Cassius Clayburn ~ Head Peacekeeper D4

Name: Cassius Clayburn
Age: 41 as of 61st Hunger Games
Gender: Male
District/Area: District 4
Appearance:

If you ever asked a person, district or not, to describe Cassius you'd probably get around the same answer. Hawklike. The man has the facial structure of a sharp bird of prey staring down at its next meal. His nose slopes down in a steep straight line, only curving when it makes his nostrils and then it is only subtle. As his nose reaches his eyes it eases into the crinkles where he knits his brow together all the time, with the exception of sleep. When the sun is low in the sky and the shadows are cast across the dock, Cassius' eyes are virtually invisible, hidden under disapproving eyebrows. Pinching the skin in between them, his eyebrows are permanently slanted downwards, making his birdlike looks even more avian.
The edges of his face start leaning in at his cheekbones, ending at his dimpled chin. However a well life in District 2 has seen to the filling in of his cheeks so he isn't gaunt, even when he was shipped off to other districts his face has stayed full and intact.
Cassius' ears are set low on his head and stick out too farther for the Capitol's taste. There are a lot of things about Cassius that leave a bitter aftertaste in the Capitol citizen's mouths. For one his eyes. When they are visible they're a mere brown, plain and uninteresting. His hair almost passes the excitement test, and even that is by accident. Cassius' brown hair just twists up into odd forms, he hardly bothers to comb it out in the mornings. It sticks up in the front and curves down, brushing his forehead and pointing out completing his bird look.
Cassius' body appears to be scrawny, however what he lacks in size he makes up for with his voice. Cassius' voice sounds like it belongs to another person. It's rather deep for his stature and is filled to the brim with authority. Part of which is natural, the other taught. The fact that this kind of voice comes from such a small man is unnerving, one of the reasons he is still employed.
Imperfections are scattered across Cassius' skin, a pale nick under his right eye, scars criss cross his chest (which is, for the most part, hairless), and one crawling up his back and ending in his hairline at the back of his neck.
The combined look of his hawk face, his messy hair and the scars creeping around his body give him the threatening appearance that his size and strength did not.

Personality:

Cassius' acquaintances' description doesn't stop at his appearance. Behind those eyes is a brain that is alerted by the slightest movement or noise. The very hint of a nervous sweat beading up on someone's upper lip, nothing escapes his watchful eye. On the outside Cassius appears to be a stone cold man with no love anywhere in his heart... and maybe that is true. Cassius does not like to dwell on his feelings. He ignores them and focuses on his job- following orders from his superiors and the Capitol.
Somewhere down past the rough exterior and thick layer of protection he has set up around his emotions there is a bit of pity or compassion, but nothing he cares about. They aren't important enough to dig out of the grave he shoved them in long ago.
He wasn't always like this, untouchable and unreachable. He was actually a warm man, more of a gentle chick than a stealthy hawk. However that is in the past now. Cassius is no longer that man, he is a Peacekeeper. He's taken lives. He's a limb of the Capitol body. He isn't allowed to feel, and he won't. However there are times, late at night that the memories come back. The gentle touch of a blush reaches his cheeks as he remembers what life used to be like, but they're wretched away from him just as fast as they appear.
He can't think of those memories anymore. He can't be reckless like that anymore. He can't be human anymore. He's a robot, a monster. A organism with no compassion, one that acts with minimum thinking. So far, this has worked out just fine.
Besides the usual Peacekeeper mindset, Cassius has a bit of a gambling problem... okay a huge one. It was one of the things he turned to back in District 9 after the... incident. He can't control himself when he sees a chance to throw in a bet whether it is with money or lives. It's even more fun with lives, makes the stacks that much higher. Naturally, when the Games roll around he picks a favorite and sets his bets. He was right about the blind kid, but the little 12 girl was a shock to him- and thus making him lose half of his month's pay. Cassius also took a shot at drinking but just couldn't stomach the stuff. Why waste your time on it when your just going to gag and throw it up five minutes later? Because you want to numb the pain. Drinking wouldn't make the pain leave Cassius' heart.
That brings up another question Cassius has asked himself from time to time. Does he have a heart? He knows he has the actually organ or else he'd be dead but does he have the ability to love? He's felt love before, stronger than anything else. Or was it lust? Or was it plain instinctual desire? Oh how he wished he knew.
Besides trying to figure out if he can love, Cassius' attitude to everyone else is hostile. He'll direct that hawk gaze in the direction of a citizen and they visibly wilt. Those who defy his death looks, they get special treatment. Cassius sees to the fact that they will cower in his presence. That's how he wants his District to run. Cassius wants every citizen to know his power, to fear his power to be mesmerized by his power. He desires control.
And that is usually what he gets.

History:

Never staying in one place too long, Cassius' home has shifted several time. He's hoping that District 4 will serve a nice permanent home for him. However with his past looming over him it's unlikely.
Starting the beginning, Cassius was born and raised in District 2 where his education was intertwined with praise for the Capitol. When he was around 16 he made his life choice: Either stay in 2 and become a miner or become a Peacekeeper. Naturally he became a Peacekeeper. He got through training just fine and when he was stationed in District 9 he was ecstatic. Jittery with power he had craved for so long, Cassius often wore a smile, something he no longer sports so freely. While in District 9 he encountered a girl of 17 with hair as dark as night, but with the tongue of a viper. She disobeyed his authority in public in front of everyone, humiliating him and leaving him almost powerless. Raging, he nudged her into a interrogating room and was determined to break her. Being 20 something he was fresh to the post and malleable; the district girl broke him.
The girl wormed her way into his mind and when he let her out to her home that night she beckoned him to follow her. Needless to say the naturally hunger of a man overtook him and, horrified that the other Peacekeepers would find out what he did he attempted to cover it. They aren't supposed to have families, or anything remotely close to a human relationship; this was too much for Cassius to handle. So, with his only option set his mind, Cassius followed the girl through the back alleys of District Nine. Then once they were cloaked in the shadow of a warehouse he slipped his fingers around her neck and she crumbled. Just like that and she was dead and his problem was solved. However that wasn't so, the guilt of it hung over him everywhere so he asked for a transfer and actually got one. He was sent to the Capitol, and while there he became the person he is today. Cold. They sent him to a large district to take control as Head Peacekeeper. So far it feeds his hunger for power but what he really wants is to catch a citizen out of line. Just a twitch of a finger and they're gone. What Cassius wants to see is how long can he draw out that twitch. Maybe making others feel pain is a way of numbing his own? Maybe he just wants that girl to stop haunting his dreams. One thing is for certain, no matter who he was before, Cassius is a killer now and there is no turning back.

Codeword: muttations
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