Marlin Nobel D4 (FIN)

                         
Name:

     Marlin Nobel stands at an even 6 feet, his figure topped off with a thick head of dark mahogany hair that he keeps trimmed at moderately short length. He usually has it pushed upwards and to his right side, and you'll constantly find him fixing it to get it just right. It sits above his thick eyebrows that rest above his eyes, their irises a pale gray that darkens around the edges. Despite looking the color you'd expect the sky to be on a rainy day, you can still see the vibrant life they seem to possess. Between them is his nose, which is thin at the bridge, but steadily thickens towards the bottom of it. Below that is his mouth, with full lips that seem to always be turned up at the corners.
     
     Marlin's shoulders and body frame are relatively wide-set, due to his muscular physique he developed at the district's training center. He looks well muscled, but not to the point where you could say that he's "ripped". His skin is quite pale compared to most of the citizens in 4, and it's because of this that during the especially sunny summers his skin turns more red than the lobsters exported from the district. He tends to wear rather nice and expensive clothes because he comes from a pretty well off family. In terms of his economic status, he sits just at the bottom of the wealthy side, so he doesn't have to work like many other kids in Panem his age.
    

    He may seem to fit the typical career mold, but Marlin's personality is just as unique as anyone else's. The part that has no reason to fear the games, eats well every night, and makes regular trips to the training center is definitely the career side, but as usual, there's much more than that. When you're trying so hard to fit into a certain mold, perfectionism can often be an inherited trait from the constant self monitoring. You'll see it in nearly everything that he does. If you asked him who he was trying so hard to please, he wouldn't know whether to tell you it was his parents, his district, or even himself. Being overly critical of everything he does is just a part of who he is.

    In school, he had always been an overachiever, both academically and socially. This continued all the way to the present day, and now he has the grades, the friends, and the social life to show for it. He just doesn't have any sense of accomplishment for these things. What's the point of good grades if all they teach you to do is regurgitate information? What's the point of having so many friends if you can't connect with them on the level you wanted to? The only person he feels he can really be himself with is his 14 year old sister, Madeline. She gets him on a level none of his friends or other family do. Just two people being themselves with no judgement of the other clouding what really matters to Marlin, which is just finding solace in someone else with only the intention it of returning it to them. 

    In his free time, Marlin likes writing stories. Not that he would ever let anyone but his sister know about that. To his parent's, it's a skill that doesn't provide any financial future for you in District 4, so it's just a waste of time. To his friends, it's not something they even really care to know much about. He mainly writes about impossible things set in worlds nothing like his own. To him, his mind is the escape from any dull or dark reality he might be facing. Even with all the money his parents have, the nice clothes he wears, and the large house he lives in, he still finds his greatest gift to be his overactive imagination.

    It seemed from the beginning that Marlin would grow up to be something great. His high intelligence showed from a very young age, and continued to shine through all the way to his current age. The only problem with having such a good set up for success was the impossibly heavy burden of it being expected from him in every aspect of his life. When he was told things like "You'll do great things." or "You have so much potential." at every turn in his life, he slowly turned into the perfection seeking monster the world around him seemed to become. It turned him into his own worst enemy, capable of destroying his mind if he did something wrong.

    "That training center has got your name on it." his parents would often say to him as they passed it together occasionally, so it's no question as to why he decided to begin training as soon as he was old enough. He trained his body to stay in shape like all the others did there, but his favorite thing was always the bow and the arrows he shot with great accuracy. He was never that good with close combat anyway. It was always obvious that Marlin's parents wanted a child to volunteer for the games at some point to raise their status in society, and give them something to be really proud of, and he was sure that Madeline couldn't do it. He'd spent his whole life watching the games, unafraid partially because he knew there would always be someone to volunteer on the off chance he was reaped, and partially because of his confidence that he could leave the arena, a victor.

    So far you'd probably think that Marlin's parents are terrible people hellbent on sending their kids off to their death for their own benefit, but that's not quite true either. They love Marlin and Madeline, and the kids love them back, but you know how the games are. They twist people's perception of what's right and wrong. Without them, the Nobel family would be nothing strange at all, just 2 parents who want their child to succeed. That's what they've always wanted. That's what Marlin has always wanted for himself, whether that desire was developed on its own, or was branded onto his brain by the pressures of his everyday life.