| RPIT Detective |
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Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:01 am
Posts: 41
Location: Colorado
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||Melanie "Mel" O'Connell-Gavin||
Mel O'Connell || 38 || Lukoi ~ Alpha ~ In the 'Furry' closet|| R.P.I.T. Detective
 
||Werewolf/Lukoi. Mel is currently in the Werewolf closet.||
 
Mel's Current Relationship Status: Widowed, Single.
||Description||:
Mel stands no more than 5' 2" tall. She has chocolate brown eyes with flecks of hazel near the irises. She has a very fair complexion, with freckles dotting her cheeks, shoulders and arms. She has strawberry-blonde hair that she wears in a practical yet flirty style. She is not an overly endowed woman for she only manages to fill out a C cup naturally. Her everyday dress style verges on business practical to conservative and mostly consists of pant suits and deep colors like indigo, hunter-green, violet and red. She very rarely wears skirts or dresses. Even when she goes out, she prefers a sexy or cute pair of jeans as opposed to a skirt or dress.
She has a petite, yet supple and curvaceous body structure. She has a toned and fit muscular physique, but not from intense physical workouts, but one can tell that she maintains an exercise routine. Most of her tone comes from simple daily activities of her life.
In wolf form, Melanie stands at about 3 feet high on all fours, measuring about 5 feet straight from heel to muzzle. She has strawberry-blonde fur on her topcoat, ears, muzzle, and down her legs, with a snow white underbelly, and paws. She is by no means a large wolf, but she packs one helluva mighty bite and punch.
She is a dominant Wolf and had at one time been in the running for her last pack Ulfric's Freki, but her job prevented the position from being hers. Too much potential conflict. Though Jareth always valued her advice and her strength and never questioned her loyalty, he couldn't risk losing any of his other packmembers loyalties by having a cop as his Third. Most Weres were as hateful of the police as most police officials were of them. It would have put Mel and his pack in a stressful and dangerous position.
||Powers/Abilities||:
Melanoe can mask her aura from any human, witch or “sensitive” she meets. She also has the ability of masking her true power and strength level from other preternaturals.
She can call her wolf at will, though she cannot change separate body parts. She’s either in full wolf form, or human form. She does have a hybrid form, but finds it too painful to maintain for long periods of time.
She can heal faster than most Weres and silver has only a small effect on her. She can touch it, but if shot or cut by a silver bullet, knife, etc., it is still potentially fatal (depending on the severity of the wound).
Like any lycanthrope, she is naturally swayed by the moon, but through practice and training she has adapted a great control of her wolf, and can hold off a Moon change longer than the average Were, though she cannot stop it from happening.
She also has the great fortune of not being overly affected after a moon change. The tired and grogginess that tends to accompany the morning after a full moon, or any time she shifts, no longer affect her. Couple cups of coffee and she's right as rain.
Mel is also trained in a few different forms of Martial Arts and hand-to-hand combat, which only adds to her prowess and grace as Lukoi, for she doesn’t have to rely solely on her Preternatural strength and powers to defend herself.
During one of her first undercover assignments she was trained as a "human lie detector" so she can usually tell by body language alone when someone is lying to her. Add in her innate wolf senses of hearing and smell and this ability is nearly flawless.
Through her father, her uncle, and her career, she is fully trained in the use of most handguns and rifles. She personally owns a Beretta M92, a Glock NY1, two Smith & Wesson Model 29s and a Benelli M3 Super 90. A few of her arms were given to her by her Uncle because some weren’t exactly ‘street legal’.
Degrees Held:
She has a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, specializing in Crime Scene Investigation, Forensic Sciences, and most recently, before her husband's death, she went back to further her degree to include Preternatural Sciences as well.
||Personality||:
Mel is a woman of simple tastes. She prefers straight Whiskey or a tall Beer opposed to most frilly or "girly" drinks. Save for a good margarita. She smokes Parliament 100's like they're going out of style. She's very sarcastic, and has a witty but dry sense of humour.
She was mostly raised by two men, her father and her uncle, so she tends to get on better with men than women. She finds most women to be catty and annoying; that drama flocks to them like bees to honey. There's nothing Mel hates more than drama, kind of ironic really considering the world she lives in.
Mel's fairly down to earth, doesn't like to set that many "moon dreams" as she calls those goals some people set where they might as well try to shoot the moon. She doesn't mind having a plan, though she prefers spontaneity and living by the seat of her pants. She tries to take life, the good and the bad, as it comes to her. She has a terrible potty mouth which, seeing how and where she grew up, is not that surprising.
She's positively obsessed with Billy Idol, and for most of her high school years played with the idea of ditching a semester of school to follow his tour bus... This never panned out, however.
She's very serious about her career and tends to be bull shit intolerant when it comes to most cases. For instance, if she caught a fellow officer planting evidence, making incorrect assumptions or using slander and prejudice against anyone, preternaturals especially, she would have no problem calling him or her out on it; even if he or she was one of their 'superiors.'
||Character History||:
Melanie was born January 1, 1972 to Jonathan and Alanna O'Connell in Donegal, Ireland.
Jonathan O’Connell was a military man, born and raised. His father was a Paratrooper in WWII, his grandfather fought in WWI before that. He came from a long line of military men.
In 1969, after returning from a six year service in Vietnam, he was promoted to Captain and was reassigned to a US Military post of his choosing. He chose Southern Ireland. After the wrath of Vietnam, he needed a bit of a break. Ireland was in a bit of conflict of its own at the time with the IRA, and recent civil split, so he would still have plenty to do at his new post.
After only a few months in Ireland he met Alanna Gallagher. It had been like love at first sight; their souls seemingly drawn to each other. Through the course of their courtship, Jon discovered that Alanna was an Empath and a witch. Through her he was heavily inducted into the ever-thriving preternatural and supernatural world.
Despite his early misgivings, he couldn’t bring himself to deny his feelings for her, and allowed himself to be fully enveloped in her life. Through her, he gained a better understanding, respect and affinity towards all things supernatural. He was even introduced to the concept of Lycanthrope politics through Alanna’s brother, Charles, who had been infected at ten years old and would eventually become the Hati for the local pack’s Ulfric.
It was not long before Jon was inducted into her family, and they were married in a traditional Celtic binding ceremony... Melanie was born about a year later.
By the age of ten Melanie already showed great potential of being a strong Empath like her mother.
In August, 1982, Jon and his unit were assigned to aid in a secret operation that was part of the Invasion of Granada. The conflict with Cuba had taken many American lives, and Jon and his unit were rumoured to be one of the best. So he gave a fond farewell to his family, packed a bag and left to answer the call from Uncle Sam... This decision, however, would haunt him everyday for the rest of his life...
On her Eleventh birthday, both mother and daughter sensed something in the air. Something just not quite right, though neither could quite place what it could be. Not sensing any imminent threat, celebrations were carried out as normal, though the nagging feeling would stay with them throughout the night.
When the party was over, and after seeing off the friends and family who had come to celebrate Melanie’s birthday, the bad feeling practically blew up and Alanna had barely enough time to react, to rush Melanie upstairs before a random group of rogue wolves attacked the house.
Alanna sent out a mental cry for help to a few of the members of her family she had a connection with, as well as to Jon, whom she shared a soul bond so calling to him with her mind was simple.
After barricading the master bedroom door with a dresser, she ordered Melanie to fetch the revolver and emergency pack of silver bullets hidden in a secret cubby in the top of the closet. Alanna would then prepare several defensive spells against the beasts, and tried to hold off, to make a stand against the random attackers, but the onslaught of rage and both physical and mental aggression would prove too much for her powers to maintain against. Their last line of defense had been the Silver bullet loaded revolver.
By the time others arrived to help, it would be too late. Alanna had been mangled beyond salvation, and little Melanie was on the stoop of death’s door.
Charlie later discovered that most of the rogue Weres were less than a year turned and mad with their beast rage. They had been exiled and hunted by their last clan, only to try and assert their dominance in another territory. The celebration at the O’Connells home proved too tempting a target to pass up. So much power and innocence located in one spot, it had been like a drug to them.
They were all of them dead now... Charlie and the rest of his pack had seen to that.
Jonathan had received his wife’s mental distress signal and pulled the family emergency card to his C.O. He arrived the day after the attack to find that his wife had been brutally murdered, and his daughter practically on her death bed. They had brought her to be treated at a lycanthrope hospital because Charlie and others of his pack were fairly certain Melanie would change. In fact, a few of them prayed she would, for it just might be the thing that saved her life.
Their questions and pleas were answered when Melanie awoke mere days before the cycle of the full moon. They could smell and sense the coming change in her. She was Lukoi now, and for always.
After the pack’s guidance through Melanie's first change, followed shortly after by the funeral ceremony and wake for Alanna, Jonathan decided to take Melanie and leave Ireland. Alanna’s family as well as the rest of the pack had pleaded with him to stay, but Ireland would forever hold too much pain, for them both.
It surprised Jonathan greatly when Charlie asked to go with them. His brother-in-law had understood their pain, but he also understood that Melanie would need guidance through her life and developing powers. He wanted to help her. No niece of his was going to wind up as some local pack’s meat or plaything. Not if he had anything to say about it.
So with Uncle Charlie now in the mix, they moved to Manhattan which was once Jonathan’s hometown. Charlie pledged himself to the pack Ulfric there, to test the waters and gauge their politics before bringing Melanie into the picture. This new clan was very similar to his old one. The politics and fights for dominance were still there, but it was fairly civil.
Melanie had learned from her mother at a very young age to block her aura from others senses. Her mother had begun such teachings because by a young age Melanie had begun developing some psychic and magical abilities. Alanna wanted to teach her how to shield and protect herself from nastier monsters that would be drawn to her. With further instruction from Uncle Charlie, Mel was able to hone and perfect this skill, so when she enrolled in school no one was any the wiser. She had made new friends almost instantly. She would never become one of the “popular” kids, but she had a close circle of friends she would maintain all through high school. Some of them even in her very pack.
Melanie and her father grew very close, became an inseparable team. They took care of each other and loved one another dearly. They were all each other had. It was still sad whenever Melanie thought of her mother, but having her father and Uncle Charlie around lightened that burden because she could feel the familial bond and closeness through them. She missed the feeling her magic had once given her, like a constant warmth inside her body, but when she was change those abilities died.
Charlie had been a mercenary for hire in Ireland, and took his profession with him to the states, much to her father’s objections. Jonathan O’Connell had taken a position as Captain at his former post. It was his feeling that as long as Charlie kept his hands out of cuffs, and as long as he never heard about it, Jon was fine with it.
With a Marine for a father, and a Bounty Hunter/Mercenary as an Uncle, Melanie’s desire to join the police force out of high school was heavily frowned upon, but it was her strongest desire. America might have strict laws and guidelines to police the preternatural elements of this nation, but she wanted to help. Plus, she would be able to lend a perspective on Weres and vampires that most officers lacked. Perhaps she could help shed some light on the world of Lycanthropes and help lessen some of the prejudices against them. They weren't all monsters.
She graduated from the Police Academy, class of ’92, with the highest marks and recommendations. She worked Vice for four years before joining Undercover. She helped as often as she could the cases involving preternatural aspects.
In early '96 she put in her Detective's papers and after some training and maybe a little showboating, she was promoted to New York's Undercover. A few months into her career in NYPD:UC, she was partnered with a Detective Richard Gavin who had been working Undercover and Homicide for over ten years. They butted heads almost constantly. He never really called her by her name. It was always ‘The Rookie’ or ‘greenhorn.’ Then, if he was feeling really ornery he even went so far as using racial slurs like ‘mick,’ ‘piker’ or ‘gypsy.’
After working a difficult undercover sting together in '98, their relationship would change for the better.
Through the course of the operation the two opposing partners had grown rather close. She had earned his respect and his trust. She had even had to save his ass six ways to Sunday in the end, however she’d had to reveal parts of her secret in the process. Afterward, she was afraid he would try to expose her as a Were and get her blacklisted from every PD and respectable job in the nation. This would never happen, though, for instead of betraying their new-found trust, he confronted her flat out and asked for the truth.
For reasons beyond her, Melanie felt compelled to tell him everything; about Ireland, her mother, her Uncle, how she was turned. Rick had taken the information rather well considering. Her story had changed many of his perspectives. What if there were more lycanthropes out there like Mel who wanted to do great things for the world; who were being unjustly mistreated and prejudiced against?
During the course of their year long case, they had also had to pretend to be lovers as part of their cover. Shortly after it was all over, when the air was cleared between them and new doors and windows were opened to each other, they became lovers for real.
Most Detectives and officers will tell you that romance or sex between partners tended to hurt the work, but that was never the case with Rick and Mel. They were one of the most successful undercover case workers the department had ever seen.
Six years into their partnership (four years in which they’d been lovers) they made their bond legal. Rick Gavin was not just Melanie's partner, he was her best friend, her lover, her truest confidante, the mate to her soul, and greatest love. He was the only man she'd ever trusted enough to open her entire life to. He had even been accepted by her father almost immediately.
After their marriage the Brass tried to split them apart and assign them new partners. Their chief and others had vouched their case, though, saying no other team was as successful as Rick and Mel Gavin. To separate them would be a mistake. These objections seemed to fall on deaf ears however, because three months after their nuptials, they were split up. Due to Rick's seniority and experience in UC, he was kept on and assigned a new partner while Melanie was transferred to another squad. She chose Major Case.
In 2006, a few years after their split as partners, they began talks about applying for the new RPIT department. Melanie had been excited about the idea. She had a unique advantage in such instances and it had appealed to her. They wouldn't have time to act on this idea however, for that same year Rick and his new partner, Manuel Chavez, were sent on a high profile undercover case involving drug, human and gun trafficking, prostitution and even money laundering. It was one of those well rounded cases. A smorgasbord of illegal activities. If they managed to shut it down, Rick Gavin would become a household name for years to come.
Almost three years later, Richard was killed during the course of that very same operation...
The few times Melanie had been able to speak with Rick during his case, he'd often sounded desperate and remarked on how he didn't feel right about it. That the whole operation just seemed wrong; there was something off about it. When Melanie had begun to have her own misgivings, she tried to tell him to get out and come home.
She might have lost her magical abilities when she was turned, but she still had an inhumanly high sense of intuition. She knew something was wrong just as much as he did. Mostly, however, he would brush off their feelings to 'paranoia.' He kept saying they were too close to shutting it down. That if he left now all their work and sacrifice would be for nothing.
She wishes now she would have just told him to come home. Forced him to get out. Given him an Ultimatum. He would have found a way to leave if he thought their marriage was on the line. Melanie just wasn't that kind of deceitful or vindictive person, though, sometimes she wishes she was. Maybe then he would still be alive, and she would still have a complete soul, not this half empty shell of a thing she lived with now.
As it turned out Rick's own partner was the leak. Manuel Chavez may not have actually pulled the trigger that blew Rick's brains out, but he was the one who had betrayed him to the bad guys and was therefore responsible in her eyes. Rick had trusted him. To Melanie, such a betrayal was worse than murdering a classroom of preschoolers.
Rick's death devastated Melanie to her very core. She actually went a little insane because of it. It wasn't until after a severely brutal attack on Manuel Chavez that resulted in a three month stint in ICU on his part, followed by a therapeutic ‘intervention’ from Uncle Charlie and a few others from the pack who had sensed her distress, that Melanie was able to think clearly again.
Though she was never tied to Chavez' attack, she was still 'encouraged' to take a six month leave of absence on bereavement pay. Then, per passing a full psych-evaluation, she would be able to return to active duty.
Melanie had taken the bereavement leave, saw the psychiatrist, and was cleared for return to duty. However, she would never be the same. She returned to the force a completely changed woman and Detective. She was colder, harsher, more temperamental and quick to anger. Within a few short months, she realized she could no longer stay in New York or work for the NYPD. It all held far too many bad memories and experiences. Just being in the same State with the man responsible for her husband's murder was too great a temptation for her wolf to withstand.
When they could talk, Rick and her had often spoken about transferring to New York's Preternatural Crimes division. He said that with his expertise, and Melanie's advantage point, they'd be a two person storm of justice. She had actually been thrilled at the prospect. After his last case was over they had planned to apply for a transfer together. So much for that plan. It had been his last goal for them in his life, so she would honour his wishes in his death.
After Chavez's trial where he was eventually found guilty for five different crimes, and sentenced to serve five consecutive terms that equaled about 52 years, Melanie applied for a transfer. She wanted to get as far away from New York as possible without leaving the country. The only place she could find that had a working Preternatural Crimes division was in San Diego, California. She took that as a sign of sorts, she couldn’t get much further away from New York than the other side of the continent.
Weighing her options she applied for a transfer... Now if only it would be that easy.
First she had to go through a new course of training and procedures. She had to be interviewed by the head of the RPIT department... But the most arduous task of all would be appealing to San Diego’s pack Ulfric... She had been in the Alpha standings of her old clan. The only thing that had prevented her from taking an actual Rank was her career. She was respected by her old clan, but many were wary because she was a cop.
Now it looked as though she may be venturing into a whole new load of drama. She might be able to hide her power from other lycanthropes, but sometimes that wasn’t a good thing. Fights tended to happen that way. She really had no desire to fight for a new position, but on the same note she wouldn’t be permitted residence in San Diego without acceptance from the local pack and its Ulfric. It wasn’t in her to back down from someone trying to force their dominance over her, unless said dominance was rightfully deserved. Melanie was pretty good at gauging power and knowing when she was outmatched.
But it was either face a new set of pack politics, or face potential madness from the rage and sorrow New York and all the memories brought her, or even a death sentence for breaking into a state penitentiary and murdering a convict in cold blooded murder.
In this case, she would choose the lesser of two evils. So, after packing away Rick’s and her old life into ten 32" brown boxes which were then placed in storage under her father’s care until she could find a place in San Diego, she sold their condo, packed a few bags and left.
Her father hosted a farewell gathering at his house that mostly consisted of food, condolences, and a plethora of teary goodbyes and fond farewells from a few pack members, some close friends and a couple men from her unit. Her uncle drove her to the airport the same day, where she boarded her plane for San Diego, California and never looked back.
NYPD Undercover had never been as dramatic, dangerous, or difficult. San Diego was somewhat like a preternatural hub town. Obviously she had slim to no idea what she was getting herself into.
Before her husband’s death she wasn’t a closed off person, but now she couldn’t help but keep everything close to her chest. She works to maintain the friendships she has but Melanie is extremely wary when it comes to making new ones.
The only human, apart from her father, she had ever revealed her furry side to was dead. Therefore, she let her secret die with him. Wolves, however, were not meant to live or hunt alone. She would need the closeness of a pack soon if she wished to live through her grief.
||Family||
Husband: Richard Thomas Gavin
Police Detective, Undercover
Nom de Plume: Rick, R.T.
Born: 1965
Died: 2009
Father: Major Jonathan William O'Connell
Army Commander, Special Ops
Nom de Plume: Jon, J.B.
Born: 1946
Mother: Alanna Marie Gallagher-O'Connell
Empath/Witch
Born: 1950
Died: 1983
Uncle: Grant Charles Gallagher
Werewolf(infected age 10), Mercenary/Bounty Hunter
Nom de Plume: Charlie
Born: 1958
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Mel O'Connell || 38 || Lukoi ~ Alpha ~ In the 'Furry' closet|| R.P.I.T. Detective
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better!" ~ Samuel Beckett
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