Can a lamb become a lion or does it struggle forever in vain?
☠Name: American Elm
☠Gender: Male
☠Age: 16
☠District: Seven
☠Physical Appearance: American is stronger than he looks, he swears. He knows he's not the most muscular or athletic-looking male to come from his district, but he can throw an axe and pull himself up a tree without difficulty. Now he won't be winning fist fights with any careers anytime soon, not with that average build and height of his, but he can maybe knock a few out with those pretty eyes of his. Of course he'd be kidding, his steel blue eyes aren't that special, it's a common eye color in his family. He looks like a mouse, or at least he's been told he does with that mousy brown hair and round ears of his.
☠Personality: Everyone has different sides to them. The side that American shows the most is the one that's easy-going and docile. He tells jokes that are either hit or miss, and people say he's a good talker. He knows how to keep a conversation going and how to keep you interested long enough that you put him lower than he might've been on your initial hitlist. However, look past his laid-back attitude, and you'll start to see he's intense and has a lot of heart—more so than he willingly leads you on to believe. He's filled with warmth and compassion for others, maybe even to a fault. But look closer, deeper, and you'll start to see the cracks in his smile, and a storm raging beneath his skin. He's always been a boy on the verge and it's only a matter of time.
☠Past: There was always more to the rumors and gossip about the Elm family and how they bred sociopaths than anyone was willing to admit. American would say that Ean Elm craved normality and tried to relate to his peers, but he lacked empathy and compassion, things that couldn't be taught. He'd always been sadistic—childhood all the way to the day he died. Winning his Games had only proved this and District Seven hated him. He was emotionally manipulative, abusive, and he had backstabbed his alliance members as soon as he'd gotten the chance. But what really set everyone off was how he'd killed his own district partner in cold blood. It was cruel, unnecessary, and he wasn't a respected victor when he won.
Victor's Village wasn't a fun time for the Elms. They were the most hated family in District Seven and American never saw the end of it. He tried to distance himself from them as much as possible, focusing on his carpentry apprenticeship instead, but the results were less than successful. Too often are the sins of one brother passed to the other. But American was and is not his brother.
When it came time for American to enter the arena, his smile wasn't crooked, and his intentions were well-meaning. He made friends fast and he utilized his social skills well. His inevitable demise only started when during an arena event, he lost the people he cared about most. Afterwards, he became fearful, lacking confidence and faith—ultimately becoming a scared boy who was too stuck in the terror of his own head that when he needed to run, he didn't.
☠Strengths: While he's not the most intimidating, or even athletic tribute to enter the arena, he's socially competent. He's good at understanding feelings and actions, enabling him to make friends easily and know which angles to pursue relationships from. He has a natural charisma when he speaks, and he knows how to get people onto his side. Additionally, he's handy with a first-aid kit.
☠Weaknesses: American's not a killer. He'll try and lie, saying he's killed a tribute in his Games before, but don't buy into it—he only claims this to hide the fact he doesn't have it in him to take another life. He thinks with his heart, not with his head and that's his biggest undoing. He also lacks the brute strength needed to be successful in something like a fist fight, thus having to rely on his axe all the time.
☠Token: A small, broken perch from the first birdhouse he made when he was nine.
☠Other: Common nicknames include but are not limited to: Mer, Meric, and That Guy With The Bad Jokes.
