(To be made pretty later)

Sam has two abilities which a player might not feel comfortable with him using! So this is an opt-out for anyone who would rather the shifter not sniff around their character or Whisper them into doing things. So, an overview of both:

CRAZY SHIFTER NOSE
This is a canon offshoot of Sam's status as a shapeshifter, and allows him to tell a lot of things about a person by the way they smell. In the series he is able to use it to tell if someone is human or not, has a poor diet, has been around strong-smelling substances, is pregnant, or has any huge adrenal reactions (someone afraid and about to panic, for example). Sam will not necessarily be able to tell what your character is just by smelling them. He can differentiate weres, shifters, and vampires, but those are the only creatures he has familiarity with. It also has everything to do with biochemical makeup, so if everything else about them is human and living but they have crazy magical powers, Sam won't know that.

Alternatively, if you would Just Rather He Didn't, let me know! I would be happy to have him get the plot device equivalent of a stuffy nose if your character and he cross paths.

PERSON WHISPERING
Perhaps better categorized as "compulsion", Whispering is Sam's ability to verbally influence a person's decisions and emotional state. This ability will have three effects on a person Whispered to:
. They will calm into a more relaxed state
. They will focus on Sam's voice beyond outside distractions
. They will have a chance of being persuaded into following orders he gives and accepting information he tells them.

This ability has several caveats:
. Sam will need to be audibly heard and understood - language barriers would be a barrier to his ability, as would distance, and the temporarily or permanently deaf would be immune.
. While Whispering can work over a technological device (so long as some sort of voice function is active on both character's ends), his ability will be able to influence no more than three people at a time, and he can only intentionally select one person to affect at once.
. Sam will not be able to Whisper if his own emotional state is compromised. Any form of extreme emotion - fury, terror, grief, or extreme stress - will nullify his ability.
. The orders Sam gives cannot compel a person beyond their own physical limitations, and the orders will always have a chance of being resisted. This chance will be higher the more the order is at odds with a person's own inclinations. Conversely, those who already have trust in Sam will have a higher chance of being influenced.
. All effects will last no longer than five hours, and a person cannot be Whispered to twice in a twenty-four hour period.

I will always, always indicate in writing that Sam is attempting to use this ability if it comes up in a thread (probably through a different color font), and for any significant attempt I will likely contact the player to make sure it's all right. Again, this is an ability which can be resisted if you would like it to be. No reason necessarily needs to be given if you don't want to provide one, it's completely your prerogative.

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( Transcript )
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"You've reached Sam Merlotte. For whatever reason I can't get to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and your number I'll get back to you." [beeeep]