CALICO SINGER

before calico came raffia singer. raffia was born and raised in district eight and worked in the textile factories from the moment she was old enough. she was an odd child and lonely, but she was liked by the adults for being a good quiet companion at the looms and for being efficient. raffia was orphaned at 7 when a sickness passed through the district that they were not able to contain. from that point on she was raised by her friend anya's family. raffia was 15 when she was 'reaped' for the 25th. she was voted to be their district's tribute. this stung, as only anya and her mother came to visit her before she was put on the train. while they assured raffia they had not voted for her, at the back of her mind raffia believed the reason she and her district partner had been picked was because they were both orphans. it wouldn't matter if they died, no one would be there to mourn them and they would no longer be a strain on resources. her district partner was a boy named gingham. he was seventeen years old and couldn't work. their games were the first to have a cornucopia and a specially built arena. their arena was a cave system with only a few small openings to the surface. it was dark, wet and there were many hidden places where muttations could hide. some areas were large and cavernous and others were small and confined. gingham died on the second day. raffia spent the first three days of the games hiding and trying to develop a map to the caves. because she refused to come out of hiding so few times she began to lose her mind under ground. many of the tributes did. it was hard to find food even though the gamemakers made sure to put food and water sources in the arena. multiple tributes died of starvation or dehydration. raffia won by setting a trap that pushed the last few tributes off a sharp cliff, impaling them on rocks below. what the gamemakers didn't realize because raffia was so subtle was that in order to survive raffia had cut off two of her own fingers, cauterized the wounds with fire and slowly eaten the meat off of them. it wasn't much but it kept her alive when the food sources started to run low. cannibalism was highly frowned upon so the gamemakers covered it up before they showed her off as the quell's victor by claiming they had been lost when a heavy rock fell on raffia's hand (which did happen it just wasn't what caused her to eat her fingers). they gave her fancy prosthetics and paraded her around. raffia's sanity was declining though and by the time she returned to district eight, she was a laughing stock. 

raffia had calico with a man named reed when she was nineteen years old. she raised calico on her own when reed refused to marry her. calico had a relatively happy childhood all things considered. her mother raised her in the victor's village and sent her to school like she was supposed to. calico played with other kids, but was often the butt of jokes because of her "crazy" mother. no one respected raffia for winning, and they heard rumors she'd become a cannibal despite the capitol's efforts to sanitize her win. calico tried to pay no mind to the jokes but it was hard when her life was easier than that of the other kids. when she was old enough, she insisted on taking a job in order to prove that she was like the other kids. that she was normal. from the ages of nine to eighteen, calico worked in a clothing factory, making clothes that were shipped all over the districts. she loved it and she was good at it, and some of the same people who had once praised her mom praised calico as well. 

worry seeped into the singer household when calico turned twelve. just because she was a victor's daughter didn't mean she was immune to being reaped. raffia did everything she could to shield her, refused to let her put her name in more times. they struggled sometimes, even with raffia's winnings and calico's earnings, but it didn't matter. she would not put herself in more danger. they didn't ever talk about her mother's games. it was a subject they couldn't touch in the singer household. raffia's mental health was on a steady decline throughout calico's life and she knew this was attributed to raffia's time in the arena. every year, calico and her mother dreaded reaping day. if they weren't forced to go, they likely wouldn't have. as soon as calico turned twelve, raffia refused to mentor tributes. she wouldn't even see them. more than ever she was picturing sending her daughter to die.

they thought they had made it when calico turned eighteen. the reaping ceremony was mere weeks away from her nineteenth birthday. they were almost in good spirits for the reaping ceremony of the 47th games, until calico's name was drawn. calico had to be pried way from her mother by peacekeepers and it was all caught on camera. calico's district partner was a boy name jan. he was thirteen years old. the last time calico saw her mother was when she came to visit her in the justice building. her mother was inconsolable, and even calico could recognize her mother had finally snapped. raffia's last words to her daughter "i love you, i won't send you to die." calico's to her mother were "i love you too." fearing the president might force raffia to mentor her daughter, raffia hung herself.

calico and jan were sent off to the capitol without any knowledge of what happened to her mother. they were mentored by woof, district eight's other victor. he had been friendly with raffia, but kept distance between them. now he was tasked with keeping her daughter alive and wasn't sure whether to tell calico her mother was dead. calico trained hard for her games. this was the first time she was shown her mother's games and how she won. she noted that raffia was good at camouflage, hiding and setting traps. she also noted how many tributes died of starvation and dehydration. the arenas had changed a lot since raffia's games, but she was certain and so was woof, that there would be something referencing raffia in the arena. 

during calico's interview it was revealed on live television that her mother had died but not how. condolences were offered, and calico cried. but she managed to pull herself together and resolved to win the games for her mother right there on capitol tv for everyone to see. whether she liked it or not, she put on a good show.

the arena for the 47th hunger games was an unpredictable open grassland with one large lake in the middle. there were some small thickets of trees, but little shelter. it would go dark with no warning and was filled with blood thirsty mutations, coal black that would maul the tributes. calico's strategy upon realizing this was to build a giant net. so she did. she collected grass and stripped tree branches to thick paper to re-enforce her net. and she was ready.  it wasn't the strongest, but it held long enough for her to light the mutts on fire. at one point, the gamemakers forced her into a small duggout, which audiences knew was a reference to her mother and the caves. for a long time, she protected her district partner jan and it eventually came down to calico, jan, and a district 4 tribute. in the final blood bath, calico was forced to kill jan. he was only a child and she knew any good will she had left with distract eight was gone. she should have let him win, but she didn't. she won.

she was airlifted from the arena, given a good polishing that removed all evidence the weasels had ever tried to maul her. she was crowned victor and shown off around the capitol for days. she had a huge birthday party thrown in her honor. she tried to return home to eight, but it was too miserable for her and filled with too many ghosts. after her victory tour she returned to the capitol. here she was shown off, adored and well taken care of. there were no ghosts here. as angry as she was, she did everything she could to fit in and quench that fire within her. she fell victim to snow's arrangements allowing victors of the games to be treated as sex workers. she was beautiful, smart and tragic and that made her all the more attractive to the men and women of the capitol. calico learned to put up with it, learned how to please people and give them the version of her they wanted. she also learned how to leave her body when she had to. calico became one of the capitol's favorite's because she was always there. she rarely returned home and she was always fun. the only time she returned home was for anya's funeral a a few years after she won and then for each reaping when she and woof were expected to mentor the tributes from district eight.

she did what she could to help them, but honestly she didn't want them to win. most of them didn't like her much anyway. they didn't know her. they preferred woof. she understood. 

beetee latier was one of the first victors she made friends with after she won. she found him strange, but fascinating. he felt protective over her. he had a son and feared every day that he would be reaped. he remembered raffia too. he understood why raffia did what she did. he felt it was his duty to watch over calico. he tried to guide her, keep an eye on her. when ampert was reaped and died in the arena, calico returned the favor. checked up on him and made sure he was taken care of.

eighteen years later she watched in horror as fourteen year old finnick odair from district four won. she had no children of her own, she refused, but she wouldn't let finnick face the capitol alone. she couldn't protect him. she didn't know how. no one had protected her. she only knew she wanted to make it easier for him. by that point she was past her prime by the eyes of the capitol. she was no longer as young as she once was. she still refused to leave and go home though. her home in the district eight victor's villiage sat vacant.