The Cooper Family

Once upon a time a man met a woman.  They fell in love, got married, and celebrated a new addition to the family...eight times.  Then, one day after the oldest child left home to serve in the military, the man and the woman died in a tragic accident.  While returning home from visiting friends, they were caught in a thunderstorm.  The rain weakened a hillside, and the resultant landslide knocked their car from the road, tumbling it down into a ravine where they were buried under the muddy earth.  By the time anyone realized anything was wrong, it was too late.

Their firstborn child, a son, could do nothing, stationed as he was overseas and on a top-secret mission for military intelligence.  So, care for her younger siblings fell to the oldest daughter, Louisa Cooper.  Having recently graduated from high school, she gave up her scholarship to university to enter the workforce and support her family.  One by one, as each Cooper kid graduated from high school, they also entered the workforce.  However, because of Louisa's sacrifice, they were also able to attend university.

Around the time that the third child, Paul, graduated from high school, the oldest son finally learned what had happened and tried to send his pay home to help support the family.  Louisa, however, sent the money back, insisting that they were fine.  Besides, she told him, he was living alone and would need to support himself as well, while all of them were contributing to their bank account.  Though this initially caused bad feelings between the two oldest, they both finally agreed to disagree about the money and left it at that.

After the youngest sibling graduated from high school, Louisa made the decision to sell the house and relocate the family to Old Town, where the money from the house sale along with all their savings was enough to buy a new house and make the renovations needed to comfortable fit them all.  With the little money left over, Louisa was able to return to school part time.  Eventually, she put the skills she had developed raising her siblings to practical use and went into the culinary industry.  Even though she opened her own restaurant and now has a nice income as a Celebrity Chef, she never did get her college diploma.

About the time she opened her restaurant, her next younger sister went on a trip to Europe, fell in love, and never returned.

A strange gift had long run through the family, though it was stronger in some than in others.  Paul, the next brother Werner, and the third sister Tabitha, were strongest of all, and they put their paranormal abilities to good use.  All three rose quickly to become Exorcists, and their daily salary was a welcome influx to their dwindling savings.

The youngest daughter, Jasmine, though she shared her siblings' abilities, was more interested in finding out how they worked than in actually using them.  In order to do so, she went into the sciences, eventually becoming a Theorist.  She still hasn't quite figured out how their powers work, but it hasn't been from lack of trying--the older three are tired of being her guinea pigs.

The youngest of the family, Kurt, had done some modeling while in high school and decided to pursue a career in fashion full-time.  Capitalizing on his handsome good looks and his youthful innocence, he was the spokesmodel for numerous advertising campaigns.  Knowing, however, that the his youth wouldn't last forever, he began looking beyond just being a pretty face.  In short order he became a Fashion Columnist, though he does do a bit of modeling on the side now and again.

Just before Kurt's career took off, the family received word that their oldest brother had fallen in love with a nurse at a military hospital...a nurse who just happened to have family in Old Town.  Then they found out that their brother had married the nurse and now had a son.  Then, shortly after Kurt became a Fashion Columnist, they received word that their brother, his wife, and his mother-in-law had died in a car accident.  After the funeral, they learned that their previously unknown nephew, Hayden, would be moving in with his mother's family, the Rutherfords, in Old Town.  Happy that this last connection to their brother would be nearby, the Coopers met with the Rutherfords--previously unknown to them--and became good friends.

Shortly thereafter, their missing sister, Kimberly, showed up on their doorstep with her son Ethan in tow.  She said only that they needed a place to live.  Louisa accepted her back into the household, though it did require a bit of shuffling to manage the sleeping arrangements.  Kimberly said nothing about her sudden reappearance, and no one asked.  However, Paul and Werner were able to divine out a few things from what little Kimberly did say about Ethan's father--that he was a violent, possessive, obsessive drunkard who had been nice at first but showed his true nature shortly after Ethan's birth.  She had fled upon learning that their marriage was invalid since he had apparently been married to another woman--a woman who had left him and whom he was always trying to track down, which was why Kimberly had been able to slip away before Ethan's first birthday.  They had been running ever since.  As to the name of her husband, Kimberly muttered something like "shameful" and "nasty," but her brothers were able to determine that his real name was Shamus Nast.

Although Kimberly feared being discovered by Nast--she had learned that now he was searching for her as well as his wife--she was determined to make a living for herself.  Supported by family and friends--some of whom belonged to the wealthiest and most powerful of families in Old Town--she has begun pursuing a career in Medicine, with hopes of becoming a Medical Researcher some time in the near future.

Ethan doesn't remember anything about his father except that he didn't like him at all.  He much prefers having three uncles who treat him nicely like a human being, not an insect to be stepped on.