"Yes... at that does scare me," Tom answered seriously, "but at the same time... the fact that she must live in constant fear of that negative response... given that our apartments are in Seattle... that is bigger, especially considering that weres can't just keep living on the idea that dumb luck will protect them... And that is REALLY all the defense of the were secret is. That dumb luck will defend weres."
Harold nodded on that. It was that reason that had ultimately gotten him to accept Tom Herald's idea in the first place, but being happily married to a beautiful werevixen as he was, Harold was also well aware of how firm and strong a werefox's bond could be to their mate. That combined with a were's lengthy potential lifespan added in the fear that if things went wrong and Tom Herald payed for it, Alice would potentially live out centuries alone and with only the tragic memory of finding love young and then losing it to either weres who wouldn't let go of a system that might not be working anymore or normal humans driven by old fears. Neither thing was something he wanted for his daughter. He could understand Tom's willingness to bear the burdens from a political and logical sense, but that didn't mean he liked it as a father.
"And at the same time, I'd prefer to be a bit more optimistic on things," Tom spoke, "for if things go right... everyone will be free and won't have the shadow of fear over them. Now, things may be tough... and I'd expect something of a civil rights battle on the issue, but justice and freedom will be the ultimate result... for everyone."
"If we can survive the negative attention," Harold said slowly as he looked over to Yoshiro and Ichiro with his thoughts on some of the responses that had been negative with regard to Tom's reveal plan. While there may have been a good reason for it, that didn't mean that everyone supported it. Two agents for some secret society had threatened Tom and had somehow managed to build up some open resistance to the idea. The protestors they'd gotten showed up before the Stevens home a few nights ago and were still present before the present reveal meeting. The protestors hadn't proven violent enough to attack Harold or Tom when they went in, but Harold wasn't sure if that was by design or because they didn't want to deal with the police that were monitoring the situation. And some of the chanting by the protestors against the reveal could be heard as they came out. The only thing that was different from the earlier night was that there were also those that seemed to be favoring Tom's reveal plan.
"And that won't be easy," Harold warned as they stepped into the hallway to let the other City Council members leave. He looked over to see that while Tom was calm, there were hints of concern on the male werefox's face too. "For while these meetings won't be open to the public in the way that most normal meetings and your special meeting was... that doesn't mean that all meetings, including this one, won't get out in some way. No one was allowed in to let us debate and talk... but it will get out."
"No doubt through some elaborate ruse," Tom quipped.
"Nothing really elaborate," Harold spoke softly as he and Tom began to make their way out, with Ichiro and Yoshiro falling in behind them to provide some means of security, "more a simple trick and a means to "keep up" with technology. There's a small FM radio station that's connected to the college. Their broadcast studio is there. Much of the day they play classic rock and country and even some old jazz and swing records, but they will also cover news issues... particularly news like this."
Tom's concern with the protestors was lost for the moment as they approached the stairs that lead down to the first floor of the building. That line actually peaked some curiosity in him. For while, he could well understand the need for news to be transmitted and sometimes quickly, a part of him would have figured that given Moon Lake's concerns with its secrets and everything were related, that recording the discussion for the radio would risk exposing weres. Thus he was curious as to how that was managed.
"Now, the station is FM and doesn't have that great a range," Harold continued, "and they broadcast in a way that would actually limit the station's range... which wouldn't really help if you're looking at a wide message area..."
"So, I'm assuming the station only has the range to cover Moon Lake?" Tom wondered.
"And about maybe a couple miles beyond the city limits," Harold nodded, "something about the mountains messes with the radio signal and would make it hard for the station to be heard clearly outside of Moon Lake. And it's been tested. No one has been able to pick it up in places like Seattle or at any point of equal distance from Moon Lake... even if the radio their using is more modern. The broadcast system that the college uses is old enough that it won't have the strength. Thus few outside of Moon Lake even hear the radio's reports."
"That might only just limit who hears it though," Tom commented, "what happens if someone from outside Moon Lake just happens to be driving through?"
"You could say that's a bit of theater, as it were," Harold commented, "any broadcast that would have anything that would mention weres is prefixed by something that would come off as a radio-play. Sorta like the set up with the first release of "the War of the Worlds" on radio. People from outside Moon Lake would assume it's just a sort of story universe... and the station does have a web-page that reinforces that sort of image. It has created a few curious questions over the years... but like many other things... so far, nothing serious has come from it."
"So... you've gotten lucky, so far," Tom surmised, to which Harold nodded.
He gave a heavy sigh as they reached the bottom of the stairs. There was still a decent crowd of people outside the building, and while the number of anti-reveal protestors might be lower than they were the other night in front of the Stevens home and the fact that there were pro reveal protestors as well made some things a bit easier, Tom could see the tension that was running relatively high. It marked how deep the "were secret" was in Moon Lake, which would make getting the plan finalized and fully formalized potentially difficult for those who wanted to stick to the way things had always been. But Tom was also certain that he was right in that "the way things had always been" wasn't going to work anymore. And if the reveal wasn't made, it would come somewhere and potentially in a way that the worst couldn't be avoided.
They slowly made their way to the door, though before they reached it, Yoshiro and Ichiro moved around the pair and actually went out first. Tom and Harold followed them out. They came out to the sounds of shouts and taunts and the anti-reveal protestors waiving their signs about. It was frantic and emotional from what Tom could see, but it was the sort of condition that could well make some people nervous. They also tried to crowd the two Japanese werefoxes who were essentially functioning as Tom's bodyguards through the course the threats made by the Luna Brotherhood and the tension that came from the reveal. Tom couldn't see a radio in the crowd on either side, so if the meeting was broadcast as a radio play, neither group of protestors would have heard it. He made his way forward as the police that were in the area soon noted the increased commotion and came in again to act as crowd control, and again the crowd largely parted for the police to let Tom and Herald out.
"Well... if the people of Moon Lake can tell these radio broadcasts are news for them..." Tom said slowly, "hopefully it helps ease some of the local fighting on the issue..."
"This won't go down until either A) your plan is rejected outright or B) your plan goes through AND achieves some immediate measure of success," Harold answered, "For you have centuries of secrecy to go against... it's a uphill battle."
"The argument for the truth almost always is," Tom admitted.