Zinnia Yaren

Zinnia Yaren was the District One female tribute in the 54th Hunger Games.

Zinnia Yaren

File:HG54th1f.jpg
Tribute the 54th Hunger Games
District	1
Age	15
Weapon(s)	Rapier, Spear
Training Score	9
Alliance	Team EXP
Victims	Archer Fields, Colton Brax, Jayson Calloway
played by Thundy

Early Life

Zinnia was born into a well-off family in District One. Her mother cared for her well, and her father was a hardworking man. Tragedy struck the family when eleven-year-old Zinnia's mother did not return home one night - the family assumed her to be dead. At first, they dealt with their sorrow by continuing with their lives, but a year after the event the young girl's father turned to drink. Soon after, he began to beat his daughter, demanding that she find him food while neglecting herself. She lived in fear of her remaining parent. Zinnia once considered running away but decided she did not have the knowledge required to live in the wild and care for herself. She later killed her father, along with an innocent pedestrian.

Her greatest wish was to avoid the Hunger Games.

At some point, Coran Darrows took her into his home to help her for a short period of time, increasing her health for a time.

54th Hunger Games

Pregames

Reaping

Zinnia was reaped at the age of fifteen. Before hearing her name called, she was amused by the announcer's name - Caramel. Wearing clothes she described as 'ugly', Zinna's poverty stood out among the rich children of the District. Despite Caramel's cheery mood, Zinnia was not excited about the prospects of being reaped. As the woman's hand reached into the bowl, the young girl crossed her fingers absentmindedly, not really believing it would be her. For a moment, she wondered if that moment might be the one in which her fortunes changed - that her life might finally become better after being unfortunate and miserable for so many years. A moment later, her name was called and her dreams shattered.

As the shock washed over her, the girl realised she had nothing left to lose. With this thought, she made the decision that she would enjoy herself during the Games and do her utmost to be remembered. It crossed her mind that she did not have to act respectably or nicely. She walked up to the stage, and the crowd held their applause. Assumably because they felt pity for the poor child who had been chosen, silence lingered. Zinnia then clapped for herself.

Her District partner, Oz Myrrh gasped with shock when she clapped for herself.

Interview

In her interview, the girl spoke honestly about her District. When asked her name, she noted that she was often called 'dirt, filth and trash'. She used a sarcastic tone throughout her interview, making her unique and memorable. She expressed her distate toward her home District, and then goes on to say that she turned fifteen just one month ago. When Caesar Flickerman asked her what she thinks of her high training score of nine, she is scornful and tells viewers that both high and low scores have disadvantages and even with a mediocre score, contestants are likely to die. Unusually for a tribute, Zinnia said that the Capitol did not impress her and that she didn't like the bright lights. Caesar asked if she had somebody special back home, only to be met with a witheringly sarcastic and scathing response - at first she tells of an imaginary friend, and then reiterates that she has nobody at all, likely because of her low-level hygiene. Zinnia claims to miss nothing from back home, as well as sharing her family troubles with Panem and explaining again that her life is a cruel one.

Finally, she is questioned on what she would like to say to those back home. She responds with 'F*** you.'

Training

Upon entering the training center, Zinnia said that the reality of her situation finally sunk in. Deciding that a non-Career tribute like herself would need an alliance to stand a chance in the games, the girl approached the District Three female, Ailia Goodnite. After introducing herself, Zinnia decided to take a straightforward approach to gaining herself an ally.

"So, here's how it is. Everyone in this room seems to be working on allying themselves with other people, except me. I need an alliance, are you in?" - Zinnia Yaren to Ailia Goodnite

After the girl accepted the proposal, she informed Zinnia that she would also be allied with the District Three male, Jeremy Houser. Arbor Halt made up the fourth member of the alliance Team EXP. The fifth member was Archer Fields.

Day One

Zinnnia entered the Bloodbath wearing the assigned uniform - a long-sleeved brown shirt, black long pants, boots and a black jacket. She likened the time before the countdown to a party, noting that she felt like the guest of honour. She and her allies had made a plan before the event began - to meet up on the eastern side of the Bloodbath before beginning to fight. She, Ailia and Jeremy would remain there while Arbor and Archer fled. Zinnia was pleased, desperate to be considered 'somebody'. As the seconds ticked downward, Zinnia became impatient and restless to kill. When the gong sounded, she followed the plan and headed to the assigned place.

During the Bloodbath, she killed Jason Calloway and collected a backpack containing t-shirt, tarp, flint, flashlight, compass, tent, grapple hook, jar of pickles, broth, and a rapier. She also collected a second bag, which included a tarp, two magnifying glasses, some crackers, and a hunting knife

Later in the day, after walking with Ailia for some time toward the Lake, she began to feel some remorse for her murder. She sat down in the snow and opened her bags to discover their content for the first time. After running a mental inventory and deciding which items would be useful, she asked her ally, Ailia, what she had found. At this point, a tiny silver parachute landed at her feet, and she found one roll of bandages and two jars of peanut butter. Ailia told Zinnia that she wasn't sure if she had anything useful or not.

Zinnia explained the uses of her own items to her ally and offered to trade her own rapier for Ailia's spear, having trained with spears in the past. Before Ailia could reply, Zinnia noticed the parachute. After gleefully examining the new items, the girls watched the anthem. Zinnia was not upset at the death of her district partner - in fact, she was glad that he could no longer win and her district would not benefit from the Games.

Ailia agreed to trade.

Day Two

After sleeping, Zinnia awoke to the sound of fighting. Quickly, she awoke Ailia and they followed the noise to find their three male allies fighting two girls. Each person appeared to have damage. Zinnia attacked Iris Brookside, bruising her arm. Team EXP Won the fight, however the mutt the other team had trained caused an out of character dispute. Finally, it was ruled that the fight never happened.

Day Three

Zinnia and her allies spotted Colton Brax at the Lake. During the following fight, the girl thought about her past - a fight with her father over her lateness to deliver his food. Her spear causes a bruised left leg on it's target. Zinnia, Arbor and Ailia continued to attack the helpless boy. Despite noticing that he was unfairly outnumbered, Zinnia felt no pity and wished to blame all of her problems on him for a moment. She predicted that it would satisfy her for a short time, but 'not for long'. She attacked again with her hunting knife, enjoying the pain he was feeling.

Colton did not go down without a fight, however. He planted an attack on Zinnia before she managed to knock him unconscious, resulting in his death. She left the fight with a shallow gash on her back, while Arbor had a bruised right arm along with the previous damage he had gained. Ailia was so far untouched.

Later that day, Zinnia decided to kill Archer Fields. He had caused her to feel out of control by changing the plans the alliance had previously made, and he was going to pay for that. She threw him to the ground and Ailia also attacked him. In retaliation, Archer chose to attack Ailia, calling the girls 'whores'. Zinnia cringed as Ailia was injurged, and she suddenly felt the urge to protect her ally - thinking that Ailia had to win. Zinnia's attack missed it's target. Archer shouted something at Arbor intended to cause him guilt.

"Way to be loyal, huh bud? After all I would've done for you... You were my brother." - Archer

Instead of stepping in to rescue Archer, Arbor joined the two girls in attacking him. Archer was thrown to the ground with Ailia's next attack, and Zinnia leaned down and cut his throat, whispering that she was sorry. She began to cry and she killed her third victim.

Day Four

For the first time since the Games began, Zinnia felt afraid of dying. Arbor asked her if they could take inventory, snapping her from her fearful thoughts. He asked her for a hat, but she told him that she didn't think they had one. Ailia found some first aid items in the bags and used them to mend the wounds that all three members of the alliance now carried.

Day Six

A Feast was held on Day Six. Zinnia felt a change in her attitude - she thought she had gone from the 'top of the world' to the 'bottom'. She lacked energy, and her previous fierce sarcasm was gone. As the guests began to arrive at the feast, Arbor, Ailia and Zinnia waited on the fringe. It was Zinnia who finally suggested they enter in the strongest voice she could muster. She watched her blind ally, Arbor, run into the fray, and then sprinted after him. Feeling that he was threatened by the ally of the girl he was hitting at, she attacked Rocko Hopkins.

"Is that the best you've got?" - Zinnia to Rocko.

She continued to ponder her relationship with her father, and her tangled past as she fought, some of her old snark returning. While various other people attacked her, Zinnia continued to target Rocko. Noticing that Arbor needed help, she ran toward him. Realising that her leg was bleeding heavily, the girl lay one last attack on her ongoing target. As more and more other tributes began to attack her, Zinnia decided that it was safest to leave the feast. She fled, and Ailia lay one more attack on a victim in her absence. Arbor and Ailia collected the remaining items at the feast - medicine, leg armour and a helmet. They decide to take one piece of armour each and take the medicine to Zinia if they manage to find her.

Day Seven

They managed to find her, bringing Zinnia the medicine she needed. She was frustrated by the pain she felt, but appreciated the irony in the situation. She had used the medicine to heal the wounds she had gained trying to get the medicine. While trudging through the snow with her allies, she heard a sound that she identified as two pairs of footsteps. Anastasia Estrange and Rocko Hopkins were indeed nearby; after the fight at the feast, the two alliances were keen to bring each other down. They began to attack each other - Zinnia taking a moment to worry about Arbor and his eagerness to fight. She thought that perhaps he had lost his sense of humanity, although she believed she had lost hers already, too. Rocko died, and Zinnia gained a small amount of damage in the fight.

Day Eight

Zinnia chose the eighth day of the Games to make amends to her dead mother, by reaching out to her inside her head. She remembered how she was as a small girl when her mother was still alive - innocent and gentle, nothing like the killer she had become. Realising she had nobody to go home to, and thinking that girls like herself never won the Games, she attacked in a panic when a noise startled her. Having split from her alliance, Zinnia was alone to face Jared Strahan. She no longer felt the manic need to kill as she did in the earlier games days, but she was suddenly quite aware of her own mortality and unwilling to give in to death. Jared exclaimed as her first attack hit him, telling her to watch what she was doing with her weapon. He bruised her tailbone and she snapped back, asking if he'd like her to improve her aim. She did improve her aim - knocking him backward.

Jared continued to speak with her - challenging her to show him what she had, and she resented the confidence in his smirk. Telling him to shut up and fight, she feebly attacked again. he was amused, continuing his playful banter. Desperate not to die, she continued to fight despite the severity of the damage she had been dealt. Finally, Jared gashed her face deeply.

In the moments before her death, Zinnia continued to speak to her mother. She insisted that she had failed her and failed others, ruining her face. She then asked why her mother left her, proposing that her life might not have gone the same way had her mother arrived home instead of disappearing from her life. Begging for forgiveness and agreeing with the cruel names the children back home had called her, she begged Jared to end her life, and he obliged, promising that he'd 'make them pay for it' in a voice too low for the cameras to hear.

Preceded by N/A

Tribute 54th Hunger Games

Succeeded by Dru Charlesburg