Ana Laroche ~ District 4 ~ Peacekeeper

The first thing anyone ever notices about Ana is the pair of green eyes that are framed with wide, walnut-shaped ellipses. People of her childhood would say that it is a sign, a sign that she would be a wicked child. Attempts to ignore these comments would later fail, turning the young girl into a young woman who hated nothing more than her eyes. The people of her adulthood would say that her eyes have a serious glaze to them, one that could make anyone feel uncomfortable if she so wished. The most interesting thing to notice is that many in her district have a similar eye color to hers yet everyone insists that it is different in some way, making up a poor excuse to make her someone different.

Light brown hair that can never seem to stay in one shade limply frames Ana’s face, creating a tangled mess. The thin hairs are often on their own minds; the wavy, wild nature of the strands find a way to stick out or at least not stick to her head. Long since giving up on taming the strands, Ana has resorted to letting them be however she leaves them. A ponytail, a bun will do nothing for her. For the purposes of her job, she keeps it up in some form, ignoring the short hairs that still crop up along her hairline. Several strands will go along her hair line, covering parts of her forehead, sometimes falling into her eyes.

At a point in time, a thin facial structure easily defined the young woman. However, that has since changed with her face rounding out a bit to a more oval shape. However, her sharp chin continues to bother her, making the determination process of her facial structure to be very difficult. Low cheekbones make her eyes appear wider yet shadows still appear where her cheeks would be, giving Ana the more emaciated look than she hopes for.

A nose with a steep slope is also frequently noticed by others. Again, it does not appear to be much of an anomaly, but most residents in her area are certain that it is of a larger size and therefore makes her different from them. Ana is proud of her nose, though, something to remind her that she is her mother’s daughter. At times, though, she too feels that it is too wide and bothersome. She is also extremely sensitive when one makes remarks about her nose. Perhaps it has to do with the pride that she has, but it is more likely that she prefers not to draw up childhood memories about the other children who would often tease her about her nose.

A smile from Ana would look like a simple smile: closed lips, corners of mouth turned upward, nothing special. The only time a toothy grin might come up is if she is an joyous mood or if she has received ecstatic news. Otherwise, a simple smile will always do. Her lips are considered thin by many, something she also does not have an issue with but others do. Thankfully, though, not many people tend to notice them as they are far too preoccupied wondering how odd that girl is with the strange eyes and nose. Her mouth is not a feature Ana pays much attention to either, only using it to speak and eat and whatever other function is required for a mouth.

Despite the appearance of frailty, her arms are well-toned due to years of training. They are still thin, enough to not appear conspicuous. Her arms are at a proportionate length, stopping just above her mid-thigh. The thin nature of her arms, however, make her hands look bigger than they should be, not necessarily a crime but a feature she has trouble dealing with. As soon as she became a Peacekeeper, though, she no longer paid attention to her hands, only caring about what they did to the unfortunate souls who fell under her gaze.

Her curves are not extremely noticeable but they are there. Thanks to her non-slopping shoulders, the shape of her torso can be compared to a trapezoid with a longer high base and two equal lines sloping towards her waist. However, thanks to her down-to-earth sense of style, most believe her figure to be unflattering, never noticing anything about her body. Her torso is on a bit of the short side, but most people tend to look at everything above her shoulders.

Without scrutinising the young woman, one might make the conclusion that Ana is a tall girl. In reality, the peacekeeper stands at a formidable 5’2”, making her a laughingstock amongst her colleagues. They believe that she could never appear strong and frightening until she shoots them a glare, one that could typically keep them in their tracks. She is not ashamed of her height, but she is extremely annoyed by the height comments the male peacekeepers seem to love to say. She has long since learned to ignore them the hard way, but it still strikes her nerves when they choose to have a good laugh.

As a Peacekeeper, Ana is typically viewed as a cold woman who has no feelings. In the case that she catches a resident who has broken the law, that might be true. At her job, Ana can become one of the most sadistic women in the district. She holds great pride in having a preference of slowly torturing her victims prisoners. She takes great thought and spends a good amount of time dreaming up her punishments, a fact that is well-known amongst the residents.

However, one could argue that this personality is only temporary. Since not many women appear to hold a job as a Peacekeeper, many of Ana’s male colleagues like to make jabs at her (both literally and figuratively). As a means of defense, Ana feels the need to step up above them and prove herself, a characteristic she has held since she was a young child. Her thoughts are that it will be the only way they respect her, trust her, and acknowledge her. She is no true feminist, but she does tend to have issues with some of the other Peacekeepers, leading her to argue her case whenever needed.

She is also opinionated, willing to speak her mind whenever she feels is necessary. It is assumed that this nature was born during her childhood, when she would often argue with her older siblings and her schoolmates. Her belief is that it is better to speak and say what is on her mind, than to be courteous and keep her mouth shut. As a result, she found herself in many fights and was often in trouble when adults were around. Some of her ideas would include equality in the workforce, something usually met with laughter when presented to her colleagues; a harsher punishment system, something many residents would fear; and a concentration of adhering to the Capitol’s rules, something that the Peacekeepers have been attempting to work on for years. For the most part, she is never taken seriously, causing her to rage and rant.

Despite the negativity that surrounds her as a Peacekeeper, outside of her job, Ana can be a very friendly person. At school, she was always the kid you would want on your side, and when she was, you were most often rewarded with a close companion. Ana really does treasure her friendships, making sure that they never cross over to her work life. She watches over them, makes sure that they do not find their selves being sent to the detention center. If one of her friends is in need, she would use whatever efforts she can to help them out as soon as she can. If anything, her friends like to refuse to believe that she is the very woman who would shove burning iron down one’s throat.

Determination is something Ana is well-known for as well, whether positive or negative. While training for the games, Ana would let nothing bother her. At first, it was just to prove herself to her family, most of them competent in handling a spear and netting. However, Ana was later shown to be a fist fighter, one who relied not on weapons but on brute strength (even though there was not even the slightest hint of strength in her arms). For that, she was trained in handling weapons only to work the different arm muscles, but she never developed a proficiency in handling any weapon. When she turned 19, Ana decided that she could never have a future in the fishing industry and became a Peacekeeper after going through additional training.

Having a happy childhood would have been a great story in Ana’s eyes. Born the youngest to two prominent figures in the fishing industry, Ana already had much on her shoulders. Her older siblings would find ways to make her life miserable, labeling her as the runt of the family due to her thin structure. The oldest brother, Alain, was in Ana’s eyes the most caring, and he would routinely take her by the ankles and flip her upside down. Because her family had a great reputation to be brutes, no one bothered stopping her siblings from beating the poor, defenseless child. Her parents like to boast that that was the start of her aggressive nature, the one that many people feared. What they didn’t know was that the young girl was already making friends with children of the tamer sort.

At the age of 8, Ana had learned to hide in the hedges by her house in order to avoid the massive girl of a sister named Adrienne. One day, she tucked herself in a little bit too much and fell out of the hedge to the other side. To her amazement, she found another young girl sitting there, stunned to see a thin girl tumble out. With a few awkward silences and quiet introductions, the two girls made an acquaintance, Ana making her very first friend. At school, the two would often chat with their heads close together, spilling out their secrets to each other. They did it so often, it reached a point when the teacher would have to separate the two to ensure that they would pay attention in class.

The two were close for several years but when the duo turned 13, the unexpected happened: Ana’s friend was told that they were to be moving to a different part of the district. Ana was given the excuse that she was being a bad influence to her friend and that the friend’s parents thought it would be better for their daughter’s sake to move. At first, Ana was incredibly devastated. She had a good handful of friends but none were like the girl that she had met by chance. A sense of fury went through her, leading her to start a fight at her school. She suffered harsh discipline from it, but not enough for her to stop thinking about what was happening. With a quick run, she managed to catch up to her friend right before she left. The goodbye had no tears, no show of emotion, but Ana knew it would affect her for the rest of her life. Ever since that day, Ana always kept her friends close with a certain fear that she could lose any of them at any time. Her protective nature was born from the day she was 13.

It was a major disappointment when Ana turned 19. She had not participated in the Games nor was she really given the chance to. With no siblings in the game either, her parents were furious that she was not chosen as their last hope. They addressed the matter with some of the current Peacekeepers, and the response was so horrible, they refused to talk about it, their bodies shaking the minute they entered the house. Ana realised the power the Peacekeepers must have had and therefore resolved to become a Peacekeeper no matter what the costs were.

Relationships meant nothing to the busy, preoccupied girl. That is not to say she did not try; she would at times make an attempt to understand the other person. Unfortunately, her mind would often wander to another area, not paying attention to what the other person was saying at all. Her theory was that as long as she had some form of a companionship, she would be satisfied. So for the time being, she believed that having her friends would be enough. Of course, she would feel lonely at times, but she figured that there would be no point if she would not make the effort herself. For that, she lived alone in a small rented place ever since she turned 21.

Ana was still at odds with her family when she moved out of the house she had lived in for 21 years. The relationships were always tense, and she never bothered to understand any of them. The only progress she had made was with the brother who enjoyed torturing her the most. Some of her family members could argue that the reason why she was so good at discipline was because it was used on her. Ana would like to say otherwise but knows better than to mention it. Although rocky relationships were common in the household, pride still rang in the family. Although no one wanted to admit it, the whole family (complete with two parents and 7 siblings) were extremely proud that Ana chose to be a peacekeeper. Just no one made a mention to her so she assumed that they did not care or they hated her for it. Likewise, Ana is proud of her French-Jewish heritage and even randomly speaks in French at time from what she had picked up from her parents.

Play-by is Mélanie Laurent
Text color: #00FFCC
Dialogue color: #33FF66