Cyril Landdon - District Three - Finished

Name:

Cyril Landdon

Age:

15

Gender:

Male

District/Area:

District Three

Appearance:

I'll come right out and say it; the first thing anyone will ever notice about Cyril is his screwed up jawline.  He swears up and down that his jaw was broken as a child falling out of a tree, but in truth, it was broken in a fist fight when he was thirteen.  Normally, his face would be rather long and lean, perhaps even heart-shaped, but his jaw is permanently askew, and as a result, his somewhat prominent chin is crooked, as his smile, and the jawbone juts out sharply on the left side of his face.  It healed badly, obviously, and as a result of the same fight that put his face in such a bad way, he's missing several teeth on the left side of him mouth as well.

If you can get past the crazy jawline, you'll notice the ever-present dark circles under his large, dark brown eyes.  Messy brows sit low over those eyes, topped with a high forehead.  Medium brown hair usually ends up messy and disheveled on his head, though every once in a while, he'll comb in back nicely, if only for the sake of his sister.  Cyril isn't really the type to wear a smile very often, and when he does give you one, treasure it, because he usually only reserves those for his sister.

Standing at 5'8, a full three inches shorter than his sister, he's only just hit his growth spurt, and probably won't be as tall as Elenore.  What he lacks in height, though, he makes up for in stockiness; he's a broad-shouldered boy, with a bit of muscle on his frame.  He looks like he would be much better suited to the coal mines of District Twelve or the fields of District Eleven, rather than the factories and laboratories of District Three.  He wasn't always intimidating to look at though.  His musculature is a recent development, a sort of precaution.  The last time he was beat up badly, he was more or less pretty scrawny; he's just making sure that won't happen again.

Personality:

Cyril is a simple type of boy, but even simple boys can have layers to them.  On the outside, he's a stoic sort of fellow, rarely speaks up, and when he does it's only the bare minimum to get his point across.  Some would say he seems uppity or intimidating, seeing as he hardly ever smiles, and the nature of his injuries make his face look pretty grim, and still others might say he seemed a bit shy.  Both would be fair assumptions, seeing as he's not the type to try to combat flippant rumors.  But ask his sister, and she'd tell you a completely different story.

Nora would tell you that Cyril is quite sensitive on the inside, with a comedic streak.  When he's not in the public eye, and around people he feels he can really trust (which is right now, just his sister) he opens up more, and converses more freely.  Deep down, Cyril is very sensitive to the feelings of others, and finds himself feeling pretty sentimental over the silliest of things.  He actually has a pretty good sense of humor, and if he were to be more open with others, he might be considered funny.  He's very gentle at heart, more like a rabbit than the wolverine everyone views him as.

He does worry and care what others think of him, but he's really only truly concerned if gossip is about his sister.  Once Nora's name is brought up in conversation, he'll bristle, and should he have to, defend her with tooth and nail.  Cyril knows he and his sister are the butt of many jokes, having average IQs and being the unwanted children of his Aunt and Uncle.  This is where his defensive side really shines through.  Cyril can take any jab thrown at him, he can weather any insult or barb, but when there's even one unkind word thrown at Nora, he gets angry, and tends to get a little punchy when push comes to shove.

History:

Cyril always felt guilty over the circumstances of his birth.  He knows Nora would never blame him for their mother's death or their father's breakdown, but he blames himself.  At age 5 months, when his sister was only 10 months his senior, their mother perished, and the two infants were handed over to their maternal Aunt, who wanted nothing to do with her rival-sister's children.  They were reluctantly taken in by a family who mostly disregarded them, and had to learn how to eek out a living there at a very young age.

Cyril knew very early on that he was not like most other District Three children.  Cyril liked to roughhouse and play outside, which was not a favorite activity of the other kids.  He wasn't good with computers, wasn't good with technology in general, and his grades suffered for it.  This wouldn't really have bothered him really, if he and Nora weren't the object of teasing because of it.  The two grew reclusive as the intellectual split between them and their classmates grew.

Cyril was ten when he was in his first fight.  It hadn't been his fault, he hadn't meant to get beaten up; if you want to blame someone, blame his stupid cousin and his friends.  But that set off a bit of a chain reaction, and Cyril found himself on the losing side of a series of scraps over the years, culminating in a fight he started with a few guys who'd been making fun of his sister when he was 13.  This was the fight that resulted in his mess-up jaw and teeth, but it also forced him to open his eyes a little.  Afterwards, Cyril bulked up a bit, became the kid that others weren't very keen to anger or fight, and ever since, he and Nora have been existing in a state of tense armistice, relishing the relative peace, but ready to jump to her defense if she should need it.

Codeword:

Odair