Peppermint Wrasse Smithers (District 4)

Name: Peppermint Wrasse Smithers - but just Pepper will do.
Age: 16
Gender: Female
District/Area: District 4
Appearance:

Pepper was always a slight girl. Ever since she was little, she's had the box-shaped body of a young boy. She has shoulders not much larger than the wingspan of a baby bird. Coupled with barely-there breasts and lanky, well-muscled legs... well, let's just say she doesn't get a lot of boys throwing rocks at her window.

Her head in haloed by unruly, curly auburn hair. It's practically impossible to tame, and Pepper has long since given up. She's cropped it rather short and has ignored the pleas of her grandmother to grow it long and loose. Pepper prefers her hair to be unobtrusive and out of the way.

She's typically seen wearing short, sturdy shorts and a tightly woven top made of the same material as most common fishing nets. She sews all of her clothes herself and is quite proficient with a needle.

Personality:

Incredibly strong-willed and pigheaded, what Pepper wants... well, Pepper usually gets. She has no inhibitions when it comes to lying and cheating to get her way. She's seen what the world (and the government) can do to people, and she doesn't like it. Pepper isn't actively apart of any known rebellion, but she has her own private agenda.

Pepper doesn't like to be pigeonholed, and belonging to any District does exactly that. She hates the system, but tolerates it to live. Getting through the monotonous days has been a challenge, but recently she's thrown herself into sewing more complicated nets and flashier clothing. This has garnered a surplus of money, making life for her and her grandmother just a little bit easier.

Pepper is, most of all, a survivor. She can adapt to most situations with ease - or manage to talk herself out of them. Getting by on intelligence and wit isn't easy with the Capitol breathing down your neck (especially when exotic beauty is prided there above all else), but so far she's been managing just fine.

Pepper, being so pigheaded, is prone to picking fights. She doesn't like being told she's wrong and hates taking criticism. Instead of using it to improve upon her work and herself, she uses it as an excuse to throw punches.

History:

Peppermint was named for the elusive peppermint wrasse, a gaudy type of fish that her mother loved. She kept them in small bowls all around the house, and the red-and-white fishes glinted in the summer sun that shone through the big glass windows all year round.

She enjoyed life as a child. Running around, creating remedial nets to catch more of her namesake to make her mother smile and racing small boats on the shores by her house. Her mother was a happy woman who had a strong husband and a glowing child.

Her mother was content.

Pepper was eight when the accident happened. Her father, a fisherman, went out one day on a recreational boat trip. A terrible thunderstorm rolled in from deeper waters and thrashed the boat against the shore. Her father was impaled on a sharp piece of lumber from the impact. Worst of all... it was Peppermint's mother who found him the next morning when she went to collect mussels down by the dock.

Her mother turned to drinking. Peppermint awoke one morning when she was nine to find all the wrasse in the house had had their bowls emptied and filled with whiskey. The fish had all drowned in alcohol, floating belly up in amber liquid.

The neighbors heard her screaming and they contacted her mother's mother, Pepper's only other relative. After much hushed conversation behind closed doors, it was decided that Pepper should live with her grandmother.

She hasn't looked back since.

Now sixteen, she spends her days by the shore. She either fishes or gathers dried seaweed to feed the fire at home. Pepper hasn't thought about her mother in years. Her whereabouts are unknown.

Codeword: odair
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