[District Four] Marissa Brookes

People expect swimmers to graceful and poise. This isn't the case with Marissa. While she possesses a form of beauty, she moves with something akin to regal savagery and swiftness. The fishing game's a nasty business (screw you if you don't believe her) and it's not as peaceful out there as you'd like to think. Marissa knows this firsthand and has learned to handle herself accordingly. Years of swimming in semi-dangerous waters have left a lasting impression upon her physique: a toned, wiry frame that with time, might become something men desire. Softened by sunlight and sand, Marissa has something akin to a light, mocha-colored skin tone that bring out the fierce brown eyes her strong face houses.

Despite her small stature and lithe muscle, Marissa has been trained as a career tribute. Especially dangerous with blades, she is also quite handy with nets too and is capable of repairing fishing equipment with her nimble fingers and steady hand. Quick to think and even faster to act, this curly-haired, District Four brunette acts with purpose and moves ruthlessly, and will continue to do so until the very end.

Marissa is a tad bit overly apathetic. To put it simply, she wants to find something exciting, something to do. Following the same routine everyday (Breakfast, Fish, School, Fish, Train, Sleep) is rather drab if you think about it. When she finds free-time, you can usually find her leaning against a nearby wall or pillar, staring out into the crowd. Marissa is constantly eavesdropping and people-watching, even if you don't think she is. She thrives off gossip and is a bit of a drama starter, doing so as if it were her societal obligation. When you hear her speak, Marissa does so with a crisp, clear voice that has a surprisingly gentle tone to it, like that of the sea at a calm after a bad storm.

As a veracious perfectionist, Marissa takes more time to do things than most others, but she does so with a better quality. The only time that this isn't true is when she's fishing, in which her goal is to gather as many as possible. Despite fishing taking up most of her time, Marissa is quite concerned when it comes to her studies and more importantly, her career-status training. As a perfectionist, Marissa nearly always attempts to make dangerous, deep cuts in serious areas to inflict maximum pain possible. To compare her to ocean animals, one would probably have to combine that of a shark and an octopi to have something remotely similar to her fighting style.

Marissa is the youngest out of three children and the only girl. One might feel bad for her, but in reality, Marissa rarely had any problems. Mark, her oldest brother by five years, had joined the Peacekeepers, and Marvin, the middle child by three years, still lived with her at this point, waiting for his chance to join the Hunger Games.

Marissa's parents were ferocious trainers. Both of them wanted at least one of their children to win the Hunger Games and hopefully bring back the winning streak that their district had seemed to lose. The way her parents saw it, District Twelve was slowly becoming what District Four used to be. Well, except for the fact that District Twelve dwellers were rather destitute compared to the upper districts. The point, however, still stood: District Four was in a slump and Marissa's parents didn't like it.

So, Marissa and her brothers were conditioned from an early age into, well, killers. While her brothers focused on heavy weaponry, Marissa took a liking to swift, manageable weapons. Her skill with a harpoon of all things became developed, and soon enough she moved onto more dangerous, similar weaponry. Marissa started fishing the same day she started school, so of course training, school, and fishing all had to go hand in hand. She learned new fishing techniques and useful things about her District, and then she utilized those fishing techniques. As first, she started off small, swimming to gather scallops with her net. But as she aged, her skill with spear-based weapons became useful as she harpooned for tuna. That harpooning improved her reaction time and, of course, how she managed with a polearm.

In school, Marissa really wasn't one to have a group. She drifted. She never quite felt at home with the cocky careers, but she didn't exactly feel right with the smart kids either, and of course, she couldn't bother to place herself permanently at the poorer tables. So, Marissa was the person who moved from table to table everyday, having a lot of friends, but never a best friend. Despite feeling isolated at times, people continuously complained to her, and Marissa, being herself, listened. Around the age of ten was when she started terrorizing her "friends" by creating rumors and telling their personal lives to those around her.

In a way, Marissa was the puppet master, and these kids were her puppets. And in a way, she liked it.

But control issues aside, Marissa has just recently became a perfectionist. River Destin had almost won the Sixty-Third Annual Hunger Games. But it was just that. Almost. If she could have just held out a bit longer, Marissa had no doubt District Four would be back. But no, District Two took it. Again. At that point, Marissa became more driven, more dangerous, and definitely, more self-absorbed. She had to make her parents proud of her.

And to do that, she had to win.