Ada Galloway~District 4 {FINISHED}

Ada Galloway, 16.
District 4.

General and Ada's Thoughts
Ada Speaking
Athena Speaking

APPEARANCE:
Me and my best friend, Athena, headed into the living room. We figured the old leathery couch would do just fine. It was dusted with sand, just like the rest of the shack. I swept it off before I took a seat down and I looked into Athena's green eyes, which smiled at me brightly. "You ready?" Athena asked, as she got out a pen and notebook. "Ready as I'll ever be." I sat upright, as though to be proper for this interview I was about to have. It was all going into our auto-biographies we were making for a time capsule. I wondered how it all was gonna turn out. Athena smiled and started questioning me. "Okay, now pretend I have no clue who you are and your filling me in as honestly as you can. Here's your first question." She looked back down at the criteria sheet she had made for herself. "Describe yourself and where you live." Athena slid her pen cap off and got ready to write. I thought back, recalling when people would sneak comments like, "Your hair is naturally highlighted like that?" or "Do you bleach your teeth?"
I began to answer the simple parts of her question before I got too lost in my thoughts.

"My name is Ada Galloway, I'm 15 years old." I blinked, something already sounded wrong. "Oh no sorry, I'm 16, I just had my birthday about a week ago, on April 18th. I'm still getting used to it." I nodded at her as though to check to make sure I was doing the right thing. She simply smiled back reasuringly, so I continued on. "I don't have anything in the way of siblings, and my mother died when I was born, in child birth actually." I could tell I was getting a bit off topic. I'm not here to give her a history lesson on my life. Or at least not yet. Athena just looked at me patiently. I thought about the little shack I liked to call home. Would that describe my appearance in a way? It was certainly homey and cozy, I never actually realized it was considered small until some brat at my 10th birthday party said I live in a messy mouse hole. Everything in our house was a mess except for our bedrooms, we didn't really spend much time in them. Sometimes, I actually just fell asleep on the beach, and I still do. I brought my thoughts back to answering Athena's question. "I live in a small, cluttered shack in District 4, but my bedroom's actually clean." I smiled, half proudly at this.

Now, I guess I have to start talking about my real appearance...There was simply no avoiding it in this case. Appearance, that thing boys seemed to go crazy for. That thing that looks like an open book to stereotypers who just can't help but read. I thought about what another person might think of me. What would my open book say? I attempted to answer Athena's question without sounding too prideful. "If we're going to start talking about what I look like, then here it is without me trying to sound full of myself." I paused for a moment and took in a deep breath. "I'm pretty thin, I probably have to have large breasts or one heck of an ass to explain why guys can't peal their eyes off me, right?" I laughed at this and so did Athena. I wondered if she wrote that one down but I kept going on. "Those girls aways say my face is arranged right, thank god." We each snickered at this, because we seemed amused by girls like that. The ones who care more about their nails than anything else in the world. I thought about what else to say and my height came into picture. "I'm not to tall but if I had to decide whether I was tall or short, and nothing in between, I'd probably be leaning to the lengthy side."

I pondered what else I had left out before we could move on. I ran my fingers through my hair. It was only now that I realized that there was a lot more to me than what I had ever dreamed of. "I have fairly tanned skin from the sunshine out here, and I also hear about my long brown hair and its natural blond highlights a lot. I think those came from the sun too." Athena jotted down more notes, her pen flying exquisitely fast. "I do wear make up, but not so much It would like frosting on a cake. I usually wear shorts and a tank top or tee-shirt, since the weather out here is usually pretty hot, unless there's a storm. Those can be pretty bad." Athena snapped her head up and nodded vigorously. "Tell me about it!" We each had a moment of silence, either thinking about storms, or what to do next. She grabbed her criteria sheet and looked over at me, having come to a conclusion. "You ready for the next question?" I nodded with a glint of a fake smile. How much longer was this going to take?

FLAWS:
Athena looked down at her notepad. I think she could tell I was in a rush to get this over and done with just because I would rather be out practicing my spearing, or playing on my ukulele, which I rarely had time for anymore. She looked up and spoke less enthusiastically than before. "I know you may not want to answer this but just try your best. I need you to point out all of your flaws, that is if you have any." She winked at me and I gave an indignant snort. "Well of course I do! Everyone does! So do you!" The silence that followed made us both look down to our toes awkwardly. All we could hear was the 'tick tick tick' of the clock. We both, for some random odd reason, started to laugh. I guess friends as tight knit as us couldn't even get angry at each other, which was always nice to know. "How about we get back on topic?" Athena still seemed to be choking from laughing so hard but we both tried to control ourselves now. "That sounds like a good idea, just give me some time to think will ya?"

I leaned back into the leather couch and rested my feet up on the other end of it, looking up at the ceiling as people do when they've had a long, long day. So now what? Why do I have to point out flaws to a time capsule, I doubt it really cares. I sighed and thought deep into the back of my mind. I can recall a time or two when someone had something to say like that. Just these things might not be such as nice, or not to my face. "I recall someone telling me that my elbows are dry and dark, and my neck looks too long." My mind just did a double take. It was weird when you really took in what other people called you. Athena must have read what I was thinking, because she just smiled and said. "Whoever said that's probably just jealous." I laughed in my mind, I might have felt a little stunned but not that hurt. "Don't worry about it, nobody's perfect." I figured the quickest way to get rid of all of this pain was just to dump it all out at once. "You ready?" Athena nodded back. "Go for it." Next thing I know, I'm blabbering out whatever comes to my mind. Hopefully she can catch all of this.

"Let me see, I usually don't mind bugs too much, but snakes seriously creep me out. Especially bigger ones." I pondered what else might show negatively on me.[/coor] "My nails are usually pretty gritty and gross, and I can't run very far for very long because when I was younger I pulled a ligament in my knee that still hasn't healed up completely. I doubt it ever will." Then I just spoke the last thing that came to mind. "I guess I'm pretty stubborn too. People always tell me that." I figured this was enough for her to jot down, I really couldn't think of much else. "That's it for now. I can't think of anything else that's horribly wrong with me. Let's move on." Athena nodded. "Let's."

PERSONALITY:
Athena took a glance back down at her criteria sheet and looked at me. "We're already half way through." I guess my mind should be cheering at this, but it felt like I've given her more information than that. I half heartedly smiled. "Yay." I spoke feignly. Athena just smiled back. She's always so smiley, I don't know how she does it. Maybe she was trying to make a better host for me. I laughed in my mind. Next thing you know, she could be dyeing her hair crazy colors and giving creepy grins to cameras. I was savoring the thought, but Athena woke me up with her next question. "How do you think other people see you as a person." When she asked this, my mind did another double take.

How did people perceive my personality? I can tell you right now, it's hard to think about. I never really cared what other people thought of me, and I payed little attention to it. I tried to slip my mind into another person's shoes. An average, normal, person. "Hmm. When someone first meets me, they must be thinking 'She's one of those girls', but when they actually talk to me, things turn out, a little different."

I felt like in this section of the interview, it might sound more like a story. At least I've got my intro done, and here comes the whole. "After you talk to me, you'd see a funny, sweet girl that loves fishing and is pretty good at her ukulele her dad made her. But she would rarely bring it up." I brought my mind to some flaws, I can't sound perfect.

"I guess I may also come off as a bit stubborn. I don't really like to face the fact that I can't do something either, but I think only people as close to me as you would figure that out." I started the struggle to think of what else I might be perceived as. Luckily, Athena moved to the next question for me. "How do you describe yourself." This question was easy to answer.

"I think I'm stubborn and usually independent. But I don't mind that." Thoughts just poured into my head. "I do go to school, when I can. I just skip alot of days. I even had to retake a grade. But when you live in such a crucial district like this one, working to put food on the table, and earn some money, comes first." Athena nodded as she wrote most of this down. "I'm actually pretty smart when it comes to survival skills. And I'm pretty good at building shelters and weapons. I'm even better at spearing fish." I guess I brought up spear fishing a lot in this interview. But that all was mainly to show how important it is to me. Fishing and hunting make up a lot of who I am. I wanted to make that clear.

Athena helped me out a bit, I think she thought I was getting off task. "Do you have any favorite things. Any close relationships?" These questions were easy to answer. "My favorite thing to eat might as well by grilled octopus, which is kinda rare and hard to come by." Now, where was my favorite place in the world? In someone's loving arms? In my messy mouse hole of a home? No, it was the water, the ocean. Laying on the shoreline under the starry night sky. Watching baby sea turtles at the crack of dawn run down the glistening sands to the ocean. Or sailing out on the boat and watching the fish below the surface that I could see. That was my favorite place in all of Panem. No one could change my mind. "My favorite place in all of Panem are the beaches. They are my true home. Indescribable. Only people who share my deep love for the coast would understand. I love the ocean spray on my legs, and the smell of ocean sea salt." Just saying these words made me relax. They made me feel safe. Athena looked like she was going through the same thing, she stopped her pen and and savored the moment with me. Only true sea lovers could understand that.

When I woke up, it was to the sound of Athena's soft voice. "I know exactly how you feel." She smiled sweetly at me. "You still have to answer my question though. Relationships?" I snapped back into reality. Oh yeah! Important relationships in my life. Well, there was Athena, and most of all, my dad. He was always there to protect me and comfort me. When I was little he told me stories of his travels on the sea, and about a family of gulls that made our roof their home. He was always working, so I didn't see him much. In fact, he was on a fishing trip this very moment. If something had happened to him, I don't know how I'd be able to live with myself. "Well, Athena, you're pretty important in my life right now, and you have been ever since I met you." I could see Athena smiling at this. "You flatter me." I laughed and so did she. Who used the term flatter anymore? Anyone but Athena. She was laughing too. "My dad's really important too though. He means the world for me. I'd probably be no where without him." Athena grinned at me. "Any boyfriends?"

Boyfriends? Since when have I ever had a boyfriend? Boys certainly seemed to like me but I kept to myself most of the time. Dad always said that I was too young to like boys, and that you only tell a boy you love him, if you truly, deeply do. I never really found a boy I truly deeply loved. And like dad said, I was too young, boys aren't on my mind. I wonder, if I were to meet that one boy, that boy that meant life or death to me, would I change my mind? For now, I would answer Athena's question as best as I could. "No, I've never had a boyfriend, and I still don't. It's just that simple. I don't have time." Athena nodded and flipped to another fresh page. "Now for the last question." I realized how tired I felt, and a smile spread on my face. "Let's get this done with."

HISTORY:
Athena didn't have to look at her criteria sheet this time, and I didn't have to think about what she was going to ask me. I guessed. "Are you gonna ask me about my childhood?" I didn't know what expression to make, so I just smiled. I had mixed emotions right now. For a lot of people this was a morbid subject. But for me, I never had that bad of a child hood. I never really got to know my mom before she died so it wasn't such a traumatizing loss. But still, dad cried a lot about it, I guess I took the blame on myself. It was my fault she was dead, I caused it to happen. And it was really tough growing up without a mother figure. My dad couldn't teach me thing that my mom only could. It was in ways, very hard on both of us.

Athena nodded at me. "Yeah, something like that." I started to think of ways of how to answer her question. i figured I'd start from when I was a very small little tyke. "When I was born, my mother died in child birth, and my father was never the same. At least that's what I think. I wasn't around when mom was still alive so I can't tell how he acted then but I do hear his fisher buds saying that he used to be alot more smiley when Ria was around. That was her name. Ria." For some odd reason, I have felt angry and confused at Ria my whole life. I feel like, if she had never stepped into the picture, my dad would still be a much happier person to this day. Even if it meant taking me out with her. I just want him to be as happy as he can be. "My dad doesn't cry about her anymore, I think he's learned to deal with the loss. I guess I have too." I guess what I just said was a lie. I haven't learned to deal with her not being around yet, I've just learned to deal with it much better than I used to. I decided to change the subject.

"When I turned 5, one of the palm trees by our house fell over in one of those nasty storms I mentioned earlier. My dad figured he could put it to use. I remember the next night, he had a meeting with the crew in out dining room. One of them was talking about how his daughter just bought a ukulele and what beautiful songs she wrote with it. This must have hit dad because the next day, early in the morning, he was outside carving me one. When it was finished, t was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. He even engraved my name in fancy letters on the back. I didn't know he could do wood working like that!" I could tell Athena was struggling to keep up, so I stopped to give her a break.

While I was waiting, I looked across the room into the open door that led to my bedroom. My ukulele was still in there, in practically perfect shape except for a bit of missing finish around the edges. It was a beautiful ivory looking color, and the delicately engraved flowers and name wear in a pale green. Dad taught me a little bit of the wood working a learned, but I could never be as good as him. I used to play that ukulele all the time when I was little. But now that I'm older, I have to help out with fishing and I have to go to school. I feel like I have begun to abandon it. Athena looked up from her paper "Ada? You still there?" I blinked and looked at her. "Yeah. Of course. Sorry." What else was there to say now. Something quickly came to mind.

"When I turned 10, dad started showing me how to fish. It didn't take long for me to learn. Dad always told me I was a natural fisherman. And when I turned 12, he showed me how to spear fish too. He taught me a little bit about sword play and such, which I was good at, but not even half as good as I was with a javelin. I later realized he was probably teaching me this because I had just become of age to participate in the annual Hunger Games. We both aren't that likely to get into the hunger games, but neither was the rest of our district. Few of us actually needed tessera because we could feed ourselves, and I guess dad thought I was just as likely to be pulled as anyone else was. Thankfully, I have yet to be pulled from the reaping." I guess that leads us up to where I am today. Nothing much really happened in between. All I can think of right now, is staying alive, and not getting pulled from the reaping.