Zelda Calico (District Eight)

Zelda is short, but that is because she is still very young. She is 5'2 and weighs one- hundred and twenty-five pounds (BMI 22.9.) She has long, light brown hair which falls below her shoulders evenly, almost like it had been styled that way, but Zelda never had the patience to spend time on her appearance, so that's simply the way it grows in. Her skin is pale, and no stranger to scars, and her eyes are a deep, dark, serious looking blue which gives her a surprising air of authority for a twelve year old girl. She is small and slight, having scrapped and scavenged to get by in a large household in and impoverished district.

As often comes with malnutrition, Zelda's body is bony and gaunt, with the only place that doesn't seem even vaguely emaciated being her face, which looks as round and healthy as a girl's her age should. When she was younger, people often mistook the dirty looking, run down young street rat of a girl for a boy, but things have changed since then. As time has gone on, Zelda has become more and more feminine looking, and has show signs of becoming quite a beautiful girl in her own right. That being said, Zelda still has a lot of growing up to do, as although she has felt no less than forty for quite some time, she is still a young, well meaning twelve year old girl. And indeed, the people who speak to her do often get a feeling of life weariness and tiredness from her voice unbefitting of a girl her age.

Part of the reason Zelda sees herself as having done so well for herself is her ability to go long periods of time without eating. Growing up the first of six girls, Zelda often had to go hungry so her sisters could eat. With a large family in a district which already rarely had enough to eat, and Zelda's life and the life of her siblings has often depended on her ability to go hungry for long periods of time. Indeed, Zelda has very strong maternal instincts towards her younger sisters, and has acted as their protector for most of their lives while their parents were off working in the in the factories to support them. When they could not be there, Zelda had to be, and so she had to grow up quickly to be a surrogate parent to her younger sisters, whom matter to her more than anything.

Having not felt like a child for quite some time, Zelda often comes across to people as feeling much older than she actually is. Her voice is tired, world weary, and not lacking for seriousness, and her demeanor is often serious, deadpan, and emotionless. For Zelda is not by any means a stupid girl, as a matter of fact, she is quite bright for a girl her age, and in addition to a seemingly out of place, natural affinity for the piano and card playing, she is smart enough to realize the gravity of the responsibility resting unfairly on her shoulders. She rarely laughs, she rarely cries, she rarely expresses her emotions or feelings as it is simply something she does not have time for. Her sisters depend on her, and she does not have the time or energy to waste on inconvenient and seething emotions, so she simply goes on her way, suffering mutely for the sake of those she loves.

Serious, worn out feeling, responsible, cold, distant, single minded, these are the traits that define Zelda's exterior. An incredibly street smart, intelligent, wise, and cunning young girl, she is the byproduct of years of harsh living on the streets of the industrial metropolis that is District Eight, by far one of the most overlooked districts. Having to scrounge and claw to survive, Zelda has become uncannily savvy when it comes to staying alive in the rampantly oppressed urban metropolis she has spent her entire life in. Her sisters are still young, but so is she, and she has done her best to bear the brunt of the suffering every child in District Eight goes through for her sisters. She is incredibly strong willed, nigh unbreakable, and it will take much more than a state sponsored power trip and a lifetime of suffering to stop her from doing what she needs to do.

Born to two loving parents in a District where life was less than even imperfect, Zelda doesn't even remember what it felt like to be an only child, as when her five younger sisters came along, all that changed. Their parents found themselves having to work increasingly long and unhealthy shifts to support their large family, and as the oldest girl, Zelda took the role of surrogate mother for her siblings. She taught them how to work in the textile factories, how to play cards, how to stick up for yourself, anything they would need to survive the harsh, gritty lifestyle of the impoverished District Eight. A large portion of Zelda's childhood was spent on the streets of the decaying urban metropolis she called home, scraping by a living by, more often than not, less than scrupulous means. But when it came to her sisters, she did her best to shield them from that lifestyle, wanting better for them than she had for herself.

She began to harden, become tough and rough around the edges, to develop traits that were needed to survive the inhospitable lifestyle she lead. Her personal relationships, her mental and physical well being, all was secondary to the larger goal of keeping her sisters safe. Zelda has never had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, she has never had friends, or any of the social relationships a young teenage girl should have. When she was seven, a skinny street rat barely scraping by a living for her and her entire family, she was found scavenging in a dumpster by an old man named Brint. Brint was a shady character, but found himself taking pity on the young boy (whom he later learned to his surprise was a girl,) scavenging to get by who reminded him of himself.

And so Zelda learned from Brint, how to survive as he had on the cold, hard streets of the district, or as he called it "passing on his knowledge to future generations." Zelda and her mentor grew close, and together they were able to perform acts of thievery others could only dream of doing, taking food from right under the peacekeepers' nose, stealing from those who had more than enough. And eventually, a time came when Zelda had exceeded the skill of her master, and learned quite a few tricks of her own, and not long after, Brint died. Zelda and her sisters were the only ones to attend his short funeral, and the death of her only friend hit Zelda particularly hard. But she survived, and now thanks to Brint, she always would, and even today, she remembers the "old man" fondly.

I'm particularly pleased with how this bio turned out.

Edit: Name change. Zelda is now her first name, Bonnibel is now again her middle name (I want it to be a plot point that she has an embarrassing middle name,) Calico is now her last name because she is from District Eight and also because I think that one Zelda reference per character is a good rule of thumb.

God, I've been flop-flopping a ton with this character's name...