Altair Connelly

Background
“I don’t know a lot about my mother. Personally, that is. My sister, Chara, does, but even she was only six when our mother died. I was two. What I do know isn’t…much. My father is quiet, especially when it comes to things like that. I know she was a scientist, and she was nineteen when Chara was born. Young. Brilliant. Chara says she was passionate, witty. She died in childbirth. I don’t blame Saiph for it - it’s not his fault, of course. If anything, Saiph is far more precious to Chara, my father, and me than anything because of it. My father is an inventor. We used to be better off, Chara tells me. But inventors are everywhere in District 5, you know. Not all of them are rich or successful. Obviously. And I know I shouldn’t complain. We’re a lot better off than some people in our district. We don’t starve. We don’t eat well, yeah, but we do eat. We made it through five years without needing tesserae at Chara’s expense. I'm proud of it. That’s not to say I didn’t apply for them the second I became eligible. I did. But my mother had explicitly told my father when Chara was born that she didn’t want her to take a single tesserae. I have a feeling the statement was either said in a more inclusive way, my mother really meaning that she didn’t want a child of hers in the Games, but if so, my father never refrained me applying for tesserae. I think it’s because Chara reminds him of my mother. She's also the most likely of his children to succeed in the district, I'm sure. She's far more intelligent than I am, and more hardworking than Saiph. I don't mind. I feel as though I should help my family more, since I don't want Saiph to need tesserae. And it's a while before I can begin working. I assume I will be an inventor. I might prefer to go into science. I've learned quite a bit from my father, not only about inventing, but a bit of various sciences, and various other things that I probably didn't seriously enough at the time. Most of it's basic medicinal and edible plants and the like, basic things I would need to know if I were starving in the streets. He didn't put it that way, of course, but it makes me wonder if that's all he expects of me."

Personality
Altair is easily dismissed at first, or even second, glance. Though not particularly shy, he is introverted, and attempts to do very few things that would draw much attention to himself. For the most part. Despite being naturally polite and friendly enough when actually spoken to, he gives off the impression of being rather remote, which probably is true.

And, of course, he’s intelligent. Almost anyone from District 5 is, though. But, as is obvious to anyone who has known him for a while could tell you, Altair nearly flaunts it. Actually, he shows off when it comes to just about anything he has going for him. To call him cocky would be the understatement of the year. Most of it’s in a playful way, though it can be hard to realize that most of what is assumed to be his inflated ego might actually be his attempt to make up for feeling rather inadequate. On top of being surprisingly playful, he's curious, adventurous even. A lot of that probably goes with the kind of family he was born into. He very much needs to find answers by himself, something being explained as simply true for no apparent reason isn't acceptable in his book.

It should be expected that he would be painfully logical, collected. And that’s a correct assumption. However, that’s not to say he’s emotionless, because he is very much not. He is, however, fairly good at masking his more unpleasant feelings. It’s not a strong method, obviously. If anything it’s weaker than confronting them, and in some part of his mind he’s aware of it. But awareness doesn’t always change things. He claims to reside on the fine line between realism and pessimism, though if anything he’s more on the cynical side and most of his jokes reflect that.

There is a more vulnerable side to him, one that he’s also fairly good at masking. His family, and any of his closer friends, mean the world to him. He wouldn’t tell anyone, ever, how much it honestly scares him to think of losing any of his siblings. The list of people he cares about grows quickly, too. He becomes attached to people far more quickly than he would like to admit, and has a tendency to be a bit clingy when it comes down to it. Still, he's very uncomfortable admitting that he cares about someone, including his family. Because of this he rarely shows affection when most people would, instead really only doing so when it's unlikely the person would ever find out it was him. It's not out of any sort of selfless streak he really has, he's just awful at showing that he cares about people.

Likes

 * challenges
 * his siblings
 * nature
 * interesting people
 * thinking

Dislikes

 * the color orange
 * losing
 * his own inadequacy
 * stupid people
 * watching the Hunger Games