Leonidas Cora

Leonidas Cora is a Trainer from District 2 who was recently called up to help in the Capitol.

Before the Games
As a proud District 2 citizen, Leonidas was raised in the ways of the Career Tributes, yearning to spill blood in the name of the Capitol and the Cora family, a line made up stonemasons. Though his family was middle-class than others, being an only child meant that they could spend whatever money they could to prepare their boy into a tribute to bring much needed honor and rations. Both parents made the choice to be active in their son's development, splitting the responsibilities and making sure they were in Leo's life as he grew up into the Career he'd become. Raphael Cora, a mason of moderate fame (he supervised the construction of some of the Capitol's shops and known for his intricate plant designs) took up the combat and physical development of Leo, to take advantage of his shorter stature to be a more efficient killing machine. Catalina made sure her son excelled in the academics and strategy, telling him that a man without a brain was as good as dead. His ferocity in the Training Grounds earned him the nickname the Small Lion, particularly an instance when he bit an opponent's ankle so hard he drew blood.

Sadly, his moniker would change into the Disappointing Lion. It was during a qualifying match to become the District 2 Tribute that he was dealt a massive blow to his knee, shattering the bones and giving him a limp for the rest of his life. This resulted in incapacitating him from participating in the Most Glorious Games and had him sidelined for other, and in his eyes, less worthy Tribute to represent his District. Misfortune soon followed the Cora family as Raphael lost a lucrative contract to rebuild the arena after an explosion took place and Catalina nearly died from a strain of a pulmonary virus. She survived but her breathing capacity had been irreparably compromised by 30%. By then, Leo fell into a slump, and vowed to make his own path in the Capitol and make the Disappointing Lion disappear.

By the 74th Games took place, Leo had taken up to becoming a Trainer, a person paid by the higher families to refine their children into Careers. His training was notorious in causing Cadets to fear when he stepped into the room. He liked to make his proteges fight him then incapacitating them in creative ways. It's unknown how a five-foot-eight man managed to dislocate a six-foot teen's shoulder using a piece of rope. His presence in the Capitol had been reduced to being arm candy to any socialite and he loathed every minute of it. This wasn't his scene, this wasn't what he was destined to do…

During the Games
Until District Two summoned him to the Capitol and help with the Never-Ending Games, to Calendius's horror. Leo felt a new lease on life as he joined the Hunger Games staff...and felt it slip away when he was the Tributes he had to work with. His first attempt at communication was laden with District 2 Pride and complete disregard to human life as he genuinely believed off-worlders to be too alien to be considered people. He was also dismissive of other ways of thinking as he demonstrated with his conversation with Clara Murphy during the Staffers' Retreat.

Over time, Leo began to show concern and even friendship towards some of the Tributes under his supervision, most notably Jet Link, whom he found camaraderie due to being a soldier. Their conversation allowed Leonidas to realize how bitter he'd become due to fate denying him an honorable death. These thoughts were further aided while working with Torin Byrd and seeing his niece Felicity Yoshida, a former Cadet of his. This and the odd friendship with D9's escort, China Sorrows, have given the Trainer a new course. The arrival of the Batter certainly helped as he could see a potential Career in the strange offworlder.

But it was Merlyn who truly started to crack at Leo's indoctrination and made him think about the world he lived in. The "crazy old man" made Cora question if Panem was the only nation left in the world and it snowballed from there, all the while caring for a surviving sparrow chick. After Merlyn's disappearance, Leonidas has kept the bird alive and kept his own questions to himself, though he's found some of the wizard's manuscripts.

Abilities

 * Talking a lot of smack
 * An arsenal of combat techniques since childhood
 * Survival skills

Miscellaneous

 * His Token is a brooch with a bright red rose, a Cora heirloom. It's tradition in his family for the groom to carve a gift for their bride. Because Leo was meant to be a Tribute, Catalina passed on her brooch to her son, should he die in the arena.
 * Leo is named after his grandfather, Leonidas Aligheri Cora, The Strong-willed Lion, who is said to have built the family estate out of the mountains. His wife was named Beatrice.