okay, as promised, here is one of my character blurbs for in your pocket!
click below to read about rough around the edges aj clarkson.
my first love i am sharing with you all is my baby aj clarkson. aj had a tough childhood, alcoholic and abusive father, drug addicted mother, but through it all he stayed strong for his little sister. he essentially raised her, given the crap parents they had, even though he was just a young boy, and despite all the horrors of their childhood, he never lost who he was for his sister. long story short (you can read the long story later on when you read his app :P) eventually they were separated and his sister was placed into foster care while aj spent some time in juvie. eventually he got out, went back to working hard, saving up money, and eventually got custody of his sister when he turned 18.
he hasn't always used legal means to make ends meet, and has been in jail multiple times for street racing, boosting cars, selling stolen parts, and most recently assault, although his last offense was over three years ago now. while his record gives one picture of him, a lost soul who lives on the more dangerous and less ethical side of the law, at times it was simply aj doing what he needed to help himself, and even more importantly, his sister survive. despite being aware of what he was doing was wrong, in his minds, the ends justified the means, and his sister being able to go to college on the west coast made it all worthwhile to him. through it all, he always sheltered her as best he could from his wayward ways.
as he grew into an adult, and his sister left town to start her own life, the pressures of being the provider and care taken came off, and he began to truly live for the first time. he partied, slept around, and generally lived his life as though there was no tomorrow. he learned early in life that caring for people only set you up to be hurt, and as such avoided any real connections with people. he didn't do relationships, he did sex. he did friendship, but only to a certain point. he put himself first for the first time in his life and didn't really care if that mean sleeping with his buddies girlfriend.
now that he is thirty one, aj's life has mellowed out to a certain extent, and this is partially because as he grew older, he finally made some real connections in his life that he couldn't ignore. he has some fierce friends who have taught him how to slightly start to let people into his life, although he still always puts on a front, trying to act tougher than he is. he has even found love although it scares him to no end, and he can't admit his feelings to her yet, even though she is eight months pregnant with his kid. the fact he is going to be a dad scares him out of his mind, as he has never wanted kids, always fearing that he is too much like his dad.
basically he might be 31 years old, but aj clarkson is in many ways a lost little boy inside. he spent so much of his life putting everything aside to take care of his sister, and then the rest of the time as an adult simply running from what he experienced as a kid, that he's never really made peace with it, and therefore hasn't really been able to move on. he has a career he loves, owning his own autobody shop, people he cares about, and exciting changes in his future, but aj will be the first to tell you what a screw up he still is. he can never see the good in himself, only his mistakes, and is often his own worst critic. he drinks, he curses like a sailor, and he generally still lives like there is no tomorrow.