{"We live alone, We die alone. Everything else is just an illusion.” }
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Benjamin August Hartley.
|{Nickname}|
Ben {Common; liked}||Benji {Often; hated}||Gus; {Family Only}.
|{Birthday}|
14th February.
|{Age}|
Sixteen.
|{Ethnicity}|
English 93%||American 7%
|{Sexuality}|
Heterosexual.
|{Year at Camp}|
Fourth year at Merrie Woode.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
{ Hums To Himself, A lot. } { Taps fingers on things when nervous } { Feels Obligated To Comfort Those Who Are Crying, Even if He Doesn't Know Them/Dislikes Them } {Bad Extended Eye Contact} { Has Tiny, Almost Illegible Handwriting } { Makes Silly Faces While Focusing } { His Feet Bounce When He Sits } { Leaves Sticky Note Reminders For Himself Everywhere } { Posture Becomes Perfect When Angry } { Has a Constant Supply of Twizzlers On Him } { Doesn't Drink Soda or Coffee, or really anything Caffeinated } {Leans on things while speaking to people} {Carries around hand sanitiser wherever he goes}{Bits His Tongue A Bit While Smiling} {Flushes when embarrassed}
|{Talents || Strengths || Skills}|
⚘Art in general⚘ Brooding⚘ Memorizing⚘ Dealing With Children⚘ Patient⚘ Sketching⚘ Comforting People / Cheering Them Up⚘ Resolving Conflicts⚘ Making Others Look Good⚘ Optimistic⚘ Encouraging⚘ ⚘British accent
|{Flaws || Weakness}|
⚘Naive // Overly Trusting⚘ Lacks Self-Preservation⚘ Pushover⚘ Two Left Feet⚘ Flirting ⚘ Prone to Falling For People Too Easily⚘ Passive // Weak Willed⚘ Lactose Intolerant⚘ Lack of Punctuality⚘ Perhaps Overly Cheap, Money-Wise⚘
|{Hobbies}|
{ Painting } { Sketching || Drawing } { Cooking } { Going To Art Museums || "A lot of friends back at home are in their art programs, so I also check out youth scultures." } {Reading} { Daydreaming } { Pottery } { Cleaning || "My mom used to clean when she was nervous or bored. I guess I inherited it from her." }
|{Fears}|
øDying Aloneø
øLifeø
øHurting Othersø
øSpidersø
øBreaking His Paternal Traditionø
|{Secrets}|
✤Wants to become an artist✤
✤Falling in love with Judith Ahlström & he hates it✤
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
{Honest, Sweet, Passionate, Perfectionist, Quiet}
At his core, Ben is his father's and his mother's son, both of whom are the sort of people that are admirable in their honesty and general kindness. Raised in a home where lying was the ultimate crime, where it was not the thing itself but the fact that he lied about it which led to punishment, he has grown up to believe that honesty is the best policy. He is not really blunt, far too quiet for that and not the type of person who will say the first thing that comes to mind, especially if it is cruel, but if he is asked a question he will answer genuinely nine times out of ten. Of course, if he's supposed to be keeping a surprise secret, he can keep his lips sealed, but when it comes down to the things that matter, it can be trusted that he will not be insincere with people. It is not really his strong suit to be deceitful or cunning, rather a more honorable and faithful sort of person. In fact, should he try to use underhanded methods in a competition, he would likely fail terribly, not being well suited for it. He is a believer in giving people honesty if they ask for it, and silence if it is necessary, though he will never actively lie to a person's face. He would feel guilty doing so, and would likely fail at it.
Also from his parents, and his grandparents even more, Ben was taught to be kind to other people, especially those who clearly need a gesture of generosity from others. If someone is injured, he will do his best to help them, even if doing so hurts his team. Perfectionist though he may be, the young man also is want to put the needs of others above his own desires if the situation calls for it. Besides, helping others and making people smile simply makes him feel good- it's like a little rush of dopamine for him. He's the type to always remember people's birthdays, and to leave little gifts for them, or to lend people money without expecting to get it back. In those senses, he is perhaps a little bit on the naive side, but it is simply his way. He may be majoring in business, but perhaps the business world isn't entirely what he is cut out for, as far as being able to pull yourself out on top goes. Ben wants to be able to succeed without having to hurt others. Even more, he wants to be able to win despite helping his competition, because that only means his team was that much better.
When Ben does something, he never does it halfway. That may work well enough for some people, but not for him, and especially not for something that he has come to love. He is incredibly passionate when it comes to doing the things which are important to him, drawing and baking alike being perfect examples of this. His favorite thing is not to succeed at everything, but to succeed at that which he has put himself out there doing- which he has worked as hard as he possibly can to prefect. Of course, he likes to do things well when he does them, and has been a perfectionist ever since he was seven years old and his art teacher first told him that he had the extraordinary creativity ever seen. Since then, perfection is what he aspires to, and even if he doesn't always reach it, Ben works and pushes himself until he is numb trying to get to it. He expects the best possible from himself, and becomes somewhat frustrated when he doesn't reach that- energy which he only places into working harder.
One thing that most people do notice about Ben is the fact that he isn't really the most loquacious of people. Chattiness doesn't run in his blood, and isn't something strongly found in the young man. He's more of a doer than a speaker, believing that actions speak louder than words. Besides, his grandmother, upon hearing him say something rather stupid in his adolescence, told him that it was 'better to be quiet and thought a fool than remove all doubt.' Strangely, he took that to heart, becoming more of a quiet person than he had been before. His quietness has a certain observational quality to it, making it clear that while he says nothing, he sees everything- or seems to, anyway. Regardless of the contents of his quietness, it is there all the same. He speaks, of course, but never chatters.
|{Likes}|
▲Drawing ▲Sketching ▲Camp ▲Winning ▲Competition ▲ ▲Grapes ▲Fruit smoothies ▲Accents ▲Button-up shirts ▲Alliances ▲Work ethic ▲Snow ▲The color blue▲Blue eyes ▲Hot chocolate ▲Snowboarding ▲Wilderness ▲Camp fires ▲Rural areas ▲Wood floors ▲Vanilla Scents ▲Somewhat shy girls ▲Honest ▲Precision ▲Cafes ▲Baking
|{Dislikes}|
▼Losing ▼Undeserved arrogance ▼Dirty tactics in competition ▼Very warm weather ▼Sand on his feet ▼Feeling ignorant ▼Bullies ▼Being intimidated ▼Tiny handwriting ▼Excessive optimism ▼Naivete ▼Thunderstorms ▼Ghost stories ▼Caramel▼Chewing gum ▼Iced Tea ▼Hot tea ▼Tobacco ▼Abusiveness ▼Betrayal
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
London, England.
|{History}|
Lucas was born to what he'd consider a rather run-of-the-mill family, to be frank. His mother is a English maiden whom his father met while studying in London. She is a very practical person, Eloise Hartley nee Bernard, and had been working as an intern at the buckingham palace, with the hopes to eventually become a curator, when she met Lucas's father, an American man named Andreas Hartley. He was a confectioner- or rather, similar to her, someone with the hopes to become one, studying in a culinary school in London. Their courtship lasted while Andreas was in school, culminating a few weeks before he was planning to return to America to work in his own father's confectionery shop, when he proposed to her. She accepted, but remained in London for a year while Andreas returned to America, finishing her internship.
After that year, she moved in with Andreas in a small apartment, and began applying for citizenship. The two conceived around two years later, eventually giving birth to their first and only child, a little boy with his father's blue eyes named Benjamin. He was raised the son of a confectioner and a curator, so while he considered his life to be fairly average, with an average-income family and simply attending the typical years for someone in the public school system. In school, he got along fairly well with his peers, but was never a particularly loud person. Rather, Lucas was more of a follower than a leader more often than not, or the sort of person who would quietly take over the entirety of a project to ensure that it was done correctly. One must understand that, beginning from a very young age, his mother enrolled him in art school- it was a good way for him to interact with other children his age.
Anyway, his art teacher instilled in him a sort of perfectionist side, one that led him to be the sort to take over projects in order to 'do them right' as was previously mentioned. He wasn't necessarily popular, but was in a comfortable state throughout his education career. It was simply assumed that he would become a confectioner like his father and grandparents, but they decided that they wanted for him to get a degree in business, having grown up learning to bake for his entire life. Thus, when he ended primary education, Benjamin continued on for the next several years to prepare for taking the Matura.
Around this time as well, his art teacher, despite the fact that Lucas had started only going once a month or so, recommended that he join the art exhibition. Why did his teacher, an alumni of the team, choose him above people whom he knew were better? Simple. The art exhibition was intended for those with special creativity, and Benjamin had been able to manipulate light since he was around seven years old, a power inherited from his mother, and one which had been accepted surprisingly easily by his father's side. Interested, Benjamin entered one of his works, thus, he came to be on , and has been for several years now. Having recently passed the matura, he will be attending early courses at Harvard University next year, and thus has decided to retire from art after this year's international art competition. After all, art has been a lifestyle for him, but confectionery is what is expected for him to go into, so that is what he will do. It's been his entire life.
|{Other}|
❣pending❣
❣pending❣
❣pending❣
Face Claim || Freddie Highmore