age: 22
sexuality: heterosexual
birthday: October 29th, 1995
occupation: freelance photographer and journalist
hexcode: #095682
sexuality: heterosexual
birthday: October 29th, 1995
occupation: freelance photographer and journalist
hexcode: #095682
secrets:
His father left Benji and his mother when he was a kid and his mother managed to keep things together until he was in his last year of middle school. As a preteen and early teen boy, there weren't many places in town that would hire him. At first, he mowed lawns for his neighbors. When his mother started to find things to help her... "relax", mowing lawns wasn't enough. When he was a freshman in high school, an upperclassman who sold his mother her vices came up to him and offered him a job...selling. To people like his mother. At the time, they were so strapped for cash that he took it. When he was old enough for a real job--a legal job--it was hard to leave the business. Not for the money, but the suppliers liked him. He did his job too well. Eventually he was able to leave the business, but it still haunts him to this day. Being in town has kept him looking over his shoulder at every moment.
photography
science
travel
coffee
reading
documentaries
the stars
alcohol
musicx
bananas
drugs
bullies
pollution
tight spaces
ignorance
being in one place too long
feeling helpless
losing control
bites his nails
always has to be moving
always looks for photo ops
always puts his hands in pockets
-when he's not chewing his nails
paces when he's thinking
Large amounts of stress make him physically sick
his father will come back
losing control
being killed in a collapse
-building, cave-in, etc.
being stuck in one place
being alone [never having a family]
They say we are what we are, but we don't have to be
appearance:
Benji is about 6'0" and weighs about 157 pounds. He has very dark brown hair that borders on black and hazel eyes. His hair is short on the sides and longer in the middle which tends to fall into his face. His skin is lightly tanned and slightly freckled from time in the sun on his travels. He has dark eyebrows and full lips. His build is best described as thin with some muscle from traveling on foot. His smile is charming and can have a resting bitch face depending on his mood. He tends to wear button down shirts, sweaters, and jackets in cool weather or t-shirts and button downs in warm weather. He always wears a pair of jeans and boots unless the situation calls for something else. He has a tattoo on his upper right arm that says "we are born of stardust" in black ink as a tribute to his mother who loved the stars and said that his freckles were constellations. He carries his mother's locket around in his pockets and tends to fiddle with it when he's lonely or nervous.
personality:
Benji is a dreamer. His head is always in the clouds. Sometimes literally. Ever since his mother began having a hard time dealing with the hand life had given her, he would make up stories about adventures they would go on as they traveled the world. He loves stories both non-fiction and fiction and enjoys sharing the most interesting ones with other people. He's adventurous and has serious wanderlust when he stays in one place for too long. He's afraid to get close to most people because he knows he'll eventually have to leave them. Because of this, he tends to keep people at a distance. He's an excellent listener. He hates when people make selfish or ignorant comments about others. People are so quick to judge and get angry when they are then judged in return. Just have an open mind and the world will be a better place. However, ignorance and hatred don't have a place in this world so he'll speak up about it. He's generous and kind-hearted. His real smiles don't come easily. In fact, he hasn't smiled much since his mother died.
It might be your wound but they're my sutures
Benjamin Henry Thomas was born to Nora and James Thomas and lived in a decent home in a middle-class life. His mother was fairly young when she had him, but she did her best. In fact, there are piles of photo albums of his early childhood because his mother documented everything. His first solid meal, his first birthday cake and every cake since, his first words, his first steps, his first bath, potty training, his first day of school, all of it. It wasn't until he was about ten years old that things took a turn for the worst for them.
His father hadn't been around much the past few years. In fact, since Benji's 5th birthday, his father had been almost completely absent. At first, it bothered him, but his mother was always smiling and parented enough for two people. She gave all the love she had in her to her little boy until he stopped thinking about his missing father. One day, Benji came home from school to find his mother crumpled and sobbing on the floor. When he asked her what was wrong she pulled him close and smiled softly, though her eyes were still sad. He wiped away her tears with his thumbs the way his mother did when he was younger. "My dear stardust," she said, "we have found ourselves adrift." When she saw his confusion she explained, "Your father has left me for a younger woman. We're on our own now." It took a while for him to realize that meant his father was never coming home. It took even longer for him to realize it also meant they were no longer living on his money. This meant his mother--who hadn't worked since she was a teenager--had to find a job. What jobs she could find paid little for long and tiring hours. In fact, he would be up for school just as his mother was getting home from working one of two--and sometimes three--jobs.
She went on like that for a few more years and then... she started to fall apart. She turned to whatever she could find to bring her peace. At first, it was pills to help her sleep. Then it was a drink to help her destress. Then it was the harder stuff and eventually... it was drugs. Cocaine was her favorite. She'd shoot up after a long day, relax, and then come down in time to go work again. She was running herself ragged. Then the money started running out. Mostly because of her using. That's when Benji started looking for whatever job he could find. Eventually, the dealing life found him. Weed, cocaine, meth, you name it. They had him sell it and he was good at his job. His charming smile and appearance were enough for people to buy more than they had intended. He got to keep a chunk of what he made and the rest went to the suppliers. Life was a little easier for them financially, but the little boy who grew up knowing right from wrong constantly felt wrong about it. Any time there was a search at school, he'd get physically sick from the stress of it, but he was never caught.
When he was a junior, he finally found a legitimate job for good pay that worked with his school hours and he was even allowed to study and work on his homework while on break. Mostly because he was a minor, but the people he worked for were generally good people. They were one of the people who hired his mother after she had lost her last job, but she eventually couldn't work anymore. She just didn't have it in her. They knew about her... habits and even knew about his side job. They hoped this job would be enough for them. For a while it was, but the suppliers were eager to get him back. He had to hide this from his employers and it got more and more difficult until he was finally able to free himself from the business. However, it took him a year and a half and at that point, he was a senior in high school and was about to graduate with a scholarship to a school out of the country. He worked as much as he could until he had to leave.
All the money he made went to his mother and he hoped it would last until he finished the semester and returned home for the break. He even sent her photos of his time abroad hoping it would encourage her to get better so they could travel together. So he could show her the world the way they always planned. Unfortunately, his mother broke down without him--believing he left her just like his father had--and she overdosed. He rushed home for the funeral which was small and as cheap as could be considering a lot of his funds were still overseas where he was schooling. It broke his heart to lose his mother so young and in such a way. The only thing he kept of her was her locket and a small capsule of her ashes that he carries around with him everywhere. This way, she was still traveling the world with him.
To this day, he still continues with school and has studied many different things. His studies have brought him to many different places which he writes about and documents through photos which he sells to magazines usually those featuring travel destinations. It makes decent money and it allows him to constantly be moving. To be running. Returning to the city he grew up has been incredibly difficult but for his dearly departed friend, he can endure it.
