Ianthe's Aesthetic
IANTHE BERENGY
DISTRICT 6
F / 16 / WOC: Yo-yo, mace / Reaped
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Ianthe is a 16-year-old girl from District 6. She lives alone with her father since her mother died from an accident in the workshops. Ianthe lives in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the district and for the last two years she has been forced to ask for tesserae. She doesn't have many friends, only one, Henry her best friend. Ianthe is not a very open person and the rest of the people her age just ignored her. She was just one more hungry girl whose father worked hard and didn't earn enough. Anyway, she still enjoys solitude. In the face of everything, she is a very smart girl who knows how to adapt to situations. Not for nothing she had survived in a filthy house with barely enough to eat. Her father works long hours in the workshop and Ianthe has started helping him out for a few years. However, in her free time, what she likes to do the most is to assemble and disassemble any device that she finds lying on the floor and that she is able to transform into something completely different and useful. Her father always tells her that she is destined for doing great things.
THE REAPING
And again, the day of the reaping day arrives, year after year. This morning I had a crust of bread for breakfast and I put on the cleanest dress I have, although it cost my father a lot of money, the dress is quite old. I don't mind, though. I appreciate being able to wear something without shreds. Dad gave me a kiss on the forehead before leaving for the plaza and said: “Remember, you are destined to do great things.” I think he was about to cry. And that made me falter for a moment, but my mind has since recomposed. I can only think that I am very nervous, I have had to ask for tesserae this past year and that does not help me. The woman from the Capitol begins to give her speech, the same one from all the damn years. I want to run out of here, it's the only thing that comes to my mind right now. I look at my best friend Henry and I know that he is terrified, he has little left to start shaking.
Before I realise it, the woman reaches into the bowl with the girls' names and pulls out a piece of paper: Ianthe Berengy. My legs do not respond to me and thousands of horrible images pass through my mind. But I can't let that stop me. Not now, I can't seem devilish. So I head to the stage with determination, I know too well that no one will volunteer.
Ianthe's Reaping Outfit
THE TRIBUTE PARADE
The doors open and the float from District 6 takes the stage. The noise disturbs me. Shouts and cheers everywhere, calling out our names and blowing kisses. My stylist says that my dress will attract attention, I really like it, although the truth is that I have never liked to attract attention, but if that makes me able to get sponsors, I will. The nerves of the beginning have turned to stupefaction. I shake my hand shyly. I know from my image on the screens that my face is pure astonishment. I have never seen so many colors, so many people and so much noise in one place, not even at the district train station at rush hour. It's impressive, thousands of questions won't stop coming to my mind about everything around me. Beside me, Maxwell seems unperturbed, but I can't stop looking at everything with infinite curiosity. What are all those people thinking about us? How much do they want to see us die? Will they already have their favorite?
Ianthe's Parade Outfit
TRAINING
Ianthe received a training score of 12
TRAINING DAYS
The first day of training arrives and I get up early to attend the training center. The first thing I see are the other tributes. We are 24 very different people, but most of them are much bigger and stronger than me. Okay, that, at first glance, is not an advantage, but I sure can get something good out of it. Being the first day I decide to go to the survival skills station where I learn many things that will be useful to me in the arena, such as the thousands of ways there are to make a fire. I also go to the knot station, it's honestly one of my favorites. On the second day, a station with many scattered pieces catches my attention, I go to ask a trainer and they tell me that it is a simple table with old and broken pots in case a tribute needs them to break them in some activity. Among so many things I find... a wooden yo-yo! I remember that I used to play with one when I was little, I hardly had toys but that was my favorite.
I start to play with it a bit to distract myself and do a few complicated tricks with it, I was really good, very good, so much so that even I forgot anything... a crazy idea crosses my mind. It's really crazy but ... it could work! I press the yo-yo against my hand and look up, Maxwell looks at me strangely from the other side of the room, if he knew what just occurred to me, he would also think it was crazy, but there is no going back. I take a hammer from the weapons section and I start breaking metal plates that were on the gadget table, I think several tributes look at me as if I had gone completely crazy, but it does not matter. I've been working on this all day, as if it were one of the machines that dad fixes, I just need a thread that I found in the cheat section and ... I have it! The last day I spent perfecting my yo-yo and I dare to go to the weapons post. I try some knives and a bow, but the truth is that I'm not very good.
Finally, after checking the yo-yo for the fifth time and repeating all my calculations for the eighth time, I go to the edible plant stand to focus on something else and learn quite interesting things …
PRIVATE SESSION
The nerves eat me inside when they start calling us in, one by one. I want time to pass faster and at the same time I want that moment never to come. But it's my turn and it's time to do my best. I walk into the room and notice that there are many things around me, but there is not what I need - a wooden yo-yo. Shit, I need to get one. I quickly approach a trainer and ask him to please bring me one, he looks at me with a very strange face but he listens to me and in less than a minute he returns with one in hand. I no longer waste time and I go to the survival skills station and take a thread, which is used to cut parts of the body of the victim that falls into the trap, and exchange it for the simple old yo-yo thread. I check that it is well tied and works correctly. But suddenly I realize one thing: this time there is no table of things to break … But there are glass panels ... I do not doubt, I apologize to the judges and I go to one of the panels with a mallet in hand. With all the strength I have I begin to hit the glass and little by little it shatters. I think I'm messing it up a bit, but I need to get this over with. I carefully take some pieces of glass and embed them in the wood of the yo-yo. They are very sharp so I am very careful not to cut myself. Finally, I go to the edible plant stand and recirculating everything I have learned in these days, I make one of the skin poisons that they have taught us and wet the yo-yo thread. Everything is ready and the calculations are done. It's time to test the invention. I start doing some tricks with the yo-yo and ... I attack the mannequins. I manage to wind the cutting wire around the mannequin's neck and its head falls to the ground. Works! I continue with that tactic by cutting off arms and necks.
Also, embedded crystals crack many of them. When I finish a single thought runs through my mind ... you've done the most crazy madness of your life. Maybe dad was right, I'm destined to do great things and this I think has been the best so far.
INTERVIEW
Caesar: Hello Ianthe, you look amazing tonight! Tell us about your outfit.
Ianthe: Hello Caesar and hello Panem! Well my outfit is kind of simple, looking at what other tributes have done, but I think I really like it. My stylist has really managed to capture my essence and has shown it to the world.
How are you liking the Capitol so far? What’s been your favorite part?
The Capitol is quite incredible, thousands of questions have not stopped coming to my mind since I entered a week ago. Honestly ... I think that people in the districts are not capable of imagining anything like that, you have to see it with your own eyes. Everything is so... different... My favorite part has been the facilities, without a doubt. They are amazing
What do you think of the other tributes this year? Any friends to speak of, or perhaps, enemies?
Well, the competition this year is high. Most of the tributes are physically bigger and stronger than me, but that doesn't scare me so much anymore. I have also made good allies and that is a point in my favor. Regarding my enemies... well, I personally have none, in the end we are all going to die except one.
Do you think you have what it takes to become a victor? Who or what are you fighting for?
The truth is, when I came here I didn't have much to lose. My father in the district and my best friend, nothing more. But now that I'm here, with a 12 in training, the highest score... for a few moments I've allowed myself to think that maybe I can win. I guess more than anything I am fighting for myself and to survive, as I always have.
What kind of arena are you hoping for?
I do not expect anything and at the same time I expect anything from the games. I suppose some city ruins would do me good since it might look like District 6, but I don't want to have expectations.
What do you miss most from your home district? Any shoutouts for anyone back home?
Mmmmm, probably my father, we have always been together and he has supported me in everything. In fact, before coming here, he told me something that touched me: "Ianthe, my daughter, you are destined to do great things." I will carry that phrase with me during the games and from here I want to tell him something: "Dad, I will fight to the end to hug you once more, in case that does not happen... I want you to know that I love you and I am proud to be your daughter.”
Any last thoughts before we let you go?
Yes, I want you to know that even if I have a 12 in training I have not let my guard down, I am still alert. I'm going to fight, I'm not going to give up and I'm going to give it my all.
Ianthe's Interview Outfit