Pomona (Pom) Bello, District 11

Pomona’s body is slight just like her mother’s, which allows her to scale trees easily along with the District’s children within the orchards, while others her age have grown too heavy due to height and inherited body types. Climbing has also given her a decent muscle tone, as has carrying baskets that range from 30-50 lbs. during harvests. Like the majority of people within 11, her skin is tanned, but the shade from the orchard in which she spends the majority of time has left her skin undamaged and glowing. She also takes her brown eyes and dark brown-black hair from her District’s people. Her lips are full and her cheekbones rounded. When born, it was noted that her cheeks were the only part of her face to become red whilst crying. As she grew, her cheeks would redden whenever angry, upset, or embarrassed, but the rest of her skin kept its regular tone. Pomona stands at 5’4” and weighs roughly 100 lbs.

Once, when she was younger and rather sick, she had lost her footing on one of the trees. Little damage was done, except for a branch that had caught her in the eye. Although she regained most of her eyesight, she cannot see through the peripheral of her left eye. A light scar that runs from the centre of this eyebrow to the outer corner of her eye serves as a reminder. It is invisible until viewed a couple feet away, to all but Pom herself.

Pomona is quiet and tends to keep to herself, which bodes well for her in the orchards, where the Peacekeepers view work as a priority over socialization. However, she is, by no means, shy. When anger gets the best of her, which it often does, she will speak what is on her mind. This is, by far, her greatest fault. She tries not to let little things get to her, like the Peacekeepers standing watch every day, sometimes commenting on the need for her to work harder (as they do with all of the people in 11), and she often prevails, but she can feel the rage within her building up, oftentimes causing her to become blinded. When she was younger, she often stepped out of place against the Peacekeepers, to the horror of her parents and brothers, and this resulted in fierce punishment that never did anything but frustrate her more. As she grew, she learned how to calm herself with deep breaths. Fellow workers knew that, when perturbed, her breaths would deepen, and they would therefore send her into the trees to work, in order to relax and stay safe. She has never acted physically through her anger, only verbally.

Pom is extremely family-oriented and protective of her two younger brothers, although one is already taller than her at 5’8” and more muscular, weighing 135 pounds when he is only 14 years old. When one of her parents or brothers becomes injured in the orchards or fields, Pomona is quick to worry, in addition to her pressing anger, and tries her best to tend to them while staying within Peacekeeper boundaries. She also helps out her fellow District members with medical needs when possible, gaining her a reputation as a healer, though she does not consider herself as such.

It is very hard for District 11 people to dislike Pom because she is so very friendly and loving to all. From the outside, this causes her to seem harmless, but her friends – she has many – know what lies beneath. It is better to be a friend than a foe to Pomona because, although no one has ever seen her lash out physically, there is no doubt that she could cause some serious harm. Whatever her opinion of a person is in the long-run, she will always attempt friendship and love first. Also, as her reputation would show, she would much rather diffuse a problem with words rather than fists.

Pomona is the eldest of three children born to Gisli and Lathrop Bello. Her mother is very unlike the other people within District 11; where they have dark skin and muscular bodies with brown eyes and black hair, Gisli has blonde hair and blue eyes and a small body frame that Pom takes after. Pomona’s father and two brothers are very like Pom and the rest of the District 11. However, her eldest brother, Georgie, inherited their mother’s blue eyes, helping to make him very handsome. The youngest member of the Bello family is Carolos, who is 8. After Carolos was born, Gisli was unable to have any more children. That year had been particularly rough in terms of food and Pom’s mother had nearly died in childbirth. This inability was just as well since spreading food between five family members would be difficult enough.

When Pom was born, her red cheeks earned her the name Pomona, which also helped to seal her fate as an orchard worker. Her name was taken from the fruit, Pomegranate, which Gisli and Lathrop had only ever seen pictures of. Although Pomona does not dislike her full name, she always introduces herself as Pom – it is more playful and, she thinks, makes her seem more likable. As with many District 11 families, the Bellos are very involved in music and sing often. Pom cannot remember a time when her house was not filled with musical voices. This connection that they all share at the end of the day, every day, keeps them close and connected. Pomona, Carolos, and their mother work in the orchards while Georgie and their father work in the fields.

Although children in District 11 miss plenty of school, especially during the harvest, Pomona always longs for it. As she grew and became more able-bodied, she saw less and less of it as well. However, she always loves to learn new things whether they are practical or not. It could hardly be said that she favours the Capitol, so she could do well without the propaganda that was repeatedly ‘taught’, but everything else is welcome.

Pom has many friends, but only had one 'best' friend – her cousin, whose name was Iden. When Pom was 8, and Iden was 12, the latter was chosen as a tribute. Due to her young age – she had only just turned 12 when the reaping for the 52nd Hunger Games came around – it was doubtful that she would survive and this made Pom angry. Being forced to watch the Games and, as a result, see her cousin and best friend die, angered her further. Thus began her disregard for Capitol law. The first time that she was back working in the orchards after Iden’s death, a Peacekeeper had commented that her climbing was too slow to be productive. Pomona took it personally and lashed out verbally, accusing the Peacekeeper of various crude things that should not have been known to an eight-year-old, as well as publicly accusing the Capitol of misuse of power. If she had been older, her punishment would have been much more severe – perhaps it would have been death, but as a child she was sentenced to three lashes from a whip and a half day in the stocks, which was far less severe than many were expecting. This was perhaps due to it being her first offence. Since then, she acted out against the Capitol in similar, but somewhat less severe ways. It wasn’t until a unanimous plea from her family, who feared for her life, that she learned to reel in her anger once more. Thus, the breathing technique was born and her family was very much relieved.