The afternoon had gone well enough for Eric. He felt a bit bad about not being able to walk Julie home, but as he left the High School building, he knew that his mission for the afternoon would surely put them the path to an eventual happy ending. He had fully realized that Julie was who he wanted to be with for the rest of his life, regardless of how fast things were happening, he knew that Julie was the one for him. That meant he would have to become a were to be with her and the only thing left was to figure out what kind of were to be. And since he knew little about all the ins and outs of each were species, he would need to go looking into that, and since Julie was a weremermaid, the mers seemed to be the best option to investigate first.
He knew about their progressive transformation through stages rather than going from one form to the other and he knew they could breathe underwater, which could be both a blessing and a curse, depending on the water. But he didn't know much more than that and he knew that polluted or chlorinated water could be easily avoided. And so, as he crossed the street, instead of turning to head to either his home, the bus, or even to ask Ben for a ride, he turned and quietly began to walk along the sidewalk with his intended destination being Moon Lake's City Hall. He was sure that Martin Stovall could explain fully on what it was like to be a weremerman and all of the abilities that went along with it. True, he probably couldn't compare it to being human, as Martin, like his daughter, was born a were, but Eric felt he was still the best person to talk to in that regard. It'd help him settle a lot of the mental debates he'd had and help understand how and why things were moving so fast for him and Julie.
He walked along and after awhile was actually whistling "Under the Sea" as he went. Little did Eric know, he wasn't truly alone.
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Julie had been curious and nervous after lunch. A part of her wanted to do cartwheels at Eric's declaration that he wanted to be with her forever, but he hadn't made a commitment to be a weremer, which raised her own private fears over that particular issue. It wasn't as though she wouldn't love him and wouldn't marry him if Eric became some other kind of were, but she did hope for Eric to become a weremerman and they'd have a happy ever after on par with the dreams she'd been having. She didn't know if Eric had dreamed about having sex with her in the Stovall pool at age sixteen, and she wasn't sure she would just do that, as she did want to honor her promise to her mother, but it was a nice dream that affirmed to her that Eric was the only one for her, and the part of Eric's conversation about deciding to be a were for her made the idea of deciding that Eric was the one for her much easier.
But the way Eric had made his announcement to her, images of him being afraid of something and rushing to being one of the land based weres flashed through her mind. She desperately didn't want Eric to be afraid and rush into anything. She couldn't get that out of her mind and it was such that she couldn't even call home for her mother's advice on the matter. By the end of the day, those images had her so nervous that something was wrong that she made up her mind to follow Eric and see where he was going. If he did anything that confirmed her fears, she also made the decision to comfort him and that there was no need for him to be afraid. So, even with her homework, Julie followed Eric after he left the school. As they left the building, she was able to hide in the crowd and that Eric didn't notice her among the crowd of students leaving the building. However, as Eric walked further from the school, that crowd was no longer there to hide her. She decided to let Eric walk along well ahead of her, that way if he turned, she'd be able to duck behind a corner or a parked car.
The walk was quiet, and Eric rarely looked back, if at all. It allowed Julie to not only follow him but to also think over the nervousness that she was sure Eric was. They had had a magical first date, and Julie had filled in both her parents on what they had done, making Eric sound like a shining white knight who would do everything for right and romance, and both of them were glad to have seen Julie being so happy. Now, she had to wonder as to what was going through Eric's mind.
"Did something happen with Yvette that dad doesn't know about?" Julie wondered to herself as she tailed after Eric, "did she get released or worse... escape again? Did some other rogue make a threat against him on the way home? If so, why?"
The image of another were threatening Eric to claim Julie as his own flashed through Julie's mind, which made her shudder. It was possible that there might have some other person that liked her and would do anything to get her, but Eric was the one that she loved and would always love. Threatening Eric would not make her love such a person and would only serve to drive her to fight for Eric. To show him that he didn't need to become a bigger or more powerful were to protect Julie and that all Eric needed was Julie's love.
The issue that soon created the surprise was that Eric had walked to City Hall and had walked in through the front door.
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Things seemed a little busy as Eric walked through the door to City Hall. There were a few people at a large window to an interior office, with "City Treasurer's Office" written on a wooden sign above that window, and there were a few people there as well. Some of the other offices were fairly quiet as he made his way to a glass case on one side of the entry hall area which had all the offices listed by their official numbers. His eyes drifted past Samantha Twist's name until he came Mayor Martin Stovall's name and the door number on it. A small poster that showed the floor plan Moon Lake's City Hall was underneath the last name on the list of offices, and after checking it, Eric saw that Martin Stovall's office was on the second floor. Carefully and quietly he found a lone straight staircase and climbed up the stairs to make his way to where Martin's office was.
No one stopped him, though a few did glance to him and walked on. Eric had half wondered if there was someone he needed to speak with, as he remembered speaking to a secretary on the phone, but so far no one had stopped him. It made him a little uneasy as climb up the steps, but no one stopped him and he made his way to the office he was looking for. He eventually came to the door that was supposed to be the door to Martin's office and he knocked on it politely, as he didn't want to interrupt anything. He got an answer, but the answer was rather feminine, and reminded Eric of the secretary he had talked to on the phone.
"Come in," the voice spoke politely.
Eric entered to find a woman seated quietly behind a desk in a small office area with a second door behind here. He also noticed a plaque that read: Janet Dix on the desk. She was squinting at something on a computer screen before looking up to seeing Eric's presence. He didn't know if she was a were or not, but in the end it didn't matter. Julie had already showed him that the fact that there were so many weres wasn't a bad, and with his decision to be a were for Julie, whether or not the secretary was a were didn't matter.
"You are Eric Anderson?" the secretary, Janet, asked.
"Yes... I called earlier today to set up an appointment to speak with Mr. Stovall," Eric answered, "I hope that I'm not interrupting anything."
"Well... some things have been a bit hectic today, but you aren't the responsible party," Janet gave a weak and apologetic smile, "Don't worry. Though it will mean you will need to wait a little while the Mayor deals with some of these matters..."
"Has something gone wrong?" Eric wondered.
"Some guy got scratched by a werecheetah around lunchtime and between the hospital panicked over something and the concern over the possibility of another rogue, Mr. Stovall, Mrs. Twist, and the City Council are in an emergency session meeting over the procedures for welcoming normals into were society... I think specifically with the weres that have only one gender... but you didn't hear that from me."
Eric gave a sigh and only wondered further what was going on. Julie had said that these issues with rogues was super rare and that the last time that she knew of when there had been such a rogue had been in the 30s around the same time as crooks like Dillinger were robbing banks. Though, he probably figured that Martin's secretary couldn't tell him everything.
"I can wait," Eric spoke, "as I said... I don't want to interrupt anything."
He then looked to see a small wooden chair placed next to the door that he had entered. With that Eric moved and sat down in that chair and setting his backpack down between his legs on the floor. He figured that whatever meeting that Martin was in couldn't last too long.
"That's fine," Jane smiled, "and thank you for being patient."
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Julie was puzzled by why Eric had come to City Hall. While plenty of weres worked there and renewing driver's licenses and licence plates brought a lot of people to City Hall, their schedules didn't always make the sort of conference that Eric might be looking for. Some probably wouldn't even engage in it at all, especially with the City Council that had other things to do during the day and outside of normal meetings, and unless there was a special meeting, they likely wouldn't even be there at all. Though, her curiosity drove her onward and she followed him.
Though, she had had to jog to catch up so that she didn't lose him in City Hall's hallways. Though she also had to be more careful when she saw Eric go up the flight stairs that would lead to the second floor, as he was facing toward her as she moved after him. Thankfully, it didn't look like he noticed her and she was able to keep after him. She did her best to minimize any noise that she might make. As a normal, Eric might not have a were's hearing, but in many cases he might still pick up the sounds of her shoes on the steps if she either rushed even walked normally. The building may have had its periodic upgrades to keep it up to code, but that didn't mean that it made City Hall conducive to stalking someone in the shoes that Julie was wearing.
It gave her the look of some sort of stereotypical spy, but she didn't want Eric to know that she'd followed him, as that created the image that Eric might think that she didn't trust him. And as that thought passed through her mind, the image of Eric looking hurt flashed through her mind and that only served to increase Julie's nervousness on the whole issue. As if he didn't trust her, he might break it off and she'd be without the one person she could ever love. She wanted nothing more than to tell him that she would always love and trust him and that she wanted to show him that she could protect him and he was in no danger.
Her puzzlement only grew further when she reached the top of the stairs and saw the door that Eric opened and went through. It was the door to her FATHER'S office! Was he going to ask him about weremers? Was he asking for permission to marry her? Julie would like that very much, but she did admit to herself that at fourteen the two of them were too young to seriously consider marriage at the present time.
"Eric... I could tell you about weremers," Julie thought to herself, "you didn't have to ask my dad... but then..."
Remembering what Eric had said about deciding that he would become a were for Julie made the image of her and Eric, dressed as if for a wedding and herself done up as the bride on the steps of city hall with her father performing the ceremony and both of them only fourteen in the mental image flashed through her mind, which raised conflicting questions in her mind.
"Am I pushing him too fast?" Julie wondered to herself, "I love him... more than life itself... but... have I been rushing myself?"