Jeff Ryder ~ District One

There are certain features you remember about a person. For one person you might focus in on the amount of freckles they have scattered over their skin, another you might pinpoint their hair color. Others it's the cocky smirk they wear or the way they hold themselves. Jeff Ryder has all of those things making him a rather noticeable person.

His pale skin is absolutely covered in freckles. Other kids have only a few on their nose but Ryder looks like he stood in a thunderstorm where it rained pigment, splattering over his skin. If those are not enough, the shock of red hair on his head certainly adds to it. It isn't the fake red the Capitolites wear either, true ginger flames curl around his face. The boy is very proud of his appearance and his ability to stand out in a crowd. Of course, it is not always a good thing to be rememberable.

There are always some kind of mark on the kid's skin. Whether it be a sunburn, a bruise, a black eye or a cut, there's always something wrong with him and with his eagerness to jump into a fight it is no wonder why. The Ryder boy is of normal height, hovering around 5'7" and hoping for a growth spurt. However since lean muscles that struggle beneath his freckled skin are not as intimidating as the ones the older boys have, Jeff is often seen as weaker than the rest. However he's quick and reliable to get a fight done. His blue eyes can be deceiving, calm and gentle at times but fierce and cold when need be. Not to mention some girls are really into freckles.

***

Jeff Ryder is a criminal and he'll own up to the title. He's a thief, he's violent and he's killer but he will look straight in the eye and tell you. There is no use hiding what he's done, there's too much of it to hide. Some of the girls like to tease him, saying that every freckle that dots his skin represents a crime he's committed. "This one on his cheek was for punching a Keeper in the nose," they'll giggle and another girl will come up taking his arm and pointing to another spot decorating his skin. "And this one is for killing a man in a fight." He likes it when they fawn over him which, frankly, isn't as often as he would like. Usually there are bigger prizes to smooth talk.

Ryder feels that he can be honorable, but then again he feels like he doesn't do enough either. Like a year ago when the gang was going to ransack an old man's house, Jeff flat out refused. He didn't hang around with the gang until a few days afterwards, but he didn't stop them. How could he? He wasn't the leader, he was merely a unit in the large scheme of things and had about as much sway as a bug does with a the sole of a boot. So he vanishes, hidden in the fire escapes hooked onto the sides of buildings, waiting for certain crimes to end so he can take care of other petty offenses.

Despite the opposition he has to specific activities, Ryder is as loyal as they come. He has no power and he does not care to have any in the future. He can not see himself as anything but a member of a whole. A protector of the group and bane of the District. Kendrick's gang is a better friend than it is an enemy so Jeff Ryder sticks around. Compared to the others in the group he may seem normal, sated even but the boy has his own blood lust growing inside him. Violent urges that make him send a fist into a jaw or well aimed knee to the gut. He loves the rush of a fight as much as the next guy, maybe even more.

Ryder is apart of the so called "Wrath Pack" for a reason. He can be ruthless and cruel. Although he doesn't like to see it that way. The violence Kendrick's gang inflicts is part of a tradition. A long reigning tradition that must be kept up otherwise the culture of the poorer, lowly orphans cast aside by the wealthy of District one would be squashed out. He's maintaining that culture with busted knuckles and bloody lips. For that reason, he has not turned away- ever- from their leader. Some times hate can overpower honor and loyalty to the person who feeds that hate is stronger than any rope. So he wears his grin and breaks noses all for the pack or orphans who took him in and made him into something. He became a warrior for his people and not just some street rat with no purpose in life.

***

If the boy thought back far enough to the earliest of memories his mind could hold he could see his mother. She used to tell him stories to put him to sleep, tales about men who rode horses like the ones in the opening ceremonies. They wore armor like tributes and carried large swords like them too. The men would ride out on the horses and fight against all the evil people in the world, slashing down cruelty and taking out each wrong in the world one by one. Jeff Ryder had tried to hard to become one of those men, one of the "knights" that defended the weak against the cruel. Only he was neither old enough or strong enough to keep his mother from being killed by one of earth's evils. With no father to speak of he was slipped into the orphanage system, left to sit in his anger and grow into bitter rage.

When he had first heard of Kendrick's gang he was intrigued at once. What better way to rid himself of the rage that bubbled over inside of him than by smashing some rich guy's face in? Of course once you start hanging around guys like Bludd and Kendrick there's no turning back. He's no better than them, in Ryder is lower than them. Jeff is about as low on the totem pole as you can get. Orphans are already at the bottom and seeing as Kendrick rules over him and Bludd isn't exactly a guy you'd want to pick a fight with, Ryder is at the bottom. He'd like to think he has higher moral integrity, or that's he is more clever than them but truthfully he's just a common criminal like the rest of them. Blubb may be dumb but at least he's handy to have around, what good is a minion who can't decide whether he'd like to follow an order or not?

No good. That's why Ryder thinks of it as "Orphan Culture." These are the ways of his people, the forgotten children left in squalor. They fight, they spill blood, they steal- they commit ever single crime you can think of. It is what they know, it is what they're good at it. It's all they've been taught to do. So ask Jeff Ryder, despite the guilt that twists his gut at times, why he stays in the Wrath Pack." Ask him why he does the awful things he does and he will reply only with:"It is known."

Odair