Juniper Allerdyce // District 6

Name: Juniper Allerdyce
Age: 13
Gender: Female
District/Area: District 6
Appearance:

Juniper stands to about five foot one inch in height and is built with a lot more muscle than an average thirteen-year-old due to many months of long distance running practice. Her legs are long in proportion to her body and are dotted with bruises from her many trips and falls while out running. On Juniper's right foot there is an underdeveloped extra toe that is too small for there to be any point in removing it - not that her family could afford the cost of the procedure, anyway.

Juniper's face is oval-shaped, her chin more round that pointed. Her eyes, which are of a very dark blue color, are angled slightly. Her eyelashes are fairly long in length, as are her eyebrows, which Juniper has no interest in trimming or grooming. Her nose short, the nostrils flaring outwards ever so slightly. She was not lucky enough to be given the gift of perfect teeth; they overlap each other in places and are angled awkwardly. To hide this, Juniper tries to always smile with her mouth closed.

Juniper's hair is dark brown and falls to just below her shoulder blades. It isn't particularly shiny or soft, and becomes frizzy incredibly easily. In an attempt to keep it under control, she usually wears her hair in two tight braids tied at the ends with bows made of string.

Personality:

Juniper usually prefers to keep to herself, having no more than two close friends at a time. Perhaps this is why she took so well to running rather than to a team sport of some sort. Juniper always hated the idea of having to carry the weight of a team on her shoulders, not understanding that in a team, the weight should be shared. In her mind, with sports in which you compete alone, you have only your own performance to worry about, rather than that of an entire group of players hanging on your every move.

Juniper is fiercely determined. If there is something she wants to achieve, she will do anything in her power to get there, and if her goal isn't reached she will often beat herself up for days over it. This trait is both a blessing and a curse; while it means that there is no doubt Juniper will work hard for things, on occasions when her determination doesn't pay off in the end, it can hugely damage her self-esteem.

Aside from running, Juniper's passions include learning. She has a great curiosity that is never satisfied for long and her ability to retain information is a talent she is proud of. However, this does not mean that Juniper does well in school as she strongly dislikes being told what to learn about and would rather research things of her own interest. This, coupled with Juniper's stubbornness, is a recipe for disaster for disaster with her teachers with whom she constantly finds herself arguing with.

History:

Juniper's first memory is of her older brother, Garric, who can't have been older than 10 at the time, holding her hand as they walked through a busy street together. She remembered seeing a tall man dressed in white armour - who she now knew was a peacekeeper - hitting a girl not much older than Garric across the face, causing blood to run heavily from her nose. As the blood dripped down onto the front of the girl's blouse, Juniper, being quite the three-year-old justice warrior, had opened her mouth to shout at the peacekeeper. Garric had picked her up then and ran the short journey back home, not putting her down until they were inside. He told her not to talk to the 'people in white' and that if she ever saw one of them hurt someone again, she had to go straight back home because 'it might get scary'.

Seven years after that incident, Garric was at his umpteenth reaping. By this time, Juniper was more than old enough to understand what was happening and to be terrified by it. Even though Garric's name was only in there once and that the chance of him being reaped was close to none, the fear was no less intense. In the end, her brother wasn't reaped. Everything was going to be okay for at least another year.
Then, on the walk back home, Garric slipped and fell. He hit his head off the ground, got a concussion and died a few hours later, just like that. One moment, his life had been saved, and the next, it had been stolen.

That was the year Juniper started long distance running. Her brother had been gone for more than a month and the grief still felt fresh. It was all she could think about. Her performance in school plummeted. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't study, she wouldn't even argue with her teachers anymore. That was why the school suggested Juniper take up a hobby to distract herself and help her move on from Garric's death. That's the reason she chose running. As though every step she ran would distance her from the pain, and eventually, it worked.

Codeword: oDair
Other: I've never done one of these before, so if there are any mistakes or bits that need changed, I'll be happy to sort them out!