Micah Aldridge District 4

Name: Micah Eli Aldridge
Age: Seventeen
Gender: Male
District/Area: District 4
Appearance:

Unlike most of the other men in the Aldridge family, Micah is very scrawny. He’s not muscular or even as tall as his elder brother, Finley, or even his father. He stands at the height of about five feet and ten inches and he has a slender figure. He has long legs and slim arms, with bony hands and feet the size of any other teenage boy. At first, Micah may seem malnourished, when in fact, he’s relatively healthy. While he could be packing a bit more meat onto his bones, Micah’s light weight makes him quick and agile. To go along with his sickly image, Micah has very fair skin which is prone to burning in the sun. While he’s not pasty white, Micah is paler than most and hands the credit over to his mother’s side of the family. As well as the trait of his flaming auburn hair and freckled cheeks.

While Micah inherited most of the traits from his mother’s side, including his slender figure, the only one he seemed to inherit from his father are the Aldridge eyes. Brown in color, they’re famous for the green specks that seem to twinkle inside them. They’re big and inquisitive, curious about the world around them. He has a round face with high cheek bones, full lips, and a slightly crooked nose that he broke once while fooling around with his brother. Considering his mother was a seamstress, most of Micah’s clothes have patches in them. When she can find the time between all his younger siblings to make new clothes, she does her best. Mostly, Micah is fine with wearing hand-me-downs from his older brother.

Despite his efforts to wash the smell away, Micah often smells like fish. Considering he calls District Four home and it’s known for its fishing, there’s really no way to get the stench off. He bathes often, knowing that his mother likes her kids to look presentable. He keeps his hair short; never allowing it to grow passed his shoulders. He has thin eyebrows that arch over his eyes and thin eyelashes. Considering he often finds the time to draw late into the evening, Micah often has dark shadows under his eyes. While he may not be the good-looking, athletic guy with abs or muscular arms, Micah does have a boyish charm about him.

Personality:

Micah is a definitely one of the quietest people you will ever meet. He is not one for talking much, especially if he doesn’t know a person that well. The only other people he will say more than one sentence too is his family and friends. He’s usually listening on the outside of conversations whether than participating in them, only offering his thoughts when they’re asked for. Because of this, Micah is a great listener and would definitely listen to just about anyone if they needed someone to rant too. However, when asked for advice, he may fall silent again. He’s not good or really comfortable with giving advice to others because he wouldn’t even follow his own advice. He’s mostly just willing to be there as a comforting presence, especially if someone were to need a shoulder to cry on.

That’s not to say that Micah is never a happy person who never smiles. While smiling and laughing may be rare for this kid, Micah does enjoy feeling happy. He’s definitely the type who will smile to anyone, except to the Peacekeepers, if he were to pass them down the street. He’s generally a friendly person who longs to be outgoing and exciting, but can’t seem to find the means to do so. He wasn’t raised in a household where they were always laughing or talking to one another. And while he may want to have more friends, Micah’s definitely not the type to go up to someone and introduce himself. He’s shy and a little afraid of rejection. However, if there’s one thing Micah is passionate about, it’s drawing. He’s pretty good, but there’s definitely room to improve. He’s always trying to better his skills in the time he has between helping his parents and brother.

While it’s even rarer than his smiles, Micah does have a temper that can sometimes rear its ugly head. These times usually consists of him throwing things or shouting, but he doesn’t like to raise his voice so these temper outbursts rarely occur. Usually, if he’s feeling angry about something, he’ll find something constructive to do or draw. He’s not one to confront someone if he’s having a problem either, instead he bottles it up. He doesn’t like talking about his feelings, really to anyone, but the drawing paper. He’s definitely a guilty user of the cold shoulder technique and he’s one for holding grudges. Once you stab him or his family in the back, it’s very hard to win back Micah’s trust, even sometimes impossible. He’s very big on trust. He’s also not a big crier and if he does feel the need to shed some tears, he’ll go off on his own.

History:

It was really no surprise when Eli Aldridge proposed to Cyra Dane on a lovely summer afternoon. They had known each other for years, both were the only child in their families, so they formed and instant bond. Their wedding was small, neither of them had really reached out to the others in District Four, fearing that they’d be chosen in the Reaping and sent off to their deaths. It was for this reason that they vowed not to have any children, even if nature has other plans. It was nearly two years after they had married when their first child was born. Eli had been working on one of the ships off the shores of District Four and was not there for the birth of his first son. Cyra had been working as a seamstress, stitching torn clothes and occasionally making new ones. Once Eli had come home to the news that he’d had a son, the couple decided to name him, Finley Aldridge, after Eli’s father.

It was by another chance that, three years later, Finley was joined by Micah. It had been a difficult pregnancy for Cyra and by the time Micah had arrived, he’d come a couple months early. He was small, but he had powerful lungs and a loud cry that gave his parents the determination to see him through. It worked and for the first two years, they focused on raising their two boys. Two children were already enough and both would be entered in the Reaping one day. Their fears were intensified when they were blessed with four more children, from Corinne to Daphne to Linus, and finally to Gwen. Six children, all who could one day end up in the Hunger Games. Despite their worries, Eli and Cyra pushed them aside and focused on raising their children. Eli was away more often, along with Finley, leaving Micah to help his mother with his younger siblings.

They were all able to attend school and Micah enjoyed taking his younger siblings there and back. He found learning about the ocean fascinating and although he’d heard it was hard work, he couldn’t wait to turn sixteen and help his brother and father on the ships as a fisherman. His mother found it increasingly difficult to continue her job, although she never quit. Most of the people who came to her understood, knowing that she had four young children to worry about while her husband was off at sea with their eldest son. It was during a break one weekend that Finley returned announcing that he’d proposed to his girlfriend, Capri. The wedding was slightly bigger than his parents had had, but the day was a happy one.

About a year later, while Micah has joined the ranks of the fisherman with his father and brother, Capri now helps look after the younger kids. Even expecting one of her own sometime soon. Since his brother is over the age where he can’t be entered into the Reaping, how he seemed to survive all seven years of Reapings was unknown, Micah is the one who has signed up for tesserae. While his parents begged him not too, saying they could get by, Micah knew that with a total of nearly ten people living with them, once Capri and Finley’s baby arrived, it would be difficult to feed everyone. His younger sister Corinne, who’s only fifteen, wishes to do the same, but Micah won’t allow it.

He’d rather be the one who’s chosen at the Reaping rather than one of his younger siblings. Of course, now that both Daphne and Corinne are old enough to be entered, that becomes difficult each and every year. The only thing Micah can do now is to hope that neither of them is chosen, but he is instead. He would gladly volunteer to take the place of his sisters, wanting nothing more than to protect his family.

Codeword: muttations
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