I've got soul but I'm not a soldier.
Jul. 6th, 2012 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
districttwoUser Name/Nick: Ramen
User DW: blackswanevent.at.dreamwidth.org
AIM/IM: bubblegumofficer
E-mail: carolynamandapoddig@gmail.com
Other Characters: Mark Hoffman [SAW], Edward Blake [Watchmen]
Character Name: Cato
Series: The Hunger Games
Age: 18
From When?: Just after being attacked and eaten alive by the mutts-Cato is killed when Katniss puts an arrow through his throat.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. The short version is that Cato is a ruthless killer who is trained in four forms of hand-to-hand combat, can throw a spear fifteen yards, and is deadly with a sword. The long version is that Cato is a paranoid delusional boy, who believes that the games are still going on and is fighting for the honor of his family despite being told-point blank-that he did not have to go or volunteer to do this.
He is reckless,dangerous, and the strongest person in the arena for the 74th hunger games. While he is not a sociopath like Clove, he is capable of dangerous decisions. Cato is brainwashed into believing that the capitol and their way of life is the only behavior that is acceptable. By his arrival on the barge however, he feels worthless and believes that he has been bred as a sacrificial lamb for the capitol which makes him right for redemption.
Item: [N/A]
Abilities/Powers:
Cato was bred to be a soldier, or at the very least a dystopian police officer. He is trained in four forms of hand-to-hand combat (Krav Maga, Ju-Jitsu, Tae-Kwon-Do, and simple defense/hand to hand) his greatest strength however is with a sword and spear. He is also well-read on Panem law.
While unwavering loyalty isn't really a power, it's a skill and that's something that Cato possesses. The downside to this is that the knowledge that he was bred to be a soldier means that Panem bred his life to have no meaning what soever and he is basically worthless.
Personality:
Cato and Clove are the closest thing to secondary characters that we have within the series. While we know more about Clove-due to her interactions with Katniss, Cato is described as playing an angle.
Out of all of the tributes in the arena, the District 2 tributes are better placed then most to receive training. As children of the military police (pretending to be the district's stone quarries) Cato and Clove are conditioned from birth to observe and support the capitol. Clove is motivated by personal glory. Cato-as evidenced in the movie version-is in it for the honor of the kill. Throughout the book and movie he is described as a warrior who lives for the kill.
As the books continue, that devotion to the kill becomes more and more pronounced. After losing his district partner he hunts down Thresh from District 11 and is dismayed to find that he's been killed by the mutts. He then hunts down Katniss and Peeta only to be caught by the mutts themselves. At his death, he realizes that he was a pawn in the games and perhaps that he had been cheated. He is consumed by rage, hatred and anger while his desires were mostly wanting to bring his family and his district glory.
Cato is very much a product of the districts. He believes wholeheartedly in the goodness of the capitol, a belief compounded by his familial relations. His father believes in law and order and his uncle, mother, and grandparents have a longstanding tradition of being peace-keepers in the career districts. It is that influence which motivates him to be so disgusted with his father's behavior. His father broke the rules set down by the capitol and his mother and uncle were right to turn him in-leaving Cato in charge of his mother's household.
The difference between his parents and his upbringing is that Cato was raised to enjoy the slaughter. His uncle and his mother see this as a requirement for peace within the districts understanding what Snow said about the cost of losing the districts and another war. Cato was raised to be a sacrificial lamb-something he does not realize until the very end.
His path to redemption would have to deal with accepting that he had to make his own destiny. Cato is very much a product of brainwashing. He would have to accept that the law in panem was wrong and that his mother and father were wrong in following it-after recognizing his own self worth and value. Arriving on the barge, he has acknowledged that he is a lamb fit only for slaughter and will see the admiral's deal and promises as a means of getting off the ship-or believe firmly that the only way to get off the ship is to treat it like a second group of games.
Cato is trained to follow the rules, but where other soldiers have reckless behavior removed from their training, Cato never attended peacekeeper training. His skill in following orders is counter balanced by his arrogance and pride and his will and desire to be the best. He knows he's good and he won't hesitate to tell anyone-both out of the natural desire to be on top which comes with being a teenage boy and the desire to impress people enough to win. He is also somewhat unintelligent, not out of a lack of intelligence but out of "If it's not important I don't think I should have to learn it."
He is a natural leader despite his training to follow the rules and his rage. He is dedicated to his team-although it never comes down to them splitting apart. While an alliance is in-force he will support it. When angry he is a completely different person, and making him angry is something to be avoided if possible.
He is motivated by a very real sense of insecurity. Katniss getting the better of him drives him into a frothing rage. In that frothing rage he becomes slow and stupid. He could stand to learn calm, he could stand to learn kindness. He could stand to learn-or re-learn in this case-loyalty. Cato has it in him to be a good man, but his upbringing and the recognition that he was in essence bred to keep the peace in Panem has hurt him deeply. He believes in peace, and believes in wanting people to be happy but he needs to be broken from Snow and Panem's idea of happy. He needs to break out of the rules and learn how to be his own person.
He will make friends easily, despite his arrogance. Unlike some of my other characters he's not burdened with sexist issues nor does he have any animosity against women or people of different skincolor/ethnicities. Panem has been racked by civil war and men and women serve side-by-side in combat situations (his mother in fact, out ranked his father). While he knows he's good looking and he has had relationships with women (in the film it is implied he has a relationship with Glimmer-the tribute from District One.) Cato will fight along side girls and fight for girls who he considers friends. It is implied that the majority of mankind is wiped out. This behavior isn't due to altruism-it's due to a lack of resources. You don't piss off anyone if you can help it as long as they don't break the rules.
Cato is, in short, the child version of numerous barge denizens. He could easily get along with Natasha Romanoff, Edward Blake, or any of the other people who were brought up hard young. He is not a complete sociopath like Clove-he is simply driven by rage and feelings of worthlessness. The first step to helping him is to convince him that he's worth something. The second step is to convince him Panem isn't and Katniss will have another fighter-a good fighter on her side.
Path to Redemption:
First off, Cato needs to be told that he matters. More then told, he needs to be shown that he matters in the grand scheme of things. He needs to learn to have faith in himself and who he is-as he has an idea but was prepared to donate and give everything that he was to Panem and to his family. There will be notations in his file about his family and how they missed him. A warden must be dedicated to him for a good two-to-three months, filling in temporarily in a father, mother, or best loyal friend role. Feel free to try and educate him, encourage other pursuits, or generally interact with him but without constant day-to-day contact he'll look for ways to fill his time not-so-productively. He should be put to work right away.
Once he has a sense of himself and who he is, he needs to be shown a world that's one worth fighting for. He needs to see how things were and how people can be capable of that again. The history of Panem is a sad history where the people of some of the earliest districts and the politicians of washington ended up in a stronghold away from the rest of the world. If he can see the freedoms that people had, he will start to pay attention.
Honestly, it is the feelings of worthlessness that will be the most difficult to combat and the feelings of he is nothing but a soldier-less then a soldier. He needs to be told that he is worth something and then given something better and something more to live for.
History:
Cato was born to Cat and Quarry in District Two. As their oldest child, he grew up looking up to both his father and his mother-accomplished peace keepers working in District Two. The family had a longstanding tradition of upholding Panem's laws. His uncle was second in command to the chief Peace Keeper of District Four. His mother and father were high ranking officers. His grandfather was head of the peace keepers in District Two as well. Cato came from a storied family and if he survived to adult hood it was assumed he would join them. Two things prevented this, and the story begins with his father.
The life of a peace keeper is not all pampered. Encouraged to uphold panem's laws as well as provide panem with new labor, Cat was regularly pregnant. Their salaries were cut just after Cato's younger sister diamond was born and when Cat became pregnant with emerald, Quarry took matters into his own hands and took bribes to look the other way when it came to a black-market operation in District Two. He took bribes and supported their family until an investigation outed him. It was only his position that kept him from being killed-instead he was whipped in public and sent to District 12.
Cato and his sisters became the laughing stock of district two. Humiliated, Cato worked at training and fought anyone who would come against him until he saw an opportunity in volunteering for the 74th games. He shoved his way to the front, intending to reclaim his family honor and honor district two. The rest as they say was history.
After being killed he arrives on the barge embittered, broken, and believing that he has to kill his way out.
Sample Journal Entry:
[There's a boy barge, and that's not so unusual maybe. Maybe even the blood on his shirt is not so unusual-or the way he keeps rubbing his throat.]
...This is a capitol lab?
[He hesitates] ...Look just give me another chance. I can get back in there. You bring me back then bring me back right and I'll rip Twelve's throat out I promise! [He lowers his head] Aren't I supposed to be a mutt by now? Better an animal then a person right? Better a dog then a fucking kid? Isn't that what you wanted?
Sample RP:
Seventy Lashes.
They had roped them into their viewing areas. In this case a calm park, trees, plush chairs. District Two where we do things right. he was watching the Mayor wave his hands and talk about the debt that the district owed the capitol. How the people who had founded District Two had taken refuge around the mountain. Cato tuned out the history, how they had been civilian protectors once and then they had fallen in with the capitol and the capitol fed them and clothed them and allowed them to do their duty.
Duty. Cato's hands clenched. They were just doing their duty. On that platform there. A year before his father had been taken there and stripped. The shirt had ripped off his back. Quarry hadn't said anything. He hated the man. Hated him.
"...And so we will gladly select our two tributes..."
"I can think of who we ought to send." Granite and Amethyst were whispering near him, "We really ought to cull the rest of the traitors and the fucking rebels before they go out and spread that kind of shit."
She just giggled. Seventy lashes Less then a year! Cato's stomach rolled. He had stood behind him, all the family sharing their shame. Cato reached for the edges of his chair as subtle as he could be. The girl was a short creature, brown haired and younger then he was. She had a smug look on her face and why not? She was sort of from a poorer district. She was doing this for the fame and the glory and a chance for a hot meal.
That's why I did what I did. Your mom needed to eat. The girls needed food and you... Cato shook his head. They were calling a skinny pale faced kid-a stoner's kid. The gag was the kids who were the children of the peace keepers and the children of the quarrymen, the stone workers, were always at odds. They were called stoners for a reason. The boy looked dazed and confused and the girl would take all the honor and the glory-
"I volunteer." Cato didn't even wait. He shoved the boy to the side, "I volunteer as tribute." He had never been more sure of anything. The girl would be a quick and easy kill-skinny like that he'd just snap her neck and that would be that. He straightened and basked in the cheers. He ignored the pointed giggling from granite and Amy-sitting there towards the back of the group. What did they know?
---
"What the hell do you know, about going into the arena? What-" Cato's uncle was a short man with a receeding hairline. Built compact, he was pacing around the room set apart for their final goodbyes, "...You-" He wrapped his arms around the younger man, "...You stupid, stupid..."
His mother was more understanding, "...I think you can do it Cato." His sisters said the same, "It won't-"
It won't undue what your father did but it's a start. His mother was the smart one. Quarry would rot wherever he went. Cato would bring glory back to his family name.
Seventy lashes.
----
It had rained the day of his father's whipping. The family had been forced to stand out in uniform. They would share their father's shame. Even his children. Quarry had never said a word and it had been his brother-in-law who had carried out the sentence. Down in a useless attempt to prove the family was still loyal. The day after school the children had called diamond names. She was crying in the bathroom and he had gone to her and held her and then he had beaten the boy who she pointed out senseless in training.
seventy hits? Jesus Christ kid you trying to kill him?
He couldn't say what the problem was. Cato shoved it out of his mind, extending his hand to his smiling enemy, "I'm Cato."
"Clove."
----
He was dreaming of rain when he woke up. The last thing he remembered was a sharp hot pain in his throat and gasping on the floor. Carpet, dry, blankets- I'm in doors. There was a pause did we win?
Lyme and Enobara had been very clear about what to do in unknown situations. He calmed his breathing and rolled onto his side. If he had to he could snap the enemies necks, he could-
This is my room. His room. His room. There were the photos that his mother had hung (all missing his father of course and rightly so) the pictures that his sisters had drawn. The models on his desk, the books about peace keeping...He swallowed. Nervous. anxious.
His heart hammered. He began to rummage for a weapon. His bat, a stick, something he could use to hurt people who might hurt him. He found a stuffed animal and stared at it. I haven't had one of these in years. What the hell was going on? He settled on a really heavy book and remembered Clove, and the dent in her skull...
You go away inside kid. His uncle's voice Be angry. Don't let yourself be hurt. You don't fight, someone will rip your throat out. Just like Katniss everdeen had done.
He opened the door to his room and stood in a clinical hallway with a dozen different doors all around him.seven. Someone had scrawled a zero next to it in black. He dropped the book with a thud and hit the door-howling like a wounded animal before he picked it up again and went to find answers.
Special Notes:
[New first person voice samples]
Date: 2012-07-11 02:47 am (UTC)...What, admiral-you didn't think that I was good enough for a kid? District Two needs more Mason blood. I'll be married. [It's almost defensive] There'll even be a ceremony. Of course the most important part is the assignment of a spouse and housing, but there's a lot more too it then that. And the important part. Bearing fruit for Panem and soldiers to protect the capitol.
[and now the thrust. It's half-hearted. He's thinking about the District Two marriage ceremony which is why he doesn't sound as malicious as he intends. He almost sounds...sad.]
You know that none of this lasts right? All these places you guys are talking about? New York, LA, all these places? Like-the majority of the world is destroyed?
...It can't just be my world. It can't.
---------
[A boy, a child. Cato is defiant. Screaming. His father was here. You all met him. Quarry Mason was a quiet man who wore a uniform. District Two's Guy Montag who looked suspiciously like Dennis Quaid.]
...Cheer the traitor. Clap the traitor on the back. Cheer for him. But you know what he did? He broke the rules. He lied, and cheated and stole. He stole from the capitol barge. You all befriended a lousy thief.
[He is trying not to cry, but there's enough pureblind fury on his face.]
He took bribes. He let people get away with taking extra portions. He helped the stoner's kids when he should have been making sure they stayed where they needed to be to keep the system going. The Peacekeepers are Panem's only line of defense. They protect the capitol. He was wrong..
Why are you all...why are you befriending him? Liking him? You're all disgusting.
[But he's still on the verge of angry tears as he turns the feed off.]