Aritha Dyle (D9) Finished!

Aritha may not be emo, or goth, but she certainly maintains an introverted air with her appearance. Her dark brown hair runs to just past her shoulders and is dead straight. It makes the perfect shield for hiding from anyone she wants to avoid communication with, or even contact. She uses it to set up a barrier to everyone else who may glance her way. Best, she uses it to glance out at the passing persons without them noticing. If they caught her observing them, as she often does, there would be no question to the number of odd looks she would get. As if she didn't already get enough. While Aritha doesn't go overboard with hair products, she brushes it consistently every morning, washes it and keeps it moderately clean for being in one of the lower districts.

Aritha's skin is pale and untanned from lack of exposure. It gives her a more sickly look than healthy, and the dark bags under her eyes certainly don't help with that. It's not that she goes to bed late- it's that she doesn't always go to bed. All nighters are common occurrences in her household. A small patch of freckles dot the bridge of her nose, but other than that her skin is generally unmarred. She has multiple scars on her hand from working in the factories part time. Those hands are already worked tough and hard, with the calluses starting build; blister over blister. Sometimes you can see the raw skin on them, but only occasionally. Aritha has always wanted her hands to be softer, but work has changed them to worn and leathery, even in her youth.

This is that one girl who never wears a t-shirt and jeans, and always goes around in something that looks three sized too big for her. Admittedly, that might not be too uncommon in a District 9 school though. Roaming the halls in baggy sweatshirts and sweatpants, Aritha's clothes alone seem to project her attitude of 'leave-me-alone'. She's never had an acute sense of fashion, and knows that she never will.

Her eyes are a dark green that she's never liked because they look 'swampy', in her own words. They really are a detestable shade, murky and dark but lacking the emotions that flit through normal people's eyes.

Aritha is tall for her age, and tends to be the same height as most guys two years older than her. It's not easy to try to hide yourself from someone when you're twice as tall as them. She'd always had a somewhat lanky figure, but since she hit her growth spurt the girl has been tripping over herself without end. Much to her embarrassment, and others enjoyment.

(Other than my need to be mean, this is her self-deprecating thoughts about her personality.)

She's your typical introvert, isn't she now? Of course she is. What else did you expect from her? No one really expects anything, and they shouldn't. It's really pathetic, the way she doesn't talk to anyone and just wanders down the hall trying not to be caught under the accusing stares of her classmates. The way she keeps her hair in front of her eyes and makes a personal bubble that none but the most outgoing even venture to try to talk to her, and they end up getting ignored anyway. Not like it makes a difference.

Something about her makes people want to stay away from her, and that's just fine. Whenever she's called on in class, she makes an idiot of herself in front of everyone by stuttering. Only cliched people do that in movies and books, but somehow Aritha actually manages to in real life. Constantly worried about how other people think of her, she embarrasses herself on a regular basis. It's not like they need help to dislike her, but her social awkwardness just makes it easy.

Sure, she over thinks everything, but it keeps her from opening her mouth when she's not wanted. Which is just about all the time. When she's around people she's familiar with, she might make a few odd gestures of companionship, but people don't normally get that close. Something in her messed up personality keeps them away from her. No one has the persistence to approach her more than once and keep up a one sided conversation with her. Who would?

That, and she hates herself.

Aritha was born in district 9, and was raised there. She always knew she was going to be a factory worker, though that didn't stop her from being shocked when she came home from the first day with blisters and cuts on her hands from the machinery. It didn't stop her from crying when she saw the things she could never afford made and shipped to somewhere else every day. And it certainly didn't help when her eldest brother was injured by a faulty steel-melting contraption; effectively crippling one of his arms when his sleeve got stuck in the conveyor belt. After that, she had to take up a part time job at the factory to help balance out school.

Despite that, her brother was always superb at just about everything you could imagine. He was fast, strong and funny. He was always at the top of his class, while Aritha was just her. Average. When she was younger, Aritha was far more outgoing and daring than she is now; but over the years the parental neglect that she became used to built up her defenses against everyone. Parents are a bigger influence on their children than they think. They always said how disappointed they were, and she got the impression that everyone else was too.

She used to struggle to make everyone else happy, even if it meant keeping herself from something she needed. She just couldn't be a disappointment. Not again. Despite her best efforts though, she remains with persistently average test scores, slow running times, and no muscles to speak of. If she had to pinpoint one point in her history where she just gave up on it all and kept going, it was when she was 12, and brought home her report card again to her parents. They didn't care, but cooed over her older brother's grades. And she realized she didn't care, she just didn't any more.

My first character here, and if there's something I need to change- especially in the middle- I definitely will.