Cordelia Culm

## Bio

*Cordelia Culm (she/her). District Twelve Tribute. 25. Kiana Madeira*.

**What was their childhood like?**

Music, dance, merriment surrounded Cordelia from birth. The daughter of a generations of street performers – her parents, grandparents, her grandparents’ parents. It went back longer than she could trace, far enough she could track it past the Dark Days. Back then people who lived in places like the outer districts could afford to sing, sculpt, draw, act. Still, her family performed, in the streets, taking to each hamlet, corner, holler of Twelve with their act – using the Games as a chance to sit, rest, rejuvenate – their only off-season. Cordelia loved to dance, she found the expression freeing, opening her world up to a way of expression that didn’t require her to bog herself down in feeling and words, she could just release by each stretch of her muscle and adjustment of her vertebrae. Song, however, was a close second – even without lyrics, it felt like the socially acceptable alternative to screaming. And lots of things in Panem made her want to scream; corruption from Peacekeepers, the hunger throughout Twelve, the Games. Every time she saw a Peacekeeper lay their hands on someone, she thought about doing the same to them, but that wouldn’t’ve brought Cordelia anything other than death. So, she chose to perform instead.

Cordelia always knew performing was the reason her family struggled to get by, watching her older sisters, Lavinia and Regan, take out tesserae just to help them make it through another day. As she aged though, she thought of what tesserae could condemn someone to – the Games were ever looming and while no one in Twelve necessarily could get completely out of the slaughter, but Cordelia found a workaround to at least lessen her odds. At the age of fourteen Cordelia took to pickpocketing, finding ways to use her looks and her art to provide ample distraction: she’d pluck money, food, jewelry – anything she could get her hands on just to ease her family through another day. And…she was good at it; sleight of hand became habit, a way of life. She never took too much, but always guaranteed to have just enough to at least allow herself a small portion of food so no one else would need to worry about feeding her – she could take care of herself. Then, there was the cruel twist of fate, despite everything Cordelia had done to force back the beast, she was Reaped, just a month short of being ineligible, what kind of cruel fate was that?

**How do they feel about the Games**

Cordelia, always approached the Games with morbid curiosity – what were they meant to learn by a legion of dead adolescents? She didn’t understand how that was meant to ingrain a sense of pride or belonging to a country that seemed to only want to starve out its poorest residents. Regardless, Cordelia felt as if there was no use in fighting it – the Games were the stasis, the way things always were, the way things always would be. If people approached it calmly, perhaps they’d have a better chance at making it out alive. Cordelia viewed panicking over being Reaped as a moot point when she could simply make it the biggest performance of a lifetime.

**What is their personality like?**

If there was something deeper than down to Earth, perhaps that was Cordelia. It took a lot to shake her, uproot her from anything other than calm. Of course, like most people she experienced the wide breadth of human emotion but very rarely, if ever, anger. It didn’t serve her to lash out at others when she could approach them with ease and kindness, get to the root cause of what made people tick. Cordelia is a people watcher, she easily reads body language, often adjusting her approach to either endear herself or at least make it seem like she was listening, attentive, non-judgmental. Her humor is dry, finding a vague delight in teasing others when there are people to be sincere with – or at the very least people she feels she can read like a book.

**What is their district token?**

A pearl necklace, passed down generation by generation, something that allegedly existed before the dark days.

**Three strengths and three weaknesses.**

+ bright, warm, stealthy

– proud, hubristic, disconnected

*PENNED BY: RAMONA*