Rowan Leigh - District 11

Rowan Leigh

16

Male

District 11

Rowan is a young man of Asian descent. His eyes are sharp, a dark brown hue colors them. Yet sometimes on the rare occasion when he smiles, a softness saturates them. His hair is long and sometimes kept in a ponytail or left free and unkempt. His hair, much like his eyes, is a rich dark brown, almost black color. It’s free of any kinks and is naturally straight, reaching his neck. His skin is slightly tanned from working in the orchards, and he’s quite lucky as he doesn’t sunburn too easily.
The body of a young man is usually thought of as strong and healthy but not so in one of Panem’s poorest districts. The case is no different for Rowan. Days of no food have caused his body to become extremely lean, with little body fat. He has some muscle from tending to the fields but not nearly enough to show much. He weighs in at approximately 115 pounds, and stands at a solid 5 feet, 9 inches. What he lacks in weight, he makes up for at least in height. Often being one of the ones to reach high places when needed, though he isn’t the tallest of his peers.
Rowan often wears simple clothing; long sleeved shirts made of scratchy fabrics, trousers dotted with holes and patches. In the summer months when the fields become ovens, he wears shirts with the sleeves cropped off and trousers that have been sewn at the ends to be shorter. He owns a few ribbons which he uses to tie his hair up. Despite the heat it can generate, he prefers to keep his hair long like his father wore his.

Rowan has always been a quiet child. He tends to shy away from talking to others, even his own peers, unless prompted. For a while after his father died, he stopped talking all together, though eventually he began speaking up again, much to his mother’s relief. Though just because he is quiet doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy the company of others. Oftentimes you can find him hanging out with the other children near his home. Sometimes they invent games, or chase each other, or if they find something to kick, pass it back and forth. He enjoys they’re company, often making jabs and jokes with each other, when not in comfortable silence.
One of Rowan’s hobbies is drawing. It’s a difficult thing to love, indeed. Managing to find paper and drawing materials is one thing. Being able to afford said materials is another. Both make this hobby of his a sparse occasion. There have been many instances where he’s had to use charcoal from burnt out fires or drawing in the dirt with a stick even. When he does find himself doodling, he often takes inspiration from those around him. People, faces, objects, signs. He finds beauty in capturing the things around him.
Unfortunately, nobody is perfect and that goes for Rowan too. The young man is untrusting of others around him. Besides his close friends and his mother, he thinks the worst of people, and always expects everyone to betray him somehow. That’s just how it is though, right? Aside from this, he can also be very judgemental, thinking lowly of others who don’t share his views. It’s a flaw he recognizes and is trying to take steps to fix, but is still a problem.

Rowan was born in one of the poorer areas of District 11, though that isn’t saying much. His father and mother were laborers and worked in the fields. His father tended wheat and his mother worked in the orchards like he does now. One day his father cut his arm badly on one of the tools used to cut the wheat. Untreated, an infection spread throughout him, eventually going septic. Rowan tried getting his father help, but no one would.
After his father passed, he grew distrusting of those around him, especially the authorities who allowed it to happen. Now he spends most of his time taking care of his mother. She also took her husband’s death hard and began relying on Rowan for everything. Rowan learned how to cook for him, how to dress someone, how to feed someone and make sure they’re bathed. He doesn’t know what would happen to her if he ever went away.
When not with his mother, he has a few friends. Mostly younger kids, they seem to gravitate towards Rowan and look to him as a leader, but Rowan isn’t the leader type so they just end up sitting around mostly until someone else comes up with an idea. Despite this, he appreciates his friends’ company so he can get away from his mother for a little while. It’s not that he hates her, he just gets stressed out often.

Rowan has never been interested in girls the way his friends talk about. When he thinks about it, he’s never been interested in guys either. Some say he’s yet to find the right person but he feels apathetic to the idea of a relationship at all.
Sometimes the young man sits outside during the night and listens to the feral cats cry and the chirping of crickets as he stares up at the night sky, wondering if anyone else is looking up there too.