#interactions: copper

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Astrid ( @hexstrom ) Location: Lilla Bakstugan

Copper felt a little like he was cheating on Reagan's bakery. Just Like Heaven was his usual bakery of choice, but ever since he'd seen Lilia Bakstugan opening, he had been intrigued. What kind of baked goods did they have, and how did this bakery differ from his usual spot? Those were questions Copper had been wondering, but he'd not found the time to go (plus there was that sense of guilt, which Copper knew was ridiculous - there was room for two bakeries in Cardinal Hill, and his heart too). So now he was finally here, and Copper entered the bakery excitedly, eager to see what kind of new baked goods he could try.

Upon entering the bakery, Copper noticed several key differences between this bakery and Just Like Heaven, which supported his assertion that there was room for two bakeries in Cardinal Hill; that was especially true given the differences between them. And it wasn't just the atmosphere that was different, it was the selection in the bakery cases too. Most of these were different from Reagan's, and as Copper knelt down and perused the different options, he said to the person behind the counter, "Between this place and Just Like Heaven, I'm going to need to spend even more time at the gym. Worth it though." He stood upright to face the person, saying, "My name is Copper. Are you new here in Cardinal Hill? I just recently noticed this place, though I haven't been here long myself."

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Corey ( @innocentcurse ) Location: Orion's Reach

Maybe April was too early for this kind of thing. Although the weather had been warmer in recent days, the weather was still unpredictable, and tonight was proof of that. "Sorry," Copper told Corey. "It's colder than I thought it would be." The two of them were lying on a blanket outside the observatory, and the first part of the date had been amazing. Copper had paid for a private session, and he'd shown Corey all the different constellations that they could see this time of year. It was nice being able to share something he loved with someone he...well...with Corey. It wasn't something he'd really done since coming to Cardinal Hill or even in the last couple of years because truthfully it had felt wrong to do with someone other than his dad - or Damon. So even though Corey might not have realized it, this was actually a really big step for Copper. He had been worried it wouldn't feel right, but it turned out that wasn't the case because it actually felt perfect. This had been the right thing.

Now that their allotted time with the telescope was done though, Copper and Corey were outside the observatory lying on a blanket together, looking up to the stars, and it was cold, much colder than the last several nights. "I used to always do this," Copper told Corey, looking over at him instead of up at the sky. "Every year, I used to try and go out before it was really warm enough to do it, and every year, my dad would go with me. And then...eventually Damon would too. They used to give me such a hard time about it too." Copper laughed at the memory, but his chest still pricked with pain at bringing up Damon. Although Corey knew the full story now, a relief Copper wasn't taking for granted, it was still difficult to talk about his late husband. But Copper was trying to because Damon deserved that - he deserved to be remembered, for as many people as possible to know what a wonderful man he'd been. "Damon even started to bring a thermos of hot chocolate because he knew we'd need it," Copper went on, laughing, and then he rolled on his side to face Corey. "He was thoughtful like that...like you too. I think that's the first thing I fell for when you and I met, you know?" Copper reached over and rested his hand on Corey's chest, moving closer to him, and then he leaned in and kissed him softly.

"You know...it meant a lot to me what you said that day of the snowstorm," Copper told Corey, laughing a little as he added, "Yeah, I know that came out of nowhere, but I've been thinking about it a lot since then. I just...sort of needed to process everything. This...this isn't easy for me, sweetheart, but I'm trying because you make me happier than anything. And it means so much that you still want me in spite of everything I told you that day." When he was done, Copper moved even closer, he and Corey pressed against each other now, and Copper nestled in against Corey's neck and shoulder. "It's funny," he said, "I'm a writer, but I'm not good with words when it comes to talking about how I feel. But I hope you know you mean so much to me. I'm not lucky, not like people say I am for surviving. But I'm lucky I met you, and I'm so fucking lucky to be able to call you my boyfriend." It was the first time Copper had actually referred to Corey as such despite the fact that that had long been the case, basically since they had met.

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Aris ( @hearthandhallows ) Location: Copper's house

This was the day, and Copper could barely believe that he was about to be living under the same roof as his brother again. When he had left Maine, Copper hadn't expected that to happen nearly so soon, if ever. Truthfully Copper hadn't even known when he'd see Aris again, let alone live with him. But here they were. Upstairs and down the hall from Copper's own bedroom (the master suite), Copper stood in the doorway of Aris's new bedroom, leaning against the door and crossing his arms. "Sorry you've got one of the smaller bedrooms," Copper told Aris. "Clover got the second biggest when he moved in, so...yeah. I guess you should have found me sooner if you wanted the bigger bedroom." Copper laughed, though he knew Aris had found him as fast as he could. He walked into Aris's bedroom, sitting on his bed and looking around. "Did you ever think we'd be living together again?" he asked his brother.

It was so wild the way they had found themselves here in Cardinal Hill, and Copper had never thought this would be how his life went. He had never thought he'd be a widower, that he would have nearly been murdered, that'd he'd flee his stalker and move to the opposite side of the country or that he would even have a stalker. But that was what happened, and now they were both living in the place his biological mother was from. "You know what's kind of wild," Copper said. "Think about it. If my bio mom hadn't left Cardinal Hill, hadn't been such a free spirit who wanted to see the world before becoming a mother, I might have lived here my entire life." The thought of that was so upsetting because Copper couldn't imagine not having his family. "It kind of makes it feel like it was meant to be, all of us being a family I mean," he said, and Copper thought that it was meant to be.

Now Copper showed Aris what he'd been holding when he walked in. "Have I ever done a reading for you?" Copper asked, showing Aris his tarot cards. "I thought it would be a good way to start this new era of Copper and Aris. And yes, my name is first because it just sounds better."

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Corey ( @innocentcurse ) Response to plot 6 and prompt 5 Starting location: Copper's house

Eyes snapping open, Copper felt the presence in his room before he saw it. There in the corner of his bedroom was a figure, at first shrouded in shadow, and Copper at first thought he must be dreaming. But this didn't feel like a dream, and seconds later, the figure stepped forward a bit into the light from the rising sun, and Copper felt like he'd been plunged into icy cold water. He backed away against his headboard in terror, his heart racing so fast he literally felt like it might stop, and it just felt like this was it. This was how it ended. Neil had found him, and now it was time for him to reunite with Damon. There was some comfort to be had in that, but only for a moment, and then Copper felt a newfound sense of resolve surge through him. There was no way he was going to go out like this; there was no way he was going to let Neil win. No, Copper was going to fight, and looking at Neil with a steely expression, Copper climbed out of bed.

But before he could do anything, the figure changed. It was no longer Neil and was now instead a woman Copper didn't recognize. What the fuck? he thought, stunned, and then Copper took in the sight of her. There was something...off about her, something other than the fact that she was mysteriously in his room and - even more mysteriously - had just been Copper's stalker. It was like she felt out of phase with reality, like she was walking through the in between place of this world and a shadow world just out of sight. "What do you want?" Copper asked, but the only response the woman gave was a sudden maniacal laughter. It caught him off-guard, and Copper backed away against the wall. There was something not right about this woman, and the longer she laughed, the more unnerved he became until suddenly she was gone, and Copper was alone once more. For a moment, Copper just looked at the spot where the woman had been, and then he said, "Nope," and walked out of his bedroom.

Downstairs, Copper looked out the window, stunned by what he was seeing. There was so much snow, all over, covering everything, and if it hadn't been for the weird...vision? Is that what that was?, then he would have just enjoyed the quiet beauty of it. But all Copper could think about now was checking on the people he cared about in Cardinal Hill, and the first person he thought of was Corey. So Copper grabbed his phone off the receiver and dialed the man's number, but once Copper put the phone to his ear, he realized he had a problem: there was no dial tone. Well shit, Copper thought. What was he going to do now?

As it turned out, it took very little time for Copper to decide. That was how he found himself trudging through the snow. He'd brushed his teeth and gotten dressed, but one look at the mass amount of snow in his driveway and on the street told Copper he wasn't going to be driving to Corey's place. So he pushed through the snow with singular focus. Was this foolish? Yes, yes it was? But did Copper doubt his decision? Not even for a second. He kept thoughts of Corey in his head as the journey became more and more difficult as fatigue and cold seeped through his skin and into his bones, his steps getting slower and more labored with each passing minute. Snow was still falling too, albeit likely not as heavily as it had overnight, but it was enough to limit visibility. More than once, Copper thought he'd seen Corey's home coming into view before realizing it wasn't. The walk was even more difficult than Copper had expected, but he kept pushing; he had to get to Corey.

Finally, like an oasis in the desert, Corey's home came into view. "Fucking finally," Copper muttered, his lips chapped from the cold, face red, entire body aching. It was a good thing he was there because Copper didn't know how much longer he could walk. Walking up the front steps, Copper knocked on the door, yelling, "Corey! Corey, it's me! Are you there?" Please be there, Copper thought. He needed to know that Corey was okay. And then the door opened, and Copper collapsed into the entryway. "I...walked here," Copper said, looking up at Corey, panting, heart pounding. "It's...it's really fucking cold out there," he panted, and then Copper grabbed Corey and pulled him down gently, wrapping his arms around him. "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered into the crook of Corey's neck.

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Morgan ( @pandemoniumfm ) Location: Copper's house

Stumbling into his house, Copper made sure to pull his lips off of Morgan's long enough to lock his door, and then they were back at it. It had felt like pure luck to run into Morgan at the bar tonight. Truthfully Copper had been craving some...companionship, and that had been the whole reason he was at Breaking Glass. And as luck would have it (or was it fate?), Morgan had been there. Since coming to Cardinal Hill, Copper had enjoyed the man's company on more than one occasion, and he had yet to have a bad time with him. Not only was Morgan incredibly sexy, but he was also just a fun guy, bright and happy; it was difficult not to smile around him, or at least that was the case so far.

It hadn't taken much convincing to get Morgan to agree to go back to his place with him, which had been nice because it showed he'd had fun with Copper during their past liasions too. And now here they were in Copper's house, making out and pawing at each other like two horny teenagers. Briefly Copper wondered if Clover was home, hoping not to traumatize him; he'd have to make sure to get Morgan up to his bedroom before any clothing came off. That turned out to be difficult to do while making out, so Copper had broken the kiss to say, "Upstairs," and then he grabbed Morgan's hand and pulled him there. A few moments later, they were in Copper's bedroom, and the tumbled onto his bed as they began making out again. Copper pulled away long enough to pull his shirt off, grabbing at Morgan's and saying, "You're overdressed."

But then something unexpected happened. As they began making out, Copper felt Morgan's right hand on Copper's left, and then he felt Morgan's fingers against his own ring finger. The problem with that was Morgan had started feeling the indent in his finger from Copper's wedding ring. He still work it a lot of the time, so it was pretty clear what it was, at least Copper thought so. And it seemed like Morgan had noticed it too because now they were no longer making out. "I can explain that," Copper told Morgan. "I'm not like...secretly married or something." Well, he kind of was; Copper still considered himself married since it wasn't like Damon had left him willingly. Being a widower was so complicated sometimes.

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Silas ( @ritualove ) Location: The Twilight Cauldron

This was going to be just like any other day. That's what Copper thought at least. He was working the counter today at The Twilight Cauldron - one of his baristas had called off, and the replacement hadn't come in yet - and it was turning out to be kind of slow. The evening wasn't their busiest time of day - they were busier in the morning and at lunch time - so that wasn't so surprising, but it meant Copper was bored. He'd done everything he could think of to do, like making sure the bakery items in the display case were aligned just right, sweeping up, that sort of thing, and now all he had to do was lean against the counter and wait for a customer to arrive. You should have brought a book, Copper thought, sighing. When he'd left Maine, Copper had brought as many books as he could, so he had plenty to read, plus he could always go to the local bookstore. Even though Copper hadn't been able to write horror - or anything really - since...well, it happened, he still liked reading that genre. Copper was sure he had something from Silas Adams that he could re-read.

There's Silas now, Copper thought, smiling at the sight of the man walking into the shop. A moment later, Copper stood up in shock, realizing exactly what he was seeing. Silas fucking Adams was walking into his shop. Holy shit. Now he was beaming, and as the man walked in, Copper replied, "I can't believe you're in my shop right now. I'm a huge fan of yours."

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter: Clover ( @puddlexdeep ) Location: Copper's house

The oven timer went off, and Copper - clad in oven mitts - opened the oven door and took out the pizza. This was sort of his specialty, and it reminded Copper of the first time he met Clover. They'd had pizza that night too, and the memory brought a smile to Copper's face. He had had no idea back then how their friendship would progress; when Copper has offered for Clover to spend the night that night, he had never thought it would just become a thing. But it had: Clover hadn't left. He'd just kept staying, night after night, and Copper had found no reason to bring it up because he honestly liked having Clover there. It was nice having someone to talk to after a long day at the shop or to have breakfast with in the morning or just to hang out with and watch TV or talk. But the longer this arrangement went on, the more Copper felt like he should finally address it, a conversation he was weirdly nervous about. What if Clover thought Copper was asking because he wanted him to leave? That was the exact opposite of what Copper wanted, and he hoped by making pizza for them it would help break the ice so to speak.

Once the pizza had cooled down, Copper called to Clover in his bedroom. "Pizza's ready," he yelled, cutting the pizza using his trusty pizza cutter - that thing had seen a lot of use. He got some plates out of the cabinet and waited for Clover, mentally preparing himself for the conversation he was about to have: Copper was going to ask his friend if he wanted to just make this arrangement official.

[blackcatxmagic]

Closed starter for Aristotle McIntyre ( @veilxstars ) Location: Downtown Cardinal Hill

It was because of the dreams he'd been having. That's what Copper told himself when he saw him passing by outside The Twilight Cauldron. There was simply no way it could be him, and Copper knew it was because he'd been dreaming about his family so much lately. For the last several days, Copper had been dreaming what felt like the entire night long every night, and many of those dreams featured his family. Of the ones that did, they were usually more like nightmares, and Copper was always so troubled when he woke from those ones. But sometimes Copper dreamt happy dreams about his family (as well as his friends and especially Damon), sometimes memories, sometimes dreamy scenarios that had never actually happened. When he really thought about it, Copper realized that Aris in particular was featured in his dreams, and what was more, he seemed to be growing clearer and clearer each time. It was like Aris was walking through a fog toward him, his features clearing as he got closer and closer - like he was coming toward him. It was like watching a movie where everyone else was hazy, but Aris was clear as day. It was peculiar, but Copper hadn't made much of it, and he knew that was why he thought he had seen Aris.

So Copper forgot about the faux sighting of his brother, convincing himself - well mostly - that he had imagined it, that the guy was someone who just looked like his brother. But he thought about Aris all day, missing him and his family and everyone he had left behind in Maine, and he wished he could see them again. He talked to them on the phone sometimes, never telling them where he was, but it wasn't the same - Copper wanted his family. This is for their own good, he told himself, sighing. He had run to protect the people left in his life. Even so, Copper couldn't ignore the small twinge of disappointment at the fact that the person he'd seen wasn't his brother.

The next time was harder to rationalize. Copper was leaving The Twilight Cauldron later that day, walking toward Shadow's Curiosities (it was on his way to where he was going), and as he got nearer, Copper saw someone duck inside the shop. It was that same someone he had seen earlier. What the fuck? Copper thought. Reaching the shop, he was tempted to go inside and get a closer look at the man, but he was almost afraid, unsure if he wanted it to be Aris or not. So many thoughts and feelings rushed through him, and Copper decided to push them down, instead going to the gym to workout all his troubled thoughts.

It wasn't until Copper was leaving Pure Leaf Alchemy later that day that he knew enough was enough. The moment he stepped outside, Copper saw the man across the street. Though his back was to him, Copper was getting serious Aris vibes from the guy, and whether this was his brother or not, it seemed like the universe wanted them to run into each other; he couldn't ignore three times in a single day. So Copper hurried across the street - almost getting hit by a car in the process - and just before he reached the man he realized with certainty that this most definitely was his brother. "Aristotle Locke McIntyre, what the actual fuck are you doing here?!" Copper exclaimed, grabbing Aris's shoulder and spinning him around. Now his dreams made sense, at least the ones with Aris: they were foretelling his arrival in Cardinal Hill, and Copper thought he should have known that was what they meant. For a moment, Copper just looked at his big brother, overcome with a variety of conflicting emotions. While he was glad to see his brother - so very glad - Copper was also troubled. The whole reason he had run from Maine was to protect his family, knowing Neil would follow him, and now Aris was putting himself in the line of fire just by being here. "I...I don't even know what to say," Copper said, and it was true: he was stunned. But despite the fact that part of him was angry, Copper couldn't help himself: he hugged Aris tightly, letting out a months-long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I told you not to look for me," Copper said quietly as they hugged, though there was no malice there.