Peter Longfield

[Peter Longfield]

The Basics

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Name: Peter Dayne Longfield
Nicknames: Mouse, Half pint, Weasel, Munchkin…
Age: 32 years
Orientation: Homosexual
Desired Rank/Job: Trainer (in calculus for those who dare and wish a more mundane education, in shifting for those who need assistance changing forms)
Powers: Shapeshifting – after physical contact with an animal, Peter can change his shape to match that species. He has a so-called database of creatures he can shift into. He has only one form for each species (which is why he could not shift to mimic other people). It takes several shifts for him to become competent at taking a new form. He has grown proficient enough to take his clothes with him when he shifts (meaning he doesn’t randomly pop from a mouse to a naked man). However, when Peter shifts suddenly because of stress or fear, the clothes don’t always transfer… Peter’s skill has an interesting limit that is not quite understood. He cannot shift into anything much larger than the common house cat. It is hypothesized that this limitation is due to the energy required to shift. Peter has the ability to change into over two-hundred different species including insects and reptiles. His favorite shapes are a Black-Footed Ferret, Southern Flying Squirrel, a tri-color Beagle puppy, and a Mississippi Kite.
Play By: Joe Flanigan

The Details

Hair Color: mousy brown and it tends to do its own thing in several different directions despite being only a few inches long
Eye Color: hazel, more green than brown
Any Piercings?: none
Any Tattoos?: none
Any Scars?: there is a thin, faded scar that runs down his knee from where he ran into the corner of a picnic table while he was playing tag as a child, nothing else of note

General Appearance: Appearance is not exactly Peter’s first consideration. He likes to be warm and comfortable. How exactly that is achieved doesn’t seem to matter all that much to him. Which is why his hair is usually tufted in several different directions. Every now and then he’ll get it cut short, but he always forgets to cut it again until it’s in his eyes. He usually has the look of a slightly eccentric academic. It’s obvious that he doesn’t spend a ton of time in the gym, or outside. He has a rather pale complexion. And while fencing has left him rather lean, it hasn’t done much to bulk him up. In short, Peter looks harmless. And depending on what he grabbed out of the dresser in the morning, he occasionally looks homeless.

When he’s working with students, he usually favors blue jeans and a button-down shirt, usually in black or grey because they match everything. His outfit of choice when at home and working on a proof is usually baggy sweats. No socks. He really doesn’t like his feet covered. When he has to, he’ll wear sandals. His favorite is a pair of red Chacos. It isn’t uncommon to see him in flannel shirts and jeans when he’s wandering around campus on unofficial business. He does try and keep the sweats in the house, but every now and then he’ll get really excited about a math problem and have to rush over to one of his other geeky math friends and share.

Personality:Peter is one of those guys that his friends describe as an absolute sweetheart. Which usually means the person has a heart of gold, but doesn’t exactly slide smoothly into the rest of society. And that pretty much describes Peter. He is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, willing to give you the shirt off his back. But social interaction isn’t exactly his strength. He’s much more comfortable with Archimedes and Churchill than he is living people. Peter would be what you call an introvert. He does well in small groups and best one-on-one, but in a large group, he tends to drift to the edges and just people watch. If you pull him in, he’ll happily chat away, but it’s rare that he initiates conversation.

He is well liked by those that know him, but he doesn’t tend to have many very close friends. He prefers to curl up with a good book or a perplexing math problem over clubbing or going to a party. He has all the patience in the world for the students that come in, remembering what it was like to be young and terrified of what his body was suddenly doing without his permission. He loves to watch them slowly go from resenting their abilities to mastering them.

When it comes to his personal life, Peter has a tendency to trust a little too much and a little too fast. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and expects others to be the same. He’s had his heart broken in the past by those taking advantage of his naiveté and trust, but he hasn’t let it dampen his spirits or slow him down any. He still has a tendency to throw himself into a relationship, very all or nothing. He’s the kind of guy that makes you want to hook him up with this guy your friend knows and watch them have a happily ever after. Peter is still working on that. Not everyone finds it amusing to wake up next to a snake or a puppy or a mouse. And Peter still hasn’t figured out exactly why his subconscious decides to shift some nights and not others. It can get awkward.

Your Vices

Likes:
-Red Bull (occasionally mixed with vodka, but not very often)
-Swedish Fish candy
-Nachos loaded with cheese and guacamole
-A good squash casserole
-Trying his hand at cooking a new vegetarian dish
-Chocolate covered espresso beans
-Classic rock music and it’s not uncommon for him to sing along at the top of his lungs to the shower radio (he does have a nice voice, he’s just shy)
-Playing his battered acoustic guitar (he could afford a new one, it just wouldn’t be the same)
-Curling up in front of the fire, in any form
-Fencing, working up a sweat is quite rewarding
-His saltwater aquarium, the 100 gallon monstrosity takes a lot of effort to maintain, but he loves to watch the fish and the little octopus
-Spending a warm sunny afternoon jumping exploring the trees as some tiny creature
-Riding the air currents as some great bird of prey
-Curling up with a romantic and watching a good horror movie (but he’ll only watch them with someone else)
-Scifi movies and shows (Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Eureka…)
-Traveling, he enjoys meeting new people, learning about different cultures, and getting the chance to add more creatures to his list of shifts
-Reading everything from Africa history to urban ecology, usually curled up in an armchair or out under a tree
-Working through complex proofs
-Men, especially ones that don’t mind watching sci-fi shows with him, don’t give him too much of a hard time about turning into small furry creatures, and are willing to put up with him blushing and taking things slow
-Hot chocolate with extra marshmallows

Dislikes:
-Meat, how could he eat something that he can turn into?
-His reading glasses, a necessary evil that he always seems to be misplacing (and then finding in random places, like the refrigerator, or the fruit bowl)
-Rap, it just really isn’t music
-Football, there is absolutely no finesse in that sport
-When someone drinks out of the container, please, just get a glass
-Shoes, he really would just prefer to go barefoot
-When some wild creature thinks that his furry little form is the perfect snack (it’s not so hot when it’s his boyfriend’s cat either, and yeah, that totally happened…twice)
-Candy apples, they make his teeth stick together
-Coffee, for whatever reason he loves espresso beans, but can’t stand to drink coffee
-Students who don’t practice their shifting and then complain that they’re not ‘getting it’
-Girls who think that just because he’s gay, he has tons of fashion tips to give out (have they seen his hair?)
-Guys who think that because he’s quiet and yeah, a little geeky, that he’ll be happy for whatever attention they give him
-‘Dueling Banjoes,’ that sound just grates his nerves
-People who just really won’t let the whole ‘you turn into small fluffy creatures’ thing go, he’s heard all the jokes before thank you, and if you call him Pussy? Just..don’t
-Being disrupted when he’s working on a particularly puzzling proof
-Wearing a tie, or a suit at all really

Strengths:
-Math, it’s not a power, but he’s always had a head for upper level math
-Shifting, he can do it very quickly and has mastered a wide variety of animals he can shift into
-Teaching, Peter’s calm and patience makes him a very good teacher, especially with the younger students
-Conviction, Peter may be quiet and on the shy side, but that doesn’t mean he can be bullied into action, he is willing to stand up for his beliefs and loved ones

Weaknesses:
-Romance, he’s hopeless at flirting and tends to turn into a stuttering idiot when someone flirts with him
-Nonviolent, Peter is a very passive guy and pairing that with him being a geek and gay makes him a very easy target for bullies
-Physically, Peter is lean and in pretty good shape from fencing several times a week, but he’s not buff by any definition
-Trusting, he tends to look for the best in people and leaves himself wide open for disappointment

Fears:
-Horses, they’re big and smelly and he’s just never been a horse person
-Being squished when he’s shifted into one of his tiny forms (especially the insects)
-Pushy women who don’t seem to get the fact that he’s gay, he has no idea what to do with them
-Public opinion, people fear things they don’t understand and fear makes people do crazy things like start witch hunts
-The government discovering the institute and rounding his kind up

Secret: Um...that time that Mary Anne got blamed for breaking the lamp...it might have be me...

Family Ties

Father: Harold Longfield – a gruff horse trainer, he spends most of his time working to provide for his family, he’s always supported Peter, but he doesn’t really understand his son
Mother: Mary Ellen Longfield – died of cancer when Peter was 12 – she was a great mom and he has cherished memories of making sugar cookies with her and singing along to the radio
Siblings: Mary Anne Beech is his older sister. She married young and is happily married with a young son. Peter and Annie speak often and Peter visits every chance he gets
Any Other Important People:Not really, his family mostly kept to themselves

History

Peter was born and raised in a small town in northern Virginia, horse racing country. His father worked (and still does) in a large thoroughbred racing stable as a trainer and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. Peter would tell you that he has led an incredibly boring life. He has experienced no real tragedy and has always been loved and supported by those around him. It was a bit of a disappointment to his father when it became obvious that Peter would never follow in his shoes. When Peter was five, his father took him out to meet the new foals. One of the cheeky little buggers nipped him and Peter never wanted to go back down to the stables after that.

He grew up annoying his older sister, romping with the family border collie, and exploring the woods of Virginia. He loved to climb trees and often came home with a variety of scrapes and bruises. And sometimes with a new pet. His mother never knew what he was going to bring home. From a giant Cane Toad to a baby squirrel that had fallen from the nest. She was very patient about letting him have his little creatures. Except for the snakes. Those were banned from the house after one got loose.

Peter always enjoyed school, despite being a target for bullies. He learned to be very good at hiding and very fast when there was nowhere to hide. He excelled in math and was always asking the teachers for extra problems. They thought him to be somewhat of a prodigy and he won a few math competitions. His writing was nowhere near as strong as his math, but he spent hours reading. His mother was never surprised to find him perched in the peach tree outside the kitchen window with a book in his hand.

When Peter was ten, a very curious thing happened. He knew he wasn’t ever supposed to be out in the woods after dark, but sometimes he forgot. He’d worried his mother which in turn irritated his father. And Peter always hated to disappoint either of them. So his father was lecturing and Peter was trying not to cry and suddenly he felt very strange and his father looked very big and kind of terrified. Peter wasn’t in control of that first stress-induced change, but apparently he’d turned into a small black Fox Squirrel. Things would have been a lot more serious if Peter hadn’t apparently had a grandmother who could control the weather.

So calls were made and conversations had and suitcases packed. Peter headed to Vermont. It was cold and scary and wonderful. There were other people like him. Not to say there weren’t bullies there too, but there were also people who didn’t mind that he preferred to sleep as cat rather than as a human. He soaked up information like a sponge and was a model pupil. It wasn’t long before he could shift without thinking much about it, rather than it just being a response to stress or fear.

When Peter was 12, he received news that his mother was very sick. He was allowed to leave the institute to visit her often and it saddened him to see how sick she was. Several months later, he was pulled out of class and told that she had passed away. Peter was devastated. But he hadn’t spent much time over the past two years with her and little boys bounce back quickly. He still gets a little sad on her birthday, but he chooses to focus on the happy memories rather than letting it traumatize him.

Peter loved his years at the institute. He learned everything he could and became a master at shifting quickly and eventually even learned how to bring his clothes with him. There wasn’t anything much more embarrassing than going from a mouse to a naked man in front of the guy you have a crush on. He took joint classes with another university and got his degree in advanced math and eventually went on to get a Masters. He probably would have stayed a student indefinitely, but the institute graduated him when he was 20 and then promptly offered him a job.

Peter has spent the majority of his life at the institute and has come to love the cold winters and mild summers. He knows nearly every nook and cranny of the institute and all of the staff. He enjoys teaching, but his greatest passion is still learning.

Roleplay Example

Johnny hefted the olive green rucksack higher across his shoulder. Everything he owned was in that bag and the book bag across his back. He hadn’t grown up with much and didn’t need much to get on. Stuff just held you down. It was better to be able to throw everything in a bag and go, leave no traces behind. He had just finished up a two year tour in Iraq and had been given his marching orders. Apparently seeing real action on the front lines got you a cushy job guarding some government research facility. If that was how advancement went, Johnny wanted no part of it. He liked being in the thick of things. There was no time for hesitation when dodging bullets, no opportunity to think. The only times his brain really quieted down was when it was flooded with adrenaline, during life threatening situations or sex. Johnny happened to like both. He figured he’d scout out this new place and if it was too dull, he’d cause a little trouble and get sent back out to where the fun was.

Johnny had vaguely heard of Lexor before, but no specifics. The taxi drove off after being handed a couple bills and Johnny got his first look of where he would be living for the next 18 months. The fence was pretty damn impressive and it made him wonder who they were trying to keep out…or what they were keeping in. The front gates were no joke and the guard hut was manned by two armed Marines. Johnny shifted his load again and sauntered over to the gate. He flashed his ID and signed a form that he really didn’t read. The gates creaked open and Johnny entered Lexor. The inside guard gave him directions to the barracks. He had orders to report to a Master Sergeant Derek Brodie. Johnny had the unique ability of being able to completely piss off his superior officers. He’d had a few that he’d respected and soldiered up for, but if given a little leeway, Johnny could really cause a ruckus.

The only reason Johnny hadn’t been drummed out of the fleet was because when he decided to get to work, he was a damned good soldier. Men under his command would follow him into Hell and he was the first to take risks so that his fellow Marines wouldn’t have to. He had a brain that quickly took stock of a situation and came up with several different outcomes. He could rig a bomb out of anything and in hand-to-hand, he was a hard man to keep down. So while he’d been busted down from gunnery sergeant, Johnny was still in the corp. He found the barracks easily enough and dropped his stuff on a bed that looked unoccupied. He left it there, not having worth stealing. He’d learned long ago that it was best not to get attached to materials or people. Less painful in the long run.

This place, whatever it was, was locked down pretty tight. He didn’t have an access card yet or orders. With a tip from a Private First Class Donovan, Johnny was able to track down his new CO to the mess hall reserved for personnel. He paused just inside of the doorway, scoping out the guy who owned his ass for the next two years or so. And hot damn. If nothing else, he’d have eye candy to enjoy. Because Master Sergeant Tall, Dark, and Hot was totally Johnny’s type. Well, except for the whole Marine thing. It was a damn shame the military wouldn’t lighten up a bit. Never kept Johnny from pushing the limits a little though. He’d once been accused that he’d flirt with a wall if there was nothing else around. And he really didn’t see the harm in it. As long as everybody had fun, why not? He straightened his uniform shirt and headed over to the table where the man was seated with a couple other Marines. He sauntered over to stand across from the man, moving with the lazy grace that he only abandoned when under fire. He stood at attention, every inch the soldier, except for the slight smirk playing around the corners of his mouth. “Corporal Jonathon Grim reporting for duty, sir.” The smirk grew a little. “But you can call me Reaper.” Might as well get an idea of how far he could push this guy right off the bat. One of his COs had decided that Johnny’s acting out was really a cry for boundaries. He’d tried to beat it out of him. The guy spent a couple weeks in the hospital with a punctured lung from broken ribs. Johnny still maintained that he just got bored easily.

What About You?

Name: wildthing
Age: 22
Experience: 10 years or so off and on
How Did You Find Us? an ad somewhere…
Ready To Play? Let ‘er buck!

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[Admin!]

Accepted

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Welcome to The Hammel Institute! There are some CLAIMS you need to take care of first, then go enjoy yourself! There is one thing however--though it's not enough to hold up your application--the government knows about Hammel, and they actually receive some grant money. The rumors about being rounded up and tagged are just stories made up to scare younger metas.[/blockquote][/center]