Dr. Anton Mineyev--District 6 :)

Dr. Mineyev is an older man with thinning white hair and a bushy beard and mustache. He has large ears and a stern face that makes him look kind of like he was carved from wood. His dark brown eyes are sunken in on his face, which is mainly taken up by his forehead due to an ever receding hairline. He wears round wire glasses that always seem to be just a little bit too far down on his nose, and his bushy grey eyebrows are often arched in deep concentration. His face is tan and long with a few wrinkles scattered here and there.

He is tall and slender and walks with a long thin cane with a brass eagle head on the top. He normally wears a dark pinstripe suit with black leather gloves. Anton is an intimidating presence wherever he goes. But he doesn’t look capable of physically overpowering anyone, yet simply he has an air of self-importance, impeccable posture, and sour facial expression that demand the attention and often respect of those around him. He has a deep booming voice that loves to tell others what to do. Mineyev also has a tendency to wring his hands and pop his knuckles, a behavior that becomes more prominent when he is excited or nervous.

Anton has skipped over being a kid or a young adult to work on his research in the fields of genetic engineering and eugenics. He is now the upmost authority in his field and intends to reap the rewards that he bought with countless hours of studying as a kid. Anton is a ladder climber and he is willing to take down others to make way for his research and personal interests. He can be a bit bossy, but he is more than willing to share research information with other scientists as long as he can learn something in return. Mineyev’s primary goal in life is the same as it’s been for almost forty years: to be the best geneticist the world has ever seen.

Lately, he has taken an interest in human genetics and evolution, but his experiments have come to a bit of a standstill due to many institution’s ethical qualms with human testing for research projects. Anton is beginning to get desperate and would do almost anything for a decent specimen or two to work with. He has resorted to grave robbing and is seriously considering kidnapping to get test subjects for his very important research. Typically, he would frown upon violating laws such as those he breaks to procure test subjects but in the name of science certain exceptions must be made. He honestly sees his work in eugenics to be the future of Panem in terms of ensuring the longevity of the human race and will stop at absolutely nothing to figure out which traits members of the society are necessary to the continuation of the great nation of Panem.

Without any children of his own, Anton has turned into a bit of a fuddy duddy, but he does have two nieces who bring out his most human attributes such as an appreciation of chamber music and Bundt cake. His nieces are the only things that can ever distract him from his work long enough to have an unprofessional conversation. He remains guarded around others choosing to focus on the characteristics of others rather than ever disclose information about himself. Anton is slightly paranoid about the safety of his research. Really, it is hard to blame him after he has dedicated over forty years of his life to his work. To have it stolen would be such a pity.

Anton grew up in District Six with a neurologist mom and a physicist dad. His parents pressured him to join the academic community at a young age which he of course did. From the time he was twelve, his life revolved totally around absorbing all of the information he could get about genetics. The study fascinated Anton who wanted to find out what traits lead to the strongest group of humans. Anton’s best friend growing up was the little boy who he shared a hospital room with for three nights after he got his appendix removed. That was and still is the longest time Anton has spent in the presence of a child. He had one sister, Delilah. She didn’t inherit the brains of the family, but she actually got to live out a normal life. Anton used to envy her for not being burdened by having the capability and therefore the responsibility to solve the problems of Panem. Delilah had two daughters who Anton loves to visit with, but since “Uncle Andy” is busy, prolonged visits with the girls never happen.

As Anton grew up, he started to impact the scientific community. He was first published in a scholarly journal at the age of 23. By the time he was 30, he was giving presentations about the human genome to the doctors of the Capitol. He loved going to the Capitol and seeing all of the people dressed so funny and treating him like a celebrity. But like all Capitol fads, Mineyev got old and was replaced by the next greatest thing, a younger biologist called Shirley Mattson. Mattson and Mineyev had attended college together and could not stand to be in the other’s presence. It ate at Anton that anyone would rather listen to Shirley presenting her cut rate research than him presenting the high quality data that he had come to expect from himself.

In later years, Anton’s research has hit a tidbit of a road bump. His research proposal to test genetic engineering technology on children to make them immune to such human flaws as fear and anger was shot down for ethical reasons. Desperate, Dr. Mineyev has been taking children however he can get them, dead or alive, for his research. He thinks that he is now on the brink of huge discovery that could turn things around for him. If he can just hold out a few years with test subjects and some money, he could become the most prominent scientist in the district again. But leave it to his best buddy Shirley to come snooping around his facility to see what he is doing. Her actions have sent Anton spiraling into a paranoid frenzy. If he doesn’t finish and present his research before anyone else, he will not get to lie in the bed that he worked so hard to make. Anton simply cannot allow that to happen.