cashmere

CASHMERE

victor of the 64th Hunger Games

basics

NICKNAMES: Cash
AGE: 29/30ish
GENDER: female
SEXUALITY: flirtatious
HAIR: blonde
EYES: blue
HEIGHT: 5'10"
BUILD: statuesque, athletic

HOMEWORLD: District One, Panem
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Residence here

inventory

clothing: long tee-shirt, puce tracksuit, knee high rainbow socks, knee high socks, emerald necklace with sentimental value,
weapons: XXXX
misc: glowsticks, CD of traditional Panem music, nesting dolls, lock pick set, expensive shampoo, novelty shot glass
ITEM: XXXX

personality

Cashmere is a deadly opponent - she's intelligent and beautiful and knows how to use both to her advantage. Getting what she wants is important and she will do what she has to in order to reach her goal. After killing other children and allowing herself to be sold to the Capitol's wealthy, there really isn't anything she wouldn't do to survive or to insure that those she loves will be safe.

A master of manipulation, her carefully crafted public image is largely a survival tool. As we learn from Haymitch, the Games don’t end after a victor is crowned, and coming from a career district she has a heavy responsibility to uphold the Capitol’s image and the glorification of the Games. Through her interactions with Katniss, we see several different sides of Cashmere, ranging from broken-hearted Capitol sweetheart to an angry, jealous brat. These interactions give us insight into how Cashmere treats those around her and why.

The first time they encounter each other, Katniss describes Cashmere as “polite but cool” and notes that her attempts to connect with the siblings is “medicore at best.” Although Cashmere is one of the younger victors, she has 10 years under her belt and doesn’t need Katniss as an ally. She has nothing she can gain from the girl, so Katniss is treated with complete disinterest.

Things have changed by the time the interview show rolls around. Cashmere has only one thing to say to Katniss: “Well, you look ridiculous!” She then stomps off with a toss of her hair and dragging her brother along behind her. In the time between training and the interviews, Cashmere’s disinterest has turned into rage. She's easily infuriated when things don't go her way, and her body language when Twelve steals the show during the interviews makes this apparent. Anyone who pisses Cashmere off is likely to get the same bitchy treatment - at least until she decides how to even the score.

Though she can be unfriendly and has a quick temper, Cashmere knows how to turn on the charm for people who she has something to gain from. Given what may be the last opportunity to prevent the 75th Games and save her own life, Cashmere pulls out all the stops. Katniss notes that “Cashmere starts the ball rolling with a speech about how she just can’t stop crying when she thinks of how much the people in the Capitol must be suffering because they will lose us.” Katniss doesn’t buy the crocodile tears but quickly realizes everyone else does - many of the Capitol citizens are moved to tears (Effie notes that “she’s very good”).

Cashmere has one major weakness: her brother. She volunteers for the Games the year after he wins, and throughout the book and film, Cashmere and Gloss are always mentioned together. Though she seems to be the more dominate sibling, he’s her other half and being without him is agonizing. What we don’t see in Catching Fire is the softer side of Cashmere. She’s a loyal friend and has a sharp sense of humor. She has the ability to be deeply kind, but knows that kindness is easily taken for weakness, and even when she’s fishing for sympathy she has no desire to be seen as as weak.

Knowing the kind of trauma she's been through, it's easy to imagine the kind of emotional and psychological damage that's been done. Katniss' first impression of her fellow victors is these tributes are crazy and there's no doubt that her assessment extends to Cashmere as well.

canon + crau history

Born and raised in Panem’s District One, Cashmere is no stranger to luxury or violence. The district is well known in Panem for producing luxury items for the Capitol, and for churning out victors - both of these win the district a lot of favor in the Capitol (Katniss refers to One as “Capitol lapdogs”). While the vast majority of District residents are starving and struggling to survive, people in One are well-fed, well-clothed, and by all appearances seem to be living a life of leisure.

Along with her twin brother, Gloss, she trained at the (technically illegal) district academy to prepare for the Games. Training begins at a very young age, and those who go on to the Games in are, in Haymitch’s words, “pretty lethal.” After watching her brother win the 63rd Games, she volunteered at 18 and became the 64th winner of the Hunger Games.

Life as a victor is not as wonderful as advertised, and Cashmere spends the next 11 years of her life as Capitol property. Victors who are attractive and desired are given by President Snow to Capitol residents as rewards and can be bought for the right price. Haymitch tells Katniss that his disobedience to the Capitol was a warning for later victors, like Cashmere. To protect herself and her family, she does what Snow asks of her. While some victors fade into obscurity, Cashmere and Gloss are Capitol favorites, due in large part to their willingness to obey Snow and their skill in manipulation.

During the preparations for the 75th Games, many of the victors skip training (likely knowing that they will lose) but Cashmere trains hard. She receives a high score from the Gamemakers, indicating either that she performed well in her private evaluation or that the Gamemakers intended for her to be a target in the arena. Given her popularity in the Capitol it’s more likely that she scored well. Unfortunately for Cashmere, the Games were rigged and she had no chance of winning. Unaware that many of her fellow victors are involved in the building rebellion (having not been invited to participate), she and the other Career tributes form a pack and begin picking off the other tributes one by one. In retaliation for killing her ally, Katniss kills Gloss. Cashmere reacts immediately, and before she can close the distance between herself and Katniss, Johanna Mason’s axe lands in her chest. She dies instantly.

Previous Game and Time: Checking In, Feb 2015-June/July 2015 (entire run of game)

Previous Development:
Significant events over the course of her time at the hotel include:

• Received a gift basket that included white roses and sent her on a crazy sort of spiral as she took it as evidence of the Capitol’s involvement in the hotel. This happened in March, and she spent the remainder of her time convinced that she was being punished by President Snow and that it was a continuation of the 75th Hunger Games. She became paranoid and ruthless (for example, she had to be persuaded by the person closest to her to share food with the hotel’s children during a starvation event. She also regularly stole and hoarded supplies from around the hotel).
• Traded and made deals with other residences so that she had the supplies for prison wine, thereby controlling the only alcohol supply in the hotel and distributing it as she saw fit. She had previously offered sex in exchange for a hot shower and no one took her up on the offer, but it made people wary of her and her intentions.

How Checking In changed her:
Though she was at a very low point at the end of her time at the hotel, dropping in a new environment will snap her back into Games mode. While she’ll be willing to accept she’s far from home (even in another world all together), she’s still going to be gung-ho on her theory that President Snow is somehow involved in this.
Her time in the hotel was the longest she’d ever been away from her brother, and now that she knows he’s dead she has to continue figuring how to live as a singular person instead of half of a set of twins. His death has left her incredibly emotionally damaged and much more reckless. In Panem she always had to worry about the consequences her actions would have for those she loved, but now the only person left is her and she’s got enough confidence in her abilities that she’ll take risks that she wouldn’t have before.
Her canon bump in the last month of her time at the hotel, which undid all progress she had made in allying herself with the other residents from Panem. This brought her to the canon point of her own death (which she was already aware of), and also meant that she witnessed Katniss killing her brother.
Upon her return to the hotel after her canon bump, Katniss was nowhere to be found and her desire for revenge remained unfulfilled. It also sparked her unraveling further emotionally and mentally. Prior to this she was fixated on escaping the hotel, but upon realizing that her brother was dead, she felt that she had no reason to escape and nothing to live for. She’d made a few friends during her stay and though she never had the opportunity to act on, planned to sabotage their attempts to leave so that she wouldn’t be alone.
She’s also much more willing to form friendships and alliances with strangers. Perhaps even more importantly, she’s almost figured out that people respond much better to the “real” Cashmere than the Capitol version of her, and is easing her way towards dropping the Capitol sweetheart act that served her so well in Panem.