Charles Sire sat rather quietly on one of the benches in the central park area of Moon Lake. The land area of the park wasn't huge and the fact that the streets that ran in a straight line from the outer part of the town to its center compartmentalized the park into several different parks where these roads converged. For added protection and privacy, should any were decide to transform while in the park, they also had relatively high hedges that would obscure the vision of anything going on in the park and muffle some sounds. There were gates and areas that were more open in these parks, which allowed for parking and the like for any visitors that came from either outside Moon Lake or the more distant parts of it.
At the same time, the parks were not dark places that could hide crime or criminal activity. Things were designed to provide some things that were private, but the parks did have paved walkways and lamp posts for recreation and to allow normal human visitors the ability to see things in the park at night. They weren't necessarily as bright as many might expect, but Charles also knew that was another thing that Moon Lake had provided for a means to protect the local were population, in case an out of town normal came into the park at night, as technically the parks were open twenty-four hours a day. Certain sections of the "park" then had various pieces of equipment that many small towns had for parks. Jungle gyms or metal or plastic, sandboxes, various kid's playground equipment were all there. There were also two Lions Club shelters that had been built so that people could have picnic lunches in them. All of these things contributed to Moon Lake's quaint charm of intermixing human civilization and nature.
But the big reveal proposal from Tom Herald represented a clear challenge to that. If the world knew about weres and knew they were real, not creatures of fiction, they would only hunt weres down. Either to kill them out of hatred or to capture and experiment on them. None of these things sounded appealing to Charles, and that was primarily why he had volunteered to help a pair of organizers plan out protests and actions to protect the were secret... to protect Moon Lake's secret. For the moment, this had him waiting for those two organizers, Gustavus Amehr and Quintus Fives, to return for some discussion on what to do next. Particularly as there were things going on that Charles didn't like, and the part was the safest spot to have the conversation. It would be secluded enough for privacy and open enough that it wouldn't look suspicious, and in the middle of the day, it wouldn't look like some kind of spy operating in the dark of night.
He sat quietly and waited, pausing only occasionally to look at his watch. It wasn't too terribly far from lunchtime, it would be too early to get lunch, and while it was a weekend, Charles had other things that he had to prepare for and work on. He wanted to defend his home and stop what he saw as a threat, but it wasn't quite something that he could give up everything for. After a few moments of anxious waiting, he noted his two benefactors coming up one of the side paths from a parking lot that was on the side of the park. They ignored some kids that were playing a game of tag on the lawn, and Charles noted Quintus was actually carrying a tray of coffee. As they got closer, the soft breeze actually brought the coffee's scent to him. That got him to turn more toward it.
"Sorry we're late," Quintus said in a relatively friendly manner, "some other elements of our work were pretty hectic and fell a little bit behind. To make it up, we brought coffee."
Quintus held out the tray and Charles nodded. He reached out and took one of the cups from the container. It squeezed in a little and felt warm, though it had cooled a little, which indicated that it may have been purchased in Seattle and not in Moon Lake. Quintus and Gustavus then both sat on the bench next to Charles as he took his first sip of the coffee offered to him. It wasn't as warm as he would normally prefer his coffee to be, but then, neither could he truly complain. It was free coffee, and it would make no sense to bite the hand that was literally feeding him in this instance. Quintus and Gustavus took their coffees from the tray while Quintus then set the tray on the ground and crushed it underneath his foot and held it down.
"You'll need to throw that away before you leave," Charles spoke, "littering and all that."
"Of course," Quintus nodded, "but we're not near a garbage bin now. So... best to just hold it here until we leave."
Charles then nodded to that.
"So... how have things gone?" Gustavus asked, "do you think you've convinced anyone?"
"Not anyone that didn't already agree with me, I'm afraid," Charles spoke as he took another sip of his coffee. The fact that it was lukewarm meant that he didn't really need to sip it, but he figured it would be rude to drink it faster, "and much of it coming from some rather complicated situations."
"Complicated?" Gustavus asked, raising his voice a little, only to have Quintus raise a hand to shush him a little. Gustavus looked to his partner, as between the two of them in the two Luna Brotherhood members, Gustavus was the senior partner. The one who'd been around the block longer and more familiar with the nuts and bolts of the operation that had long been there to protect the were secret, particularly when rogues were involved. Quintus was the junior partner, though he was reasonably thoughtful. Of course, some of the more thoughtful questions that Quintus seemed to raise on a question regarding the present mission to deal with Tom Herald only irritated Gustavus. Anything that might slow the mission down did the same.
"I cannot say that those that are against the reveal are in a clear majority," Charles answered, "vocal... perhaps... but not necessarily in the majority. And some of this vocality has caused problems."
"Such as?" Quintus asked.
"Well... some of it is carrying over from some of the initial panic over the whole reveal issue," Charles spoke, "there have been fights between those in favor of it and those against it. The biggest problem, though, is that some of the most extreme things have come from those opposed to the reveal and this has only made things more complicated... particularly with regard to gaining permission for protests. Or at least formal ones."
Both Quintus and Gustavus blinked at this. Gustavus had to sip his own coffee to try and avoid a loud outburst, as a mother was walking along the path in front of them at the moment. Quintus only kept his focus on Charles and gave a rolling gesture of his hand to encourage Charles to continue with the update.
"The biggest of these things was a phone threat to the Town Chancellor," Charles spoke, "supposedly it was made by a werelion... and the police tracked him down pretty quickly. And the fact that this threat seemed pretty open... the town is not eager for any formal protests regarding issues related to the special city council meetings on the reveal when they're held... or in front of areas where chaos would cause danger. I'd had ideas about having some protests be done outside the schools, early in the morning at around the same time that the school's start so that every parent dropping their kids off knows that this reveal would put their little ones in danger. But the school board flat refused, and the city said they'd only accept it if I could place the protestors about two hundred yards away from the school... which would likely weaken the impact."*
"What about at the college?" Gustavus asked, catching onto that idea as a means of a protest and one that could sway people to join their cause in blocking Tom Herald's plan.
"The college has been one of the places where these sorts of fights over the reveal have occurred, and the dean doesn't want a repetition of actions that saw a member of the custodial staff, who wasn't even part of the fight, get hit with a rock or some other thrown object," Charles answered, "not to mention that not all the students at the college are from Moon Lake... even some of the students that are weres there are not from Moon Lake. And while some of the stuff on the radio could be passed off as theater and drama, an actual protest ON the campus would only serve to cause problems that you may not like the answer to."
There was a silence that followed. The present agreed on plan for the Luna Brotherhood was ultimately to kill Tom Herald, largely figuring that if Tom Herald died, the big reveal would die with him. To a degree, it was a plan that Quintus was a bit uneasy with, particularly as information from "Control" was indicating that the plan would also have limited protection. Meaning that if they were to do it in Moon Lake and the Moon Lake Police arrested them in retaliation, the Luna Brotherhood would disavow all knowledge of them. The only one who was really supporting this, as a "do anything possible" measure was Gustavus. That plan was going to have to rely on chaos, keeping the Moon Lake Police spread thin chasing protestors, fights, riots and limiting just the Skulk to protecting Tom Herald, who could then be gunned down and enabling Gustavus and Quintus to get out of Moon Lake before they could be caught.
The fact that fights and threats had already been made came off as a good thing for the base premise of the mission and could give some indication that Moon Lake didn't actually support the big reveal plan. However, the fact that there were fights made some things harder to measure and the fact that the city seemed to be paying attention to this raised other potential problems. For legitimate and prewarned protests in public places would ultimately require some measure of police protection, particularly if there was a legitimate fear of fighting. Protests in "public" without permission wouldn't have that protection and could then run into other issues. A protest in a parking lot might not be big enough to shape things and if it went into businesses or areas where they would overlap with the private sphere, that protest would only last as long as the owner's tolerance of the protest. It complicated the overall plan.
"This complicates things," Gustavus grumbled as the silence passed.
"Thankfully we were able to make some calls and convince some of the law enforcement agencies that had rejected Herald's interview requests to reconsider," Quintus offered, "that could buy us time to find something that could work out to be legal. Maybe... that by the time Herald does return to the area the climate will have shifted and his argument will be rejected. He'd then retreat into isolation and would only need monitoring to make sure he doesn't cause any more trouble."
"That's assuming he isn't proactive with his scheduling," Gustavus reminded him, "and while we have managed to see to getting him out of the area for a time... Penelope hasn't updated us yet on that schedule..."
"Assuming it's on his computer or email," Quintus told him.
"It'd have to be, as it would be a work schedule," Gustavus answered, "his editor will want to know where he should be at any given time. Thus, until Penelope gets us that information, we'll be in the dark."
"His emails... you... you aren't?" Charles said slowly.
"It's all through law enforcement, perfectly legal for us," Gustavus answered quickly, "and to make sure that Mr. Herald doesn't pose any violent threat to anyone."
"Okay..." Charles slowly replied.
"In the meantime... we'd need some information on what you have planned for protests," Quintus advised to him.
"That's part of the problem, though," Charles spoke, "I've called around... and while I'm pretty sure I can get some good-sized crowds, the areas where the city would permit such a protest would be limited and could be ineffective at trying to convince those that support the reveal to give it up. The schools, including the college, have had to deal with fights that they don't want, and the Elementary and Middle Schools don't want adults potentially fighting in front of little kids. Particularly when there are normal children that DO go to these schools."
"What about protesting in front of the houses some of these other council members have?" Gustavus asked, "you had voiced ideas on that..."
"That's still possible..." Charles admitted, "but that's also one of the things that city isn't prepared to condone and protect. Thus, the protest would only last so long as the council member tolerates it. They could easily call the police and have us move off. And the Tachibana's residence is walled off. We'd be protesting at a wall, and getting inside that wall would see a fight with Tachibana Security forces and facing trespassing charges. Thus... I'm not sure it'll be effective. Particularly as it would also bring things on to main street. No one wants to get hit by a car."
"Then do it in front of some of the other residences," Gustavus urged, "we need to make a showing that Herald's plan is unwanted by the vast majority of weres, including those in Moon Lake. The more we get people to talk... the more people will see reason. And if it means some fights break out, it can be shaped as a means to show that Herald is the CAUSE of the problem. And maybe that gets that rogue to back off or slow things down to where it becomes a non-factor..."
"You can call us... and our organization will also try to cover any legal fees should you face further trouble," Quintus added.
Charles could only sigh and accept that, "it may take a while to get those things organized."