Jessica Braun || District Two || FIN

The first time you went up to a trainer and asked her to teach you how to win the Hunger Games, she laughed in your face.

"You? Win the Hunger Games?" She said between fits of laughter. "No offense, kid, but I've seen fourteen year olds that looked deadlier than you."

And as the trainer laughed, you could do nothing but stand there and seethe, for deep down, you knew she was right.

Though you eventually taught the condescending trainer not to judge a book by its cover, there was no changing the fact that you simply did not look like a threatening, hulking Career tribute. Standing at barely five feet two inches tall and weighing a measly 115 pounds at seventeen, physically you looked more like a kid from an outer district as opposed to a nearly lifelong Career. Though you used your size to other advantages, secretly you wished to have the strength and intimidation factor that was typical of a tribute from Two nowadays. You yearned to have Circe Lyon's stunning beauty, possess Elya Johnwayne's aura of intimidation, harness the deadliness and raw power of Beretta Corleon. They were goddesses among tributes, perfect representations of what a Career should strive for, and you were just....

You.

A short, slim girl with no noteworthy Career family name to boast as your own.

And yet you forged on. If you couldn't have size or strength, then by Ripred, you were going to have determination. Life could thrown all the obstacles at you that it wanted. Your fellow Careers could laugh and guffaw and make your life as miserable as possible in the Training Center. Your financial situation could limit you, as being the daughter of miners was, for some reason, not as lucrative as being the daughter of a Career family or a retired Peacekeeper.

But tributes that had had it all had entered the Games, and they had still fallen, to terrifying mutts or to the blade of a fellow tribute. And year after year, the Hunger Games were won by a tribute from an outer district, a place where no such training was administered.

And if they could win, then there was nothing that said you couldn't as well. All you had to do was keep pressing forwards.

To do this, it required putting on a mask. You didn't have the luxury to express emotion, show weakness, or even be yourself. Your personality almost split into two different parts: Regular Jessica, your normal everyday self, and Career Jessica, your alter ego that you assumed in the training center.

Regular Jessica was a kind, sweet, even friendly, person. She had her fair share of friends among fellow miners' children, and even got along well with some legacy Careers. Her friends described her as a joy to be around, her teachers described her as a model student, and her parents as their "perfect little daughter", much to your embarrassment.

Career Jessica was a cold, distant, emotionless, tough-as-nails person. She emerged whenever you entered the training center, a sort of shield against the judging glares and snide comments of your peers. Friends had no place there - the girls were rivals for the spot of tribute, while the boys were potential enemies. Career Jessica was more machine than person, more cold steel than warm flesh, and was more relentless than a starving mutt.

Mercy had no place on the battlefield.

If there was one lesson that you were reminded of around every corner, it was that. It was drilled into your head as you were growing up, at each sparring session, at each showing of the Games year after year (and oh, how close your District had come to glory so many times), at each example of life in a Career district taught.

Mercy had no place anywhere.

Behind a regularly maintained buzzcutt and steely brown eyes lies a kind soul, one full of kindness and compassion and love. Behind a small, lithe form and a rounded facial structure lies lightning reflexes and surprising strength honed by years in a training center. Behind appendages lined with muscles and a glare perfected by years of practice lies a face that breaks out into a smile at every lame joke and arms that give warm, loving hugs. Behind carefully applied makeup and fashionable clothing likes a ruthless, no-nonsense Career girl.

One would have to be lucky to see both sides of Jessica Braun. You maintain a constant vigilance to keep the two personas apart, never overlapping with the other.

But in the end, it might very well take both to earn the ultimate victory.