"That was all so cool," a young teenager commented as the television switched off.
"What was?" came a slightly growling voice from the couch behind the teen.
The teen looked back to see the lone werewolf in the group seated on couch with one ear lowered and a rather quizzical smirk on his muzzle.
"You know..." the teen answered, gesturing to the black television screen, "that your boyfriend was on television."
"Oh... that," Brandon replied slowly, "Well... I knew he was going to be on television, so... I've already had my moment of excitement... besides, he's traveled so much with many of his speaking tours that to some extent this really isn't that new for me."
And he was right there. While things hadn't been too bad for werewolves in Minnesota, at least when compared to some of the other states in the union, or elsewhere in the world, Brandon Marshall still felt some of the sting of the fear that came along with the revelation that werewolves were real. He found a great deal of help and strength in the fact that Nate had been so supportive of him and surprisingly turned on by him when he first changed in front of Nate. The only thing he wished was that Nate didn't have to leave him so frequently when he spoke or that some of the restrictions that had been placed on werewolves could be lifted so that it was easier for him to travel with Nate. Though, having friends over to watch the episode wasn't too bad. They were all supportive of werewolves, perhaps not as much as Nate was personally, but they were supportive. Though, sometimes Brandon thought that the teenager, Timothy Barnes, had a collection of werewolf movies that rivaled Nate's.
"A shame they couldn't get that Moxie guy to see the light," Timothy's father, Maxwell (Max for short) commented, "the guy was really a jerk..."
"Some people are, I suppose," Brandon said with a simple shrug, "the bigger thing would be to convince those on the fence. Guys like Walter Moxie may never be convinced... so might as well let him be. I'd actually hope that those who are more indifferent can be convinced to support us. Once that happens... things will get better quick."
Maxwell looked at Brandon's very optimistic smile and glanced to his wife who was seated in a nearby easy chair. She looked a little bit more nervous.
"You're not worried at all about anything?" Maxwell asked, "about Nate outright saying that the two of you are dating...?"
"It's not like no one around here knows that we're gay," Brandon commented, sounding unconcerned, though to a degree, it sounded a little bit forced.
"The episode was seen by more than just the people here," Maxwell's wife, Katheryn, spoke up, "You know that. And you also know that homosexuals haven't had it easier in many places."
Brandon then nodded and sighed. That was true, and to a degree was even harder for him as a werewolf besides. While homosexuality wasn't an unknown to werewolves, just as it wasn't an unknown to humans, within the werewolf population, the occurrence was far rarer than among humans. Brandon had privately speculated that that probably had to do with the fact that female werewolves didn't ovulate every month the way a human woman would, and thus couldn't get pregnant at any time of the year. They were receptive once a year, and that lead to a rather low birthrate among werewolves. The mixing of human and wolf that was in their nature probably also furthered werewolves having a lower percentage of homosexuals within their population, and that had commonly lead to trouble within packs or families when a werewolf came out as being gay. Parents commonly did want grandchildren and didn't respond well to the idea that their bloodline wouldn't continue. Brandon's relations with his own parents was strained for this reason.
"Yeah, I know," Brandon answered, "but moping about it won't do anything. We've got to stay confident that things will get better."
"Do you plan to turn Nate?" Timothy asked.
"When the business with getting werewolves equal rights is done," Brandon answered, "I'm sure he'd accept it now... but I won't put him in position where he'd potentially lose rights."
"Well... at least it looks like things are headed in that direction," Maxwell commented, "This episode even had three people that were rather supportive rather than some of the earlier episodes had."
Brandon nodded. The People's Talk had shown plenty of episodes dealing with werewolves, some were lengthy in which they talked with lawyers on either side and they got into heavy legal debates on the issues. Some episodes had balanced two supporters with two haters to debate the issue, but this episode had three that were supportive of werewolves to one hater, though Brandon also figured that that could have been unplanned. He recognized Karl's face from the footage that had revealed werewolves to be real. There was no doubt that the man had been there, but until know, he'd never known the man's name. So it was possible that when "The People's Talk" tracked him down, they didn't know on which side of the argument Karl Hurtz was on.
"So... what do think with Mr. Hurtz?" Katheryn wondered, "he didn't say anything on where Sally Yeller was now..."
"My guess there is that he and his girlfriend are protecting her," Brandon said with a shrug, "I can't say any more on that."
"From what, though?" Timothy wondered.
"Probably whoever attacked her and made her life miserable," Brandon wondered.
"How would that work?" Maxwell asked, "all the registration laws demand that werewolves be known publicly... as well as addresses... it'd be hard to really keep her hidden... Especially when the database that was created indicates that Sally Yeller is the ONLY werewolf in that town..."
"So long as she still answers her mail and local law enforcement knows where she is is... there's no real problem," Brandon answered, "those registration laws are mostly something intended to make sure that we can't hide in plain sight. Our names and addresses are online and known by others... but unless you live in that area... they could keep those outside of their town from hunting her... Now, it could also mean that no one outside their home town could go in to help them as well... but that is likely the result of their town not responding as well as the people here did."
There were some nods of agreement to that before Maxwell had a new question.
"What about those in their home town?" Maxwell asked.
"That'd probably depend on the mindset of the people," Brandon sighed, "If they respect the law... or at least aren't going to be needlessly violent, she should be fine... if not... she could be in big trouble along with Karl and his girlfriend if they are protecting her... but I can't truly say which... I've never been to where Karl lives... I don't even know where Karl lives."
The others shrugged for a moment. Things were quiet for the moment, and there was a great deal of hope for a better tomorrow with werewolves being warmly welcomed, though none really knew on what all for them in the future or what might happen for any of them.