Winnow Shear

## **Basic Information**

**Name**: Winnow Shear

**Age**: 17

**District**: Nine (Seven, Eleven)

**Gender**: Female

**Sexuality**: Bisexual

**Personality**: Judging from a personal viewpoint, Winnow is the type of person that can be boiled down to her instinct to nurture and protect. She has shown herself to be caring and compassionate, and it's in her nature to go out of her own way in order to help out those who are in need of a hand in any way she may view as attainable. Nonetheless, her every move is dictated by her desire to survive, whatever the cost, and it is not past her to lie or step over others in order to ensure the well-being of the few people in the world she would admit to caring about, a group that does not extend well past her family or perhaps a close ally.

Quite predictably, underneath the unwavering kindness ingrained in her way of coming across, resides a sentimental and deeply damaged young woman, and quite the touch starved one, at that. Winnow has always longed for meaningful connections, but nonetheless, she has shown to lack the faintest idea of how to go about it. Under her impression, these feelings, if potentially nurtured, could place a damper in her strict worth ethic, thus getting in the way of her family and their only source of income, something Winnow would never allow happen. Thus, overtime, she has mastered a way to bottle up her emotions over long periods of time, although she is constantly on edge, as if expecting something to go wrong at all times.

**Fatal Flaw**: The instinct to nurture is deeply embedded in Winnow's nature. Simply put, she is driven to nurture another life,  to care and love another being, and to be responsible for its life. She strives to protect as many people as humanly attainable, particularly those who are perceived as weak or treated as insignificant or peripheral, and as such, cast away to the margins of society. This is extremely dangerous in a setting such as the Hunger Games, and her inability to save all her allies has the potential to influence a great deal of trouble.

**Backstory**: Winnow was born first out of four children, arriving a full minute ahead of her twin brother, Anden. The next pair of twins would arrive nine years later, two baby boys to be looked after by Winnow and Anden, while their parents dedicated their time to the laborious task of hand threshing grain, a bushel of wheat taking about an hour.

Growing up surrounded by three brothers at all times, it wouldn't be all that farfetched for her to gravitate towards rough, noisy activities traditionally associated with boys, although throughout her childhood, she prided herself in being considerably girly, taking immediate liking toward things that were pink or glimmered when light hit them, striving to set herself apart from the dull masses that populated Panem's bread bowl. Prior to her employment in one of District Nine's vast crops of grain, the majority of her time not centered around the children would be dedicated towards playing with the neighborhood cats, as well as sneaking out into the forest to watch the deer run wild.

Her family was quite poor, as most in Nine were, although they had just enough money to lead a relatively comfortable life, even if keeping up appearances implied that both her mother and father had to dedicate the vast majority of their time towards work, leaving little to no time meant for spending time with their kids. Consequently, Winnow just about became her brothers' mother, and she loved all three of them more than anything. Although she had been born just a minute ahead of her twin brother, which she loved to tease him about, her nurturing instinct, as well as her natural drive to care for people made her into quite the domineering matriarch, even from an early age.

Whereas many girls her age might wish they would have had three sisters, Winnow was perfectly fine with her brothers, whom she loved dearly. She never wanted what she didn't already have, and had always been hellbent on making the best out of the cards she had been dealt in life, as well as putting her brothers' needs above all else. Soon, however, Winnow reached the age of fourteen, where everything seemed perfectly normal. Still, at some point following her birthday, something happened. Although such disconnect had not been prompted by any particular event, more like a collection of different occurences over the years, something between Winnow and her mother had switched off, likely as a result of the heavy responsibilities Winnow had been burdened with from an early age, although she was not fully aware of just how demanding her life truly was. Either way, the loving, albeit considerably limited relationship Winnow and her mother shared had been stranded somewhere in memories of when Winnow was still thirteen.

Clashes between the two of them became quite frequent, manifesting whenever, upon rare occurences, Winnow's mother could afford to wind down at home. The two fought quite a lot, starting arguments over any and everything, and soon, her father had gotten involved, as well. They would butt heads over their way of coming across, their lack of commitment towards bringing up the children they had brought into the world themselves. They would clash over each other's every word and every action, overtime, over their disapproval of Winnow's sexual orientation, in spite of the fact that not once during her life had Winnow been given the opportunity to sit down with her parents and talk in depth about any issues concerning her personal life. Winnow would always attempt to hold them accountable for their mistakes when it came to raising their children, but her arguing fell on deaf ears. Soon, night after night, Winnow's brothers would run to their room out of fright to be caught in the crossfire of one of the heated arguments.

One night, Winnow was so upset at her parents' absence, that while had manifested with the family's best interest in mind, was not all that far from neglect, simply put. She started screaming and knocking things around, which was when her mother slapped her, hard. Everything froze during that moment. Winnow's family had never acted violent towards one another, and now Winnow was so upset that the tears were caught in her throat, being replaced by stunned silence. Her mother hissed two words so quietly, Winnow almost couldn't hear them: *Get out*. Winnow packed up and ran away, darting off into the streets of her district, leaving a trail of tears staining the ruffles of her pristine white dress in her wake. Soon enough she had reached the destination she had in mind, the large rock a couple yards off the forest's edge where she had spent hours on top of hours watching the deer as a child.

She spent the following four days going deeper into the woods, fueled by bitter resentment, although food had started to run out during the second day, and more than anything else, she had never been away from her brothers for such a long period of time, and she missed them like crazy. As such, she veered off her previous course and set her mind on going back home. On the way there, she had mapped out what she planned to say to her mother and father. Albeit she had not the faintest recollection of what her final words to them were, she knew they weren't particularly pretty things to say, especially concerning her mother, for, after all, their hours spent away from their children were only in order to carve out a better living for them.

When she knocked on the front door, she was surprised to see Anden answer it. He gaped at her, and although she knew full well her hair must have been a shock of light brown sprawled in knots around her head, and her frantic dash into the woods had rendered her dress a torn, dirtied rag, she could not fathom what could have been shocking enough to warrant such a reaction.

But soon she figured out. Her parents were dead, quitting their jobs on the wheat fields the day following Winnow's outburst. They had ventured into the District's black market, looking to trade in some of their belongings in order to ensure a relatively comfortable week before they settled on new jobs, likely in grain processing factories that, although didn't pay as generously, didn't require as much of their time. Nonetheless, luck had not been on the family's side, and their visit concided with a Peacekeeper raid that had claimed their lives, as well as those of many others. Winnow, quick to waste away in guilt, grew depressed and could not muster up enough strength to venture out of the confines of her room for weeks on end. Still, duty called, and before she could begin to process her own actions, her maternal instincts had kicked in, and her days, as well as Anden's, would now be spent harvesting wheat under the inclement sun.

Winnow wished she had at least gotten a good, sweet word in there before they had died. She felt there was nobody to blame but herself. She shouldn't have left, she understood that now, but still, hadn't it been her mother who had told her to go? Her thoughts kept on running wild until her every day morphed into a continuous cycle of who had been to blame serving as backdrop for the harvesting of grain. Something about Winnow shut down after that, still, true to her nature, she would kill herself before letting it show.

She acted overly kind towards everyone after that. She did random kind things for other kids in school, she helped her brothers with math problems, she did Anden's work in the fields when it was too much for him to handle, their parents' loss hitting him the hardest out of her brothers. She did everything for her family and her househould, and in spite of everything, not once did she consider giving up. At times, she thought that she should have, but it's not like she she could have brought herself to do it. She had three brothers that had grown accustomed to relying on her, and she could not afford to let them down, being increasingly harder on herself with each passing day.

Winnow locked away all her pain deep inside of her and tried her best to stay strong. Nonetheless, she ended up crying herself to sleep more often than not, her pillow muffling her sobs and ensuring not one soul would worry about her.

Soon, in addition to harvesting the amber waves of grain that took up the majority of her time, she started working for an older woman, mostly cleaning her house, all to get more money. The woman, a widow out of one of the few families in Nine that had money to spare, took fun in bossing Winnow around, and she tolerated it, only for her family. Overtime, Winnow grew thicker skin, her determination to keep her family alive shifting from putting pressure on herself towards preparing them for the hardships they were likely to face in a world that had been set up to make them fail. On the year coinciding with her fifth Reaping, Winnow found herself employed as a tribute in the Hunger Games, taking on this challenge with her head held high, not once allowing herself to wallow in despair. She held back her tears, as she had learned to long ago, and chose to set aside the fear that threatened to overtake her.

More than she feared death, she was determined to win and come back for her brothers. She would need to be stronger than she ever needed to, but she was more than willing to do it. Matter of fact, she took it as a blessing in disguise, even. Surely, if all she needed to do in order to carve out a better living for her family was to slice some people down, she wouldn't have much trouble doing it. Or so she guessed.

**Political Alignment**: Winnow believes quite firmly that the Rebels have the best interest of herself and her family in mind, although she is not inately rebellious by any extent, and would not hesitate in switching sides if it meant she could ensure the safety of those she cares about.

**Mannerisms**: She does not possess any particular quirks, although she has the tendency to burst into nervous laughter when faced with a situation she has no idea how to get herself out of.

**Dominant Hand**: Winnow is ambidextrous. Throughout her time spent threshing and reaping grain with curved blades, she has sustained multiple injuries, particularly in her hands, on many different occasions, which has forced her to adapt to relying on either one of her hands in order to execute her job and ensure her family's survival. That being said, she favors her right hand when it comes to penmanship or such.

**Other Information**: She was born on the 11th of November.

**Weaponry**: Alongside her twin brother, Winnow has dedicated countless hours towards harvesting grain in order to aid her younger brothers, an activity that has turned the sickle into a natural extension of her limbs. Although not once in her life has the thought crossed her mind, she would run into very little trouble should it come down to turning the agricultural tool into a deadly weapon.

**Strengths**: Physical strength, precision in close-ranged combat and quick reflexes.

**Weaknesses**: Poor aim, swimming and speed.

**Fears**: Winnow has an extreme fear of failure, experience crippling self-doubt and extreme fear of letting her loved ones down, even though not one person in the world is harder on her than herself. Furthermore, she has struggled a great deal with feelings associated with guilt, and she is terrified of the potential to harm others ingrained in her actions and choices.

## **Strategy**

**Alliance**: Winnow is dead set on leading an alliance consisting of herself and around three to four other tributes. Her plan is to recruit one exceptional fighter with decent morals, a tribute that would be able to aid her in protecting some of the youngest, or perhaps weaker, tributes.

**Bloodbath Strategy**: She will rush in towards her allies at the sound of the gong, meeting up with them and looting the outskirts of the Cornucopia while standing guard, getting out as soon as she feels her group is in danger.

**Arena Strategy**: She will fight hard in order to protect her allies, although she might be prone to struggling with feelings related to her desire to return home, which would, in turn, imply the deaths of those she swore to protect. Nonetheless, her strategy will consist in keeping her group out of danger for as long as possible, and she will opt for a defensive strategy over an offensive one, attacking with all her might whenever herself or her allies are targeted.

**Feast Strategy**: Should her allies still be alive by the time the Feast comes around, and assuming she is decently armed, she will stand guard while a couple of them try and retrieve some supplies, covering for them and attacking any tribute she may view as a threat to their safety.

**Finale Strategy**: Assuming her allies are still around, she is very likely to desert them, not wanting to deal with the task of taking them out herself. She will try and remain adjacent to all action, attacking with everything she has got as soon as she has the opportunity.