Lani Nimmer of District 6 [FINISHED]

The best way to start out a physical description of Lani would be to say that she is skinny and tall, at least for a girl her age. This is not due to anorexia, but it might as well be. With the morphling that trickles self-inflicted through her veins, her body doesn't hunger much anymore. She hasn't felt a growl in years. She really hasn't physically felt pretty much anything in years. Her thin muscles wrap around her long bones and her tan skin on top of that, a weak display in the least; but thanks to her father for long limbs, she stands just at 5'10", and to her mother, that she has a moderate chest and hips.

It is amazing though, how much that the drug takes longer to effect on the human body. For example, even now her light hazel eyes still turn yellow in the right lighting; which they have done since she was three. Also, similarly the color of her hair has stayed the same nearly black shade, even though it still is a lot thinner than she wants it to be and in a simple straight, side-swept, layered fashion. The jaw-line of her face spreads wide and strong, while her cheekbones are high from some long ago ancestor. Most of the time, a nameless expression stays on her face, but when she has some sort of emotion her long, narrow nose will crinkle up by habit. Simple, but a genuine characteristic.

Once upon a time, Lani was a very light-hearted girl that didn't have to worry about much and loved the ones she was close too with every ounce of her being. But after that game, that very love tore her happy bubble apart and staked her right through her heart. Lani fears that pain and everything that haunts with it almost more than anything; with the exception of another one she loves dying. Perhaps she had gotten too attached, but she couldn't have helped that with her still having been in the innocence of youth. She doesn't have that now. If only she could get that back and go to a place where hurt doesn't exist.

As of now though, it does and thankfully she lives in the perfect district to help her with that. She doesn't blame her parents. How could she when they helped so much with keeping her sane? Instead she takes the slips of her release off their worried hands almost greedily and slips them in her. Numbness is not perfect, but it is better and comfortable. She'll suffice.
With the cool liquid coursing through her veins inside of her, the outside has turned into an emotionless slate. Her senses are dulled and she doesn't not pay attention to all the things she used to as the bright, happy girl fascinated by the little things that made the world alive. Maybe she still cares, deep inside. Sometimes, she find herself feeling something familiar when she looks at something or listens to somebody; and she thinks about whether it was something she cared about at one time. And then she walks on and makes sure she doesn't look back. Those familiar thoughts could be dangerous.
So how is it she is to get out of this? Or is it even possible? Does she really want to? It would be a lie for her admit that these things haven't crossed her mind before. She just can't seem to find the reason to make the first step.

There was nothing very special about the way Lani grew up in district six, but then again she was still a very special girl. While her mother was at the hospital and father in the laboratory for work, she went to school during the day and hung with her older brother pretty much all the rest of the time. Her habits consisted of mostly catching little animals, like lizards, birds, frogs, and mice; which were pretty much the only animals that existed in their urban district. She has a good knack with setting intricate traps that make little sound. Her favorite find was little green geckos that she had to use sticky sap for. She brought so many home with her all the time that her brother started calling her Gecko. Since they were around each other a lot, other people heard the nickname and started calling her it too. So, she continued growing up in this way. Learning her lessons, perfecting her traps, and above all else, being with her older brother all the time. And then reality hit her in her vulnerable spot.

When she was seven, she stood with her mother and father outside the ropes waiting for her brother's first reaping to be over so they could go check her most recent traps. That was the plan until his name on a piece of paper was pulled out of a big glass bowl and said out to the entirety of Panem. Maybe at the moment she didn't fully understand the situation of this and it seemed her brother was intent in not letting her in either. After the Reaping, they only got to speak for a few moments and she remembers that she went home upset mainly that he had left her to check the traps alone and that apparently she had to cover all his chores till he got back. The next weeks she noticed the looks she got from the teachers and other students. She noticed that her parents came home less and when they did, they could barely look at her. It made her wary and she started getting herself into trouble in order to get their attention. She also watched the TV a lot those days, so that she might be able to catch anything on her brother. See if he was winning the game. He had a knack for winning games. Since she had always been pushed away by him whenever the games came on the previous years, she was fascinated by the whole thing. The Capital was a colorful foreign place with weird people and extravagant celebrations. They never really said what those twenty-six kids were going there to do, so she was excited by it all. Then the day came when the actual games started and she was sitting there eyes glued to the TV while the announcers talked and the countdown finally reached down to zero and all twenty-six tributes ran from their platforms onto the field. Her brother ran to the cornucopia as she cheered him on and since he was swift, he made it there nearly first and bent to grab the supplies he thought were best. First mistake. A knife thudded as it pierced into his lower back and fell to the ground writhing and screaming out in pain. Second mistake. Only a moment later a large brutish career tribute ran up to him and ended his life by shattering open his skull with a brain-splattered rock. The Capital always had amazing camera skills when it came to disasters.

It definitely would have been an understatement of the year to say she was affected. Right there in a quiet living room with a flashing TV she watched the most important person she cared about die over and over again as everyone else just cheered on like she had only moments before. She had a mental break-down after that and for two months she was sent to a psychotic facility where they managed to stop her from attacking anyone and herself. They gave Lani her first doses of morphling there. When she left, she never knew that she would cling to that drug later on. She thought she would be able to deal with the hurt, but that didn't go well. Her grades were barely sufficient, she barely slept due to nightmares, and she avoided talking to people. Especially her parents, who had kinda left her to deal with herself, while they let their pain be lost in their work. The night after her first reaping, after many nights before of consideration, Lani tried her first sleeve of morphling since leaving the psych place. It was a trap set up for her, like she used to set up for all those creatures when she was little. She walked right into it. Ever since it's been like this. Her parents found out pretty easily, but they decided it was better to see her this way then in pain; so, they helped in her getting her morphling. There was always enough in the district known for its medicine. Her grades got better and she focused what thought she could pull from her drugged mind into her specialty of ecological studies. But now, over the years her body is suffering the price and she can't stop it. Nor does she really want to.

Her brother's Reaping happened before this site started it's hunger games. I made sure the years were correct. So, that aspect is clear.