>DONE< Naoki Yoshida--District 11 Runaway

Considering his heritage and his two rather short parents, Naoki considers his height of 5'9" to be pretty decent, especially for his age.

Compared to his closest friends, Naoki is also rather content about his build. He is of a decent weight, perhaps lighter than he is heavy, but among his closest friends, he is actually pretty well-toned, something that comes from a former life of farming, and a more recent one of living, fending, and hunting on his own and for his remaining family.

Naoki has naturally black hair, but he tends to dye it different colors, usually of a brown-ish color, though he does, on occasion, like trying more eccentric things--blonde streaks, for instance. He has dark, slanted brown eyes and slightly tan skin. Naoki doesn't really have the money to be picky about what he wears, but he does try to be fashionable with what he does have to work with. (And if he can find a way to make a little extra cash, he certainly doesn't mind buying a fashionable accessory or two for himself now and again.)

He has one piercing in each ear, and though he doesn't have the money to have one done yet, he's interested in getting a tattoo.

Naoki was always kind of rough around the edges, ever since he was very little. His father called him a "fighter", and his mother, perhaps to soften the sound of that, called him a "trooper." It was never that he was tough in the sense that he was eager to hurt people or fight, but more like he had something of a traditional and stern "get it done" type attitude. And more than that, growing up working hard on the farm, in a time when being a kid had more cons than pros, naturally, Naoki had the kind of adult-concerns a kid his age shouldn't have had to have.

Naoki is also very protective of his younger brother, Kichiro. He considers the two-year-younger boy his best friend in the world, and though he also has other kids he considers "family" that he adores and looks out for, there is no one else in the world he worries about more. While he is at least close to becoming one year too old to become a part of the Tribute challenge, he is always aware that his brother has over two more years before he too becomes exempt. And considering the rather different lifestyle he and Kichiro adopted after the death of their parents, he has all kinds of qualms about the younger boy.

Likewise, Naoki has a strong hate for the Hunters from District 9. They claimed the life of his father in a way that seemed all too unfair, and ever since the accident, when life continued to go downhill for him and his family, they were the ones he blamed. But he also blamed himself too, if only because the steady decline in his life, from the failure of the farm to his mother's sickness, then death, felt like his own fault. If he'd worked harder on the farm or found another alternative to make money, like becoming a Tribute, even stealing, then maybe he could have spared his Mother and his brother from their fate. It's something that bothers him constantly. But perhaps in search for a kind of scapegoat for his feelings, Naoki vowed to himself to deal with the District 9 hunters, if and when he encountered them, to give them what they gave him and his family.

Despite those deep, dark aspects, Naoki is otherwise a very normal guy. Growing up on the farm with a fine balance between lessons with his mother and work out in the sun, on the fields, Naoki not only had the opportunity to learn about school-based things, but life in the real world as well. This fine balance gave him pretty solid instincts to rely on in the real world, and in addition, though he might not be as intelligent as the richest kids in the existing world, he's certainly not unintelligent either.

He likes sports, hunting, and running, and though he doesn't see them too often, girls too. He's straight as an arrow, and a bit of a flirt. But most of all his friends and adopted family are most important to him.

Despite the darkness of the times, Naoki was born to a hard-working and overall happy family. When his younger brother Kichiro was born, things seemed even better. Life was semi-difficult for the family, who lived in the heart of District 11, making their living as farmers (like much of the other families in the area), but for a very long time, they got by just fine.

Naoki was always a tad bitter that so much of his family's hard work went to the Capitol and not to those who truly deserved it, but of course there was little he or anyone else in the family who disliked the whole concept (his father, for instance) could do about it. Yet even despite something of a lack of food and other necessities, the family felt comfortable enough. Naoki took school at home with his brother when they weren't working, and even though he made friends with other kids his age in the surrounding area, he always felt closest to Kichiro.

Despite the constant concern that things could go wrong at any moment, life really was okay for the family.

Until the accident.

A District 9 hunter turned up in District 11, suddenly and naturally, unexpectedly, and as a result of a stray bullet, Naoki lost his father. For a long while after the accident, though well aware of his mother's whole-hearted attempts to keep the family together and well-cared for, Naoki felt a strong kind of contempt for the type of people that had taken his father--and consequently--his family's lifestyle away. He and his family did their best to keep up with the farm, but time and a lack of resources proved that it was impossible. With the circumstances being the way they were, and with such a lack of food, by the time Naoki turned 14, he suddenly began to understand why other kids his age were becoming Tributes. At one point, he seriously considered offering himself up for the task, but was swayed when his brother talked him out of it and when he realized that he likely wasn't fit or healthy enough to have a shot at actually winning anyway.

Instead, he and his brother worked double-time to keep the family fed by hunting and fishing. But it wasn't enough. Once his brother turned 13, Naoki's mother had reached her limit. The stressful lifestyle had caught up to her long before, sending her into the kind of sickness that only much time and much money--neither of which the boys had--could heal. And before anything could really be done, she passed away.

Naoki and his brother buried their mother somewhere on the farmgrounds, where their father had also been buried, but they didn't stick around the farm to see what would become of them next. After packing up what few belongings they had, they ran off to find a life somewhere else. It was after a bit of time that they met up with others like themselves and began to make their living in ways that weren't quite as natural (or moral) as farming.

Now, three years later, Naoki is living with his brother and some close friends as a Runaway. Well aware that he is still within the age-range of those chosen to be Tributes, he's now working avidly not only to help him and his new family survive each day, but to avoid becoming a part of the Tribute challenge as well.

My sister recommended this community to me, and I also thought I'd mention that I've been roleplaying for a very very long time (though I'm not all that happy with the way my writing turned out here--sorry for that, I'm living in Japan, so it's currently 5 AM-ish here!! >.<)! Your board is fantastic--looking forward to roleplaying! ;D