WereForms and Phases

The question was asked:

"So a weredog can't actually stay in one form as long as they like? Are they forced to change into a different form or do they just choose to?"

Good question. That is correct. We can are in, for example, human phase for 5 to 10 years, depending on the dog and his or her breed and unique physiology. Then we have to switch to being a dog for approximately the same amount of time. If we don't bad things happen. This shifting is key to our longevity.  We don't quiet understand it ourselves. It's like humans and hiccups. No one can completely explain why they happen.

During our phases we can take other forms, like I did in Grand Lake with Dionna, where I shifted between the 3 somewhat often, for the purposes of hunting neo's and playing with Dionna. But a weredog has to be careful about how long and how much she or he stays in forms other than the form of the current phase.  Staying too long in a form is like decompression sickness for divers. If I stay too long in human form I get the bends, so to speak.

This is a problem right now because I am traveling. Thus, I spend most of my time in dog form, wandering roadsides and finding food and shelter where I can. When I have to I shift to human, or weredog. 

2 night ago I was coming into Yakima, Washington, on Highway 97 and heard some howls. Pain. Distinct. Impossible to miss. I was standing alongside a greasy stretch of road, gas stations, body shops and various other such business and sad buildings lined the road. I loped over, quietly, to check it out. 

Behind a squat cinderblock building, inside a chainlink fence, in a dirt lot with scattered patches of mud and opaque water, a guy was beating 2 dogs, german shepherds, male and female, with a short, wood club. I smelled him form 30 meters away - the sour filth of a broken bully. Without thinking, I started to shift.

Now, I know. Not my business. I should have just kept moving, kept my muzzle out of it. But, I didn't. 

I came up behind him in weredog form. He sensed me when I was about 6 feet away. Or maybe he saw the 2 dogs' eye on me. Regardless, he turned. His face and body did what humans always do when they see a weredog, or werewolf, I assume. His eyes got big as floodlights and his mouth got wide enough to fit in my dinner bowl back home. He stumbled back a few steps. He moved forward, growling low. 

My only intent was to impress upon him the importance of respecting his dogs, and that I would be back to talk to him again if he did not do so in the future. Total bluff. I was passing through. But, this guy surprised me a little. He pulled a piece. 

It was a S&W .44 revolver. I recognized because I used to have one. Before he could bring it up I closed with him and made him drop it. My claws can be persuasive. My teeth were close enough to his face for him to smell the fresh roadkill I had for lunch earlier that day. I told him I never wanted to hear those 2 dogs whine or howl like that ever again. I was not surprised when the guy fainted. I felt his pulse building to it. I laid him down and went through hit pockets. 

I found a large package of beef jerky in his coat. I gave it to the 2 shepherds. Said their names were Rood and Wong. They weren't sure what to make of me at first. But after sniffing me and eating the jerky they got friendly. They told me that the man's name was Bill, that he is actually a decent enough guy, but falls to bad moods. Both said they would stay.

I am staying with a friend at the Yakima Training Center. Just found him today. He is a weredog I have known for a long time. Many stories. He works in Range Control. I am using his laptop to post this. I am here for information he has about new weapons and tactics being tested by the Army. There might be a neo connection. 

We're going to a nearby steakhouse tonight for sirloins and women. I told him I may have to pass on the women, depending on what crosses my path.  I have not had decent food for a while. Haven't been with a female for a while either, for that matter, of any species. 

I need to be real careful about how much shifting I do. Been taking human form too much this past week.