Diana Silk

## bio

*Diana Silk (she/her). D8 Mentor. 112th Victor. Twenty-six. Hande Ercel.*

* What was their childhood like?

Childhood is not a word Diana understands. She was a child, of course. The firstborn of two poor factory workers that had no business procreating; who seemed to do so in defiance of means and odds. After her, and within a few years, came two brothers. And they were, by definition, children but they weren’t childish. They were stitching at their father’s feet once their hands were clever enough to work a needle. Diana went about mixing dye vats by the time she was eight, her hands cracking from the chemicals.

The happiness in those years, seeps in from the edges. Nights in candlelight with her mother playing the Tar, or games of knucklebones with her brothers. A few lost minutes to doodle in the corners of a notebook. By the time her name hit the reaping bowl she was a full time worker in eight, schooling forgotten.

* How did they feel about the games before being reaped?

She grew up with a healthy respect for the games. They were brutal and terrifying and, to a girl from 8, practically a death sentence. In all of that, however she was observant of those that succeeded and the victors they became.

* What was their trajectory in the arena & how did they win their game?

Diana didn’t amaze in the capitol. Not at first. She was small, underfed at fifteen, and vastly overshadowed by the careers. What she gave to the capitol though, was an easy charm. The itch at the back of their head that said she was a sweet girl. The words, “what a shame about that one” were spoken by the escorts, the stylists, and the sponsors. It wasn’t a grand scheme so much as a girl who knew how to please, and would do so to the end.

The tributes were dressed in traditional folklore outfits. The girl in embroidered dresses and bloomers, the boys in breeches and vests. They were lifted into holes in the ground, lined by earth and roots. Each was deep enough to obscure any view of the arena. For the countdown, all anyone had to view was a clear blue sky and clouds. Some tributes, in confusion did try to climb out of their holes before the buzzer, and were summarily buried alive. Diana held her ground until the launch and then climbed ten feet to the arena.

These games wouldn’t launch to a cornucopia. Instead the tributes rose to see an enormous table set, as if for tea, and piled high with food. There were no weapons and there would be none throughout the games. Instead, in this wonderland, death would be doled out personally. A tribute may use a blunt rock or fist to draw blood, but such attacks were dangerous, because throughout the arena were mutts. Each docile, sweet even, and each turned feral at the scent or sight of blood. If a tribute wished to kill in that manner, they would need to be quick about it and careful. Even a drop of blood on their own uniform could invite a mutt.

With that in mind, the bloodbath was a resounding failure for the careers. Diana took the advice of her trainers and fled the scene, running deep into the surrounding woods and meadows. The arena was beautiful, filled with fantastically sized mushrooms and quaint little cottages. It was built carefully and in the spirit that any little nick or cut on a branch might spell the end for a tribute. At the far end of the arena, across a gently flowing river, was a white stone castle.

Diana allied with her district partner, a boy in his later teens named Gingham. They went far from the bloodbath and deep into the woods. And they weren’t alone for long. A large cat mutt took interest in them, and though they were at first wary, it appeared meek. They found wild fruit in the woods that tasted of cotton candy, even ones that turned their voices squeaky as if they’d sucked in a balloon. They spent one night curled together behind a cottage, the cat pacing by the gate with pleasant purrs. The next morning, they ran across an older tribute from four who rushed them. Diana fled into the cottage as Gingham wrestled with the other tribute, as he cracked his nose and drew blood. And as the cat turned quickly into a predator. Both boys were killed quickly, two cannons sounding as their screams filtered out. Diana spent hours upon hours hunched in a corner of that cottage as that cat scratched at the door. With the sun about to set, she resigned herself to dying with the light. She unlatched the door to find the the mutt curled into a nap, returned to it’s meek nature now that the other tributes were gone and the blood dried. A gift arrived not long after from her mentor.

*Don’t let yourself bleed.*

Throughout the rest of the games, Diana was followed by this cat. It would sleep curled at her feet and take food from her hands with a scratchy tongue. Despite herself, she grew almost fond of the creature. She began to see it as an asset.

She would take no other allies throughout the games. Instead she would weather them alone. The gamemaker’s events were increasingly fanatic. On the third day an infestation of caterpillars ate most of the edible food in the arena, before sealing themselves into cocoons. On the fourth these burst open into fruits that, when eaten, gave tributes wild hallucinations. As time dragged forth, the tribute would hear laughter between the trees and music from the castle walls. Diana, like any tribute that wished to survive, found inventive ways to protect herself. She ripped a piece of her silk underskirt into a thick strip and for the rest of the games she would use this to strangle her victims. She wasn’t a productive killer, she didn’t go hunting and decided wisely instead to wait out the tributes. Let her competition do most of the hard work. But sometimes - well, no one leaves the games innocents.

Her first kill was a girl from three hallucinating and wild. Diana sneaked behind her, wrapped the silk about her throat and held on until she went quiet. It was easier after that. Her second was a boy from ten that she found lighting a fire. Those in the capitol began to call her the Strangler. Or even the Silk Strangler. Support and supplies started to flow her way. On the fifth day, and from a distance, Diana began to use her companion. She chipped a rock into a sharp point and went on the offensive. She found a girl from six by the river and using a slingshot she'd been gifted nicked her from a distance. While her mutt attacked, Diana dove into the river and swam to the other side. The cat would not follow, through from the opposite riverbank it meowed plaintively.

From there on, the games drew close to the conclusion. That evening, the mutts all began to nudge the tributes toward the castle. The four remaining tributes were forced to swim across, with one being lost to drowning. The mutts were programmed not to cross. What remained after that were Diana, a tribute from three, a tribute from seven, and one from nine.

And thus, the conclusion began. The wary tributes did not initially attack each other. Every surface was rough and likely to break the skin. Instead they traveled into the castle’s courtyard and the gates swung closed behind them. Here, trapped together, it began to rain rose petals and blood. And that was when the chaos began. A baptism of blood to end the games.

They attacked each other. The fight is a blur for Diana, one that she recalls only in terrible flashes. She remembers knocking one tribute’s head against the wall, though how many times is a blur. And she remembers the end, when she wrapped herself like a snake around a boy twice her size and held the piece of silk tight to his neck, and how eventually he stopped moving.

The final cannon sounded and she was lifted from the arena as the victor of the 116th games.

* How were they affected by their experiences in the game?

To this day, Diana keeps a vigilant, borderline obsessive care over personal hygiene and injury. She has dealt with panic attacks over paper cuts and bloody noses, though time has taught her mechanisms to deal with the fear.

After her crowning, she returned to an overwhelmed family. She was quick to tune out her own trauma and tune into theirs. She projected herself as collected, cried when her mother needed her to, and played with her brothers just as she had before. They moved together to the victor’s village and stationed themselves to help eight in whatever ways were available.

Diana was immensely popular in the capitol. She dazzled in one-to-one conversations with sponsors where she could canoodle them right out of a savings account. She made appearances on several talk shows and competed in a bake off with other celebrities. In private, she made loyal friends that she could be honest and brutal with, but in public she was nothing more than the perfect victor. Someone Snow might just invite in for the holidays.

In time, Diana would use her position to garner her brothers jobs in the capitol. One within the entertainment business, the other at university. She wanted them to have the best mobility and independence she could provide.

* What are they like as a mentor?

Diana is a considerate and hard-working mentor. She is quick to bend to her tributes needs and become the mentor they most need. If the younger ones need a shoulder to cry on she can offer it, if others need practicality she will give it.

But District 8 historically has a poor record in the games. She often goes into any season discouraged and prepared for these losses. She doesn’t typically allow herself to grow too attached to any face. To remember each name would be to remember each casket and that’s a weight her heart simply can’t bear.

* What is their personality?

Diana is a people pleaser. She can mold herself into what others need her to be. Want a no-nonsense discussion on a tribute odds? Done. Want a cheerleader? Done. Want to grab dinner at the best seafood restaurant in the capitol? Well, her allergy is only mild and the tributes do need sponsorships. What lies underneath all that, is someone who learned quickly this was the best way to survive. She’s got a lot of anger and frustration buried. When pushed, she’ll put her foot down and let her tone bite just this side of rude.

She is, to those she loves, a loyal sister and friend. She will go to great lengths and risk her own safety.

* Three strengths and three weaknesses.

Strengths: Versatile, sagacious, supportive

Weaknesses: perfidious, nihilistic, paranoid

PENNED BY: Kate