Chloë Angor ~ District 12

Fair skin with pinkish undertones is the first thing many people notice about Chloë. Under pale lighting, she appears as the sickly child she grew up to be. But a gentle shine would be enough to darken the skin, still giving her the appearance she had grown accustomed to. Many like to think that because of her paler skin compared to her brothers, there is the possibility that she is not who she really says she is. However, just a matter of proof was enough to stop the rumours in their tracks. Occasionally, there are whispers around town, but none are so striking that it would cause any concern to Chloë’s family.

Her hair is a light shade of brown which is very strange for a District 12 girl but actually explainable. As her father is a man from the merchant part (as he works in tanning leather), his blond hair mixed with her mother’s Seam hair combined the light brown that she and her siblings have. Because the marriage was about as rare as a diamond in the mine, many residents from the merchant area frown upon Chloë’s hair. The natural waves are inherited from her father’s side of the family, making her and her father the only ones in the family with the strange waves. Both of her brothers took after their mother, their straight hair modeled in the same manner as each other. As a young child, Chloë envied the seeming feasibility of her brother’s hair while she struggled with effort to keep her hair calm.

The blue eyes that everyone swears are green are a tad more difficult to explain. The shade is indeed darker than the typical merchant blue, but Chloë is rather insistent that they are indeed blue and not green. She assumes that her mother has the typical Seam eyes which only makes Chloë more confused. After all, shouldn’t her eyes be shades lighter rather than darker? The only consolation Chloë has on that matter is that her brothers have the same colour more or less a shade different.

Dark, medium-length eyelashes outline the girl’s eyes. Chloë likes to believe that this is one thing that she has inherited from her mother, a part of mother that is still with her. Perhaps the colour of the eyelashes is but definitely not the length. Still, the girl refuses to believe that the only thing similar she had to her mother was the pigment of her eyelashes. If she looks a bit more carefully, she might notice that she has the same nose, but pictures are not something the family keeps and Chloë has long forgotten about how her mother looked like. Her father would often describe Ora Angor to his children, but all except Akis, who nine at the time of their mother’s death, cannot bring up the picture in their mind.

Chloë is a thin, frail person in general. Even though her father manages to bring food to the table, they still live in District 12. Along with Chloë’s proneness to anxiety attacks and illnesses, the girl has never been able to go past a healthy weight of 100. Ever. Her 5’4” figure is a bit of an aid but does not do much for the lankiness people seem to notice. Her weakness is shown only through appearance, though, as she tries to be fit as possible the best she can. That is not to say she is an athlete at all; on the contrary, athletics never seem to work out well for her. It only means that she does not collapse by taking 10 steps away from a chair.

A structured face with low but pronounced cheekbones only emphasise the condition Chloë is in. Eating for her is only a necessity, something she does with her family three times a day and even then, she picks at her food. Because she is so accustomed to not having an appetite, her sense of hungriness has long since disappeared, leaving her to look more emaciated as the years go by. Her family fears for her condition but they know that they cannot force her to eat if she does not have the stomach for it. Twice, her father has considered sending her to an apothecary but not wanting the other people in the Merchant section to know about Chloë’s condition, he decided against it. So Chloë’s cheeks continue to sink in lower and lower as she continues to live.

Angor: A great anxiety that is usually accompanied with painful constrictions at the upper part of the belly. Most of Chloë’s family members have proved that they are not their name, but try as she might, Chloë embodies her name more than she really should. In times of calm, she can be seen as relaxed, almost a bit out-going. But bring up a matter that she simply forgot about and she will start panicking until someone can either console her or the issue is fixed. Another method would be to knock her out, but she much prefers the other two methods. Her panic attacks are known to be a bit of a disruption so when one starts to show signs, her family members have learned to act quickly as possible so they do not create a scene.

The frail girl enjoys creating small items for her amusement as it keeps all trivial matters off of her mind. It seems to be the only activity she can create a mistake without having to worry about launching into a panic attack. Her fingers can often be found busy doing their own thing with a little clay object she had attained. Detail to her is a big thing as her watchful eyes like to detect every groove, every nick that has been made on the object. Her fingers explore the shape of the object, understanding the composition while moving along the texture. If anything, she can find some beauty in coal if she really wanted to.

As she typically is a friendly person, Chloë can usually be found with at least one of her friends. It is also a mandate set by her father that she will always be with someone, and Chloë chose to have a friend by her rather than a family member. If left alone, her attacks are provoked easily and she has very limited resources in terms of calling for help. Although she wishes to prove her parents wrong, she knows that it is true and accepted the mandate without any complaints…at least to them. Sometimes, she will rant to a sibling or a friend about the “unfair situation” her father is placing on her.

Chloë still recalls the pain that she could hear on the other side of the wall as her mother gave birth to her younger brother. Because she could not see anything and she did not know what was necessarily happening, hearing someone in pain was enough to set off an anxiety attack. It did not matter if the pain was real or fake; something would trigger the young girl’s mind to start breathing heavily and scrunch up to a little ball. As a young child, loud noises in general were enough. As she became older, though, she developed better control so that she managed not to freak out at the sound of mining from the caves. However, due to the connection of pain with her mother’s death, Chloë does not like to dismiss pain easily, usually fretting more than necessary.

At times, Chloë still feels that her mother had betrayed her by leaving her so suddenly. Going through her teenage years was difficult and she still has resentment for it. Forgiveness comes easily to the girl as she is sometimes too forgiving, but for some reason, her mother’s death is the one thing that constantly beats against her head. She has reconciled with her mother through her visits to the small house in the Seam, but it still isn’t enough in Chloë’s mind. She secretly longs for her mother, making her father’s decision to remarry a very difficult one for Chloë (and her brother) to accept. Even after she consented, the girl avoids her stepmother as much as possible, opting to stay away from the house if needed.

On a dreary April day, Morgan and Ora Angor had the wonderful pleasure of another addition to the family. What they failed to see was that their child reflected the very day she was born: the little girl was frail and sickly, always crying and never smiling. The package of joy soon became a bundle to handle, fussy over the most simple matter. It took a long time and several examinations to realise that their girl had decided to live up to her name; anxiety would always plague their child no matter what they did. As a last measure of hope, Ora decided to leave her child with something a tad more positive than her last name: she named her child Chloë in hopes that her child would eventually mature one day.

In her childhood, Chloë was never much of a cheery kid. She spent her time in her room, always unsure of when she would feel the physical pain of being anxious. Even coaxing from her favourite older brother, Alekos, did nothing for the young girl. At school, she was the quiet but sweet child that teachers adored. She never paid much attention to her coursework, but she managed to scrape by with the help of Akis (nickname of Alekos) who actually gave a care about his coursework.

Tragedy fell on the family when Chloë was a good 6 years. Ora, already weak from Chloë’s birth, had one last child. Although the baby boy was more alive and healthy than her daughter, Ora felt its toll on her body as she grew weaker and weaker, moments after childbirth. She died a day after she gave birth to her son, not even given the chance to name him. With Morgan so low in spirits, it was up to 9-year-old Akis and 6-year-old Chloë to think up a name for the child who brought misery into the family. Another day did the baby remain nameless as the two children battled over what should be the name. To their surprise, a quiet whisper in the corner barely uttered, “Athanasios.” The two children were confused as to what their father said, unsure of whether he was suggesting a name or speaking in gibberish. It took them a while before they realised that their father was merely following the trend in names for the family. As Chloë had much difficulty pronouncing her younger brother’s name, he soon became affectionately known as Nasos.

Chloë originally hated her younger brother with a passion; only difficulty in pronunciation led the young girl to also go along with the family’s nickname for the young child. It was around this time that Chloë thought that she should be more open rather than holing herself up in her room. It did not make her like Nasos any more than before, but at least she was able to roam the home without panicking at the slightest trace of dust. At her current age of seventeen, she would like to boast that it was thanks to her realisation that she needed to be stronger for her younger brother.

Her father would work hard to support his family, never thinking about remarrying for he feared that it would only hurt the family. As a result, Chloë never had a chance to bond with her father, never had the courage to approach him. Whatever he said was simply the law of the house. Although he did not show it, Morgan Angor was frequently worried about his daughter, setting up rules to make sure that she would never be in trouble. He believed that it was for her protection that she always remain with someone, knowing full well what could happen if an attack was to be provoked. He takes her condition very seriously, trying to appeal to the Peacekeepers to not have his daughter sent to a mine. Because he worked in a tanning shop, it was difficult to plead to have a girl at his workplace, and he was rejected every single time.

Fifteen was the year Chloë saw the world differently. She saw how alone she was and decided that she needed to change it. Already with a relatively small handful of friends, Chloë made the effort to be closer to them, to smile more than she had before. She had refused to let anyone see her when she was angry in fear that they would reject her. However, one of her classmates managed to open her eyes and show her that there was more to life than just acceptance. The kid she had always labeled as “the loner boy who never seems to do anything besides sit in the corner seat” thought he could make everything different. Only Chloë listened after he mentioned death in the family. Listening soon led to small talk, small talk led to chatting during lunch, chatting during lunch led to long discussions under a specific tree after classes. Chloë was intrigued with what the boy had the say; the boy was pleased that finally someone was listening to what he was on his mind.

One year later and the boy disappeared, not necessarily taken away but was no longer at the same school. Chloë missed having someone to talk to during the now vacant times and sought out a friend who could fill in the missing places. Although she never met anyone like the boy, she still kept close a few she thought understood her well enough. There are still times, though, when she will go to that tree and sit, hoping a bit much.

At the age of seventeen, Chloë knew that she could very well be in the Games, but she could never bring herself to actually consider the possibility. As a result, she refused to think about the Games until the Reaping occurred and she was picked as a tribute. It was never her ultimate goal to be in the Games which explained the reluctant nature she had every morning her father woke her up to be ready for the Games. Seventeen also meant a new change to the family. Her father decided that it would be wise for the family to have a mother in the family again despite his children’s ages. Akis, already moved out of the house, had no care about what his father did, but Chloë and Nanos together fought against their father’s decision. Unfortunately for them, they were both stuck with a new mother, one who neither of them wanted. So Chloë became even closer to Nanos. Not enough to replace Akis, but enough that the two could get along on good terms and simply talk while they were in one or the other’s room.

Every year since her mother’s death, Chloë would make a visit to her mother’s old home. She remembered how her mother would talk about the small houses that were crowded into the Seam, the dirty walls that defined that part of the District. Her mother’s home had been abandoned, waiting for some other family to invade it. The cobwebs would always fill up the place, leaving Chloë to clean the place up. Sometimes she would take Akis with her, other times she went alone. For the ninth anniversary of her mother’s death, Chloë took Nanos with her, deciding that her younger brother was allowed to see a part of their mother’s life. The home was also another place where Chloë would not worry about having an anxiety attack as she believed that the cleaning and the dust was creating a calm atmosphere rather than a sad and tumultuous one. For that, Chloë was resolved to pay her respects to the mother she wished she could have with her. If anyone ever listened carefully through the door, they might have heard Chloë talking to Ora, asking for advice, ranting about her troubles, proudly stating her accomplishments. To Chloë, her mother’s home was a second home to her, one that she would visit every year until someone occupied the space.

Play-by is Rooney Mara.
Text colour: #FFBF48
Dialogue colour: #E6CE00