Jayne Ashbrook-Laws | District Twelve | FIN

APPEARANCE
My small, gemstone green eyes under arched brows gaze into the mirror to observe the rest of my appearance. I can see my shiny, chocolate brown hair tumbling down in waves, eventually settling on my shoulders. As I look at my freckled skin, I see its slightly bronzed tone. Both of these aspects are from the amount of time I spend in the sunlight. Running my hands over my soft, smooth skin, I rarely feel any dry or rough spots. My rounded face and square jaw give me a youthful look, which I can see in my reflection. I feel that this is something I'll likely enjoy more when I get older.

My high forehead and soft cheekbones give my face a look that's a bit less dimensioned than I'd like. Looking at my nose, I can see that it's relatively dainty, aside from being flared out at the bottom. Glossy, full lips are likely the most noticeable part of my face, in my opinion, although, a variety of people have the tendency to compliment me on my glistening eyes. Snow white teeth show when I smile, with gaps slightly bigger than I'd like residing between them. As I look at my ears, I can see that they're small and rounded, not standing out too much. I don't wear earrings, either, since I can't really afford too much jewelry, or to get them pierced. This means that my ears truly do seem to remain hidden from view when it comes to which features are prominent.

Moving away from the look of my face, I bring my gaze to the rest of my appearance. I have small shoulders and a rather petite frame. I'm also not of any significant height, at only a few inches over five feet tall. When it comes to my general body type, I'd say that my breasts are rather small, though I'm only fifteen years old, meaning that that could change in the future. I also only weigh a little bit over one-hundred and ten pounds, so I'm quite tiny. I'm far from having a curvy body, but that doesn't bother me at all. Being small is actually something I enjoy, as it makes me more quick and agile. I love running, which makes both speed and agility rather important skills to have. My love for running is likely also what had built up the leg strength that I have. I have excellent endurance when it comes to athletic activity, and I'd consider myself rather fit. The amount of physical activity that I take part in is likely the cause of my low weight.

As my gaze transfers to my hands, I see their square shape. They're of an average size, and the skin is smooth, just like most of the rest of the skin on my body. My fingers are long and delicate, and the side of my left hand is often ink-stained, due to the amount of writing I do in my free time. My finger nails are cut nicely and free of dirt, though they are rarely painted or polished. Looking at my strong legs, I can see that they're rather lengthy and full of muscle for someone my age. My arms, however, don't have nearly as much strength. Yes, I do have some upper arm strength, but most of my power comes from my legs. Similar to my legs, my arms are long as well, though much thinner. Surprisingly, there are a lot of benefits to having long limbs. I can run farther in less strides, and my arms can reach things that are up higher or are of a greater distance away from me.

The clothing that I choose to wear announces a rather casual style. I wear what I find comfortable, though I do still like to look somewhat nice, wearing colors such as blue, gray and light green that bring out the gem-like color of my eyes. I also tend to wear a lot of neutral colors if I'm not wearing blue or green, as I don't tend to enjoy standing out too greatly. People often compliment me on my overall looks, but the main thing that bothers me about my appearance are my feet. They're rough and calloused, due to a large amount of running that usually involves me being barefoot or in shoes that aren't of an exceptional quality. I also dislike my posture, which I can never seem to fix. My shoulders are always very relaxed, and it's almost as if they're being pulled forward instead of back into a more proper way of holding myself up. With a curve in my spine that we don't have the money to pay to get fixed, as surgery is rather expensive, I don't stand up quite straight. This is actually quite noticeable when someone watches me stand or walk, as I look a bit hunched over. That is the main thing that bothers me about my appearance, aside from the condition of my feet.

PERSONALITY
I'd say that the guidelines I live my life by are to be kind to everyone, never blame others, and don't give up when the going gets rough. These things have helped me through my life. Generally, I enjoy remaining positive, and sharing my positivity with others. If I'm having an upbeat, happy day, I want others to as well. One thing I try my best to do is to never blame other people for the bad things that happen to me. Unfortunately, this means that I start blaming myself, instead. I blame myself for Mitchell's death, even though everyone tells me that there is not even a single way that it could have bene physically possible for me to be the cause of what happened. I still tell them that I should have done something to try to stop him going in in the first place, even if that meant bribing someone else to take his place, which isn't something I'd want to do to another person.

I despise doing anything thing that would harm another person. A lot of people say that this makes me a sweetheart. I think that it just makes me human. If I could choose one good thing to happen to me in my life, it would be to never lose another person that I care for. If I could choose one good thing to happen to someone else in their lives, it would be the same wish. I'd hate to see anyone get hurt, or to lose someone they love, as it's happened to me before, and I know how much it hurts. One of my main weaknesses is feeling helpless. If I feel like I don't have the power to stop a negative situation from taking place, it drives me crazy.

I don't have just one weakness. Every person in existence has some sort of weakness, and I just so happen to have more than one. Yes, I'm school-smart, but when it comes to every-day survival, it's likely that I wouldn't know what to do on my own. I've never been out in the wilderness in a situation where I'd be able to learn the skills I need to survive. Unfortunately, this means that I probably wouldn't know what to do to survive if I ended up in the Hunger Games without any sort of prior training. I do have a few skills that may help me, but not too many. For example; when I was little, before I moved in with the Laws family, I used to help my father out with caring for sick people, as he was a doctor. That helped me gain skills in first-aid, which I'm sure would be helpful for me in the future.

Other than first-aid, I have other strengths and skills, as well. I'm a runner, so I'm rather athletic, which helps in certain types of situations throughout life. I also have a talent for writing and drawing. Story-telling is something I love, and I also like hearing the stories that others come up with, whether that be through books or verbally from the lips of fellow people in the District. Music is also something I have a bit of talent with, as I love to play my father's old guitar. I've gotten rather good at it, in my opinion. Other people have told me that, too. Sometimes, instead of just playing the guitar at home, I'll even go out somewhere in the District, like on a bench, and play it for the people who pass by.

There are quite a few things that I'd like to try to do at some point in my life. Some of these things include sewing, as I have the desire to create my own clothing sometime, as well as cooking, as I've always wanted to have the ability to make dinner for my family sometimes, rather than always having them make it for me. My family matters more to me in life than anything else. I would have to have anything happen to any of them ever again. I'm always worried about that. That's one of the many things in life that I wish I could prevent from happening, no matter what decides to pop up in my life and that of others.

As a very sensitive individual, I get upset easily. When I'm upset, though, I don't take it out on others. Instead, I tend to break down in tears. Sometimes I do that immediately, and other times, I bottle it up until I let it all out when I'm by myself at home. Then again, I'm never really by myself at home, as we have such a large family, so I wouldn't be surprised if my other family members knew that I did this, and just never said anything to me about it. I'm close with my family, and I try my best not to let them see me feeling down when at all possible.

I believe in Ripred, I'd say. I'm religious, but not heavily. I've had times on occasion where I've questioned Him, such as when Mitchell died, but I still have a feeling that He's there, watching over us. It's not unusual for me to pray to Ripred at night. It's something that I do almost every time before I go to bed. I pray that He'll protect our family, and other than with Mitchell, He has done rather well at the task.

The one place that I feel safest is when I'm at home, surrounded by the loving Laws family that adopted me into their arms. It's not uncommon for me to thank them for taking me in, whenever they do something that seems much kinder than most people would do. Whether that's giving me a small present, or making my breakfast for me, I'm always grateful for the things that they do. I wish I had some way to repay them. Unfortunately, at this point in my life, I don't really have a way of doing so.

If I wasn't afraid to do so, it's likely that I would take the place of one of my sisters, should they have the terrible fate of being reaped for the Games. Although, I don't know if I'd be brave enough to do it. I really wish I could say that I had the strength and willpower to replace a family member in death. Seeing someone die again like I saw with Mitchell is something I don't know if I could handle. It's hard enough seeing someone you don't know die in the Games, but when it's someone you love, it's devastating.

I've always been an early bird. I wake up around six o'clock in the morning, and I'm usually one of the first to venture downstairs out of my family. I'm usually all dressed and ready for the day by the time the others get up and breakfast gets made. I'm also very social. I love to hang out with my family and friends, and I'm not very good at being solitary. Whenever I'm given the opportunity, I'll play games and chat with my friends for hours on end. If I was given a whole day to spend time with the people I care about, I would.

I'd definitely consider myself an extrovert. I'm also not only very passionate about music, reading, writing and drawing, but also helping my family. As a hard worker, even though I don't have a regular job, I enjoy babysitting for people in the District who have children younger than myself. They're usually toddlers, or at least under ten years old. Since I really like children, I don't mind taking care of them. I'd actually say that I enjoy it, and I hope that I live long enough to have children of my own some day. Although, I'd be terrified that they'd be picked in the reaping, which is one of the few things that would deter me from starting a family of my own when I'm old enough.

HISTORY

When I was young, my biological parents had to give me up. They couldn't afford to take care of me past the age of four, due to not making enough money at their jobs, so I was adopted by another family. I don't remember much from my biological family, aside from that I didn't have any siblings, making me an only child. I also remember that they were very loving people, and didn't want to give up, but only did so in order to give me a better life. My biological mother owned a flower shop and my biological father worked in the mines. I wish I knew what they were still up to today. Unfortunately, that's all I can remember.

In my adoptive family, I'm definitely not an only child. The Laws family is very kind, and there are a lot of them in the household. I love all of them as if they were my blood relatives. Though, being close to people can hurt sometimes. When Mitchell died, it really hurt me. I wasn't quite sure what to do. It spiraled me into a depression for a while. Although, some people didn't believe that was truly the case. Some said it was because I'm 'too young to know what they feels like'. They're wrong. I don't think that anyone can really be too young to feel anything in particular. When you know how you feel, you just know.

I've always had a lot of friends, at least during my time living with the Laws family. Although, when I was still with my biological family, the Ashbrooks, I may have been a bit more focused on myself. I was only four years old at the oldest, though, so that's not all too surprising. I had barely started being around other children all that much at the time. During my years living with my adoptive family, I've not only bonded with them, but my new friends as well.

The first friends I made were made in school, during my first few years there. I've kept most of them close to me to this point in my life. The ones that I'm closest with I tend to spend a lot of time with, at least when I'm not with my family. Generally, when I'm with those friends, we'll do a variety of things, such as playing games outside. We'll chase each other around, playing tag like we did when we were little. We still like to do some of the same things as we used to, after all.

I would say that my closest friend today, whose name is Catherine, is one of the nicest people that I ever met. She's always there for me when I'm upset, and was very supportive of me when Mitchell died. She always knew what to say to me. I wish I could be like that in return, as sometimes, I don't know what to say to people to cheer them up in return. I'm glad that she's still there for me today, because I'm afraid of losing anyone else close to me, like a friend.

Unfortunately, there's not much to the history of my life. I've always been rather average, and any memories I have of my biological family aren't very clear. Yes, I do remember a lot from the family that I currently live with, but most of the happenings aren't too significant. It usually consists of happy memories, rarely anything negative. Though, those happy memories are the usual, every day happenings.