Virgil Welsh (District Four)

Virgil looks like the stereotypical District Four career, with attractive "sea" green eyes, bronze colored hair, and tan shaded skin. As comes with his training, Virgil's body is lean and supple, athletic and flexible, a figure fit for a born predator. He looks like any other of the numerous District Four children who have have been trained to compete in the games. Shrewd, swift, strong, poised to kill, born to hunt, a natural born hunter of humans, this is the kind of person people see when they see Virgil, or any other career for that matter. People see what they want to see, and you'd be hard pressed to find Virgil in a mood where he cared enough to stop them.

And what does one think when they see (however unfairly) a young career boy from District Four. Well, of course that depends upon who's looking at him. To strangers, Virgil is a quite attractive and easygoing young man in the prime of his life, while to other careers, he's a legitimate threat who should not be underestimated, and to the poorer, more humble citizens of Panem, well, they're more than free to devise their own opinion...

... as long as they keep it to themselves.

Virgil is what people expect to see, a ruthless career death machine, just like all the others before him. And it takes an exceptionally keen eye (and an even more exceptionally keen grasp on the subjectivity of perception) to see beyond that thin veil to see what this young boy is really like.

What is there to say about a young career of Virgil's age? More than just about everyone would expect. Virgil is an easygoing and humorous sort, with a quick smile and playful eyes, a sharp wit and a scathing tongue. Virgil is not stupid, as after all, careers can scarcely afford to be these days, especially in good old District Four, the general laughing stock of the career community. He not an unappealing guy either, being funny, down to earth, and very intelligent in a way that people just can't help but be drawn to him.

And what does a young career from District Four have to smile about, life in Panem being what it is? Even in the relatively luxurious lifestyle of the upper districts, life is difficult, and the ever present pressure of the Capitol to keep the districts' output quotas met is hardly a stabilizing factor. Simple, Virgil believes in smiling while one still has something to smile about, which seems to be less and less with each passing day. Letting life get you down is quite literally something which might kill you, seeing as how you still need to get up for work in the morning, same as any other day of the year. The Capitol is watching it's rebellious little career district with eyes akin to a hawk's, and all Virgil can do is smile back condescendingly, knowing that, in the end, he'll still win, and they'll still lose.

In spite of the slight spike of resentment every district dwelling citizen of Panem, no matter what station in life they hold or state of mind they find themselves in, feels towards the Capitol, Virgil is still eager and excited for the games, as he has been all his life. You see, even though District Four is, quite easily, one of the most "rebellious" districts in all of Panem, they also hold the unique distinction of being a certified career district. Virgil is as proud as the rest of his district to adopt a "the games are brutal, but I'd rather participate than watch from the outside" mentality when it comes to the Capitol's favorite game of sadism. This is so because Virgil feels it is his duty, as both a career and a proud member of his district, to fight to win the games as best he can, but also because of a far more powerful reason. He's very, VERY good at what he does.

And he also absolutely loves it.

Careers tributes are not at all uncommon in the breathtaking, oceanic province of District Four, but as of late, victors certainly seem to be. Virgil was raised the same as any other young career, in a harsh, brutal lifestyle of regimented training and constant discomfort. The primary dysfunction that Virgil's family exhibits is that he has always seen his parents more as trainers to be respected than parents to be loved. The same goes for them, as they see Virgil not as much as son as a trainee, to be trained and taught not only in the industry of their district, but also the art of hunting other humans with medieval weaponry. Virgil, while he may be young, has never been a person to trifle with, and he is as enthusiastic about his eventual involvement in the games as his career counterparts in districts one and two.

Needless to say, the life of a career (which could be quite understandably compared to the training many child soldiers experience) is never an easy one, even for a willing participant. Grueling training, unending hardship, humiliation after humiliation was the childhood that Virgil, like many others, was forced to lead. His parents were always supportive of their son, and even though neither of them ever got to participate in the games, they trained their son vigorously but not without affection. At the end of the day, death was not a far off outcome, and Virgil was keenly aware of the fact that he could end up dying in the games much more easily than he could end up winning them. For every career who became a victor, (when they did that is,) there were five others did not.

But this truth is not seen as an inconvenience to Virgil. Being a career he something he enjoys, one of the few things he enjoys. Even if he dies in the games, Virgil would very much like to get to experience them firsthand. That is the kind of person he was raised to be, a warrior. To Virgil, the games are the ultimate test of skill, and he is all to willing to put his life on the line to see if he measures up.