Courage Astaire - D1
Dec 20, 2023 15:02:24 GMT -5
Post by parsnip on Dec 20, 2023 15:02:24 GMT -5
The Astaire family is a total stranger to strife. Most of them wouldn’t know it if it hit them in the face. This extensive family stretches across the majority of District One, having their toes in many types of businesses. Their funds seem limitless, whether true or not, even in comparison to some of the other District One heavy-hitters. Their children are plenty, too, with the latest close generation having twelve children so far, an eight/four split between twin sister mothers. It’s a common joke amongst their rivals that they’ve given birth to twelve districts of their own, as the family has assigned each of them, no matter their age, a particular trade within the District to focus on.
Courage is sixteen. He’s one of eight children and four cousins. Not only are his parents fervent Capitol loyalists, but most of the family is as well. So far, he’s been raised to be one of many middle-children who are to do exactly as mandated by the family. That very family has pushed him hard, because while his aptitude is great, his tolerance for pressure is severely lacking. In private, he would secretly plan his own revolt against his personal Capitol. Not the state they all dutifully serve, but his parents, aunt and uncle.
He comes across as a reluctantly posh socialite. He doesn’t quite know how to act any other way, even in a situation that makes him stick out like a sore thumb. It’s clear to any that while he excels in what he’s told to do that he doesn’t like doing it nonetheless. While he believes he wears his heart on his sleeve, this simply isn’t the case. It’s usually plain as day what he’s thinking, and whatever attempts he makes to hide as much doesn’t seem to work – maybe that’s why the family rain so heavily down upon him at any fault.
Courage hasn’t been mandated with a desirable trade. He works in business. It’s a general trade for the family, where he dips into each trade around him and helps facilitate bonds with stakeholders. Boring stuff. Because of that, he isn’t the career youngster that some of his siblings have been able to become. His time isn’t his own, it’s spent jolting between areas in the District and acting the socialite, and while he is good at that, it’s left no time for preparing for any inevitable Reaping. Unprepared, and unworthy to join, he would despise being chosen.
Being well-provided-for within District One is hardly something to shout home about; Courage is known as a handsome charmer, though. He’s always winning people to his side because of how he looks. He has the old-money aesthetic combined with a humble attitude that people respect, and take advantage of. His washed-out blonde hair and wide smile is accented by imperfections in the perfect places, and it makes him the envy of some. He carries himself with little pride, however. He appreciates his privileges, and hates himself for it frequently, electing to beat himself up about other people’s struggles rather than boast of his own.
His fashion style is always simple, or full suited, and there’s no in between. His family can afford the finest of clothing yet he chooses to dress-down at home, and attends family meals and meetings in little other than a plain t-shirt and trousers, rather than the usual pristinely ironed shirts and immaculate dresses. When working, he’s always entirely presentable but with a flair that sometimes gets him into trouble when his family find out. Ironically, nobody outside the Astaires seem to care. If anything, it furthers his causes and helps make him relatable.
Courage is often neglected among the many children of the Astaires. It may be wilful at times, but on the whole there’s usually little intent to it. Who else could manage twelve children with equal favour? The most favoured in the family are directly assisting their parents, aunt and uncle. They’re past Reaping age, or close-to. They get all the preferential treatment, and the other siblings and cousins have taken to naming them the Careers, for obvious reasons. They’re sharks in business, have been trained by the best, and now they’re among them. Or so they think. Courage firmly believes that he’ll never be one of them, that the line of career-making will end the second he turns eighteen.
His plans for revolt aren’t even set in stone, but generally he wants to see how many of his siblings he can trust to enact this takeover. He doesn’t know how it will end, or how he might supplant both his parents and his aunt and uncle, but he knows that he has to try, for their freedom of choice and their ability to make their own decisions about their lives. Living under limits is one of his biggest issues, and they exacerbate this at every given chance.
