InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "why don't you cry about it?"

Deela Tripp (orphantribute) wrote,
@ 2011-12-13 16:55:00

Bio: Deela Tripp

Basics:

Name: Deela Tripp
Nicknames: Dee
Status: Tribute
Age: 16
District: 5
Sexuality/Relationship Status: Bisexual
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5'5
Weight: 115
Location: District 5
Training Score: Not Yet Determined
Age During Games: 16

Appearance:

Deela is of average height and slim with tanned skin, startling light green eyes, curly hair she wears long and a naturally pretty face. She's been kept to dull, cheap clothing for most of her life, but favors bright colors and fashions, given opportunity. She's naturally on the slender side and leans a little toward being too thin, since food has never been plentiful. She has a soft, husky voice that doesn't carry well unless she speaks up, which she doesn't do often.

Personality:

Deela is determined. She's smart, but not smarter than everyone, athletic, but not a star. What makes Deela stand out is an unswerving sense of focus and determination. She is, in her own controlled way, relentless. She's quick - both on her feet and in her thoughts - and adaptable. She doesn't know everything, but she learns quickly, and she doesn't give up.

An orphan raised by another orphan who served as something of a surrogate grandmother for the parentless children in her district, Deela was taught early on that nothing would ever be handed to her, and that she had to learn to smile and play nice, even when she hated those she was playing up to. She's not charming enough to be manipulative, but there is a quiet arua of innocence to Deela that is both misleading, and easily used to her advantage.

Deela is always aware of her surroundings, and how they work. She's clever about figuring out the inner workings of thing, and following lines and electrical devices to their sources. She can reconfigure power grids or shut them down with only a quick perusal.

She is thoughtful, though, and that tendency to hesitate and think things through can be a death sentence, in the Arena. Her first instinct is always to stop and look and see what can be used to her advantage. She instinctively understands strategic placement, and how to use her surroundings to her advantage. She's agile enough to climb well, and has enough stamina to run for a good distance - but when pushed, Deela will stop and think, and it's a hard habit to break.

She's neither good nor bad with people, most of the time. She doesn't know how to inspire adoration, but she's rarely stupid enough to incur anyone's wrath, either. And at heart she is generous, and wants to make friends - she just has never really trusted anyone enough to show it, save her pseudo-guardian, who is no longer there to remind her to play up.

She's a pretty girl, and she does know that well enough to make use of it, now and then, but Deela is well aware that beauty is both subjective, and fleeting, so she's never really depended on it. She's spent the last year trying to work past her fear of public speaking, but part of her is still dreading the interviews she'll have to do as a Tribute.

Deela wants to win, and while she's afraid of what might happen, she didn't regret being voted in as a Tribute, as it's the only chance she'll ever have to change her lot in life. She's ambitious enough to grab the opportunity when offered, and just rash enough that she can't help but think that she can win, but smart enough to know that it's a small chance.

History:

Deela was the first child of parents who worked in one of the district's many powerplants, her father a wiring technician and her mother in the cooling towers. Deela was just a year old when an explosion and fire at the plant left both of her parents dead. The neighbor who had looked after her while her parents' worked couldn't afford another full time mouth to feed, and Deela was sent to live with ten other orphans, who were all overseen by "Grams" Mason, a retired plant worker who looked after local orphans.

Grams was a tough, good woman who did her best by her kids. She taught them to work hard, and work early, because no one was going to look after them, or make life easy for them. Most of the children she looked after were sickly in one way or another, but Deela was strong, and clever, and while Grams never encouraged her toward the Games, she never warned her off, either. She tried to make sure that if Deela's name came up, she could handle herself the best she knew how.

There was never quite enough to eat, and Deela and the others would often end up begging - or stealing, now and then, though Grams never encouraged it. She was never one of the kids who were adept at conning people out of money or food, but she had a certain wide-eyed innocence that could sometimes convince people that she, or those with her, more often, hadn't done something that they really had.

Children work as soon as they're able, most of the time, and Deela went to work at the plants as an errand girl at first, but her easy ability to retain information and her agile hands and problem-solving led to her helping reroute power around a downed section when she was barely in her teens.

Now sixteen, Deela knows most of the computer networking systems that run Panem's power, and has studied in depth to learn how it all works, so she can help optimize and reroute and always find a job. Grams' death last year left her living with a half dozen other young women who work at the plant, and anticipating that this would be her life, from now on. She always knew there was a chance she'd end up in the Games, and she tried to train and prepare as much as possible for that, but she wasn't a Career, and it was an outside chance.

With the vote this year though, her chances moved up, and when she knew the District was meeting to discuss it, Deela made a rare, rash decision and made sure that it was known that she was willing to go. She sometimes questions the wisdom of that, but Deela still believes it's her only chance for a different sort of life, and doesn't regret it. She's leaving behind a few friends, but no family, and she knows that's why she was chosen, but she also thinks that she has a shot where a lot of other kids wouldn't, and that matters to her, too.

Family:

Denna Tripp - Mother (Deceased)
Ozo Tripp - Father (Deceased)
Grams Mason - Surrogate Grandmother (Deceased)

Skills:

Cleverness, general athleticism, and an encyclopedic knowledge of wiring and power generation and supply. Her district provides the power for the whole of Panem, and Deela knows exactly how it works, and how to shut down even complex systems, or reroute them to do as she needs them to do.

Character Questions:

Why was your character chosen by the members of their district to represent them in the games?
Deela has always been smart, and when the power cut off on two separate occasions, she managed to climb her way in to find the short and reroute around it without any difficulty, where larger men and women couldn't have gone. That combined with her status as an orphan with no real family ties made her an easy choice for Tribute, as there was no one to speak up against it and risk having their sons and daughters or family sent in her place. Their consciences were further eased by the fact that Deela was smart and athletic enough to maybe stand a chance, and seemed willing to go.

What is your character's theme song?
Matthew Good, Weapon | Gaslight Anthem, Orphans

How does your character feel about being chosen for the games?
Deela craves a life beyond what her lot has handed her, and because of that she wasn't entirely unwilling to be chosen for the Hunger Games. But now that she is, she's finding herself a good deal more afraid than she anticipated. She's not a Career, and she's not sure her skills will be usable in the Arena, and without them, she's just canon fodder. She'll do her best to work with what she has, though.

What is their one regret?
She wishes she'd spent more time with her parents, before they died. She doesn't remember much about them, save that they were loving and warm to her, and Deela wishes she'd had more time, even though their death was out of her control.

What does your character think their chances are of winning the Hunger Games?
Deela thinks it depends on the Arena. In a wilderness Arena, with no access to electricity or power sources, she'll be at a disadvantage. But if she lucks out, then she thinks she has a shot, if her nerve doesn't give out.

OOC:

Played By: Dena
CDJ:

thebodypolitic
Dropbox: Here
AIM: sonsofregret
PB: Jessica Szohr
Journal:

orphantribute
Played At: The Odds
Profile Code:

rp_tutorials
Journal Layout: lobelia @ ij
Activity Summary: As a Tribute, I'm expected to post at least a weekly narrative for her activities or log during the Games, as well as check in on the weekly post. She can interact via journals with other characters, before the games, so long as they are not her fellow Tributes from other Distracts. Lower activity will result in her moving up the kill-chain, and thus dying off sooner than scheduled, and added activity can move her further along so she lives longer.

By submitting this application for a Tribute I understand that my character has a one in twenty four chance of surviving the game and that the order of death will be determined randomly. I also understand I must post a short narrative or log with my character weekly as well as check in at the weekly mod post for Tributes or my character will be terminated out of order.