Korino Sinclair

Korino Sinclair is a tribute made by PoisonedPoetry. Please do not use her without permission.

Though she was made specifically for The Quain Games, a second version of her will be made for other games. At some point in the future, these two versions will be separated for archaic purposes.

She is a member of the Sinclair family. For more information about the family, click here.

Tribute Form
Name: Korino Sinclar

District: 2

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Personality: The first thing people notice about Korino is how mysterious she is: Whenever she meets people for the first time, she remains calm and hides her emotions. She is capable of maintaining a formal politeness around other people she meets. Even if somebody is rude to her she ignores them (though she might raise her eyebrow in disapproval). As a result she comes across as a mature young woman. Often she offers advice based on things she has learnt and will often comfort others, making her appear maternal. Speaking of learning, Korino is intelligent and often learns new things really quickly. She takes longer to learn practical stuff though. Korino tries to tell the truth as much as she can, though she’ll sometimes sugarcoat just how bad things are going to be in a bid to comfort herself. Though she tries to do things based on how she wants them to be, she will follow and comply with others who suggest she does something else. Overall she comes across as a charming individual.

Despite all this, her charm is rather superficial: In actuality, Korino wants nothing to do with people. Part of this is because she doesn’t like being used for selfish reasons. In the case of the careers, she feels pressured by her district partner to join them in case they target her for being a “traitor”. She is sometimes sleepy which can make her more prone to agitation at the hands of other people. Even in an alliance, Korino is rather withdrawn as she doesn’t want to be used for someone else’s gain. She is often skeptical and cautious of plans made by other people. Korino can be very superstitious. She believes in the supernatural and whilst she is not afraid of it (for the most part), her cautiousness means she will avoid anything that seems like a bad omen. Her two most damaging traits are her paranoia and slight insanity. In the case of the former, she is paranoid that her predictions will come true. Part of her fear is that she will be overcome by hubris due to her “god-like” powers of predicting the future. Her slight insanity, however, is what other people need to look out for: It can progress if more of her misfortunes are accurately predicted, which will in turn make her more worried. The more worried she gets, the more frantic and unpredictable she becomes. Together, this makes her an unusual addition to the Sinclair family as she does not share their power-hungry and ruthless traits.

Height: 5’7

Weight: 125Ibs (Healthy)

Appearance: In terms of attractiveness, Korino would be considered pretty. Her wavy hair is a hue of dark golden brown. It almost matches her hickory brown eyes, which often exude an aura of calmness and mystery. Her face is rather small, made even more so with her slightly large eyes, her petite nose and her relatively small lips. Her features are often enhanced by make-up. It allows her features to pop against her warm-beige skin complexion. Her figure appears well fed and curvy.

Dominant hand: Right-handed

Weapon(s): Throwing knives (Primary), poison (Secondary)

Strengths: Korino’s greatest strength is her accuracy with throwing knives. Years of training with her adoptive father have allowed her to develop great skills with them. She can easily throw knives into stationary targets and is above average with hitting moving targets. Her intelligence means she is able to learn new skills quickly, though the actual application of skills takes a bit longer than her understanding. Her final main strength, though luck-based, is her gut instinct. She sometimes gets bad premonitions and more often than not, they are right. Her gut instinct could prevent people from dying in plans that don’t work, provided they trust her instincts.

Weaknesses: Due to her prowess in throwing knives and her mother’s lessons, Korino has never had the opportunity to build upon her physical strength. As a result, she is a hindrance when it comes to carrying heavy items. This also impacts her combat capability as she may not have the strength to temporarily stun her opponent. It also means she has less chance of getting back on her feet if an opponent has her pinned to the ground. Her other main weakness is her slight insanity: Though it is moderate, it has the opportunity to get worse within the hunger games. If she ends up going insane she will become more reckless and less self-aware. She might end up developing hallucinations and delusions due to her insanity. At this point she is a danger to everybody, but most of all herself.

Fear(s): The future, destiny, death, going insane, snakes

Reaction to Fears:

The future: Korino is always shaky when it comes to predicting the future. If she sees a future in which there is something disastrous, she will be paranoid and worry for the safety of the person whose fortune she’s telling. She will remain alert until the danger has either occurred or passed. This fear stems from the countless times Korino has predicted somebody’s misfortune.

Destiny: Korino hates the idea of destiny being fixed. However, even with the incorrect predictions she still believes that fate is real. If she predicts any bad luck in her own life, Korino will remain paranoid and grow more insane than she is. She will do whatever it takes to avoid events that lead to what she predicted. This fear stems from the countless times Korino has predicted somebody’s misfortune.

Death: Refers to her own death. If Korino is faced with a situation which could lead to her death, she will take extra precautions to ensure she doesn’t die. If she is slowly dying, she would rather suffer to the end than get her death over and done with. In situations where she is about to die, Korino will weep uncontrollably and frantically scramble around to avoid dying. This fear stems from one incident where she predicted somebody’s brutal death.

Going insane: The thought of going insane makes Korino want to throw up. If she starts developing hallucinations and delusions and realises this, she will try to hide herself away from other people. She will have an emotional breakdown and finally express her vulnerabilities. Only a person she is close to can get her to calm down. Once she has fully snapped, she won’t know it’s too late and instead her actions become more nonsensical and frantic. This fear stems from the countless number of times Korino picked a card referring to insanity in her future.

Snakes: If Korino sees a snake, she will scream and try to hide from it. Once it leaves the area, she will eventually calm down. This fear stems from Korino watching a snake eat a mouse, after which she was grossed out by the way they unhinged their jaw.

Allergies: N/A

Training Strategy: In training, Korino will focus on physical skills (combat, the gauntlet etc.) whilst the other careers are nearby. She’ll try not to interact with any non-career tributes unless they engage in conversation with her first. When the other careers aren’t nearby, she will brush up on her survival skills. If she has any spare time, Korino will revise her throwing knife skills just so she doesn’t get rusty.

Private Training Strategy: In private training, Korino will demonstrate her accuracy with throwing knives. Once she’s done she will demonstrate her knowledge with fatal and non-fatal poisons. She’s aiming for a score of at least 8 so that she won’t get kicked out of the careers.

Bloodbath Strategy: Korino will aim to get to the cornucopia and obtain some throwing knives. Afterwards she will act defensively by throwing knives at nearby tributes who are trying obtain backpacks. She will also try to distract or kill people who are fighting her allies.

Games Strategy: In the mornings and night time, Korino will read her own fortune with the tarot cards. If anything seems out of place, Korino will remain alert and paranoid. If the cards point to safety, she will be more relaxed. Not all of the readings will be accurate though. If the careers are planning something major and the readings point to bad luck, Korino will warn her allies of this. In terms of tribute hunting, Korino doesn’t mind whether she’s going to go on the offence or defence. As the games go on, she will try to be the glue to secure the career alliance together until the finale.

If there is a feast, Korino will try to hide close to the supplies. She will try to strategise a plan where her allies try to hold off as many tributes from the supplies as possible. She’ll act as the last line of defence where, if a tribute is able to avoid her allies, she will throw knives at them to take them out. Just before the end of the feast, she will collect the feast bags and hide them.

In the finale, Korino will try to get the remaining tributes to fight each other before she steps in. If any of the tributes notice her, she will try to lure them to the other fight whilst keeping them back with her throwing knives. If they get too close she will focus on dodging their attacks until they get tired, then she’ll make a move. Though her lack of combat skills might be her downfall, she hopes that the other tribute will be too tired to fight properly. If it’s down to her and one other tribute, she won’t bother getting close and will kill them with her throwing knives. If they get close to her then she’ll fight them normally.

Alliance: Careers. If there isn’t a career-like alliance, she will try to ally with a small group of strong-looking tributes.

Token: Tarot cards

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Showmance: Maybe. If the writer wants Korino to have a showmance, it can be mutual or one-sided where Korino rejects the lover interest.

Other quirks:
 * Always reads her own tarot at the beginning of each day. Though she doesn’t want to read the fortunes of the other careers, she will do so if they insist on it.

Family/Associates: Mettius Quain (Father), Ryke Sinclair (Paternal figure), Sierra Sinclair (Mother), Styx Sinclair (Half-brother), Regina Sinclair (Half-sister)

Backstory
(Note: Still a WIP)

Korino was born into the Sinclair family, a relatively wealthy family that was split across the districts of Panem. Though they had money, it wasn’t enough to satisfy the family. The one thing they wanted more than money was fame. The family would later get fame after killing off the Dracari family, who were notorious for treating their employees poorly and creating unnecessary fights between important families. Unfortunately for the Sinclairs, this fame was short-lived in the non-Capitol districts. Since then they have tried all sorts of stunts to try and stay relevant, even if it cost them an eye, an arm or a child…

Prior to Korino’s birth, her mother Sierra had been attending all sorts of parties in order to try to build up connections to other respected families. As luck would have it, one of these guests happened to be Mettius Quain. Sierra wasted no time in getting to know the (future) president. Throughout most of the night, the two were flirting and drinking. Before either of them knew it, they ended up in a room separate from the party and enjoyed a steamy night.

After that fateful evening, the pair enjoyed a brief fling lasting only a couple of weeks. However it didn’t take long for Mettius to move on and leave behind Sierra. Not long after their split, Sierra found out she was pregnant with his child. Though she wrote letters to him about returning to raise their child, he never responded. In response Sierra attended more parties where she met Ryke Cartwright, who was a very highly-ranked Peacekeeper that often worked with key Capitolian figures. By the time Sierra was 4 months pregnant, the two got together. Ryke was fully aware of the affair by this point but he wished to support his partner anyway.

Korino was finally born 5 months later. Ryke was instantly enamoured for his daughter figure. Sierra on the other hand loved Korino in a very different way: She saw her as an opportunity. She had proof of his nature in the form of their daughter. In the end she wrote one last letter, threatening to expose just how wilf Mettius could get. He had to buy her silence with a hefty sum of money. Whether he gave in or responded with his threat is a mystery to all except for those two and Ryke.

Her childhood was, for the most part, a happy one. Though she and her family lived without many troubles she was pressured to behave like a socialite. Whenever there was a party she was made to go to it, even if it wasn’t entirely kid friendly. She soon became adjusted to a life co-existing with drinking and gambling. If she didn’t speak to any of the adults, Sierra would call her over so that she could have a conversation.

When she was 4 years old, Sierra gave birth again. This time she had twins, who she named Styx and Regina. Even though they were Ryke’s biological children and she wanted to move on from Mettius, Korino was still her favourite as she felt she was more of use to her than the twins. Occasionally Sierra and Ryke would leave for “business”, leaving Korino alone with her siblings. She was fortunate the siblings didn’t try to do stupid stuff… for the most part. Either way, she was able to resolve most of the issues they had. Whether it was feeding them, playing with them or trying to stop them shoving forks into plug sockets, she was able to cater to their needs. Her only problems were with her siblings wanting their ‘mama’ all the time. A part of her was resentful during these babysitting duties. Nonetheless she grew used to taking care of them and over time her annoyances nuanced into nurture.

Over the years, Sierra would try and morph the children into ‘proper’ people. All of them were expected to be polite, smile and socialise with other people. Korino and Regina wore formal ball gowns and other dresses, much to Regina’s chagrin. Styx was also made to wear suits. You would be surprised if you saw them wandering the streets in casual clothing. They were even taught to look down on poorer people, but Korino never took those lessons to heart. An encounter with a dying crippled boy changed that.

Ryke also kept a secret that only he and his children knew: He was a proficient throwing knife thrower and poisons expert. Whenever he had some spare time with Korino, Styx and Regina, he allowed them to handle the blades and gaze at the poisons. He started training them in the art of knife throwing, of which Regina started out as the most proficient. As time went on Korino and Styx developed their skills better than Regina’s, with the former being the most skilled at knives and poisons. Styx couldn’t care less about poisons and Regina never got the hang of them.

Sierra and Ryke finally got married when Korino was nine. The reception was large as Sierra invited many of her friends from the other infamous houses of District 2. Ryke changed his surname to Sinclair and everybody was having a whale of a time. Well, except for Korino: She was being forced into conversation with strangers, something she had grown to hate because they were so humdrum. All they ever talked about was Politics, the latest pregnancies and rumours concerning the hunger games.

Backstory Summary (Quain Games Edition)

 * A member of the Sinclair family, who were relatively well-known in the Capitol but not so much in other districts. Their claim to fame was killing off a despised family, the Dracari family. Despite this they weren’t given much recognition.
 * Bastard child of Mettius Quain and Sierra Sinclair, who had a one-night stand
 * Sierra met Ryke Cartwright after Quain bailed on her. She was 4 months pregnant with Korino at the time
 * When Korino was born, Sierra threatened to reveal Mettius’s lifestyle to the rest of the Capitol. She would keep the secret in return for bribes/treasures. (Whether the President complied or made his own threats is down to the writer).
 * Ryke and Sierra kept the truth of Korino’s true parentage secret from her.
 * Styx and Regina were born when Korino was four years old. She often babysit them for her parents whenever they were out.
 * Korino and Regina were raised by Sierra to be proper ladies whilst Styx was raised as a proper gentleman. However Ryke secretly trained them in the art of throwing knives and poison in case they were chosen for the hunger games.
 * When Korino was 9, Sierra and Ryke got married. Ryke took Sierra’s surname. There was an oracle booth at the reception which Korino tried out. She was mostly interested in the tarot cards.
 * When her tarot reading accurately predicted the future, Korino became even more interested and bought her own pack. She learnt how to do tarot readings and grew accustomed to the cards.
 * Sierra noticed the cards and had the idea of making a business out of it. She would walk Korino to the centre of the district and help her open a tarot-reading booth.
 * Korino started out having very few customers. Some were genuinely curious for their future, others just wanted the tea she served to customers. Some even ridiculed her despite her young age. For ruder customers, Korino would lace their tea with a non-fatal poison that had minimal side effects (vomiting, fever etc.)
 * More and more people came to Korino’s booth after a decent amount of people reported that her predictions came to fruition. Korino was thrilled at first, but when she remembered the customers who had a gloomy future she couldn’t help but worry if she predicted their deaths or misfortunes.
 * Korino wanted to stop the tarot readings, but Sierra refused and claimed her worries were the result of bad luck. Korino reluctantly carried on reading tarots for others. Her only solace was in the throwing knife practice she had with Ryke.
 * Korino grew even more paranoid of her predictions and started doing her own tarots daily. Most of her readings turned out to be false, which gave Korino slight relief. This wouldn’t last long.
 * During her teenage years, Korino thought her “powers” would lead to her hubris. She also began to rely on her gut instinct to decide if she was being paranoid or serious. It got to the point where it became even more accurate than her tarot readings. However she only told her customers the tarot readings and not her gut instinct readings.
 * Terrified, she closed down the oracle booth (to the despair of Sierra) and burnt the building to the ground. All she salvaged were some of the decorations and the tarot cards. Sierra was only happy when she received insurance money from the people who invested in the booth.
 * Quain once had his fortune told by Korino. She knew who he was but was completely unaware that he was her father. She noticed that he was more interested in her than the reading itself. In the end, the tarots pointed to some sort of misfortune involving Quain’s family.
 * Korino withdrew herself from society and rarely attended the social parties her family went to. She didn’t want any of the guests to have their fortunes read. Instead she spent hours in her room looking at the cards and reading her fortune.
 * When the next hunger games drew closer, Korino kept picking the same three cards: The Bataleur (Past, wisdom), the Emperor (Present, revelation/behaviour) and the Fool (Future, madness/bewilderment). She grew even more paranoid of the cards and saw it as a sign that she was going to become insane.


 * One day, Korino was at home playing with the tarot cards when she heard Sierra screaming. She quickly hid in Styx's room, but was found by the invaders. Though she tried to fight them off, she was eventually overpowered and taken away for the Quain games.

Inspiration
'Solitaire' by Kamelot.

Trivia

 * Korino was named after my pet bearded dragon from years ago.
 * She is a distant cousin of Ivy Sinclair.