Saphina Rudy District 8 (finished)

Saphina is an average looking girl and she doesn’t find herself particularly eye-catching or appealing. She has an oval shaped face and wide, dark brown eyes that becomes slightly squinted whenever she smiles her signature smile. Her hair is long and straight, ending just beneath her breasts which she often ties up into a bun whenever she’s working. It is dark brown but when the sun hits it, it seemed as if it’s a lighter shade and almost chocolate.

She has long and lanky limbs but her only strong point are her arms instead of her legs because the muscles developed while she’s working at the fabric factory – particularly stirring the dye in the vats. Because of the dyes, her hands are always stained with various colours. However, even after she washes them off, there are dark grey splotches on her hands that refuses to wash off.

Aside from that, she has long and thin fingers that are nimble thanks to the years that she has spent embroidering. In the arena, this benefit her greatly only if there are things that she could use to weave into a net or basket.

Saphina is considered slightly taller than most of the girls in the district. However, she is anything but fit and isn’t fond of running which is a great disadvantage for her should she be chosen as a tribute.

Radiant. Glowing. Bursting with energy.

Those are the words the people who know Saphina would associate with her. That is because to the others, Saphina seems to be like a generally optimistic person and refuses to let circumstances, people or her surroundings affect her general thinking, mood and perception on certain things. Some even say that it’s because District 8 is probably the most suitable district for her. This is technically true with her love for all and any type of fabric.

However, what they do not know however is that that’s just one of her masks.

Saphina doesn’t really like to show to the others how she truly feels. Instead, she would often don that optimistic and friendly mask whenever she meets and talks with other people, even when she doesn’t feel that way. Aside from that, she also acts differently depending on who she's with and their preference to the type of people that they would tolerate.

The reason why she acts this way is because she doesn’t believe that relationships in Panem are long lasting and genuine… especially with the Hunger Games happening annually. Who knows, her best guy friend might kill her in the arena once she turns her back to him. Because of that, Saphina surrounds herself with artificial relationships – ones that are lasting yet only skin deep whereby the most they would know about her is whatever that she offers to them… which at times could be false.

Saphina is soo used to using a whole lot of different masks that she has forgotten how she is whenever the mask is off. All she knows is that she’s constantly bored and because of that, she spends most of her time in the textile factory, surrounding herself with the thing that she loves most which is the beautifully crafted fabrics.

Saphina is the youngest out of 8 and is the only girl in the family (aside from her mom). Her family is a firm believer in tough love whereby the child is left to fend for themselves and would not intervene should they receive punishment from the Peacekeepers for breaking a law or two. This is because they believe that the rules are there for a reason. They love their children, yes, but rules are still rules and if one is prepared to break it, they should be prepared for the punishment that they’ll face for breaking it.

Despite their strict method of raising their children, this doesn’t stop Saphina’s brothers from becoming overprotective of her and pampering her. This is because she’s the only girl in the family and is also the youngest. But there is another reason to that. Saphina barely made it into the world since she was born during a terrible snowstorm. True, it would have been easier to simple let her die but they couldn’t bring themselves to let it happen since her mother has been hoping to get a daughter for quite some time now.

Saphina grew up in her maternal grandmother’s house instead of her own home because her family was all either busy with school or working. Her grandmother was a talented seamstress and because of that, Saphina was exposed to various types of fabrics and materials for clothes making from the finest lace and silk until the toughest leather. However, sewing wasn’t what that interests her. It was the fabrics themselves and delicate embroidery that caught her eyes. So that was where she picked up embroidering, knitting and the methods of fabric dyeing.

She was actually eager to work and often wondered when she would be allowed into the factory where the fabrics were processed and made. The day she started working was Saphina’s happiest day. She enjoyed her work very much despite how tired she got after school and work. As long as she’s surrounded by fabrics, the rest doesn’t matter. Saphina is actually more relaxed and at peace when she’s working in contrast to sitting at home with nothing to do… unless if she’s embroidering whereby the end product of it is sold to make extra income for her family.