Arden Tentsmuir, District 7

Excuse me if I'm a bit scruffy because I haven't really bothered to keep myself in tip-top shape for the past few years. My hair is always messy, but I try to keep it somewhat tame. It's pretty much a really funky bedhead combined with working in the lumber mills. I'm 5'7 and a bit muscular if I must say so myself. Let's hope the ladies find that attractive, since working pretty much all day doesn't really get me anywhere in that area, if you know what I mean. I'm not one for descriptions since I'm a guy, so I'll give you the basics, unless you're a girl and reeeeeeeeally want to know (hint hint wink wink). Light brown/blondeish hair, brown eyes. My clothes are the typical garb, a lumberjacky shirt for workdays that my mother finds overly hilarious, strong denim pants, and brown boots. The rest of my clothes are all bathed in woodchip dust so they match and it doesn't matter what I wear. I've been working on a tan since ladies apparently find that attractive, but I get sunburnt most of the time. Tough luck, huh? I don't like looking in the mirror for a few reasons, mostly 'cuz I look too much like someone I don't like remembering. Sorry, but you'll have to come closer if you want to really inspect my fine-featured face. I hear it's quite manly. Gotta win those ladies, wink wink.

Gee, I'm quite charming and charismatic and humorous. All the things a guy needs to be, huh? I'd say that pretty much sums me up. Yep, I know what to say a lot of the times – don't tell anyone, but most of my suave skills are 100% na-tu-ral! Now if only I could get a girl to sit still for more than a second. My amazing personality seems to be too much for them to handle. No, I'm not “obnoxious” like they all say. I know they lie, I see it when they laugh. Or maybe not, but who cares? I don't. I've got the skills!
Truthfully, I hate having to work all day out in the forest chopping wood but there's nothing I can do about that. Better than working in the paper plant, everyone working there stinks of rotting foliage. Can't have that on a charming, handsome young man like me, or so says my mother. And yes, I like my parents. And yes, I like life, unlike most teenagers nowadays. Don't laugh at me about that, it's part of what makes me so cool. Can't get enough out of life if you don't enjoy it. Maybe I'll have to find some mopey girl and then they'll latch onto me. Yeah, that'll work.
And– hey! Hey! Come back here! Aw come on, was I too strong? Why doesn't anyone ever stay for more than a few minutes? I'm not that rash am I? Who couldn't love a face like this? A personality like this?
Alright, fine. I admit it, I try too hard. This whole outgoing and charming ladies' man is pretty much a whole ploy. Some of it is me messing around and being myself, but a lot of it is me trying too hard. I try too hard to impress the ladies, I try too hard to get along with the guys. Yeah, I'm obnoxious and crack too many jokes but if I don't, bye-bye social life and bye-bye friends and bye-bye future career. I'd be a lonely loser without it. But forget about that, it's not important. I don't like to think about that anyways. I'll try a different tactic anyways. If you come back to read this, maybe I'll explain about my oh-so-interesting life.

Seeing as I've lost you, I might as well ramble about my childhood until you come back into my loving arms. Meaning never, if the past decides to repeat itself again. Anyways, I started off as a wee little boy and a younger sister with a loving mother and father. Life was good, ya know? I went to school, had a great time, loads of friends – the works. Then my mom lost her job at the lumbermill when a whole ton of logs fell off the conveyer belt and my sister got sick. Oh, my sister. I really did love her, you know. For real, not just because I needed someone. She and I, we did everything together. But when my mom lost her job, money was tight. We couldn't afford to get a healer to see what was wrong and used all the wrong home-remedies that my mom thought would work. She just kept getting sicker and pretty soon she couldn't do much but sit in bed all day. It was sad, and she was sad. Only a little kid and forced to sit in bed all day feeling miserable? That's pretty sucky. I tried my best to keep a smile on her face, and I was genuinely funny back then. I knew how to make her laugh, I would tell the best stories and know exactly what to say to make her feel better. But eventually her illness got the better of her and she died.
When Sylvia died, it was like a part of me had gone with her. I couldn't laugh, I couldn't smile. I lost the ability to be funny. I lost all my friends because I stopped going outside. I stopped trying. I was nothing like I was before, and I never will be. I shut myself away from the world for about two years until my dad told me it was time to start working or get out, because he couldn't support both me and my mom alone. So I quit school 'cuz nothing there was going right in the first place. I started working as a lumberjack and I decided to try to be who I was before, when everything was right in the world and nothing was missing. That's how I got all annoying. I've been trying to pretend that nothing ever happened, but I'm not the same. I try to be funny and charming and smooth but I'm like a ghost of who I was before. Not the same. Like I said before, the real me died with my little sister. What I try to be now is fake, so it comes off as fake. I try too hard so it doesn't work. But I try to put that aside and keep trying. Maybe one day, someone'll come 'round and start listening and I'll be whole again. A guy can wish right? Just like they say! Gotta keep chopping that wood, ya know?