Anatalia "Annie" Morrisen | District 4 | Resub | FIN

A childhood that she doesn’t want to remember.

She spent years trying to please the man that did not care for her like she thought he should have. She was nothing more than a pawn in complex of his life that proved to serve nothing but him. A king, tyrant of the world that she lived in that she would have to watch out for carefully.

He started her in training young, and no one stopped him, because they knew what it meant to him to have a child reach the goals that he could never do himself. A victor. Someone that would go into the games and come out on top. That is what he wanted to do himself, but he aged out, in his opinion, way too soon. He was left only a couple choices, find something rewarding to do with the rest of his life, or find anyway to live for that glory that he sought.

Of course, he picked the latter.

And the moment Annie was born, she was destined for greatness in his eyes, and she would be the one to reach heights that he could never imagine, breath air that he was not worthy of, do things that he could not do.

Even if she didn’t want it.

She did not do this alone, in a sense. She grew up with her cousin, practically the same age as her. While her father might not have been the most approachable person, he did still have family, and that family did think with a brain like his. Achieve victory, clutch in in your hands, pray to something… anything to receive what you thought you were owed.

Angel didn’t much care for Career training if he was being honest, and Annie envied that in him. Because he was not of direct blood, he was not held up to the same standards that she was. She had to be perfect in every sense of the word, each attack had to hit its target, her next time had to be better than the last, her tenacity had to be pushed past what it was.

She hated every minute of it.

Well, that wasn’t completely forthcoming of her if she was being honest.

There was a part of her that liked the routine that she was put into. It was something to do, a goal to reach for at the end of the day. If she could best her previous result, she was always rewarded with something special. Whether it be an extra hour of sleep, or a couple hours past her house gate and around the ocean, it was something to look forward too.

Being able to be in the water was a privilege for her when it came to leisure. She spent plenty of time practicing her swimming, her fishing, her ability to hold her breath, but she never really did much of it for fun. It was the days when her and Angel were able to get away without her father noticing that she cherished the most, because that meant she had a chance to be the girl that she wanted to be. A normal, actual girl that could enjoy the little things.

Anything to escape the reality she lived in was welcomed in her books after all.

---

It was hard, she wasn’t going to lie about that.

The days she did not perform were the days that she hated the most, because her father would not let her break until she did just that.

If she did not give her best, she would be pushed to be better, if she could not be better, then she was punished. Her father was hard on her, and everyone had always said it was within reason. Nothing was too extreme of a punishment in four if you were considered a career after all.

Most of the children’s parents expected perfection from them, and Annie’s was, and never would be an exception to that. A standard always held over her head because her father wanted her to be the best. The best wasn’t the girl that didn’t know how to hit a target or meet a mark, the best was a girl that overcame all the hardship and rose with her head held high.

Those were words that she would always remember as she worked tirelessly to please her father, because even at a young age, she didn’t know any other way to make him happy.

It was better to just do as she was told rather than go against his wishes after all. She didn’t want to face a wrath that she could avoid if she was being honest with herself.

He did give her enough freedom, just as long as she met his high demand of her, and while it wasn’t a desirable childhood, there were other facets of it that made it a little easier.

For someone who loves the water, you sure do have a lot of fire.

Seventeen had passed and her name still hadn’t been called, so she spent the year honing her skills and took her training seriously. It didn’t take long for her father to move on from the death of his wife though.

Annie had been getting older, which meant that she wasn’t going to be reapable soon enough. He started to focus most of his attention on Beatrice, who was eleven at the time, and Annie was pretty much left to do what she wanted. There was something in her that told her she could have walked away. Took Angel and left their family and only showed up for a reaping before being officially free from all of it.

However, she couldn’t do that to Beatrice, her mother wouldn’t have wanted that, hell, even her new step-mother didn’t want that. As much as Annie didn’t care to get to know her, she could tell that she did somewhat care.

As much as someone could at the least when you marry into a family that is fucked beyond all comprehension.

She took time to get close to Beatrice, even though her father tried to take up most of her time. Annie paid attention at the times her father wouldn’t though. Gave Beatrice pointers when her father chastised her for not performing to par, told her that everything was going to be okay. She was the shoulder that Beatrice could lean on.

She started to oppose her father when she could, and he did not appreciate this one bit.

On her eighteenth birthday, her father wished her a happy birthday to her face, but behind closed doors, he told his new wife that she hoped she was reaped and died first. That an ungrateful daughter didn’t deserve to earn the glory that he was searching for.

He didn’t know that Annie had been listening behind a closed door, and she left that night and didn’t look back.

She showed up to the reaping the next day, realizing that this was her chance to prove herself or disappear.

She wasn’t sure which one she wanted more.

the fire’s aftermath is devastation.

The victory tour came soon after, and Annie wished she could have skipped it. However, this was her chance to finally come to face with some of the people she had met in the arena. It had been months since she had talked to any of her alliance, and maybe this could have been a chance for her to either confront the ones she was afraid of, listen to the ones that didn’t have much of a voice.

One: Her main priority was seeing Bette. They had talked about the most special things about their home, and Annie was certain on visiting the shop that Bette’s family had run. They stared at each other for moments before simply sitting across from each other, a cup of tea in hand as the sun had set. No words were exchanged, no sounds were made, it was just them, in the silence, admiring Bette’s favorite visage. Annie felt honored.

Two: The air felt weird, as the people of two seemed to be a bit more on edge then usual. Maybe it was because they had failed yet again, to produce another victor. Annie tried to visit Eon and Shy, but even now its still pretty blurry for her.

Three: The twins made it clear that they weren’t sure how to feel about Annie. After all, the only real interaction they had was in the bloodbath, and while Annie wanted to stick a knife deep into the girls chest, Annie let it go. She enjoyed a quiet dinner with Atticus.

Four: She spent time with Wander, teaching ver how to surf and enjoying a quiet beach party in her honor.

Five: She never really knew what happened to Minx, but Denali on the other hand, Annie had a chance to try to return the letters she had collected from the finale. At first Denali slammed the door on her, but once she offered the letters, they at least could look at each other in the eye and realize that they were just both trying to get home. Both of them had no clue they were going to make it out in the end after all.

Six: Annie made it a point to see Parson, and their reunion was quite quick. Teddy was quick to skirt Annie away. As for Quest, Annie had to return Janet to her, much to her own dismay.

Seven: Angel had done a good job of avoiding Annie, saying hi to her at the ceremony and then disappearing until the dinner at Mackenzie’s house. Lex and her spent time at the woodshop owned by Lex’s family, and as they drank beer together and talked about life, Annie worked her magic to get Lex out of trouble with the peacekeeper detail that had been assigned to her.

Eight: Annie wasn’t sure what to say to Sable, seeing as she was part of the reason why she had died in the games, and as for Oliver, Annie couldn’t believe how talkative he was. She was offered various clothing items in eight, and she simply gave them back. She didn’t deserve them.

Nine: Fiona and Maxwell had differing opinions on Annie, and she didn’t even try to combat them. By this point she was just getting tired. She wanted to be home already.

Ten: Temple and Enzo both were adopted into Mace Emberstatt’s care, and if Annie was being honest with herself, this was probably her favorite district to visit out of all of them. For once, she didn’t feel like she had anything to prove here after all.

Eleven: Annie took a moment to wish Carmen well, apologizing for calling her a baby back in the training center, she got a chance to meet the first tribute to fall in the games, but his voice was hard to understand. Rightfully so. They all looked like hell.

Twelve: Carter and Hellion both spent separate time with Annie until it was time for the dinner which they were all required to go to. Annie got to see more of Hellion’s home, and Carter promised to write her letters.

[OOC: this is just summarized at this point, I would love to get chances to flesh this out more if anyone wants to do any plotting or back threading or whatever, just let me know, my DM’s are always open]