Marathon Delphi, District Four

With brown, short hair and fair, white skin, Marathon is skinny and, despite his age of sixteen, retains many of his boyhood features. His eyes, like his hair, are a brownish color, and it is not uncommon to find them gleaming. Likewise, Marathon is usually wearing a smile on his face, showing his white teeth to the world. Marathon can typically be found wearing a wet suit or a bathing suit. Though his build is generally skinny, his legs are muscular, allowing him to swim quickly through the water.

As he still maintains much of his baby fat, his face has, thus far, not experienced much acne. He keeps his face clean-shaven, for the most part. He mostly walks with his head up, but has a bad habit of putting his hand in his pockets, as many boys his age do.

Marathon is a free-spirited boy. Raised in District Four, his parents did their best to keep him from, well -- speaking his mind, something he does quite often with little regard to consequence. He believes in the freedom of the individual to chose how they live their lives. He is, at heart, a liberty-seeking free spirit, and a bit of a rebel. Luckily, none of his political thoughts have been spoken around the wrong ears, and he has not gotten into trouble with the law quite yet. After all, he's not a revolutionary, just a boy who doesn't like being told what to do.

He can be quite full of himself at times. This is perhaps compensation for self-confidence issues he may have. It is not unheard of for Marathon to say something which comes off as cocky. However; his self-centeredness is only a minor issue -- he's not a COMPLETE asshole -- most of the time.

He enjoys spreading knowledge to others, and gaining knowledge. Where-as most in District Four care little for academics and matters that do not serve any utilitarian purpose, Marathon enjoys deep thought in his spare time. He has little to no access to intellectual resources, but he still has his brain, and is often asking questions about how things work, why things are the way they are, and so on.

Marathon was raised to help others when they are in need. This can sometimes be at his own expense. Marathon will drop what he's doing in a moment to give someone else a hand. Some people take advantage of him in this way, though for the most part, this is a plus, not a flaw, for Marathon.

He has a strong work-ethic as well, part of his training from District Four. He is quite accustomed to waking up early in the morning to go to work, and returning late at night. Working as a crewman on boats is not in the least an easy job, and it requires a lot of guts and hard-work. Marathon has this, but of course, his work ethic will not be as strong as many from the lower districts.

Lastly, Marathon is a lover. He would prefer to use diplomacy over violence. In terms of romance, he is the sweetheart who wins a girl with his words, and treasures her love. He is loyal and will not cheat on the one he loves. He desires the same kind of love in turn.

Born and raised in District Four, Marathon was the second child of Leon and Memphis Delphi, having a sister two years his senior. Marathon was taught from a very young age, like other children in the district, how to swim, how to fish, and how to boat. From the age of six on, he joined others from his District in the daily fishing (usually both before and after school), attempting to acquire enough to meet the Capital's monthly quotas.

Marathon quickly developed a love for the sea -- it's serene calm. There is nothing more peaceful to him than being out in the ocean, on a boat, with the sun beating down upon his face. As such, it was often -- and still is -- what he does to relax. He just gets out into the ocean, away from all the noise.

His life has been fairly ordinary, as he was brought up in the middle class, unlike most of Panem. His family never had it great, but never had to worry about putting food on the table. This has put Marathon in a unique place to judge the Capital. Not obstructed by hunger, nor enslaved by his work, Marathon has had a happy childhood, and has grown to seek freedom -- not political freedom, but a true sense of freedom such as that which the ocean provides for him, or freedom that sneaking onto the beach past curfew provides for him.

When Marathon reached the age of 12, he first became eligible for selection as a Tribute in the Hunger Games. Marathon, for once in his life, could not feel happy. He was, of course, terrified that he would be selected. He was not.

He has, thus far, avoided being selected as a Tribute. This is largely thanks to the Careers who are eager to "serve". While Marathon was never friends with Careers, he knew quite a few from the boats he worked on, from the neighborhood, and so on. Marathon, of course, is thankful for his good luck thus far... But could his luck be running out?