Ruth Walcott // District 7

Ruth is a hidden beauty of sorts; her face is small and rounded, her body petite. Her form is tanned slightly with a layer of dirt from her activities outside. Ruth's eyes are wide and a deep blue, containing innocence and a childlike optimism. Blonde eyelashes, all but invisible, frame her large blue orbs; matching her long curly blonde hair. Her lips are full and a dark pink naturally, but are often either dry or chewed upon.

Ruth is relatively short in height and weights around seventy pounds. Despite her small frame, she is toned in the arms and legs due to her outdoor activities. The young girl's small hands reveal chewed upon thumbs and heels of her palms, brought on due to pain or nervousness. Ruth's is often beaten and punished for various wrongs, and so her skin in many places show bruises. Often under her eyes, dark circles can be found from lack of sleep. Overall, Ruth is a beaten little child; her wide blue eyes being her most striking feature.

Ruth, despite her size and appearance, is actually very strong and stubborn. Her heart, however, is in the right place; she seeks to better the lives of her fellow citizens of District 7. For this, she is willing to be punished regularly and withstand pain that many others of her tender age could not. This has been so for three years, when Ruth decided that the hunger of her friends and family was unfair and that she was capable of relieving some of that pain. Since then, she has become withdrawn to strangers, immediately concluding that they are there to cause pain to either herself or the ones she loves. Her actions have become more violent, but she has become two-faced in doing them. To the authorities or enemies, Ruth is overly shy and nervous; weak even. However, when alone she steals and kills animals obsessively for food.

Ruth is extremely clumsy, which is completely parallel to the stealth and precision she has attained during the past three years. A few of her bruises are results from falling from trees or tripping over roots while in the forest, working. Her hands are littered with light scars from cuts she’s received from both the knives she works with and falling in various areas. This, however, has rid her of her fears concerning nature and animals. Through this, though, she also has proficient knowledge on medically treating herself, and knows how to avoid most dangerous situations.

Alone, Ruth has tendencies to over think everything, resulting in thoughts of suicide and self-inflicted pain. This is due to her guilt at killing forest-animals and, once, another child who happened to be caught between Ruth’s axe and a nearby tree. These experiences overwhelm the child, who was never meant to be a violent person, and end in depression. She is mostly alone in her duties; however one thing that does tend to soothe her is music. A while back, Ruth’s father gave her a wooden flute, which has consumed the time not spent in depression or on law-breaking.

Ruth’s first memory is stumbling through the pine forests of District 7, collecting sticks in her still-chubby arms. She had no idea how old she was, but it was her first memory of her dear forest. It is distorted by age, somehow morphed into a memory of peace and joy when in fact it was terror and fear. During the young girl’s first five years of age, this was what Ruth did; collect sticks and possibly nuts if the peacekeepers told her to. Her parents were virtually useless in the way of protecting her: the ways of the world hit home at a very early age. There was never enough food for Ruth’s family, even when her older brother gave her whatever he could of his share. Even so, they were better off than most families. They had never experienced the pain of sending a tribute to the Hunger Games and even at five Ruth knew to fear the annual reaping. And at seven she knew the consequences of receiving tessera due to her friend’s siblings being reaped.

At the age of seven, Ruth became lethal; with her clumsiness combined with an axe and a saw. She was expected to hack and saw the thick branches off trees and haul them in for usage in the factories. This presented many injuries, including almost losing several fingers. Eventually the young girl learned to apply first aid to herself, and became experienced enough to cause less injuries than normal. Within the next few years, Ruth’s attention turned to the increasing poverty of her friends and family, and she watched as they began to wither away from starvation. By age nine, Ruth had hardened; changing from the innocent little girl her parents knew to the rebel who frequently stole food from the forest to feed her family. Her parents, who were thin and sickly, clearly disapproved of her methods, as did her brother, but none spoke out against it and so she continued her efforts. Ruth’s hunting for food, needless to say, eventually turned to animals that might scurry by or that she could find in the trees. Her knives, issued by the peacekeepers for the cutting of smaller branches and pinecones, became flying projectiles. Eventually Ruth became deadly with the things, killing birds perched on branches trees away from her. During this time, Ruth also became fairly proficient in climbing tree trunks with the assistance of low branches, which was needed to perform her job anyway. Several times she was caught and beaten, and then she began to be whipped. Stealth was quickly learned, along with her two-faced personality.

The past two years have consisted of honing her aim in her knives, and learning to both wield and throw an axe. Ruth’s strength has greatly increased, but her body size prevents her from posing any real threat in that department. During her practicing, a young boy around her age happened to appear between the nearby tree and Ruth’s axe. Since then, her time alone in the forest tends to depress her, as she thinks often of the life she took. The young girl has gone to great lengths to keep her growing abilities from both the peacekeepers and her family. She tends to bring home plant-food more often than meat, to keep suspicion away from her. As a result of her constant punishments, her body is laden with bruises, and the lack of sleep, which is a result of her murder of the young child, keeps dark circles under the eyes. She is quite a dirty, beaten child to say the least.

Sorry this is so bad. I haven't made a profile in a while xD