Cole Michael Dennison

"'Cole combined the signs for 'scared' and 'myself'... Somehow it said all the things [he] meant.'"Cole Michael Dennison is... a person. He's a Hood. Yep, that's really all the description I have. Aside from being deaf and having an abnormal power, he's a pretty regular 16-year-old guy. He is also Callyah Dennison's younger brother.

Personality
Cole is pretty easygoing and calm for the most part, but if you do manage to get him emotional, watch out -- he's terrifying when he's mad. He chooses his words carefully. Unlike a lot of teenagers, he's pretty content with himself and prefers to help other people. This hides his own insecurity -- he's afraid of being ancillary.

Cole doesn't like being undermined, whether it's people correcting him on something he knows a lot about or trying to help him when he doesn't need it, and often responds harshly to that. He also doesn't really make an effort to understand or be understood when he struggles with it, and he just flat-out won't respond to people if they make it difficult for him. On the other end of the spectrum, he often is so busy taking care of other people that he forgets to take care of himself.

Appearance
Cole has dark brown hair and brown eyes. His hood is a gathered red cape-like thing, which he usually wears over a T-shirt and jeans.

Ability
Cole can make people not feel pain. In theory, he can also make them feel pain where there is none, but he's never wanted to do that before, so he's never tried. That theoretical part of his ability creeps him out, and he is careful to never wish pain on anyone in case he loses control of it. Recently, he lost control because of a nightmare and accidentally inflicted pain on Ella and Seth. He hasn't used his ability since.

Skills and Weaknesses
Cole is practiced and skilled in medicine and healing. He also knows ASL (being deaf) and an okay amount of hand-to-hand combat. He can handle most conventional weapons, but anyone who's particularly practiced could probably beat him in a straight fight. He's smart and very quick-thinking in a crisis.

Cole can't hear, so that's a big weakness at times. He's also afraid of the dark or otherwise not being able to see (because that's his only method of communication).

Prized Possession
Cole doesn't really have a "prized" possession, but the two most important items he owns are his Swiss Army knife and his lighter. Especially for a medic, those are important things to have. He keeps them in a hidden pocket in his cloak and hates being without them.

Sexuality
Cole is, to put it mildly, confused. Yep.

Callyah
Callyah and Cole's relationship is positive, albeit slightly strained. Callyah left home three years ago to get a job at the palace, presumably as a maid, but now that Cole is at the palace, he's learned that she is a member of the Queen's staff. He now knows that she's the captain of the Queen's guard, and that she's protecting the queen. Cole is very close to his sister, despite their five-year age difference, and they are happy to see each other at the palace.

After watching Callyah kill the queen's mother, he's begun to realize he doesn't really know his sister anymore. However, they're still very close and comfort each other a lot. Callyah also interprets for Cole on occasion.

Valerie
Valerie reminds Cole a lot of Callyah -- or, rather, who he thought Callyah was. She's like an older sister to him, albeit a slightly more aloof one than Callyah, and he does genuinely care about her.

Paisley
Cole is not quite sure how he should feel about Paisley. On the one hand, she helped him through his nightmare and subsequent pain-inflicting, which he's grateful for. On the other hand, she recently brushed him off when he thought he'd misunderstood her, which is not something he can forgive easily. He is an oblivious little turtle and has literally no clue that she has a crush on him.

Taylor
Cole and Taylor are fairly close, especially considering that Cole is kind of isolated from everyone else in the group. He helped Taylor with his injured hand, although they're not very good about taking care of it. They're completely platonic, though -- more like siblings. And like any good brother, Cole isn't sure he approves of Taylor's choice in relationships. He doesn't dislike Kyra, but he can't help remembering how hurt and miserable Taylor looked when Kyra betrayed them.