➳ Katniss Everdeen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
accidentalspark) wrote2012-10-20 07:35 pm
accidentalspark) wrote2012-10-20 07:35 pm
Entry tags:
➳ application | exit void
player.
NAME/HANDLE: Tomato
PERSONAL JOURNAL:antiquity
ARE YOU 16 OR OVER?: 23!
CONTACT: (aim) TheTomatoSays, (email) il.pomodoro at yahoo dot com
OTHER CHARACTERS: n/a
character.
CHARACTER NAME: Katniss Everdeen
SERIES: The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games | links to all three books contained
Katniss on The Hunger Games wiki
CANON POINT: During the raid on the Capitol with the Star Squad at the end of Mockingjay, after Boggs is killed and everyone in the party is declared dead, but they’re actually resting and hiding out in an abandoned house.
AGE: 17
APPEARANCE: Katniss is of average height, but her physique suffers from spending her life in a state of being largely underfed. She looks skinny and scrawny, but because she’s also fairly athletic, her body is toned with lean muscle. She’s got olive toned skin and dark hair, often pulled back into what becomes her trademark braid. There’s a prominent scar on her arm from a knife wound, along with various other battle scars across her body.
PREVIOUS GAME HISTORY: Katniss will be ported from her time spent at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
singularityrpg. She spent roughly seven months trapped on a space ship, and through the stagnation grated on her immensely, she’s still very much Katniss Everdeen. If anything, ending up in another place that isn’t home will just reignite her rage. The most character effecting event was a “fear gas event,” in which she hallucinated all of her greatest fears and publicly revealed some of them over the network. She’s still shaken over the realism, even if she hides it well – but handling and hiding her emotions along those veins is nothing new. She made some developments relationship wise (all of the platonic nature), and has a slightly better ability to handle idleness, but she hasn’t changed significantly.
Notably, however, she made efforts with Peeta to improve his state of mind to the point where they could very rarely stay together at night without having to worry about him strangling her. The biggest development was during the prior mentioned fear gas, where Peeta was able to help Katniss in what was more or less a game of real or not real, and they were able to sleep in the same room for the first time in months. About a month later, a publicly broadcast torture once again pushed them towards each other. Through being atsingularityrpg, Katniss learned she needed to try working with Peeta herself rather than always running and hiding, something she also learns throughout the end of the third book.
She also formed a close bond with Terry McGinnis, aka Batman, who became one of her most trusted allies on board Sacrosanct. It was a slow building show of trust, and the biggest moment for Katniss was sharing her experiences in the Games and in the Revolution with him, in her own words – something she so rarely was able to do. The fact that he continued to treat her the same after he knew what she’d done meant quite a lot to her, more than she would ever admit. Later, again during the “fear gas event,” Katniss would discover Terry as Batman as he tried to help her; after, he would own up to his secret identity when she wasn’t in a toxin-induced paranoia, and she was the only person he did so with willingly. Katniss does not trust easily, and the level of trust she came to share with Terry was very slow building over the months they spent on the spaceship.
From home, Katniss also had Gale Hawthorne, Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, and Johanna Mason, each for varying amounts of time. Clove – a tribute from her first Games – also showed up, and it threw Katniss for a loop, but she adjusted to the idea of people from the same world being pulled at different times (people who were supposed to be dead). Though she remained hostile towards the other girl, she recognized there was no need to attack (unless provoked, which is her usual modus operandi anyway).
Other significant CR includes an awkward sort of not-really friendship with Cathy Barrett (The Nightside book series), a protective interest in Violet Parr (of the Incredibles), and bonding over archery with Clint Barton (of the Marvel movieverse), but Katniss remained very much an introvert, and nothing more really extended beyond casual conversations. She mouthed off to Hypatia, the AI in control of the station, after a publicly broadcast torture, as it incited her anger, but nothing came of it. She won’t force CR on people, because even if she knows them, unless they’re from home, she’s ill likely to approach expecting to be recognized.
PERSONALITY: Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, is a hard person to read. First and foremost, she is a survivalist. After the death of her father when she was only twelve years old, her mother fell into a deep depression and could barely function, leaving Katniss to become the primary caregiver of her family, now just her mom and sister. Initially, it was extremely hard; they barely got enough food and money, and thus were close to starvation. In what was very much a life changing moment, when she was on the very edge of giving up, the baker’s son, Peeta Mellark, burnt some bread on purpose, got a beating from his mom, and gave Katniss the bread. It was this act of kindness that gave her hope, gave her motivation to survive and keep her sister alive, but at the cost of her childhood and giving her a quick transition into adulthood. She is no-nonsense and sticks to the business at hand.
She took up her father’s pastime, hunting, using what information her father passed her as well as teaching herself to kill game, sneaking out illegally into the woods of District 12. Through hunting, she came to meet Gale Hawthorne, and the two of them learned from each other, becoming an amazing hunting team. They would spend the next few years of their lives hunting together and providing for both of their families, as well as trading in what was essentially a Black Market of food. Gale came to be one of the few people she trusted with her life. Because of this experience, Katniss hates the idea of relying on other people. She has largely taken care of herself, as well as helped provide for two families, for most of her life; she knows she is capable and very rarely sees the need to ask for anyone’s help. She can do anything and everything on her own, because she has to. The idea of owing people for their aid is something she dreads, but she will always feel the need to return a favor when something is done for her, and she will do her best to repay the debt, as much as she hates it. She is a survivor and knows quite well how to think outside the box for those reasons. But the important part is that she is a hunter, not a killer, and she draws careful distinction between them.
The most important person in Katniss’s life and largely her motivation for everything is her little sister, Primrose Everdeen. When Prim is chosen as a tribute for the Hunger Games, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her sister’s place, even though it means certain death. She will literally do whatever it takes to keep Prim safe, and eventually, this dedication to protection expands when people gain her trust (although this largely extends to mostly Gale and eventually Peeta, the latter of whom in Catching Fire she is prepared to sacrifice herself for, for the sake of keeping him alive and keeping the rebellion alive).
Because Katniss is so focused on survival and basic needs, she is extremely oblivious to social norms and expectations. She’s socially awkward and fails ninety-nine percent of the time at public speaking, contrasted with her quick thinking in life-or-death situations. Social situations make her uncomfortable and gawky, often to a very obvious level. She doesn’t know or care enough to give a good impression; she’s flat and comes across as quite aloof, even just a flat out jerk. She’s blunt and to the point, misses subtle social cues, and is easily embarrassed by nudity. It takes other people (Haymitch and Peeta, largely) to create a likeable, or at least unforgettable persona, with which she can use to help her survive in the Hunger Games—it is through the actions of other people combined with her hot-headedness that Katniss becomes the “girl on fire.”
Despite this awkward, when it’s necessary, Katniss is a very good actress. She managed to convince the entire nation of Panem that she was hopelessly in love with Peeta during her first Hunger Games – but that was only because her life and the lives of others were on the line. But this fake Katniss, the giggly, bubbly tv persona is completely unlike the stoic, grumpy miner’s daughter from District 12. That fake Katniss is another facet of keeping herself, and people she cares about, alive.
She’d rather be out hunting than making friends with people her own age; the only girl she managed to befriend in District 12 was Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter, and even then it remained an awkward sort of friendship. They rarely talked or gossiped, and mostly just hung out with the other while at school for the company. She’s cool and collected on the hunt, but a bit of a mess when it comes to her emotions. She pushes them aside and ignores them for as long as possible, excepting the love she has for her sister. It doesn’t mean she is emotionless, just that she’s very good at hiding them and ignoring them for the bigger picture; she has to, to survive. She has a rather sarcastic sense of humor and is quite snarky. She is capable of relaxing around those she feels comfortable with. She has opinions, and she does voice them. Keeping up her indifference is a large part of her survival strategy, whether for day-to-day life itself or actual survival.
Despite the attempted indifference, Katniss is quite stubborn and hot tempered. She is a woman of action; shoot first, ask later. She makes quick judgments and does not dwell on decisions (at least those not involving her emotions and love life). Because she’s so focused on survival, especially her own, she can be quite self-centered sometimes. There are very few people she would put before herself (Prim being the most glaring example, but also those whom she perceives as weak or in need of protection). Random capable and adept strangers? No way, not as much; unless she gets to know who you are, it’s likely she’ll leave you be. Her own priorities come first (selfish or selfless as they may be). It very often takes something affecting her directly to trigger her sense of justice, which despite all impassivity, is quite strong. She openly defies the Capitol during her first experience in the Hunger Games after losing Rue, her ally in the arena. Instead of remaining cold and callous over a tribute’s death, she sings to Rue as she dies, covering her body in flowers and saluting her—her first real act of defiance and it comes straight out of who Katniss is, a sixteen year old girl mourning the loss of a friend, angry at the system that forced her death, and determined not to let the Capitol take Rue away as a mindless, unimportant casualty in a sick game of entertainment.
She is angry. Angry at the poverty she sees in her District when compared to the wealth of the Capitol, angry that they force children to fight to the death, and this anger is at her core. It fuels her resistance and hatred of the Capitol, and as it grows, so does her desire to overthrow the Capitol. But that rebel was always there somewhere; not every eleven-year-old girl willingly ignores boundary rules, even with the pretense of feeding her family.
She’s stubborn and independent, a result of her life in poverty and growing up as a caretaker. She likes to be in control of herself and hates appearing weak. If she feels she’s being manipulated, these are the moments she’s likely to lash out and do something unpredictable, moments in which she comes to embody the “girl on fire.” She recognizes a situation for what it is and how it will effect her and does her best to adapt. As she comes head to head against the Capitol in the Hunger Games (on two separate occasions and arenas), sees face to face what they are capable of, she comes to hate them more and more, and slowly starts to contemplate and accept escaping that life, accept that overthrowing the Capitol is possible and for the better. Though the rebellious Mockingjay was an accident, she comes to accept the title upon the realization that she can create a better world for her sister, for the people she comes to care about, for all of Panem, and she can end the Hunger Games. For Katniss, it always comes back to the Games.
Regardless, she hates being in the spotlight. All Katniss ever wanted in life was to get by in quiet, take care of herself and her sister, and live out her days in peace. When she is thrust into the position of “the Mockingjay,” it’s not something she accepts completely willingly. She makes demands—the safety of other tributes and permission for her sister’s cat, Buttercup, to live with them in District 13—before agreeing to become the face of the rebellion. This spark, this determination, her stubbornness and dedication to her goals is another facet of the “girl on fire,” a piece that is part of who Katniss is rather than created by someone else.
But she’s scarred, emotionally and physically. Most of her physical scars were surgically removed after she won her first Hunger Games, but the battles and hardships she’s endured after would give her more. Her mind is another story; the trauma of being in the arena not once but twice gives her nightmares, vivid and lucid that make her thrash around in bed, sometimes screaming out loud. It is only Peeta’s presence that calms her sleep; they help each other survive. They are separated when District 13 and the rebellion rescue her (along with two other Tributes/Victors, Finnick & Beetee) from her second Hunger Games and take them all to D13, while Peeta was left in the hands of the Capitol. When Katniss realizes he’s being tortured as a way to get at her, she breaks. When they are finally reunited, he tries to strangle her, and she loses that stability he represented and gave to her. She’s broken, but not quite over the edge. Her desire to kill President Snow and end the rebellion drives her to push beyond that instability, gives her purpose and determination, ignites the flame behind the girl on fire. This doesn’t change the fact that she’s only a seventeen-year-old girl, forced into a war, forced to kill and see others killed, and forced to deal with a continuous string of traumatic experiences.
ABILITIES: Katniss is a normal human, with no magical abilities. She is most known for her archery skills; her aim is beyond accurate (she’s able to shoot squirrels in the eye). Because of her tiny stature, she’s also rather agile, able to run quickly and climb trees upwards of 80 feet without issue.
POSSESSIONS:
A highly advanced bow; black and birdlike. It recognizes only her voice and reacts to it. Beetee built it but he made it a fully functional weapon, despite being given instructions to design a bow that merely looked shiny and appropriate for propaganda. It improves her already excellent accuracy. The arrows also come with her, also specially designed and color coded; there are incendiary, explosive, and razor sharp arrows, but it’s also capable of shooting regular arrows. To deactivate the weapon, Katniss only has to say “Good night,” and it will turn off until she speaks to it again.
Mockingjay suit: Essentially a suit of armor, designed by Cinna, her stylist from the Hunger Games. It’s built to accentuate her position as “the Mockingjay,” with some birdlike features, but it’s also a soldier’s uniform, bullet proof and defensive. On the shoulder is a small patch that can be ripped with teeth; inside is essentially the Panem version of cyanide, accessible without the need for hands.
Regular clothes under the suit: plain brown pants, boots, and a long sleeved grey shirt.
samples.
JOURNAL ENTRY SAMPLE:
[Katniss Everdeen’s face flickers into the feed, olive skinned, dark circles under her eyes, and her mouth drawn into a thin, angry line.]
Space ship to regular ship? Is this some kind of joke? I’ve already played this game. I don’t like it. Though I guess that tends to not matter very much most of the time, does it? [Bitter, oh so bitter.]
[She pauses and her frown deepens.] If the word ‘Panem’ means anything to anyone, speak up.
THIRD-PERSON SAMPLE:
Rust.
The smell fills Katniss as she stirs, and it helps jar her into complete awareness. The next thing she notices is the smell of the ocean, even as she shivers in the cold. She’s very rarely in her life been on a boat – only on her trip to District 4 – but the swaying sensation and creaking is familiar enough for recognition.
The first thought that comes to mind is the fact that she is still not home. There are no tall and powerful buildings of the Capitol, nothing that hints of Panem. The open sea is natural – she can tell right away that it’s nothing stimulated on a space station. But honestly, she doesn’t care. Because she is not home. It simultaneously infuriates and terrifies her. But Katniss has always been good at pushing aside her fear when she needs to, so she lets that anger overpower it and wills herself to take the next step.
She immediately ducks as close to the wall as she can, clutching her bow; she ignores the other apparently unconscious bodies around her, and none of them are recognizable. Her breathing picks up, but she keeps silent, even as her chest rapidly rises up and down. Her eyes dart around – the slightest of movements draws her attention, and she pulls her bow into her arms with intent to use if need be. It’s a boat, all right. Old and creepy and looking ready to fall apart if she steps wrong and floating in the middle of a wide open ocean, no land in sight. It’s not an arena, it can’t be, but that trapped feeling certainly reminds her of it.
She needs to get off this deck. The familiarity of fight or flight kicks in, her adrenaline kicks in; it’s not quite kill or be killed, and it won’t be, not until she knows more.
There’s a flash of her sister – Prim, sweet Prim, whom she hasn’t seen in months and still, apparently, will not see, and it hurts, because she misses her. So much. But as she looks around, absorbing her surroundings with greater clarity, she’s grateful that once more her sister is not here. Her little duck has grown quite a bit, but Katniss will always shield her every way she can. She will always be the protector and defender.
And Peeta, what about Peeta? Was he here? Back at Sacrosanct? Or had he made it home? She needs to believe he’s okay. But it’s nice to be alone, for now, until she figures out what’s happening, because then she can worry about herself and herself alone. She prefers that, sometimes, especially when trying to get her bearings.
It’s only a few more seconds before she scrambles, runs for one of the doors. If she can get herself alone, completely alone and isolated, she can collect herself. Think of a plan. Because she is on a boat that looks as if it’s about to collapse, and she needs to get off. She has no idea what else is here, who else is here. She’s not doubting herself, not exactly. If Katniss has learned and accepted anything about herself over the years, it’s that she is resourceful, and she will do whatever it takes to keep herself alive.
NAME/HANDLE: Tomato
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
antiquityARE YOU 16 OR OVER?: 23!
CONTACT: (aim) TheTomatoSays, (email) il.pomodoro at yahoo dot com
OTHER CHARACTERS: n/a
character.
CHARACTER NAME: Katniss Everdeen
SERIES: The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games | links to all three books contained
Katniss on The Hunger Games wiki
CANON POINT: During the raid on the Capitol with the Star Squad at the end of Mockingjay, after Boggs is killed and everyone in the party is declared dead, but they’re actually resting and hiding out in an abandoned house.
AGE: 17
APPEARANCE: Katniss is of average height, but her physique suffers from spending her life in a state of being largely underfed. She looks skinny and scrawny, but because she’s also fairly athletic, her body is toned with lean muscle. She’s got olive toned skin and dark hair, often pulled back into what becomes her trademark braid. There’s a prominent scar on her arm from a knife wound, along with various other battle scars across her body.
PREVIOUS GAME HISTORY: Katniss will be ported from her time spent at
singularityrpg. She spent roughly seven months trapped on a space ship, and through the stagnation grated on her immensely, she’s still very much Katniss Everdeen. If anything, ending up in another place that isn’t home will just reignite her rage. The most character effecting event was a “fear gas event,” in which she hallucinated all of her greatest fears and publicly revealed some of them over the network. She’s still shaken over the realism, even if she hides it well – but handling and hiding her emotions along those veins is nothing new. She made some developments relationship wise (all of the platonic nature), and has a slightly better ability to handle idleness, but she hasn’t changed significantly. Notably, however, she made efforts with Peeta to improve his state of mind to the point where they could very rarely stay together at night without having to worry about him strangling her. The biggest development was during the prior mentioned fear gas, where Peeta was able to help Katniss in what was more or less a game of real or not real, and they were able to sleep in the same room for the first time in months. About a month later, a publicly broadcast torture once again pushed them towards each other. Through being at
singularityrpg, Katniss learned she needed to try working with Peeta herself rather than always running and hiding, something she also learns throughout the end of the third book. She also formed a close bond with Terry McGinnis, aka Batman, who became one of her most trusted allies on board Sacrosanct. It was a slow building show of trust, and the biggest moment for Katniss was sharing her experiences in the Games and in the Revolution with him, in her own words – something she so rarely was able to do. The fact that he continued to treat her the same after he knew what she’d done meant quite a lot to her, more than she would ever admit. Later, again during the “fear gas event,” Katniss would discover Terry as Batman as he tried to help her; after, he would own up to his secret identity when she wasn’t in a toxin-induced paranoia, and she was the only person he did so with willingly. Katniss does not trust easily, and the level of trust she came to share with Terry was very slow building over the months they spent on the spaceship.
From home, Katniss also had Gale Hawthorne, Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, and Johanna Mason, each for varying amounts of time. Clove – a tribute from her first Games – also showed up, and it threw Katniss for a loop, but she adjusted to the idea of people from the same world being pulled at different times (people who were supposed to be dead). Though she remained hostile towards the other girl, she recognized there was no need to attack (unless provoked, which is her usual modus operandi anyway).
Other significant CR includes an awkward sort of not-really friendship with Cathy Barrett (The Nightside book series), a protective interest in Violet Parr (of the Incredibles), and bonding over archery with Clint Barton (of the Marvel movieverse), but Katniss remained very much an introvert, and nothing more really extended beyond casual conversations. She mouthed off to Hypatia, the AI in control of the station, after a publicly broadcast torture, as it incited her anger, but nothing came of it. She won’t force CR on people, because even if she knows them, unless they’re from home, she’s ill likely to approach expecting to be recognized.
PERSONALITY: Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, is a hard person to read. First and foremost, she is a survivalist. After the death of her father when she was only twelve years old, her mother fell into a deep depression and could barely function, leaving Katniss to become the primary caregiver of her family, now just her mom and sister. Initially, it was extremely hard; they barely got enough food and money, and thus were close to starvation. In what was very much a life changing moment, when she was on the very edge of giving up, the baker’s son, Peeta Mellark, burnt some bread on purpose, got a beating from his mom, and gave Katniss the bread. It was this act of kindness that gave her hope, gave her motivation to survive and keep her sister alive, but at the cost of her childhood and giving her a quick transition into adulthood. She is no-nonsense and sticks to the business at hand.
She took up her father’s pastime, hunting, using what information her father passed her as well as teaching herself to kill game, sneaking out illegally into the woods of District 12. Through hunting, she came to meet Gale Hawthorne, and the two of them learned from each other, becoming an amazing hunting team. They would spend the next few years of their lives hunting together and providing for both of their families, as well as trading in what was essentially a Black Market of food. Gale came to be one of the few people she trusted with her life. Because of this experience, Katniss hates the idea of relying on other people. She has largely taken care of herself, as well as helped provide for two families, for most of her life; she knows she is capable and very rarely sees the need to ask for anyone’s help. She can do anything and everything on her own, because she has to. The idea of owing people for their aid is something she dreads, but she will always feel the need to return a favor when something is done for her, and she will do her best to repay the debt, as much as she hates it. She is a survivor and knows quite well how to think outside the box for those reasons. But the important part is that she is a hunter, not a killer, and she draws careful distinction between them.
The most important person in Katniss’s life and largely her motivation for everything is her little sister, Primrose Everdeen. When Prim is chosen as a tribute for the Hunger Games, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her sister’s place, even though it means certain death. She will literally do whatever it takes to keep Prim safe, and eventually, this dedication to protection expands when people gain her trust (although this largely extends to mostly Gale and eventually Peeta, the latter of whom in Catching Fire she is prepared to sacrifice herself for, for the sake of keeping him alive and keeping the rebellion alive).
Because Katniss is so focused on survival and basic needs, she is extremely oblivious to social norms and expectations. She’s socially awkward and fails ninety-nine percent of the time at public speaking, contrasted with her quick thinking in life-or-death situations. Social situations make her uncomfortable and gawky, often to a very obvious level. She doesn’t know or care enough to give a good impression; she’s flat and comes across as quite aloof, even just a flat out jerk. She’s blunt and to the point, misses subtle social cues, and is easily embarrassed by nudity. It takes other people (Haymitch and Peeta, largely) to create a likeable, or at least unforgettable persona, with which she can use to help her survive in the Hunger Games—it is through the actions of other people combined with her hot-headedness that Katniss becomes the “girl on fire.”
Despite this awkward, when it’s necessary, Katniss is a very good actress. She managed to convince the entire nation of Panem that she was hopelessly in love with Peeta during her first Hunger Games – but that was only because her life and the lives of others were on the line. But this fake Katniss, the giggly, bubbly tv persona is completely unlike the stoic, grumpy miner’s daughter from District 12. That fake Katniss is another facet of keeping herself, and people she cares about, alive.
She’d rather be out hunting than making friends with people her own age; the only girl she managed to befriend in District 12 was Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter, and even then it remained an awkward sort of friendship. They rarely talked or gossiped, and mostly just hung out with the other while at school for the company. She’s cool and collected on the hunt, but a bit of a mess when it comes to her emotions. She pushes them aside and ignores them for as long as possible, excepting the love she has for her sister. It doesn’t mean she is emotionless, just that she’s very good at hiding them and ignoring them for the bigger picture; she has to, to survive. She has a rather sarcastic sense of humor and is quite snarky. She is capable of relaxing around those she feels comfortable with. She has opinions, and she does voice them. Keeping up her indifference is a large part of her survival strategy, whether for day-to-day life itself or actual survival.
Despite the attempted indifference, Katniss is quite stubborn and hot tempered. She is a woman of action; shoot first, ask later. She makes quick judgments and does not dwell on decisions (at least those not involving her emotions and love life). Because she’s so focused on survival, especially her own, she can be quite self-centered sometimes. There are very few people she would put before herself (Prim being the most glaring example, but also those whom she perceives as weak or in need of protection). Random capable and adept strangers? No way, not as much; unless she gets to know who you are, it’s likely she’ll leave you be. Her own priorities come first (selfish or selfless as they may be). It very often takes something affecting her directly to trigger her sense of justice, which despite all impassivity, is quite strong. She openly defies the Capitol during her first experience in the Hunger Games after losing Rue, her ally in the arena. Instead of remaining cold and callous over a tribute’s death, she sings to Rue as she dies, covering her body in flowers and saluting her—her first real act of defiance and it comes straight out of who Katniss is, a sixteen year old girl mourning the loss of a friend, angry at the system that forced her death, and determined not to let the Capitol take Rue away as a mindless, unimportant casualty in a sick game of entertainment.
She is angry. Angry at the poverty she sees in her District when compared to the wealth of the Capitol, angry that they force children to fight to the death, and this anger is at her core. It fuels her resistance and hatred of the Capitol, and as it grows, so does her desire to overthrow the Capitol. But that rebel was always there somewhere; not every eleven-year-old girl willingly ignores boundary rules, even with the pretense of feeding her family.
She’s stubborn and independent, a result of her life in poverty and growing up as a caretaker. She likes to be in control of herself and hates appearing weak. If she feels she’s being manipulated, these are the moments she’s likely to lash out and do something unpredictable, moments in which she comes to embody the “girl on fire.” She recognizes a situation for what it is and how it will effect her and does her best to adapt. As she comes head to head against the Capitol in the Hunger Games (on two separate occasions and arenas), sees face to face what they are capable of, she comes to hate them more and more, and slowly starts to contemplate and accept escaping that life, accept that overthrowing the Capitol is possible and for the better. Though the rebellious Mockingjay was an accident, she comes to accept the title upon the realization that she can create a better world for her sister, for the people she comes to care about, for all of Panem, and she can end the Hunger Games. For Katniss, it always comes back to the Games.
Regardless, she hates being in the spotlight. All Katniss ever wanted in life was to get by in quiet, take care of herself and her sister, and live out her days in peace. When she is thrust into the position of “the Mockingjay,” it’s not something she accepts completely willingly. She makes demands—the safety of other tributes and permission for her sister’s cat, Buttercup, to live with them in District 13—before agreeing to become the face of the rebellion. This spark, this determination, her stubbornness and dedication to her goals is another facet of the “girl on fire,” a piece that is part of who Katniss is rather than created by someone else.
But she’s scarred, emotionally and physically. Most of her physical scars were surgically removed after she won her first Hunger Games, but the battles and hardships she’s endured after would give her more. Her mind is another story; the trauma of being in the arena not once but twice gives her nightmares, vivid and lucid that make her thrash around in bed, sometimes screaming out loud. It is only Peeta’s presence that calms her sleep; they help each other survive. They are separated when District 13 and the rebellion rescue her (along with two other Tributes/Victors, Finnick & Beetee) from her second Hunger Games and take them all to D13, while Peeta was left in the hands of the Capitol. When Katniss realizes he’s being tortured as a way to get at her, she breaks. When they are finally reunited, he tries to strangle her, and she loses that stability he represented and gave to her. She’s broken, but not quite over the edge. Her desire to kill President Snow and end the rebellion drives her to push beyond that instability, gives her purpose and determination, ignites the flame behind the girl on fire. This doesn’t change the fact that she’s only a seventeen-year-old girl, forced into a war, forced to kill and see others killed, and forced to deal with a continuous string of traumatic experiences.
ABILITIES: Katniss is a normal human, with no magical abilities. She is most known for her archery skills; her aim is beyond accurate (she’s able to shoot squirrels in the eye). Because of her tiny stature, she’s also rather agile, able to run quickly and climb trees upwards of 80 feet without issue.
POSSESSIONS:
A highly advanced bow; black and birdlike. It recognizes only her voice and reacts to it. Beetee built it but he made it a fully functional weapon, despite being given instructions to design a bow that merely looked shiny and appropriate for propaganda. It improves her already excellent accuracy. The arrows also come with her, also specially designed and color coded; there are incendiary, explosive, and razor sharp arrows, but it’s also capable of shooting regular arrows. To deactivate the weapon, Katniss only has to say “Good night,” and it will turn off until she speaks to it again.
Mockingjay suit: Essentially a suit of armor, designed by Cinna, her stylist from the Hunger Games. It’s built to accentuate her position as “the Mockingjay,” with some birdlike features, but it’s also a soldier’s uniform, bullet proof and defensive. On the shoulder is a small patch that can be ripped with teeth; inside is essentially the Panem version of cyanide, accessible without the need for hands.
Regular clothes under the suit: plain brown pants, boots, and a long sleeved grey shirt.
samples.
JOURNAL ENTRY SAMPLE:
[Katniss Everdeen’s face flickers into the feed, olive skinned, dark circles under her eyes, and her mouth drawn into a thin, angry line.]
Space ship to regular ship? Is this some kind of joke? I’ve already played this game. I don’t like it. Though I guess that tends to not matter very much most of the time, does it? [Bitter, oh so bitter.]
[She pauses and her frown deepens.] If the word ‘Panem’ means anything to anyone, speak up.
THIRD-PERSON SAMPLE:
Rust.
The smell fills Katniss as she stirs, and it helps jar her into complete awareness. The next thing she notices is the smell of the ocean, even as she shivers in the cold. She’s very rarely in her life been on a boat – only on her trip to District 4 – but the swaying sensation and creaking is familiar enough for recognition.
The first thought that comes to mind is the fact that she is still not home. There are no tall and powerful buildings of the Capitol, nothing that hints of Panem. The open sea is natural – she can tell right away that it’s nothing stimulated on a space station. But honestly, she doesn’t care. Because she is not home. It simultaneously infuriates and terrifies her. But Katniss has always been good at pushing aside her fear when she needs to, so she lets that anger overpower it and wills herself to take the next step.
She immediately ducks as close to the wall as she can, clutching her bow; she ignores the other apparently unconscious bodies around her, and none of them are recognizable. Her breathing picks up, but she keeps silent, even as her chest rapidly rises up and down. Her eyes dart around – the slightest of movements draws her attention, and she pulls her bow into her arms with intent to use if need be. It’s a boat, all right. Old and creepy and looking ready to fall apart if she steps wrong and floating in the middle of a wide open ocean, no land in sight. It’s not an arena, it can’t be, but that trapped feeling certainly reminds her of it.
She needs to get off this deck. The familiarity of fight or flight kicks in, her adrenaline kicks in; it’s not quite kill or be killed, and it won’t be, not until she knows more.
There’s a flash of her sister – Prim, sweet Prim, whom she hasn’t seen in months and still, apparently, will not see, and it hurts, because she misses her. So much. But as she looks around, absorbing her surroundings with greater clarity, she’s grateful that once more her sister is not here. Her little duck has grown quite a bit, but Katniss will always shield her every way she can. She will always be the protector and defender.
And Peeta, what about Peeta? Was he here? Back at Sacrosanct? Or had he made it home? She needs to believe he’s okay. But it’s nice to be alone, for now, until she figures out what’s happening, because then she can worry about herself and herself alone. She prefers that, sometimes, especially when trying to get her bearings.
It’s only a few more seconds before she scrambles, runs for one of the doors. If she can get herself alone, completely alone and isolated, she can collect herself. Think of a plan. Because she is on a boat that looks as if it’s about to collapse, and she needs to get off. She has no idea what else is here, who else is here. She’s not doubting herself, not exactly. If Katniss has learned and accepted anything about herself over the years, it’s that she is resourceful, and she will do whatever it takes to keep herself alive.