Richard slowly followed Frank up the stairs after their return home from the college and fulfilling the promise he'd made to pick his eldest son up, even if it was delayed a bit as a result of him and Rose letting things accelerate to the point where he ended up turning his wife into a werelioness. For the moment, Richard could hear some footsteps on the second floor, but it sounded like it was coming from his room. In this he assumed that Rose might be shuffling around in there. In pure theory she was supposed to be relaxing from her discharge from the hospital after being attacked by a Mountain Lion the previous night, but becoming a werelion that morning likely changed some things. And since Rose had made it through the transformation okay, Richard even figured that a good many of her injuries might have healed. After all the scratches that the Mountain Lion had made on him when he rescued Rose were pretty much gone.
"It shouldn't take me too long to get the address for Moon Lake's City Hall," Frank promised his father as they made it to the door to Frank's room, "hopefully they'll have a map to also show how to get there..."
Richard nodded, "It might take a little while to get Rose ready to go... a fair amount of her clothes might now be too small for her new measurements."
"Not that you're complaining," Frank teased and went into his room before Richard could retort back.
He sighed and figured that was probably just part of the other consequences over his actions that came from Samantha Twist's visit to their home and the following events that lead to him becoming a werelion. He'd made his mistakes and nearly lost everything for it, and he counted himself lucky that he didn't lose everything. Though there were still other responsibilities to handle, and now that he and Rose filled the city's requirements it'd make sense that would be the first thing for them to handle before moving on to other issues, such as clothing that would better fit them. Dealing with the city and its legal requirements was first, if only to make sure that the city couldn't or wouldn't force anything on Frank, Rachel, or Rob.
Richard returned to the master bedroom to find Rose still transformed and slowly pacing the room and looking herself over. He could see where the stiches were on her arms and one ankle, and thankfully her transformation didn't pull them out. He also watched as she tentatively flicked her tail back and forth, testing the muscles that controlled it. And while Rose might be adjusting to the balance issues that came with a digitigrade foot structure, there was no limp that would have been connected to the injury and that was a relief to Richard. She turned to him and a smile crossed her muzzle.
"So was Frank okay?" Rose asked.
"Yeah," Richard nodded, "though, I also did have to tell him why I was late... and he seems okay with it, though we'll also have some things to handle for the rest of the afternoon. Starting with dealing with their Mandatory Were Law... by which letting their Town Chancellor know that we're in accordance with that law."
"We'll need new clothes too," Rose agreed, "I know nothing I own will fit me in this form... and given how tight your cloths look on you... that's going to be more to trigger more romantic attention, which would be nice later, but wouldn't fit with what we need to handle later."
"Yes, and they have a Target on the east end of Main Street," Richard agreed, "that should be affordable... though I'm not sure on what our measurements are... but you'll need to transform back to your human form to go out."
"Yes, the no one can be transformed outside in the day rule," Rose nodded, "I just..."
"Think more on being in your human form," Richard advised, "and be warned... it may feel like saying goodbye to something dear to you, but it's nothing permanent. You can always transform again later."
Rose nodded and took a deep breath. From there, Richard watched as she began to shift back into her human form. Her fur began to recede, as if being pulled back into her skin. Her claws rounded and flattened as they became human nails again, on both her hands and feet. There were a few small "cracking" sounds as her feet shortened and she sank back down into a very human plantigrade stance, and that got her to stumble forward a bit toward Richard, and he was quick to come forward and catch her and prevent her from falling. At the same time her nose pushed forward while her muzzle began to retract backward before resuming a human shape with smaller teeth and her eyes going from the bronze/gold werelion color and back to the color that they were before her transformation.
"It... it's like losing a friend," Rose stammered as her now human lips pulled into a frown.
"Yes," Richard nodded, "it's like all of this effects our psyches too. But it isn't that bad... and the no transforming in daylight makes some sense, if they're all about secrecy."
Rose nodded.
"Are you okay?" Richard asked, "Any pain in your chest?"
Rose took a step back and looked down, and Richard got a good look at her human form. Her chest was a bit smaller than it was in her werelion form, though he guessed that it was still in the E cup range, without any hint of sag in it, even though she wasn't wearing a bra. He could see a line of near rock hard feminine abs that went down to her hips where her pubic region was a bit fuzzier than he remembered, even in her human form. The most striking thing, though, was that Rose's hair had lost all signs of gray in it. It hadn't been too bad before, likely as some of Rachel's drama didn't seem to stress Rose as much as it had him, but as they'd matured while raising their three children, they had shown some signs of aging. That seemed gone now. The abrasions on Rose's forehead were also completely gone and while the stiches were still there, the ones on her arms looked fully healed and the ones at her ankle not too far behind.
"Not really," Rose managed after a moment, "in fact I feel even better than I did when I first got up... maybe... becoming a were is... a miracle cure or something." She paused again when she picked up a soft scent of arousal coming from Richard, which made her want to smile, but he'd already had a lot to do and her getting curious had only added to that. "And while I'm pleased to sense that you find me attractive... we have a lot to do."
"Right," Richard shook himself out of it, "and we'd have City Hall first... uh... it might be best to go with your wind pants. They might have a bit more elastic and won't be squeezing you too tightly."
"A lot of the things I had before are probably going to squeeze me a bit too much," Rose admitted, "that shirt is only just covering you and so are the pants..."
"They're really tight," Richard gave an almost pained grunt at that. He'd been powering through it, but jeans really didn't give that much, though he really didn't know what his measurements were.
He paused while Rose dug out a pair of wind pants and a different shirt and put them on. The pants clung to her hips and butt far tighter than he expected, and her new curves made what were normally used for jogging and even demonstrating how some of the sporting equipment they'd sold worked look even better. The shirt was in much the same condition. Rose's biceps practically filled the sleeves, even in her human form, with her muscles pulsing as she moved, and her enlarged bosom meant that less of the shirt's torso overlapped her wind pants than Richard remembered. Rose managed a deep breath and then found the sandals that Richard taken to the hospital when he picked her up from there. Thankfully her human feet seemed to be about the same size.
"This will have to do for now," Rose managed, "Now... about seeing the city..."
"Frank should be finding where City Hall is," Richard answered and led Rose out of the bedroom.
She followed as they came out and then into Frank's bedroom, where they found him at one small desk working on something on the laptop that the college had loaned for his online classes that he'd had with Moon Lake College while they'd been arranging the move. Frank looked over his shoulder as they entered and gave one small smirk, "Looking good, mom."
"Yeah... though, I'll still need new clothes," Rose managed, "everything go good at the college?"
"Yeah, dad and I got things transferred over and I'll start in person classes tomorrow, though I'll need to go in early to turn this in to them," Frank answered, "got my books... and then waited for dad to return. Which he did when you were through with him for the morning."
Rose blushed a bit, but when she saw that Richard was blushing even more than she was, she felt a bit more confident. From there, Frank then turned to the computer and the screen.
"Anyway... I couldn't find anything on any one named Talbot," Frank reported, "so if that family here is one you need to report to as werelions, it's not listed on the sites the college's safeties will allow for. However, find a map of Moon Lake you can use to see City Hall." Richard and Rose came closer as Frank pointed to a spot on the map. "We are here on the corner of Wild Street and Outer Circle. To get to City Hall, all you'd need to do is go up along the circle to the next street... from there you'd take a right and go toward the center of town. You'd go one block and you'd come up on the "west" side of the building, which they list as the courthouse area. You'd then go the length of the building to the east side and that would be the City Hall side. The offices you'd need to get in contact are there."
"Thank you," Richard answered, "though... given that we'll have some other errands that will relate to... well... all the changes we've gone through in the last twenty four hours, can you mind the house for when Rachel and Rob come home."
"Yeah," Frank nodded.
Richard and Rose nodded to that, and from there they then turned to head out again...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Getting to City Hall was very easy, and it wasn't that much of a drive. In some ways it even surprised Richard as to how close they lived to the building, but he let that be as he drove past the long northern part of the building before pulling into the parking lot on the more eastern/southern side of it. It's style was older and was made of stone, in many ways looking like it'd been built or designed to look like it was from the late 1800s. Richard couldn't tell if that was because of the building's actual age or an architecture choice, though he also didn't care about that. His prime mission was to handle business that would relate to the fact that he and Rose were now in compliance with the city's Mandatory Were Law and thus they'd have no reason to pressure the rest of the Van Direstag family.
And Rose was able to move around quite well, all things considered, though Richard was also there to lend an arm and provide support should she need it. Though it didn't seem like she did. The biggest issue was more that they both drew some looks from staff and those that could see them as they entered, finding one open window area along the south side of the entry area that revealed one of the office space areas and a stairway that went up to a second floor along the north wall. Richard did his best to ignore some of the whispered gossip that he overheard as he saw a signboard near the stairs that indicated that the Town Chancellor's office was on the second floor. He guessed that that was mostly just people being amused at two new weres in clothing that was too small for them. The second floor allowed for an overview of the entry area on the first floor, but they eventually found a hallway that had the various city official's names on tags outside the doors They eventually found one that read "Samantha Twist, Town Chancellor" on the south side of the hallway. Richard knocked on the door before opening it. The door opened to reveal a rather small looking office with a secretary standing up from behind a desk.
"Excuse me, sir, do you have an appointment?" the secretary spoke.
"An appointment?" Richard asked, "I didn't see anything like that online... I'm just here to let your Town Chancellor know that my wife and I are in accordance with your town's laws and you don't need to force anything on my children. That's all."
"It's Rose and Richard Van Direstag, and we're sorry if we've missed something," Rose spoke up, "we are new to town and all that."
"I see... come in, please and have a seat," the secretary spoke, "Mrs. Twist is in, I'll see if she can see you."
Richard and Rose sat down in a pair of chairs that were opposite the secretary's desk, though they also found that they weren't too far away from the door they came through. From what they could see, the secretary didn't have much space on her side of the desk, either. Rose calmly patted Richard's hands as they sat and waited, though after a few moments a door on the east side of the secretary's office opened and the secretary came back out and approached her desk. She was followed by Samantha Twist, whom both of them recognized. Richard was also further alerted to how his own senses had grown. Even if he hadn't seen Samantha turn into a anthropomorphic cat when she welcomed the family to Moon Lake, he could now catch the scent of werecat on her.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. and Mrs. Van Direstag," Samantha said calmly, "this actually saves me a bit on travel... all things considered."
"Travel?" Richard said slowly as Samantha led them into her office, which was bigger than the secretary's office but not by much and his ears picking up the clicking as Samantha's shoes hit the hardwood floor.
"Yes," Samantha nodded as she offered them seats across from her desk and then moving to sit in her own chair, "Moon Lake's Mandatory Were Law can be a bit of a shock for new residents... particularly with the fact that one member of the family will be required to become a were, but we also try our hardest to make sure that no were forces themselves on that new family. In that case, if a normal is forcibly made to become a were, that IS a crime in Moon Lake and the only one we consider worse... is murder. Thus it is my responsibility to make sure that what happened last night wasn't a violation of Statute 1A..."
"No law was broken last night," Richard spoke, "I told that to the police and I told that to the hospital staff... My transformation was an accident... and... more from my own... disliking of your laws. I STILL don't like them."
"The law's purpose is designed to protect weres from being exposed and potentially killed as a result of said exposure," Samantha Twist answered, "and given a lot of the timing we provide, we also give people the opportunity to learn enough to where they would want to become weres. It may not perfect... but it's the best we've had."
Richard let only a grumble in response.
"Regardless... it is preferred that you would contact the city and arrange on a more "formal" induction so that we know you had made the choice to become a were," Samantha Twist continued.
"The situation that lead to my husband's transformation was more an accident..." Rose spoke up, "I was trying to get him to accept things and at least look into things to where he could make that choice..."
"And because I'd argued with things... it lead to us going out into the woods to talk to a were, as I had been resisting and wasn't responding," Richard picked up, "my wife merely wanted me to come to my senses. But it was dark and we were navigating by sound... and when we found Shelia Wiggleston enjoying herself, I tripped on something on the ground and caught a bit more than I'd expected and then transformed..."
"We don't blame Shelia for any of it," Rose added.
"Which is in line with what the police report says and what Shelia told my office when we called her to confirm this," Samantha Twist nodded, "though all of that would only handle your husband's transformation. Just how did YOU become a werelion? From the reports that came with it, you had then wandered off and was wounded by a mundane Mountain Lion."
Rose immediately blushed, "And I was. Richard saved me from the Mountain Lion and I thankfully hadn't taken mortal wounds... and I spent the night in the hospital thinking over how what had happened would change things for both of us. Even if Richard had been more accepting of your laws, it'd mean I'd HAVE to become a were if we were to stay together... sexually, I mean... and well... I love him. I've always loved him, and it was some personal frustration when I saw my husband... who is supposed to be committed to me start to engage in well... extra-marital sex outside of transforming or any open agreement. It felt like I wasn't loved because I wasn't a were. But when I'd found that Richard had left and saved me from the Mountain Lion... it was like all things were restored... that I was the most important thing to him..."
"Werelions are known for swinging, as it were," Samantha commented, "it's another reason why the law gives people the time to learn about every were group. Thus choose something that is more... monogamous."
"I don't mind being a werelion," Rose answered, "my concern was knowing that I was the most important thing in Richard's life... and privately, I'm a bit bi... so it's not like I think Shelia is ugly... But that's beside the point. Anyway, Richard picked me up from the hospital this morning and I could see how good he looked... even in his human form. He looked stronger and more athletic. Better than he did in college. All his gray hair was gone... and well... I just got curious and turned on and... I asked him to take me to our room, and then I started to pull..."
"So you initiated your own transformation?" Samantha asked, not needing to get the full description of what happened.
"Yes, after getting home from the hospital," Rose nodded, "Richard didn't force himself on me. If anything I forced myself on him."
"And from there, we've come here to let you know that we are now in accordance with your laws and thus would ask you not force anything on our children," Richard spoke.
"And as your family's weres, Moon Lake would have no reason to do so," Samantha spoke, "and honestly, as we've reformed the Mandatory Were Law over the years, the issues with having to force anything have been few and far between, if at all."
Richard breathed a heavy sigh of relief at that. It came as good news to him, as it would mean that Frank, Rachel, and Rob would all be free to make their own choices when it was appropriate.
"Though," Samantha spoke more in warning, "given that you have said you have children... I should warn you that most of Moon Lake's population are weres. There are some normal families that have been raised here or have family members that became weres in the past, but most of the people here are weres. As such, it could be quite possible that they may meet and begin dating a were. It could happen eventually... and your own actions would show on how accidents can happen." Samantha paused to look to Rose, "as the reports indicate that you had at least bruised ribs. They may have healed thanks to your transformation, but normally we wouldn't condone your transformation for fear of you becoming hurt in the transformation. And at the same time, did you take a werelion birth control pill before you got curious with your husband?"
"No," Rose admitted, "but I've been pregnant before... If my transformation triggered my first heat cycle as a were, I'll carry the cub and love it as much as I do my normal human children... if not... well, we can get the birth control pills and simply plan for when to have our next baby."
Samantha nodded, "but the same would go for any daughter you have... if she were to become involved with a were, she would need birth control pills for that were species to avoid teen pregnancy."
"We can handle that when she turns eighteen," Richard answered.
Samantha shook her head with a sigh. It wasn't necessarily bad parenting, but Moon Lake had long known that teenagers were often far more interested in those sorts of things than their parents ever wanted to admit and were teenagers even more so. Trying to demand celibacy would only lead to rebellion.
"You may not be able to prevent that," Samantha warned, "now, because you are weres and thus the Mandatory Were Law is fulfilled … many of the ways a teen may get around their parents won't be as easy. The hospital sells the were birth control pill, and outside of those that have volunteered to be the "family were," minors would need to provide parental consent or have the parent present for the purchase of the pills, that alone isn't necessarily prevent anything. Particularly if your daughter falls in love with someone who is already a were. They could find a way..."
Rose blinked as she remembered that Shelia had offered to give her some of Shelia's own prescription the previous night as part of the idea of bringing Rose in as a werelion then.
"It would be better to be open with your children and given them some measure of understanding and being willing to listen to their concerns as well," Samantha spoke, "you may stick your wish that your children wait until their eighteen, that is within your rights as parents. But... it would be best to open with them. As I'm sure you wouldn't want them to rebel or run away from home or anything of that nature."
"Well... if they fall in love and they're certain it's more than just a passing attraction," Richard spoke, "that would be one thing. But I'd like to be sure my children aren't being taken advantage of."
"And if you're open with them, that shouldn't be an issue," Samantha spoke and then let out a deep breath, "now... is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Well... there would be a couple of things," Richard said slowly, "one would be getting directions to a Leon Talbot... Shelia said something about him being the local werelion king and that I'd need to let him know that I'm not out to steal his crown or anything like that. And that until Rose and I are a bit more familiar with werelion culture here, I'd be willing to work in coalition with Elijah Hunter. Learn things from him and let Rose learn to hunt from Shelia and the other lionesses with him... but I was told I needed to speak with this Talbot first."
Samantha nodded when Rose added in, "also... any place where we could get our measurements. I mean... both of us look much better than we did when we were young. I'm not complaining. But some things are rather tight now, even in human form. It would be nice to know what our measurements are so as to better buy clothes that will fit."
"The first part is easy," Samantha answered, "Leon Talbot, his wife, and their son live on South Avenue on the east side of the street. From here, you'd drive down to the center of town, turn onto South Avenue and then go past Outer Circle and keep going south until you get to 566 South Avenue. It'll have a big garage attached to the house, as he and his brothers run a restoration business out of the garage."
"Restoration?" Richard wondered.
"Classic cars and the like," Samantha answered, "the other part is a bit different. Moon Lake only has one store that would provide measurements for things like clothing. It's a shop on the south side of Main Street called Awareness. It's to the west of our central park. They can do your measurements there. Though much of the attire they sell there might be too pricey and wouldn't be of full benefit..."
"Full benefit?" Richard questioned with narrowing eyes.
"The shop makes clothes for sale they would fit your human forms when properly measured," Samantha spoke, "but they're specifically tailored to allow for smaller weres, like myself as a werecat, to transform and remain fully dressed. The clothing can "stretch" and "grow" with me, as my fursona isn't that much bigger than my human form. Werelions are a larger were, however, which means your fursona will be big enough that you could buy clothes from Awareness and still pull them apart at the seams when you transform because of how big your fursona is compared to your human form."
"We could still buy something there that would fit our human forms right?" Rose asked, "as if we go there to get measured... it'd make sense to at least buy something."
"You could," Samantha nodded, "though Awareness would also be a bit on the pricy side because of the added material that goes into things that would shift with a were."
"Maybe... but it'd still be something that would make things worth it getting measurements that we now need but don't have," Rose answered, "and thank you for the help and advice."
"Yes, thank you for that," Richard answered.
Samantha nodded, "just let all of this be a lesson for you on not rushing into decisions without any thought."