Kro'ka Wayland-Moon | District Eight {FIN}

My origin story is one that I've very rarely been asked to recount to anyone I've met, as most of the people that I have in my life now don't particularly care about where I came from. The only aspects of my existence that are of any importance to them, it seems, are what I'm doing with my life now and what I plan to do in the future. Bliss, my adoptive sister, appears to be the only individual in my life at the moment who truly gives a shit about my past. Perhaps it's because she's the only person that truly understands what I've been through in the present, so it made her curious about the past.

Day to day, Bliss and I experience abuse from our new, adoptive parents, Lorenzo and Charlotte. It doesn't matter how hard you try, if you do one little thing that bothers them, you'll be punished. Then again, you don't even always have to do something wrong for Lorenzo to strike you. He could simply be in a bad mood, or even bored, and decide to give you a smack to the face, just because he felt like he wanted to.

Lorenzo insists that I call him 'Dad' and Charlotte 'Mom', but I refuse. That gets me hit every time that I don't call them 'Mom and Dad', as long as we're not im public. (Lorenzo and Charlotte want the best public image they can possible have, so they won't hit Bliss and I in pubic spaces). My true parents are still alive and well, and even if they weren't, Lorenzo and Charlotte would be terrible people to allow to replace them.

As to why I don't live with my birth parents? Well, my mother and father had to give me up right after I was born, for a few reasons. First, my mother wasn't ready for a child. I was an accident, and my mother was only fifteen years old when I was brought into the world, so she didn't feel prepared. My father wasn't ready, either, at the age of sixteen. Some people at that age do feel ready for a child, but parents weren't some of those people, and I don't blame them. At my age, I wouldn't be ready for a kid, either, and I'm even a little bit older than they were.

My birth parents also were financially incapable of caring for me. Therefore, I was brought to an orphanage where I lived the first many, many years of my life. Bliss and I were adopted by Lorenzo and Charlotte Moon around the time of the 78th Annual Hunger Games, from separate orphanages, a year after their son, Zagreus Moon, had died in the Games.

Why did they adopt Bliss and I from those orphanages? Well, apparently, they wanted another chance at raising a victor child. Therefore, they chose two of the older kids at the orphanages we were at- Bliss and myself. Bliss was chosen for reasons other than her age, I was told. I, however, was chosen because I was the oldest boy there, and Lorenzo wanted the child with the greatest chance of getting reaped that he could adopt from there. Most of the kids at the orphanage I was at were about twelve years old at the most, so I was the obvious choice, in his eyes. I was already reapable, unlike most of the other kids there.

I was going to be his tool for fame and fortune. (Besides, if I won, I obviously wouldn't expect him to let me keep it all for myself. He's not nice enough of a person for that, and I'm not sure that a killer really deserves fame and fortune). At the time, he didn't tell me why he was adopting me, though. At least, he didn't give me the true, honest reason that he had. Instead, he told me that his son had died and he missed him. Now, he wanted to feel the 'love of being a father again'.

What a load of absolute bullshit that was. Lorenzo and Charlotte didn't know the very first little thing about being loving parents. At least, if they did know how to be good parents, they never actually used their knowledge.

I'm kind-of ashamed to be a part of the Moon family. Well, I suppose that's not entirely true. I'm just ashamed to be associated with Lorenzo and Charlotte's part of the Moon family. Even though the District mostly sees them as good, respectable people, and I did up until the point that I started residing in their household, they're really quite monstrous individuals that I'm disappointed to have to refer to as my adoptive guardians, or even my adoptive 'parents'.

Luckily, I don't look much like Lorenzo, nor do I look much like Charlotte. Yes, my hair is dark, but the resemblance really seems to stop there, aside from the dark-colored eyes that I share with some of my other new adoptive family members, whether they be cousins or something else. My hair is a curly mess, and my skin is a darker tone than that of most other individuals in the entirety of the Moon family. I'm clearly the outcast, at least when it comes to my appearance, if not in other ways, too.

Reaching about six feet tall in height, I'm only about an inch shorter than Lorenzo. I'm very skinny, not weighing nearly as much as I should. Sometimes, I'm afraid that I'm a bit too skinny, but I can't seem to find a way to gain weight, and I've tried several different methods in an attempt to do so. The main thing that I don't like about my appearance, however, aside from being a bit disproportionate in the height to weight ratio, is how long my fingers and toes are. To me, my fingers are like spider's legs, and it's truly bothersome. It's something I'd consider to be unattractive about myself.

The one thing I would consider to be the most attractive aspect of the way I look on the outside would be how defined my facial features are, with what I'd say could be referred to as some very nice cheekbones and a strong jaw.

I'm not a super confident person, so I don't like to brag about the way I look. Although, I did used to be very confident in myself, most of that was lost when I was adopted by the Moons. Since I get abused by Lorenzo and Charlotte so frequently, I've started to feel rather worthless, and like I should just listen to and believe the things they say to me. Sometimes, they tell me I'm pathetic and that I need to get my ass in gear if I want to win the Hunger Games and make them proud since Zagreus failed them. Other times, they tell me that they know I'll come home as their victor one day.

I suppose that their words control a lot of what I do in my life. The decisions I make are often based on what would make them happy. When it comes to my job, I work as hard as I can so that I can be impressive and make a good name for the Moon family. I work as a tailor, and I always make sure that every single thing that I mend or create comes out absolutely perfect. Well, as close to perfect as it can be, that is, since nothing really is perfect in this world. Nothing could be perfect to me in a world where the ever-looming threat of the Hunger Games exists, lurking in the back of my mind, day in and day out, never wanting to leave me be to do what I enjoy doing in life. I'd say that I've become a very good tailor over the years, and I'm quite proud of that fact.

Ever since I was adopted, the fact that I used to be a very, very flirtatious person has started to fade a little bit, although not entirely. Trust me, I know a handsome boy or a pretty girl when I see one, and if I have the opportunity to try to impress them, I'll certainly make a conscious effort to do so. I enjoy flirting with people, as it makes me happy, although I'm not sure why it does, as I usually don't get very far with it. The few times that it has gotten me somewhere, it's really just resulted in a one-off sort-of thing, never turning into a relationship, which, I'll admit, is a bit disappointing to me, but is probably for the best, since it may turn into something that would distract me from my work and the other important parts of my life. I also don't want someone I care about having to learn what my new family is really like and how they really treat me. I'm afraid of other people getting hurt in my place.