d4 • ciaran slater

what you see

Ciaran is about 5' 10" in height. As for weight, he is about 127lbs, due to living a life of poverty and not having enough food to go against his fast metabolism. A smooth tan colors his skin, a sort of bronze color replacing his naturally pale skin. His skin is fairly smooth and soft and free of impurities such as pimples or moles or anything like that. A thin layer of dirt is almost always covering his hands and face. He was never a big fan of soaking in freezing cold water. 's muscles are fairly prominent, or at least the muscles that he does have. Due to being thinner, the muscle is the only thing that can really be seen. The definition is most prominent along his abdominal area and along his legs.

He appears a bit older than he is, really. His face is rigid and rough and not rounded out [except around his chin], his cheekbones being fairly high and usually prominent. Ciaran has naturally dark brown hair, the sun giving it a bit of a blonde coloring to it. It's usually messy and unkempt but he seems to pull it off fairly well. A light dusting of stubble crosses along his jawline and around his mouth which he tries to cut off with their rusty razor whenever possible. His eyebrows are thick and brown, curving up as if he's constantly surprised. As for his eyes, they are shaped like almonds, most of the white being covered by his large chocolate brown eyes. The socket of his eyes appear bruised, which is something natural for Ciaran. Due to his lack of sleep due to his insomnia or because he hates going to bed hungry, they vary between different shades of purple. When he goes without the required sleep, the color will darken, often appearing like two black eyes.

His nose is fairly thin along the bridge, ending with a thicker bottom area. His nostrils are hidden due to the angle and it all appears to fit in with the rest of his face. His lips are thick and colored a light color, the edges often curved up into a smirk. Hiding smooth off-white teeth, his lips are also often chapped from wind and cold temperatures and he's never had the right ointments to get rid of it, relying on time only. His ears are rigid along the bottom part, rounded at the top and are fairly large. They stick off of his head enough that they can be seen when looking at him straight on. When his hair gets longer, it sometimes covers his ears which he much rather prefers as he's self conscious about the size of them.

His neck is a fairly average size for the size of his shoulders and head, appearing proportional and not super thick or completely nonexistent. His shoulders are broad and pushed back, his chest pushed forward as well to keep a good posture. His chest is flat and smooth, as is his stomach. As stated before, the muscle in his abdominal area are quite prominent, his abs appearing despite how little he works out. His arms are long, running down to his rough hands that are often cut or bruised because he is almost always outside. Ciaran's legs are long as well, the main part of his height, ending with large feet. His leg muscles are also very prominent as he is usually walking or running around, going from place to place.

Torn boots and dirty running shoes are the only things that Ciaran has to protect his feet. The boots are ripped near his toe, worn out everywhere and losing their shape. His shoes went from being a whiter color to a dark gray, the inside being torn apart from his foot rubbing against it. His pants are also worn out, their dark gray color appearing to be a bit lighter in places and exposing bare skin beneath the loose threads. He owns some pairs of shorts, all of which appear the same. Ciaran's shirts usually consist of t-shirts as they are the cheapest kind he could buy. He has one nice outfit that was passed down from his father which he keeps as clean as possible. The red, button up shirt is usually hanging in the small closet in his house, the dark vest sometimes coming out as a casual piece of clothing. Ciaran is almost always wearing his dark newsboy hat, the one thing he has kept fairly intact, having only had one other through his life. The one he currently has is free of holes but the fabric is starting to wear out. To some, that might be a problem but Ciaran has had to accept it. He owns absolutely no pieces of jewellery and no accessories as they were the first things he sold to try and get money.

what you are

Everything is on the spot for Ciaran. He is never the kind of person who plans ahead and decides on what he thinks is best before actually doing it. While this does make him spontaneous and can possibly be seen as a good thing, he also doesn't think very much before he speaks. His words just come out regardless of the potential repercussions due to the fact that he didn't stop to plan things out. However, he is very adventurous. The world is his playground and he's enjoying it all. He has a very good outlook on life despite the hardships he's been through, grateful for the fact that he's still alive. But he doesn't give thanks to those around him. Just himself. Because in his mind, you are the only one you can trust. Everybody else is too indecisive and could have ulterior motives that you are unaware of. However, with yourself, you know everything that is needed to know. That's how he thinks.

He's always been a rebellious kind of person, even before he was breaking the law to suit his needs. Not to the point where he'd try and overthrow a government or try and kill but to the point where he won't let anybody truly govern what he does and says. He's always had respect issues, never truly giving 100% of it to anybody. Not even his parents. Even though he won't admit it, he resents his parents for giving him such a poor life. He believes they could have done more to have enough money to live off of. But he'll never admit that. He doesn't trust anybody enough to say it. But that doesn't mean he will never trust somebody. He wishes to. He's just unable to believe in people. They left him to fend for himself for sixteen years and he thinks that that'll never change. So he keeps to himself for the most part.

But he is social too. It's a part of his job. He works as a paper boy, collecting a very small amount of money per month of service, only receiving enough to buy a loaf of bread or a bit of fish. He does sort of enjoy his job as it's a great way for him to communicate with the people of District 4 but it definitely isn't the most prestigious. Even the old fishermen who are often found eyeing up the young ladies or going days without showering are seen with more respect than Ciaran is. See? He gets no respect so he doesn't give it. Why should he? Everybody has to earn it and in his mind, there is nobody who is deserving. But he loves life. No matter what has happened, he's very thankful for being able to live and that he's avoided being reaped for the years he was eligible so far. And on the other side of things, he hates death. Fears it even. He hasn't had very much in life that he'd want to stay for but he doesn't want to end up dead and alone and cold.

Every night, he experiences a little bit of death. He has had issues with sleep since he was young, suffering from a lighter case of insomnia from the age of four. But that wasn't all that plagued his nights. The night terrors began at a really young age, before he had been diagnosed with insomnia. Doctors believed that was the cause of his inability to sleep, the fear of seeing another night terror subconsciously controlling his body. A night terror is different from a nightmare, as Ciaran has absolutely found out, often waking him up in a full sweat but being so cold and stricken with fear. He's often avoiding the sleep he can get to avoid the horrible images or scenes that play in his mind on those nights.

Ciaran also suffers from SM, Selective Mutism, an anxiety disorder where he is unable to speak in certain situations. His communication skills are perfectly fine anywhere around District Four and he's been called a smooth talker and a flirt before. However, when he finds himself in and around school, the words don't come out. As he's surrounded by girls and guys of his age and some that are older and younger, it's as if his tongue locks up and doesn't want to move. He sits in the back of the class because of this, avoiding the gazes of his teachers so he doesn't have to force himself to speak. For this reason, he's never retained very much of the textbook knowledge that he's been taught over the years of schooling. When it comes to street smarts though, he's very good with that as he's always been living on the street.

what you remember

Fletcher Slater and Grey Jones were never your typical love story. The furthest thing from it as they began on the opposite side of the relationship scale, if there was one. The glares from their eyes and the hurtful comments that left their mouths as they passed in the streets continued for many years, both of them having their own reason as to why. For Grey, it was because her father told her about the Slater boys, begging her to avoid the three of them because they were nothing but trouble. And for Fletcher, it was because he had a magnetic attraction to the girl and wanted to have her in his life in some way, even if it wasn't romantically. But that all changed. When he let the information rush out to a friend as they were getting intoxicated behind the school, he found himself being laughed at because of his crush. Except for Grey. That's when their love began. It was odd, yes. But it was love. And they soon had a baby boy to call their own.

They were poor their whole lives. The Jones family had enough money to live but the Slater family had been living off of the small pay that Fletcher's father would receive every week. When Grey disobeyed her father's warning, all of her connection to the money that they did have was cut off. And so, Ciaran Slater grew up in this life whether he liked it or not. During his younger years, he really didn't notice it. He was too young to understand what being poor meant. Even when he went to sleep hungry, he didn't know why. When he turned two though, he began to understand why he was always dressed in dirty, old clothes while the other kids were a bit more classy with dressing. And he had to accept it whether he liked it or not. He really didn't have a choice in the matter, especially at his age. He couldn't get a job at two, obviously. So, he grew up thinking that he'd be like this forever.

He was young when the doctors diagnosed him with insomnia and selective mutism. They say it was due to anxiety and stress, that the fact that they were poor had affected his brain development. They called him disabled. They originally believed he had mental retardation. But when he began to learn and think more, they passed that off and diagnosed him with the two separate disorders. It was a shock to his parents and they believed it was completely their fault. After all, they didn't have money and so they forced their kid to grow up in a poverty filled environment. Whether that was truly the cause of his disorder or whether it came from something else, they never found out. All they knew was that their child would have sleepless nights and had difficulty speaking in a classroom setting. They could live with that. It was better than him being dead.

Growing up, Ciaran was always a very helping person. He'd help out with his dad and work as much as he could. Even when he was ten years old, he was trying to find a job to bring in at least some money for his family. And when he turned eleven, he got the job as the paper boy of District Four. His voice was loud and it impressed the man who made up the papers and if it meant any money, he'd do it. His whole life, he had been like that. Trying as hard as he could to help his parents with supporting all of them. That's just how he was. And in his teenage years, when he was eligible for being reaped, he stayed that way. He'd often grab side jobs to do along with being the paper boy, trying as hard as he possibly could to be called back if any more work was needed. He was a workaholic in a way, working every minute of the day.

But it wasn't enough. He'd still go to sleep hungry or be incapable of showering because they couldn't afford to heat the freezing cold water. That's when he began to break the law. It wasn't crazy. Just theft. He'd steal something here and steal something there. Not a lot. Just enough to have something but not enough to alert people. A handful of grapes, a few pieces of the District Four bread. Maybe an old fishing rod off of an old man's boat. He took just a small bit because he didn't want to be arrested and leave his parents all alone. Even if he did blame them for some things in life, he loved his parents. And so he kept under the radar if he could manage to. A few plants, a few shavings of soap, just a bit of shampoo.

And now, at the age of seventeen, nothing has changed. Going home to no food for the afternoon and sleeping in the dirty bed that he has. That was how it was for him. He still works as a paper boy, working as much as he can like he has his whole life. Breaking the law hasn't stopped. Although his thefts have begun to get more and more noticeable as he takes more and more, he still continues to do it because it has helped at least a little bit. Now, he won't die of starvation. His goal in life is to provide completely for his family as they inch towards their death and can no longer work. But for now, he'd have to accept it all. Ciaran grew up in poverty and still sat in it. He was bathing in it. And he couldn't find a way out. Whether he liked it or not, Ciaran was poor. The poorest of the poor.

what

Hi there! My name is Damen and you can find my character tracker here.

odair