Ella Martindale (Capitol)

Name: Ellesmere Martindale
Age: 17
Gender: Female
District/Area: The Capitol
Appearance:

Ella has black hair that is surprisingly natural. It curls gently, but messily, down her back to just below her ribs. Her eyes are a an unnatural aquamarine that gives her stare an almost creepy feel to it. Ella's lips are perfectly sculpted, accentuating a pout or a smile in just the right way.

She is small, only 5'4". She's thin, but not skinny, and her skin is pale, no matter how long she spends in the sun. Ornate blue swirls run up her back and onto her shoulders.

Personality:

Ella is bubbly and energetic. She is naturally joyful and often has a smile. She is always eager to make friends, and is quick to trust. She loves easily and she has a habit of letting her joy rub off on people.

At least, she used to be like that. Until the Capitol betrayed her. it turned Ella manipulative and conniving. There is almost always a plan behind her actions. Her trust was shattered by the Capitol, and now she is cautious. Trained by the uprising, she is good with knives. She can be deadly if you get too close.

Contradictorily, she is also sweet and gentle. A trace of her old self remains, and so if you prove to her that you don't pose a threat, at least not an immediate one, she will be friendly. Cynical though she may be, she is quick to smile. She'd make you her friend almost as easily as she'd get rid of you, and the danger you may pose.

History:

Ella was born pampered. Her parents adored her, their little natural beauty. She was given everything she wanted and more. One of their gifts was an avox girl, mouth sewn shut unlike the other avoxes Ella had seen. Her parents acted like she was more than just a servant, a slave, but that she was a pet, enunciating to her that Selene was dependent on her. Ella was young enough and delusioned enough that she didn't question this, simply accepting it as the way capitol life was. It didn't take long for the girls to form a strange relationship, somewhere in the shadowlands between friendship and something else, though Ella could never place her fingers on what. Soon, that shadowland disappeared, blooming into a true friendship, one the two girls were careful to hide. It wasn't something Ella's parents would have approved of.

Ella used the avox as a diary in some ways, pouring her every thought and emotion into the girl. Part of it was because she knew that Selene could never tell, but mostly it was because she truly did trust the girl. She trusted easily in those days. She and Selene even learned sign language together so that Ella could talk to her avox, even if Selene could never share with Ella her voice.

When she was 14 she fell in love with a beautiful male tribute. What fascinated her was that his beauty was natural, and not Capitol sculpted like everyone around there. And more amazing was the fact that he had loved her too. She was smitten.

She petitioned the Capitol to free him from the Hunger Games. The president had come to personally see her, and when she told him her reasons, he laughed at her. "Girl," he told her gently, "that boy doesn't love you. He's using you as an escape out. I won't grant you your petition." He turned to leave, and just before closing the door behind him he spoke one last time. "And I promise that you don't love him. You are simply infatuated."

What the president had said about neither of them being in love may have been true, but Ella would never be given the chance to find out. After narrowly surviving the Cornucopia Ella was forced to watch the beautiful tribute die a slow and painful death at the hands of another tribute, who would later come to be the victor. As he was dieing, Ella could have sworn she heard him whisper her name. It was the first time Ella would come to view the Hunger Games for what they were, a slaughter of countless children for capitol enjoyment. It sickened her.

She drew into herself, hiding her pain from everyone else; they would never understand. At first her parents were worried, but then her doctor assured them nothing was wrong, and that Ella would soon snap out of it, lest she wanted to be institutionalized. Ella, though young, could easily perceive the threat in the statement, though her parents couldn't. "Quit ruining the peace, you selfish child, or you will regret it." After all, the Capitol was a place supposedly worry free for the general public.

And so she returned to the way she was, bubbly and bright, though what nobody realized was that underneath her facade was a conniving and sneaky girl. And she was planning her escape, while pretending to be just like everyone else. At least, nobody but Selene. After all, Ella still told Selene everything, though her thoughts were less joyful and more full of the sadness, then anger she truly felt. Only Selene knew what Ella was truly like in those days. Trust shattered, faith in everything, even her parents, lost, Selene was still the same in Ella's eyes. She could still trust the Avox girl. Because finally Ella knew what Selene must have been avoiding letting her know for so long. Finally Ella knew about the cruelty.

Still, Ella didn't tell Selene her plan to run away. She didn't know what she'd find when she did, and until she was certain that she could survive outside the capitol, she didn't want to put Selene at risk. She knew that if she disappeared Selene would probably pay for it, but she knew that it would be a temporary pain, and she'd be allowed to move on. So Ella began slipping her money, telling her to hide it well. That way, when Ella was gone, she'd still have Ella's support.

She was 16 when she finally got her chance, and sneaking off a train she had boarded claiming she was going to tour one of the old Arena's, she escaped the Capitol. After running for a while she discovered the Uprising and, discovering that it's ultimate plan was to take down the Capitol and stop the Hunger Games, she wasted no time in joining. Until the prejudice started. Her Capitol looks led to them to be overly cautious when relaying information, and downright cruel. After all, she was the byproduct of the very place they schemed to take down.

Realizing that they would never fully accept her, Ella left the Uprising, angry and hurt.

Codeword: muttations
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