//Anderson Samuel Ross- District Eleven

Name: Anderson Samuel Ross [Addie]
Age: Seventeen
Gender: Male
District/Area: District 11
Appearance:

[SKIN]
“I have no ability to tan.”
Despite the hours that Anderson spends in the sun each day, his skin does not get darker. Instead, it stays its pale self. Even if he were to sit for several days straight in bright sunlight, it would be likely that his skin color would not change. Good thing that Anderson doesn’t really care about that and he would rather be pale than getting sunburned. This could also be explained by the fact then when not working, he is often curled up in a tree somewhere, shaded.

[FACE]
“Look what I can do!”
Anderson has a normal enough looking face with wide eyes and a small mouth. But there are two particular traits that most people recognize. First, Anderson’s nose is quite crooked. From a profile view, one can barely see it but when facing him, it is hard not to notice. When he was younger, he broke his nose and it was never properly set back. So, it healed weird and now drastically leans over to the left. Also, a small red ring still rests on the bridge, showing where he broke it. Second is the fact that his tongue is abnormally long. He can touch his nose with it without any effort whatsoever. He can also do some pretty creepy tricks with it but he has learned that no one wants to see them.

[HAIR]
“Awww, but why?”
Even though Anderson is already seventeen, he has no control over what his hair looks like. He would let it grow down to his frickin’ waist if he could. Except his sister does not allow for this and cuts it without asking. She would even knock him out to do it if she had to. His hair is pale brown, an almost honey-looking color with some natural darker streaks. Also due to infrequent washings and general lack of care, it has a straw-like quality and is only tamed every few months when his sister gives him a haircut. In his hair, twigs, stones, and leaves can be commonly found.

[EYES]
“You can get lost in those.”
His eyes are dark brown, almost dark enough to be considered black. When in dim light, it is hard to tell where his iris ends and where his pupils begin. When in proper light, you can tell it apart and his eyes even seem to change color from their deep brown to a rusty reddish color. His eyes are set close together on his face and are wider than usual, giving Anderson a deer-in-headlights look. At times he will drop his eyelids to hide this but sometimes it’s just not worth the effort and he will give up.

[BUILD]
“How’s the weather up there?”
Saying that Anderson is tall is an understatement. He hails at about six feet, five inches and even though isn’t fond of his height, deals with it quite well. It is a miracle that he can get up the trees but he manages and sometimes gives him an advantage when he has to pick apples and he doesn’t feel like climbing. It isn’t even his torso that gives him this appearance. Rather, his arms and legs are dramatically long and lanky, making him look a bit like a praying mantis. Without a shirt on or in shorts, one can see that he has knobby knees and one can see his joints in his elbows, fingers, and shoulders as well. He isn’t skinny; those joints just stick out a bit. His feet are also ridiculously huge because of his height and he remains barefoot most of the year because he cannot find shoes that fit.

[SCARS]
“My work is dangerous.”
Anderson hase many scars from a mixture of working with dangerous appliances, sharp objects, and various other harmful equipments. He has one long thin scar running across his cheek that is from working with a pair of clippers. He had been cutting off dead branches when his arm seized up and a part of the clippers cut across his face. Another noticeable scar can be seen when he takes his shirt. A long scar runs deep on his shoulder blade where a shattered branch fell and scratched his back. A piece of the branch got caught in there and had to be removed.

[DISABILITIES]
“Don’t judge me. I can work just as well as the next guy.”
Along with the scars, Anderson has some other problems to deal with. The biggest being his injured knee. One day when climbing a tree in the orchard, he fell out and his knee slammed against the ground. His knee cap was dislocated and had to be put back in place by a doctor in town. This doctor didn’t do such a great job since it never fully healed and Anderson is forced to limp most of the time he walks. It isn’t that it’s painful, it is only so when he walks properly. So, he has a lurching gait when he walks and this is eventually going to hurt his hips. His knee is also disfigured looking, it being almost as crooked as his nose. He prefers to hide it with a pair of jeans or work pants. Despite all this though, he is still determined to climb trees and bites through the pain.

Personality:

[FLIRTY]
“How ya doin’?”
Anderson is one of the biggest flirts you have ever seen. It’s not that he is consciously doing it. Rather, he will flirt with just about anyone and everyone subconsciously. You can snap him out of it if you tell him what he is doing or if he somehow notices. Often enough though, if he is meeting you for the first time, he will flirt with you. Though, if you are a friend or a relative, he will not flirt because you are a FRIEND. He thinks that flirting with a friend would just be too strange and awkward. It is easier to mess with strangers than someone you know.

[EGOTISTICAL]
“I’m the best, better than the rest.”
Even though Anderson knows that he isn’t the smartest, fastest or the strongest he likes to pretend so for his own sake. With a huge ego to constantly stroke, he likes to show off the talents he has and pronounce that no one can beat him. When challenged, he gives an excuse of why he can’t. He would rather look like a coward than to be proved wrong by everyone. He also likes to belittle those that he is not fond of to make himself feel better. He can be a bit of a jerkface at times and he knows it. While around friends though, they do not see this side of him.

[FAMILY-ORIENTED]
“You mean the world to me.”
Despite all that it says above, he is a loving member of his family. The middle child between his two sisters, he makes it his responsibility to take care of them both. He tries to never get mad at his sisters or even show the tiniest bit of his terrible side. People are often surprised when they see him around his sisters and how calm he is. For the most part, Anderson will never yell at his sisters, insult them, or even let them see the sharp-tongue he possesses. And despite his flirty side and player ways, he does wish to one day settle down with a family and kids. He also wishes to see his sisters marry and have children of their own.

[HARD-WORKING]
“My work is never done.”
Since his mother’s death and his father disappearance, Anderson has become the man of the house. He is in charge of the orchard and of the labor that him and his two sisters put in to keep it running. This has turned him into one of the hardest working people you will know. Despite his love of fun, he knows when it is time to buckle down and get some work done. The orchard is his life and he will spend hours a day working through it, picking the apples and making sure each is accounted for before being shipped off to the Capitol. It’s a lot of work for just three people but they manage well because of Anderson’s leadership and good work ethic.

[HOT-TEMPERED]
“WHY I OUTTA—“
Except for his sisters, just about anyone could set him off at anytime. A misplaced comment, a couple words gone wrong, maybe even just an odd look to his knee could set him off. He is quick to defend himself and his family and isn’t afraid to whip someone with his sharp-tongue. Curses and foul language is found all throughout the dictionary of Anderson and are used freely when his sisters are not present. He isn’t afraid to lash out at his friends at times. Despite his usual happy-go-lucky nature with them, they can just as easily tick him off. Anderson is also quite good at holding a grudge and he doesn’t forgive quickly.

History:

[INFANCY]
Anderson was born as the second child to Mellissa Ross and Grant Ross, owners of an apple orchard. He grew up beside his older sister, Arielle, who was only a year older. These two acted more like twins than older sister/younger brother. Thus, their relationship was very strong from the moment Anderson started to walk and so on. He was also introduced to apple picking almost at the time he could carry a couple apples. He would work by being given apples to carry to the basket waiting nearby. As soon as he was dexterous enough, he was also taught how to climb trees by his father and sister.

As he grew a little older, maybe around five years of age, he was given his first basket and often went with his sister alone to pick apples while their parents worked in different parts of the orchard.

[CHILDHOOD]
When Anderson was ten, his mother became pregnant again. Their family couldn’t be happier with this turn of events and were greatly expecting the new child. As their mother became bigger and kept to bed most of the day, work increased for the two children in the orchard. Now ten and eleven, the two were able to handle themselves well enough and pick much of the apples for the day. Anderson began to start using the sharp tools that his father had forbidden to them before. Several accidents happened with these tools, giving Anderson the scars he has now. Yet still, he remained attached to the management of the trees and would not give the tools up for anything.

On the due date of his new sibling, something went wrong. The baby, a girl, was born safely but the mother did not stop bleeding. She eventually bled to death, leaving her husband to care for the new baby and the other two children. For the longest time, he was able to hold it together. Many could tell that Grant was having trouble processing the death of his wife. He often ignored the kids and buried himself in his work. That left Anderson and Arielle to care for their new sister, named Mellissa after their mother. She was often called Mel by her siblings and that name is now more commonly used than her actual name.

[PRESENT]
At age fifteen, Anderson watched as his father packed his bags and left without a word. None of the children are sure where he has gone and even after being reported missing, he has never been found. Anderson believes that he either killed himself, wound up dead another way, or escape the districts forever. Any way, the boy knew the reason was because District 11 reminded him too much of his wife. So, that left Anderon, Arielle who was sixteen, and Mel at age five on their own running the apple orchard.

Dividing up the work between them was difficult at first but in the two years since their father has left, the three kids have become self-sufficient. They reach the quota each day. Arielle takes care of business with the Capitol, the paperwork, and the occasional phone call. Anderson deals with the accounting, money, and tree maintenance and planting. And as a group, all three work on picking the apples. The group only owns a small orchard but the money they earn is enough to take care of all three of them.

Codeword: Muttations
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