Patch Crider of District 8 [FINISHED FINALLY]

Patch is very short for his age; he is barely 40 pounds and 40 inches, or 3'4". It is guessed that he will be short in stature, following behind his classmates, throughout the rest of his life. At his rate, Patch will be underweight though sufficient enough for him. Ever since he was little, the boy did not eat much. He has been diagnosed with slow metabolism and, thus, is not compelled to eat the necessary calories that average children of his age consume.

The skin is usually cold and sometimes cracks from dryness due to his slow metabolism. He likes to think of his color as either creamy or a slight bit peachy. Patch tries his best to maintain his skin to a smoother state.

Patch has a nice set of dark marbles in his sockets that reflect a good enough light to signify nice intentions, though the glimmer tends to look away and do not avert attention onto their owner. The nose given to him is big on the bridge but a button-style nose and small nostrils that make you think a cotton ball would be large enough to clog them up. Since he's still a child, Patch has a bit of fat in the cheeks, curving them to a round shape. The lips are short in height and full. What hearing devices on the side of his head are given are small, tucked in by his hair.

The hair stops at the end of the nape of Patch's neck, just tickling his shoulders slightly. His thin strands are extremely wavy at the ends, tending to jut out away from his face like a leaf off a branch. Patch's hair ranges from the shades of a light chocolate to earth yellow (for the shine especially). The bangs scratch at the thin brows he has. Everything about his hair spells 'wavy' and 'brown'.

Patch has no real muscle to expose since maturity hasn't hit him yet. He can't exercise as much as a normal child due to the low pressure caused by his slow metabolism. In general he is frail-looking, even born with smaller hands and feet. Patch has a couple freckles placed throughout his body, but they are not entirely noticeable. Inside is a slow-pulsing heart that can get easily excited if struck right.

Usually the boy wears some short-sleeved shirt - not particularly a t-shirt - under a sweatshirt, even in the summer. In the winter, he might add another layer on. Jeans are his preferred leg-wear, especially if they are thick in fabric but light enough for his taste to run and not feel constricted. Patch likes dark-skinned tennis shoes or combat boots with short white socks. Wrapped around his tiny left wrist is a cheap watch so he always knows when to go home at whenever time. Patch likes reds or greens with his blue jeans; he tries not to be picky with designs.

Patch is the grand encompass of shyness and trying to avoid people's attention onto himself. He only comes off as rude because he tends to scamper off, look away from the person talking to him, and hide himself behind anything, especially Anya. The first time he is talking to someone, Patch won't look at them directly in the face, let alone the eyes. He's a hesitant child in introductions and won't be the first one to start anything.

Once one gets past his shy barrier, Patch is most like any other boy. He'll be bold and brash when insulted, likes to play around - with precautions, and generally wants to have fun in life. Innocent in a sense, the nine-year old exhibits energy as much as he can when in activity. If he actually has a friend, Patch only gets a little more talkative, still shying his heart away. He proclaims he doesn't have much of a sister-complex because any brother and sister love each other very much and get into fights; he only clings onto his family for protection in social situations, but a lot of those situations have him clinging onto Anya.

Pertaining to hugging, Patch takes with three different reactions depending on age and social bonding with him. One finds him hugging his family mostly for protection and assurance of love. To someone who is older, Patch will try to struggle out of the grip, groaning and yelping out to let go or for help. A person close to his age and height is more likely to get a blush and a push - hopefully with gentleness. Anyone that he knows better, Patch is tolerant and allows to shave his lifetime by seconds in giving an embrace. Hugging him with a head near his heart, though, will get him to freeze; Patch doesn't particularly like anyone listening to it and may start to breathe deeply.

Patch can be a bit of a mumbler. It's a way of expressing his feeling inaudibly while still radiating his displeasure. He owns the sarcastic level of a normal boy and sometimes the joking nature of one. Lavishing him with compliments is another way to get Patch to flush and look away. Punching and kicking is not in his nature, but he tells of his feeling towards teasing with mumbles and trailing off. Only when he's extremely spiteful and angry at someone will he actually try to throw heavy blows towards them. (This is mostly in concern towards Anya or when he feels there is injustice done to him or his loved ones).

Socially-speaking, Patch starts off a stutterer and stammering. He just needs to get comfortable to finally begin talking like a normal person - that is, if one can tie him down long enough to throw him in a long-enough conversation. Enough time will pass when one can see him smiling and laughing. He's a good boy to speak secrets to due to him not going off to people often, a major plus in secret-keeping. Patch gives trust more than earnest friendship.

To be honest, perhaps Patch would have given himself a new name, considering where his originated from. He does appreciate a seven-year old Anya's helpfulness to their parents, but with a name derived from "Patty Cake", it makes him utterly embarrassed. The young boy had heard of the tales of how Anya came up with rather cutesy, 'girly' titles to come to his own 'more boyish' one; sometimes he laughs, sometimes he frowns. His sister - his senior of eight years - at times jokingly calls him "Patty Cake", leaving him to grumble about the unfortunate circumstances.

He was always a bashful child, pretending to never hear or sense the family around him. In fact, Patch did not speak his first at the usual average age children did. By the time two exact years passed without a word out of his mouth, Hollis and Elisa grew worried. Their little baby boy, he preferred to play by himself, especially with his hands. Patch might have been talked to by Anya - age 10 at the time - but would never talk back. The brown orbs, staring, blinking; they were - literally - the windows to his soul. None of the other members could get something out of him; and, at first, Patch did not appear to harness much care to be understood but be alone.

Two more months passed before the parents finally decided to take Patch to a pediatrician. The price was a bit extreme, but they did want Patch to be figured out, so they said then. After tests, the doctor had said that he was just slower than the rest and recommended speech therapists to help the boy along the way. Hollis and Elisa thanked the pediatrician and left on their way to support the silent child. His attention span was short, and he was sure picky.

One speech therapist was not enough. Three separate entities had to cough out a word - "An" (ah-n) - after a year's worth of effort, and they were not cheap people. Hollis and Elisa discontinued the services, leaving to their own machinations on how to handle him. In their spare time, thinking back on the lessons the therapists pounded into Patch, they would attempt to pull out more progress out of the boy. Out of wanting to leave, Patch would comply, to his chagrin. He did not particularly like the practice, however he was promised that he could escape should he keep saying one or two more sentences. That got him going.

A year building upon social skills, Patch was able to form simple sentences and grunt his answers. He was behind definitely, his vocabulary archaic, hardly able to keep up his mind when he did speak, thus propelling him to a fit of stammering and stuttering. It was only passable. That was all Hollis and Elisa could salvage out of him; the rest Patch would have to develop over their years with his future schoolmates and age peers. They thought he could learn by their example and eventually catch up. Patch was not stupid; just slow.

Slow also came into play with their gradual noticing of his eating pattern and body. Age four - "Faur and thrwee-quwatars!" - Elisa had caught onto Patch's tendencies to not eat. While she suspected he was just a babe and did not want to digest much - some children have been reported to eat more than the average - this same behavior transcended to his early childhood years. Perhaps his body would also get warmer, grow out of the moments where he could not go to the bathroom properly, or get a good skin condition - without constant reapplication of baby lotion, of course. Five years of age, however, and still not a change to be made. Hollis and Elisa made another trip to the pediatrician.

Tests again diagnosed poor little Patch with slow metabolism. Not only had he have to watch for his social skills but for playing with other boys, which is a hassle considering fooling around is what most young 'men' liked to participate in. Already socially awkward, further socially awkward, detached, a complete failure of sorts. Little Patch did not care still; he preferred being alone, having quiet, being at peace. At this point of his life, other children were not wanted or desired. At least, not yet.

In school, balls would be thrown, laughter filling the air, the happiness of youth ensured. For Patch, on the other hand, his aura was serene, removing all noise. The boy would have sat by himself in a lonely little corner of the playground, watching, never perturbed but wanting nothing out of others. He was not sad, per say, but socially-detached and finding the barest minimum with his family only. The grounds were rough, the kids some tough, and the atmosphere rowdy.

By the sixth birthday, however, Patch was starting to have repercussions of his past ignorance. Little, random pangs cultivated into painful, heartfelt desires swelling only on the internal surface, not outward. Watching those boys grow with their friends, it sometimes got to be unbearable. It was a very short-lived but significant phase, for Patch was propelled to talk in front of a mirror to relieve some malaise, in turn turning his little sentences to a mumble of more complete ones. The effort was the best he could muster, and even then it was behind the rest.

By practicing, Patch outgrew the pain and garnered little advancement in speech. He had noticed that though age peers with their buddies had hurt him to look at, towards his sister, Anya, he never felt that way. She would have been with her groups, turning face away from the commotion their family was involved in with the financial crisis. The early years of economic depression for the Crider family seemed to have started with Patch's check-ups and lessons and was pushed farther forward with Hollis investing time and money with the gym. Perhaps it was because she had tried to strain him from the bickering that Patch looked up to Anya rather than longed for what she had that he had encountered with the rest.

One peculiar day, Anya left the house. Patch had attempted to go along, but then he thought back to his parents, the ones that some of their trouble originated with their son. He did not feel necessary guilty since Hollis was spending a bit too much on the Training House; but, nevertheless, the boy could not help feeling part to blame. At the time, Patch had this glorified vision of Anya: she could do about anything and was perfect, to his own mind. Patch had stayed with his superiors, hopefully to lessen the tension with his presence.

Loneliness but determined formed within. Patch was not going to let distance overwhelm his severely attached connection with Anya, even as the seventh and eighth years of his life passed. Though he has kept that same mindset of not wanting people, the boy has grown from the old thought of not needing others than the family. Of course he is still just as shy and awkward as before, but he has refined his skills to the point where they are a small level above passable. His love towards the family never outdated, and he was sure to keep it that way.

Patch will most likely only be around Anya, his older sister, if not going to school or having to do a task for the family. He likes cherry licorice out of all candy and his all-time favorite food is macaroni and cheese. He has been diagnosed with slow metabolism, thus he suffers from: dry skin, less intake of food, low blood pressure, slow pulse, easy fatigue, feeling cold, and sometimes constipation. He has to be careful about his exercise and standing up while he's been sitting or lying down for a long period of time.

I plan to develop his character over time, so he might not remain shy forever and might need to edit this profile as the years go on. Might even need to change FC too...
Plans to give him these glasses as he grows.

Patch's faceclaim is Oliver Davis.
Speaking/thinking color is Maroon.