Opan Sesame - D7
Jan 1, 2024 13:46:06 GMT -5
Post by parsnip on Jan 1, 2024 13:46:06 GMT -5
"Chop-chop" the director of the orphanage would tell them each day. "The trees won't cut themselves." There were few things that would cause Opan to tuck the cover over her eyes even more, with a gentle sigh of course. Reluctantly, that's how her days had began for the past ten years. Now seventeen, she enjoys a little more freedom in the orphanage, being a single year away from full release. She's fostered a few dozen good relationships with the Director, and the other staff there, so much so that she has a few strings to pull here and there to get her way in certain circumstances. Cheeky, defiant, andd altogether a mischief-maker, Opan is one for escaping the orphanage in the split of night in chase of a more entertaining evening.
While small amounts of makeup and other products are permitted, there are some that think that even trying to improve what they have isn't worth the effort with what little they're allowed. Opan tries her best to push those boundaries, too, wearing winged eyeliner one day or dark shadowy contour the next. Nothing but a slap on the wrist, after all these years, as they know that trying to change her would just result in pain for either party. That being said, she purely does it to see how far she can. That doesn't mean there hasn't been one or two times she's been brought down a peg or two.
Her unfortunately passed when Opan was born. She didn't know much about her other than her father loved her very much. She'd be given a few tokens of her past life, mainly by the funeral directors who took pity on the babe, yet not so much from her father who would never speak of her. Another boundary she would push, but that brick wall wasn't budging. It took six years for her father to succumb to the grief. He passed during this time, which meant that by Capitol mandate, the six-year-old Opan couldn't look after herself and must instead be stored in the orphanage for full Capitol indoctrination. Thankfully, the orphanage staff were pleasant. It was a nice place where the residents all got along for the most part. Life seemed better, once she adjusted. Once she'd figured out how to manipulate them.
That's just it; Opan is not the nice girl she appears to be. She's just like everyone else, but more. She'll lie and cheat to achieve her goals, yet her goals change every day. It's never fully clear what she wants entirely, but she is certain about what it is on a given day, and by Ripred will she try her best to succeed in it. She's arbitrary, calculated, but clueless all at the same time. That's what makes her unique among the others, who are desperate to appeal for fostering, or try to put on a more full persona despite a difficult upbringing. Opan handles that by being whomever she wants to be in a given moment. Whether it's a cute and innocent girl, or a nasty abhorrent beast.
Like some orphans, Opan would relish in the opportunity to access the Games. Yet, she's dissuaded at every turn. Every time she comes across somebody unique or similar to her, she becomes obsessed with their existence so much so that she abandons all plans to rig the Reaping. Try as she might, the only way for her to be entered into the Arena would be a great push. Or, her person of obsession refusing her. Then, she'd volunteer purely out of spite alone. Her attitude towards inflicting pain upon others is as arbitrary as she is. It entirely depends on her interchangeable mood, and therefore, she is completely unpredictable regarding the Games. She may as well say may the odds ever be in your favour, in that respect.
Being as much as a cannonball in the wind that she is, Opan is still pretty grounded in her confidence. She doesn't recall a single day that she cared about her appearance without cause. That cause usually being a girl or boy that she'd chosen to love in that week. It hadn't lasted longer than that before, and she doesn't see it starting any time soon. It would take somebody of tremendous interest, or the perception of interest, to convince her to start thinking inward about herself. Appearance or otherwise. Still, it may also be because with or without makeup, she's a natural beauty and looks entirely like her mother. Unbeknownst to her. Pale rare eyes which are wide and poised. A gaunt face with a warm tone making her look relaxed despite her usual hunger. Her hair changes just as much as her temperament does, and while the staff can't quite explain it themselves, she enjoys stealing the clothes of other people and posing as somebody completely different.
She's lived in the orphanage for a whole ten years. Leaving within the next year means that she'll be on her own from then on. Due to the day her birthday landed on, she'll have to go through her final Reaping as an eighteen-year-old in Capitol-dictated housing, standing away from her self-made family. The thought of being Reaped on that specific occasion weighs heavily on her mind as though fate wouldn't have it any other way. And, it's true. At each step of her life there has been a cascade of difficulty that she's shrugged off, but to face that final hurdle alone is almost unbearable. So much so, that she feels it will guarantee her spot in the Games. Because why wouldn't it happen?
For now, she continues her work as a sawyer. She's never been great at it at all. It's a wonder she remains assigned there. If it weren't for her witty charm and ability to hyperfocus on a task, she may well have been kicked out all together, set to a completely different task altogether, one few would desire. Instead, she's managed to retain it through a love for the normality it brings. Sawing logs is never going to be exciting, but by Ripred, it's going to be monotonous. Something that Opan would otherwise loathe, but there, she cherishes. It's the only thing that will remain once the orphanage is gone.
