Warden's: What? Who did you hear that from? We've got plenty.
High Reaches Weyr: Wait, really? s**t. Uh. Well, he's already in a box and on the way... you might want to wait a while before opening it. He's really angry.
ALTERNATIVELY:
Warden's Weyr: Ordered a new batch of numbweed. Received an angry Healer in a box. Would not buy again.
Cordel
Name: Cordel
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Candidate: Yes and no. neutral YEAH FERRET IS DOING ANOTHER STANDS IMPRESSION
Craft/Rank: Master rank Healer
Appearance: A lot of Cordel's priorities are immediately evident upon meeting him. For one thing, he doesn't bother styling his hair. His light brown hair is always rather messily cut short, simply because he doesn't see the point of trying to get it to look nice. It'll just be messy later and every moment he spends fussing over himself is a moment in which he's not saving lives. Same with shaving. On the off-chance he remembers to shave, the job will probably be rather slap-dash. He's one of those men who just has a constant five-o'clock shadow.
He does, however, manage to find time to keep himself trim. He has broad shoulders and a muscular form, due to his time in the army. Some habits die hard. Others never die at all, but are merely hibernating.
His clothes tend to be very simple and in earth tones. Honestly, he rather distrusts people who take the time to look nice, even as he admires their fashion sense. He suspects that they ought to be doing something more important than making themselves look pretty (yeah, he's a hypocrite).
He's about average height, standing at 5'10''. His eyes are a particularly light shade of ice blue.
Art by Pachbel.
Personality: Full of hate and annoyance.
Cordel is an intensely moral and compassionate person. It's just sometimes tricky to see this beneath the layers of snark and occasional cantankerousness. A highly emotional person, Cordel is very much an 'all or nothing' type. It's what makes him a decent Healer; he's willing to put everything into trying to make someone better, regardless of what cost it might exact on himself because he really does care. He is a man who is ruled by his heart rather than his logic. An odd combination for a medical man, perhaps, but one that works for him. The mind is all very well, but mere logic cannot explain love or courage or any of the other wonderful things human beings are capable of. (In fact, one might consider him a bit of a romantic for this; just don't say that to his face.)
While Cordel would like to think of himself as a cynic, he's really too... he just can't. In general, the man is about nine parts bluff, one part action. He may threaten to take away a patient's numbweed if they got on his nerves, but he never would actually go through with any of his threats. Really, he'd just go off grumbling to himself, possibly to enjoy a nice drink when he's off duty. Or several drinks. It's a problem.
Because of his strong beliefs---and even more so because of his strong emotions----he often gets into fights. His moral side prevents him from making many allowances, since he's terrified that such a thing might allow him to go down some slippery slope. This keeps him from being flexible. Between instinct and logic, instinct usually wins out. He's the type of guy to go with his first impulse, even if, later on, that proves to be sort of stupid. Thankfully, his compassion prevents him from doing anything completely deadglowed, like risking someone else's life.
He's extremely stubborn. No, really. Even if he's proven, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that his belief is wrong, he will still defend it. At that point, it's less about his personal belief and more about just plain being right. If he's completely proven wrong, then he'll do his best to pretend it never happened. Admitting he's wrong is just unthinkable for the man.
And, honestly? He's far too involved with his work. You know that guy who will always beat himself up, that he should have done something better, even if he does a perfectly adequate job? That's Cordel. Faranth help him if he ever fails at something. The sheer devotion he gives to his job can overshadow everything else in his life, to the point where someone----an Apprentice, usually, who has pulled the short straw----needs to remind him to eat. Or sleep.
History:
Cordel was born in High Reaches Weyr to Brownrider C'tor and an unknown mother. Presumably someone knows, but Cordel doesn't. He assumes she was a Green or Bluerider who simply didn't want children. Unlike most dragonriders, C'tor decided to raise his son on his own. There were good points. There were bad points. It was just a typical family, only both of their first languages were screaming and stubborn.
C'tor would have liked his son to follow in his footsteps. Being a dragonrider was awesome! Come on, what kid didn't want a firebreathing dragon of their very own? Cordel, that's who. He decided, early on, that he wanted to be a Healer and that was that. At age ten, he outstubborned his father and apprenticed as a Healer.
He proved to be very good at it. Cordel's stubborn tenacity meant that the boy would seize on a problem and not let go. Trying to get him to let go of a problem was like trying to get a terrier to let go: it just wasn't going to happen. At 15, he moved to Healercraft Halls to further his studies and there he met Caysine, 16, another Apprentice. They quickly became boyfriend and girlfriend, or as much as they could given their heavy workloads.
A turn later C'tor died as a result of a fairly serious infection. Needless to say, this did nothing to dissuade Cordel from his path. If anything, it made him try harder to be the best Healer he could. At 17, he walked the tables to become a Journeyman. He and Caysine transferred back to High Reaches Weyr.
But as the saying goes, 'all work and no play made Cordel a pretty lousy boyfriend'. Caysine did her best, but there are only so many times you can hear, 'not now, I'm busy' before you start losing your temper. They did their best to stay together out of love, but it just wasn't working. Fights were frequent, but they were really both exceedingly stubborn.
This isn't always a good thing.
When they finally broke up, Cordel was 27. It should have happened much sooner. If they had broken up sooner, perhaps there wouldn't have been quite so much bitterness between them. Cordel went back to Healer Hall to further his studies again, and to get away from High Reaches Weyr (because when he does dramatic, he <******** does dramatic).
At 30, he walked the tables for his Master rank.
Life was... good for a bit. He was grouchy and cantankerous and among his own kind, in his natural habitat. But, here's the thing about mixing a lot of grouchy and cantankerous people together: they fight. A lot.
In this instance, Cordel lost. Well, in one respect, he won. But, in another larger respect, he lost because he called his superior a '********' and punched him. They disagreed very strenuously. It turns out that punching your superior in the face is sort of a Bad Idea. While no charges were pressed, Cordel was transferred to Warden's.
Because, you know, they needed MORE grumpy Healers.
Other stuff: Yeah, he's another non-official Candidate.
