Shapeshifters in WWIV: A Roleplay (Celebrating Ten Years!)

"I can't be sure, honey. He might be very tired, but we can at least see about asking the nurses on duty how he's been doing." Sabel, standing silently next to Maria, took her hand wordlessly, and Maria offered the other to Destiny.

---

The gorilla's head snapped in the direction of the nearby vehicle, and in a few quick strides it stopped at its side. Trying the back door, it found it locked. It paused, shook its head, and with a mighty screech of metal against metal, it tore the door from its hinges and threw it into the field that lay beyond the car park.
Anja climbed unsteadily to her feet, glancing back towards the beach. People's screams reached her as if she was underwater. The only thought circulating in her mind was the question of where her dad was.

---

A smile slowly spread across Nate's face as he listened, though he didn't realize it. "What sorts of things would you write about instead?"

---

((Take your time.))

((Thanks. We've been needing one for a while... It was my best idea to try to attract new members.))

She tugged at her hair. "It appears that there is not. The first thing we need to do before anything else is find him, and—" She stopped abruptly, and drew in a deep breath. "No, Valentine. You've done enough. In fact, if you wish to leave right now, you have my permission."

Schwarz glared up at her. She didn't understand and it was starting to truly irritate her. Did she care or not? She never had before. She was always completely indifferent. Even now, she was just sort of... here. Ready to take orders and choosing to stay rather than go but beyond that...
"Fine," she said curtly.

The doctor did now allow Schwarz back out of the helicopter, and she was forced to admit that there were plenty of capable soldiers working on finding him already. But every moment that passed was agony. She could do nothing, so there was nothing she could use to distract herself. On top of it all, she was feeling things she had not felt in a very long time and would prefer not to feel again, but she couldn't show any of it, not in front of her men, not in front of anyone.
Hours passed, and it was growing dark. They had combed through many miles of terrain and come up completely dry. When the co-pilot approached her, she could read in his eyes the news he was about to give. Before he could speak, she said, "We're not stopping."
"Sergeant Major..."
"This is a child, a shifter child in the hands of a very dangerous ex-RedKingdom general."
"We know, ma'am. But there's nothing else we can do, not until morning."

(The banner is really nice!)

Destiny nodded and took her outstretched hand. There was no hesitation when it came to seeing Kurt again. She was worried for the man, still a little scared of the pale, shocked face he had made when he discovered his missing foot. Maybe he had recovered a bit from the ordeal.

---

There was only a brief moment where Nichole stared at the damage caused by the gorilla, surprised at the ease he had managed to simply rip the door away. Then her senses came back to her. Quickly, she shimmied out of the backseat of the car. "T-thank you," she said, swallowing nervously. She was going to have a fun time explaining this later. "We have to go. Before the police arrive."

---

Faith shrugged. "I don't know. New cures for deadly diseases, the birthday of the oldest person alive, stray dog reunited with their owner after five years," she replied with a small laugh. "Anything to make people abandon their devotion to the war. It's all that's ever being talked about. A lot of people have stopped caring about whether or not it will end because they've lost everything they have to either the fighting. If all I write about is minimal, stupid things, if they make someone smile, I'll settle for that."

---

"So don't go blaming me for the things I know I can't fix," Archer said gently. "I know you think that all of us here are vile, evil monsters, but I assure you that not all of us are like that. Some of us actually want to try and make a difference, even if it's small."

"The same could be said for you," Archer pointed out before shaking his head. "But I didn't come here to criticize whose side you chose. I'm here because of my reasons, and you left because of yours. I think it best if we left it at that."

"Of course I am," said Schwarz after a moment, the picture of calmness. "I'm not going off on an unsanctioned solo mission."

---

They returned to the medical ward in a matter of a few minutes, and Maria gave Kurt's name at the door. All the while Sabel clung to her hand silently. However, when they were drawing near to his bed, a nurse from earlier came across them and stopped to speak with them, saying only, in a gentle tone, "He's asleep."

---

The gorilla glanced quickly back at Anja, who was staring in the direction of the beach, waiting for her father. The creature hurriedly moved for the grey Toyota owned by the so-called Winters family, though its movements were clumsy. It came to a stop at the driver's side door, landing naturally in a standing position with its fists on the ground. It ducked its head down in apparent concentration, and it began to change. Fur retreated back into skin, enormous muscles shrank down drastically, bones reformed themselves, until it left an unremarkable man who went by Donald Winters, face contorted in pain, standing where a gorilla had just been. His ruined T-shirt fell to the concrete beneath him as he doubled over with his hands braced against his knees, grunting in pain.
Anja turned just in time to see the gigantic gorilla shrinking into a very familiar shape, and her mind went completely blank trying to register what she had just witnessed, tiny explosions going off in the void of her thoughts. The world spun around her, and everything went white as she fell.

---

Nate unconsciously rubbed his arms at the description of "a lot of people," wondering if he really fell under that category. But... no. Indeed, he realized, he rarely considered the possibility of the war ending anytime soon, but its end was very much something he hoped for. He could think of a couple of people right off the bat whom he couldn't even see being able to construct a life outside the war, it consumed them so much. For them, the war ending might even be just as bad a thing as it was good. He did not want to be one of those people. "That's a very noble thing," he said genuinely. "You're... you're not going to be able to reach everyone though."

"Are you suggesting I go rogue?" Schwarz questioned sharply.

"That's not what being a soldier is about, Valentine," she said severely. "I suggest you drop it. Now."

"I'm aware you're not actually a soldier," Schwarz responded in the same tone as before. "Hence my explaining it to you. Though it's extremely disheartening to find it so necessary. Remember your place, Valentine."

Everyone in the helicopter was looking now. Schwarz nodded once, slowly, and pushed against the wall behind her, bringing her to a standing position. Staring down Lillian, face not twitching in the slightest, she said, "You speak of things you have no understanding of. Don't come in tomorrow. One more word, consider yourself court-martialed. In the meantime I will have to consider how you will be punished."

((Hoo boy, this backtalk would already warrant some probably humiliating punishment in normal circumstances but right now Schwarz just doesn't have the time.

Also heyyy, let's talk about what information Jennette and/or Felix has/have that Erich might want. Because I kind of like the idea of giving them something important to do/know. Alas that we could have had this set in advance but yeah. Even if Tangleclaw doesn't come back I like the idea of human enhancement, and I mean we're in 2026, so I think it wouldn't be too crazy to start to introduce stuff like that at this point. Jennette and Felix are just regular soldiers and probably wouldn't have the clearance to know about this, so the big questions are 1) how do they? 2) why doesn't Erich? and 3) how does Erich know that they know? Thoughts?))

((Hmm. I bet we can figure something out. I just need to turn it over for a bit.))

Schwarz steadily lowered herself back down to a sitting position, not exactly pleased but definitely relieved, more for Valentine's own sake than anything else, that the computer analyst had taken her last opportunity to stand down.
Presently the helicopter touched down just outside the Svydivok base. Schwarz hopped off, quickly shifting into a merlin bird and taking off in the direction of her home.

((Yeah, that clears some things up. Mrs. Valentine wasn't exactly a nurturer, was she?))

Of course, Schwarz never planned for an instant on turning in for the night, despite any further searching being outside military sanction. There were not many things in the world she would do this for; in fact Christoph was the only thing. She would need to sleep at some point, but for many years of her life she'd been totally accustomed to getting an absolute maximum of five hours of shuteye every single night, so she could at least skip this one measly resting period.
She circled around and flew straight back to the waters where they'd first lost him. All the while the only thing running through her head was a constant replay of that terrible night when she'd received the news about Gwen and had to go out to look for Christoph. Now, she could only hope that he remembered everything she'd taught him.

((No. Lillian's mom was a bit unstable, delusional, and completely paranoid. I think I've probably mentioned that before, but it would have been years ago.

I'm not really sure I have much else to do with Lillian at this point.

Hi Tom! Allegiance just refers to whether the character is a member of the WhiteKingdom, RedKingdom, or neither.))

((Tom- Roger that. Welcome! Right off the bat I'm gonna have to question something though, and that's saying that a sixteen-year-old "used to be a sniper." The earliest enlistment age for the American army is seventeen, and that's with parents' permission. I'm not sure how soon after enlistment you can do sniper school, though I imagine you can't immediately. And yeah, allegiance is explained under the notes after the joining form.

Dawn- Hmm. Is it plausible to say Lillian would go looking for Christoph come morning? She has the day free, after all.))