Melissa Carrick (District Two)

Melissa is exactly as her fellow careers in District Two (and really, all of Panem) are, incredibly muscular, with a body that could accurately be described as quite literally being "carved from stone." Melissa is a leviathan for a girl her age, six feet tall and 175 pounds, with a BMI of 23.7. Due to her rather muscular physique, from a distance Melissa is quite often and quite understandably mistaken for a man, but this is something she has long since gotten used to and is no longer offended by. Her arm muscles are awesome for a girl her age, and her abs seem to be more like a statue carving than flesh. Her legs are long and fit, and her face is strong and independent, as befits her personality.

Melissa is pale, but certainly not lacking in vitality due to the numerous red tones that cover her entire body. She has shoulder length, bright blonde hair she keeps tied up while she is training or out and about (namely, any time that isn't her sleeping.) Her body is covered in numerous scars she has received from her career training over the years, but none are noticeable, even when she is undressed, and certainly none are prominent enough to warrant any attention. Her eyes are a bright, light "laughing" green that almost seem to laugh when you look into them. They are often described as giving off an inexplicably playful feeling, as if Melissa herself having a lot of fun doing whatever it is she happens to be doing at the moment, but they can become cold and serious in less than a heartbeat, like two cold, light green stones.

Melissa, like many of the District Two citizenry, is a trained career tribute. Born an orphan in an relatively affluent district that values the blood, brutality, and glory of the games, Melissa had been raised to be an unfeeling killer. And it is true, a great deal of this mental conditioning was instilled in her, making her crave and, at the same time, immensely enjoy the blood, violence and quick paced adrenaline of the games, making her flourish on the flourish on the field of battle. Melissa is a warrior, a warrior who needs a battle to fight, always and forever, her one true purpose. She enjoys killing, she enjoys her life being constantly in on the line, she enjoys the pain, but most of all, she enjoys the way It makes her feel.

The warrior she is and the warrior she was born to be, Melissa also has another side to her that is often underestimated by her fellow careers. While they strive for strength and prowess in battle, Melissa is able to recognize that this is not all there is to being an exceptional warrior. She realizes, above all her compatriots, that a warrior must be equal parts blood knight and strategist. She possesses a keen, perceptive, and highly intuitive mind that is able to help her analyze a situation and develop an appropriate strategy in mere seconds. Melissa’s ability to quickly analyze ad situation and come out on top have proved invaluable to her in her training as a career, as there seem to be quite a few uses for one with a bright, highly superior mind.

But while Melissa may enjoy the games and longs for the day when she may compete in them, that does not mean that she does not also see them as wrong. The concept of forcing young children to fight to the death against their will disgusts her, as she wishes to do it of her own volition, and feels deeply saddened for those children who never asked to be thrust "into the slaughter." Both the government and Snow leave a bad taste in Melissa's mouth, and she yearns for the day when the districts may once again rise up against their oppressors. The battle to retake what is rightly theirs will be grander than any games, even a quell, could be. And the warrior inside her propels her with longing towards the day when her wish will finally become a reality.

An orphan left on the doorstep of a public house when she had just recently been born, Melissa was raised to be a career since before she could walk, as the orphans of the district often are. Growing up, she never had any real interests or friends outside fighting, training, and those she fought and trained with. The harshness of growing up in a public home made her harden, it made her stronger, but it also made her colder, which for a career, was ideal. And indeed, Melissa was quickly becoming an ideal career, one that her instructors pointed to and commanded her piers to emulate. She was the home's star pupil, and even boys twice her age could not seem to best the young girl.

As she grew up, Melissa began to realize that the closest things to parents she had ever had were her trainers, and the closest things she had ever had to friends were those she trained with. Her life revolved around the games, preparing for it, training for it, but there was nothing else to her life. No friends, no family, no loved ones to greet her at the train station, no goals to pursue, nothing to do in her spare time save maybe mentor for the games for a couple of weeks out of the year, but what then? Melissa needs a battle to fight, fighting is her nature, she needs it to survive, or else she'd simply be a hollow husk searching desperately for another reason to live. But after the games, what could possibly offer her such a challenge?

Melissa knows now that she does not fear the games, fear the day she must fight for her life, but rather she fears the day when she must stop fighting. When all that she has ever known will simply be absent and she must find some way to give her life meaning. And while she may still be a prime career tribute from a prime career district, her doubts have begun to eat away at her, and she is afraid of what comes after, what comes next. Will she ever be able to let go of the part of her that needs the sick violence of the Capitol to sustain itself, and more importantly, what will happen when the day comes that the games are no more? Melissa has always needed conflict to keep her going, but what will become of Panem the day peace rules and conflict is lost to the wind?

And most important of all, what will happen to her?

My computer deleted my first draft of her bio, which I liked better, but this one will suffice.