Maror "Rory" Dolan|D10|[FIN]

dear god, life ain't kind
people gettin' born and dyin'

{BASICS}
My mother named me Maror, for the bitter herbs she took to ease her labor pains. Anyway. Maror Dolan. I can't say it rolls off the tongue smoothly. Most of my friends and family call me Rory. Suits me just fine. It's easier to pronounce.

I'm sixteen years old, and I live in District Ten with my parents and my cousin, Iris.

rose is my color and white
pretty mouth and green my eyes

{LOOKS}
I'm not much of a looker, I'm afraid. I'm nearly six feet tall, (five-eleven and a half! ugh) with long skinny legs, and big, veiny hands. I'm wiry, too. No matter how much Mom tries to feed me, I just can't gain weight. I'm strong, though, from baling hay and all the other work I do at the ranch.

I wish I had gotten soft curves like my mom and Iris.

My hair is a long, wavy mess the color of bleached straw. I hate it. I usually keep it tightly pinned up or braided or both. If Mom would let me, I'd just shear it all off...but I guess then I would look even more like a boy.

Mom says I look like my Aunt Fern, that I got her face and her porcelain skin. I don't really remember what Aunt Fern looked like. I have a diamond-shaped face with high cheekbones and deep-set grayish-green eyes. I think my mouth is a little too wide for my face, my lips a little too thin. My eyebrows are the same color as my hair, and you can't really see them until you get close to me. My eyelashes are the same way, pale and baby-fine. Sometimes it doesn't even look like I have eyelashes.

I kind of like my nose. It's long and straight, ever-so-slightly turned up at the tip. Iris thinks I'm weird for liking my nose, but eh. I like a nose with character.

Since I'm so tall and have no curves to speak of, it's hard for me to find girls' clothes that fit, and Mom doesn't have much time to make or alter any. I usually wear boy's clothes--they fit. I do have a couple of dresses I wear for special occasions--both in rather drab shades of blue, but for the most part, I dress like some of our ranch hands. Shoes are a little easier--lots of women have giant feet like mine.

i've heard there's joy untold
it lays open like a road
in front of me

{PERSONALITY}

Iris says I'm gloomy and morbid. I don't know about that. I just accept the reality of death. You might say that death fascinates me. It's not like I'm gloomy and morbid all the time. I think I'm cheerful. Iris just doesn't understand my dry sense of humor.

I'm a little cynical. You watch the Games every year from the time you're big enough to see the television screen, and every year you watch kids kill other kids--it has an effect on you. It teaches you that the world is not a soft, safe place. There isn't any room for blind optimism in my world, only realism.

I've been accused of being selfish. I prefer to think of it as rational self-interest. I'd rather feed myself first, then take care of everyone else. I'm useless if I'm not at my best, after all.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Not in a good way, Mom says. If I can't do something perfectly, I'd just as soon not do it.

I can't say that I'm tenacious. I give up too easily. It doesn't take much to discourage me and I don't handle criticism very well. Hyper-sensitive, one of my teachers said. I'm not hypersensitive. I'm hard on myself, that's all. I just want to be perfect; is that too much to ask?

My teachers all adore me. They like that I learn fast. They like that I always defer to authority. They like that I'm quiet in class; that I never cause a fuss. I'm studious and bookish and always racing to be at the top of my class. Of course I am. I want to do more than be a barn manager like my Dad or a midwife like my Mom. Maybe I'll work for the Justice Building one day.

I don't think I'm especially loyal. I mean, I love my family. I do. There a lot of things I'd do for my family that I wouldn't do for anyone else. But I think that, if I had to, I would save myself before I went back for them. I'm a terrible person, aren't I?

Oh? They want to know good things about me? Er. I'm smart, I guess. And I do like to be helpful. I do my best to always keep my word and I try to be honest.

two-thousand miles away
it seems so far away
two-thousand miles until
i reach that
open road

{HISTORY}[/b]

My mom says that I had a grandfather or great-great-uncle or second cousin or something who competed in the 12th Hunger Games. Or the 11th. I never pay attention when she talks about that; but she always says something about there being Victor blood in our veins. I don't really care. It's not important here. Anyway, pretty much everyone claims to be related to some Victor or another.

My mom is a midwife. She knows herbal remedies for everything. Cramps, bleeding, herbs to ease labor pains, all that. I'm not sure her line of work is entirely legal, but it's not like she has to go beyond the district boundaries to get herbs. A lot of them grow wild, and we live in the middle of the district, anyway, not near the fences. She's tried to teach me. I know a little, but...really I wish Mom would teach me to sew.

My dad is a barn manager with his own ranch. I guess that means we're wealthy-ish by District 10 Standards. He's a bit older than my mom. I'm guessing there's about fifteen years between them. He drinks a lot these days. He has ever since I turned twelve. I can't tell you how many times me or Mom have had to drag him out of the bar.

Anyway, Mom and Dad were married for a year before my mom had me. She was 32 when I was born. She tells me I was the quietest baby she'd ever seen. I guess she'd know. They tried for more kids, but never did have any luck.

Mom had a sister named Fern. I only met her a few times, since she lived on the far side of the district. She was a pretty lady, if I recall. Tall like me. She married some guy who just took off and left her when she found out she was pregnant. She had her baby just a few months before I was born; a little girl she called Iris.

Long story short, Aunt Fern took ill. Fever, Mom says. She died when Iris and I were eight. So, Iris came to live with us. She's been like a sister to me ever since. Iris is sickly and can't do a lot of heavy work, so she takes care of the house while we tend to the ranch.

{OOC}

odair

Faceclaim: Henna Lintukangas.[/color]

{Other}: I went by this map of Panem when I was writing Rory's history: hungergamesmovie.org/images/c9b2092f98fd021ae398e8f5ff47b402.jpg . I figured that District 10 was probably pretty big because of all the farming, so it didn't seem unreasonable to me for there to be a few families close to the middle, and more families spread out toward the edges.

{Lyrics: "Angelene", by PJ Harvey}