Aiden Walker D3 {FIN}

Aiden Walker
Eighteen Years Of Age
Male
The Third District Of Panem
odair
FC is Jonathan Tucker
Theme: Destabilize by Enter Shikari

There is a shock of curly dark hair that is kept smoothed down on the top of his head, always cut to what his parents claim is a respectable length. The skin belonging to Aiden is a pale, pasty white, a side effect of spending so much time in his room, or outside under the cover of night. He is moderately tall at 5’9, a decent enough height for him considering the amount of time spent behind a desk. The Walker boy has a lean build as well, as his mother keeps him on a high fiber, low protein diet meant to keep him in the best of health conditions. His pale green eyes are known to light up when he sees something that needs fixing, one of the few signs that he is feeling anything at all. The rest of his features are somewhat stony, lips normally pursed together in silence, his tongue poking at the inside of one of his cheeks, nostrils flared in annoyance, and the tips of his ears turning a shade of red.

The overall effect is a look of perpetual dissatisfaction that gives most pause when dealing with him. It’s a look that says “I’m smarter than you, and therefore cannot be bothered about trivial nonsense. Go away.” Long fingers take things apart, whether a watch or a rack for test tubes. Aiden is dressed smartly, in clothes approved by his father, meant to give off an aura of success. There are only a few things that he can do that are not under the minute scrutiny of his parents, something he accepts, but despises, they may have control of what he eats, what he wears, and most of what he does, but they cannot shackle his mind; the mind they taught to be strong themselves.

***

What everyone knows is that Aiden is one smart cookie. Need a random fact answered? Stuck on a formulae? Just want some help on all things scientific? Then he’s the man with the plan, and the knowledge with which to carry it out. Brimming with usefulness, Aiden has found himself often the teachers pet, gold stars and other recommendations on his file, many would agree that he has a sure spot in any lab he would want, designing all manner of things meant to make life easier for the people in the Capitol; perhaps he could even land a job there. Yes, the Walker boy certainly has his head on straight, he hears from peers, adults, and even the odd peacekeeper or two. The very model of a modern student majoring in general engineering science.

It’s just too bad that next to no one has ever asked him for his own opinion on all of this; and the few that have simply wave away anything he has to tell them as a pipe dream. Which in of itself is an ironic statement, as he really would rather work with pipes than beakers and test tubes. After repeated indifference to his desires he’s learned to keep such things to himself, growing cold and detached from most people, seeing them as nothing more than a blockade to his dreams. He plans to build his own escape from this life that he never wanted. There are tools beneath his bed, but they are so much more than simple hammers and wrenches. In the right hands they can be things most haven’t even dreamed of. They are paint brushes and pencils, a small symbol of defiance towards parents deaf to anything but their own devices. And a way to make a quick buck doing something that he actually loves.

Between having to work in a lab and moonlighting as a repairman, Aiden doesn't have much time left for himself. This, among several of the factors mentioned above have a tendency to make him quite angry. When alone in his soundproof room, he will sometimes throw things, break things, and just scream as he takes his frustrations out on his belongings. Though he tries to keep a lid on this sort of thing, he does occasionally slip up in front of his small circle of friends, normally when someones teases him and he isn’t in the mood. If that is the case, then he will start making snide comments before escalating into yelling. Afterwords, apologizing profusely, as he didn’t really mean it. At the heart of it, he just wants to fix things, sometimes going as far as trying to fix peoples relationships, or smooth out arguments, whether they’ve asked for his help or not. Aiden is of the opinion that everyone is broken in some way, and needs a helping hand every once in awhile.

***

Aiden’s father was known as Walking Walker for the latter half of his career, having become infamous for quitting his job for what he thought was a better one the same day that his boss had been going to give him a raise and a managerial position. Not only that, but the company he transferred to went bottoms up within the week, forcing him back to his job at considerably less pay. His mother had equal workplace troubles, having slept her way to the top, carrying on an illicit affair with her boss;only to be fired one day, replaced by someone younger and prettier. And so it was decided that should they have a child, they would do everything in their power to ensure that he or she succeeded in the business world or not, even if it killed the child. Childhood was rough for Aiden, and in all honesty not very fun. As soon as he was able to talk and walk his parents thrust him into as many young learner programs as they could, eager to train a brilliant child and mold him into the kind of respectable citizen they had both failed to be. The kind of child that parents could talk about with pride. Aiden did turn out very smart, but the resentment he keeps bottled up inside in agonized silence is very, very unhealthy. In the younger grades he was pushed to excel in the sciences, as a wall covered in blue ribbons and a shelf full of trophies can attest to. But in the middle of that, he found that he had a natural aptitude for repair work. At the age of thirteen, the classroom he was in lost power to the bunsen burners and other equipment, and an electrician was called in during school hours to fix it.

Fascinated, he watched as panels were removed and wires messed with as the man went about his work. Failing to find the problem quickly, the man had taken a coffee break, and when the teacher wasn’t looking, Aiden had walked over and inspected it himself, poking at a few wires and discovering a short, which he then fixed, restoring the energy to the room. The tech was impressed and told the teacher as much. From that moment on, he knew that he wanted to fix things that were broken. When he told his parents as much they were mortified and told him that a career like that was wasteful of his talents and out of the question entirely. In spite of that, and perhaps to spite them, he purchased a toolkit with his allowance and kept it hidden; his parents did teach him to be smart about things, and getting one over on them was no exception to his intelligence. It was not too hard the next few years, buying manuals on how things work and teaching himself how to fix things while balancing that with the mountains of schoolwork and preparatory quizzes his parents had him constantly doing. Many were the sleepless nights he spent dutifully pencilling answers while dually working on getting a carburetor or an air conditioning unit back to pristine condition.

It wasn’t until he was sixteen that he first gathered enough courage to sneak out, hanging a do not disturb, project in progress sign on his locked door and shimmying out the window. He began to look for things that needed fixing, things that the district hadn’t gotten around to repairing just yet, and leaving a “You're welcome” etched by whatever he fixed under the moniker “Wade Lankier”. The following year, he began to actively seek out people that needed repairs done, sometimes for a nominal fee, but normally, just for the thrill of getting to work with his hands. Most people are pleased enough with his work that they give him a little something anyway. Now, at the age of eighteen, he finds himself in the awkward position of having to choose between two prestigious academies,and a surefire job. Why is it uncomfortable? Because he has saved up enough to start his own business, and has no idea how to tell his parents what he wants to do.