Tulisa Deen

"Tulisa made a mental vow to do her best in the Games, and bring home a win, not only for herself, but for Edmond."

- From Tulisa's backstory

 is a female tribute from District 2. She's ready to prove that's she's more than a poor girl from the slums, and that anyone, not just a Career, can win the Hunger Games.

Backstory
When Tulisa was born in District 2, her parents were quite young. Her mom was 17 and her dad was 18. They married young when they discovered Tulisa was pregnant. Both of their families abandoned them, ashamed at what they had done. Her father was selected to become a Peacekeeper and had to leave two weeks after Tulisa was born. The family discovered two weeks later that he had died in a Rebel ambush of the training facility. No compensation was awarded to Tulisa and her young mother. They were all alone.

Being a single mom, Tulisa's mother had two choices; a) Leave Tulisa at the orphanage or b) Raise her. Tulisa's mother chose the latter and vowed to be a good mother. But it seemed as if all the odds were against her. The first few years of Tulisa's life were by far the toughest. Being poor in a relatively rich District only made the citizen's of 2 look down on them, see them as poor lowly beggars. Tulisa got very sick a couple of times and nearly died before she was even two years old. But she was a fighter, and so was her mother.

Often during her early years, Tulisa would have to stay at home while her mother begged for money and tried to get food. Her mother, Adrienne, would often come home with nothing, so Tulisa and her mother knew what it felt like to go hungry, one of the few District 2 "families" that did.

Adrienne and her young daughter lived in an old run down apartment building on the outskirts of the District, behind the left side of The Nut. It was by far the worst place to live in the District, other than the streets. Next door to the Deens lived a similar family. The Hails. Mr. and Mrs. Hail were raising their only child, struggling to survive. Mr. Hail had been injured while operating on a truck, crippling his leg. He was fired from his job as a mechanic and the family now had to rely on Mrs. Hail's job as a janitor in The Nut as a source of income. Unsurprisingly this was difficult and the family made little to no money. As you could guess, the Deens and the Hails became great friends. Even though both families were suffering, without a steady source of food, or clean clothes, both families kept on pushing, hoping for the best.

The Hail's only child, Edmond, was Tulisa's best (and only) friend. Adrienne was nearly always out, trying to find a job, or money, or even scraps of food. Tulisa, not yet being old enough for school, spent most of her days next door with Edmond, while Edmond's father watched them play. The two became more like siblings than friends, and developed a strong relationship. When the two got into school, they were all the other had. The other, well-off kids distanced themselves from them and made sure to make Edmond and Tulisa feel unwelcome.

Early on Tulisa and Edmond both had to learn how to survive. They lived in the shadows. Neither of them ever raised their hands in class, or ever hung out in the school yard. They sat alone in the lunch room. They never lingered around the school yard after school, but instead went straight to Edmond's apartment. They were often greeted by his father, and then wen straight to the dinner table to do their homework. They lived life like this all the way through elementary school. Then, in their first weeks of middle school, things changed.

Adrienne's mother had gotten a job cleaning houses for people. She did a pretty decent job and fared well, receiving her pay, plus a usually decent tip from her well off clients. The mayor decided to hire her on as a permanent maid, which meant she would be living on the mayor's property in the staff housing. Tulisa and her mother moved in to one of the rooms in the large dorm like housing. It wasn't as spacious as their apartment, but was much newer and nicer.

Tulisa still saw Edmond at school, but things were different. He seemed distant from Tulisa. He wasn't as warm and friendly as before, but rather sad. The truth was he had become lonely since the Deens had moved, and was angry that Tulisa and her mother had turned away from them and went to live with the mayor, a man both of their families disliked. Tulisa tried explaining that her mother needed the money and it was a good opportunity. Edmond didn't care and thus the two drifted apart.

Tulisa became isolated and lonely, still looked down upon. Most kids still saw her as a poor beggar girl who's mother was a slave for the Mayor. This changed Tulisa. She was so used to being quiet and hardened, only opening up to Edmond. Then once he and her drifted apart, she closed down. After taking so much hate and anger from everyone, it broke her. She decided that the only way she could every make a difference was to be positive. Drown out their negativity with happiness and positivity. She did her best to smile all the time, and even be nice to those who bullied her. She noticed people were freaked out by it, and stopped being so rude. A small victory, but an important one. Tulisa had her mother, and that's all she cared about. Life had given her a million reasons to be hateful, sad, angry, depressed, lost, shut out, and yet she turned it back around and used it for strength.

In 7th grade Edmond and Tulisa both turned 12, qualifying them for the Hunger Games. Neither of them had spoken since their last argument about Tulisa's mother. On the day of the reaping, Tulisa hadn't even thought about Edmond. She was terrified, as most kids were on their first reaping. She wasn't called for the girls, and a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. But her world came crashing down when Edmond volunteered for the boys. He looked weak and thin, probably his motivation for volunteering. He was desperate. Though they had drifted apart, and were no longer friends, she still cared for him and wished they had remained friends. As he took his place on the stage, something inside Tulisa was crushed. Her heart. Her soul.

The Hunger Games coverage came, and Tulisa feared what would happen. Edmond was shut out from the Careers due to his size and lack of ability. It became a heavily talked about topic how such a weak child had volunteered for District 2, especially for the boys. He was turned away from the careers, and received a low score. Tulisa feared that Edmond would quickly die, having no chance of victory. Edmond was brutally murdered by the District 4 male in the bloodbath. She watched him die on television. She didn't cry, or even get that upset. But internally she collapsed. She felt guilty for not trying to maintain their friendship, for letting them drift apart.

Back home in the District, it was as if nothing bad had happened, as the District 2 female ended up emerging as the victor. No one remember the slain Edmond, except his family, and of course Tulisa.

Tulisa was determined now more than ever to be positive. To be a beacon of hope for those who also suffered due to their social class or other reasons to make them unpopular and oppressed. Tulisa made a few acquaintances, but no true friends. Instead, most of her time was filled with conditioning exercises. She decided she wanted to volunteer for the Hunger Games in order to shine a light on those who weren't Career academy tributes, or the elite class of wealthy kids. However, she was much to weak to wield any deadly weapons, so her only hope was agility and her small size. She trained by climbing some of the large oaks on the Mansion grounds. She went on runs around the property perimeter, becoming quite fast. She even got the mayor to take a liking to her by volunteering to help his wife in their garden. She was in a way adopted by the mayor and his wife. They never had children and her mother was the only staff member with a child. She often helped the mayor's wife around the garden and in her flower beds. She eventually got permission to use the mayor's pool and learned to swim.

Even though the mayor had taken a liking to her, it didn't free Tulisa from the burden of the Hunger Games. In her sixteenth year she was reaped into the Games, and refused to let anyone volunteer for her, although nearly no one did. Most remembered her as the poor girl from the slums and wished to see her struggle in the Games. Tulisa made a mental vow to do her best in the Games, and bring home a win, not only for herself, but for Edmond.