InsaneJournal

Katniss Everdeen
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay / Books.
PRONOUNS. She/Her
SPECIES. Human
AGE/DOB. 19/May 8th.
BIRTHPLACE. District Twelve, Panem.
OCCUPATION. Hunter & Gatherer. Victor.

CONTENT WARNINGS.PTSD, intrusive memories, hallucinations, insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, depression, violence, children forced to fight to the death, death, bombing of civilians including children, injuries including burns, sibling death, parent death, burn phobia, hunger phobia, food insecurity, starvation, dehydration, fears around food, claustrophobia, mutated animals, hunting, trapping, fishing,weapon use, murder.

MEDIUM. The Hunger Games novels with the movie PB.
CANON POINT. Towards the end of Mockingjay - after she had the nightmare about the ashes, before she saw that Peeta was back.
ALTERNATES. Maybe? Check with me.
PLAYED BY. Jennifer Lawrence
CONTACT. Dropbox

CREEPYPASTA. I understand.

Warnings: PTSD, intrusive memories, hallucinations, insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, depression

Katniss tends to be quiet.  For much of her life, she had to constantly work at keeping her family alive.  This created a need in her to constantly focus her attention on the most pressuring issues.  Social niceties, such as small talk were never a priority.  Later, there were times when she needed to be social, charming, persuasive, and even act as a spokesperson.  Those were never roles she chose and she struggled to fulfil them. With that part of her life over, she tends to say little except what she needs to, especially with strangers. With close friends and family, it's easier for her to open up and share what's on her mind.

In addition to being quiet, Katniss appears to be very reserved and uncaring.  She can be short with people, sarcastic and even unkind.  Her sense of humour can be dark. She has a strong sense of owing and being owed, and never wants to owe favours.  She had to close herself off from her concern for others, to focus on feeding her own family, to fight in the games, etc. 

It should be noted that Katniss' compassion for others still exists.  It takes a strong connection such as with Rue, or a powerful event, such as visiting a makeshift hospital, for her to show this compassion outright.  It can be seen on a smaller scale in her day to day life, if one is watching for it.  Anyone that reminds her of her sister, as Rue did, can break through her emotional walls and is far more likely to see her compassionate side openly.

Katniss is a realist.   She had no illusions about her odds in the hunger games, or in any of the situations she faced afterwards.  It may appear at times that she holds hopes, but she is simply practical.  She knows the actions she takes can be unlikely to work.  She also knows they are better than the alternative of doing nothing. Knowing what needs to be done, makes her brave and determined.   She is not strictly a survivor, she is very capable of self-sacrifice. Whether the cause is herself, a loved one, or a greater good, she is a fighter.

While Katniss is incredibly mentally strong, she has struggles with mental health.  She has been through a great deal of trauma.  She experiences sudden unwanted memories that may come to her in the form of unwanted thoughts.  They also come in the form of short hallucinations, visual or auditory. for example, hunting and seeing a deer as a tribute as she is lining up her shot.  Or hearing sounds that aren't there, such as hearing a shovel after a nightmare about being buried alive.  She has difficulty sleeping and is prone to nightmares so real that they are difficult to shake when she wakes up.    She carries a great deal of guilt for all the lives she wasn't able to save.  She has attacks of anxiety that can make her physically ill.  She once suffered through a period of depression where she was willing to give up on life, however that passed when she was released back to district 12. 


Wiki History

Moment of Pride

Katniss' biggest moment of pride was volunteering to take her sister's place as tribute in the hunger games.  When her sister's name was called, she was only quiet for a moment out of shock.  As soon as she saw her sister walking up to the stage, she was pulled out of her daze and went into action.  She rushed through the crowd, calling her sister's name.  She reached her sister, moving between her and the stage and volunteered as tribute.   She was terrified at the prospect of competing in the games as any tribute from her district would be, never thinking she'd have a chance against the careers.  She was certain she was volunteering for her own death. She knew she'd kill as anyone would when fighting for their life and dreaded having to take lives.  Those fears didn't stop her.  She saved her sister's life. 

As Katniss looks back on her life, through all of accomplishments - there were times when she saved other lives and there were times when she might have saved many lives.  They hold little meaning for her.  She sees most of them as what had to be done or the result of being caught in a cycle of violence. None of those moments, not even Peeta and the berries, or stopping Snow, compared to saving Prim in that moment.  She has questions, the never ending what-ifs, such as what if she hadn't shown a sign of rebellion with the berries - could there have been a peaceful transition with those who wanted change.  Or could the war against Snow been fought differently, with fewer lives lost, especially her sister's life.  She knows there was nothing she would have done differently on that reaping day.  She only takes pride in it.

Moment of Regret

 Katniss's biggest regret is that she was unable to save her sister's life later on.  Katniss was caught up in a crowd, near a spot where Capitol children refugees had been barricaded off.  An aircraft dropped small parcels to the children, ones that resembled gifts given from sponsors to tributes in the games.   The refugees naturally grabbed up the parcels, thinking they'd be similar supplies.  Some of the packages exploded.  Most of the children were instantly killed.  Others were left severely wounded.  A group of medics rushed in, including her sister, Prim.  It was all too familiar.  Katniss was again moving though a crowd to get to her sister, again yelling out for her, calling her name.  She had almost reached her when the rest of the bombs went off.  Prim was killed in the explosion, and Katniss was badly injured.

Katniss deeply regrets that she didn't reach her sister in time and questions if she could arrive there sooner.  She carries her guilt and grief around with her constantly.  The incident spoke to a larger issue as well.  With everything she'd been through and done, it had been for nothing.  She failed in her original goal of saving Prim.  Moreover, she learned that it was Coin, and not Snow, who had carried out the bombing. It spoke to a larger pattern of all the violence being for nothing.  She killed Coin and gave Panem a chance to find better leadership.  Yet a part of her still wonders if the violence is inevitable.  She also thinks over all her negative experiences with Coin, and if she should have known the woman was capable of such an atrocious act.  She wonders if she could have prevented it all.  It is her biggest regret.

GAME ENTRY. Katniss was running as fast as she could, away from the lingering sound of the shovel from her dreams. She was being buried alive in a grave; all the ghosts of her past were helping to heap ashes from the ruins on top of her. The faces of those she'd seen die were no longer in front of her eyes. But she could swear she still heard the shovel, piling more ashes on her. She burst out the front door and ran directly into a fog. When it cleared, she was in the middle of the park and still running.

SECRET: She was never in love with Peeta or Gale. Katniss once overheard a conversation between them both, where it was said that she'd choose which of them she couldn't survive without.  She was offended at the way it made her seem uncaring, almost ruthless that her survival would mean more than them or her own feelings.   She quickly made a decision that she could survive without either of them.  With more reflection, she came to see Gale as representing passion in her life and Peeta as representing stability. It could never work with Gale. She could see herself with Peeta, he was suitable and practical.  She could grow into a loving relationship with him.  However, she realized she was never in love with either of them.  She wants to experience both passion and stability with the same person. That last part is a head cannon.

FEAR: Burns . Katniss' mother provided medical care to the other poor citizens of their district.  Katniss did not like seeing others in pain and suffering.  She would often leave the room or even the house while her mother worked.  She would still see patients as they were brought inside the house.  The worst patients to her were always the ones with burns.  She believed they were the most painful injuries possible, even before she'd had a bad burn herself.  She experienced being burned in the first hunger games, and later was badly burned in a bombing that killed her sister.  In addition to the physical recovery, she had to recover psychologically.  Being burned became permanently linked in her mind to the death of her sister.   

When she thinks about being burned, she experiences tremendous anxiety.  When she sees someone who is burned, she feels the same anxiety, even though there is no threat of a burn spreading to her.  She may run away from a burned person and not be able to offer help. 

This is not a fear of fire.  She can handle being around a fire under her own control easily, such as a fire she is using to cook.  Once she trusted Cinna, she was able to wear his outfits that included an optical illusion of fire with ease.  She would be annoyed by anyone being irresponsible with fire, and naturally has a nervousness around wildfires. 

FEAR: Hunger and Thirst. Katniss experienced a lack of food as a child.  Her father died and her mother slipped into a deep depression.  There was no assistance provided for those in need, other than a threat of Prim being sent away to live in a group home.  After her father's death, her family went without food until she took it upon herself to find plants and hunt. There was a tremendous pressure on her to provide not only for herself, but for her whole family. In both hunger games, she experienced starvation and dehydration.  In District 13, food was strictly rationed and given at set times.  When she was allowed to hunt, she was expected to give the meat to the district kitchen. 

  All of those experiences have left Katniss with a fear of going hungry and thirsty. She'd rather die quickly, such as from a bullet than starve. While this may not cause as much anxiety as her other fears, it may affect her behaviour.  She may need to make sure her kitchen is in order so food is stocked doesn't spoil, checked and rechecking it, she may plan out meals for days in advance to be certain she'll have enough, she may include hunting in her life in Dunwich even if not strictly needed, etc.

PHOBIA: Claustrophobia Katniss' father died in a mining accident when she was a child. While she did not actually witness it, knowing how it happened left her with a lingering mental image of her father trapped underground as he died.  She has a fear of small spaces as a result. They make her feel confined, anxious, and as doomed as her father was.   She is able to overcome this fear and function when needed, such as to move through a tunnel.  There are rare occasions when she prefers a smaller space, such as hiding in a closet to escape the world around her.

COMPLICATION: Lobstrosities The lobstrosities remind her of mutts and make her uncomfortable. While this is not as powerful as her other fears, she will avoid them as much as possible.

SKILL: Survival Katniss is talented at finding sources of food, finding sources of water, hunting, trapping, fishing, identifying edible plants, identifying medicinal plants, creating and finding shelter, protecting herself from a variety of weather conditions, etc.   She knows how to track people and animals.  She can be very stealthy and observe an enemy without being spotted.   She has first aid skills.  She can survive in a number of different circumstances. 

SKILL: Weapon Use Katniss is very skilled with a bow and arrow and able to hit very small moving targets.  She also has experiences with throwing weapons such as knives. 

Skill: Singing   Katniss has a naturally beautiful singing voice. 

She is entering the game straight from running out of her home after a nightmare and has no special items with her.

OOC. NAME. Laura PRONOUNS. she/her TZ. Eastern UTC/GMT -5
DISCORD. laura7779 (not used often, e-mail or dropbox preferred) EMAIL. laura_suzuki@zoho.com CDJ.N/A