RODNIK, Casey Warrington

[casey warrington rodnik]

CASEY WARRINGTON RODNIK

FULL NAME: Casey Warrington Rodnik.
NICKNAMES: Cas (spelt that way over the years, but pronounced Case. Language is a funny thing.)
AGE: 34
GENDER: Male
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Citizen.
GRADE: N/A.
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: One half of Apollo’s Management Team.

HAIR: Light brown and curly, but he keeps it short and neat so it can’t do anything too crazy on him.
EYES: Green.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: None of importance.
TATTOOS: Spurs on the outside of each ankle as a homage to where he’s from.
PIERCINGS: None
PLAY-BY: Matthew Morrison!

LIKES: Reading, spicy food, starting his morning with a black coffee, music, his record player, avocados, misty mornings, table top roleplaying games, chilled out Sundays, the air after a good rainstorm, BBQ sauce, candy canes, hummus, biographies, head massages, campfires, playing the banjo, fantasy movies, an organised desk, spreadsheets, highlighters.
DISLIKES: Scented stationary, doctors, having to adapt to losing his eyesight, silence in his apartment, buffering videos, pushing people away, pop-ups, circus music, shooter games, giving up his car, getting emotional, air conditioning (it gives him a headache), girls in too tight clothing, toothache, dark chocolate, hurting people, plain rice.
FEARS: The day he’s completely blind, being a burden to others, eye surgery.
SECRETS: Casey is losing his sight due to Macular Dystrophy. He’ll be blind soon enough and it terrifies him. He doesn’t want to burden anyone so he’s pushing the people in his life away.
PERSONALITY: Casey has always been stubborn beyond belief. It takes a lot to get through to him most of the time and currently it’s that edge to his personality that’s forcing him to hold on to his independent side. He’s hard working and the type of person who enjoys being organised. A music-lover, there is rarely a moment in his day with Casey doesn’t have an album playing, or something on in the background while he works or does the chores around his house. He doesn’t watch a lot of movies or television, but he listens to a hell of a lot of music both old and new. Casey is a musical talent, too, but it’s a hobby and a passion rather than something he ever thought about pursuing in any way as a profession. He’s a bit of a geek, who enjoys table top roleplaying games, and old school things that got him bullied through school. He’s a good man who is loyal to those who are loyal to him. He won’t stand for betrayal and he’s got a backbone to make that clear to people. There is a bit of a impulsive temper in him that makes him prone to jumping to conclusions sometimes, or snapping before he has all the facts. Easily frustrated, he’s the type who grinds his teeth or causes harm to himself when he’s angry – not usually serious, but by punching walls or breaking things in hand because he’s grabbed them too hard or tightly. Protective, Casey never wants harm to come to those he loves most, which is why – in his mind – the distant he’s putting between himself and others lately is a way of protecting them from the burden he’s going to become. Casey has been a charming romantic since he went through college and grew out of his gawky phase. He’s made mistakes and he knows he’s imperfect, but he tries his best to make any woman he’s romantically involved with feel like they’re the best person in the world. He might not be doing so well at that lately, but he’s struggling with his own fears and trying to do what he thinks is best for everyone without being honest about what is happening in his life.

MOTHER: Natalie Brenda Rodnik, deceased.
FATHER: Clayton Mark Rodnik, 61.
SIBLINGS: Jodi Anna Rodnik-Rice, 31.
OTHERS: Melodie St James, 28 – ex girlfriend.
PETS: None – he’s allergic to cats and never had the time for a dog, though he likes them!
HOMETOWN: Corpus Christi, Texas.
HISTORY: Natalie and Clayton met at a dinner party thrown by mutual friends. They were dignified young adults holding down steady professions but without any real signs of a love life. They hit it off after a few glasses of wine and Clayton asked Natalie if maybe they could have dinner again. It was simple, nothing fancy and that could really describe most of their relationship. Many of Natalie’s friends asked her if she was just settling out of a fear of being alone whilst all of her friends got married. Clayton was probably the one forcing himself to stay in a relationship though. His country loving parents were desperate for grandchildren and they weren’t young when they had Clayton, who was an only child. The couple pretty much tricked themselves into being in love and ended up married at the end of a two year dating game.

Casey was born a year later, a happy young boy who spent a lot of time with his grandparents whilst his parents worked. Jodi, his little sister, was born three years later. Their grandparents spoilt the kids while their parents filled them with a sense of responsibility and independence. The latter was sort of a necessity since there was a lot of work brought home by Natalie and she’d sometimes work late into the evening and forget to cook dinner, or help the kids with showers or baths. Clayton did a lot, but he couldn’t be expected to do it all; he got tired, he got fed up. The marriage became a convenience rather anything of love, but they never considered leaving each other because in a very strange way they liked what they had and both feared never finding anything else out there.

Casey learnt how to play the banjo from his grandad, but the saxophone was something he did later on in school. He was a gifted kid who sang in a few recitals, but it was something he liked doing without wanting to pursue it in later life. He knew that from a young age. At school he was a bit of an outcast. He was a youth who struggled with acne, needed braces and had wild curls. He liked things that the popular kids found to be uncool. He got kicked around a bit before his senior year of high school which was the year when he started filling out his features a bit more and coming into his own a bit, finding confidence where there had previously been none. His little sister, while close to him at home, often tried to distance herself at school since she was the opposite. She was the preppy cheerleader type who fitted in nicely with the popular hoards and the hip new trends. She only really began to overlook Casey’s ‘uncool’ ways when he beat up a kid who cheated on her and took a three-day suspension for it.

He went to the University of Texas where he studied business and made a band with friends he made during his freshman year. Casey sailed through his four years with fun, friends, and a lifetime of memories. He gained more confidence around girls and dated a little during his time there, but there was no one who he thought about spending the rest of his life with. He had seen his parents and their marriage and it wasn’t what he wanted. He needed to have something more powerful or nothing at all. He knew they had settled, and drunken slurs from both mom and dad had led to them suggesting as much from time to time, but he didn’t think they even realised it when they slept it off.

After graduation he worked in Texas for a few years and did a graduate business programme. During this time his grandparents passed, both well into their nineties, of natural causes. It was a devastating blow which was only made worse when his mother also passed away in her sleep. An autopsy revealed a heart condition that had gone undiagnosed for her entire life, but the family was nevertheless shocked and heartbroken. After all of this Casey longed for a fresh start which was how he found himself in New York.

He was twenty-nine and impressed the right people to secure himself a management position at the Apollo. It was a dream job combining both the things he liked and what he was good at. He was twenty-eight, and had been in the city for only a handful of months when his path crossed with that of Melodie. It started off fairly simple with her, but soon they were a serious couple and they spoke of a future together, voicing their desires and their wishes for the rest of their lives. Although he was in no rush to settle down, Casey was pretty certain that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Melodie. Time went by and things were damn great. He loved his job, loved everything about his life, and loved his girlfriend. Any complaints he had were temporary, they were never anything big and he usually slept them off with ease.

Casey was thirty-three when he began having serious problems with his eyes. He had glasses since his late teens for reading, or working on his computer, but his vision had never been a big issue for him before this. Now things were blurring for longer, and his eyes were frequently sore. He went to the optometrist who ran a series of tests before telling him that things were only going to get worse. Everything pointed to Macular Dystrophy and while he was on the younger side of the disease, there was nothing they could do but wait and try to prolong his vision as best as they could. Eventually there could be the option of surgery for him, a cornea replacement might help, but the thought shook Casey to his core. He wasn’t squeamish but the thought of eye surgery terrified him.

After his diagnosis, the realisation that he would one day be completely blind set in. It was horrifying to him, and he started appreciating everything. The last thing he wanted to be to anyone was a burden, so he started pushing people away. His father, Jodi, even Melodie. Bit by bit he pulled away from them, doing what he thought he had to do so that they wouldn’t be around and feel obligated to care for him when he could no longer be totally independent on his own. It led to him breaking up with Melodie wretchedly, breaking his own heart along with hers. He had no good reason to do so, citing that he had just grown apart from her whenever anyone asked. It was so far from the truth. He was crazy in love with her still, but he didn’t want to hold her back if his eyesight loss came sooner rather than later; an answer no one actually knew. He could go ten years with steady degeneration, or lose it all completely within five. He didn’t want to be reliant on anyone, or have Melodie feel like she needed to stick around because he was helpless.

Now, he’s coping. Barely. Buried in his work and ensuring he’s done everything he wanted to do that requires his vision before it’s too late and hi regrets are longer than ever before. Losing Melodie though will always be his biggest regret, but Casey knows she deserved more.

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: I’vetakentheseforexperimentalpurposes.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: In the Labyrinth.
SAMPLE:

Please hand wash only.

[kim]