Cooper Morris

[Cooper]

NAME: Cooper Morris.
NICKNAMES: Coop’ is the most common nickname used when he’s around, though some people have come up with their own twists or variations or abbreviations of his name, and he allows practically anything.
RACE: Werewolf; pureborn.
OCCUPATION: Pack Member.
GENDER: Male.
SKIN COLOUR: Caucasian with a natural tan.
NATIONALITY: American.
AGE: 213, though he appears to be in his twenties, physically.
CLOTHING: Cooper dresses very casually, very comfortably, and always to his own standards, though in good spirits he does let pack mates point out things they find funny, if only because that’s how he ‘ticks’. He doesn’t take anything too seriously, and this most certainly applies to his attire; he can even be seen from time to time in costume, as if he and Guinevere are about to put on one performance or another. He likes just about any colour, averse to none, and will give anything a try at least once, save, of course, for girl’s or women’s clothing. He’s a good sport, but he has to draw the line somewhere. He can most often or not be seen, when he isn’t playing around with costumes, in comfortable shirts or t-shirts, sometimes complete with a casual jacket or something not unlike a blazer, and Cooper is actually the sort who’ll wear a tie without the need for one, the knot always a little sloppy and tightened only up to his top button, which is never fastened, his collar usually open and giving him an air of easy-going nonchalance. He’s fond of jeans and slacks, owning far more pairs than he’ll ever be able to wear, and is very attached to a particular pair of black and white Converse sneakers that he has had for several years; whenever he wears them, the laces are usually seen poking out below the bottom cuffs of whatever pants he’s wearing at the time. Cooper does own a pair of black boots and some shoes for whenever they’re needed, but he’s so comfortable in the sneakers he sees no point in switching them out if he’s happy and they’re not causing a problem. In the way of coats, he owns a simple black cloth jacket that reaches a little past his hips, and has a hood at the back. Finally, though he doesn’t need them, Cooper is quite often seen wearing glasses; he has never needed them, being a pureborn werewolf, but he is quite a quirky creature, and for some reason, likes to wear them.
HEIGHT: 5’10.
WEIGHT: 158lbs.
TATTOOS: None.
PIERCINGS: None.
JEWELLERY: Cooper has nothing he wears with any consistency, and certainly nothing he couldn’t live without; he has a few odd bits and pieces, but nothing worth mentioning.
BODY MODIFICATIONS: Being a pureborn werewolf, he bears no scars from turning, and has actually been rather lucky on this front. If he does have any scars, they are too minimal for even him to recall where they are and what caused them.

WOLF FORM.

BUILD: Cooper looks very much like a run-of-the-mill wolf when in his animal form, albeit a little on the slender side, lean along the torso — though he has a noticeable depth to his chest and some protective ‘bulk’ to his neck which is mostly a result of the close mane — and down the limbs, which end in rather small paws for a werewolf, with an almost elegant frame and composition; he has a narrow face, with average ears and a slim muzzle, but he isn’t to be underestimated. Though he is far from large and lacks the capability that many other werewolves have to walk upright on two legs, Cooper can be just as ferocious and effective, with a lot of speed and stealth and agility packed into his trim wolf form, something that would give him the upper hand against a large and therefore sluggish opponent. He has unremarkable but still deadly fangs housed in his strong jaws, and short but effective claws. Cooper’s wolf form comes complete with a full, thick tail, very bushy and of moderate length, not too unlike a fox’s.
HEIGHT: Quadruped — 3’7.
WEIGHT: 232lbs.
HAIR: Mostly a rusty-brown in colour, not too far from his human shade, his pelt covers his entire body protectively and to insulate, giving him a layer for warmth and to deflect grazed blows; it is thickest around his neck, and throughout his tail. Along his underbelly, around his face, down the underside of his neck and tail and towards the lower portions of his legs, he is a light tan colour rather than the predominant brown, giving a two-tone effect that would make him easier to spot.
EYES: Blue.
DEFINING MARKS: Sleek build, tail and two-tone colouring.

PACK.
PACK: Rayne’s Pack.
POSITION: Pack Member.
TERRITORY: Rayne’s side of Los Angeles.

HAIR.[/i]
LENGTH: A few inches at least, with a few subtle different lengths throughout, just to give it some body. It is shortest around his ears and temples, and down towards his neck, to keep it from irritating him.
STYLE: Cooper spikes his hair during a short process that only requires a little gel or whatever other hair product he has at his disposal, giving him a somewhat youthful and very slightly ‘feral’ appearance.
COLOUR: Brown.

FACIAL HAIR.[/i]
LENGTH: Cooper shaves daily, so if anything, he only ever has the minimum amount of stubble that comes with a day’s worth of growth.
STYLE: Minimal; stubble.

EYES.[/i]
COLOUR: Blue.
ODDITIES: Being a werewolf, Cooper’s eyes, like others of his kind, will shift to those of his wolf in times of mischief or playfulness, if he in pain or if he is experiencing heightened, intense emotions. Of course, given Cooper’s eyes normally, the shift from man to wolf isn’t all that obvious unless of course you count the fact that his animal eyes are much brighter in colour and light than his human ones.

PERSONALITY: A friendly, warm, companionable sort, Cooper thrives on social situations, coming into his own when he is around others and much more inclined to seek out company than to spend any sort of time alone with his thoughts. It isn’t that he is afraid of solidarity, but he is, by nature, a social creature and has never tried to deny it, despite having been on his own for several years in his early youth. Once he got a taste of companionship and the bonds of friendship and family, he never wanted to let go, and this is something that has stuck with him through the decades of his life, only becoming stronger after he met with and joined the pack. They have become his family, at least a majority of them; some are more like distant cousins or some such, but he has a definite circle he would call his best friends and would do anything for. There are some in the pack who, honestly, terrify him, such as the current Omega, a wolf he sees as completely unhinged and dangerous to have around others, but he isn’t one to shout his opinion from the rooftops, much more likely to keep such thoughts to himself, believing them to be judgemental and out of place. A pack should be a family, and he desperately wants the pack to be a family, even though it has become more divided over the years, increasingly so as of late, and with troubling intensity and speed.

Cooper is a creative sort, curious too, always wanting to have his mind on something, even if it is only something as simple as watching his pack mates play a computer game. He is a pacifist at heart — though, just like any pack wolf, he would quickly do his best to help in a fight situation if the need came up; he just knows he wouldn’t be of much use — and so doesn’t really enjoy watching actual training, but computer games are only generated violence, so he doesn’t at all mind partaking in the odd game of Tekken or whatever else might be on offer. Musically inclined, almost ridiculously so, Cooper’s passion and affinity for instruments came about after he joined the pack, when he tried his hand at a few things over the space of several years, quickly becoming adept and even highly skilled with his chosen instruments, especially the trumpet, which quickly claimed the title of favourite for the young male. He is always keen to learn more, and in fact aspires to be as talented with the piano as Lidochka Mikhaylov someday, despite being too nervous to ask her for tips or pointers. Cooper always says he is working up to it, and in fact his closest friends know of his desire to ask, but he simply tells them patience is a virtue, and that it is something that can’t be rushed. He settles for admiring from a distance, respecting the Russian female’s boundaries.

Cooper is the sort to aspire to lots of different people, seeing role models in a group rather than any one individual alone: Samson Aeneas’ ability to ease all tension and make just about anyone laugh; Regina Vienneau’s passion for memorabilia and fashion; Guinevere Ogden’s imagination; Lidochka’s expertise in the pianoforte. Cooper is what some people might call a groupie, but he admires so many different people for such a wide variety of things that perhaps the term doesn’t quite apply. Cooper is also the type to pick up the odd fad or habit; it explains his vast instrumental abilities, as well as the fact that he wears glasses when he doesn’t need them. He also claims that they are something of a ‘disguise’; after all, who would suspect a bespectacled man of being a werewolf?

Because of the time he spent in wolf form in his past, Cooper is much more attuned to the animal within than might be believable of a lycanthrope his age; his body language and mannerisms often hinting at the wolf; a cock of his head, a slight dip in posture — little things that only one versed in wolf or canine body language would really be able to pick up on. He isn’t quick to show the wolf in his eyes — not that it matters, given they are more or less the same colour as those of his human side anyway — or growl, however, preferring to keep such things separate if he can, as connected to his wolf side as he is. It is something that not even Cooper can explain for himself.

WEAKNESSES: As a werewolf, Cooper has the standard weakness that comes with being one, meaning he cannot abide the metal silver, whether it be in proximity or full contact; it nauseates and discomforts, sickens and burns, causes scarring wounds and could infect the blood, which could lead to death if it reached his heart, lungs or brain without being treated. Cooper is in no way a fighter, and in fact every time he holds a weapon any bigger or more powerful than a knife or dagger, his hands start to shake uncontrollably, somewhat ruining any accuracy he would be able to manage in the first place. While he is old enough to control his wolf, he doesn’t really see it as a weapon, despite having used it this way in the past, and would much rather use it as a method of flight rather than to fight, definitely the type to back down and away from a fight, which not only means he is in no way a dominant male, he is easily cowed, and not at all difficult to overpower or intimidate.

Vampires are also a weak point for Cooper, and they rattle him to the core, sparking memories and images that he would much rather leave in the past, and as such, he does his best to steer clear of them, at least when that is easily accomplished and entirely under his control.

ABILITIES: Just like all others of his kind, Cooper has the usual set of perks: heightened senses; increased pain threshold and healing factor; amplified speed, strength, awareness, endurance, grace and agility; the capacity to jump to, from and across great distances without penalty; and of course, the wolf form that is always at his disposal, allowing him to transform at will. Because of his age, Cooper is fully capable of denying the lure of the full moon, able to go through the three peak days of the month without transforming if he so wishes, as well as keeping the animal within at bay during this time. Because of his history, Cooper is also extremely in tune with his wolf, able to call to it with swift ease, a process that seems reachable to him even if and when he is wounded, not something that just any werewolf can manage, especially not for any who aren’t fighters by nature.

Cooper is one of those musically talented individuals that quite often inadvertently annoy some people around them because they can pick up instruments without even really trying; as a result of this ability, Cooper can not only sing extremely well, but can play the piano, the keyboard (though this is an offshoot of the piano, some might say), the bass guitar and the trumpet, the latter being his absolute favourite. He can be found playing or practising with this instrument more than any of the others he is skilled with. He is considering taking up drums as well, but hasn’t gotten around to it yet, quite content for the moment to have four instruments he can play. Cooper is also taking lessons in Greek from pack mate Samson Aeneas, and while he is a long way from mastering the language, he can speak and understand enough to at least comprehend what the Greek pack members say to one another in passing.

WEAPONS: None, save for what he has naturally.

PRIZED POSSESSIONS: Cooper only really prizes, beyond his friends in the pack, his Converse sneakers. He is also clearly attached to his trumpet, but being an optimistic sort, reminds people that it can be replaced if he ever lost it for some reason.

HOME(S): The Four Seasons, along with the rest of the pack.


Continued below…

[Cooper]

HISTORY: Cooper Morris never knew his parents, or any sort of family, and in fact, for several years he didn’t even have a name of his own, never needing one considering he was alone all the time, avoiding civilisation simply because it frightened him; even at a young age, his instincts did their best to keep him protected and alive, and staying away from people seemed the best course of action for someone who had no real way to defend himself. It wasn’t until he inadvertently encountered one Roy Morris that he realised he was in any way different. Roy, a man a little way past his prime, somehow recognised something in the boy he had seen before, and offered him shelter, using body language more than words to communicate to the child that he could be trusted, and that he meant no harm. As luck would have it, the next night saw the first full moon that would hold sway over the boy, and sure enough, he started to change without warning; thankfully, that recognition from Roy had saved him and his wife, and they had lured him into the cellar below their farmhouse before any damage could be done. When the next morning dawned, Roy started the arduous task of teaching the boy not only what he was, but also how to speak and communicate; how to read and write; everything a child his age should know to some level.

Cooper was thirteen when he first got his name. It took some time for him to respond to it, but once he had learned it was his alone, he came whenever he heard the name mentioned, often leading to confused moments where Roy and his wife had to explain that he wasn’t being called so much as spoken about in conversation. Roy’s wife, Lonnie, was a patient, kind woman, who ensured Cooper got fresh, new clothes and enough to eat, and as the months turned to years, she warmed to him as if he were a child of her own. Cooper’s intelligence caught up to the right level with reassuring swiftness, the young werewolf learning things quickly and keenly, always eager to help and be taught, and even when the nights of the full moon rolled around, he could often be found waiting for Roy at the door to the cellar, sitting patiently on the rock beside the hatch so his guardian could seal him in.

Life continued in this manner for several years until Lonnie, quite by surprise, fell pregnant. Roy was, naturally, overjoyed and though it was a bit of a shock to him at first, even Cooper was excited. It did, however, mean things were about to change. Roy explained to Cooper, one day while they fed the chickens, that the baby needed to be completely safe, and that while he could help with that, it also meant they had to be very careful. At first, Cooper thought Roy meant he was going to be a risk to the baby, but the human quickly assured him that he had meant no such thing, and that he even felt better having a werewolf around to help guard the baby. Cooper took comfort in that, spending many an evening over the coming months trying to concoct how he could be of better use, how he could protect and aid the family better. He had come to see it as his job, and his job alone, to watch over them, a strange turn to be sure but perhaps an undeniably instinctual one to a werewolf, even one who had never had a pack.

It was only after Lonnie carried to term and finally delivered a healthy, happy baby girl that Cooper’s — until then secret — ‘plan’ came into action. More and more, Roy and Lonnie saw Cooper not as a young man but as a wolf, looking convincingly like a large, rare breed of dog, perhaps too lean to be an actual wolf and far too obedient and tame. Even when visitors came to see the baby, Cooper was petted and coddled as a pet would be, taking it in almost eagerly, spending many evenings curled up beneath baby Eleonore’s crib. In one of the rare periods where he saw Cooper in human form, Roy asked what was going on. Cooper calmly told him it was the best way he knew to defend them; his senses were sharper, he had claws and teeth, he could protect them as a wolf where he couldn’t as a ‘man’. Roy tried to assure him it wasn’t necessary, that instead of a loyal guardian pet, they he could remain as what they had come to consider an adopted son of sorts. As touched as he was, Cooper insisted. He wanted to keep them safe. They were his family, and this was his way.

And so, as little Eleonore went from bubbly baby to free-spirited little girl, well on her way to becoming a beautiful young woman, she had what many of her friends called the best dog in the world. He never failed to respond to his name, played games that dogs normally only blinked at and walked away from, and never failed to scare off bullies of all shapes and sizes. Eleonore herself was completely oblivious to the fact that her wonderfully rare, beloved dog was anything but a dog, and even Roy and Lonnie had taken to treating Cooper as one, albeit spoiling him rotten and lavishing him with praise and attention, as much as they had when he spent most of his time in human form, if not more so. Cooper only changed back to human form when he became so exhausted with his wolf form that he would have transformed uncontrollably, perhaps ruining the ruse, wandering off alone to do this. Every full moon, Roy would tell his daughter the same story; Cooper had gone to help her Uncle Bradley for a few days and would be back, and sure enough, after the cycle had closed, he was right back at Eleonore’s side. If she ever noticed the significance of the days, she never let on, and this continued well into her teens before anything of consequence really happened in the lives of the Morris family.

Cooper heard it first, a disturbance downstairs in the kitchen of the modest Morris household that had him up and about in a heartbeat. Something was wrong, and as he padded out of Eleonore’s bedroom — a place he spent every night in, only slinking in after the young woman was in bed, and somewhere he left before she went through her morning routine, giving her privacy — the sound rang out again. Someone was in the house.

Territoriality and the instinct to protect and defend had the hackles standing on end along his back as he crept down the stairs and towards the kitchen. The smell of decay and staleness in the air almost made him sneeze, but he pushed on, keeping to the shadows until he saw someone move past the partly-closed doorway. Cooper growled, too quiet for the range of human hearing, and yet, the intruder detected the snarl, pausing behind the door and then opening it. Much to Cooper’s indignation, the man who stood there laughed at him, and then proceeded to backhandedly insult the werewolf: he turned his back on the wolf. Without thinking, Cooper lunged and attacked, managing a halfway decent bite to the man’s shoulder before he was thrown away, to the side and into the kitchen table, splintering it across the floor, leaving him dazed and confused. No man should be able to throw a wolf, and he tasted so wrong, the blood in Cooper’s mouth congealed and almost like glue. As he was struggling to stand from amidst the debris, spitting the foul liquid to the floor, Roy came into the room with his gun, levelling it at the intruder but unable to get a shot off in time, the stranger moving faster than he should have been able to and knocking the weapon aside and to the floor. Cooper panicked, seeing this dangerous man prowling towards Roy and lunged again, sinking his teeth as fast and far as he could into the intruder’s leg below the knee, aiming to cripple and down him, and while it drove a fierce cry out of their enemy, it didn’t floor him. Instead, a vicious strike came down on the side of Cooper’s head, and then across the back of his shoulders, smashing him to the floor where he was kicked away brutally, leaving him completely winded and stunned, unable to think or breathe as a scuffle ensued.

A horrible, choked gargle sounded before Cooper could return to his senses of his own accord, and as he turned wide blue eyes, he saw Roy buckling to the floor, holding his torn neck as blood oozed and rushed free. Giving a snarled howl of anger and desperation, Cooper all but leapt at the trespasser, slamming into his back and knocking him into the cabinets to create enough of a racket for the women upstairs to wake and come crashing down the stairs, even as another figure slunk in through the unlocked back door, unseen by all but scented at least by the struggling werewolf, who fought to clamp his jaws around any available body part, finally managing to tear a good chunk from the first man’s shoulder before he was tossed away again, spitting the ruined flesh away. The second intruder came in from behind, landing a crippling blow in Cooper’s side, cracking rib and completely shattering his ability to focus. He fell, tumbled towards the side of the room, and for only a few moments, his hold on his wolf form wavered; fur receded enough for the flesh beneath to show, rusty-brown giving way to the darker shade of his human, and Eleonore saw the only hint of her pet’s true identity that she would ever get a chance to.

Eleonore rushed to Cooper’s aid, but the intruders caught her halfway, one holding her back while the second figure attacked her mother, who had futilely scrambled for her fallen husband’s gun. She was caught before she could reach it, and Cooper could only watch in agonised horror as the new attacker tore into her throat with his teeth, dropping her and letting her bleed to death as he turned to his companion and the struggling Eleonore. The buckled, pained wolf tried to pick himself up before they could start attacking her, tormenting and demeaning her before one moved in for the strike, and Cooper just couldn’t take it. Even though it hurt him to move at all, he threw himself at the men one more time, losing all control and managing to land a severe, torn and vicious wound in the first one’s side before the second one struck Eleonore to the ground to keep her from running away, keeping hold of her long hair while he kicked Cooper, over and over again, until he literally couldn’t pull himself up from the floor, blood on his tongue and an audible rasp coming with each breath. Screaming and crying, Eleonore tried to get free to do something, but she wasn’t strong enough.

Cooper finally lost consciousness — and in turn his hold on his wolf form — as the man tore into Eleonore, silencing her screams once and for all.

When consciousness finally returned, Cooper was still in pain, but that paled drastically in comparison to the realisation that he hadn’t dreamt a single thing about what he last remembered, as much as he had hoped it in the few seconds while grogginess kept hold of him. He came around to the sight of the Morris family’s pale, ruined bodies on the kitchen floor, Lonnie’s mere inches from where he had collapsed, and Cooper’s voice refused to work when he tried to yell, scrambling away and out the back door to empty his stomach into the nearest flower bed. He remained there, tucked down out of sight, for well over an hour, trying to quell the agony and nausea before he could move again, and when he did, it was with a silent purposefulness that he did so, first dressing himself with clothes from the washing line before even daring to go near the house again. The overwhelming stench of blood and death made him sick again, even when there was nothing left to expel from his body, but he ventured back into the house only to be sure, as much as he hated to do it, that they were definitely beyond help, hating that he hadn’t checked them first before reacting as he had. Indeed, all three Morris family members, Roy, Lonnie and Eleonore, were cold to the touch, their blood pooled and thick on the floor around where they lay.

Cooper couldn’t take it. And yet, despite his wish to leave, to turn his back on the horrific scene and never look upon it again, he couldn’t just leave his family there, lying in their own blood. Still, he understood enough to know that he would undoubtedly be blamed for their deaths; he was known to a few of the family’s friends, and with no witnesses to vouch for his unbelievable part in the event, he would quickly be pinpointed as the only suspect. And so, he did the only thing he could think of. It took him much longer than it should have, perhaps, but he buried the three humans outside the house, in the garden where they had spent many afternoons together. For an hour or so after he was done, he sat there, looking solemnly at their ‘graves’, having no idea what he was to do with his life now that theirs were over.

Finally, after packing only a few days’ worth of clothes, Cooper faced the inevitable, and left the only home he’d ever known, walking in a random direction and not stopping. It was pure, blind luck that had him crossing paths with other werewolves within the space of that following day. The scent of him made them stall, and though they were wary to approach him for the smell of blood and what he would come to learn was vampire, they did indeed approach him, obviously not seeing him as a threat. These were the first werewolves Cooper had ever met, having heard of others through Roy, who had met several in his lifetime in one way or another, and he had to admit he was fascinated; intimidated beyond belief, but still intrigued. Perhaps to make up for the traumatic loss of the family who had taken him in and cared for him, fate favoured him again when he was given the option to stay with their pack, to live with them wherever they might be at any given time.

Cooper, seeing no other real, promising alternatives, accepted the offer and started a whole new learning process. It was another first for him, but there were, thankfully, several other wolves in the pack who were willing to help him, to introduce him to their way of life and to the highs and lows of being in a pack. Cooper quickly learned who to trust and who to steer clear of, who was who and what was what, and though he soon came to favour the group who had come from Argentina in terms of leadership, he held his tongue, not seeing it as his place to offer such a weighty opinion when it already seemed to be such an issue, albeit a hushed one.

Life has continued in this vein for Cooper ever since he joined the pack, control of his wolf achieved, friendships forming and the past becoming just that; the past, something he should and could leave behind him. He has come to remember the Morris family, the kind people who not only gave him his name, but gave him a home and a chance, as they had been in life, not as they were in their last moments. It is something he has kept to himself, not wanting to weigh others down with his own stories. Cooper has most certainly come into his own, becoming a much more lively personality after the darkness of the past, and it is something that has only continued through the years, whether he is learning a new instrument, going through a new phase, or idolising a new pack mate.