Maisy Kenner -- District 6

“How do I look? W-Why do you want to know? I mean, I look normal, I guess…but Mom says that it’s a girl’s confidence that makes her pretty, so I try not to focus so much on my appearance.”

Maisy is, unfortunately for her, caught in the awkward zone between kid and teenager. She’s about the last person in her class to start puberty, so although many of her friends are starting to look like women, Maisy still has many features of a child. Her chest is flat, her figure is undeveloped, she stands at barely five feet -- and on top of that, she still has a few baby teeth to lose. Her slow growth is something of a sore spot for her, so her friends and family try not to bring it up much. She’s harshly reminded of it when the Peacekeepers in the Square assume she’s twelve, though.

Putting all that aside, Maisy is a decently pretty girl. Her beauty isn’t anything special, and no one does a double take when she passes in the street, but she has a cute aura about her, and her features only serve to emphasize it. For starters, she wears her hair in the pigtails that have been her signature style since she was four, each one bound by a red or yellow ribbon, depending on the day. The colors don’t especially compliment the color of her hair, which edges more towards ‘strawberry’ than ‘blonde’, but they’re her favorites, so she doesn’t go through the trouble of changing them. She has a wide, round face with big brown eyes and a petite nose. Her complexion is fair, and she struggles with pimples on occasion, but it’s nothing too out of the ordinary for a young teenager.

Basically everything about Maisy screams ‘tiny.’ Her hands are small and delicate. Her legs are spindly, and she can still get away with wearing children’s shoes. The way she dresses does nothing to counteract this image, either. When she’s not wearing her school uniform, the girl likes to dress in brightly colored sundresses or sweaters that are much too large for her. She never touches makeup, since her mother uses all of it that they can afford. Even if she didn’t, though, Maisy is too unassuming and mild to care much about wearing it. Though she battles the same self-image issues that all teenagers do, she’s humble and modest at heart, and generally goes through her life without giving a thought to how she looks.

Unless she sees a cute pink dress. Then she can spare a second or two for how she looks.

“Sometimes I feel bad because I have no special gifts or talents. My mom is such an inspiring businesswoman, my dad is such a good cook, my friends all do so well in their studies…and then there’s me. It’s a little sad, being mediocre at everything.”

Maisy is just about the sweetest, most innocent person you’ll ever meet. Guaranteed. She goes past naïve and into stereotypical ingénue territory. If this were a happy story, that’d be a great asset. But Panem is not a happy place, and despite her beliefs to the contrary, not everyone is a good person.

There is almost nothing that will get her to condemn a person. Even with the Hunger Games and the tyrannical Peacekeepers everywhere, Maisy believes that the Capitol is honestly trying to protect the people of Panem, and has fallen for its claim that the Districts brought the Games upon themselves. That doesn’t mean they make her happy, of course. She bawls her eyes out every time she has to watch them. But she bears it like a child bears a painful punishment.

Even though she can be trusting to the point of stupidity, Maisy’s unfaltering kindness is also one of her most appealing traits. She can make friends with almost anyone, and while this doesn’t make her popular in the traditional sense, it does win her the approval of many. Even outside of school, she goes out of her way to be kind to those she sees. She gives money to every beggar who asks for it, unaware that they may just use it to buy morphling. She’ll nurse a dying cat back to health, or at least ease its final hours, even if she has somewhere else to be. To her, the wellbeing of others is more important than her own, and in some ways, that is her greatest flaw.

Maisy has a penchant for self-sacrifice, and although it leads to very kind actions on her part, it does not come entirely from a place of selflessness. Because she does not have many special gifts and does not do particularly well in school, she has a problem with low self-esteem. Sacrificing herself for others gives her a boost to her ego, in some ways. If she makes sacrifices for others, she’s a good person. If she’s a good person, then she’s worth something. In this way, Maisy sometimes makes decisions that will help others immediately, but not in the long run. The concept of tough love makes no sense to her, so even though she tries to help others, her own lack of aggressiveness and determination sometimes hold her back.

“There’s always hope. In every situation. I will never stop believing in that.”

She is not a leader. She is not a fighter. She is prone to tears and is easily taken advantage of. But deep down, Maisy has a very pure heart and will push onwards despite all odds if it’s to help the people she cares about. It’s a quiet strength that does not come out very often, but it is the foundation of her hope and love of humanity. In a dark and dismal world, it is good to have a guiding light.

What a shame it would be if that light were to be put out.

“I love my family and friends dearly! I know life isn’t always easy in Panem, but as long as I have them, I think everything will be okay.”

The Kenners are a fairly successful family, by district standards. Her mother and father met at college – her on a scholarship, him on his parents’ money – and they hit it off immediately. Maisy’s soft-spoken and domestic father dropped out of his program when they got married, and practically begged his career-minded spouse to consider having children once their financial future was stable. That didn’t take too long. Jane Kenner’s famous work ethic and thirst for success quickly put her in a lucrative administration position at a pharmaceutical company that exported directly to the Capitol, and it wasn’t long before little Maisy came along.

District Six is not known for its wealth, but Maisy lived a life of relative ease compared to some of her classmates. Feeling unfairly entitled when she saw her delicious lunches (prepared by her cooking prodigy father), she began giving away most of her nicer food to other children as early as five years old. She was painfully shy for those first years, however, so she would often leave the food namelessly in the cubbies of those she gave to. One day, a sporty, outgoing girl spotted her while she was passing out her lunch, and marched over to thank her. Maisy squealed in surprise, assuming the girl was angry at her, and ran out before they could talk.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the girl to convince her that she meant no harm, and from then on, the two became fast friends.

A peaceful life is often boring, and the Kenners count this as a blessing. Neither Maisy’s mother or father had ever had family in the Games, due in large part to their lack of tesserae, but that didn’t stop it from invading their lives. The first year they were legally required to show portions of it to their little girl, she didn’t stop crying for days. They tried to explain to her that she had nothing to be afraid of for several years, but it soon became clear that she was crying out of empathy, not fear. To assuage this, they started a fund as a family to donate to the District Six tributes every year. Fundraising for it becomes Maisy’s passion around the time of the Games, and she makes a habit out of going door to door to ask for contributions.

Both of the Reapings she’s actually been eligible for went by without a hitch, thankfully, and the Kenners hope that their status as semi-wealthy will keep it that way. A few years ago, they had a second child whom they named Tommy, but don’t plan to have any more to avoid tempting fate. Maisy adores her young brother and often spends her afternoons playing with him before getting around to her homework. She has overcome most of her shyness and has many friends now, though she still counts the first friend she made as her best friend.

Recently, however, Maisy has started to notice that she’s not very interested in dating boys. It doesn’t particularly worry her right now, but deep within her is a secret unbeknownst to everyone, including herself: she is a lesbian. Fourteen is a little young to completely uncover one’s sexuality, but it will start coming out more as she grows up.

Provided she has time to grow up, of course. In Panem, you never know when your fortunes will suddenly reverse.

Maisy is inspired by the character of Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I thought it would be interesting to see how such innocence would react when exposed to the dystopian world of THG.