Magnolia Bennett // District 11 // Fin.

[lavendercrowns]

Magnolia Bennett

District 11 sixteen years old sister | student | adventurer ♔ “The shell must break before the bird can fly.”

“When I was eight, I climbed my first tree. The buds on the plum tree in our garden had just started to bloom, white petals opening up as the weather warmed and spring finally arrived, and the ground was muddy from the rain earlier that morning. My brother and I had been making trouble chasing the cat, and our mother had sent us outside so that she could make our breakfast without distraction. It had been on Ewan’s suggestion that we wandered away from our mother’s garden and into the orchard, and it had been on his dare that I first grabbed the rough grooves of the plum tree’s trunk and began to climb. He pointed out the places I could step on to get started, but afterwards, he left me on my own to find my own path upwards. I couldn’t reach the fruit tree’s branches, the only footholds I had being the knots in the wood and the gnarled roots at the base of the tree, and the bark was rough and unpleasant against my soft palms and delicate fingers, but his snide remarks at my lack of progress only made me more determined. I’ve always been athletic — a runner’s build, my mother liked to say I had, in the same breath that she would call me her ‘little bird’ — but my slim muscles burned as I tried to pull myself up the tree. Our mother had just started to call us inside for our breakfast when I finally reached the top, hands scraped and bloodied as the wind tousled my straw-colored hair and it began raining again. She berated me for making trouble as she rinsed my palms off in the faucet outside the house, but no amount of scolding could diminish the sense of pride I felt once I was sitting on what felt like the top of the world. She combed my hair, always worn long, and bandaged up my hands, soon to be calloused by work. Grey eyes the same as my own stared down at me as she made me promise not to go climbing trees again, but even as I swore I’d be careful, I was already planning my next adventure. I’m sure she knew that I’d forget the promise soon enough, but she let me go with a kiss on my brow regardless to go feed the chickens with Ewan. When I was a child, the whole world seemed so much larger. But now, I’m outgrowing it. I’ve spent my whole life in this house — mother’s headaches meant we needed to keep quiet, father’s work meant we were often left to entertain ourselves — with nowhere else to go. I want to explore the farms and orchards, but the only land here is private property. I want to travel, and see the other districts, but the only ones who can are those who work for the Capitol. I’m too tall to climb those plum trees anymore, so I clamber out my bedroom window to sit on the roof. Most of the taller oaks and the blackberry brambles that used to be common have been cleared to make room for agriculture, so I can look over the farmland for miles, and our district is one of the last places you can see the stars clearly through the pollution. Every night, I look up at the night sky, and out at the horizon, and I want for more.”

break the birdcage.

[✨ zozo.]

Hey Lav, just need two paragraphs for appearance of Magnolia and then she'll be good to go! <3

[lavendercrowns]

Thanks, Zoë. Edited and done! ^_^ ripred_bot

[✨ zozo.]