The Girl Who Was On Fire

Your name or online alias: Jenny
Your email: pilot.jaina@gmail.com
Another preferred means of contact: plurk or aim, @ enelyasol
Character's Full Name: Katniss Everdeen
Character's Canon: The Hunger Games
Character's Journal Name: stillplaying
What would you like your character's tag to be?: katniss everdeen

Answer the following questions in no less than 300 words but no greater than 1000 words put together...
Character's background (their past and present): Katniss Everdeen grew up in the Seam of District 12 in Panem. Her father died when she was 11 and her mother had a breakdown, leaving Katniss the sole provider of her family. She went to school, took care of her sister and mother, and hunted in the woods with Gale.

When Primrose Everdeen was chosen for tribute in the 74th annual Hunger Games, Katniss volunteered to take her place, joining Peeta Mellark as District 12 tribute. Katniss had difficulty being likable, especially in mentor Haymitch's eyes. Peeta had no such problem and worked alongside her. During their interviews, Peeta declared his love with Katniss and endearing the nation to the idea of star-crossed lovers doomed to die in the arena. Ultimately, Katniss and Peeta won the 74th Hunger Games despite the odds. Once they were the only two remaining, the Gamemakers changed the rules once more: only one tribute could win. Rather than kill one another, they threatened joint suicide by poison berries instead – Katniss’ idea – and were declared victors.

At Haymitch’s urging, Katniss claimed that it was her love for Peeta that drove her to pull out the berries rather than an unintentional act of rebellion. The charade continued even after they returned home. During the Victory Tour, Peeta proposed marriage and Katniss accepted. Shortly after, Gale also told her that he loved her.

Tributes were selected from a pool of previous winners for the Quater Quell. Katniss had cared mostly about her own survival in the prior games. Now, she only cared about Peeta surviving. In the arena, they formed an initially uneasy alliance with the tributes from Finnick and Mags. Other tributes eventually joined their group, a part of the rebellion against the Capitol aiming to get Katniss (their figurehead) out of the arena alive.

This plan almost worked. Katniss woke up in District 13, but Peeta had been captured by the Capitol and District 12 had been destroyed. She eventually agreed to help the rebellion if it meant that Peeta and the other captured Victors would be given amnesty when rescued. Her reunion with Peeta wasn't joyous. He had been brainwashed by the Capitol into hating her. War continued.

While filming propoganda within the Capitol, Katniss' team leader died in a hidden trap and she was put in charge. Determined to assassinate President Snow, she managed to get most of her team killed before reaching the mansion - only to watch her beloved sister die with the triage crew.

The war ended but Katniss fell into a horrible depression. On the last day of the war, she was sent to kill President Snow but opted to kill the District 13 president instead and tried to commit suicide. After being acquitted, she returned home to District 12 to dwell in her depression. Peeta soon returned and together, they start to heal.

Character's personality: Katniss is a strong individual with so much backbone and determination within her. She’s the girl on fire, and has an unquenchable thirst to live her life – for herself and, by the end of her canon, for all those who died. She will do whatever it takes to honor this promise. She's a survivor and rarely gives up in even the most extreme of circumstances. She often thinks of herself as selfish and Katniss easily tends to delude herself into believing the worst about her. But at the same time, she can be very self-sacrificial, willing to give up anything for people she loves.

Although slow to trust, she does make a steadfast and loyal friend once this trust is gained, a little bit cheeky and even silly at times. She’s resourceful and skilled and self-reliant, a quick thinker on her feet. It’s easier for Katniss to see all the negatives in her personality. She reacts without thinking and is next to impossible to mold – as both Haymitch and Coin find out during their time with her. Without a doubt, Katniss is first and foremost true to herself.

She can be very socially inept and doesn't make friends easily. She tries to keep herself distant from others. She doesn't need them and they don't need her. When Katniss does allow herself to feel, it often overwhelms her – a source of many of the breakdowns she eventually has after the 74th Hunger Games. Though she goes through the motions at the end of the novels, she also finds ways to distract herself by playing games to remind her that there is good in people. Even in herself.

Character's skills/abilities/powers: Katniss is an amazing hunter and a talented archer. She can also sing beautifully. It’s stated that when Katniss sings, even the birds fall silent to listen.

Any special equipment your character is bringing along? This includes weaponry, magic items, etc.: I'd like Katniss to come here with her hunting bow and a quiver of arrows. I'll probably take her from the middle of a hunt, which means she'll have some supplies with her as well: a bag, a skinning knife, a canteen of water, and some random odds and ends for setting up snares.

Are you bringing your character to ten_fwd from another game? If you are, which game?: No.

If you answered yes above, briefly summarize how they were changed by and what challenges they faced in the climate of their previous game(s): N/A

Why do you want to play this character in Ten Forward, and what do you plan to do with them? I love that despite all of the turmoil Katniss has been through in her life, she still manages to find a way to keep pushing through and make something of her life. She remains her true to her self no matter the consequences or what others might think. In putting her in Ten Forward, I think it'll be a good opportunity for her to heal from the games in an unfamiliar environment and meet people from other canons to who can support her.

Writing Sample #1:
On days like today, when game is scarce, it's harder. She might not be the only hunter in District 12 anymore, but she knows she's still one of the more frequent. After all, she's out here every day. Sometimes she wanders further in than other days, checking traps, gathering plants, losing herself in almost a ritualistic manner. It's the best way to keep memories at bay.

Still, she remembers. She lists the dead in her head, all the faces that haunt her in her dreams. The way they still all come together some nights to bury her alive. It's a recurring dream, always the same. One by one, they each take a handful of dirt and drop it on her prone body. Even as she walks through the forest, she’s lost in the nightmare. A nightmare of remaining still, unable to move, watching Prim and then Rue and Finnick and Boggs and so many.

Without realizing it, she's quietly begun to whisper that list to aloud, that list of all those people she's killed. All the deaths she's been responsible for. And she knows once again that she has no right to be alive. She should be as dead as the rest of them. She deserves to be. But she isn’t. She lived, even when so many far less deserving died.

"Cato." The list continues as she continues to walk quietly in the forest, bow in hand. "Marvel. Glimm-"

The breaking of a twig stops her. She falls silent and looks around until her eyes fall on a young buck a few yards down, not even mature. The antlers are in velvet, barely little more than nubs sticking from the head. He looks as startled to see her as she is to see him. But a year or two older than any yearling. Perfect game. An arrow is drawn before she realizes what she's even doing.

There's only one moment of hesitation. When she remembers the last deer she brought down, with Gale's help, back before the twisted tragedy that became their lives. She's never attempted to kill one on her own. And a deer this size, it'll be too big for her to take back on her own. But District 12 could use the food. And it’s no longer taboo. Anyone can hunt, provide meat and sustenance for them and theirs.

Her arrow goes flying, piercing a lung. The buck bolts and her second shot isn't as true, hitting it in the midsection. And then she's running after it. It's not a long run. The animal stumbles over a log in its desperate flee and falls. She gets in one final shot, right in the heart.

There's a sense of grim satisfaction as she watches the deer exhale his final breath. Then she's on her knees, carefully removing and wiping her arrows. She places her bow on the ground and pushes the animal onto its back. She takes out her knife to make a small incision by the genitals. It's followed by a longer cut up towards the chest. Field dressing first. Then, she'll figure out how to get it back to town.

One move at a time.

One game every moment.

It’s the only way to keep moving forward.

Writing Sample #2: test drive thread.