Ren Lockwood

Name: Ren Lockwood

Age: 16

Member of: District 10

Appearance: Ren stands about 6’ tall, and has a very athletic build. Living in District 10 has offered him a lot of opportunities to stack and carry hay bales, making him incredibly strong and muscular.
Ren has dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes. His jawbone is chiseled, giving him a slight god-like appearance. His teeth are not perfectly straight, but they are bright white.
He has a large scar on his back from when a part of his family’s barn collapsed and cut his back.

Personality: On the negative side, Ren has a hot temper, and can get snappy quickly. He can be careless and blindly optimistic about difficult/sticky situations. He can be somewhat irresponsible, like leaving the doors to the barn open, and he can’t sit still for more than a few minutes. He hates to make promises, and hates it when people doubt whether or not he’s being honest.
On the positive side, Ren loves being outdoors, and is an adventure-seeker. He loves to have fun, and others like to be around him because he likes to make everything an adventure. He is straightforward, and always chooses honesty over lying. He loves taking risks, and even though he’s slightly irresponsible, he is a hard worker when he sets his mind to it.
When he’s not in school or helping his parents run the farm, he enjoys reading, spending time with friends, and generally being away from the farm. There is a small river behind the barn on his family’s farm, providing him the opportunity to learn how to swim.

History: Ren was born on November 29, and resides in District 10. The farm is almost on the border with District 7, and he often sneaks out off his property. His parents own a farm that specializes in cows and chickens, and he grew up learning how to care for the animals they owned. He is an only child, so he found his friends at school. He always liked watching The Hunger Games on TV until he saw a family friend’s son get killed in The Games, and now he is terrified his name will be picked.

RP sample: The wind ruffled Ren’s hair as he ran past the barn. His mother was scolding him for leaving the barn door open again, but he didn’t really care; he was scolded before, and this certainly wouldn’t be the last time. He was running to the river behind the barn to take a quick swim; he always swam after a fight with his parents.
Ren stripped himself of his shirt and pants and dove into the frigid water. He felt goosebumps pop up immediately, and the cold seemed to penetrate his skin and chill his organs. He resurfaced, and took a deep breath, his lungs protesting against the cold water.
“REN! Get out of that river and do your chores this instant!” His mother shouted from the house. Ren pretended not to hear as he dove underwater again.
The Reaping was approaching fast; he was going to enjoy the time up until that day. Swimming was the only thing that could take his mind off of The Games.

1. Before watching his family's friend get killed in the Hunger Games, why did Ren enjoy watching them? I'm assuming most of the people in a District like 10 are very against the games, so what about them made Ren like them despite this fact?
Let me start out by saying Ren isn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box. He is more "street smart" than "book smart", and sometimes, even that fails him.
He enjoyed the Games because of the action and the fighting, which is to be expected of an adolescent boy. He didn't really understand the magnitude and meaning of the Games until after the family friend was killed, and then it "hit him" that these are more than what he thought they were. He realized that getting your name picked is essentially a death sentence, and it basically comes down to who wants to live the most that ends up being the victor.

2. Can you give more detail about how the accident in which Ren got the scar on his back? How did the barn collapse? How does Ren feel about the scar?
The barn collapse was partially Ren's fault, partially time's fault.
Ren was goofing around and climbing in the scaffolding like he usually did when he was bored, but he failed to realize that the barn was very old, and the wood wasn't as strong as it used to be. He jumped down from one scaffold to another, and it ended up breaking in half, sending him, and half of the roof, down to the ground. One of the scaffolds still had the nails in it, and that's the one that cut his back open.
He's come to accept his scar as a form of a "battle wound", even though it was due to carelessness and not something like The Games.

3. What are Ren's grades like at school? Would he be considered popular at school?
Again, he's not the brightest light bulb in the hallway, and his grades show it. He's not failing anything, but he's not passing with flying colors.
He's popular with the ladies, due to his handsomeness, and he's got a few guy friends, but he isn't the most popular guy around. He's okay with that, though, as he adopts a devil-may-care attitude when it comes to that sort of thing.

1. What kinds of things does Ren do to help out on the family farm? How much time does he spend working?

2. How much time does Ren spend with his parents? What is his relationship like with each of them?

3. How does Ren feel about being an only child? Does he ever wish he had siblings?

((Great answers, by the way! ^^))

April Adams wrote:

((Great answers, by the way! ^^))

Haha, thank you.

1. What kinds of things does Ren do to help out on the family farm? How much time does he spend working?
He's given the most rudimentary of tasks, since his parents don't trust him to carry out anything of magnitude. He feeds the animals, locks the barn/chicken coop doors at night, and hauls hay up and down from hay loft when necessary.
Having said that, he spends as little time as possible working. He powers through his chores quickly so he can pursue other endeavors, like swimming, sneaking off into the woods, and going to the city.

2. How much time does Ren spend with his parents? What is his relationship like with each of them?
Ren doesn't spend much time with his parents, since whenever he's with them, they seem to be scolding him for one thing or another. They're busy with the farm, and he's busy not caring. Sad, but that's how it is with him.

3. How does Ren feel about being an only child? Does he ever wish he had siblings?
Yeah, he wishes he had siblings sometimes, but only because he'd have someone to pass the buck to. Then again, if he had siblings, he'd always have someone "better" to compete with, since he wouldn't be the favorite child.

1. So I take it Ren doesn't want to follow in his parents' footsteps and become a farmer? What are his aspirations for the future? Does he have any?
Absolutely not. Working on the farm, especially by himself, would be a fate worse than death for Ren.
However, he has no aspirations for the future. He doesn't know what he would do after school, but it doesn't bother him enough to care.

2. Are there any adults in his life that Ren looks up to? Who would Ren go to for advice if he needed it?
Not really. Ren is a "lone wolf" kind of guy when it comes down to it. He wouldn't mind having a wife and kids in the future, but since he's a teenager, he likes to be independent.

3. Has powering through his chores quickly ever caused any problems on the farm or gotten Ren into trouble?
Yes, it has. He's done things quickly, but poorly numerous times. He stacks hay too quickly and carelessly so it falls out of the loft, and he constantly leaves the barn and chicken coop unlocked. He's been scolded by both of his parents because of this.