quartz caplin ♚ district 1 {fin}

quartz caplin.

Well, I'll be damned, the woman dressed in red had said, her hair as glossy and smooth as all girls in school had wanted theirs to be. Aren't you just the prettiest little thing? The girl was seven years old at the time, her hair overridden by grease and split ends, but still the woman caressed it gently. Are you from that nasty old community home? The small girl didn't know who the woman was, but if she could save her, she'd do anything. She pouted and looked miserable, and the woman patted her on the head. She wondered if this was the start of something new. But the woman kept walking on, and never even looked back. The girl was afraid she'd never find light in this tunnel. Her life was like an everlasting maze, and she went through corners and down narrow paths and never found her way to the centre. But the girl was determined, with her hair in long pigtails messily tied with checked ribbons. They wanted to keep the girls and boys smart, dressed up for events that were pointless. She used to pull on people's sleeves and ask why everyone was dressed in black and were standing around a piece of stone. They never invited her to a thing they called a funeral ever again. For one of the tributes, they were in mourning, and apparently the girl had interrupted.

That girl's name was Quartz Caplin, named shamelessly after a jewel, daughter of a woman who was named after a jewel as well. Ruby Caplin was beautiful, with her flame red hair and emerald green eyes, and Quartz did not take after her. None of her two daughters took after her, Ruby. She was one of a kind. Both Quartz and Aquamarine had blonde hair, straggly and slightly wavy, and blue eyes so light, they called it sky. Now people walked past and saw Quartz and Aquamarine, and looked so sympathetic it made Quartz sick. Aquamarine sucked up the attention like a straw, but Quartz hated it. Every. Single. Second of it. She didn't want their sympathy for the tragic death of their mother. Their father had died shortly after, which only added to the sympathy. But not before he betrayed Ruby Caplin's trust, and gave birth to Jet Caplin. Jet lived up to his name as he grew older, with jet black hair and charcoal eyes. Definitely took after his mother. Quartz and Aquamarine never mentioned their step-mother when they arrived on the doorstep of the community home. She was wicked, with her habits of getting her anger out of control and striking the children in the face.

Jet was rescued. Like a bird, flying free after being caged up for so many years. And the three of them lived happily ever after in the community home. That's what they wanted to think. It wasn't reality. Reality was far more gruesome, terrifying, and Quartz felt isolated. Jet and Aquamarine made friends straight away, while Quartz was left to sit on the windowsill. The experience of the community home left its mark on Quartz, in the form of bruises and scars all up her legs and arms. The dreadful thing was, she and Aquamarine shared a room, and Aquamarine saw the scars and bruises all the time, and never commented on them. Jet was friends with the people who formed them, but never witnessed what happened to his older sister. The middle child. The forgotten one. Even her own blood, her siblings, forgot about her from time to time.

Nobody had ever called her beautiful before. That was why the girl grew false hope when that woman talked to her in the streets. See, she'd ran away from the community home. She was sick of being ignored, always underestimated and bullied. At least Jet cared sometimes. At least he asked Quartz is she was okay, stopped and asked her about the bruise on her arm. But Quartz always made excuses, and said she was a clumsy girl. Jet believed her. And their conversations were always cut short, because nobody wanted to be seen with Quartz Caplin. Only Aquamarine Caplin, or Jet Caplin. Nobody cared about Quartz. And that is where our story is at the moment. But there is a lot more to discover. But first, shall we start with the basics?

appearance

When Quartz looks in the mirror, she sees a shadow of a girl. A girl who could be pretty if she dropped the greasy, messy hair, the emotionless eyes, her terrible posture. The scars that make up her past. But she has her good points as well, like her curves and healthy body. Like the other kids, she trained for the Hunger Games down at the academy. It didn't mean she was a monster, or a deadly Career, or someone to be feared. It gave her a fair bit of muscle and strength, and having enough to eat gave her a positive glow to her body. If she tried, she could make herself look beautiful, instead of a scrawny sixteen-year-old girl. Who liked Quartz's kind of girl? Aquamarine was a different story. She had the same blonde hair as Quartz, but luscious and flowing, and eyes that could manipulate you to do whatever she wanted. One thing that Aquamarine loved was to dangle people by her little finger and watch them suffer.

Her nose is fairly large, but not very hooked. The bridge flows quite nicely into the peak of her nose, and her eyes are small and so light blue, that it enticed you. If she tried. Mostly she kept her eyes emotionless, not wanting anyone to read her. Whereas her sister was an open book. Quartz was always compared to her sister, and she hated it. She bloody well hated it. She knew, and still knows she could never live up to her sister's standards, and she's accepted that. People just won't stop, though. It's always about lovely little Aquamarine, with her sickly smile and the way she sashays and tosses her hair. Her girly little hair ribbons and pulled up frilly white socks, all sticking to the dress code of the community home.

Whereas Quartz never stayed tidy enough. Always having bruises littered up her arms and legs from accidents and being hurt by other kids, one sock up and one down, hair tangled in her ribbons and mud on her face. The other kids liked to do that. Shove her face in the mud and tell her she had the same worth as mud. You're worthless, Quartz Caplin. That was what they always said. Nobody would miss you if you died. That was why Quartz always steered clear from the people from the community home at the reapings. She knew that, if one of them was Reaped, they'd push her forwards and shout 'I volunteer' in a terrible mocking of her voice. That was what true enemies did, right?

personality

An empty shell of a girl, her personality caged up so tightly deep within her heart that she doesn't even realize it's there. As far as Quartz Caplin knows, she doesn't have a personality. So many people have judged her just on looks and face value alone. You see a sad, lonely girl, you immediately assume she's not worth getting to know and will take forever to open up to you. But Quartz is cornstarch - you hit her hard and she won't move, but if you treat her carefully she will let you in. Just like cornstarch, that experiment they once did at school. Someone nearly cracked theirs. It was only a matter of time until Quartz cracked.

At face value, she is a lonely, depressed girl, with no place to go and no one to talk to. Just a lost, confused orphan who trains as a Career just to take her mind off everything else. Quartz doesn't easily trust - that strange lady in that room with the pictures on the wall said she had trust issues. She can control her anger, but has too much bottled up inside. Anger, frustration, a lust for revenge, a burning hatred for others. To put it simply, she could be ruthless if she wanted to. She has never felt pity before in her life, not even seeing the other kids in the community home, the ones who didn't bully her, looking as sad and depressed as she felt inside. Pity was for the weak, and Quartz Caplin refused to be weak. What was the point? Weakness just made them have more things to laugh at you about. She would not give in. As terrified as she was, she would never show them the effect they had on her.

Back to the cornstarch. You could poke her hard, smack her with the strength of eighty Careers, and try to break her. Or you could slowly ease into her life, to make her trust you, and then knock her off her high horse. People who did that were the most likely to break her. Force didn't bother her anymore - slyness did, although most Careers were too dumb to be sly. They used strength over their brains. But the brain is stronger than your fists, and is apparently the strongest muscle in your body or something. Quartz never liked school anyway. But at least she had more sense than those dumb, brutal Careers.

history

It all started one evening in District One, where Ruby Quinn lived a miserable life. Forced to train day and night for the satisfaction of her parents. She was sixteen years old, and she walked up to her window and gazed out at the starry night. It was a full moon, and she was giddy with excitement from what she was about to do. She picked up a jacket off the coat-hanger, and made sure her parents were asleep. Then she sneaked out the door, making sure to remain quiet. She headed down the darkening streets, and found her way to the training academy. She leaned against the wall and let herself get lost in watching the stars. Then Luis Caplin found the beautiful Ruby, with her long flowing red hair and piercing green eyes. They spent the rest of then night there, Luis playing his guitar for her, until they both fell asleep. Ruby was in deep trouble with her parents, but she barely listened to their lecture, just dreamily thought about Luis.

It was like a love story. Ruby and Luis started training together, and then they were no longer eligible for the Reaping. Therefore Ruby worked up the courage to leave her parents' home and marry Luis. Thus she became Ruby Caplin, and the night of their marriage, Ruby and Luis decided to have a honeymoon period. They visited all the most beautiful places in District One, and had a lot of romantic dinners. Then Ruby discovered the news she was expecting a child, and Aquamarine was born. Five months after Aquamarine was born, she discovered she was expecting Quartz. And within that short period she had two beautiful baby girls, Quartz and Aquamarine. But then the beautiful Ruby Caplin fell ill, and the love story was rid of all sweetness and turned sour. The perfect family was ripped apart as Ruby slowly began to die, growing more ill and more tired every day. It broke the girls' hearts to watch their mother die.

In a matter of weeks, Ruby Caplin was dead. Luis became a drunkard, and impregnated a woman who gave birth to Jet Caplin. Jet was handed over to the Caplins, but Luis's life was cut short as he died from alcohol and drug overdose. And they were sent to the community home, and Quartz got the worst of it. Jet and Aquamarine quickly fit in and made friends, but Quartz stuck out like a stray strand of hair. And people teased her about it. And that, my friends, is where our story begins.

quartz caplin.
16 years old.
district 1.
alek alexeyeva.
odair