erika nyqvist. d1. fin.

erika nyqvist - district one - appearance

Erika looks like she comes from money, like many people within district one. However, that's what she wants you to think. Her luxury clothes, her makeup, her skincare technique - it's all a lie, a cover-up. Underneath her luxury clothes are her rib-bones, visible and prominent. The level of starvation you think you might see from a girl in the lower districts. Underneath her makeup are eyebags, showing how exhausted she really is. But, of course no one knows about that. They aren't supposed to know about any of it.

Some of it, of course, is real. Her brown hair, that goes down to her chest, is real - not a wig. Though she's considered selling her hair for human wigs - she heard that's a way that people would make money. And she feels like she might be able to get quite a bit for hers. It's never been dyed nor bleach and it's taken care of - all part of the scam. Her nails and short and looked well groomed, but that's so she stops gnawing on them. As soon as they start growing back out you can see them get uneven due to her chewing on them. 

When out in public or in school she wears her luxury clothes, but at home? At home she doesn't. At home it's something simple, something she can actually afford to damage. As for reapings, as she's gotten older her clothes have gotten nicer and nicer. At this point she sees getting reaped her ticket to freedom. If she dies, she dies free. If she wins? She can buy her way out of debt - but more about that later,

Her hands are soft and her fingers are nimble, which is good - that much better for jewelry making. But, maybe her fingers would be thicker if she had more meat on her bones or more to eat. But, no one really thinks about that. Why would a rich girl from the wealthiest district not have enough to eat, after all? And then finally, there's the scars. When she gets nervous she chews on her lip. This has caused her bottom lip to bleed multiple times and the intense chewing has caused scaring. This was a habit that got developed after she cut her nails short to avoid chewing those.

erika nyqvist - Rdistrict one - HISTORY

Erika Nyqvist was born to two loving parents, Alethea Nyqvist (maiden name Carp) and Rune Nyqvist. Rune and Alethea ran a small jewelry store of their own as Alethea's older sister, Delia Carp, ran the much larger and more profitable store that had been passed down through the family. They family wasn't rich by any means, nor were they poor. However, one day things changed. The couple got to the jewelry store one day to find the windows smashed and the cameras disabled - it had been robbed. Nothing was left, the thieves had taken everything, even the safes they couldn't unlock. The entire business the family had worked for was gone.

Then, when Erika was about a year old, the parents could no longer afford the large house they were living in as they attempted to save up to rebuild their jewelry store. They had to move into a much smaller home, but even that was a struggle to afford. In the end Alethea ended up having to borrow a large loan at an extremely high interest rate from her older sister Delia. Delia Carp didn't care that they were family and struggling, she was never one to give hand outs. The parents used this loan to once again start making and selling their jewelry - though due to the high interest rate no matter how much they paid back Delia they were always in debt.

When Erika was five years old, tragedy struck. Her parents had been robbed at gun point. The two didn't have anything on them, the thief didn't believe them and killed them to take those valuables. The killer was never found out, though some people believe it to be the same person who robbed their store all of those years ago. Having no other relatives who could take her in, Erika was sent to live with her aunt Delia Carp. Delia, being the shrewd business woman that she is, decided that Erika's parents death was no excuse for not paying back a debt and simply pushed the debt onto Erika.

Everything that Erika had gotten from her aunt since, food, clothing, shelter had been added to that debt. She had been working for her aunt making and selling jewelry most of her life so far in an attempt to finally pay back that debt. But, she ran into the same problem that her parents did. Even without the high interest rate the cost of everything from her aunt keeps her in debt. Of course, her aunt wouldn't want the public to find out about the mistreatment of her niece - that would look horrible for her jewelry store.

That's when Erika started going to the more dangerous areas of town to make money. It started off with simply singing with a tin cup for donations, but that wasn't near enough. She wanted a way to make money on her own so once she turned 18 she could leave her aunts house. Whatever profit she makes selling jewelry, her aunt would just take. So she does whatever odd jobs she can find. It helps that she doesn't look like the type that would do any illegal business, no one suspects her. No one suspects her to be laundering counterfeit money in your business or to be delivering drugs throughout the district. Luckily she hasn't been caught yet, but time is ticking and she's agreeing to more and more risky jobs the closer she gets to her eighteenth birthday and to freedom.