Violet Blackthorne, District 12

Violet is small for her age, her growth stunted by years of undernourishment. At the age of 12, she stands but 4 feet, 8 inches high, weighing in at barely 60 lbs, soaking wet. Overall, she looks tired, and weak, with a thin face and a drawn expression. She's not just scrawny, but incredibly bird-like, somewhere between fragile and sharp, and impossibly care-worn, as nearly everyone looks in the Seam. Her thin arms show muscle and sinew alike, and her anxiety consistently sending them both a-twitching. She's strong for her size, her body used to house work, carrying around siblings, and the constant isometrics of tensing her every fiber with fear and worry.

Her hair is dark, thin, and usually pulled back into a tight ponytail with wispy flyaways all around her face. It's just like her mother's, but more brown than black. Her skin is olive, but light, and paper thin, lacking the fat needed to give it the elasticity of her youth. Her eyes are a mixture of hazel and grey, and wide, but heavy-lidded and sleepy looking, with dark circles and premature wrinkling.

In spite of all of these negative sounding traits, Violet's face, though thin and angular, has delicate features to match, and the overall effect is one that garners sympathy easily, allowing her to earn more than her fair share of charity.

Violet is a quiet girl, easy to worry, easy to cry, and easily prone to despair. She is loathe to take care of herself, aiming instead, always, to care to for her siblings. With two sisters, two brothers, and another on the way, she has her hands full helping out their mother while also attending school. She's often on edge, startling easily, and imagining - always - the worst case scenario.

However, she's also somewhat reckless. The depth of despair and anxiety leave her desperate, and willing to try anything to help her family. She places little value on her own life - for instance, one of their food sources is a berry from a bush on the other side of the fence. It's close enough that she can reach through when the power is off, but having no training in botany, eating them was probably not the greatest idea - so she used herself as a test case, to see if they were safe.

Her recklessness also comes out in a cold, quiet passion that leads her to say things she shouldn't, and to commit herself to tasks beyond her ability. Sometimes, this is good - she helps her mom at the Hob selling the aforementioned berries, and making them into popular candies. She's clever with the limited amount of food they have. Violet is generous to a fault, and selfless in caring for her family. She'll push herself and go to any lengths to get what they need, and has become a skilled beggar, earning pity and charity from nearly everyone she meets - even, occasionally, a peacekeeper. She's sweet and thoughtful, and smart for her age, doing well in school. Her normally limp exterior lights up when she's "on" - she's good at selling things, and getting the attention of adults.

But of course, she'll occasionally work herself to exhaustion and push herself too far, and be of less use to her family than she could be. She gives up food more than she eats it, and says rash things in anger. She gets herself - and her family - into trouble this way, and spends an inordinate amount of time berating herself after the fact.

Still, she's a sweet child, and means well, and doesn't have the years to support her life-experience, and the maturity forced upon her by circumstance.

So, how did she get this way? Well, short story - her mother was young when her father died in a mine explosion, and her mother (Violet's grandmother) had no means of employment, so the young woman took to selling herself - to the Mayor, to the peacekeepers, to the townsmen of District 12, anyone. She had Violet early on in her career, which only made her more desperate for money - and for more business. Violet doesn't know who her father is, but she suspects it was a peacekeeper or townsman, given her lighter skin and brown hair, as well as her hazel eyes. Her mother is pure Seam, but Violet isn't.

Her siblings all likely have different fathers, but who knows. Her mother does have some repeat customers, though Violet only knows them as her mothers "friends." She's only recently begun to understand the peculiar nature of her life.

Since her mother invests a good amount of her earnings back into herself and her appearance - even now, she's still known as a beauty in the District - there's not a lot of money left for food. They have a little stand in the Hob where Violet's mother sells jewelry twisted out of scrap metal and reclaimed garbage, but it's mostly a front for men pretending to buy things for their wives - but really looking for a little something for themselves. Violet joins her mother there often, selling her little berry candies, begging for charity, and acting the part of a saleswoman. She's quite charming, really, when she wants to be.

But there are other reasons she's so anxious, beyond their lack of food and money. Not all of these men, these "friends" of her mother, are the nicest of men. Occasionally, some hit her mother, and even Violet herself. She's knows better now, but she once spoke up against a Peacekeeper in town about it, and earned herself 15 lashes - it was supposed to have been 20, but her then 10 year old tiny body couldn't handle it. It scarred Violet in more ways than one.

I'm happy to change anything that sounds too unrealistic, and am looking forward to playing this character, and potentially, the younger siblings as well!