Cody Dirkheim

Name: Cody Dirkheim

Age: 30

Sex: Male

Basic physical appearance and attributes: (this should include at least one major weakness) 5’ 8” tall, average build, bright (naturally) red and wavy hair he tends to keep cropped short. His clothing is typical of the average wasteland dweller, but he is most often noticed due to his penchant for flashy accessories. He is a problem solver and due to his profession, very good at keeping calm under pressure and making snap decisions in critical situations. However, he is not a skilled fighter by any stretch and carries a weapon for self defense purposes only.

Weapons and armour: (this is limited to Primary, Secondary, and sidearm, and one set of armour/equipment) Weight modified aluminum baseball bat (i.e. heavier than standard). Other equipment includes a large duffel bag containing all manner of surgical tools, chems/medicines, dressings, and assorted medical texts and articles. Separate suitcase containing an array of hats, ties, pin-on flowers, and other clothing accessories.

Personality: (must include some kind of flaw) Extraverted and witty, Cody knows how to work a party. He uses bubbliness to cover up his insecurity surrounding his sexuality, and tends to trust absolutely no one. As a surgeon and medical professional, he often focuses very hard on attention to detail and occasionally loses sight of the big picture, which can make those who are close to him have difficulty reasoning and relating to him.

Occupation: Surgeon/travelling medic.

Faction: Grayditch.

Backstory: Cody was born in the Commonwealth to two very intelligent, very socially-conscious individuals. His mother, Wendy, was a surgeon, and his father, Gordon, a nurse. His parents worked at the hospital they met at, and in the wasteland, there was never a shortage of patients. As a result, Cody spent his childhood wandering the unused halls and rooms of the ruined hospital while his parents worked, sometimes on his own, and sometimes with a boy close to his age named Julian.

Julian’s parents were tech scavengers, and spent a considerable amount of time outside the settlement looking for anything that could be used or refurbished by the scientists within the Commonwealth. Despite their frequent separation, Cody and Julian were able to establish a strong and deep bond, and once Julian was older, it was not uncommon for him to stay behind and live with Cody and his parents for weeks on end while the scavengers were out on an expedition.

In late adolescence, Cody started feeling other urges and emotions towards his friend outside of the realm of friendship. At that point, his thoughts and feelings were innocent and grew from deep inside him. Cody had no idea that the wasteland was rife with homophobia and close minded anarchists. As the years went by, however, Julian began to express his own urges and emotions towards women, and Cody struggled more and more with wondering why he felt those same things towards Julian, and not towards girls.

Finally, when Cody was thirteen, he confessed to Wendy the things he’d been feeling for his friend, and his confusion with why he didn’t feel them towards women. He spoke about feeling angry and frustrated at himself when he tried to imagine having a woman close to him, to hold, to touch, to kiss, and every time the woman would simply morph into Julian. His mother was hesitant, but supportive of her son, though she did strongly suggest he not tell Julian or anyone else his true feelings and to just let them pass.

Shortly after that, Cody found himself forced into making rounds with his father at the hospital and assisting with his mother’s surgeries. It wouldn’t be until much later that he realized his family was simply trying to distract Cody out of seeing Julian, but it didn’t work; Cody simply found himself missing his friend as well as fighting with himself over his feelings.

One autumn night, Julian spiked some Nuka Cola and grinned while he produced some pre-war magazines featuring women in skimpy outfits, posing for the camera. Cody’s friend expressed increasing excitement as they turned page after page. At first, Cody simply smiled and went along with his friend, but grew more and more uncomfortable with the situation. He hadn’t seen Julian in a number of weeks, by then, and the last thing he really felt like doing was perusing nudes in a faded, musty, beat up pre-war magazine. His face feeling hot and his body whirring, Cody took Julian by the shoulders, looked him straight in the eye, and told Julian he didn’t give a [censored] about breasts or waists or hair, and that it was Julian he loved and wanted.

Julian dropped his drink, swallowed hard, then gently took Cody’s hands off his shoulders, stood up, and left.

Cody never saw him again.

For several months following the incident, other members of the community seemed to treat Cody a little differently. He wasn’t sure if it was paranoia or if they truly were staring at him a lot more, taking longer to respond to his friendly greetings or conversations, or whispering behind his back. He soon found himself demanding his parents keep him on rounds and assisting with surgeries, to teach him as much as they could about medicine.

Cody quickly and skillfully picked up the knowledge and techniques taught to him by his parents, as though he were a naturally gifted doctor. He poured his energy into practicing and learning, and by the age of sixteen, was able to make his own rounds competently and occasionally perform a surgery with his mother assisting him. By the time he turned twenty, he felt he was able to start his own practice, and ventured out on his own.

As he wandered, life experience and exposure to the varying cultures in the wasteland helped shape Cody’s personality as it is today. He met a number of people who wanted to kill him for various reasons, including his homosexuality. He also met those, men and women, who supported and encouraged him to embrace his natural urges. Over time he became less and less shy about being the man he knew that he was, deep down, because – why else? – in the wasteland, the feral beast doesn’t care any more or less about whether or not you preferred a boyfriend over a girlfriend, it just wants to eat you. He started exploring more and more his love of accessories and wearing them in public, no longer caring about trying to hide his sexuality and just going with what felt right.

In his ten years of wandering, Cody travelled all through the southwestern part of Ontario in former Canada, the Midwest, and back through the Appalachians towards D.C., his wanderlust waning more and more as he craved the stability of running a permanent clinic. He narrowly avoided becoming enslaved at the Pitt and found himself in the Capital Wasteland, where he has meandered from settlement to settlement, providing medical care in exchange for caps or other goods. Having recently passed through Megaton, more than a few people suggested he try settling in Grayditch.