Old Ladies and Jolina

Back on the keys. Been off for a while. Had more troubles with the Varans and Waerwulfas. Actually, if not for the Varans intervening on my behalf, the Waerwulfas would have taken me on that last long walk by now. The issue was my unauthorized activities, one of which is this blog, many of which are too in the open. More on all that later.

Counter-Neo Ops have dropped off a lot. That is due mostly to a diminished Neo population, thanks in great part to my pack, and their having gone to ground and are keeping a low profile. But we know they will ramp back up. And when they do we will be ready.

Our pack has had numerous requests recently, from pack members, for assistance with elderly humans. Lasie, a pack member, is living with a man of 81 who has no family in town and who is failing with some sort of dementia. Lasie shifts back and forth between human and dog, as needed, to provide what support and needs she can for him. But it is getting harder, and others pack members are helping her out. The other day he disappeared and it took them thirty minutes to track his scent to a Chinese buffet where he was trying to sing karaoke into a serving spoon.

Klaus, pack member, is living with a widow of 76 who has family in town, her kids, but none of whom visit or see her often. She is also failing with some sort of dementia, Klaus thinks Parkinson's, and requires much of the same from Klaus, constant monitoring and shifting forms in order to play the parts of her dog and her nephew. Taking her, he says, to doctor;s exams is particularly dicy. Klaus knew he woman when she was a young girl, was known to her as her Uncle Ustaf, and found her eight years ago when he was casting about for a new phasing role. So, his connection to this woman is strong, which is always good and bad, happy but dangerous for dogs, who tend to be, on the whole, easily betrayed by our sentiments.

So, that and some other matters are keeping the pack very busy, allowing less time for night patrols, many of which now go out with only 1 or 2 dogs. I do not like 1 or 2 dog patrols. They are tactically unsound and violate the logic of always having someone to cover your six.

Jolina, Jack's daughter from a previous marriage, came to live with us. She is sixteen and a sophomore, younger than Sven and Rick, who both are eighteen and seniors. And she is a handful, and requires constant overwatch by me and rescue by Sven and Rick. Three times one of them has to go get her from a bad party, with a bad crowd, twice in different parts of town with a crowd much older than her. Once Rick and Sven had to bust some ass to get her out, due to a drunk guy who Sven says was high on something and was certain he had found his piece of ass that night. Rick knocked out two teeth and they left him and one other guy on their asses and drug Jolina out of there. I have had to go twice, each time masquerading as a cop. Once the scene and crowd was so dangerous, and my hackles up so much, and was being faced down by a clutch of tough but large punks, I shifted just enough to show some fang and give some convincing snarl. The punks could not get out of my way fast enough. Doing that, however, is difficult and dangerous. Many cannot control their transformation well enough to turn it back before completion. I am told that werewolves cannot do it at all. Jolina was so high that she was unaware of the drama or near-violence.

So, Varans and dementia and crazy teenage girls, as well as financial markets and project planning, are keeping me busy. Oh, and Caitlyn and her hyper-active lifestyle and leads. Oh, and Sarah too.