General Purpose Conference Room #14, Australian Federal Police National Headquarters, Canberra

Within the Australian continent, the main body that represents shifters to the wider Paranormal community is ACoS, the Australian Council of Shifters. This body has in the past also represented the shifters to the Australian Government, when they were aware of the existence of the Paranormal. They have a representative on the overarching APC, Australian Paranormal Council, and are known to be a relaxed, pragmatic organisation. Enquiries can be forwarded to the Chair of the Council. Grat’s Guide to the Paranormal

Deputy Chief Roger Roswald and Sergeant Fancy McCullop sat in the small conference room. Each had their laptop in front of them when there was a knock on the door.

Fancy said, “Come in.”.

A small, mousy-looking woman came in. She looked younger than her supposed 24 years of age.

Looking increasingly nervous, she looked at Roger and said, “You asked to see me, sir?”

“Yes, Constable Smirn. Please take a seat. We just need you to clarify something for us.”

She sat down. Her eyes kept glancing at Sergeant McCullop with a look of confusion.

“Oh, sorry. Let me introduce Sergeant Fancy McCullop. She’s from the Paranormal Group of the AFP.”

Alexa Smirn’s eyes widened. She began to hyperventilate and started slipping into a panic attack.

With a wry smile, Fancy said, “Well that answers one question. Alexa, Alexa, look at me, concentrate on my eyes. Deep breath, in, hold, two, three, out, hold, two, three, in, hold, two, three. OK, good, keep that up. Breath in, hold, breath out. Now we’re going to do a more advanced breath technique, OK?”

Fancy waited until she had Alexa’s attention and she had nodded.

“We’ll breath in for four, hold for seven and out for eight. OK? Out, now in, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven, out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. In, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven, out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. That’s it, keep doing this yourself. You are not in trouble; you are not going to be shipped off to some secret laboratory. I have to admit that your bird form is beautiful.”

Fancy put a colour print of Alexa in her bird form down on the table.

Alex’s eyes widened further.

“In, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven, out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Now, can you answer some questions for us?”

“C…can I bring in my dad? I…I don’t want to mislead you.”

“Sure, tomorrow morning, OK?”

Alexa visibly relaxed and said “Sure.”

“Do you want to check with your dad? Would 10 am be OK?”

Still shaking slightly, Alexa got out her phone. After a minute she said, “Yes, that’s fine.”

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“Alexa? There are a couple of questions we’d like an immediate answer to. It’s just so that we can figure out the best questions to ask tomorrow. Is that OK?”

“I Suppose.”

“Thanks. Firstly, would you mind if I saw the SMS conversation you just had with your dad?”

“It was in a secure chatroom.”

“That’s OK, could I just see the screen?”

“I Suppose.”

Alexa unlocked her phone and held it up.

**The dogs have escaped boss wants 2 talk tmrw morn @ 10 can u b there**

**OK do I need suit**

**Think its ok ttyl**

Fancy said, “So ‘dogs have escaped’ was your code for someone’s found out your secret?”

“Yeah.”

Roger said, “So the stuff about the suit? Some panic code?”

“Yeah. Needing a suit is to run. It’s his sense of humour.”

“Humour?”

“He jokes that if someone tried to stuff him into a suit, he’d run.”

“Thanks, Alexa. So, just a couple of questions. Are you restricted to one animal you can change into?”

“Yes.”

“What do you call yourself? A shifter? A were-eagle?”

“Either.”

“Is there a casual association between shifters? A formal one? Just family?”

“You’re best off talking to Dad. I know there’s a council, but Dad knows much more about them.”

“Do you consider yourself an Australian that can shift or a shifter living in Australia?”

Alexa drew in a sudden breath and started to panic again.

Fancy said, “Alexa…Alexa…look into my eyes. Breath deep. Now in, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven, out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. In, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven, out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Alexa, can you tell me why that question got you so panicked?”

With tears in her eyes, Alexa said, “I’m realising why you are asking me the questions. You want to know if I am a threat.”

Roger raised his eyebrows and said, “Well, are you?”

For the first time there was fire in her eyes. “No! I’m proud to be an Aussie. I’m an Aussie who shifts!”

Roger smiled for the first time and nodded his head. Alexa blushed.

“Well, that does it for me, anything you need to ask, Deputy Chief Roswald?”

“Just how someone becomes a shifter. Is it genetic? Luck? You have to get bitten, or something?”

“Yes. All three. I come from a line of shifters. I’ve a friend who as far as we know, hasn’t any shifters in their family tree, so random can be possible? You can also convert someone, but as a general rule, we don’t - as it can create too many problems. There’s an option when we marry a non-shifter to have someone convert our partner if they agree, but that just because of the difference in life expectancy.”

Roger asked, “Is it much?”

“Double to three times?”

Fancy said, “I can see why you’d want to do that. It would be hard to watch your spouse age while you don’t.”

“All the examples we’ve seen have the animal as one that is native to Australia. Is that always the case?”

“Dad has spoken of shifters born overseas whose animal is one that’s native to that country. There are a few cases of the animal being endemic to a country, instead of native, but that’s really rare. So, like a rabbit shifter, or a sheep shifter here in Aus. Of course, the oriental dragon confused everybody until we realised that it was what was described by First Nation people as a Bunyip.”

The pencil in Roger’s hand snapped in two. After a pause, Roger said, “Well that’s it. Why don’t you take off early today, and we’ll see you at 10 am tomorrow with your father?”

“OK.”

As Alexa got up, Fancy said, “Oh, Alexa? The existence of the AFP Paranormal Group isn’t widely known, we’d prefer to keep it that way. Please don’t mention us to your colleagues or non-shifters.”

Once Alexa had left, Fancy turned to Roger and asked him what he thought.

“I think I’m numb to it now, although the mention of a dragon threw me. I don’t think that can be right, though, as the descriptions of Bunyips never have wings.”

“Here is where our Paranormal special training comes in, or maybe just because I’ve played RPGs during my misspent youth. She said ‘oriental dragon’. Oriental dragons don’t have wings. While I found what she said to be fantastical, the feeling I got from her was that she was describing her norm. Which is a shame.”

“What, you don’t want it to be true?”

“Nah. I’m assigned as the lead for the ‘no’ team. It’s getting harder and harder to make a solid case for this to be false.”

“What’s your most promising excuses left?”

“Mass, shared hallucination and some tech device allowing them to project solid-looking holograms in broad daylight. You’re to be head of the ‘yes’ team, aren’t you? What’s your thoughts so far?”

“Yes, we are having our first planning session this afternoon. At this stage I am going with ‘I’ve had a fall at home and I’m currently in a hospital somewhere, in a coma’.”