TWENTY-FOUR • PSYCHIC • ART HISTORY • SENIOR INVESTIGATOR
Cooper is a feeler, meaning they have the ability to obtain historical memories or sensations concerning beings through objects they observe. They can touch an object and immediately know its history including all ownership, and can communicate with said owners. As well as contributing as a psychic, Cooper has become a senior investigator, in charge of multiple things during an investigation including the organization of psychic abilities and distribution of team members to certain areas.
Stability is a far-off concept to you, because your life has never been the same for long. Growing up, you never lived in one place for more than three years at a time. You became your mother’s travel companion, her partner-in-crime, and you loved seeing the world so much that you never felt the need to plant your roots. With each new place you explored, you made a point of spending the most time in art museums. It was in those museums, surrounded by art and memories, that you learned how to love. You carried the love with you everywhere you went, trying to emulate the art you admired by being open and kind. In the nineteenth year of your adventures, your mother fell ill, and didn’t tell you until she couldn’t walk. When you could, you brought her back to her childhood home in Oregon. You spent the year by her side, willing her to get better, but even you couldn’t convince death to wait. For weeks after her passing you felt lost – and then you realized she hadn’t really left. You felt her in her photographs, in your art, and you talked to her through them too. Realizing that your best friend would never really be lost, you felt overwhelmed with purpose. You started using your abilities to help others, seeking out the grieving and the lost in an attempt to give them a light, and that’s exactly what you intend to do with Visitation.
For most of their life, Cooper lived in an alternate reality where it was possible to travel the world and still live in a bubble. Though their life was anything but conventional — a nameless father, a travel photographer for a mother, no place to really call home — they never thought of it as anything but perfect. Their mother brought them along to amazing places, places filled with art and culture and a million photo opportunities. Going everywhere with their mother and being homeschooled by her, it was only natural that the two of them became inseparable best friends. Cooper’s mother always encouraged them to express themself, to live how they wanted, and did her best to give them a life full of stories.
Though homeschooling was good, Cooper really learned through the people they met and the things they saw. They found who they were through art and good conversations. Even though people never stayed in their life for long, they knew every person they met was important and in their life for a reason. They felt the same about the art they saw. Certain pieces would consume them — they would drown in research and admiration — and then they would move on to different art. This constant change and satiation of curiosity felt vital to Cooper, and seemed like all they needed for the rest of their life.
When Cooper was nineteen, a tragedy burst the bubble they’d been living in. They’d never even thought of the day that their adventures with their mother would end. It seemed odd, really, because their mother had always seemed unstoppable. They didn’t think it was possible for her strength to be stripped from her — not until they watched her collapse in the middle of Fisherman’s Bastion in Budapest. As it turned out, she’d been concealing her sickness for a couple of months, and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Before they could get many details, Cooper’s mother insisted on being discharged and heading home to Oregon. Following their mother’s instructions, Cooper waited for her to feel well enough to travel and brought her to stay with her sister in Beaverton.
Cooper had always clung to art and their ability to create, but during the worst months of their mother’s sickness they felt it impossible to touch a canvas. They didn’t know how to comprehend such a painful feeling, so they didn’t. Instead, they just went through the motions. They brought their mother to treatment, took care of her at home, and managed her life for her when she couldn’t. Usually, Cooper easily connected with people and helped carry them through tough times, but they found it impossible to bond with their aunt and the family they were staying with. They’d been away for so long that those people didn’t feel like family, and the place didn’t feel like home. The only person they could claim as family was their mother, and she slipped through their fingers before they had a chance to process anything.
For months, Cooper was aimless. They mostly spent their time in their aunt’s basement, staring at empty canvases and missing their mother. Then they finally brought themself to look through their mother’s things, and something was different. After uncovering her favorite photo and holding it in their hands, they saw her — they felt her. They sensed her regret, the feeling that she’d left too soon. In an instant, it became their sole purpose to strengthen their spirituality until they could have full conversations with her. They took months to center themself, investing in crystals and herbs, and taking the time to meditate. Luckily, this worked.
They finally got their closure after several conversations with their mother’s spirit, who willed them to keep moving forward and sharing their light with others. Just as they always had, they respected her wishes — but it was more than that. Cooper wanted to help people because they felt it was their purpose, because it might have been the only thing that could save them. They started using art as a way to get in touch with spirits, lurking late in art museums and even seeing clients to speak with their loved ones. Their motivation was stronger than ever, and this time they didn’t need constant change of scenery to feel normal.
Two years after their mother’s death, they decided to leave the little inheritance she gave them to go to school. They hated convention and rules, but they were desperate to keep moving forward and learning. Even though they’d been helping people, it felt as though they’d spent the last few years standing still. Reed College seemed like the perfect place to start the next leg of their journey. The reputation it held for drugs and lack of supervision spoke volumes to Cooper, and the rumors of hauntings convinced them even more. Now, Cooper still has very little idea of what the future holds for them, but they like that. They love their major, their friends, the parties, and now they’re more than excited to be putting their psychic abilities to use again.
Cooper is finally back to living inside their rose-colored bubble, back to being fearless and free, and they do it all knowing it’s what their mother would want.
TAMSIN, secret student — Because you’re so in tune with your abilities, you can tell Tamsin isn’t. You aren’t sure if it’s a hoax or a real misunderstanding on Tamsin’s part, but you aren’t about to rat anyone out. Instead, you’ve spent months dropping helpful hints: how to strengthen psychic abilities, how to make others believe you’ve strengthened your psychic abilities, and really any piece of advice you can share without giving away that you know.
OWEN, lost soul — You can’t deny that you have a slight Superman complex, and you might be projecting too much onto Owen, but you want more than anything to help him. You can sense his fear, and you want to solve it, but he seems to be building a wall that he doesn’t want you to climb. You want to respect that – everyone has their boundaries – but you see a potential in Owen that makes it hard not to keep an eye on him.
COOPER IS PORTRAYED BY ZOË KRAVITZ & IS TAKEN BY ADMIN MADDIE
