Valerie Eudora Leotos

Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry...

Valerie is short for her age with short legs and arms. Her soft stomach still holds some fat, ensuring Val is not entirely skinny, yet her fat doesn’t deem her overweight. Her hands are small as are her feet, with spidery veins stretching across them. Her fingernails aren’t strong and chip easily and in addition to her biting of them, they are quite chewed and unattractive looking, often bloody underneath. Val’s skin is pale, usually inflicted by acne over her face and back.

Valerie’s face is oval shaped with a rather pointy, protruding chin. Directly above Val’s chin, rests her thin lips, pale pink in color. She often hides her teeth behind them, refusing to grin, for her teeth are white, but crooked and missing a few from years of training. High above her lips, rather high up, is Valerie’s nose, long and just as pointy as her chin. The bridge of her nose is long and flat, opening to wide nostrils at the bottom. Her cheeks are full around her nose and too often fall victim to cystic acne. Finally, one comes to her wide-set sky-blue eyes, which are almond-shaped with bags underneath and thin eyelashes. Her eyebrows are thin as well, and blonde, almost non-existent.

Val’s forehead is wide and long before her hair comes into play. Valerie’s hair is long and thick, usually unruly. Darker near the roots, Val’s hair is dirty blonde and has a tendency to become greasy if not washed every day. She has split-ends, because she refuses to cut her long, middle-of-back length hair, finding it “pretty.”

Valerie loves to wear dresses and skirts, and anything pink. However, for training she often wears sweatpants and t-shirts. Any other time, however, you will seldom find Val in anything but a dress or something frilly.

The bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest...

If you could describe Valerie in one word, it would be brave. Val is extremely courageous, taking on any challenge willingly with her head held high. She wants more than anything to get into the Games and trains often. She would readily step up to help a friend, even if it means she will get hurt. She is daring to the point of recklessness at times, doing things that could, again, get her hurt, but to her, the thrill is extremely worth it. She is often kind and friendly to others and loves to talk. One might stand there hours waiting for Valerie to finish talking before they even tell her their name. She is a master of interrupting others. If something to say pops into her mind, she will say it that instant. She is much too impatient to wait. If she must wait, Val becomes most disagreeable, often snapping at others and sighing loudly.

In training, she will always take on someone bigger or better than her, and fight as hard as she can. However, she is a sore loser, becoming less amiable when she loses. Val likes winning, she loves that feeling of pride when she wins. She never brags, but still, that pride takes over Val on the inside. On those days when she does win something, she walks with a new air about her, her back straight with a smile on her lips.

Valerie is a girly-girl at heart. She doesn’t mind getting dirty or hurt, but still appreciates frilly things, clothes and the color pink. She likes to wear make-up and do her hair, but then again, doesn’t mind soiling it. Actually, if she soils it, that just means she gets to do it all over again, and seeing as its something she loves, she’s overjoyed to do it. She likes looking for the physical flaws in others, in her mind, of course, and thinking of ways to do their hair or make-up to make them beautiful.

While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring...

Often times, young couples have children on accident. And that’s what Valerie was. The huge accident of Payden Usler and Didi Leotos. They weren’t even married. Didi was fourteen and Payden was sixteen. Didi hide her pregnancy from her parents as best she could, blaming it on weight gain and wearing baggy clothing. Didi only confided in her twenty two year old newly-wed brother, Justin Leotos, who’s wife, now Crystal Leotos, had just gotten pregnant as well. Didi knew at some point she’d have to tell her parents. By the time she was visibly pregnant, she went to live with her brother, telling her parents she was going to visit for a few months. Always a bit neglecting of their children, Mr. and Mrs. Leotos accepted this without comment. Didi knew she had to do something about her child, but wasn’t sure up until her and Crystal’s ninth month. Crystal went into labor before Didi and to the young parent’s horror, the baby girl was dead as soon as she was born, a still-born. That’s when Didi’s chance came.

Though stricken with grief, Crystal and Justin helped Didi deliver the healthy baby girl in Justin’s and Crystal’s house, Payden having taken off many months ago. That’s when Didi shoved the unwanted child at her brother and sister-in-law. “Take her,” she told them, sweaty and tired from labor, “I don’t want her, you take her.” So, Crystal and Justin held the child with shaking arms.

“What should we name her?” Justin whispered to Crystal, who had the answer ready.

“Valerie. I was going to name our child that…now, this one can be Valerie. Aw, look, she’s smiling.”

Didi’s child became Valerie Leotos, child to Crystal and Justin Leotos. Didi went back to live with her parents, who just thought her youngest daughter to have grown fatter. Her only words to her brother regarding the child was to never tell her of her true parents. But, Justin knew Valerie must know eventually. On her 10th birthday, Crystal and Justin gently told her they were merely her aunt and uncle, and though they loved her very much like a daughter, no, she wasn’t their child. Her “aunt” Didi was her real mother, but Didi wasn’t to know they’d told her. They still loved her and it was like adoption, they told her, they were still her parents. In Crystal’s words, parents weren’t measured on who actually delivered the child, but on how much love the child received. Though, bemused, horrified and angered, Valerie accepted this with a fake smile, kissing her parents on the cheek, saying she understood. But, inside, she was in tumult.

Back in her room, Valerie wondered how she could deal with this. She just wanted to hit something. Sure, she loved Crystal and Justin, but they had lied…Didi hadn’t wanted her, she was unwanted. Jeez, she did want to hit something! The answer came quickly: The Training Center in the District where all the Careers trained. She could go there and release some of that anger.

That’s when Val realized how much she liked training. That anger gradually evaporated into confidence, as she found that she could train often, get herself ready. She was brave, she could take on the Games! Then her mother would see what she was missing out on! That day in training was the day Val met Amazon, a timid girl. They became quick friends. Amazon was often the one keeping Val out of trouble if she took too much of a risk.

Now 16, Val is still friends with Amazon and still trains like crazy, waiting for that one day…the one day when her name will be called and she’ll stand to take her place…that one day when the crown with come down on her head and that one word will rise above all: “Victor!”

Codeword: Odair