Cornelia Terra

## Upbringing

Growing up, the world had always been just a little bit off kilter. Given the name Cornelius after being born to a Peacekeeper father and a District government official mother, life had always had a specific direction, a norm that society had already dictated while the child had still been in the womb. An Academy education, and then it was either volunteering for the Games or rerouting to become a Peacekeeper.

But even while the young boy stayed on his predetermined path, everything was always off. Inexplicable at first, before it began to become clearer when he hit puberty. And knowing that he would’ve much rather walked around the hallways in a skirt or a dress, or strut down the street in a pair of heels that his mother would’ve called much too high, and entirely inappropriate for a boy. After all, that was who she had raised. Cornelius was sure neither of his parents would approve, and that made him too afraid to speak up. It left him in a seemingly permanent state of restlessness. He was living in rooms where the pictures hung crooked and he could never stand up to right them. No matter what, they’d slip to the left, or to the right. He was walking on a permanent rising slope, and it was exhausting to keep up the same pace. One foot in front of the other while wearing the wrong pair of shoes for the trek.

It took him years before he couldn’t take it any longer. Cornelius felt like he could hardly breathe while he sat down with his mother and told her first. Halfway through the lengthy conversation, his father returned from work and joined in. For hours, he’d sat there with tension and anxiety, talking and talking like his life depended on it. And it did. Once the last word had tumbled over his lips, the pictures soundlessly righted themselves. The slope became an even road to walk on. As if by a miracle, his parents understood without much talk against it.

From one moment to the next, Cornelia was free.

Cornelia had always excelled at handling weapons. Especially with a sword, she spent hours upon hours training. Now that there was nothing else missing from her very being, everything else came to her much easier as well. She was kinder to herself, clearer with her goals, more confident in her step and her actions. Though, that did not mean that everyone was kind to her as well.

## 132nd Reaping

Many of her friends had been quick and ready to accept that the boy they’d befriended had finally grown into herself, because really nothing had changed except for the fact that she could freely be herself now. But not everyone could see it that way. Even if Cornelia, at her very core, was still the same person, in the eyes of some she had suddenly become weaker. Less capable at handling a sword and fighting to win in the Arena. Unfit to volunteer and survive. Cornelia knew what she was capable of better than anyone else in the world, and the myriad of assumptions bullied her out of rational thought. It angered her into over-confidence instead.

She’d show them that she’d always been the same person, only now she could project it to the outside as well. Prove that there was hardly anyone more capable than Cornelia Terra to compete for the victory spot.

Defying any and all wishes from the Academy officials for who was to volunteer, Cornelia raised her hand during the reaping for the 132nd Hunger Games.

## Personality

Cornelia is confident and self-assured, but hardly ever to an arrogant degree. After years of discomfort, she’d learned that there was nothing better she could do for herself than to know what she wanted and boldly reach for it. She encourages almost out of habit; herself as well as others. Even when situations are hopeless, she reassures. At times, stubbornness peeks through the positivity, anger as well as an unshakable desperation to hold onto things and not let them go.