Name ➤ Serafina Ruiz

Gender ➤ Female

Nicknames ➤ Sera, Serafinita, Dolly, and "Gorgeous" (family + relatives)

District ➤ 10

Age ➤ 17 (non-canon) (meaning she won at 15) and 21 (following the canon version) (still meaning she won at 15).

In another roleplay, she'd be 18.

What Hunger Games Did She Win? ➤ The 73rd Hunger Games (non-canon) or the 69th Hunger Games (following the canon version)

In another roleplay, she would've won the 72nd Hunger Games

Face Claim ➤ Xochitl Gomez

Distinguishing Features ➤ She has bangs that go across her entire forehead, parted in half, so some strands can get in the way of her sight sometimes. Serafina also has dimples on both cheeks.

Additional Features ➤ Serafina is one of the youngest looking victors- of course, being that she is only 17 by the time she got reaped again for the Quarter Quell, this isn't surprising. But as a lot of people seemed to have demonstrated maturity through the vast physical developments that have taken place since their Games, Serafina quite literally looks almost identical to who she was two years ago, showing little changes in her physical maturity. She has a big smile because of her considerably bigger lips in comparison to the rest of her facial features. Her skin tone leans more towards light skinned - brown.

Permanent Injuries ➤ She has a huge scar that runs along her back; this was a gash that she earned from fighting Woody right before the death of her district partner. 

Personality ➤ Serafina loves to be productive. She'll do anything she can in order to make herself useful in whatever environment she was in- whether it's to help herself or whether it's to help her family. Because of this strong urge to find productivity in whatever she does, she's very disciplined and resilient. She doesn't like being told she cannot do certain things because she's "too young" or "too naive"; she's very determined and even slightly ambitious to the point where, unless she gets persuaded to change her mind, she'll do WHATEVER it takes to ensure that she accomplishes the goal(s) she envisioned for herself. This eventually leads her to becoming stubborn to a fault; she pushes herself to exceed her own expectations and current records, as she believes that if she's in the condition for it, she should always be aiming to be the best in everything she does. Of course, she's very prone to pushing herself too far to where she she overcomplicates things for herself and, in some occasions, can even hurt herself; she finds this embarrassing and utterly disappointing... especially when there are bystanders in certain occasions who have watched her or have heard her fail in something she's worked ever so tremendously on. 

Her desire to exceed expectations for herself and others, as well as her never ending determination and resilience, have also seemed to work wonders for her; she grew stronger mentally, physically, and emotionally by forcing herself to face challenges she deems necessary for her growth as a person and a secure future as an adult. This includes perfecting her skills with the bow and arrow during her hunting trips in the night and her hurdle over the slightly traumatic experiences she had working in the slaughterhouse and butchery shops. She became intelligent and self-sufficient due to her efforts to succeed in school despite the her rough and poor background throughout her childhood. She knows just how hard it is to become nothing to something, so she's developed beautiful virtues of empathy, selflessness, and thoughtfulness towards others. She'd offer food or extra money to those who she deems "needs them more than she does", regardless of whether these charitable acts are upon request or not. And, despite how quiet and somewhat reserved she can be (due to her social awkwardness and overwhelming priorities that have taken up a huge chunk of her social life), she has grown to become very open and ready for conversation to whoever decides to approach her for such. 

She can be judge-mental at times; though she'll never criticize or offend anyone to their faces to preserve one's feelings, she can make very snarky comments (mentally speaking) on actions she perceives to be wrong, stupid, or both , done by people regardless of whether they're family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, etc. She does have moral authority, however, to discern between what's right and what's wrong, so she's no where near qualified enough to be characterized as a hypocrite; she always respects the vast opinions and perspectives of others, even when they don't match her own, and she'll still continue to be charitable and compassionate to those around her. Once she realizes she made an unjustifiable judgement on someone, though, she'll most definitely soften up and remind herself of the kind-hearted girl she is and should always be, regardless of terrible first impressions. 

Serafina is a wonderful person to be around with; she's been getting easier and easier to talk to and form close bonds with as the years have passed. Just know that when she does consider you a dear friend of hers... she'll want to do everything in her power to protect you and ensure your happiness over hers.

Family Background ➤ For seven years, she and her family were basically nomads in the district; they could never find and settle in permanently in one spot because of how poor they were, so survival skills and relying on one's instincts were a huge focal point for the early childhood of Serafina Ruiz. She and her father, Owen, would used to work in the slaughterhouse to make a living- and while that was one of the best paying positions in the district, Serafina quickly grew frightened and squeamish at the sight of blood and the horrible blood-curdling screams of the animals she'd have to murder. So, her father decided that they'd simply work in cutting up and selling already-slaughtered animals, which gave Serafina a lot of knife practice. She would still sob occasionally simply at the thought of living at the expense of some innocent animal's life, but time and maturity would eventually reduce the number of hysterical episodes she'd endure throughout her rest of her time at her job.

While her mother, Elena, would forage for edible plants and buy fruits and vegetables with whatever money was left to put forth into nourishment, Serafina and Owen would make a campfire to indicate that their spot in whatever part of the District they ended up on that day was occupied. Once Elena would come back with food enough to last a week (if they carefully portioned out the food for seven days), Owen and Serafina would set out hunt. Owen used to be the sole hunter of the family, as he'd bought a bow and arrow right when Serafina was born to secretly hunt for animals in the woods by them; once Serafina turned six, however, Owen decided that it was time that he bought a bow and arrow for her as well. It took a whole year for Serafina to get used to being in the wilderness at night, on the look out for wild animals to take down with her bow as supplementary nutrition for the family- especially when she found out that her mother was pregnant with her brother, Jose. She hated seeing how the animals would suffer to her and/or her father, as she wasn't nearly as proficient enough to cleanly and quickly kill them off. So, she made it a point for herself over the next year or so to work on her precision and timeliness- that way she could bring back more food for the family alongside her father in a reasonable time span while also ensuring that she wouldn't have to cause her animal victims much unnecessary suffering prior to their deaths. 

Even until Jose's birth and a new house as a gift from their relatives on the opposite side of the District- who were able to save just enough money to help their poor family counterparts -Serafina and her father would continue to divide the work between butchering and selling animal meat and hunting and- later on, as it was Owen's idea -selling favorable furs throughout the week. At 9 years old she could finally go to school, in which she'd make her parents proud by excelling in her studies alongside striving to provide for the family. Jose was eventually able to attend school soon afterwards, and their youngest brother, Joel- who'd be born once Serafina turned 10 -would be fortunate enough to enjoy a "normal" childhood, without the chains and shackles that came with the burdens of being poor like Serafina, Owen, and Elena had once been. 

Prior to the 73rd Hunger Games, Serafina and her father would continue to work as usual, but they'd have a much more relaxing schedule to work around with.

*The following section below will be based off of the 73rd Games, but depending if I situate her in a non-canon or canon setting, her history in her victorious Games would simply be translated over onto the other version.

**Also... just know that this is THE longest summary of any Hunger Games I've ever made. I'm very invested in Serafina, and I hope that those who do have longer attention spans may find the her Hunger Games to be interesting. But in case you find it TL to read after the first three paragraphs...

TL;DR: Serafina allied herself with childhood friend Isaiah and District 9 tributes Yasmin and Korbin; she at first showed a bit of her stubbornness by risking her life in the cornucopia for the sake of some bow and arrows, but she immediately realized the dangers of her possibly tussling about with tributes in the arena. She remained low profile with Isaiah, Yasmin, and Korbin until the Nines got killed because of a trap Woody from 7 and the remaining three careers set up. She'd move on to see Isaiah die right before her eyes, which prompted her to use her intelligence, reflexes, and stealth to prop herself up against a weird tree and lie in wait for the last two tributes, Medusa from 2 and Woody, to arrive in plain sight before she gradually stretched up from her hiding position and shot them both slyly and intelligently through her prowess with the bow and arrow.

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The 73rd Hunger Games ➤ Serafina got reaped at 15 years old; she was absolutely devastated that no one volunteered for her, but she grew even more devastated when she realized her childhood friend, Isaiah, would also be joining the Games with her, as he, too, would not have anyone to take his place.

She and her 16 year old district partner would both be mentored under male Victors that year because of Ana's unknown disappearance (she was the only female victor for District 10 remaining prior to Serafina). Both tributes grew close to their mentors, which allowed for there to be a good level of trust between the two parties; because of this, strategies and secrets were spilled so that everyone can learn from each other's past mistakes, current weaknesses, and current strengths brought to the table. Serafina relied heavily on this communication of information in order to build a stable connection with Horacio, her mentor, but also to make mental notes on how she could utilize Isaiah's strengths and weaknesses to compliment her own, as she didn't really think she'd come out of the arena alive; rather, she focused more on how the two could work as a team until it came time to part ways, in which she was so sure that Isaiah would be the one to take home the title of Victor.

Isaiah had amazing strength, agility, endurance, and speed because he practically devoted his entire life to athleticism, while Serafina's strength resided in her intellectual ability to memorize and recognize certain items, patters, or steps that could benefit her in the future. Because of this, she was able to exhibit her amazing knowledge in edible plants, fire-making, cooking, and creating snares. Both of them, however, chose a long-distance weapon as their main choice of weaponry and their method of assessment for the private training assessment before the Gamemakers; Isaiah made friends with the throwing knife and axe; while Serafina also easily took upon the throwing knife as one of her choices due to her mandatory work at the slaughterhouse and butchery, she also reunited with her favorite of all time- the bow and arrow. Since her family, as mentioned above, were fortunate enough to live next to the woods on the opposite side of where her relative's farm resided, she and her father soon mastered the art of hunting for food in the wildlife.

Serafina and Isaiah utilized their given time together to become even closer to one another- catching up on all of the events they missed from each other as they parted ways in their adolescence to attend different schools and seek better opportunities for living. It was very clear that, while their relationship maintained platonic throughout the entirety of the Games, they had such reverence for each other to the point where they could've ultimately been said to have a brother-sister relationship. As recommended by their mentors and past viewings of the Games, Serafina and Isaiah decided to ally themselves with a pair of tributes- the District 9 pair of tributes for their additional survival skills- especially where it pertained to agriculture and food- and ideas for going about navigating the Games.

The District 9 tributes- Yasmin and Korbin  -and the District 10 tributes both made it out alive from the cornucopia bloodbath; Yasmin and Korbin stayed put a couple feet away from their pedestals, not wanting to engage in the horrors that took action in the cornucopia, but they were able to steal small packs and resources that were overlooked by everyone that did aim for the goods at the cornucopia. Meanwhile, Serafina and Isaiah raced ahead to grab their stuff, but something to note here is that Serafina was, in fact, NOT supposed to have gone into the cornucopia, per Horacio's instructions. However, all it took was the gleaming of the silver bow and arrow right in front of her, meters away from her pedestal, before she decided to take the risk of snagging the bow and arrow.

Lucky for her, Isaiah saw this right away and immediately backed her up and shoved anyone who dared to try and interfere with her brutally against the concrete and into some of the nearby holes which would prove to be geyser holes in just a couple minutes into the bloodbath.

When the alliance left, they immediately put their skills to action— Isaiah led the way to a spot where there were a little bit more trees, miles away from the nearest geysers in the spot that took up a bulk of the arena. That's when both District 9 tributes began to scale up some of the weirdly bent trees to ensure that they were either safe or not safe for them to rest for the night. After determining just enough adequacy in their safety, the tired team of four decided to settle down for the night; Isaiah was fortunate enough to snag two backpacks away from the cornucopia— both small in size. He managed to gain one kill in the bloodbath— a District  11 male tribute named Bark —and stole the the spear Bark came to attack Serafina from behind with. He tried to kill the District 2 male, Aeries, but he ended up running into the other quarter of the career pack— his district partner, Medusa. After much grappling about, he managed to steal her throwing knives and escape with Serafina just in time.

He had already given her one of the knives he stole, but after seeing how she killed Aeries with a swift spin and throw of the knife (upon seeing how Aeries tried to strangle Isaiah near a geyser hole), Isaiah lent her all of the throwing knives. He then gave survival resources such as extra sticks, big leafs to use as "tourniquets" of sorts, and packs of gunpowder and sand to throw in the eyes of enemy tributes to Yasmin and Korbin, and left the pile of food and two canteens of water in the middle of their camp so each can grab and go as they please.

Serafina had an edge, at that point, over all her allies; not only did she have free access to food— and was most likely to get bigger portions of it because of her tight knit friendship with Isaiah— but she had throwing knives AND a bow and arrow; she could defend herself in the event that Yasmin, Korbin, or even Isaiah decided to turn on one another.

For a whole three days, she enjoyed of this great advantage; a part from the comfort, peace, and security she felt back at the camp they set up, she and Isaiah were able to figure out exactly which geysers were going to function at what times, and where throughout the middle of the arena. Meanwhile, Yasmin and Korbin took a canteen of water to share and a couple "bags" of food they made with the big leaves that were intended by the Gamemakers to make "tourniquets" during their exploration of the arena. Both would try to track down tributes— not to kill them right away, but to keep mental notes on there whereabouts when time progressed to a point where it would be time to start strategically laying out their attack plans in order for one of the four tributes to come out victorious.

On the fourth day, however, Yasmin and Korbin saw a fire being started on the other end of the arena. Not knowing it was the Career's— as they originally tracked down a district 7 male named Woody in that particular spot in the arena— they beckoned for Serafina and Isaiah to come with them, as they were curious as to why Woody could possibly starting a fire in the arena. While Serafina originally agreed, bow and arrow at the ready, Isaiah argued back, saying that it could be a trap set out to kill them. Serafina and Isaiah argued back and forth for a good five minutes in front of the District 9 tributes; Serafina argued that she could defend them all with her bow and arrows while the three of them investigated the scene and gather information about the tribute; who knows, perhaps Woody could be one more addition to their alliance! Isaiah, however, told Serafina that not matter how smart and quick she could be with the bow, it wouldn't help her if Woody ended up setting some sort of trap that would leave her just as good as she were dead; it's a weird time and setting for a fire to be starting anyway, and they could always revisit later in the night or in the next day.

The argument was half lost and half won; Serafina and Isaiah ended up staying behind to continue exploring another portion of the arena and to potentially discover extra geysers around, just in case they were being chased by an enemy and needed somewhere to knock them over to. To Serafina and Isaiah's great disappointment, Yasmin and Korbin ultimately set in stone that they'll be checking out the fire; Korbin promised Isaiah that if they found themselves in danger of the district 7 tribute, they'd kill them as long as they had a weapon.

The District 10 duo gave them half of their knives, and Isaiah was even kind enough to lend his spear. However (and unfortunately), it would be to no avail. It turns out— not ONLY were the Careers responsible for setting this trap out for them, but Woody was officially accepted into the Career Pack after his "amazing" kill streak in the Cornucopia Bloodbath. The two tributes quickly died, and Serafina greatly mourned their death as soon as the Fallen were presented that very night. Isaiah was saddened by the news too, but he was also deeply frustrated at the prospect of having lost half of their weapons and some of their food, as the walk to that side of the arena were Woody and the Careers awaited their victims was a far one.

With that, Isaiah and Serafina slept close by each other, rotating their watch over their designated spot in the arena. The next day, the two set out to forget about the loss of their friends by immediately relocating a spot the duo reached right before hearing the series of canons. They thought they were safe from the Careers from now, which ultimately gave them the confidence they needed to walk around the arena, just for the fun of it, as a desperate attempt to take their minds off of the cruelty behind these deadly Games. They shared funny and somewhat embarrassing stories of each other when they were younger, causing much laughter and much nudging and shoving each other around between the pair of best friends. For Serafina, this was perhaps the best day of her life in the Hunger Games Arena.

But life was too good to be true. The Careers— Medusa plus the District Ones— and Woody were walking around with their resources around the same time Serafina and Isaiah were; they, too, were wanting to relax a little bit and alleviate themselves from the stress of the Games. They did hear the loud laughter mainly coming from Serafina, however, and all of them decided to ambush the duo in their sleep that following night.

After much cautious walking around (the Career pack were very weary of any hidden geysers nearby), they ultimately found the Ten's new camp, where Serafina and Isaiah ate together while talking amongst themselves over their next steps as a team to achieve victory for their home district. Isaiah was just assuring Serafina that he would never leave her side as long as she'd have him— even if they were amongst the final few tributes remaining; Serafina, beaming at her friend's compassionate words, was about to reassure him with the same promise, until she heard a twig snap feet behind them. When she whirled around, she saw the menacing green eyes of Medusa eyeing the duo. Upon hearing the District 1 female, Diamond, jeer "We found you, losers!", Serafina wasted no time grabbing her bow and arrow; she aimed straight for Diamond and shot straight at the heart; Diamond, not having been able to react fast enough because of all the cheering she was doing, died rapidly to an arrow lodged at her heart.

Isaiah immediately stood up and grabbed some of the throwing knives he had, trying to back her away from him and Sera; meanwhile Serafina kept reloading the arrows in a blink of an eye, treating the dashing Career male like a leaping dear out and about in the woods, or a rodent scurrying around the house, trying to look for an escape; she fired quickly when the moment was right and, low, and behold, she impaled him with her arrow straight through the chest,  getting him right where she wanted him.

Just as she thought the fight would be over, assuming Isaiah would soon kill Medusa, she sat herself down and began to— slowly this time —reach into her sheath for another arrow. Unfortunately, she was so overconfident in Isaiah, that she took her sweet time to even reload her bow with the arrow; her eyes, fixed on Medusa's swift dodges, gradually began to signal to her brain that Isaiah was close to being in real danger. As soon as the realization hit, though, she felt somebody emerge from behind a thin tree behind her; thanks to her reflexes, she was able to throw herself out of the way of a flying axe that eventually glided just over her head.

Her bow still on her, she moved to shoot her arrow at a running Woody, she stopped as she heard the cries of Isaiah, who got tackled down brusquely to the ground by skilled Medusa; she heard her stab Isaiah a couple of times throughout various parts of his body, as he tried to wiggle his way out of her tough grasp on him. She immediately found herself falling flat-faced to the earthy ground as Woody made his way to his fallen axe... just feet away from where Medusa had Isaiah pinned.

Quickly recognizing what Woody was about to do, she got up, her face all hurt and starting to bruise, and attempted to tackle him from behind. It was no use, though; he easily flung her off of him and slashed her across the back with a knife. He moved to stab her once and for all, but Serafina, amid her pain, forced herself to roll over the right side and kicked Woody away from her. He returned to simply punched her square in the face before leaving her to succumb to her aching body. Isaiah pled for mercy before Woody grabbed his axe and raised it over him. Medusa, having them walked around and slammed him into a "ducking" position, held Isaiah to the ground with knives through each hand, ready for Woody to slam his axe into the  frantic District 10 male.

Serafina horribly cried out to the two murderers begging them to reconsider their actions; she tried to convince them— but especially Medusa— that they didn't have to be the cold blooded killers that they portrayed themselves to be because of their brains washed childhood... but that only angered Medusa and further encouraged Woody to kill off Isaiah. Before dying to the swift chop to the axe, Isaiah screamed out to Serafina, "I love you!" before all of a sudden hearing a canon sound. It would be his.

Serafina would proceed to run as fast as she could into the woodlands part of the arena, with Medusa and Woody soon chasing after her for a bit before slowly giving up.

For the last two days, Serafina would lay low and weep her best friend's undeserving death. She'd turn this grief into a ferocity no one would've ever seen before.

After three more canons sounded, Serafina knew she was part of the final three. So, she ate up the rest of the food she was able to take with her during her panicked run from Two and Seven; she then decided to walk towards her old camp, hoping to recollect the rest of the items until she heard the all too familiar voices.

She quickly and quietly scaled up a thicker yet slightly bent-shaped tree just a few yards up ahead of her, bow in hand, to try and catch the tributes by surprise. Despite the difficulty climbing due to her injuries from being thrown around and her bow nearly making her lose her footing, she was able to position herself in a way amid the leaves of the tree. She peaked through a narrowing opening she made for herself, observing the dots slowly become full fledged human beings, desperately awaiting their chance to kill off Serafina.

Serafina, however, was way too smart for that. But it could've also been that, on behalf of her fury and newfound viciousness- that she gradually rose up from her observing spot to quietly yet precisely aim the last few arrows she had at oblivious Medusa and Woody. By the time Woody, who witnessed the whizz of the arrow plunge itself into Medusa's neck seconds too late, attempted to make a run for it, Serafina already had her second to last arrow loaded in... killing him in the temple and eventually being crowned Victor of the 73rd Hunger Games. No last words, no promises for revenge... nothing of the sorts happened under her watch. She felt it necessary and dignified for them to die the sly, scary and somewhat mysterious way they did.

Personal Background ➤ After the Hunger Games, Serafina Ruiz could not stop mourning over Isaiah; she felt utterly responsible for not having been able to excel in close combat enough to hold Woody back enough time for her to impale Medusa with her arrows. This seemingly never ending grief would last for nearly the entire year, up until the 74th Games where she'd have to mentor and eventually immerse herself back into the traumatic rabbit hole that were the Games upon seeing her female mentee, Nina, die to the Careers in the bloodbath, and Reuben, Horacio and Lorenz's male mentee, die to the Careers a little over a week later. Because of this, she was barely able to enjoy the prizes and praises she'd be showered in upon her return from the Victor's tour (and an unbearable emotional speech directed at a fallen Isaiah and his family).

In the last half of the year prior to the 75th Hunger Games, however, she did begin to finally find herself again by learning to bake from some saved recipes her mother kept from her grandmother following her grandmother's death. She'd also find herself humming or softly singing during moments of overwhelming stress, which then turned into a hobby she greatly immersed herself into to keep her mind off of Isaiah and the Hunger Games in its entirety.

She'd still hang out with her family, but she'd also go over to Horacio's mansion in various occasions to destress and hang out with the much older Victor; he'd been great support for Serafina before the Games- and he'd been even greater support throughout the entire post-Games period, where he'd witness Serafina succumb to a series of hysterical episodes. The two grew really close, especially over the trauma they shared. By the time the 75th Hunger Games announcement came about, both of them practically knew each others "ins" and "outs" in terms of their backstory and overall experiences in the Games. 

Weapons/Special Skills ➤ Bow and Arrow, Throwing Knives, Fire Making, Knowledge on Edible Plants, Reflexes, and Stealth.

Any Addictions? ➤ None at the moment.

Any Triggers? ➤ A point of weakness during her original Games that gets mentioned can lead her to silently suffering flashbacks of those points in the Games- ones that almost made her lose her life; any forms of dangerously progressed abuse.

Token? ➤ A birthday bracelet made of strings and beads from her father, Owen, and her brother, Jose.