Azure Doyle- District One (18)
I always knew I was number one. I was born in One. I was a first child. Fighting came easy to me and the world was my oyster.
My parents weren't sold on the Academy at first. They didn't want me risking my looks and my talent fighting smelly boneheads after school every day. I had to convince them that being a Victor would bring me more fame and glory than being a cheap celebrity. They never could deny me anything. I set out to storm the place and show them true talent.
There were more weapons there than I knew what to do with. I started with the intent to master them all, but my first taste of humility came when I almost cut my finger off with a double-handed sword. Better a master of one than a jack in all, so I started narrowing things down. The spiked mace was too thuggish, the spear too cliché. When I held the thin, iridescent throwing knife, I knew I'd found my match. It was subtle, delicately curved, light, and lethal. It was just like me.
Outliers fear the Careers and call us brutal. We're nothing that everyone else isn't. Everyone wonders what it would be like to run a knife through flesh and watch life change imperceptibly into death. My blood stirred when I hit my first target. It burned when I pinned my partner to the ground and held my blade to his throat. We took the Games and made them ours. They wanted to destroy us by making us kill. We took their chance to murder without blame and used it to fulfill our fantasies. We were what they made us, and they couldn't blame us for enjoying it
The Capitol felt like home to me. I relished the attention of thousands of adoring fans. I bathed in the luxury and preened in the jewel-covered tunic I wore in the parade. The sessions and interviews were all I'd ever dreamed of. I charmed the crowd and gained the fame I so deserved.
The night before the Games, my stomach churned for the first time in years. This was all a mistake. This couldn't be happening. I should just go home. I shuddered under my blankets and dreaded the seconds that never stopped ticking by. I was supposed to be the best. What if it was ruined in the blink of an eye?
When the platform rose, it was do or die. Adrenaline mixed with nerves and I trembled with anticipation. The Arena faded around me when I saw the knives in the Cornucopia. Sound roared in my ears as I ran for them and one flew into my hand. My arm flexed and a blade soared through the air and landed in the forehead of a girl running my way. It was a piece of cake.
I don't know what Azure looks like. Appearance and ethnicity is up in the air.