Royce Carnassien - District One

Whereas his sister is tiny, Royce is anything but at a hefty six-foot-five. He has tanned skin, a sort of honey undertone to his large figure. Nothing about the fifteen-year-old draws attention: his facial features are decent, but not unusually so, with a strong jaw and dark hawk-like eyes. His nearly-black hair is kept short – not a buzz-cut, but pretty darn close. Despite his muscular build, he has long fingers and surprisingly gentle, albeit callused, hands. All in all, though, Royce is the kind of person that, though you may remember them, their faces are always blurred and indistinct in your memory.
Royce dresses like the shadow he is so often accused of being, just as plainly and boringly as his sister. Simple black shirt, simple black pants, no decoration at all. Occasionally, he may wear a white shirt for ‘variety’, but it is doubtful that one would ever catch him in color.

Living in a district where nearly every child seems to be trained to kill, living in a country where watching kids slaughter each other on television is the greatest entertainment, you’d think that a muscled Career teenager’s mindset would reflect that. To be frank, though, Royce likes pretty things. People seem to forget that District One exports luxury goods, not killers, and Royce would rather see crimson swirled on jewelry boxes than sprayed on flesh. He’s good with his hands, from picking out raw materials to actually making the products; with whatever he does, Royce is a diligent and patient worker with an eye for detail. The teenager is clever, too, but that usually doesn’t show behind his placid exterior.
Emotionally, Royce is strong – a bit stronger than the fire-spitting Sylis. He won’t insult or accuse, but he stays distant from others when with his sister. Just a threatening shadow. When on his own, Royce is still quiet, but a bit friendlier – he often seems uncertain around those he’s not familiar with. Only his sister and parents call him Royce, though – most know him as ‘Sylis’ brother’ or Carnassien.
Sylis, though, is who he’s protected his entire life. He loves his sister more than anything, and would die for her without a second thought. Dedication and unconditional love – that’s all he has for the unpleasant character; it’s just that simple.

Growing up in one of the nicer areas of District One, Royce can count the times he’s been truly hungry on one hand. His parents managed to keep enough food on the table for their children; his father, Carib, seemed to have a knack for picking out the best raw materials, and Jisiv, his mother, was careful and made sure to keep on the Peacemakers’ good sides.
Royce was always stronger and larger than his sister from birth. At first, he was the favorite, the one who got the pick of the litter – but once they reached three and four, Sylis slowly became the favorite. He didn’t particularly care at that young age; after all, he had a best friend and she was even in the same family as he was.
At age five, Carib began training the twins for a Hunger Game, if one should ever draw either of them. Sylis took to the training immediately, though Royce was a little bit more hesitant. The idea of bludgeoning smaller kids to death didn’t really appeal to him as much as it did his sister; he became the unofficial punching bag for her, and didn’t particularly mind.
Every year of childhood brought a new skill he would hopefully never have to use – he had endurance and strength without a doubt. True, Sylis was faster, but Royce was much, much stronger. He wasn’t quite as good with weapons as she was, he preferring to create rather than destroy.
After the first Reaping he attended, Royce began noticing that the Carnassien table seemed a little barer in the evenings. Not that Sylis noticed – she was too busy planning and training to notice anything, and besides Royce started giving her half his rations – but it vaguely worried the thirteen-year-old.
They had fallen out of favor, it seemed. Carib had been severely demoted, and even favor-currying Jisiv couldn’t keep the pantries stocked.
So he got a ‘government’ job making goods for the Capitol, his first, school-day afternoons and weekend mornings. He learned to pick quality goods from second-rate, how to mold them into pretty little trinkets… he also learned to check the fruits before you buy them and not to purchase cheap meat if it smells funny (he thought raw goat was supposed to smell like rancid butter, really…). Balance was restored to the household again – at least, as much balance you can get when there’s a Career living with you.
Of course, he did still train with Sylis – he began favoring mostly hand-to-hand combat, maces, anything that he could use his strength for. Though he might match his sister with unnecessary tesserae, Royce sincerely hopes that his name – or Sylis’ – is never drawn.

Sylis' brother.