MICHAEL SHEPARD
Werewolf
Posts: 279
Age:
33
Occupation:
CIA Analyst/Thief
Status:
Married
Partner:
Sara Shepard
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 10, 2024 20:02:50 GMT
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Post by MICHAEL SHEPARD on Jan 10, 2022 19:46:48 GMT
 Green eyes swept the rear view again as he pulled in the parking lot of the motel. The entire way back from the warehouse he’d been drawn to by the mysterious message dropping Abi’s name Michael had kept watch – for a tail, for some sort of sign of Sara. She was meant to be out there somewhere, alive the way his daughter was but alone. Terrified, she had to be. Fear had settled like lead in his own stomach as he’d slinked through the dark of the abandoned building, approaching the light in what must have been an office like a moth to a flame. The moment he’d seen Abi he’d rushed in without a second though. Flinching as the trio of people had stood from the couch they’d been settled on, Michael had nudged his daughter behind him, trying to do what he hadn’t been able to on the night those men had taken them both from him – protect her. One had held a phone out then, Karin’s voice pouring out of it in reassurance. This wasn’t sure nightmare, it was a blessing, finally. The explanation had torn fresh wounds. Aubrey in his lap, Michael had sunk down on the sofa himself, legs weak while they’d answered his questions about Sara. They’d both been brought back, taken to a motel room to rest, but when Aubrey had woken in the morning her mom was gone. A half dozen people searching, spells cast to try and track her through blood and still there was no sign of Sara anyway. He hadn’t wanted to go far, not without her there but you couldn’t let a kid sleep in a warehouse. Promises had been dropped that they wouldn’t stop looking. Numbers were pressed into his hands but just shy of eleven o’clock Michael had walked back out to the car on rubbery legs, a tremor still running through him. Years after he’d lost them his family was back … and that shadow was still out there, so he’d looked. Rounding to the passenger side Michael unbuckled the seatbelt, bending in to scoop his daughter up out of the car. It was late, the town and the motel quiet, although lights glimmered behind a few of the windows. No drapes were twitching, no eyes on him as he locked the door and carried Abi towards his room. ”We’re almost there, promise,” he told her hoarsely. ”It’s not much but … you’ve got your own bed and tomorrow we’ll … we’ll see ‘bout changing things huh?” They wouldn’t be going back to what had been their home, the shadow still clung too thick to that place. He didn’t imagine Abi wanted to go back to that place either, steeped in blood and nightmares as it was. Inside he tried to make this just like any other night he’d tucked his daughter into bed. Tucking the chintzy spread around her, sitting on the side of her bed and telling her one of the stories he’d read to her a thousand times when she’d been little until he’d seen her eyelids drooping. Michael slid off the bed, bending to kiss her forehead. ”I’m right over there, Abs, promise.” Still, as she’d fallen asleep her he’d stayed up. Staring into the darkness with eyes that didn’t ever need the light he’d left on behind the cracked bathroom door to keep the dark at bay, he’d kept watch over his daughter for hours before he finally went under himself. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Next morning ~~~~~~~~~~~ The sun was bright around the drapes when he finally woke up the next morning. Dreams of the house, of the lake of blood and Abi and Sara like broken dolls in the middle of it had rolled through his sleep like thunder. Years ago … and a handful of years after the nightmare, a real dream. The two of them brought back, safe, their lives spilling out again. Michael squinted against the light, pinching thumb and forefinger against his eyes as he tried to get his brain to shrug off what hadn’t been real in years. The slap of feet on floorboards outside the bedroom had Michael letting out a weary groan. ”One of these days you’re gonna actually let us sleep in past 7am,”] he croaked. He rolled over onto his back, blinking owlishly at the ceiling. Probably wasn’t far past that now but Aubrey was already up and around, making sure that he was too. |
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AUBREY SHEPARD
Werewolf
triggered
Posts: 40
Age:
Seventeen
Occupation:
High School Student
Status:
Single
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:34 GMT
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Post by AUBREY SHEPARD on Jan 14, 2022 20:49:55 GMT
| For years the young girl had been dead. She had been at peace, heaven. With her mother though she had known that someone was missing. Everyday the same, perfect. Until some force, swept her out of her perfect day and back into her body. Flesh, blood and bone: she was alive again. At first it was disorientating. She didn’t’ speak… the experience hard on the small girl that clutched to her mother for dear life. Falling asleep in her arms. That night she had been given something to help her sleep, for the nightmares would come later. When she woke her mother was simply vanished. Scared and alone… left with complete strangers. The only thing she knew is that her father was on his way. Her aunt already off and looking for her mother. Aubrey sat on a couch her small legs dangling off the edge of the couch as she waited. Hours passed until her father stormed into the office, they were waiting in and she was in his arms in seconds. Finally, that piece that she had been missing… though now with their mother missing: would their family ever be complete? Once with her father and safe on her father’s lap her head rested against his shoulder… she found herself falling asleep. Later when Aubrey woke, she was in a car, her father unbuckling her from the passenger’s side of the car, ” Where are we daddy?” She asked a note of tiredness to her voice. What her father said didn’t really register with her, but she found herself nodding. Getting tucked into bed listening to her father’s words… remembering them. So familiar. It wasn’t long before she found herself falling asleep again. _-*  * Next Morning * *-_ Due to the spell that had blanketed over Mystic Falls, magically Aubrey aged overnight. Her and her father were given memories. Memories that didn’t actually happen, but they felt real. Her life had been a good one, though her mother had never been found. Aged through kindergarten, junior high and she now found herself in High School. Friendly and decently popular, though she had one singular best friend: Hazel. They spent stacks of time together and were practically joined at the hip. If not at school and spending time with friends, she spent time with her father… Her father who was most certainly not a morning person. Aubrey rolling out of bed at just past seven, always bright and bubbly even early in the morning. Slipping her feet into her padded slippers she practically skipped her way out of her room onto the landing and into the bathroom where she had her morning shower. Slipping back out of the bathroom and into her room to get dressed for the day, putting on some music quietly. Dancing and singing along as she got dressed. Once dressed she reached for a hairbrush, initially to do her hair and then ended up using it as a makeshift microphone for the rest of the song. Once the song ended, she stopped prancing around her room and slipping her long brunette locks into a pony tail. Ready to face the day, and turning off her stereo, she slipped outside and crossed the hall to her fathers room, ” Wakey wakey, rise and shine…” Aubrey sing-songed tapping on the door as she sauntered down the hall and down to the kitchen and busied herself in making breakfast.
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MICHAEL SHEPARD
Werewolf
Posts: 279
Age:
33
Occupation:
CIA Analyst/Thief
Status:
Married
Partner:
Sara Shepard
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 10, 2024 20:02:50 GMT
|
Post by MICHAEL SHEPARD on Feb 17, 2022 20:38:56 GMT
He could have stayed up and watched over her all night. Should have maybe. She’d woken up as he’d lifted her from the car – the little girl no bigger than she had been the last time they’d done this – asking where they were. What kind of explanation was he supposed to be able to give a four year old other than ‘somewhere safe’? Michael had murmured it to her as he unlocked the door to the room that had been home ever since he’d arrived in town three years before. Safe had lost most of its meaning when he’d failed to keep Sarah and Abi that way but it was all he could think to offer a child who’d been through the sort of nightmare that was unthinkable enough when you hadn’t somehow survived it.
For years he’d woken from the nightmares of it. Hands scrabbling at the sheets like somehow he’d be able to wipe away the blood of the man he’d killed, the blood of his wife and daughter. Sheets wringing wet with sweat, Michael would fight his way free of them. He’d sit on the side of whatever bed he was sleeping in that week – Orlov had sent him from one end of the country to the other, chasing whatever he had wanted so that those paltry breadcrumbs of the truth would fall into his hands – hands covering his face until the shakes had eased. The memories had clung like cobwebs, shrouding him until it felt like he couldn’t escape them.
That night he should’ve slept lightly, Abi’s return bringing all of that all rushing back to the forefront of his brain but like last night he’d been dragged deep enough that it took a wide awake teenager to break him free of it. Not a night spent hovering on the edge, wondering if Sara was out there, not a morning he stretched his hand out to the still empty side of her bed as he was dragged out of his sleep, still praying one day he’d find her there.
Michael grumbled, rolling onto his back. He worked his head deeper into the pillows for a moment. Green eyes slipped closed again, finger and thumb digging at them. They were still gritty with sleep and would probably burn half the day. He’d never returned to the CIA but there were times he still helped out the Sheriff’s department here in town, always with that lingering offer of actually hiring him - if he wanted it – but it always felt too soon. ”There’s nothing shiny about this Abs,” he croaked out as she headed for the stairs. Usually he found his way down first but there were mornings like this one, like the first one they’d had in that motel room, where Aubrey was up first and he was left scrambling to catch up.
Tossing back the rumpled sheets, Michael hauled himself out of bed. A quick shower – hotter than the one he’d had yesterday morning when the tank had seemed to run cold in minutes – and he was heading for the stairs. He’d have to get someone in to look at it, the manager – no, there wasn’t someone to do it for him now – the plumber. Last thing they needed was for the hot water to go out in the middle of winter.
Bare footed he padded into the kitchen, shooting his daughter a narrowed eyed look, softened by a grin as he headed for the fridge. She was old enough to handle breakfast and the trip in to school for himself but after years of not being able to, he kind of relished these moments. Michael plucked the box of eggs from the fridge, held them up with one hand while he aimed a thumb back at the cupboard. ”Since you got up at the break of dawn, there’s time for a proper breakfast before school. Eggs or pancakes? You still like maple syrup right?” The same choice he’d given her the morning after she’d come back. A far more wide awake child full of questions bundled back into the car and driven across town to the Grill. He’d sat in a booth with her, offering up a crooked smile. She’d been gone more than four years and he was asking as though she’d spent those four years living in another country, growing, changing, rather than up in … still too raw. Far too raw, Jesus.
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AUBREY SHEPARD
Werewolf
triggered
Posts: 40
Age:
Seventeen
Occupation:
High School Student
Status:
Single
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:34 GMT
|
Post by AUBREY SHEPARD on Apr 13, 2022 14:05:03 GMT
❝ I'm Like A Shooting Star...
I've Come So Far❞
In the early years of her coming back to life, sleep had been a luxury. Each time she would close her eyes she would be haunted about the night of her death. Growing up and putting that behind her had been hard, but eventually it allowed her to sleep through the night. Though she had never really been one to sleep in… Unlike her father. Sometimes she would be up before him, be the one waking him up instead of the other way around.
Getting herself ready. Shower and changing in her room, dancing around her room using her hairbrush like a microphone until she decided to stop messing around and finished getting ready. Once dressed and ready for school she left her room and knocked on her dad’s door, waking him up. She heard his croak about nothing being shiny at this time in the morning, ” Upsy daisy! Greet the day!” She responded as she continued down the stairs to start getting her lunch together and other bits she needed for school.
A short while later her father joined her downstairs just as she finished packing her backpack with her books and lunch for school. Her father made a bee line for the fridge and emerged with a pack of eggs. She laughed a little when he said about getting up at the break of dawn. She grinned, ” Sky’s awake, I’m awake. Time to start the day.” Aubrey laughed a little, ” Plus method in my madness meant you can make your world-famous pancakes.” Aubrey grinned as she zipped close her bag, ” Of course I like maple syrup… Honestly dad did you hit your head getting out of bed?” She asked, knowing it wasn’t the case. As was the question about syrup.
Sinking into a seat in their kitchen she looked at him, ” Are you working today?” She asked him, out of curiosity if nothing else.
Notes:  |
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MICHAEL SHEPARD
Werewolf
Posts: 279
Age:
33
Occupation:
CIA Analyst/Thief
Status:
Married
Partner:
Sara Shepard
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 10, 2024 20:02:50 GMT
|
Post by MICHAEL SHEPARD on May 13, 2022 21:41:52 GMT
The first few weeks as a parent you practically slept with one eye open. You were listening out for the tiniest squawk, rushed out of bed the minute it rolled tinnily through the baby monitor. Half the time Abi had already been out again by the time he and Sara had rushed into her room, they’d stand there looking at their soundly sleeping little false alarm with eyes still crusted with sleep, wondering when she’d sleep solidly through the night, how long they’d be able to get back to sleep for before Abi woke again, screaming the house down this time. Michael knew he’d dropped the ball on that watchfulness, he imagined most parents did with time. Your kids settled into their routine, they started sleeping through the night, were steady enough walking to go downstairs by themselves at dawn to switch the TV on, got tall enough to stretch up to the cereal boxes on the counter. You got a little more sleep until they hit you up with the sort of morning cheer only a virtuous teen could muster up.
And he’d never complain about it.
It was corny as hell but he never got tired of each extra day he got to spend with his kid, same as he never stopped feeling that ache in his heart for Sara.
Michael grunted as he pushed his hair back from his face. He was greeting the day, just in his own way. Without the buzz of energy and sunshiny tone. The energy would come once he got his hands on his first cup of coffee, the latter when he dropped Abi off at the high school – always to her mortification.
His hair was wet by the time he hit the kitchen, clinging to his fingers slightly as he pushed it back from his forehead again. Abi was definitely tall enough to grab the eggs from the fridge now, and reach the stove without the thought of tiptoeing to get to the burners sending fear jetting hot through him. Snorting, Michael set the box of eggs down on the counter and reached for a skillet for the pancakes. ”Who are you and where’s the teenager my daughter’s meant to be?” Hadn’t he gone through that phase where all he’d wanted to do at the weekends was bury his head under the pillow until midday? Admittedly the phase had been short, but he’d never been one of those kids. He was the saint, always home by curfew, never causing his parents a moment of worry.
He sucked in a breath, puffed it out when he grabbed a bowl to start dumping the flour and salt into. In her defence Aubrey had never caused him any either, not until … It still felt raw enough to tear at him. He’d listened out in the dark last night … the first night she was back … waiting for the nightmares to strike. His daughter had gone through something so horrific that normal felt like something they’d never have again. ”Your mom used to wheedle in the same way. You’re both too smart for your own good.” Bile burned at the back of Michael’s throat, that wave of fear when the witches admitted they had no idea where Sara had gone so fresh still. Somehow. ”I … I might’ve done. Some adorable brat woke me up out of a sound sleep after all.” His throat had gone tight, the room around them seeming to dim out to that motel room for just a second. A moment of madness.
For a moment he stood, an egg clutched in his hand as he watched Abi sit down. Work. He’d been at the station most days until Abi had come back and then he’d taken a time out. The hunt he’d spent years suddenly shifting from trying to find a murderer to trying to find Sara. There were threads to follow now, ones he needed to start winding in until she was here with them, pouring the juice, stealing the chocolate chips before he even got them in the bowl. ”Maybe,” Michael managed hoarsely. ”I’ll drop you at school first and then I’ll see. I … I should speak to your aunt’s friends again. Maybe they had some luck last night…” They’d sworn Karin had gone straight out to try and find Sara while any trail might’ve been fresh … if it was, they could be … could’ve … Jesus, which was it. How early had Abi got him up? Frowning against the swim of memories in his head, Michael stared up at the clock. Not early enough to explain this.
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AUBREY SHEPARD
Werewolf
triggered
Posts: 40
Age:
Seventeen
Occupation:
High School Student
Status:
Single
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:34 GMT
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Post by AUBREY SHEPARD on Jul 7, 2022 10:17:22 GMT
❝ I'm Like A Shooting Star...
I've Come So Far❞
After Aubrey had deliberately woke her father up, she sauntered her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. She made herself busy by getting her stuff ready for school, making her lunch. Slipping all she needed into her backpack and then zipping it up. Moving around the kitchen as though she had lived here all her life… when in fact she had barely been here five minutes. The life she had left behind only last nigt seemed like years ago, but it wasn’t registering with her quite yet.
She turned her head and smiled when her dad eventually made it downstairs. She laughed when he asked who she was knowing he was only joking, ” The demon glutton who loves your pancakes is currently in residence.” Abi laughed making her own joke back at him with a bit of a grin on her face as she slipped her backpack onto the floor next to her stool in the kitchen.
Since he started complaining about her getting up at the crack of dawn and she tried using flattery of getting what she wanted. His pancakes that he used to make when he was a kid, a good way to start the day before going to school. She smiled at him when he spoke about mom, and she felt a pang of sadness at the mention of her. Wondering what happened to her is what hurt the most. Where did that come from? She hadn’t been gone that long… had she? She blinked a few times in confusion and shook her head and looked back at her father.
When he questioned about her liking maple syrup Aubrey gave him a look and then answered him. Asking if he had hit his head getting out of bed. His response had her laughing, ” You still love me, brat or not.” Aubrey smiled back at him. She slipped into one of the kitchen stools just watching her dad make the pancakes and asked if he was working today. She nodded, still after all this time he was still searching… it hadn’t been that long. She closed her eyes and for a brief moment didn’t feel like a teenager that she clearly was.
Opening her eyes again she was back in the kitchen, their kitchen that they shared breakfast lunch and dinner in for… years? She thought to herself as she looked around trying to make sense of what was happening.
Notes:  |
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MICHAEL SHEPARD
Werewolf
Posts: 279
Age:
33
Occupation:
CIA Analyst/Thief
Status:
Married
Partner:
Sara Shepard
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 10, 2024 20:02:50 GMT
|
Post by MICHAEL SHEPARD on Jul 30, 2022 18:11:08 GMT
The first breakfast after Abi had come back had been awkward. Heading out to the Diner for pancakes that her parents hadn’t made, that vacuum between them that Sara would’ve occupied. Michael had felt it right there, ice cold as he reached through it to take his daughter’s hand. Moving into their own place had helped to start filling it, although he still saw it out of the corner of his eye constantly. Somewhere Sara was out there, maybe feeling that same hollow, desperately wanting to get back to the two of them to fill it.
One day.
More than a decade later Michael was still making the same promise when the desperate need for Sara tore them both up. One day they’d find her, they wouldn’t stop looking until they did. After Abi was at school he’d get back onto the laptop, reading every police report he could lay his hands on from here to New Orleans, hoping for some crumb he could follow. Until then he needed to get Abi ready. Something a little more nutritious than Diner pancakes and watered down juice, setting both of them up for the day.
Sara had always been the one to pour his coffee, knowing he’d need it to get through putting together his mom’s pancake recipe. The two of them slotting together in the kitchen to get the morning started for Abi. Michael grunted lightly, narrowing his eyes back at her despite his slanted grin. ”I hope the demon glutton’s planning on getting herself an after school job at some point soon. Given how fast she empties the cupboards, it’s only right, huh?” Not that he’d ever push her into that. God, in the memories that swelled up in his head, she was still that same little girl whose hand he’d held to cross the road to the Diner, the one he had to bargain into eating her broccoli at dinner time. The kid he’d have been dropping off to Kindergarten, not high school if that thing hadn’t torn their lives to pieces.
Brows furrowing at the thought, Michael frowned down at the egg he held in his hand – luckily he hadn’t crushed it everywhere as the memory rushed back in. He hadn’t wanted to push her, Abi had been through enough, one damn veggie wasn’t going to do any harm …
Seeing Abi’s attention fix on him, feeling those memories growing boggy under his feet, Michael shook his head and tried to pull his thoughts back together again. The glance at the clock proved he wasn’t somehow losing time, or his mind. Time was marching on and if he wanted to make sure Abi got time to eat before they left, he needed to get a move on. ”Always. You’re my brat. You want chocolate chips in these or blueberries?” Chocolate had always been Sara’s favourite. The little bag of chocolate would be there on the counter when he crawled down in the morning, the coffee already on to brew.
He saw Abi’s head drop as he started brushing off work – the agreement with Forbes had been in place for a while but it still felt like being back on the side of the law full time was taking some getting used to. Something in his chest shifted, that frown deepening until Abi looking up at him, around the room like she wasn’t sure where she was. ”Aubrey … are you OK?” Michael’s voice was hollow as he pushed the bowl of half made mix aside. He moved towards her, pressing the back of his fingers to her forehead like she was burning up with a fever.
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