RICCARDI, amber [D1]

When looking at Amber compared to her brother, you could see a lot of similarities. Tanned skin, dark hair — you could even see the resemblance in their brown eyes. But that is where the similarities end, even though they are brother and sister. Amber is fairly short for her age, standing at a mere 5'1". This comes, however, with her full developed body, making it clear that she will probably never reach a taller height. While she is fairly short, she does have a fairly good body otherwise. She's lean, but coming from District 1, she is not nearly as thin as the tributes she sees walk up from the districts such as 11 or 12. As well, due to her family's wealth, her thinness almost verges on being overweight thanks to all the food they are able to afford on a daily basis. She also has a good deal of weight on her bones with muscle mass; while she doesn't consider herself to be a Career, she has tried to keep herself somewhat fit in the case that she might be reaped. The reaping could happen to anyone — while she didn't need tessera, the chilling "may the odds be ever in your favor" still haunted her to the bone.

Her black hair goes just below her shoulders and isn't exactly straight; it has a bit of a wavy curve to it. She has an oval face that accents her chin into a bit more pointy than the typical oval shape. Her petite body allows for quick movements and easy mobility, which works to her constant advantage — except for when she needs to reach something from the kitchen cabinet. However, she doesn't let this bother her too much. Amber doesn't wear much makeup; while her family may be wealthy, she doesn't particularly like the extravagant designs by the Capitol. She prefers simple makeup, such as a light color here and there to accent her eyes and make them look a little less bland. But that is as most as she goes; she likes to remain fairly tame in her appearance, as she hates being a standout in the crowds.

For clothes, she tends to go for comfort and style. She likes to wear denim jeans (even though they can be costly at times) and simple t-shirts and blouses. Much like her makeup, she doesn't like to go extravagant, so the clothes she wears reflect that part of her personality. She is perfectly fine with wearing a pure-white tshirt with her jeans; she doesn't feel the need to go above and beyond that. For shoes, she chooses between comfortable sneakers or stylish boots; going barefoot isn't exactly a thing for her, but she likes to be comfortable nonetheless. Other than that, she wears only a simple gold looped necklace without any adornments to it.

Amber is a fairly calm girl. She likes things to be tame; she loathes spontaneity and chaos and does better in environments where things are relaxed. She honestly doesn't do well in situations where she panics; the feelings tend to drive her up a wall and cause her to slip up and not perform at her highest. This is one of the reasons she feels she would do terribly in the Hunger Games if she was reaped; the constant chaos the Gamemakers create would not suite well for her personality. It's one of the main reasons she fears the Reaping each year; she knows if her name is called, she will surely die. She may be trying to keep herself prepared in case she does get reaped, but she knows she would probably die once the Gamemakers tried to entice the crowd of the Capitol.

With her family the way it is, one would expect that she would be like her parents and become popular amongst the Capitol once she grows up and gets to work. But in reality, she detests the ideals that the Capitol promotes. She doesn't want to participate in the Games herself, and disagrees in their very existence. Thankfully, she only feels the need to constantly worry about it as the Reaping draws nearer and nearer; she doesn't need to worry otherwise. That thought alone keeps her cheery throughout the times during the Games and afterwards when she has freedom on her side. She has an optimistic outlook and is loyal to those close to her. However, when people first meet her, they may see her as a spoiled brat due to her ability to spend money freely thanks to her parents wealth. However, as they get to know her, they begin to realize that she is actually very modest with money and glamor and really doesn't want to show off. She, in fact, hates standing out in crowds and prefers to not be put under the spotlight.

Amber also has many quirks that make her unique. For instance, she has photographic memory. She can easily pull up images in her mind and have them almost perfectly memorized; however, she struggles at recognizing sounds and smells. She tends to work through life mainly using her ability to see things, as her ability to comprehend to sounds and smells is so little in comparison to her sight. It's not to say that she is deaf or anything, she just struggles to fully tell the difference between one sound and the other. It is much the same with smells; she can tell there is a smell, and can tell if it smells good or bad, but she cannot tell you what the difference is between the smell of a flower and the smell of a fresh loaf of bread. Due to her photographic memory, she does very good at learning things through visual methods and struggles in oral methods of teaching. She prefers when teachers write on the board at school than give a lecture; often she tries to convince teachers to let her borrow their lecture notes if they do give a lecture. Some may say this would give her an advantage in learning, which is extremely true: she can learn things fairly easily, and can pick up skills quickly.

Another big trait to know about Amber is her undying loyalty and trust towards her family. Although she was not an intended child in her family, her compassion and love for her parents is astounding — as well as her older brother. She'd do anything for him, and she knows he would do just the same. Her best friend is her own brother, and she can't stand the thought of him going into the Hunger Games alone if it were to happen. While she tells herself she would never volunteer for the Games, she knows that if her brother were to be reaped and no one took his place, she would volunteer herself. She would rather give up her own life than watch him die on the big screen at home; she would rather be by his side every waking moment during the Games then be so far away. Amber knows it would hurt their parents to lose them both, but inside she knows that she would never be able to live with herself if she saw her brother go into the Arena alone.

It started with a small mistake. Her parents were enjoying their time with each other while Sebastian was still young, knowing once he grew older it would be harder to do until he left for his own family and relationship. Little did they know, they were creating a slightly unwelcome surprise: a young girl they had no intention of bringing into the world. They were perfectly content with a single son to give their inheritance to; Amber was not intended in the least. They loved her still, though; not as thoroughly as they loved their first and only son, but they tried to make her feel loved and welcome into their small, tight-knit family.

Amber didn't learn of any of this for many years to come; she spent her child years carefree an happy. Her family was one of the wealthier groups from District 1; her mother was a popular fashion designer for the Capitol, and her father was the head of a popular jewlery making company. The wealth made their lives easier, and Amber never quite learned the hardships of the poorer districts. Nonetheless, she was always respectable with the money — unlike her brother in many ways. Even still, she and Sebastian bonded easily, and the two would do everything together. Between making mud pies when they were bored after a rainy day to learning how to play games like chess and checkers under their parent's watchful eyes, they created a powerful sibling relationship that would only intensify as they finally began to stretch into their teen years of life.

When Sebastian turned twelve and the first Reaping came about, Amber was terrified that her brother would be reaped. He comforted her with promises that he couldn't possibly go in; even if his one entry was pulled, someone would most likely take his place. Nonetheless, Amber watched silently for the next to years as her brother began to take on some light practice in case he was indeed reaped. Amber watched her brother turn from the skinny boy to a toned young man with stronger and stronger abilities with fencing. She could see the growing frustration in his eyes as well — the frustration with the Capitol and the ideals their parents had.

As Amber reached the ripe age of twelve as well, she began to get lessons as well. It wasn't necessarily all her parent's doing; as she watched her brother train and go through reapings two years in a row, she was terrified that she, too, might be reaped, and wanted to be prepared in case it happened. Though as she watched the Games continue on each year, she began to grow her brothers similar sentiments: that the Games were wrong. The Capitol was wrong in their punishment in the districts. The Careers were wrong for playing to their hearts. With that in mind, Amber kept to simple things: regular exercise and classes in stealth and self defense. Her parents wanted more from her, though, and also put her in lessons of heavy combat skills, but after not doing strongly at it and her protests, they finally let her drop it.

Each year that has passed since then has caused worry to spring up within Amber as the Reaping came. Her and Sebastian had only grown more and more close to each other but also more and more distant to their parents and their Capitol-loving regimen. She just hopes that as Sebastian is now 18 that he will soon (finally) be safe from the Games, with only herself to worry about. She doesn't even care about herself anymore; she worries about what would happen to her brother if he were Reaped. His promises that someone would volunteer against him seem more and more impossible as the years go by. She can only hope that Sebastian will be safe.

Sister to Sebastian