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ONTARI
NIGHTFALL
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BACKGROUND!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

BEFORE

Ontari Medea Nightfall was born of Rye and Laurel Nightfall on October 1. She was the second of their children, her sister Hestia preceding her by three years. They were a middle-class family living in District 8. Their specialty was textiles, so her father worked in a factory that manufactured Peacekeeper uniforms while her mother was a seamstress working from home.

Ontari does not remember any part of her life before her brother Cassian was born when she was nearly three years old. The three siblings had an interesting dynamic, and their parents often said that they got both ends of the spectrum from Hestia and Cassian, while Ontari, being the middle child, had a mix of both of their personalities. She could often be found attempting to settle disagreements between her brother and sister as they were almost complete opposites from one another.

There wasn't much remarkable about her past. Ontari was merely average in school, doing the bare minimum required to learn, not taking interest in Hestia's methods of spending class staring at boys but also not divulging in books as much as Cassian. The only reason she was particularly memorable was because of her appearance— her dark hair and extremely light eyes made her intriguing to look at.

Ontari realized her attraction to both sexes very early on in life. While she didn't have any serious or defined relationships in her youth, she did have fleeting attractions to several people.

DURING

When she was sixteen, Cabel Hardust called her name in the reaping for the 68th Annual Hunger Games. Her fellow district tribute was Wyatt Creek, a seventeen-year-old boy who didn't want much to do with her. Their mentors were previous victors Woof and Cecelia. While Wyatt attempted to distance himself from everyone as often as he could, Ontari developed positive relationships with her mentors.

On the training days, Ontari focused on sword training as well as basic survival tactics. She used the memorization game, fire-building station, trap-making station, and sword-handling stimulator the most in order to make sure she had a decent set of skills. She scored an eight in her private training session because of her display of her, then mediocre, sword abilities.

Her Games were set in a Desert Arena that made the competition move along fairly quickly. Most of the tributes died of dehydration in the first few days, including Wyatt. Ontari survived by drinking the water in the cacti and eating the fruits she knew weren't poisonous. She allied with a District 5 tribute named Alder Brooks and District 10 tribute Dew Pitworth. However, they eventually had to split up as the numbers dwindled and her former allies were killed by Careers.

Ontari was in the final face-off with District 2 Career Cerise Lockwind. They fought in a thicket of cacti that made for a bloody yet fairly quick battle. Ontari quickly analyzed her opponent's fighting style and was able to beat her by recognizing that she was too impulsive. She eventually won by cornering Cerise and impaling her to a cactus plant.

AFTER

Badly shaken by her Games, Ontari suffered from harsh panic attacks and anxiety her first few months after emerging from the Arena. However, the Capitol deemed her as desirable and forced her to hide her imperfections. They were delighted upon learning of her bisexuality because it meant she could sell herself to a wider audience of Capitol members.

Ontari was immediately transformed into an object. She was given an agent named Eytelia who would manage her customers and monitor how she would dress. Instead of her mother's homemade designs, she was only allowed to appear on-camera in provocative outfits made by her own stylist named Venus. Ontari learned to sacrifice comfort for her image in order to stay in the limelight.

Eytelia first set her up with the then-seventeen Finnick Odair, who had won his Games almost four years prior and was quickly climbing the social ladder by the same methods she was intended to. As soon as the doors closed, Ontari broke down crying out of fear and was pleasantly surprised when he offered to talk instead. This was the start of her close friendship with him. However, their agents assumed they had done as they were told. The two victors held this illusion for seven years as on-again, off-again partners, never official so the Capitol customers could still be satisfied.

Because Hestia was nineteen at the time and had already passed the maximum age for the reaping, Cassian was deliberately picked for the 69th Games to keep the residents' interest. His lanky stature was deceiving; he fought his way through his Games valiantly and won after defeating his ally, a boy from District 10.

Due to the fact Ontari and Cassian had similar features, President Snow intended for the younger sibling to become a desirable. Ontari begged Snow not to take him; she knew it would destroy him because he didn't have romantic or sexual attractions to anyone. The president agreed, but only on the terms that Ontari would make up for his lost possession. She told her parents she went to the Capitol for her usual business. However, she was forced to stay for a week and was sold to so many residents that her body physically couldn't handle it any longer. But she would do it over and over if it meant her brother was comfortable.

Finnick wasn't the only victor she befriended. Along her journey as one of the president's dolls, she befriended Annie Cresta, Mags, Johanna Mason, Beetee, and Wiress. Their friendships would become extremely important once they joined the Golden Alliance.

Ontari and her family were a part of many discreet, organized rebellions within their district. What the Capitol had done to them was enough to make them all angry and full of vengeance. Eventually, they would use it to their advantage once Cassian and Ontari were reaped once more in the 3rd Quarter Quell.