//Reese James Parker of District Four

[SKIN]
“I’m not usually this tan.”
It’s a lie, due to spending most of his time outside, Reese is almost unhealthily dark. After hours in the sun, the boy had all together stopped burning and instead turns browner and browner as summer progresses. In the winter time, Reese can get very pale but every year, his tan fades less and less. He sometimes has spots where his skin has turned back to white and spots that his skin is still as tan as on the last day of summer. He finds these spots embarrassing and often hides them with clothing. Overall, Reese just has very unhealthy skin.

[FACE]
“It’s hideous!”
Not really but Reese isn’t exactly happy with his face. Even though he isn’t very shallow, he still sometimes fusses about the height of his cheekbones (which is astronomical) and his narrow eyes. His chin and cheek still look like a young boys, round and are only starting to get defined by age. Small wrinkles, created by days of the sun and Reese’s often scrunched expression, are defined across his forehead. He also has similar lines between his eyes and near the bridge of his nose.

[HAIR]
“I think long hair is impractical.”
Reese’s hair is as short as he can cut it himself. Without a razor, the boy is forced to cut it short enough to his head that it does not get into his eyes and it does not get stuck in any of his equipment. His hair color is dark brown with some tints of red that appear during the summer when he spends most of his day out in the sun. Also due to a nervous habit where he runs his fingers through his hair, it is constantly sticking up. Due to the sea air and the sticky salt, it causes it to spike up into little clumps, giving him a messy and uncaring look to him. Reese makes no attempts to fix his hair and often leaves it from when he woke up.

[EYES]
“Look Mommy, they are the same color as the water!”
As a young child, Reese was fascinated with his own eyes because they matched the water’s surface. They are light blue with some darker shades forming flecks around the outside and a ring around his pupil. His eyes are also narrowed and sometimes give him a menacing look when he is not trying. Reese has poor eyesight but the boy refuses to wear glasses because they get in the way of his work. He would rather wear the few pairs of contacts he has and risk losing them. His mother is not often happy about this.

[BUILD]
“Ain’t that the skinniest kid you have ever seen?”
Reese may not be very tall but his looks lanky due to the fact of how much fat is on his body. Which, by the way, is just about nonexistent. With his shirt off, one can see most of his ribs and his spine. It isn’t that Reese doesn’t eat; he would happily spend his days eating. Instead, his work causes him to burn calories and stay very thin despite what he eats. This also keeps him from building too much muscle. He mostly lacks any sort of visible muscles in his arms, legs, and abs.

[SCARS]
“Those marks, they tell stories.”
For the kind of boy that Reese is, one does not expect him to have many scars. Most of them are deep down and emotional but he does have some superficial marks. One in particular is a long, thin, white line that slashes across the front of his chest. The story behind it is a fishing trip gone wrong. Roughly about two years ago, Reese was messing around with his brothers on the dock and one scraped him across the chest with a fish hook. It may not have been noticeable if Reese had gotten it treated. Instead he decided to hide it. Another deep scar he has is one across the back of his left hand, again from an unfortunate accident with a fish hook.

[OTHER]
“Surprise, surpise.”
First off, Reese is naturally left-handed and this is a problem to him every day. Due to the fact that most of his equipment is made for those that are right-handed, over the years he has had to learn how to use his right hand just as fluidly. When it comes to most activities now, Reese uses his right hand but when writing or anything small and precise, he will use his left hand. The District Four boy also has a boatful of nervous habits such as running his hands through his hair was nervous. When he is unable to do that, he will tap his fingers or do just about anything to keep them moving.

[QUIET]
“No one wants to hear me.”
Reese was the youngest child, outspoken by his older brothers. Attention was never received and instead of fighting for it, the young child avoided it. Being the center of attention brought bad things upon him. Reese had learned this the hard way. Now, as he grows older, the boy doesn’t seem to have a voice. He does speak, he is in no way mute, but he would rather not voice his opinion. He believes that no one really cares about what he has to say. Instead, he keeps his thoughts to himself and watches from the shadows. He would rather observe than be observed.

[EASILY PERSUADED]
“That’s sounds better than my plan.”
Spending his life in the shadows has only taught Reese how to be a follower and not a leader. The boy would rather have someone else make the plan and follow through than himself. On his own, Reese can make his own decisions and take fine care of his self. While in a group, he will not step up to take charge. He would rather follow along with whatever everyone else is doing. Also, when his mind is decided, it is easy enough to change it. He is quite uncertain with his own decisions and can be persuaded by another to do something else.

[GENTLE]
“Even killing a fish makes me uncomfortable.”
His touch will never sting and his movements will never injure. Reese is very careful about how he goes about. He does not like to hurt others, it is against his nature. He doesn’t approve of the needless violence of the Hunger Games and the bloodthirstiness of the Capitol. Quite frankly, he doesn’t understand what is so exciting. He is also quite disgusted by the acts that go on during the Games. Reese just hopes that he will not one day be a part of that. He is also quite fond of animals, and even at times has a hard time with his fishing work. He does not have a problem though with eating meat that is already cooked.

[CLUELESS]
“Wait, what just happened?”
It will be a few moments before Reese understands a situation. The first flurry of attacks will not set him off. He can go for minutes standing in the heat of the flames before realizing that he is getting burned. Insults and compliments alike take a couple of seconds to process before Reese can respond. Overall, his reaction time to just about everything is delayed to an extent. It also takes him a couple minutes to process what he is going to say before responding. This only adds to the fact that he speaks very little in the first place. Those who choose to converse with him usually leave before he has cooked up a proper answer.

[HORRIBLE UNDER STRESS]
“I just can’t deal with this!”
He cannot deal with stress and yet, stress seems to love him. In a fight or die situation, this boy is almost rendered useless for the first few moments. It takes him time to adjust to extreme changes or challenges. Eventually, he can come around enough to fight but between the first few blows and the heat of the battle, he remains stone-still. He is held in place by fear and the stressfulness of the situation at hand. Reese has a hard time following what events are unfolding and figuring out how to respond. At times like these, he can grow desperate and weaken his deteriorating status.

[DETERMINED]
“If it means that I have to overcome my fears, so be it.”
Despite all that is wrong with Reese, he is determined through it all. He will never simply roll over and give up. He may kiss up to superiors and show his belly to some opponents, he will never give up. If something such as fighting and betrayal stand between him and his goal, he will do so. Only that, Reese doesn’t expect that he will have to do these things. He wants to remain a fisherman for District Four and he is determined for it to remain that way. He hopes that nothing could destroy this dream. That is why Reese fears the Hunger Games.

[INFANCY]
Being his mother’s fourth child, Rose Parker knew exactly what to do. She dealt with her pregnancy the same way she had done with her three previous boys. Along the way, the expecting parents had been hoping for a daughter. Especially Rose, since she was getting fed up with constantly living with a bunch of men. It would be a great change to bring a baby girl into the world.

Instead, they received Reese. His birth was not seen as a disappointment of any sort but it still left his mother wishing for a girl. Reese was raised just as any child of District Four. Almost from the day he was born, he was exposed to water, swimming, and fishing, a business his family lived and breathed. At first, when he was little, Reese got along with his older brothers. He was unaware of the problems they would cause him in the future.

[CHILDHOOD]
From the time he was six and onward, Reese worked with the family on the fishing boat. He showed the potential to be the best of the brothers and his father took special attention in him. From a distance, Reese’s three older brothers watched, jealous. This caused the three eldest boys to become abusive to the youngest of their clan. Reese was constantly harassed about being ‘Daddy’s Favorite’ and how he was hogging all the attention. This eventually led Reese to purposefully messing up on fishing trips and sabotaging his own equipment to make his father turn his attention away. The little boy learned to keep his mouth shut and let his brothers do all the talking. He didn’t want to be harassed anymore, so Reese gave his brothers what they wanted.

During this time, Reese’s father started to become ill. He wouldn’t tell anyone at first, not even confiding in his own wife of his sickness. He was growing weak and he did his best to hide it from his boys. Without him, the family would have no way to live. Dominic wasn’t about to shock his family with this news. Eventually though, it started to catch up with him. It wasn’t long until Leon, only sixteen at the time, had to take over the boat and let their sick father rest. Soon after that, his died of the illness, which Dominic never allowed to be diagnosed. He claimed to have known that it would be the death of him.

[PRESENT]
Since Reese’s father’s death, the boy had become on better terms with his brothers. Forced to work together to support the business and family, they have banned together so they would not have to drift apart. Also to support their mother, who soon after her husband’s death, hasn’t been quite right in the mind. Most days, Reese spends his time out on the boat, fishing. He has returned to working at his full potential with his father’s attention out of the way. In this way, the brothers are glad to have the youngest around.

Just beyond the horizon, the next Hunger Games hovers over Reese’s head. He can only hope that his name is drawn for this year.