Staff

Appearance:

Age: 18
Sex: Male
Race: Human
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 103 pounds
Hair: Strawberry Blonde
Eyes: Violet
Hometown: Kippo Village

Personality:

Cody can be described as a boy who is smart in the ways of books, yet dumb in the ways of the world. Not to say that Cody is wholly innocent to the point of being ignorant, but his world experience is constricted since he's never been outside of Kippo village, thanks to his parent's strict rules. The only times he's able to escape the ho-hum farming community is when he's collecting herbs in the nearby forest...the same forest Elinee once collected herbs in. On rare occasions, he's able to sneak out and find solace in Elinee's now abandoned castle, where he either reads, or simply wanders there to be alone, and organize his thoughts...but that's basically the limit of Cody's world travels. Cody won't admit it, but he has a small resentment towards his parents because they won't let him leave the village, and he longs to see the outside world. To make up for this though, Cody is an avid reader, and has literally gone through every book in the village library, cover to cover, at least three times or more. In fact, if you took a tour of Cody's room, you'd see his bookshelf, which reaches the ceiling, literally crammed with novels. Because of this, Cody has a wide range of knowledge on many useful subjects: herbalism, healing, astronomy, history...you name it, he probably knows something about it. He's especially into the legends of the Mana Tree, where he has taken a special interest. He knows so much about the various Mana Knights, Gemma Knights, and Gemmas themselves that he can see them as real people, and not just figureheads in history.

Cody's persona is one of kindness; he's very warm hearted and gentle, almost giving off an aura of serenity that no one in his village can explain, especially when, according to one of the village girls, "Most of the boys here are total hormonal buttholes." He's soft spoken, is optimistic about most things, keeps sight of his goals and strives to find them, and tries to be friendly with everyone, being incredibly loyal to those who would return his friendship...to the point of risking his life. Despite his gentle persona, Cody does have a sense of humor, and is able to appreciate a good joke and likes to have fun himself, and might crack a small joke here and there. The problem however is that Cody is very, very shy. He tends to get flustered and embarrassed fairly easily, especially around Keylia and Rachel, mostly because of the snubbing and teasing he's received over the course of his lifetime...

Which leads into his second problem...Cody has a slight inferiority complex. He knows for a fact that's he's slightly effeminate and young looking for his age, and the boys in his hometown have teased him endlessly about it. Therefore, if anyone calls him 'girly' or 'a kid', Cody will not react well to it, and is easily hurt. Because of his inferiority complex, different personality to the rest of the village boys, and his mysterious powers as of late, Cody has virtually no friends, and is often lonely. He has a problem speaking up and defending himself because he feels some of this must be his fault. He's has learned to live with it, even though he doesn't think highly in his looks, or even his abilities, which he feels are just 'average and nothing special...anyone can do them'. However, that's really just a lie he tells himself, he's very concerned over his powers and the strange dreams he's been having. He wants to talk to someone about it, but has no where to turn.

Even though Cody manages to keep a straight head most of the time, and is able to get out of tough spots, he can be easily hurt and overwhelmed because of his innocence. If things move too quickly for him, and these events relate to him, he can loose his cool quite easily. He normally doesn't get angry, but isn't afraid to speak his mind when he absolutely has to, but he needs a lot of motivation to do this. Also, even though he doesn't know it, Cody is also a hopeless romantic. Once he falls for a girl, he will do everything in his power to make her feel happy, loved, and most importantly, safe.

Motivations/Goals:

Cody's most important goal right now is to somehow leave Kippo Village and see the world. He feels restricted in the tiny burg, and feels time is running out. He figures life is much greener on the other side of the pasture, and he'll find someplace where he can fit in, and finally have friends. Although he won't mention this straight out to his newfound friends, Cody also wants to travel because he wants to find someone who can explain the strange powers and dreams he's been recently having, since Kippo doesn't hold the answers.

Background:

For as long as Cody can remember, he's lived in a small two story house right in the center of Kippo village, with his older, yet loving parents. His father runs a combination general store/Bed & Breakfast inn, where various fruits, vegetables, herbs, and grains are sold, along with candies and household goods. Furthermore, it's one of the best places in town where a traveler can find a good place to rest (despite the fact that Kippo only has a tourist season in the summer months; the rest of the year is not only incredibly quiet, but dull). His mother also helps out by running the cash register and keeping the store clean, but since both of his parents are older, Cody's also been helping them out by doing odd jobs, such as cooking or playing maid. Although they're not rich, they live comfortably on the second floor of their house, which has a nice view of the village. Things weren't always as idyllic as Cody would have liked, however. Since he was a small infant, Cody's parents have been extremely overprotective of him, almost to the point of being obsessive about it. It wasn't until he was sixteen that he was allowed to walk even a quarter of a mile outside of his village on his own.

Another issue regarding his parents has been eating away at him slowly since he was nine. While cleaning his parent's room upstairs, he rummaged through a drawer for trash and accidentally came across a picture wrapped in tissue paper, shoved in the back of the drawer, in an attempt to hide it from prying eyes. Unwrapping the paper, he gazed upon a picture of a man in his late teens, with a pale complexion and pale blonde hair like his mother's, with deep blue eyes. Standing in a heroic pose, decked out in the garb of a high-ranking soldier, the man was smiling boyishly, as if he had everything under control. Blinking, and realizing how much this man looked like his mother, Cody's eyes gazed down to the bottom of the picture, where, in black ink, he found some writing, which said. "13th Division of The Pandorian Guard, Major Dyluck - Meadow near-" He never finished the sentence, because suddenly the picture was snatched from his hands! It was his mother, who began to yell at him never to touch this picture again, or even mention it. Fearful, Cody agreed and never brought it up in front of his parents, but secretly, he feels this somehow connects to their over-protectiveness, and desperately wants to ask them.

In order to earn his keep, and eventually have some sort of profession once he becomes of age, Cody has been studying herbalism, and has become a very good herbalist. When a villager needs a remedy to cure a cold, a tincture to soothe a burn, or a tonic to remove poison, Cody will know which herbs to mix. He's actually building a small reputation for his art, and his parents have been pushing him to possibly become some sort of doctor. Although lately, Cody's healing knowledge has gone far beyond the art of herbalism. While walking back to his house after a routine herb gathering trip, a young girl fell down some stairs, and cut her leg very badly. Kneeling down next to her, he began to gather his usual set of herbs to slow down blood flow, when suddenly he began to feel incredibly lightheaded. In a daze, his eyes glazed over, he began to mumble a series of ancient words, and the wound glowed with a green light, and healed! Snapping back to reality, he looked up and saw that the townspeople who gathered around the scene stared at Cody in shock, for he cast magic without aid of Wisp, or any elemental!

Labeling him some sort of freak, the town began to fear Cody and his now mysterious power, which he now was able to do without going into any strange trances, and shunned him. The only person who talks to him, outside of his family, is the girl who fell down the stairs. Along with his now growing healing power, Cody has begun to have very vivid nightmares. Sometimes they involve destruction of towns or the world itself, and other times they involve a woman running away from some sort of army in a burning forest, a bundle in her arms...

What is the secret of Cody's newfound powers? The truth will be known, one way or another...

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