Reever Song / District 4

Given her lot in life as a child born in District 4, one would have thought that Reever would be better off fed than she actually looks. While the fact is true in that her house of two adults and three children - herself not included - never truly went hungry, her status as more or less the unfavorite of the family and her tendency to run wild and play games rather than looking after herself had rendered her quite small.

Not that she isn't already small for her age. In fact, Reever stands at least an inch below the average height for the standard fourteen-year-old girl in her district, and she is not blessed with a large frame and worker's hands like the rest of her family. Instead Reever trades off the traditional look for that of a lither, wiry build, with slim but well-built arms and legs fit for speed and mobility. Her fingers and toes are long, nails chewed into stubs, and quite helpful in helping her grab onto things and hang on with the persistence rarely heard or seen from children her age. Slippery rocks out near the sea had never been a problem for her, as even with crashing waves beating her on every side Reever could clutch tightly onto slick surfaces and hold fast.

What really stands out about Reever, though, is not her build in contrast of her family or her talent at hanging onto things. No - that would have been her visage. Even though life for her family is difficult at the best of time due to the tension between siblings and parents, Reever had rarely been caught without at least a small smile in her life. The more noteworthy fact is that her smiles are always genuine, as though Reever believes - truly believes - that life would get better. She has her down days, that's for sure, but she always seems to rebound quickly from injuries and has the ability to hold herself - and others - steady.

The only thing that doesn't seem to differentiate Reever from the rest of her household is her colorations. Like her mother, the small girl inherits a head of straight dark brown hair often kept braided over one shoulder or down her back and blue eyes so dark they are black in most lighting. Her skin is tanned from years of working outside, and she often forgoes shoes in the town if she can (even though common sense and mother's scolding ensures that she keeps boots on at least 60% of the time.)

The smiles that Reever often sports are not at all fake. In fact, the girl is just about as honest and straightforward as they come. Oh, of course, she knows the basics of manners and how to act in a crowd to be considered "appropriate," but she would not hesitate to give someone the straight answer - especially if she perceives that they need it.

Having spent most of her life with siblings and parents who don't appreciate her ability - or lack thereof - of joining them to haul heavy fish home and generally being quite accommodating of others instead of the Songs' tradition of "Family first, strangers not at all," Reever had grown familiar to insults and generally takes most forms of aggression towards her in stride. There are only a few specific buttons which can honestly send Reever over the edge, and even there she is usually rational enough to not make a mess out of everything.

...Or an irreparable mess anyway. Mauling is apparently okay.

Despite that, most can agree on the fact that Reever is a friendly and accommodating person. Most of her willingness to make friends is because of her own loneliness and quasi-ostracization from her family who was convinced the only worth anyone ever has is how much they can contribute to the dinner table, but because of their own attitude toward her Reever is not one to turn anyone away, from the mayor's children to the district outcast. She has a degree of rebelliousness to her, and typically graviates more toward the quiet and more locked-in-hardship people as her parents are the most displeased about those "wastes of space."

An observer could decide right about now that Reever's friendly traits come mostly from selfish reasons. And this, more than anything, is the ultimate truth to her. Even though she is friendly and likes to talk to just about anyone with a fierceness in her belief that there's always something in life worth smiling about, the drive of her actions are rarely out of pure, simple compassion. Reever is self-serving more than anything, and there is also a measure of cunning and calculative element to her reasoning that is...plain and simple, genetic. This knowledge does not make her good, long-lasting friends who will eventually find out that while on the surface she's all these nice things, deep down she's no better than the self-serving, grouchy family that she grows up with.

Interestingly enough, Reever is also a hypocrite in her vow that she is nothing like her parents or siblings.

The Song family is not a well-known family - at least not something everyone and their dog in District Four knows - but what it is known for is the fact that its family members are one of the grumpiest and stingiest people in the neighborhood. For a generation and then some, the Song had guarded themselves and their incomes well. They do good work. They secure their fill and then they fill their own stomachs. Their family is a stingy and almost antisocial one, but at the very least the Songs do not cheat and when they do business, they do it fairly. Thus, while Songs are not really what people would invite out for dinner...Well, their reputation is nice enough.

This is where Reever finds herself born into. Even from birth, she had been somewhat of a disappointment. All of her family had the big-and-powerful genes suitable for their work or crush skulls in the Hunger Games if they were ever chosen (which none of them were, but her two brothers liked to brag that they can if they ever got Reaped,) and here was Reever who was underweight when she came out of her mother's womb. She didn't do much better growing up, constantly getting sick in the worse seasons when she was younger, and following the cold and exasperated attitude from her parents her siblings began to recognize her as a suitable target for teasing.

And tease her they did. Most of her life, Reever spent hiding from the harsh words and taunts of her elder siblings, finding peace in wandering the marketplace when it was off-hour from work. From a young age she had already begun to try her best and make something for herself on her own, as reliance on family was quickly proving to not be a dependable avenue. The trade of harpooning instead of net-fishing, Reever learned from an older man who took pity on her condition with the Songs. Reever makes up for her unflattering frame with a quick mind and scarily "sticky" hands and feet, and the teasing lessened when she began to bring her own share of things to the family table - shellfish and small fish that she could hunt by harpooning on her own. It was a small addition and her parents made clear of their disapproval on this, but it was better than nothing.

Reever was around seven years old when she finally earned her "slot" in life and was more or less welcomed into the family, but her conditions had improved little since then. Her siblings still did not like her, nor did her parents, but they tolerated her quirks and her sometimes talking to people they considered "trash." Reever was intimidated by the lot as a whole and did not dare to ask for a better lot in life, nor was she keen on working on it for the moment. And so it is expected that the tension between the Songs and the "odd one out" would remain for quite awhile yet.

It should also be noted that out of everyone, Reever was the only one made to enter her name more than once in the Reaping - a way for her to make up for her inability to work as much as them, her parents claimed. Whether or not they truly saw her ability in winning the Games or simply because they wanted to get rid of her, Reever did not know. It tore her composure in two to think that she was so unimportant to them that they would wish her dead, however, so Reever fervently convinced herself that it was the former.

This lovely girl here (Kameron Walsh) is Reever's FC, made available to me by the magical Tristen!