OC QUESTION!
Why is Shepherd the best dad?
BARK BARK WOOF BARK I'M RABID
This is the best question to ask I love Shepard so much. I will try to condense his backstory!
Smth smth Shepard was friends with another cosmicat named Tirap for years before this. They end up as next door neighbors! Great for hanging out and smoking together. Tirap is a cigarette smoker and Shepard would dabble in weed when they hung out. This is important for later.
Anyway!
Shepard is an integrated cosmicat, meaning he has taken a place in human society and conforms to human norms. He wears clothes, he has a house, he has a job, and he got married. Cosmicats didn't have marriage, but he liked the idea. So, he marries a feline cosmicat named [I DON'T REMEMBER]. They have a son together, Songbird. They are the perfect low-income nuclear family.
Then, Shepard takes Song to his first pride festival. It's probably the second one ever in the city so he is very excited. As a new dad, he is wearing a "free dad hugs" shirt. Ibex, drunk off his rocker and overly emotional to be at his own first pride festival, sees Shepard and goes in for the hug. He immediately starts sobbing and Shepard takes the time to comfort him. Ibex is the second cosmicat Shepard meets in this city. They hit it off and become friends. Ibex sort of awkwardly hangs around Shep and his wife and child the rest of the festival. Shepard drives him home since Ibex has had a drink in his claw the second he arrived at the festival.
Song's mom changes after a few years. She becomes controlling, bossy, and unreasonable. She lashes out at Shepard often and he bends to her will. She loses her temper at their son, distressing him. Shepard tries to keep both his wife and son happy but it's exhausting. [WIFE] starts to hate Ibex, saying he is bad influence on their son because he is drunk all the time. Shepard does agree, painfully, and gives Ibex an ultimatum: get sober or we can't be friends anymore. Ibex fights back but eventually decides his friendship is more important and gets on the road to recovery.
Then The Event happens. On Song's 9th birthday, he had a little outdoor birthday party in his neighborhood. Tirap, a close family friend, shows up and tells Song he has a present for him but he's gonna get in his car. Song, of course, goes with him. Nobody notices his absence for a while. Tirap drives him to a house Song had never seen before but Tirap has a key. I don't want to go into details but Song is reported missing and Shepard and his wife freak out for days and days. Then they enter the grieving process.
A few months after that happens, Shepard and his wife get divorced. Shepard is distraught by this since his wife was all he had left. He falls into a deeper depression than before and completely gives up on life. Ibex is coming over daily to help him take care of himself. Shepard gets into sleeping around (might retcon that cuz it doesn't feel like him). He considers suicide and almost goes through with it one day. Luckily, he calls Ibex instead and they hang out <3.
A year and two months after first disappearing, Song comes home. He knocks on the door to his house and Shepard opens it. He is in shock. Falls to his knees sobbing and hugging his son. Song is obviously in terrible shape. Hair grown out, malnourished, smells like cigarettes, blood staining his fur. He takes Song to the hospital and the police come since it's a missing person case.
Long story short, Tirap kidnapped Song and was sexually abusing him. Song is completely shaken up. Can't sleep at night, having nightmares and wetting the bed when he does sleep, having panic attacks, all the classic stuff. Shepard, now poor as hell from not working for like 9 months and now being a one income household, tries his best to get Song into therapy but it's so expensive. Song does get a good couple months of it before Shepard simply can't pay anymore. He feels so so so guilty for this to this day. Ibex helps support him and Song through it all. Shepard becomes very protective of Song and suspicious of Ibex. If Tirap could do this to his son, what could his other best friend do?
The rest gets complicated cuz Song leaves home to be in Pen's pack at age 13 and doesn't see his dad for years. But when they reunite, it is sooo heart warming. Shepard is so proud of who his son became and how well he has coped with his trauma. Song still struggles to this day, obviously. He has nightmares and flashbacks and certain things will trigger him (ex: the smell of cigarettes, Tirap's name, basements, etc). But now he has his dad to support him.
And, SURPRISE YAOI, Shepard and Ibex start dating. I think Ibex has had a small crush on Shepard since they met and it got stronger and weaker over the years, depending on how hard the times were. But eventually they both kinda realized they love each other. Then, SURPRISE POLYAMORY, they both got crushes on Kumunu and talked about it and asked him to join them so now they're a throuple! And they adopted a son, Somnus! He was 6 years old when they adopted him and he turned 12 this year (Jesus they really do grow up fast).
Since he's in middle school now, I can also tell you guys about his friend, Snewbirdge, if you would like. I've had his arc planned for years.
I think that's about it? Feel free to ask more questions!! I know my OC lore like the back of my hand dawg
--
TL;DR: after Songbird has a traumatizing year, Shepard steps up to give him the best life he can. He does everything for his son and loves him dearly. He is such a dad, that after his son left home to go be in a cosmicat pack, he adopted another child to fill his home again. Song and Shep are closer than ever. Song can tell his dad anything. I love them I'm so insane about Shepard. Also, oops, he has paranoid personality disorder now uh oh.