Denver Neumann

## Bio

*Denver Neumann (she/her). Hunger Games Museum Worker. Twenty-two. Kathryn Newton*.

Denver is the eldest daughter of a Capitolite family. They aren’t the richest family, moderate by Capitol standards, but by no means of the lower Capitolite class. No, they exist in the upper echelon of Panem society, but they do so through hard work. Denver’s parents both have jobs. While plenty of big Capitolite mansions contain multiple families, they do so in a show of multigenerational wealth, a clique amongst themselves. Denver’s aunt, Jessica, has lived with the family since she was laid off following a series of crackdowns on potential rebel activity when Denver and her younger brother were little. It was the only way she could afford to maintain her place in society. Jessica’s gotten back on her feet since then, but she’s stayed with the Neumanns, which Denver is exceptionally grateful for. Denver feels closer to her aunt than anyone else in the family. And you need those bonds, you need to be close, in a society that is ready to cast you out at a moment’s notice - the Neumanns wouldn’t give society that chance.

There had been times when, as a teenager, Denver had taken her life for granted. She’d gotten lost in the parties and the clothes and the glamor of it all. She skipped school in favor of trying out the latest designer drug, and came home in the early dawn hours with an expensive frock that was ruined from whichever elaborate game she had been playing with her friends. There was a thrill of the entitled rebellion for all of them - they’d dabble in danger but go home each morning. If they got into trouble, someone’s parents were always there to get them out.

Denver never thought she went as far as the rest of them - she never played at romance or sex, always counted her drinks, never stole, and was sure to treat the avoxes with kindnesses, as though they were simply lower class Capitolites. Denver prided herself in how she cried over tributes when they died in the Hunger Games; it was important, after all, to embrace the tragedy of their noble sacrifice, or else they would have died in vain. The few times there ended up being trouble with the law, Denver had ensured that the Peacemakers knew that no one had hurt anyone or anything, and it was all just a lark in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Denver wasn’t entirely sure what was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but eventually, her parents had enough. They cut her off, after which Denver’s friends cut her out. She could no longer pay to play. The realization that Denver’s friends wouldn’t like her if she didn’t throw around money as they did hurt, but the decision that the money Denver had thrown around would need to be paid back to her family hurt more. Denver was terrified - she was proud of her parents and her Aunt Jessica, but she’d never worked a day in her life.

Initially, her plan was to stall as long as she could. She enrolled in additional schooling, and got a degree in history with a concentration on the Hunger Games. But instead of delaying her work, Denver worked harder than she ever had. She’d found all of it absolutely fascinating, and pursued her research with a passion. It made viewing the Games themselves every six months infinitely more complex and beautiful. Every facet of the Games intrigued her, and she saw its purpose, its necessity, and the intricate integration of the political and technological that made it all possible.

Her fixation came with a thrill not unlike the one she used to get chasing danger with fake friends, but this was different. She made friends with scholars and spent late nights discussing theories and eventually graduated among the top of her class. Her parents were so proud, and the task of earning a living to pay her family back that Denver had tried to put off? She couldn’t wait to get started.

It turned out, however, that Hunger Games Historian was a niche role that others had filled years before her. There were limited opportunities for her skillset, and fewer for those without experience. Denver had spent her formative years in upper class debauchery, but her true entrance into society was among the lower class, the workers of odd or unwanted jobs.

None of the work was terrible - the worst jobs went to the avoxes after all - but baking doughnuts and selling lavish jewelry were hardly passion projects. There was a disconnect, too. Denver was in the exact same career position as her coworkers, but not the same social position. It wasn’t that Denver thought herself better than them by any means, but she knew she did not have to settle for this lot in life. She had been given a gift just by the circumstances of her birth. She could be more. She wanted to be more.

When a tour guide position opened up at the Capitol Arena, Denver leapt at it so fast that she may as well have won an athletic medal for her trouble. It was a role that recognized her scholarship and rewarded it. The customers she interacted with treated her as an equal rather than a servant, and they were delighted by all of the extra tidbits that Denver knew from her research that weren’t in the official materials given by the Arena. Denver excelled, and she hoped that her joy in her work was transferred to those she walked through the ruins of the amphitheater each day.

It was, perhaps, a bit presumptuous of her to believe that she had that kind of influence, but ultimately, it was that presumption that led her to the Tower. Unbeknownst to her, one of her tour groups had a few sponsors of the Games, older Capitolites who appreciated history, and appreciated someone so young having such similar enthusiasm.

Denver was approached when she was packing to go home for the day. One of them was on the board of the Hunger Games Museum, where every Arena tour guide hoped to someday work. It was Denver’s dream to be a curator or an exhibit designer there. And as the board member was a regular sponsor of the Games themselves, they had been tasked with chairing the committee to expand the reach of the museum into the greater Capitol community. It wouldn’t be a tour guide position, nor would it be intellectually challenging, but there was a position available that the sponsor thought Denver would fit well. The Hunger Games Museum Gift Shop was establishing a kiosk in the lobby of the Games Tower, and Denver, with her background in customer service and clear passion for the Games, was the obvious choice to run it. Or so Denver assumed.

In the week leading up to the Reaping, Denver headed to the Tower to set up the kiosk, only to discover that she would be working under a manager, with a handful of other plucky young girls who wanted just as badly to move up in the world. Besides her manager, who had worked at the official Museum Gift Shop, Denver was the only one of them who came to the Tower with a working knowledge of Games history. Everyone else was simply from a retail background. Denver ended up tasked with teaching the other girls about the history and importance of most of the items they sold at the kiosk. She was effectively positioned as an assistant manager, with all the same pay and power of the girls beneath her.

Denver didn’t complain, though. She couldn’t. She worked for the Hunger Games Museum, and if she didn’t do well at this, she would be in a file somewhere, and she’d never so much as get an interview to be a curator. No, Denver wouldn’t complain. She would bide her time. She’d be kind to everyone and earn a reputation as a go-getter, and she’d get where she wanted to go soon enough.

*+ Enthusiastic, inquisitive, friendly*  *- Headstrong, shallow, opportunistic*

*Penned by: Greta*