Bela Winn - D7

Name: Bela 'Bells' Winn
Age: 22
Gender: Female
District/Area: District 7
Appearance:

Since she moved in with her grandmother, Bela has learned to do many things on her own. Though she still requires some assistance and is not as successful at doing the simple things, one of the things she has learned is how to dress herself. Bells isn’t the best dressed girl in District seven but, with the assistance of her grandmother, she isn’t the worst either. With that being said, she is a bit untidy.
When it comes to putting on a skirt or buttoning up a shirt, Bela can get every hole and zip any zipper. She can pull on socks and tie her shoelaces, taking every step of the bunny ears very seriously. But when it comes to looking as kempt as any other ‘normal’, sane person, she isn’t as up to speed. Though she has become more independent, Bela’s mind slips when it comes to the smaller details of things.
Sometimes she forgets to keep her hair nice or to set the zipper of her skirt to the back after it’s slipped to the front or side. She has to be reminded to tie her shoes when the laces come undone. Unlike a lot of people, she doesn’t mind what she looks like or that her hair blows in her face. They are not important to her and therefore she looks untidy. Despite her dress, Bells is still a beautiful girl.
Bela is 5'3" and has a head of bright red hair with soft waves that curl more towards the ends. She has big ears that often cause a bit of teasing, though not many people pick on her anymore. Her ears are not anything grotesque or Dumbo-like, in fact, Bela’s sort of grown into them.
She has a slowly fading scar, high on her right cheek bone, that she got when she was eight, and freckles that are lightly sprinkled over her nose and cheeks. Her skin is pale with a blush undertone, and her lips, though uneven with a full bottom lip and a thinner upper lip, are a soft and pretty pink, made to kiss and spout nonsense now and then.
Her eyes are big and the colour of new aspen leaves. Though she does not often make eye contact, it’s hard not to think them beautiful, no matter how hard it is to reach or understand the girl locked behind them. With her high cheek bones, nice little curves, and grace not common among the axmen, Bela is an odd sort of creature, even without her little bit of crazy.

Personality:

Bela has gotten better since she and Ash had moved in with their apothecary grandmother. For a long while, Bells had been locked in her head. Though her parents took care of her as best they could, she was alone. She was accepted to be crazy and helpless. Because she didn’t talk and no one really knew what she’d seen or what she had gone thru, she was left inside her head.
Her parents were honestly lost when it came to Bela. Because they’d already lost one child, they did everything they could not to completely lose another, lose her. This meant that they didn’t push her, didn’t make her speak or do things on her own. They coddled her and as an eight year old, that really hinders growth.
They meant well, though, and even if Bela didn’t exactly show them that she loved them, she did. They were her parents.
After their death, when she was ten, Bela retreated deeper into herself, loosing herself in her happy little world of make believe. But unlike her parents, Bela’s grandmother, Ester, did not coddle. Instead, she taught Bela how to live, how to survive. While many would have seen Bells as a lost cause, Ester was determined.
The games didn’t care about crazy. Children weren’t excluded from the reaping because they weren’t all together in the head. In fact, a bit of crazy might have made for a better ‘show’.
Either way, Ester would not have her granddaughter be completely defenseless.
It was this strength and determination that reached Bela. They were what pulled her out of herself and back into the world. Though she is far from normal, it is amazing the things she can do, the things she can understand.
Retarded, slow, simple. These words aren’t too far off in describing her, but they aren’t the whole picture. She may be a bit slow, but she is also very kind. She is simple, it is how she lives, what she needs, but she is also kind and generous.
Bela loves to smile and laugh. She can see the pretty in anything and understands more than people give her credit for. And no matter how mean or awful people are to her, she would never let it stop her from being good. She is incredibly stubborn that way, in a lot of ways, in fact.
Sometimes Bela can be so bull-headed, though. She will try and try and try to do something and she will continue to try no matter how many times she fails, no matter how frustrated she gets. Usually, the tasks she attempts, works so hard at, are things normal people take for granted.
Despite all she had gained in her independence, not everything is peachy keen.
Bela still suffers from flash backs, reliving moments of her sister’s death, of things that happened she has not shared with anyone. These episodes aren’t as common as they used to be, not as easily triggered, but when they happen, they are bad. This is what makes her crazy, her fits, her tempers, her rages against the things in her head. And she will never fully be free of them.
When these episodes occur they are unpredictable. Sometimes they only last a few hours, other times, they last for days. She ends up locking herself in her room, afraid of the world and the things in her head, refusing to eat or drink or live. A number of times, when things have gotten really bad, Ester has had to call Bela’s big brother, Ashford, in from work, just to get her to eat.
She knows that she makes things hard for her brother and grandmother. She understands that she is a burden; it is why she tries so hard to be better. It might be an unrealistic goal, but Bela strives to be able to take care of herself. she does not want to be anyone’s hardship.

History:

Bela wasn't always crazy. When she was younger, she had a life similar, in many respect. to any other child growing up in the district. Willow and Jem Winn, her parents, worked in the lumber yards, like most folks around. She had an older brother, Ashford, who always picked on her, and a twin sister, Izza, who was always game for ganging up on Ash. It was a great life.
She laughed and played and sang. Though she and Izza weren’t identical, they were inseparable. They had their own little language, their own little games. Literally, when one was hurt, the other felt it no matter how close or far apart they were from one another. The connection between them was undeniable and a little scary sometimes. But, all in all, it was a happy time.
Unfortunately, that time didn’t last.
Because their parents worked until the sun started to set, and Ash was old enough to have school the whole day, when Bela and Izza would get out of school, usually around noon, they would have to walk home alone, just the two of them.
This wasn’t really a problem for them because, on the way home, Bela and Izza would stop in the woods to play. They did it all the time. It was fun running around playing hide and seek, chasing butterflies, climbing trees. it was their favorite time of day, up until the very day Izza died.
Bela hasn’t told anyone what happened and for a long time, nobody asked. She was thought to be too fragile, that, if forced to confront what happened to her, if forced to talk about it, she would break. And for fear of losing her too, her parents let her be, but the more she didn’t talk about it, the more she retreated into herself. Eventually her mother died thinking she’d lost both her daughters that day in the woods. She wasn’t entirely wrong.
It wasn’t long, after her mother died, that her father soon followed and all that was left of her family was Ashford.
In three years, Bela lost her sister, her mother, and her father. She almost couldn’t take it.
Because she and Ash were still under age, they were moved to their Grandmother’s house, across the district.
Ester was an apothecary and had been estranged from Bela’s parents because they had serious disagreements on how to handle her. Bela’s grandmother wanted to be more aggressive with her, while her parents wanted to work more defensively.
Though it took a bit of time and effort and a lot of dedication, Ester was able to encourage Bela out of herself. Gradually, Bela was getting dressed on her own, feeding herself. She even started talking again and on a really good day, started singing.
She isn’t completely herself. she still has a long way to go but things have gotten better.

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