Mercia Occisor

''' THIS IS NON FANFICTION. '''

Biological Information

 * Name: Mercia Occisor
 * Nicknames/Epithets: "Ivy"
 * Age: 18
 * District: The Capitol
 * Birthday: April 1st
 * Gender: Female
 * Height: 5'7"
 * Family:
 * Unnamed mother
 * Unnamed father
 * Unnamed brother
 * Unnamed sister
 * Unnamed fiancé
 * Love Interest(s): Unnamed fiancé

Appearance


Written Description: Mercia as her normal self looks like a typical Capitol citizen. She has emerald-green, wavy hair, bright green eyes and a slightly tanned complexion. She stands at a height of 5'7" and is of a healthy build. Her attire is typical of The Capitol; she wears colour-coordinated clothing, usually green, and a pair of black-tinted sunglasses. To further blend in with the rest of Capitol society, she wears generic Capitol perfume and switches it up from time to time.


 * Now, this is where her exploitation of a loophole comes in, in regards to the sunglasses (if there are two tokens permitted in the Games, please disregard this). As Mercia wears her sunglasses often, people have become accustomed to seeing her with them on and the only people who have seen her without them on are her family, who are willing to back up whatever she goes along with. Because of this, she can create a lie and state that she needs the sunglasses because she's blind (and that's why she's always wearing them) -- therefore, she can take both her sunglasses and her gloves with her into the Games.

There is one thing to point out. It's normally well-hidden with makeup and Capitol cosmetics, but Mercia has scars on her right cheek. These scars are from when one of her targets fought back, in the rare instance where the assassination got physical. The perceptive will use this as a hint to her Ivy identity.

As her assassin/serial killer persona, Ivy, her attire usually changes; at least depending on the environment where she carries out her assassinations and kills. She wears clothing fitting of the setting, in order to blend in. However, in the Games, Ivy will not come into play until she faces Solomon, so Mercia will go in with her typical attire and wear whatever arena wear she's given.

Personality
Upon first glance, Mercia seems like a typical Capitol woman. She is friendly and sociable, with a hint of mystery; traits expected of a Capitol socialite. She seems to have an interest in fashion and The Games, basically whatever's trending in The Capitol; making her appear relatable. She's also loyal to her family, doing whatever she can to make them happy -- thus she entered the engagement stage of an arranged marriage that was said to have benefits for both the Occisor family, and the fiancé's family.

However, this friendliness hides a dark underbelly. Mercia has a fetish for murder and bloodshed. She claims that she enjoys the drama and intrigue that comes with murder, she has extensive knowledge of true crime and crimes throughout Panem and she also claims that her fetish "awoke" when she witnessed a murder for herself as a child, and came to the realisation of how "mundane" her life was. To "satiate" her fetish, she became a serial killer and an assassin by the alias of "Ivy"; deft in carrying out murders and assassinations.

To avoid getting caught, Mercia became a proficient liar. Having the intelligence to back this up, she can worm her way out of dangerous predicaments and evade being captured (however this can be countered, see Weaknesses).

Maybe because of her lust for murder, Mercia has a general lack of morals. She doesn't care who her clients are, accepting payment from anybody. Her "work" as a serial killer and assassin has jaded her view on life and death; she is apathetic towards the idea of her own death.

Backstory
Mercia's life, upon first glance, seems rather mundane and typical of a Capitol socialite. She was born into affluence and spent most of her childhood attending parties, extravagant galas and Games-viewing events. She attended six reapings, surviving five of them (she volunteered at 18).

When she was a child, she witnessed something that would change her outlook on life, death and the world. One night, during one of the aforementioned extravagant galas, she witnessed a drunken brawl that turned violent, resulting in someone getting stabbed to death. Instead of being horrified by this sight, Mercia felt a sense of enthralment.

Around the age of 14, she committed her first murder. Excited by bloodshed and death, and finding a way to combat the "mundane" life she lived, she became a serial killer and an assassin, going by the codename "Ivy"; in reference to her hair. She carried out kills and assassinations, in exchange for payment.

Ever since, she has led a double life. As Mercia, she acts like a typical socialite, and goes along with whatever her family wants. At 16, she was betrothed to a fellow socialite, in the hopes that it would bring benefits to both families. Mercia does care for her fiancé, but she is mostly apathetic about the idea of the marriage. But as Ivy, she only became more and more proficient at killing.

A year before she volunteered for the Games, Mercia, under her Ivy cover, was approached by Aamon. Aamon was seething with rage over what Solomon Eudia had "done to him" and he wanted vengeance. Mercia accepted his payment.

When she learned of Solomon volunteering for the Games, she volunteered for the upcoming Games herself -- hoping to carry out the kill and get the job done.

Weapons
Mercia's primary weapon, and the only physical weapon she's been seen with, is the rapier. Mercia gravitates towards the rapier because of how light yet long-ranged it is. It's suitable for her stealthy, speedy attacks.

Mercia is also proficient in taming muttations. Her specialty is land-based muttations; especially land-based muttations that are native to The Capitol. It's unknown how she learned to do this; one possible theory is that she learned this ability through either watching past Games, which she did a lot of in her childhood, or buying insider Gamemaker information on the black market. She can weaponise these muttations and get them to attack whoever she targets.

As part of her research on Solomon (well, research of what information she could find on him), she looked into Alcmene's Career Academy information; in which she learned about Alcmene's ability with handling poisons. It's also possible that she was able to attain this information through the black market as well. In order to prepare herself in the event of Alcmene, she studied poisons and how to handle them.

Strengths
Besides the weapon-based strengths already mentioned, Mercia has several strengths in her favour.

Mercia is an intelligent and proficient killer, and is stealthy and swift in her attacks. The Games are an environment that she could possibly thrive in. She has extensive knowledge of the Games and true crime, so she may apply some of that knowledge. Mercia is also a capable liar, so she can manipulate situations to her advantage -- putting up a friendly front if need be and potentially worming her way out of dangerous predicaments and evading capture.

Her biggest goal is to carry out the request given to her by Aamon and kill Solomon, showing a sense of determination. Because of this determination, she is doing what she can to hide the fact that she's the serial killer and assassin known as Ivy. She will only be comfortable revealing her true intentions once she can get to Solomon.

Weaknesses
Mercia has quite a few weaknesses.

The most subtle weakness is something that only the perceptive would get; the hints towards her Ivy identity. Although very well-hidden, Mercia has characteristics that can expose her as Ivy, before she can get to Solomon. One example is the scars on her face. Mercia does her best to hide this with makeup and cosmetics, but scars might be considered a rather rough look for a Capitol socialite; raising suspicions.

Therefore, those who are perceptive, those who can see through her lying and those who are equal or more to Mercia in intelligence can be the biggest counter to her. If they can question her and find points to exploit, then they might just be able to put Mercia under pressure.

In regards to her handling of poisons, she only has knowledge of Capitol-native poisons. There will inevitably be poisons out there that she doesn't know of. In addition, the Gamemakers can throw anything in her path and could even go as far as to invent new poisons.

As of taming muttations, she doesn't have the ability to tame muttations of other kinds -- therefore, she's limited to land-based muttations only. Also, her muttations do not survive in places with little land for long.


 * There is also the possibility that the Gamemakers might not even include muttations at all in the arena to consider.

Out of Solomon, Alcmene and herself, Mercia has, by far, the worst physical weapon range. The only physical weapon she has ever bothered training with is the rapier; so those with experience in a wider range of weapons can overwhelm her. She can also be overwhelmed by hand-to-hand combat.

A final weakness that can be pointed out is her single-mindedness. She's so focused on completing her client's request by killing Solomon that she has neglected the possibility of other scenarios; such as if she was to complete the request and went on to win the Games, what would she do with her life?

Fears
Mercia's fears are unknown.

Strategies
'''Please note that this is just a basic guideline of how Mercia would react at each stage of the Games. This will not always apply and can be prone to change; depending on the circumstances in the Games.'''


 * Reaping: Mercia will volunteer. Lying about her intentions and keeping a calm face, she will say something patriotic, like "I hope to bring glory to The Capitol". She will try to show some emotion, telling her fiancé (during the goodbyes after the reaping) and family to not worry about her.
 * Chariot Parade: Using knowledge from her days attending glamorous events and watching past Hunger Games, she will act friendly and enthusiastic; not overtly enthusiastic, however. She will listen to her stylist.
 * Training: Not wanting to look inconspicuous, Mercia will train quietly by herself.
 * Individual Training: Again, Mercia doesn't want to look inconspicuous as she doesn't want to get caught out before she even gets to the arena. To blend in, she will aim for a score of 6 or 7.
 * Interview: Mercia will play the loyal, relatable Capitol socialite angle. To invoke sympathy from the audience and the crowd, Mercia will talk about her family and her fiancé. She will also mention anything that's trending in The Capitol, so she comes off as trendy. This is to hide what's truly happening.
 * The Games: Mercia's course of action is to be stealthy for the majority of the Games, staking out, following Solomon and killing anyone (who isn't Solomon) that attacks her (in a swift, discarding manner). She might hide in trees to do these stakeouts, or take cover. When she feels that it's time, she will attempt a sneak attack on him. If she is caught before she can do this, they will fight it out in a, hopefully, epic battle. If Alcmene gets involved, she will attempt to take them both on; giving The Capitol a show. That is ideally when the truth about Ivy will come out.
 * Relationships: Mercia is not open to a showmance, due to her engagement. Even if she hadn't been engaged, she would have thought that a showmance was unnecessary to her goal.

Alliance
Mercia will be a loner. She deems alliances unnecessary to her work.

Token
A pair of black leather gloves and, if she can exploit the loophole mentioned/if two tokens are allowed, her black-tinted sunglasses.

Trivia

 * Mercia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom and earldom in England that reached its height under King Offa (757-96). It was one of the Heptarchy kingdoms.
 * Occisor is Latin for "killer, murderer".
 * Her codename, Ivy, is in reference to her hair colour and poison ivy; a North American climbing plant that is known for causing skin to itch and turn red if its leaves are touched.
 * She was inspired by Yoshikage Kira from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.
 * I mostly created her to be an antithesis to Solomon, a part of Solomon's storyline and because I'm intrigued to see which of the two would win in a fight.
 * Random trivia tidbits:
 * Mercia is an Aries.
 * Her alignment is Neutral Evil.